Inflation on the Decline

You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio.

App KFI and kost HT two Los Angeles and Orange County.

And aged Amy.

Okay, it's five o'clock, straight up, good morning. This is your wake up call for Thursday, August fifteenth. I'm Amy King. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. We're halfway through August. It's the fifteenth. Do you know what that means? Four months and ten days until Christmas. Don't want to freak out or anything. Also very excited today Emily in Paris. The new season is out, except Netflix is doing what Netflix does. They released half of the season, so apparently

You're going to love this.

It's coming up before the bottom of the hour, and then right after the bottom of the hour, wake up call is going out and about to Long Beach for a little walking, a little learning, and some really great food.

You're not going to want to miss that.

At six oh five, it's handle on the news. Months after protesters took over the campus of Columbia University in New York, the president has called it quits. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.

R V.

Homeless camps in Los Angeles could soon be banned from certain parts of the city.

The city Council was voted to have city staff create a new policy if that would keep our vs away from residential areas, business districts, schools, libraries, and parks. Councilman Tracy Park shot down a suggestion that the council should slow down and study the issue instead.

The last thing we need is another committee, another commission, or another task force over multiple years to tell us what we already know.

Park says.

With the Supreme Court ruling allowing homeless camps to be moved, LA needs to be ready for other cities, possibly sending their homeless here in downtown La.

Michael Monks KFI News.

An eight point five million dollar project to repair a one hundred foot long sinkhole that split a condo complex in Lahabra can finally start after five years.

A greenbelt that should not have been built over a storm drain that cuts under Coyote Village complex collapsed under heavy rains in twenty nineteen, then grew even bigger during record rainfall last year.

Year.

State Senator Josh Newman says the state funding he secured for repairs has been stuck in litigation since twenty twenty two.

The city was very wary of taking on a liability and the hallowners Association couldn't figure out why if the state had the money, what was taking so long, so lawyers got involved in At the end of the day, the lawyer's finally figured it out.

He says. Repairs will start today in Lahabra, core beIN Carson, k if I News.

Biden administration says it has reached an agreement with pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of the ten most expensive medications covered under Medicare. The meds include heart and diabetes drugs. The prices are expected to drop starting in twenty twenty six. President Biden says the latest inflation rate is proof his policies are working. Inflation has fallen below three percent for the first time in three years. It dropped to two

I told you're going to have a soft landing. We're going to have a soft landing. My policies are work and start writing that way. Okay.

The cost of used cars, trucks, medical care, and airfares were all down last month.

I don't know about that.

Every time I check airfares they seem sky high, but people keep telling us they're going down, So maybe I'm just going to the wrong places.

NASA says a decision.

Will be made by the end of the month on how and when the astronauts stuck in space will come home. Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been on the International Space Station since June sixth. It was supposed to be a one week trip, but problems with the Boeing Starliner have delayed their returns. If the Starliner can't bring them home. SpaceX Rocket will have to go get them, but that

Good morning, Caleb, good to be with you.

Year over year, inflation was up, but it was the lowest rise in three years.

So my question is are we there yet.

We're getting closer and closer to this two percent target, but I don't know if we'll ever get there because we see price increases over the last four to five years in the areas where it's just hard to see them ever coming down. Think about car insurance, think about food cost shelter costs. These are the big contributors to inflation over the last several years. And yes, we've come down, we've come way down from those highs of eight percent a couple of years ago, but it's been a slog

Okay, and you mentioned car insurance.

I just did a story that they're expecting insurance rates to go up, like car insurance rates to go up fifty four percent by December in California.

I mean, it's just crazy.

It's brutal, and they're already pretty high. They're already more than thirty percent in some areas around the country, California being one of them.

And that's just one of those costs we can avoid. Right.

Those are the needs, not the wants, and that's putting a lot of pressure on household budgets.

Yeah, so the FED said that its target to lower interest rates was two percent.

It really wants to get to two percent. We're not there yet. We're two point nine percent.

Is is that enough you think though, to say, okay, we can start cutting.

Yeah, it's all about timing.

So the Fed pretty much got the inflation narrative under control by keeping interest rates high. But they I think that's okay for right now. They're now focused on the labor market.

Right. The Fed has two mandates, keep.

Inflation in that two percent target and also keep the nation at full employment, which is between three and a half and four percent unemployment. Well, we're at four point three as of the last reading and it's been creeping higher. So the Fed is now trying to gauge how weak the job market is becoming, because that might cause it to cut interest rates even deeper when it meets in September.

Ah, so instead of like a quarter point, we might see a half point or more.

Well, there is a growing drug feed for a half point cut, but not probably not more than that. Though that said, the Fed has been super transparent this entire time that Jerome Palell has been shared about what it's going to do, and it has pretty much signaled that quarter point cut in September. A deeper cut would be a surprise, but it would also be an indication that the Fed sis weakness in the economy. And make no mistake about it, the economy is slowing a little bit.

Yeah, so as people have the inflationary costs, so we were talking about this, and it's like I make a certain amount of money, but because of inflation, it's just like I make twenty percent less. And so I think more people are like, well, I'm not. I don't have the money. I got to tap into my credit cards to make some of the to make some of my regular payments, right.

And that's the cycle we continue to get in and folks are getting a little tapped out on that. You were speaking about airline fares, Well, they are cheaper if you're traveling the next two months, because who is, But if you're trying to buy them out into the holidays, going to get much more expensive. But not just that, it's everything else that we're paying for. The good news is gas prices have been pretty level, and that is the thing that really gives us sticker shock as consumers.

That really makes us cut back on things.

So we continue to spend on some experiences and discretionary things. But talk to some of the restaurants, some of the restaurants that are closing spending this weakening as consumers are tightening up.

Yeah, okay, And then for housing, Caleb, I'm curious if the FED decides to drop the interest rates would there be an immediate drop for like housing, for mortgage rates.

Oh, that's already happened.

The thirty year mortgages dropped from seven percent just about a month ago to about six point three percent at last check.

And that's if you have very good credit.

But also make you've seen a slow down in the rise in housing prices too, so you're going to see the housing market open up. Mortgage rates are super sensitive to the yield on the ten year US Treasury, while the Fed set's interest rates immediately affects the ten year treasury.

That you've already seen that drop, would probably see mortgage rates drop even further.

We've seen a spike and refinancings just in the last week off a very low base, but you're starting to see that heat up again, and that's good news for the housing market.

I love to end on good news. Thank you so much, Caleb Silver, appreciate your information. If you want to follow Caleb, it's at Caleb's Silver.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

All right, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. California has been ranked thirtieth on a list of the best and worst states to have a baby. The personal finance website wallet hub compared thirty one key metrics in all fifty states, including healthcare accessibility, average annual cost of early childcare, and the number of pediatricians per capita. Analyst Chip Lupo says childcare is expensive in California, which is why the state didn't rank.

Higher, so it's very important that you do have make sure you have adequate health insurance set aside to money in the savings account for emergency your unplanned expenses.

He says.

California did better than neighboring states, with Arizona ranking thirty fifth and Nevada forty six. The state has approved an audit of the City of Anaheim's leases with the Angels for the baseball team's stadium. An audit was called for when the proposed sale of the stadium fell through in twenty over allegations that former Mary Mayor Harry Sidhu was giving inside information to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Amont and an Angels consultant. Current Mayor Ashley Aitken

She i face sharp criticism in her handling of campus wide protests of the Israel Hamas War that became a national symbol, including allegations that she didn't do it enough to protect Jewish students on campus.

The presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania also resigned following pro Palestinian protests on their campuses. A Russian court has sentenced a US Russian ballerina to twelve years in a penal colony for high treason after she allegedly transferred funds to a Ukrainian charity in February of twenty twenty two, that's when Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine. Hurricane Ernesto has been gaining strength as

I'm hoping the energy will come back soon, so that's.

My only hope.

The hurricane is expected to trigger rip currents and winds all along the East coast. Police are looking for fake repo men who have been taking cars in the San Fernando Valley. A person in Silmar says two guys recently showed up at his house, took photos of his car, filled out some paperwork, and towed the car away, even though the car was paid for. The laped says there's been a nearly forty percent increase in car thefs in

At six oh five.

It's handle on the news, Minnesota's Governor Tim Walls says he is all in for a vice presidential debate with JD Vance on October first. Right now, let's say good morning to ABC's crime and Terror analyst Brad Garrett. So, Brad, catalytic converters are a hot commodity. They even caught an actor on General Hospital, Johnny or cost actor Johnny Wackter is life in Downtown LA recently. So what makes them such a hot commodity.

Because of three precious metals in the inside the converter, which are platinum, palladium, in roodium.

Their mind either.

Come out of Africa or Russia. And if you have someone who can actually extract those three precious metals from the stolen converter. You're in dependual potentially a lot of money, in particular, if you're working in volume. If you look at the surveillance video of Johnny's, that looks organized to me, it's three guys that got hoods up masts on. The estimate is, if you know what you're doing, you can steal a converter in ninety seconds, and they tend to

Okay, so.

How if there's six hundred million dollars worth Like when you take the precious metals from the catalytic converters, how much is that worth.

Well, it's hard to say that rhodium I have read it could be worth excuse me.

As much as twenty eight thousand dollars an ounce.

So if you again translate into that into volume, these three medals alone would be worth a fair amount of money. Now you'd have to pull it from a number of converters I think to make it worthwhile.

But if you're in the.

Business of doing this in volume, then you could make some money because then the precious metal basically can go back into the open market as to whatever you can get.

For them of you know, paraphs or whatever it might be.

So so then my question is how much of these precious metals is actually in a catalytic converter because we're not putting we're not spending twenty eight thousand dollars to put a catalytic converter on a car, so it's not even.

An adult, right, I don't think a lot.

But like I said, if you have a lot of converters you've stolen, you could come up with a fair amount of these three precious metals. So you know, strictly from the gang standpoint, you know they're not going to deal with any of this. This is just strictly theft right passing it to a middle person. It could be a body shop, it could be something connected to the automotive industry, let's say of Los Angeles or someplace else, who then moves them on.

So it's got to be worthwhile.

I mean, the police in California say there's at least sixteen hundred of them a week that are reported stolen.

Or around the states.

So if that gives you an idea, and you know, if you think about is there anything you can do, and maybe there's a few things you can do that The cars amy that seem to be the most targeted are preuses, SUVs, and pickup trucks. Now I'm going to add a fourth one, and that's fleet vehicles. And the reason why is they tend to be alone at night in you know, either a parking garage or even parked outside someplace, and so these can go in and steal the converters off of all the trucks in a given night.

Okay, And the ven number one sounds like a decent idea. But if somebody is coming in and stealing these catalytic converters in mass are they checking for an number?

Aren't they just cutting them off and going?

Well, I think they're probably cutting them off and going and they may not care because you know, in an hour, two hours, five hour, they're not going to have it anymore. They're going to pass it on to whoever they're selling it to, and you know, once it gets in that internal system, you know it's not going to do you much good. I think the whole idea of doing that

Okay, and them. I have one last question for you, Brat.

Why why don't we go after the middleman or the processing facilities. I mean, if there was no market for them, people would stop stealing them.

Well, that's correct, and we do when we know about it.

That case and Sacramento I mentioned, they got everybody involved in that, the family that basically had them, stole them, the people who actually stole them, and then the place that they were shipped to in New Jersey. I think the problem they is figuring out. I mean, catalytic converters aren't marked in any way, and once they come off your vehicle to become anonymous, right, I mean, how do you know that that's the one that's stolen from my car?

All Right, ABC's Brad Garrett. The ABC's news is crime and Terrorism analysts. You can follow Brad at Brad Investigates. Thanks so much for the information and go paint your catalytic converter.

All right, thank you, Amy.

Hey, I producer, and just shared this with me this morning, and I thought it was hysterical. So the La Dodgers are in Milwaukee, and in fact, they've got one more game coming up later this morning, and Dodger star Mookie Bets is not staying with the team. He is instead staying at a short term rental so like an Airbnb, because the team is staying at the Fister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. It was built in the eighteen nineties and is long rumored to be frequented by spirits of former

We walk along the sidewalks, we observe and listen to the history and culture of the village with the tour guide, and we visit and have food tastings from small businesses in the East Village with time honored family passed down recipes, food that has been in the region and identifies with the cafe. And it's a regional and the places are all owned by small business owners.

And here's what I love about it, Jody, is like when you go down a street wherever you are, I'm in Silver Lake, But when you drive down a street, you go, oh, look at that.

Cute little restaurant, Look at that cute little restaurant. Look at that shop, Look at that shop.

I should go in there one time, and you kind of don't because you're always in a hurry, right, So this gives you an opportunity to just stop down, walk through the neighborhood, stop into a restaurant, sample what they have. We stopped in a couple of the shops and got to see some really great products, like again, small owned businesses.

And you don't get that every day, correct.

And we also visit museums if this along the tour in the village that we're visiting. And then also we'll walk into a retail shop too, something like a retail therapy.

So we was always good.

We always loved to mix and combine sidewalk walking cafes, original food tastings, all curated from owners. And then we mix and mingle and blend museums.

And arts and culture.

And of course then you also get to see again because you're not in your car, you're just walking around and Long.

Beach is just beautiful.

And so we got to start at the performing Arts center.

What's it called the City Terrace Theater.

Yeah, and you can see the beach from here, and then you're seeing all the different kinds of architecture, so you're really learning about Long Beach along with experiencing Long Beach. So what gave you this idea to.

Start this, Well, we wanted to create a tour in the South Bay area, you know, specific to the region. We create a relationship with one of the business owners here, which is where we're at, and it just started from there, and then we just really seriously it goes from one business owner to the next, and then we created a tour around that.

Okay.

And if you are not in Long Beach or close to Long Beach, you can of course come to Long Beach and do the walking tour, but you have other.

Tours as well.

Yep.

We have tours at the original farmers Market. That's the first.

Tour, the one by the growth yeah oh okay, yeah, all right, Third and Fair of Fax we start there, okay.

That is the origional tour of Multipop Food Tours. We have a two and a half hour tour there. But most importantly we also have an East La.

And World Heights tour okay.

And we also have an Old Pasadena tour I Pasadena, thank you. And we are in development of ty Town in Hollywood.

Oh, some more to come.

And then we also are in development of Little India and Artesia.

Okay.

And so when you come and do the tour, about how long does it take and how long how much are you going to walk?

Just so people can prepare for it, exactly fifty four hundred to eight thousand steps planned to have hours to three.

And don't eat before you come, because I will tell you the first stop. We went to the Long Beach Tacos and it was spectacular and we were full and we went, wait, there's more food. And so then we had a few more stops. So it's really cool because you get to stop, sample, go, learn and have a beautiful day walking around downtown exactly.

And we're outdoors. You know, the benefits of being outdoors walking in the neighborhood, the benefits of eating really good food for your body and mind nourishes you know, heart, body and mind. Right, And so that's the takeaway of Melting Potfood Tours.

I love that, okay.

And where do we find out more about Melting Pot Food Tour.

Well, we have a website www. Dot melting pottours dot com. We are locally owned and we're located in La I love that.

Thanks Jony Flowers, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

We went out and.

About to Long Beach and we highly recommend that you do it as well.

Thanks.

It was really a fun way to spend an afternoon. You know, you're strolling around, you get a little bit of exercise, you have some great food. As I mentioned, we went to Long Beach Tacos. Their food was spectacular. We went to the Thai District. Oh my gosh, it was so good. And then we went to Bliss and had some cookies, and then we went to a coffee shop and hung out and just it was such a great way to spend a day. And again, if you don't want to go to Long Beach, they have them

The string of burglaries targeting the neighborhood is typically involved back doors and windows in the late night and early morning hours. LAPD Deputy Chief Allen Hamilton says police have increased patrols on the ground and in the air as they try to find the bad guys.

To make sure that we're utilizing every resource there we have available to us on all legal basis.

To identify, track arrests, and prosecute.

Most of the recent burglaries and encino. What happened near Libbett Park close to the one to one freeway, please say burglars like the quick escape in downtown La Michael monks KFI News.

Five horses suffering from starvation and some other animals have been taken from a property in Kabazon. It was part of a cruelty investigation by the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

The agency says the.

Horses were emaciated and had their ribs and spines showing. The department had been investigating allegations of animal negligence at the property since last month. Ukraine is continuing its offensive into Russia. ABC's Ian Pannell says the push has been relentless on the ground and from the air.

All Russian airfields some hundreds of miles from the border and at least one housing Meg fighter jets were reportedly hit by long range drones.

More than two hundred thousand civilians in Russia have been told to leave their homes as thousands of Ukrainian troops have crossed the border. Researchers in the UK say they're a step closer to understanding how how Stonehenge was created. It was built about five thousand years ago, with stones forming different circles taken to the site at different times. A new study shows the unique stone lying flat at the center of Stonehenge originally came from a sandstone quarry

Thank you, Amy. I'm excited to be joining you.

So it's super easy to sign up for a subscription of like face cream or streaming services, or pet food, even kitty litter. But once they get your money, the companies don't want to give it up. The FEDS they're doing something to help us be able to cancel these things easier.

Well, that's exactly right. They're calling these efforts a cracktown quote, headaches, halfles that waste people's time and money. It's actually an entire initiative called the Time is Money Campaign, and there's a few different policies that are potentially at work here. The first, as you mentioned, is that it should be as easy to cancel a subscription as it is different up for one, if it's one or two clicks on your phone to enroll, it should be the same to

But yeah, you.

Can see that there's clearly a campaign here. It goes in hand with the Biden administration's overall efforts to try and bring down prices for people, especially ahead of that November election when we're seeing stubborn inflation.

I love that they're called doom loop phone calls because I've been stuck in that doom loop and it just by the time I get to somebody to actually make some sort of change, I'm so mad that I just want to scream at them, and then I feel bad because you know, it's not their fault that I got stuck in the doom loop.

It's just that's how they do business.

So you mentioned that the policies are going to go to an effect in a few months, So will they will they kick in before the election.

Do you think.

That first one about subscriptions likely before the election and that second one about doom loop phone calls, it's unlikely that that will happen before the election, Okay.

And then you also mentioned that it may be easier to file health insurance claims under what they're working on now, is that part of this cancelation policy that they're putting in placers that coming later.

You know, that's actually basically an example of the White House using the bully pulpit to try and encourage companies to act in a certain way without formally creating any rules. The Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Bacarah sent letters to insurance companies asking them to make it easier for people to submit claims, potentially allowing that to be online. Also to make it easier to get through to your

And it's interesting that these things are coming out just now, right before the election. Does this need to be passing, does this need to be passed by conquerors or it's just new rules that they can pass.

It is just a rulemaking process exactly, so no need for Congress's involvement, which, of course, under less than hundred days before an election is not likely. So we can see, you know, we'll see these playing out in the rule making process. They expected timeline, as they said, it's still months away on each of these. Of course, there's the potential that either could be challenged by business groups in court.

One click cancelations. I am all for that. I'm going to be watching for that. Seanne Haslett, thank you so much for the information today, and we hope we get to talk to you again soon.

Thank you. Amy.

All right, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. R V homeless camps may soon have to stay away from residential areas, business districts, parks, libraries, and other parts of La City. Councilwoman Tracy Park says the city needs to act on the frustrations of residents and business owners.

Are v's that stay put for weeks, months, and years without movie taking up critical parking, blocking safe passage, and devastating local businesses.

The city Council's voted to have city staff create a citywide policy that would keep RVs out of the designated areas. It would also identify parts of every council district where URV camps would be allowed. A working Horse ranch for homeless people in Orange County has received one hundred thousand dollars for a new tech center.

We help them get back on their feet and contributing to society.

Oh See Rescue Mission President Brian Crane says, the almost twenty year program teaches homeless people work ethic through gardening, maintenance or cleaning up after livestock.

In twenty twenty, we were able to move the whole operation to Silverado Canyon and it's a thirty three acre facility. One day, when we remodel everything, we'll be able to accommodate one hundred and forty one people there.

The Cox Communications grant will help create the tech center to be used for education, job training, and telehealth appointments in Orange County. Corbin Carson KFI.

News This morning, the Dodgers are in Milwaukee to take on the Brews, with the first pitch going out at eleven ten. You can listen to every play of every Dodgers game on AM five seventy LA Sports and stream all the games in HD on the iHeartRadio app. Keyword is AM five seventy LA Sports powered by Lacare for all of LA. And let's hope that Mooki Bett's got a good night's sleep at his Airbnb, since he wouldn't stay in the hotel in downtown Milwaukee that's said to be haunted.

If you want to go check that story.

Out, you can give it a listen on the wake Up Call on the iHeartRadio app. You can listen any old time. We got lots of information there for you. This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call. You've been listening to wake Up Call with me, Amy King.