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It's time for your morning wake up call.
Here's Amy King.
It is five.
O'clock, straight up.
Good morning. I'm Amy King, and you are here for the wake up call. Yep, it's uh. What is today? It's Wednesday already, February twelve. Got a big storm on the way, but it's it's pretty nice out still. Now we're hearing this raine is starting to fall, but we're expecting a lot, especially tomorrow. We'll be ready for it.
Got what's going on today? So glad you're starting your day with a Whether you're listening on the radio on your way to work or at home, or you're streaming us on the iHeartRadio app, We're glad to have you along. Here's what's ahead on wake Up Call. LA Mayor Bass and other officials are urging people in the LA area to prepare for the atmospheric river that's about to hit southern California. It could bring flooding, mudslides, and debris flows,
especially in the wildfire burn areas. The heaviest rains expected from tomorrow afternoon to early Friday morning, with one and a half to three inches of rain in most areas. Three to six inches is possible in the foothills and mountains, and up in northern California. They're expecting several feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. An American teacher held in Russia for more than three and a half years has met with President Trump at the White House hours after
he was released. Trump's a Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Whitcoff, negotiated the deal with the Kremlin to release Mark Fogel. Fogel was released from the Kremlins custody yesterday and left Russia on Whitcoff's lie. So why we're not looking at our phones quite as much. Oh, we're still looking at screens, but they're bigger. We'll be talking with KTLA's tech reporter Rich Damuro. That's at five point twenty. Also, we've had the fires, floods could be coming, so we
might as well start talking about earthquakes. We're actually gonna talk with the chief mitigation officer with the California Earthquake Authority to find out what we can do now and get some help monetarily to get it done, to prepare. Also, Amy's on it. I'm on Award nominated movies as we lead up to the SAG and the Academy Awards. This one's got a lot of buzz. It's about a big change in both appearance and in spirits that's coming up at the bottom of the hour. I think you're kinda
want to hear it. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Rain has arrived in parts of southern California. Officials in LA are urging people to prepare for possible mud and debrief flows, especially in the Burn areas. Hey The alertsvariously here. National Weather Service meteorologist doctor Ariel Cohen says the weather conditions could be dangerous, with the main concern being from two pm Tomorrow through two am Friday.
We're looking at very intense rainfall rates to bring the potential for significant debris flows.
Now we're not saying that they're definitely going to happen.
We're saying right now approximately a fifty to seventy percent chance of that activity.
He says people should be prepared and have a plan in case they need to evacuate. The La County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to crack down on price gougers in the wake of the wildfire.
See maximum civil fine four. Price gouging is temporarily increasing from ten thousand to fifty thousand dollars for each violation. Supervisor Lindsay Hornfath says the motion aims to protect renters and consumers from getting exploited during a time of crisis.
On Mark Mayfield, some business owners in La may get a break on their taxes.
The city council has approved a sixty day tax filing waiver for businesses destroyed or disrupted by the wildfires. Councilwoman Unisses Hernandez says some businesses lost their tax documents and equipment needed a file.
By passing measures like this, we both s are a collective safety net and ensure that the protections we are creating actually meet the needs of the people who we're designing them for.
The decision could cost the city an estimated eight million dollars in tax revenue. Any business that re establishes itself after destruction would be treated as a new business and would not file taxes until January next year. Michael Monks KFI News.
The California Insurance Department says the Fair Plan, which provides homeowners insurance for people who can't get private coverage, needs another one billion dollars to pay claims from the fires in LA. The department says major private insurance companies that pay into the plan will have to bear half of the cost, but then can pass that cost onto policyholders. The Fair Plan is for people whose properties are deemed too risky to ensure. Waiting to check in with ABC's
Jordana Miller, and there she is is in Jerusalem. Good morning, Jordana. Just when things seemed to be going well, things are now on the verge of falling apart again. So what's going on?
Well, well, I certainly hope not. You know, in the last hour or so, we've seen new images of trucks carrying caravans towards Gaza. That was one of the Hamasa's complaints why they initially said we will not release the hostages on Saturday. You know, Israel and the other partners in the steal have not lived up to their obligations. We have not received any caravans or enough tents. Remember, there's nowhere for many most gosins to live, so these
caravans are quite important. Now we're seeing the first images that caravans are moving towards the Gaza Strip. That means that we are getting some resolution on this. And despite all of the threats and the you know, the deadlines, whether it's from the American president, from President Trump or the Israelis, it looks like we're moving towards resolution. We're going to it looks like we're moving towards getting through
this big, big bump. You know, it is true that the Israeli Prime Minister said, if we don't get our hostages Saturday, we're going to resume the war. We're going to go back into the Gaza Strip. But for the Israelis, they only need to see three hostages come out on Saturday for the deal to still be intact. Right, the President Trump is saying all the hostages and these Raelies are just kind of staying away from that. Oh, that
would be nice, that would be great. Sure, we want all the hostages out, but we know Hamas is not going to turn over all nine living hostages from this part of the deal. Now we're only just a little more than halfway through phase one, so if these issues of aid can get resolved, then we'll hope, God willing, we'll see Hamas released three hostages on Saturday, the Israelis will release pal standing prisoners, and then we'll be at another point where the sides have to discuss what's coming next.
So they haven't are they starting to talk about phase two yet or are they holding off to make sure that phase one is carried out well.
According to the deal, during phase one, phase two talks are supposed to start, right, So the Israelis say, we've started to talk about phase two with the Americans, with the mediators, but Hamas is saying, well, we haven't really sat down at a table where our negotiators are talking to your negotiators, right, So it hasn't been a real indirect round yet of negotiations. And the Israeli Prime Minister said yesterday we're not going to talk about the second
round yet. Like you want to pull out of letting the hostages out, We're going to pull out of the talks. So everything could begin again after Saturday, or in a worst case scenario, I mean, we see the Israeli army go back into Gaza this weekend.
Okay, and uh, you've said that they're positioning themselves now for that, for just in case. Is that still the case that they're kind of massing again near the near Gaza.
Yeah, they are, they are, These Erali troops are have they boosted their presence along the southern part of Israel near the Gaza border. They've also called up reservists, uh, you know, there are. They're they're working out several different contingency plans in case everything falls apart, and that includes some kind of you know, surprise attack even from Amas right now. So we're gonna we're gonna have to you know, I think both sides still have a vested interest in
keeping the deal afloat. So I don't think we're going to see it fall apart right now. Could it fall apart next week, yes, but right now, I think you know, Hamas still wants some of their Palestinian prisoners released. They still want to look like they're the ones championing, you know, getting in aid for the people of Goazas. They want to sort of rebuild their support among Gosen. So I don't think the deal is going to fall apart right now.
But there are serious challenges to Phase two, which the size are supposed to be talking about, which hasn't even begun, So that doesn't bode well for the you know, for what's coming next.
All right, well, we will continue to watch and hope that they continue to make progress. ABC's Jordanna Miller in Jerusalem. Thank you so much for the information. We'll talk again soon.
Thanks suck soon.
Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Russia says one of its citizens has been freed and a swap for released American Mark Foegel. The American teacher, was arrested in twenty twenty one in charges of having medical marijuana in Russia in his suitcase. He returned to the US yesterday with Special Envoy for President Trump, Steve Whitcoff, and met with Trump at the White House.
I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now, and I want you to know that I am not a hero.
In this at all.
National Security Advisor Michael Walls says the US and Russia negotiated the exchange, but didn't give any details. President Trump said another American hostage is going to be released today. The Trump administration has cut some federal jobs outside of its efforts to shrink the government.
Four FEMA officials fired yesterday after must Claim Dosche found tens of millions of dollars were spent by the agency on housing migrants in New York hotels. Massive cuts also announced that the Department of Education worth nearly nine hundred million dollars.
ABC's Perry Russim says the White House also fired the Inspector General for USAID. Several brands of canned tuna sold at Costco, Trader Joe's, Walmart, and other stores are being recalled. ABC's Chuck Siebertson says try Union Seafoods is recalling its products because of a can defect that could potentially cause botulism contamination.
The recall effects can tuna sold under the Genova, Van Camps, HB, and Trader Joe's brand names. According to the company, there have been no illnesses reported in connection to the recalled products.
Customers are being encouraged to return the recalled cans to the store for a full refund or just throw them out. Disneyland is facing a class action lawsuit over DAS that's its Disability Access service. Kfi's Daniel Martindale says the lawsuit, filed on Monday, claims guests with physical disabilities are disproportionately excluded from using DAS to skip lines for attractions.
The lawsuit challenges the changes Disneyland made to DAS last summer to cut down on the amount of people misusing the system. The new guidelines limit DIAS usage primarily to guests with developmental disabilities.
The lawsuit is asking the judge to make Disney mudify so that people with all types of disabilities can bypass long waits in lines. Toyota is recalling more than one hundred thousand Pacoma pickups.
Model years twenty, twenty four and twenty five because mud or dirt may wear through break hoses, causing a fluid leak, which could reduce braking and ultimately increase the risk of a crash.
I think I said Pacoma, I meant Tacoma. ABC's check Seversin says Toyota owners will be notified by early April and dealers will replace both rear break hoses for free. NASA says two astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station since last summer are going to be brought back to Earth a couple weeks sooner than previously announced. The Space Agency had said it was targeting a return date of late March, butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams went to space
aboard the Boeing star Liner in June. They were supposed to be up for a week, but they couldn't come back on the spacecraft because of leaks and chanical issues, and they were only supposed to be there.
For a week.
But it's been about nine months now. I would imagine they would be excited to touch Terra Firma again. Last week we went out and about to the Pasadena Humane to check out what is going on there and see the great work that they are doing to save and take care of the animals caught up in the wildfires. And I just wanted to remind you that that video is posted on Instagram at amy K King if you want to get a look at you've got some just
cats with their little paws burned. The good news is they're getting better and Pasadena Humane has reopened adoptions, so if you are looking to adopt, you can do that again. They had to shut everything down for about a month as they were taking in hundreds and hundreds of animals. Again, it's at Amy K. King and would love it if
you would follow me as well. Power is back on for nearly all of the homes and businesses affected by the wildfire in Pacific Palisades, La Mayor bassas crews are still working to restore the power or to some of the area's hit hardest by the fires. Bass says progress is also being made on restoring water service to affected areas. An eighteen year old from Lancaster has been senced to four years in federal prison for making over three hundred
and seventy five so called swatting or threatening calls. He was arrested in California last month. Prosecutors say he called churches, high schools, universities, individuals, and government officials around the US threatening to have bombs detonated or to carry out mass shootings. Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show is the most watched ever. Rock Nation says the performance drew one hundred thirty three
point five million viewers. That breaks the record of one hundred thirty three point four million set by Michael Jackson in nineteen ninety three. Lamar is set to launch a Stadium World tour with Siza in April. At six oh five, it's handle on the news. Elon was in the oval with the President to talk about downsizing the federal government. Is going to tell us about that. Right now, let's say good morning to the host of Rich on Tech
on KFI KTLA's tech reporter rich Demiro. Rich, I have to ask you a question before we dig into our topics.
Today, Sure, and it's well if we have an answer.
Well, I figured if anybody would, you would, and I'm guessing that other people may be having this issue too. So I've got my iPhone right and it's a Sure fifteen Max Pro and sometimes when I open the email, you get those little boxes with the question mark that's basically blocking the pictures. Is there a way to clear that out so they come up? Because sometimes if I restart the phone, they'll come up, but sometimes they just don't show up, and it's annoying.
That sounds like it's a connection issue at the time. So if they come up afterwards, it might just be that you're in an area that it's not loading those pictures.
That's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head.
Okay, see Ice.
But I'd have to send me a screenshot so I can investigate.
I will do that. That's why we have see I use you as my personal tech issue guy. So let's talk about something that everybody can probably relate to, and that is that YouTube says that TVs have overtaken mobile for viewing, so we're watching less on our little phones and more on big screens.
Well, I don't know about less. I don't think YouTube would want to say less on little phones, I think And here's the distinction here. So they're going by watch minutes and so if you ask me, of course you're going to be watching more on TV because you're watching longer, right, Like you're probably watching like longer form content on TV. So that makes it, you know, just overall, watch time is longer on TV than it is on mobile. But
I still think people are on mobile a lot. But of course, you know this is all because of TikTok. You know, they're trying to position themselves as hey, we are still a force here, we are still very strong and YouTube is very important as by the way, they are celebrating twenty years this year, which oh my gosh, twenty years of YouTube, and so they talked about in
this recent blog post. They just kind of go through all these things about how YouTube is such a big business and how content creation is so huge, and it's pretty wild because some of these creators, you know, they have studios and you know, a lot of staff. I mean, it's pretty wild how many businesses have been built on the.
Back of YouTube, which is pretty cool.
Okay, I would rather watch it on a big screen. I'm tired of looking at stuff on my phone. I don't know. Do you ever get phone fatigue?
Oh yeah, no, No.
Well it's funny because I'm kind of depends on the day, but sometimes I'm too lazy to turn on my TV to open up YouTube, so I will literally just go on my phone.
And I do that with this with my computer. I'm like, I should go and look up this on my computer, and I'm like, oh, but then I have to go into the other room and I can just do it here.
Yeah, we're lazy, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, So for people who have multiple Apple accounts, a time of consolidation has arrived.
Yeah, and this is kind of a big shift. So I don't know about you, But I've had two Apple accounts since like day one, because you didn't realize when you set up your original account just how much of your life would be linked to that account. And so when I set mine up, I use this random email address, and ever since then, because I started buying things on
that account, I've had to stick to that one forever. Well, now they say if you have two Apple accounts with different purchases and things between them, Apple has a way for you to consolidate them, so you can actually move
the content from one account to another. So pick your favorite and then you can go into Settings, Media and Purchases and tap view account and then there's like a new migrate purchases option, So basically you can move everything over to the new account or the you know, whichever account you prefer, and then you can use that from now on. So this is kind of a big shift because for many years it's been kind of tough to change things about your Apple account, including your email address.
So I'm all for this.
Okay, Well, yeah, less is more in my opinion, And I just mentioned to Wake Up Call listeners that there is a reason that they need to get their news from us here on KFI and that's because AI gets it wrong. Sometimes it gets it wrong.
A lot, And as someone who uses AI on a daily basis, my kid last night too, was just laughing at some of the things that it gets wrong, and it does it with confidence. And I think that's the scary part, is that you don't know if it's wrong
unless you know what's wrong about it. BBC did a study and they looked at CHATCHBT Copilot from Microsoft, Gemini from Google, and Perplexity and they basically fed them stories from the BBC website and then kind of had journalists look and see what was right and what was wrong. And they said there were significant inaccuracies and distortions and if one percent of all AI answers to questions about the news had significant issues, nineteen percent of AI answers had factual errors.
And who did the best, well, who did the worst?
Microsoft's Copilot and Google's Gemini, Chat GPT and Perplexity did a little bit better.
Okay, So here's a question for you, rich. If you say you want chat GPT to give you a news story or something, can you then ask the AI to fact check check itself.
You can, Yes, you can, and it will go and take a second look on Google. They actually have this built in, so Google knew that this was a problem. And so if you look at any answer from Gemini, there is a little Google search button at the bottom and if you tap that, it will go through and
fact check everything. So oh interesting, they changed it. They actually now it says double check response on Google, so if you tap that, it will then search Google for the response and highlight any inaccuracies or errors.
So it's kind of smart in that aspect.
With chat GBT, you could just ask to reconsider, say hey, can you check that, check those facts.
And we'll go out and double check them that way.
So he's kind of like Sanna making a list in checking it twice.
Yeah, but not automatically.
So the reality is these things just come up with answers sometimes that they seem like they're right and they're not.
Okay, so make sure to be careful you do double check, okay. KF tech guy is rich Demiro and you can hear him every Saturday from eleven to two right here. It's rich on Tech and you can also see him on KTLA. You can follow him on Instagram at rich on tech and you can get information about all the stuff he talks about on his website. Rich On tech dot TV.
Thank you, rich Damuro, Thanks Amy, have a great day you too.
A mix of snow, freezing rain, and ice from another big winter storm has causing a lot of trouble across parts of the East Coast. ABC's Eefany Ramo says there have been white out conditions in Virginia and up to a foot of snow.
Multiple tractor trailers stranded along inner Streets eighty one and sixty four near Stanton, the governor declaring a state of emergency. Traffic cameras on I ninety five showing multiple accidents near Richmond.
She says in Washington, d C. Snow has been falling at about an inch per hour. We're also expecting a lot of snow in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Different storm, obviously. A man from Compton has pleaded not guilty to causing a multi vehicle crash that killed a Manhattan Beach Police motorcycle officer. Police Ay Raymond Sanders didn't secure boxes on his truck. The boxes fell off and that caused a crash with three other vehicles and motorcycle
officer Chad Swanson. In October of twenty twenty three, Swanson was thrown from his bike and died. Sanders could face a year in jail if convicted. A thirty three year old man has pleaded no contest to charges that he pistol whipped a seventy one year old woman in her home in Beverly Grove and stole a bunch of her jewelry. Dylan Clinkey was immediately sentenced to ten years in state
prison for the home invasion. In August of twenty twenty two, Wrapper Asap Rocky has decided not to testify in his gun assault trial. His defense rested yesterday without Rocky taking the stand. Asap is charged with two felony counts of assault with a semi automatic firearm. His lawyers say he was carrying a prop gun when a fight broke out on a street in Hollywood in November of twenty twenty one.
National Weather Service meteorologist Ariel Cohen is urging people not to ignore the flood warning ahead of an atmospheric river storm. Cohen says there could be life threatening mud and debris flows in the wildfire burn areas from two pm tomorrow through Friday at two am, k Rail's sandbags and compost socks are being set up to try to minimize damage
from flooding. The La County Board of Supervisors has approved a motion to increase the penalty for price gouging dirty states of emergency to a maximum of fifty thousand dollars per violation. Right now it's ten thousand. The vote comes following reports of landlords and businesses jacking up prices after the wildfires. Costco has become the latest retailer to limit egg purchases. Shoppers have been seen on video recently loading up carts with eggs, which are in short supply because
of bird flu. Costco has been selling out at times after about ten minutes. Customers are now limited to three packages of eggs per day. At six oh five, it's handle on the news. Twenty four hundred new JFK assassination records have been discovered. What do they say? And will we get to see them? Bill, We'll tell you.
AMI's on it, Dami's on this, AA's on it, Gami's on it?
What am I on? I'm mostly on the stream shows movies, documentaries, and every once in a while step outside and go see a movie or read a book. But this week I'm on award nominated movies because we have the Academy Awards coming up on March second, and then the SAG Awards are in a couple of weekends. I think February twenty third is the date, and so I wanted to make sure that I, well, I am a SAG member, so I wanted to make sure that I see all the movies so I can make an informed decision when
I cast my boat my vote. So this week I am on Amelia Perez. It's on Netflix, so if you have Netflix, you don't have to pay extra to see it. Some of the movies either aren't available yet on streaming or you have to rent them or buy them and they're up to like twenty bucks. But this one is included in your Netflix. Zoe Saldana, who's already won a Golden Globe for this movie. Selena Gomez is in it. Carla Sophia Gascone is in it, nominated for Best Actress.
It's a musical, a musical and not like a happy Joy Joy musical, but it's a musical about a transgender journey. It's kind of like it's a story of regret and a hope for a new existence and a new future, and there it turns out there is dark redemption for Amelia Perez. So the movie looks into the cartels and
it's really fascinating. I will tell you up front, I did not expect to like this movie, but it's it shows the cartels, what they do to people, how people don't really matter because it's all about the drug trade and takes a closer look at that and how people just are really collateral damage. And it was a lot more compelling and interesting that I thought it would be. It kind of sheds the light on how far reaching control of the cartels go in Mexico, how the drug
trade is tied to every level of society. And this movie has lots of surprises, lots of unexpected plot twists. There are also some very uncomfortable moments when you are wondering if something is going to happen, and then that leads to something unexpected. So I do like when a movie kind of grips you and has you maybe not on the edge of your seat, but you're kind of sitting there going will is that going to happen? Is that going to happen, So it keeps you really engaged
in that. And again, it's a it's a transgender journey. You know that from the get go that somebody's going to make the transition, and it's all about that, and obviously it's Carlo Sophia Gascon, but her transformation is fascinating in the movie. And then the big question is can a tiger change its stripes? I mean, can you can you teach an old dog nude trips tricks? And can there be a happy ending for someone who lived a
very violent and tragic past. So it's going to also be interesting to see if the controversy over the old social media posts from Carlos Sophia Scone is going to keep SAG members and Academy members from voting for this movie. So she's pretty much been canceled. But is that going to spin over to the movie and what it can do now because voting is underway, you know, like I said, Zoe Saldona, Saldona who is nominated and she's already won a Golden Glo Globe and she does a great job.
I mean, like everybody does a really good job in this movie. And it's a dark movie. And it's a musical, which is so counterintuitive, but it was a really good watch. I'm on it. I think you might want to be as well. Okay, let's get on to money stuff and check in with Bloomberg's Courtney Donaho. Good morning, Courtney morning.
We are sitting here looking at the Consumer Price Report this morning that just came out moments ago, and that's why we have you.
And it was it was ugly.
Now it was what happens well.
This report is sponsored by Fidelity Wealth Management. Want to point that out first, but inflation has been more stubborn than expected.
We talk about this all the time. I'm looking right at you.
Eggs for consumer prices, which excludes food and energy, that increased three point three percent from a year ago, much more than what economists were expecting. Overall CPI, which has food and energy in the calculation, that's up by three percent. That was also more than estimate. So we're seeing these readings that were hotter than expected. Shelter costs that was
a big driver, car insurance, airfares too. And of course I have to point out the egg index that rose by fifteen percent, the motions twenty fifteen that wasn't a surprise, but yeah, stocks are taking a dive after that. Dow futures right now down four hundred and thirty five points.
Okay, So Corney, when you see big stuff like this and obviously a bad report and the stocks take a huge dive, people shouldn't panic, right.
No, No, but this report is not looking all that good for the Federal Reserve, and it may stoke a lot of speculation out there that the potential next move from the Central Bank might be higher, not lowered, that they'd raise interest rates not drop them as we've been going through recently.
And don't forget that fed shir J. Powell.
He's on Capitol Hill for his second day of his marathon testimony. He speaks to the House, so I'm sure he's going to be addressing this situation today in this report, and I'm sure Congress is going to be asking him about this because this is definitely hitting us all in our pocketbooks, I think, more than what investors are seeing when we go to the gas station, when we go to the grocery store. Lots of people are feeling pain right now, and we could see it in reports like this.
Okay, So someone who's not feeling pain is Drake because he's winning big when it comes to Dave's Out Chicken.
Yes, yes, he may be losing to Kendrick Lamar in his feud, but he's looking like a winner with his investment in Dave's Hot Chicken. So the Fried Chicken chain and the Chicken chain's known for its Nashville Hot Chicken, which we love.
It's said to be exploring a potential sale.
It could value the company at about a billion dollars. That's according to Reuter's. So he came on as an investor back in twenty twenty one.
So he's gonna he'll come out smelling like a rose on that one.
Yeah, and a lot of other big names are in this too, Samuel L. Jackson. I know Usher has a couple of.
Franchises too, So there's gonna be a lot of people making some money on this if this is sold.
Yeah, how can you go wrong when it comes to Hot Chicken? God, I love that stuff. Bloomberg's Courtney Donahoe, thank you so much. We get to talk to Courtney every day so she can keep us up on what's going on with our money. And we'll talk to her again tomorrow. Thanks Courtney, see you later. All right, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Senate Republicans have met in private with Borders are Tom Holman and newly minted OMB director Russ Fott to talk about new funding to secure the border. Budget Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham says they made the case for a plan that would see one hundred and seventy five billion dollars over four years allocated to shoring up the border. After hearing these two gentlemen, we're living on board time.
I've never been more worried about a terrorist attack on our homeland than I am now.
It comes as the House and Senator working on but on a budget bill that would fund the government passed next month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanielle, who is threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire with Hamas and less more hostages held in Gaza are released as scheduled on Saturday. Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement and
saying the release would be postponed. President Trump said this week that all the hostages should be released by noon on Saturday, not just a few at a time.
Those people have been badly hurt, both mentally and physically.
I'm talking about the young women that came.
Out also previously, and I think one of the reasons they're doing.
This is because they're probably sending the best.
So far, sixteen of thirty three hostages scheduled to be released in the current phase of the agreement have been freed by hamas some appeared emaciated. And we on a happier note, Monty the Giant Schnauzer has one Best in Show at the one hundred and forty ninth Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Monty beat out about twenty five hundred dogs for more than two hundred breeds to take the title at Madison Square Garden last night. And I didn't know this. They get ribbons and all that stuff, but
they don't get a monetary win. It's just because for the love of dogs. I love that. A fast moving storm is moving on shore and is expected to dump up to six inches of rain in some parts of the state. Crews have been putting in k rails and creating troughs to divert rain that could trigger mud slides. And flooding, especially in the Palisades and eat and burn areas. Kanye West's website has been taken offline after he used a Super Bowl ad to try to sell swastika t
shirts on its site. Shopify said the merchant did not, in its words, engage in authentic commerce practices and violated its terms, so it was removed from Shopify. Super Bowl ad followed a bunch of anti semitic posts on West social media last weekend. California lawmakers have introduced several bills to crack down on the sale of puppies from out
of state puppy mills. Assembly Member Mark Berman says his bill would close the loophole in the state's pet retail band by preventing brokers from shipping or selling dogs to consumers in California. We're just minutes away from handle. On the news this morning, the Fair Insurance Plan says it needs a billion dollars. Guess who's going to be giving it to them. So we've had the fires, the floods could be coming, and so now it is time to
bolt up. And it doesn't have anything to do with the LA Chargers joining wakeup call is the chief Mitigation officer for the California Earthquake Authority. Let's say good morning to Janille Mfay. Morning.
Janille, good morning, Thank you for having me.
Thanks so much for coming on. I know that we had talked about this in the past, but now this new program is becoming available starting tomorrow, and we want to get the word out so people take advantage of it. And it's going to help protect your home against an earthquake.
It's right. The Earthquake Brace and Bolt program is open and ready for registrations. It's an important opportunity to make your house more resistant to earthquake damage.
Okay, so it's called earthquake Brace and Bolt. So tell us what exactly we need to do and what the money goes to. How do people make their homes safer? Right?
So this is so very important for older houses, and to be more specific, if you have a pre nineteen eighty house, you might have this vulnerability. If you have a pre nineteen forty house, you do have this vulnerability. And it's the house that has a crawl space under it,
under that first floor. And the older houses were just designed and built before we knew a lot about how buildings performed in earthquakes, and so it lacks bolting to the foundation and bracing around those short little walls around the crawl space, and this can be very, very devastating. These houses come off their foundation, not yet reoccupied, two and a half years later and you're out somewhere else, living somewhere else, all the while still paying that mortgage.
So earthquake Brace and Bolt has some great retrofit schemes to make your house more protected in an earthquake.
Okay, so Janelle, And it's as simple. I mean, I'm sure it's not like I can't do it myself, but it's as simple as bolting the foundation and like putting the foundation and the house together so when there's a significant shaking, the house doesn't bounce off the foundation.
That's exactly right. And you know, maybe Amy, you and I couldn't do it, but there are some talented do it yourselfers who actually can do this work. People who you have already got the tools of contractor can do this in two to three days. It's really it's all under the house, and nobody's patting around your house and little booties and that's exactly right. They're going under the house and they're putting bolts between the wood part of
the house and the concrete foundation. And then they're putting plywood. If you've got those short little stud walls, they're putting plywood and nailing it up. Like everybody's heard the term shear wall. Just nice stiff plywood that's going to keep that house over its foundation.
Okay, and you can get help doing this because obviously it's not going to be free, but the California Earthquake Authority can help you pay for this.
It's exactly right. What we have are grants. These are not loans, they're grants, and on average it's about fifty two hundred dollars retrofit, a little bit less expensive actually in southern California, and we have an up to three thousand dollars grant that's our typical grant, and then very importantly for income qualifying households, we have an additional supplemental grant that down in southern California can help and for
many people might pay for the entire retrofit. So very important also is that we have the rules, and the rules are that you do a code compliant retrofit. You do the entire cross space you do it with a permit, and you significantly increase the likelihood that house is going
to stay on its foundation in an earthquake. Lots of information, Our rules are going to keep you right there at that code compliant retrofit, and that permit process will keep you on schedule, and it's a grant and really really increase the likelihood that you can shelter in place after an earthquake.
I love that, so kind of an ounce of prevention. Spend a little bit now, a little bit of time, and hopefully get some grant to help you with it and save your house from probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Where do they get more information, Janille?
So Earthquake bracebolt dot com registration open until March twenty six, and we've got fantastic people the other end of a phone or email if you have questions.
Okay, great Janille Mfi with the California Earthquake Authority, the chief Mitigation Officers. Such great information again, Earthquake brace Bolt. Find out if your house is going to get one of those grants to make your house more earthquakes safe. Thanks Janael, thank you, such good information. Just think about it. I mean even if you had to pay for the whole thing yourself, which she say, five thousand dollars, but it'll keep your whole house from bouncing off the foundation.
I mean, think of how much money that is going to save you, and especially if you can get a grant and get it paid for. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The LA School District has been sued over how it spent taxpayer approved money that was supposed to go to arts education. The suit, filed by former LA School's chief Austin Butner and others, claims the district repeatedly violated state law by misusing millions of dollars and
misrepresenting how the money was spent. Voters approved money for arts education in schools in twenty twenty two. Hundreds of illegal swatting calls have been pinned on a guy from Lancaster.
Eighteen year old Alan Fillion has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for making more than three hundred and seventy five fake calls to police that sent swat teams to churches, schools, and homes. Prosecutors say even set up a swatting for higher scheme looking to make money replaced all over the country over a fifteen month period, with Pillion making threats about bombs or mass shootings. He pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges. Michael Monks KFI News.
The attorney who represented the man whose beatings sparked the La riots, is heading to prison for tax evasion. A federal judge sentenced William Grimes to eighteen months for failing to pay almost two and a half million dollars in taxes. Grimes won a three point eight million dollars civil claim in nineteen ninety four on behalf of Rodney King. King
died in twenty twelve. This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County Southland weather from KFI rain with highs in the middubber fifties at the beaches Metro LA and Inland OC, mid fifties in the valleys and Inland Empire forties and fifties in the Antelote Valley. Rain continues tonight, then the rain becomes heavy at times with
gusty winds. Tomorrow heisibly in the fifties to about sixty more rain on the way Friday should start tapering off by the afternoon and then for the week weekend partly to mostly cloudy. It's fifty four in Anaheim, fifty three in Redondo Beach, fifty three and Soritos, and fifty in Sherman Oaks. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call, and if you missed any wake up call, you missed a lot. You can listen anytime on the
iHeart Radio app. Maybe get some tech advice from our tech guy, Rich Timuro, or find out how you can help get your house earthquake ready with the California Earthquake Authority. Get more information on that 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.