You're listening to wake Up Call on demand from KFI AM six forty KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your morning wake up.
Call, and good morning.
This is your wake up call for Thursday, January two, twenty twenty five. It is five o'clock in the morning. I'm Michael Monks, sitting in for Amy King again. You know, despite the tragic start to the new year in America, I hope you had time to enjoy your family and your friends, find some time to feel optimistic about what's ahead for you, maybe feel some gratitude. Rough day yesterday all around the country, lots of bad stuff happening, and I'm the guy who gets to tell you this morning
there's more. So we'll get through this together, and surely there are better days ahead in twenty twenty five. But for now, just find some space for yourself, keep your head on straight, and let's dig into what's going on in the United States of America today. Here's what's a head on wake up call. We got lots of developments in that terrorist attack at New Orleans and the cyber truck explosion in Las Vegas. In just a few moments, we'll dig into what happened outside the Trump Hotel in
Las Vegas where the cyber truck exploded. ABC News investigative reporter Peter Harlambus he'll join us with the latest in that investigation. We've learned more about the man who killed fifteen people in New Orleans by ramming his rented pickup truck in a busy street in the French Quarter. ABC News National correspondent Steven Portnoy will join us. He'll have all the details on what did happen and what is happening now in New Orleans in terms of that investigation.
And then later this hour, it's been eighty years today since Japanese American families were released from internment camps here in the US where they were placed during World War Two. One family returned to their home in East LA where they had roots for decades before and in the decades since. We'll talk with one man who is still keeping the family's experience alive in East LA and he'll talk about
why that story should continue to be told. And then at the top of the hour six oh five, we've got handle on the news, we'll dig more deeply into some of these stories and other stories serious and otherwise six oh five. Wayne Resnik is in for Bill for the rest of the week. I'll join Wayne for that six o'clock hour, and hope you can join us as well. We'll start now with some stories coming out of the
KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Another person has been found dead on a freeway in La This time it was on the five near Link Heights, where the CHP responded just before two o'clock this morning. The body was found partially in the right lane and right shoulder on the northbound side at Broadway. Multiple lanes had to be shut down for the investigation. Yesterday morning, a man with no pants on was hit by a car and killed while
walking on the one ten near downtown La. And a man has died after crashing his SUV into a horse trailer on the sixty Freeway and Diamond Bar. The twenty year old driver's vehicle overturned in the hov lane on the eastbound side near Golden Springs. Drive Jose Santos and Alasko died at the scene. A driver and passenger in the pickup that was pulling the horse trailer were not injured.
How about the price of eggs. The price of a dozen eggs in California has jumped to nearly nine dollars in some areas due to high demand and eight bird flew outbreak. The US Department of Agriculture has noted that the average price for large eggs has risen by seventy eight cents to eight dollars and ninety seven cents per dozen, largely because of reduced supply. The FDA reported a four percent drop in egg production in November that is also driven up the prices. Here's some good news, maybe for
younger people in your lives. Students in California may find themselves with less homework. The Healthy Homework Act, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, encourages school districts to create homework policies that consider students physical and mental well being, with input from parents, teachers, and students. While the law doesn't ban homework,
it aims to make it more manageable. The new law mandates that the California Department of Education post homework guidelines online for the next school year and requires school districts to create their own homework policies by the start of the twenty twenty seven school year. In addition to the tragic chaos in New Orleans, a second event happened in Las Vegas, where a Tesla cyber tr exploded outside the Trump Las Vegas Hotel. Who runs Tesla Elon Musk, whose
name is on the hotel the President elect. Musk and Trump have worked closely together since the election and plan to collaborate during the new administration on the Department of Government Efficiency. So was this also some kind of message. It's being investigated. ABC News investigative reporter Peter Harlambus joins us live from New York to discuss Peter, thank you for being with us this morning.
Thanks for having me.
So this Tesla explosion, this cyber truck explosion, does not look like it was an accident. What can you tell us about the scene that unfolded in Las Vegas.
It was really a shocking scene yesterday. According to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin Mchail, this was an isolated incident and there's no threat to the public. But these images they're seeing this cyber truck pull up loaded with firework style mortars, gas canisters, and fuel before it exploded underneath the Trump Hotel Las Vegas was certainly astounding to see. We know that the driver was killed in the attack and seven
were injured. Are now investigating any possible links between that incident at the Trump Hotel and that attack in New Orleans. As of this morning, there's no evidence linking the two, but there are concerning similarities, ranging from the fact that these were both attacks carried out with trucks on New Year's Day and they were rented through the same vehicle renting app.
I was going to ask about this vehicle renting app that's called Touro, And you know, obviously people use apps, and maybe people who are plotting separate crimes or acts of terror are not communicating with each other just because they have access to an app. But what is this app?
Yeah, so Touro is an app where you can rent a car like you would rent a room from someone via Airbnb. Anyone could list their car in assuming they have the proper insurance, and you can rent the fancier, more exotic vehicles, for example, like Tesla cyber trucks. At this point, though, investigators are saying this is isolated, that these weren't connected, or at least they haven't seen any
evidence connecting the two. The fact that this happened on New Year's Day and they were both rented through Truro at this point remains just a coincidence, though investigators are pursuing any possible lead.
What can you tell us about the person who died and signed the cyber truck?
So investigators haven't publicly named the suspect yet, but we do know some information about who rented this vehicle. It was rented by an Army veteran from Colorado Springs. Overnight, we saw atf agent searching that home that we believe belong to the suspect. Here, according to law enforcement, this suspect wasn't showing signs of allegiance to a particular group, unlike what we saw in New Orleans where the suspect
was inspired by ISIS. And we do know that he left Colorado Springs in the thirtieth He arrived in Las Vegas in the morning of New Year's Day, drove up and down the strip a number of times before pulling into this hotel and eventually having this car explode underneath a canopy. Interestingly, they haven't found a detonator among the wreckage, so they're trying to figure out how exactly these explosives were set off.
So similar to the attack in New Orleans, Peter, this was an Army veteran as well.
Yeah, based on what we know about who rented the vehicle, and again they haven't publicly named the suspect, so investigators haven't made that connection quite yet. We do believe it was rented by an Army veteran. I hope and I expect that today we'll learn a bit more about the suspect in this case, and if this person who rented the vehicle, it's the same person who died in the attack, will hopefully get some more information about their service record.
We don't know all the facts yet, obviously, as you just noted, but this is a Tesla cybertruck that exploded outside a Trump hotel. The symbolism of the moment seems clear to anyone who paid attention to the election last year. What are we learning, if anything, about why it happened where it did.
At that point. At this point, the motive of the fact that you're having, again this vehicle associated with Elon Musk exploding at a property associated with Donald Trump is a point of concern, but at this point an unanswered question for investigators. Whether there was any kind of political motivation is unknown. The image there of this smoldering trunk Trump truck underneath a Trump Hotel property is staggering. At
this point, Elon Musk is cooperating with investigators. Investigators have praised him for his help unlocking the vehicle and also getting surveillance footage. It's interesting as well. I mean, the cyber truck is a unique vehicle and it seems to absorb a lot of the damage from this explosion. There was very minimal damage to the actual Trump Hotel property.
I was just going to ask you about how Elon Musk helped. You mentioned there that he unlocked the vehicle and has helped with some surveillance. I think there was a charging station involved as well.
That's right. So Tesla has been cooperating with investigators. They provided them footage, especially from that charging location along the way. Law enforcement thanked Musk, and Musk has been kind of vital in putting out information about what they believe caused this in At first, there was a concern maybe this
was some kind of lithium ion battery explosion. That was quickly disproven, with Tesla confirming that all of the analytics from the truck suggested that it was improper function when it exploded, and that the explosion itself could be blamed on those fireworks style mortars. They also found gas canisters and fuel in that truck bed, suggesting that this was an intentional explosion.
Peter Harlambus's ABC News investigative reporter. He's joined us live this morning. Peter, Thank you so much for the time you gave us.
Thanks much for having me.
President Joe Biden has said he will award the nation's top honor excuse me, the nation's second highest civilian award on Liz Cheney and Benny Thompson, the lawmakers who led the congressional investigation into the violent January sixth, twenty twenty one riot at the US Capitol led by Donald Trump's supporters.
Trump has said Cheney and Thompson should be jailed. Biden will award the Presidential Doesn't Medal to them and eighteen other people today, including Americans who fought for same sex marriage, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and former US Senators Ted Kaufman of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, longtime friends of the President, movie tickets haven't sold as well in the past year. The annual domestic box office is expected to end up at around eight point seven billion dollars,
down three percent from the year before. In the pre pandemic norm the annual box office regularly surpassed eleven billion dollars. But industry experts have said there are some lessons to be learned from what worked, including PG rated and animated movies and re releases, and what didn't work, like the Joker sequel, So we'll see how Hollywood does this upcoming year.
Early films from Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock, and Clara Bow have all entered the public domain this year, so if you're interested in making a movie of your own or any other type of creative use with those titles, it's all yours. As of yesterday, the copyright expired for thousands of titles from nineteen twenty nine, making them free for public use. That includes many audio recordings from twenty nine, including the original Singing in the Rain, George Gershwin's An
American in Paris, and Ravel's Bolero. Early classic books from William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and Virginia woolf are now also in the public domain, as is the comic strip character Popeye. Ten people shot outside a nightclub in New York City. Police have said four men on foot approached a group of fifteen people ranging in age from sixteen to twenty outside the club in Jamaica, Queens. Three of those men open fire. Police have said that this was not an
act of terrorism. The suspects are still on the loose. The suspect in a cold case murder in Moore Park will go on trial later this month. He's seventy three year old Anchwan Nime of Victorvilleent. He's facing several charges, including first degree murder. He's accused of killing seventy one year old Dennis Leroy Wood back in April of two thousand and four. Wood was found shot to death inside his home in Moore Park. Prosecutor say name killed him
for financial gain. Lebron James's youngest son, Bryce, has committed to play basketball for the University of Arizona. The seventeen year old shooting guard will head to Tucson in the fall. James is currently a student at Campbell Hall High School in the San Fernando Valley. He played at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth before transferring to Campbell Hall this past May. Of course, Lebron James's oldest son, Bronnie, plays in the Lakers organization now. He was drafted by the
team in twenty twenty four. Camerrillo High School will be retiring the jersey of one of its most famous alumni. The number twenty four jersey of Miami Heat star Jamie
Hakez Junior will be excuse me, Jamie Hakez Junior. His jersey will be retired on January fourteenth, the honor his schedule during the Heat's trip out here to LA for games against both the Lakers and the Clippersky has starred at camar Rio High School before moving on to UCLA, where he finished his college career as one of the ten best players in school history in terms of points scored, steals, and games played. Hakez was a first round draft pick
for the Heat in twenty twenty three. This is his second NBA season. You see, if we have our guests, where we do not have our guests, we will be having a live report about the latest in the investigation in what's happened in New Orleans. What's going on around New Orleans both yesterday and today. We'll have that for you coming up as as soon as we have found ourselves connected to that. Of course, the attack in New Orleans killed fifteen people, injured many more. Also canceled a
football game. A lot of people were in town to celebrate New Year's. A lot of people were in town to celebrate the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame. We'll get an update on the status of that situation next, but for now, I believe we are ready for our live connection. The man who drove a rented pickup truck into a crowd of New Year's celebrants in the famous French Quarter of New Orleans was reportedly inspired by the Islamic State. He had an ISIS flag on the truck.
So we'll talk about this forty two year old Army veteran from Texas who was killed by police during this chaos. The case is being investigated as an act of terror. Our national correspondent Rory O'Neill joins US now Live. Rory, what have we learned about this man? Yeah, good morning.
Well, we know he's born and raised in Texas, was living in Texas at the time of this attack, and that he served in the US Army and actually was deployed to Afghanistan for a time. He had some business problems, was trying to use his IT skills and apply it to real estate somehow, but wound up with a chunk of debt and an ex wife who was costing him
a lot of money. So we know he's also had a couple of arrests in his past, a dui, some other things, nothing violent, however, But exactly what turned him to go from a man who once defended America to attacking it That we don't know yet.
There were a lot of posts of his circulating on social media. This was a guy who made some tweets, made some LinkedIn post all seemed rather benign or maybe just a little curious. And so you're saying, we don't know exactly what might have pushed him over the edge here, But what do we know about these alleged connections to a terror organization?
Well, right, so the big question, We're going to hear this a lot, so everyone watch out for this. You're going to hear ISIS inspired, right, So he and he had the ISIS flag, So was it ISIS inspired or was it ISIS directed? And there's a big difference there because you know, one, he may be trying to act as a lone wolf and try to do this on
his own to curry favor with ISIS. But if it's ISIS directed, that means that the terror organization was somehow either influencing him, giving him money, trying to convert him to attack his own home country. So I think those are the two things that the FBI is trying to find the distinction right now as to just how much ISIS may have been involved as a terror organization. And then are there links to what happened in New Orleans with that explosion of the cyber truck outside the Trump
Hotel in Las Vegas. Both of them involved US Army veterans. Both of these men served at one point at the same Army base. Not sure if they ever crossed paths, but at some point they both served at the same base. They both use the same app to rent a high end pickup truck to be available for them on New Year's even New Year's Day, So coincidence or conspiracy.
Yes, we will find out. I know there are investigations underway in both places and hopefully we will learn very soon. I'm hoping Rory, that you can describe the scene for us. It was obviously an immense tragedy and I've seen a video clip of that truck starting to plow into folks. It happened so fast. What can you tell us about that scene?
Right the security camera footage is starting to come out from some of the places that are located there on Bourbon Street. It is an area that has a lot of surveillance footage, so they'll be going through a lot of that and that's going to take time. But just the speed I've seen a couple of videos, the speed that truck was able to achieve on that busy, crowded street, even though three o'clock in the morning after New Year's Eve, a lot of the folks were starting to wind things down.
But a gruesome scene to be sure, because after the truck was stopped, of course, there was an exchange of gunfire. You know, we've talked about the fifteen people who were killed. More than thirty others still in the hospital. We don't know who was hit by, who was injured by the truck, who was injured by gunfire. Vice versa. We haven't seen that breakdown just yet, but we do know that the FBI has freed up the crime scene. So right now,
the sanitation crews are up Bourbon Street. It's going to be up to the police superintendent there in New Orleans and the mayor of New Orleans to decide if they are ready to reopen Bourbon Street, maybe later today, just a few hours ahead of the Sugar Bowl this afternoon.
Fifteen people are dead. What do we know about the people who were killed?
Well, some of the information is slowly coming out. One of them, we know, was a student at university in Alabama. The others, you know, we saw mother and son couples who were barely escaping what had happened. Yeah, so it's been a broad mix of people and ages. Some of them tourists from out of state, which isn't surprising considering that kind of an event taking place for New Year's Eve. So it's a broad mix again of these fifteen people, and we're getting some of the profiles put together now.
We're talking with our national correspondent Rory O'Neill. We talked a bit about any possible similarities between what happened in New Orleans and what happened in Las Vegas on the same day yesterday, But what is the status of this specific investigation in New Orleans. There seem to be some mixed signals just yesterday from officials at all levels about whether he's being looked at as a lone wolf or was he part of a group?
Well, right, and in some cases they don't want to show their hand with the information that they have. Look, we all leave behind very sticky digital fingerprints, right, even using this app in order to rent the truck.
Well, now the app is on your phone, and your phone has a GPS, and your phone knows where you've been ever since you've had it in your pocket, So they're gonna you know, they can recreate a person's life thanks to all these digital devices pretty quickly.
So I think we're going to get a lot of information about this man. And then the phones can actually track who that phone was next to, and that can help you identify known associates as well. So's it'll be a lot of information though that has to be processed, and I know that there's a high demand for information, especially because you've got Marty Grass in New Orleans coming up.
The super Bowl is coming up there as well. So these other big events that will draw tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people also have the people the city of New Orleans on edge, fearing that this man may have other accomplices who are still out there on the run right now.
What has the message been from state and local officials about that? Specifically? You mentioned just moments ago that the you know, Bourbon Street all of that may reopen today. What are they saying. Are they saying come back.
Yes, because they're going to put that message out that New Orleans is as safe as can be. The governor said yesterday that he intends to be act the Sugar Bowl to prove that it's safe. You know, they want to show that they're a resilient community. It's always difficult, though, to strike that balance that you want to mourn those who were killed and injured, but at the same time you want to stand up and say that, you know, we're not going to change because of what these terrorists
are doing. So they're trying to strike that balance. Sadly, more and more cities have found ways to do it. Think of the nightclub shooting in Orlando again, another major tourist town. But they got through it and the Las Vegas, the shooting that happened there at the concert. Again they carry on because in many the tourism is the lifeblood of these communities and they need those businesses up and running bringing in the visitors.
Roy O'Neil is our national correspondent. Rory, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Thanks talk to you soon.
The Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame, part of the college football playoffs, was postponed due to that attack in New Orleans. It's expected to kick off today at one o'clock our time. Former longtime FBI official Rob Demico says other college bowl games and big New Year's events stepped up security following yesterday morning's attack, but accounting for every possible scenario is still a challenge.
Security can only do so much.
You have to really look at where the biggest crowd and the most vulnerability is going to be.
You want to put all your resources and assets because that's the worst catastrophic event. Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter, he says the decision to postpone the game was not unlightly. He added, it was done with one single thing in mind, and that is public safety. The FBI says it disrupted an alleged plot to kill workers of a pro Israel organization on the first night of Hanukkah.
Recent court documents claim that Forrest Pemberton of Gainesville, Florida, travel to the South Florida offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee just before Hanukkah to scout the area and return later with concealed firearms. Pemberton is accused of traveling to the organization's office with the intent of killing, injuring, harassing, and intimidating people in the group. He was arrested on the first day of Hanukkah when he was found in
a ride share vehicle carrying weapons and ammunition. I'm Michael Kassner.
President elect Trump will reportedly hold a victory rally on the day before his inauguration. That Inauguration Committee made an announcement Winsday Day yesterday saying Trump will hold his rally on January nineteenth at Capitol One Arena. The rally will also include featured speakers, though a list of those speakers has not yet been provided. The rally will be Trump's first speech in Washington, d C. Since January sixth, twenty twenty one, and Pope Francis has called for peace and
the protection of life. In twenty twenty five. The Pope delivered his New Year's Day homily at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican yesterday. In his mass, the Pope said, protecting life, caring for wounded life, and restoring dignity to the life of everyone born of woman is the fundamental basis for building a civilization of peace. The mass coincided with the World Day of Peace, which has commemorated each
year on January first. We're going to have an update on what's going on in Congress coming up in a live report. There's going to be a battle over the speakership again, and we will I think we're ready to go. Okay, stand by. The new Congress scheduled to convene for the first time on Friday. One of the first orders of business is to elect his Speaker of the House. Speaker Mike Johnson may not sail to reelection, as some members of his own party have spoken against his leadership, especially
during the process to approve a federal spending package. To avoid a government shutdown last month. Now his fellow Republican leaders have stacked some potential protections. ABC News National correspondent Steven Portnoy joins us live now from Washington, d C. Stephen, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Hey, good morning, and happy New year.
Happy new year to you. What's going on? There's a new rules package that may make it harder to remove a speaker the way the GOP did. Kevin McCarthy, what's going on?
Well, sure, if I have to qualify this, we don't want to put the car before the horse. If Mike Johnson gets elected speaker, then he proposes to change the rules in the way that you're talking about, which is to raise the bar for emotion to vacate from one single individual raising a question of the privileges of the
House to nine member of the majority party. But again not to put the cart before the hears course, because the first order of business for the House when it convenes tomorrow for one hundred and nineteenth Congress at noon Eastern time, is the election of the speaker. And there will be fewer Republicans in the House chamber tomorrow than
there have been in the last Congress. And you know how difficult it was two years ago for Kevin McCarthy to get the gavel fifteen rounds, and then ultimately nine months later he was ousted by Matt Gates and what Kevin McCarthy called the Crazy eight that was the number of Republicans who joined with Democrats to oust the speaker. And then there was nearly a month long vacuum from
which Mike Johnson emerged. So fourteen months after that, the question is does Mike Johnson have the requisite unanimity in the conference that is now required to hold the gavel, And at the moment, it does not appear that the answer is yes. We're going to find out tomorrow at midday.
I'm so appreciative of that cap you gave of recent events that involved California Congressman Kevin McCarthy and his oulster as speaker. I'm wondering if this indicates Republicans, particularly those in leadership roles, have learned some sort of lesson based on what happened to Mike Johnson's predecessor.
Well, I think there are a number of lessons you could take away, but I'm not sure that there are any easy answers, because at the end of the day, you know, the old saying here in DC is that, you know, presiding over a fractious majority is like hurting cats because they all go in different directions and it's extremely difficult to kind of sort of get them all
marching in the same direction. There is the powerful gravitational pull of President elect Trump, and what he has said earlier this week is that Mike Johnson is a good man, a religious man, and that Republicans should not blow this opportunity that have been given by the American people. He has a lot he wants to accomplish in the first few months of his next term. He needs a strong partner to lead the Republican conference in the House, and
he believes that Mike Johnson is the man. The question is again whether Mike Johnson could get two hundred and eighteen votes, whether those cats will all be heard in this by him in the same direction.
We're going to find out.
Yeah, So who are some of these Republicans? Who is this year's Matt Gates? I should ask, well, the.
Lead opponent seems to be Thomas Massey of Kentucky, who has survived a Republican primary challenge from you know, a Trump loyalist. So he now, as the kid say, has no well, how do I phrase it? He doesn't have any Uh, he hasn't none left to give, right, And so I think at this point he's got to figure out how to, you know, get other members on board.
And there may be a few who will join with Massey to say a name other than Johnson when the roll call is made tomorrow, but I'm not there's no indication to that Thomas Massey or any of his fellow travelers who might be willing to object to Johnson have
any proposal that would achieve two hundred eighteen votes. It's believed that Mike Johnson's the only man who could do it, who can bring various strands together, because you have Northeastern moderates, you have you know, die in the wole, diehard conservatives who you know are pro magotypes, and then you have just the objectors who say that they want a strong speaker, not someone who demonstrates weakness by, for example, coming up
with a compromise to keep the government running. And that's what Mike Johnson did, which some of these Republicans feel is too fatal to his chances of holding the gavel.
Steve, and I know you've got to run. Any potential help from Democrats for the Republicans.
I don't see that happening.
In fact, there's the risk for Republicans that if Democrats are at full strength, and we expect that Nancy Pelosi will be in attendance tomorrow despite her recent hip surgery, if the republic if the Democrats are at full strengthen Republicans see a couple members either absent or voting present, depending on how it.
All shakes out.
There's the risk for Republicans that Keem Jefferies could become elected speaker.
Crazy times. Indeed, Stephen Portnoy from ABC News will be there to document it for us, and I hope we get to talk about it again soon. Stephen. Thank you, you bet, and we'll continue now with wake Up Call. It is five forty one am here in Burbank, California. I noted this earlier in the broadcast, but if you've just joined as another person found dead on a freeway in LA, this time on the five near Lincoln Heights, where the CHP responded just before two o'clock this morning.
The body was found partially in the right lane and right shoulder on the northbound side at Broadway. Multiple lanes shut down for the investigation. If it sounds familiar, it's because yesterday we had to report a similar situation where lanes on a typically busy freeway had to be shut down to investigate somebody who was walking on the freeway and hit and killed. That was on the one ten year down Town, LA. Man with no pants on hit
by car in debt. We're also reporting that a man has died after crashing his suv into a horse trailer on the sixty Freeway and Diamond Barrie was only twenty years old. His vehicle overturned in the HOV lane on the eastbound side near Golden Springs Drive. Jose Santos to Alaska was his name. He died at the scene. The driver and passenger of the pickup truck that was pulling the horse trailer were not injured. Have you checked out
the price of eggs gone up big time? And yes, bird flu is the main culprit nearly nine dollars per dozen right now because of a supply chain interruption basically over bird flu. And what about this, Let's say you live in a village in Nairobi, Kenya, and suddenly a giant piece of junk falls from space.
Yes, the Kenyan Space Agency says the object is a metallic ring roughly eight feet in diameter that weighs about eleven hundred pounds. They say preliminary assessments indicate the space debris is a separation ring from a launch vehicle, which typically burns up upon re entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Fortunately, the object didn't hit any of the villagers, who quickly alerted authorities. The KSA says it's working to identify where the space junk originated. I'm Michael Kassner.
You know, you realize how uninformed you are about the world when you hear about the Kenyan Space Agency.
Who knew?
Who knew? But they have one. So you learn something new every day, especially right here on wake up call. So we're so grateful that you joined us. We did just see a bolton come across from the AP that related to the economy. It looks like claims for unemployment benefits have dropped by nine thousand, two hundred and eleven
thousand in a resilient US labor market. As announced by the AP this morning, eighty years ago today, the Japanese Americans who were taken into custody during World War Two and forced to live in internment camps while our country was at war with Japan were released. The Mukai family came back to their home in East La. They had been there for decades before the internment and have been
there in the decades since. Descendant Ron Mukai has built a commercial center there and he operates East La Jujitsu. Today he will tell his family's story. Ron Mukai, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today.
It's my pleasure.
It's been eighty years since the release of all of those Japanese Americans who were interned. How did the story of that time get told in your family?
Well, my dad was eight when he went into camp. He was eleven when he got out, So it wasn't so much being released. It was after he was released what they went through, and then for me as a kid growing up, seeing how those events shaped his life, shaped the man who he was, how he viewed the world so to.
Speak, and what was it.
Well, obviously when he got out he was mad and he suffered a lot of prejudice, people would call him a Jap So it made him fight a lot, It made him very loyal to his friends, It made him very committed to being successful, and and also too, he was a very strong person. He never considered himself a victim. He always talked about it like it was something unfortunate that happened. But hey, it's life, and it happened, and this is you know, if life it gives you lemonae.
If life gives you lemons, you make lemonae. So well, these are people who always took it as.
I was just going to say, these are people who lived right here in California and then were told to go live in a very specially designated place that might not have been entirely comfortable for them or warranted. I'm wondering, did it change the way this place felt like home to them?
No, I don't think so, because when they came back, they came back to East LA and they opened their store and they just sort of picked up with their life. If you know Japanese, they won even to get the first generation or even the second generation the mesa to talk about it. It's not like something they talked about every day. The first generation didn't even talk about it at all. So my grandparents never talked about it. It's like some bad thing that happened that you just never
talked about. For my dad and his generation, they would talk about it, but not in terms of you know, those people. It's just something unfortunate that happened. Then they had to make the best of it. So I don't think it embittered them towards East LA in general. Maybe individuals in East LA, but my dad and my mom's family they both loved and they made their life here, and they had businesses here and friends, and they weren't embittered in general towards La.
Now, So how did you learn about it in what contexts?
Well, just growing up, I always knew that my dad and his family went to camp. They'd always tell stories about being in camp. My dad would always talk about how cold it was. I know, he had artifacts, you know, like petrified woods they picked up in camp, things like this, and then just talking about their experience. When they got home.
My dad would always talk about people calling him a jap and how he had to fight a lot, but it was always tempered with all the good things in life, like they never really Dwelt on the fact that this, you know, changed the course of their life forever, and they were negatively impacted. It's almost like something bad that happened and it's okay. Now they're living their life and they're doing just fine.
We're talking with Ron Mukai, whose family has a long history in East la and some members of his family were part of those Japanese Americans who were in turn during World War Two. Here in the United States, you're hosting what you're calling a teachable moment. What is teachable in your view about the lessons from eighty years ago.
I think that one is that when things happen, that it's important to not view it as US versus them. So, for example, in World War Two, it was them the Japanese, And if you understand, that's not an easy statement, because I'm sure they might have had some disloyal Japanese, but there were many people that were very loyal and just wanted to be residents or citizens of the US and live their lives. So I think one is to not view things in terms of US versus them. I think
that's a very dangerous statement. But then on the other side, it's important to not see yourself as a victim and to not live your life from the viewpoint of being a victim. So things I learned from my parents and my grandparents were even though unfortunate things happened to them, that this is still It's America. It's the greatest country
in the world. And if you work hard, if you're a person of excellent character, if you surround yourself with excellent people, you can do whatever you want to do. And I think that my dad's life and our family we've benefited tremendously from that can do attitude. And you know, I'm still here in East LA. I run a nonprofit jiu jitsu school called East l A Jiu Jitsu. And this is the values that I'm stealing in my students. It's like, we are not victims. We are not the
poor brown people that need to hand out. We are capable individuals and if we have excellent character and we work hard, we can do anything. And I think that's what we're showing. We're showing the world that these kids from East la can do anything that they want to do.
And you are a black belt in jiu jitsu, and you do have a lot of Latino students. Your family is Japanese, your wife is a Latina, you speak Spanish. Can you share with us how the Japanese or the Asian American cultures have blended with the Latino American culture in East LA and how that relates to the message you just said about not using an US versus them mentality.
Yeah, so I think back in the day what people don't realize with East LA is a lot of people lived in East LA. Basically, my yeah's best friend's name was Rosario Aleggio. He was an Italian guy. So there were Jews, there was Italians, there was Mexicans, there was Japanese, there was Chinese. There was all kinds of different people living on this side and they all work together. So, for example, I just told the story the other day. Both my grandma's on the Japanese side and the Chinese
side spoke Spanish. I think they might have spoken Spanish before they spoke English because their market. A lot of the people that went there on my Japanese side were predominantly Mexican, so my grandma learned to speak Spanish, I think before she learned to speak English.
And you are serving at your event, a combination of items to blend those cultures together. Mocheap on dulce, and these are desserts that are commonly eaten in both Japanese and Latino households. What do you expect your Latino students to take away from lessons about the Asian American the Japanese American internaments of World War Two?
Well, I think it's just good nowadays just to introduce the students to these historical events, because a lot of them don't recognize that that this happened or sort of the magnitude of how it happened, and then to recognize that it's all the things that you don't I'll give you an analogy with jiu jitsu. It's the things that you don't know that are dangerous. If you don't know,
somebody's going to do this to you. That's why jiu jitsu works in a fight is by the time you figure out what they're doing to you, it's already being done to you. I think in life too, you have to recognize all the things that you don't know and recognize that it's what you don't know that's dangerous. So by introducing the students to the fact that this did happen during World War Two and the Japanese were interned and the hardships they went through and how they overcame
those things. You're just educating them on something unfortunate that happened, and it gives them a reminder of how not to repeat those mistakes. And just mochi. You know, if you never ate mochi, like what is this? Kind of chew? It's kind of sweet?
What is this?
So it's going to just be fun.
Ron Mukai is the operator of East La Jiu Jitsu. His family has a long history in East La. He is also the descendant of family members who were interned in Wyoming during the Japanese interment of World War two, right here in America. Ron, thank you so much for sharing the story with us today. We do appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, and if anybody's listening out there they want to come down and visit or or join with us in our cause East La Jiu Jitsu, they're more than welcome to come by. You know, all of our fees are on a sliding scale. We don't turn anybody away. So our tagline is building character through jiu jitsu.
And that event in East La is today from eight o'clock this morning till ten o'clock this morning at East La Jiu Jitsu. You can look it up online, but the address is thirty six to sixty first Street in La Hard to believe. Eighty years ago Japanese family is released from internment camps right here in the United States of America. Many of those families returning to their regular
homes here in Greater La. Lakers Center. Anthony Davis has been called questionable for tonight's game against the Trailblazers at Crypto dot Com Arena. He's got that left ankle sprain he's dealing with the third consecutive game eighty has been listed as questionable because of the injury that sidelined him for the final three quarters of a Warriors game back on Christmas. Davis has been able to start games and has scored thirty six points grabbed fifteen rebounds in a
one two twenty two victory over the Kings. On Saturday, he scored twenty eight points, pulled down a team high thirteen rebounds, and a lost to Cleveland This week with the six foot ten inch guard guard excuse me, the six foot ten inch Davis is third in the league in free throws with one hundred ninety nine and block shots he averaged two poer game. So let's hope he gets fully healthy so we can drop the questionable status. Can you imagine what it's going to look like when
he's completely added again. I'm a Kentucky basketball fan. He helped us win a title there, so love ad get well. The average price of a gallon of self served gasoline in LA it's dropped again today by one tenth of a cent. So there's another piece of money that you
could apply to your eggs basket. Since the price of eggs has gone up, the average price is seven tenths of a cent less than it was a week ago, three point four cents less than it was a month ago, and thirty four point eight cents lower than one year ago. Of course, it has dropped more than two dollars since, rising to a record of six dollars and forty nine
cents two long years ago. October of twenty twenty two, prices dropped three tenths of a cent in Orange County, so you've got even more money in Anaheim to put towards your eggs. Good for you. This is KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County, Southland Weather from KFI. What a beautiful winter day we've got in store in
southern California. Sunshine, warm all over, maybe even a little hot in some places closer to are over eighty in the Ie, mid upper seventies in Metro La, the valleys, the Inlando Sea, high sixties and low seventies in the mountains and at the beaches. Little cooler today still in the Antelope Valley highs in the mid fifties to the low sixties there. And enjoy this warm day because we
will be cooler heading into the weekend. Right now fifty four in Huntington Beach, fifty one in Pasadena, forty three in Santa Ana, and fifty one in Malibu. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'm Michael Monks, who has been filling in for Amy King. She'll be back tomorrow, so be sure to wish her a happy New Year and ask her where she's been celebrating. I want to think our producer Michelle Cube, our technic producer Kono, and wil Cole Schreiber, who's been giving us
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