Wake Up Call

Hey, it's Jennifer Jones Lee. You're listening to KFI, a M six forty wake up call on demand on the iHeartRadio app. My name is Jason Middleton. I am in for Jennifer Jones Lee all week. This week, I was talking with a news editor just before we went on the air about second Mondays. I never could find a value to Tuesdays. Right, there's Mondays. Everybody braces for Monday coming out of the weekend, Wednesday's Humpday,

Thursday's Friday, Eve, Friday, you know, Friday, Tuesday. Niver had a thing, but she said, Tuesday's just one day closer to Friday, and I was like, yeah, let's let's stay optimistic. I'm with that. Let's also get some headlines before we get into the rest of this hour. Treasury Secretary and former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen says time is running out to get a deal done ahead of today's Biden McCarthy meeting about

the debt ceiling. McCarthy has said the House needs a deal to vote on by this weekend. Ukraine's president Zelenski has been touring away Western Europe getting more missiles and munitions for the countries anticipated counter offensive against Russia. Later this hour, we will talk with ABC's Inez Delakata and get an update on the Ukraine Russia war. And the Lakers continue their championship pursuit tonight against the Denver Nuggets. It's the first of a seven game series. It's a battle of the

big men in that one. That's the Brow Anthony Davis versus the Joker Djokovic. Those guys are going to be patrolling the paint. Lakers got passed the Warriors because they had a bigger paint presence, and the series winner goes on to the NBA Championship against either of the Celtics or the Heat. In just a few minutes, we're gonna talk with Terrence Hayes. Terrence is the Press secretary at the BA. The Veterans Administration has a program that expands healthcare and

benefits for vets, but it's under a deadline. You can apply for an extension, So we're going to get the details on the Packed Act that was passed last year. It's coming up in August on another deadline, so we need the details around that. Let's start with some of the other stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour news room. We always lead local. The La County Department of Public Health says rising numbers of deaths among the homeless

are being caused by fentonyl overdoses. The number of drug overdoses and the homeless population has gone up by fifty eight percent since twenty twenty one. Healthcare in Actions doctor Jose Luis Gonzalez says one of the biggest reasons for this is cross contamination. You might be thinking you're smoking methemphetamine and it might be laced with fentonel. Doctor Gonzalez says because of that, some people are accidentally getting addicted

to fentanyl. The department's report released last week shows overdoses in general being the number one cause of death among the homeless in twenty twenty one in La Chris Adler KFI News Scientists with NASA JPL say there's been a dramatic drop in greenhouse gas emissions along a stretch of the South Bay where the bulk of those refineries

operate. The report notes the reduction of the last three years is most likely due to sparse vehicle traffic during the pandemic, which of course halted demand for fuel Researchers also discovered a seven percent drop in human caused emissions in La San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties from the year's twenty fifteen to twenty twenty. That represented a reduction of thirty three million pounds of methane released per year.

Officials say despite a drop in the number of migrants trying to cross the California Mexico border following Title forty two's expiration of enforcement, they're expecting a surge soon as cartels and smugglers figure out a workaround for Title eight and a tougher approach

to border enforcement. Border agents say they are bracing for another caravan style push towards the sande see to report of entry in the coming weeks, and for those migrants who successfully entered to seak asylum, there is still a challenge. Migrant or that family has to be housed someplace or be placed into a community while they are awaiting the adjudication process or a hearing. To National security expert John Cohen says most of the hearing dates won't even happen until twenty twenty five

or twenty twenty six. Steve Gregory, King of Fine News Uber is promoting a service where users can save some cash by catching rides with strangers. Uber announced last week riders can save thirty five percent on trips by using Uber uber carpool and sharing the ride with another person heading in the same direction. It's offered Monday through Friday during peak commute times in most areas. Users have to

schedule their rides thirty minutes to thirty days ahead of time. Comedian Margaret cho and the late actor Leslie Jordan have been named Grand Marshals of this year's La Pride Parade. Pride officials say Chow will be honored for her years of anti racism and anti bullying advocacy and her support of LGBTQ plus rights. Jordan, who died in October when he suffered a heart attack while driving in Hollywood,

will serve as the Legacy Grand Marshal. It's a new title to posthumously celebrate those who have made an impact on the community, and The Pride Parade is June eleventh at Sunset and Highland in Hollywood. In just a couple of minutes, We're get what, why, and how the VA's extended benefits for veterans. Six minutes after five on your wake Up Call on the KFI Live Line. We're going to have Terrence Hayes in just a minute from the VA,

but first a couple of quick stories. The Fed's recent interest rate hikes has caused the US dollar to become more valuable. The American Enterprise Institute says higher interest rates are keeping excess cash out of the US and strengthening the dollar. It has been increasing in value compared to currency from other countries. This also means the US dollar index is on an upward trajectory. Places like Indonesia, Brazil, and Chile have all benefited because of higher commodity prices, bringing in

more dollars for goods and for services. Usually the dollar fluctuates. It's it's either when it's really really good in the US the economy, the dollar goes up and it's really really bad or scarier jittery kind of right now because of the debt ceiling, the dollar also picks up some scene because people are not as investing as much in the bond market. Here, it's seven minutes after five o'clock on your wake Up Call and on the KFI Live Line, as

promised as Terrence Hayes he's with the Veterans Administration. He's going to help us spell out how veterans can apply or reapply for the Packed Act benefits. Let's start at the beginning, Terrence, and good morning, Good morning, how are you? I'm good? Thank you? What is okay? Updates on the Packed Act and who can it help? Yeah? The pack Act is a significant law that expands VA healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits

and other toxic substances. This law empowers VA to provide generations of veterans and their survivors with the care and benefits they've earned and quite frankly deserve. And I understand it expires on August the tenth. It was passed last year, so this is a this is an extension of benefits that need to be applied for. So actually there is no expiration date. So I want to make

sure that we're perfectly clear on the okay. There is a one year date that is very urgent to us. And what it is is that if any veteran or survivor applies for their benefits before August ninth of this year, benefits could potentially be backdated to when President Biden signed the bill into law last year, So there's benefits on the table for those individuals. But you can follow a claim today, tomorrow, next year, five years from now, at

any given point a veteran can do. So here's how does this this packed Act differ from other benefits. I mean it's I realize it's focused, but what other benefits are pulled out? Yeah, I mean this is vital. What it is is that it's very important because there's twenty three new presumptive conditions. And bottom line is this, if any veteran or any survivor knows of

their veteran may have been exposed to any of those twenty three conditions. If you have any of those twenty three conditions, it's automatically assumed that it's because of your service. The evidence, the burden approof is no longer on you

as a veteran or the survivor. We automatically assume this. So it's vital that you give us a call at one eight hundred nine eight two four one one or visit the website at VA dot gov slash pack to find out more information on how you can get those benefits to day, Do you have any ballpark figure as to how many veterans could be affected by this or benefit from this, Yeah, yeah, Our estimate looks at about three point five million

men and women who potentially could be impacted by the pack DAC. So far, we've received over five hundred thousand claims thus far, and to the average individual that may seem like a lot, but to us as a small number. So again we're encouraging as many men and women to please give us a call and follow those claims today. But also to those who made they don't know if they have been exposed or not, we're encouraging those who are already

in our healthcare system to visit their primary care physician. The schedule was called a toxic exposure screening. More than two point five million men and women have done so already. I actually have done so as well as a veteran, and it's very useful. It could lead to diagnosis, further testing in a treatment plan, and again that evidence to support those claims as well. So again, if you're interested, find out more at visiting va dot gov slash

pack. You mentioned there that some people might not even know if they've been exposed to burn pits and agent orange toxic substances. Are there any typical or telltale symptoms or after effects that people can might be looked well, be looking

for or keep an eye out for. Yeah, again, if they visit that site and via dot gov slash pack with those twenty three presumptive conditions there, and if you have any of those conditions, any of them, stop exactly what you're doing right now, give us a call, or visit your local Veteran service organization who have service officers there to assist you free of charge

to follow those claims. But again, it's vital that you get on that website and see those conditions because if you have any of those, this pertains to you. Terence, thank you so much for your time, this wanting important information. Thank you so much. It's Terence Hayes. He's the Press Secretary of the Veterans Administration. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour news room before we go to traffic.

Offence has been put around islands on San Vicente Boulevard in Beverly Grove to keep homeless camps out. People in the area had complained about the dozens of tents in the area before the city recently cleared them. Officials say other beautification projects are in the works for the area as well. State lawmakers have passed a

first of its kind bill prohibiting toxic chemicals and processed foods and drinks. It now moves to the state Senate. If signed into law, the bill would ban the sale, production, or distribution of any food product in California containing yeah, the infamous red dye number three and other chemicals commonly found in sodas, flame and hot Cheetos, candies, and cereals. Research has linked the chemicals to cancer, reproductive issues, and behavioral and developmental issues in kids.

Striking members of the WGA say they will not pick it next month's Tony Award telecast, which would hurt what many consider broadways biggest night. That last week, the union denied a request by Tony organizers to have a waiver for their June eleventh live telecast. The guild says some sort of Tony show might work within specific requests from the WGA. The guild does not represent Broadway writers, but it does represent writers who work on the Tony's telecast. So our gassum

seaweed is causing a problem on beaches in Jupiter, Florida. Scientists say the seaweed is threatening sea turtles nesting season. Marine life scientist Heather Baron says the seaweed provides sanctuary and nutrients for the turtles once they get out to see out at sea. It's a very natural and important part of their development and environment. However, on our beaches it can certainly provide an impediment. The brown seaweed has blanketed beaches and grown in size over the last few months. If

you've seen the pictures, you know what I mean. Down in southern Florida, Miami Dade County has set aside nearly four million dollars for cleanup efforts this year and requested an additional two million dollars from the state. When we come back, we will take the temperature in Washington around the debt sealing negotiations. Wall Street looks a little jittery right now in pre market trading, so ABC's Karen Travers will give us an update from DC a few more stories before we

get into the break. A bill banning Florida's public colleges and universities from funding diversity, equity and inclusion programs will soon become law in the state. Governor Ronda Santist signed the measure Monday yesterday, saying DEI efforts are an attempt to impose an ideological agenda on students and faculty. He added that the initiative promotes exclusion and discrimination. The law also says that general courses cannot distort significant historical

events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics. It's set to go into effect on July. The first. Elon Musk is being subpoened as part of the lawsuit in the US Virgin Islands accusing JP Morgan Chase of enabling sexual abuse by Jeff Free Epstein. According to Reuters, the subpoena is seeking all communications between Musk and Epstein, stating that Epstein may have referred the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to the bank. The subpoena also reportedly requests documents from Musk about Epstein's

involvement in human trafficking. The lawsuit filed by the Virgin Islands claims JP Morgan Chase knowingly benefited from alleged sexual abuse by Epstein. Okay, we talked about the Lakers a little bit ago. Let's talk about a less well, let's just talk about hockey. The next round of the Stanley Cup playoff field is set. The Stars beat the Seattle crack in two to one in yesterday's Game seven that was in Dallas to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Dallas will

square off against the Golden Nights in the next round. Vegas will have ulm ice in the seven game series, which begins Friday. Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals, with Game one taking place in Raleigh. That's on Thursday. Okay, in a couple of minutes, we're gonna come back and we're gonna talk about the debt ceiling negotiations. Right after this, you're listening to Wake Up Call with Jennifer jones Lee on

demand from k five AM six forty. My name is Jason Middleton. I am in for Jennifer Jones Lee this week. She is on rodeo duty up near reading, seen some family and some livestock. Some quick headlines before we get into the rest of the show. The federal government is stepping up to stop an anticipated surge of illegal immigration at the southern border. A Pentagon spokesman says that another nine hundred and fifty troops will be arriving by the end of

the month, with most headed to El Paso, Texas. The man behind chat GPT will testify before Congress today open a ice, THEEO, Sam Altman will take questions from lawmakers calling for guardrails and regulation of artificial intelligence tools over fears that it could be abused. Altman's company is is leading the development of

AI with its popular platform chat GPT. It also launched a thousand headlines when it paired up with Microsoft and the being search Being has seen some share gain when it comes to search overall, eating into Google's de facto monopoly of online search. Taxpayers could soon be able to file their taxes digitally and free of charge, directly with the IRS. The Washington Post reports the agency has been

quietly developing its own prototype system that could disrupt the tax prep market. The Inflation Reduction Act set aside fifteen million dollars to create a free and direct filing program. A few more headlines, because we have a lot of news moving through on this Tuesday morning, Police in New Mexico say three people are dead and several are injured after a shooting in a rural town. It happened yesterday

in Farmington, which is northwest of Albuquerque. Authorities responded to a report of shots fired and eventually confronted a male suspect, who later died after a gun battle. Multiple officers are among those who were hurt. Nearby schools were placed on lockdown during the event as well. Consumer debt, always something to keep an eye on, hit a record high of more than seventeen trillion dollars in

the first quarter of twenty twenty three. So these are figures from the New York Federal Reserve and they show the total for borrowing across all categories rows nearly one hundred and fifty billion dollars during the period from January to March. The jump comes despite a sharp pullback and home loans due to rising mortgage rates. Student loan debt also edged up to one point six trillion dollars in the first quarter, so inflation is slowing a little bit. It's sticky, though,

but seeing this debt rise. On the consumer side, sixty six percent of the American economy is based on consumer spending on services and goods, right, so if we keep spending on that, then we're going to see the economy doing. Once we stop spending and racking up this credit card debt, we might see that recession come and maybe stick around a little bit longer. I don't think that the FED is going to lower rates by the end of this

year, like some people are hoping for. I don't think that's going to happen because inflation is so sticky still. But I do think it's anticipated and fair that a short term two to three quarter recession might be coming. To write the ship Triple A air travel, we do have a holiday coming up. Triple A predicts air travel over Memorial Day weekend we'll be busier this year than it was pre COVID, signaling a true return as they say to pre

twenty twenty travel levels. According to this year's report, about three point four million Americans are expected to fly over the holiday weekend, an eleven percent increase from last year. Not bad. It's also nearly a five and a half percent increase since twenty nineteen, before the COVID pandemic. This year is expected to be the busiest Memorial Day weekend since two thousand. That's way before the

pandemic. When Blaze started tracking these numbers to begin with. Pasadena, back here in California, has approved having a response team on standby to respond to bee swarms. The city has contracted a live bee removal company for at least the next three years. With over twenty four parks that we have in Pasadena, we have beautiful hiking trails the Arroyo area, so there are at the risk of bees. Pasadena's Lisader Darian says. There have been several swarms in

the city over the last few years. One swarm of up to forty thousand bees in twenty twenty led to a city block being closed in five people being injured. The contract was approved yesterday in Pasadena Blake Trolley k if I news, so that was Pasadena. A massew swarm of bees has taken over a neighborhood in Encino, La City Fire and police both responded yesterday, treating at least two people for beastings. Firefighters had been called to what they thought was

one beasting and when they arrived they saw hundreds of bees. People were told to stay inside and wait for animal control. The amount of greenhouse gas has continued to drop in the LA region over the last few years. Scientists at NASA JPL installed eight censors around the area, and from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty, human const dimissions fell by seven percent. That's a reduction of thirty

three million pounds of methane released per year. The largest reductions were found at censors near Granada Hills and Ontario. The censors gathered data from La Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties and also showed the drop in emissions was most likely due to the lack of vehicle traffic during the pandemic. Researchers also noted a significant reduction in greenhouse gases over the last three years along the South Bay,

where most refineries operate. Steve Gregory Canofine News some paycheck News State regulators have returned more than four hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars in stolen wages two thirty four workers in commerce workers happily stepped up to grab their checks, many as high as fourteen thousand dollars. State Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia Bauer says golden food, falsified paste, dubs, and underpaid workers comp insurance. These business

practices are atrocious. State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Laura said yesterday the company underreported four point five million dollars in payroll over a six year period to illegally saved workers' compensation insurance and fail to pay their employees for their hard work. The owners of Golden Food faced forty three labor fraud felonies and took a plea deal.

In Commerce, Corbin Carson k I finds a person looking for a Democratic Congressman Jerry Connolly at his district office in Virginia has attacked two of his staffers with a metal baseball bat. Connolly says both staffers were hospitalized, but their injuries are not life threatening. ABC's Lindsay Watts says one of the staffers was hit in the head yesterday, the other was hit on the side. Both were taken to the hospital. US Capitol Police arrested the attacker. Duncan is offering

free pick me ups to make Mondays better. I not ites today's Tuesday, but I'm hoping to plan ahead, it says. Coffee drinkers in California can get free medium drinks every Monday through June twenty sixth with any purchase. Coffee drinks need to use the Duncan app and sign up as a rewards member to redeem the free caffeine. Native Americans are demanding accountability from Dartmouth College because of its use of Indigenous skeletal remains for teaching. The school says the remains had

been incorrectly cataloged as those not being Native American. They were later correctly identified. The university says it will take meaningful action by consulting the tribes most impacted by the discovery. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded institutions, such as universities to return remains and cultural items to the appropriate tribes. Southern California weather from KFI. Low clouds and fog and some patchie drizzle

this morning, then partly cloudy skies later on Today. Highs in the upper sixties and seventies for inland LA and Orange County. Some same start at the beaches. Slightly cooler of course for the inland valleys, though highs are going to be in the eighties today. Tonight, the low clouds and fog move back in with overnight lows round sixty Tomorrow. It's pretty much the same start

to the day slightly warmer temperatures across the board. Right now, Manhattan Beach is fifty nine, Anaheim is sixty one, Torrance is sixty and Altadena is fifty five. When we come back, we're gonna get a chat with ABC's tech reporter Mike Dubuski about the Microsoft purchase of gaming company Activision Blizzard. You're listening to Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee on demand from KFI AM six

forty. Little drizzle out there as well, so if be careful on the roads, you know how that sheen can happen and cause a spin out. A couple of quick headlines before we get to nerd out with Mike Dubuski. A suspect on the terror watch list has been arrested trying to cross the border into San Diego. A suspect from Afghanistan on the FBI's terror watch list was arrested in ote Mesa Wednesday after crossing the border illegally as part of a larger

group. A bill banning Florida's public colleges and universities from funding diversity equity end inclusion programs will soon become law in the state. Governor Rod distant has signed that law. Yes yesterday, Elon Musk is being subpoened as part of the lawsuit in the US Virgin Islands accusing JP Morgan Chase of enabling sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein. News is brought to you by American Vision Windows. At five fifty, we're going to close out wake Up Call with ABC News correspondent Inez

Daia Kata. The topic for that one is the Ukrainian ramp up for a possible counter offensive in its war with Russia. President Zelenski has been traveling through Europe as he looks for more military aid for Ukraine. Right now, on the liveline, we have ABC Tech reporter Mike Debuski. He's gonna help me unpack Microsoft's I guess almost done purchase of gaming company Activision Blizzard. It's a big deal, sixty nine billion dollars all cash offer. Good morning, Mike.

I think almost is the keyword there. Yesterday Microsoft inched a little bit closer to closing this deal. EU regulators basically gave them the go ahead to acquire Active Vision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard not a name that most people non gamers might know, but it is the largest independent video game publisher in the world.

You probably know some of the products that they put out, things like Candy Crush, popular mobile game, World of Warcraft, a very popular and long running online multiplayer game, and then of course the big one, Call of Duty, which is a huge sales success for them. New Call of

Duty games can't come out basically every year. Microsoft really trying to acquire this video game publisher, in part because they are the owner of Xbox, right, And this is why regulators are taking a very close look at this deal, is that if they own the maker of the games, and they own the thing that you play the games on, that would be a concern with regards to antitrust. Yeah, talk about moat right truly, Yeah, yeah, exactly. The owning the rails is the cliche, but I think it

applies here. But it is also worth mentioning that the deal is not closed yet. Last year, the FTC here in the United States sued to block the deal, and then last month British regulators made moves to block the deal as well, specifically with focus on this sort of immerg urging part of the gaming space known as the cloud gaming technology, so that that that is kind

of the things that they need to clear from here on in. Essentially from experts that I've talked to, it basically means that all world governments and all the regulators who are taking a look at this deal need to be in agreement because it's not like there's going to be one version of Xbox here in the United States and one version in the European Union. They kind of need to all be, you know, uh, copasetic with one another because of the

globalized nature of the video game industry and the tech industry in general. Right, And are there any privacy issues around here, because I know the EU's years ahead of us when it comes to policies or regulations around privacy. Yeah, it is interesting to see the EU give this deal the go ahead and the United States not, because usually when it comes to big tech regulation,

it's the inverse, right, Jason. It's like the the EU has been very aggressive when it comes to h you know, taking tech companies to task. They find Google in the millions, if not billions of dollars for what

they say are alleged antitrust practices. But what I think is kind of interesting to note here is the British movement here, right, the British moved last month late last month to block this deal, and they made specific focus on cloud gaming, which is this sort of interesting tactic because it almost seems like they're trying to stop a monopoly from happening before it's allowed to take hold, right, Like the traditional way of dealing with antitrust concerns is to break up

big tech companies or big companies and then allow them to be smaller companies that can operate with more competition. Now, because the cloud gaming space is so small, they are almost doing that in the reverse. They're trying to kind of get ahead of the problem before it is allowed to happen. And Microsoft has given a number of concessions to the EU in order to get their thumbs

up. Right, They've committed to keeping Activision Blizzard games on other platforms non Xbox platforms, meaning Nintendo and PlayStation for the next ten years, which has caused some analysts to one under why what is Xbox's role here if there are no exclusives to that that platform. Right, the video game industry is heavily reliant on exclusive games or exclusive to certain consoles and platforms and that sort of

thing. So that's that's sort of still a question mark, and obviously they still have to contend with the ongoing processes in the United States and Britain. So yeah, far from a done deal, but they're moving in a positive direction at least this week when it comes to Microsoft closing this thing. We're speaking with ABC Tech reporter Mike Dubuski about the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal. It's a sixty nine billion dollar deal. I believe it's an all cash offer on

the table waiting for Britain to approve it. I'm going to ask you to keep your analyst hat on just for one more second, because um, okay. Microsoft obviously making some headlines starting this year with Chat, GPT and the merger into being for online search. Is there any play here for AI or is it more of a meta play down the road if you're Satia Adela,

the CEO at Microsoft. So when they instituted, when they first announced that they were going to do this last year, obviously it made a huge amount of press just based on the size of the deal. This is not just the biggest video game deal in video game history, it's the largest consumer tech deal in almost two decades. AOL acquired Time Warner about twenty years ago, and that was the last biggest one, just to put this whole thing in

context. But when that happened, they did say this was a play for the metaverse, that that was a lot of the line that came out of this. We're not hearing so much about the metaverse that much anymore, and I think ultimately it really was a play to get the games that people like, these really popular video games and the Xbox platform, which is also a

popular platform, to sort of play nice with one another. But it's also I think worth mentioning that the Xbox platform is very popular here in the United States, it's less popular in Europe, where PlayStation largely dominates. So I think that was maybe part of their thinking in this, to make Xbox a more globalized brand, to bring sort of some of the more appealing games to

that platform in foreign markets. But you know, again, that's that's sort of yet to be determined whether that will actually play out for them, because as I said, we kind of got to get all these governments to play nice with one another, or at least we have to get the governments to play nice with Activision, Blizzard, and Microsoft here and then Jason, just one more thing that I want to mention here because I think it's important to

put this all in context. Right. We talked about how big this deal is and how important it is for the gaming industry in the tech industry. This is also important for a lot of people. Two billion people in the world to play video games in some capacity. That's a little bit more than one quarter of the global population. The video game industry is one hundred and seventy five billion dollars. Investipedia says that means it's bigger than both the movie

and the music industry combined. So this, uh, you know, the conception of video games might be that, you know, it's people who play them on consoles in your living room or doing your basement, but it's a lot bigger than that. And what happens here with Microsoft and Activision, it's going to impact a lot of people. Yeah, and you mentioned Meta and we mentioned AI a little bit. This is a growth at a gory.

If you think about it, it's it's spinning out original content, if you will, on different platforms from the franchises that they're building in the gaming industry. And two billion is nothing to I mean, Microsoft, Satia nadel to me, is the CEO of the century so far this year. Right, Tim Cook is doing great, it's at keeping the things on track at Apple, but but turning around Microsoft after coming out of the uh the Bomber years, that's uh, that's impressive stuff. Absolutely, yeah, No, it's

that Satia Nadela is is a really fascinating guy. We actually had the opportunity here at ABC News Radio to interview him a few years ago, uh and right around the time that his book came out. And he's a really interesting guy, an interesting history, and I would recommend reading his book because you know, it gives you a little bit more insight, uh kind of into his history and his his time at Microsoft, as he mentioned during the Balmer years. Um so yeah, and you also mentioned AI there. I mean,

that's that's a big deal this week as well here at home. I mean, Congress is looking into uh, you know, potential AI regulation. You know, also with regards to anti trust this week. That's a little bit more on the open AI side of things than the Microsoft side of things, but those two companies are deeply related. So Microsoft fighting a couple of different regulatory battles this week. It sums yeah. ABC's tech reporter Mike Dubusky. Mike, I have another show called Macro. Maybe you can join me

over there. We can talk about regulational round AI. I would love to. Yeah, absolutely, Thanks a lot, Mike for your time this morning. Take care by when we come back. ABC News correspondent Inez Dala Kata will update us on the situation in Ukraine and how Ukraine's president has been adding more military aid as they ramp up for a counter offensive. You're listening to Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee on Demand from KFI AM six. Forty.

Congressman Jerry Connolly is confirming that two members of his staff were attacked by a person with a baseball bat yesterday at his Virginia office. The Democrat tweeted that the individual entered his district office, asked for Connolly, and then proceeded to attack the staff members. The person in custody and the two victims were

taken to an area hospital non life threatening injuries. Triple A predicts air travel over Memorial Day weekend will be busier this year than it was pre cod but according to this year's report, about three point four million Americans are expected to fly over the holiday weekend. That's up from last year. Consumer debt did hit a record high of seventeen trillion dollars in the first quarter of twenty twenty three. For context, the US bond market that is the benchmark for the

global economy is twenty four trillion dollars five fifty one. On your wake up call, ABC's Inez Dai Kata is on the line to talk with us about President Zelenski's recent tour of Europe and if he was able to add military aid for Ukraine's army head of an anticipated counter offensive against Russia. Good morning, daz, Hey, good morning yeah. The Ukrainian President Lenski was on a whirlwind tour through Europe. He met with the German Chancellor Alophals in Germany.

He then made a surprise trip to Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, and then he headed up to London to meet with the British Prime Minister Rieshi Sunac. He did secure fresh pledges of military aid. He for instance, got from the French president a pledge with France, pledging to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on French planes and to train them here in France.

That's interesting because we've seen a lot of back and forth over this issue of fighter jets, with Ukraine asking for warplanes, a lot of Western countries reluctant to a handover those, um, those warplanes the US included, with the concern being that could really escalate the conflicts and really infuriate Russia. So they've been reluctant to send Ukraine warplanes. But here Macron is offering to train Ukrainian fighter pilots. We also got some uh, you know, pledges of military

and financial aid from the from the UK, from Germany as well. UM, So yeah, a lot of a lot of additional help coming in from European leaders. And this comes, of course, as Kiev is planning a or we're expecting Kiev to carry out a major counter offensive in the spring. Um. Initially Ukrainian officials had said that was put on hold because they didn't

have enough Western weapons. And so now that Zalvski has secured at all this additional aid, the thinking is that this counter offensive cold could really be just stays away, wow, days away. Okay, because we've been it's not exactly been a secret that the Zolensky and the Ukrainian army wanted to counter a fan. Zolenski has described this war as a fundamental definition of civilization. The Russian president Putin recently had a parade in Moscow. It seems like a lot

of this is playing out in public and very very not secret ways. Is that influencing anything when it comes to, for lack of a better term, public relations or media relations on either side of the war. Yeah, you know, I think it's been it's certainly been interesting to see these how these two leaders have gone about it. And you're right, we've seen Putin quite a bit in recent weeks. There was that military parade and and and Putin did speak. It was kind of one of a rare appearance. We hadn't

seen him in a while, and he did speak about the war. He talked about how the world had had fundamentally changed. He was accusing the West again of attacking Russia. Things like that. We've seen him him coming out kind of more publicly, and Russian officials also talking more and more about what's really going on on the ground, which was also kind of unusual because they've kept a lot of things kind of secret um and we are seeing, Yeah,

the Ukrainian president. I mean he's been the center throughout the throughout the war, um, but certainly in recent days as this world and euro tour, Luke seeing a lot more of him. So yeah, I think there's a little bit of that as well. Both sides kind of touting their games. Ukraine just this week was touting its biggest battlefield advances in six months. Um so. So they're you know, saying that they're making progress already,

um so so. And I think part of that is also to keep morale up of course, and and and but they but they're claiming that they have, you know, made more progress there than they have in six months. We're speaking with ABC's in as delicatea one one more question back to Western Europe real quickly, as um French President Makron is a self described internationalist, and

is this aid package unsuspectable? Well, did we expect to get that out of France for this because it seems like training on the weapon systems that Ukraine already has is giving them an edge already they seem to be up to speed on a lot of those systems. Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting that the systems have certainly been a huge help, and we just saw that overnight with Russia launching a new kind of intense garage of missiles that Ukraine.

Ukraine is able to shoot down all eighteen of those missiles. And what was especially interesting about last night is that there were hypersonic missiles views that Russia had touted as all but you know, unstoppable, and still those air defense systems were able to shoot them down. So I think that goes to show just how well that's working. And yeah, the edge that Ukraine has over

Russia in many ways because of all this aid that's coming in. When it comes to what France is doing, Yeah, it's been interesting to see how different countries have you know, they, especially European countries, think Western countries as a whole natal allies. They wanted to present a united front when it comes to Ukraine, and I think they've suceeded in doing that. They want

to show that they stand firmly behind Ukraine. But at the same time, there is a split amongst these countries when it comes to how just how far the age should go. And we've seen countries, for instance, on the eastern flying country like Poland or the Baltic States that are very much concerned about what's going on in Ukraine. They feel that a Russia isn't stopped there, Russia could come after the next So they've been really you know, Ukraine's biggest

allies here. And when it comes to this issue of fighter jet fighter jets that we were discussing earlier, countries like Poland for instance, have been very vocal and saying that they would be open to sending Ukraine fighter jets, whereas countries like France, the US, Germany, the UK are a little bit more measured, I want to say in their approach. They've been reluctant to

set Ukraine fighter jets and and so they're maybe not at directly affected. And I think what you're seeing Kron doing here and helping training these pilots but not sending more plans is trying to walk that fine line of helping Ukraine without taking it too far. Well, thank you so much for your update on this. We've you know, as your time is very valuable and we really you

appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you ab season as Daily Cattery, they're updating us on the munitions and military aid headed to Ukraine for an often discussed and predicted counter offensive in that war against Russia. Back to some news coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom, a convicted felon who shot a BB gun at planned parented in Pasadena has been sentenced. The man admitted to firing at the clinic at least eleven times between twenty twenty and twenty twenty

one. The US attorneys Karen McAvoy says fifty three year old Richard Chamberlain also had a handgun with him during one of the attacks. Police found on the front passenger seat of Chamberlain's car a backpack containing a twenty two caliber pistol which was loaded with ten rounds of ammunition. Chamberlain last year pleaded guilty to being a felon with a firearm and ammunition. He was sentenced yesterday to thirty months in federal prison. Chris Adler KFI News, a former LAPD officer suspected of

sexually assaulting four boys at his home in Covina has been arrested. The La County Sheriff's Department says the officer was arrested last week and remains in custody. The alleged abuse happened between two thousand and seven and twenty sixteen. Officials say based on the allegations and the officers access to children, there could be more kids abused than have been reported. Federal officials are looking to resume student loan

debt repayments. The country's Education secretary says the process will start no later than June the thirtieth. Student loan payments have been paused federally for more than three years because of the pandemic. The Supreme Court has not yet made a ruling on challenges to President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. San Diego has been given the option to sue Sea World. Rent is due and the balance is ten

million dollars for the aquatic theme part. The San Diego City Council is voted to take legal action against Sea World to try and recover its back rent from most of twenty twenty. In early twenty twenty one, officials for SeaWorld release a statement that they will continue to work with the city to find a resolution. In the past, c World said it should not owe rent in their revenue sharing contract because theme parks were forced to shut down completely during the pandemic.

The city said the least only allowed for rent to be deferred, not waived. Andrew Caravella, KFI News Southern California Weather from KFI Low clouds and fog this morning and then sunny a little bit later. Today. We do have some patchy fog also happening this morning and a drizzle we have to watch for the drizzle. High are going to be in the upper sixties and seventies for inland LA and OC. Same start at the beaches today, slightly cooler

temps for the inland valleys. Highs are going to be in the eighties today. Tonight, the low clouds and fog may move back in overnight lows around sixty tomorrow. It's the same start to the day. You've been listening to your wake Up Call with me, Jennifer Jones Lee, and you can always hear wake Up Call five to six am Monday through Friday at kf I Am six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.