Wake Up Call

You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with Me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Good morning, I'm Amy King. So glad you're starting your day with us today. I started my day with another wildlife spotting. A couple weeks ago, I was telling you that I've had possums on the porch, coyotes crossing the road, rabbits running across the walkway, and this morning it was raccoons. There was two of them. They're so

cute. I know they're vicious little things, but they're so cute anyway. So that's my latest wildlife spotting. Can't wait to see what I see next. It's also happy. It's not happy equal pay Day, but it's equal payday. So March thirteenth is the date that symbolizes, ladies, you're going to love this. How far into the year women have to work to earn what men earned in the previous year, so it's sort of like that tax Freedom Day. The Labor Department says women in the US earned about twenty percent

less than men on average last year. Happy news. Right, here's what's ahead on wake up Call. Voters in Georgia, Hawaii Mississippi and Washington are all casting ballots in presidential primaries today. Former President Trump could clinch the nomination today, he'd earn enough delegates to put him over that finish line. President

Biden's expected to have enough delegates by next week's primaries. A proposal in the state Assembly to provide state funded legal assistance to illegal immigrants trying to avoid deportation and set up residency, even those with felony convictions, is headed for a hearing today before the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary. Didn't anyone spell check. The Lakers say spelling errors that fans have found on the new Kobe pry Bryant

statue outside Crypto dot com arena are going to be fixed. Several players' names are misspelled, among other things. The statue was unveiled last month. The Lakers organization says it has known about the errors for a few weeks. Now at six oh five, it's handled on the news. President Biden has taken the wraps off his election year budget. It includes five point five trillion dollars in tax hikes on the wealthy and businesses. Let's get started with some of

the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Beach cleanup crews have found more than one thousand pounds of oil waste from an oil machine off the coast of Huntington Beach, and that includes eighty five gallons of oil that came from the water. Coastguards Richard Yurunga says unconfirmed testing could points a natural underwater sea pitch. It didn't look like it came from the oil rigs at

all OC Supervisor Katrina Foley says that testing is like comparing fingerprints. They can compare the samples to oil that is produced from a platform, from a pipeline, that might be in a vessel discharge, or that is seeping from the ocean floor. Oil sheine was first reported Thursday in Orange County Corbin Carson KFI news. People who live near the Chikida Canyon landfill can now apply for relocation services and assistance. The landfill operators set up a website to offer aid in

response to a request from La County Supervisor Catherine Barger. People have complained for months about the landfill producing toxic chemicals and polluting the air, water, and land on the site and in neighboring communities. The Russian Defense Ministry says a military transport plane with fifteen people on boards crashed during takeoff. Officials say there were eight crew and seven passengers. There's no word on whether anyone survived.

Top intelligence officials have warned of threats coming from the southern border. During a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, FBI Director Christopher Ray said the FBI seized enough ventinel in the last two years to kill two hundred and seventy million people. He says some smuggling networks also have ties to ISIS. Other concerns discussed included potential actions by Russia, Iran, and China, and risks posed by advances

in AI. They also talked about the ongoing Israel Hamas war. We're to find out more about what the intelligence officials are wanted warning about with ABC's Luke bar that's coming up at five fifty, so about forty five minutes from now. That was a fun moment, wasn't it. Ryan Gosling could be the reason about nineteen and a half million people tuned in to watch the oscars this year. ABC says Sundays show had the highest ratings in four years. Viewership

peaked in the final half hour. That's when Gosling got the entire audience on its feet, singing and dancing to I'm Just Ken. The last quarter also included Oppenheimer's Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture wins. The Academy experimented with the show this year, with an earlier start time and five former Best Actor winners announcing the Big four acting categories. I thought that was a nice touch. It's five oh six on your wake up call. Let's say

good morning now to ABC's Tom Rivers. Tom Haiti is a mess. So before we talk about what just happened today, what has been going on in Haiti for the last few weeks. Yeah, last few weeks ramped up chaos. We've seen the they've always been there, but the effect flexing of muscles by the armed gangs there doing a number of things, basically ransacking a number of police stations, going to the main prison and releasing some four thousand inmates.

They control the port Port de Prince. They're really calling the shots and as of right now, Ariel, I'll read the Prime minister, interim prime minister. He kind of stepped in after the assassination of Moees almost three years ago. Now he's kind of stuck on his own in Puerto Rico. So we sent a video addressed to the people of Haiti saying, look, I'm stepping down. My name will be kind of the head of the government until a transition government can be somehow hammer out. But we're not there yet.

So yeah, a lot of insecurity and things are not moving forward in Haiti right now. Security council regrouping saying look, what can we do. Maybe we can get a force in there to help quell some of the violence, but of course that will take time and money. The US has ramped up additional financial aid, so we're kind of in a holding pattern. And again there are calls for com but maybe that's landing on deaf ears with regard to the real power in charge right now, the armed gangs. Okay, so

I want to talk about the armed gangs a little bit. A couple of things. Do they have an agenda? Are they just out there running a monk basically running a mock But they also are so arrogant at this stage they say, look, if we're going to be having a round table discussion on who's going to run the country from this point on, we want a seat at that table. So we'll see how that one works out. But as I say, right now, it's kind of mad Max land there. And

you know we've been there before. We're talking about decades upon decades of disquiet in Haiti, sadly, and then where are the police and the military in all of this? When the I mean, are they just you said they've gone and taken over police stations and ports and airports and stuff. I mean, are are the police and military just retreating or what's going on there? Yeah, they're kind of basically retreating there. They are weak and again they

don't have the strength to combat the gangs. What about the military in Haiti, same story, they are they cannot put up a fight against the gangs right now. So it is what it is. We are where we are and going forward going to be very very interesting and delegate delicate diplomacy. It's going have to be employed to try to you know, right the ship in

Haiti, And again it's it's we've had problems in the past. We've kind of thought we've solved some problems, but guess what they always always come back there, okay, And is whatever government is left in Haiti are they requesting assistance, like saying, hey, you in come help us. Oh yeah, exactly. I mean the calls are there, and the question is they need them yesterday? Yeah, so it's we're kind of a you know, and then these calls you hear it. There was a meeting yesterday in Jamaica

with regional leaders saying, look, what can we do? How can we help facilitate a political transition? All of that kind of talk is important, it is it's it's it's useful, it's needed, but it doesn't you know, it doesn't solve the problem today. So yes, hopefully fingers crossed, some kind of calm can descend, if it is possible, until we get to a point where we can get some kind of a consensus in agreement that yes we can. It's sold yet another government in Haiti, and see how

that one flies. Man. Haiti just can't catch a break. They had that earthquake and then didn't they have a hurricane come through exactly, And again that's been a one two punch in addition to the endemic poverty that has been there and as I say, for many many years. Indeed, Yeah, I was just going to ask about the people, what is the condition for just the people who are trying to survive there. Well, again, you had some pretty basic ones. Is there food there now, Yes, there

is, but it's dwindling. And as I say, the gangs control the ports right now. So food, medicine fill in the blank if you need you know, you need medicine for whatever condition. And you're running low right now, you're probably pretty worried. Wow, Okay, So we'll just stay in our holding pattern until somebody makes the decision on something. Hopefully they get control of this place. It's so sad to see like it's such a beautiful or it was a beautiful place, you know, and to see it overrun

like this is Oh, you're absolutely right. It could be something different, but you know it is. It is what it is, all right. ABC's Tom Rivers, thank you so much. If you want to follow Tom, it's at Tom Rivers ABC. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. On bath of all SpaceX Welcome Home astronauts from four countries have returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX capsule one

hundred and ninety nine days after they lifted off Dragons Plot down. Four crew members, one each from Japan, Denmark, Russia, and the United States, have dropped gently into the Gulf of Mexico to await the recovery boats. I was wondering when they were going to get back. ABC's Jim Ryan says the crew returned from the International Space Station about six months up there. One member said he couldn't wait to hear birds singing in the trees and that he

was craving crunchy food. Lots of crunchy food for you. I'm sure the La Innocence Project will ask a judge to allow them to get additional evidence from a conted killer, Scott Peterson's first trial. It's part of an effort to clear his name twenty years after he was convicted of killing his wife, Lacy and their unborn child. Peterson is currently serving a life sentence with no chance for parole. Investigators are trying to figure out the cause of a fatal crash

involving a forest service truck and two other cars near Yukaipa. Photos from the scene show a Firefighter crew truck flipped over and vehicle parts scattered all around an area of Highway thirty eight. The crash happened Saturday afternoon, killing one person in a civilian vehicle. All nine firefighters in the truck were injured and taken to a hospital. The firefighters are part of a hotshot crew based at the

Mill Creek fire Station in the San Bernardino National Forest. Hotshot cruis are inserted into the worst parts of a wildfire. The trucks are large, heavy, and specially designed for rugged terrain. Steve Gregory Kafi News Education officials in Florida and civil rights attorneys have reached a settlement over what critics call the Don't Say

a Gay Law. The settlement clarifies that students and teachers will be able to speak about sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms as long as it's not part of instruction. The law prohibiting education on those topics for early grades past Two years ago, the CDC sent a team to Chicago, where two kids and a migrant shelter have been diagnosed with measles. The agency urged isolation lockdowns at the Pilsen migrant shelter, but ABC's Diane Pethew says some people just left.

CDPAH officials say the child infected is in the hospital and in good condition. This newest case marks the third person in the city to have contracted the dangerous virus since last Thursday. Chicago Public school officials have asked families to keep their kids out of school as a precaution, since the two infected kids are part of the school system. A man's been arrested in New York for allegedly mailing

turtles to his home in Hong Kong. That's illegal. Officials say. The turtles were found stuffed into four packages at an international mailing facility in Torrance last month. The eastern box turtles were all crammed into socks. Oh, the guy could get forty years in prison for turtle smuggling if he's convicted. When we come back, you're going to be getting a break when you're late. And if you're saving money, good for you. Too bad the banks aren't

giving you a helping hand on that one. Joe Lars Scott's gonna make sense of it all. Coming up next, you're listening to Wake Up Call on Demand from KFI Am six forty. Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour news room. The family of a fifteen year old boy shot and killed by Sam Bernardino. County Sheriff's deputies say the boy had autism. He

was shot after running toward a deputy with a bladed gardening tool. His sister had called nine one one saying the boy was attacking family members over the weekend. The Prime Minister of Haiti has agreed to resign. The capital city of Porta Prince has been racked by out of control gang violence. Haiti declared a state of emergency last weekend after gangs banded together and attacked government institutions and airports and got into the prisons and set about four thousand prisoners free. As I

just mentioned, respr's front man Eric Carmen has died. His wife says he passed away over the weekend. After the Raspberries broke up in the seventies, Carmen went on to have a successful solo career with hits like hungry Eyes from dirty Dancing all by myself and never going to fall in love again. Eric Carmen was seventy four. At six oh five, it's handled on the news.

A Boeing whistleblower has been found dead in South Carolina. I'll tell you what happened there right now let's say good morning to the host of how to Money here on KFI. It's Joel lars Guard. Joel, we're gonna get a break if we pay our credit card bills late. Oh yeah, So this is really interesting news. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is you know, this arm of the federal government, has issued a new rule. And when they issue a rule, it tipically takes like sixty days for this

to go into effect. But what they're trying to do is cap late fees for credit cards. And it's true, they're kind of expensive. They're pretty exorbitant right now. The average late fee is like thirty two bucks. So let's say you're paying late on the rag, you might be paying the credit cards an extra two hundred bucks a year because of these late fees. And so what the CFPB is saying is, well, hold on a second credit

card companies, this is actually more than it costs you. So we're going to like lower that cap by quite a bit, down to eight bucks per late fee. You're still paying interest, but the late fee is likely. We'll see if this rule actually holds up and gets implemented. It is likely to cap credit card fees in a big way. Okay, So here's here's my question on this, because I was this first surface last week and we were like, okay, so the credit card fees are high. First of

all, why are you paying the credit cards late? And then second of all, by reducing those fees where it doesn't it doesn't sting as much because eight bucks is eight is a lot less than thirty two, right, that's right? And are you more likely to do to pay late because you're like, oh, it's just eight dollars. That's a really good point. And so my thing is I actually like credit cards as a method of payment for

so many reasons. They offer superior protections. And let's say there's some sort of fraud on your account, Well, you're not actually out money from your checking account as you are with a debit card, so trying to claw it back from the bank. The credit card is just a great way to pay if you can use it properly. But only like fifty percent of Americans actually use it properly. And by using it properly, I mean paying that sucker

off on time and in full every single month. And yeah, if you do that, if you do what I call it the Golden rules of plastic. If you're following the Golden rules, you're not going to pay a late fee. Ever, and so I don't really care if personally, if the credit cards are charging one hundred and fifty dollars a month late fee, it

doesn't matter. I'm never going to pay it, and I want the same for everybody out there to And that's why automatic payments are so so crucial, right, so that you're not missing, you're not paying late just because you forgot. Like I'm a pretty forgetfulson. I need like Google Calendar saves my life, but so do automatic payments so that I'm avoiding these kinds of things. So you're right, I wish that this. And the interesting thing is

too. One other thing that's going to happen here is, even though credit card late fees are going to be capped, do you think, I mean this is a profit center for the credit card companies, They're going to do one of a couple different things in response to this one. They might raise interest rates commensurately to maybe buy a point or two to try to make up for some of this lost revenue. And then the other thing that might happen,

which isn't the worst thing in the world. But they might start to reduce or limit credit card rewards that they offer for some of their cards. So they're going to find some way. They're not just going to be out this money in all likelihood, they'll find some other way to make up for it. But yeah, the late fee cap, we'll see if it actually comes to fruition or not. Because so the financial companies are not happy about

this and they're finding it tooth and nail. Yeah, And okay, So I want to go back to the golden rules of plastic for a second. So one is payoff every month, and if you what is the other benefit of that aside from sticking away from keeping away from late fees. So paying it off on time and in full every month is going to ensure that you don't get reported to the credit bureaus and get for late payments and getting that ding to your credit score, which is so such an important part of your

kind of financial life. Right, So yeah, I want that. That's crucial if you're gonna if you're gonna use a credit card, I want you to avoid interests. I want you to avoid late fees, and I want you to avoid the hit that comes with a late payment, and then I've got an article action on how money dot com about credit card best practices. It's like, only by stuff you can afford, and then never take cash

advances, use your rewards, watch out for annual fees. Annual fees aren't actually the worst thing in the world, but you do want to make sure that you're getting the benefit from that card for the fee. Some of the best cards actually out there, I have ninety five dollars or even higher annual fees, but those benefits that come alongside of them, if you're actually using them and taking advantage of them, you can you can make out like a

bandit. Because, like I was saying, those credit card rewards can be so rich, they might not be as rich going forward if the credit card late fees get capped, but still right now at least they're pretty strong. Okay. And then you mentioned interest. If you pay it off every month, you don't pay interest. Is that correct? Is that right? So yeah, pay the statement balance off in full on time. You never pay

interest. That's the great That's the other thing too, is people talking about how credit card interest rates are so ridiculously high right now because of FED rate hikes. And it's true they've gone up quite a bit over the so the suit of almost like ten percentage points over the course of a decade. But for how to money listeners who handle their credit cards properly, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if the interest rate's eighty two percent, it's you never

pay it because you're using it essentially in this stealthy way. You're you're paying it off in full and on time, and so you never even have to see that interest rate. It never affects your life. That's my goal for this year is to pay it off every month, because I've gotten lax on that. So okay, see, you can do this. I know,

I know I can do it. I can do it. Okay, and then real quick we've got the what we can What can we do about the rising cost of those stupid baggage fees which like three or four airlines have now increased. And it's amazing too how they do it all in concert together very close to the same time. Yeah, so American and United where the first

delta has followed suits, so everybody's check bag fees are going up. My thought, I've got a couple thoughts on this one is to is to avoid checking it back, so just take on a carry on, which is amazing because now the carry on overheads, the overhead binds are full and they're gate checking your stuff. So it's really kind of annoying and pesky that the airlines are doing this. But if they gate check it, they don't charge you for it. Usually exactly, they don't charge you for it. But of

course then you're just annoyed. You're like, why did we have to go through this song and dance then? So I love the idea, Like, there's actually a twenty eight liter backpack that I use that opens like a clamshell. It's kind of like a suitcase, but it's so much easier to get around you're not dragging a suitcase behind you. So I suggest that the other thing too is if like there's an airline you fly frequently, consider getting the

credit card for that airline. Speaking of credit cards, because oftentimes those come with free check bags for customers when you use that credit card, and not just for you, but for everybody and your party, So that's kind of cool. And then the other thing isply Southwest they don't charge for check bag fees. They did say they were going to start cracking down on people bringing

too many items onto the plane. But hey, you can check two full size suitcases on Southwest and not pay a dime, whereas now with the other major airlines you're gonna be paying thirty five bucks and then forty five bucks for the next one. It can add up pretty quick. YEP. I love a good work around, and Joel Larsgard is so good at helping us find those. You can listen to Joel every weekend noon to two on Sundays right

here on KFI. It's how to money, And as you just mentioned, if you are interested in keeping those credit cards working for you rather than the other way around, Howtomoney dot com. Thank you, Joel. Thanks Amy. All right, here's some stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Huntington Beach says bring it. In response to the threat of a

lawsuit that would claim the city is violating the state's Voter Rights Act. City attorney Michael Gates says the city's at large voting system does not disenfranchise minority voters. In twenty twenty, Tito org She's was elected overwhelmingly by the city at large. Just recently in twenty twenty two, Gracie Vandermark, who's one hundred

percent Latina, was voted overwhelmingly at large by the entire city. Lawyer Kevin Shankman says two of those candidates were not the preferred choice of the Latino community, and the third candidate who was couldn't win. He says in the last twenty years, his litigation has helped more than two hundred cities in California switch to district voting. An eighteen year old woman's been arrested in connection with two shootings in San Pedro, including a deadly shooting outside of bar. The shootings

in January happened two weeks apart. Estrella Rojas is facing charges of murder and attempted murder, and voter turnout in California's primaries on track to be among the lowest ever. As of Friday, only twenty percent of registered voters had participated in Super Tuesday. That's according to preliminary numbers from the Secretary of State's office. La County had a nineteen percent turnout, San Bernardino fifteen percent, in

Riverside County nineteen percent. So far, OC had a slightly higher turnout twenty six percent. Officials say there are still about two point seventy three million ballots left to count when we come back. Fake goods are becoming a real problem, and ABC's Jim Ryan's gonna let us know what to look for before you buy. You're listening to a wake up call on demand from KFI Am six

forty. Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Voters in Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Washington are casting ballots and presidential primaries today. Former President Trump could clinch the nomination today by having enough delegates to get the nomination. President Biden's expected to probably not get enough delegate delegates until next week's primaries. Special Counsel Robert her is set to testify today before a

Republican led House panel. Her was tasked with investigating President Biden's handlings of classified documents. He ultimately declined to bring criminal charges, said the facts stopped short of finding that Biden willfully retained classified material, wondering if anyone uses his spell check anymore, The Lakers say spelling errors that fans have seen on the new

Kobe Bryant statue outside Crypto dot com arena are going to be fixed. Several players' names are misspelled, there's some spacing issues, and the words also misspelled. The statue was unveiled February eighth. The Lakers organization says it has known about the errors for a few weeks now. At six so five a handle on the news, Airbnb says owners can no longer watch what their short term renters are doing. At five point fifty, intelligence agencies are sounding the alarm

on AI, saying it could wreak havoc on our democracy. Right now, let's say good morning to our our friend Jim Ryan Jim with ABC. Of course, and the growth of e commerce has created some really great opportunities because it's easy to just sit down and order stuff and get it delivered right to you. But there's there's a problem with it. Well there always has been, and there's all you know, there's been a problem with the brick and

mortars too. Walking and purchase a pair of Nikes, for example, that foot locker and hope that they're the real deal. They should be a legitimate retailer like that, But like at a thrift shop or a flea market, chance are as fake well, the same holds true for online shopping too.

Customs and these numbers are just amazing amy. In twenty nineteen, Customs and Border Protection, which staffs the ports of entry into LA and Houston in New York everywhere, they're responsible for in addicting they fake goods that are coming into the country. Well, in twenty nineteen that number was one point five billion dollars seized by Customs and Border Protection. You have to assume that more than

that got into the country. It's just three years later the number had doubled to three billion dollars worth of stuff seized, fake stuff coming from overseas and bound for consumers coming through the ports. So yeah, I mean, the numbers just keep going up, and it runs the gamut from shoes to purses, handbags, clothing, olive oil. The chances are that the olive oil in your cabinet and your covered is fake, That it's not actually olive oil.

That is not olive oil, right that the way I get mine from passive robos okay, all right, or robeblists, depending on how you posture robelist. What does the label say they made it down the street? Oh? Okay, good, right by it in California meeting California, perfect, yes, because some of them because a lot of it coming from overseas.

Even if it purports to come from Italy or from Greece, it may contain something else because organized crime runs a lot of the oil producing the olive oil producing producing fields in that part of the world, in the Mediterranean, and there's such a profit in putting fake stuff in it, or cutting it or adding stuff that you're olive oil probably isn't even real anymore. Oh my goodness. Okay, So is that is that one of the most popular things or

what are some of the most popular items there? There's a whole list of stuff, you know. At the top of the list, it's shoes for some reason, shoes, foot wear, that kind of thing which is easily mass produced, easy to make look like the real thing, and there's a high profit motive for it. Below that is apparel and goods like luxury purses, bags like that. But somewhere down the list, then you're gonna find

olive oil, and you're gonna find things. And right now. I talked with an ophthalmologist yesterday, by the way, who's based in Hollywood, and he told me that all over the market. Now you're gonna go online. You're gonna try to get protective eyewear to look at the eclipse if you live in my part of the country next month. And he says that the websites are filled with fakes. Okay, and that's something that's not just yeah, that's dangerous. Put on a pair of glasses that you think will protect your

eyes from looking at the eclipse, you ended up blinding yourself. So we're gonna watch out for that. I mean, it's timely right now. Okay, So what are some red flags that people should watch out for when they do buy something and are trying to easy your drift shops? You know, you see the weird stitching or the label that doesn't look quite right, or you know, something that is a dead giveaway. You don't have that option really online, but you do have the option, you know, looking at

the description. Does the description have weird verbiage or language? You know, if you go to the Lieuisvitz website, it's going to be professionally written, The description will be accurate, the picture will look professional. If not, I mean, if there are weird language problems there, if it's garbled. If it's messed up, that's probably a fake. Then look down at some of the consumer reviews and make sure that those reviews actually apply to the item

that they're supposed to be reviewing. And you know, if you've got five star ratings for an item and you look down at the reviews, the reviews aren't about that item, but are about something else altogether, that's an issue. That's Oh, I've seen that too. I'm wait, that's not what I'm even looking at. I know, and that the item was probably a fake. They just loaded up with reviews and hope that you don't go down and look, so be smart, go look, yeah, and I've seen

that you're talking out. Look at the descriptions and stuff. If you see like it's it's little things too. Sometimes it's like capitalization or misspelling or past tense, present tense, just little mistakes that tell you that a professional writer in the US did not write that, right, or a professional writer in Italy at Louis Vauton or you know, in France. And it's the same

kind of thing that the tip offs to fake emails, phishing emails. Right, this is kind of off topic, but weird language that in there that clearly was written by somebody speaking English, maybe as a second or third language, and not doing such a good job of it. That person probably works in a shop somewhere and is not, you know, working for the place that they're purporting to work for. Okay, the olive oil thing surprises me. Yeah, okay, So I'm going to continue to buy my olive oil

locally, do it? Okay, Jim Bryan, thank you so much for the information. Appreciate it to Jammy. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A Coast Guard spokesman says the oil sheen in Huntington Beach appears to be natural seepage of crude bubbling up from the ocean floor. The Coast Guard has collected more than one thousand pounds of oil waste and tar balls from the shoreline since the sheen was spotted

in the water last week. A man's been found killed guilty of killing his mother and stepfather with a baseball bat at their home in Hacienda Heights. The parents were attacked in twenty twenty one. The jury yesterday also found true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with an attempted murder charge involving Nelson

Garabay's brother. The sanity phase of his trial starts Friday. The LA Department of Water and Powers captured more than thirteen and a half billion gallons of storm water. That's enough water to fill twenty thousand Olympic sized swimming pools. But Art Castro with the DWP says, we're never really out of the drought, especially when having the driest year on record. We've also had the wettest year on record, So what that tells us is that we're in this climate whiplash,

which we don't know what you expect. He says. Water conservation during wetter conditions is crucial in making sure there's plenty of water in dryer conditions. The department collected almost five billion gallons more this year than it did around the same time last year. Chris Adler KFI News new inflation numbers are out and it's the ninth month in a You're listening to Wake Up Call on Demand from KFI AM six forty and again that's another Eric Carmen song. We lost him

over the weekend. He was seventy four. Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The Anaheim Planning Commission has approved a nearly two billion dollar Disneyland expansion project. The Disneyland Forward project would add new attractions, shops, dining, and more within the existing footprint, much of it where the Toy Story parking lot is that's next to the Convention Center. The proposal now heads to the Anaheim City Council for a look. President Biden has rolled

out his budget proposal for a potential second term. It reduces the federal deficit by three trillion dollars and raises the tax rate to twenty five percent for billionaires. The budget doesn't have much of a shot of passing and divided Congress. Raspberry's frontman Eric Carmen, as I mentioned, has died. His wife says he passed away over the weekend. After the Raspberries broke up in the seventies, Carmen went on to have successful solar career hits like All by Myself,

Never Going to Fall in Love Again and Hungry Eyes from Dirty Dancing. Eric Carmen was seventy four. We're just minutes away from handle on the news this morning, Haites Prime Minister is stepping down as gangs continue to ravage his country. Right now, let's say good morning to ABC's law enforcement reporter Luke bar Good morning, Luke, good morning. How are you doing good? Doing good? But apparently we're not doing so good when it comes to threats from

the outside. So what's going on at the Sidate Intelligence Committee? Yeah, so yesterday the Cenin Intelligence Committee hosted heads of the intel agencies like the FBI, to CIA, and the Director of National Intelligence, and they painted a stark picture of what the threats to the US look like from terrorism, potentially the southern border, how AI is going to impact the election, the need for est inspiring GAZA, and funding for Ukraine. Oh so they didn't have

much to talk about at all. Huh, not at all, Yeah, not at all. Okay, So let's talk about how democracy is under a great threat from AI. Yeah. So the leaders basically said that, you know, there's sixty countries that are voting in this year's election. Obviously the United States is perhaps the biggest, and the threat of AI being able to

manipulate something it causes great concern for these intel heads. So, you know, For example, a CIA director Bill Burns that they've seen evidence at Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has used AI to generate videos aimed at inspiring lone wolf attacks as a result of the conflict. You said in another instance that there were deep fakes of Presidents Zelenski turn soldiers to quote lay down their arms

in twenty twenty two. Obviously that didn't happen because the conflict is going on, but these are all the sort of landmines, so to speak, and tell chiefs are warning the United States about well. And it's interesting too when you mentioned that, like you could have taken somebody like Osama bin Laden and

done a deep fake of him even after he was killed. I mean, obviously not because of the circumstances and we were there and all that, but if something had happened and maybe he was killed in a drone strike, they could have faked it and said he's still alive. Yeah, and that's really the major concern. It's you know, I've covered this for a long time,

and it's really hard to hack an election system. It's really hard because they're not connected to the Internet. But you know, the threat of misinformation has always been out there. Obviously, we saw it most prevalent in twenty sixteen, but it's been there even after that. You know, all the alarm bells were being raised from Russia and from China. Now is the new

sort of threat actor that has entered into the space. Okay, and then FBI Director Christopher Ray was also there and he was talking about the threat at the southern borders. What is the latest on that? Well, the FBI rcor said that there is actual concern that the individuals could have entered the southern

border illegally and want to carry out an attack against the United States. He said that there is no specific plot, but he said that it's a deep concern for him that they could exploit the southern border, entering the country illegally and carry out an attack. He said he gave an example of a particular network that has some overseas facilitators, the smuggling network, and they have ISIS tiles. He said, he can't get into any more specifics, but that's

the concern that they're seeing at the southern border. So they're saying that isis is coming across their southern border potentially. Yes, that's the that's the assessment from REGs. But he said, look, this is something that they're they're aware of there, you know, they're totally concerned about and they're on top of it. And he said that you know, the vigilance and the minium

of the FBI do everything they can to protect the homeland. Okay, And is there anything Luke that they were talking about how people can protect themselves from some of these threats. Well, you know, I think the most obvious

is being able to consume accurate information. So with the AI, so right, for example, going to that reliable source that that the election official, the the the you know, the the media out you know, whatever that is that's reliable that's going to give you correct, accurate, in real time information is a good way to combat sort of the misinformation that's out there double

checked. Right, So if you see something, if you see something on X or on Facebook or something, don't just go oh that's real, Go and look for other sources to either corroborate or not corroborate the information. All right, I got exactly right. All Right, It's scary times, Luke, bar but thank you so much for the information. Hopefully with the information

we can help keep ourselves safe. Absolutely, Thanks so much. All right, take care you and also follow Luke ABC News's law enforcement reporter at Luke Capital l bar bar R. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Transportation Secretary Pete buddhaj Edge says people who fly private jets need to pay their fair share BOOTA judge unveiled his proposed budget for next year, and he says he wants to raise the fuel

tax for passengers and charter flights. Does this Jets account for more than seven percent of flights handled by the FAA, but contribute just zero point six percent of the taxes that make up the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The secretary says raising fees on private jet travel would generate one point one billion over five years. Van Nuy's Airport, one of the largest for private jet travel,

conducts on average three hundred thousand takeoffs and landings per year. Steve Gregory King of Fine News, former President Trump is asked to judge in New York to delay his hush money trial until the Supreme Court rules on his presidential immunity claims. Aaron Katurski says Trump isn't asking for his case over money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels to be dismissed. He's just saying that certain evidence might have to be excluded if the Supreme Court rules in his favorite. The trial is

set to start March twenty fifth. Bitcoin has reached a record high. The cryptocurrency hit over seventy two thousand dollars yesterday, just a few days after passing the previous high sixty nine thousand set in twenty twenty one. The record continues as steady climb back up for bitcoin, which has gone up more than fifty percent in the last two months. You've been listening to Wake Up Call with

me Amy King. You can always hear Wakeup Call five to six am Monday through Friday on kf I Am six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app