October 12, 2025 • 37 mins
Helicopter crashes in Huntington Beach; Actress Diane Keaton dies; LA Mayor Bass and developer Rick Caruso rekindle their "frenemy" status in a public forum; and is a dead bird outside the KFI studios a good sign or a bad one?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
I'll be with you till nine o'clock tonight on this
Saturday evening in southern California. And what a dramatic scene
it was earlier this afternoon in Huntington Beach. A helicopter
crash today right near Beachfront Hotels there in Huntington Beach.
(00:32):
Two people hurt on board, three people hurt on the ground.
We don't know a whole lot of details about what
caused this crash, the extent of the injuries of those
on board. There was a press conference in Huntington Beach
about an hour ago, a little over an hour ago,
and even then we did not learn a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Here's a little bit of what those folks said.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Bengels are transported to local hospitals in unknown condition. Currently,
NTSP is in they'll be conducting the investigation, and that's all.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
We have right now.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
As more information becomes available, it'll get released.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
So we're hoping to have some more information to release
for you guys. This helicopter was part of the cars
and copters event that is scheduled to go on tomorrow.
We also want to.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Say that the five people that.
Speaker 6 (01:20):
Were transported to the hospital, they are in an unknown
condition right now, but as far as we know, there
has been no further changes in those conditions. Which want
to clarify any information out there that would say to
the otherwise.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
But when you say changes and conditions, was everybody's stable condition.
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Or two, what was the condition out there when they
were transported to the hospital. They were transported in the
condition that they were in and that condition has not
worsened as far as we know, and that nothing has
been confirmed beyond that. We've seen some information otherwise and
we just want to make sure that that's cleared out
God as we fit.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So that was the remark. Little technical difficulties in here,
but I think are we brought casting?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 7 (02:01):
Am? I?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay, all right, thank you, Oliver, appreciate that. Okay, So
a couple more buttons to push today. But you heard
the update there from a little over an hour ago
out of Huntington Beach, where we didn't learn many more details.
Basically what we saw with our own eyes that a
helicopter crash near hotels there in Huntington Beach. This was
(02:22):
part of a show that's going on this weekend, cars
and copters on the coast. They say this event is
going to continue. But quite a scene today if you
have been able to see any of the videos, and
there are a lot out there, there were a lot
of people at the beach today that saw this transpire.
You see a helicopter appear to be approaching a landing
(02:43):
and a parking lot area and hovering what looked to
be dangerously close to one of those hotels, and then
all of a sudden it goes up but not too far,
and then starts spinning uncontrollably and then rapidly comes down.
(03:04):
Now it looks like this could have been a different
set of circumstances, more tragic circumstances, except for the fact
that this helicopter ended up crashing into some palm trees
and became wedged between those trees and a hotel. And
so it looks like everybody has survived. We heard some
(03:26):
remarks there at the press conference unknown condition, but the
condition has not worsened since those folks were transported two
on board the helicopter and three on the ground. What
could have been a really terrible situation appears not to
be as bad as it could have been, but we
will continue to monitor. If there are any more updates
out of Huntington Beach, we will bring those to you.
(03:49):
There is, unfortunately an update related to another crash that
took place involving a helicopter near Sacramento. One of the
three crew members on board eight medical helicopter that crashed
onto a Sacramento freeway during rush hour on Monday has died.
That was announced just this afternoon in a statement.
Speaker 8 (04:12):
Reach Air Medical Services says Susie Smith, a nurse who
was on board the Reach helicopter that crashed on Monday night,
has died from her injuries. Reach calls Smith a pillar
of the EMS community and says she saved countless lives
in the medical chopper. She had a fifty year career
as a nurse in twenty one years with Reach. Smith
was trapped under the chopper on the freeway. Good Samaritans
(04:33):
lifted the helicopter to help firefighters freer. Two other crew
members were critically injured in the crash. Alex Stone, eb Sinews.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So a tragic update involving that helicopter that crashed in
Sacramento on a freeway there on Monday night. More tragedy
in Los Angeles as a legendary actress has died. Today
we are learning details about the death of actress Dying Keaton.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Ladi Da, Ladi Da.
Speaker 9 (05:03):
For many film lovers, Diane Keaton will always be Annie Hall,
the awkward ty wearing girlfriend in Woody Allen's Oscar winning
film Like. Keaton played a wide range of characters in
her decades long career, like Michael Corleoni's wife in the
Godfather films.
Speaker 8 (05:16):
Nicholas Is True?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I ask me about my business?
Speaker 8 (05:20):
Came Is it true?
Speaker 9 (05:22):
Corollas a socialite turned radical in nineteen eighty one's Reds,
earned her a Second Best Actress nod her third game
for the nineteen ninety six drama Marvin's Room, opposite Meryl Streep.
Speaker 10 (05:31):
I can't believe you never told me this.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
If I couldn't tell people I had a Carney boyfriend,
I couldn't tell them Carney boyfriend Dan.
Speaker 10 (05:39):
You should have told me.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
They are never that cluss.
Speaker 9 (05:42):
Keaton's more lighthearted films included The First Wives, Club, Baby Boom,
Father of the Bride, and Something's Gotta Give, which earned
her her final Oscar nod.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I Really like you, I really like you.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Yeah, but I love.
Speaker 8 (05:55):
You like you.
Speaker 9 (05:56):
Keaton made eight films with Woody Allen. In twenty eighteen,
she publicly he defended the director against allegations of sexual impropriety,
writing on Twitter, Woodie Allen is my friend and I
continue to believe in him. Andrea Dresdale ABC News Diane
Keaton dead at seventy nine. What we have learned is
that the Los Angeles City Fire Department has confirmed that
they responded to Keaton's house this morning just after eight
(06:18):
o'clock and transported her to a local hospital. People dot
Com reports that the woman transported from that house was,
in fact Keaton. No details about what transpired that prompted
a call to nine to one one and that sent
emergency responders to Diane Keaton's house here in Los Angeles,
but it is now confirmed that actress Diane Keaton has
(06:40):
died at the age of seventy nine. Helicopter crashes, actresses dying.
I gotta say there's also right outside the studio building,
there's a dead bird that I just saw on. I
don't know if that's sort of an omen for the
type of night we're having here in Los Angeles. I
know that there are omens involving birds that are pleasant,
(07:03):
omens involving birds that are unpleasant. If you know how
I'm supposed to feel right now about seeing a dead
bird in front of the iHeart Studios building here in Burbank,
open up the iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button
and let me know. Because I'm not sure how we're
supposed to feel about that. I'm proceeding with the show
as if nothing else that is going to happen. But
(07:25):
if you know what that means, I would certainly appreciate
the help some good news out of Los Angeles, or
at least involving Los Angeles. It is a completely new
life for the UCLA Bruins football team. They started off
so rough this season, getting blown out, opening up the
season zero to four, losing to teams that, even in
(07:47):
a bad year, teams that UCLA should not lose to.
But they've now won two in a row after upsetting
Penn State last week. The Bruins were on the road
in East Lancing and just whipped Michigan State thirty eight
to thirteen. Folks online are saying UCLA may now be
the most exciting team in America. All they had to
(08:11):
do was fire their head coach a couple of weeks ago.
It looks like Tim Skipper has since taken over. He
says he's happy to see this good game for the Bruins,
second straight win after dropping those first four. So they
send Michigan State to a three and three and zero
to three record in the Big Ten. Thirty eight to
(08:31):
thirteen was that final score in East Lansing. Meanwhile, another
Michigan school taking to the field against in Los Angeles
School USC hosting the Wolverines right now, and the Trojans
are up twenty one to seven over fifteenth ranked Michigan.
The twenty first ranked USC Trojans leading twenty one to
seven with eleven thirty eight left to play in the
(08:53):
fourth quarter. I went to a festival just this afternoon
and was on the B Line metro train. I saw
some Michigan They are on the train headed to the stadium.
Hope they enjoy their time in Los Angeles. Otherwise, looks
like they'll be going back with the loss. LA Schools
roughing up the Michigan schools. Today, we have a couple
of hours to spend together in a lot of news
(09:15):
to get to. Outside of the helicopter crash in Huntington
Beach and the death of actress Diane Keaton here in
Los Angeles and a surgeing, resurgent UCLA football team, We've
got some weather coming in that looks to be kind
of strange for us for this time of year, and
a lot of rain could be involved. We're going to
go into the details of what the National Weather Service
(09:36):
is saying right now about what to expect Monday through Wednesday.
It looks like just about every part of southern California
is going to get at least a little bit wet,
and certainly wetter than we would expect to be.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
We're also going to go over the arrest of this
suspect in the Pacific Palisades Fire. The most interesting thing
to me about this is that this guy isn't necessarily
accused of directly starting the Palisades Fire as we know it.
He started in another fire that quietly burned underground for
(10:09):
almost a week until those Santa Ana wins blew through
and brought it back above ground and turned it into
that powerful, devastating and deadly Palisades fire. We'll talk about
what the Los Angeles Fire Department has to say about
why that initial fire was not completely put out. And meanwhile,
(10:31):
a replay of the twenty twenty two mayoral race here
in Los Angeles Mayor Karen Vass and her vanquished foe,
Rick Caruso, the developer who may face her again in
the next mayor's race. They are trading some heated barbs
over the response to the Palisades fire. Both of them
appeared at an event hosted by Bloomberg this week. I'll
(10:52):
play for you what each of them said. And by
the way, there is another potential mayoral candidate just learned today,
a familiar name, a guy with some resources, may have
hinted that he is jumping into the race for Los
Angeles mayor when that election starts, probably in earnest next year.
(11:14):
You'll see some campaigning for that twenty twenty six office
early next year. We're getting into all that this hour,
and then we have another big hour on the other
side of that. As Michael Monks Reports continues.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with You till nine o'clock tonight. I mentioned before
we went to break that there's a dead bird right
outside the studio doors downstairs, and it's made me a
little bit uncomfortable because I think that that's an omen
for something, right. But aren't there omens involving birds that
are like good and some that are bad. I'm not
(11:56):
sure how a dead bird plays into that. I've asked
you to help me out, if you know, open up
the iHeartRadio app, click on the talk back button, talk
me off the ledge here.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I'm a little bit nervous. Let's hear from Wilton, who's
called in.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
If the bird is l ain't on his back, push
it off the ledge, push it out the way, put
it in a bag, or go bury it. If it
ain't in the stomach, do the same thing. It's only
the bird man, Go bear the bird. You probably had
better look, don't it just sit on the ledge like that,
sit outside the window. That's not a flower.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Go bury it or something.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Do something you made, because if you don't, I guarantee
you you're gonna pay for it.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I'm gonna pay for it if I don't bury this
dead bird. Wilton's so excited he actually called in twice.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
I'm just saying, something's definitely gonna happen if you gonna
get rid of the bird. Oh my god, have you
just sitting there in the bird sit outside the window dead?
That is not a good thing. I mean, something's already wrong.
What go bury the bird?
Speaker 8 (12:57):
Man?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Get a bird? He probably came there you to bury it.
Why do your job? Oh, you'd be seeing Dave birds everywhere.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Oh. I don't like that, Wilton. You have not helped
the situation. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I'm I'm not going to bury the bird. I'm not
going to move the bird. I will trust some Burbank
wildlife to show up in the night and take care
of that. But it's like right at the foot of
the front door, so you have to step around it
as you exit. I'm hoping that by the time the
(13:34):
show is over and I leave for the night, that
bird is gone.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It was on its side.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was not there when I came in at five o'clock,
but it was there when I stepped outside for a
moment and came back up at about six forty five. Okay, Well,
that's gonna be in my head for the rest of
the show. But we've got other things to worry about
here in Los Angeles, including some interesting weather heading our way.
The National Weather Services it will be a winter type
(14:05):
storm in the fall, bringing up to two inches of rain.
The rain event is expected to last between Monday and Wednesday.
The main impacts are expected Monday night through Tuesday afternoon.
Highs in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties could be nearly
twenty degrees cooler by this time next week.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Daniel Martindale KFI News.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Okay, so, the National Weather Service held a news conference today,
a virtual one with the press, and talked a bit
about what this storm means for us, what it could mean.
Looks like they're still trying to pinpoint exactly what this
forecast looks like, but it.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Looks like it's gonna be wet. Even in Metro LA.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
A twelve percent chance of a thunderstorm is what it
looks like Monday night into Tuesday night. Those chances are
higher the farther up the coast you go thirty percent
chance in Santa Barbara, thirty three percent chance in San
Luis Obispo. So even in the Metro La area, there's
(15:04):
not a zero percent chance that we'll see some thunderstorms
on Monday. And also these these rain totals appear to
be significant for such a short period of time. They're
saying that the peak timing of the rain is Monday
night at around ten o'clock to Tuesday night around the
same time, So there's a twenty four hour window late
(15:24):
Monday night to late Tuesday night, and Metro Los Angeles,
the city itself could see over half an inch of rain,
same for Long Beach. But they're saying one point three
nine inches at the Hurst burn Scar, one point six
to eight inches at the Mountain Fire Scar, more than
(15:47):
an inch an Oxnard, nearly an inch and a half
at the Palisades Burn Scar. And those are important to
note because that land can become destabilized and we could
deal with some mud slides, especially if all of that
rain is coming in just a twenty four hour period.
As you get into Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, the
(16:09):
rain totals are a little bit more about an inch
one point seven inches in Santa Barbara, one point nine
inches in O High, one point nine inches in San Luis, Obispo.
So we're looking to see a lot of rain late
Monday night in Tuesday. It's not always easy translating the
(16:34):
Weather Service forecast directly, but what they are saying is
starting late tonight into Sunday, the winds will shift to
the northeast, with gust of twenty to forty miles per
hour likely in the Santa Ana wind prone spots of
Venture in La County. So the areas where the Santa
(16:55):
Ana winds typically blow, you'll see some gusty winday between
twenty and forty miles per hour. So at the time
right now, the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles
says to expect any advisory level northeast winds to remain
very localized and no wind advisories will be issued. That
(17:17):
wind will increase on Monday and Tuesday in the area
in association with the upper low dropping down across the state.
Widespread wind advisories are likely across the mountains and interior sections,
especially Monday night and Tuesday. Now, when they talk about
the rain, they are saying all systems are go. That's
(17:42):
their words, National Weather Service. All systems are go for
a rather potent early season storm for the area Monday
night through Tuesday night. Rain will begin across San Luis
Obispo late Monday afternoon and evening and then spread south
and east Monday night into Tuesday. So they are saying
(18:06):
no major changes to thinking about rainfall totals, with San
Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties getting widespread one and
a half to four inch totals, Inventura and La Counties
getting widespread three quarters of an inch to three inch totals.
They say the highest amounts will occur across the foothills
(18:27):
due to good ori a graphic lift. Gotta love that
oorhic lift. So we're gonna get wet starting early next
week Monday night into Tuesday night. Be prepared for that,
especially in those burned scar areas. They specifically named them
on their precipitation forecast map, the Mountain fire, the Hues fire,
(18:48):
the Post fire, the Palisades fire. We know when heavy
rain comes in those areas, but the ground can be
destabilized and mudslides can occur. We've got much more ahead
on Michael Monk's reports speaking of the Palisades fire and
arrest made this week the most shocking part of this
(19:09):
revelation wasn't really that someone was arrested all these months later.
It's the fact that the Palisades fire was born out
of a fire started nearly a week earlier, one that
firefighters in La responded to and one that was not
completely out, and one that was brought back to life
(19:32):
in the biggest way by Santa Ana Wins. We'll talk
about that next as we continue here on Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
This is Michael Monks Reports. Michael Monks from KFI News
with you till nine o'clock tonight. There's a dead bird
outside the studio. Not happy about it. I'm not sure
what kind of omen that means. I've learned that we've
had a bit of a rough day here. It's been
and technically challenging. I think if you were listening to
the fore coreport earlier this afternoon, Neil was on his
(20:06):
way in and had to turn around because traffic was
so bad and had to do the show from the
home studio. We've had a series of technical challenges and
now there's this dead bird outside and I've asked you
if is that a bad omen or is that a
good omen. And we heard from Wilton in the previous segment.
He makes it sound like it's my fault and my responsibility.
(20:26):
And if I don't take care of this dead bird
and bury it, pay tribute to it, I'm going to
see more dead birds.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Let's hear from Daniel. Now Wilton's been drinking.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
Don't listen to him.
Speaker 11 (20:38):
That's ridiculous. What has it got a crystal ball? He
could predict the future? You know what, I don't know
that it has anything to do with you, and not
an omen.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Birds perch themselves and subtimes they die. I wouldn't worry
about it too much. Just do your show, confident I
can get on with your life.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
All right, all right, I appreciate that, Michael.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I got to tell you something though. I saw I
don't know, and.
Speaker 8 (21:12):
A dead raccoon on the freeway where I too was
stuck trying to get here in traffic at the same
time as Neil, right here by our office.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So maybe there's something in the area. Happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
A dead snake, a dead raccoon, and a dead bird.
Now all in the Burbank, the Greater Burbank area.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, within just a few blocks, right, near the iHeart
studios here are making news right now.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I don't know, man, I don't have a good feeling
about it. That's the problems. Like I was feeling pretty good.
Things have been going well. But it wasn't here when
I came in at five. It was here when I
ran downstairs for a moment and came back in, I
saw a dead bird right in front of the door.
(21:55):
Not happy about that at all. Let's hear from Steve.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Hey monks the dead birds probably a gift from a
local stray cat.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's not a bad thing. It just means that there's
a dead bird there. Just pick up your feet. It's
not going to hurt you.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Peace, Okay. But you sent that before we knew that.
There was also a dead snake and a dead raccoon,
as reported by Brigrinia de Castino. So now the animals
are dropping like flies all around us. Technical challenges this
or that. Let's just get on with the show. We'll
(22:33):
get through this together. The biggest news of the week
came earlier when federal prosecutors announced the arrest of a
man they say started the Palisades fire.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Let's hear from Acting US Attorney Bill A.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Sale last New Year's Eve, Rindernecked returned to Pacific Palisades
after working the evening shift as an uber.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Driver to two of his passengers.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Told law enforcement that he appeared agitated and angry. That night,
after dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, rinderneck parked
his car and tried and failed to contact a former friend.
He exited the car, walked up a nearby trail, took
iPhone videos at a nearby hilltop, and listened to a
(23:22):
rap song whose music video including objects being lit on fire.
The defendant had listened to this song and watched its
music video repeatedly in the days leading up to the
Lochman fire. Twelve minutes into the New year, environmental sensing
platforms indicated that a fire had started. It took the
(23:43):
defendant several tries to contact nine to one one to
report the fire. He fled the scene in his car,
but turned around after passing fire engines, driving in the
opposite direction to fight there to fight the fire. While
the Lochman fire burned, the defense walked up the same
trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters,
(24:06):
using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene.
Although firefighters suppressed the blaze, the fire continued to smolder
and burn underground within the root structure of the dense vegetation.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So that's a pretty dramatic announcement. They've got somebody that
they think did this. Jonathan Rinderneck. He lived in the Palisades.
Apparently he's twenty nine years old. He has since relocated
to Florida, where his family is located. He did appear
in court the next day, was ordered to stay in
jail without bond. Will be back in court next week.
(24:43):
But a federal agent testified at that courthouse in Florida
that this guy has had some run ins with law enforcement,
recently threatening to burn down his sister's house, and his
father had also called police out of concern that his
son was armed. So this is a guy who's got
(25:04):
an interesting history and certainly one worth exploring. These are
just allegations, of course, at this point, but the biggest
revelation was he didn't necessarily start the Palisades fire directly.
Prosecutors in announcing this arrest very clearly stated that Jonathan
(25:27):
Rinderneck started a fire on January first. Palisades fire started
January seventh, and what apparently happened is Rinderneck allegedly and
deliberately started the fire that became known as the Lachman
Fire in the Palisades area. It burned about eight acres.
(25:49):
The Lacity Fire Department responded to this fire and suppressed it,
but the fire was not never fully out. It deep underground,
apparently still smoldering, and when those Santa Ana winds blew
in several days later, it unearthed. Those flames gave them
(26:15):
so much power that it rose up.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
As the Palisades Fire.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
So the biggest question out of that press conference announcing
this arrest really wasn't who's this guy? Why did he
do it? Those are important questions. We're gonna learn more
about him as the justice system moves forward with his case.
But why was there a fire burning underground near the Palisades,
(26:47):
Because by the first we already knew some pretty dangerous
winds were popping up in the forecast. LA Fire Department
Interim Fire Chief run And Wava issued a statement. He
says holdover fires can be nearly impossible to detect with
(27:08):
infrared imaging, as smoldering often occurs deep below the surface,
especially in chaparral terrain where dense root systems conceal residual heat.
Under extreme winds, low humidity, and prolonged drought, these fires
(27:28):
can reignite despite full suppression and containment efforts. The January
seven fire was not a rekindle or due to failed suppression,
but the reactivation of an undetectable holdover fire under extraordinary
wind conditions. So it appears the position of the fire
(27:51):
Department is we did what we could on the Lochman fire,
and despite what you might think, there was no way
to know that that fire was still burning so deeply underground.
They're saying that it was undetectable, especially given the wind conditions.
(28:13):
LA Fire Department spokesperson Eric Scott has also added to
this statement, saying holdover fires are deep rooted, smoldering fires
that can remain undetectable for days or weeks, particularly in
chaparral with extensive woody root systems. So they're referencing the
challenges of the terrain, the challenges of the wind that's
(28:34):
coming in they're unable to detect it. Eric Scott says
on January seventh, an unprecedented wind event far exceeding typical
Santa Ana conditions contributed to the rapid spread and reactivation
of a holdover fire even after aggressive, fully executed suppression efforts.
This fire highlights the unpredictable nature of holdover fires, despite
(28:58):
the department's thorough and timely response. A lot of questions
about that situation. We've got a guy in custody, and
now we know the Palisades fire was born out of
an earlier fire. The city also released its after action review.
Originally they were to release this earlier, but the federal
(29:21):
government had asked them to hold on while they were investigating,
and I think we're now able to put it together
that they were investigating a potential criminal case. They now
have presented a charge against twenty nine year old Jonathan Brinderneckt,
and the same day that that arrest was made, the
city has released its after action report, basically saying, you know,
there were some successes. We'd prevented a lot more houses
from being taken than were but we can do better.
(29:45):
Up next, Mayor Bass and her old political foe Rick
Caruso trading heated words at an event here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
This week. We'll hear from both of them. Next.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on Man.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with until nine o'clock. I'll tell you who won't
be calling each other anytime soon, or maybe I don't know.
It's been a strange, whiplash kind of turn of events
involving the relationship between La mayor Bass and developer Rick Caruso.
Those two ran against each other for mayor back in
twenty twenty two. They may run against each other again
(30:25):
in twenty twenty six. Both of them appeared at an
event this week sponsored by the media outlet Bloomberg. But
on the day that federal prosecutors announced that there was
an arrest in the Palisades fire, Rick Caruso put out
a statement. He says, this is a tragic day for
(30:46):
Los Angeles, and my heart goes out to all the
families who experienced so much devastation. As the US attorney said,
evil people will do evil things. This was an evil
act and the individual identified must be held account dontable
for his reckless and malicious actions to the fullest extent
of the law. What makes today even harder is that
(31:08):
everything we feared about this disaster being preventable turned out
to be one hundred percent true. This was a failure
of government on an epic level, starting with Mayor Bass.
Her and the city's incompetence, mismanagement, and failure to plan, prepare,
and pre deployed directly led to people dying, thousands of
(31:29):
lives being upended and put on full display the consequences
of ineffective and incapable leadership. Mayor Bass was on stage
at this event. First, here's a bit of what was said.
Speaker 12 (31:43):
He released a statement today after the arrest, saying it
shows the disaster was preventable and in his words, calling
it a failure of government on an epic level, starting
with Mayor Bass. He'll be with us on this stage tomorrow.
How do you respond to that?
Speaker 10 (31:57):
Well, what he characterized me sounded like Trump. But I
just was saddened by it, honestly, because I think that
that response was beneath him. And we actually was in
my office a couple of weeks ago. We're working on something.
We're working on a couple of things together. But I
think that he is sad and bitter, and I think
(32:19):
that it is really sad to exploit you guys laughing
about that. I feel like it's exploiting tragedy, it's exploiting grief,
and this is when the city needs to stand together.
Why would you, Why would you do that?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So he's better than that, And I was just disappointed.
And Sadden, you had.
Speaker 12 (32:44):
Mentioned he was in your office a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 10 (32:46):
Weeks ago, we're working on something together.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
We were you know what we're working on.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
We're working on it.
Speaker 10 (32:51):
And it was actually something that he raised, something that
I wanted to do, and he proposed a particular solution
and I'm really excited about it. That's you you know,
Ula United La the transfer tax.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Okay, we'll get back to that, the ULA tax, because
it's been, like I said, it's been a bit of
a whiplash between these two as far as their relationship goes.
But I mean Mayor Bass called Crusoe bitter, said that
his comments were beneath him. Racruso was on stage at
that event the next day.
Speaker 13 (33:23):
Some people think I'm attacking Karen Bess. I'm not attacking
Karen Bass. I'm saying, what's the facts are. The fire
could have been prevented, which I knew from the beginning.
The fire that had started a week before was not
properly put out. They didn't call in aircraft. Can you
imagine the failures in addition to the reservoir being empty.
So I thought it was so interesting yesterday for the
mayor to say he was angry and sad, and that's
(33:45):
why he put out that statement. You know how many
hundreds of thousands of people are angry and said they
lost their jobs, lost their homes, eleven people died. I
think what we need to do now is read that
report and have a solution for every one of those problems.
Let's not be reactive. Let's be proactive, and let's make
sure that nobody else ever has to go through a
(34:06):
situation like that. If there's an earthquake, there's a flood,
there's a fire.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Okay, so you've heard from both of them trading barbs
a bit. You heard the mayor reference ULA and that
both she and Rick Caruso were working together on something
related to it. Just as a reminder. Three years ago,
November twenty two, voters in LA approved Measure ULA that
assesses a four percent tax on property sales of more
(34:30):
than five million dollars and a five and a half
percent tax on sales of more than ten million dollars.
All of that money is earmarked for affordable housing and
homelessness prevention initiatives. It's raised about eight hundred and thirty
million dollars since it was adopted. It's commonly referred to
as the mansion tax. Now, the mayor, after this Bloomberg event,
(34:53):
announced that she is calling for an exemption for victims
of Palisades fire. She says that this will help ex
spedite recovery efforts. Obviously a lot of high priced properties
were destroyed there in the Palisades, so she puts out
this announcement, and Rick Caruso says, today's announcement on ULA
is incredibly important for our city. Thank you, Mayor Bass
(35:13):
for your support on this issue. We've been working together
for a while and this executive order is real progress.
We don't always agree, but that will never stop me
from partnering to rebuild our communities. Now it's up to
the city Council to act. ULA is holding back hundreds
and maybe thousands of projects that could revitalize our city.
This is not a regional issue. Its economic impact is
(35:35):
city wide. So what's the status of their relationship?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Do you think.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Hot and cold. We know Mayor Bass is running for reelection.
Rick Caruso was not ruled it out. He may also
run for governies. Appears to be looking at both opportunities.
But there may be another candidate for mayor, a name
that he may remember. Austin Buttner. He was the superintendent
for three years at LAUSD. He was a deputy mayor
(36:07):
at one time. He's an investment banker. He has a
Twitter account and at one point today this X account,
I should say, the banner image, the picture that's above
one's profile picture changed to Austin for LA Mayor, and
(36:28):
then the bile was updated to say this account is
being used for campaign purposes by Austin Buttner for LA
Mayor twenty twenty six. But then they were taken away
pretty quickly. The image went away, the text went away.
The La Times reached out to Buttener, he did not respond.
They also note the paper does that new Austin for
(36:49):
LA accounts have appeared on Instagram and Blue Sky, displaying
the same campaign text and logos. Those messages were also
quickly removed and converted to generic accounts for Buner. It's
that time of year should be a good race next
(37:09):
year for mayor. We got another hour ahead, and as
you know all too well, the Palisades fire was not
the only one. Back in January, the Eton Fire destroyed
a good chunk of Altadena, parts of Pasadena Sierra Madre.
Victims of that fire spoke out this week calling on
so Cal Edison to do better with its offer for
(37:33):
families to settle with that utility, which they blame for
that massive fire. We'll hear from them in our next
hour as Michael Monk's reports continues.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
I'll be with you till nine o'clock tonight on this
Saturday evening in southern California. And what a dramatic scene
it was earlier this afternoon in Huntington Beach. A helicopter
crash today right near Beachfront Hotels there in Huntington Beach.
(00:32):
Two people hurt on board, three people hurt on the ground.
We don't know a whole lot of details about what
caused this crash, the extent of the injuries of those
on board. There was a press conference in Huntington Beach
about an hour ago, a little over an hour ago,
and even then we did not learn a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Here's a little bit of what those folks said.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Bengels are transported to local hospitals in unknown condition. Currently,
NTSP is in they'll be conducting the investigation, and that's all.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
We have right now.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
As more information becomes available, it'll get released.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
So we're hoping to have some more information to release
for you guys. This helicopter was part of the cars
and copters event that is scheduled to go on tomorrow.
We also want to.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Say that the five people that.
Speaker 6 (01:20):
Were transported to the hospital, they are in an unknown
condition right now, but as far as we know, there
has been no further changes in those conditions. Which want
to clarify any information out there that would say to
the otherwise.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
But when you say changes and conditions, was everybody's stable condition.
Speaker 6 (01:37):
Or two, what was the condition out there when they
were transported to the hospital. They were transported in the
condition that they were in and that condition has not
worsened as far as we know, and that nothing has
been confirmed beyond that. We've seen some information otherwise and
we just want to make sure that that's cleared out
God as we fit.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So that was the remark. Little technical difficulties in here,
but I think are we brought casting?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 7 (02:01):
Am? I?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay, all right, thank you, Oliver, appreciate that. Okay, So
a couple more buttons to push today. But you heard
the update there from a little over an hour ago
out of Huntington Beach, where we didn't learn many more details.
Basically what we saw with our own eyes that a
helicopter crash near hotels there in Huntington Beach. This was
(02:22):
part of a show that's going on this weekend, cars
and copters on the coast. They say this event is
going to continue. But quite a scene today if you
have been able to see any of the videos, and
there are a lot out there, there were a lot
of people at the beach today that saw this transpire.
You see a helicopter appear to be approaching a landing
(02:43):
and a parking lot area and hovering what looked to
be dangerously close to one of those hotels, and then
all of a sudden it goes up but not too far,
and then starts spinning uncontrollably and then rapidly comes down.
(03:04):
Now it looks like this could have been a different
set of circumstances, more tragic circumstances, except for the fact
that this helicopter ended up crashing into some palm trees
and became wedged between those trees and a hotel. And
so it looks like everybody has survived. We heard some
(03:26):
remarks there at the press conference unknown condition, but the
condition has not worsened since those folks were transported two
on board the helicopter and three on the ground. What
could have been a really terrible situation appears not to
be as bad as it could have been, but we
will continue to monitor. If there are any more updates
out of Huntington Beach, we will bring those to you.
(03:49):
There is, unfortunately an update related to another crash that
took place involving a helicopter near Sacramento. One of the
three crew members on board eight medical helicopter that crashed
onto a Sacramento freeway during rush hour on Monday has died.
That was announced just this afternoon in a statement.
Speaker 8 (04:12):
Reach Air Medical Services says Susie Smith, a nurse who
was on board the Reach helicopter that crashed on Monday night,
has died from her injuries. Reach calls Smith a pillar
of the EMS community and says she saved countless lives
in the medical chopper. She had a fifty year career
as a nurse in twenty one years with Reach. Smith
was trapped under the chopper on the freeway. Good Samaritans
(04:33):
lifted the helicopter to help firefighters freer. Two other crew
members were critically injured in the crash. Alex Stone, eb Sinews.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So a tragic update involving that helicopter that crashed in
Sacramento on a freeway there on Monday night. More tragedy
in Los Angeles as a legendary actress has died. Today
we are learning details about the death of actress Dying Keaton.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Ladi Da, Ladi Da.
Speaker 9 (05:03):
For many film lovers, Diane Keaton will always be Annie Hall,
the awkward ty wearing girlfriend in Woody Allen's Oscar winning
film Like. Keaton played a wide range of characters in
her decades long career, like Michael Corleoni's wife in the
Godfather films.
Speaker 8 (05:16):
Nicholas Is True?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I ask me about my business?
Speaker 8 (05:20):
Came Is it true?
Speaker 9 (05:22):
Corollas a socialite turned radical in nineteen eighty one's Reds,
earned her a Second Best Actress nod her third game
for the nineteen ninety six drama Marvin's Room, opposite Meryl Streep.
Speaker 10 (05:31):
I can't believe you never told me this.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
If I couldn't tell people I had a Carney boyfriend,
I couldn't tell them Carney boyfriend Dan.
Speaker 10 (05:39):
You should have told me.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
They are never that cluss.
Speaker 9 (05:42):
Keaton's more lighthearted films included The First Wives, Club, Baby Boom,
Father of the Bride, and Something's Gotta Give, which earned
her her final Oscar nod.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I Really like you, I really like you.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Yeah, but I love.
Speaker 8 (05:55):
You like you.
Speaker 9 (05:56):
Keaton made eight films with Woody Allen. In twenty eighteen,
she publicly he defended the director against allegations of sexual impropriety,
writing on Twitter, Woodie Allen is my friend and I
continue to believe in him. Andrea Dresdale ABC News Diane
Keaton dead at seventy nine. What we have learned is
that the Los Angeles City Fire Department has confirmed that
they responded to Keaton's house this morning just after eight
(06:18):
o'clock and transported her to a local hospital. People dot
Com reports that the woman transported from that house was,
in fact Keaton. No details about what transpired that prompted
a call to nine to one one and that sent
emergency responders to Diane Keaton's house here in Los Angeles,
but it is now confirmed that actress Diane Keaton has
(06:40):
died at the age of seventy nine. Helicopter crashes, actresses dying.
I gotta say there's also right outside the studio building,
there's a dead bird that I just saw on. I
don't know if that's sort of an omen for the
type of night we're having here in Los Angeles. I
know that there are omens involving birds that are pleasant,
(07:03):
omens involving birds that are unpleasant. If you know how
I'm supposed to feel right now about seeing a dead
bird in front of the iHeart Studios building here in Burbank,
open up the iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button
and let me know. Because I'm not sure how we're
supposed to feel about that. I'm proceeding with the show
as if nothing else that is going to happen. But
(07:25):
if you know what that means, I would certainly appreciate
the help some good news out of Los Angeles, or
at least involving Los Angeles. It is a completely new
life for the UCLA Bruins football team. They started off
so rough this season, getting blown out, opening up the
season zero to four, losing to teams that, even in
(07:47):
a bad year, teams that UCLA should not lose to.
But they've now won two in a row after upsetting
Penn State last week. The Bruins were on the road
in East Lancing and just whipped Michigan State thirty eight
to thirteen. Folks online are saying UCLA may now be
the most exciting team in America. All they had to
(08:11):
do was fire their head coach a couple of weeks ago.
It looks like Tim Skipper has since taken over. He
says he's happy to see this good game for the Bruins,
second straight win after dropping those first four. So they
send Michigan State to a three and three and zero
to three record in the Big Ten. Thirty eight to
(08:31):
thirteen was that final score in East Lansing. Meanwhile, another
Michigan school taking to the field against in Los Angeles
School USC hosting the Wolverines right now, and the Trojans
are up twenty one to seven over fifteenth ranked Michigan.
The twenty first ranked USC Trojans leading twenty one to
seven with eleven thirty eight left to play in the
(08:53):
fourth quarter. I went to a festival just this afternoon
and was on the B Line metro train. I saw
some Michigan They are on the train headed to the stadium.
Hope they enjoy their time in Los Angeles. Otherwise, looks
like they'll be going back with the loss. LA Schools
roughing up the Michigan schools. Today, we have a couple
of hours to spend together in a lot of news
(09:15):
to get to. Outside of the helicopter crash in Huntington
Beach and the death of actress Diane Keaton here in
Los Angeles and a surgeing, resurgent UCLA football team, We've
got some weather coming in that looks to be kind
of strange for us for this time of year, and
a lot of rain could be involved. We're going to
go into the details of what the National Weather Service
(09:36):
is saying right now about what to expect Monday through Wednesday.
It looks like just about every part of southern California
is going to get at least a little bit wet,
and certainly wetter than we would expect to be.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
We're also going to go over the arrest of this
suspect in the Pacific Palisades Fire. The most interesting thing
to me about this is that this guy isn't necessarily
accused of directly starting the Palisades Fire as we know it.
He started in another fire that quietly burned underground for
(10:09):
almost a week until those Santa Ana wins blew through
and brought it back above ground and turned it into
that powerful, devastating and deadly Palisades fire. We'll talk about
what the Los Angeles Fire Department has to say about
why that initial fire was not completely put out. And meanwhile,
(10:31):
a replay of the twenty twenty two mayoral race here
in Los Angeles Mayor Karen Vass and her vanquished foe,
Rick Caruso, the developer who may face her again in
the next mayor's race. They are trading some heated barbs
over the response to the Palisades fire. Both of them
appeared at an event hosted by Bloomberg this week. I'll
(10:52):
play for you what each of them said. And by
the way, there is another potential mayoral candidate just learned today,
a familiar name, a guy with some resources, may have
hinted that he is jumping into the race for Los
Angeles mayor when that election starts, probably in earnest next year.
(11:14):
You'll see some campaigning for that twenty twenty six office
early next year. We're getting into all that this hour,
and then we have another big hour on the other
side of that. As Michael Monks Reports continues.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with You till nine o'clock tonight. I mentioned before
we went to break that there's a dead bird right
outside the studio doors downstairs, and it's made me a
little bit uncomfortable because I think that that's an omen
for something, right. But aren't there omens involving birds that
are like good and some that are bad. I'm not
(11:56):
sure how a dead bird plays into that. I've asked
you to help me out, if you know, open up
the iHeartRadio app, click on the talk back button, talk
me off the ledge here.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I'm a little bit nervous. Let's hear from Wilton, who's
called in.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
If the bird is l ain't on his back, push
it off the ledge, push it out the way, put
it in a bag, or go bury it. If it
ain't in the stomach, do the same thing. It's only
the bird man, Go bear the bird. You probably had
better look, don't it just sit on the ledge like that,
sit outside the window. That's not a flower.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Go bury it or something.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Do something you made, because if you don't, I guarantee
you you're gonna pay for it.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I'm gonna pay for it if I don't bury this
dead bird. Wilton's so excited he actually called in twice.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
I'm just saying, something's definitely gonna happen if you gonna
get rid of the bird. Oh my god, have you
just sitting there in the bird sit outside the window dead?
That is not a good thing. I mean, something's already wrong.
What go bury the bird?
Speaker 8 (12:57):
Man?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Get a bird? He probably came there you to bury it.
Why do your job? Oh, you'd be seeing Dave birds everywhere.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Oh. I don't like that, Wilton. You have not helped
the situation. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I'm I'm not going to bury the bird. I'm not
going to move the bird. I will trust some Burbank
wildlife to show up in the night and take care
of that. But it's like right at the foot of
the front door, so you have to step around it
as you exit. I'm hoping that by the time the
(13:34):
show is over and I leave for the night, that
bird is gone.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It was on its side.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was not there when I came in at five o'clock,
but it was there when I stepped outside for a
moment and came back up at about six forty five. Okay, Well,
that's gonna be in my head for the rest of
the show. But we've got other things to worry about
here in Los Angeles, including some interesting weather heading our way.
The National Weather Services it will be a winter type
(14:05):
storm in the fall, bringing up to two inches of rain.
The rain event is expected to last between Monday and Wednesday.
The main impacts are expected Monday night through Tuesday afternoon.
Highs in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties could be nearly
twenty degrees cooler by this time next week.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Daniel Martindale KFI News.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Okay, so, the National Weather Service held a news conference today,
a virtual one with the press, and talked a bit
about what this storm means for us, what it could mean.
Looks like they're still trying to pinpoint exactly what this
forecast looks like, but it.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Looks like it's gonna be wet. Even in Metro LA.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
A twelve percent chance of a thunderstorm is what it
looks like Monday night into Tuesday night. Those chances are
higher the farther up the coast you go thirty percent
chance in Santa Barbara, thirty three percent chance in San
Luis Obispo. So even in the Metro La area, there's
(15:04):
not a zero percent chance that we'll see some thunderstorms
on Monday. And also these these rain totals appear to
be significant for such a short period of time. They're
saying that the peak timing of the rain is Monday
night at around ten o'clock to Tuesday night around the
same time, So there's a twenty four hour window late
(15:24):
Monday night to late Tuesday night, and Metro Los Angeles,
the city itself could see over half an inch of rain,
same for Long Beach. But they're saying one point three
nine inches at the Hurst burn Scar, one point six
to eight inches at the Mountain Fire Scar, more than
(15:47):
an inch an Oxnard, nearly an inch and a half
at the Palisades Burn Scar. And those are important to
note because that land can become destabilized and we could
deal with some mud slides, especially if all of that
rain is coming in just a twenty four hour period.
As you get into Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, the
(16:09):
rain totals are a little bit more about an inch
one point seven inches in Santa Barbara, one point nine
inches in O High, one point nine inches in San Luis, Obispo.
So we're looking to see a lot of rain late
Monday night in Tuesday. It's not always easy translating the
(16:34):
Weather Service forecast directly, but what they are saying is
starting late tonight into Sunday, the winds will shift to
the northeast, with gust of twenty to forty miles per
hour likely in the Santa Ana wind prone spots of
Venture in La County. So the areas where the Santa
(16:55):
Ana winds typically blow, you'll see some gusty winday between
twenty and forty miles per hour. So at the time
right now, the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles
says to expect any advisory level northeast winds to remain
very localized and no wind advisories will be issued. That
(17:17):
wind will increase on Monday and Tuesday in the area
in association with the upper low dropping down across the state.
Widespread wind advisories are likely across the mountains and interior sections,
especially Monday night and Tuesday. Now, when they talk about
the rain, they are saying all systems are go. That's
(17:42):
their words, National Weather Service. All systems are go for
a rather potent early season storm for the area Monday
night through Tuesday night. Rain will begin across San Luis
Obispo late Monday afternoon and evening and then spread south
and east Monday night into Tuesday. So they are saying
(18:06):
no major changes to thinking about rainfall totals, with San
Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties getting widespread one and
a half to four inch totals, Inventura and La Counties
getting widespread three quarters of an inch to three inch totals.
They say the highest amounts will occur across the foothills
(18:27):
due to good ori a graphic lift. Gotta love that
oorhic lift. So we're gonna get wet starting early next
week Monday night into Tuesday night. Be prepared for that,
especially in those burned scar areas. They specifically named them
on their precipitation forecast map, the Mountain fire, the Hues fire,
(18:48):
the Post fire, the Palisades fire. We know when heavy
rain comes in those areas, but the ground can be
destabilized and mudslides can occur. We've got much more ahead
on Michael Monk's reports speaking of the Palisades fire and
arrest made this week the most shocking part of this
(19:09):
revelation wasn't really that someone was arrested all these months later.
It's the fact that the Palisades fire was born out
of a fire started nearly a week earlier, one that
firefighters in La responded to and one that was not
completely out, and one that was brought back to life
(19:32):
in the biggest way by Santa Ana Wins. We'll talk
about that next as we continue here on Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
This is Michael Monks Reports. Michael Monks from KFI News
with you till nine o'clock tonight. There's a dead bird
outside the studio. Not happy about it. I'm not sure
what kind of omen that means. I've learned that we've
had a bit of a rough day here. It's been
and technically challenging. I think if you were listening to
the fore coreport earlier this afternoon, Neil was on his
(20:06):
way in and had to turn around because traffic was
so bad and had to do the show from the
home studio. We've had a series of technical challenges and
now there's this dead bird outside and I've asked you
if is that a bad omen or is that a
good omen. And we heard from Wilton in the previous segment.
He makes it sound like it's my fault and my responsibility.
(20:26):
And if I don't take care of this dead bird
and bury it, pay tribute to it, I'm going to
see more dead birds.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Let's hear from Daniel. Now Wilton's been drinking.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
Don't listen to him.
Speaker 11 (20:38):
That's ridiculous. What has it got a crystal ball? He
could predict the future? You know what, I don't know
that it has anything to do with you, and not
an omen.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Birds perch themselves and subtimes they die. I wouldn't worry
about it too much. Just do your show, confident I
can get on with your life.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
All right, all right, I appreciate that, Michael.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I got to tell you something though. I saw I
don't know, and.
Speaker 8 (21:12):
A dead raccoon on the freeway where I too was
stuck trying to get here in traffic at the same
time as Neil, right here by our office.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So maybe there's something in the area. Happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
A dead snake, a dead raccoon, and a dead bird.
Now all in the Burbank, the Greater Burbank area.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, within just a few blocks, right, near the iHeart
studios here are making news right now.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I don't know, man, I don't have a good feeling
about it. That's the problems. Like I was feeling pretty good.
Things have been going well. But it wasn't here when
I came in at five. It was here when I
ran downstairs for a moment and came back in, I
saw a dead bird right in front of the door.
(21:55):
Not happy about that at all. Let's hear from Steve.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Hey monks the dead birds probably a gift from a
local stray cat.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's not a bad thing. It just means that there's
a dead bird there. Just pick up your feet. It's
not going to hurt you.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Peace, Okay. But you sent that before we knew that.
There was also a dead snake and a dead raccoon,
as reported by Brigrinia de Castino. So now the animals
are dropping like flies all around us. Technical challenges this
or that. Let's just get on with the show. We'll
(22:33):
get through this together. The biggest news of the week
came earlier when federal prosecutors announced the arrest of a
man they say started the Palisades fire.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Let's hear from Acting US Attorney Bill A.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Sale last New Year's Eve, Rindernecked returned to Pacific Palisades
after working the evening shift as an uber.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Driver to two of his passengers.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Told law enforcement that he appeared agitated and angry. That night,
after dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, rinderneck parked
his car and tried and failed to contact a former friend.
He exited the car, walked up a nearby trail, took
iPhone videos at a nearby hilltop, and listened to a
(23:22):
rap song whose music video including objects being lit on fire.
The defendant had listened to this song and watched its
music video repeatedly in the days leading up to the
Lochman fire. Twelve minutes into the New year, environmental sensing
platforms indicated that a fire had started. It took the
(23:43):
defendant several tries to contact nine to one one to
report the fire. He fled the scene in his car,
but turned around after passing fire engines, driving in the
opposite direction to fight there to fight the fire. While
the Lochman fire burned, the defense walked up the same
trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters,
(24:06):
using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene.
Although firefighters suppressed the blaze, the fire continued to smolder
and burn underground within the root structure of the dense vegetation.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So that's a pretty dramatic announcement. They've got somebody that
they think did this. Jonathan Rinderneck. He lived in the Palisades.
Apparently he's twenty nine years old. He has since relocated
to Florida, where his family is located. He did appear
in court the next day, was ordered to stay in
jail without bond. Will be back in court next week.
(24:43):
But a federal agent testified at that courthouse in Florida
that this guy has had some run ins with law enforcement,
recently threatening to burn down his sister's house, and his
father had also called police out of concern that his
son was armed. So this is a guy who's got
(25:04):
an interesting history and certainly one worth exploring. These are
just allegations, of course, at this point, but the biggest
revelation was he didn't necessarily start the Palisades fire directly.
Prosecutors in announcing this arrest very clearly stated that Jonathan
(25:27):
Rinderneck started a fire on January first. Palisades fire started
January seventh, and what apparently happened is Rinderneck allegedly and
deliberately started the fire that became known as the Lachman
Fire in the Palisades area. It burned about eight acres.
(25:49):
The Lacity Fire Department responded to this fire and suppressed it,
but the fire was not never fully out. It deep underground,
apparently still smoldering, and when those Santa Ana winds blew
in several days later, it unearthed. Those flames gave them
(26:15):
so much power that it rose up.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
As the Palisades Fire.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
So the biggest question out of that press conference announcing
this arrest really wasn't who's this guy? Why did he
do it? Those are important questions. We're gonna learn more
about him as the justice system moves forward with his case.
But why was there a fire burning underground near the Palisades,
(26:47):
Because by the first we already knew some pretty dangerous
winds were popping up in the forecast. LA Fire Department
Interim Fire Chief run And Wava issued a statement. He
says holdover fires can be nearly impossible to detect with
(27:08):
infrared imaging, as smoldering often occurs deep below the surface,
especially in chaparral terrain where dense root systems conceal residual heat.
Under extreme winds, low humidity, and prolonged drought, these fires
(27:28):
can reignite despite full suppression and containment efforts. The January
seven fire was not a rekindle or due to failed suppression,
but the reactivation of an undetectable holdover fire under extraordinary
wind conditions. So it appears the position of the fire
(27:51):
Department is we did what we could on the Lochman fire,
and despite what you might think, there was no way
to know that that fire was still burning so deeply underground.
They're saying that it was undetectable, especially given the wind conditions.
(28:13):
LA Fire Department spokesperson Eric Scott has also added to
this statement, saying holdover fires are deep rooted, smoldering fires
that can remain undetectable for days or weeks, particularly in
chaparral with extensive woody root systems. So they're referencing the
challenges of the terrain, the challenges of the wind that's
(28:34):
coming in they're unable to detect it. Eric Scott says
on January seventh, an unprecedented wind event far exceeding typical
Santa Ana conditions contributed to the rapid spread and reactivation
of a holdover fire even after aggressive, fully executed suppression efforts.
This fire highlights the unpredictable nature of holdover fires, despite
(28:58):
the department's thorough and timely response. A lot of questions
about that situation. We've got a guy in custody, and
now we know the Palisades fire was born out of
an earlier fire. The city also released its after action review.
Originally they were to release this earlier, but the federal
(29:21):
government had asked them to hold on while they were investigating,
and I think we're now able to put it together
that they were investigating a potential criminal case. They now
have presented a charge against twenty nine year old Jonathan Brinderneckt,
and the same day that that arrest was made, the
city has released its after action report, basically saying, you know,
there were some successes. We'd prevented a lot more houses
from being taken than were but we can do better.
(29:45):
Up next, Mayor Bass and her old political foe Rick
Caruso trading heated words at an event here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
This week. We'll hear from both of them. Next.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on Man.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with until nine o'clock. I'll tell you who won't
be calling each other anytime soon, or maybe I don't know.
It's been a strange, whiplash kind of turn of events
involving the relationship between La mayor Bass and developer Rick Caruso.
Those two ran against each other for mayor back in
twenty twenty two. They may run against each other again
(30:25):
in twenty twenty six. Both of them appeared at an
event this week sponsored by the media outlet Bloomberg. But
on the day that federal prosecutors announced that there was
an arrest in the Palisades fire, Rick Caruso put out
a statement. He says, this is a tragic day for
(30:46):
Los Angeles, and my heart goes out to all the
families who experienced so much devastation. As the US attorney said,
evil people will do evil things. This was an evil
act and the individual identified must be held account dontable
for his reckless and malicious actions to the fullest extent
of the law. What makes today even harder is that
(31:08):
everything we feared about this disaster being preventable turned out
to be one hundred percent true. This was a failure
of government on an epic level, starting with Mayor Bass.
Her and the city's incompetence, mismanagement, and failure to plan, prepare,
and pre deployed directly led to people dying, thousands of
(31:29):
lives being upended and put on full display the consequences
of ineffective and incapable leadership. Mayor Bass was on stage
at this event. First, here's a bit of what was said.
Speaker 12 (31:43):
He released a statement today after the arrest, saying it
shows the disaster was preventable and in his words, calling
it a failure of government on an epic level, starting
with Mayor Bass. He'll be with us on this stage tomorrow.
How do you respond to that?
Speaker 10 (31:57):
Well, what he characterized me sounded like Trump. But I
just was saddened by it, honestly, because I think that
that response was beneath him. And we actually was in
my office a couple of weeks ago. We're working on something.
We're working on a couple of things together. But I
think that he is sad and bitter, and I think
(32:19):
that it is really sad to exploit you guys laughing
about that. I feel like it's exploiting tragedy, it's exploiting grief,
and this is when the city needs to stand together.
Why would you, Why would you do that?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So he's better than that, And I was just disappointed.
And Sadden, you had.
Speaker 12 (32:44):
Mentioned he was in your office a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 10 (32:46):
Weeks ago, we're working on something together.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
We were you know what we're working on.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
We're working on it.
Speaker 10 (32:51):
And it was actually something that he raised, something that
I wanted to do, and he proposed a particular solution
and I'm really excited about it. That's you you know,
Ula United La the transfer tax.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Okay, we'll get back to that, the ULA tax, because
it's been, like I said, it's been a bit of
a whiplash between these two as far as their relationship goes.
But I mean Mayor Bass called Crusoe bitter, said that
his comments were beneath him. Racruso was on stage at
that event the next day.
Speaker 13 (33:23):
Some people think I'm attacking Karen Bess. I'm not attacking
Karen Bass. I'm saying, what's the facts are. The fire
could have been prevented, which I knew from the beginning.
The fire that had started a week before was not
properly put out. They didn't call in aircraft. Can you
imagine the failures in addition to the reservoir being empty.
So I thought it was so interesting yesterday for the
mayor to say he was angry and sad, and that's
(33:45):
why he put out that statement. You know how many
hundreds of thousands of people are angry and said they
lost their jobs, lost their homes, eleven people died. I
think what we need to do now is read that
report and have a solution for every one of those problems.
Let's not be reactive. Let's be proactive, and let's make
sure that nobody else ever has to go through a
(34:06):
situation like that. If there's an earthquake, there's a flood,
there's a fire.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Okay, so you've heard from both of them trading barbs
a bit. You heard the mayor reference ULA and that
both she and Rick Caruso were working together on something
related to it. Just as a reminder. Three years ago,
November twenty two, voters in LA approved Measure ULA that
assesses a four percent tax on property sales of more
(34:30):
than five million dollars and a five and a half
percent tax on sales of more than ten million dollars.
All of that money is earmarked for affordable housing and
homelessness prevention initiatives. It's raised about eight hundred and thirty
million dollars since it was adopted. It's commonly referred to
as the mansion tax. Now, the mayor, after this Bloomberg event,
(34:53):
announced that she is calling for an exemption for victims
of Palisades fire. She says that this will help ex
spedite recovery efforts. Obviously a lot of high priced properties
were destroyed there in the Palisades, so she puts out
this announcement, and Rick Caruso says, today's announcement on ULA
is incredibly important for our city. Thank you, Mayor Bass
(35:13):
for your support on this issue. We've been working together
for a while and this executive order is real progress.
We don't always agree, but that will never stop me
from partnering to rebuild our communities. Now it's up to
the city Council to act. ULA is holding back hundreds
and maybe thousands of projects that could revitalize our city.
This is not a regional issue. Its economic impact is
(35:35):
city wide. So what's the status of their relationship?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Do you think.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Hot and cold. We know Mayor Bass is running for reelection.
Rick Caruso was not ruled it out. He may also
run for governies. Appears to be looking at both opportunities.
But there may be another candidate for mayor, a name
that he may remember. Austin Buttner. He was the superintendent
for three years at LAUSD. He was a deputy mayor
(36:07):
at one time. He's an investment banker. He has a
Twitter account and at one point today this X account,
I should say, the banner image, the picture that's above
one's profile picture changed to Austin for LA Mayor, and
(36:28):
then the bile was updated to say this account is
being used for campaign purposes by Austin Buttner for LA
Mayor twenty twenty six. But then they were taken away
pretty quickly. The image went away, the text went away.
The La Times reached out to Buttener, he did not respond.
They also note the paper does that new Austin for
(36:49):
LA accounts have appeared on Instagram and Blue Sky, displaying
the same campaign text and logos. Those messages were also
quickly removed and converted to generic accounts for Buner. It's
that time of year should be a good race next
(37:09):
year for mayor. We got another hour ahead, and as
you know all too well, the Palisades fire was not
the only one. Back in January, the Eton Fire destroyed
a good chunk of Altadena, parts of Pasadena Sierra Madre.
Victims of that fire spoke out this week calling on
so Cal Edison to do better with its offer for
(37:33):
families to settle with that utility, which they blame for
that massive fire. We'll hear from them in our next
hour as Michael Monk's reports continues.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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