July 27, 2025 • 39 mins
Burbank sees a near disaster in the air when a passenger plane is forced to drop hundreds of feet quickly, and someone in the city is accused of sniffing women's butts at local stores; LA's homeless services agency has a new leader and even as its board of directors, which includes the LA mayor, celebrate what it sees as successes, an LA city councilmember says to hold the applause; and California Attorney General Rob Bonta says the state needs to take over LA County's juvenile detention centers because of ongoing violence and drug use.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
This is Michael Monks Reports. Michael Monks from KFI News
here with you till nine o'clock. Rest in peace, Chuck Man, Jony,
the brilliant player of that song feels so good. We
lost him this week, We lost Coogan this week. Another week.
Trying not to lose our minds with the volume of
news that continues to plow us each and every week.
(00:28):
But that's what we're here for, to tell you every
day what's happening, and then here on this program every
Saturday night, a little digest of what happened the week
before and a little look ahead of what's going to
be happening next week. It is a beautiful day. I
can tell you that in Burbank wish. I think Burbank
(00:49):
in particular deserves after yesterday because Burbank was sort of
the center of the news universe here in southern California.
How so you might wonder, let's have a listen.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
A Southwest flight dropping nearly five hundred feet in a
desperate maneuver to avoid a possible mid air collision with
a former British fighter jet.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Truly one of the most frightening experiences I've ever had.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
About six minutes after takeoff from Burbank, California, headed to
Las Vegas, Southwest Flight fourteen ninety six's cockpit alarm started blaring.
Passengers say the Boeing seven thirty seven felt like it
went into a nose dive.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
Passengers on board say they thought they were going down.
In the cockpit of Southwest flight fourteen ninety six, alarms
were going off of a collision imminent, ordering the pilots
to dive, the plane dropping nearly five hundred feet according
to radar data. Chris Peterson was on board.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
There were some screams, but more screams came when there
was a second drastic drop and it felt like maybe
this isn't.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Turbulent Southwest as the pilots had to execute the avoidance
maneuver to prevent a midair lesion with a Hawker Hunter aircraft.
The FAA is investigating.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
There was about i would say an eight second eight
to ten second drop, a free fall. Everybody in the.
Speaker 8 (02:10):
Plane started screaming.
Speaker 7 (02:13):
Definitely felt like that was that was it, Like this
is how I'm going to go out? Maybe three two
to three minutes later, the pilots gone on the inner
tom and told everybody that they had maneuvered the aircraft
to avoid a mid air collision. We noticed the flight
attendant being escorted to the front of the aircraft. She
(02:38):
definitely looked gazed. Her hair was all kind of frizzled
and messed up, and then she was given a nice
pack and sat down in the front of the front
of the aircraft. So you just kind of get a
sense of like, Okay, this was really a near death
experience that I just went through, and it's terrifying.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
It shakes you to the core.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
We felt a sudden drop, which initially I think everyone
felt like it was turbulence, and there were some screams,
but more screams came when there was a second drastic drop,
and it felt like maybe this isn't turbulence. To the
pilot's credit, he came on pretty quickly and said that
the reason that it had happened was because of a
(03:21):
collision avoidance. Truly one of the most frightening experiences I've
ever had. It felt for the first time in my life, like,
oh this is this is a near death experience. As
soon as we landed, everyone erupted in applause, and it
was just sort of like a harrowing experience. From that
point on, we just wanted to land. Everybody just wanted
to make sure we got there safely.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So that's pretty scary. And what is particularly scary, as
I learned about this story, is this Boeing seven thirty
seven jet that left Hollywood Burbank. It only dropped hundreds
of feet. And I say only as somebody who's not
knowledgeable about plane, so I read that and think, yeah,
hundreds of feet, what's the big deal. Well, you just
(04:05):
heard the description of what that feels like on board.
It's a dangerous game flying in the air, and to
suddenly have to drop just hundreds of feet sounds pretty terrifying.
I now know that these folks who you just heard
from say basically their lives were flashing before their eyes
(04:26):
over this, all on a Friday on their way to Vegas. Thankfully,
it seems that the injuries were minor, and even more thankfully,
nobody died.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
This was.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Scary, but it was not tragic. Thank goodness. This plane
that forced this Southwest flight to do what it had
to do, this sudden avoidance maneuver was in the same airspace,
and it's identified as some kind of plane owned by
a company called Hawker Hunter Aviation, a British defense contracting company.
(05:10):
They have not responded to the Associated Press for comment yet,
but a British defense contracting company had a plane in
the air and forced this sudden maneuver by a Southwest plane.
Now Southwest is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to
(05:31):
further understand the circumstances. We're going to learn more about this.
But while this was not a tragic event, need I
remind you that just in January, we had that horrible
mid air collision over Washington, d C. Involving a passenger
jet and a helicopter that killed I'm sorry, in a
(05:52):
military plane that killed sixty seven people. That is very scary,
But that was just one scary story that came out
of Burbank in the past couple of days.
Speaker 9 (06:07):
It's almost too creepy to talk about rite a man
sniffing women inside local stores. I talked to Burbank police
about it tonight and they told me they consider him
absolutely dangerous.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
A man sniffing women in Burbank's stores, and they caught
the guy. The police in Burbank apparently came very quickly
and caught this guy who is a thirty eight year
old registered sex offender. And why is he a registered
sex offender? Well, this is not his first butt sniffing rodeo.
Felt like anywhere I moved he kept following me.
Speaker 9 (06:42):
A sexual predator back on the prowl and tonight picked
up by Burbank police after another unnerving incident inside a
local store.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
But I definitely didn't expect him to do this, like
what the actual.
Speaker 9 (06:56):
Content creator, MIKAELA Whiter, posted this creepy in counter with
a man at Barnes and Noble in Burbank two years ago.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And the whole time I'm thinking I'm fine because he
hasn't said anything or touched me or anything. But then
you notice that he goes over and does the same
thing to this girl. We hearing that report from KTLA
that this registered sex offender has gone around sniffing before.
His name is Kalise Karen Crowder. He's from Glendale and
(07:24):
after that experience a couple of years ago that that
woman documented to KTLA's reporter, he's back in action.
Speaker 9 (07:33):
Thirty eight year old Kalise Crowder of Glendale was arrested,
but now it appears he's been added again, this time
praying on women in the Nordstrom rack in the Empire
shopping center.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
Wandered into the the women's section of the store. There's
a solo female and a female standing there alone shopping,
and he did the same kind of behavior that you've
seen in the past, get close to the female, crouch down,
pretend as if he was looking at items or searching
for something, and unfortunately conductive in some lude behavior.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Lude behavior that is very strange behavior. Indeed, and now
this guy is in custody again. I mean, you really
can't leave the house, either your plane is dropping hundreds
of feet or your butt is getting sniffed at the
Northstrom rack. This used to be a country. Speaking of
the country, President Trump has put out an executive order
(08:31):
that is likely going to have ramifications for Los Angeles,
the city and the county. And that's what we're going
to be getting into here next because Donald Trump has
signed this thing hoping to get people off the streets, homeless,
people with mental health or drug addiction problems. He's he's
(08:55):
upset with the condition of the cities. And I know
a lot of folks who are listening right now are
upset with condition of Los Angeles in particular. And this
executive order is signed and issued just before a very
consequential meeting at the LA Homeless Services Authority Board meeting
(09:18):
which I covered for you here at KFI. And I'm
going to bring to you next because when you look
around and think about the condition on the ground related
to homelessness, do you think our local agencies are successful? Well,
the agency, the biggest of them all, certainly thinks. So
(09:41):
you'll hear what they had to say about themselves next,
and I want you to weigh into on this and
everything you hear tonight. Just open up that iHeartRadio app,
click on the talkback button and we will play some
of your comments throughout the next couple of hours we
have to spend together on this beautiful Saturday night in
Southern Calumni.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
For you, you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
Were together until nine o'clock tonight, and if you listen
to the Mo Kelly Show, you. You know, the little
back and forth that Mo often has with Twala the producer,
or Mark Ronner in the news booth, or Stefan Ca Besos,
(10:29):
who works the board on Later with Mo Kelly. He
is with us tonight. I don't know how did you
get relegated to Saturday nights. They just liked me so much,
wanted to be with you. Eileen can attest to this
that that's Saturday nights. That's where it's at here at KFI.
That sure is. It's a party here. The cats are
away and the rats play and it's a lot of fun.
(10:49):
We have the snack drawer all to ourselves. Yeah we do. Yeah,
nobody's judging you. If you get two packs of pop
tarts hell ramen, you can eat all the ramen. And
there's been a cream of wheat in there recently. Yeah,
all right, well let's hope. Well, let's leave some for
the group for the rest of the But I may
have had a bag of chips and a Bob Dart nice. Yeah,
(11:11):
I know, I know. I exercise today. It's okay, Saturday,
go for it. All right, back to business here. President
Trump has directed some of his cabinet heads to prioritize
federal funding to cities that are cracking down on open
drug use and street camping. He says his goal is
to make people feel safer, and he says it's not
(11:33):
compassionate to do nothing. This order that the President issued
says shifting these individuals into long term institutional settings for
humane treatment is the most proven way to restore public order.
He's been very critical about Let's just say some behavior
that we see on urban streets across the country, and
(11:54):
you have to look no further than oh, I don't
know our own streets right here in Greater Los Angeles,
especially the city of Los Angeles, where homelessness is rampant,
and a lot of the folks who are homeless on
the streets here are dealing with drug addiction and are
dealing with mental health crises, and it's scary at times.
(12:16):
It may not always lead to you being a victim
of a crime, but it will lead to you feeling
very uncomfortable, or it may lead to you not coming
to certain parts of the city, not patronizing businesses in
those parts of the city, and then those parts of
the city become more depressed. So what have we done
locally We've spent billions, billions of dollars on homeless related issues,
(12:45):
and a lot of that money has been funneled through
the La Homeless Services Authority LASA, which was created a
couple of decades ago in a joint effort by the
City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.
But because of recent audits, one of which was ordered
by a federal judge, showing a lack of proper accounting
(13:09):
of those billions of dollars and a lack of tracking
of what those dollars were used for and whether the
subcontractors were even getting the results or if they even
said they were planning to get results, the County Board
of Supervisors decided that they had had enough. They're leaving
the partnership. They have divorced the city and taken three
(13:31):
hundred million dollars in annual funding with them. Shortly after
that decision by the County, Losa CEO of Alicia Adams
Kellum said she would step down. She didn't do so
right away. She didn't leave right away. Her final day
was yesterday Friday, and there was a board meeting and
(13:54):
the loss of board is appointed by members from the
city and the county mayor bass is on this board well,
and Alicia Adams Kellum said this in her last meeting.
Speaker 10 (14:05):
We addressed audit findings directly. We strengthened our rehousing efforts
and took on tough truths with courage and clarity. In
doing so, we've helped LASA become more agile, more transparent
and responsive. Real lasting change takes time, especially when confronting
(14:29):
issues that have persisted for decades. But I'm incredibly proud
of what we've accomplished at LASA and for the momentum
the agency continues to build.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Now, as I'm watching this meeting and covering it for
you on behalf of You four KFI, I'm thinking this
is this isn't a very introspective statement. This is it's
not really acknowledging the failures. It's pointing to what she
(15:01):
sees as successes when the failures are frankly obvious and
well documented and third parties and media have confirmed and
documented these failures. But at her last meeting, Alicia Adams
(15:21):
Kellum talked about the momentum. Well, the momentum is that
for the past couple of years, according to a count
conducted by Lassa. Homelessness has dropped two years in a
row after going up and up and up and up
for several years. And while going down is a good thing,
while that population going down is a good thing. It's
(15:44):
down four percent county wide and down three point four
percent in Los Angeles. And I know that those percentages
reflect real people who were out on the streets. But
the number of homeless people increased by between thirty and
forty percent over the five years up to this point.
(16:06):
So there's a long way to go. And when you
think about the billions that we've spent, it just seems
like you would expect better results. Mayor Bass was at
this meeting as well, and it seems that her response
was very defensive on behalf of her friend, Felicia Adams Kellum,
(16:26):
who created the mayor's signature homeless program Inside Safe.
Speaker 11 (16:30):
You were expected to have a magic wand you were
expected to solve a problem that has been around for
four decades that I certainly recall. And you didn't do that.
You didn't do that in a couple of years, and
so the attacks began.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
So the mayor describes Vlicia Adams Kellum as being a
bit of a victim in this situation is a monumental
task to fix homelessness in Los Angeles, in Los Angeles County.
But the people, the voters, the taxpayers, the residents, the
business owners, the employees, everyone has chipped in. There are resources,
(17:11):
There are resources available.
Speaker 11 (17:13):
I think that it was unfortunate because I think one
of the underlying issues that you had to face that
you got caught up in is there's an ideological battle
about how to solve homelessness. There is a status quo
that has been going about homelessness for a number of years,
and you came in and you started to disrupt the system,
(17:34):
and there were a lot of people that were not
happy about that disruption.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I'm baffled as I'm watching this meeting, because again, this
took on an air of congratulations and sadness that Leish
Adams Callum was stepping down, and no real acknowledgment at
the accounting struggles, at the exs from voters and residents
(18:04):
that aren't being met.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
And I feel that you were targeted and charged with
all sorts of things that later came out to be
absolutely untrue. But once that genie is out of the bottle,
nobody goes and puts it back and it harmed your reputation,
And unfortunately, that is what happens to leaders a lot
(18:28):
of times when they choose to be disruptive of a system.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
It seems to me, as somebody who watches these folks
a lot and reports on them a lot, that there
is a genuine disconnect between the infrastructure the government and
the quasi government infrastructure and what we all see on
the streets.
Speaker 11 (18:47):
You have press that have no interest in reporting accurately,
in talking about what is actually going on. And so
those press that maligned you, unfortunately inappropriately, are not going
to do a headline correcting what was wrong.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Gda O'Neil, who is an assistant Los Angeles City Attorney
who handles the city's homelessness policy, was appointed the new
interim chief Executive on a thirty one thousand dollars a
month contract. That's a little bit less than Felicia Adams
Kellum's four hundred thirty thousand dollar a year salary. O'Neill's
contract would amount to about three hundred and seventy thousand
(19:29):
dollars per year. So let me know, open up the
iHeartRadio app, click on that talkback button. You've heard the
remarks from the loss of board. You know what President
Trump says he wants to do. How do you expect
this to go down? Do you expect there to be
an acknowledgment of the real situation on the ground by
the city. Do you expect this to be another long
drawn out battle between the federal government and local and
(19:49):
state officials. And how do you feel about the folks
who are in charge of executing homeless policy. I'll tell
you somebody who is not happy about the situation is
Las Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez. She is long called for a
new homeless department to leave LASA for the city, long
before the county did. She wanted the city out of it.
(20:10):
And she's going to talk to us next and we'll
play some of your comments coming up.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
There's been a big change, another big change at the
La Homeless Services Authority. A new chief executive officer has
been named. Assistant LA City Attorney Gda O'Neil is taking
over for Velicia Adams Kellum, who's departing after a couple
of years. Her departure follows scathing audits of the agency's
accounting practices and criticism of the efficacy of its practices.
(20:39):
LA County has left the County City Joint Operation to
stand up its own homeless department, and that pretty much
leaves the city on its own. City council Woman Monica
Rodriguez has called for the creation of a city homeless department,
and did so long before the county made its move,
but no action has been taken on that. Councilwoman Rodriguez
joins us now now, Counciloman Rodriguez, thanks so much for
(21:02):
joining us again.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
So this is a big change at the La Homeless
Services Authority, one that we've seen coming for a while,
but now the time is here. There is a transition
in leadership there. But you have been a staunch critic
of this organization for some time. Has this change shifted
the way you feel about LASA?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Not at all, because I don't think anything fundamentally has
changed about the structure, about the transparency, there has been
zero progress that I've seen in a shift in even
disclosing accurate data and timely data. So I'm still very
much in favor of redacting their ability to oversee our
(21:45):
outreach contracts and the resources that are currently being provided
to LASA, and I think it's really marked a moment
for the city to get actually, really serious and aggressive
from a policy perspective. I'm very eager to have the
motions that I've introduced with the reports that have returned,
to have that comprehensive conversation and a policy committee and
(22:08):
homelessness and housing so that we can get that work underway.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
We've seen the County Board of Supervisors take a pretty
strong approach after expressing strong disappointment with LASA. They're doing
their own thing. This is something you've proposed at the city.
Do you think there is a stronger appetite at la
City Hall to maybe do away with LASA as we
know it.
Speaker 12 (22:29):
Well.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I was really disappointed by my colleagues Ms Rahman and
several others that went asking the County Supervisors to sustain
maintain their funding with LASSA, asked begging them to stay,
and I just didn't understand why they were so committed
to continuing to fund the failure. We have had multiple
(22:52):
examples about how they are not being responsive when you
know from the policy perspective when LASA, when Alicia Adams
was a committee, they would not answer questions or they
would always inevitably say well, we'll have to get back
to you. There was never written reports to confirm and
corroborate the work that was actually being completed. And so
(23:15):
I didn't understand why my colleagues are just so it's
like Stockholm syndrome. Why do you continue to want to
stay adjoined and funding this effort that has continually demonstrated
its inability to perform. I did not understand. I still
don't understand, and it's why I've been furious by the
slow walking of this conversation by ms Ramin.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
And look, these are clearly not just accusations that you're making.
We saw multiple audits determined that LASA as an organization
had not properly accounted for a significant amount of money,
that there was not a lot of oversight of the subcontractors,
the homeless services providers that LASSA would funnel money to.
And it's just it has been strange to see at
(24:02):
City Hall that it has moved so slowly to address
any fundamental changes. But I want to address some newly
released data and that is related to the homeless count,
because those numbers also seem different from what they had
said days before. They were coming out that we had
seen a two and a half percent decline in homelessness
and that was I guess they have this brass conference
(24:26):
and they have new numbers that they had not updated.
Elected officials like you on can you can you tell
me how that went down?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah? I mean I think it's just part and parcel
for how it's always been. Again, how can you really
trust what they're actually saying. This is after they had
punted releasing the data more than three times, So it's again,
I don't have any greater confidence about the data that
they actually are providing because they demonstrated repeatedly that they're
(24:54):
not giving us clear, timely and accurate data, and it
continues to shift, and they're not transparent about what the
changes are. I've seen in the previous homeless count, for example,
some of what was born out and celebrated as a
reduction in homelessness was born on even some shifts in
the statistical multipliers that were being used, so inherently the
(25:17):
numbers will actually be lower. There were certain census tracks
that were not included in that data. You've had whistleblower
complaints that corroborate some of what my suspicions have been
was that well, certain data wasn't being released because they
didn't want to let insides, They didn't want the mayor
to look better, they didn't want inside Zafe to be
(25:38):
criticized for its failure. So I just you know again,
I think what comes back to this is not a
moment in time where everyone should be celebrating, like George Bush,
mission accomplished. This is a moment where everyone needs to
be real honest about the fact that millions, if not
billions of dollars have been spent and you're not seeing
(25:59):
a substantial change. We have a lot of work to do.
We have a great sense of urgency to actually move
aggressively in changing how we do business because the status
quo is failing our city and we need to make
those changes immediately.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It was apparently originally reported by LASA to people like you,
those who hold office in the city and the county,
that there was a two point five percent decline in
the homeless population in the region, and by the time
the press conference rolled around, it had jumped up to
three point four percent. But even if you take those
numbers at face value, we're talking about this now being
(26:36):
a trend. That's the word that Mayor Bass used. That's
the word that the outgoing CEO at loss of use.
This is now a trend because two years in a
row they've been able to report a decline. But just
six years ago, in twenty nineteen, there were fifteen thousand
fewer homeless people in LA County. There were about fifty
eight fifty nine thousand. Now we're well over seventy thousand.
This doesn't seem like something to celebrate. Are we wrong here?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I agree, I'm not. I'm not here, uh, you know,
waving the flag uh as as a moment of celebration.
I think this continues. And I had questions and concerns
about previous homeless counts even when the numbers were going up.
And here we are, and there is a false uh celebration,
(27:22):
I believe, because I don't know that we've performed any better.
Uh Statistically it is not a significant difference. And yes,
we want to celebrate any uh you know, idea of progress.
The challenges is that with all that money that is spent,
if that's all the results that we're producing. If that's
(27:44):
the if that's what success looks like, then it's failing
because it's frankly cost prohibitive and unsustainable financially, particularly given
the city siscles climate. And it bothers me that there
has been zero recalibration changes or cuts to inside safe
and the expense associated with doing this work, and so
(28:05):
there's been no serious shift in change given how much
money is being spent and how little progress is being made,
and I think that's a really big problem.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
City Councilman Monica Rodriguez from the Valley, thanks so much
for taking time out of the break. I know you're
still working, but the break from the meetings that we
do appreciate talking to you, and we'll look forward to
those meetings getting back and seeing what happens with this.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
The problems at La County juvenile halls have continued to
mount drug overdos's abuse fights and nothing the county has
tried to do has worked. So California Attorney General Rob
Bonta says it's time for the state to step in
and take over.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News will
be together till nine o'clock tonight on this Saturday night
in southern California. Some quick headlines coming out of the
KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A suspicious device has been
found outside the LAPD's Foothill station this afternoon. It led
to the evacuation of the immediate area and the station
(29:09):
itself while the bomb squad conducted an investigation. That device
was noticed about two point thirty this afternoon in front
of that station in Pacoima. As of six o'clock this evening,
the bomb squad was still evaluating the situation. Of course,
a local bomb squad was in the news and has
continued to be in the news because of the tragedy
(29:30):
involving the La County Sheriff's Department and their version of
the bomb squad last Friday. We'll have more on that
story at the top of the hour. As a search
is underway for a second grenade. Apparently two grenades were found,
one exploded, killing three deputies, a second device missing currently. Meanwhile,
(29:54):
in Huntington Beach, an unlicensed seventeen year old boy apparently
lost control of a vehicle and crashed into a tree
and two houses in Huntington Beach. That happened around ten
thirty seven last night, and the city says in a
press release that based on the preliminary investigation, it appears
that the vehicle was traveling south on Newland Street at
(30:15):
a high rate of speed when the driver lost control.
Impairment is not suspected. The driver and his eighteen year
old male passenger both complained of pain and were taken
by ambulance to a hospital to be checked out. And
then let's hit the water now, because in Marina del Rey,
a skipper intentionally crashed a yacht into a sea wall
(30:37):
in Marina del Rey today and a Sheriff's lieutenant says
it was the right thing to do. This happened around
three o'clock this afternoon at the Fisherman's Village off Fiji Way,
and a Sheriff's deputy at the station in Marina del
Rey told our partners at City News Service that there
were patrons of a restaurant watching this approach and then
(31:02):
hit the sea wall. The front of the yacht sustained
more damage than the seawall, according to this deputy, and
the deputy says there was an internal mechanical failure that
affected the ability to control the yacht and it was
intentionally struck to the wall to prevent more damage or
any injuries. That yacht was towed away with damage to
(31:23):
its bow. And we've been talking about homelessness this hour
and a new executive order that's come from the White
House President Trump ordering some of his cabinet officials to
determine which cities get some federal funding based on how
they respond to getting some of the homeless people who
(31:44):
are dealing with drug addiction and mental health issues off
the streets. And we also talked deeply about the change
of leadership at the LA County excuse me, at the
LA Homeless Services Authority and the ongoing problems with that organization.
I've asked for your comments and your feedback. You can
open up the iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button
(32:05):
and share your thoughts.
Speaker 12 (32:09):
It just really really makes me angry, Michael. But twenty
four billion dollars, we could have built a couple of
a couple of drug places, drug treatment centers, and we
could have built the mental health Facilitator. I mean, it's
just incredibly, incredibly wrong.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I appreciate that comment, and that sentiment is not a
lonely one. A lot of people feel this way. What
has been done with the money and the problem is,
according to audits, Billy Homeless Services Authority isn't entirely sure.
They cannot account for the way all of the money
was spent, and the homeless population count according to LASA,
(32:56):
has only dropped this year four percent county one and
three point four percent in the City of Los Angeles.
This is a story that is going to continue to
develop because now LASA is mainly just the city, as
the county has started its own homeless department. Meanwhile, the
county has struggled mightily with getting its juvenile facilities under control.
(33:20):
These are the jails where young offenders are sentenced, and
they have been the site of ongoing abuse, drug smuggling, violence,
all sorts of problems. So State Attorney General Rob Banta
came to Los Angeles this week.
Speaker 13 (33:39):
This would mean transferring full operational authority over the juvenile
halls from the county to a court appointed receiver, someone
who can make the critical changes that the county has
repeatedly been unable to make. Someone who has the independence,
the tools, and the mandate to finally bring these facilities
(34:01):
into compliance.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
When you hear the Attorney General talk about compliance, he's
referencing an agreement that the state reached with the county
a few years ago mandating changes. But he says the
county and its probation department is out of compliance on
seventy five percent of the criteria there. So, what he
said in Los Angeles this week is that he plans
(34:26):
to file a court petition seeking to have a receiver
appointed to oversee operation of the juvenile halls. He's accused
the county of failing to comply with a series of
court judgments and orders regarding management of the facilities dating
back to twenty twenty one. He says that county remains
out of compliance with seventy five percent of the court
judgment provisions.
Speaker 13 (34:48):
Here's what's happening. In just a six month period, sixty
nine youth on youth fights were allowed or facilitated by
probation staff, impacting one hundred forty three young victims. Multiple
youth at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall have overdosed, even after
the court ordered stronger contraband controls. Youth are missing critical
(35:13):
medical appointments and security cameras remain inadequate and key footage
goes unreviewed.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
The loss Perginos excuse me, Los Padrinos Hall in Downey
has been under fire many times. It only opened in
twenty twenty three to house young people who had been
transferred from two other facilities that were also deemed unsuitable
for detention of youth, and now the same accusations are
being levied against this facility in Downey. It continues to
(35:43):
operate under an unsuitability declaration made by the state. A
juvenile court judge in Los Angeles in May approved a
probation department planned to draw down the number of youth
housed at the facility, which has been plagued with issues
stemming mostly from short staff along with concerns about detainees
(36:03):
not being transported to classes or medical appointments. And Attorney
General Bonta was He's a pretty soft spoken guy, so
he didn't sound angry, but he certainly sounded upset at
the way LA County has handled the situation.
Speaker 13 (36:23):
This wasn't a rushed decision. We didn't skip steps. We
built a record, We exhausted the different options, and at
every turn we've prioritized accountability, transparency.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
And do process.
Speaker 13 (36:39):
But we've also reached the point where the county's inability
to reform the system is causing harm and continuing to
wait is no longer an option.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
And in this long press conference, the Attorney General also
said this.
Speaker 13 (36:54):
These young people deserve more than our outrage. They deserve
meaningful action and real accountability. And the people of LA
County also deserve juvenile justice facilities that can produce real
results young people who receive the rehabilitation, the support, and
the education to choose a better path.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I think it's important to hear what the Attorney General
has to say in the context of what we've been
talking about throughout this hour. Homelessness. LA County has decided
to leave the LA Homeless Services Authority and start its
own homeless department. They are going to oversee it now,
but they oversee this probation department. And this is where
(37:39):
we are with that. The supervisors of Los Angeles County
agree with the Attorney General that this should happen. Supervisor
Janice Hahn says, we have spent years trying to improve conditions,
exhausted every tool at the county level, and still we
are failing the these young people. I stand ready to
(38:02):
do everything I can to help receivership succeed. Supervisor Catherine
Barger says she's not surprised by Bonta's request to place
the La County Probation Department under state receivership. She says,
quote in truth, this moment has been a long time coming.
And then Supervisor Lindsay Horvath also says that the Attorney
General's push for receivership is another reminder, on top of
(38:25):
the high cost of a state bill, how deeply broken
our juvenile probation facility operations have become. She says she's
backing a state bill to give the county the tools
to fix this crisis. She blames probation department staff quote
especially probation union leadership, who continue to stand in their
own way, their blocking reform at every turn, and our
(38:48):
young people are paying the price. We got another hour head.
We'll start with the latest in the investigation of that
deadly explosion in East LA that killed three La County
Sheriff's deputies and the search for a second grenade that
is missing. That's coming up as Michael Monks Reports continues
(39:10):
along with your comments. Open up the iHeartRadio app, click
on the talkback button. This is KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Kfi AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
This is Michael Monks Reports. Michael Monks from KFI News
here with you till nine o'clock. Rest in peace, Chuck Man, Jony,
the brilliant player of that song feels so good. We
lost him this week, We lost Coogan this week. Another week.
Trying not to lose our minds with the volume of
news that continues to plow us each and every week.
(00:28):
But that's what we're here for, to tell you every
day what's happening, and then here on this program every
Saturday night, a little digest of what happened the week
before and a little look ahead of what's going to
be happening next week. It is a beautiful day. I
can tell you that in Burbank wish. I think Burbank
(00:49):
in particular deserves after yesterday because Burbank was sort of
the center of the news universe here in southern California.
How so you might wonder, let's have a listen.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
A Southwest flight dropping nearly five hundred feet in a
desperate maneuver to avoid a possible mid air collision with
a former British fighter jet.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Truly one of the most frightening experiences I've ever had.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
About six minutes after takeoff from Burbank, California, headed to
Las Vegas, Southwest Flight fourteen ninety six's cockpit alarm started blaring.
Passengers say the Boeing seven thirty seven felt like it
went into a nose dive.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
Passengers on board say they thought they were going down.
In the cockpit of Southwest flight fourteen ninety six, alarms
were going off of a collision imminent, ordering the pilots
to dive, the plane dropping nearly five hundred feet according
to radar data. Chris Peterson was on board.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
There were some screams, but more screams came when there
was a second drastic drop and it felt like maybe
this isn't.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Turbulent Southwest as the pilots had to execute the avoidance
maneuver to prevent a midair lesion with a Hawker Hunter aircraft.
The FAA is investigating.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
There was about i would say an eight second eight
to ten second drop, a free fall. Everybody in the.
Speaker 8 (02:10):
Plane started screaming.
Speaker 7 (02:13):
Definitely felt like that was that was it, Like this
is how I'm going to go out? Maybe three two
to three minutes later, the pilots gone on the inner
tom and told everybody that they had maneuvered the aircraft
to avoid a mid air collision. We noticed the flight
attendant being escorted to the front of the aircraft. She
(02:38):
definitely looked gazed. Her hair was all kind of frizzled
and messed up, and then she was given a nice
pack and sat down in the front of the front
of the aircraft. So you just kind of get a
sense of like, Okay, this was really a near death
experience that I just went through, and it's terrifying.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
It shakes you to the core.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
We felt a sudden drop, which initially I think everyone
felt like it was turbulence, and there were some screams,
but more screams came when there was a second drastic drop,
and it felt like maybe this isn't turbulence. To the
pilot's credit, he came on pretty quickly and said that
the reason that it had happened was because of a
(03:21):
collision avoidance. Truly one of the most frightening experiences I've
ever had. It felt for the first time in my life, like,
oh this is this is a near death experience. As
soon as we landed, everyone erupted in applause, and it
was just sort of like a harrowing experience. From that
point on, we just wanted to land. Everybody just wanted
to make sure we got there safely.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So that's pretty scary. And what is particularly scary, as
I learned about this story, is this Boeing seven thirty
seven jet that left Hollywood Burbank. It only dropped hundreds
of feet. And I say only as somebody who's not
knowledgeable about plane, so I read that and think, yeah,
hundreds of feet, what's the big deal. Well, you just
(04:05):
heard the description of what that feels like on board.
It's a dangerous game flying in the air, and to
suddenly have to drop just hundreds of feet sounds pretty terrifying.
I now know that these folks who you just heard
from say basically their lives were flashing before their eyes
(04:26):
over this, all on a Friday on their way to Vegas. Thankfully,
it seems that the injuries were minor, and even more thankfully,
nobody died.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
This was.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Scary, but it was not tragic. Thank goodness. This plane
that forced this Southwest flight to do what it had
to do, this sudden avoidance maneuver was in the same airspace,
and it's identified as some kind of plane owned by
a company called Hawker Hunter Aviation, a British defense contracting company.
(05:10):
They have not responded to the Associated Press for comment yet,
but a British defense contracting company had a plane in
the air and forced this sudden maneuver by a Southwest plane.
Now Southwest is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to
(05:31):
further understand the circumstances. We're going to learn more about this.
But while this was not a tragic event, need I
remind you that just in January, we had that horrible
mid air collision over Washington, d C. Involving a passenger
jet and a helicopter that killed I'm sorry, in a
(05:52):
military plane that killed sixty seven people. That is very scary,
But that was just one scary story that came out
of Burbank in the past couple of days.
Speaker 9 (06:07):
It's almost too creepy to talk about rite a man
sniffing women inside local stores. I talked to Burbank police
about it tonight and they told me they consider him
absolutely dangerous.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
A man sniffing women in Burbank's stores, and they caught
the guy. The police in Burbank apparently came very quickly
and caught this guy who is a thirty eight year
old registered sex offender. And why is he a registered
sex offender? Well, this is not his first butt sniffing rodeo.
Felt like anywhere I moved he kept following me.
Speaker 9 (06:42):
A sexual predator back on the prowl and tonight picked
up by Burbank police after another unnerving incident inside a
local store.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
But I definitely didn't expect him to do this, like
what the actual.
Speaker 9 (06:56):
Content creator, MIKAELA Whiter, posted this creepy in counter with
a man at Barnes and Noble in Burbank two years ago.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And the whole time I'm thinking I'm fine because he
hasn't said anything or touched me or anything. But then
you notice that he goes over and does the same
thing to this girl. We hearing that report from KTLA
that this registered sex offender has gone around sniffing before.
His name is Kalise Karen Crowder. He's from Glendale and
(07:24):
after that experience a couple of years ago that that
woman documented to KTLA's reporter, he's back in action.
Speaker 9 (07:33):
Thirty eight year old Kalise Crowder of Glendale was arrested,
but now it appears he's been added again, this time
praying on women in the Nordstrom rack in the Empire
shopping center.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
Wandered into the the women's section of the store. There's
a solo female and a female standing there alone shopping,
and he did the same kind of behavior that you've
seen in the past, get close to the female, crouch down,
pretend as if he was looking at items or searching
for something, and unfortunately conductive in some lude behavior.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Lude behavior that is very strange behavior. Indeed, and now
this guy is in custody again. I mean, you really
can't leave the house, either your plane is dropping hundreds
of feet or your butt is getting sniffed at the
Northstrom rack. This used to be a country. Speaking of
the country, President Trump has put out an executive order
(08:31):
that is likely going to have ramifications for Los Angeles,
the city and the county. And that's what we're going
to be getting into here next because Donald Trump has
signed this thing hoping to get people off the streets, homeless,
people with mental health or drug addiction problems. He's he's
(08:55):
upset with the condition of the cities. And I know
a lot of folks who are listening right now are
upset with condition of Los Angeles in particular. And this
executive order is signed and issued just before a very
consequential meeting at the LA Homeless Services Authority Board meeting
(09:18):
which I covered for you here at KFI. And I'm
going to bring to you next because when you look
around and think about the condition on the ground related
to homelessness, do you think our local agencies are successful? Well,
the agency, the biggest of them all, certainly thinks. So
(09:41):
you'll hear what they had to say about themselves next,
and I want you to weigh into on this and
everything you hear tonight. Just open up that iHeartRadio app,
click on the talkback button and we will play some
of your comments throughout the next couple of hours we
have to spend together on this beautiful Saturday night in
Southern Calumni.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
For you, you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
Were together until nine o'clock tonight, and if you listen
to the Mo Kelly Show, you. You know, the little
back and forth that Mo often has with Twala the producer,
or Mark Ronner in the news booth, or Stefan Ca Besos,
(10:29):
who works the board on Later with Mo Kelly. He
is with us tonight. I don't know how did you
get relegated to Saturday nights. They just liked me so much,
wanted to be with you. Eileen can attest to this
that that's Saturday nights. That's where it's at here at KFI.
That sure is. It's a party here. The cats are
away and the rats play and it's a lot of fun.
(10:49):
We have the snack drawer all to ourselves. Yeah we do. Yeah,
nobody's judging you. If you get two packs of pop
tarts hell ramen, you can eat all the ramen. And
there's been a cream of wheat in there recently. Yeah,
all right, well let's hope. Well, let's leave some for
the group for the rest of the But I may
have had a bag of chips and a Bob Dart nice. Yeah,
(11:11):
I know, I know. I exercise today. It's okay, Saturday,
go for it. All right, back to business here. President
Trump has directed some of his cabinet heads to prioritize
federal funding to cities that are cracking down on open
drug use and street camping. He says his goal is
to make people feel safer, and he says it's not
(11:33):
compassionate to do nothing. This order that the President issued
says shifting these individuals into long term institutional settings for
humane treatment is the most proven way to restore public order.
He's been very critical about Let's just say some behavior
that we see on urban streets across the country, and
(11:54):
you have to look no further than oh, I don't
know our own streets right here in Greater Los Angeles,
especially the city of Los Angeles, where homelessness is rampant,
and a lot of the folks who are homeless on
the streets here are dealing with drug addiction and are
dealing with mental health crises, and it's scary at times.
(12:16):
It may not always lead to you being a victim
of a crime, but it will lead to you feeling
very uncomfortable, or it may lead to you not coming
to certain parts of the city, not patronizing businesses in
those parts of the city, and then those parts of
the city become more depressed. So what have we done
locally We've spent billions, billions of dollars on homeless related issues,
(12:45):
and a lot of that money has been funneled through
the La Homeless Services Authority LASA, which was created a
couple of decades ago in a joint effort by the
City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.
But because of recent audits, one of which was ordered
by a federal judge, showing a lack of proper accounting
(13:09):
of those billions of dollars and a lack of tracking
of what those dollars were used for and whether the
subcontractors were even getting the results or if they even
said they were planning to get results, the County Board
of Supervisors decided that they had had enough. They're leaving
the partnership. They have divorced the city and taken three
(13:31):
hundred million dollars in annual funding with them. Shortly after
that decision by the County, Losa CEO of Alicia Adams
Kellum said she would step down. She didn't do so
right away. She didn't leave right away. Her final day
was yesterday Friday, and there was a board meeting and
(13:54):
the loss of board is appointed by members from the
city and the county mayor bass is on this board well,
and Alicia Adams Kellum said this in her last meeting.
Speaker 10 (14:05):
We addressed audit findings directly. We strengthened our rehousing efforts
and took on tough truths with courage and clarity. In
doing so, we've helped LASA become more agile, more transparent
and responsive. Real lasting change takes time, especially when confronting
(14:29):
issues that have persisted for decades. But I'm incredibly proud
of what we've accomplished at LASA and for the momentum
the agency continues to build.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Now, as I'm watching this meeting and covering it for
you on behalf of You four KFI, I'm thinking this
is this isn't a very introspective statement. This is it's
not really acknowledging the failures. It's pointing to what she
(15:01):
sees as successes when the failures are frankly obvious and
well documented and third parties and media have confirmed and
documented these failures. But at her last meeting, Alicia Adams
(15:21):
Kellum talked about the momentum. Well, the momentum is that
for the past couple of years, according to a count
conducted by Lassa. Homelessness has dropped two years in a
row after going up and up and up and up
for several years. And while going down is a good thing,
while that population going down is a good thing. It's
(15:44):
down four percent county wide and down three point four
percent in Los Angeles. And I know that those percentages
reflect real people who were out on the streets. But
the number of homeless people increased by between thirty and
forty percent over the five years up to this point.
(16:06):
So there's a long way to go. And when you
think about the billions that we've spent, it just seems
like you would expect better results. Mayor Bass was at
this meeting as well, and it seems that her response
was very defensive on behalf of her friend, Felicia Adams Kellum,
(16:26):
who created the mayor's signature homeless program Inside Safe.
Speaker 11 (16:30):
You were expected to have a magic wand you were
expected to solve a problem that has been around for
four decades that I certainly recall. And you didn't do that.
You didn't do that in a couple of years, and
so the attacks began.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
So the mayor describes Vlicia Adams Kellum as being a
bit of a victim in this situation is a monumental
task to fix homelessness in Los Angeles, in Los Angeles County.
But the people, the voters, the taxpayers, the residents, the
business owners, the employees, everyone has chipped in. There are resources,
(17:11):
There are resources available.
Speaker 11 (17:13):
I think that it was unfortunate because I think one
of the underlying issues that you had to face that
you got caught up in is there's an ideological battle
about how to solve homelessness. There is a status quo
that has been going about homelessness for a number of years,
and you came in and you started to disrupt the system,
(17:34):
and there were a lot of people that were not
happy about that disruption.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I'm baffled as I'm watching this meeting, because again, this
took on an air of congratulations and sadness that Leish
Adams Callum was stepping down, and no real acknowledgment at
the accounting struggles, at the exs from voters and residents
(18:04):
that aren't being met.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
And I feel that you were targeted and charged with
all sorts of things that later came out to be
absolutely untrue. But once that genie is out of the bottle,
nobody goes and puts it back and it harmed your reputation,
And unfortunately, that is what happens to leaders a lot
(18:28):
of times when they choose to be disruptive of a system.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
It seems to me, as somebody who watches these folks
a lot and reports on them a lot, that there
is a genuine disconnect between the infrastructure the government and
the quasi government infrastructure and what we all see on
the streets.
Speaker 11 (18:47):
You have press that have no interest in reporting accurately,
in talking about what is actually going on. And so
those press that maligned you, unfortunately inappropriately, are not going
to do a headline correcting what was wrong.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Gda O'Neil, who is an assistant Los Angeles City Attorney
who handles the city's homelessness policy, was appointed the new
interim chief Executive on a thirty one thousand dollars a
month contract. That's a little bit less than Felicia Adams
Kellum's four hundred thirty thousand dollar a year salary. O'Neill's
contract would amount to about three hundred and seventy thousand
(19:29):
dollars per year. So let me know, open up the
iHeartRadio app, click on that talkback button. You've heard the
remarks from the loss of board. You know what President
Trump says he wants to do. How do you expect
this to go down? Do you expect there to be
an acknowledgment of the real situation on the ground by
the city. Do you expect this to be another long
drawn out battle between the federal government and local and
(19:49):
state officials. And how do you feel about the folks
who are in charge of executing homeless policy. I'll tell
you somebody who is not happy about the situation is
Las Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez. She is long called for a
new homeless department to leave LASA for the city, long
before the county did. She wanted the city out of it.
(20:10):
And she's going to talk to us next and we'll
play some of your comments coming up.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
There's been a big change, another big change at the
La Homeless Services Authority. A new chief executive officer has
been named. Assistant LA City Attorney Gda O'Neil is taking
over for Velicia Adams Kellum, who's departing after a couple
of years. Her departure follows scathing audits of the agency's
accounting practices and criticism of the efficacy of its practices.
(20:39):
LA County has left the County City Joint Operation to
stand up its own homeless department, and that pretty much
leaves the city on its own. City council Woman Monica
Rodriguez has called for the creation of a city homeless department,
and did so long before the county made its move,
but no action has been taken on that. Councilwoman Rodriguez
joins us now now, Counciloman Rodriguez, thanks so much for
(21:02):
joining us again.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
So this is a big change at the La Homeless
Services Authority, one that we've seen coming for a while,
but now the time is here. There is a transition
in leadership there. But you have been a staunch critic
of this organization for some time. Has this change shifted
the way you feel about LASA?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Not at all, because I don't think anything fundamentally has
changed about the structure, about the transparency, there has been
zero progress that I've seen in a shift in even
disclosing accurate data and timely data. So I'm still very
much in favor of redacting their ability to oversee our
(21:45):
outreach contracts and the resources that are currently being provided
to LASA, and I think it's really marked a moment
for the city to get actually, really serious and aggressive
from a policy perspective. I'm very eager to have the
motions that I've introduced with the reports that have returned,
to have that comprehensive conversation and a policy committee and
(22:08):
homelessness and housing so that we can get that work underway.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
We've seen the County Board of Supervisors take a pretty
strong approach after expressing strong disappointment with LASA. They're doing
their own thing. This is something you've proposed at the city.
Do you think there is a stronger appetite at la
City Hall to maybe do away with LASA as we
know it.
Speaker 12 (22:29):
Well.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I was really disappointed by my colleagues Ms Rahman and
several others that went asking the County Supervisors to sustain
maintain their funding with LASSA, asked begging them to stay,
and I just didn't understand why they were so committed
to continuing to fund the failure. We have had multiple
(22:52):
examples about how they are not being responsive when you
know from the policy perspective when LASA, when Alicia Adams
was a committee, they would not answer questions or they
would always inevitably say well, we'll have to get back
to you. There was never written reports to confirm and
corroborate the work that was actually being completed. And so
(23:15):
I didn't understand why my colleagues are just so it's
like Stockholm syndrome. Why do you continue to want to
stay adjoined and funding this effort that has continually demonstrated
its inability to perform. I did not understand. I still
don't understand, and it's why I've been furious by the
slow walking of this conversation by ms Ramin.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
And look, these are clearly not just accusations that you're making.
We saw multiple audits determined that LASA as an organization
had not properly accounted for a significant amount of money,
that there was not a lot of oversight of the subcontractors,
the homeless services providers that LASSA would funnel money to.
And it's just it has been strange to see at
(24:02):
City Hall that it has moved so slowly to address
any fundamental changes. But I want to address some newly
released data and that is related to the homeless count,
because those numbers also seem different from what they had
said days before. They were coming out that we had
seen a two and a half percent decline in homelessness
and that was I guess they have this brass conference
(24:26):
and they have new numbers that they had not updated.
Elected officials like you on can you can you tell
me how that went down?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah? I mean I think it's just part and parcel
for how it's always been. Again, how can you really
trust what they're actually saying. This is after they had
punted releasing the data more than three times, So it's again,
I don't have any greater confidence about the data that
they actually are providing because they demonstrated repeatedly that they're
(24:54):
not giving us clear, timely and accurate data, and it
continues to shift, and they're not transparent about what the
changes are. I've seen in the previous homeless count, for example,
some of what was born out and celebrated as a
reduction in homelessness was born on even some shifts in
the statistical multipliers that were being used, so inherently the
(25:17):
numbers will actually be lower. There were certain census tracks
that were not included in that data. You've had whistleblower
complaints that corroborate some of what my suspicions have been
was that well, certain data wasn't being released because they
didn't want to let insides, They didn't want the mayor
to look better, they didn't want inside Zafe to be
(25:38):
criticized for its failure. So I just you know again,
I think what comes back to this is not a
moment in time where everyone should be celebrating, like George Bush,
mission accomplished. This is a moment where everyone needs to
be real honest about the fact that millions, if not
billions of dollars have been spent and you're not seeing
(25:59):
a substantial change. We have a lot of work to do.
We have a great sense of urgency to actually move
aggressively in changing how we do business because the status
quo is failing our city and we need to make
those changes immediately.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It was apparently originally reported by LASA to people like you,
those who hold office in the city and the county,
that there was a two point five percent decline in
the homeless population in the region, and by the time
the press conference rolled around, it had jumped up to
three point four percent. But even if you take those
numbers at face value, we're talking about this now being
(26:36):
a trend. That's the word that Mayor Bass used. That's
the word that the outgoing CEO at loss of use.
This is now a trend because two years in a
row they've been able to report a decline. But just
six years ago, in twenty nineteen, there were fifteen thousand
fewer homeless people in LA County. There were about fifty
eight fifty nine thousand. Now we're well over seventy thousand.
This doesn't seem like something to celebrate. Are we wrong here?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I agree, I'm not. I'm not here, uh, you know,
waving the flag uh as as a moment of celebration.
I think this continues. And I had questions and concerns
about previous homeless counts even when the numbers were going up.
And here we are, and there is a false uh celebration,
(27:22):
I believe, because I don't know that we've performed any better.
Uh Statistically it is not a significant difference. And yes,
we want to celebrate any uh you know, idea of progress.
The challenges is that with all that money that is spent,
if that's all the results that we're producing. If that's
(27:44):
the if that's what success looks like, then it's failing
because it's frankly cost prohibitive and unsustainable financially, particularly given
the city siscles climate. And it bothers me that there
has been zero recalibration changes or cuts to inside safe
and the expense associated with doing this work, and so
(28:05):
there's been no serious shift in change given how much
money is being spent and how little progress is being made,
and I think that's a really big problem.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
City Councilman Monica Rodriguez from the Valley, thanks so much
for taking time out of the break. I know you're
still working, but the break from the meetings that we
do appreciate talking to you, and we'll look forward to
those meetings getting back and seeing what happens with this.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
The problems at La County juvenile halls have continued to
mount drug overdos's abuse fights and nothing the county has
tried to do has worked. So California Attorney General Rob
Bonta says it's time for the state to step in
and take over.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News will
be together till nine o'clock tonight on this Saturday night
in southern California. Some quick headlines coming out of the
KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A suspicious device has been
found outside the LAPD's Foothill station this afternoon. It led
to the evacuation of the immediate area and the station
(29:09):
itself while the bomb squad conducted an investigation. That device
was noticed about two point thirty this afternoon in front
of that station in Pacoima. As of six o'clock this evening,
the bomb squad was still evaluating the situation. Of course,
a local bomb squad was in the news and has
continued to be in the news because of the tragedy
(29:30):
involving the La County Sheriff's Department and their version of
the bomb squad last Friday. We'll have more on that
story at the top of the hour. As a search
is underway for a second grenade. Apparently two grenades were found,
one exploded, killing three deputies, a second device missing currently. Meanwhile,
(29:54):
in Huntington Beach, an unlicensed seventeen year old boy apparently
lost control of a vehicle and crashed into a tree
and two houses in Huntington Beach. That happened around ten
thirty seven last night, and the city says in a
press release that based on the preliminary investigation, it appears
that the vehicle was traveling south on Newland Street at
(30:15):
a high rate of speed when the driver lost control.
Impairment is not suspected. The driver and his eighteen year
old male passenger both complained of pain and were taken
by ambulance to a hospital to be checked out. And
then let's hit the water now, because in Marina del Rey,
a skipper intentionally crashed a yacht into a sea wall
(30:37):
in Marina del Rey today and a Sheriff's lieutenant says
it was the right thing to do. This happened around
three o'clock this afternoon at the Fisherman's Village off Fiji Way,
and a Sheriff's deputy at the station in Marina del
Rey told our partners at City News Service that there
were patrons of a restaurant watching this approach and then
(31:02):
hit the sea wall. The front of the yacht sustained
more damage than the seawall, according to this deputy, and
the deputy says there was an internal mechanical failure that
affected the ability to control the yacht and it was
intentionally struck to the wall to prevent more damage or
any injuries. That yacht was towed away with damage to
(31:23):
its bow. And we've been talking about homelessness this hour
and a new executive order that's come from the White
House President Trump ordering some of his cabinet officials to
determine which cities get some federal funding based on how
they respond to getting some of the homeless people who
(31:44):
are dealing with drug addiction and mental health issues off
the streets. And we also talked deeply about the change
of leadership at the LA County excuse me, at the
LA Homeless Services Authority and the ongoing problems with that organization.
I've asked for your comments and your feedback. You can
open up the iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button
(32:05):
and share your thoughts.
Speaker 12 (32:09):
It just really really makes me angry, Michael. But twenty
four billion dollars, we could have built a couple of
a couple of drug places, drug treatment centers, and we
could have built the mental health Facilitator. I mean, it's
just incredibly, incredibly wrong.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I appreciate that comment, and that sentiment is not a
lonely one. A lot of people feel this way. What
has been done with the money and the problem is,
according to audits, Billy Homeless Services Authority isn't entirely sure.
They cannot account for the way all of the money
was spent, and the homeless population count according to LASA,
(32:56):
has only dropped this year four percent county one and
three point four percent in the City of Los Angeles.
This is a story that is going to continue to
develop because now LASA is mainly just the city, as
the county has started its own homeless department. Meanwhile, the
county has struggled mightily with getting its juvenile facilities under control.
(33:20):
These are the jails where young offenders are sentenced, and
they have been the site of ongoing abuse, drug smuggling, violence,
all sorts of problems. So State Attorney General Rob Banta
came to Los Angeles this week.
Speaker 13 (33:39):
This would mean transferring full operational authority over the juvenile
halls from the county to a court appointed receiver, someone
who can make the critical changes that the county has
repeatedly been unable to make. Someone who has the independence,
the tools, and the mandate to finally bring these facilities
(34:01):
into compliance.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
When you hear the Attorney General talk about compliance, he's
referencing an agreement that the state reached with the county
a few years ago mandating changes. But he says the
county and its probation department is out of compliance on
seventy five percent of the criteria there. So, what he
said in Los Angeles this week is that he plans
(34:26):
to file a court petition seeking to have a receiver
appointed to oversee operation of the juvenile halls. He's accused
the county of failing to comply with a series of
court judgments and orders regarding management of the facilities dating
back to twenty twenty one. He says that county remains
out of compliance with seventy five percent of the court
judgment provisions.
Speaker 13 (34:48):
Here's what's happening. In just a six month period, sixty
nine youth on youth fights were allowed or facilitated by
probation staff, impacting one hundred forty three young victims. Multiple
youth at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall have overdosed, even after
the court ordered stronger contraband controls. Youth are missing critical
(35:13):
medical appointments and security cameras remain inadequate and key footage
goes unreviewed.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
The loss Perginos excuse me, Los Padrinos Hall in Downey
has been under fire many times. It only opened in
twenty twenty three to house young people who had been
transferred from two other facilities that were also deemed unsuitable
for detention of youth, and now the same accusations are
being levied against this facility in Downey. It continues to
(35:43):
operate under an unsuitability declaration made by the state. A
juvenile court judge in Los Angeles in May approved a
probation department planned to draw down the number of youth
housed at the facility, which has been plagued with issues
stemming mostly from short staff along with concerns about detainees
(36:03):
not being transported to classes or medical appointments. And Attorney
General Bonta was He's a pretty soft spoken guy, so
he didn't sound angry, but he certainly sounded upset at
the way LA County has handled the situation.
Speaker 13 (36:23):
This wasn't a rushed decision. We didn't skip steps. We
built a record, We exhausted the different options, and at
every turn we've prioritized accountability, transparency.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
And do process.
Speaker 13 (36:39):
But we've also reached the point where the county's inability
to reform the system is causing harm and continuing to
wait is no longer an option.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
And in this long press conference, the Attorney General also
said this.
Speaker 13 (36:54):
These young people deserve more than our outrage. They deserve
meaningful action and real accountability. And the people of LA
County also deserve juvenile justice facilities that can produce real
results young people who receive the rehabilitation, the support, and
the education to choose a better path.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I think it's important to hear what the Attorney General
has to say in the context of what we've been
talking about throughout this hour. Homelessness. LA County has decided
to leave the LA Homeless Services Authority and start its
own homeless department. They are going to oversee it now,
but they oversee this probation department. And this is where
(37:39):
we are with that. The supervisors of Los Angeles County
agree with the Attorney General that this should happen. Supervisor
Janice Hahn says, we have spent years trying to improve conditions,
exhausted every tool at the county level, and still we
are failing the these young people. I stand ready to
(38:02):
do everything I can to help receivership succeed. Supervisor Catherine
Barger says she's not surprised by Bonta's request to place
the La County Probation Department under state receivership. She says,
quote in truth, this moment has been a long time coming.
And then Supervisor Lindsay Horvath also says that the Attorney
General's push for receivership is another reminder, on top of
(38:25):
the high cost of a state bill, how deeply broken
our juvenile probation facility operations have become. She says she's
backing a state bill to give the county the tools
to fix this crisis. She blames probation department staff quote
especially probation union leadership, who continue to stand in their
own way, their blocking reform at every turn, and our
(38:48):
young people are paying the price. We got another hour head.
We'll start with the latest in the investigation of that
deadly explosion in East LA that killed three La County
Sheriff's deputies and the search for a second grenade that
is missing. That's coming up as Michael Monks Reports continues
(39:10):
along with your comments. Open up the iHeartRadio app, click
on the talkback button. This is KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Kfi AM six forty on demand
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