May 18, 2025 • 38 mins
The FBI has classified the deadly blast outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic as an "intentional act of terrorism." In a recent update from a 10 AM press conference, it was reported that at least 19 people were injured, with four sustaining serious injuries after a ship collided with the Brooklyn Bridge, according to officials. In other news, speed cameras are set to be installed in Los Angeles. Additionally, over 3.8 million families in California do not earn enough to cover basic living expenses.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, Tiffany.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hobbs filling in from two to four.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
You usually hear me on Saturdays from five to seven
on Saturdays with Tiffany.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But I'm here today and what a day it is.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Usually the weekends are what pretty slow when it comes
to news, right, You might hear of something on a Friday,
and perhaps it's been kind of touched on on the
weekends and then covered throughout the rest of the week.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, this weekend, starting with yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Insane, insane for breaking news. And I'm going to get
into some of the latest updates about the breaking news
that came out yesterday. But first let's start with some
really sad news that came across the wire about former
President Joe Biden. A spokesperson says that former President Biden
(00:50):
has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. You hear me, right,
and an aggressive form at that. The diagnosis came after
doctor doctors apparently found a nodule on his prostate on
Friday that required further evaluation, and that evaluation led to
the determination that he does have prostate cancer. The statement
(01:13):
went on to say that former President Biden and his
family are reviewing treatment options at this time. So of course,
whether wherever you fall on the side of the aisle,
whatever side you identify with or that resonates with you,
I think that obviously we are all human and we
(01:33):
are all hopefully sympathetic to a situation like this where
that our former president is now going to be battling
and hopefully being successful at kicking this aggressive form of
prostate cancer. He is in his is he how does
he robin eighty eighty one? I think something like that,
(01:55):
But that's you know, it's a scary diagnosis. It's certainly
a scary diagnosis. So we wish former President Biden, well,
what were you going to say?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Eighty two? He's eighty two.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So yeah, this is really bad news, really really bad news.
But we'll keep abreast of everything. I imagine that this
will undoubtedly be a headline, continued headline tomorrow and throughout
the rest of the week. Something else that made the
headlines yesterday. You by now have seen it everywhere, You've
(02:29):
heard about it. You might have questions, and well I
have answers about this. Palm Springs explosion happened yesterday just
before eleven am. We covered it here on Saturdays with Tiffany,
as did OURKFI twenty four hour newsroom. All these developments
were coming out about where it happened at the reproductive
(02:52):
clinic in Palm Springs on Indian Canyon Drive. The American
Reproductive Center is the name of that fertility clinic, and
we were wondering, of course, about how so it's a
vehicular explosion and the details that have emerged in numerous
are now two press conferences in the wake of this
(03:13):
event have revealed some pretty interesting information. Robin, Let's go
ahead and go to clip one so we can find
out all about.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
The who the suspect that they believe is the person
of interest, Guy Edward barkis a twenty five year old
from twenty nine poems. They believe at this current time,
based off of the evidence that they have seen, he
is the person of interest and the person that died
in this and was found his body was found next
to the vehicle that was used as an explosive device.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Yeah, they're using the word fairly words fairly contradical that
this is the identity of the suspect and the person
who was found who deceased.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So there was a press conference yesterday with the preliminary information,
of course, and then there was a follow up press
confort Friends around ten ten thirty am today Sunday, where
Assistant Director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office
for the FBI, A. Kill Davis shared that they are
fairly confident, that is the quote, fairly confident that the
(04:17):
person who was killed in this blast is in fact
twenty five year old Guy Edward Barkiss of twenty nine Palms.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So he's a local guy, local guy.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And in addition to identifying Guy Edward Barkiss, in the
hours following the blast, authorities zeroed in on his property,
they also found out some potential motives.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Robin, can we go to clip number two.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
We're also learning a little bit more about the suspect.
What the FBI knows about the suspect's background. They say
that he had nihilistic ideations. They're calling this an intentional
act of terrorism. The FBI also is try backing a
possible manifesto that suspect was also trying to live stream
(05:05):
the attack as it was happening. No confirmation on if
he was successful or not in doing so, but this
is the first time that this person has been on
the FBI's radar, not not to say that he has
not had a criminal history before.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
How interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Usually when we hear of attacks this way, and this
attack has been named as a terrorist attack, and that
is by Akille Davis, the assistant director of the FBI
and the local municipalities out of Palm Springs that this
is a terrorist attack. But usually when you have these
sorts of attacks on reproductive centers, they often target the
(05:47):
abortion clinics. You don't usually see this happening at in
vitro fertilization clinics or clinics that specialize in helping people
actually have children. But as it was said Guy Edward
Barkiss twenty five, the suspect in this attack had nihilistic
ideations and targeted that IVF facility specifically because he felt
(06:14):
that quote, the world should not be populated.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I'm sure when we're in traffic we're all wishing for
a smaller population of people around us, or you're in
line or whatever it may be, or that you're experiencing
crowds and overpopulation. But to take it to this extreme
to voice and vocalize your nihilistic, nihilistic beliefs and ideologies
(06:43):
and then to go so far as to then create
this attack that injured at least four people is what's
being said this morning at the press confidence at press
conference at least four people and then to kill one
the suspect that is taking it to the extreme. The
(07:05):
FBI Field Office Assistant Director of kil Davis does say
that they feel that this was an isolated attack. They
do not believe that there are any other dangers associated
with this bombing, and they also are saying that this
blast was one of the largest bombings that we've had
(07:26):
in southern California. They compared it to the twenty eighteen
bombing at that day SPA in Aliso Viejo that one
killed one person and severely injured two other people, while
this attack at the Reproductive center killed one injured at
least four others. And because this person, this guy, Edward Barkiss,
(07:47):
was from twenty nine Palms living in twenty nine Palms,
authorities went, of course to the property that he was
last connected to over on Adobe Road and CSA draw
I've in twenty nine Palms, which was sixty miles away
from the origin of the explosion. They evacuated the area
(08:08):
because of the possibility of more bomb making materials in
his home.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So this is still ongoing.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
This is not over All of the authorities are encouraging
people who could be impacted were impacted by this blast
to again call the non emergency number if they find anything.
One witness told ABC seven that they found a camera
on a tripod pointed at the blast zone right after
(08:37):
the explosion, and that person turned that into investigators. So
they are saying, you might find evidence, you might find
more of the debris field, don't touch it, don't manipulate it,
turn it or call don't even turn it in, call
the non emergency number and report that there's something that
(08:58):
is possibly can to this blast. When we come back,
there's more updates to come about everything else that came
out of yesterday, including did you see that beautiful ship
look like a pirate ship? Well, it's half of what
it was because it crashed into a bridge. I'll tell
(09:19):
you what bridge this ship crashed into, and all of
the subsequent details that have come out of this very
strange crash that happened last night at around eight thirty
pm in New York.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
When we come back.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
It's KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app tipny hob sitting in from two to four today you're.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Thankfully we are not on the East Coast, specifically in
New York. I know they're celebrating in New York because
the Knicks clinched that championship eligibility. But there's something else
that happened in New York that people aren't necessarily celebrating.
And before I get into it, let me give you
(10:05):
some context as to why this story which might be
kind of smaller, somewhat less on the radar, if there
wasn't a larger story inside of it. And what am
I talking about? Well, first let me ask you the question.
Do you remember last year there was a bridge in Baltimore,
(10:27):
It's called the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and it collapsed
after being hit by a cargo ship. Of course you
remember that, of course you do. Because the conversation born
out of that incident with the cargo ship hitting the
Francis Scott Key Bridge involved wondering just how safe bridges
(10:47):
actually are in the United States. Well, the University Johns
Hopkins created a risk assessment of bridges and their vulnerability
across the United States, and they zeroed in on twenty
bridges specifically. There were different barometers, different measurements. They looked
at the age of these bridges and they found that
(11:09):
these twenty bridges were likely to have some sort of failure, collapse,
some sort of degradation in the next ten twenty thirty years. Again,
there were twenty bridges, most of them were located in
the southeastern United States. You know which one was not
on the list, the Brooklyn Bridge, but maybe it should be.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I don't know, But what happened yesterday ain't good. Richard.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
You're on Pure seventeen, which would put you on the
Manhattan side, which is where this vessel was docked just
a couple of days ago, and probably left Pere seventeen
tonight right before this happened.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Well, can you tell us from where you are and
what you.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
See there, Arthur, I can tell you that there is
nothing short of chaotic. We are surrounded by first responders
and an ems who had been pulling people from the
water on the Brooklyn side, but there is a large
police presence on this side.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
As you mentioned, this is a.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
Mexican Navy ship and let me tell you, when you
watch the video, it really looks like something out of
Pirates of the Caribbean. Here's a look at that video
and the moment that that ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge
earlier this evening on a promotional tour here in New
York City, the top of its mast brushing the Brooklyn
Bridge as its sailed through the East River. We cannot
confirm any injuries, but we are hearing that there are
(12:27):
at least three people in critical condition tonight. You can
see the video posted online. It was flying a giant, green,
white and red Mexican flag. It scraped underneath of the bridge.
The Mexican Navy saying in a post that the Academy
training vessel was damaged in the accident in the Brooklyn
Bridge that prevented it from continuing its voyage. We do
(12:48):
not know if anyone on the actual ship was hurt
or were people who are on the pier when it's
struck near that bridge.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Now, they said they don't know the specificity of the inch. However,
since then, there have been more developments that have come
out and they were able to authorities were able to
zero in on the fact that nearly two dozen people
were injured and two people were killed. And this is
(13:16):
when that Mexican Navy ship, it's called the Quatemacca, I believe,
and I'm sure you'll take to the talk back to
let me know if I pronounced that incorrectly.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Please do. I'd love to know.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
But that the Quatemac, this Mexican Navy ship was on
an international goodwill tour. How ironic, an international goodwill tour.
It was out there just trying to do something good
and bring positivity to the river and to the people
and let people see this beautiful beautiful.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It is gorgeous. It was a gorgeous ship.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
But that it lost power and crashed into the underside
of the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday evening, yesterday evening. And the
thing about it is there's video. There's footage because there
were lots of people on the piers. This peer area
down there is apparently a hot spot in Brooklyn, on
the Brooklyn side, so people were there. It's a Saturday night,
(14:13):
the weather was nice, just like in Palm Springs. People
are out, people are out enjoying themselves as the weather
starts to warm up.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
And they were there, and lots of video was taken
of this ship.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
People were really close and then you see people start
to run away because the ship seemed to be running.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
What is it.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I don't know the technical term for it, but it
seemed to be out of control.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And as the ship approached the peer, you.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Could see very distinctly through these handheld videos people's phones,
people dangling from the top of the masts. I highly
encourage you to google this Mexican Navy ship and to
watch some of the footage because it looks it looks
(15:02):
like it is artificial intelligence. It looks like it is
created by the computer. It does not look real. I
thought at first, yes, the Titanic. So we have these
reference points, right, Robin, But you're doing the rows on
the end of the all the you know and all that.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Nobody did that. Oh no, I'm lying.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
There was one guy who ran to the front of
the ship and told people to get out of the way.
Very unromantic, very not Titanic. What are you saying, Robin,
man overboard?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
There were quite They haven't said they don't. They haven't
said yet if anyone actually went overboard. But the footage
shows people dangling from the top of these different masks,
and it is insane. But as we know now, nearly
two dozen people were injured and two people did in
fact lose their lives. The bridge is one hundred and
(15:57):
forty two years old, so by measurement of JOHNS. Hopkins'
risk assessment, the Brooklyn Bridge probably should be assessed.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I don't know. I'm no bridge expert.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Those of you who are can weigh in, but you know,
was this simply the fault of the navigational system losing
control with the ship? Is this the fault of the captain?
Is it a combined accountability with the bridge maybe not
necessarily being as high.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I don't know, but I do know that we are
hearing more and more about these incidents with bridges in
our beautiful country, and we have quite a few. But
it's disheartening and it's kind of scary to know that
so many fall under this high risk assessment.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Now.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
New York City Mayor Eric Adams of course, weighed in
this morning about the crash. He wished the families well,
said they're praying for everyone on board, and he also
gave major to the first responders, who, he say says,
quickly jumped into action, ensuring that this accident wasn't much worse.
(17:09):
Authorities do say that the captain lost control of the
vessel and again that the ship lost power.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
If you watch the.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Footage, the mass snap, they look like paper as they
go under the bridge. They didn't clear the bridge. These
masks were much higher and you just watched them snap, snap, snap,
and rapid succession, one after the other.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And that's where you see people.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Dangling from the tops of these snapped in half masks.
So it snapped, pieces fell onto the deck. And said
that the bridge itself did not sustain any structural damage,
but they did of course close the bridge briefly to
make sure that everyone and everything was attended to. There
(17:55):
were two hundred and seventy seven people aboard this ship
on this good will tour, international goodwill tour, and they
are saying, Robin, that you did ask the question that
no one fell into the water. No one fell into
the water. Of the injuries for our serious, if not critical.
(18:17):
So this unfortunately is a huge black eye or dark
part of this international goodwill tour for this Mexican Navy ship.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's not said whether or not it will continue.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
It's beautiful, it is, it's really, really beautiful and it's
unfortunate that this happened, but it does, of course make
people wonder what's going on.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
What's going on out there? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I will tell you what's going on in Los Angeles.
If you are a person who has a lead foot,
as some of us may have once in a while,
once once in a while, right, trying to weave through
traffic and get places fast, well you better start rethinking
your driving strategies. You might want to plan ahead so
you have more time and aren't rushing because speed cameras
(19:08):
are coming back to LA. I'll tell you all about
what's going on, what you can look forward to coming
very shortly, and how you can avoid it. On the
other side of the break.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Unfortunately, there's some really sad news, some really upsetting news
that's coming out about former President Biden. A spokesperson for
former President Biden says that he President Biden has been
diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and further
details reveal that that cancer has since spread to President
(19:45):
Biden's bones. The diagnosis came after doctors found a nodule
on his pro State on Friday, just a couple of
days ago, and that nodule required further evaluate evaluation. That
evaluation revealed prostate cancer that has spread to the bones,
and the former president and his family are reviewing treatment options.
(20:08):
It is said that this type of cancer is in
fact hormone sensitive, which means that it is usually responsive
to treatment.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So I guess that's a silver lining the.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Treatment if and I'm sure he'll obviously has the best
doctors probably in the world. The treatment will be aggressive,
and you know, we hope for the best for former
President Biden. No matter where you fall on either side
of the aisle, that's a person and no one wants
to go through something like that. So best wishes to
former President Biden and his family. Are you a speeder?
(20:45):
Do you drive really fast? I know I do, and
we all do.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
You're you get on the freeway, You're trying to keep
up with the flow of traffic, and the flow of
traffic isn't going the actual speed limit. No one's going
sixty five. Everyone's going eighty ninety. Right, They're whizzing past
you as you're trying to be a lawful citizen. Or
you're on a surface street, and you're doing the thirty
(21:09):
five and the thirty five and being careful not to
go over because you don't know if there's a patrol car.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Lurking or a motorcycle cop.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
They love to swoop in in traffic right and pull
you over for speeding or other sorts of traffic violations.
So you're trying to keep up with that law, and
here are people.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Whizzing by you, just flying by.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
You fifty on surface streets or wherever these specific designated
zones are school zones other things.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
They're just whizzing right by.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
And if you're like me, you're often hoping when you
see that sort of kind of willful lawfulness, that really
brazen lack of lawfulness, you want a cop to come
out of somewhere and pull them over. How just grat
fying is it to see someone held accountable for their
(22:03):
actions right there in the moment. You hope it's not you,
of course, but if you are the person committing that
sort of offense, then you should know that the City
of Los Angeles and the state of California specifically are
looking to crack down on your lead foot because LA
(22:25):
drivers are going to be one of six California cities
to install automated cameras to photograph and ticket drivers who speed.
This comes courtesy of Assembly Bill six 'o forty five,
which was passed in twenty twenty three, and now we'll
(22:46):
go into effect next year in Los Angeles in twenty
twenty six as part of this statewide pilot program. The
six California cities are, of course La Oakland, San Jose,
Long Beach, and right over the hill here in Glendale,
(23:07):
which will have these automated cameras install. They'll take pictures
of you and they will ticket you if you speed. Now,
I remember there were cameras. There are cameras there are
not that not that efficient to be honest, that have
been around for the better part.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Of fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I would say, cameras that catch you blowing through a
red light, or cameras that catch you turning against you know,
an ar row that you shouldn't take. Whatever the case,
there have been these automated cameras, and again they weren't
always that efficient. You could usually argue some sort of
impropriety and perhaps even come out on the other side victorious,
(23:47):
having skirted the fee and the charge against you. But
in this case, this statewide pilot program, well, it plans
to catch you and it doesn't really expect to make
many mistakes. San Francisco was the first to roll out
these cameras. They installed about thirty thirty three earlier this
(24:10):
year in February. And they say in San Francisco, they're
their municipal transportation agency, that they've had a lot of speeding,
and that that speeding is the leading cause of serious
injuries and fatalities in San Francisco. Here we are thinking
(24:30):
it's meth or that it is some other thing in
San Francisco. No, it's speeding, the leading cause of serious
injuries and fatalities in San Francisco. Well, we're not talking
about San Francisco as much because we live here.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
We want to know what's going on right here in La.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Well, La apparently is not that much better when it
comes to our fatalities, because one in five fatal collisions
between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty one involved speeding, and
that's according to our Department of Transportation official website. Now,
remember twenty twenty, we were not on the road. People
(25:11):
were staying home or going where they needed to go,
and then going home. It wasn't a lot of leisure driving,
not a lot of to and fro. But in twenty
twenty one, when the roads opened back up and life
seemingly started to return to normal, people got out there
and people started to drive like they had before. And
(25:32):
it is somewhat assumes, kind of talked about in circles.
You may talk about this amongst your own friends and family.
It certainly feels like traffic collisions, driving, all of it
is so much worse since we came back from the
pandemic closures. It's like people were trying to make up
(25:53):
for the months in which they were not out on
the roads by being just completely irresponse with their driving,
whether it is speeding or whether it is Have you
seen this phenomenon of people When you're at a red light,
you're all out of red light, you're facing that oncoming
traffic and it's a red light across all lanes. The
(26:15):
light turns green, and it's not a turn lane light
that turns green, not the arrow but just the regular
commuting green light for you to proceed.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Someone will be in.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
That turn lane and take the turn in front of
oncoming traffic as if they have the right away and
they narrowly miss colliding with oncoming traffic because they just
were able to get out of the way. But that
is something that seems to be on the uptick. I
don't know where this came from. A lot of people
(26:47):
point to the video games. And of course we do
know that there is this crackdown coming with these unmarked
patrol vehicles that will be on the road shortly to
mitigate that sort of thing, trying to crack down on
all of this reckless driving. It's not just speeding, the
other things too that are causing a lot of these
(27:08):
collisions that do lead to fatalities. But when it comes
to speeding, LA Department of Transportation says that studies show
speed safety systems like these automated cameras actually lead to
a pretty significant decrease in crashes about nineteen percent less
in all honesty resulting in fatalities or serious injuries, and
(27:33):
that cities utilizing this similar technology have seen a significant
drop of over sixty percent in drivers speeding by ten
miles per hour or more.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So they're saying these cameras work. You might not like.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Them, but they will ultimately make the roads safer In
San Francisco, and much like what will be coming in
Los Angeles. The cameras were installed near schools, parks, senior centers,
and in commercial districts. We don't yet know where the
cameras will be in La I am hoping they don't
(28:11):
tell us, because if you tell people, then people will
tell other people, then they'll just kind of avoid those areas.
Maybe don't tell people where the cameras are and let
them find out because they messed up. Now Here are
some of the penalties if you break the speed limit
by going eleven to fifteen miles per hour over the limit,
(28:35):
which is the norm. Thirty five is the zone and
people are going forty five fifty easily. So if you
go eleven to fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit,
you'll get a fifty dollars fine. If you go fifteen
to twenty five miles per hour over, you'll get a
one hundred dollars fine, and if you go over that,
(28:57):
it's a two hundred dollars fine, and hopefully they take
away your license to be honest, because this one says
it can go up to ninety nine miles per hour
over and incur a two hundred dollars penalty. If you
go over one hundred miles per hour, you'll get a
five hundred dollars fine.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
That's not steep enough for me. That is not steep
enough for me.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
If you're going one hundred miles per hour or more,
you need a lot harsher consequences attached to your infraction.
Five hundred dollars is nothing. That's not even the average deductible.
There will be a sixty day warning period when these
cameras are installed, and you'll get a warning the first
(29:40):
time you speed about eleven to fifteen miles per hour
over so you'll get a warning. They're rolling this out
pretty slowly to see. It's a pilot program. But I'm
hoping that once this thing takes off that it does
in fact result in fewer speeding infractions. Because our surface
streets and hopefully and they get to our three ways,
(30:00):
they're a mess.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
They're a mess.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
I used to love leisurely driving around the city, driving
around you know, down pch.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I don't like it anymore because.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
People are always playing with their lives and then end
up playing with yours. When we come back, we're going
to talk about why three point eight million California families
are not earning enough money to cover their basic living expenses.
Three point eight million California families, meaning that if you're
(30:33):
getting a ticket for speeding, you can't cover it, and
you can't cover.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
A lot of other things either. We'll talk about that
on the other side of the break.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
We're talking all things poverty right now in this segment.
And as you heard John say, Gavin Newsom is blaming
the deficit on different things. But when it comes to
the poverty of Californians, where do we point the finger?
And this is what's going on. As we know, California
touts itself and in reality, it is true that California
(31:08):
is one of the richest states in the United States.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
We make a lot, we.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Have a lot of high income earners, a lot of industries.
But as we know, those of us who live here
at any point from the top to the very bottom,
California largely deals with unaffordability, especially for the average family.
But now what is considered to be the average family
(31:34):
or the average household, well, that gap is a lot
wider than it used to be. The high and low
of the earner in California and where people are on
that income scale, whether doing well or in poverty, seems
to be a lot less distinguishable, especially compared to other states.
(31:57):
And there's research that's come out that drives that point
home even further. The research comes from an organization called
nonprofit United Ways of California, and they recently released a
report that says thirty five percent, that's one out of
every three people you look around, three people are near you, one.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Of you is in a household that does.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Not earn enough money to meet the basic needs required.
And that means that more than three point eight million families,
three point eight million families in California are currently struggling financially.
And it's not simply can you afford the avocado toast,
(32:47):
It's not simply can you afford that vacation or that
Disneyland trip.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Those things are not.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Necessarily the basic needs, right, Those are add on things
we enjoy. We're talking rent, mortgage, healthcare, food, daycare, schooling, clothing,
things like that. These are basic needs. And the study
(33:13):
went on to say that if our lawmakers, our California
legislator legislature, don't quickly intervene that we in California could
have a very real poverty crisis on our hands. This
is dire, This is a super dire situation. In its
report United Ways of California, the organization created what it
(33:35):
calls the Real Cost Measure, and it shows what the
true cost of living in.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
This state actually looks like.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
This measure found that again thirty five percent of California's
working households can't meet their basic needs. They are considered
this thirty five cent of people to be living in poverty.
No one wants to think of themselves as being impoverished
(34:04):
or living in poverty. Especially if you have a job
and you go to work every day, and you have
a roof over your head, and you have all the
things that are equated with basic needs, you might be struggling.
But I don't think anyone really wants to consider themselves
as living in poverty. But the reality is that by
(34:26):
these metrics, thirty five percent of California working households are
living in poverty when you use the federal standard. They
went on to say, the CEO of United Way of
Greater Los Angeles that quote, if families get hit with anything,
a car repair, a medical emergency, a rent increase, It
(34:50):
can easily tip them into homelessness. And we all know
how pervasive homelessness is is in Los Angeles and in
California at large, and that number continues to grow.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Even though the annual homeless count.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Does reveal a dip, the optics and what we are
all seeing on a daily basis show something otherwise. Homelessness appears,
or at least looks to be on the increase, despite
what the studies or what the research is saying. It's
also worth noting that the rising costs of everything that
(35:34):
we deal with on a daily basis obviously change. They fluctuate,
So what is expensive now for a family could easily
become even more expensive in the future as our economy
continues to shift upward. And again it's saying that if
lawmakers don't quickly intervene, a lot more Californians are going
(35:58):
to find themselves in a very very very difficult situation.
Wages have not necessarily gone up. Sure, we hear about
different industries increasing their minimum wage, we hear about different
places perhaps allowing for more income to be earned, but
overall that increase, those increases the increase of the minimum
(36:22):
wage for our hotel workers or for fast food workers
does not keep the pace or keep up with the
pace of the cost of living as it continues to rise.
Look at our rents, look at the cost of owning
a home, Look at your mortgage. A study came out
that says that if you are making under one hundred
(36:42):
thousand dollars per year, you are considered low income in
many counties in California, including Orange County. And that was
I believe ninety six thousand dollars is what they were
kind of where their steak in the sand was if
you were making that, you were considered low income.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
And it's being said that.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Thirty five percent of people are making far below that.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
In fact, the median full.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Time worker in California only earns about sixty thousand dollars
per year, sixty thousand dollars per year. So to improve
the financial state of Californians before people are subjected to
homelessness and continue to inflate this area of the of
(37:36):
the metric scale that deals with poverty, legislature has to
step in.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
How.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Even this study doesn't say how, because no one honestly knows.
It's such a train that has disrailed and is going
full speed, and can it be stopped? Moneywise dot Com
doesn't think so, but it says something has to be done.
And you look around and you certainly know that. When
we come back, we're going to continue our conversation actually
(38:04):
about the economy and what one building in downtown LA
is doing to mitigate the homelessness crisis. Is it fencing,
is it something else. I'll tell you about it on
the other side when we come back.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, Tiffany.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hobbs filling in from two to four.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
You usually hear me on Saturdays from five to seven
on Saturdays with Tiffany.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But I'm here today and what a day it is.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Usually the weekends are what pretty slow when it comes
to news, right, You might hear of something on a Friday,
and perhaps it's been kind of touched on on the
weekends and then covered throughout the rest of the week.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, this weekend, starting with yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Insane, insane for breaking news. And I'm going to get
into some of the latest updates about the breaking news
that came out yesterday. But first let's start with some
really sad news that came across the wire about former
President Joe Biden. A spokesperson says that former President Biden
(00:50):
has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. You hear me, right,
and an aggressive form at that. The diagnosis came after
doctor doctors apparently found a nodule on his prostate on
Friday that required further evaluation, and that evaluation led to
the determination that he does have prostate cancer. The statement
(01:13):
went on to say that former President Biden and his
family are reviewing treatment options at this time. So of course,
whether wherever you fall on the side of the aisle,
whatever side you identify with or that resonates with you,
I think that obviously we are all human and we
(01:33):
are all hopefully sympathetic to a situation like this where
that our former president is now going to be battling
and hopefully being successful at kicking this aggressive form of
prostate cancer. He is in his is he how does
he robin eighty eighty one? I think something like that,
(01:55):
But that's you know, it's a scary diagnosis. It's certainly
a scary diagnosis. So we wish former President Biden, well,
what were you going to say?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Eighty two? He's eighty two.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So yeah, this is really bad news, really really bad news.
But we'll keep abreast of everything. I imagine that this
will undoubtedly be a headline, continued headline tomorrow and throughout
the rest of the week. Something else that made the
headlines yesterday. You by now have seen it everywhere, You've
(02:29):
heard about it. You might have questions, and well I
have answers about this. Palm Springs explosion happened yesterday just
before eleven am. We covered it here on Saturdays with Tiffany,
as did OURKFI twenty four hour newsroom. All these developments
were coming out about where it happened at the reproductive
(02:52):
clinic in Palm Springs on Indian Canyon Drive. The American
Reproductive Center is the name of that fertility clinic, and
we were wondering, of course, about how so it's a
vehicular explosion and the details that have emerged in numerous
are now two press conferences in the wake of this
(03:13):
event have revealed some pretty interesting information. Robin, Let's go
ahead and go to clip one so we can find
out all about.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
The who the suspect that they believe is the person
of interest, Guy Edward barkis a twenty five year old
from twenty nine poems. They believe at this current time,
based off of the evidence that they have seen, he
is the person of interest and the person that died
in this and was found his body was found next
to the vehicle that was used as an explosive device.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Yeah, they're using the word fairly words fairly contradical that
this is the identity of the suspect and the person
who was found who deceased.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So there was a press conference yesterday with the preliminary information,
of course, and then there was a follow up press
confort Friends around ten ten thirty am today Sunday, where
Assistant Director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office
for the FBI, A. Kill Davis shared that they are
fairly confident, that is the quote, fairly confident that the
(04:17):
person who was killed in this blast is in fact
twenty five year old Guy Edward Barkiss of twenty nine Palms.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So he's a local guy, local guy.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And in addition to identifying Guy Edward Barkiss, in the
hours following the blast, authorities zeroed in on his property,
they also found out some potential motives.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Robin, can we go to clip number two.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
We're also learning a little bit more about the suspect.
What the FBI knows about the suspect's background. They say
that he had nihilistic ideations. They're calling this an intentional
act of terrorism. The FBI also is try backing a
possible manifesto that suspect was also trying to live stream
(05:05):
the attack as it was happening. No confirmation on if
he was successful or not in doing so, but this
is the first time that this person has been on
the FBI's radar, not not to say that he has
not had a criminal history before.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
How interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Usually when we hear of attacks this way, and this
attack has been named as a terrorist attack, and that
is by Akille Davis, the assistant director of the FBI
and the local municipalities out of Palm Springs that this
is a terrorist attack. But usually when you have these
sorts of attacks on reproductive centers, they often target the
(05:47):
abortion clinics. You don't usually see this happening at in
vitro fertilization clinics or clinics that specialize in helping people
actually have children. But as it was said Guy Edward
Barkiss twenty five, the suspect in this attack had nihilistic
ideations and targeted that IVF facility specifically because he felt
(06:14):
that quote, the world should not be populated.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I'm sure when we're in traffic we're all wishing for
a smaller population of people around us, or you're in
line or whatever it may be, or that you're experiencing
crowds and overpopulation. But to take it to this extreme
to voice and vocalize your nihilistic, nihilistic beliefs and ideologies
(06:43):
and then to go so far as to then create
this attack that injured at least four people is what's
being said this morning at the press confidence at press
conference at least four people and then to kill one
the suspect that is taking it to the extreme. The
(07:05):
FBI Field Office Assistant Director of kil Davis does say
that they feel that this was an isolated attack. They
do not believe that there are any other dangers associated
with this bombing, and they also are saying that this
blast was one of the largest bombings that we've had
(07:26):
in southern California. They compared it to the twenty eighteen
bombing at that day SPA in Aliso Viejo that one
killed one person and severely injured two other people, while
this attack at the Reproductive center killed one injured at
least four others. And because this person, this guy, Edward Barkiss,
(07:47):
was from twenty nine Palms living in twenty nine Palms,
authorities went, of course to the property that he was
last connected to over on Adobe Road and CSA draw
I've in twenty nine Palms, which was sixty miles away
from the origin of the explosion. They evacuated the area
(08:08):
because of the possibility of more bomb making materials in
his home.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So this is still ongoing.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
This is not over All of the authorities are encouraging
people who could be impacted were impacted by this blast
to again call the non emergency number if they find anything.
One witness told ABC seven that they found a camera
on a tripod pointed at the blast zone right after
(08:37):
the explosion, and that person turned that into investigators. So
they are saying, you might find evidence, you might find
more of the debris field, don't touch it, don't manipulate it,
turn it or call don't even turn it in, call
the non emergency number and report that there's something that
(08:58):
is possibly can to this blast. When we come back,
there's more updates to come about everything else that came
out of yesterday, including did you see that beautiful ship
look like a pirate ship? Well, it's half of what
it was because it crashed into a bridge. I'll tell
(09:19):
you what bridge this ship crashed into, and all of
the subsequent details that have come out of this very
strange crash that happened last night at around eight thirty
pm in New York.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
When we come back.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
It's KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app tipny hob sitting in from two to four today you're.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Thankfully we are not on the East Coast, specifically in
New York. I know they're celebrating in New York because
the Knicks clinched that championship eligibility. But there's something else
that happened in New York that people aren't necessarily celebrating.
And before I get into it, let me give you
(10:05):
some context as to why this story which might be
kind of smaller, somewhat less on the radar, if there
wasn't a larger story inside of it. And what am
I talking about? Well, first let me ask you the question.
Do you remember last year there was a bridge in Baltimore,
(10:27):
It's called the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and it collapsed
after being hit by a cargo ship. Of course you
remember that, of course you do. Because the conversation born
out of that incident with the cargo ship hitting the
Francis Scott Key Bridge involved wondering just how safe bridges
(10:47):
actually are in the United States. Well, the University Johns
Hopkins created a risk assessment of bridges and their vulnerability
across the United States, and they zeroed in on twenty
bridges specifically. There were different barometers, different measurements. They looked
at the age of these bridges and they found that
(11:09):
these twenty bridges were likely to have some sort of failure, collapse,
some sort of degradation in the next ten twenty thirty years. Again,
there were twenty bridges, most of them were located in
the southeastern United States. You know which one was not
on the list, the Brooklyn Bridge, but maybe it should be.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I don't know, But what happened yesterday ain't good. Richard.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
You're on Pure seventeen, which would put you on the
Manhattan side, which is where this vessel was docked just
a couple of days ago, and probably left Pere seventeen
tonight right before this happened.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Well, can you tell us from where you are and
what you.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
See there, Arthur, I can tell you that there is
nothing short of chaotic. We are surrounded by first responders
and an ems who had been pulling people from the
water on the Brooklyn side, but there is a large
police presence on this side.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
As you mentioned, this is a.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
Mexican Navy ship and let me tell you, when you
watch the video, it really looks like something out of
Pirates of the Caribbean. Here's a look at that video
and the moment that that ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge
earlier this evening on a promotional tour here in New
York City, the top of its mast brushing the Brooklyn
Bridge as its sailed through the East River. We cannot
confirm any injuries, but we are hearing that there are
(12:27):
at least three people in critical condition tonight. You can
see the video posted online. It was flying a giant, green,
white and red Mexican flag. It scraped underneath of the bridge.
The Mexican Navy saying in a post that the Academy
training vessel was damaged in the accident in the Brooklyn
Bridge that prevented it from continuing its voyage. We do
(12:48):
not know if anyone on the actual ship was hurt
or were people who are on the pier when it's
struck near that bridge.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Now, they said they don't know the specificity of the inch. However,
since then, there have been more developments that have come
out and they were able to authorities were able to
zero in on the fact that nearly two dozen people
were injured and two people were killed. And this is
(13:16):
when that Mexican Navy ship, it's called the Quatemacca, I believe,
and I'm sure you'll take to the talk back to
let me know if I pronounced that incorrectly.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Please do. I'd love to know.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
But that the Quatemac, this Mexican Navy ship was on
an international goodwill tour. How ironic, an international goodwill tour.
It was out there just trying to do something good
and bring positivity to the river and to the people
and let people see this beautiful beautiful.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It is gorgeous. It was a gorgeous ship.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
But that it lost power and crashed into the underside
of the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday evening, yesterday evening. And the
thing about it is there's video. There's footage because there
were lots of people on the piers. This peer area
down there is apparently a hot spot in Brooklyn, on
the Brooklyn side, so people were there. It's a Saturday night,
(14:13):
the weather was nice, just like in Palm Springs. People
are out, people are out enjoying themselves as the weather
starts to warm up.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
And they were there, and lots of video was taken
of this ship.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
People were really close and then you see people start
to run away because the ship seemed to be running.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
What is it.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I don't know the technical term for it, but it
seemed to be out of control.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And as the ship approached the peer, you.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Could see very distinctly through these handheld videos people's phones,
people dangling from the top of the masts. I highly
encourage you to google this Mexican Navy ship and to
watch some of the footage because it looks it looks
(15:02):
like it is artificial intelligence. It looks like it is
created by the computer. It does not look real. I
thought at first, yes, the Titanic. So we have these
reference points, right, Robin, But you're doing the rows on
the end of the all the you know and all that.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Nobody did that. Oh no, I'm lying.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
There was one guy who ran to the front of
the ship and told people to get out of the way.
Very unromantic, very not Titanic. What are you saying, Robin,
man overboard?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
There were quite They haven't said they don't. They haven't
said yet if anyone actually went overboard. But the footage
shows people dangling from the top of these different masks,
and it is insane. But as we know now, nearly
two dozen people were injured and two people did in
fact lose their lives. The bridge is one hundred and
(15:57):
forty two years old, so by measurement of JOHNS. Hopkins'
risk assessment, the Brooklyn Bridge probably should be assessed.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I don't know. I'm no bridge expert.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Those of you who are can weigh in, but you know,
was this simply the fault of the navigational system losing
control with the ship? Is this the fault of the captain?
Is it a combined accountability with the bridge maybe not
necessarily being as high.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I don't know, but I do know that we are
hearing more and more about these incidents with bridges in
our beautiful country, and we have quite a few. But
it's disheartening and it's kind of scary to know that
so many fall under this high risk assessment.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Now.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
New York City Mayor Eric Adams of course, weighed in
this morning about the crash. He wished the families well,
said they're praying for everyone on board, and he also
gave major to the first responders, who, he say says,
quickly jumped into action, ensuring that this accident wasn't much worse.
(17:09):
Authorities do say that the captain lost control of the
vessel and again that the ship lost power.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
If you watch the.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Footage, the mass snap, they look like paper as they
go under the bridge. They didn't clear the bridge. These
masks were much higher and you just watched them snap, snap, snap,
and rapid succession, one after the other.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And that's where you see people.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Dangling from the tops of these snapped in half masks.
So it snapped, pieces fell onto the deck. And said
that the bridge itself did not sustain any structural damage,
but they did of course close the bridge briefly to
make sure that everyone and everything was attended to. There
(17:55):
were two hundred and seventy seven people aboard this ship
on this good will tour, international goodwill tour, and they
are saying, Robin, that you did ask the question that
no one fell into the water. No one fell into
the water. Of the injuries for our serious, if not critical.
(18:17):
So this unfortunately is a huge black eye or dark
part of this international goodwill tour for this Mexican Navy ship.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's not said whether or not it will continue.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
It's beautiful, it is, it's really, really beautiful and it's
unfortunate that this happened, but it does, of course make
people wonder what's going on.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
What's going on out there? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I will tell you what's going on in Los Angeles.
If you are a person who has a lead foot,
as some of us may have once in a while,
once once in a while, right, trying to weave through
traffic and get places fast, well you better start rethinking
your driving strategies. You might want to plan ahead so
you have more time and aren't rushing because speed cameras
(19:08):
are coming back to LA. I'll tell you all about
what's going on, what you can look forward to coming
very shortly, and how you can avoid it. On the
other side of the break.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Unfortunately, there's some really sad news, some really upsetting news
that's coming out about former President Biden. A spokesperson for
former President Biden says that he President Biden has been
diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and further
details reveal that that cancer has since spread to President
(19:45):
Biden's bones. The diagnosis came after doctors found a nodule
on his pro State on Friday, just a couple of
days ago, and that nodule required further evaluate evaluation. That
evaluation revealed prostate cancer that has spread to the bones,
and the former president and his family are reviewing treatment options.
(20:08):
It is said that this type of cancer is in
fact hormone sensitive, which means that it is usually responsive
to treatment.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So I guess that's a silver lining the.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Treatment if and I'm sure he'll obviously has the best
doctors probably in the world. The treatment will be aggressive,
and you know, we hope for the best for former
President Biden. No matter where you fall on either side
of the aisle, that's a person and no one wants
to go through something like that. So best wishes to
former President Biden and his family. Are you a speeder?
(20:45):
Do you drive really fast? I know I do, and
we all do.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
You're you get on the freeway, You're trying to keep
up with the flow of traffic, and the flow of
traffic isn't going the actual speed limit. No one's going
sixty five. Everyone's going eighty ninety. Right, They're whizzing past
you as you're trying to be a lawful citizen. Or
you're on a surface street, and you're doing the thirty
(21:09):
five and the thirty five and being careful not to
go over because you don't know if there's a patrol car.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Lurking or a motorcycle cop.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
They love to swoop in in traffic right and pull
you over for speeding or other sorts of traffic violations.
So you're trying to keep up with that law, and
here are people.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Whizzing by you, just flying by.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
You fifty on surface streets or wherever these specific designated
zones are school zones other things.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
They're just whizzing right by.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
And if you're like me, you're often hoping when you
see that sort of kind of willful lawfulness, that really
brazen lack of lawfulness, you want a cop to come
out of somewhere and pull them over. How just grat
fying is it to see someone held accountable for their
(22:03):
actions right there in the moment. You hope it's not you,
of course, but if you are the person committing that
sort of offense, then you should know that the City
of Los Angeles and the state of California specifically are
looking to crack down on your lead foot because LA
(22:25):
drivers are going to be one of six California cities
to install automated cameras to photograph and ticket drivers who speed.
This comes courtesy of Assembly Bill six 'o forty five,
which was passed in twenty twenty three, and now we'll
(22:46):
go into effect next year in Los Angeles in twenty
twenty six as part of this statewide pilot program. The
six California cities are, of course La Oakland, San Jose,
Long Beach, and right over the hill here in Glendale,
(23:07):
which will have these automated cameras install. They'll take pictures
of you and they will ticket you if you speed. Now,
I remember there were cameras. There are cameras there are
not that not that efficient to be honest, that have
been around for the better part.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Of fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I would say, cameras that catch you blowing through a
red light, or cameras that catch you turning against you know,
an ar row that you shouldn't take. Whatever the case,
there have been these automated cameras, and again they weren't
always that efficient. You could usually argue some sort of
impropriety and perhaps even come out on the other side victorious,
(23:47):
having skirted the fee and the charge against you. But
in this case, this statewide pilot program, well, it plans
to catch you and it doesn't really expect to make
many mistakes. San Francisco was the first to roll out
these cameras. They installed about thirty thirty three earlier this
(24:10):
year in February. And they say in San Francisco, they're
their municipal transportation agency, that they've had a lot of speeding,
and that that speeding is the leading cause of serious
injuries and fatalities in San Francisco. Here we are thinking
(24:30):
it's meth or that it is some other thing in
San Francisco. No, it's speeding, the leading cause of serious
injuries and fatalities in San Francisco. Well, we're not talking
about San Francisco as much because we live here.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
We want to know what's going on right here in La.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Well, La apparently is not that much better when it
comes to our fatalities, because one in five fatal collisions
between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty one involved speeding, and
that's according to our Department of Transportation official website. Now,
remember twenty twenty, we were not on the road. People
(25:11):
were staying home or going where they needed to go,
and then going home. It wasn't a lot of leisure driving,
not a lot of to and fro. But in twenty
twenty one, when the roads opened back up and life
seemingly started to return to normal, people got out there
and people started to drive like they had before. And
(25:32):
it is somewhat assumes, kind of talked about in circles.
You may talk about this amongst your own friends and family.
It certainly feels like traffic collisions, driving, all of it
is so much worse since we came back from the
pandemic closures. It's like people were trying to make up
(25:53):
for the months in which they were not out on
the roads by being just completely irresponse with their driving,
whether it is speeding or whether it is Have you
seen this phenomenon of people When you're at a red light,
you're all out of red light, you're facing that oncoming
traffic and it's a red light across all lanes. The
(26:15):
light turns green, and it's not a turn lane light
that turns green, not the arrow but just the regular
commuting green light for you to proceed.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Someone will be in.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
That turn lane and take the turn in front of
oncoming traffic as if they have the right away and
they narrowly miss colliding with oncoming traffic because they just
were able to get out of the way. But that
is something that seems to be on the uptick. I
don't know where this came from. A lot of people
(26:47):
point to the video games. And of course we do
know that there is this crackdown coming with these unmarked
patrol vehicles that will be on the road shortly to
mitigate that sort of thing, trying to crack down on
all of this reckless driving. It's not just speeding, the
other things too that are causing a lot of these
(27:08):
collisions that do lead to fatalities. But when it comes
to speeding, LA Department of Transportation says that studies show
speed safety systems like these automated cameras actually lead to
a pretty significant decrease in crashes about nineteen percent less
in all honesty resulting in fatalities or serious injuries, and
(27:33):
that cities utilizing this similar technology have seen a significant
drop of over sixty percent in drivers speeding by ten
miles per hour or more.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So they're saying these cameras work. You might not like.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Them, but they will ultimately make the roads safer In
San Francisco, and much like what will be coming in
Los Angeles. The cameras were installed near schools, parks, senior centers,
and in commercial districts. We don't yet know where the
cameras will be in La I am hoping they don't
(28:11):
tell us, because if you tell people, then people will
tell other people, then they'll just kind of avoid those areas.
Maybe don't tell people where the cameras are and let
them find out because they messed up. Now Here are
some of the penalties if you break the speed limit
by going eleven to fifteen miles per hour over the limit,
(28:35):
which is the norm. Thirty five is the zone and
people are going forty five fifty easily. So if you
go eleven to fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit,
you'll get a fifty dollars fine. If you go fifteen
to twenty five miles per hour over, you'll get a
one hundred dollars fine, and if you go over that,
(28:57):
it's a two hundred dollars fine, and hopefully they take
away your license to be honest, because this one says
it can go up to ninety nine miles per hour
over and incur a two hundred dollars penalty. If you
go over one hundred miles per hour, you'll get a
five hundred dollars fine.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
That's not steep enough for me. That is not steep
enough for me.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
If you're going one hundred miles per hour or more,
you need a lot harsher consequences attached to your infraction.
Five hundred dollars is nothing. That's not even the average deductible.
There will be a sixty day warning period when these
cameras are installed, and you'll get a warning the first
(29:40):
time you speed about eleven to fifteen miles per hour
over so you'll get a warning. They're rolling this out
pretty slowly to see. It's a pilot program. But I'm
hoping that once this thing takes off that it does
in fact result in fewer speeding infractions. Because our surface
streets and hopefully and they get to our three ways,
(30:00):
they're a mess.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
They're a mess.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
I used to love leisurely driving around the city, driving
around you know, down pch.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I don't like it anymore because.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
People are always playing with their lives and then end
up playing with yours. When we come back, we're going
to talk about why three point eight million California families
are not earning enough money to cover their basic living expenses.
Three point eight million California families, meaning that if you're
(30:33):
getting a ticket for speeding, you can't cover it, and
you can't cover.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
A lot of other things either. We'll talk about that
on the other side of the break.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
We're talking all things poverty right now in this segment.
And as you heard John say, Gavin Newsom is blaming
the deficit on different things. But when it comes to
the poverty of Californians, where do we point the finger?
And this is what's going on. As we know, California
touts itself and in reality, it is true that California
(31:08):
is one of the richest states in the United States.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
We make a lot, we.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Have a lot of high income earners, a lot of industries.
But as we know, those of us who live here
at any point from the top to the very bottom,
California largely deals with unaffordability, especially for the average family.
But now what is considered to be the average family
(31:34):
or the average household, well, that gap is a lot
wider than it used to be. The high and low
of the earner in California and where people are on
that income scale, whether doing well or in poverty, seems
to be a lot less distinguishable, especially compared to other states.
(31:57):
And there's research that's come out that drives that point
home even further. The research comes from an organization called
nonprofit United Ways of California, and they recently released a
report that says thirty five percent, that's one out of
every three people you look around, three people are near you, one.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Of you is in a household that does.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Not earn enough money to meet the basic needs required.
And that means that more than three point eight million families,
three point eight million families in California are currently struggling financially.
And it's not simply can you afford the avocado toast,
(32:47):
It's not simply can you afford that vacation or that
Disneyland trip.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Those things are not.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Necessarily the basic needs, right, Those are add on things
we enjoy. We're talking rent, mortgage, healthcare, food, daycare, schooling, clothing,
things like that. These are basic needs. And the study
(33:13):
went on to say that if our lawmakers, our California
legislator legislature, don't quickly intervene that we in California could
have a very real poverty crisis on our hands. This
is dire, This is a super dire situation. In its
report United Ways of California, the organization created what it
(33:35):
calls the Real Cost Measure, and it shows what the
true cost of living in.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
This state actually looks like.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
This measure found that again thirty five percent of California's
working households can't meet their basic needs. They are considered
this thirty five cent of people to be living in poverty.
No one wants to think of themselves as being impoverished
(34:04):
or living in poverty. Especially if you have a job
and you go to work every day, and you have
a roof over your head, and you have all the
things that are equated with basic needs, you might be struggling.
But I don't think anyone really wants to consider themselves
as living in poverty. But the reality is that by
(34:26):
these metrics, thirty five percent of California working households are
living in poverty when you use the federal standard. They
went on to say, the CEO of United Way of
Greater Los Angeles that quote, if families get hit with anything,
a car repair, a medical emergency, a rent increase, It
(34:50):
can easily tip them into homelessness. And we all know
how pervasive homelessness is is in Los Angeles and in
California at large, and that number continues to grow.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Even though the annual homeless count.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Does reveal a dip, the optics and what we are
all seeing on a daily basis show something otherwise. Homelessness appears,
or at least looks to be on the increase, despite
what the studies or what the research is saying. It's
also worth noting that the rising costs of everything that
(35:34):
we deal with on a daily basis obviously change. They fluctuate,
So what is expensive now for a family could easily
become even more expensive in the future as our economy
continues to shift upward. And again it's saying that if
lawmakers don't quickly intervene, a lot more Californians are going
(35:58):
to find themselves in a very very very difficult situation.
Wages have not necessarily gone up. Sure, we hear about
different industries increasing their minimum wage, we hear about different
places perhaps allowing for more income to be earned, but
overall that increase, those increases the increase of the minimum
(36:22):
wage for our hotel workers or for fast food workers
does not keep the pace or keep up with the
pace of the cost of living as it continues to rise.
Look at our rents, look at the cost of owning
a home, Look at your mortgage. A study came out
that says that if you are making under one hundred
(36:42):
thousand dollars per year, you are considered low income in
many counties in California, including Orange County. And that was
I believe ninety six thousand dollars is what they were
kind of where their steak in the sand was if
you were making that, you were considered low income.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
And it's being said that.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Thirty five percent of people are making far below that.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
In fact, the median full.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Time worker in California only earns about sixty thousand dollars
per year, sixty thousand dollars per year. So to improve
the financial state of Californians before people are subjected to
homelessness and continue to inflate this area of the of
(37:36):
the metric scale that deals with poverty, legislature has to
step in.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
How.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Even this study doesn't say how, because no one honestly knows.
It's such a train that has disrailed and is going
full speed, and can it be stopped? Moneywise dot Com
doesn't think so, but it says something has to be done.
And you look around and you certainly know that. When
we come back, we're going to continue our conversation actually
(38:04):
about the economy and what one building in downtown LA
is doing to mitigate the homelessness crisis. Is it fencing,
is it something else. I'll tell you about it on
the other side when we come back.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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