June 20, 2024 • 41 mins
Amy King hosts your Thursday Wake Up Call. ABC News national correspondent Steven Portnoy speaks on the SCOTUS decisions coming today and tomorrow. ABC News crime and terrorism analyst Brad Garrett joins the show to talk about Los Angeles schools, California banning cellphones in schools, and whether it will save our kids. Founder and Director of “The River Project” Melanie Winter shares LA’s vision for the Sepulveda Basin. The show closes with Amy talking with CEO of Rainforest Partnership Niyanta Spelman about WORLD RAINFOREST DAY!
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(00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six fortywake Up Call with me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI andKOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange
County. It's time for your morningwake up call. Here's Amy kig It
(00:36):
it not a it's are you hearingme? I'm not hearing me? Okay,
Well it's it's five oh one.This is your wake up call for
a Thursday, June twentieth. We'relive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. But
(00:57):
I can't hear myself in my headphones. Very weird. So today's the first
day of summer cool right, youknow why? Somebody had switched a button.
I was listening to a pre delayof me, so I just heard
me going it it it Okay,we're back. So today, first day
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of summer Solstice happens at one fiftythis afternoon. It's the longest day of
the year, fourteen hours and twentyone minutes of daylight. It's all downhill
from there. It's going to bea great day. I can feel it.
Here's what's ahead on wake up Call. LA City Councilman Kevin de Leon
plans to introduce emotion to rename PershingSquare after former slave Bridget Biddy Mason,
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who became a prominent LA citizen andlandowner. Back in the eighteen fifties.
She was a co founder of thefirst African Methodist Episcopal Church. The downtown
square was dedicated in honor of WorldOld War One General John J. Pershing
in nineteen eighteen. The threat ofa strike is looming for six thousand Food
for Less workers in southern California.No deal has been reached following two days
(02:10):
of negotiations this week, but theunion and parent company Kroger say they're still
talking and we'll be back to thebargaining table on Monday. People in Risita
and other parts of the San FernandoValley have complained to the Department of Water
and Power that their tap water smellsand tastes moldy or dirty. Yeah.
The LEDWP says it has tested thewater and it is safe to use and
(02:32):
drink. Officials say the smell iscaused by a natural seasonal presence of algae.
Let's get started with some of thestories coming out of the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. A new onehundred and sixty five million dollars tower on
skid Row has opened to house thehomeless. The Wineguard Tower is on skid
Row with two hundred and seventy eightsubsidized units and loads of community amenities.
(02:53):
Lamare Bas said at yesterday's ribbon cutting, the taxpayer funded project should be looked
at as an example of how toserve previously home people. Just because you
were on housed, that does notmean that you should live in substandard housing,
as though it is a punishment.Bass was joined at the opening by
local and federal officials. A secondtower is being constructed across the street in
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downtown La. Michael Monks KFI News. A standoff with a man who barricaded
himself inside an apartment in Long Beachhas ended Pilise. One person was held
hostage overnight. They were let gothis morning. The guy police where after
was arrested a short time later.The first named storm of the season is
headed toward northeast Mexico, but it'salready causing damage along the Gulf Coast.
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ABC's Jim Ryan says Texas has seentorrential rain and flooding. The forty five
mile at hour winds of Tropical StormAlberto are whipping up high waves in the
Gulf of Mexico, but it's theflooding potential that has homeowners worried from South
Padre Island to Galveston, four hundredmiles away. Officials in Mexico have already
reported three deaths caused by the storm. They say two kids in the state
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of Nuevo Leone were riding bicycle inthe rain and got electrocuted. The other
death was in the city of Monterey. South Korea says it'll reconsider its policy
of limiting its support to Ukraine becauseof an agreement reached between North Korea and
Russia. South Korea's presidential office condemnedthe agreement that vowed mutual defense assistance in
the event of war. South Koreas'sthe agreement threatens its security and warned that
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it will negatively affect Soul's relations withMoscow. The Inland Empires getting a Trader
Joe's marking the chain's one hundred andninety first store in California. An official
ribbon cunning ceremony will be held onJune twenty eighth at the New Muria at
a location before doors open at nineam. The store is going to participate
in the company's Neighborhood Shares program thatdonates one hundred percent of unsold products still
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fit for consumption to local community organizations. I didn't know Trader Joe's did that.
I love that. Let's say goodmorning to ABC's Stephen Portnoy. Stephen,
the Supreme Court has been busy,but they still got a lot of
work to do. Well. There'sa lot we're waiting to hear from the
Court. The way it typically works, as we've discussed, the Supreme Court
begins its term in October and windsdown by early summer. And here we
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are toward the end of June,and we expect that by the end of
this month, if not perhaps treadinga bit into July, the Supreme Court
will release the entirety of its caseload and will understand how the justices have
ruled. There are twenty one casesfrom this term still outstanding, and these
are big, important cases. Wedon't know when any particular decision is going
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to drop. So what we haveis a list of twenty one topics.
They include whether cities have the powerto find people who sleep in homeless encampments
or whether that violates the Eighth Amendmentprohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, whether
a state can prohibit gun ownership bysomeone who is the target of a domestic
violence restraining order, or whether thatviolates the individual's Second Amendment rights, Whether
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the First Amendment was violated by theBiden White Houses pressure that applies to social
media companies to take down certain posts, And of course, the most widely
watched case of the term, whetherDonald Trump enjoys absolute immunity for his official
acts as president. There are othercases involving abortion rights, the power of
the administrative state, and Purdue Farmof bankruptcy. A lot of really substance
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of and important stuff that could comeout from the Supreme Court, and we
don't know when it's going to happen. The only days that are scheduled are
today and tomorrow and perhaps the latadditional days through next week. Okay,
So do they have to make decisionson all twenty one or could they hold
any of them over? They wouldnot hold them over. What they could
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do is seek off ramps, likefor example, last week when the issue
was announced on the abortion pilm iffor pristone, the justices didn't decide whether
the FDA acted appropriately or not theyleft the merits to some other future case
potentially. Instead, they unanimously agreedthat the doctors who brought the case didn't
have standing to sue, and thatwas one thing all nine justices could get
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behind. So they didn't really resolvethe underlying issue that can happen in any
case. Oh okay. And thenthat you mentioned that the term could end
at the end of June or evenJuly, so there's not an official end
date like there's an official start date. There is a tradition, oh okay,
that the Supreme Court generally releases allof its opinions by the end of
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June, but there has been therehave been occasions where with a heavy case
load, additional days are added tothe calendar in early July. Okay.
And as you mentioned, we couldget decisions today. We just don't know,
and we have no idea what orderor anything. We just know there's
some big ones coming or kind ofhanging in in the balance. And we
say that because we know along ofthe list of twenty one there are really
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significant cases. There are on thislist of twenty one some cases that are
not as interesting to the American public. Every case that makes its way to
the Supreme Court is interesting to sayand has lasting impact in the law in
some way or another. But thecases that are going to be big news
are on this list, Okay,all right, And then they reconvene the
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first Monday in October. And Ionly remember that because there was a movie
about it. You got it,Okay, Stephen Portener, thank you so
much. We'll be watching for thosedecisions, you bet. All right.
Let's get back to some of thestories coming out of the KFI twenty four
hour newsroom. The LAPDS trying tofind a parole league considered armed and dangerous
who was allegedly seen loading a riflein the South La area. Police were
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called Tuesday night to the area ofsixty ninth Street and Avalon Boulevard. Officers
found Ezekiel Garcia, but then hetook off. Police lost him after he
ran into a junkyard. Garcia's fortytwo, about five to seven, one
hundred and fifty seven pounds, withshort black hair. He is on active
parole for murder. The price ofyour avocado toast might be going up.
(08:54):
The FEDSI two employees with the USDepartment of Agriculture who were inspecting shipments of
avocados had been a so and heldcaptive by guys in the Mexican state of
Michua Khan. The inspectors have sincebeen released. US inspectors are stationed in
parts of Mexico to expedite shipments ofproduce and to prevent the import of diseases
that could ruin crops in the US, but because of the attack, on
Monday, US Ambassador to Mexico KenSalazar said shipments of avocados and mangoes had
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been stopped until further notice. SteveGregory Quaya Fineos, a sixteen year old
girl from Lake Forest, and ateen from Chicago, have been killed in
a jet ski crash in Illinois.Officials say a jet ski collided with a
boat on Lake Maria Tuesday night.The sixteen year old and the other girl
were on the jet ski when itcrashed. The teens were pronounced dead at
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a nearby hospital. Top advisors toIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to
meet with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivanat the White House. ABC News says
the meeting is supposed to happen todayand that Israel's Defense minister will also meet
with Defense Secretary at Defense Secretary LloydOsz in the coming days. The US
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canceled another high level meeting with Israelidelegates on Iran. The administration says the
meeting was never fully finalized on theschedule anyway. Others say it was canceled
over Netanyahu's recent video claiming the USwas withholding weapons needed for the Warren Gaza.
Louisiana has become the first state torequire the Ten Commandments be posted in
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public school classrooms. Opponents questioned thelaw's constitutionality, warning that lawsuits are likely
to follow, but supporters say thepurpose of the measure is not only religious,
but that it has historical significance.ABC's Derek Dennis's a poster of the
Ten Commandments in a large, easilyreadable font will be in all classrooms from
kindergarten all the way through state fundeduniversities by twenty twenty five. The bill
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signed yesterday includes a context statement describinghow the Commandments were a prominent part of
the American public education system for almostthree centuries. The most seismically active volcano
in the Cascade Range has been rumblingthree hundred and fifty small quakes that have
rattled under Mount Saint Helens since February. Seismologists say magma maybe moving beneath the
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volcano. The last eruption was intwo thousand and eight. The big eruption
was May eighteenth, in nineteen eightyor was it nineteen eighty one? I
got the day right wrong on thatMount Saint Helens is considered the most likely
volcano to erupt in the future inthe US. I was. I was
(11:28):
in Oregon when that one blew.It was pretty freaky. I did my
little fact check. Mount Saint Helensdid erupt on May eighteenth, nineteen eighty,
so I actually had it right.Who knew. Here's what we're following
in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A Juneteenth celebration in Oakland has turned
violent bullysey A fight broke out duringthe celebration at Lake Merritt last night.
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At least four people ended up beingshot, several others were injured. At
least one person was arrested for anassaulting and officer. There were about five
thousand people at the event. Thefirst name storm of the Atlantic hurricane season
is churning off the coast of Texas. Drenching the coast with heavy rain.
Tropical Storm Alberto could bring fifty mileper hour winds and up to three feet
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of storm surge from Mexico all theway up to Louisiana. A study of
nearly a million people suggests those whofeel happy have more career success, make
more money, and are just moresuccessful in life. Social scientists and happiness
experts. I think it's great thatthere are happiness experts also say that unless
you're using your money to buy experiences, donate, or get extra time,
(12:37):
it really doesn't buy you happiness.Okay, classrooms in Louisiana are going to
be required by law to display theTen Commandments. We're talking about that.
More on handle on the news rightnow. Though, Let's say good morning
to ABC's crime and terrorism analyst BradGarrett. Good morning, Brad. Haven't
talked to you for a while,that's true. Good morning, Namy,
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Good morning. So the LA SchoolBoard has voted to ban cell phones and
social media at school. Are thecell phones really that bad for the kids
to have? Yes, okay,good talking to you, Red. Yeah,
that's it. We'll see you later. So the holy issue with cell
phones, obviously, is that theyhave all these positive aspects. You and
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I use them, the world usesthem every day. The problem is that
kids become and they're particularly vulnerable tobecoming addicted to cell phones. If you
have them in school, you knowthey're going to constantly want to pull those
phones out, use them in class, use them in the hallway, and
so it creates a huge distraction.So it's it's a learning inhibitor, for
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lack of better terms. But thebigger picture, amy is that the excessive
use of cell phones and social mediaby kids and adolescents are having, by
a number of studies I've read,you know, really negative impact on their
brains. And in fact, twosocial psychologists say it actually is rewiring their
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brains to spend so much time andit results in them feeling or having less
empathy, being drawn to you know, some very for some kids, some
very dramatic or violent imagery that theyjust keep watching and watching and watching,
and it creates a certain amount ofmeanness where people can say and do whatever
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they want. I mean, thenumber of kids that, like when I
was growing up, obviously they weren'tcell phones or tablets or computers, and
so it was all in person andwhat many of these experts are saying,
is that's what kids are missing,and it creates basically fragility in kids.
Where we would go to a playground, go to wherever, we'd have to
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deal with people in person. Well, you know, what you say and
how you act are going to bedifferent in person than they are via social
media. And so it's a combinationof all those things. And then if
you add to this, when smartphonesbasically sort of came into the picture or
in the twenty tens, you seethis dramatic drop or increase i should say,
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in depression, anxiety and other stuffin kids, and they believe and
I think this is probably right.It's directly link to excess it cell phone
use. You know when you talkabout being addicted to cell phones and you
think about it, that, oh, that can't happen because it's not a
physical substance like with nicotine, withsmoking it's addictive, or with alcohol drinking
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it's addictive. But as you mentioned, it rewires your brain. And I
think about some days that I sitand I play my little solitaire game and
I'll just sit there and play itand play it and play it and play
it. Like why I'm watching TVor whatever, and I'll go, you
know, I should put this downand go do something else, and you're
just like mindlessly playing it, andit's like you feel like you can't stop.
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It's they're called dopamine hits. Youknow, you get DoPT dopamine through
all sorts of the pleasure things youdo in life. But if you get
constantly get hits of it, thenyou you don't want to leave it.
And and and social media knows that. And that's why you know, through
algorithms, if you pull up whateveryou pull up, they're going to send
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you more and more information. Ifyou get into you know, dark phonography,
they're going to send you links tomore of that. And and so
that's the big concern. And becausekids and adolescent's brains are not developed,
they're just so vulnerable. So allof this stuff. So now you're throwing
in mega dopamine hits. You're you'remaking them to be more cynical and more
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judgmental, which obviously is a hugeproblem across this country right now. And
you're teeing them up for I thinkhaving some mental disabilities or lack of better
terms as adults in their ability tohandle themselves and handle other people. Yeah,
and then then going back to theanonymity thing or that you're not dealing
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with people in persons so you canmake a snarky comment. I mean you
see it on social media all thetime because people don't have to take responsibility.
And it made me think, yeah, when you confront somebody on the
playground, you've got one or twobullies in the school, but now everybody
can be bullies. Well that's that'sexactly right. And if you take kids
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that get into really dark violence thatI'm going to the stuff I talk about
all the time, like mass shooters, you know, the social media you
know, just sort of helps facilitate. You know, you already have to
be driven that direction, but itsort of adds gas to the fire.
And then they take social media togethertheir phones with them to shootings. They
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have an audience. So basically theyhave replaced and maybe on a less extreme,
the kids have replaced the interaction onthe playground, the interaction and whatever
to interacting in the anonymity of yourbedroom on a phone. Okay, and
then Brad, what good what's thedanger to Will it be amplified as we
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start using AI more? Oh?I don't even want to think about that.
Yes, of course it's going toencourage kids maybe to cheat because it's
going to be easy to do,and the school systems the universities are going
to have to get up to speedthe best they can to figure out.
(18:44):
You know, is this these wordscome out of this kid's mouth or was
it pulled together by AI? Butit's you can also see how AI can
alter your reality based on what itcreates. So again I'm going to be
dark about this subject. I mean, AILE is doing and will continue to
do, some unbelievably wonderful and maybeeven life saving things, but like so
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many things else else, I mean, in this whole world of technology,
it can have a really dark side. Yeah, And I just wanted to
mention in your show notes that youmentioned that in the future an entire generation
of adults that grew up not havingto solve problems on their own because they
have AI that could really impact things. It already impacts it. I know
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that. Like with people that I'vehired to work for me at other places,
I'm like, here, you needto learn how to problem solve.
Don't just do the task, learnhow to solve the problem, anticipate the
problems, and they like, theyhave no concept of that. Absolutely not.
You're totally right, and so howis that kid going to overcome that
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as an adult. That's why Iuse the word disability. I mean that's
a disability in my view. Imean the ability to figure out people,
to read them and can confront themin a you know, in a rational,
non violent way, is a skillset that everyone needs. Some are
obviously better than others. But mygoodness, and I see it every day
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around here. I see it aroundmy son's kids or friends that it's like,
you know, they just don't reallyget it, and you know,
really boils down to a certain extentto parents basically being the sheriff taking away
phones, taking away tablets, whateverit might be. I don't mean permanently,
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but limit the amount of time becauseit's all going to be an uphill
battle because everybody around them has technology. Okay, Well, then so the
LA school district deciding to ban themat least during school hours. That forces
them out of the phone and backinto the real world. Hopefully we'll see
some positive results. Bred Garrett,thank you so much as always for your
information and your insight. We appreciateit. You're welcome here. Amy talk
(21:00):
too soon. So called poison pillshave been added to ten crime bills in
California. Both the state Senate andAssembly will now vote to finalize the bills
on the floor. During an Assemblycommittee hearing yesterday, Republican assembly Woman Kate
Sanchez said the poison pill amendments willdeny Californians a fair vote on an initiative
to repeal Prop forty seven. It'santi democratic, it's unfair and tippy flank,
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it's borderline corrupt. State Senator ScottWiener, who accepted the amendments to
his bill, said he doesn't seehow the poison pills would affect the ballot
measure. The poison pill amendments wouldmake it so that if a ballot initiative
to repeal Prop forty seven passes,the crime bills would be nullified. Blake
Charlie kay if I News Robert F. Kennedy Junior's campaign has raised about three
(21:42):
million dollars for the month of May. That's a sharp drop from April,
when it took in nearly eleven million. The number nowhere close to the Biden
or Trump campaigns. Biden reportedly tookin an additional eight million dollars from one
fund verser earlier this week. Kennedy'sbeen trying to get on enough ballots to
qualify for the first presidential debate.He hasn't met that threshold, so for
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now, it'll be President Biden andformer President Trump debating one week from today
on CNN. Don't know about you, but that is going to be must
see TV for me. The Dodgerstake on the Rockies in Colorado today.
The first pitch is going out attwelve ten. Oh I love a daytime
game. You can listen to everyplay of every Dodgers game on AM five
seventy LA Sports and stream all thegames in HD on the iHeartRadio app Keyword
(22:29):
AM five seventy LA Sports powered byLA Care for all of LA. More
than six hundred Smart and Final warehouseworkers in southern California are going to walk
the picket lines today their warehouses areclosing. The workers have been told they
can reapply for jobs at a warehousein Rancho Cucamonga, but they say they'll
be making ten to twelve dollars anhour less, which they call an unfair
labor practice. Residents in Venice saya homeless RV camp is growing and police
(22:56):
aren't enforcing a law that prohibits overnightcamping, say Abbott. Kenney Boulevard is
littered with broken down r vs,trash, personal belongings, litter and human
waste. Justin Timberlake's attorney says he'slooking forward to defending the pop star against
his drunk driving charges, but leastsay Timberlake was pulled over Tuesday night on
Long Island for running a stop signafter leaving a hotel in the Hamptons.
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He refused a breathalyzer and failed fieldsobriety tests at five point fifty World Rainforest
Day is coming up on Saturday.We're going to find out how our rainforests
are doing and what we can doto help save them. Close to the
home, it's not a forest,but it's a big old piece of land
that's going to be getting a facelift. It's two thousand acres in the Sepulvit
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a basin. So let's say goodmorning now to the founder and director of
the River Project, Melanie Winter.Good morning, Melanie, good morning.
So we've got a vision for theSepulvita basin called La Vision. And I
know this story came out on Mondaybecause Low County state and city leaders unveiled
(24:03):
the plan for the restoration, andI wanted to get some more information about
it, like what all is goingto happen and where is this piece of
land? Yes, this is well. If you've ever driven north over the
Supulvida Path into the San Fernando Valleyup the four h five, you can't
help but notice this big, hugechunk of open space just to your left
(24:26):
at the bottom of the hill andright there at the base of it to
one oh one four five interchange isa huge dam that you often see in
car commercials. So behind all ofthat is two thousand acres of open space.
It's a flood management facility that theUS Army Corps owns, and the
(24:48):
dam itself was built in gosh,sorry, nineteen forty or so, it's
too early for me, but stillon that, but it's and it's got
eight miles of living waterways, justthree miles of the Los Angeles River,
(25:10):
half of which has no concrete onthe sides or the bottom. It does
concrete, no, not in thesubpulsitive basin. It's our wonderful, amazing
treasure. And then the tributaries.Tributaries are channelized in various ways, but
they don't have concrete on the bottom. So the potential here is to do
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what we call floodplain restoration and allowthe rivers, the river and the tributaries
here to be living, uh,you know, rivers which have all these
benefits for us. That opens upwater supply and more flood risk reduction and
habitat and biodiversity and kayaking and canoeingand fishing and you know it's just and
(25:57):
shade and community and so yeah,and if you go there, the crazy
thing is there's this land for lotsof land the city leases for recreational purposes.
So they over the years they sortof did this ad hoc design,
you know, peace reread piece.Oh let's do some baseball field here,
(26:18):
Oh, soccer field here. Ohthis there, But it's not it doesn't.
It kind of ignores this amazing resourceof all these waterways, and it's
all very hodgepodge. So we havethis opportunity to redo the basin in a
way that makes it more accessible foreverybody, that makes it more twenty first
century for everybody, and it's thekind of things that it offers and also
(26:42):
provides all this climate adaptation for uslocal water supply, public safety, habitat
or diversity, you know, communitygoing. So it's a rethink on this
incredible resource that so many people don'tknow anything about. Well that's what I
was going to say, I don'tknow anything will yeah exactly. And it's
(27:04):
like, like you said, twothousand acres, it's two and a half
times the size of the Central Park. Okay, so what we have in
the valley, which is crazy.So we have all this land to work
with, and so the vision thenis to reconfigure and fix some of the
issues that are with it. Likethere's a couple of things that we learned
(27:26):
about and that was like there's athere is a kayak launch spot, but
there's an issue with it. Yeah. So the river itself right now has
these what they're called drop structures thatmake it difficult to kind of do what
you would naturally do, which isstart upstream and go all the way downstream
and then back up. So toavoid those little couple of drop three drop
(27:48):
structures, they start by the damand it's not that easy to set up.
So we did the technical feasibility studyfor this work a few years back,
and you know, looked at whereit was the best place to do
a kayak launch and how could youmake that work easily and not have to
be so you know, making thingsup with spit and polish. Okay,
(28:12):
So you're going to just improve someof the stuff that is planned, like
we had. There's bike paths thataren't connected, so maybe work to fix
those issues. And then who isgoing to be paying for this, Melanie,
right, there's always that question.Yeah, Well, I think there's
(28:33):
so many different things that this projectcan do. But there's a lot of
different funding sources. There's federal fundingthat's available through the Inflation Reduction Acts currently,
and I'm sure there be other sourcesof funding down the road as well.
This is not going to happen overnight. There's also state funding that's available
currently, and hopefully if we passthe climate bond at the state in the
(28:55):
coming year, there'll be funds forthat as well from the state. You
know, there could be we don'tthey haven't shared with us yet what exactly
exactly what the Olympic events they're goingto be staged there, But if there
are some then there's the potential forprivate philanthropic dollars to contribute to that of
this as well. Okay, andthen when as this project continues, is
(29:21):
all of this area currently open tothe public or are just parts of it
open? Oh? No, everything'sopen to the public now, Okay.
So if you want to go hikingaround, you can go there. Yeah.
Yeah, there's a wildlife area.The wildlife reserve over on the east
end of the basin is really phenomenalto visit because you can see the pulsed
(29:42):
The basin is one of the hotspots for birders in Los Angeles. Three
hundred species of birds you can discoverby walking through the wildlife reserve, and
there's people do guided tours there aswell. Or you can go play any
sport you want, from cricket tosoft all the best skiple to baseball to
model airplane flying, to lawn bowlingto paddle balls. Oh and there's a
(30:07):
great dog park. There's a paddleboat on one of the lakes. And
then there's the canoe and kayak programthat's happening over the summer. Okay,
so you and the bike paths arethere. Now a couple of big issues
are. We really want to increasethe number of bike and walking paths throughout
the basin, and we want toconnect better transit to it. Okay.
(30:30):
So there's already a lot of coolstuff and this is just going to make
it better. Okay, this isgreat. I'm going to go check this.
It's going to take a while becausethis is a big project, but
you know, yeah, gotta startsummer the basin. Okay, the Basin
Explore. It's amazing. Okay.So Melodie Winter is the founder and director
of the River Project. Thank youso much for sharing that information. This
(30:52):
morning. I got to go checkthis place out. Have a great day
you too. All right. Itwas justin Timberlake Tuesday night. But now
rapper Travis Scott has been arrested oncharges of being drunk and disorderly and also
for trespassing in Miami. He hasposted bond. It's not clear if he's
been released yet. A pro Palestinianprotest banner has been taken down from Yosemite's
(31:15):
El Capitan. Climbers scaled the rockface earlier this week and hung the banner
fifteen hundred feet off the ground.The banner read stop the Genocide on ice
cream shop in San Diego has beennamed the best ice cream in the US.
OS dry Cleaning on Adams Avenue inNorth Park has been was named after
(31:36):
the dry cleaning business it replaced intwenty eighteen, and to celebrate being named
number one by USA today, OSis going to be selling one dollar Gelatto's
July first until they sell out.We're just minutes away from handle on the
news this morning, women are goingto have to register for the draft for
the first time. Let's say goodmorning now to the founder and CEO of
Rainforest Partnership, Neanta Spelman. Goodmorning, Neonte, good morning, How
(32:02):
are you? I am wonderful.We have a Rainforest Day coming up on
Saturday, so tell us what isRainforest Day and what do we do on
this day? So World Rainforest Dayis a day that we globally come together
and locally to celebrate these amazing,incredible, magical ecosystems that are vital to
(32:28):
life on our planet. And it'sJune twenty second. June twenty second.
How many rainforests are there in theworld, Neanta? Do we know?
So? You know rainforests are aroundthe tropics, right, we have them
in four of our continents, andwe have lost about fifty percent of them,
(32:52):
but we still have a wonderful amountof them in the Amazon, in
in Africa, in Southeast Asia greatly, and a little bit in Australia.
Okay, So I was going toask you how they're doing, and you
just said we've lost fifty percent.But is the rate that we're losing going
(33:15):
down or are we increasing them?How is that going? I know,
there's it's kind of fallen out ofthe you know, the our spotlight that
we don't hear about the rainforest asmuch. But I'm guessing that they're still
trying to cut them down. Yes, So defas station rates have actually gone
down in the Amazon, it's it'sliterally a multiyear low, finally in Brazil
(33:40):
in particular, after some very alarmingrates that occurred. In fact, if
you think about it, even now, we lose like in twenty twenty two,
we were losing about a football fieldevery five seconds. Oh my god.
So yes, pretty incredible. Andthen now we lose them a great
(34:02):
deal to other things like fires,and not just for agriculture and cattle ranching.
But you know, there is goodnews because yes, because we are
paying more attention and the world isreally trying to rally and say, how
(34:24):
do we stop deforestation by twenty thirtyAnd so for me there is optimism.
I love optimism. And now Ihad heard and I don't know if this
is correct, because you said wherethe rainforests are when we went up.
I went on a cruise to Alaskaa couple of years ago, and you
(34:45):
take your breath in and I swearyou can feel the air like it's just
richer and more vibrant because of allthe trees all over the place. And
somebody said that that was a rainforesttoo, Is that technically a rainfores?
It is? In fact, youare talking about our beautiful, incredible temperate
rainforests. And I am being sillybecause I am focused on tropical rainforests.
(35:12):
But we do have temperate rainforests.And you know, from Washington all the
way into British Columbia and further north, these temperate rainforests are incredible with these
giants. And you're right when you'rein the rainforest and you take a breath
and you just quiet down and youlisten, and you feel like you're in
(35:37):
a different, magical place, andthere's incredible biodiversity in the tropical rainforests,
but in temperate rainforests as well.There's so much life and it does feel
very different different, It's really weird. It's the endergy is different, the
(36:00):
air is different. And I thinkif we all experience that, I think
we would revere and protect them ina very different way. Yeah. I
didn't realize we had rainforests in Africa. Yes, In fact, the second
largest tropical rainforests fit in in Africa, the Congo Basin. Yeah. Yes,
(36:24):
and Southeast Asia is just as incredible. And these tropical rainforests, they
hold fifty percent of our biodiversity,and they make up you know, they
make up about six percent of oursurface area of our planet and they're less
(36:45):
than three percent of the land area, so not a lot. And they're
so important because they regulate our climateand our water cycle. They're so connect
to us. And so you're inCalifornia. All the listeners are in California.
And here's the incredible thing. Thewaters that you have in the ocean
(37:09):
they have they have chemical markers fromthe Amazon. Just think about it.
It's not just the you know,the water uh up in the air,
in the atmosphere, that's been circulatedby these forests. It's not just the
(37:29):
air and the oxygen that's been circulated, but even our you know, oceans
connected it. We're very, veryconnected on our planet, and these forests
are so important. Are we replantingof the any like where there's been deforestation?
(37:51):
Are there projects now to replant that? Neanta, there are projects for
replanting. But here's the thing.The best we can do for our planet
is to keep the forest standing thatare already there. These are complex ecosystems,
and so whereas in the temperate rainforestyou were talking about, there are
a few species of trees in inthe in the Amazon or some of the
(38:16):
other tropical rainforests, the hundreds ofspecies of trees alone, and so that
complex ecosystem, you know, ittakes a long time for that to be
restored, and so replanting is notthe same as actually protecting the standing forests.
(38:37):
And so this is what we celebrate. Why we celebrate them, it's
to say we're interconnected. Why youknow, they're they're important to our life
on our planet. They're important foryou know, safeguarding our climate. We
have heatwaves around the world, andhow do we take advantage of these beautiful
(39:01):
ecosystems that evolved over millions of yearson our planet. Trees, greened up
planet, made life possible. Sohow do we celebrate them? How do
we pay more attention to them?And for those of us who work like
Rainforest Partnership is the organization. Ifound it and we run and we're based
(39:23):
in Austin, Texas, so we'reUS based, but this day is celebrated
around the world and we invite theworld and not just people in southern California
and California and the US, aroundthe world. And that's what we've seen
that people love to come together andit's protect them right and protect the rainforest.
(39:47):
Don't only replant them, but stopknocking them down. So World Rainforest
Day is June twenty second, NANTAor nanta. Where can we get more
information about the rainforests and how they'redoing and what we can do to help
save them. So the first thingWorld Rainforest Day dot org is the website
(40:07):
to go and make a pledge andget a digital toolkit to share why you
care, go find you know.Of course, we would love you to
donate to Rainforest Partnership. We dowork on the ground, but really find
any rainforest organization to support and reallydo something for the environment for our planet.
(40:31):
On World Rainforest Day in your backyard. Connect you know, look at
the birds, take a breath,Thank a rainforest. I love that.
Okay, yes, we will dothat this Saturday. Neanta Spellman, founder
and CEO of Rainforest Partnership, thankyou so much for your time and again,
(40:52):
if you want more information, WorldRainforest Day dot org, and we're
all going to take a collective deepbreath and thank the reinforest. Thanks Nanta,
thank you so much. All right, take care, okay. Good
thing to celebrate on this first dayof summer. Right, sunshine, trees,
birds, all that stuff. Itis six o'clock. This is KFI
(41:15):
and kost HD two Los Angeles,Orange County, live from the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call.
If you missed a NA wake upcall, you can listen anytime on
the iHeartRadio app. Taking a deepbreath in honor of world rains for US
day. You've been listening to wakeup Call with me, Amy King.
(41:35):
You can always hear wake Up Callfive to six am Monday through Friday.
On KFI AM six forty and anytimeon demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six fortywake Up Call with me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI andKOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange
County. It's time for your morningwake up call. Here's Amy kig It
(00:36):
it not a it's are you hearingme? I'm not hearing me? Okay,
Well it's it's five oh one.This is your wake up call for
a Thursday, June twentieth. We'relive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. But
(00:57):
I can't hear myself in my headphones. Very weird. So today's the first
day of summer cool right, youknow why? Somebody had switched a button.
I was listening to a pre delayof me, so I just heard
me going it it it Okay,we're back. So today, first day
(01:22):
of summer Solstice happens at one fiftythis afternoon. It's the longest day of
the year, fourteen hours and twentyone minutes of daylight. It's all downhill
from there. It's going to bea great day. I can feel it.
Here's what's ahead on wake up Call. LA City Councilman Kevin de Leon
plans to introduce emotion to rename PershingSquare after former slave Bridget Biddy Mason,
(01:47):
who became a prominent LA citizen andlandowner. Back in the eighteen fifties.
She was a co founder of thefirst African Methodist Episcopal Church. The downtown
square was dedicated in honor of WorldOld War One General John J. Pershing
in nineteen eighteen. The threat ofa strike is looming for six thousand Food
for Less workers in southern California.No deal has been reached following two days
(02:10):
of negotiations this week, but theunion and parent company Kroger say they're still
talking and we'll be back to thebargaining table on Monday. People in Risita
and other parts of the San FernandoValley have complained to the Department of Water
and Power that their tap water smellsand tastes moldy or dirty. Yeah.
The LEDWP says it has tested thewater and it is safe to use and
(02:32):
drink. Officials say the smell iscaused by a natural seasonal presence of algae.
Let's get started with some of thestories coming out of the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. A new onehundred and sixty five million dollars tower on
skid Row has opened to house thehomeless. The Wineguard Tower is on skid
Row with two hundred and seventy eightsubsidized units and loads of community amenities.
(02:53):
Lamare Bas said at yesterday's ribbon cutting, the taxpayer funded project should be looked
at as an example of how toserve previously home people. Just because you
were on housed, that does notmean that you should live in substandard housing,
as though it is a punishment.Bass was joined at the opening by
local and federal officials. A secondtower is being constructed across the street in
(03:14):
downtown La. Michael Monks KFI News. A standoff with a man who barricaded
himself inside an apartment in Long Beachhas ended Pilise. One person was held
hostage overnight. They were let gothis morning. The guy police where after
was arrested a short time later.The first named storm of the season is
headed toward northeast Mexico, but it'salready causing damage along the Gulf Coast.
(03:36):
ABC's Jim Ryan says Texas has seentorrential rain and flooding. The forty five
mile at hour winds of Tropical StormAlberto are whipping up high waves in the
Gulf of Mexico, but it's theflooding potential that has homeowners worried from South
Padre Island to Galveston, four hundredmiles away. Officials in Mexico have already
reported three deaths caused by the storm. They say two kids in the state
(03:58):
of Nuevo Leone were riding bicycle inthe rain and got electrocuted. The other
death was in the city of Monterey. South Korea says it'll reconsider its policy
of limiting its support to Ukraine becauseof an agreement reached between North Korea and
Russia. South Korea's presidential office condemnedthe agreement that vowed mutual defense assistance in
the event of war. South Koreas'sthe agreement threatens its security and warned that
(04:23):
it will negatively affect Soul's relations withMoscow. The Inland Empires getting a Trader
Joe's marking the chain's one hundred andninety first store in California. An official
ribbon cunning ceremony will be held onJune twenty eighth at the New Muria at
a location before doors open at nineam. The store is going to participate
in the company's Neighborhood Shares program thatdonates one hundred percent of unsold products still
(04:46):
fit for consumption to local community organizations. I didn't know Trader Joe's did that.
I love that. Let's say goodmorning to ABC's Stephen Portnoy. Stephen,
the Supreme Court has been busy,but they still got a lot of
work to do. Well. There'sa lot we're waiting to hear from the
Court. The way it typically works, as we've discussed, the Supreme Court
begins its term in October and windsdown by early summer. And here we
(05:10):
are toward the end of June,and we expect that by the end of
this month, if not perhaps treadinga bit into July, the Supreme Court
will release the entirety of its caseload and will understand how the justices have
ruled. There are twenty one casesfrom this term still outstanding, and these
are big, important cases. Wedon't know when any particular decision is going
(05:31):
to drop. So what we haveis a list of twenty one topics.
They include whether cities have the powerto find people who sleep in homeless encampments
or whether that violates the Eighth Amendmentprohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, whether
a state can prohibit gun ownership bysomeone who is the target of a domestic
violence restraining order, or whether thatviolates the individual's Second Amendment rights, Whether
(05:55):
the First Amendment was violated by theBiden White Houses pressure that applies to social
media companies to take down certain posts, And of course, the most widely
watched case of the term, whetherDonald Trump enjoys absolute immunity for his official
acts as president. There are othercases involving abortion rights, the power of
the administrative state, and Purdue Farmof bankruptcy. A lot of really substance
(06:19):
of and important stuff that could comeout from the Supreme Court, and we
don't know when it's going to happen. The only days that are scheduled are
today and tomorrow and perhaps the latadditional days through next week. Okay,
So do they have to make decisionson all twenty one or could they hold
any of them over? They wouldnot hold them over. What they could
(06:41):
do is seek off ramps, likefor example, last week when the issue
was announced on the abortion pilm iffor pristone, the justices didn't decide whether
the FDA acted appropriately or not theyleft the merits to some other future case
potentially. Instead, they unanimously agreedthat the doctors who brought the case didn't
have standing to sue, and thatwas one thing all nine justices could get
(07:04):
behind. So they didn't really resolvethe underlying issue that can happen in any
case. Oh okay. And thenthat you mentioned that the term could end
at the end of June or evenJuly, so there's not an official end
date like there's an official start date. There is a tradition, oh okay,
that the Supreme Court generally releases allof its opinions by the end of
(07:28):
June, but there has been therehave been occasions where with a heavy case
load, additional days are added tothe calendar in early July. Okay.
And as you mentioned, we couldget decisions today. We just don't know,
and we have no idea what orderor anything. We just know there's
some big ones coming or kind ofhanging in in the balance. And we
say that because we know along ofthe list of twenty one there are really
(07:50):
significant cases. There are on thislist of twenty one some cases that are
not as interesting to the American public. Every case that makes its way to
the Supreme Court is interesting to sayand has lasting impact in the law in
some way or another. But thecases that are going to be big news
are on this list, Okay,all right, And then they reconvene the
(08:11):
first Monday in October. And Ionly remember that because there was a movie
about it. You got it,Okay, Stephen Portener, thank you so
much. We'll be watching for thosedecisions, you bet. All right.
Let's get back to some of thestories coming out of the KFI twenty four
hour newsroom. The LAPDS trying tofind a parole league considered armed and dangerous
who was allegedly seen loading a riflein the South La area. Police were
(08:33):
called Tuesday night to the area ofsixty ninth Street and Avalon Boulevard. Officers
found Ezekiel Garcia, but then hetook off. Police lost him after he
ran into a junkyard. Garcia's fortytwo, about five to seven, one
hundred and fifty seven pounds, withshort black hair. He is on active
parole for murder. The price ofyour avocado toast might be going up.
(08:54):
The FEDSI two employees with the USDepartment of Agriculture who were inspecting shipments of
avocados had been a so and heldcaptive by guys in the Mexican state of
Michua Khan. The inspectors have sincebeen released. US inspectors are stationed in
parts of Mexico to expedite shipments ofproduce and to prevent the import of diseases
that could ruin crops in the US, but because of the attack, on
Monday, US Ambassador to Mexico KenSalazar said shipments of avocados and mangoes had
(09:18):
been stopped until further notice. SteveGregory Quaya Fineos, a sixteen year old
girl from Lake Forest, and ateen from Chicago, have been killed in
a jet ski crash in Illinois.Officials say a jet ski collided with a
boat on Lake Maria Tuesday night.The sixteen year old and the other girl
were on the jet ski when itcrashed. The teens were pronounced dead at
(09:39):
a nearby hospital. Top advisors toIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to
meet with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivanat the White House. ABC News says
the meeting is supposed to happen todayand that Israel's Defense minister will also meet
with Defense Secretary at Defense Secretary LloydOsz in the coming days. The US
(10:01):
canceled another high level meeting with Israelidelegates on Iran. The administration says the
meeting was never fully finalized on theschedule anyway. Others say it was canceled
over Netanyahu's recent video claiming the USwas withholding weapons needed for the Warren Gaza.
Louisiana has become the first state torequire the Ten Commandments be posted in
(10:22):
public school classrooms. Opponents questioned thelaw's constitutionality, warning that lawsuits are likely
to follow, but supporters say thepurpose of the measure is not only religious,
but that it has historical significance.ABC's Derek Dennis's a poster of the
Ten Commandments in a large, easilyreadable font will be in all classrooms from
kindergarten all the way through state fundeduniversities by twenty twenty five. The bill
(10:43):
signed yesterday includes a context statement describinghow the Commandments were a prominent part of
the American public education system for almostthree centuries. The most seismically active volcano
in the Cascade Range has been rumblingthree hundred and fifty small quakes that have
rattled under Mount Saint Helens since February. Seismologists say magma maybe moving beneath the
(11:07):
volcano. The last eruption was intwo thousand and eight. The big eruption
was May eighteenth, in nineteen eightyor was it nineteen eighty one? I
got the day right wrong on thatMount Saint Helens is considered the most likely
volcano to erupt in the future inthe US. I was. I was
(11:28):
in Oregon when that one blew.It was pretty freaky. I did my
little fact check. Mount Saint Helensdid erupt on May eighteenth, nineteen eighty,
so I actually had it right.Who knew. Here's what we're following
in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A Juneteenth celebration in Oakland has turned
violent bullysey A fight broke out duringthe celebration at Lake Merritt last night.
(11:48):
At least four people ended up beingshot, several others were injured. At
least one person was arrested for anassaulting and officer. There were about five
thousand people at the event. Thefirst name storm of the Atlantic hurricane season
is churning off the coast of Texas. Drenching the coast with heavy rain.
Tropical Storm Alberto could bring fifty mileper hour winds and up to three feet
(12:11):
of storm surge from Mexico all theway up to Louisiana. A study of
nearly a million people suggests those whofeel happy have more career success, make
more money, and are just moresuccessful in life. Social scientists and happiness
experts. I think it's great thatthere are happiness experts also say that unless
you're using your money to buy experiences, donate, or get extra time,
(12:37):
it really doesn't buy you happiness.Okay, classrooms in Louisiana are going to
be required by law to display theTen Commandments. We're talking about that.
More on handle on the news rightnow. Though, Let's say good morning
to ABC's crime and terrorism analyst BradGarrett. Good morning, Brad. Haven't
talked to you for a while,that's true. Good morning, Namy,
(13:00):
Good morning. So the LA SchoolBoard has voted to ban cell phones and
social media at school. Are thecell phones really that bad for the kids
to have? Yes, okay,good talking to you, Red. Yeah,
that's it. We'll see you later. So the holy issue with cell
phones, obviously, is that theyhave all these positive aspects. You and
(13:20):
I use them, the world usesthem every day. The problem is that
kids become and they're particularly vulnerable tobecoming addicted to cell phones. If you
have them in school, you knowthey're going to constantly want to pull those
phones out, use them in class, use them in the hallway, and
so it creates a huge distraction.So it's it's a learning inhibitor, for
(13:45):
lack of better terms. But thebigger picture, amy is that the excessive
use of cell phones and social mediaby kids and adolescents are having, by
a number of studies I've read,you know, really negative impact on their
brains. And in fact, twosocial psychologists say it actually is rewiring their
(14:07):
brains to spend so much time andit results in them feeling or having less
empathy, being drawn to you know, some very for some kids, some
very dramatic or violent imagery that theyjust keep watching and watching and watching,
and it creates a certain amount ofmeanness where people can say and do whatever
(14:30):
they want. I mean, thenumber of kids that, like when I
was growing up, obviously they weren'tcell phones or tablets or computers, and
so it was all in person andwhat many of these experts are saying,
is that's what kids are missing,and it creates basically fragility in kids.
Where we would go to a playground, go to wherever, we'd have to
(14:56):
deal with people in person. Well, you know, what you say and
how you act are going to bedifferent in person than they are via social
media. And so it's a combinationof all those things. And then if
you add to this, when smartphonesbasically sort of came into the picture or
in the twenty tens, you seethis dramatic drop or increase i should say,
(15:18):
in depression, anxiety and other stuffin kids, and they believe and
I think this is probably right.It's directly link to excess it cell phone
use. You know when you talkabout being addicted to cell phones and you
think about it, that, oh, that can't happen because it's not a
physical substance like with nicotine, withsmoking it's addictive, or with alcohol drinking
(15:41):
it's addictive. But as you mentioned, it rewires your brain. And I
think about some days that I sitand I play my little solitaire game and
I'll just sit there and play itand play it and play it and play
it. Like why I'm watching TVor whatever, and I'll go, you
know, I should put this downand go do something else, and you're
just like mindlessly playing it, andit's like you feel like you can't stop.
(16:03):
It's they're called dopamine hits. Youknow, you get DoPT dopamine through
all sorts of the pleasure things youdo in life. But if you get
constantly get hits of it, thenyou you don't want to leave it.
And and and social media knows that. And that's why you know, through
algorithms, if you pull up whateveryou pull up, they're going to send
(16:27):
you more and more information. Ifyou get into you know, dark phonography,
they're going to send you links tomore of that. And and so
that's the big concern. And becausekids and adolescent's brains are not developed,
they're just so vulnerable. So allof this stuff. So now you're throwing
in mega dopamine hits. You're you'remaking them to be more cynical and more
(16:52):
judgmental, which obviously is a hugeproblem across this country right now. And
you're teeing them up for I thinkhaving some mental disabilities or lack of better
terms as adults in their ability tohandle themselves and handle other people. Yeah,
and then then going back to theanonymity thing or that you're not dealing
(17:17):
with people in persons so you canmake a snarky comment. I mean you
see it on social media all thetime because people don't have to take responsibility.
And it made me think, yeah, when you confront somebody on the
playground, you've got one or twobullies in the school, but now everybody
can be bullies. Well that's that'sexactly right. And if you take kids
(17:37):
that get into really dark violence thatI'm going to the stuff I talk about
all the time, like mass shooters, you know, the social media you
know, just sort of helps facilitate. You know, you already have to
be driven that direction, but itsort of adds gas to the fire.
And then they take social media togethertheir phones with them to shootings. They
(18:00):
have an audience. So basically theyhave replaced and maybe on a less extreme,
the kids have replaced the interaction onthe playground, the interaction and whatever
to interacting in the anonymity of yourbedroom on a phone. Okay, and
then Brad, what good what's thedanger to Will it be amplified as we
(18:23):
start using AI more? Oh?I don't even want to think about that.
Yes, of course it's going toencourage kids maybe to cheat because it's
going to be easy to do,and the school systems the universities are going
to have to get up to speedthe best they can to figure out.
(18:44):
You know, is this these wordscome out of this kid's mouth or was
it pulled together by AI? Butit's you can also see how AI can
alter your reality based on what itcreates. So again I'm going to be
dark about this subject. I mean, AILE is doing and will continue to
do, some unbelievably wonderful and maybeeven life saving things, but like so
(19:08):
many things else else, I mean, in this whole world of technology,
it can have a really dark side. Yeah, And I just wanted to
mention in your show notes that youmentioned that in the future an entire generation
of adults that grew up not havingto solve problems on their own because they
have AI that could really impact things. It already impacts it. I know
(19:32):
that. Like with people that I'vehired to work for me at other places,
I'm like, here, you needto learn how to problem solve.
Don't just do the task, learnhow to solve the problem, anticipate the
problems, and they like, theyhave no concept of that. Absolutely not.
You're totally right, and so howis that kid going to overcome that
(19:53):
as an adult. That's why Iuse the word disability. I mean that's
a disability in my view. Imean the ability to figure out people,
to read them and can confront themin a you know, in a rational,
non violent way, is a skillset that everyone needs. Some are
obviously better than others. But mygoodness, and I see it every day
(20:15):
around here. I see it aroundmy son's kids or friends that it's like,
you know, they just don't reallyget it, and you know,
really boils down to a certain extentto parents basically being the sheriff taking away
phones, taking away tablets, whateverit might be. I don't mean permanently,
(20:37):
but limit the amount of time becauseit's all going to be an uphill
battle because everybody around them has technology. Okay, Well, then so the
LA school district deciding to ban themat least during school hours. That forces
them out of the phone and backinto the real world. Hopefully we'll see
some positive results. Bred Garrett,thank you so much as always for your
information and your insight. We appreciateit. You're welcome here. Amy talk
(21:00):
too soon. So called poison pillshave been added to ten crime bills in
California. Both the state Senate andAssembly will now vote to finalize the bills
on the floor. During an Assemblycommittee hearing yesterday, Republican assembly Woman Kate
Sanchez said the poison pill amendments willdeny Californians a fair vote on an initiative
to repeal Prop forty seven. It'santi democratic, it's unfair and tippy flank,
(21:22):
it's borderline corrupt. State Senator ScottWiener, who accepted the amendments to
his bill, said he doesn't seehow the poison pills would affect the ballot
measure. The poison pill amendments wouldmake it so that if a ballot initiative
to repeal Prop forty seven passes,the crime bills would be nullified. Blake
Charlie kay if I News Robert F. Kennedy Junior's campaign has raised about three
(21:42):
million dollars for the month of May. That's a sharp drop from April,
when it took in nearly eleven million. The number nowhere close to the Biden
or Trump campaigns. Biden reportedly tookin an additional eight million dollars from one
fund verser earlier this week. Kennedy'sbeen trying to get on enough ballots to
qualify for the first presidential debate.He hasn't met that threshold, so for
(22:04):
now, it'll be President Biden andformer President Trump debating one week from today
on CNN. Don't know about you, but that is going to be must
see TV for me. The Dodgerstake on the Rockies in Colorado today.
The first pitch is going out attwelve ten. Oh I love a daytime
game. You can listen to everyplay of every Dodgers game on AM five
seventy LA Sports and stream all thegames in HD on the iHeartRadio app Keyword
(22:29):
AM five seventy LA Sports powered byLA Care for all of LA. More
than six hundred Smart and Final warehouseworkers in southern California are going to walk
the picket lines today their warehouses areclosing. The workers have been told they
can reapply for jobs at a warehousein Rancho Cucamonga, but they say they'll
be making ten to twelve dollars anhour less, which they call an unfair
labor practice. Residents in Venice saya homeless RV camp is growing and police
(22:56):
aren't enforcing a law that prohibits overnightcamping, say Abbott. Kenney Boulevard is
littered with broken down r vs,trash, personal belongings, litter and human
waste. Justin Timberlake's attorney says he'slooking forward to defending the pop star against
his drunk driving charges, but leastsay Timberlake was pulled over Tuesday night on
Long Island for running a stop signafter leaving a hotel in the Hamptons.
(23:19):
He refused a breathalyzer and failed fieldsobriety tests at five point fifty World Rainforest
Day is coming up on Saturday.We're going to find out how our rainforests
are doing and what we can doto help save them. Close to the
home, it's not a forest,but it's a big old piece of land
that's going to be getting a facelift. It's two thousand acres in the Sepulvit
(23:40):
a basin. So let's say goodmorning now to the founder and director of
the River Project, Melanie Winter.Good morning, Melanie, good morning.
So we've got a vision for theSepulvita basin called La Vision. And I
know this story came out on Mondaybecause Low County state and city leaders unveiled
(24:03):
the plan for the restoration, andI wanted to get some more information about
it, like what all is goingto happen and where is this piece of
land? Yes, this is well. If you've ever driven north over the
Supulvida Path into the San Fernando Valleyup the four h five, you can't
help but notice this big, hugechunk of open space just to your left
(24:26):
at the bottom of the hill andright there at the base of it to
one oh one four five interchange isa huge dam that you often see in
car commercials. So behind all ofthat is two thousand acres of open space.
It's a flood management facility that theUS Army Corps owns, and the
(24:48):
dam itself was built in gosh,sorry, nineteen forty or so, it's
too early for me, but stillon that, but it's and it's got
eight miles of living waterways, justthree miles of the Los Angeles River,
(25:10):
half of which has no concrete onthe sides or the bottom. It does
concrete, no, not in thesubpulsitive basin. It's our wonderful, amazing
treasure. And then the tributaries.Tributaries are channelized in various ways, but
they don't have concrete on the bottom. So the potential here is to do
(25:34):
what we call floodplain restoration and allowthe rivers, the river and the tributaries
here to be living, uh,you know, rivers which have all these
benefits for us. That opens upwater supply and more flood risk reduction and
habitat and biodiversity and kayaking and canoeingand fishing and you know it's just and
(25:57):
shade and community and so yeah,and if you go there, the crazy
thing is there's this land for lotsof land the city leases for recreational purposes.
So they over the years they sortof did this ad hoc design,
you know, peace reread piece.Oh let's do some baseball field here,
(26:18):
Oh, soccer field here. Ohthis there, But it's not it doesn't.
It kind of ignores this amazing resourceof all these waterways, and it's
all very hodgepodge. So we havethis opportunity to redo the basin in a
way that makes it more accessible foreverybody, that makes it more twenty first
century for everybody, and it's thekind of things that it offers and also
(26:42):
provides all this climate adaptation for uslocal water supply, public safety, habitat
or diversity, you know, communitygoing. So it's a rethink on this
incredible resource that so many people don'tknow anything about. Well that's what I
was going to say, I don'tknow anything will yeah exactly. And it's
(27:04):
like, like you said, twothousand acres, it's two and a half
times the size of the Central Park. Okay, so what we have in
the valley, which is crazy.So we have all this land to work
with, and so the vision thenis to reconfigure and fix some of the
issues that are with it. Likethere's a couple of things that we learned
(27:26):
about and that was like there's athere is a kayak launch spot, but
there's an issue with it. Yeah. So the river itself right now has
these what they're called drop structures thatmake it difficult to kind of do what
you would naturally do, which isstart upstream and go all the way downstream
and then back up. So toavoid those little couple of drop three drop
(27:48):
structures, they start by the damand it's not that easy to set up.
So we did the technical feasibility studyfor this work a few years back,
and you know, looked at whereit was the best place to do
a kayak launch and how could youmake that work easily and not have to
be so you know, making thingsup with spit and polish. Okay,
(28:12):
So you're going to just improve someof the stuff that is planned, like
we had. There's bike paths thataren't connected, so maybe work to fix
those issues. And then who isgoing to be paying for this, Melanie,
right, there's always that question.Yeah, Well, I think there's
(28:33):
so many different things that this projectcan do. But there's a lot of
different funding sources. There's federal fundingthat's available through the Inflation Reduction Acts currently,
and I'm sure there be other sourcesof funding down the road as well.
This is not going to happen overnight. There's also state funding that's available
currently, and hopefully if we passthe climate bond at the state in the
(28:55):
coming year, there'll be funds forthat as well from the state. You
know, there could be we don'tthey haven't shared with us yet what exactly
exactly what the Olympic events they're goingto be staged there, But if there
are some then there's the potential forprivate philanthropic dollars to contribute to that of
this as well. Okay, andthen when as this project continues, is
(29:21):
all of this area currently open tothe public or are just parts of it
open? Oh? No, everything'sopen to the public now, Okay.
So if you want to go hikingaround, you can go there. Yeah.
Yeah, there's a wildlife area.The wildlife reserve over on the east
end of the basin is really phenomenalto visit because you can see the pulsed
(29:42):
The basin is one of the hotspots for birders in Los Angeles. Three
hundred species of birds you can discoverby walking through the wildlife reserve, and
there's people do guided tours there aswell. Or you can go play any
sport you want, from cricket tosoft all the best skiple to baseball to
model airplane flying, to lawn bowlingto paddle balls. Oh and there's a
(30:07):
great dog park. There's a paddleboat on one of the lakes. And
then there's the canoe and kayak programthat's happening over the summer. Okay,
so you and the bike paths arethere. Now a couple of big issues
are. We really want to increasethe number of bike and walking paths throughout
the basin, and we want toconnect better transit to it. Okay.
(30:30):
So there's already a lot of coolstuff and this is just going to make
it better. Okay, this isgreat. I'm going to go check this.
It's going to take a while becausethis is a big project, but
you know, yeah, gotta startsummer the basin. Okay, the Basin
Explore. It's amazing. Okay.So Melodie Winter is the founder and director
of the River Project. Thank youso much for sharing that information. This
(30:52):
morning. I got to go checkthis place out. Have a great day
you too. All right. Itwas justin Timberlake Tuesday night. But now
rapper Travis Scott has been arrested oncharges of being drunk and disorderly and also
for trespassing in Miami. He hasposted bond. It's not clear if he's
been released yet. A pro Palestinianprotest banner has been taken down from Yosemite's
(31:15):
El Capitan. Climbers scaled the rockface earlier this week and hung the banner
fifteen hundred feet off the ground.The banner read stop the Genocide on ice
cream shop in San Diego has beennamed the best ice cream in the US.
OS dry Cleaning on Adams Avenue inNorth Park has been was named after
(31:36):
the dry cleaning business it replaced intwenty eighteen, and to celebrate being named
number one by USA today, OSis going to be selling one dollar Gelatto's
July first until they sell out.We're just minutes away from handle on the
news this morning, women are goingto have to register for the draft for
the first time. Let's say goodmorning now to the founder and CEO of
Rainforest Partnership, Neanta Spelman. Goodmorning, Neonte, good morning, How
(32:02):
are you? I am wonderful.We have a Rainforest Day coming up on
Saturday, so tell us what isRainforest Day and what do we do on
this day? So World Rainforest Dayis a day that we globally come together
and locally to celebrate these amazing,incredible, magical ecosystems that are vital to
(32:28):
life on our planet. And it'sJune twenty second. June twenty second.
How many rainforests are there in theworld, Neanta? Do we know?
So? You know rainforests are aroundthe tropics, right, we have them
in four of our continents, andwe have lost about fifty percent of them,
(32:52):
but we still have a wonderful amountof them in the Amazon, in
in Africa, in Southeast Asia greatly, and a little bit in Australia.
Okay, So I was going toask you how they're doing, and you
just said we've lost fifty percent.But is the rate that we're losing going
(33:15):
down or are we increasing them?How is that going? I know,
there's it's kind of fallen out ofthe you know, the our spotlight that
we don't hear about the rainforest asmuch. But I'm guessing that they're still
trying to cut them down. Yes, So defas station rates have actually gone
down in the Amazon, it's it'sliterally a multiyear low, finally in Brazil
(33:40):
in particular, after some very alarmingrates that occurred. In fact, if
you think about it, even now, we lose like in twenty twenty two,
we were losing about a football fieldevery five seconds. Oh my god.
So yes, pretty incredible. Andthen now we lose them a great
(34:02):
deal to other things like fires,and not just for agriculture and cattle ranching.
But you know, there is goodnews because yes, because we are
paying more attention and the world isreally trying to rally and say, how
(34:24):
do we stop deforestation by twenty thirtyAnd so for me there is optimism.
I love optimism. And now Ihad heard and I don't know if this
is correct, because you said wherethe rainforests are when we went up.
I went on a cruise to Alaskaa couple of years ago, and you
(34:45):
take your breath in and I swearyou can feel the air like it's just
richer and more vibrant because of allthe trees all over the place. And
somebody said that that was a rainforesttoo, Is that technically a rainfores?
It is? In fact, youare talking about our beautiful, incredible temperate
rainforests. And I am being sillybecause I am focused on tropical rainforests.
(35:12):
But we do have temperate rainforests.And you know, from Washington all the
way into British Columbia and further north, these temperate rainforests are incredible with these
giants. And you're right when you'rein the rainforest and you take a breath
and you just quiet down and youlisten, and you feel like you're in
(35:37):
a different, magical place, andthere's incredible biodiversity in the tropical rainforests,
but in temperate rainforests as well.There's so much life and it does feel
very different different, It's really weird. It's the endergy is different, the
(36:00):
air is different. And I thinkif we all experience that, I think
we would revere and protect them ina very different way. Yeah. I
didn't realize we had rainforests in Africa. Yes, In fact, the second
largest tropical rainforests fit in in Africa, the Congo Basin. Yeah. Yes,
(36:24):
and Southeast Asia is just as incredible. And these tropical rainforests, they
hold fifty percent of our biodiversity,and they make up you know, they
make up about six percent of oursurface area of our planet and they're less
(36:45):
than three percent of the land area, so not a lot. And they're
so important because they regulate our climateand our water cycle. They're so connect
to us. And so you're inCalifornia. All the listeners are in California.
And here's the incredible thing. Thewaters that you have in the ocean
(37:09):
they have they have chemical markers fromthe Amazon. Just think about it.
It's not just the you know,the water uh up in the air,
in the atmosphere, that's been circulatedby these forests. It's not just the
(37:29):
air and the oxygen that's been circulated, but even our you know, oceans
connected it. We're very, veryconnected on our planet, and these forests
are so important. Are we replantingof the any like where there's been deforestation?
(37:51):
Are there projects now to replant that? Neanta, there are projects for
replanting. But here's the thing.The best we can do for our planet
is to keep the forest standing thatare already there. These are complex ecosystems,
and so whereas in the temperate rainforestyou were talking about, there are
a few species of trees in inthe in the Amazon or some of the
(38:16):
other tropical rainforests, the hundreds ofspecies of trees alone, and so that
complex ecosystem, you know, ittakes a long time for that to be
restored, and so replanting is notthe same as actually protecting the standing forests.
(38:37):
And so this is what we celebrate. Why we celebrate them, it's
to say we're interconnected. Why youknow, they're they're important to our life
on our planet. They're important foryou know, safeguarding our climate. We
have heatwaves around the world, andhow do we take advantage of these beautiful
(39:01):
ecosystems that evolved over millions of yearson our planet. Trees, greened up
planet, made life possible. Sohow do we celebrate them? How do
we pay more attention to them?And for those of us who work like
Rainforest Partnership is the organization. Ifound it and we run and we're based
(39:23):
in Austin, Texas, so we'reUS based, but this day is celebrated
around the world and we invite theworld and not just people in southern California
and California and the US, aroundthe world. And that's what we've seen
that people love to come together andit's protect them right and protect the rainforest.
(39:47):
Don't only replant them, but stopknocking them down. So World Rainforest
Day is June twenty second, NANTAor nanta. Where can we get more
information about the rainforests and how they'redoing and what we can do to help
save them. So the first thingWorld Rainforest Day dot org is the website
(40:07):
to go and make a pledge andget a digital toolkit to share why you
care, go find you know.Of course, we would love you to
donate to Rainforest Partnership. We dowork on the ground, but really find
any rainforest organization to support and reallydo something for the environment for our planet.
(40:31):
On World Rainforest Day in your backyard. Connect you know, look at
the birds, take a breath,Thank a rainforest. I love that.
Okay, yes, we will dothat this Saturday. Neanta Spellman, founder
and CEO of Rainforest Partnership, thankyou so much for your time and again,
(40:52):
if you want more information, WorldRainforest Day dot org, and we're
all going to take a collective deepbreath and thank the reinforest. Thanks Nanta,
thank you so much. All right, take care, okay. Good
thing to celebrate on this first dayof summer. Right, sunshine, trees,
birds, all that stuff. Itis six o'clock. This is KFI
(41:15):
and kost HD two Los Angeles,Orange County, live from the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call.
If you missed a NA wake upcall, you can listen anytime on
the iHeartRadio app. Taking a deepbreath in honor of world rains for US
day. You've been listening to wakeup Call with me, Amy King.
(41:35):
You can always hear wake Up Callfive to six am Monday through Friday.
On KFI AM six forty and anytimeon demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Wake Up Call with Amy King News
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