January 10, 2025 • 25 mins
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman joins the show to speak on the historic wildfires burning through LA and the crime going on in the evacuation zones. Dr. Jim Keany, Co-Director of the Emergency Room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany talks with Bill about medical dangers of fires in terms of smoke and air quality. KFI national correspondent Rory O’Neill speaks on the latest regarding the Los Angeles fires in terms of deaths, acres burned, containment, and structure devastation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty the Bill Handles
Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
You are listening to the Bill Handle Show on KFI
AM six forty. Some of the big stories that are trending.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
First of all, President elect Donald Trump is going to
be sentenced today for a felony, a felony conviction, but
the judge has already said it's just going to.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Be an unconditional release. There'll be no probation, nothing.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
He's going to walk out because he's not about to sentence,
say President, but it's going to be a felony conviction
on his record.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And also TikTok Is for the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Today because it is about to be banned January nineteenth,
and arguing a First Amendment issue versus the other side
national security. All right, yesterday at the press conference, is
going to have another one at eight o'clock dealing with
the wildfires here in southern California. The district attorney was there,
LA County District Attorney, which if I've never seen an
(01:04):
LA County or a county district attorney at one of
these press conferences. So I want to introduce and thank
you La County District Attorney Nathan Hawkman.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Us, my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
On sure, and do you mind if I call you
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hawkman, just to.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Be informal, absolutely, and call me that you can call me.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Okay, got it, all right, let's go to Nathan.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Why not you can call me mister Handel. By the way,
that's not a problem. Now.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh, let's let's get serious for.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
A moment, because you talked about the crime that's being
committed in terms of looting, and uh, that's a felony
or being in an evacuation area where you should not
be as in you're not a residents. I'm trying to
put it into words it used to be and many
(02:05):
jurisdictions overseas where looters are shot on site because it
is such a dangerous crime relative to anarchy and simply
the falling apart of society as we know it. And
you talked about that, so let's talk about that your
position and what you are going to do upon the
(02:27):
arrest of someone who is accused of looting.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
So, yeah, this tragedy is immense. I am part of
the over one hundred and eighty thousand people who have
been evacuated in Pacific Palisades, where my sister used to
have a home with her husband and four boys at
home doesn't exist anymore. I had a chance to walk
and dry it through the fire and ravaged areas, and
(02:51):
it is nothing short of apocalyptic. So with this tragedy, sadly,
certain people in society view is an opportunity. And I'm
talking directly to the criminals out there. I want them
to have an unmistakably clear message that if they want
to loose, if they want to steal, if they want
to commit burglary, robbery, or any similar offense, they will
(03:13):
be arrested, they will be prosecuted, and they will be
punished to the maximum extent of the law. I send
this out as a warning so that nobody can have
any confusion later on as to what the consequences will
be for their actions. And I'm hoping that people heed
that warning and don't commit these crimes. But sadly, there
(03:34):
will be people who will commit them, and when they do,
they will be punished.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And when we talk about prosecuting under the fullest extent
of the law, what does that mean in terms of consequences.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So it's felony, there's grand fact, there's burglary. Looting has
both a felony and a misdemeanor component to it. There's
state prison, there's county jail, there's community service, there's restitution.
You're still you're going to pay it back. There's damage
that you can be that you could have caused others
(04:06):
you'll have to pay back. Now, this is a situation
where we will seek maximum penalties against people who decide
to take advantage of this incredible tragedy. Their actions are
despicable and nothing less right.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And usually there's a reputation.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I know you're turning this around and one of
the reasons you got elected is we came from a
policy of and I'll say this, coddling criminals.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay, I don't want to get into that.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
But when we talk about the maximum extent of the law,
someone is charged with looting, how long do they go
to prison for?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
What's the maximum?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So looting would probably it will get you about one
hundred and eighty days of county jail. Grand theft, burglary, robbery.
People who are going to engage sadly in Internet schemes.
You're all felonies. He can get you in state prison
for years and again also create huge financial liabilities for
you to pay all the money back. Now, it's a
(05:06):
combination of penalties that we can bring in any one
of these situations. And to the extent that people do
get arrested, we're going to speak with law enforcements help
to make sure that they don't get arrested in the
morning and get cited and released immediately, that they'll go
before a magistrate. I have appropriate bail put in in
(05:27):
each case.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, and I'm more on the tough side when it
comes to looting.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I'm almost fanatic about that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I can't imagine a judge giving anything other than the
maximum sentence upon conviction of looting for the reasons I
said at the beginning, literally the falling apart of society
when that happens. And six months in county jail doesn't
seem to be very long. Most of us would be
(05:55):
pretty offended that it's just not long enough. And even
a couple of three years in the state prison isn't enough.
And restitution, you know, these guys don't have any money,
so they're simply not gonna be able to pay back
throughout their entire lives. But do you do you see
any leniency at all when it comes to a looting conviction.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I agree with you. I think that not only will
the DA's office take it a very tough line, as
will law enforcement, but I think when these cases eventually
get presented to a judge for sentencing, I'd be hard
pressed to think a judge is going to look at
this as something other than a despicable crime that needs
to seek maximum punishment. Because you need to seek that
(06:40):
punishment not only to deter the person who's committed the crime,
but to anybody else thinking about it. And remember, if
you do it more than once, these penalties can be
held consecutive. So if someone gets caught looting more than once,
that can be a consecutive penalty where you add together
whether it's time in county jail or time in prison.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Now looting a looting charge, or getting into uh an
area that a mandatory evacuation area. I think that the victims,
this is another another page to this, that the victims,
and these are in many.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Cases wealthy people.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Alarms going off mean mean nothing because of non internet connection.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And the police. Uh, they're so busy are they.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Even going to show up when someone is accused of looting?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's the problem I see.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Well, right now it's an all hands on deck approach
by the Shaff's Department, by the LAPD and local police agencies.
And by that, I know that what they've done is
they've told detectives, put on a uniform, go man the streets. Yeah,
and that's exactly what we're happening. They're they're bringing in
the National Guard starting today. It'll help again deter people
(07:55):
who think that looting is even an option. And I
and I've got an incredible commitment from people who are
literally working back to back twelve hour shifts over and
over this week to make sure that they keep us safe.
The DA's office will come into play that when these
people get arrested, it's not an if, but a when.
(08:18):
Then they'll then go to the DA's office for prosecution.
And here's my promise, they will be prosecuted maximally to
the full extent of the law. So again, if anyone's
out there doing a cost benefit analysis, I'm going to
make sure that the cost is significant enough they don't
do the crime in the first place, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
How about the arsonist that or the person's been accused
of arson in the Kenneth fire. I mean that takes
to a much higher degree because well, I mean you're
looking at hundreds of homes, You're looking at the potential
of people dying there. That is that's kind of crazy.
And do you put those at a whole differ.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Absolutely, if someone wants to or has intentionally set fires
that have ignited these different fires around Los Angeles County,
that is a completely different level and they will be
held to a different level of significant consequences.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
How is that going the I'm assuming it's still under
investigation and how involved are you with the DA's office
in that investigation?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So those matters are going to be under investigation right now.
The top priority of the Fire Department and law enforcement
is saving lives, saving properties, getting stability back, getting things
under control, and in the process, once they achieve those goals,
they'll go ahead and do their best to determine what
the cause of the original fires were. And if it
(09:51):
turns out it's a man may cause, it turns out
it was intentionally done, then yes, the DA's office will
will work with law enforcement. The whole, These people fully
accountable for their actions.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Are you going to be at the eight o'clock press
conference today by any chance?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I will?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Okay, we'll see you then, and again, thanks for taking
the time. That's a District Attorney of Los Angeles Nathan Hoffman.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
One of the things that you hear and while this
reporting is going on is not only the danger of
the fires themselves, but also the air pollution that's out there.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
And this isn't your normal air.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Pollution that we're talking about either, which in and of
itself can be pretty dangerous. Doctor Jim Keeney with us
as he is on Wednesdays usually, but obviously this is
an important story, Jim, thanks for joining as always, So
let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
What are the dangers beyond just a fire?
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Well, I mean, smoke in the air really can cause
a lot of problem. Then it depends on your distance
to it, right. Obviously, if you're a firefighter and you're
right in the stick of the smoke, you've got issues
like carbon monoxide, heat injury, insulation injuries, that type of thing.
But for the rest of us who are living in
this environment now where you see the unhelpful air reports
(11:20):
and the fact they're keeping kids home from school and
things like that. You know, it's we are subject to
the soot, the microparticles that some of them are small
enough to get passed, you know, the sillia that protects
your lungs. They can get pretty deep into your lungs
and cause some you knows, your lungs are blind ended stack.
(11:43):
It's not like your intestinal system where if you eat
something it comes out the other end with your lungs.
Once it's in there, it's in there forever. It can
cause inflammatory changes and problems like that, and the irritation
can take people who are already sensitive, like people with
asthma or emphaseema, and throw them into an exacerbation that
(12:04):
requires medical treatment, sometimes admission to the hospital. I can
tell you that every er I've talked to, including ours,
is seeing a lot of lung problems, breathing problems ever
since the fire started.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So we're not talking about burn injuries.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Those are relatively minor in terms of numbers when you
have a fire like this, because most people get out.
It's the respiratory stuff that you're concentrating on in the er.
In the medical world, do I have that right, yes, So.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
I mean, if you are asthmatic emphathema, COPD usually have
an escalation process for when you start feeling like something's
going on. You start with your inhalers, you start with steroids,
and those people should really start heading down that track
if they haven't already, to try and prevent it from
getting really bad. But when you do end up in
trouble and you're having trouble breathing when you're and you're
(13:00):
using that inhaler more than the recommended amount by your doctor,
that's time to come to the er. Because I see
a lot of people they'll start using it every two hours,
then every hour, and then by the time the paramedics
get there, they have nothing to add. And now you
can't breathe, and we're hoping to get you to the
hospital in time. So don't wait wait too long for that.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Everybody that's certainly reporting on the fire, the TV, the radio,
people are wearing masks. How valuable and how good do
those masks help?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Yes, oh so it's better than nothing, But it's not
a respirator like what the fire department wears. And still
those microparticles can get through. I mean ideally, right, An
N ninety five mask might be the highest level that
you can wear, but you know, or even a teeners mask,
but you know, most people can't go about their entire
(13:54):
day and wearing that. So if you need to be
in the area that you should be wearing some kind
of protection.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And if not, just get the hell out of Dodge
as early as possible.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
I'm assuming, Yeah, I mean, really, the goal for everyone
else is try and stay in inside your home, close
the windows, turn on either just the fan system or
the air conditioning system if you have one, because that
will at least filter the air a bit, and then
once this whole thing's over, change the filter, open your windows,
air out the house.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I am hearing, and again, correct me if I'm wrong
that everything you do or can do, if there is
a major amount of smoke and pollutants coming your way,
that's all not that effective.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Yeah, I mean, that's about all you can do is
steal yourself in your house. I mean, it's going to
be the best air quality you're going to get for
a while. If the air outside is very smoky, if
you're literally seeing soot on the windshield of your car
when you wake up in the morning. You know, you
don't want to breathe that in, so staying inside your house,
keeping them windows clothes is the best.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Way to go.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
But you know, obviously that's that's not perfect either. It's
still making its way in.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
All right, Jim, we'll catch you next Wednesday, as we
normally do, and thanks for taking the time. But there's
another story that would have been massive, insanely important and
is getting second drift because of what's happening with the fires,
and that is President elect Donald Trump, who a few
(15:28):
minutes ago was convicted of a felony. Kafi National correspondent
Rory O'Neil has been covering the story since the beginning. Rory,
thanks for taking the time, and let's dive into it
because it is both very serious for Trump and not
so serious for Trump.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So if you get into the particulars, please sure.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
So remember he was convicted on thirty four felony accounts
back in May and then kept on kick trying to
kick this sentencing down the road, but the Supreme Court
yesterday ruled five to four saying it had to move
forward today or it could and then what ultimately happened
was what they call an unconditional discharge. The President elect
appearing remotely at mar A Lago and phoning it in,
(16:15):
I guess to this court hearing that happened in the
state of New York, and the punishment was nothing. Essentially,
the judge said, I'm adjudicating you as a felon and
that is all. There won't be any fine, no probation,
no nothing. So now Donald Trump can get ready to
go back to focusing on his second administration.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Which and he's going to get into the administration.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
We've never had a president ever be inaugurated who had
been convicted of a felony. Now, usually, and you've been
watching this and covering this, usually, as Donald Trump has
left any of these hearings or motions, which he was
out a lot of them, he comes outside, talks reporters
and rips into Mr. The judge and I mean nails
(17:03):
him personally, professionally, the entire justice system.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Are we going to see that or are we saying that?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Are they preparing for what is quote a press conference
that he normally gives in these situations.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
We got a little preview of that again yesterday. And
by the way, he set all that stuff and he
was under a gag order. Remember, the judge in this
case imposed a gag order as it applied to jurors,
and I think his daughter and the court stenographer and
everyone else who was in the courtroom. The judge said,
I'm fair game, but there was a gag order actually
(17:40):
on Trump. Yet he still made some of those pretty
outrageous claims in the hallway just outside the court.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Room every day.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
We'll see if he has anything more to say now
that the sentence is complete. But the judge said, look,
a sentence is one of the most difficult and significant
decisions any judge has to meet. He said, this was
a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. But at the end,
he said, look, a president, just because your president doesn't
mean you can erase a jury's verdict. What I'm looking
(18:08):
forward to is the audio of this hearing, which is
about to be released, so we'll hear everything, although we
won't get to see video of it all.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
The notion that a president is not above the law
is kind of a crock when it comes to Trump.
Anybody else violating a gag order time after time after
time would have some consequences, and it looks like merchand
did absolutely nothing with that.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, again, he narrowed the gag order so that he said,
all right, Donald Trump can say whatever he wants to
about me, but he wanted to make sure that there
was the daughter and some family members of people and
some of the jurors, and Donald Trump had really stuck
to most of that and wasn't as critical of them
after the gag order came down. Maybe a slip or
two here and there, but it wasn't as bad as
(18:59):
the iyre that we heard directed at the judge, which
the judge agreed was fair game.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Now that's interesting because I don't know of any other
judge that would say, go ahead and attack me, attack
my professionality, attack me personally, talk about me being a
clown and corrupt, and I mean all of that. Anybody
else would have been nailed for that if it happened
for the fifth time.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Its possible, but judges have broad discretion in those matters,
and I guess the judge Marshaan was pi skinned enough
to let this happen, and I think he was more
concerned about protecting people. I think because the judge's daughter
was also a contributor at some point to some democratic
cause I don't remember the details, but the judges saying, look,
don't talk about my daughter. That's not fair game either.
(19:48):
So things like that, They wanted to make sure that
the president elect could direct his anger at the appropriate people.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
All right, KFI National correspondent O'Neil, and I'm sure you're
gonna be covering what Trump is going to say right
after the sentencing and after the.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Audio is heard. Rory, thank you, Thanks Bill. Okay, one
of the.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Things that people do worry about, and this kicks in
after losing a home, is or losing a business, is okay,
now time to rebuild. And you've seen that on the
news where people were interviewed that have lost their homes
and talk about their communities being rebuilt. Sometimes it's just
pie in the sky. Sometimes it's real stuff. So let
(20:36):
me tell you what the California Insurance Commissioner, Ricardo Laura
did last night. First of all, let me start with
California insurance commissioner has enormous power. Many states don't have
even have an insurance commissioner. For example, in California, if
an insurance company wants to raise its rates, it has
to clear it through the insurance Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
The insurance commissioner has to say yes.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
So what he did last night is he issued a
mandatory one year moratorium. Means insurance companies are prohibited from
enacting non renewals. They can't tell you we're not renewing
and or cancellations until January seventh of twenty twenty six.
(21:22):
Otherwise the insurance company as well. You know I've been
I've been said no to when I sold the Persian
Palace in November, insurance laps took me forever to get
new insurance. And what he said is this rule applies
to all homeowners within the fire area or adjoining zip codes,
(21:43):
even if you haven't suffered a loss. Losing your insurance
to be the last thing on someone's mind after surviving
a devastating fire. Well after it's all said and done,
that's the first thing on everyone's mind. So you can
go to the Department of Insurance website insurance dota gov
and a couple of rules, some tips whenever you're doesn't
(22:05):
matter what you're doing in terms of going to another place,
going to a hotel, going to restaurants because you can't
cook at home, keep all the receipts for everything, and
then you'll worry about it later. Look at deductibles, which
vary by company. Check with your insurance company. I'm guessing
right now insurance agents and companies are coming to the table.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I haven't heard differently. I would have heard otherwise.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Documentation requirement for everything. Do not leave anything out. If
you do, call the date, the time, the name of
anybody in the insurance the insurance company you immediately write down.
Make sure they have a valid license because there are
a lot of scams out there. Check online with the
(22:52):
Department of Insurance. Now, public adjusters. I want to say
a word about public adjusters. These are people that come
in and negotiate with the insurance companies on your behalf
in terms of getting money to replace or repair. When
I tell you about going to a pro Mylemon law
lawyer dot com or handle on law dot com, because
(23:15):
these are experts in dealing with their issue. Public insurance
adjusters are experts. This is what they do. If you
think to replace your home and ask for and ask
for insurance company everything that's going to cost you, let
me tell you they're going to fight you every inch
of the way. I mean they'll pay, but they're gonna argue,
(23:37):
you know what, we're not going to pay for that
high end appliance. You don't really need something that expensive.
The word would work that you're replacing. No, we had
really expensive cabinetry. Yeah, but that went over the limits
and we really didn't expect that.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
We're not covering that. It's a fight, or it can be.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
A fight all the way down the line, which is
why I'm a fan of public adjusters.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
But you're not going to hear from them.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
They can't solicit seven days after a fire, so you're
not going to hear commercials, I don't think, because that's solicitation,
and you're not going to get contacted, which, by the way,
people are going to get contacted after a week because
you know, you get information about where people live, where
people work, and that's just available on the internet. So
(24:27):
be prepared and look at the copies of insurance policies,
important papers.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
One more thing I want to point out. We have
one of our senior senior management.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Folks in with us, guy the named Chris Berry, very
nice guy, has no hair like I do, so I'm
a big fan.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And he pointed something.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Out which I want to share with you, and that
is he was in New York during nine to eleven,
and of course it was a national and international stories
of gargantuan purport, but in New York it took on
a special meeting because in New York, New Yorkers were
personally affected, had friends, family members, new people who had
(25:13):
died or were affected by nine to eleven. He said,
this fire is our nine to eleven and that is
absolutely true. That that resonated. And Chris told me that,
and I said, I'm taking that, I'm taking credit, but
I'm a good guy because you have no hair, and
we we are compadres, all right, separated at birth.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
All right.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
On KFIAM six forty, you've been listening to the Bill
Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty the Bill Handles
Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
You are listening to the Bill Handle Show on KFI
AM six forty. Some of the big stories that are trending.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
First of all, President elect Donald Trump is going to
be sentenced today for a felony, a felony conviction, but
the judge has already said it's just going to.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Be an unconditional release. There'll be no probation, nothing.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
He's going to walk out because he's not about to sentence,
say President, but it's going to be a felony conviction
on his record.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And also TikTok Is for the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Today because it is about to be banned January nineteenth,
and arguing a First Amendment issue versus the other side
national security. All right, yesterday at the press conference, is
going to have another one at eight o'clock dealing with
the wildfires here in southern California. The district attorney was there,
LA County District Attorney, which if I've never seen an
(01:04):
LA County or a county district attorney at one of
these press conferences. So I want to introduce and thank
you La County District Attorney Nathan Hawkman.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Us, my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
On sure, and do you mind if I call you
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hawkman, just to.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Be informal, absolutely, and call me that you can call me.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Okay, got it, all right, let's go to Nathan.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Why not you can call me mister Handel. By the way,
that's not a problem. Now.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh, let's let's get serious for.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
A moment, because you talked about the crime that's being
committed in terms of looting, and uh, that's a felony
or being in an evacuation area where you should not
be as in you're not a residents. I'm trying to
put it into words it used to be and many
(02:05):
jurisdictions overseas where looters are shot on site because it
is such a dangerous crime relative to anarchy and simply
the falling apart of society as we know it. And
you talked about that, so let's talk about that your
position and what you are going to do upon the
(02:27):
arrest of someone who is accused of looting.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
So, yeah, this tragedy is immense. I am part of
the over one hundred and eighty thousand people who have
been evacuated in Pacific Palisades, where my sister used to
have a home with her husband and four boys at
home doesn't exist anymore. I had a chance to walk
and dry it through the fire and ravaged areas, and
(02:51):
it is nothing short of apocalyptic. So with this tragedy, sadly,
certain people in society view is an opportunity. And I'm
talking directly to the criminals out there. I want them
to have an unmistakably clear message that if they want
to loose, if they want to steal, if they want
to commit burglary, robbery, or any similar offense, they will
(03:13):
be arrested, they will be prosecuted, and they will be
punished to the maximum extent of the law. I send
this out as a warning so that nobody can have
any confusion later on as to what the consequences will
be for their actions. And I'm hoping that people heed
that warning and don't commit these crimes. But sadly, there
(03:34):
will be people who will commit them, and when they do,
they will be punished.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And when we talk about prosecuting under the fullest extent
of the law, what does that mean in terms of consequences.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So it's felony, there's grand fact, there's burglary. Looting has
both a felony and a misdemeanor component to it. There's
state prison, there's county jail, there's community service, there's restitution.
You're still you're going to pay it back. There's damage
that you can be that you could have caused others
(04:06):
you'll have to pay back. Now, this is a situation
where we will seek maximum penalties against people who decide
to take advantage of this incredible tragedy. Their actions are
despicable and nothing less right.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And usually there's a reputation.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I know you're turning this around and one of
the reasons you got elected is we came from a
policy of and I'll say this, coddling criminals.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay, I don't want to get into that.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
But when we talk about the maximum extent of the law,
someone is charged with looting, how long do they go
to prison for?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
What's the maximum?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So looting would probably it will get you about one
hundred and eighty days of county jail. Grand theft, burglary, robbery.
People who are going to engage sadly in Internet schemes.
You're all felonies. He can get you in state prison
for years and again also create huge financial liabilities for
you to pay all the money back. Now, it's a
(05:06):
combination of penalties that we can bring in any one
of these situations. And to the extent that people do
get arrested, we're going to speak with law enforcements help
to make sure that they don't get arrested in the
morning and get cited and released immediately, that they'll go
before a magistrate. I have appropriate bail put in in
(05:27):
each case.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, and I'm more on the tough side when it
comes to looting.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I'm almost fanatic about that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I can't imagine a judge giving anything other than the
maximum sentence upon conviction of looting for the reasons I
said at the beginning, literally the falling apart of society
when that happens. And six months in county jail doesn't
seem to be very long. Most of us would be
(05:55):
pretty offended that it's just not long enough. And even
a couple of three years in the state prison isn't enough.
And restitution, you know, these guys don't have any money,
so they're simply not gonna be able to pay back
throughout their entire lives. But do you do you see
any leniency at all when it comes to a looting conviction.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I agree with you. I think that not only will
the DA's office take it a very tough line, as
will law enforcement, but I think when these cases eventually
get presented to a judge for sentencing, I'd be hard
pressed to think a judge is going to look at
this as something other than a despicable crime that needs
to seek maximum punishment. Because you need to seek that
(06:40):
punishment not only to deter the person who's committed the crime,
but to anybody else thinking about it. And remember, if
you do it more than once, these penalties can be
held consecutive. So if someone gets caught looting more than once,
that can be a consecutive penalty where you add together
whether it's time in county jail or time in prison.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Now looting a looting charge, or getting into uh an
area that a mandatory evacuation area. I think that the victims,
this is another another page to this, that the victims,
and these are in many.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Cases wealthy people.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Alarms going off mean mean nothing because of non internet connection.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And the police. Uh, they're so busy are they.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Even going to show up when someone is accused of looting?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's the problem I see.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Well, right now it's an all hands on deck approach
by the Shaff's Department, by the LAPD and local police agencies.
And by that, I know that what they've done is
they've told detectives, put on a uniform, go man the streets. Yeah,
and that's exactly what we're happening. They're they're bringing in
the National Guard starting today. It'll help again deter people
(07:55):
who think that looting is even an option. And I
and I've got an incredible commitment from people who are
literally working back to back twelve hour shifts over and
over this week to make sure that they keep us safe.
The DA's office will come into play that when these
people get arrested, it's not an if, but a when.
(08:18):
Then they'll then go to the DA's office for prosecution.
And here's my promise, they will be prosecuted maximally to
the full extent of the law. So again, if anyone's
out there doing a cost benefit analysis, I'm going to
make sure that the cost is significant enough they don't
do the crime in the first place, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
How about the arsonist that or the person's been accused
of arson in the Kenneth fire. I mean that takes
to a much higher degree because well, I mean you're
looking at hundreds of homes, You're looking at the potential
of people dying there. That is that's kind of crazy.
And do you put those at a whole differ.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Absolutely, if someone wants to or has intentionally set fires
that have ignited these different fires around Los Angeles County,
that is a completely different level and they will be
held to a different level of significant consequences.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
How is that going the I'm assuming it's still under
investigation and how involved are you with the DA's office
in that investigation?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So those matters are going to be under investigation right now.
The top priority of the Fire Department and law enforcement
is saving lives, saving properties, getting stability back, getting things
under control, and in the process, once they achieve those goals,
they'll go ahead and do their best to determine what
the cause of the original fires were. And if it
(09:51):
turns out it's a man may cause, it turns out
it was intentionally done, then yes, the DA's office will
will work with law enforcement. The whole, These people fully
accountable for their actions.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Are you going to be at the eight o'clock press
conference today by any chance?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I will?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Okay, we'll see you then, and again, thanks for taking
the time. That's a District Attorney of Los Angeles Nathan Hoffman.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
One of the things that you hear and while this
reporting is going on is not only the danger of
the fires themselves, but also the air pollution that's out there.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
And this isn't your normal air.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Pollution that we're talking about either, which in and of
itself can be pretty dangerous. Doctor Jim Keeney with us
as he is on Wednesdays usually, but obviously this is
an important story, Jim, thanks for joining as always, So
let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
What are the dangers beyond just a fire?
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Well, I mean, smoke in the air really can cause
a lot of problem. Then it depends on your distance
to it, right. Obviously, if you're a firefighter and you're
right in the stick of the smoke, you've got issues
like carbon monoxide, heat injury, insulation injuries, that type of thing.
But for the rest of us who are living in
this environment now where you see the unhelpful air reports
(11:20):
and the fact they're keeping kids home from school and
things like that. You know, it's we are subject to
the soot, the microparticles that some of them are small
enough to get passed, you know, the sillia that protects
your lungs. They can get pretty deep into your lungs
and cause some you knows, your lungs are blind ended stack.
(11:43):
It's not like your intestinal system where if you eat
something it comes out the other end with your lungs.
Once it's in there, it's in there forever. It can
cause inflammatory changes and problems like that, and the irritation
can take people who are already sensitive, like people with
asthma or emphaseema, and throw them into an exacerbation that
(12:04):
requires medical treatment, sometimes admission to the hospital. I can
tell you that every er I've talked to, including ours,
is seeing a lot of lung problems, breathing problems ever
since the fire started.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So we're not talking about burn injuries.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Those are relatively minor in terms of numbers when you
have a fire like this, because most people get out.
It's the respiratory stuff that you're concentrating on in the er.
In the medical world, do I have that right, yes, So.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
I mean, if you are asthmatic emphathema, COPD usually have
an escalation process for when you start feeling like something's
going on. You start with your inhalers, you start with steroids,
and those people should really start heading down that track
if they haven't already, to try and prevent it from
getting really bad. But when you do end up in
trouble and you're having trouble breathing when you're and you're
(13:00):
using that inhaler more than the recommended amount by your doctor,
that's time to come to the er. Because I see
a lot of people they'll start using it every two hours,
then every hour, and then by the time the paramedics
get there, they have nothing to add. And now you
can't breathe, and we're hoping to get you to the
hospital in time. So don't wait wait too long for that.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Everybody that's certainly reporting on the fire, the TV, the radio,
people are wearing masks. How valuable and how good do
those masks help?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Yes, oh so it's better than nothing, But it's not
a respirator like what the fire department wears. And still
those microparticles can get through. I mean ideally, right, An
N ninety five mask might be the highest level that
you can wear, but you know, or even a teeners mask,
but you know, most people can't go about their entire
(13:54):
day and wearing that. So if you need to be
in the area that you should be wearing some kind
of protection.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And if not, just get the hell out of Dodge
as early as possible.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
I'm assuming, Yeah, I mean, really, the goal for everyone
else is try and stay in inside your home, close
the windows, turn on either just the fan system or
the air conditioning system if you have one, because that
will at least filter the air a bit, and then
once this whole thing's over, change the filter, open your windows,
air out the house.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I am hearing, and again, correct me if I'm wrong
that everything you do or can do, if there is
a major amount of smoke and pollutants coming your way,
that's all not that effective.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Yeah, I mean, that's about all you can do is
steal yourself in your house. I mean, it's going to
be the best air quality you're going to get for
a while. If the air outside is very smoky, if
you're literally seeing soot on the windshield of your car
when you wake up in the morning. You know, you
don't want to breathe that in, so staying inside your house,
keeping them windows clothes is the best.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Way to go.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
But you know, obviously that's that's not perfect either. It's
still making its way in.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
All right, Jim, we'll catch you next Wednesday, as we
normally do, and thanks for taking the time. But there's
another story that would have been massive, insanely important and
is getting second drift because of what's happening with the fires,
and that is President elect Donald Trump, who a few
(15:28):
minutes ago was convicted of a felony. Kafi National correspondent
Rory O'Neil has been covering the story since the beginning. Rory,
thanks for taking the time, and let's dive into it
because it is both very serious for Trump and not
so serious for Trump.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So if you get into the particulars, please sure.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
So remember he was convicted on thirty four felony accounts
back in May and then kept on kick trying to
kick this sentencing down the road, but the Supreme Court
yesterday ruled five to four saying it had to move
forward today or it could and then what ultimately happened
was what they call an unconditional discharge. The President elect
appearing remotely at mar A Lago and phoning it in,
(16:15):
I guess to this court hearing that happened in the
state of New York, and the punishment was nothing. Essentially,
the judge said, I'm adjudicating you as a felon and
that is all. There won't be any fine, no probation,
no nothing. So now Donald Trump can get ready to
go back to focusing on his second administration.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Which and he's going to get into the administration.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
We've never had a president ever be inaugurated who had
been convicted of a felony. Now, usually, and you've been
watching this and covering this, usually, as Donald Trump has
left any of these hearings or motions, which he was
out a lot of them, he comes outside, talks reporters
and rips into Mr. The judge and I mean nails
(17:03):
him personally, professionally, the entire justice system.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Are we going to see that or are we saying that?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Are they preparing for what is quote a press conference
that he normally gives in these situations.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
We got a little preview of that again yesterday. And
by the way, he set all that stuff and he
was under a gag order. Remember, the judge in this
case imposed a gag order as it applied to jurors,
and I think his daughter and the court stenographer and
everyone else who was in the courtroom. The judge said,
I'm fair game, but there was a gag order actually
(17:40):
on Trump. Yet he still made some of those pretty
outrageous claims in the hallway just outside the court.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Room every day.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
We'll see if he has anything more to say now
that the sentence is complete. But the judge said, look,
a sentence is one of the most difficult and significant
decisions any judge has to meet. He said, this was
a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. But at the end,
he said, look, a president, just because your president doesn't
mean you can erase a jury's verdict. What I'm looking
(18:08):
forward to is the audio of this hearing, which is
about to be released, so we'll hear everything, although we
won't get to see video of it all.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
The notion that a president is not above the law
is kind of a crock when it comes to Trump.
Anybody else violating a gag order time after time after
time would have some consequences, and it looks like merchand
did absolutely nothing with that.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, again, he narrowed the gag order so that he said,
all right, Donald Trump can say whatever he wants to
about me, but he wanted to make sure that there
was the daughter and some family members of people and
some of the jurors, and Donald Trump had really stuck
to most of that and wasn't as critical of them
after the gag order came down. Maybe a slip or
two here and there, but it wasn't as bad as
(18:59):
the iyre that we heard directed at the judge, which
the judge agreed was fair game.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Now that's interesting because I don't know of any other
judge that would say, go ahead and attack me, attack
my professionality, attack me personally, talk about me being a
clown and corrupt, and I mean all of that. Anybody
else would have been nailed for that if it happened
for the fifth time.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Its possible, but judges have broad discretion in those matters,
and I guess the judge Marshaan was pi skinned enough
to let this happen, and I think he was more
concerned about protecting people. I think because the judge's daughter
was also a contributor at some point to some democratic
cause I don't remember the details, but the judges saying, look,
don't talk about my daughter. That's not fair game either.
(19:48):
So things like that, They wanted to make sure that
the president elect could direct his anger at the appropriate people.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
All right, KFI National correspondent O'Neil, and I'm sure you're
gonna be covering what Trump is going to say right
after the sentencing and after the.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Audio is heard. Rory, thank you, Thanks Bill. Okay, one
of the.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Things that people do worry about, and this kicks in
after losing a home, is or losing a business, is okay,
now time to rebuild. And you've seen that on the
news where people were interviewed that have lost their homes
and talk about their communities being rebuilt. Sometimes it's just
pie in the sky. Sometimes it's real stuff. So let
(20:36):
me tell you what the California Insurance Commissioner, Ricardo Laura
did last night. First of all, let me start with
California insurance commissioner has enormous power. Many states don't have
even have an insurance commissioner. For example, in California, if
an insurance company wants to raise its rates, it has
to clear it through the insurance Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
The insurance commissioner has to say yes.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
So what he did last night is he issued a
mandatory one year moratorium. Means insurance companies are prohibited from
enacting non renewals. They can't tell you we're not renewing
and or cancellations until January seventh of twenty twenty six.
(21:22):
Otherwise the insurance company as well. You know I've been
I've been said no to when I sold the Persian
Palace in November, insurance laps took me forever to get
new insurance. And what he said is this rule applies
to all homeowners within the fire area or adjoining zip codes,
(21:43):
even if you haven't suffered a loss. Losing your insurance
to be the last thing on someone's mind after surviving
a devastating fire. Well after it's all said and done,
that's the first thing on everyone's mind. So you can
go to the Department of Insurance website insurance dota gov
and a couple of rules, some tips whenever you're doesn't
(22:05):
matter what you're doing in terms of going to another place,
going to a hotel, going to restaurants because you can't
cook at home, keep all the receipts for everything, and
then you'll worry about it later. Look at deductibles, which
vary by company. Check with your insurance company. I'm guessing
right now insurance agents and companies are coming to the table.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I haven't heard differently. I would have heard otherwise.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Documentation requirement for everything. Do not leave anything out. If
you do, call the date, the time, the name of
anybody in the insurance the insurance company you immediately write down.
Make sure they have a valid license because there are
a lot of scams out there. Check online with the
(22:52):
Department of Insurance. Now, public adjusters. I want to say
a word about public adjusters. These are people that come
in and negotiate with the insurance companies on your behalf
in terms of getting money to replace or repair. When
I tell you about going to a pro Mylemon law
lawyer dot com or handle on law dot com, because
(23:15):
these are experts in dealing with their issue. Public insurance
adjusters are experts. This is what they do. If you
think to replace your home and ask for and ask
for insurance company everything that's going to cost you, let
me tell you they're going to fight you every inch
of the way. I mean they'll pay, but they're gonna argue,
(23:37):
you know what, we're not going to pay for that
high end appliance. You don't really need something that expensive.
The word would work that you're replacing. No, we had
really expensive cabinetry. Yeah, but that went over the limits
and we really didn't expect that.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
We're not covering that. It's a fight, or it can be.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
A fight all the way down the line, which is
why I'm a fan of public adjusters.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
But you're not going to hear from them.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
They can't solicit seven days after a fire, so you're
not going to hear commercials, I don't think, because that's solicitation,
and you're not going to get contacted, which, by the way,
people are going to get contacted after a week because
you know, you get information about where people live, where
people work, and that's just available on the internet. So
(24:27):
be prepared and look at the copies of insurance policies,
important papers.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
One more thing I want to point out. We have
one of our senior senior management.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Folks in with us, guy the named Chris Berry, very
nice guy, has no hair like I do, so I'm
a big fan.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And he pointed something.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Out which I want to share with you, and that
is he was in New York during nine to eleven,
and of course it was a national and international stories
of gargantuan purport, but in New York it took on
a special meeting because in New York, New Yorkers were
personally affected, had friends, family members, new people who had
(25:13):
died or were affected by nine to eleven. He said,
this fire is our nine to eleven and that is
absolutely true. That that resonated. And Chris told me that,
and I said, I'm taking that, I'm taking credit, but
I'm a good guy because you have no hair, and
we we are compadres, all right, separated at birth.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
All right.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
On KFIAM six forty, you've been listening to the Bill
Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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