Monks & Merrill

It's MORE Monks & Merrill! Yes! It's true! An hour of brand new content just for you! This fine Saturday night, Monks & Merrill discuss the lawsuit filed against Hilton and Hyatt hotels for pumping in smells that may conflict with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Californians have been opening LLCs in Montana to buy "company vehicles" and paying zero sales tax. The US Government is up...

Hour 1 - Californians are facing some of the highest water bills in the country, and one San Fernando Valley man’s shocking $3,000 electricity bill is now under investigation by the L.A. City Controller. Plus, California’s Attorney General warns seven Inland Empire cities and Riverside County about protecting residents from truck pollution. And Pablo Goldstein, creative producer at L.A...

Hour 2 - SoCal’s iconic coastal railroad could be forced to move as rising sea levels threaten its future. Plus, the world’s largest wildlife crossing is on track to open this winter — but could El Niño throw a wrench into the plans? A brush fire shuts down the 5 Freeway on the Grapevine near Gorman, an infamous L.A. neighborhood trash house is buried in garbage again, and...

Hour 3 - New data show police lawsuits have cost Los Angeles nearly half a billion dollars since 2019. Plus, Metro’s new faregates have reduced fare evasion by just 36%, California state workers were teleworking from states including Idaho, Tennessee and Alabama, and a massive strike by California state employees could be on the horizon this month. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

Hour 1 - Hurricane Rachel moves toward Southern California as powerful waves, rain and strong winds create coastal dangers. Phil Ferrar from AM 600 KOGO in San Diego joins Monks & Merrill to discuss the USS Abraham Lincoln returning home after a record deployment. Plus, President Trump addresses concerns over a potential Iranian strike on Los Angeles and San Diego.  See omnystudio.com/lis...

Hour 2 - LA City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian joins Monks & Merrill to discuss rising crime concerns on LA Metro following the pause of the Tap-to-Exit program and how the measure fits into Metro’s broader safety strategy. Plus, the council’s decision to suspend the CARE+ program during environmental emergencies and the latest developments surrounding an LA neighborhood’s not...

Hour 3 - Southern California renters are feeling the pressure as rents rise across 58% of the region’s cities. Young people are also leaving Los Angeles for unexpected destinations, including Fresno. Plus, Christa Pike’s lawyers speak out after her failed execution, and Governor Gavin Newsom weighs whether to spare the lives of all 563 people currently on California’s death row....

Hour 1 - The earlier LAFD investigation tried to answer a technical question: what physically caused the Lineage Logistics fire? Nithya Raman is taking heavy fire over a since-deleted campaign video that paired the phrase “Only you can stop fascist liars” with images of Mayor Karen Bass and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, including a red X over McDonnell’s face. Councilwoman Traci Park...

Hour 2 - The Los Angeles Police Protective League is escalating its opposition to Measure FD, the half-cent sales tax increase backed by the firefighters union, by preparing to spend millions of dollars against it. Garden Grove will require hotels to give employees working alone in guestrooms personal security devices beginning January 1. Orange County has formally ended its relationship with Mind...

Hour 3 - Voters are increasingly using ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI tools to research candidates, compare positions and sort through down-ballot races that receive little traditional news coverage. California's Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team now rates LAUSD at high risk of insolvency, citing chronic deficit spending, declining enrollment, rising labor costs, soaring spec...

Hour 1 - President Trump was defending the war with Iran and its economic costs Monday night when he suddenly invoked Los Angeles and San Diego as cities Iran could potentially “take out.” The Trump administration has opened a federal enforcement action against LAUSD, arguing that district policies improperly allow schools to keep a student’s gender identity and other sensit...

Hour 2 - Southern California is in the middle of an unusually long and intense October heat wave, with temperatures running roughly 15 to 22 degrees above normal in many areas, and Extreme Heat Warnings continue. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed SB 868, creating a legal pathway for small plug-in solar systems that renters and homeowners can install without going through the full rooftop-solar intercon...

Hour 3 - Councilwoman Traci Park wants Los Angeles to substantially broaden Municipal Code 41.18, the city’s anti-camping law, by adding more protected locations and eliminating a procedural step that currently requires the full City Council to approve many individual no-camping zones. The Los Angeles City Council is considering stepping into LAPD’s rapidly expanding use of automated l...

Hour 1 -  Metrolink raises fares today, October 5, for the first time in 13 years. Does charging paying customers more actually fix a transit system struggling with ridership and finances? Hollywood Burbank Airport cuts the ribbon today on a new 355,000-square-foot terminal that begins handling passengers Tuesday, October 13. Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken now acknowledges she had an unhealthy...

Hour 2 - New Pew research argues that California's housing shortage is itself a major cause of poverty, with unusually high rents swallowing much of the benefit from programs designed to help struggling households. Your argument holds up, with one important refinement: Latino voters could be decisive not because they are moving together, but because they are deeply divided by age, housing status a...

Hour 3 - Measure ULA has undeniably produced substantial money for affordable housing and homelessness programs, but research increasingly suggests it also changes behavior in the very real-estate market the city needs to produce housing. A new 724-page independent investigation commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom lays out a blunt picture of the Eaton and Palisades fires. The report makes 266 recomm...

It's MORE Monks & Merrill! Here's Saturday's fresh content: What college degrees deserve to be subsidized by the government, and which should you avoid at all costs? How to communicate with your Gen Z coworkers. Are there unforeseen consequences to no-fault divorces?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's MORE Monks & Merrill! Here's the best of the week: CSUN Professor Chhandak Basu joins us to discuss his NASA-funded research into how leafy greens grow and microbes survive in space. If and when California DOES get high speed rail, where do we put the stops?  Plus, guest Rishaan Marwaha joins Michael Monks and Chris Merrill to discuss how AI is impacting schools and students—an...

Hour 1 - We take a closer look at some eye-opening developments involving the LAPD. Why did 302 LAPD officers clear more than $300,000 last year, while only 15 officers at the much larger NYPD did? Plus, speed demons beware—speed cameras are coming to Los Angeles, with Malibu’s test cameras already recording 100,000 violations.  KFI News Reporter Jason Nathanson joins us in studio...

Hour 2 -The Monks and Merrill Show, we’re going from the cutting edge of space technology to controversy on the ground in Southern California. Google’s Project Suncatcher is officially headed to space—what could the future of computing look like beyond Earth? CSUN Professor Chhandak Basu joins us to discuss his NASA-funded research into how leafy greens grow and microbes survive...

Hour 3 - We break down Southern California’s latest headlines. Southern California Edison is offering more than $1 billion in compensation to community members impacted by the Eaton Fire. Plus, Altadena fire survivors are pushing for SB 1090, seeking to limit high-density rebuilding. Guest Shawna Dawson Beer of Beautiful Altadena joins us to discuss the fight over what rebuilding should look...

Hour 1 - Jayson Campadonia joins Michael Monks and Chris Merrill to break down the latest California governor’s debate between Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra, along with new polling involving L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman. Plus, Gov. Gavin Newsom signs AB 2222, creating refundable tax credits for qualifying California news organizations to help retain and hire journal...

Hour 2 - Anthropic is preparing to go public as concerns over AI safety and oversight continue to grow. Is “self-policing” enough as AI rapidly evolves? Plus, guest Rishaan Marwaha joins Michael Monks and Chris Merrill to discuss how AI is impacting schools and students—and how California higher education is responding to the rapid changes brought by artificial intelligence. See...

Hour 3 - Los Angeles is preparing for another blast of extreme heat, with triple-digit temperatures expected this weekend. Plus, LA28 is considering event cancellation insurance, the Huntington Beach Airshow takes to the skies, and Airshow CEO and creator Kevin Elliot joins Michael Monks and Chris Merrill to talk about this weekend’s big aviation event. And Gov. Gavin Newsom makes a very pub...

Hour 1- Monks and Merrill are covering the latest in Israel and the Israeli plane incident with ABC News' Rich Frankel. PLUS Bass and Raman address the Jewish Angelinos at the Mayoral forum, and we have the audio and MORE on KFIAM-640.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.