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Hey! You look like you need to hear the best Monks & Merrill segments of the week! 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 like. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed SB 1090, temporarily shielding Altadena from state laws that make it easier to split residential lots and build small multifamily projects. California YIMBY argues the law removes options that could help cash-strapped homeowners finance their own return. Director of Communication at YIMBY, Matthew Lewis, joins the show. Gov. Newsom has also 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 interconnection process. Co-Founder of Bright Saver, Cora Stryker, joins the show. Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky is pushing two related ideas: make Los Angeles much more aggressive about redeveloping underused public property, and remove city barriers that make condos, townhomes and other starter homes harder to build than apartments. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 in arms about whether or not to keep Daylight Saving Time. Also, will the kids be alright? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Material, joins us to explore the underground Facebook scene delivering In-N-Out to fans  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 companies are buying up pieces of L.A. County’s $4-billion sex abuse settlement See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 information.

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/listener for privacy information.

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 notorious trash-filled home. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 wants to broaden Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18, which restricts sitting, sleeping, lying or storing property in designated public spaces. Measure FD would raise the City of Los Angeles sales tax another half-cent, taking the rate from 10.25% to 10.75% and generating an estimated $345 million a year specifically for the LAFD. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 OC, the nonprofit behind Be Well OC, and taken full control of the behavioral-health campuses in Orange and Irvine. Newport Beach is now planning two elections on November 3. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 special-education expenses and a school system built for far more students than it actually has. About 75% of Torrance Unified classrooms lack air conditioning during this week's brutal heat, forcing the district to rely on cooling rooms, hydration stations, extra ice and even slushies while officials contemplate heat days and a future bond measure costing hundreds of millions. Southern California remains under an Extreme Heat Warning through Thursday evening, with downtown Los Angeles forecast near 99 degrees today and the mid-90s Thursday. At the same time, the tropical Pacific continues to warm rapidly, and NOAA now says there is a 75% chance the current El Niño becomes a historic event exceeding previous El Niños' in records dating to 1950. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 sensitive information from parents. LAUSD is considering a 390-unit workforce housing development on the long-vacant former Collins Street Elementary School site in Woodland Hills. Councilman Bob Blumenfield is pushing back on claims that Los Angeles invented a mountain lion habitat designation to kill a 398-unit housing proposal at the Woodland Hills Country Club. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 interconnection process. Co-Founder of Bright Saver, Cora Stryker, joins the show. Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky is pushing two related ideas: make Los Angeles much more aggressive about redeveloping underused public property, and remove city barriers that make condos, townhomes and other starter homes harder to build than apartments. Yaroslavsky argues Los Angeles can attack housing costs from both ends by putting underused public land to work and removing regulations that discourage starter-home construction. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 license plate readers. A new Hilton-commissioned poll puts Xavier Becerra ahead just 45.7% to 40.1%, dramatically tighter than recent independent surveys showing Becerra ahead by 20 points or more. Steve Hilton’s campaign is testing an unusual theory: California’s Republican ceiling is so low that he has to reach voters who normally recoil from the GOP brand, even if the effort irritates conservatives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 relationship with alcohol. Federal agents arrested Irvine realtor Wanying “Heather” Zhang at LAX as she allegedly prepared to fly to Shanghai, accusing her of acting as an unregistered agent of China. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.