Morning Wire - Friday Afternoon Update | 1.27.23

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.   Epic Will: Epic Will "Get 10% OFF your Will! Use promo code 'WIRE' at EpicWill.com" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Friday, January 27th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. Embattled Commercial Airlines Southwest announced a $220 million loss for the last quarter, mostly due to the cancellation of nearly 17,000 flights over the busy holiday travel season. The budget airline is expected to take more losses in the first quarter as well due to decline in ticket sales. In contrast, American Airlines posted an $803 million profit for the same period. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan addressed the losses Thursday. Our customers are sticking with us. We really inconvenienced them, but if you look at March and beyond, the bookings are strong. Our leisure bookings are strong.

Our managed business bookings are coming in strong. So there's a lot of evidence that our loyal customers are sticking with us. Authorities in North Carolina are informing the general public of a concerning development. There have been razor blades found on the handles of gas pumps at several sites in the state. Fraudsters may have stolen as much as $60 billion from the various unemployment insurance programs enacted by lockdown-era stimulus bills. That's according to a report from the nonpartisan government accountability office. Some $878 billion was paid across all unemployment insurance programs between April 2020 and September 2020. The unprecedented demand for benefits and the need to implement.

admit the new programs quickly increased the risk of financial fraud, the GAO said in a statement. New York's Attorney General warned MSG Entertainment in a letter Wednesday that it may be violating anti-bias laws after barring certain individuals from its venues based on where those individuals worked. Specifically, MSG has been accused of barring lawyers from their event spaces if those lawyers worked for firms who are actively pursuing litigation against MSG. The attorney General's office said that the ban and the company's use of facial recognition technology to enforce it may violate anti-discrimination laws and may dissuade lawyers from taking on cases such as sexual harassment or job discrimination claims against the company.

The Food and Drug Administration says it cannot regulate CBD because it does not have enough information on the safety of the product. CBD, which is derived from marijuana, is often used in foods, lotions, and other products. The FDA is asking Congress to set new rules for the growing CBD market. Walmart will add 30 new Sam's Club stores in various locations over the next few years. The first new store will open in Florida with a distribution center in Georgia. Sam's Club stores that have been open more than a year saw 10% growth in the last quarter. Warehouse clubs, including Costco and BJs, are all experiencing growth, which started during the pandemic.

A new count of the Los Angeles homeless population, done by the RAND Corporation found homelessness up an average of 18%. The count focused on Skid Row, where numbers were up 13%. Hollywood up 14.5%. And the hardest hit area was Venice, where homelessness was up a concerning 32%. This count was done between September 2021 to October of last year. The numbers contradict those released last summer by the LA Homeless Services Authority, which claimed a decrease in homelessness.

The Sacramento Zoo celebrated the birth of a baby giraffe over the weekend. According to the zoo, the mother was moved to the maternity stall of the giraffe barn on the 18th and gave birth on the 22nd. Zookeepers say the female calf is doing well, is nursing, and is bonding with her mother. Concerned fans sparked a wellness check for Brittany Spears over the weekend. After Spears deleted her Instagram account, worried fans called law enforcement who performed a wellness check on the star on Tuesday. night. A police spokesman told page six later on, quote, I can confirm that we did get calls into our dispatch, and essentially I can confirm that we don't believe that Britney Spears is in any kind of harm or any kind of danger. Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more

about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.