--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- John Bickley: New documents show the CDC began tracking the location and movement of tens of millions of U.S. citizens during COVID. Who has the CDC been tracking and what information are they looking for? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, May 5th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Plans to clear up Los Angeles homeless encampments appear to be falling apart. What's behind the stalled progress and how are residents reacting? These are public places that have been, unfortunately, sometimes taken over as homeless camps and it creates public safety issues. People don't want to go visit, ride their bikes or jog and so forth.
--:-- John Bickley: And J.D. Vance surged ahead of both frontrunners to win the Republican nomination for Senate in Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, it ain't the death of the America First agenda. We'll tell you how he did it and what his victory means for the GOP.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. This show is sponsored by Birch Gold. The value of your IRA or 401k has likely ballooned thanks to the longest bull market run in U.S. history. But every bull run is followed by a recession. If you want to take some of your profits now, solidify them with gold from Birch Gold. Text WIRE to 989898 for a free zero-obligation info kit on holding gold in a tax-sheltered retirement account.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Recently released documents from the Centers for Disease Control show the agency began tracking location data on millions of phones to monitor whether Americans were obeying COVID-19 lockdown orders. The CDC spent $420,000 on location data in order to track a number of things, including compliance with curfews and people visiting K-12 schools.
--:-- Ash Short: Yeah, this is a concerning report. The CDC bought location data, which is sourced from a person's phone and can show where they travel, including where they live and work. Now, the data the CDC has was aggregated, which meant it would only show broad movements and trends. But that data could theoretically be used to track specific individuals, and the CDC had information from at least 20 million people who actively use their cell phones.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 20 million people? Wow. What did the CDC do with this data?
--:-- Ash Short: The documents, which were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request from Vice's motherboard, show the agency used the data to hourly monitor activity in COVID-19 curfew zones. They also checked the number of people visiting participating pharmacies and for vaccine monitoring. The CDC also listed a number of, quote, potential use cases for the data, which included tracking the patterns of people who visited K-12 schools and comparing those patterns to 2019 numbers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So was this all focused entirely on COVID?
--:-- Ash Short: It doesn't look like it was limited to COVID. The documents indicated that the CDC used research data for quote physical activity and chronic disease prevention, such as visits to parks, gyms, or weight management businesses. So the tracking wasn't limited to the pandemic?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Doesn't look that way.
--:-- Ash Short: In addition to tracking physical activity, the CDC said it also planned to use the mobility data for, quote, non-COVID-19 programmatic areas and public health priorities, including the monitoring of people traveling to green spaces, their modes of travel, and quoting here, population migration before, during, and after natural disasters.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The information gathered would be available for everyone at the CDC. Motherboards spoke with a cybersecurity expert who said, quote, the CDC seems to have purposefully created an open-ended list of use cases, which included monitoring curfews, neighbor-to-neighbor visits, visits to churches, schools and pharmacies, and also a variety of analysis with this data specifically focused on violence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Really? So now that the pandemic, particularly the lockdowns and mandates, are mostly over, what will the CDC do with this data?
--:-- Ash Short: It looks like they plan to continue tracking American phones. The agency said it has a, quote, interest in continued access to this mobility data as the country opens back up. The CDC also said the data was used by several teams and groups during the pandemic response, which resulted in deeper insights into the pandemic as it pertains to human behavior.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What does this all mean for privacy concerns?
--:-- Ash Short: It's definitely a concern for those who worry about being tracked. As I mentioned earlier, the data bought by the CDC doesn't show the location of specific devices, but search results can point to specific locations, which could allow someone with nefarious intent to use the data to unmask individual users. Multiple researchers have been able to show this is possible using this type of data.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it's certainly concerning. We'll have to keep an eye on this. Ash, thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire Senior Editor, Ash Short. Coming up, Los Angeles is failing to clean up homeless encampments. This show is sponsored by Tessa Mays. Need a flavor upgrade? Tessa Mays is a flavor-forward food company that makes clean-label organic products with uncompromising quality ingredients. Their commitment to healthy eating and living is at the core of their mission. See all of the amazing products they have to offer today at www.tessemays.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Despite voting in measures last year to clear homeless encampments from sidewalks, Los Angeles is making little progress, and residents are getting fed up. L.A. residents have long complained to their public officials about the homeless issue, but so far, progress has been disappointing. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to create a new government department to coordinate the county's response to homelessness.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Yeah, so Los Angeles officials did promise last year that the city would start clearing away some of the homeless encampments from LA's public areas. But it turns out they made the promise without resources to back it up. In early July, the Los Angeles City Council voted to allow a camping ban for certain public properties. This would allow the city to start clearing the homeless encampments, which at this point seem like they've become a permanent fixture of the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: However, the plan had a very slow start, and even in places where the city is supposedly implementing it the homeless encampments seem to linger. And do we have numbers on the homeless population in L.A.?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: The latest numbers are from the 2020 count. In 2020 L County homeless population jumped 12 percent over the previous year. The city of L.A.'s homeless population jumped by 14 percent in 2020. The 2022 count concluded in February and results are expected to be released over the summer.
--:-- Georgia Howe: At the beginning of 2019, Los Angeles County had nearly 59,000 homeless people. A year later, in 2020, there were more than 66,000. The city's homeless population is second only to New York City.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Okay, so what happened to the plan to clean up encampments?
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the Los Angeles Times started looking into what was wrong with the program after residents got more and more exasperated about the situation. The paper found that outreach workers have struggled to convince homeless people to leave voluntarily. Another issue was not enough outreach workers to begin with. The city bought and set up more than 100 permanent metal signs warning homeless people about the deadline to move out of the public areas, but the signs have not been overly helpful. People simply ignore the signs.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: There also wasn't really anywhere for that many homeless people to go once they left the parks and sidewalks. L.A. doesn't have enough homeless shelters, tiny homes, or hotel rooms for homeless people, and even if they did, there aren't enough outreach workers to help move people into them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All this means that even months after the camping ban went into effect in these public areas, many homeless makeshift shelters remain indefinitely. Now, is law enforcement involved at all in enforcing these rules?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Not really. Police have rarely issued tickets to homeless people for not leaving past the camping ban deadline. In fact, the LAPD reported that it has issued only two citations for camping in a no camping zone.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, there isn't enough room in jails to arrest everyone, and arresting everyone would not be in line with the city's promise to find a compassionate solution to the homeless problem.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: This has been a longstanding issue in L.A., especially since L.A.'s drug addiction and mental health problem goes hand in hand with the city's homeless problem. Many homeless people have addiction and mental health issues, and they often refuse to stay in shelters even when they're put there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, how much money has been spent on this issue?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: A lot. In June, Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the city's $11 billion budget that included nearly $1 billion for the homeless crisis. Hundreds of millions have been spent on housing and rent support. One housing project is set to cost as much as $837,000 for each housing unit, a city audit revealed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. This is becoming a really expensive problem for L.A. and other cities, too. Maraid, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Political newcomer J.D. Vance won the Republican primary in Ohio Tuesday. He is vying to replace retiring Senator Rob Portman. His come-from-behind win was widely viewed as the first real test of a Trump endorsement in 2022. Joining us to discuss the Ohio Senate primary is Daily Wire's Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Sure, Georgia. Ohio was the first primary of the election season and was closely watched by the political and pundit class. Former hedge fund businessman and first-time candidate J.D. Vance received a pretty big shot of momentum in the final weeks of his campaign. Former President Donald Trump endorsed him on April 15th, just three weeks shy of the primary.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Vance trailed in the polls throughout the primary and looked like he was headed for a second or third place finish. Back in March, he was getting about half the support of either of the two frontrunners, former state treasurer Josh Mandel and businessman Mike Gibbons.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Then on Tuesday, Vance won the primary by a healthy eight-point margin. The question presented in this primary was, do we want to have a border that protects our citizens Do we want to ship our jobs to China or keep them right here in America for American workers and the American people Do we want a Republican Party that stands for the donors who write checks to the Club for Growth? Or do we want a Republican Party for the people right here in Ohio?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ladies and gentlemen, we just answered the question.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Interesting. Now, Vance was also a never-Trumper at one point. So how did he turn that around and get the former president's endorsement?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it wasn't easy, but Vance was able to convince the former president that he supported a lot of the populist issues important to Trump.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Plus, Vance had the support of several high-profile people, including Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr. Vance also had the financial backing and early support of Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and an early Facebook investor. By the end of the primary, Thiel had put a record $15 million toward the ProVance effort, the largest amount of money ever given by one person to a single Senate candidate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in addition to his own money, Thiel helped draw on other big dollar investors to support Vance's campaign, like venture capitalist David Sachs, who dropped a million dollars on Vance's super PAC.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, this is Vance's first run for political office, but he was already a national figure before this because of his bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, do you feel like that played into the campaign at all?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, Vance first became prominent for his 2016 memoir about growing up in Appalachia in a community torn apart by the opiate crisis. That background helped Vance connect with a lot of rural and Rust Belt voters and informed his populist campaign stances. His book was later turned into a big Hollywood film starring A-lister Amy Adams and Glenn Close.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, who will Vance face off with in a general election, and what are his chances of actually winning?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Vance will face Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan in the general. Ryan is a moderate Democrat who flamed out pretty early in the 2020 presidential primaries. While Ryan has represented Ohio in the U.S. House for about a decade, it's hard to see how he beats Vance in the general. As unpopular as President Joe Biden and the Democrats are right now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, another really interesting race in Ohio on Tuesday was the Democratic primary for Ohio's 11th district. In that race, we saw progressive Nina Turner taking on the moderate incumbent, Chantel Brown.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That race was billed as the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party because it pitted the progressive candidate, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, against the moderate candidate, Chantel Brown, who was endorsed by Hillary Clinton.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Brown won the race handily, and that was seen as a blow to the progressive left wing of the party.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So a pretty interesting kickoff to the primary season.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: My pleasure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. Comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage during his show at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night after a man threw himself at the comedian who was forced to the ground.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The European Commission has suggested a plan to slowly get rid of Russian oil imports, prohibiting oil imports after six months and refined petroleum items by the year's end.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a half point for the first time in two decades. The move is an effort to take control over record inflation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know. If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter, available exclusively to Daily Wire members. Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Use code morningwire to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
