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--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- John Bickley: Embattled commercial airline 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 a decline in ticket sales.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In contrast, American Airlines posted an $803 million profit for the same period.
--:-- John Bickley: Southwest CEO Bob Jordan addressed the losses Thursday. Our customers are sticking with us. We really inconvenience 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- John Bickley: 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 2022.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The unprecedented demand for benefits and the need to implement the new programs quickly increased the risk of financial fraud, the GAO said in a statement.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- John Bickley: The attorney general office said that the ban and the company use of facial recognition technology to enforce it may violate anti laws and may dissuade lawyers from taking on cases such as sexual harassment or job discrimination claims against the company.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Food and Drug Administration says it cannot regulate CBD because it does not have enough information on the safety of the product.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Walmart will add 30 new Sam's Club stores in various locations over the next few years.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Warehouse clubs, including Costco and BJ's, are all experiencing growth, which started during the pandemic.
--:-- John Bickley: A new count of the Los Angeles homeless population done by the RAND Corporation found homelessness up an average of 18 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The count focused on Skid Row, where numbers were up 13 percent, Hollywood up 14 percent and the hardest hit area was Venice where homelessness was up a concerning 32 percent.
--:-- John Bickley: This count was done between September 2021 to October of last year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The numbers contradict those released last summer by the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, which claimed a decrease in homelessness.
--:-- John Bickley: The Sacramento Zoo celebrated the birth of a baby giraffe over the weekend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- John Bickley: Zookeepers say the female calf is doing well, is nursing, and is bonding with her mother.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Concerned fans sparked a wellness check for Britney Spears over the weekend.
--:-- John Bickley: After Spears deleted her Instagram account, worried fans called law enforcement who performed a wellness check on the star on Tuesday night.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- John Bickley: And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
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