May 5, 2025 • 40 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Tim Murray - Former Lt. Gov./current Worcester Chamber President discussed Mass. House's moves to block vocational school lottery admissions.
Air traffic controller at one of America's biggest airports issues chilling warning to passengers – air traffic controller shortage worsens… Mike Hatten - Former Helicopter & Commercial Airline Pilot stopped by to discuss.
Collections on defaulted student loans may affect millions of people's credit scores. Janice Spooner - expert on lending and credit and the Market President with Great Plains Bank Southlake checked in.
According to Psychology Today, children and teenagers are increasingly self-diagnosing themselves with mental health issues like ADHD, autism or anxiety based on something they viewed on social media. Leigh Richardson, PhD Psychology – Licensed professional counselor & founder of The Brain Performance Center in Dallas checked in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Tim Murray - Former Lt. Gov./current Worcester Chamber President discussed Mass. House's moves to block vocational school lottery admissions.
Air traffic controller at one of America's biggest airports issues chilling warning to passengers – air traffic controller shortage worsens… Mike Hatten - Former Helicopter & Commercial Airline Pilot stopped by to discuss.
Collections on defaulted student loans may affect millions of people's credit scores. Janice Spooner - expert on lending and credit and the Market President with Great Plains Bank Southlake checked in.
According to Psychology Today, children and teenagers are increasingly self-diagnosing themselves with mental health issues like ADHD, autism or anxiety based on something they viewed on social media. Leigh Richardson, PhD Psychology – Licensed professional counselor & founder of The Brain Performance Center in Dallas checked in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night's Eyes Dan, I'm going you Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thank you very much Medicine. As we move into a
Monday night and another week of Nightside here on WBZ,
Boston's News Radio ten thirty and your Am dow Rob
Brooks is here. Rob is actually going to have a
few nights off later this week. So if you want
to talk to Rob tonight's the tomorrow night of the
Night's to call. Other than that, he'll be gone for
the rest of the week on a very well deserved
(00:28):
few nights off. Rob takes probably the least amount of
vacation as anyone I know. Does a great job for
us here on nightside every single night. Now we we
will talk later on tonight about the future of Massachusetts
vocational educational schools. We're going to talk about that. Also
(00:51):
in just a minute, we'll talk about hazards on the
roadways and whether or not we should open up Alcatraz,
as President Trump is suggesting. As a prisoner, as a
prison I was there by a year ago, it looks
fine to me. Well, I don't know. I wouldn't want
to spend a night there, that's for sure. I think
anyone who would be contemplating going there would be on
(01:14):
their best behavior. Anyway, we are, as I mentioned, we're
going to talk about voke ed proposals here in Massachusetts.
I happen to have the point of view that we
need more vocational educational technical high schools in Massachusetts. And
joining me is a leader in the fight for that,
former Massachusetts Lieutenant governor and currently he's the president of
(01:38):
the Worcester Chamber of Commerce. The appellation is supposed to
be for a former lieutenant governor. Governor, so I will
introduce you as governor. Welcome to nightside. How are you,
Tim Murray?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, I'm saying good to be with you, and we
rolling into Monday.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yes, yes we are. Look, this is a very serious topic.
I'm somebody and I'm know you are somebody who really
believes in voke ed voke ed technical education for young
people who may not be inclined to studying you know,
Shakespeare and Shelley and all of those those great British
(02:17):
authors in British in British literature courses. Not everybody is
college you know bound these days, and a great way
to find a career is through vocational schools. We have
dozens of vacational technical high schools around the Conwealth of Massachusetts.
And I guess whenever it's something in Massachusetts is going well,
(02:41):
somebody always comes along with an idea to mess it up.
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, no, that's the case, but you're absolutely right. I mean,
one of the most positive stories that when we talk
about public education today is our vocational technical schools and
our agricultural schools. There's thirty regional vote techs in the state,
but at our comp hentsive high schools across the commonwealth,
more and more communities are putting Chapter seventy four vocational
(03:07):
technical programs into those schools because kids and parents want it,
and it's about preparing young people for college and or career,
giving them those options, and candidly, that's kind of the
way of the future in terms of what employers want
and need. Unfortunately, you know, Governor Healy has put a
(03:27):
proposal on the table that doesn't dramatically expand you know
Chapter seventy four vocational technical education, which they're looking to
do is kind of ration what we have by introducing
a lottery system admission system by which students would be
accepted into the vocational technical programs as the stands. You know,
(03:48):
currently many of these school districts stand have the students apply,
because number one, this is a more costly form of education,
and number two, you want to make sure that the
students genuinely interested in it. And so students apply when
they're in eighth grade, and to some extent, as it
stands right now, student's attendance, their grades, and their student
(04:11):
behavior are factors in whether they're accepted. And the proposal
on the table by Governor Healy basically says, to an
eighth grade student, she's been working hard academically to achieve,
she's got herself up to go to school every day,
has not been a problem with behavior. That student, now
with this proposed lottery is being told that hard work
(04:33):
doesn't matter. They're going to be equal to a student
that has not strived or worked hard academically, been absent,
unexcused up the twenty six times, and had behavioral and
had behavioral problems. And so you're penalizing young kids, young
people for doing the right thing. Now, I believe that
that other students should also be afforded opportunities to pursue
(04:55):
Chapter seventy four education, which is why we need to
dramatically expand it. We need a march plan right now
to expand Chapter seventy four programs across the board and
DAN just you know, in the last fifteen years, more
or less a program that Governor Patrick and I started
with the support of the legislature was now known as
the Capital Skills Program. The Biker Pleto administration continued to
(05:18):
support that, working with the legislature, but targeted grants to
vocational technical schools and traditional comprehensive high schools to add
programs and seats. And we've added nearly fifteen thousand seats
across the state with just this targeted program. Now, the
Millionaire's Tax Path or Fair Share Amendment, this significant you know,
(05:41):
revenue on the table, and what we need is leadership
that's going to say we're going to you know, have
universal access for Chapter seventy four programs. We're going to
work with the MSBA and Treasurer of Goldberg. We're going
to look for waivers for instructors and some of the
key trades. And you know, instead of that, we're being
creating winners and losers with this lottery system in urban
(06:05):
communities and rural communities and suburban communities, and it just
doesn't make sense. We should be expanding this, not rationing it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, it's such a no brainer. And the fact that
leadership in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts now after having turned
Boston Latin School into a zip code school, no longer
is it a school of academic excellence. It's a zip
code school here in Boston. And now they're going after
(06:37):
these trade schools or vocational educational schools, which are great
pathways for young people who may not be inclined to
pursue four years of college and the additional expense that
that costs to come out with a sociology degree, which
is probably going to be kind of a dead end
(06:57):
in many respects sadly. Uh. And to now not make
education available to kids who for two young men and women,
I should say, who want to become electricians and you know,
plumbers and uh and and skill people with actual skills
by which they'll weren't they'll earn a living for the
(07:19):
rest of their lives and become you know, contributing supporters
of the of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth just doesn't
make any sense. At at nine o'clock we're going to
be talking with Jamie gass Uh the Pioneer Institute at Boston. Uh,
dive a little deeper into this. Look, you were on
(07:41):
Beacon Hilltim, you were a legislator, a lieutenant governor. How
is this stuff like this in Massachusetts always seems to
go off the rails when it's working. Well, why do
people want to mess mess mess with it? Is it
just because they feel that somehow there's some short term
political gain for their for their next election. Is that
(08:04):
what drives this stuff. I'm not trying to put you
in a box here, but I'm just y, Yeah, I'm
frustrated as as a taxpayer who pays a lot of
money that they've come wealth and sees it wasted in
a lot of ways. Go ahead, I'm sorry, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Well, I mean they're you know, political narratives or ideologies,
but you know, the fact of the matter is this
is look, you know, the folk tech programs and districts
should absolutely be reflective of the districts and the communities
from which the you know, students or the district is from.
And there were some some schools where there were some
(08:37):
legitimate issues that were brought up. But the Commonwealth has
the ability to remedy that and to you know, take
because of a handful of schools, and just recently in
March of twenty twenty four, the state Department of Momentary
and Secondary Education and their compliance report to the Federal
Department of Education. So there were four schools that did
(08:58):
not fully represents sending communities. Well, the commissioner has the
ability to go in and make those tweaks and changes,
so you don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Here,
you've got a system that is working extremely well. If
there are a handful of communities as reported by Dessi,
that are not reflective, then go in and make some
(09:19):
of those changes. But one of the challenges that some
of the vocational administrators will tell you and believe it
or not, that in some areas of the state, superintendents
won't let vocational technical personnel from the high schools come
in and talk to seventh and eighth creators about the
opportunity because they don't want want those vo techs. They
(09:40):
don't want those students leaving to go to the vote
tech school because the money follows the students. So and
particularly in some of those communities where there's some of
the concerns around whether they're they're diverse diversity in terms
of reflecting miscending districts, some of those same districts or
the districts that don't allow this NAVA mass associations, vocal
(10:00):
vocational school administrators and superintendents to go in and talk
to those those communities. So access is an important factor
here as well.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
All right, well, look, Tim, I appreciate that you're still
involved with this obviously as the president of the Chamber
of Commerce. Out there, you know your city, you know
what serves your city best, and I just hope that
you stay on it. We're going to talk about this
at nine o'clock and talk to hopefully parents as well.
And please keep us in fond of this because this
is one that I really firmly believe in in that
(10:31):
education is not one size fits all. Not everyone needs
to go to Harvard, Yale or Princeton, as simple as that.
And let's help people find what do they say, they say,
if you love what you do, you never work a
day in your life. And let's grand kids who love working,
you know, with mechanical their skills, their mechanical aptitude, Let's
(10:53):
give them. Let's open every door for them as possible. Timur,
a former lieutenant governor, still looking up for the interests
of the people of Worcester in Massachusetts, appreciate it very much.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
My friend.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Thank you. Dan.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
All Right, when we get back, by the way, at
nine o'clock, we're gonna be talking with Jamie Gass as
I mentioned of the Pioneer Institute, and I hope that
some of you will weigh in on this. When we
get back, we're going to talk about the air traffic
control mess that this country is now dealing with. And
far be it from any one of us to be
up at an airplane and have our airplane not followed
(11:25):
closely by some traffic control. We will talk about that
coming up right after the break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Well, if any of you have watched on television news lately,
both locally and nationally, you know we have a big
problem at our busiest airports with air traffic controller shortages.
With us is Mike Catton, former helicopter and commercial airline
pilot Newport is having a really rough time. Mike Catton,
(11:58):
Welcome to Nightside. Thanks thank for joining us.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
How are you tonight, and I'm great, thank you for
bringing me on what's going on here.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I remember as a young television reporter back in the
early nineteen eighties when the air traffic controllers went on
strike and President Reagan fired air traffic controllers, and I
think that they brought military air traffic controllers in until
they reconstituted the workforce. That's my recollection of it. Is
(12:27):
that your recollection?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
That is my recollection. And it's interesting you brought that up.
I haven't talked about that today at all, but I
was a helicopter pilot in the US Army in Fort Riley,
Kansas when that happened, and I'm curious why this walkout
didn't trigger the same type of action from the administration.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know. The walkout was in Newark, correct,
That's the one airport where people have walked out or
has it spread to other airports?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
As far as I know, it's only Newark at this point.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
My understanding is watching tonight's evening newscast that there was
a period at some point over the weekend when their
screens went blank for ninety seconds and they had no
contact with planes landing or taking off. For a full
ninety seconds, which must have seemed like an eternity.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
That's true, And I saw the same report, and I
can tell you these men are consummate professionals, men and women,
and ninety seconds with them that must have been extremely
stressful and frankly sheared terror for them. Yeah, communication like that.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So my question is we had the crash that took
the sixty seven lives over the Potomac in early January
or January this year, and many of those folks were
from an associated with the Boston skating Club. So although
the horrible accident was over the Potomac, it was felt
greatly here in New England. They were parents, there were coaches,
(14:06):
there were skaters amongst the fatalities. Crazy that they're running
helicopters at night, black Hawk helicopters at night into the Pentagon,
and that apparently there was that's part of the problem.
We'll hear from the National Transportation Board like nine months
from now as to what the cause was. And I'm
sure they're going to find that somebody was at the
(14:26):
wrong elevation. But put that aside, how have we gotten
to this point all of a sudden? It seems as
if the bottom's falling out of the system. Where has
been use a military term, the preventive maintenance for the
last ten years. Did they not see that there was
a surge of people retiring. How did we get to
(14:48):
where we are today? Is my question?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Mike Well, first of all, I'm just condolences to the
entire Boston area up there. I can relate to this
up I was fourteen years old and I was very
close to the site where the Marshall football team crashed
through Marshall University. So I understand what this does to
a community and how did we get here? We have,
(15:13):
in my opinion, and I can back this up, we
have avoided updating and modernizing the airspace system for years,
and I'm talking about shortly after nine to eleven. You
may recall that Al Gore chaired a committee, a focus group,
whatever you want to call it, about modernizing the system.
(15:35):
Recommendations were made to improve the system, upgrade the technology.
Money was appropriated, It went into an account somewhere, it
never got spent. Depending on who you talk to, some
will say the money is still there. Some will say
the money's already been spent on another program. But we
are in a dire situation. As far as the technology goes,
(15:59):
I've been in the rooms up there at Newark. I
was based in Newark for fifteen years, and I've toured
the facilities and it is old equipment. As far as hiring,
they got behind the hiring curve. You may remember a
couple of years ago coming out of COVID, they called
it the Summer of Love. Up and down the East coast.
(16:20):
Jacksonville Center was the choke point, and that's a huge
choke point, and of course the Northeast is a huge
choke points. You have all the airports up and down
there at Boston, LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, and many corporate airports
up there that people don't talk about either. So it's
just been a perfect storm of events in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Okay, so the technology needs to be updated. Okay, how
are they going to get an infusion of more traffic controllers,
more competent traffic controllers on such short notice. I just
don't understand why someone some being counter wasn't sitting there
and saying, hey, you know how many of what percentage
of the traffic controllers are going to retire into twenty fifteen?
The percentage they're going to retire in twenty twenty. They
(17:04):
could see this stuff on the horizon, Mike, you know that,
and I know that. How could they miss this?
Speaker 4 (17:09):
They know exactly. They have charts showing the years and
the number of retirements, just like we had at the airlines.
You can find any airline how many pilots were retiring
the pilots. The airlines got behind the hiring curve with
pilots too. The reason that they are behind the curve
right now, you ask how long does it take? It
(17:30):
takes us several months to spool someone up to get
them out of the academy in Oklahoma City where that
they can come to a facility and start training again
for the local traffic in the local area in that facility.
Getting people to come to work is part of the problem. Also,
people don't want the lifestyle and nighttime long hours. And lastly,
(17:55):
one of the incentives they have offered is the administration
has offered for people who are planning to retire but
have not reached the mandatory retirement age. They're offering them
a twenty percent bonus for every year they continue to
work until they have to retire.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
You know, any major League Baseball team. They have on
the wall, every general managers will on the wall, has
every position, and they project who's going to be our
shortstop five years from now. He's a kid in single
A ball because our shortstop now is thirty one years old,
and we got to change that. If they can do
that for Major League Baseball teams, they should be able
to do it for something as more important, with air
(18:32):
traffic controllers. Mike, I appreciate your time. He gave us
some good perspective and insight in this, and let's hope,
for the sake of any one of us, could be
up there in one of those airplanes and all of
a sudden we find out that we're on a plane
that is adversely impacted not by power failure, not by
an engine blown out, but but just just by simple
inadequate human anticipation of what needs to be done going forward.
(18:57):
Appreciate your time left to have you back.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Thank you, I appreciate it, and have a great night
you too.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Mike Caton, former helicopter commercial airline pilot. And we get
back when we talk about collections on defaulted student loans
may affect millions of people's credit scores I'm not surprised
at that. I think that probably is going to be
one of the impacts. We're going to talk with Janie Spooner.
She's an expert on lending and credit and the market
(19:24):
president of the Great Planes Bank South Lake. We'll talk
with Jannis Spooner right after the break.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
It's Nightside with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
All right, back to our nightside news update. We do
this every eight o'clock hour on Nightside. We don't get
we give the phone callers arrest. Well. We will talk
a little bit later on, beginning at nine o'clock about
the the problem that is being created by some of
the commonwealth to not expand vocational education, but to basically
(20:05):
limit it and put people in some sort of a lottery,
which to me seems crazy. If kids want to students
want to go to vote volgade schools, they should be
of they should be allowed to do that. Those are
the best best jobs that I think young people can get.
They'll always work, which kind of brings us to our
topic at hand, and that is a lot of students
(20:27):
have gone to colleges and universities and they've gotten fairly
useless degrees, and they've come out and there's no one
knocking the door down to uh TO to hire them.
And now it looks as if the Trump administration is
going to once again attempt to begin to collect on
these defaulted loans with us as Janet Janice Spooner, she's
(20:48):
an expert on lending and credit market president of the
Great Plains Bank, South Lake. So, Janice, what what are
we about to see happen in the next few months?
The the bell is tolling on these loans, what are
these students going to have to do? File bankruptcy or what's.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Going to happen?
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Honestly, I think this isn't just a debt crisis, It's
a generational economic emergency. The five million barbers heading into
default represent far more than mispayments. They reflect the system
that's honestly failing an entire workforce generation.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well, I agree with you, really, I do agree with you.
The problem is they took these loans to go to
these schools which are overweight with administrators. You know, the
cost of higher education for thirty years outpaced inflation. You
(21:50):
and I both know that as people who are perhaps
a little older than most kids who are just out
of college, did people not see this coming.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
I don't think they saw it coming at all, because
sometimes we as consumers stick our head in the sand.
It's so much of the nation is in the highest
credit card debt, much less student loan debt or both
that they don't want to face it. But now it
is vital that they take notes and listen and check
(22:27):
to see if they're in default, because repayment on both
private and federally backed loans has already started and it's progressing,
and now they can actually go after you because it's
considered in default, which is by definition two hundred and
seventy days plus has due. So they're going to bring
(22:52):
very significant collections and trying to get this money started
to be repaid.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
The Biden administration, unlike the Trump administration, kept holding out
false hope to some of these student loan bowers. I
think they did it for political purposes, and now, of
course the Biden administration no longer is in power. Trump
administration is taking a different tact. It seems to me
(23:24):
that the alternative, particularly in terms of the government loans,
would be to have What the Bide administration was trying
to do was let's forgive the loans, and let's have
others pay for the college education that people secured through
(23:46):
the loans. But now they're not willing to pay for
the loans. So people who never went to college and
who started businesses or joined the military and now we're working,
we were kind of in the point where who's going
to pay? And a lot of the the young people
who owe these loans will hope and there's going to
be someone else, But looks like that hopes nothing more
than a pipe dream at.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
This point, Yes, just a pipe dream. And I think
it is really the most critical advice I could give
is check to see if you're in default, because and
I say check, so many people have moved in five
years time. They might not even know they have a
(24:28):
new servicer and that's happened. So they really need to
check at studentaid dot gov and log in with their
fsaid and look, see, don't ignore, because they can the
treasury they're going to garnish wages.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Okay, so you work for a bank, So how difficult
will it be for your bank and other banks across
the country to go into court. I don't know. You
know how many you know defaulted student loans? You have
not none of our business. But how is this going
to happen? So the student is going to be told
that there's a default hearing in some court of proper jurisdiction,
(25:14):
that default judgment will issue, I guess, and at that
point the person who they owe the money to will
be able to find out where they work and garnish
their wages. I mean, it's going to get pretty ugly.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
It is going to get ugly. In the Treasury Department.
They're ready to garnish wages. They're going to take tax refunds,
and they can even really garnish even Social Security. So
this is real. The irs knows where obviously people work.
This is a governmental system. They can do cross checks,
(25:49):
et cetera. And their only legal obligation is to notify
you in writing and offer a rehabilitation or consolidate your loans.
But once I notify you and you don't take action,
if you're in default, that if they're coming to get
your money.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, So let me ask you this question, if I could,
is there a difference between that class of former students
who took a pell grants, government loans or whatever, the
type of you know, vehicle they used at which government
paper versus if someone came to a private bank and said,
(26:28):
you know, I want to get a loan. Uh, and
the private bank, the private bank, I assume is is
on the hook themselves.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
The government is not going to enforce loans given by
private banks, I assume, so private banks will have this
go ahead. I'm right, Well, I bank, So the private
bank could come after you with the same ferocity as
the government if they if they so desire.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
It depends on what state, because I'm in Texas, and
we in Texas have different classes of collections, and I
could not go after a consumer and garnish their wages.
It would be a default and it would go to collections.
(27:20):
But the government can in every state go after your wages.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Okay, So what you're saying is it almost might be
in some states better for the students who are the
former students who are in default to owe a bank,
the private entity than the federal government. It's what I'm
hearing you say. Almost you might have a chance to
delay it or maybe even potentially avoid it if it's
(27:46):
a bank, than the federal government. Is what I'm hearing
you say. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
Not wrong. It still has significant impacts on people and
their credit credit scores, because once you default, whether it's
with the federal government or with a private lending institution,
then it goes against your credit and the lower the score,
the higher the rate you're going to pay on anything.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
But that's assuming anyone else will lend your money down
the line as well. Yeah, yeah, hey, Janis, Yeah you have.
You have simplified what is a complicated problem and a
difficult problem for many people. I'm empathetic to them, but
you know what, Unfortunately someone has to pay the piper,
and it's a little unfair for students to turn around
(28:39):
and expect other taxpayers who didn't have the benefit of
that college experience to pay for their their years in academia.
I appreciate you taking the time and being with us tonight.
Janni's very nice to talk with you.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Great to talk to you as well. And I will
say again people check your student loan accounts, start with
an action, take note, and take a step forward to
prevent this catastrophic event to happen to you.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
All right, Thank you, Janes, appreciate it very much. We'll
talk again. Thanks you so much when we get back
here On Nightside. After the break, we're going to talk
with a psychologist, a licensed professional counselor. We've talked with
her before, doctor Lee Richardson from the Brain Performance Center.
Apparently children and teenagers are increasingly self diagnosing themselves with
(29:36):
mental health issues like ADHD, autism or anxiety based on
some other something else that they learned about in social media.
I'm not sure that that's a good trend. I think
the professional should be left to do that sort of work.
But we'll talk with doctor Lee Richardson about this apparent phenomena,
which we read about in the magazine Psychology Today. Back
(29:57):
on Nightside right after the break.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray. I'm w BEAZ
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Want to welcome back a prior guest, doctor Lee Richardson.
She's a licensed professional counselor and founder of the Brain
Performance Center. Doctor Richardson, welcome back to night Side. How
are you.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
I'm great, Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So Psychology Today is reporting that kids and teenagers are
self diagnosing themselves with with mental health issues like ADHD,
autism or anxiety based on something they viewed on social media.
Let me ask you this is there a little bit
of overdiagnosis going on here.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
Do you think absolutely? I think so. I think. You know,
you get on social media and at that age teenagers,
adolescent true looking to trying to figure out who am I,
what am I struggling with? And we're all struggling with something,
and they see somebody on TikTok and or any social
(31:00):
media that says, oh, I have no motivation, Oh oh
that's me, that's me, or you know I have constant
mood swings me too, me too, And it's almost like
we're leading them down the path. Now, you may identify
with a symptom, but does that mean you really have
(31:23):
the diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I'll tell you, we have learned over recent years how
detrimental social media, some of the social media can be.
I mean it is clickbait, is what the phrase is?
I myself? You know, I'll see, you know, something on
that pops up on my screen. You know, the ten
greatest plays in baseball. I'm a big baseball guy. I
(31:48):
want to see who they put in these, you know,
and they're interesting and you watch them, but at the
end of the ten seconds of the couple of minutes
it takes to watch, it's like I've seen plays like
that before, Guys jumping over the wall catching a ball,
somebody who you know who runs into the stands and
catches a ball. But that's that's clickbait. And so I'm
(32:09):
the fish that likes the baseball clickbait. Somebody else likes clickbait.
Of whatever, we can, we just get rid of social media.
I guess it's here to stay. It's never going away.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
No, it is here to stay. And you know, I
have to say, I think that there there is some
good associated with the social media around anxiety and ADHD,
because if it helps kids recognize the struggles that they're having,
that's a good thing, because being lost is a lot
worse than I think that you've identified a solution. So
(32:48):
I think there's some good. But the bad is is
what they're identifying with. Is it true? Is it boss?
So I think that you know, what we have to
do as a as a community here as a society,
is to put there is some good on social media,
and the good is if it makes you ask some
questions and if it helps you to self reflect and
(33:11):
get some help, that's a plus.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well, you know, all of us have anxiety at different
points in our lives okay, and I'm wondering if anxiety
or whatever is not something that we should learn to
live with and kind of move out of. I think
that all of us when we're awkward teenagers and we're
worried about something as simple as actne you know, you
(33:37):
worry about it, but you get something that clears it
up or you grow out of it. I mean there's
a lot of these things which you know, I can remember,
you know, I wanted to be a second basement or
a shortstop, and then they started throwing curveballs at me,
and I said, I got to become a pitcher. And
I did okay for a while, and then in high
school and college I got lit up a few times.
(33:59):
Then I realized I'm not ever going to be a
major league pitcher. You deal with it. Isn't that just part?
Have you caused me? Some anxiety is part of growing up.
Isn't anxiety a good thing occasionally to experience? Or am
I nuts?
Speaker 6 (34:16):
No? I think there's good. There is good anxiety. Oh
my gosh, you're getting married and you get so nervous
and you get so anxious. What if I walk down
the aisle, what if I trip on my dress. I mean,
there's a lot of good anxiety. It's a natural reaction,
it's a response your body has. And I think that
we do as we grow up. The brain's not fully
(34:38):
developed until you're in your mid to late twenties. And
as we do grow up and that brain gets fully developed,
we you know, we do learn to roll with it,
to hit the pause button, to stop and say, okay,
is it really that big a deal? But in those
teenage years, you don't have the brain capacity to do that.
(35:00):
And if you don't have the support system, if you
don't have a family or friends that can help you
know that you can talk to about it and help
you understand. You know, yeah, you do lack of motivation
about once a week, but who doesn't. I mean, we
have to learn to put it into context.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I got to tell you I have anxiety every night
before I before I start my show, I'm anxious to
have I thought of anything. Is there some guests that
I haven't researched well enough? I have. I I think
you've got to have anxiety. You're gotta have anxiety.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
I think it gives you, It gives you your edge,
you know, it keeps you on your game. You use
that as a double check. Okay, am I really ready
for this? Have I done everything I should have done?
And I think if you can keep it in balance,
you get on your show, you take a deep breath,
and everything ten.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Seconds one once the once you start for ten seconds,
it all goes away. I have anxiety every time I
get in a car to drive because I know that
there are knuckleheads out on the road who are not
paying attention to what they're doing. I don't know about you.
Speaker 6 (36:12):
Maybe you don't maybe get.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Your car huh. You agree with me on that?
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Absolutely? I mean, and does that help you stay on
pay a little bit closer attention?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yes? Yes, absolutely?
Speaker 4 (36:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Now there are things that I have anxiety about over
which I have no control. When I get on an airplane,
I know that I'm not flying a plane, and I
gotta tell you take offs and landing are never a
lot of fun. But if I want to get from
point A to point B, you got to go through
with it. I have anxiety. You want to go to
the dentist to get a tooth glean, to get my
teeth cleaned. I mean, it's you know, I could be
(36:49):
a patient of yours. For weeks.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
It's read my mind.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
No, But I'm serious. I mean, I I just think
that in the life, anxiety is part of life. Now.
It's not to say that I'm I'm I think that
people who are trying to deal with full blown autism,
God love them. You know. That's I kind of imagine
what that would be like. Adhd uh, you know, not as bad,
(37:19):
But you know, I just I don't know. I think
we have we have oversold a lot of these things
to make people to be convinced that any discomfort, mental
or otherwise that they that they feel has to be
a crisis in their life. And I don't think that
it has to be a crisis.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
I don't think it judgs for for everybody. But I
think there's a side of anxiety that you don't know.
And I mean, I work with clients that are so
anxious you struggle getting on the plane. They can't get
out of bed, they can't show up at work.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
So I want to struggle getting on the plane. By
the way, doctor, I get on the plane, it's just
when the plane starts to take off, them saying, okay,
make sure we buggle up. Yeah. No, I guess there
are people I don't know how you deal with people
like that, and I don't know how those people deal
with their lives and how they got to that point.
You must have to figure that out, I assume because
you're the doctor.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Well, you know, there are four things that puts a
brain in a dysregulated state, and anxiety is a disregulated state. Genetics,
fisco ahead trauma, emotional trauma, and stress.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
What about democratic White House that puts me in a.
Speaker 6 (38:36):
I'm not touching that.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I'm having fun with you, that's all, you know. I'll
tell you someone who felt no anxiety was former President Biden.
He didn't have a moment of anxiety in the four
years he was there. Look, I look, this is a
serious subject, and I realized that that we've treated it,
or I've treated a little lightly. I'm just hoping people will,
(38:57):
you know, chill a little bit, sit back and relax
a bit, and realize we're lucky to be here. You know,
we could have been born three thousand or ten thousand
years ago and be in a cave cowering at night
with a fire and hoping that the animals didn't find us.
That would have been real anxiety.
Speaker 6 (39:13):
Oh yeah, you're talking about the days eat or be eaten.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
So all right, doctor Richardson, I always enjoy talking with that.
I took a little liberty with you tonight. I hope
you don't mind, okay, I just wanted to at all
lighting the topic up a little bit. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 6 (39:29):
So much, and it needs to be lightened up.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Thank you, thank you, doctor Lee Richardson. How can folks
find you at the Brain Performance Center? Give us that website.
Speaker 6 (39:40):
They can find me on LinkedIn, doctor Lee Richardson. They
can find us on Facebook, Instagram, v Brain Performance Center
dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Sounds great, doctor Lee Richardson. We'll have you back talk soon, okay,
thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
When we get back, right after the nine o'clock news,
we're going to talk with Jimmy Gass of the Pioneer
Institute and talking about an effort to make it tougher
for kids who want to get into vocational educational schools
in Massachusetts to get into those schools. We're not talking
Harvardale in Princeton here. We're talking about kids who want
(40:16):
to go to voke at schools, find a career, and
live a productive life. We should be expanding vocational education schools.
In Massachusetts. Shame on the legislature, and shame on the
political powers in Beacon Hill that we even have to
talk about this back on Nightside, right after this
It's Night's Eyes Dan, I'm going you Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thank you very much Medicine. As we move into a
Monday night and another week of Nightside here on WBZ,
Boston's News Radio ten thirty and your Am dow Rob
Brooks is here. Rob is actually going to have a
few nights off later this week. So if you want
to talk to Rob tonight's the tomorrow night of the
Night's to call. Other than that, he'll be gone for
the rest of the week on a very well deserved
(00:28):
few nights off. Rob takes probably the least amount of
vacation as anyone I know. Does a great job for
us here on nightside every single night. Now we we
will talk later on tonight about the future of Massachusetts
vocational educational schools. We're going to talk about that. Also
(00:51):
in just a minute, we'll talk about hazards on the
roadways and whether or not we should open up Alcatraz,
as President Trump is suggesting. As a prisoner, as a
prison I was there by a year ago, it looks
fine to me. Well, I don't know. I wouldn't want
to spend a night there, that's for sure. I think
anyone who would be contemplating going there would be on
(01:14):
their best behavior. Anyway, we are, as I mentioned, we're
going to talk about voke ed proposals here in Massachusetts.
I happen to have the point of view that we
need more vocational educational technical high schools in Massachusetts. And
joining me is a leader in the fight for that,
former Massachusetts Lieutenant governor and currently he's the president of
(01:38):
the Worcester Chamber of Commerce. The appellation is supposed to
be for a former lieutenant governor. Governor, so I will
introduce you as governor. Welcome to nightside. How are you,
Tim Murray?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, I'm saying good to be with you, and we
rolling into Monday.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yes, yes we are. Look, this is a very serious topic.
I'm somebody and I'm know you are somebody who really
believes in voke ed voke ed technical education for young
people who may not be inclined to studying you know,
Shakespeare and Shelley and all of those those great British
(02:17):
authors in British in British literature courses. Not everybody is
college you know bound these days, and a great way
to find a career is through vocational schools. We have
dozens of vacational technical high schools around the Conwealth of Massachusetts.
And I guess whenever it's something in Massachusetts is going well,
(02:41):
somebody always comes along with an idea to mess it up.
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, no, that's the case, but you're absolutely right. I mean,
one of the most positive stories that when we talk
about public education today is our vocational technical schools and
our agricultural schools. There's thirty regional vote techs in the state,
but at our comp hentsive high schools across the commonwealth,
more and more communities are putting Chapter seventy four vocational
(03:07):
technical programs into those schools because kids and parents want it,
and it's about preparing young people for college and or career,
giving them those options, and candidly, that's kind of the
way of the future in terms of what employers want
and need. Unfortunately, you know, Governor Healy has put a
(03:27):
proposal on the table that doesn't dramatically expand you know
Chapter seventy four vocational technical education, which they're looking to
do is kind of ration what we have by introducing
a lottery system admission system by which students would be
accepted into the vocational technical programs as the stands. You know,
(03:48):
currently many of these school districts stand have the students apply,
because number one, this is a more costly form of education,
and number two, you want to make sure that the
students genuinely interested in it. And so students apply when
they're in eighth grade, and to some extent, as it
stands right now, student's attendance, their grades, and their student
(04:11):
behavior are factors in whether they're accepted. And the proposal
on the table by Governor Healy basically says, to an
eighth grade student, she's been working hard academically to achieve,
she's got herself up to go to school every day,
has not been a problem with behavior. That student, now
with this proposed lottery is being told that hard work
(04:33):
doesn't matter. They're going to be equal to a student
that has not strived or worked hard academically, been absent,
unexcused up the twenty six times, and had behavioral and
had behavioral problems. And so you're penalizing young kids, young
people for doing the right thing. Now, I believe that
that other students should also be afforded opportunities to pursue
(04:55):
Chapter seventy four education, which is why we need to
dramatically expand it. We need a march plan right now
to expand Chapter seventy four programs across the board and
DAN just you know, in the last fifteen years, more
or less a program that Governor Patrick and I started
with the support of the legislature was now known as
the Capital Skills Program. The Biker Pleto administration continued to
(05:18):
support that, working with the legislature, but targeted grants to
vocational technical schools and traditional comprehensive high schools to add
programs and seats. And we've added nearly fifteen thousand seats
across the state with just this targeted program. Now, the
Millionaire's Tax Path or Fair Share Amendment, this significant you know,
(05:41):
revenue on the table, and what we need is leadership
that's going to say we're going to you know, have
universal access for Chapter seventy four programs. We're going to
work with the MSBA and Treasurer of Goldberg. We're going
to look for waivers for instructors and some of the
key trades. And you know, instead of that, we're being
creating winners and losers with this lottery system in urban
(06:05):
communities and rural communities and suburban communities, and it just
doesn't make sense. We should be expanding this, not rationing it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, it's such a no brainer. And the fact that
leadership in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts now after having turned
Boston Latin School into a zip code school, no longer
is it a school of academic excellence. It's a zip
code school here in Boston. And now they're going after
(06:37):
these trade schools or vocational educational schools, which are great
pathways for young people who may not be inclined to
pursue four years of college and the additional expense that
that costs to come out with a sociology degree, which
is probably going to be kind of a dead end
(06:57):
in many respects sadly. Uh. And to now not make
education available to kids who for two young men and women,
I should say, who want to become electricians and you know,
plumbers and uh and and skill people with actual skills
by which they'll weren't they'll earn a living for the
(07:19):
rest of their lives and become you know, contributing supporters
of the of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth just doesn't
make any sense. At at nine o'clock we're going to
be talking with Jamie gass Uh the Pioneer Institute at Boston. Uh,
dive a little deeper into this. Look, you were on
(07:41):
Beacon Hilltim, you were a legislator, a lieutenant governor. How
is this stuff like this in Massachusetts always seems to
go off the rails when it's working. Well, why do
people want to mess mess mess with it? Is it
just because they feel that somehow there's some short term
political gain for their for their next election. Is that
(08:04):
what drives this stuff. I'm not trying to put you
in a box here, but I'm just y, Yeah, I'm
frustrated as as a taxpayer who pays a lot of
money that they've come wealth and sees it wasted in
a lot of ways. Go ahead, I'm sorry, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Well, I mean they're you know, political narratives or ideologies,
but you know, the fact of the matter is this
is look, you know, the folk tech programs and districts
should absolutely be reflective of the districts and the communities
from which the you know, students or the district is from.
And there were some some schools where there were some
(08:37):
legitimate issues that were brought up. But the Commonwealth has
the ability to remedy that and to you know, take
because of a handful of schools, and just recently in
March of twenty twenty four, the state Department of Momentary
and Secondary Education and their compliance report to the Federal
Department of Education. So there were four schools that did
(08:58):
not fully represents sending communities. Well, the commissioner has the
ability to go in and make those tweaks and changes,
so you don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Here,
you've got a system that is working extremely well. If
there are a handful of communities as reported by Dessi,
that are not reflective, then go in and make some
(09:19):
of those changes. But one of the challenges that some
of the vocational administrators will tell you and believe it
or not, that in some areas of the state, superintendents
won't let vocational technical personnel from the high schools come
in and talk to seventh and eighth creators about the
opportunity because they don't want want those vo techs. They
(09:40):
don't want those students leaving to go to the vote
tech school because the money follows the students. So and
particularly in some of those communities where there's some of
the concerns around whether they're they're diverse diversity in terms
of reflecting miscending districts, some of those same districts or
the districts that don't allow this NAVA mass associations, vocal
(10:00):
vocational school administrators and superintendents to go in and talk
to those those communities. So access is an important factor
here as well.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
All right, well, look, Tim, I appreciate that you're still
involved with this obviously as the president of the Chamber
of Commerce. Out there, you know your city, you know
what serves your city best, and I just hope that
you stay on it. We're going to talk about this
at nine o'clock and talk to hopefully parents as well.
And please keep us in fond of this because this
is one that I really firmly believe in in that
(10:31):
education is not one size fits all. Not everyone needs
to go to Harvard, Yale or Princeton, as simple as that.
And let's help people find what do they say, they say,
if you love what you do, you never work a
day in your life. And let's grand kids who love working,
you know, with mechanical their skills, their mechanical aptitude, Let's
(10:53):
give them. Let's open every door for them as possible. Timur,
a former lieutenant governor, still looking up for the interests
of the people of Worcester in Massachusetts, appreciate it very much.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
My friend.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Thank you. Dan.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
All Right, when we get back, by the way, at
nine o'clock, we're gonna be talking with Jamie Gass as
I mentioned of the Pioneer Institute, and I hope that
some of you will weigh in on this. When we
get back, we're going to talk about the air traffic
control mess that this country is now dealing with. And
far be it from any one of us to be
up at an airplane and have our airplane not followed
(11:25):
closely by some traffic control. We will talk about that
coming up right after the break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Well, if any of you have watched on television news lately,
both locally and nationally, you know we have a big
problem at our busiest airports with air traffic controller shortages.
With us is Mike Catton, former helicopter and commercial airline
pilot Newport is having a really rough time. Mike Catton,
(11:58):
Welcome to Nightside. Thanks thank for joining us.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
How are you tonight, and I'm great, thank you for
bringing me on what's going on here.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I remember as a young television reporter back in the
early nineteen eighties when the air traffic controllers went on
strike and President Reagan fired air traffic controllers, and I
think that they brought military air traffic controllers in until
they reconstituted the workforce. That's my recollection of it. Is
(12:27):
that your recollection?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
That is my recollection. And it's interesting you brought that up.
I haven't talked about that today at all, but I
was a helicopter pilot in the US Army in Fort Riley,
Kansas when that happened, and I'm curious why this walkout
didn't trigger the same type of action from the administration.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know. The walkout was in Newark, correct,
That's the one airport where people have walked out or
has it spread to other airports?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
As far as I know, it's only Newark at this point.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
My understanding is watching tonight's evening newscast that there was
a period at some point over the weekend when their
screens went blank for ninety seconds and they had no
contact with planes landing or taking off. For a full
ninety seconds, which must have seemed like an eternity.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
That's true, And I saw the same report, and I
can tell you these men are consummate professionals, men and women,
and ninety seconds with them that must have been extremely
stressful and frankly sheared terror for them. Yeah, communication like that.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So my question is we had the crash that took
the sixty seven lives over the Potomac in early January
or January this year, and many of those folks were
from an associated with the Boston skating Club. So although
the horrible accident was over the Potomac, it was felt
greatly here in New England. They were parents, there were coaches,
(14:06):
there were skaters amongst the fatalities. Crazy that they're running
helicopters at night, black Hawk helicopters at night into the Pentagon,
and that apparently there was that's part of the problem.
We'll hear from the National Transportation Board like nine months
from now as to what the cause was. And I'm
sure they're going to find that somebody was at the
(14:26):
wrong elevation. But put that aside, how have we gotten
to this point all of a sudden? It seems as
if the bottom's falling out of the system. Where has
been use a military term, the preventive maintenance for the
last ten years. Did they not see that there was
a surge of people retiring. How did we get to
(14:48):
where we are today? Is my question?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Mike Well, first of all, I'm just condolences to the
entire Boston area up there. I can relate to this
up I was fourteen years old and I was very
close to the site where the Marshall football team crashed
through Marshall University. So I understand what this does to
a community and how did we get here? We have,
(15:13):
in my opinion, and I can back this up, we
have avoided updating and modernizing the airspace system for years,
and I'm talking about shortly after nine to eleven. You
may recall that Al Gore chaired a committee, a focus group,
whatever you want to call it, about modernizing the system.
(15:35):
Recommendations were made to improve the system, upgrade the technology.
Money was appropriated, It went into an account somewhere, it
never got spent. Depending on who you talk to, some
will say the money is still there. Some will say
the money's already been spent on another program. But we
are in a dire situation. As far as the technology goes,
(15:59):
I've been in the rooms up there at Newark. I
was based in Newark for fifteen years, and I've toured
the facilities and it is old equipment. As far as hiring,
they got behind the hiring curve. You may remember a
couple of years ago coming out of COVID, they called
it the Summer of Love. Up and down the East coast.
(16:20):
Jacksonville Center was the choke point, and that's a huge
choke point, and of course the Northeast is a huge
choke points. You have all the airports up and down
there at Boston, LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, and many corporate airports
up there that people don't talk about either. So it's
just been a perfect storm of events in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Okay, so the technology needs to be updated. Okay, how
are they going to get an infusion of more traffic controllers,
more competent traffic controllers on such short notice. I just
don't understand why someone some being counter wasn't sitting there
and saying, hey, you know how many of what percentage
of the traffic controllers are going to retire into twenty fifteen?
The percentage they're going to retire in twenty twenty. They
(17:04):
could see this stuff on the horizon, Mike, you know that,
and I know that. How could they miss this?
Speaker 4 (17:09):
They know exactly. They have charts showing the years and
the number of retirements, just like we had at the airlines.
You can find any airline how many pilots were retiring
the pilots. The airlines got behind the hiring curve with
pilots too. The reason that they are behind the curve
right now, you ask how long does it take? It
(17:30):
takes us several months to spool someone up to get
them out of the academy in Oklahoma City where that
they can come to a facility and start training again
for the local traffic in the local area in that facility.
Getting people to come to work is part of the problem. Also,
people don't want the lifestyle and nighttime long hours. And lastly,
(17:55):
one of the incentives they have offered is the administration
has offered for people who are planning to retire but
have not reached the mandatory retirement age. They're offering them
a twenty percent bonus for every year they continue to
work until they have to retire.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
You know, any major League Baseball team. They have on
the wall, every general managers will on the wall, has
every position, and they project who's going to be our
shortstop five years from now. He's a kid in single
A ball because our shortstop now is thirty one years old,
and we got to change that. If they can do
that for Major League Baseball teams, they should be able
to do it for something as more important, with air
(18:32):
traffic controllers. Mike, I appreciate your time. He gave us
some good perspective and insight in this, and let's hope,
for the sake of any one of us, could be
up there in one of those airplanes and all of
a sudden we find out that we're on a plane
that is adversely impacted not by power failure, not by
an engine blown out, but but just just by simple
inadequate human anticipation of what needs to be done going forward.
(18:57):
Appreciate your time left to have you back.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Thank you, I appreciate it, and have a great night
you too.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Mike Caton, former helicopter commercial airline pilot. And we get
back when we talk about collections on defaulted student loans
may affect millions of people's credit scores I'm not surprised
at that. I think that probably is going to be
one of the impacts. We're going to talk with Janie Spooner.
She's an expert on lending and credit and the market
(19:24):
president of the Great Planes Bank South Lake. We'll talk
with Jannis Spooner right after the break.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
It's Nightside with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
All right, back to our nightside news update. We do
this every eight o'clock hour on Nightside. We don't get
we give the phone callers arrest. Well. We will talk
a little bit later on, beginning at nine o'clock about
the the problem that is being created by some of
the commonwealth to not expand vocational education, but to basically
(20:05):
limit it and put people in some sort of a lottery,
which to me seems crazy. If kids want to students
want to go to vote volgade schools, they should be
of they should be allowed to do that. Those are
the best best jobs that I think young people can get.
They'll always work, which kind of brings us to our
topic at hand, and that is a lot of students
(20:27):
have gone to colleges and universities and they've gotten fairly
useless degrees, and they've come out and there's no one
knocking the door down to uh TO to hire them.
And now it looks as if the Trump administration is
going to once again attempt to begin to collect on
these defaulted loans with us as Janet Janice Spooner, she's
(20:48):
an expert on lending and credit market president of the
Great Plains Bank, South Lake. So, Janice, what what are
we about to see happen in the next few months?
The the bell is tolling on these loans, what are
these students going to have to do? File bankruptcy or what's.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Going to happen?
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Honestly, I think this isn't just a debt crisis, It's
a generational economic emergency. The five million barbers heading into
default represent far more than mispayments. They reflect the system
that's honestly failing an entire workforce generation.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well, I agree with you, really, I do agree with you.
The problem is they took these loans to go to
these schools which are overweight with administrators. You know, the
cost of higher education for thirty years outpaced inflation. You
(21:50):
and I both know that as people who are perhaps
a little older than most kids who are just out
of college, did people not see this coming.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
I don't think they saw it coming at all, because
sometimes we as consumers stick our head in the sand.
It's so much of the nation is in the highest
credit card debt, much less student loan debt or both
that they don't want to face it. But now it
is vital that they take notes and listen and check
(22:27):
to see if they're in default, because repayment on both
private and federally backed loans has already started and it's progressing,
and now they can actually go after you because it's
considered in default, which is by definition two hundred and
seventy days plus has due. So they're going to bring
(22:52):
very significant collections and trying to get this money started
to be repaid.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
The Biden administration, unlike the Trump administration, kept holding out
false hope to some of these student loan bowers. I
think they did it for political purposes, and now, of
course the Biden administration no longer is in power. Trump
administration is taking a different tact. It seems to me
(23:24):
that the alternative, particularly in terms of the government loans,
would be to have What the Bide administration was trying
to do was let's forgive the loans, and let's have
others pay for the college education that people secured through
(23:46):
the loans. But now they're not willing to pay for
the loans. So people who never went to college and
who started businesses or joined the military and now we're working,
we were kind of in the point where who's going
to pay? And a lot of the the young people
who owe these loans will hope and there's going to
be someone else, But looks like that hopes nothing more
than a pipe dream at.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
This point, Yes, just a pipe dream. And I think
it is really the most critical advice I could give
is check to see if you're in default, because and
I say check, so many people have moved in five
years time. They might not even know they have a
(24:28):
new servicer and that's happened. So they really need to
check at studentaid dot gov and log in with their
fsaid and look, see, don't ignore, because they can the
treasury they're going to garnish wages.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Okay, so you work for a bank, So how difficult
will it be for your bank and other banks across
the country to go into court. I don't know. You
know how many you know defaulted student loans? You have
not none of our business. But how is this going
to happen? So the student is going to be told
that there's a default hearing in some court of proper jurisdiction,
(25:14):
that default judgment will issue, I guess, and at that
point the person who they owe the money to will
be able to find out where they work and garnish
their wages. I mean, it's going to get pretty ugly.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
It is going to get ugly. In the Treasury Department.
They're ready to garnish wages. They're going to take tax refunds,
and they can even really garnish even Social Security. So
this is real. The irs knows where obviously people work.
This is a governmental system. They can do cross checks,
(25:49):
et cetera. And their only legal obligation is to notify
you in writing and offer a rehabilitation or consolidate your loans.
But once I notify you and you don't take action,
if you're in default, that if they're coming to get
your money.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, So let me ask you this question, if I could,
is there a difference between that class of former students
who took a pell grants, government loans or whatever, the
type of you know, vehicle they used at which government
paper versus if someone came to a private bank and said,
(26:28):
you know, I want to get a loan. Uh, and
the private bank, the private bank, I assume is is
on the hook themselves.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
The government is not going to enforce loans given by
private banks, I assume, so private banks will have this
go ahead. I'm right, Well, I bank, So the private
bank could come after you with the same ferocity as
the government if they if they so desire.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
It depends on what state, because I'm in Texas, and
we in Texas have different classes of collections, and I
could not go after a consumer and garnish their wages.
It would be a default and it would go to collections.
(27:20):
But the government can in every state go after your wages.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Okay, So what you're saying is it almost might be
in some states better for the students who are the
former students who are in default to owe a bank,
the private entity than the federal government. It's what I'm
hearing you say. Almost you might have a chance to
delay it or maybe even potentially avoid it if it's
(27:46):
a bank, than the federal government. Is what I'm hearing
you say. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
Not wrong. It still has significant impacts on people and
their credit credit scores, because once you default, whether it's
with the federal government or with a private lending institution,
then it goes against your credit and the lower the score,
the higher the rate you're going to pay on anything.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
But that's assuming anyone else will lend your money down
the line as well. Yeah, yeah, hey, Janis, Yeah you have.
You have simplified what is a complicated problem and a
difficult problem for many people. I'm empathetic to them, but
you know what, Unfortunately someone has to pay the piper,
and it's a little unfair for students to turn around
(28:39):
and expect other taxpayers who didn't have the benefit of
that college experience to pay for their their years in academia.
I appreciate you taking the time and being with us tonight.
Janni's very nice to talk with you.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Great to talk to you as well. And I will
say again people check your student loan accounts, start with
an action, take note, and take a step forward to
prevent this catastrophic event to happen to you.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
All right, Thank you, Janes, appreciate it very much. We'll
talk again. Thanks you so much when we get back
here On Nightside. After the break, we're going to talk
with a psychologist, a licensed professional counselor. We've talked with
her before, doctor Lee Richardson from the Brain Performance Center.
Apparently children and teenagers are increasingly self diagnosing themselves with
(29:36):
mental health issues like ADHD, autism or anxiety based on
some other something else that they learned about in social media.
I'm not sure that that's a good trend. I think
the professional should be left to do that sort of work.
But we'll talk with doctor Lee Richardson about this apparent phenomena,
which we read about in the magazine Psychology Today. Back
(29:57):
on Nightside right after the break.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray. I'm w BEAZ
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Want to welcome back a prior guest, doctor Lee Richardson.
She's a licensed professional counselor and founder of the Brain
Performance Center. Doctor Richardson, welcome back to night Side. How
are you.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
I'm great, Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So Psychology Today is reporting that kids and teenagers are
self diagnosing themselves with with mental health issues like ADHD,
autism or anxiety based on something they viewed on social media.
Let me ask you this is there a little bit
of overdiagnosis going on here.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
Do you think absolutely? I think so. I think. You know,
you get on social media and at that age teenagers,
adolescent true looking to trying to figure out who am I,
what am I struggling with? And we're all struggling with something,
and they see somebody on TikTok and or any social
(31:00):
media that says, oh, I have no motivation, Oh oh
that's me, that's me, or you know I have constant
mood swings me too, me too, And it's almost like
we're leading them down the path. Now, you may identify
with a symptom, but does that mean you really have
(31:23):
the diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I'll tell you, we have learned over recent years how
detrimental social media, some of the social media can be.
I mean it is clickbait, is what the phrase is?
I myself? You know, I'll see, you know, something on
that pops up on my screen. You know, the ten
greatest plays in baseball. I'm a big baseball guy. I
(31:48):
want to see who they put in these, you know,
and they're interesting and you watch them, but at the
end of the ten seconds of the couple of minutes
it takes to watch, it's like I've seen plays like
that before, Guys jumping over the wall catching a ball,
somebody who you know who runs into the stands and
catches a ball. But that's that's clickbait. And so I'm
(32:09):
the fish that likes the baseball clickbait. Somebody else likes clickbait.
Of whatever, we can, we just get rid of social media.
I guess it's here to stay. It's never going away.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
No, it is here to stay. And you know, I
have to say, I think that there there is some
good associated with the social media around anxiety and ADHD,
because if it helps kids recognize the struggles that they're having,
that's a good thing, because being lost is a lot
worse than I think that you've identified a solution. So
(32:48):
I think there's some good. But the bad is is
what they're identifying with. Is it true? Is it boss?
So I think that you know, what we have to
do as a as a community here as a society,
is to put there is some good on social media,
and the good is if it makes you ask some
questions and if it helps you to self reflect and
(33:11):
get some help, that's a plus.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well, you know, all of us have anxiety at different
points in our lives okay, and I'm wondering if anxiety
or whatever is not something that we should learn to
live with and kind of move out of. I think
that all of us when we're awkward teenagers and we're
worried about something as simple as actne you know, you
(33:37):
worry about it, but you get something that clears it
up or you grow out of it. I mean there's
a lot of these things which you know, I can remember,
you know, I wanted to be a second basement or
a shortstop, and then they started throwing curveballs at me,
and I said, I got to become a pitcher. And
I did okay for a while, and then in high
school and college I got lit up a few times.
(33:59):
Then I realized I'm not ever going to be a
major league pitcher. You deal with it. Isn't that just part?
Have you caused me? Some anxiety is part of growing up.
Isn't anxiety a good thing occasionally to experience? Or am
I nuts?
Speaker 6 (34:16):
No? I think there's good. There is good anxiety. Oh
my gosh, you're getting married and you get so nervous
and you get so anxious. What if I walk down
the aisle, what if I trip on my dress. I mean,
there's a lot of good anxiety. It's a natural reaction,
it's a response your body has. And I think that
we do as we grow up. The brain's not fully
(34:38):
developed until you're in your mid to late twenties. And
as we do grow up and that brain gets fully developed,
we you know, we do learn to roll with it,
to hit the pause button, to stop and say, okay,
is it really that big a deal? But in those
teenage years, you don't have the brain capacity to do that.
(35:00):
And if you don't have the support system, if you
don't have a family or friends that can help you
know that you can talk to about it and help
you understand. You know, yeah, you do lack of motivation
about once a week, but who doesn't. I mean, we
have to learn to put it into context.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I got to tell you I have anxiety every night
before I before I start my show, I'm anxious to
have I thought of anything. Is there some guests that
I haven't researched well enough? I have. I I think
you've got to have anxiety. You're gotta have anxiety.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
I think it gives you, It gives you your edge,
you know, it keeps you on your game. You use
that as a double check. Okay, am I really ready
for this? Have I done everything I should have done?
And I think if you can keep it in balance,
you get on your show, you take a deep breath,
and everything ten.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Seconds one once the once you start for ten seconds,
it all goes away. I have anxiety every time I
get in a car to drive because I know that
there are knuckleheads out on the road who are not
paying attention to what they're doing. I don't know about you.
Speaker 6 (36:12):
Maybe you don't maybe get.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Your car huh. You agree with me on that?
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Absolutely? I mean, and does that help you stay on
pay a little bit closer attention?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yes? Yes, absolutely?
Speaker 4 (36:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Now there are things that I have anxiety about over
which I have no control. When I get on an airplane,
I know that I'm not flying a plane, and I
gotta tell you take offs and landing are never a
lot of fun. But if I want to get from
point A to point B, you got to go through
with it. I have anxiety. You want to go to
the dentist to get a tooth glean, to get my
teeth cleaned. I mean, it's you know, I could be
(36:49):
a patient of yours. For weeks.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
It's read my mind.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
No, But I'm serious. I mean, I I just think
that in the life, anxiety is part of life. Now.
It's not to say that I'm I'm I think that
people who are trying to deal with full blown autism,
God love them. You know. That's I kind of imagine
what that would be like. Adhd uh, you know, not as bad,
(37:19):
But you know, I just I don't know. I think
we have we have oversold a lot of these things
to make people to be convinced that any discomfort, mental
or otherwise that they that they feel has to be
a crisis in their life. And I don't think that
it has to be a crisis.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
I don't think it judgs for for everybody. But I
think there's a side of anxiety that you don't know.
And I mean, I work with clients that are so
anxious you struggle getting on the plane. They can't get
out of bed, they can't show up at work.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
So I want to struggle getting on the plane. By
the way, doctor, I get on the plane, it's just
when the plane starts to take off, them saying, okay,
make sure we buggle up. Yeah. No, I guess there
are people I don't know how you deal with people
like that, and I don't know how those people deal
with their lives and how they got to that point.
You must have to figure that out, I assume because
you're the doctor.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Well, you know, there are four things that puts a
brain in a dysregulated state, and anxiety is a disregulated state. Genetics,
fisco ahead trauma, emotional trauma, and stress.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
What about democratic White House that puts me in a.
Speaker 6 (38:36):
I'm not touching that.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I'm having fun with you, that's all, you know. I'll
tell you someone who felt no anxiety was former President Biden.
He didn't have a moment of anxiety in the four
years he was there. Look, I look, this is a
serious subject, and I realized that that we've treated it,
or I've treated a little lightly. I'm just hoping people will,
(38:57):
you know, chill a little bit, sit back and relax
a bit, and realize we're lucky to be here. You know,
we could have been born three thousand or ten thousand
years ago and be in a cave cowering at night
with a fire and hoping that the animals didn't find us.
That would have been real anxiety.
Speaker 6 (39:13):
Oh yeah, you're talking about the days eat or be eaten.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
So all right, doctor Richardson, I always enjoy talking with that.
I took a little liberty with you tonight. I hope
you don't mind, okay, I just wanted to at all
lighting the topic up a little bit. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 6 (39:29):
So much, and it needs to be lightened up.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Thank you, thank you, doctor Lee Richardson. How can folks
find you at the Brain Performance Center? Give us that website.
Speaker 6 (39:40):
They can find me on LinkedIn, doctor Lee Richardson. They
can find us on Facebook, Instagram, v Brain Performance Center
dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Sounds great, doctor Lee Richardson. We'll have you back talk soon, okay,
thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
When we get back, right after the nine o'clock news,
we're going to talk with Jimmy Gass of the Pioneer
Institute and talking about an effort to make it tougher
for kids who want to get into vocational educational schools
in Massachusetts to get into those schools. We're not talking
Harvardale in Princeton here. We're talking about kids who want
(40:16):
to go to voke at schools, find a career, and
live a productive life. We should be expanding vocational education schools.
In Massachusetts. Shame on the legislature, and shame on the
political powers in Beacon Hill that we even have to
talk about this back on Nightside, right after this
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