July 4, 2025 • 36 mins
Today's News headlines
Peter Greenberg, CBS travel expert- travel trends for the Fourth of July
Emily Heil, Washington Post food critic- cookout food tips
News headlines
Lauren Roberts, Saratoga County NY historian- upcoming 250th anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga
Dean Cain, actor- new film, “Little Angels”
Peter Greenberg, CBS travel expert- travel trends for the Fourth of July
Emily Heil, Washington Post food critic- cookout food tips
News headlines
Lauren Roberts, Saratoga County NY historian- upcoming 250th anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga
Dean Cain, actor- new film, “Little Angels”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we are alive on iHeartRadio's holiday talk program for
this fourth of July twenty twenty five. I'm Reed Shepherd
along with Dana McKay. Jason Bearinger is our producer. We
want to thank you for joining us today and a
thank you to Iheart's news talk stations around the country
for picking up the program. Your regular host will be
back on Monday. When I did this, we did this
(00:34):
program on Memorial Day, I kind of said that it
really your outlook on the day depended on whether you
lost a father, a buddy, a sister, or whoever might
have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. But the
fourth is America's Day. It's a day for barbecues. It's
a day for hanging by the pool. It's a day
(00:54):
to just be proud to be an American, just like.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You are showing off your pride with your star in
stripes tie. Our listeners they have to see your tie.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Did you make that? Did your wife make that? I
don't even know where I got it. It's very cool.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So if you want to see Reid's tie and how
patriotic we look this today, you can check out the
picture on my Instagram at Dana McKay radio.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Well, we'll be live with Ray Stagic from the Weather
Channel Litter. A little later on, we have the day's
top news stories for you, including the first people to
be processed and have arrived at the high profile and
very controversial immigration facility in the Everglades that's been dubbed
Alligator Alcatraz. Facility has been set up to house approximately
(01:41):
three thousand illegal immigrants, and I don't think they're going
to be there very long because the idea is to
bring them in and then fly them out and as
President Trump would say, take them back to wherever they
came from. One thing that I thought was interesting this
week about the facility is the fact that we've been
(02:01):
told that it was set up to withstand a Category
two hurricane. So naturally, they had a big rainstorm down
in South Florida earlier this week and you could see
flooding inside the tents where the detainees were going to stay. So,
you know, let's face it, there are still a lot
of questions about this facility. Who is going to come in,
(02:24):
how long they're going to stay there? You know, it
just there really are.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
There are a lot of questions, and also it's interesting
because when the Florida Attorney General first floated this idea
and released the Alligator Alcatraz video, it really seemed like
a PR stunt. It didn't seem like something that was
actually logistically going to make sense. And next thing you know,
within eight days, it's all set up and they say
ready to go, and it is very controversial. So multiple
(02:53):
food truck companies that were hired to provide food for
an event at Alligator Alcatraz are now facing some backlash.
Videos of the trucks entering the detention center have gone viral,
with some calling for Boycott's ConA Ace Chiromania and mister
Cheesius were among the trucks seen driving through the gates,
and they've all released statements basically saying they were hired
(03:15):
by a third party and they did not know that
they were being asked to provide food and service for
a politically sensitive event. So that just goes to show
you just how controversial this Alligator Alcatraz is.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And how do we feel about Alligator Alcatraz. Well, a
new pole, and yes, take the pole as you will
take it with the how many ever grains of salt
you like, But a new poll released on Thursday from
you goov found that a plurality of Americans are not
on board with the detention center. In total, forty eight
percent said they oppose Alligator Alcatraz, thirty three percent said
(03:50):
they support it, and additional eighteen percent were unsure how
they felt. It also found that nearly half of Americans
forty seven percent, believe people in migrant attention centers are
treated too harshly.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So the dad who jumped off the Disney cruise to
save his daughter who went overboard, did not sit her
up on the railing just before she fell off the ship.
Initial reports said he put her up there for a
picture and she fell backwards, and he was facing some
serious backlash for this. But after an investigation and talking
to several witnesses, this is what the Broward County Sheriff's
(04:23):
office spokesperson had to say.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
We just want people to stop speculating and once that
information is available, it will be released. But no, her
dad was not holding her. Nobody was holding her when
she fell off that ship.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Now, according to The New York Post, a witness who
works on the ship said the parents were playing shuffle
board on that same deck and the little girl lost
her balance and fell backward through a porthole that likely
should not have been open. So this was just a
tragic accident. Thankfully the dad was able to jump in
get his daughter treadwater, And it really is incredible because
(04:56):
a lot of times somebody goes off a cruise ship,
you never see them again. In the fact at the
little girl and the dad we're both rescued is pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
You start talking about treading water in the ocean and
holding on to someone at the same time, that person
is liable to be very afraid, scared, crashing around, and
what happens sadly too oftentimes, is that both of them,
both of them could drown. So it's just in a
(05:24):
remarkable situation. I want to give my props to the
dad for jumping in to save his daughter, and also
to the Disney crew for their efforts. Well, we want
to check in right now with Ray Stagic from the
Weather Channel, and Ray, I guess the big question is
where is where are people going to run into weather
problems if they're traveling on this fourth of July? Where
(05:47):
are the hotspots?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Yeah, I think we're going to be continuing in Central
Texas very heavy rainfall just northwest of the I thirty
five corridor in Kirk County specifically had reports of high
water rescues and even some flood emergency so hairyt heavy
rainfall and a very small spot of a big state.
And also in the northern tier in parts of northern
(06:09):
Minnesota just north of Minneapolis. And as you get into
the Dakotas and parts of let's say the northwest, isn't
you Idaho, there may be a shower storm with some
heavier rainfall western Montana and Wyoming. I really think some
of the best weather around reed is going to be
in the southwestern US and also the northeast New England
where they had some big storm yesterday.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Okay, so if you're driving up I ninety five, what
kinds of problems are you going to Win's Gon or
because that's going to be another hotspot.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
I know.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Well, if you say up, let's start from the south.
I think from Miami through Orlando you have some showers,
thunderstorms at times some locally heavy rainfall. I think the
best chances will be today right on through tomorrow. And
then as you go further north, it does get a
little bit more problematic. The Hurricane Center now has slapped
an invest designation on the area thunderstorms they've basically been
(06:58):
watching all week, and that could become a depression and
or a tropical storm, but it's going to be about
the impacts, and that would be Tybee Island. You go
through Savannah eventually head up toward Hilton Head. He hit
ninety five. Through eastern parts of North Carolina, you could
be experiencing some of the shower thunderstorm increase in intensity
and coverage, especially later today and tomorrow, and probably even
(07:20):
on in through maybe the tail end of the holiday
weekend too. But you get north of that through the
nation's capital, Philly, up near New York City, some absolutely
beautiful weather. Even as you get up near Boston and
parts of Maine, the northern part of the ninety five
corridor actually looking pretty darn good.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, So I think the good news, if there is
any about this system off the southeastern coast, is that
the center of it is going to be moving away
from from US and out into the open Atlantic.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Am I right in the short term, probably drifts around that.
There is some model guidance as we get into late
in the weekend and next week that does try to
drift it back as it drifts north, maybe toward the
east coast. So where and when and how strong that
system will be is tbd.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
But some of the guidance boys.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Some of the intensity guidance does bring it to maybe
a minimal tropical storm. And if we do get that name,
it would be Chantal.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Chantal And if anything else, it's just an indication that
hurricane season has arrived. All right, Race Agic, thank you
so much for joining us on this fourth of July.
And when we come back, we are going to be
talking about summer travel with CBS travel expert Peter Greenberg.
(08:34):
Also Emily Hile from the Washington Post food critic, one
of our favorite guests, going to be talking about summer
food when we come back on the iHeartRadio holiday talk program.
Speaker 6 (08:48):
I Am Larry Menti Menti in the Morning returns Monday
morning from six till ten. Now more of the iHeartRadio
Independence Day Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, it is the middle of summer, and while millions
are expected to travel this holiday weekend, there remains a
great deal of uncertainty about things like foreign travel, immigration, deportation,
travel bands. We are delighted to welcome back one of
our favorite holiday guests, CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg. Peter,
in your latest Travel News weekly newsletter, you claim that
(09:21):
things have gone from bad to worse at the FAA.
I want to start off by asking you about that
and what's the situation there.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Well, you have to go back about ninety years to
find out how bad it's been, but forty years to
figure out how bad it's become. And the reason for
that is the FAA was established by an Act of
Congress literally ninety years ago, back in nineteen thirty five,
and it was given a dual mandate. Now, the first
part of that mandate I think we can all support
an embrace it was to an act and for safety.
(09:50):
You can all get behind that. The second part of
the mandate is where it gets confusing. They were given
the mandate to quote, promote the business of aviation. You
cannot devote and as a result, every time there's a
safety problem and they can determine what went wrong and
a safety solution. The first thing the FAA does is
trying to figure out how much is it going to cost.
(10:10):
They're more worried about economic impact than actually fixing the problem.
And you cannot put a price tag on safety. That's
the biggest concern from the National Transportation Safety Board that
does a great job of investigating these accidents and coming
up with a probable cause. But until the fa throws
out that second part of the mandate, they're going to
mistakenly think that the airlines and the manufacturers are their clients.
(10:33):
They're not. We're their clients.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, I mean, no question the FAA has some issues. Now,
let's talk about prices for a second, because I've always
been a loyal Southwest customer and ever since they made
that change around Memorial Day where now they're charging you
for bags, it seems like they're also now charging a
lot more for a ticket. What can you tell us
about what's going on with Southwest right now?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Well, Southwest did a great job for years in terms
of branding their entire airline around the idea that you
didn't have to pay for check bags. It was a
distinct marketing benefit and the audience loved it. If you're
a family of four, you saved a significant amount of
money if you were checking bags. Well, as of May
twenty eighth, as you mentioned, that all changed because a
large investigative Investor Group has taken over the reins at Southwest,
(11:22):
and it's all about cost and generating revenue. So it's
not just about charging now for check bags. They're going
to start charging pretty soon for seats, meaning they're going
to upsell a lot of their seats. They're going to
start charging for other change fees if you change your ticket,
and last but not least, you know, they're doing a
situation where you used to have a travel bank where
(11:45):
if you didn't use the plight, you've got that money
credit to your countany's later it never expired. Now it does,
so all those things adding up, it's basically blown out
the culture of an airline that you loved.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It has because they I would always go, you know,
Tampa to Baltimore was one of the flights I would
always do. It'd be you know, one hundred, maybe one
hundred and fifty bucks. The last time I looked at
was over four hundred dollars. That's so much they've lost me.
I'm going with Jet Blue or I even flew Frontier
the last time I had to fly, because it was
so much cheaper that that's the only thing I could do.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Frontier is also one of these places that they charge
you for a for seat selection, they charge you for this,
and they charge you for that. So Peter, it kind
of sounds like Southwest is just following the trend.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
You're right, they were the last man standing in that
in that area. Keep in mind, airlines make more money
from antillary fees than they make from tickets or flying
the airline. Last year alone, on bag fees, we take
seven billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
We're talking to CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg about summer travel.
What do people need to know if they are planning
to travel to a foreign country this summer.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
Well, of course, the entire landscape was changed. We're dealing
with airspace that's now closed over a number of regions,
not just trees because of conflicted areas. We're dealing with
the other word that we talk about, the worst four
letter word that starts with FN travel. It's called fear.
And as a result, travel overseas is substantially down on
both ways. Foreigners traveling to the US worried about immigration
(13:15):
and deportation, and Americans worried about situations overseas not traveling.
There a lot of empty seats, so you're going to
see airfares start to drop precipitously on overseas flights. That
doesn't mean we're stopping traveling. We're just going to determine
to go somewhere else, which means twenty twenty five may
be the summer of the big American domestic trip. As
a result loss applying to man kicks in airfares in
(13:38):
the US for domestic flights have nowhere to go but up.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
All right, and once again we say thank you so
much to CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg for joining us
on this fourth of July. Peter, A happy fourth to you,
and we'll be talking to you again real soon.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Right back, got you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, it's the middle of summer, and when we think
about summer food, what comes to mind hamburgers, hot dogs,
but hata salad, watermelon iced tea. Okay, fine, can we
do a little bit better? Maybe one of our favorite
guests on these holiday programs joins us once again. Today
we're delighted to say hello to Washington Post food critic
(14:13):
Emily Hile. Emily, I'm thinking there's got to be something
else we can cook up for our Midsummer get togethers.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
There are so many things that you can cook to,
you know, really glow up your little your barbecue. One
thing I have to say, I think the drink of
Summer twenty twenty five, and it's really easy and it's
something really easy that you can add to your get togethers.
It's called a spicy Savvy be It's all over TikTok
(14:40):
right now, and basically you just take a glass of
savion blanc and you slice up a hallapeno pepper. A
lot of people online are freezing their peppers and then
adding them into their drink, which you can do, but
I actually tried it both ways and it doesn't really matter.
So you just throw in a few slices of halapeno
pepper into your wine and it's delicious as this sort
of like spicy note. It really pairs well with the
(15:04):
wine and it's a little fun. You can add a
little club soda or seltzer if you want to make
it more of a spritz and kind of lighten things up.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
What's the name of it again, Emily, because I'm going
to write this down. I have a friend who every
time we go out to eat, she orders a side
of helipanos with everything she order.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
So I have to make this for her.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
Oh she's gonna love this. It's called Spicy Savvy b.
Speaker 8 (15:25):
A spicy savvy v savvy B.
Speaker 7 (15:29):
Yeah people refer to Yeah, people call Savion Blanc savvy B,
which that I've heard for a long time. I have
a friend who that's all she drinks. I would just
be careful, you know, make sure you know your spice level,
because when I first started, when I first experimented with
this drink, I put way too many halopeno slices.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
In and it, I think, and I'll start with one.
So now we need to know what's a good dish
that we can make, either on the grill or something
you bake that will go really well with this spicy
Savvy B.
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Well, you know what I love. I really love like
a like a pasta salad. Honestly, I think pasta salads
have gotten maligned over the years. Everyone thinks of them
as being like very old fashioned. But I think you
can really make delicious pasta salads and they go great
with everything, and you know, it's a really nice thing
that you can make and have it your get together
(16:20):
and you know you can have it so that you know,
if someone is vegetarian, they can maybe eat that instead
of whatever you've.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Got on the grill.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
If you're not grilling anything for vegetarians, it's a really nice,
really versatile thing that you can add to your spread.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
We're talking to Washington Post food critic Emily Hile. Emily,
what about the grill? Is there anything aside from steak
and you know, hamburgers that we can spice things up
with with the grill.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
I like grilling vegetables, but you know, you can basically
grill anything that you would make in your oven, so
you know, and I think also another thing you can
do to sort of kick up your grilling a little
bit is our sauces. You know, think about aids, interesting flavors.
Check out whatever you've got on your refrigerator on the door.
(17:05):
You know, we all have these like little condiments that
we've got hanging out, and take a good look at
that and to see what you've got. You might have
some interesting pickles you could throw into a marinade, great
spicy sauces, like if you've got some chili crisp, or
you know, any of these little bottles that you have
in your refrigerator door, throw them into a marinade and
they're really going to kick things up?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
How are inflation and high grocery prices affecting food trends? Like,
is there something that's cheap and easy that's really kind
of fun and creative that we can try this summer?
Speaker 7 (17:35):
So what I really want for this summer, what I
really want the trend to be, is casual entertaining. I
think restaurants have gotten really expensive, so you know, and
especially if you want to like go out with your friends,
you're always worried, you know, about picking a restaurant that's
maybe too expensive and the one friend who maybe just
got laid off, and you know, but you still you
want to have that great hang. And what I really
(17:57):
want people to do is to not be intimidated about
having people over. Don't get tu in your head about
making things really fancy. I think people don't care. Like
if someone invites you to their home and they make you,
you know, a pot of spaghetti, you're thrilled. You know,
you don't have to make dinner in that right, I
don't have to be beating you, that's right.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Washington Post food critic Emily Hile, Emily, it is always
a pleasure to talk to you, and we look forward
to talking to you again real soon meantime. Thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Today, No problems, stay cool out there.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I'm Read Shepherd along with Dana McKay and Jason Bearinger,
our producer. And this is iHeartRadio's holiday talk program, Happy
fourth of July.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
I am Larry Menty MENTI in the Morning returns Monday
morning from six to ten. Now more of the iHeartRadio
Independence Day Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
And we are back on iHeartRadio's holiday talk program for
this fourth of July twenty twenty five. And you know,
there really was a real Uncle Sam, right, Yes, Yes,
his name was Sam Wilson, lived in Troy, New York.
He was actually a meat packer and sent meat to
the troops during the War of eighteen twelve, and it
(19:29):
was all marked US for United States. So it became
known eventually as Uncle Sam. And I think in like
nineteen sixty one or something like that, Sam Wilson was
officially recognized as our official Uncle Sam. So there you go.
Coming up this half hour, we're zooming in on what
was a key battle of America's War for Independence and
(19:52):
a hero whose name has echoed down through history as
something completely different, and of course we also had the
day's top news stories. We begin with freed American Israeli
hostage Eden Alexander meeting with President Trump at the White
House on Thursday. This came exactly two weeks after the
(20:12):
New Jersey native returned home from nineteen months in Hamas captivity.
He was freed from Gaza on May twelfth, after enduring
five hundred and eighty four days at the hands of Hamas.
Alexander was raised in New Jersey, graduated from Tenafly High
School before moving to Israel in twenty twenty two, where
(20:35):
he served in the country's military. He was on duty
on October seventh, twenty twenty three, when he was abducted
alongside two hundred and fifty one other Israelis during the
attack that ignited the war in Gaza. He was tortured,
off and locked in a cage during the captivity, frequently
shackled at the hands and feet deep within the terrorists
(20:58):
underground tunnel network. So delighted to I think he was
the last American to be freed, So delighted to see
that he had a chance to meet with President Trump.
As a matter of fact, I saw the video he
came at he was wearing an Israeli flag and it
was it was just it was really nice.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It was a nice visit yesterday. So Kate Middleton returned
to public duties this week after battling cancer. She visited
a hospital on Wednesday and talked about something anyone who's
battled cancer can relate to. She sat down with some
patience and said how challenging it's been to put on
a brave face. She also mentioned how difficult it is
to get back to daily life after cancer treatments and
(21:37):
that she really felt like she needed support getting back
to normal too.
Speaker 9 (21:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
She's never said what type of cancer she had, but
she revealed that she is cancer free in January. We
also haven't heard much about King Charles and his battle
with cancer. The most recent thing we heard is that
he was briefly hospitalized back in March due to side
effects from his treatment, but he's been carrying on on
many of his duties as normal.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I know he was in Canada recently well. The signing
of the Declaration of Independence on July fourth, seventeen seventy
six was by no means the beginning of the Revolutionary
War and certainly not the end of it. But the
turning point of the conflict is generally thought to be
the Battles of Saratoga in September and October of seventeen
seventy seventh in Saratoga County in New York. They're getting
(22:25):
ready for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. We welcome
Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts to the program. So, Lauren,
why were these two battles so important?
Speaker 8 (22:35):
So the Battles of Saratoga, which you correctly say, there
are two, the first on September nineteenth, the second on
October seventh of seventeen seventy seven. In the fall, it
was really the Americans' effort to stop the so far
successful invasion from Canada of General John Burgoyne's British Army.
(22:58):
They had successfully come down through the Hudson Valley from Canada,
making pretty good progress, and Saratoga was really the last stand.
It was a high point where the Americans were able
to defend the high ground next to the Hudson River.
(23:19):
So definitely the environment played a big role in that.
But really the battles, the victory at Saratoga, which the
surrender happened on October seventeenth, seventeen seventy seven, which we
know as surrendered ay here locally. That victory was the
first time in world history that a British army, an
(23:41):
entire British field army, surrendered, and of course that puts
in motion the French to really think that we had
the ability to win, We might be able to stand
up against the British. Now, of course that wasn't an
easy task. The battles of Saratoga and the victory there
(24:03):
was the final straw when Benjamin Franklin was able to
commence the French to recognize US as an independent country,
to send us supplies and most importantly a navy. And
so that's why it's known as the turning point of
the American Revolution.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And what lessons do you think we can learn from
this battle as they would apply today? Is there any way,
you know, because we're supposed to learn from history, what
lessons from that that battle do we still hold on
to today?
Speaker 8 (24:32):
I think, you know, the British learned, certainly that.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
The gentlemen Johnny certainly learned his lesson.
Speaker 8 (24:44):
That's right, you know, not to underestimate people in their
homeland with the cause that they believed in, they fought ferociously.
They turned out. I think the British had this idea
that as they came down to through the country, all
of these loyalists, all the people that still wanted the
British King, you know, to be their monarch, We're going
(25:06):
to come out of the woodwork and join the British army.
And they were just going to run over the Americans
and get all the way to Albany, which was there
the objective in the plan, and then from there they
would decide what to do. But that never happened. That
there were some loyalists that fought with him, but the
idea that this swell of people that really wanted the
(25:27):
British king to still be their leader, that that wasn't true.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
You know, Lauren. There certainly were a lot of people
who deserve credit for, you know, the outcome of the
Battle of Saratoga. But I've always been fascinated by the
fact that there is one name that has echoed down
through history, and that was Major General Benedict Arnold.
Speaker 7 (25:49):
That's correct.
Speaker 8 (25:50):
We cannot deny how important he was to the victory.
And he's a complicated figure. We certainly talk about him
all of the time as a trader and most people
know that, but of course that doesn't happen until later
in the war, and we can always guess, you know,
what it was that made him turn coat, but we
don't know. He didn't say specifically. We can certainly see
(26:13):
the way he was treated. But at Saratoga back in
seventeen seventy seven, you know, he was upset that he
hadn't been given the promotion he was looking for. But
he still came to Saratoga. He came. Washington asked him
to come, and he came, and he made a difference.
He turned the tide. He was aggressive, he was loved
by his men. He was a fearless leader. And of
(26:36):
course he in the Second Battle, which happened on October seventh,
he's the one that leads his troops to really overrun
the British defenses, which actually were where the German troops
were located. And of course he's badly wounded. But what
he did there is remembered, and it's interesting in the
way that we remember him.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
When, yes, it is very interesting.
Speaker 8 (26:57):
The boots, Yes, yes, the boots, probably the most famous
monument in all of Saratoga County. It's not all of
upstate New.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
York, all right, Lauren Robert, Saratoga County Historian. Two hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga coming up
before too long, Lauren, thank you so much for joining
us today.
Speaker 8 (27:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You know I have seen that boot monument on several
times visiting the Saratoga Battlefield. And one other thing about
it is it doesn't have a name on it. His
name is not part of that.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
It's just a boot.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
It's just it's basically just a boot. When we come
back on updates from the Pentagon on the Iran strikes.
When we return on the iHeartRadio Holiday talk show.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
I Am Larry Menti. Menti in the Morning returns Monday
morning from six to ten. Now more of the iHeartRadio
Independence Day Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And we are back on iHeartRadio's holiday talk program for
this fourth of July twenty twenty five. That's probably my
favorite March of all time. Dana has been talking about
my tie a lot today. It's a wild shot. I
didn't know where I got it. I think it came
from my late mother in law's house. I've found it somewhere.
She's posted this on Instagram. But I also got to
(28:26):
say that I am very impressed with your star spangled outfit.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Oh well, thank you so much. I've got a star
spangled shirt on. Reed's got his ties. If you want
to see how patriarchic patriotic we are on this fourth
of July, you can go to my Instagram at Dana
McKay radio.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
And we've got coming up. We've got trouble for a
Cleveland Guardians pitcher we're going to tell you about and
the day's top news stories. We start with President Trump
inviting the pilots who flew in the mission to bomb
those Iranian nuclear sites to visit the White House.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yes, the B two bomber pilots who carried out the
mission to strike nuclear targets in Iran are visiting the
White House today, but don't expect to see a big
ceremony or public recognition, as officials say they've been advised
to keep a low profile in order to protect their
identities and make sure our adversaries aren't able to target
them now. While President Trump says the targets were obliterated
(29:18):
and a leaked intelligent report basically said the strikes didn't
do much at all. We heard from Pentagon spokesperson Sean
Parnell earlier this week, and he gave a little bit
more of a clear assessment about the damage to those
nuclear sites.
Speaker 10 (29:32):
I think we're thinking probably closer to two years, like
degraded their program by two years. But what we've seen
almost in fact, just universally among our allies, was them
congratulating the United States, the President and Secretary of Defense
on that Bolt operation and the idea that American action
in Iran has set the conditions for global stability.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So it sounds like, you know, somewhere in the middle
between obliterated and just breaking a couple of windows.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
And I think we're still waiting for a full intel
assessment of that situation too, all right. Taking a quick
look at sports Cleveland, Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz is under
investigation by Major League Baseball for allegedly violating the league's
sports gambling policy. That's according to multiple reports. He's been
placed on nondisciplinary paid leave while the investigation is ongoing.
(30:22):
That leave was negotiated between the league and the Players Association.
Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Junior is in ice custody
in California. Homeland Security announced he was arrested on Wednesday,
just days after he faced Jake Paul in a boxing
match in Anaheim. Some games Major League Baseball to watch
this today and this weekend. The Yankees open a series
(30:44):
against the Mets. This afternoon. Tigers had to Cleveland. Tigers
twelve and a half games ahead of the Guardians, and
two first place teams go at it in LA and
the Astros take on the Dodgers.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Little Angels is a new movie about a hot shot
college football coach who suspended and sentenced to community service.
He's forced to coach a rank tag girls soccer team,
learning humilit eight team, working personal growth along the way.
The movie stars and is produced by Dean Kine, who
also has writing credit, and we welcome him to the show. Dean,
(31:17):
you not only star in this movie, you wrote it
and directed it. So what was your inspiration for this film?
Speaker 9 (31:23):
I think my whole life was my inspiration for this. Read.
I'm an athlete, throw and through. I played every sport
under the sun. I was the top athlete in my
high school. I got voted top athlete in college. I
just loved sports as a metaphor for life. And I
was going to my niece and my goddaughter were playing
soccer and they were like ten years old, and I
was watching them play, and I realized there was five
(31:44):
thousand kids out there, five thousand kids out there and
their families that I was talking to some of the
parents and I said, you know that they're to sleep
over the night before and what do you know? What
do you guys do? What do you watch? You get together,
watch movies. And they were looking for, you know, something
that would be inspiring for them to watch. And the
best thing could come up with was like Ladybugs from
like thirty years ago. And I thought, wow, there should
(32:07):
be a story. And I had sort of another story
crafted in mind, and I sort of merged the two
stories of this guy who who is very self centered
and all about himself, and he ends up screwing up
and having to go with this coach and has to
go coach these kids. He doesn't like kids and he
doesn't like soccer. But using sports as a metaphor for life,
(32:27):
it's so important. You learn how to work together, you
learn humility, you learn discipline, you learn, trust, you learn,
you know responsibility. So I love bringing sports into life,
and that's that's what I did with the Little Angels.
This ragtag group of kids changes the coach, changes him
into a real human being, and he turns them into
winners and kids with confidence. And it's a great ride.
(32:51):
And I think people will enjoy this. Bring the whole family.
Everybody can get a laugh and have some inspiration.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
So in an interview you did recently, you said you
have been called Superman forever. Obviously you were in Lewis
and Clark in the nineties, and you said, if people
call you coach Jake after this, it'll be a big,
warm fuzzy for you. So what is it that you
love so much about this role.
Speaker 9 (33:14):
It's so true, though, data because I think that I
look back all the time that I played, as you know,
as an athlete, and I thought my coaches were omnipotent.
For some reason. I thought they had these great understanding.
You don't realize that they're older. They're just fallible human beings,
just like you. Sometimes they know a lot about a
sport or something. But when you call someone coach, there's
(33:35):
something about that. There's a term of respect. I still
refer to my coaches from college as coach, and even
guys who were younger than me that become a coach,
I called them coach. It's a great moniker to have.
If you've ever been called coach, you know how that feels,
and it's a sign of respect, and it's wonderful. And
the famous fleeting. I always enjoy being called Superman. It
(33:56):
never bothers me. I see that as a badge of Certainly,
if you're going to be called something superman's pretty darn good.
But if I can get called coach Jake, that means
that the character really resonated with people. And and I'll
take that in a heartbeat, because you know, this all
sort of originated with me sitting down with a blank
(34:17):
screen and starting to type.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
So this may be an obvious question, Dean, but I
kind of see this movie as one of redemption in
some fashion. So what do you want people to take
away from this?
Speaker 9 (34:28):
I want people to take away from this. There, of course,
there is redemption in this, and I want people to
take away that, you know, what's important in life? What
is important? Are things important? Are material possession is important?
Or are the relationships. You have your friends, your family,
your team, what does it work? And there's a lie
in the in the in the film which is given
(34:50):
by a wonderful actress, Carla, and she says, Carla Jimenez,
and she says, you know what, life is not worth
anything if you don't have someone to share it with.
There's great moments and that doesn't mean just one person,
means the family and things. And he ends up, you know,
with this team and if you're part of a team,
being part of a team is the greatest thing. And
it's one of the speeches that my character gives. You
(35:12):
earn that stuff. You don't just jump on a team
and be you know, and be accepted. You've got to
earn your time on a team. And when you do,
it's great because that means somebody always has your back,
someone's always there for you. You're not alone. They're going
to support you and your ups and your downs. And
that's what real teammates do, and that's what real family does.
And that's the feeling I want people to take away
from this film.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Little Angels is the name of the movie it's stars
and is directed by Dean Kin. Dean we are delighted
to have you on the program. Thank you so much
for joining us today.
Speaker 9 (35:42):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys letting me
be on.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
And I think it's time to say thank you to
a lot of people. Thank you, first of all for
the opportunity to do this program. Thank you for those
of you who are have been with us today, and
thank you the stations around the country that picked up
the program. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, it's been really fun to talk about, you know,
the Fourth of July, the summer movies, the summer food trends,
the history of the Fourth of July. And we just
want to say thank you to everyone for listening. And
if you want to see Reed's patriotic tie, all right,
one more plug for my instagram. Dan McKay radio, thank
you so much for joining us on this Forest of
the July. This is iHeartRadio's Holiday Talk
And we are alive on iHeartRadio's holiday talk program for
this fourth of July twenty twenty five. I'm Reed Shepherd
along with Dana McKay. Jason Bearinger is our producer. We
want to thank you for joining us today and a
thank you to Iheart's news talk stations around the country
for picking up the program. Your regular host will be
back on Monday. When I did this, we did this
(00:34):
program on Memorial Day, I kind of said that it
really your outlook on the day depended on whether you
lost a father, a buddy, a sister, or whoever might
have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. But the
fourth is America's Day. It's a day for barbecues. It's
a day for hanging by the pool. It's a day
(00:54):
to just be proud to be an American, just like.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You are showing off your pride with your star in
stripes tie. Our listeners they have to see your tie.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Did you make that? Did your wife make that? I
don't even know where I got it. It's very cool.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So if you want to see Reid's tie and how
patriotic we look this today, you can check out the
picture on my Instagram at Dana McKay radio.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Well, we'll be live with Ray Stagic from the Weather
Channel Litter. A little later on, we have the day's
top news stories for you, including the first people to
be processed and have arrived at the high profile and
very controversial immigration facility in the Everglades that's been dubbed
Alligator Alcatraz. Facility has been set up to house approximately
(01:41):
three thousand illegal immigrants, and I don't think they're going
to be there very long because the idea is to
bring them in and then fly them out and as
President Trump would say, take them back to wherever they
came from. One thing that I thought was interesting this
week about the facility is the fact that we've been
(02:01):
told that it was set up to withstand a Category
two hurricane. So naturally, they had a big rainstorm down
in South Florida earlier this week and you could see
flooding inside the tents where the detainees were going to stay. So,
you know, let's face it, there are still a lot
of questions about this facility. Who is going to come in,
(02:24):
how long they're going to stay there? You know, it
just there really are.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
There are a lot of questions, and also it's interesting
because when the Florida Attorney General first floated this idea
and released the Alligator Alcatraz video, it really seemed like
a PR stunt. It didn't seem like something that was
actually logistically going to make sense. And next thing you know,
within eight days, it's all set up and they say
ready to go, and it is very controversial. So multiple
(02:53):
food truck companies that were hired to provide food for
an event at Alligator Alcatraz are now facing some backlash.
Videos of the trucks entering the detention center have gone viral,
with some calling for Boycott's ConA Ace Chiromania and mister
Cheesius were among the trucks seen driving through the gates,
and they've all released statements basically saying they were hired
(03:15):
by a third party and they did not know that
they were being asked to provide food and service for
a politically sensitive event. So that just goes to show
you just how controversial this Alligator Alcatraz is.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And how do we feel about Alligator Alcatraz. Well, a
new pole, and yes, take the pole as you will
take it with the how many ever grains of salt
you like, But a new poll released on Thursday from
you goov found that a plurality of Americans are not
on board with the detention center. In total, forty eight
percent said they oppose Alligator Alcatraz, thirty three percent said
(03:50):
they support it, and additional eighteen percent were unsure how
they felt. It also found that nearly half of Americans
forty seven percent, believe people in migrant attention centers are
treated too harshly.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So the dad who jumped off the Disney cruise to
save his daughter who went overboard, did not sit her
up on the railing just before she fell off the ship.
Initial reports said he put her up there for a
picture and she fell backwards, and he was facing some
serious backlash for this. But after an investigation and talking
to several witnesses, this is what the Broward County Sheriff's
(04:23):
office spokesperson had to say.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
We just want people to stop speculating and once that
information is available, it will be released. But no, her
dad was not holding her. Nobody was holding her when
she fell off that ship.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Now, according to The New York Post, a witness who
works on the ship said the parents were playing shuffle
board on that same deck and the little girl lost
her balance and fell backward through a porthole that likely
should not have been open. So this was just a
tragic accident. Thankfully the dad was able to jump in
get his daughter treadwater, And it really is incredible because
(04:56):
a lot of times somebody goes off a cruise ship,
you never see them again. In the fact at the
little girl and the dad we're both rescued is pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
You start talking about treading water in the ocean and
holding on to someone at the same time, that person
is liable to be very afraid, scared, crashing around, and
what happens sadly too oftentimes, is that both of them,
both of them could drown. So it's just in a
(05:24):
remarkable situation. I want to give my props to the
dad for jumping in to save his daughter, and also
to the Disney crew for their efforts. Well, we want
to check in right now with Ray Stagic from the
Weather Channel, and Ray, I guess the big question is
where is where are people going to run into weather
problems if they're traveling on this fourth of July? Where
(05:47):
are the hotspots?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Yeah, I think we're going to be continuing in Central
Texas very heavy rainfall just northwest of the I thirty
five corridor in Kirk County specifically had reports of high
water rescues and even some flood emergency so hairyt heavy
rainfall and a very small spot of a big state.
And also in the northern tier in parts of northern
(06:09):
Minnesota just north of Minneapolis. And as you get into
the Dakotas and parts of let's say the northwest, isn't
you Idaho, there may be a shower storm with some
heavier rainfall western Montana and Wyoming. I really think some
of the best weather around reed is going to be
in the southwestern US and also the northeast New England
where they had some big storm yesterday.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Okay, so if you're driving up I ninety five, what
kinds of problems are you going to Win's Gon or
because that's going to be another hotspot.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
I know.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Well, if you say up, let's start from the south.
I think from Miami through Orlando you have some showers,
thunderstorms at times some locally heavy rainfall. I think the
best chances will be today right on through tomorrow. And
then as you go further north, it does get a
little bit more problematic. The Hurricane Center now has slapped
an invest designation on the area thunderstorms they've basically been
(06:58):
watching all week, and that could become a depression and
or a tropical storm, but it's going to be about
the impacts, and that would be Tybee Island. You go
through Savannah eventually head up toward Hilton Head. He hit
ninety five. Through eastern parts of North Carolina, you could
be experiencing some of the shower thunderstorm increase in intensity
and coverage, especially later today and tomorrow, and probably even
(07:20):
on in through maybe the tail end of the holiday
weekend too. But you get north of that through the
nation's capital, Philly, up near New York City, some absolutely
beautiful weather. Even as you get up near Boston and
parts of Maine, the northern part of the ninety five
corridor actually looking pretty darn good.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, So I think the good news, if there is
any about this system off the southeastern coast, is that
the center of it is going to be moving away
from from US and out into the open Atlantic.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Am I right in the short term, probably drifts around that.
There is some model guidance as we get into late
in the weekend and next week that does try to
drift it back as it drifts north, maybe toward the
east coast. So where and when and how strong that
system will be is tbd.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
But some of the guidance boys.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Some of the intensity guidance does bring it to maybe
a minimal tropical storm. And if we do get that name,
it would be Chantal.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Chantal And if anything else, it's just an indication that
hurricane season has arrived. All right, Race Agic, thank you
so much for joining us on this fourth of July.
And when we come back, we are going to be
talking about summer travel with CBS travel expert Peter Greenberg.
(08:34):
Also Emily Hile from the Washington Post food critic, one
of our favorite guests, going to be talking about summer
food when we come back on the iHeartRadio holiday talk program.
Speaker 6 (08:48):
I Am Larry Menti Menti in the Morning returns Monday
morning from six till ten. Now more of the iHeartRadio
Independence Day Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Well, it is the middle of summer, and while millions
are expected to travel this holiday weekend, there remains a
great deal of uncertainty about things like foreign travel, immigration, deportation,
travel bands. We are delighted to welcome back one of
our favorite holiday guests, CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg. Peter,
in your latest Travel News weekly newsletter, you claim that
(09:21):
things have gone from bad to worse at the FAA.
I want to start off by asking you about that
and what's the situation there.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Well, you have to go back about ninety years to
find out how bad it's been, but forty years to
figure out how bad it's become. And the reason for
that is the FAA was established by an Act of
Congress literally ninety years ago, back in nineteen thirty five,
and it was given a dual mandate. Now, the first
part of that mandate I think we can all support
an embrace it was to an act and for safety.
(09:50):
You can all get behind that. The second part of
the mandate is where it gets confusing. They were given
the mandate to quote, promote the business of aviation. You
cannot devote and as a result, every time there's a
safety problem and they can determine what went wrong and
a safety solution. The first thing the FAA does is
trying to figure out how much is it going to cost.
(10:10):
They're more worried about economic impact than actually fixing the problem.
And you cannot put a price tag on safety. That's
the biggest concern from the National Transportation Safety Board that
does a great job of investigating these accidents and coming
up with a probable cause. But until the fa throws
out that second part of the mandate, they're going to
mistakenly think that the airlines and the manufacturers are their clients.
(10:33):
They're not. We're their clients.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, I mean, no question the FAA has some issues. Now,
let's talk about prices for a second, because I've always
been a loyal Southwest customer and ever since they made
that change around Memorial Day where now they're charging you
for bags, it seems like they're also now charging a
lot more for a ticket. What can you tell us
about what's going on with Southwest right now?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Well, Southwest did a great job for years in terms
of branding their entire airline around the idea that you
didn't have to pay for check bags. It was a
distinct marketing benefit and the audience loved it. If you're
a family of four, you saved a significant amount of
money if you were checking bags. Well, as of May
twenty eighth, as you mentioned, that all changed because a
large investigative Investor Group has taken over the reins at Southwest,
(11:22):
and it's all about cost and generating revenue. So it's
not just about charging now for check bags. They're going
to start charging pretty soon for seats, meaning they're going
to upsell a lot of their seats. They're going to
start charging for other change fees if you change your ticket,
and last but not least, you know, they're doing a
situation where you used to have a travel bank where
(11:45):
if you didn't use the plight, you've got that money
credit to your countany's later it never expired. Now it does,
so all those things adding up, it's basically blown out
the culture of an airline that you loved.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It has because they I would always go, you know,
Tampa to Baltimore was one of the flights I would
always do. It'd be you know, one hundred, maybe one
hundred and fifty bucks. The last time I looked at
was over four hundred dollars. That's so much they've lost me.
I'm going with Jet Blue or I even flew Frontier
the last time I had to fly, because it was
so much cheaper that that's the only thing I could do.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Frontier is also one of these places that they charge
you for a for seat selection, they charge you for this,
and they charge you for that. So Peter, it kind
of sounds like Southwest is just following the trend.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
You're right, they were the last man standing in that
in that area. Keep in mind, airlines make more money
from antillary fees than they make from tickets or flying
the airline. Last year alone, on bag fees, we take
seven billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
We're talking to CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg about summer travel.
What do people need to know if they are planning
to travel to a foreign country this summer.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
Well, of course, the entire landscape was changed. We're dealing
with airspace that's now closed over a number of regions,
not just trees because of conflicted areas. We're dealing with
the other word that we talk about, the worst four
letter word that starts with FN travel. It's called fear.
And as a result, travel overseas is substantially down on
both ways. Foreigners traveling to the US worried about immigration
(13:15):
and deportation, and Americans worried about situations overseas not traveling.
There a lot of empty seats, so you're going to
see airfares start to drop precipitously on overseas flights. That
doesn't mean we're stopping traveling. We're just going to determine
to go somewhere else, which means twenty twenty five may
be the summer of the big American domestic trip. As
a result loss applying to man kicks in airfares in
(13:38):
the US for domestic flights have nowhere to go but up.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
All right, and once again we say thank you so
much to CBS Travel editor Peter Greenberg for joining us
on this fourth of July. Peter, A happy fourth to you,
and we'll be talking to you again real soon.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Right back, got you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, it's the middle of summer, and when we think
about summer food, what comes to mind hamburgers, hot dogs,
but hata salad, watermelon iced tea. Okay, fine, can we
do a little bit better? Maybe one of our favorite
guests on these holiday programs joins us once again. Today
we're delighted to say hello to Washington Post food critic
(14:13):
Emily Hile. Emily, I'm thinking there's got to be something
else we can cook up for our Midsummer get togethers.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
There are so many things that you can cook to,
you know, really glow up your little your barbecue. One
thing I have to say, I think the drink of
Summer twenty twenty five, and it's really easy and it's
something really easy that you can add to your get togethers.
It's called a spicy Savvy be It's all over TikTok
(14:40):
right now, and basically you just take a glass of
savion blanc and you slice up a hallapeno pepper. A
lot of people online are freezing their peppers and then
adding them into their drink, which you can do, but
I actually tried it both ways and it doesn't really matter.
So you just throw in a few slices of halapeno
pepper into your wine and it's delicious as this sort
of like spicy note. It really pairs well with the
(15:04):
wine and it's a little fun. You can add a
little club soda or seltzer if you want to make
it more of a spritz and kind of lighten things up.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
What's the name of it again, Emily, because I'm going
to write this down. I have a friend who every
time we go out to eat, she orders a side
of helipanos with everything she order.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
So I have to make this for her.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
Oh she's gonna love this. It's called Spicy Savvy b.
Speaker 8 (15:25):
A spicy savvy v savvy B.
Speaker 7 (15:29):
Yeah people refer to Yeah, people call Savion Blanc savvy B,
which that I've heard for a long time. I have
a friend who that's all she drinks. I would just
be careful, you know, make sure you know your spice level,
because when I first started, when I first experimented with
this drink, I put way too many halopeno slices.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
In and it, I think, and I'll start with one.
So now we need to know what's a good dish
that we can make, either on the grill or something
you bake that will go really well with this spicy
Savvy B.
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Well, you know what I love. I really love like
a like a pasta salad. Honestly, I think pasta salads
have gotten maligned over the years. Everyone thinks of them
as being like very old fashioned. But I think you
can really make delicious pasta salads and they go great
with everything, and you know, it's a really nice thing
that you can make and have it your get together
(16:20):
and you know you can have it so that you know,
if someone is vegetarian, they can maybe eat that instead
of whatever you've.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Got on the grill.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
If you're not grilling anything for vegetarians, it's a really nice,
really versatile thing that you can add to your spread.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
We're talking to Washington Post food critic Emily Hile. Emily,
what about the grill? Is there anything aside from steak
and you know, hamburgers that we can spice things up
with with the grill.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
I like grilling vegetables, but you know, you can basically
grill anything that you would make in your oven, so
you know, and I think also another thing you can
do to sort of kick up your grilling a little
bit is our sauces. You know, think about aids, interesting flavors.
Check out whatever you've got on your refrigerator on the door.
(17:05):
You know, we all have these like little condiments that
we've got hanging out, and take a good look at
that and to see what you've got. You might have
some interesting pickles you could throw into a marinade, great
spicy sauces, like if you've got some chili crisp, or
you know, any of these little bottles that you have
in your refrigerator door, throw them into a marinade and
they're really going to kick things up?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
How are inflation and high grocery prices affecting food trends? Like,
is there something that's cheap and easy that's really kind
of fun and creative that we can try this summer?
Speaker 7 (17:35):
So what I really want for this summer, what I
really want the trend to be, is casual entertaining. I
think restaurants have gotten really expensive, so you know, and
especially if you want to like go out with your friends,
you're always worried, you know, about picking a restaurant that's
maybe too expensive and the one friend who maybe just
got laid off, and you know, but you still you
want to have that great hang. And what I really
(17:57):
want people to do is to not be intimidated about
having people over. Don't get tu in your head about
making things really fancy. I think people don't care. Like
if someone invites you to their home and they make you,
you know, a pot of spaghetti, you're thrilled. You know,
you don't have to make dinner in that right, I
don't have to be beating you, that's right.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Washington Post food critic Emily Hile, Emily, it is always
a pleasure to talk to you, and we look forward
to talking to you again real soon meantime. Thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Today, No problems, stay cool out there.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I'm Read Shepherd along with Dana McKay and Jason Bearinger,
our producer. And this is iHeartRadio's holiday talk program, Happy
fourth of July.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
I am Larry Menty MENTI in the Morning returns Monday
morning from six to ten. Now more of the iHeartRadio
Independence Day Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
And we are back on iHeartRadio's holiday talk program for
this fourth of July twenty twenty five. And you know,
there really was a real Uncle Sam, right, Yes, Yes,
his name was Sam Wilson, lived in Troy, New York.
He was actually a meat packer and sent meat to
the troops during the War of eighteen twelve, and it
(19:29):
was all marked US for United States. So it became
known eventually as Uncle Sam. And I think in like
nineteen sixty one or something like that, Sam Wilson was
officially recognized as our official Uncle Sam. So there you go.
Coming up this half hour, we're zooming in on what
was a key battle of America's War for Independence and
(19:52):
a hero whose name has echoed down through history as
something completely different, and of course we also had the
day's top news stories. We begin with freed American Israeli
hostage Eden Alexander meeting with President Trump at the White
House on Thursday. This came exactly two weeks after the
(20:12):
New Jersey native returned home from nineteen months in Hamas captivity.
He was freed from Gaza on May twelfth, after enduring
five hundred and eighty four days at the hands of Hamas.
Alexander was raised in New Jersey, graduated from Tenafly High
School before moving to Israel in twenty twenty two, where
(20:35):
he served in the country's military. He was on duty
on October seventh, twenty twenty three, when he was abducted
alongside two hundred and fifty one other Israelis during the
attack that ignited the war in Gaza. He was tortured,
off and locked in a cage during the captivity, frequently
shackled at the hands and feet deep within the terrorists
(20:58):
underground tunnel network. So delighted to I think he was
the last American to be freed, So delighted to see
that he had a chance to meet with President Trump.
As a matter of fact, I saw the video he
came at he was wearing an Israeli flag and it
was it was just it was really nice.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It was a nice visit yesterday. So Kate Middleton returned
to public duties this week after battling cancer. She visited
a hospital on Wednesday and talked about something anyone who's
battled cancer can relate to. She sat down with some
patience and said how challenging it's been to put on
a brave face. She also mentioned how difficult it is
to get back to daily life after cancer treatments and
(21:37):
that she really felt like she needed support getting back
to normal too.
Speaker 9 (21:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
She's never said what type of cancer she had, but
she revealed that she is cancer free in January. We
also haven't heard much about King Charles and his battle
with cancer. The most recent thing we heard is that
he was briefly hospitalized back in March due to side
effects from his treatment, but he's been carrying on on
many of his duties as normal.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I know he was in Canada recently well. The signing
of the Declaration of Independence on July fourth, seventeen seventy
six was by no means the beginning of the Revolutionary
War and certainly not the end of it. But the
turning point of the conflict is generally thought to be
the Battles of Saratoga in September and October of seventeen
seventy seventh in Saratoga County in New York. They're getting
(22:25):
ready for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. We welcome
Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts to the program. So, Lauren,
why were these two battles so important?
Speaker 8 (22:35):
So the Battles of Saratoga, which you correctly say, there
are two, the first on September nineteenth, the second on
October seventh of seventeen seventy seven. In the fall, it
was really the Americans' effort to stop the so far
successful invasion from Canada of General John Burgoyne's British Army.
(22:58):
They had successfully come down through the Hudson Valley from Canada,
making pretty good progress, and Saratoga was really the last stand.
It was a high point where the Americans were able
to defend the high ground next to the Hudson River.
(23:19):
So definitely the environment played a big role in that.
But really the battles, the victory at Saratoga, which the
surrender happened on October seventeenth, seventeen seventy seven, which we
know as surrendered ay here locally. That victory was the
first time in world history that a British army, an
(23:41):
entire British field army, surrendered, and of course that puts
in motion the French to really think that we had
the ability to win, We might be able to stand
up against the British. Now, of course that wasn't an
easy task. The battles of Saratoga and the victory there
(24:03):
was the final straw when Benjamin Franklin was able to
commence the French to recognize US as an independent country,
to send us supplies and most importantly a navy. And
so that's why it's known as the turning point of
the American Revolution.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And what lessons do you think we can learn from
this battle as they would apply today? Is there any way,
you know, because we're supposed to learn from history, what
lessons from that that battle do we still hold on
to today?
Speaker 8 (24:32):
I think, you know, the British learned, certainly that.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
The gentlemen Johnny certainly learned his lesson.
Speaker 8 (24:44):
That's right, you know, not to underestimate people in their
homeland with the cause that they believed in, they fought ferociously.
They turned out. I think the British had this idea
that as they came down to through the country, all
of these loyalists, all the people that still wanted the
British King, you know, to be their monarch, We're going
(25:06):
to come out of the woodwork and join the British army.
And they were just going to run over the Americans
and get all the way to Albany, which was there
the objective in the plan, and then from there they
would decide what to do. But that never happened. That
there were some loyalists that fought with him, but the
idea that this swell of people that really wanted the
(25:27):
British king to still be their leader, that that wasn't true.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
You know, Lauren. There certainly were a lot of people
who deserve credit for, you know, the outcome of the
Battle of Saratoga. But I've always been fascinated by the
fact that there is one name that has echoed down
through history, and that was Major General Benedict Arnold.
Speaker 7 (25:49):
That's correct.
Speaker 8 (25:50):
We cannot deny how important he was to the victory.
And he's a complicated figure. We certainly talk about him
all of the time as a trader and most people
know that, but of course that doesn't happen until later
in the war, and we can always guess, you know,
what it was that made him turn coat, but we
don't know. He didn't say specifically. We can certainly see
(26:13):
the way he was treated. But at Saratoga back in
seventeen seventy seven, you know, he was upset that he
hadn't been given the promotion he was looking for. But
he still came to Saratoga. He came. Washington asked him
to come, and he came, and he made a difference.
He turned the tide. He was aggressive, he was loved
by his men. He was a fearless leader. And of
(26:36):
course he in the Second Battle, which happened on October seventh,
he's the one that leads his troops to really overrun
the British defenses, which actually were where the German troops
were located. And of course he's badly wounded. But what
he did there is remembered, and it's interesting in the
way that we remember him.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
When, yes, it is very interesting.
Speaker 8 (26:57):
The boots, Yes, yes, the boots, probably the most famous
monument in all of Saratoga County. It's not all of
upstate New.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
York, all right, Lauren Robert, Saratoga County Historian. Two hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga coming up
before too long, Lauren, thank you so much for joining
us today.
Speaker 8 (27:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You know I have seen that boot monument on several
times visiting the Saratoga Battlefield. And one other thing about
it is it doesn't have a name on it. His
name is not part of that.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
It's just a boot.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
It's just it's basically just a boot. When we come
back on updates from the Pentagon on the Iran strikes.
When we return on the iHeartRadio Holiday talk show.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
I Am Larry Menti. Menti in the Morning returns Monday
morning from six to ten. Now more of the iHeartRadio
Independence Day Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And we are back on iHeartRadio's holiday talk program for
this fourth of July twenty twenty five. That's probably my
favorite March of all time. Dana has been talking about
my tie a lot today. It's a wild shot. I
didn't know where I got it. I think it came
from my late mother in law's house. I've found it somewhere.
She's posted this on Instagram. But I also got to
(28:26):
say that I am very impressed with your star spangled outfit.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Oh well, thank you so much. I've got a star
spangled shirt on. Reed's got his ties. If you want
to see how patriarchic patriotic we are on this fourth
of July, you can go to my Instagram at Dana
McKay radio.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
And we've got coming up. We've got trouble for a
Cleveland Guardians pitcher we're going to tell you about and
the day's top news stories. We start with President Trump
inviting the pilots who flew in the mission to bomb
those Iranian nuclear sites to visit the White House.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yes, the B two bomber pilots who carried out the
mission to strike nuclear targets in Iran are visiting the
White House today, but don't expect to see a big
ceremony or public recognition, as officials say they've been advised
to keep a low profile in order to protect their
identities and make sure our adversaries aren't able to target
them now. While President Trump says the targets were obliterated
(29:18):
and a leaked intelligent report basically said the strikes didn't
do much at all. We heard from Pentagon spokesperson Sean
Parnell earlier this week, and he gave a little bit
more of a clear assessment about the damage to those
nuclear sites.
Speaker 10 (29:32):
I think we're thinking probably closer to two years, like
degraded their program by two years. But what we've seen
almost in fact, just universally among our allies, was them
congratulating the United States, the President and Secretary of Defense
on that Bolt operation and the idea that American action
in Iran has set the conditions for global stability.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So it sounds like, you know, somewhere in the middle
between obliterated and just breaking a couple of windows.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
And I think we're still waiting for a full intel
assessment of that situation too, all right. Taking a quick
look at sports Cleveland, Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz is under
investigation by Major League Baseball for allegedly violating the league's
sports gambling policy. That's according to multiple reports. He's been
placed on nondisciplinary paid leave while the investigation is ongoing.
(30:22):
That leave was negotiated between the league and the Players Association.
Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Junior is in ice custody
in California. Homeland Security announced he was arrested on Wednesday,
just days after he faced Jake Paul in a boxing
match in Anaheim. Some games Major League Baseball to watch
this today and this weekend. The Yankees open a series
(30:44):
against the Mets. This afternoon. Tigers had to Cleveland. Tigers
twelve and a half games ahead of the Guardians, and
two first place teams go at it in LA and
the Astros take on the Dodgers.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Little Angels is a new movie about a hot shot
college football coach who suspended and sentenced to community service.
He's forced to coach a rank tag girls soccer team,
learning humilit eight team, working personal growth along the way.
The movie stars and is produced by Dean Kine, who
also has writing credit, and we welcome him to the show. Dean,
(31:17):
you not only star in this movie, you wrote it
and directed it. So what was your inspiration for this film?
Speaker 9 (31:23):
I think my whole life was my inspiration for this. Read.
I'm an athlete, throw and through. I played every sport
under the sun. I was the top athlete in my
high school. I got voted top athlete in college. I
just loved sports as a metaphor for life. And I
was going to my niece and my goddaughter were playing
soccer and they were like ten years old, and I
was watching them play, and I realized there was five
(31:44):
thousand kids out there, five thousand kids out there and
their families that I was talking to some of the
parents and I said, you know that they're to sleep
over the night before and what do you know? What
do you guys do? What do you watch? You get together,
watch movies. And they were looking for, you know, something
that would be inspiring for them to watch. And the
best thing could come up with was like Ladybugs from
like thirty years ago. And I thought, wow, there should
(32:07):
be a story. And I had sort of another story
crafted in mind, and I sort of merged the two
stories of this guy who who is very self centered
and all about himself, and he ends up screwing up
and having to go with this coach and has to
go coach these kids. He doesn't like kids and he
doesn't like soccer. But using sports as a metaphor for life,
(32:27):
it's so important. You learn how to work together, you
learn humility, you learn discipline, you learn, trust, you learn,
you know responsibility. So I love bringing sports into life,
and that's that's what I did with the Little Angels.
This ragtag group of kids changes the coach, changes him
into a real human being, and he turns them into
winners and kids with confidence. And it's a great ride.
(32:51):
And I think people will enjoy this. Bring the whole family.
Everybody can get a laugh and have some inspiration.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
So in an interview you did recently, you said you
have been called Superman forever. Obviously you were in Lewis
and Clark in the nineties, and you said, if people
call you coach Jake after this, it'll be a big,
warm fuzzy for you. So what is it that you
love so much about this role.
Speaker 9 (33:14):
It's so true, though, data because I think that I
look back all the time that I played, as you know,
as an athlete, and I thought my coaches were omnipotent.
For some reason. I thought they had these great understanding.
You don't realize that they're older. They're just fallible human beings,
just like you. Sometimes they know a lot about a
sport or something. But when you call someone coach, there's
(33:35):
something about that. There's a term of respect. I still
refer to my coaches from college as coach, and even
guys who were younger than me that become a coach,
I called them coach. It's a great moniker to have.
If you've ever been called coach, you know how that feels,
and it's a sign of respect, and it's wonderful. And
the famous fleeting. I always enjoy being called Superman. It
(33:56):
never bothers me. I see that as a badge of Certainly,
if you're going to be called something superman's pretty darn good.
But if I can get called coach Jake, that means
that the character really resonated with people. And and I'll
take that in a heartbeat, because you know, this all
sort of originated with me sitting down with a blank
(34:17):
screen and starting to type.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
So this may be an obvious question, Dean, but I
kind of see this movie as one of redemption in
some fashion. So what do you want people to take
away from this?
Speaker 9 (34:28):
I want people to take away from this. There, of course,
there is redemption in this, and I want people to
take away that, you know, what's important in life? What
is important? Are things important? Are material possession is important?
Or are the relationships. You have your friends, your family,
your team, what does it work? And there's a lie
in the in the in the film which is given
(34:50):
by a wonderful actress, Carla, and she says, Carla Jimenez,
and she says, you know what, life is not worth
anything if you don't have someone to share it with.
There's great moments and that doesn't mean just one person,
means the family and things. And he ends up, you know,
with this team and if you're part of a team,
being part of a team is the greatest thing. And
it's one of the speeches that my character gives. You
(35:12):
earn that stuff. You don't just jump on a team
and be you know, and be accepted. You've got to
earn your time on a team. And when you do,
it's great because that means somebody always has your back,
someone's always there for you. You're not alone. They're going
to support you and your ups and your downs. And
that's what real teammates do, and that's what real family does.
And that's the feeling I want people to take away
from this film.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Little Angels is the name of the movie it's stars
and is directed by Dean Kin. Dean we are delighted
to have you on the program. Thank you so much
for joining us today.
Speaker 9 (35:42):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys letting me
be on.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
And I think it's time to say thank you to
a lot of people. Thank you, first of all for
the opportunity to do this program. Thank you for those
of you who are have been with us today, and
thank you the stations around the country that picked up
the program. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, it's been really fun to talk about, you know,
the Fourth of July, the summer movies, the summer food trends,
the history of the Fourth of July. And we just
want to say thank you to everyone for listening. And
if you want to see Reed's patriotic tie, all right,
one more plug for my instagram. Dan McKay radio, thank
you so much for joining us on this Forest of
the July. This is iHeartRadio's Holiday Talk
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