December 20, 2025 • 19 mins
Today's Top Stories include the death of a former NASCAR driver and his family en route to Florida, President Trump's executive order on marijuana, a Tampa Bay area woman who allegedly murdered her two ex-husbands in one day, and lots more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tom Ryan Gorman with Dana McKay, Jason Baron Heer, Briannatorez,
and Chris Trenkman from our newsroom. Coming up this hour,
the suspect of the Brown University and MIT professor shootings
found dead in New Hampshire. We'll have the latest overnight
developments for you before seven twenty plus the Epstein files
set to be released today. Our White House correspondent John
(00:20):
Decker is going to have that report for us at
seven forty eight before we get to today's top stories.
Quick programming note, this is my final show for twenty
twenty five. Dana and Reed Shepherd will be handling things
for the rest of the year. I just want to
take a second to thank everybody for listening to us
throughout the course of the year. If you've been listening
to us for a while now, if you're new to
(00:42):
the show, we really do appreciate it, just like in
a marriage. We probably don't say that enough, but we
thank you for tuning into us every morning to get
your news, to hear our hot takes, and hopefully to
have some fun. You know, as you're scrambling to get
your kids ready for school, or you're heading to that
that just sucks, you know, that's kind of that's kind
(01:03):
of what we try to be here for. And we
also appreciate you following us on social media Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube,
and x You can find us at Ryan Gorman Show
and Chris is gonna be the final time that that
we're in the studio together for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So, yeah, you're taking it all in, chak it up
the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, this is a special moment for me and I
just want to know it's been a great year.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well I wasn't supposed to do this, but I did
actually bring some Christmas cookies for every one of my
common am I out am I allowed to give them out. Yeah,
we have a Christmas card too that I made that
you forgot about to forgot to mention. Yeah, that we
were that we talked about this many times.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I am checked out like you are.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
And I'm sitting here going like, do I need to
remind him again that I may I spent all this
time making this wonderful Christmas card that you can find
on Instagram and Facebook at Ryan Gorman Show.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
To be fair, I have been promoting our social media
so if they were to stumble a pawn it, they
would see it based on that.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, God forbid you would just say it.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I completely forgot to be honest again, I'm totally totally check,
totally checked out. So Christmas cookies, but not presents, because
we were talking about present.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm not doing Christmas presents. I'm stressed out enough too early,
right right now.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well, and you said that we should, and you said
that we should do them after Christmas, but I was like,
I made I'm making Christmas cookies. I'm not going to
give them out on January fifth. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Wait, everybody has individual Christmas cookies? Oh wow, Oh.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
There's no actual time. I've just got a box for everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh my goodness. Wow, this is great. Thanks. Are these homemade?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I made them yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
They're not, are they really? They're not really homemade? Are
they rapping too?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I did, and it's not. I mean, I'm doing them
for some friends too. My son wanted to make Christmas cookies.
But they're my mom's recipes and we used to make
when I was a kid. They're actually really good. I
ate way too many of them last night, and I
think I have like a sugar hangover.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Today boy, and you put together that fabulous Christmas card
that again everyone can see, and.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
You didn't want to do any Christmas joy at all yesterday.
We're not doing Christmas?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Right?
Speaker 4 (03:06):
What was I gonna say, yes, we are and then
make you feel the pressure. So I was like, no,
and I'm gonna show up and do what I want
to do anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, pretty much all right, So there you have it.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You're having Thank you, Dana, Merry Christmas to Dana and
to Chris and to Jason.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And everybody listening for Jason too, and a happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
In case, well, I won't talk to you, all of you,
you know before that.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, I'll be out, So it's mutual, right, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Let's get to today's sas Stories now brought to you
by my friends over the Holling Retirement Wealth Advisors. You
are hard to save for your future. They can help
you make the most of it. Find them online at
Askdthehollands dot com.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning, so the NASCAR community morning.
One of its greatest drivers. A plane owned by former
NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, crashed in North Carolina on its
way to Sarasota on Thursday, killing him and his family,
a fifty five year old on board trying to make
a landing at Statesville Regional Airport after the plane turned
(04:03):
around after taking off from there. Now the Federal Aviation
Administration is investigating. The flight plan showed that it was
going to travel to Fort Lauderdale after the stop in
sarah SOOONA tracking data showed the plane took off and
then immediately or not immediately, but not long after takeoff,
made a loop to land back at that airport, and
(04:24):
it didn't make it. It went down and exploded on
the ground in a fireball.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, there was some not so great weather, low clouds,
reduced visibility, a little bit of rain. Not sure if
that had anything to do with this. All I do
know is that you see those images of the plane
hitting the ground, giant fireball, you know, that stretched for
a while, and when you see that, you could tell
(04:50):
nobody sadly was going to survive that crash. Seven total
of victims, including Biffol, his wife, their children, and his
wife apparently sent her a message minutes before they died
in the plane crash. She texted her mother, We're in trouble.
That's according to people so they must you know, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(05:12):
very haunting. Congressman Richard Hudson, represents the part of North Carolina,
credited Biffel as being a hero during Hurricane Helene. You know,
it hit North Carolina terrible effects and he was responsible
for doing flight rescues getting people out of some of
the hard hit areas. So a very sad story, and
obviously the investigation into exactly what will happen or what
(05:33):
happened with the crash will go on for several months.
Florida's US senators don't exactly agree on President Trump changing
the designation of marijuana now. Senator Rick Scott signed a
letter opposing the move with some GOP colleagues, but the
other Senator, Ashley Moody, did not, and in the letter,
(05:54):
it said a rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule three drug
will undermine effort it's to make America great again and
usher in America's next economic golden age, Scott saying winners
from this rescheduling would be the bad actors like communists China,
where Americans will be left paying the bill. Now, these
are obviously people who are hardcore against the use of marijuana.
(06:17):
They believe it's a gateway drug to other more serious drugs,
and he just doesn't support it.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Ashley Moody, in her history as a judge and law enforcement,
has been opposed to the localization of marijuana, but she
didn't sign this particular letter opposing the Trump administration.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I think it's insane that marijuana is in the
same class as heroin and LSD doesn't make any freaking
sense whatsoever. So if it were reclassified, it would be
alongside drugs like talent all with codeine, which makes a
lot more sense to me. You can say it's a
(06:58):
gateway drug all you want. Doesn't mean that it should
be classified with something like heroin.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It's just it's nice.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Well, you can also say alcohol is a gateway driver.
You know, you could say that about anything. And for
a lot of people spoke tons of weed and never
get anything.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Harder, right, And it's so easy these days to get
a hold of something with THHC or CBD. I mean,
I've been surprised at the fact that, like for a drink,
if you want to drink with CBD and THHC, or
if you want some gummies to help you sleepers, you
can just get that stuff. You don't even need a
medical marijuana guard to get a lot of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I mean, we obviously understand Rick Scott's position on it,
but I think where Moody is reconsidering it is the
fact that by rescheduling it to a Schedule three drug,
it opens up the ability to use it for research
and for other medical uses, right, which has already been
done in a lot of states. And that's one of
the advantages to taking it out of sort of a
hard drug category like cocaine.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And I've talked to a lot of veterans and organizations
that support veterans who have been wanting, you know, more
studying done on this kind of stuff and how it
could impact veterans who are potentially dealing with PTSD and
things like that, or pain. You know, people who are
dealing with pain who end up on those opioids. You know,
are there ways that this can prevent it from getting
to that point?
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, because the opioids are so addictive.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Yeah, and it can help with like rear diseases and
stuff like that, or kids that have these terminal illnesses.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah. I'm on board with what the President did here.
I think it was the right Move.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
A new Florida bill that was filed this week could
result in higher fees for homeowners' associations statewide. The bill
was filed by Senator Ileana Garcia Miami. It seeks to
set up a new state agencies, the Office of the
HOA Ombudsman. This person would be responsible for helping community
(08:46):
association members figure out their rights and responsibilities, as well
as monitoring procedures and disputes involving HOA meetings and elections.
So it would allow the division of Florida condominiums, timeshares,
mobile homes more power to oversee HOA activities and if
it turns out they're not in compliance, issue fines to
(09:06):
those organizations in an effort to get them in line.
But that of course could lead to these fees being
paid by the residents or members of those hoas.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Right, hoa's are going to be I think a big
topic of discussion in Tallahassee during the legislative session.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah, there's been like a lot of build up, a
lot of anger. People are fed up.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
The one thing I'll say here, you know, between this proposal,
uh and then what the CFO Blazing Oliot was proposing
that we talked about yesterday with Faffo, like, you know,
making that an official, uh position within the state government.
I mean, how much are we going to add to
state government? We just keep expanding. We're going to have
an HOA agency, We're going to have you know, the
(09:48):
f around and find out those agency. I mean, are
we supposed to be making government smaller, right, bigger?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well, making things more efficient, but then you're just.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Adding more yeah, exactly, and blazing Golia.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It still isn't answering the question, why do if they
have one set up for all the state agency he's
the Governor's office, his office, all these branches at the
state level that are supposedly going to be enforcing this,
it seems like the blame is all on local government. Yeah,
but I think it's pretty clear the state government needs
to be.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Watched over right as well. I think so too. I'm
just concerned.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You know, once you start making these departments and agencies
and adding these salaries, they never go away.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
We know that.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Chris Trankman with Today's Top Stories. Chris, it's been a pleasure.
I have a great new year. I'm Ryan Gorman with
Dana McKay, Jason Barringer and Chris Trenkman from our newsroom.
Coming up this hour, the suspect in the Brown University
and MIT professor shootings found dead in New Hampshire.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
We're gonna get to that before five twenty plus.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Tampa City Council took a vote on reigning in the
use of e bikes and east scooters. Dana is going
to reveal their decision at five twenty five before we
get to today's top stories. Quick heads up programming Note,
this is my final show for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
At least that's what we think.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
We'll have to want this see see what happens if
I come back and in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
But yeah, this is my final show for the year.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Dana and Reid are going to be handling things moving
forward for the next couple of weeks. They've got great
shows lined up. They've been working twenty four to seven NonStop.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
On Really Happen.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I'm expecting read to come in
at any minute. You're right right to do some more
interviews and some prep. Yeah, so definitely make sure you're
checking those out throughout the course of the next couple
of weeks. I just want to thank everybody for tuning
in and listening to us, especially if you're one of
these five AM listeners, you know, bright and early, first
(11:37):
thing in the morning, turning us on.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, that's right, you're right, you're right, really part of
the show.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, yeah, I really appreciate all of you listening to
us all year long.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It's been an interesting year.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I mean, from Trump taking office to I don't know,
there have just been so many stories. As I was
kind of going back through twenty twenty five and some
of the headlines favor you know, one of my favorites.
We're gonna get to it in the six o'clock hour
when we run through the Florida man stories I did,
like Chuck E.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Cheese getting arrested here.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
In Florida one. Yeah, that was one of my favorite stories.
You know, my favorite huh No hurricane that is right. Yeah,
the first time I haven't had to do hurricane coverage
in years.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So good.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, So that was that was a real positive for
twenty twenty five. But again, we want to thank everybody
for listening to the show, for following us on social media.
I mean, the amount of stuff that Dana puts out
on a daily basis, Like I wonder if we if
we looked up the amount of posts that you've done
throughout the course of the year, that number would be staggering.
Not quite as much as Trump, but yeah, tap yeah,
(12:46):
but close. So please make sure you're following us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok,
YouTube x all of it at Ryan Gorman Show. Now,
let's get to today's top stories with Chris Trankman.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Good morning, Chris, good morning. Well, it's a sad day
for NASCAR.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
A plane owned by former driver Greg Biffle crashed in
North Carolina while on its way to Sarasota, killing him
and his family. The plane crashed while landing at the
Statesville Regional Airport around ten twenty am.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
According to the FAA.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
The flight tracking data that was obtained shows that the
plane took off from the airport minutes earlier, then made
a loop to go back and land. Seven people were
killed in the crash, and Representative Richard Hudson, the congressman
from North Carolina from that area, said that the retired
driver and his whole family died and he was a
(13:38):
hero in that area, especially during Hurricane Helene. He had
gone in and done several dangerous rescues to get people out,
you know, flying rescue missions, so he wasn't a stranger
to dangerous conditions. But in this case, something went wrong.
They're still investigating. The flight was on its way to Sarasota, yeah,
but didn't even come close. I mean, they obviously had
(13:58):
something go wrong, tried to get back to the airport
and crash before that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, the investigations underway. There's a lot that we don't know.
We don't know if the weather had anything to do
with it. If you saw the images of the site,
and there's actually images of the grain of the plane
crashing and just this huge fireball, there was no way
anybody was surviving that.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But it was cloudy, it was a little drizzly, little foggy.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Don't know if that had anything to do with it,
or if it was just some kind of failure on
the part of the plane.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But just tragic story. Seven people did the whole family, Yeah,
that sounds.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Wife and two kids and then you know, other people
on the plane. I mean, it was really a tragic
situation that yeah, we're all there at the same time.
But obviously this will be investigated and we'll find out
more as the FAA picks up all the debris. I
mean they were still recovering a lot of the pieces
of the plane yesterday.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, because the plane when they hit it just kept
like skidding in one big fireball for an extended period.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
So marriages don't always end well, but this may be
a new extreme. The Manatee County Sheriff's office that a
woman's accused of killing two of her ex husbands in
two separate counties. Manateee Sheriff Rick Well says it doesn't
get any more brazen than this. They identified fifty one
year old Susan Avalon as a person of interest in
a shooting in Bradenton, and then detectives developed probable cause
(15:19):
to charge Avalon with murder. And they responded and found
a man dead in a home on Chadham Light Run.
He had died from a gunshot wound, and the fifty
four year old was apparently unconscious but still alive. They
took him to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
He never recovered. Yeah, I guess he was shot. The
first victim was shot when he answered his door. The
first victim they discovered. I think it actually happened where
she killed her ex husband in Hillsborough County and then
went to Manatee County, but he was shot when he
answered his door. Before he died, he did manage to
tell investigators it was his ex wife who shot him.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Then when they go and they.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Confront her at her home in Citrus County, they said
they were there to talk about her ex husband, and
she reportedly replied which one and they're like, oh oh,
and so that's when they sent law enforcement to go
check on the other x and that's when they found
him dead inside his home.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Well, when they approached her, I mean, she had like
bleach and cleaning the axe and was like wiping down
her car. So that sort of sent alerts to investigators.
And yeah, they were able to tie it to this
other case in Tampa where they found another man dead
and oh surprise, it's her other ex husband.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, and I mean she's got five kids between the
two ex husbands.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You just wondered, like what, I wanted to know what
made her snap like that?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Right? Yeah, to take them both out right basically in
the same day, just going from one to the next.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And didn't you say she had panera at some point
in your newscast?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, she had broccoli soup from Panera Bread and what
that had to do with it, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Sure, bad taste and soup on top of being a
murder you like the No, I don't like that, I think.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Okay, well anyway, yeah, yeah, so that that was involved in.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Nothing to do with I like. And then you're just
like the soup side.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I like, but I get it. Every month I was
talking about the soup, It's like, where's this coming from?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
And right, details, yeah, details, but obviously a bizarre case.
And uh, it'll be interesting to see if she's actually
tied to both these cases, because right now it's still
a person of interest. So a new entertainment district announced
for downtown Tampa by Strategic Property Partners, and the new
district is featuring a thirty five hundred seat music and
performance venue. It's designed for rising in mid tier touring artists.
(17:48):
So this is obviously not you know, for Taylor Swift
or something like that.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
But no, you do wonder if sometimes a bigger artists
might want a more intimate setting. That's true too, you know,
there's always advantages to having these sized arenas. I guess
what surprised me about that the music and performance venue.
I didn't realize we needed another one. It just feels
like we have a lot. We've got, uh the sound
which is open, but then you've got Ruth Eckert Hall,
(18:12):
You've got you know, I think this.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Is going to be bigger than those, right, It's obviously
not as big as the arena, yeah right, you know,
in certain situations you have a yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I mean, look, Jeff Finnick seems to know what he's doing.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
This is part of his I think that's a good
point his operation, you know, Water Street. Yeah, so this
is this is probably something they've looked into. And and
the thing about it is when you have the facility,
if you build it, they will come right. So this
could bring in artists and we'll see what kinds of
performers would like to use a venue like this as
opposed to you know, our bigger one and then the
smaller ones.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
But it's not just that they're going to do a
two hundred and fifty room hotel. They've got like one
hundred thousand square feet of retail, dining, entertainment space and
and this is key for that area.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
They're going to add more than one hundred thousand parking space.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Oh yeah, that's I mean, if you're going to have
all that other stuff for sure. I just posted the
renderings on our Facebook. Pahow, Yeah, it looks really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I mean I don't like going out and doing things,
but you know the renderings, I'd maybe think about going
down to that area to check the whole You might actually.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Leave the house. I might.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It's interesting though, because you know, a lot of people
were wondering what is this water Street? What's going to
happen when Vinnick got involved with this, and we're starting
to see some of the ideas reveal vision.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
You know, this is a pretty exciting.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
One, and I was trying to figure out where exactly
this is going to go because it's not a lot
of space there, but they've got like a vacant part
of land right there by Annaly Arena and that's where
they're going to put this whole thing. So again, more
exciting things coming to downtown Tampa. Chris Trankman with Today's
Top Stories. Chris, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Thank you.
Tom Ryan Gorman with Dana McKay, Jason Baron Heer, Briannatorez,
and Chris Trenkman from our newsroom. Coming up this hour,
the suspect of the Brown University and MIT professor shootings
found dead in New Hampshire. We'll have the latest overnight
developments for you before seven twenty plus the Epstein files
set to be released today. Our White House correspondent John
(00:20):
Decker is going to have that report for us at
seven forty eight before we get to today's top stories.
Quick programming note, this is my final show for twenty
twenty five. Dana and Reed Shepherd will be handling things
for the rest of the year. I just want to
take a second to thank everybody for listening to us
throughout the course of the year. If you've been listening
to us for a while now, if you're new to
(00:42):
the show, we really do appreciate it, just like in
a marriage. We probably don't say that enough, but we
thank you for tuning into us every morning to get
your news, to hear our hot takes, and hopefully to
have some fun. You know, as you're scrambling to get
your kids ready for school, or you're heading to that
that just sucks, you know, that's kind of that's kind
(01:03):
of what we try to be here for. And we
also appreciate you following us on social media Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube,
and x You can find us at Ryan Gorman Show
and Chris is gonna be the final time that that
we're in the studio together for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So, yeah, you're taking it all in, chak it up
the moment.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, this is a special moment for me and I
just want to know it's been a great year.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well I wasn't supposed to do this, but I did
actually bring some Christmas cookies for every one of my
common am I out am I allowed to give them out. Yeah,
we have a Christmas card too that I made that
you forgot about to forgot to mention. Yeah, that we
were that we talked about this many times.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I am checked out like you are.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
And I'm sitting here going like, do I need to
remind him again that I may I spent all this
time making this wonderful Christmas card that you can find
on Instagram and Facebook at Ryan Gorman Show.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
To be fair, I have been promoting our social media
so if they were to stumble a pawn it, they
would see it based on that.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, God forbid you would just say it.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I completely forgot to be honest again, I'm totally totally check,
totally checked out. So Christmas cookies, but not presents, because
we were talking about present.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm not doing Christmas presents. I'm stressed out enough too early,
right right now.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well, and you said that we should, and you said
that we should do them after Christmas, but I was like,
I made I'm making Christmas cookies. I'm not going to
give them out on January fifth. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Wait, everybody has individual Christmas cookies? Oh wow, Oh.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
There's no actual time. I've just got a box for everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh my goodness. Wow, this is great. Thanks. Are these homemade?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I made them yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
They're not, are they really? They're not really homemade? Are
they rapping too?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I did, and it's not. I mean, I'm doing them
for some friends too. My son wanted to make Christmas cookies.
But they're my mom's recipes and we used to make
when I was a kid. They're actually really good. I
ate way too many of them last night, and I
think I have like a sugar hangover.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Today boy, and you put together that fabulous Christmas card
that again everyone can see, and.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
You didn't want to do any Christmas joy at all yesterday.
We're not doing Christmas?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Right?
Speaker 4 (03:06):
What was I gonna say, yes, we are and then
make you feel the pressure. So I was like, no,
and I'm gonna show up and do what I want
to do anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, pretty much all right, So there you have it.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You're having Thank you, Dana, Merry Christmas to Dana and
to Chris and to Jason.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And everybody listening for Jason too, and a happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
In case, well, I won't talk to you, all of you,
you know before that.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, I'll be out, So it's mutual, right, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Let's get to today's sas Stories now brought to you
by my friends over the Holling Retirement Wealth Advisors. You
are hard to save for your future. They can help
you make the most of it. Find them online at
Askdthehollands dot com.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning, so the NASCAR community morning.
One of its greatest drivers. A plane owned by former
NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, crashed in North Carolina on its
way to Sarasota on Thursday, killing him and his family,
a fifty five year old on board trying to make
a landing at Statesville Regional Airport after the plane turned
(04:03):
around after taking off from there. Now the Federal Aviation
Administration is investigating. The flight plan showed that it was
going to travel to Fort Lauderdale after the stop in
sarah SOOONA tracking data showed the plane took off and
then immediately or not immediately, but not long after takeoff,
made a loop to land back at that airport, and
(04:24):
it didn't make it. It went down and exploded on
the ground in a fireball.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, there was some not so great weather, low clouds,
reduced visibility, a little bit of rain. Not sure if
that had anything to do with this. All I do
know is that you see those images of the plane
hitting the ground, giant fireball, you know, that stretched for
a while, and when you see that, you could tell
(04:50):
nobody sadly was going to survive that crash. Seven total
of victims, including Biffol, his wife, their children, and his
wife apparently sent her a message minutes before they died
in the plane crash. She texted her mother, We're in trouble.
That's according to people so they must you know, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(05:12):
very haunting. Congressman Richard Hudson, represents the part of North Carolina,
credited Biffel as being a hero during Hurricane Helene. You know,
it hit North Carolina terrible effects and he was responsible
for doing flight rescues getting people out of some of
the hard hit areas. So a very sad story, and
obviously the investigation into exactly what will happen or what
(05:33):
happened with the crash will go on for several months.
Florida's US senators don't exactly agree on President Trump changing
the designation of marijuana now. Senator Rick Scott signed a
letter opposing the move with some GOP colleagues, but the
other Senator, Ashley Moody, did not, and in the letter,
(05:54):
it said a rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule three drug
will undermine effort it's to make America great again and
usher in America's next economic golden age, Scott saying winners
from this rescheduling would be the bad actors like communists China,
where Americans will be left paying the bill. Now, these
are obviously people who are hardcore against the use of marijuana.
(06:17):
They believe it's a gateway drug to other more serious drugs,
and he just doesn't support it.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Ashley Moody, in her history as a judge and law enforcement,
has been opposed to the localization of marijuana, but she
didn't sign this particular letter opposing the Trump administration.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I think it's insane that marijuana is in the
same class as heroin and LSD doesn't make any freaking
sense whatsoever. So if it were reclassified, it would be
alongside drugs like talent all with codeine, which makes a
lot more sense to me. You can say it's a
(06:58):
gateway drug all you want. Doesn't mean that it should
be classified with something like heroin.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It's just it's nice.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Well, you can also say alcohol is a gateway driver.
You know, you could say that about anything. And for
a lot of people spoke tons of weed and never
get anything.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Harder, right, And it's so easy these days to get
a hold of something with THHC or CBD. I mean,
I've been surprised at the fact that, like for a drink,
if you want to drink with CBD and THHC, or
if you want some gummies to help you sleepers, you
can just get that stuff. You don't even need a
medical marijuana guard to get a lot of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I mean, we obviously understand Rick Scott's position on it,
but I think where Moody is reconsidering it is the
fact that by rescheduling it to a Schedule three drug,
it opens up the ability to use it for research
and for other medical uses, right, which has already been
done in a lot of states. And that's one of
the advantages to taking it out of sort of a
hard drug category like cocaine.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And I've talked to a lot of veterans and organizations
that support veterans who have been wanting, you know, more
studying done on this kind of stuff and how it
could impact veterans who are potentially dealing with PTSD and
things like that, or pain. You know, people who are
dealing with pain who end up on those opioids. You know,
are there ways that this can prevent it from getting
to that point?
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, because the opioids are so addictive.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Yeah, and it can help with like rear diseases and
stuff like that, or kids that have these terminal illnesses.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah. I'm on board with what the President did here.
I think it was the right Move.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
A new Florida bill that was filed this week could
result in higher fees for homeowners' associations statewide. The bill
was filed by Senator Ileana Garcia Miami. It seeks to
set up a new state agencies, the Office of the
HOA Ombudsman. This person would be responsible for helping community
(08:46):
association members figure out their rights and responsibilities, as well
as monitoring procedures and disputes involving HOA meetings and elections.
So it would allow the division of Florida condominiums, timeshares,
mobile homes more power to oversee HOA activities and if
it turns out they're not in compliance, issue fines to
(09:06):
those organizations in an effort to get them in line.
But that of course could lead to these fees being
paid by the residents or members of those hoas.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Right, hoa's are going to be I think a big
topic of discussion in Tallahassee during the legislative session.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah, there's been like a lot of build up, a
lot of anger. People are fed up.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
The one thing I'll say here, you know, between this proposal,
uh and then what the CFO Blazing Oliot was proposing
that we talked about yesterday with Faffo, like, you know,
making that an official, uh position within the state government.
I mean, how much are we going to add to
state government? We just keep expanding. We're going to have
an HOA agency, We're going to have you know, the
(09:48):
f around and find out those agency. I mean, are
we supposed to be making government smaller, right, bigger?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well, making things more efficient, but then you're just.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Adding more yeah, exactly, and blazing Golia.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It still isn't answering the question, why do if they
have one set up for all the state agency he's
the Governor's office, his office, all these branches at the
state level that are supposedly going to be enforcing this,
it seems like the blame is all on local government. Yeah,
but I think it's pretty clear the state government needs
to be.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Watched over right as well. I think so too. I'm
just concerned.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You know, once you start making these departments and agencies
and adding these salaries, they never go away.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
We know that.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Chris Trankman with Today's Top Stories. Chris, it's been a pleasure.
I have a great new year. I'm Ryan Gorman with
Dana McKay, Jason Barringer and Chris Trenkman from our newsroom.
Coming up this hour, the suspect in the Brown University
and MIT professor shootings found dead in New Hampshire.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
We're gonna get to that before five twenty plus.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Tampa City Council took a vote on reigning in the
use of e bikes and east scooters. Dana is going
to reveal their decision at five twenty five before we
get to today's top stories. Quick heads up programming Note,
this is my final show for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
At least that's what we think.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
We'll have to want this see see what happens if
I come back and in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
But yeah, this is my final show for the year.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Dana and Reid are going to be handling things moving
forward for the next couple of weeks. They've got great
shows lined up. They've been working twenty four to seven NonStop.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
On Really Happen.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I'm expecting read to come in
at any minute. You're right right to do some more
interviews and some prep. Yeah, so definitely make sure you're
checking those out throughout the course of the next couple
of weeks. I just want to thank everybody for tuning
in and listening to us, especially if you're one of
these five AM listeners, you know, bright and early, first
(11:37):
thing in the morning, turning us on.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, that's right, you're right, you're right, really part of
the show.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, yeah, I really appreciate all of you listening to
us all year long.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It's been an interesting year.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I mean, from Trump taking office to I don't know,
there have just been so many stories. As I was
kind of going back through twenty twenty five and some
of the headlines favor you know, one of my favorites.
We're gonna get to it in the six o'clock hour
when we run through the Florida man stories I did,
like Chuck E.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Cheese getting arrested here.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
In Florida one. Yeah, that was one of my favorite stories.
You know, my favorite huh No hurricane that is right. Yeah,
the first time I haven't had to do hurricane coverage
in years.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So good.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, So that was that was a real positive for
twenty twenty five. But again, we want to thank everybody
for listening to the show, for following us on social media.
I mean, the amount of stuff that Dana puts out
on a daily basis, Like I wonder if we if
we looked up the amount of posts that you've done
throughout the course of the year, that number would be staggering.
Not quite as much as Trump, but yeah, tap yeah,
(12:46):
but close. So please make sure you're following us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok,
YouTube x all of it at Ryan Gorman Show. Now,
let's get to today's top stories with Chris Trankman.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Good morning, Chris, good morning. Well, it's a sad day
for NASCAR.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
A plane owned by former driver Greg Biffle crashed in
North Carolina while on its way to Sarasota, killing him
and his family. The plane crashed while landing at the
Statesville Regional Airport around ten twenty am.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
According to the FAA.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
The flight tracking data that was obtained shows that the
plane took off from the airport minutes earlier, then made
a loop to go back and land. Seven people were
killed in the crash, and Representative Richard Hudson, the congressman
from North Carolina from that area, said that the retired
driver and his whole family died and he was a
(13:38):
hero in that area, especially during Hurricane Helene. He had
gone in and done several dangerous rescues to get people out,
you know, flying rescue missions, so he wasn't a stranger
to dangerous conditions. But in this case, something went wrong.
They're still investigating. The flight was on its way to Sarasota, yeah,
but didn't even come close. I mean, they obviously had
(13:58):
something go wrong, tried to get back to the airport
and crash before that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, the investigations underway. There's a lot that we don't know.
We don't know if the weather had anything to do
with it. If you saw the images of the site,
and there's actually images of the grain of the plane
crashing and just this huge fireball, there was no way
anybody was surviving that.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But it was cloudy, it was a little drizzly, little foggy.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Don't know if that had anything to do with it,
or if it was just some kind of failure on
the part of the plane.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But just tragic story. Seven people did the whole family, Yeah,
that sounds.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Wife and two kids and then you know, other people
on the plane. I mean, it was really a tragic
situation that yeah, we're all there at the same time.
But obviously this will be investigated and we'll find out
more as the FAA picks up all the debris. I
mean they were still recovering a lot of the pieces
of the plane yesterday.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, because the plane when they hit it just kept
like skidding in one big fireball for an extended period.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
So marriages don't always end well, but this may be
a new extreme. The Manatee County Sheriff's office that a
woman's accused of killing two of her ex husbands in
two separate counties. Manateee Sheriff Rick Well says it doesn't
get any more brazen than this. They identified fifty one
year old Susan Avalon as a person of interest in
a shooting in Bradenton, and then detectives developed probable cause
(15:19):
to charge Avalon with murder. And they responded and found
a man dead in a home on Chadham Light Run.
He had died from a gunshot wound, and the fifty
four year old was apparently unconscious but still alive. They
took him to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
He never recovered. Yeah, I guess he was shot. The
first victim was shot when he answered his door. The
first victim they discovered. I think it actually happened where
she killed her ex husband in Hillsborough County and then
went to Manatee County, but he was shot when he
answered his door. Before he died, he did manage to
tell investigators it was his ex wife who shot him.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Then when they go and they.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Confront her at her home in Citrus County, they said
they were there to talk about her ex husband, and
she reportedly replied which one and they're like, oh oh,
and so that's when they sent law enforcement to go
check on the other x and that's when they found
him dead inside his home.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Well, when they approached her, I mean, she had like
bleach and cleaning the axe and was like wiping down
her car. So that sort of sent alerts to investigators.
And yeah, they were able to tie it to this
other case in Tampa where they found another man dead
and oh surprise, it's her other ex husband.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, and I mean she's got five kids between the
two ex husbands.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You just wondered, like what, I wanted to know what
made her snap like that?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Right? Yeah, to take them both out right basically in
the same day, just going from one to the next.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And didn't you say she had panera at some point
in your newscast?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, she had broccoli soup from Panera Bread and what
that had to do with it, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Sure, bad taste and soup on top of being a
murder you like the No, I don't like that, I think.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Okay, well anyway, yeah, yeah, so that that was involved in.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Nothing to do with I like. And then you're just
like the soup side.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I like, but I get it. Every month I was
talking about the soup, It's like, where's this coming from?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
And right, details, yeah, details, but obviously a bizarre case.
And uh, it'll be interesting to see if she's actually
tied to both these cases, because right now it's still
a person of interest. So a new entertainment district announced
for downtown Tampa by Strategic Property Partners, and the new
district is featuring a thirty five hundred seat music and
performance venue. It's designed for rising in mid tier touring artists.
(17:48):
So this is obviously not you know, for Taylor Swift
or something like that.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
But no, you do wonder if sometimes a bigger artists
might want a more intimate setting. That's true too, you know,
there's always advantages to having these sized arenas. I guess
what surprised me about that the music and performance venue.
I didn't realize we needed another one. It just feels
like we have a lot. We've got, uh the sound
which is open, but then you've got Ruth Eckert Hall,
(18:12):
You've got you know, I think this.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Is going to be bigger than those, right, It's obviously
not as big as the arena, yeah right, you know,
in certain situations you have a yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I mean, look, Jeff Finnick seems to know what he's doing.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
This is part of his I think that's a good
point his operation, you know, Water Street. Yeah, so this
is this is probably something they've looked into. And and
the thing about it is when you have the facility,
if you build it, they will come right. So this
could bring in artists and we'll see what kinds of
performers would like to use a venue like this as
opposed to you know, our bigger one and then the
smaller ones.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
But it's not just that they're going to do a
two hundred and fifty room hotel. They've got like one
hundred thousand square feet of retail, dining, entertainment space and
and this is key for that area.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
They're going to add more than one hundred thousand parking space.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Oh yeah, that's I mean, if you're going to have
all that other stuff for sure. I just posted the
renderings on our Facebook. Pahow, Yeah, it looks really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I mean I don't like going out and doing things,
but you know the renderings, I'd maybe think about going
down to that area to check the whole You might actually.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Leave the house. I might.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It's interesting though, because you know, a lot of people
were wondering what is this water Street? What's going to
happen when Vinnick got involved with this, and we're starting
to see some of the ideas reveal vision.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
You know, this is a pretty exciting.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
One, and I was trying to figure out where exactly
this is going to go because it's not a lot
of space there, but they've got like a vacant part
of land right there by Annaly Arena and that's where
they're going to put this whole thing. So again, more
exciting things coming to downtown Tampa. Chris Trankman with Today's
Top Stories. Chris, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.