August 29, 2025 • 34 mins
Tune in here to this Friday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen kicks the show off by talking about the start of college football season and why tonight’s Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium is a major step forward for UNC Charlotte. He recalls covering the sport since the late 1990s and explains how the expansion of playoffs and growth of programs have reshaped the game
Later, Jensen turned his focus to the horrific stabbing on the Lynx Blue Line that claimed the life of 23-year-old Irina Zarutska, a refugee from Ukraine who had come to Charlotte seeking safety. He detailed how the suspect, 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr., was arrested, charged with murder, and denied bond at his first court appearance. Jensen highlighted emotional testimony from Zarutska’s uncle, who called her a “sweet angel” and pleaded with the judge to keep Brown in custody to protect others. Court records revealed Brown’s violent criminal history, while reports indicated he may undergo a competency evaluation.
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
To be the first to hear about Breaking Brett Jensen's exclusives and more follow him on X @Brett_Jensen!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi Oh, Let's go Hi Oh, Let's go oh.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Let's go oh.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett
Jensen here with you on this Friday night edition of
Breaking with Brett Jensen. As we go up until seven
o'clock tonight. Telephone numbers as always to get in on
the show seven oh four five, seven oh eleven ten.
That is also the WBT text line number, in which
of course is driven by Liberty Buick and GMC. And
(00:56):
I have been telling you this for three and a
half years, but I have never met it more so
than I do right now. You really need to follow
me on X at Bret Underscore Jensen for all the
latest and breaking news in and around the show at area.
And if you follow me on X this week, boy,
you have been in some doozies. You and I don't
know one hundred thousand other people have been following what
(01:19):
I've been saying.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
On Twitter this week.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm not joking. That's why I tell you to follow me. Also,
I want to tell you this. It's time for the
sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive. So on Thursday,
September fourth, WBT in the one Blood Big Red Bus
will be at the doghouse right there at the corner
of Mint and Moorhead in Uptown from ten am to
three pm, and we'll be broadcasting live and encouraging you
(01:43):
to make a life saving blood donation. It's the sixth
annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive again Thursday, September fourth
at the WBT or excuse me, at the WFNZ doghouse
at the corner of Mint and Morehead right there in Uptown. Okay,
So I want to get into something light. I want
(02:03):
to start off light tonight. All right, that's what I
want to do. I want to start off light. I
don't want to be heavy because it has been a
very very heavy week. Let's be honest, it's been a
very very heavy week and I don't want to We'll
get into a little bit of it coming up next
segment is we'll get into some like some really detailed
orientations and some things that have happened excuse me, detailed information,
(02:27):
I should say that happened last week on the light
rail when we could go tonight. We'll get into that
coming out the next segment because a lot of information
came out exactly what transpired on the actual light rail
of the night.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Of that horrific murder.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
But well, so we'll get into that, and then we're
gonna get into some CMS stuff because they had a
press conference today to wrap up the first week of school,
and so we'll get into.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That later on as well.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But I want to start tonight by, like I said,
a little light college football.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And I covered college football for on a.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Regular daily basis starting in nineteen ninety eight. That's when
I started covering on a regular daily basis. You go
to practices and everything else. And as the from ben
to where we are now, you know, we've now got
the twelve team playoff, which will now soon be the
(03:26):
sixteen team playoff, you know, maybe fourteen and sixteen whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So all that's great.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
All that's changing, and the season has expanded, and like
tonight here in Charlotte, you've got the Duke's Mayo Classic
between app State and UNC Charlotte. I still say UNCC,
and I know they get ticked off every time I
say or anybody else says U n c C. But
you know, it's sort of like when people say Appy
(03:52):
State or Appllite Appalachian State.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
People get upset.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It's Appalachian State, not Appy State, and it's UNC Charlotte,
although they like to be called just Charlotte, but that's
not gonna work because you've got professional sports teams that
are called Charlotte. So anyways, the game is tonight, AB
State Charlotte Bank of America Stadium starts at about oh
fifty one minutes from now. And if for luckily, if
(04:19):
you want to watch it on TV, it's on ESPN.
You on the ACC network. Tonight you've got kennessas state.
Most of you probably can't even tell. You tell me
what state Kennesaw State is in, by the way, it's
in Georgia, and they're playing at wake Forest tonight starting
at seven o'clock. Also, and then you know, you've got
some really big games this weekend. You've got a really
(04:40):
nice game tonight at eight o'clock Georgia Tech and Colorado
if you're interested in Deon Sanders and an ACC team.
And then also don't forget about tomorrow, where you've got
the big, big game.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Like a really big game with excuse me, Clemson.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
As well as LSU at Clemson, like that's going to
be a massive game. And then of course Monday night,
the UNC game Bill Belichick his first game and his
girlfriend Jordan's first game as the UNC head coach, or
you know, maybe maybe the UNC head coach is plural.
Who knows, because she was running a lot of other
things over there. So we'll see what happens with that
(05:18):
as they take it on TCU. But I like the
fact that tonight you n See Charlotte. They're they've been
in I don't even want to say little brother status,
you know, And I know everyone says the proverbial saying
a redheaded stepchild. I'm not a big fan of that,
but but but again, it's it's something that UN See
(05:46):
Charlotte has been an afterthought in football basically since they
started playing football. And yeah, they had the big grand
opening of their stadium, Jay Ridge's Stadium and all that.
I get that, But for the most part, UNC Charlotte
has been an afterthought, more so than Appstate, more so
than Wake Forest, more so than East Carolina. I mean,
(06:09):
East Carolina was in a bowl game last year and
beat the Wolfies and maybe should have even beaten.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The wolf Pack again last night. That tells you where
NC State's at.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Nonetheless, but the fact that they're playing at Bank of
America Stadium tonight and they're playing against APP State.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
That's who you, un C Charlotte should strive to be,
is app State. You every once in.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
A while you make a bowl game, you challenge for
your conference championship, and then you know, every once in
a while you pull off a monumental upset or against
a team or whatever. Okay, great, but it's baby steps
for UNC Charlotte. And playing at Bank of America tonight
against APP State, the team or the school that they
(06:54):
should emulate.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Or try to be, that's a big step.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
And then next week, then next week, UNC and the
Bill Belichick circus rolls into town and they're actually playing
at UNC Charlotte. They're not playing at Bank of America Stadium,
or they would have a lot more bigger crowd, like
maybe forty fifty thousand people might show up.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
No, no, maybe even more. No.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
No, they're playing at tiny, little UNC Charlotte Stadium. And
I want to say this, kudos to UNC Charlotte for
playing such a big game on your home campus.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I'm glad you're doing that.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I'm glad most most athletic departments, especially besides the U
and C Charlotte would sell out. They'll take the big
money to go to a big stadium so they can
help fund the rest of their athletic department and the
rest of their sports. But the fact that they're playing
on campus I think is a big deal and one
that I don't think should be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
But is, I promise you, is being overlooked.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
So way to go UNC Charlotte for playing next week
at home against the Tar Hills. And also good you
know tonight playing on at the big time level at
Bank of American Stadium against app State on ESPNU.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Now, granted, not a lot of people have ESPNU.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And and and even fewer people are going to be
interested in this game tonight. The only people that care
about this game are people that are fans of UNC
Charlotte and app State. Nobody else will care about this game.
But that's fine. It's all about baby steps. So good
good luck to you and C Charlotte this week and
next week as well. I'm glad that you're actually starting
(08:37):
to like start playing some of the big time like
I said, first at Bank of America Stadium on ESPNU
and then next week against UNC, which will also be
on television. All right, when we come back, let's get
into the situation concerning the stabbing on the light rail.
Exactly one week could go today, one we could go tonight.
So we'll talk about that because there are some new
(08:58):
updates that came out. My name is Brett Jenson, and
you're listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson. Welcome back to
(09:22):
Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Friday night, coming to you.
It's at six twenty pm as we go up until
seven o'clock tonight, so we got about another forty more
minutes to go, seven oh four or five, seven oh eleven, ten. Okay,
So we know about the horrific stabbing that took place
exactly one week could go tonight and it on the
(09:44):
light rail and just a senseless stabbing. Well, yesterday the
assailant was finally arrested and formally charged with murder and
booked into the Mecklenburg County jail. He had a court
hearing today and we're going to get into all that
just in just a moment. His bail hearing and all that.
We'll get into that in a second. But what I
(10:04):
want you to do now is I want you to
listen to this report because here's the thing, some very
very graphic details finally started coming out about what happened
on the night of the of the attack. We haven't
seen the video. I'm not sure they're going to release
the video. I'm not positive. I doubt they'll release it
(10:25):
to the public. And if they do really release it
to the public, they'll probably blur a lot of things
out like that's just and not surprisingly so, I mean,
that's that's generally how they do things. They blur things out,
and it's just like, Okay, there's there's no I've been
going back and forth with someone on Twitter about this
on x and they want to know why the video
(10:48):
is not being released and they wonder if there's racial implications.
And I've tried saying, look, a lot of times, things
like this don't get released to the public, even though
it's with tech spare money, because a judge may deem
this serves no.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Practical purpose for the public to see this.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It doesn't benefit the public to see such a gory,
helter skelter type situation, and so well, a lot of
times what they'll do is they'll go, Okay, the media,
you can look at it and then report on what
you see, but you can't like record it.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
You can't do that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Like, so things like that will happen, and I just
I mean, so maybe they'll release the video. Fully, I
don't know. Maybe they already have. I as far as
I know, they haven't released it. But I could be
wrong in that, who knows. But anyways, here's a report
from WBTV with more graphic details on what happened that night.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Real Tonight remain on guard following the deadly stabbing.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Thirty four year old de Carlos Brown Junior is in
jail tonight under no bond, accused of murdering the death
of twenty three year old Irina Zarutska. His first court
apparents is scheduled.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
For tomorrow, and before heading to that breaking news on
Mountain Island, Lake are Matt Fernandez reported on with these
new details on what unfolded last Friday night and an
ongoing reaction to his arrest.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Friday moments last Friday night on the Links Blue Line
at Camden Road, newly released court record show Arena Zaruska,
who fled war torn Ukraine for a better life, died
after being stabbed in the throat. It was four and
a half minutes after he'd gotten on the train. When
police say video shows to Carlos Brown Junior opening a knife,
standing up and then stabbing zer roots good three.
Speaker 6 (12:31):
Times, it's very sad.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
It's very sad.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Court record show there was no interaction before the stabbing.
If the police say the two did not know each other,
cruly after the stabbing, Brod was arrested.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's very wrong with him, very very wrong.
Speaker 8 (12:45):
In oh, I feel like nobody should beginning stabbed, especially
on a public list.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Jehan and MacArthur and McCary Hancock are frequent rail riders.
Both are glad there's a suspecting.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Custody did think he locked up. I'm glad that he
is locked.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Up, going arrest has been made. Riders are still on end.
Speaker 9 (13:01):
I'm all go away so I have mace right type
stray and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I got a taser with anybody like mess up, like
messing you or run up on them.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
They both believe there should be more security every train.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
They should be a security on every train.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Hey, Charlotte, be frinend. Is WBTV on your side?
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And Cat's leadership tells us they've been working to reimagine
their security over the last eight months, which includes consolidating
companies a contract with. In a statement, CAT says there
are also ongoing efforts to deploy security officers twenty four
to seven.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Okay, so now that you have more graphic details of
what happened to that poor young woman last week Friday,
a week ago today, now let's get to the part
where he actually appeared in court this morning, and also
what is CATS doing to try and make the light
rail and.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
The buses actually safer. So here's another report from Queen
City News.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Good afternoon, I'm Alisha Barnes. Quin City News and News
starts right now with breaking news out of Mecklenburg County.
The mancos of randomly stabbing a woman to death on
a Cat's light rail train in South End now will
remain in jail without bond. First appearance hearing just wrapped
up for to Carlos Brown Quizsity Newsacre Robin Kennedy sat
in on that hearing and joining us now live. Robin.
(14:19):
The victim's family pleaded with the judge not to let
the suspect out.
Speaker 6 (14:25):
Alicia, the uncle of the victim, was emotional, telling the
judge he did not want the suspect to be a menace,
as he put it, to others, and to possibly hurt
someone else. His niece, twenty three year old Arena Zurutska,
fled war torn Ukraine only to come to Charlotte and
(14:46):
be stabbed and killed on the light rail at random
last Friday night. Her uncle told the judge this morning
she was a sweet angel, and the accused took a bright,
beautiful woman away from their family and their heartbroken. To
Carlos Brown, the suspect has a violent criminal history from
(15:06):
about a decade ago, which includes prison time for robbery
with a dangerous weapon and felony breaking an entering. The
judge said because of his prior criminal history and the
heinous nature of the crimes, he denied bond for Brown
this morning. Now, the defense attorney told the judge this
(15:26):
morning that he does plan to file emotion to have
a competency evaluation for Brown in this case. I'm live
at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse. Robin Kennedy, Queen City News.
Speaker 7 (15:40):
Just such a tragedy. Thank you, Robin for you reporting. Meanwhile,
officials with the Charlotte Area Transits say that they've now
taken steps to reimagine their security working with the private
contractor that they hire to be able to handle it.
Contractor are Professional Security Services is run by former Charlotte
Medware police officers, So right now they have one hundred
and eighty four security office on staff, with an aim
(16:01):
now to be able to build that number to about
two hundred and twenty. The security changes began last December
and since the officials say they've put officers now across
the entire system during all hours of the operation, seven
days a week. So part of their strategy now is
to deploy officers based on site specific security assessments, and
they're now also engaging in active enforcement of fair compliance.
(16:24):
So agency leaders say they also look and work with
police and the contractor to keep repeat offenders out of
the transit system. Quincity News has requested an interview with
CATS officials to outline their specific measures. They've told us
that they will contact us when those leaders are available.
So those security measures were put into place after a
(16:45):
string of violent incidents on CATS buses and trains in
recent years. In November of twenty twenty three, a writer
was stabbed after getting into an argument with another passenger,
and August of that year, an off duty security guard
was involved in a fight is started on a bus
and then spilled over into the streets of Uptown. And
in that same summer there were two stabbings and a
(17:07):
shooting within a one month span. In February of twenty
twenty two, cat's bus operator Ethan Rivera was killed in
a road rage shooting. The gunman in that attack was
later found in Kansas, extra dined into Charlotte, and then
eventually pleaded guilty.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
All I know is that the CAT system better have
somebody on literally every single light rail, every single one
for the entire time that is in operating use. Every
single one needs to have a security guard. But here's
the other thing. Security is one hundred percent irrelevant. If
the person doesn't have a weapon. I got news for you.
A taser isn't going to do anything. The person better
(17:43):
be able to be armed because the light rail and transportation,
as we know, can be extremely dangerous. You better have
armed security on every single light rail.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And by the way, just.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
For you know, just for laughs, how about actually making
everyone actually have to buy a ticket in order to
get on the light rail and not use the stupid
and moronic honor system again. Whoever put that in place
is an absolute idiot. Whoever it was? All right, So
when we returned, let's get into some CMS stuff, because
they had another press conference today to wrap up the
(18:18):
first week of school. Then ninety nine grade WBT Bred
Jenson here with you for a couple more segments here
on this Friday night as we go up until seven
o'clock tonight. Okay, So CMS had their third press conference
(18:43):
of the week, one on the first day, and then
you know they had or excuse me, I shouldnt say
second press conference of the week.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
They had one last week.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
And then two this week, and the one today was
to wrap up how everything happened during the first week
of school and how you know, what happened with the
bus driver riutes and you know in all all that stuff,
and what happened with the teacher vacancies and stuff like that.
So what you're going to hear now are from the
Chief Operations Officer, Tim Ivy, as well as the Chief
(19:11):
of Recruitment, Retention and Talent Development. And see bright well
say that five times fast. So here are these two
very specific people talking about very specific things about the
teachers and safety and stuff like that from earlier Today.
Speaker 10 (19:26):
The first week of school has been a strong start
to the twenty five to twenty six school year, and
I want to extend my gratitude to our entire operations
team for their dedication and effort. Each day, countless actions
take place behind the scenes to ensure that students and
staff arrive safely, are welcome into our schools, and have
what they need to succeed. Your work does not go unnoticed.
(19:50):
First is school safety. As you know, the safety of
our students and staff is and will remain our top priority.
During the first week, we introduced our news standard Response
Protocol I love you guys to our students. This new
addition to our layered approach to safety provides clear, consistent
actions and language the schools use in any event of
(20:12):
an emergency. I want to remind everyone that CMS will
not tolerate behaviors from students, staff, or community members that
compromise the safety of others. We are committed to ensuring
that every student has the right to learn and every
staff member the right to work in a safe and
secure environment. Remember, safety is a shared responsibility. It requires
(20:37):
partnerships of law enforcement, school staff, parents, students, and community.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It is our.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
Duty to say something if we see or know something next.
Our school nutrition team began the year serving more than
twenty five thousand free breakfasts and approximately sixty thousand lunches
each day. This year, one hundred and fifteen schools are
participating in the Community Eligibility Provision, allowing all students at
(21:06):
those schools to receive free breakfast and lunch. Free breakfast
is also available to every student across CMS, and we
encourage families in non cm CEP schools to complete the
Free and Reduced Lunch application form. In transportation, with more
than one hundred and five thousand riders in eight hundred
(21:27):
and fifty eight buses, the first few days brought some
typical transportation challenges. Our team worked diligently to address these
concerns and saw significant improvements each day. Morning on time
arrival times improved from seventy nine point five percent at
the start of the week to ninety three percent as
of yesterday morning. That's a thirteen and a half percent improvement,
(21:50):
while afternoon on time arrivals improved from seventy two point
five percent to eighty eight point five percent, with a
sixteen percent improvement will continue to see this type of
improvement as we move into week two of school and
we appreciate everyone's patience and understanding as we hone in
our transportation processes. Families are encouraged to download the Here
(22:12):
Comes the Bus app and use Alpha route via CMS
K twelve dot org, backslash buses, and as our final
reminder on transportation, it is both illegal and extremely dangerous
to pass a stop school bus while stop arm is extended.
In operations our facilities or in operations our building services
(22:34):
team has done an amazing job this week resolving issues quickly,
and I'm happy to report that we have had no
major facility issues. Thank you to this team for helping
maintain comfortable learning environments that foster endless possibilities for our
students and staff. In closing, overall, this has been an
excellent operational start to the school year. The professionalism and
(22:56):
commitment shown by every member of our operations team has
set a strong foundation for the twenty five twenty six
school year. Now turn introduced Nancy Brightwell, Chief Recruitment, Retention
and Talent Development Officer.
Speaker 11 (23:11):
Thank you mister Rivey, good morning. This week CMS teacher
set the tone for excellence and by welcoming students with energy,
preparation and heart, their dedication and countless hours at unweavering
commitment send sends the strong message for a successful school year,
(23:32):
and that has not gone unnoticed. We celebrate their incredible
start and the impact that they're already making with our students.
As we are starting the twenty five to twenty six
school year, it's important to note that we have our
lowest teacher vacancies in recent years. We started the first
day with sixty seven less teacher vacancies than last year
(23:56):
and three hundred and seven less than the year before.
This marks a significant reduction in vacancies over the past
three years. Today we have one hundred and ninety eight
vacancies remaining, which represents a ninety eight percent teacher fill rate.
Not only our teacher positions filled, we're proudly welcoming six
(24:17):
hundred and sixty three new teachers into our district. They
participated in the Crown Academy, which is a premier teacher
onboarding experience that set CMS apart from surrounding counties. This
onboarding experience enables our teachers to receive support and preparation
for a strong start on day one, allowing them to
(24:40):
welcome students and families into a wonderful and welcoming learning environment.
We look forward to a great school year with continued
support systems for our teachers, including instructional coaching and mentoring
professional development opportunities throughout the year. In fact, all teachers
were engaged professional development focused on academic excellence during the
(25:03):
beginning of the year work days. Our CMS teachers uniquely
also have housing resources available to support them through are
at Home and CMS Initiative.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Okay, so there you have it.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Those are the two only important things that came out
of today's press conference, which, honestly, I mean, I guess
they needed to have it, but I'm not quite sure why. Like,
really nothing relevant came out of it. But I will
also say this is a rather uneventful week, of course,
minus the first day of school when like four knives
and a gun happened to be on campus, you know,
(25:36):
But other than that, everything was rather uneventful.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Never mind that, but okay, but yeah, so rather uneventful week.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
And then next week they're going to release the state
test scores and we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
People apparently at CMS are rather excited.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
So we'll find out if they went up one percent,
only down one percent? Did they go up three percent? Like,
we'll see what's going on. We'll find out. I have
no idea, We have no idea, but they're all extremely
excited about it. So we'll get into that obviously next week. Okay,
So when we come back, let's get into some Carolina
Panthers stuff. They made all their cuts today or excuse me,
(26:12):
this week, and they also traded a big wide receiver,
Adam Thie went back to Minnesota this week. So a
lot going on with the Carolina Panthers. We'll talk about
that when we return. All right, everyone, welcome back to
(26:36):
Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Friday night. Just a
few more minutes as we take you up until seven
o'clock tonight. Okay, the Carolina Panthers finished the preseason last
week and then earlier this week they had to start
cutting players to get down to the fifty three man roster,
and I want to say fifteen players on the practice squad.
(26:57):
So Panthers head coach Dave Canalis met with the media
today to talk about you know, look.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Here's who we are cutting, Here's who we're getting rid of.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
But also, hey, here's who we're keeping, and here's some
of the new players that we brought in, like Hendon
Hooker who was at Detroit and played I believe at
Tennessee if I'm not mistaken, And then they brought him
in as a third string quarterback, maybe a fourth string quarterback.
So anyway, they brought him in, and they brought in
a new wide receiver to take obviously the place of
Adam Feelin. So some changes going on this week with
(27:28):
the Carolina Panthers, and so here's head coach Dave Kanal
is talking about some of those changes.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
And then you only had Hindon on there one day
that they will kind of jumped out just seeing him.
Speaker 8 (27:37):
In person, A smooth thrower, a lot of power in
his arm. I can tell he's worked on his footwork
and his base and fundamentals since college. He looks like
he's really dialed into the technique and all that. And so,
but again, the same thing was more just an individual period.
But I love what I saw today.
Speaker 12 (27:54):
He was an older rookie throughout the process. How much
do you think sometimes we look at age and you
want us to get those guys younger but in a
quarterback position, how much does that kind of maybe help
them in a way.
Speaker 8 (28:07):
Yeah, I mean I think for any position. You know,
it's just, uh, it's kind of life perspective really, where
you get a guy that's twenty five is years old,
he's twenty seven. You know, you've seen a lot of life,
You've learned lessons, you've been on your own, you know,
kind of keeping your world small so you can keep
it organized. And so I've seen that happen in multiple
different positions. Quarterback two. Yeah, that's important. You know, there's
(28:29):
there's time on task and years that can benefit guys
that way, you know. So, yeah, he's a grown man.
I had a chance to visit with him today and
and just kind of recap and revisit. The last time
we sat together was in the you know, the interview
process after the draft, I mean after his college season,
you know, where he was still rehabbing. But you know,
it's the same guy, the same depth of character. I
(28:53):
really just happen to like him a lot, you know,
and so and plus all the talent. You know, I'm
really excited for him to be here.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
Had the season, how do you kind of this tight
end position I think you got four of them on
the Australia. I know you use two at times, but
what I mean, do you have a clear cut starter there?
And how do you kind of see everybody's rule shaken out?
Speaker 8 (29:12):
They all kind of do different things. I think, again,
here we are who can help on special teams. You
know that's gonna make the determining factor on who's the
third tight end up. JT will certainly be out there,
and then we got to see how we're going to
use the rest of the guys with Mitch Evans, with
James Mitchell, with Tommy Tremble, and we still have some
days to kind of figure that out, but you know,
(29:33):
it is right around the corner where we do have
to solidify, like when we're going into Wednesday's practice, So
those decisions got to be made by Tuesday night. But
I'm really happy with that group. They're a versatile group,
they're tough, and I think JT has really improved himself
in terms of just being a pass threat for us
this offseason in this camp. So I'm really excited about
(29:55):
that group, and it's going to be another you know,
good decision for us to make.
Speaker 12 (29:58):
You have any more clarity on safe d and where
that starting spot opposite Mary is.
Speaker 8 (30:04):
We will see next week. We are practicing in different
modes right now. But I just love having three guys
that have been trained, that have been here with us,
and uh, they've all flashed in different ways, you know.
So and that's Demani, that's Nick, you know, that's little
late Than, you know, So all three guys, you know again,
they all bring a little different flavor, you know. Late
(30:27):
Than is like the downhill smack you type of player.
Nick is, like, you know, is the elder statesman of
the group. When when he talks, everyone gets organized. That's
just such a valuable thing, you know. And and then Demani,
you know, he just has such great range and he's
so useful in a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
So it's a good group.
Speaker 10 (30:47):
If you had any any interesting or telling interactions with
Derek Brown this summer.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
I just think the whole just his whole approach to
this season. He wants to win. He wants to win bad.
He wants to win right now. And I can feel
his presence on the defensive side. This is how we're
going to practice, and this is how we're going to play.
It's infectious to have him out there because he just
works so hard. He chases everything down. He doesn't take
(31:18):
any playoff he gets through. If he has a good
pass rush, he redirects and chase the ball down the field.
If he has a good a good run play, he
fits up. He kind of just redirects and follows the
running back and just he's getting himself in game shape.
He's showing everybody what it looks like to extend the
play through the echo of the whistle. You and I
both know plays don't always just stop at the point
(31:38):
of contact. Sometimes special running backs will break a tackle,
a receiver may make somebody miss. So we have to
have everybody in pursuit. And he brings that tenacity and
that work ethic to our group.
Speaker 12 (31:49):
If last year you guys told JT that he had
to earn getting that number zero, you know, for some guys,
roster numbers or jersey numbers are important to them. Do
you have any cool stories maybe about you personally wearing
a jersey number in high school or college, or dealing
with the player whend you. I know that's kind of
(32:10):
like out of left field, but like any interesting jersey number.
Speaker 8 (32:13):
Stories, I guess the fact that I wore eighty one
for four out of my five years in college, and
my favorite number was seventeen, and the punter was number seventeen.
He was our starting punter the whole time. We were
the same class, and we were having lunch in our
last training camps, our fifth year. I took a red
shirt year.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
It was our fifth year.
Speaker 8 (32:33):
We're having lunch, just hanging out, and you know, I
just kind of commented, you know, like I was like, man,
I wanted that number, you know, and he was like,
you're wearing my high school number. And so we were
kind of shocked that we hadn't had this conversation before.
We're wearing each other's jersey numbers. So in a way,
you know, Kevin Kwan, I'm one of his biggest fans,
you know, and he's one of mine. So hopefully he
(32:54):
gets to see this at some point. But anyway, that's
my funny story for that.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Did you end up switching, Well, we swapped.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
For the season. Yeah, So and anyway, that's all I
can really think of. And otherwise, you know, guys kind
of I think sometimes what happens with guys, you know,
as they make as you make these shifts in their career.
I notice it with hair sometimes a guy will come
back with a different hairst I was, like, something's going
on here if a guy wants a different jersey, and
I might just be trying to turn another leaf, you know,
(33:22):
And so you know, but for jt it was it
was just him working really hard doing what we asked,
and it was a cool way to reward him last year.
It's a family number. So Jeffrey Waters is my favorite
player Carson High School safety. So I've chose seventeen, and
a lot of my kids were seventeen, so it's a
kind of a family number. And Lizzie did too. It's
soccer and when she was younger.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
So you were doing.
Speaker 7 (33:44):
Last twenty twenty three draft preps and both Tendon and
Bryce were.
Speaker 10 (33:48):
In that journey.
Speaker 11 (33:49):
Did you guys want to watch that album of Tennessee
game between them or already remember anything that stood out
of on that tape?
Speaker 8 (33:55):
Of course I did. Cassie, are you going to bring
this up? I'm sure Hendon's already brought it up in
the locker room or we may not have out of respect,
you know, but that's a touchy, touchy subject, you know,
that I'm going to just steer clear from right now.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
So okay, So there you have your weekly dose of
the Carolina Panthers as we head into next week. All right,
So look enjoy the holiday weekend, you know, enjoy your
Monday all from work. Look forward to talking to you
guys again next week. And I can go ahead and
tell you I got some big, big interviews already lined
up for next week, so make sure you join and
stick around for that. So until then, have a great
(34:28):
holiday weekend. My name is Brett Jenson, and you have
been listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson.
Hi Oh, Let's go Hi Oh, Let's go oh.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Let's go oh.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett
Jensen here with you on this Friday night edition of
Breaking with Brett Jensen. As we go up until seven
o'clock tonight. Telephone numbers as always to get in on
the show seven oh four five, seven oh eleven ten.
That is also the WBT text line number, in which
of course is driven by Liberty Buick and GMC. And
(00:56):
I have been telling you this for three and a
half years, but I have never met it more so
than I do right now. You really need to follow
me on X at Bret Underscore Jensen for all the
latest and breaking news in and around the show at area.
And if you follow me on X this week, boy,
you have been in some doozies. You and I don't
know one hundred thousand other people have been following what
(01:19):
I've been saying.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
On Twitter this week.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm not joking. That's why I tell you to follow me. Also,
I want to tell you this. It's time for the
sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive. So on Thursday,
September fourth, WBT in the one Blood Big Red Bus
will be at the doghouse right there at the corner
of Mint and Moorhead in Uptown from ten am to
three pm, and we'll be broadcasting live and encouraging you
(01:43):
to make a life saving blood donation. It's the sixth
annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive again Thursday, September fourth
at the WBT or excuse me, at the WFNZ doghouse
at the corner of Mint and Morehead right there in Uptown. Okay,
So I want to get into something light. I want
(02:03):
to start off light tonight. All right, that's what I
want to do. I want to start off light. I
don't want to be heavy because it has been a
very very heavy week. Let's be honest, it's been a
very very heavy week and I don't want to We'll
get into a little bit of it coming up next
segment is we'll get into some like some really detailed
orientations and some things that have happened excuse me, detailed information,
(02:27):
I should say that happened last week on the light
rail when we could go tonight. We'll get into that
coming out the next segment because a lot of information
came out exactly what transpired on the actual light rail
of the night.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Of that horrific murder.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
But well, so we'll get into that, and then we're
gonna get into some CMS stuff because they had a
press conference today to wrap up the first week of school,
and so we'll get into.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That later on as well.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But I want to start tonight by, like I said,
a little light college football.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And I covered college football for on a.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Regular daily basis starting in nineteen ninety eight. That's when
I started covering on a regular daily basis. You go
to practices and everything else. And as the from ben
to where we are now, you know, we've now got
the twelve team playoff, which will now soon be the
(03:26):
sixteen team playoff, you know, maybe fourteen and sixteen whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So all that's great.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
All that's changing, and the season has expanded, and like
tonight here in Charlotte, you've got the Duke's Mayo Classic
between app State and UNC Charlotte. I still say UNCC,
and I know they get ticked off every time I
say or anybody else says U n c C. But
you know, it's sort of like when people say Appy
(03:52):
State or Appllite Appalachian State.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
People get upset.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It's Appalachian State, not Appy State, and it's UNC Charlotte,
although they like to be called just Charlotte, but that's
not gonna work because you've got professional sports teams that
are called Charlotte. So anyways, the game is tonight, AB
State Charlotte Bank of America Stadium starts at about oh
fifty one minutes from now. And if for luckily, if
(04:19):
you want to watch it on TV, it's on ESPN.
You on the ACC network. Tonight you've got kennessas state.
Most of you probably can't even tell. You tell me
what state Kennesaw State is in, by the way, it's
in Georgia, and they're playing at wake Forest tonight starting
at seven o'clock. Also, and then you know, you've got
some really big games this weekend. You've got a really
(04:40):
nice game tonight at eight o'clock Georgia Tech and Colorado
if you're interested in Deon Sanders and an ACC team.
And then also don't forget about tomorrow, where you've got
the big, big game.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Like a really big game with excuse me, Clemson.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
As well as LSU at Clemson, like that's going to
be a massive game. And then of course Monday night,
the UNC game Bill Belichick his first game and his
girlfriend Jordan's first game as the UNC head coach, or
you know, maybe maybe the UNC head coach is plural.
Who knows, because she was running a lot of other
things over there. So we'll see what happens with that
(05:18):
as they take it on TCU. But I like the
fact that tonight you n See Charlotte. They're they've been
in I don't even want to say little brother status,
you know, And I know everyone says the proverbial saying
a redheaded stepchild. I'm not a big fan of that,
but but but again, it's it's something that UN See
(05:46):
Charlotte has been an afterthought in football basically since they
started playing football. And yeah, they had the big grand
opening of their stadium, Jay Ridge's Stadium and all that.
I get that, But for the most part, UNC Charlotte
has been an afterthought, more so than Appstate, more so
than Wake Forest, more so than East Carolina. I mean,
(06:09):
East Carolina was in a bowl game last year and
beat the Wolfies and maybe should have even beaten.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The wolf Pack again last night. That tells you where
NC State's at.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Nonetheless, but the fact that they're playing at Bank of
America Stadium tonight and they're playing against APP State.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
That's who you, un C Charlotte should strive to be,
is app State. You every once in.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
A while you make a bowl game, you challenge for
your conference championship, and then you know, every once in
a while you pull off a monumental upset or against
a team or whatever. Okay, great, but it's baby steps
for UNC Charlotte. And playing at Bank of America tonight
against APP State, the team or the school that they
(06:54):
should emulate.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Or try to be, that's a big step.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
And then next week, then next week, UNC and the
Bill Belichick circus rolls into town and they're actually playing
at UNC Charlotte. They're not playing at Bank of America Stadium,
or they would have a lot more bigger crowd, like
maybe forty fifty thousand people might show up.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
No, no, maybe even more. No.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
No, they're playing at tiny, little UNC Charlotte Stadium. And
I want to say this, kudos to UNC Charlotte for
playing such a big game on your home campus.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I'm glad you're doing that.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I'm glad most most athletic departments, especially besides the U
and C Charlotte would sell out. They'll take the big
money to go to a big stadium so they can
help fund the rest of their athletic department and the
rest of their sports. But the fact that they're playing
on campus I think is a big deal and one
that I don't think should be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
But is, I promise you, is being overlooked.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
So way to go UNC Charlotte for playing next week
at home against the Tar Hills. And also good you
know tonight playing on at the big time level at
Bank of American Stadium against app State on ESPNU.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Now, granted, not a lot of people have ESPNU.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And and and even fewer people are going to be
interested in this game tonight. The only people that care
about this game are people that are fans of UNC
Charlotte and app State. Nobody else will care about this game.
But that's fine. It's all about baby steps. So good
good luck to you and C Charlotte this week and
next week as well. I'm glad that you're actually starting
(08:37):
to like start playing some of the big time like
I said, first at Bank of America Stadium on ESPNU
and then next week against UNC, which will also be
on television. All right, when we come back, let's get
into the situation concerning the stabbing on the light rail.
Exactly one week could go today, one we could go tonight.
So we'll talk about that because there are some new
(08:58):
updates that came out. My name is Brett Jenson, and
you're listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson. Welcome back to
(09:22):
Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Friday night, coming to you.
It's at six twenty pm as we go up until
seven o'clock tonight, so we got about another forty more
minutes to go, seven oh four or five, seven oh eleven, ten. Okay,
So we know about the horrific stabbing that took place
exactly one week could go tonight and it on the
(09:44):
light rail and just a senseless stabbing. Well, yesterday the
assailant was finally arrested and formally charged with murder and
booked into the Mecklenburg County jail. He had a court
hearing today and we're going to get into all that
just in just a moment. His bail hearing and all that.
We'll get into that in a second. But what I
(10:04):
want you to do now is I want you to
listen to this report because here's the thing, some very
very graphic details finally started coming out about what happened
on the night of the of the attack. We haven't
seen the video. I'm not sure they're going to release
the video. I'm not positive. I doubt they'll release it
(10:25):
to the public. And if they do really release it
to the public, they'll probably blur a lot of things
out like that's just and not surprisingly so, I mean,
that's that's generally how they do things. They blur things out,
and it's just like, Okay, there's there's no I've been
going back and forth with someone on Twitter about this
on x and they want to know why the video
(10:48):
is not being released and they wonder if there's racial implications.
And I've tried saying, look, a lot of times, things
like this don't get released to the public, even though
it's with tech spare money, because a judge may deem
this serves no.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Practical purpose for the public to see this.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It doesn't benefit the public to see such a gory,
helter skelter type situation, and so well, a lot of
times what they'll do is they'll go, Okay, the media,
you can look at it and then report on what
you see, but you can't like record it.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
You can't do that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Like, so things like that will happen, and I just
I mean, so maybe they'll release the video. Fully, I
don't know. Maybe they already have. I as far as
I know, they haven't released it. But I could be
wrong in that, who knows. But anyways, here's a report
from WBTV with more graphic details on what happened that night.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Real Tonight remain on guard following the deadly stabbing.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Thirty four year old de Carlos Brown Junior is in
jail tonight under no bond, accused of murdering the death
of twenty three year old Irina Zarutska. His first court
apparents is scheduled.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
For tomorrow, and before heading to that breaking news on
Mountain Island, Lake are Matt Fernandez reported on with these
new details on what unfolded last Friday night and an
ongoing reaction to his arrest.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Friday moments last Friday night on the Links Blue Line
at Camden Road, newly released court record show Arena Zaruska,
who fled war torn Ukraine for a better life, died
after being stabbed in the throat. It was four and
a half minutes after he'd gotten on the train. When
police say video shows to Carlos Brown Junior opening a knife,
standing up and then stabbing zer roots good three.
Speaker 6 (12:31):
Times, it's very sad.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
It's very sad.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Court record show there was no interaction before the stabbing.
If the police say the two did not know each other,
cruly after the stabbing, Brod was arrested.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's very wrong with him, very very wrong.
Speaker 8 (12:45):
In oh, I feel like nobody should beginning stabbed, especially
on a public list.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Jehan and MacArthur and McCary Hancock are frequent rail riders.
Both are glad there's a suspecting.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Custody did think he locked up. I'm glad that he
is locked.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Up, going arrest has been made. Riders are still on end.
Speaker 9 (13:01):
I'm all go away so I have mace right type
stray and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I got a taser with anybody like mess up, like
messing you or run up on them.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
They both believe there should be more security every train.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
They should be a security on every train.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Hey, Charlotte, be frinend. Is WBTV on your side?
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And Cat's leadership tells us they've been working to reimagine
their security over the last eight months, which includes consolidating
companies a contract with. In a statement, CAT says there
are also ongoing efforts to deploy security officers twenty four
to seven.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Okay, so now that you have more graphic details of
what happened to that poor young woman last week Friday,
a week ago today, now let's get to the part
where he actually appeared in court this morning, and also
what is CATS doing to try and make the light
rail and.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
The buses actually safer. So here's another report from Queen
City News.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Good afternoon, I'm Alisha Barnes. Quin City News and News
starts right now with breaking news out of Mecklenburg County.
The mancos of randomly stabbing a woman to death on
a Cat's light rail train in South End now will
remain in jail without bond. First appearance hearing just wrapped
up for to Carlos Brown Quizsity Newsacre Robin Kennedy sat
in on that hearing and joining us now live. Robin.
(14:19):
The victim's family pleaded with the judge not to let
the suspect out.
Speaker 6 (14:25):
Alicia, the uncle of the victim, was emotional, telling the
judge he did not want the suspect to be a menace,
as he put it, to others, and to possibly hurt
someone else. His niece, twenty three year old Arena Zurutska,
fled war torn Ukraine only to come to Charlotte and
(14:46):
be stabbed and killed on the light rail at random
last Friday night. Her uncle told the judge this morning
she was a sweet angel, and the accused took a bright,
beautiful woman away from their family and their heartbroken. To
Carlos Brown, the suspect has a violent criminal history from
(15:06):
about a decade ago, which includes prison time for robbery
with a dangerous weapon and felony breaking an entering. The
judge said because of his prior criminal history and the
heinous nature of the crimes, he denied bond for Brown
this morning. Now, the defense attorney told the judge this
(15:26):
morning that he does plan to file emotion to have
a competency evaluation for Brown in this case. I'm live
at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse. Robin Kennedy, Queen City News.
Speaker 7 (15:40):
Just such a tragedy. Thank you, Robin for you reporting. Meanwhile,
officials with the Charlotte Area Transits say that they've now
taken steps to reimagine their security working with the private
contractor that they hire to be able to handle it.
Contractor are Professional Security Services is run by former Charlotte
Medware police officers, So right now they have one hundred
and eighty four security office on staff, with an aim
(16:01):
now to be able to build that number to about
two hundred and twenty. The security changes began last December
and since the officials say they've put officers now across
the entire system during all hours of the operation, seven
days a week. So part of their strategy now is
to deploy officers based on site specific security assessments, and
they're now also engaging in active enforcement of fair compliance.
(16:24):
So agency leaders say they also look and work with
police and the contractor to keep repeat offenders out of
the transit system. Quincity News has requested an interview with
CATS officials to outline their specific measures. They've told us
that they will contact us when those leaders are available.
So those security measures were put into place after a
(16:45):
string of violent incidents on CATS buses and trains in
recent years. In November of twenty twenty three, a writer
was stabbed after getting into an argument with another passenger,
and August of that year, an off duty security guard
was involved in a fight is started on a bus
and then spilled over into the streets of Uptown. And
in that same summer there were two stabbings and a
(17:07):
shooting within a one month span. In February of twenty
twenty two, cat's bus operator Ethan Rivera was killed in
a road rage shooting. The gunman in that attack was
later found in Kansas, extra dined into Charlotte, and then
eventually pleaded guilty.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
All I know is that the CAT system better have
somebody on literally every single light rail, every single one
for the entire time that is in operating use. Every
single one needs to have a security guard. But here's
the other thing. Security is one hundred percent irrelevant. If
the person doesn't have a weapon. I got news for you.
A taser isn't going to do anything. The person better
(17:43):
be able to be armed because the light rail and transportation,
as we know, can be extremely dangerous. You better have
armed security on every single light rail.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And by the way, just.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
For you know, just for laughs, how about actually making
everyone actually have to buy a ticket in order to
get on the light rail and not use the stupid
and moronic honor system again. Whoever put that in place
is an absolute idiot. Whoever it was? All right, So
when we returned, let's get into some CMS stuff, because
they had another press conference today to wrap up the
(18:18):
first week of school. Then ninety nine grade WBT Bred
Jenson here with you for a couple more segments here
on this Friday night as we go up until seven
o'clock tonight. Okay, So CMS had their third press conference
(18:43):
of the week, one on the first day, and then
you know they had or excuse me, I shouldnt say
second press conference of the week.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
They had one last week.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
And then two this week, and the one today was
to wrap up how everything happened during the first week
of school and how you know, what happened with the
bus driver riutes and you know in all all that stuff,
and what happened with the teacher vacancies and stuff like that.
So what you're going to hear now are from the
Chief Operations Officer, Tim Ivy, as well as the Chief
(19:11):
of Recruitment, Retention and Talent Development. And see bright well
say that five times fast. So here are these two
very specific people talking about very specific things about the
teachers and safety and stuff like that from earlier Today.
Speaker 10 (19:26):
The first week of school has been a strong start
to the twenty five to twenty six school year, and
I want to extend my gratitude to our entire operations
team for their dedication and effort. Each day, countless actions
take place behind the scenes to ensure that students and
staff arrive safely, are welcome into our schools, and have
what they need to succeed. Your work does not go unnoticed.
(19:50):
First is school safety. As you know, the safety of
our students and staff is and will remain our top priority.
During the first week, we introduced our news standard Response
Protocol I love you guys to our students. This new
addition to our layered approach to safety provides clear, consistent
actions and language the schools use in any event of
(20:12):
an emergency. I want to remind everyone that CMS will
not tolerate behaviors from students, staff, or community members that
compromise the safety of others. We are committed to ensuring
that every student has the right to learn and every
staff member the right to work in a safe and
secure environment. Remember, safety is a shared responsibility. It requires
(20:37):
partnerships of law enforcement, school staff, parents, students, and community.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It is our.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
Duty to say something if we see or know something next.
Our school nutrition team began the year serving more than
twenty five thousand free breakfasts and approximately sixty thousand lunches
each day. This year, one hundred and fifteen schools are
participating in the Community Eligibility Provision, allowing all students at
(21:06):
those schools to receive free breakfast and lunch. Free breakfast
is also available to every student across CMS, and we
encourage families in non cm CEP schools to complete the
Free and Reduced Lunch application form. In transportation, with more
than one hundred and five thousand riders in eight hundred
(21:27):
and fifty eight buses, the first few days brought some
typical transportation challenges. Our team worked diligently to address these
concerns and saw significant improvements each day. Morning on time
arrival times improved from seventy nine point five percent at
the start of the week to ninety three percent as
of yesterday morning. That's a thirteen and a half percent improvement,
(21:50):
while afternoon on time arrivals improved from seventy two point
five percent to eighty eight point five percent, with a
sixteen percent improvement will continue to see this type of
improvement as we move into week two of school and
we appreciate everyone's patience and understanding as we hone in
our transportation processes. Families are encouraged to download the Here
(22:12):
Comes the Bus app and use Alpha route via CMS
K twelve dot org, backslash buses, and as our final
reminder on transportation, it is both illegal and extremely dangerous
to pass a stop school bus while stop arm is extended.
In operations our facilities or in operations our building services
(22:34):
team has done an amazing job this week resolving issues quickly,
and I'm happy to report that we have had no
major facility issues. Thank you to this team for helping
maintain comfortable learning environments that foster endless possibilities for our
students and staff. In closing, overall, this has been an
excellent operational start to the school year. The professionalism and
(22:56):
commitment shown by every member of our operations team has
set a strong foundation for the twenty five twenty six
school year. Now turn introduced Nancy Brightwell, Chief Recruitment, Retention
and Talent Development Officer.
Speaker 11 (23:11):
Thank you mister Rivey, good morning. This week CMS teacher
set the tone for excellence and by welcoming students with energy,
preparation and heart, their dedication and countless hours at unweavering
commitment send sends the strong message for a successful school year,
(23:32):
and that has not gone unnoticed. We celebrate their incredible
start and the impact that they're already making with our students.
As we are starting the twenty five to twenty six
school year, it's important to note that we have our
lowest teacher vacancies in recent years. We started the first
day with sixty seven less teacher vacancies than last year
(23:56):
and three hundred and seven less than the year before.
This marks a significant reduction in vacancies over the past
three years. Today we have one hundred and ninety eight
vacancies remaining, which represents a ninety eight percent teacher fill rate.
Not only our teacher positions filled, we're proudly welcoming six
(24:17):
hundred and sixty three new teachers into our district. They
participated in the Crown Academy, which is a premier teacher
onboarding experience that set CMS apart from surrounding counties. This
onboarding experience enables our teachers to receive support and preparation
for a strong start on day one, allowing them to
(24:40):
welcome students and families into a wonderful and welcoming learning environment.
We look forward to a great school year with continued
support systems for our teachers, including instructional coaching and mentoring
professional development opportunities throughout the year. In fact, all teachers
were engaged professional development focused on academic excellence during the
(25:03):
beginning of the year work days. Our CMS teachers uniquely
also have housing resources available to support them through are
at Home and CMS Initiative.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Okay, so there you have it.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Those are the two only important things that came out
of today's press conference, which, honestly, I mean, I guess
they needed to have it, but I'm not quite sure why. Like,
really nothing relevant came out of it. But I will
also say this is a rather uneventful week, of course,
minus the first day of school when like four knives
and a gun happened to be on campus, you know,
(25:36):
But other than that, everything was rather uneventful.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Never mind that, but okay, but yeah, so rather uneventful week.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
And then next week they're going to release the state
test scores and we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
People apparently at CMS are rather excited.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
So we'll find out if they went up one percent,
only down one percent? Did they go up three percent? Like,
we'll see what's going on. We'll find out. I have
no idea, We have no idea, but they're all extremely
excited about it. So we'll get into that obviously next week. Okay,
So when we come back, let's get into some Carolina
Panthers stuff. They made all their cuts today or excuse me,
(26:12):
this week, and they also traded a big wide receiver,
Adam Thie went back to Minnesota this week. So a
lot going on with the Carolina Panthers. We'll talk about
that when we return. All right, everyone, welcome back to
(26:36):
Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Friday night. Just a
few more minutes as we take you up until seven
o'clock tonight. Okay, the Carolina Panthers finished the preseason last
week and then earlier this week they had to start
cutting players to get down to the fifty three man roster,
and I want to say fifteen players on the practice squad.
(26:57):
So Panthers head coach Dave Canalis met with the media
today to talk about you know, look.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Here's who we are cutting, Here's who we're getting rid of.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
But also, hey, here's who we're keeping, and here's some
of the new players that we brought in, like Hendon
Hooker who was at Detroit and played I believe at
Tennessee if I'm not mistaken, And then they brought him
in as a third string quarterback, maybe a fourth string quarterback.
So anyway, they brought him in, and they brought in
a new wide receiver to take obviously the place of
Adam Feelin. So some changes going on this week with
(27:28):
the Carolina Panthers, and so here's head coach Dave Kanal
is talking about some of those changes.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
And then you only had Hindon on there one day
that they will kind of jumped out just seeing him.
Speaker 8 (27:37):
In person, A smooth thrower, a lot of power in
his arm. I can tell he's worked on his footwork
and his base and fundamentals since college. He looks like
he's really dialed into the technique and all that. And so,
but again, the same thing was more just an individual period.
But I love what I saw today.
Speaker 12 (27:54):
He was an older rookie throughout the process. How much
do you think sometimes we look at age and you
want us to get those guys younger but in a
quarterback position, how much does that kind of maybe help
them in a way.
Speaker 8 (28:07):
Yeah, I mean I think for any position. You know,
it's just, uh, it's kind of life perspective really, where
you get a guy that's twenty five is years old,
he's twenty seven. You know, you've seen a lot of life,
You've learned lessons, you've been on your own, you know,
kind of keeping your world small so you can keep
it organized. And so I've seen that happen in multiple
different positions. Quarterback two. Yeah, that's important. You know, there's
(28:29):
there's time on task and years that can benefit guys
that way, you know. So, yeah, he's a grown man.
I had a chance to visit with him today and
and just kind of recap and revisit. The last time
we sat together was in the you know, the interview
process after the draft, I mean after his college season,
you know, where he was still rehabbing. But you know,
it's the same guy, the same depth of character. I
(28:53):
really just happen to like him a lot, you know,
and so and plus all the talent. You know, I'm
really excited for him to be here.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
Had the season, how do you kind of this tight
end position I think you got four of them on
the Australia. I know you use two at times, but
what I mean, do you have a clear cut starter there?
And how do you kind of see everybody's rule shaken out?
Speaker 8 (29:12):
They all kind of do different things. I think, again,
here we are who can help on special teams. You
know that's gonna make the determining factor on who's the
third tight end up. JT will certainly be out there,
and then we got to see how we're going to
use the rest of the guys with Mitch Evans, with
James Mitchell, with Tommy Tremble, and we still have some
days to kind of figure that out, but you know,
(29:33):
it is right around the corner where we do have
to solidify, like when we're going into Wednesday's practice, So
those decisions got to be made by Tuesday night. But
I'm really happy with that group. They're a versatile group,
they're tough, and I think JT has really improved himself
in terms of just being a pass threat for us
this offseason in this camp. So I'm really excited about
(29:55):
that group, and it's going to be another you know,
good decision for us to make.
Speaker 12 (29:58):
You have any more clarity on safe d and where
that starting spot opposite Mary is.
Speaker 8 (30:04):
We will see next week. We are practicing in different
modes right now. But I just love having three guys
that have been trained, that have been here with us,
and uh, they've all flashed in different ways, you know.
So and that's Demani, that's Nick, you know, that's little
late Than, you know, So all three guys, you know again,
they all bring a little different flavor, you know. Late
(30:27):
Than is like the downhill smack you type of player.
Nick is, like, you know, is the elder statesman of
the group. When when he talks, everyone gets organized. That's
just such a valuable thing, you know. And and then Demani,
you know, he just has such great range and he's
so useful in a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
So it's a good group.
Speaker 10 (30:47):
If you had any any interesting or telling interactions with
Derek Brown this summer.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
I just think the whole just his whole approach to
this season. He wants to win. He wants to win bad.
He wants to win right now. And I can feel
his presence on the defensive side. This is how we're
going to practice, and this is how we're going to play.
It's infectious to have him out there because he just
works so hard. He chases everything down. He doesn't take
(31:18):
any playoff he gets through. If he has a good
pass rush, he redirects and chase the ball down the field.
If he has a good a good run play, he
fits up. He kind of just redirects and follows the
running back and just he's getting himself in game shape.
He's showing everybody what it looks like to extend the
play through the echo of the whistle. You and I
both know plays don't always just stop at the point
(31:38):
of contact. Sometimes special running backs will break a tackle,
a receiver may make somebody miss. So we have to
have everybody in pursuit. And he brings that tenacity and
that work ethic to our group.
Speaker 12 (31:49):
If last year you guys told JT that he had
to earn getting that number zero, you know, for some guys,
roster numbers or jersey numbers are important to them. Do
you have any cool stories maybe about you personally wearing
a jersey number in high school or college, or dealing
with the player whend you. I know that's kind of
(32:10):
like out of left field, but like any interesting jersey number.
Speaker 8 (32:13):
Stories, I guess the fact that I wore eighty one
for four out of my five years in college, and
my favorite number was seventeen, and the punter was number seventeen.
He was our starting punter the whole time. We were
the same class, and we were having lunch in our
last training camps, our fifth year. I took a red
shirt year.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
It was our fifth year.
Speaker 8 (32:33):
We're having lunch, just hanging out, and you know, I
just kind of commented, you know, like I was like, man,
I wanted that number, you know, and he was like,
you're wearing my high school number. And so we were
kind of shocked that we hadn't had this conversation before.
We're wearing each other's jersey numbers. So in a way,
you know, Kevin Kwan, I'm one of his biggest fans,
you know, and he's one of mine. So hopefully he
(32:54):
gets to see this at some point. But anyway, that's
my funny story for that.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Did you end up switching, Well, we swapped.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
For the season. Yeah, So and anyway, that's all I
can really think of. And otherwise, you know, guys kind
of I think sometimes what happens with guys, you know,
as they make as you make these shifts in their career.
I notice it with hair sometimes a guy will come
back with a different hairst I was, like, something's going
on here if a guy wants a different jersey, and
I might just be trying to turn another leaf, you know,
(33:22):
And so you know, but for jt it was it
was just him working really hard doing what we asked,
and it was a cool way to reward him last year.
It's a family number. So Jeffrey Waters is my favorite
player Carson High School safety. So I've chose seventeen, and
a lot of my kids were seventeen, so it's a
kind of a family number. And Lizzie did too. It's
soccer and when she was younger.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
So you were doing.
Speaker 7 (33:44):
Last twenty twenty three draft preps and both Tendon and
Bryce were.
Speaker 10 (33:48):
In that journey.
Speaker 11 (33:49):
Did you guys want to watch that album of Tennessee
game between them or already remember anything that stood out
of on that tape?
Speaker 8 (33:55):
Of course I did. Cassie, are you going to bring
this up? I'm sure Hendon's already brought it up in
the locker room or we may not have out of respect,
you know, but that's a touchy, touchy subject, you know,
that I'm going to just steer clear from right now.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
So okay, So there you have your weekly dose of
the Carolina Panthers as we head into next week. All right,
So look enjoy the holiday weekend, you know, enjoy your
Monday all from work. Look forward to talking to you
guys again next week. And I can go ahead and
tell you I got some big, big interviews already lined
up for next week, so make sure you join and
stick around for that. So until then, have a great
(34:28):
holiday weekend. My name is Brett Jenson, and you have
been listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson.
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