Pete Hegseth Might Have To Be Replaced...

Jimmy Barrett takes you through the stories that matter the most on the morning of 12/04/24.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is HUS Radio seven forty kt RH Houston ve
everywhere with now the latest news, weather and traffic.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's more what matters to you. From the John Morris
Services studios.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Well, good morning, five am is our time here on
Houston's Morning News. I'm Jimmy Barrett. Among our top stories
as we get started this morning, he HEADSETH might have
to be replaced. This polls is. We didn't just vote
for him. We're fans and coming up at five to
eight Earth we'll hit today by an asteroid. Details in
the minutes ahead. You're in Houston's Morning News. First, we're

(00:38):
checking out that morning drive with Skymine, not putting it
in your in car navigation. I don't have a drop
down for that.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
We just cleared a wreck on two ninety outbound westbound
at Skinner Road. That's gone. The suckings was never really there.
They took two lanes, but that's reopened, so we're good
to go. If you had a grand march at your wedding,
you're having an easy ride in now from Graham Parkway
to the west Loop. Rest of our freeways rock. I'm
skylike on a classic view with GMC.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Traffic Center from our KTRH Top Tax Defenders, twenty four
hour Weather Center. We're looking at showers and thunderstorms today
with the high temperature right about seventy. We'll get Tarry
in here in about nine minutes and see if we
can't fine tune the timing of those showers and storms. Again.
We'll talk to her in nine minutes. Right now, temperature
currently is fifty five at your official severe weather station,
News Radio seven forty KTRH. It's time now for the news.

(01:25):
Here's Class Sanders.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
Good morning, Jimmy, and good morning everyone. It's five oh
one on KTRH.

Speaker 6 (01:30):
As they have these one on one meetings, we're getting
really good feedback. Some of the senators are taking to
social media and other media to demonstrate that.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
That was Donald Trump advisor Jason Miller yesterday as several
cabinet picks met with Senators on Capitol Hill, one of them,
though might.

Speaker 7 (01:47):
Be replaced, deet Haig said, is still president like Trump's
pick to be the Defense secretary. But because Republican senators
remain unconvinced about explanations they have heard or have not
heard yet about these unconfirmed reports of bad behavior in
Pete Hegsett's past. Trump is now considering moving ron DeSantis,

(02:09):
according to The Wall Street Journal, who is citing people
familiar with the discussions as his pick if there are
further problems.

Speaker 5 (02:17):
That is Peter Deucy reporting. Meantime, Florida Sheriff Chad Cronister
has withdrawn as the nominee to lead the DEA, saying
that there is quote more work to be done for
the citizens of his local county. Newpauling from Rasmussen shows
that despite all of this, a majority of voters view
Trump favorably. That may surprise the mainstream media, but not

(02:40):
Fox's Kennedy the country.

Speaker 8 (02:41):
Has been on the wrong track to three quarters of
the country have said that repeatedly. And you know Democrats
couldn't see that, so yeah, give.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Them a chance.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
Trump's favorability is now at fifty three percent. It was
at fifty one percent in December of twenty sixteen. Five three,
the federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden's tax case ripped President
Joe Biden for pardoning his son, saying that the older
Biden is trying to quote rewrite history. Meantime, another federal

(03:14):
judge officially ended the gun case against Hunter yesterday. The
President ignored more questions about the last second pardon. Trump
legal spokesperson Alena Hobbit thinks there's more coming.

Speaker 9 (03:26):
Mark my words, This ain't it. There will be other
family members.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
Pardon to hobbititelling Newsmax, she expects Biden to pardon himself.
Lawyers for the President elect, meantime, file a motion to
dismiss the business fraud case in New York, using the
Hunter Biden pardon as reason, saying that this was a
case of lawfare that never should have went to trial.
It's now five h four. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is

(03:53):
threatening to defund Texas Children's Hospital after a doctor spoke
out against his executive order requiring public hospitals to collect
information about patient's immigration status.

Speaker 10 (04:05):
There's going to be cooperation between the federal govern and
the state government to potentially cut off fundy to any
hospital that is unwilling to provide the information this.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
The goal here is to find out what is the cost.

Speaker 5 (04:17):
State Attorney General Ken Paxton on Fox. If the President
elect wants to really shut down the border, all he
has to do is follow the Texas playbook.

Speaker 11 (04:27):
Texas has already offered Trump our experience and even our land.

Speaker 12 (04:31):
And then there are the things that the administration can
lean in on along with Governor Abbott and his team,
like National Guard support to civil authorities.

Speaker 11 (04:39):
Former Border Patrol chief Ron Vittello told ktr H Trump
could also use the Texas Border Booy strategy operationally.

Speaker 12 (04:45):
I've heard a lot of good feedback about how effective
they are, and they do have the advantage of being
a bit less expensive than other infrastructure.

Speaker 11 (04:53):
Vittello also said that Texas will be able to provide
critical logistics and behind the scene support to federal Border
patrol officials. News Radio seven forty KRH thank you.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
Ethan companies that employ cheap illegal alien labor aren't happy
with the coming mass deportations. Stephen Camerona with the Center
for Immigration Studies says that's because that'll wind up increasing
wages for lower and middle class workers.

Speaker 13 (05:17):
Because low wage workers account for such a small fraction
of economic output, even a relatively substantial increase in their
wages will have a miniscule effect on inflation.

Speaker 5 (05:28):
Legalizing the labor market will not only raise wages, he says,
but will make the job market more competitive for American
born workers. Five HO five on KTRH as you get
your kids ready for school this morning. Kadiid was recently
criticized by the Houston Chronicle for banning fourteen new books.

Speaker 14 (05:48):
But there's more to the story. Starting with that report
is not true.

Speaker 15 (05:55):
We're not banning any books, and to be fair, the
board didn't actually do this. This was on the administration.
The administrative side who remove those books.

Speaker 14 (06:06):
That's Morgan Calhoun Katie ISD trustee. As for those fourteen books.

Speaker 15 (06:12):
We're talking about explicit graphic materials such as rape, incess, abortion, suicide.

Speaker 14 (06:19):
They're against Texas law, but still available, just not at school.
Jeff Biggs News Radio seven forty kt H.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
Thank you, Jeff. Sugar Land police this morning are still
searching for two suspects who robbed an armored truck outside
in HGB and sugar Land yesterday. A security guard wound
up firing shots as the bad guys as they drove away.
Nobody was hurt. Law enforcement is warning about an uptick
in Christmas time schemes. The latest one involves fake appeals

(06:48):
for investing in crypto. No surprise to former HPD officer
Gregory Freeman.

Speaker 16 (06:54):
We start seeing an increase, a significant increase, not only
property crimes, but identity theft and the scams that are
rolling out because we've got suspects are out there. This
is what they do for a living.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
The FTC says the band guys have already stolen a
billion dollars over the last year in this fake crypto scheme.
Five oh seven now on KTRH. Texans linebacker as He's
al Shire reportedly will appeal the three game suspension he
got for that hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence last weekend.
And Texas is now number two in the college football

(07:25):
playoff rankings after beating the Aggies last Saturday and Michigan's
win over Ohio State. Another Texas school, SMU is number eight.
And I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news, weather and traffic
station news Radio seven forty KTRHO.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
What happened?

Speaker 2 (07:42):
This is the greatest political comeback of all time. This
has ever been two, three, four times Today News Radio
seven forty KGRH.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Not don't worry this, but this won't be that bad.
Five oh wait is our time here in Houston's Warning News.
There is a part of this story, though I do
find kind of disturbing of to that in a second,
small asteroid will be impacting Earth's atmosphere at approximately ten
to fourteen am Central time today. It's going to crash
over eastern Russia. By the way, that's the same area

(08:16):
if you're any sort of history buff That area was
struck during the nineteen oh eight event, the Tunguska event,
when a massive asteroid plunged into Earth's atmosphere, exploded in
the skies over Siberia, and flattened hundreds of miles of trees.
It's the largest impact event in Earth's recorded history. Obviously
we've had much bigger impacts in the history of the planet,

(08:39):
but in recorded history, this asteroid is one point six
to four feet so it's not it's very very small.
In other words, it's going to pretty much burn up
in the atmosphere. It's coming in at nine point six
miles per second with a moderate angle of fifty eight degrees,
Predicted to be visible by the Russian people at least

(09:05):
probably thirty minutes or so before the crash. They just
here's the part that has me concerned. Care to guess
when they discovered this asteroid. It was earlier this morning,
just hours ago. We're just now finding out about this
they just now. Granted I get it, it's very small
in the grand scheme of things, but you know, one

(09:27):
of the things I think we all would worry about
is if something bigger they could cause damage or could
be a threat to life, went undetected until the very
last moment and you had no chance to try to
escape from it. Five ten. Time for traffic and whether.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
It's together me they just discovered just a few hours ago, Yep.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Coming to us. Well it's not coming. NAS is coming
to the Russians because yes, yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Okay, well you know, I mean obviously you know what
NASA needs.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
NASA needs a tip line, and there you go.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
And that way they can you know, like people like
Lance from Magnolia, Gin from the Woodlands, they can call
in and say.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Hey, more's million from Mars could call in and say.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
Hey, say yeah, this is alien from Mars calling in
on the tip line and it's seven one three two
one two tips if you see asteroids or anything else
on the roadways. We cleared that wreck to ninety skinner,
No big whoop frig it was there. Uh let's see
what's our big concern this morning, Well, it's this suckage
is always there on the North Sam.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
So let's go there North Sam.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
You got westbound at Aldine westbound in a few minutes,
that's going to start to stack up. It's road construction.
We're missing two left lines. It's a lifestyle too, it's
not just a short term project. And then going the
other way Imperial Valley, that one. When that backup there
scooches up, it'll also mess up your ramps.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
For my forty five.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
You could take the Hardy Airport connector if you're trying
to hit the airport.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
And it says it's a secret, don't tell anybody, Terry.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
I'm Skymichael the Generator Supercenter dot Com Traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
From r KTRH Tom Tax Defenders twenty four hour with
US Center. Terry is here. Did you know what asteroid
was coming? Terry?

Speaker 12 (10:56):
I did not.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
How about that.

Speaker 17 (10:58):
I'm gonna have to check this out. This is quite alarming.
Very small though, so just gonna be overruned like the
size of Texas.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Small No, like four feet Oh yeah, I mean in
the grand scheme of things, that's like virtually nothing. Okay,
but it's going to burn up in the atmosphere, Okay.
I a great light show, but we're not going to
see it.

Speaker 17 (11:19):
I was gonna say, doesn't this happen on a regular basis?

Speaker 4 (11:22):
Then?

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Probably every day, and we don't even talk about it.

Speaker 5 (11:24):
Right exactly?

Speaker 17 (11:25):
All right, Well, let's talk about something a little bit
more immediate. They are tiny little asteroids. They're wet. They're
gonna be coming down the next couple of days. It's
nice and quiet right now, so if you're heading out
the door, you're in better shape than folks will be
driving later on today because that.

Speaker 5 (11:43):
Rain is on the way.

Speaker 17 (11:45):
Ninety percent chance of showers and some thunderstorms today. I
think we'll start to see some of that wet weather
about mid morning and then continuing off and on through
much of the day. Temperatures today in the mid upper sixties.
There's a fifty percent chance of more rain tomorrow, lots
of clouds, not a lot of rain tomorrow, twenty percent
chance of a shower a thunderstore Now. Temperatures are going

(12:08):
to start out in the low sixties, but get colder
into the fifties later on, and that's where we are
Friday and Saturday, temperatures in the fifties and then warming
back up Sunday. But We've got that possibility of rain
every single day into the weekend.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Right now, temperature fifty five at your official severe weather station,
News Radio seven forty k TRH.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
It's Houston's Morning News, brought to you by New South
Windows Solutions. Now back to Jimmy Barris and the Houston
Morning News team all the info you need to take
on the day.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
So, the inauguration is Monday, January the twentieth of this
upcoming year. That's when President Trump will officially take over.
I'm sure he has those little bit consecutive actions ready
to go. But as far as Congress is concerned, what
are the first two things that Congress should deal with
once the Trump had been Stration takes over. We'll get
some thoughts on that coming up next. First, though, traffic

(13:04):
and weather together. We're checking out to drive again Discovery
by sky Mike. It's not a wreck. It's police activity.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
See I could see that because I slept so good
on my pillow last night. Two ninety outbound at Jones Road.
That is police activity. It's on the left shoulder. No
one is above the law here, hunter, So watch out
outbound inbound.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
We're still good from Grand Parkway to the West flip
six ten.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Let's check your ship channel bridges at the five thirty
news break and the Generators Supercenter dot Com traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
From our KTRH top tax defenders twenty four hour weather Center,
showers and thunderstorms right about seventy today. It looks like
probably around eleven o'clock or so this morning before we released.
See much around here in the Houston metro Claude sixty
three four Tomorrow Friday. Most of the cloudy with the
high fifty eight temperature. Currently he is fifty five at
your official severe weather station, News Radio seven forty k TRH.

(13:53):
Time to check out some of our top stories on
a Wednesday morning. Here's Cliff, Thank you, Jimmy. It's five
twenty one. Good morning everyone. The Trump team is down
on tariffs against those that won't help secure the border.
The manucues of dwy and the crash that killed a
Precinct five Deputy constable and her child is now charged
with intoxication murder. And there were no jackpot winners in

(14:13):
mega millions last night. Friday's grand prizes up to five
hundred and seventy nive million. We're sponsored by Moral Mechanical
Get the latest news anytime at KTRH dot com.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
Our next update is at five point.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Thirty one HT two.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
It's used Radio seven forty KTRH on FM Houston's News, Weather, Traffic,
and Talk at ninety nine one HT two.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Well are you glad to see him? Five twenty three
start time here on Houston's Morning News. All right, we
I think we can probably all agree that one of
the things that we want Congress to do sooner versus later,
is to extend the Trump tax cuts. And better than
extending the Trump tax cuts, expand the Trump tax cuts,

(14:57):
make the tax cuts even bigger. Senator Ron Johnson and
Texas Representative Wesley hunts rasked about cutting taxes and extending taxes.
Here's what they had to say.

Speaker 18 (15:07):
In the end, it's going to be pressing Trump. It's
going to I think made the decision here. But internally,
what I've been pushing for is our top priority must
be to prevent the tax a massive tax increase from
starting in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
We have to forestall that.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
Now.

Speaker 18 (15:24):
Exactly how we do that, we're talking about it. But listen,
I'm happy to put up some quick wins address the border,
do some other things. But there are other ideas down
the table here, So I just stay tuned.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
I'm with you, Larry.

Speaker 18 (15:37):
I think we need I'd rather do move fast than
delay this.

Speaker 19 (15:41):
The bottom line is we need to get these tax
the tax has done immediately, and the Senate Majority leader
talked about doing it within the first thirty days.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
And the reason why this has to.

Speaker 19 (15:50):
Get done is because we have been crushed by inflation
in this country. We have been crushed by energy parses
in this country. We've got to stimulate the economy by
putting money back in the pockets of tax paying American
and I mean the everyday tax paying American. And so
if we want to get out of this inflationary state
that we've been for the past four years, if you're
going to restimulate our economy, we've got to unleash American

(16:11):
energy like President Trump is talking about, and most importantly,
codify the TCJA and get these tax cuts done as
soon as possible, well before the midterms, so we could
give him enough time for these policies to actually take
in to the American public.

Speaker 20 (16:24):
I mean, what one for him, Wesley. I'm gonna come
back to you in a minute. Santa Johnson. But what
one for one? Look, take home pay one up under
Trump's one point zero. Take home pay went down under
Joe Biden. That's blue collar workers of all colors.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
I don't care what.

Speaker 20 (16:41):
Color you are, black, brown, Asian, white, doesn't matter. His
working class coalition expects a blue collar boom. They expect
take home pay to go back up. It's not going
to go up because we don't help with taxes.

Speaker 19 (16:54):
You are correct, and no tax on tips, no tax
social security. Those are the kinds of policy that we
have got to do to help that blue collar worker.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
And that's where we are going to get that boom.
And quite frankly, Larry.

Speaker 19 (17:06):
This is why President Trump got elected to do exactly
what he is talking about right now, ensuring that every average,
everyday American has more money in their pockets so they
can reinvest back into their families, back into the economy,
so we can grow our economy out of this rut.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
And right now we're.

Speaker 19 (17:21):
Having a two trillion dollar annual budget deficit. That's got
to come to an end. And that's why Doe is
going to play a huge part in doing that. But
not only that, we have to grow our way out
of it by allowing the Americans to make their own
decisions to reinvest back in our.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Economy here in the US. There's only one thing that
Wesley Hunt said that scared me a little bit, and
we have to get it done before the midterms. What
it's two years, No no, no, no, no. You need
to get that done right away, because it takes a while.
It's going to take a while for this economy to

(17:55):
get back to where it needs to be, and it's
going to take it probably a couple of years for
that to happen. So you, if you want to see
yourself re elected, you're going to have to keep a
promise to the American people and have results that they
see before the next time you come up for election
five twenty six. It is time to take a look
at your money. Jeff Bellinger's here, Good morning, Good morning

(18:17):
to you, Jimmy.

Speaker 21 (18:17):
The major Wall Street averages made just small moves yesterday.
The now slipped to tenths percent, but small advances sent
the Nasdaq and S and P five hundred to record highs.
Another job market indicator is on the way today. ADP
will report on private sector hiring this morning. In fact,
most indicators suggest the job market remains strong, but there

(18:38):
is one troubling statistic. It's taking longer for workers who
lose a job to find their next one. About seven
million people are looking for work in the US. More
than forty percent of them have been searching unsuccessfully for
fifteen weeks or more. Stock market futures pointing higher this morning.
The Dow futures are up two hundred points. I'm Jeff Bellinger,

(19:00):
Bloomberg Business on US Radio seven forty ktrh.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Houston's News, Why there were traffic plus Breaking News twenty
four to seven.

Speaker 22 (19:11):
This is News Radio seven forty Ktrhive Everywhere.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
With more of what's happening now from the John Morris
Services Studios.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Five thirty Our Time, Houston's Borning News. I'm Jimmy Barrett.
Among our top stories this f hour. Trump's playing hardball
with tariffs. A judge Sides would jump on flying out
illegals and coming up at five thirty eight. The key
to a longer life is losing your job. Details in
the minute the head You're in Houston's Bonning News First,
That's how I take a vacation. No wonder, you're such

(19:42):
great shape for your age guy, Mike. Happens all the time.
All right, let's go, you know what. Put on your
hard hat, Jimmy.

Speaker 4 (19:48):
Here's one for Clifford, and we're going to the hard
work and east side. Let's check out your ship channel bridges.
If you're playing the home game with me, jump on
the Trenstar site.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
It's camera one three zero seven. Wow, what a beautiful
shot of the heart bridge. We look good.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
Baytown to Laporte. Nothing doing here. Let's flip over here
and do some toll bridge. It costs a lot. But
either way from my ten to two twenty five, rocking along.
If you work at Shell or PMEX looking good for
kb are yes, East Luke Market Street. But Leo, you're
flaring this morning. We look good both ways. But plants
two twenty five at rocks Skymike on a classic Buick

(20:21):
GMC Traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
From our KTRH Generator Supercenter, twenty four hour weather center.
Showers and thunderstorms, high temperature today right about seventy we'll
get you the complete forecast. Terry Smith will join us
in about nine minutes. Jep It tore right now fifty
five at your officials Severe Weather Station News Radio seven
forty KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders.

Speaker 5 (20:42):
Thank you, Jimmy. Good morning everybody. It's five point thirty
one on KTRH.

Speaker 23 (20:45):
Land and Trump expects Mexico to fulfill its obligation.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
At is incoming. Trump Administration Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen
Miller on Fox not backing down on the proposed tariffs
on Mexico if they don't help secure them. There was
a win for the Trump team yesterday as a federal
appeals court rules that ICE can continue using a Seattle
airport for flights to deport illegal aliens. In the meantime,

(21:12):
the Biden administration and sanctuary cities continue to complain and
push back on mass deportations.

Speaker 24 (21:19):
I mean, we're at the point now with this administration
where someone who enforces the law, ICE officers, they're the
bad guys. For those who broke our laws, they're the victims.
This whole world's upside down under this administration.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
Borders our Tom Hoeman with ktrh's Sean Hennity on Capitol Hill.
Three of Trump's cabinet picks Pam Bondy, Pete Hegseith, Christy,
Noum they all met with Senators on Capitol Hill. One
of them could wind up being replaced before confirmation hearings
next month. We'll have more on that at six o'clock

(21:51):
five point thirty three on KTRH. The trend we've been
telling you about for years is continuing, that is the
population migration from Democrats at blue to Republican red states.

Speaker 24 (22:02):
I mean, we're at the point out with this administration
where someone.

Speaker 25 (22:05):
And the majority of people are heading to the South.
According to a new National Association of Realtors survey, top
reasons include housing and family and Lone Star College professor
Hank Lewis says, I'd actually.

Speaker 26 (22:17):
Saw another one, and there would be taxes. Several Southern states,
most notably Florida and Tennessee and Texas do not have
a state income tax, and some of the other states
people are migrating from have a state income taxes. Kind
of hefty, i might add, and that's also a big
turn off to a lot of people.

Speaker 25 (22:32):
Far fewer people than you might expect list climate related
reasons for their move, even for the top destination states
of Florida and Texas. Michael Shangloh News Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 5 (22:44):
And Michael, you've probably seen all of the empty office
buildings downtown. New Research says Houston has a billion dollars
worth of vacant office space and it's all because of
people working from home.

Speaker 27 (22:57):
And it's not just lazy kids. There are a lot
of people who suddenly realized that, you know what, I
don't have to go into the office. Not every job
requires that you go into an office our own.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
Michael Berry says that many companies have simply realized they
can save some money on all that space by allowing
employees to keep working from home even after COVID. With
home prices continuing to rise, the need for affordable housing
is causing developers to repave rural America, transforming small town

(23:30):
Texas in the process.

Speaker 28 (23:32):
Real estate investor Jennifer Hammond says developers are looking for
cheaper land and less red tape. That's how the one
small Texas town of Salina, about forty miles north of Dallas,
became the fastest growing city in America last year.

Speaker 29 (23:44):
I think there's definitely a problem with so many people
wanting the same thing at the same time and again
going to those small towns and if everybody comes at
the same time, you are going to lose that small
town field.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
And it's happening around here too.

Speaker 28 (23:59):
According to the USA SINCEUS Bureau, the city of Conro's
population has increased by roughly twenty thousand in just the
past ten years. Eric Sharp News Radio seven forty Kris it's.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
Now five thirty five. Well, the weather is finally turned colder,
and Urkott says it's not expecting a repeat of the
twenty twenty one freeze this winter.

Speaker 30 (24:18):
We have really seen very significant increases in performance due
to this weatherization.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
Urkott's president, poplo Vegas says that despite an increase of
risk due to demand, the grid is ready. Also in Austin,
lawmakers hope to tackle the issue of AI and regulating
it during the legislative session that starts next month. Zach
Whiting with the Texas Public Policy Foundation says he thinks
the state will lead the way in AI policy.

Speaker 31 (24:47):
Think Texas be a leader in research and development, innovation,
but also making sure that we are always protecting commandity
and human dignity and privacy, which have been a cornerstone
I think of Texas technology policy over the last year.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
He says, we need these laws, both for the government
and the private sector. It's now five thirty six. Well,
if you thought American politics was crazy, check out Asia.
Impeachment proceedings are underway against the leader of South Korea
this morning.

Speaker 32 (25:15):
An incredible twenty four hours in South Korean politics. The
shock decision by President Jun sug Yul to declare martial
law has ended up with President Jun himself on the brink.
Lawmakers climbed over Parliament's walls, gaining entry to the chamber
and unanimously voting to overrule the order.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
Jonathan Savage reporting elsewhere internationally, and Israeli airstrike kills a
senior official of Hesbalah in Damascus. This comes in the
middle of that shaky temporary ceasefire between Israel and the
terror group in Lebanon. Now five point thirty seven, And
if you believe the research, most employers are giving out
holiday bonuses this year.

Speaker 33 (25:55):
It might not seem likely in this economy, but it's
more about retention.

Speaker 34 (25:59):
We're in war for talent right now with the stopping
shortages that we're facing, and bonuses are going to help
keep the aces in their places.

Speaker 33 (26:06):
Betsy Allen Manning of destination workplace, says the bonuses show
businesses are hopeful for the future, and it would also
go a long way with younger workers.

Speaker 35 (26:14):
To show them this is how it's done. When you
work hard, you get rewarded for that hard work. It's
changing people from being coasters.

Speaker 34 (26:21):
In your company to contributors in your company.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
She says.

Speaker 33 (26:24):
Employees want a sense of purpose and this helps give
them that. Andre Berrard news Radio seven forty KTRH and.

Speaker 5 (26:30):
The Rockets lose to Sacramento one twenty to one eleven.
They're in Golden State tomorrow night, and I'm Cliff Saunters
on Houston's news weather in traffic station news Radio seven
forty KTRH checking in.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm a money Why don't you call more?

Speaker 2 (26:44):
We all avoid it, but you'll better understand the world
around you if you check in with us.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Use radio seven forty KTRH by thirty eight a time
here in Houston's wanting I this This doesn't make any sense.
It's a shark with to see if it makes any
sense to you. Latest evidence comes from Lives versus Livelihoods.
It's a paper by four researchers led by a renowned
We are told health economists by the name of any Finkelstein.

(27:14):
They found that during the Great Recession between two thousand
and seven to two thousand and nine, age adjusted mortality
rates among Americans dropped zero point five percent for every
one percentage point jump in the area's unemployment rate. It
didn't matter where you lived. If the unemployment rate was
going up, you are living longer. Does that make sense? Huh.

(27:39):
The mortality reductions appear to happen immediately, according to the economists,
and they persists for at least ten years. The effects
were so large that the recession effectively provided four percent
of all fifty five year olds with an extra year
of life. The question is, of course, why, If it's true,
then why ye are people eating out less? Therefore they're

(28:02):
eating less processed foods, eating at home, maybe eating healthier. No,
they weren't drinking less, they weren't eating any healthier. They
weren't using the time that they were laid off to exercise,
so they weren't seemingly doing anything to try to help
their health during the time that they were laid off
or unemployed. They think it's pollution. I don't know if

(28:25):
that could be any truth or not. Because with more
factories not working, there was fewer air pollution. Therefore you're
breathing in less smag than other things that can potentially
be bad for your health. One thing pollution five forty
time for traffic and weather together. Just check out that
drive again, Hey, Scott, Mike.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
Hey, clear the police activity on two ninety. That was
outbound right after the beltwagh So no big whoop there,
We're back to full speed ahead. Katie Freeway looks good
while we're on this side of the world. Advisors, you
have an easy ride in Graham Parkway twenty five minutes
to the President's Heads West park to Alway. Ripped it
along your big shit. You look good Grand Parkway to
the Southwest Freeway exchange. If you're playing the home game.

(29:04):
I'm looking at camera five six. They keep moving it around.
This is the one on the Southwest Freeway at the
Downtown split. That's where you get off to go to
Louisiana Street. If you're trying to do it the easy
way and they keep moving this around for some reason,
you know what. I think we may have a freeway
zombie report or something around there. Maybe you can help
me out there. Seven one three two one two t ips.

Speaker 12 (29:26):
Dude, Mike Sandman, I guess the astro got me. There's
a call park on the left shoulder.

Speaker 35 (29:33):
Excuse me, twenty.

Speaker 23 (29:35):
Five peast on.

Speaker 12 (29:36):
It's five a third out in the road, not completely
all the way over the shoulder in the dark.

Speaker 4 (29:42):
All right, that counts as a left lane. It's just
as dangerous if it was in a lane. All I
need is a cross streets. So somebody else out there
helped me. That's still a banana sticker there, Sandman. And
I'm in the Classic Buick GMC Traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
From r ktr H Generators super Center, twenty four hour
Weather's Enter. Terry Smith is here. The the rain is coming.
The question is when does it get here, Terry, And that.

Speaker 5 (30:03):
Is a good question. I think it'll be mid morning.

Speaker 17 (30:06):
For some of our western counties, and as we go
through the day, our chances of rain increase.

Speaker 5 (30:13):
It is quiet right now.

Speaker 17 (30:15):
The closest showers I'm seeing are down around Victoria at
matic order by at the moment. So we've got a
couple hours where we can get the car get to
work before the rain arrives. It is a ninety percent
chance though of showers and thunderstorms, so we may have
some brief periods of heavy rain, especially near the coast.
Temperatures today in the midtupper sixties. We still have a

(30:37):
fifty percent chance of getting what tonight. Then tomorrow the
cold front will move through and some drier air, so
we'll stay cloudy, only a twenty percent chance of a
shower rumble of thunder. Temperatures will start out in the
low sixties, but gradually get a little bit colder into
the fifties by the afternoon. Twenty percent chance of rain

(30:59):
Friday sixty you'll get wet Saturday. Eighty percent chance some
more rain, perhaps some heavy rain on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Right now fifty five at your official severe weather station,
News Radio seven forty k TRH. What you need to
know for the day ahead.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
This is Houston's Morning News, brought to you by New
South Windows Solutions.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
I'm I'm a little fascinated by this story out of
Liberty County. You heard this story about all these trade
dogs running loose, biting people. Turns out, well, I'll get
to this in a second, but it turns out that
they really don't have a program in Liberty County to
take care of this. So nobody's taking care of it.

(31:39):
We'll have more of the story coming up next. First though,
at five fifty, traffic and weather together, starting with the
use guy, Mike.

Speaker 4 (31:44):
All right, let's see here. We've got that. We found
that stall. By the way, that's two twenty five inbound.
Wait which way we're going here? Make sure I'm looking right.
It's two twenty five for westbound inbound at Red Bluff.
And he's he is, he's sticking out in that left Liane,
So watch watch out. That counts as a left line.
And even if it's just a piece of you, something
to watch.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Out for you.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
I'm going to defer time and we're going to get
to the visor side at the six o'clock news break
in the classic Buick GMC Traffic.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Center from r KTRH generator of super Center twenty four
hour Weather center. Showers, thundershowers, high temperature about seventy four today,
Claudie tomorrow, probably some shower chances as well. Sixty three.
Mostly cloudy with some shower chances on Briddy in a
high fifty eight temperature right now fifty five and your
official severe weather station, News Radio seven forty k TRH.

(32:30):
Let's get you caught up on some of our top stories.
Here's Cliff and.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
We're brought to you by DNM Honor Leasing at five
point fifty one. According to reports, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
might replace Pete Hegseth as the nominee for Defense secretary.
Facebook's parent company admits it removed harmless content more often
than it should have. And there's a new b species
in both Texas and Oklahoma that's creating buzz for its

(32:56):
color blue instead of yellow. News anytime at KTRH dot
com or next update is at six o'clock.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Fifty nine. Inbound at the loop is always a problem.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
KTRH time saving traffic connect on the ten.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
We've got straight dog problem evidently in Liberty Counties. What
makes it well, I'll get to what makes it different
from other counties in just a second, but first let's
share the report in case you haven't heard about this.
In Cleveland in particular, they're having a problem with stray
dogs biting people, attacking other dogs. In fact, the news
crew when they did a report for KPRC two, they

(33:35):
got chased bike by a pack of stray dogs. So
here is the report from our television partner kp RC two,
and then we'll find out what makes us a little
bit different.

Speaker 36 (33:45):
Packs of aggressive dogs attacking people outside of their home,
leaving bike marks all over their bodies have neighbors in
the Santa Fe subdivision in Cleveland fearing for their lives.
We showed up to the Liberty County Commission's core House
to speak with Judge j.

Speaker 37 (34:01):
Knight. Judge Knight didn't want to go on camera, but
I did have a chance to sit down with him
and talk about the stray dog issue. He says he
and his county attorney are currently looking into the problem
and they're trying to find a solution. The issue is
Liberty County does not have an animal control and Judge
Knight says this really comes.

Speaker 38 (34:20):
Down to funding.

Speaker 36 (34:21):
While we were in the neighborhood, a pack of stray
dogs ran up next to our car, barking as we
drove down the road. Earlier this morning, KPRC two photojournalist
Damon Sales ran up to help a man whose pack
of dogs were fighting each other.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
That you're at doll thatt your doll after all.

Speaker 36 (34:42):
Shelby Baboski is the executive director of Texas Humane legislation.
She has spoken out at Commissioner's Court in Liberty County
in the past, saying not having an animal shelter is
a public health crisis, especially in highly populated counties like Liberty.

Speaker 39 (34:58):
Under Texas law, it's usually recommended that if you have
seventy five thousand people or over in a county, they
require an animal shelter committee or commission.

Speaker 37 (35:12):
What do you encourage people do if they live in
an area that doesn't have an animal.

Speaker 40 (35:16):
Control I urge everyone in rural areas that do not
have a city shelter or county shelter to go to
your elected officials.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Okay, so that's the part that makes this a little
bit different. I didn't realize this about Liberty County, did you.
They have no animal shelter, and they have no animal
enforcement program. They don't have anybody to round up stray dogs.
What have they done in the past. Certainly this is
not the first time that they've had a stray dog issue,

(35:51):
So what would normally happen? Is this something that needs
to be handled by law enforcement? I mean, I'd like
to think we could probably all agree if you have
stray dogs that are aggressive, that are on the loose
that are biting people that this is a safety issue, right,
It's a safety issue. Could they contract with I mean,

(36:12):
here's the thing. If you don't have your own facility,
then you need to find somebody who does and see
if you can get a neighboring county that does have
a facility that you could bring these dogs to. If
you don't have anybody to round up straight dogs, can
you hire a company to do that? Could they subcontract this?

(36:35):
If nothing else? I would think if if I were
you know, the liberty county judge or somebody in a
position of authority there, I would want I want first
of all, I'd want to take care of it for
the for the safety issue, and second of all, I
wouldn't want the negative publicity of, you know, having a
bunch of people getting bitten by stray dogs. There ought
to be a way to handle it, even without having

(36:55):
an animal shelter or an enforcement department. Gotta be a
way to get that done. By point fifty six, now
you're a news radio seven forty k t RH.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
This is huge Radio seven forty kt RH Houston live
everywhere with now the latest.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
News, weather, and traffic. It's more of what matters to you?
From the John Morris Services Studios.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Six am is their time here on Houston's Morning News.
I'm Jimmy Barrett. Among our top stories, this f are
Pete Hegseth just might have to be replaced. This pole
says we didn't just vote for him, we're fans and
coming up at six oh eight. Big cities suffering from
what they call the donut effect. Details in the minute
to head. You're in Houston's Warning News. First that is

(37:43):
it's guarantee it's got nothing to do with bare clause. Okay,
I can't wait that much. I can guarantee scumc what's
going on. We've got your North Freeway here, Little York.
It's uh boy one, two, three left lanes.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
We never seem to really go fast enough to actually
get hurt in these wrecks on.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
The North Freeway. But it is a southbound before Parker.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
You've got a pretty good twelve minute back quarterer slip.
Now big shots take the hardy toll road. Gerald from
Conrod stuck in that with nothing else to do.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
So if it's right there where you sit, it's a Hemorrhoyd.

Speaker 17 (38:12):
But if it's out in space it's an asteroid.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
He's the George Carlin of our tip line seven one
two one two tips. Let's rock on the golf freeway
side at six ' ten and the Generator Supercenter dot
com traffic Sir oh from.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Our KTRH top tax defenders twenty four hour Weather Center
showers and thunder showers. Hi today right about seventy looks
like probably mid to late morning before we see him
rain around here. We'll get the last on all that
from Terry Smith at the Weather Channel in eight minutes,
still fifty five at your official severe weather station, News
Radio seven forty k TRH. It's time out for the news.

(38:48):
Here's Cliff Saunders.

Speaker 5 (38:49):
I just enjoyed the George Carlin two six oh two
on KTRH our top story as we're sponsored by all
Star Construction.

Speaker 41 (38:57):
President Electrump is reportedly considering Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as
a potential replacement for his Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth,
so the Wall Street Journal reporting quote, Trump allies increasingly
think Hegseth may not survive further scrutiny. According to people
close to the president Alex team, which considers the next
forty eight hours to be crucial to his faith.

Speaker 5 (39:18):
That is Brooks Singman reporting, and this is all why
Hegseth is back on Capitol Hill today for another round
of meetings with Republican senators. Elsewhere in the Trump transition,
Florida Sheriff Chad Cronister has withdrawn as the choice to
head up the DEA, saying he has more work to
do in his local county and the mainstream media is

(39:39):
not going to like this. The latest Rasmussen polling shows
that fifty three percent of voters viewed Trump positively. Fox's
Kennedy says it's because he already proved that he could
handle the job.

Speaker 8 (39:51):
So often, when you're running against someone they've never been president,
they're totally untested in that role. But he had been,
he knew what the job entailed. That's such an incredibly
rare thing.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
Trump's favorability is currently at fifty three percent, higher than
it was a month before he was sworn in the
first time. Six oh three, on KGRH, the federal judge
presiding over the Hunter Biden federal tax case didn't like
the last second pardon that Joe Biden gave his son,
accusing the president of trying to rewrite history, and there

(40:24):
are new accusations against Hunter this morning. Now he owes
former landlords more than three hundred thousand dollars in unpaid rent.
The President still won't answer questions about flipping on all
of this. The Trump legal team thinks this was never
about a father helping out his son.

Speaker 9 (40:43):
They pardoned him for eleven years of activity, that in
effect hides the ability for them to look at what
Joe did during that time.

Speaker 5 (40:54):
Alena Hobba last night on Newsmax. Trump's lawyers using the
pardon as a reason officially filed to dismiss the business
fraud conviction in Manhattan, calling it a case of law
fair that never should have gone to trial. Six four,
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to defund Texas Children's

(41:14):
Hospital over one of their doctors speaking out against a
state requirement that hospitals ask patients about their immigration status.
It's not an empty threat either.

Speaker 10 (41:25):
These people are going to end up losing their funding
from the States. Medicaid that's state dollars, there's also Medicare dollars.

Speaker 5 (41:31):
Attorney General Ken Pexton there on Fox Business Now, over
the last four years, this state put together the blueprint
for how to secure the border and what's worked here
can help the incoming Trump team.

Speaker 12 (41:44):
Lots of potential, But I think one of the things
we'll see what happened in the early days of Trump
one point zero is a reduction in the number of
people who will attempt to cross illegally.

Speaker 5 (41:54):
Former Border Patrol chief Ron Vittello tells KTRH that Texas
already set the standard with things like Border Booie's and
now we can help with behind the scenes logistics as well. Meantime,
the left continues to cry about Trump's coming mass deportations
and their consequences.

Speaker 42 (42:13):
Left wing groups in California are upset that mass deportations
will force companies to pay higher wages to legal workers.
Stephen Camarada with the Center for Immigration Studies says this
is actually a net positive for the economy.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
Thank you. Most Americans think that's good public policies.

Speaker 13 (42:28):
Making our least educated and lowest page workers get a
raised by making Nellie's immigrants sohome much that's desirable.

Speaker 42 (42:36):
In California, the average hourly wage for US born workers
is nearly double that of illegalaliens. Coreyolson News Radio seven
forty KTRH. It's six oh five on KTRH.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
The KDID recently got called out by the Houston Chronicle
for banning fourteen new books, but Morgan Calhoun, a KDID trustee,
tells KTRH that's not the real story.

Speaker 38 (42:59):
We're not in fan a book.

Speaker 15 (43:01):
What we're doing is we are acting as guardians of
the district, which is what our job as trustees is.
All we're doing is staying within the law that the
State of Texas gave us.

Speaker 5 (43:11):
She says it was the administration that actually removed the books,
which is in compliance with state law in Texas. She
joins Jimmy this Morning at seven twenty. Police and sugar
Land this morning are still on the hunt for two
suspects who robbed an armored truck outside in h GB yesterday.
A security guard wound up firing shots at the bad
guys as they sped away. The store stayed open during

(43:35):
the entire incident. Believe it or not, scams are increasing,
as they always do in the month of December, and
they're now reaching the crypto sector.

Speaker 25 (43:45):
One of the latest holiday scams is enticing trusting folks
to invest in cryptocurrencies that don't exist or fake money
managers advising people to allow them access to crypto accounts
on the promise of increasing profits.

Speaker 16 (44:00):
Are doing it from other countries where they're hacking into
computer systems and going into people's accounts.

Speaker 25 (44:05):
Retired to Houston Police Captain Greg Freeman says, these cryptos
scammers are very savvy people. You might even find them
in your email inbox. Michael Shiloh, News Radio seven forty
kt Right.

Speaker 5 (44:16):
Thank you, Michael, six ZH seven. According to reports, Texans
linebacker Aziz al Shier will appeal that three games suspension
without pay for the Trevor Lawrence hit on Sunday and
the Longhorns move up to number two in the College
Football playoff rankings. SMU is number eight. UT will play
Georgia in the SEC Championship game on Saturday. And I'm

(44:37):
Cliff Saunders on Houston's news, weather and traffic station News
Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
Wow, welcome to this, Welcome to the know. People have
the right to know, to know what else stay in
the know.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
A note with US Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
God love donuts. What's your favorite donor provider? I'm a
Shipleys fan myself, of course, who else would I go
with Hipley's Berry, Texas six o eight our time here
on Houston's Morning News. Although I'm sure there are other
small local donut shops that I've get. You know, I
don't need donuts that often now that I think about it.
When is the last time you had a really good donut?

(45:19):
But what's funny about this This story isn't really about donuts.
It's about the donut effect. It's not the effect of
eating donuts. It's major US cities and how they may
never look again like they did before the pandemic. So
what has that got to do with donuts, you're probably asking.

(45:40):
I think I find interesting about this story. I've been
talking about the donut effect for years and I never
really heard anybody else say that before. So it's kind
of interesting for me to see somebody else say it
and I said it about Detroit. Detroit, I think is
a great example, or Cleveland or any other main your
rust belt city. When I described Detroit to people, you say, well,

(46:05):
what is Detroit like? And I used to describe it
as it's it's like a donut, you know, the part
in the middle of the city itself. It's it's there's
not much going on. It's kind of empty. You know, a
lot of abandoned homes, a lot of abandoned businesses. There's
not much, not much to do, not a whole lot
of things to do. But out right outside the city,

(46:27):
in the suburbs that border the city, it's sweet, it's beautiful,
it's you know, lots of wonderful neighborhoods and schools and
places to live and things to do and restaurants to
eat at. You know, the donut effect. And now we're
hearing it more as it relates to let's let's use

(46:49):
our own town, Houston, for example. We did a story
yesterday about how many vacant office buildings there are, or
nearly vacant office buildings. They don't seem to be making
a comeback. Well, unless we find another appropriate use for
them to put people in there, then we could end
up having what again we would call the donut effect,
where you know, inside the city corps itself, there's not

(47:12):
a ton of things going on. You have to go
further out in order to find that. You know, that
empty part in the middle could become us at some
point six ten time for traffic and weather together, so.

Speaker 5 (47:22):
The ghetto house.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Do you think it's like kind of in the hole
of the donut. I think it's a donut in and
of itself. Schemon it is.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
It's very sweet. I love where I'm at. Let's go
to the north side. I forty five southbound at Little York.
Tammy from Channel thirteen says she'll be flying over that shortly.
She should be there. Don't be distracted. She'll send me
pictures and I'll share them on my page. Okay, you
can see them there southbound Nord Freeway Little York. That's one, two,
three left lanes. We're pretty seriously scooted up from West Road. Now,

(47:51):
if you're a toll sticker, big shot, do the hardy
toll road commoners take the East Texans to get around.
It's worth it to go ahead and reroute, all right?
So for from TV is going what guy, Mike, what
is going on on to Edy eight southbound south the
Highway sixth And you know because she talks like that,
Terry uh southbound. I see the big skunch here around

(48:11):
County Road forty eight, and I've passed that on a
Houston trans Star. So I'll bet you money they have
us a camera shot and some real lamage shortly, hopefully
Amy from Late Jackson's about to hit her. Maybe Danny
from Roach Sharon can give me some langage. Wait for
the six twenty and I know we'll know it, but
it's a big skunch.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
Outbound, not inbound, Terry. Just once.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
I want you to talk like that when you're doing that, Archer,
it would be so cute. I'm in the Generator Supercenter
dot Com Travis.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Center, do this? Who skymake? I got a call Frock
coming in tomorrow, So I don't think you when I
hear that voice from our katrh Generator of super cent
or twenty four hour wather Center, Terry is here. You
keep talking the way you talk.

Speaker 5 (48:49):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
You could take out the rain chances if you want,
But other than that, keep talking the way you talk.

Speaker 17 (48:54):
I'm not going to be able to do that because
that would be lying and we're not going to do that.
So yeah, there's a low pressure system to the south
of US that's beginning to make its way northward. As
it does, our chances of saying some rain will be increasing.
So right now things are quiet, but starting about mid
to late morning and then continuing into the afternoon, We've

(49:16):
got some showers, some thunder at times. It's a ninety
percent chance that you're going to get wet. Hopefully some
good rain though, because we do need it. We've been
rather dry here recently. Temperatures today in the mid sixties
up to the low seventies.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
That's some warmer weather for us.

Speaker 17 (49:33):
We still have a fifty percent chance of showers and
some thunderstorms tonight, then a little bit quieter with some
colder and drier air, not enough to clear out the
clouds and the rain entirely. There's a twenty percent chance
of rain tomorrow and Friday.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
Now.

Speaker 17 (49:49):
Temperatures tomorrow in the morning low sixties, but getting colder
by the afternoon. And Friday we're in the fifties for
high still in the fifties with more rain Saturday, and yes,
another round of showers and storms on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Right now, fifty six at your officials, Severe Weather Station
News Radio seven forty k trh USE Traffic and Weather.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
You're starting your day right with Houston's Morning News, brought
to you by New South Windows Solutions.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
So here's the story we've kind of been following day
by day here for the last three or four days.
And I like getting a lot of opinions on this
because you know, I don't mean to pick on the
construction industry, but they have some of their organizations have been,
you know, screaming very loudly about how, hey, if we
have map deportations, there's not gonna be anybody left to

(50:38):
put a roof on your home. There's not gonna be
anybody left to build your house in. Just about everybody
I've talked to says, no, that's not really true. Here's
what's going to happen is they'll have to pay Americans
a little bit more in order to attract them to
the jobs. But there are plenty of Americans out there
willing to do the work if you just pay them
a little bit more. We'll talk to Stephen Camarado about that,

(50:59):
director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies in
just a moment.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
First, though, I better be short, be shortsky, Mike, all right.
First of all, to eighty eight we found it.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
Aha, the rest of the media, me and the ladies
on TV are helping each other. To eighty eight southbound
at County Road forty eight. That's an eighteen wheeler has
matched their fuel spill all laneser blocked. It's pretty terrible
as far as the backup. Now, let's go through Alvin.
It's pretty nord Freeway Little York southbound breaks. We still
have that wreck and so have all breaks from West Road.

(51:30):
I'm Skymike and the Generator Supercenter dot Com traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
From our KTRH top tax defenders twenty four hour weather Center.
Showers and thundershowers, about seventy for the high today, cloudie
with some showers sixty three Tomorrow, mostly cloudy with some
more showers on Friday, with the high fifty eight temperature
right now fifty five. At your official severe weather station,
News Radio seven forty k TRH, we're tracking some of
our top stories. Here's CLIV. Thank you, Jimmy.

Speaker 5 (51:54):
Six twenty two. We're brought to you by Texas Mutual Insurance.
Fulton County, Georgia DA Funnie Willis is ordered to turn
over all communications with Trump's Special prosecutor Jack Smith. A
Harris County fourteen year old arrest you after stealing a
car and crashing it during a chase last week, and
Euston Mayor John Whitmyers pulled the funding for the Montrose

(52:15):
Bridge street light project over Southwest Freeway at the latest
news anytime at KTRH dot com. Our next update is
at six thirty.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
What happened?

Speaker 2 (52:24):
This is the greatest political comeback of all time.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
There's ever been two, three, four times.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Today News Radio seven KGRH anyway.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Six twenty play our time here on Houston's Morning News. Well,
that's from the good old days when you were stopped
at the border and they were making decisions about letting
you in. That's that's when the border wasn't wide open.
But we're going to go back closer to those days
than the days we're living in right now. Stephen Comorado
joins this director of Research Center for Immigration Studies and
Steve and I've been asking just about everybody who has

(52:57):
a foot in this story about immigration, about what the
US construction industry is saying about how they can't attract
enough Americans to build these jobs, and the construction industry
is going to have a lot of problems if we
have mass deportations. You agree or disagree, No.

Speaker 43 (53:15):
I think that it's an over exaggeration.

Speaker 44 (53:20):
We know that.

Speaker 43 (53:20):
Look, if you started enforcing law, it would be a
gradual process.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Anyway, it's not like everyone would leave.

Speaker 43 (53:25):
And the fact is we do have an enormous number
of people still on the economic sidelines, especially men. So
if we could pay better and treat workers better, we
could draw more people back into the labor force. So
I don't think that the steady or consistent enforcement of
our immigration laws and a steady fall in the number

(53:46):
of illegal immigrants would have a very large impact on
our economy. Just as an aside, immigration advocates have always
argued immigration does not reduce wages. So if that's true,
then not to worry at all, because if the immigrants left,
it would have no impact on wages or prices, because
one concern is, you know, those spark inflation, But that

(54:10):
assumes that immigration has a very substantial impact on wages.
I do think it does have an impact on wages,
and wages will ride, will rise. But we're talking about
the bottom end of the US labor Marny kid, primarily
workers who say have no education beyond high school, because
that's where illegal immigrants are concentrated, not exclusively, but primarily.

(54:31):
And so if the poorest, least educated American workers got
a substantial raise, I think that would be good public policy.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
I agree they'd be better off, that's for certain. So
another story too. I don't know if you saw this story.
A pork producer in Iowa evdentally it has been busted
by the Labor Department for employing eleven year old children
to work overnight shifts at their pork producing plant. I
know that we have a real issue in this country
and attracting workers to those types of jobs, chicken processing,

(55:01):
food processing plants, those types of things. Do you see
that as a potential problem going forward.

Speaker 43 (55:09):
Well, most of the workers, as is true in construction
in America. That may not be true in a local,
particular local city, but most of the workers who do
construction labor or work in meat and poultry processing are
US born. And then of the foreign born workers there,
who might make up forty percent, about half are legal.
So illegal immigrants on me make up about twenty percent

(55:30):
of people, very very roughly in an industry like that, So.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
If they left now, they would probably have paid more.

Speaker 43 (55:38):
Generally speaking, and this is an important point because we
see this in a lot of industries. Generally speaking, it's
thought that real wages adjusted for inflation, in meat and
poultry processing are down something like forty percent in the
last four decades. So one of the reasons they have
trouble attracting workers to those kinds of jobs is the
very unpleasant, for one thing, cutting dead animals. But the

(56:01):
other is they actually pay a lot less than they
used to and then complain that genius, we can't find
any folks. Yeah, it's it's likely we're going to have
to pay more. But the second point is equally important.
Unskilled labor, including in meat and poetry, processing, only accounts
for a tiny share of overall costs. So maybe maybe

(56:22):
in that field about nine percent. So when you buy
a piece of meat at the supermarket, about nine percent
of it is what the person who cut it up,
you know, got paid. The rest is you know, transportation, packaging, advertising,
all the stuff that goes into the meat before it
even arrives at the processing facility, you know, the feed

(56:42):
and everything. And so if wages had to rise, say
a third, it's still only a third of nine percent.
So that would mean wages would go up by three percent,
assuming the employer and the companies passed all those costs
onto you, and assuming they didn't invest in any labor
saving devices and techniques. So the impact of raising the

(57:03):
wages at the people at the bottom cannot mathematically be
very large because we don't pay them that much to
begin with.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Gotcha, Steven got a run, but thank you so much.
Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, Stephen Colorado.
It is six twenty eight. It is time to take
a look at your money. Jeff Bellinger's here, and your
money should do well today, Jimmy. The S and P
futures are up eighteen points, NASMAC futures are up one
hundred and thirty four, and the Dow futures are up
one hundred ninety two points ahead of the midweek session.

(57:33):
I'm Jeff Bellinger, Bloomberg Business on News Radio seven forty KTRH.
There are no Houston's News. Why there are traffic plus
breaking news twenty four to seven.

Speaker 22 (57:45):
This is News Radio seven forty KTRH five Everywhere with.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
More of what's happening now from the Sean Morris Services Studios.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Six thirty Our Time, Houston's Morning News. I'm Jimmy Barrett.
Among our top stories this half hour, Trump laying hardball
the tariffs. A judge sides with Trump on flying out
illegals and coming up at six thirty eight. So what's
on the recall list today? Details in the minutes ahead.
You're in Houston's Warning News. First, we're checking out that
drive again. Here's sky Mine.

Speaker 4 (58:16):
Two eighty eight, major suckage southbound County Road forty eight.
That's an eighteen wheeler. Sure, hope everybody's okay. Has Matt's there?
I know that all the lanes are blocked southbound outbound.
The ladies on TV are saying to take five twenty one.
You might as well go through Alvin get around that
walk from Katie's on the north Sam Dudeky.

Speaker 5 (58:35):
Mike headed up here to George Bush.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
George Bush, there.

Speaker 38 (58:38):
Is a five car pile up right underneath a hardy
toll ramp.

Speaker 16 (58:42):
Right before Aldy Westfield.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
That's backing up pretty bad.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
That's not good.

Speaker 4 (58:46):
All right, We're going to back up now from Imperial
Valley eastbound going that way. I'm Skymike and the Generator
Supercenter dot Com traffic.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
Set Gunna daymar KTRH Generator's super Center twenty four hour
weather center today showers and thunders with the high temperature
about seventy We'll get the latest on when the rain comes.
When we talk to Terry Smith at the Weather Channel
in eight minutes, currently fifty five in your official severe
weather station, News Radio seven forty k TRH. It's time
now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders.

Speaker 5 (59:14):
Thank you, Jimmy six thirty two on KTRH.

Speaker 23 (59:17):
I think there was no issue more consequential to the
election in November than Joe Biden, Kamala Harris's open board.

Speaker 5 (59:23):
That's Texas Senator Ted Cruz with ktr to Sean Hannity.
The incoming administration doubles down on tariffs against those countries
that won't help secure the border. But what about the
sanctuary cities that will cooperate with Trump's mass deportations.

Speaker 24 (59:39):
This is what the sanctuary cities need to understand. If
you don't let us in your jail, if we can't
arrest that bad guy in the jail and you release them,
that means I got to send a team of agents
into the community.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
Incoming borders are Tom Homan on Fox last night. A
victory for the new administration on illegal immigration yesterday, as
a federal appeals court rules that ICE can continue using
an airport in the Seattle area for flights to deport
illegal aliens. Defense Secretary Pete Hexsmith will be on Capitol

(01:00:10):
Hill for even more meetings with senators today. Reports say
he's in danger of being replaced. Will tell you by
who at seven o'clock. It's now six thirty three. Houston
continues to deal with a large amount of empty commercial
real estate. According to a new study's costing building milliners
more than one point five billion dollars.

Speaker 11 (01:00:32):
Many workers just never came back to the office after
the COVID pandemic.

Speaker 27 (01:00:36):
When COVID happened, we had a cultural transformation. The idea
became acceptable that you don't have to go into an office.

Speaker 11 (01:00:45):
Katrh Is michael Berry says. Another reason is that thanks
to crime, people just feel safer working from home.

Speaker 27 (01:00:51):
It's hard to get people to come back into downtown
right now. The downtown problem is a very bad problem,
and it becomes much worse at night when these nuts
come out.

Speaker 5 (01:01:00):
Barry says.

Speaker 11 (01:01:00):
Companies have also realized that they can save a bunch
of money by sizing down their office space. Ethan Beginning
News Radio seven forty krh.

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
And after four years of the Biden economy, affordable housing
has become so scarce and rare that home buyers are
leaving the city for rural America.

Speaker 29 (01:01:17):
So if the economy is in much better shape, say
two years from now, then you're going to see the
trend where people are going to be, Oh, maybe they
don't need to move.

Speaker 38 (01:01:24):
None of us really like moving per se.

Speaker 5 (01:01:27):
But until then, real estate investor Jennifer Hammond says urban
expansion will continue, as will the reshaping of rural America.
Cities like Conroe have seen roughly twenty thousand more people
move to town in the last decade six thirty four.
Where have we heard this before? Texas and Florida continue

(01:01:47):
to be the top spots for people to move. The
main reason they do so housing, that's according to a
new National Association of Realtor survey, but about a quarter
of those asked to do it for family reasons. Long
Star College economics professor Hank Lewis says people tell him
that weather is also very important to them.

Speaker 26 (01:02:06):
They have very rarely, if ever, had to deal with
snow or freeze, as twenty twenty one being the exception. Obviously,
they say they don't miss it. They don't miss shelving snow,
they don't miss dealing with salt trucks and other stuff
like that, and they say that that is an improvement
for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:02:19):
Still, the survey says that only one percent of those
asked move to the South because of quote climate related reasons. Well,
now that temperatures are starting to fall here in Texas,
there are concerns once again about a possible repeat of
twenty twenty one's freeze, but are cought. President Pablo Vegas
says winterization and inspections have helped the situation.

Speaker 30 (01:02:41):
So facilities that have seen issues with performance during winter
events will go up higher on the list to get
reinspected again in a future cycle.

Speaker 5 (01:02:49):
Vegas says that despite an increase of risk due to demand,
the grid can handle whatever mother nature throws at it.
Power is going to be on the agenda at the
legislate your next session, especially it's impact on artificial intelligence.
So what will Texas lawmakers do with the technology? And
will Texas lead the way in AI policy?

Speaker 31 (01:03:12):
I think that this law in Texas could be the
model for other states to follow. I do think that
come the end of session, Texas will have the best
AI bill passed into law, and hopefully other states will
see that.

Speaker 14 (01:03:22):
That is Zach Whiting director with the Texas Public Policy Foundation,
pallet to us at.

Speaker 31 (01:03:28):
The state level and how it's used in sort of
the private sector applications. Those will be big debates coming
up the session.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
He says.

Speaker 14 (01:03:34):
The key is using AI as a tool with transparency
and accountability.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
Jeff Biggs News Radio seven k t E.

Speaker 5 (01:03:43):
It's now six thirty six on KTRH. The president of
South Korea faces impeachment after imposing and then lifting martial
law yesterday. Our State Department is watching all of this
go down.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
We want this to be You've resolved peacefully in accordance
with the rule of law.

Speaker 5 (01:04:00):
South Korea's parliament rejected the declaration, claiming it was an
illegal and constitutes a criminal act. In the Middle East,
the senior has a lot official is killed in an
Israeli airstrike in Syria. This comes in the middle of
that temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and the terrorist group
in Lebanon six point thirty seven on KTRH. As surprising

(01:04:23):
as it might be, in the Biden economy, a new
survey shows that most companies plan to give out Christmas
bonuses this season. Betsy Alan Manning of Destination Workplace says
This helps keep talent in place, but also sends a
good morale message since most don't see it coming.

Speaker 35 (01:04:40):
The number one thing employees said that they want in
the workforce is a sense of purpose and a sense
of hope again, and I think that's what we're providing,
that sense of hope, the sense of purpose when they
come back to work.

Speaker 5 (01:04:51):
She also says that bonuses will help the younger workers
feel rewarded for their work and help them to work harder. Finally,
the Rockets in action last night, losing to the Kings
one twenty to one eleven. They're in Golden State tomorrow night.
And I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news, weather and traffic
station news Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:05:12):
I live in Sugarland.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Be prepared for wild Houston weather next on the ten
on seven forty Ktrhle.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
Hummus Hummas six thirty eight ers hard time here on
Houston's Boring News. Yes we have some tainted hummus. Hummus, Yes, hummus,
a hummus product produced by Cedar's Mediterranean Foods, has been
recalled in ten states after being found to contain foreign objects.

(01:05:43):
See now, that just makes me that much more curious.
Can't you tell me what should I be looking for?
What kind of a foreign object is in there? US
Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday classified the recalls
Class two, indicating that use or exposure to the product
could cause temporary or medically reversible health consequences, with a
remote likelihood of some serious consequences. So certainly not life threatening.

(01:06:11):
This stuff is produced in Massachusetts. Oh, okay, thirty two
ounce containers of members Mark. That's the Sam's Club brand, right,
members Mark brand roasted red pepper Hummus. So if you
have any of the thirty two ounce containers of members
Mark brand roasted red pepper Hummus, then you may want

(01:06:33):
to check it out and see if you have one
of the tainted Hummus products. Recall includes twenty thirty six
units distributed stores in ten states, including Texas, So if
you bought a Hummus at Sam's Club, you may want
to check that out. Also, GM recalling tainted trucks another

(01:06:55):
major vehicle recall, General Motors, adding over one hundred thirty
thousand trucks to a pre existing recall involving unlatching tailgates. Okay,
that could be a problem. According to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, water can get into electronic gate release
switches and they cause the tailgate to open unexpectedly, which
could be a problem if you are carrying a load.

(01:07:16):
Back there, sake forty time for traffic and weather together.
We're checking in again with Skymine.

Speaker 5 (01:07:21):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
We were the first in the media, of course, to
know about the North Sam walk from Katie with the
banana stricker.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
Are we going to have another Schulenberg Festival today? I
feel this walk from Katie, thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
That's eastbound North Sam at the Hardy Toll Road. I
just put that in your navigation and add that to
the road scunch and you've got with the road work.
We're backed up from Ela going that way and then
westbound Alding Westfield.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
That's not helping a whole lot, all right.

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
We've got a camera shot here of two eighty eight
southbound at County Road forty eight. Boy, that is nasty.
What's going on over there. It's an eighteen wheeler. It's
had hasmats on the scene. Hopefully everybody's okay. It's blocking
the whole thing outbound, not inbound two eighty eight.

Speaker 5 (01:08:02):
If you're inbound.

Speaker 4 (01:08:02):
You're actually okay southbound. The rest of the world's jumping
off on five point twenty one. That's a nineteen minute
delay according to my digitals. I don't want to tell
you to stay the course, you know what. I go
through through Alvin instead and oh North Freeway clear, Little York.
That's out of the way. I got somebody here, that's
who is that?

Speaker 30 (01:08:21):
Scott from Richmond got Mike Southoun fifty nine going over
the Brasses River Bridge.

Speaker 16 (01:08:26):
Big crash, lease fire abul.

Speaker 4 (01:08:31):
Oh my, all right, that's gonna be outbound, not inbound.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
Looks like Bryce from Magnolia.

Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
I'm the easiest person to find on social media, so
ask me your question there and the rest of you
Tip line seven one three two one two tips.

Speaker 5 (01:08:44):
Sure would be nice to.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Get a female caller.

Speaker 4 (01:08:46):
I'm Skymike in the classic Buick GMC traffic Center from
O ktr H generator of super Center twenty four.

Speaker 3 (01:08:51):
Our whether center, Terry Smith is here. Rain is on
the way, and once against here we could drop quite
a bit over the next few days.

Speaker 17 (01:08:59):
Yeah, it looks like today is a better chance in
terms of the amount of rain we get, but we
still have a little bit of rain tomorrow and Friday,
and then more wet weather over the weekend. So we
are kind of stuck in this rather gray weather pattern.
A ninety percent chance of showers and some thunderstorms.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
Today.

Speaker 17 (01:09:20):
It's mainly showers, but we'll see, well, you could hear
some thunder as well. Temperatures today mid sixties to low seventies.
There's a fifty percent chance of those showers and thundershowers tonight. Now,
Tomorrow and Friday. Some cooler air moves in. Not much
in the way of drier air, but we don't have
as much rain. There's a twenty percent chance of a

(01:09:41):
shower tomorrow and Friday. Temperatures tomorrow in the low sixties,
but I think they'll start to cool down in the afternoon,
and then Friday we're only in the fifties, and then
over the week on another area of low pressure and
a sixty percent chance of getting wet Saturday and eighty
percent chance of more rains.

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
Right down fifty seven at your official severe weather station,
News Radio seven forty k TRH. You are commute, you
are forecast your news. It's Houston's morning News brought to you,
buying you southway to those solutions sit fifty now here
in Houston's morning News, we have the timeline coming up
here in just a couple of minutes. Did you did
you hear what President Trump suggested when he was meeting

(01:10:24):
with Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. He suggested
that maybe Canada should become our fifty first state. In
others stories today, Trump suggest Canada becomes fifty first state. Jokingly,
you mean you mean somebody took that seriously? More than
that story coming up in just a moment. First though,
traffic and weather together as we check out the drive

(01:10:46):
balls again, pro receive of skyline.

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
Yeah, I got a wreck here on the Katie Freeway
inbound managed lanes, big shots.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
It's at Guessner.

Speaker 4 (01:10:52):
The main lanes are thick too, just I don't know why,
but just probably revernecking here north Sam. That's an eastbound
wreck we found at first Hearty Toll Road.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
That's eastbound.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
It's all skun stuff now almost from the Veterans Toll
Plaza too. EIGHTI eoight is nasty southbound. That's an eighteen wheeler.
I hope everybody's okay. Has Matt's their tip line?

Speaker 17 (01:11:11):
Hey, Scot Mike is the female caller going northbound on
two eighty eight.

Speaker 11 (01:11:15):
It's all backed up, Tomcard traffic is really really stacked
up in back.

Speaker 5 (01:11:19):
All right, We've got it both ways.

Speaker 4 (01:11:20):
This wreck with the eighteen wheelers outbound not inbound County
Road forty eight, and you see this big, massive backup
here five point twenty one. Everybody else has gone that way.
We might as well go through. We might as well
go through Alvin on thirty five. I'm Skymke at your
classic Puick.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
GMC Traffic Center from r KTRH Generator super Center. Twenty
four hour Weather Center, showers and thunderstorms. I Temperature about seventy,
cloude with some shower chances sixty three tomorrow and mostly
cloudy with more shower chances on Friday, fifty eight. Temperature
right now fifty seven at your official severe weather station,
News Radio seven forty k TRH. Time to check out

(01:11:56):
some of our top stories this morning. Here's club at.

Speaker 5 (01:11:58):
Six fifty two. Jimmy WIRs ansored by the Brian Museum.
Good morning everyone. According to reports, Ron DeSantis could replace
Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary nominee New York City Mayor
Eric Adams now says he's willing to cooperate with Ice
under certain circumstances, and some areas could see up to
a foot of snow today as a winter storm hits

(01:12:19):
the Midwest and northeast. Get the latest news anytime at
KTRH dot com. Our next update is at seven o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
I live in Pasadena, Sharptown, Southwest.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
Next on the ten time saving traffic con seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:12:37):
It's six point fifty two no here on Houston's Morning News.
Right when President Trump suggested that Canada may need to
become the fifty first States, it's because Justin Trudeau was
complaining about tariffs. If you put terraffs on us, we'll
go broke. Well, then maybe you need to become the
fifty first state. Terrifs, by the way, they're more of

(01:12:59):
a negotiat tool than they are actual punitive punishment. Here's
economist Steve Moore talking with another one fellow economists talking
about the tariff threat.

Speaker 45 (01:13:11):
Trump did say throughout the campaign that he was going
to be the tariff man, and so he is basically
moving forward with that agenda.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
Now, Santra, you and Robert have known me a long time.
I'm much more on the free trade camp.

Speaker 45 (01:13:26):
But I will say, in certain circumstances, Trump's policies with
respect to tariffs makes sense. And I'll just give you
one example of that. You know, I think the idea
of imposing tariffs on China and Canada and Mexico if
they don't start helping us keep these lethal drugs out
of our country. I'm talking about fundol, which is one

(01:13:47):
of the leading causes of death of young people in America.

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
I think that makes sense.

Speaker 45 (01:13:51):
I think that Mexico has to confront these drug cartels.
I think China is importing this poison to our country,
and I think at the end of the day, a
Trump will prevail. I think that instead of paying these terroriffs,
I think China and Mexico will help keep these drugs
out of our country. So he uses a terrorists, oftentimes
as a strategic tool to advance America's interest.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
Because we know this was the exchange.

Speaker 46 (01:14:17):
According to sources to Fox News that Trudeau told Trump
he cannot levy the tariff because it would kill the
Canadian economy completely. Trump replied, asking so your country can't
survive and lessons ripping off the US to the tune
of one hundred billion dollars. Trump then suggested to Trudeau
that Canada become the fifty first state, which caused the

(01:14:38):
Prime Minister and others.

Speaker 3 (01:14:39):
To laugh nervously. Robert your reaction. So here's what I
would say.

Speaker 47 (01:14:47):
You and I and Steve have been talking about, you know,
since the campaign, you know, him calling himself tariff tariff man.
I'm supportive where Steve is. I'm I supported President Trump's
us MCA when they changed. So I think we should
use the tariffs more prescriptively, not as such a broad
and blunt tool. I think it's more to use like

(01:15:10):
on steel or when President Obama used on tires. I
think we should use it in a way that really
makes a dent.

Speaker 3 (01:15:17):
When we use it in a broad approach.

Speaker 47 (01:15:19):
Like President like Trump used, for example, We're gonna put
tariffs on the brick countries Brazil, Russia, India, and China
if they move away from the dollar.

Speaker 3 (01:15:29):
The truth is.

Speaker 47 (01:15:30):
That type of threat really doesn't mean that much because
they're not moving away from the dollar. They have no
interest in having the volatility of the Russian ruble or
the capital controls of the China Ywan so I think
we should make.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
It more prescriptive. So we're just not throwing it so
broad based yellow again, it's more of a carrot stick approach.
In this case. He uses the stick more often than
the carrot. But it's effective. Look at all these world
leaders that are going to mar Lago to meet with
the guy. Highly effective. All right, time for the timeline.

(01:16:02):
It's being sponsored by Velocity Business Products. A a pair
Take us again? Today is the Andrea Bocelle Live in
Concert with the Houston seventy June the twelfth at Toyota Center.
Take us around sale right now at Toyota Center dot com.
But you can win a pair from us. Just tell
us what year today's timeline's from. We've seen today, mister song.
It was December.

Speaker 23 (01:16:21):
Tough Today.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assage is jailed in Great Birth.

Speaker 5 (01:16:26):
Wiki leaks will continue.

Speaker 3 (01:16:27):
I don't know what to say except to you on
TV Priorities. Thank you. Larry King ends his nightly talk
show on CNN, and instead of goodbye, how about solo?
At the movies? She danced the Black Swan for me.
Natalie Portman stars in Black Swan. Now show me your
Black Swan.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
You know and number one on the radio, Katie Perry
with firework.

Speaker 3 (01:16:54):
What year was it? If you know seven one three
two one two fifty eight seventy four, that's seven one
three two one two k TRH. Good luck. All right,
we have ourselves a winner. That'd be Mike and Kingwood
knew the right year was twenty ten. Well done, Mike.
Get a pair of tickets. Go see Andrea Bocelli live
in concert with the Houston Symphony during the twelfth at
Toyota Center. Enjoyed the show and Merry Christmas.

Speaker 1 (01:17:18):
This is Huge Radio seven forty kt RH Houston.

Speaker 3 (01:17:22):
Drive Everywhere with the iheartm Now, the latest news, weather
and drafting.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
It's more of what matters to you from the John
Morris Services Studios.

Speaker 3 (01:17:32):
It is seven am now here on Houston's Morning News.
I'm Jimmy Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour,
Pete Hegseth might have to be replaced. This poll claims
that we didn't just vote for the guy, we're a
fan of his and coming up at seven oh eight,
the most viewed Wikipedia stories of twenty twenty four. Details
and the minutes ahead. You're on Houston's Morning News. First,

(01:17:54):
We're checking out that morning drive again. Here's Skymine, all right.

Speaker 5 (01:17:57):
Two eighty eight is terrible southbound.

Speaker 4 (01:18:00):
You got this wreck at forty eight eighteen Wheeler County
Road forty eight south of Highway six. Massive backup on
the outbound five twenty one. Julie from Paarland with her
very first banana sticker, and also she broke up the
Schulenberg festival. That is all lanes blocked by the way,
has mats on the scene. It's going to be there
a while north sam eastbound Imperial Valley.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
No, it's closer to Hardy. That's a five car mashup.

Speaker 4 (01:18:23):
And Katie Freeway guestner Brad from Katie's on that wreck.

Speaker 5 (01:18:26):
Eight Skyline dude taking over one lane.

Speaker 45 (01:18:29):
Of the toll road and on the left side of
iten all.

Speaker 5 (01:18:32):
Right, I'm going to add a left lane.

Speaker 4 (01:18:33):
Big shots, get off the toll lanes and ride with
the minions in inbound. I'm skytlike and a generator center, Supercenter,
dot Com, traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
Center, rum r KTRH top tax Defenders, twenty four hour
weather Center, showers, thundershowers hi today right about seventy rain
in the forecast. Just about every day all the way
through Sunday. We'll check it all out with Terry Smith
at the Weather Channel in eight minutes, right now fifty
seven at your official severe weather station, News Radio seven
forty KTRH. It is time now for the news. Here's

(01:19:03):
Cliff Sanders.

Speaker 5 (01:19:03):
Thank you, Jimmy seven oh two on KGRH. We're brought
to you by Allied Signing in windows and our top story.

Speaker 6 (01:19:10):
As they have these one on one meetings, we're getting
really good feedback. Some of the senators are taking to
social media and other media to demonstrate that.

Speaker 5 (01:19:17):
That was Trump advisor Jason Miller. As several cabinet picks
met with senators on Capitol Hill, one of them, though
could be replaced.

Speaker 7 (01:19:26):
Deet Haggset, is still president like Trump's pick to be
the Defense secretary, but because Republican senators remain unconvinced about
explanations they have heard or have not heard yet about
these unconfirmed reports of bad behavior in Pete Hegsett's past,
Trump is now considering moving Ron DeSantis, according to The

(01:19:47):
Wall Street Journal, who is citing people familiar with the
discussions as his pick if there are further problems.

Speaker 5 (01:19:54):
That is Peter Doucey reporting meantime, Florida Sheriff Chad Kronister
pulls out as Trump's not I need to lead the
DEA new polling from Rasmussen shows that a majority of
voters view the president elect favorably. That fight surprise the
mainstream media, but it doesn't surprise Fox's Kennedy.

Speaker 8 (01:20:13):
The country has been on the wrong track to three
quarters of the country have said that repeatedly. And you
know Democrats couldn't see that, so yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:20:23):
Give them a chance.

Speaker 5 (01:20:24):
Trump's favorability is currently at fifty three percent, higher than
it was in December of twenty sixteen. Seven h three now,
the federal judge overseeing the Hunter Biden federal tax case
ripped President Joe Biden for pardoning his son at the
last second, saying that he was trying to quote rewrite history.
The president ignored even more questions about the pardon, and

(01:20:47):
Trump legal spokesperson Alina Hobba thinks there's more that's coming.

Speaker 9 (01:20:51):
Mark my words, this ain't it. There will be other
family members pardon.

Speaker 5 (01:20:55):
To Hobba told Newsmax she expects President Biden to pardon himself.
Lawyers for the President elect officially file a motion to
dismiss the business fraud case in Manhattan, saying it was
a case of lawfare. It's now seven h four On KTRH,
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to defund Texas Children's

(01:21:16):
Hospital after one of its doctors spoke out against an
executive order one that required hospitals to collect information about
the patient's immigration status.

Speaker 10 (01:21:25):
There's going to be a cooperation between the federal government
and state government to potentially cut off funding to any
hospital that is unwilling to provide the information. That's the
goal here is to find out what is the cost.

Speaker 5 (01:21:36):
Attorney General Ken Paxton on Fox Now. If President Elect
Trump really wants to shut down the border, all he's
got to do is follow the Texas playbook.

Speaker 11 (01:21:46):
Texas has already offered Trump our experience and even our land.

Speaker 12 (01:21:50):
And then there are other things that the administration can
lean in on. Along with Governor Abbott and his team,
White National Guard support to civil authorities.

Speaker 11 (01:21:58):
Former Border Patrol chief Ron Vittello told KTRH Trump could
also use the Texas Border booy strategy operationally.

Speaker 12 (01:22:05):
I've heard a lot of good feedback about how effective
they are, and they do have the advantage of being
a bit less expensive than other infrastructure.

Speaker 11 (01:22:12):
Vittello also said that Texas will be able to provide
critical logistics and behind the scenes support to federal border
patrol officials. Ethan Buchanan News Radio seven forty KGRH.

Speaker 5 (01:22:21):
Thank you, Ethan. Companies that employ cheap illegal alien labor
aren't happy with what's coming NASST deportations. To be specific,
Stephen Camerono with the Center for Immigration Studies says that's
because they'll have to pay their workers they're American workers,
more money.

Speaker 13 (01:22:37):
Because low wage workers account for such a small fraction
of economic output, even a relatively substantial increase in their
wages will have a minuscule effect on inflation.

Speaker 5 (01:22:49):
Legalizing the labor market will not only raise wages, he says,
but it will make the job market more competitive. Seven
oh six on KTRH, as you get your kids ready
for school this morning. The Katie isd recently was criticized
by the Houston Chronicle for banning fourteen books.

Speaker 14 (01:23:07):
But there's more to the story, starting with that report
is not true.

Speaker 15 (01:23:12):
We're not banning any books, and to be fair, the
board didn't actually do this. This was on the administration,
the administrative side who remove those books.

Speaker 14 (01:23:24):
That's Morgan Calhoun, Katie ISD trustee. As for those fourteen books, we're.

Speaker 15 (01:23:30):
Talking about explicit graphic materials such as rape, incest, abortion, suicide.

Speaker 14 (01:23:36):
They're against Texas law, but still available, just not at school.
Jeff Biggs News Radio seven forty k ties.

Speaker 5 (01:23:44):
And Calhoun will join Jimmy at seven twenty. Sugar Land
police are still looking for two suspects who robbed an
armored trunk outside in h g B yesterday, and law
enforcement is warning about an uptick in Christmas time schemes.
That's the The latest one involves fake appeals for investing
in crypto. No surprise to former HPD cop Gregory Freeman.

Speaker 16 (01:24:07):
We start seeing an increase, the significant increase not only
in property crimes, but identity theft and these scams that
are rolling out because we've got suspects that are out there.
This is what they do for a living.

Speaker 5 (01:24:17):
The FTC says the bad guys have already stolen a
billion dollars over the last year in this scheme. It's
seven oh seven on KTRH and Texans linebacker Aziz al
Shire reportedly will appeal his three games suspension that for
his hit on Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The reaction from
GM Nick.

Speaker 3 (01:24:36):
Cassario quite frankly.

Speaker 5 (01:24:39):
If the suspension is uphill, al Shire won't play again
until Christmas Day. And the Texas Longhorns are now ranked
second in the College Football Playoff rankings after beating the
Aggies last Saturday, and after Ohio State lost another Texas school.
SMU is eighth. And I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news,
weather and traffic station KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:25:00):
Four New Years.

Speaker 23 (01:25:03):
Big Golden Age of America.

Speaker 3 (01:25:05):
The next four years real happen here. News Radio seven
forty KTRH. Okay, there's not a lot of songs about Wikipedia.
Seven on eight is our time here in Houston's morning news.
I always find this interesting though, Just like Google searches,
what were the most looked up items on Wikipedia for
twenty twenty four, I'll give you the top ten list. Well,

(01:25:28):
maybe i'll include number eleven because I'm surprised you did
make the top ten. Taylor Swift made number eleven. Over
seventeen million, eighty nine hundred and twenty seven people looked
it up number ten the twenty twenty four Indian general election. Well,
I guess it's Wikipedia Worldwide, right worldwide number nine Project

(01:25:50):
twenty twenty five, You know that controversial Heritage Foundation project
that President Trump was accused of supporting. Member all Theocrat
adds about that. Obviously, people were looking up to find
out what Project twenty twenty five was. Number eight, Deadpool
and Wolverine, number seven, jd Vance, number six, Indian Premier League.

(01:26:13):
I assume that sucker number five, Donald Trump only number five,
number four Lyle and Eric Menendez, who might be getting
out of prison, number three. The twenty twenty four United
States presidential election number two Kamala Harris and number one

(01:26:35):
with almost twenty million more views than number two, far
and away the number one category deaths in twenty twenty four,
just looking up people who died seven to ten. Time
for traffic and weather together, sky Mike is here, ready
to fill you in on the commute. That is so interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:26:52):
All right, we've got Katie Freeway inbound. Lookout, advisors, stay
out of the toll lanes, get over there and swim
with the commoners. This is inbound, guestner, and it's two
lanes plot. No, it's the left side of that toll. No,
it looks like it's the whole toll lane now looking
at this, so yeah, definitely jump in with the commenters
on the Kdie Freeway.

Speaker 3 (01:27:12):
You've still got a skunch either way.

Speaker 4 (01:27:13):
From Fry Road North, Sam KJR Rachel listeners the first
to know about the w reck eastbound Party Toll Road.

Speaker 5 (01:27:19):
Let me get the new lane.

Speaker 3 (01:27:20):
It's here. Oh they called it cleared.

Speaker 4 (01:27:22):
All right, We're still backed up from the Veterans toll
Plaza that way.

Speaker 3 (01:27:26):
Big story. To eighty eight.

Speaker 4 (01:27:27):
I've got Amy from Lake Jackson standing by for the
seven to twenty report. Show update me two eighty eight
outbound not inbound.

Speaker 3 (01:27:33):
County Road forty eight. All lanes are blocked.

Speaker 4 (01:27:36):
It's an eighteen wheeler has matts on the scene and
that's not pretty.

Speaker 3 (01:27:40):
South Belt Meek from Keemouth.

Speaker 48 (01:27:41):
Morning, Mikey right after Guessner. It's starting to get washed
up shirts due to the to eighty eight issues, and
folks are loving to tap on those breaklights.

Speaker 3 (01:27:52):
People that go slow. All right on the free iHeartRadio app. Hey,
he's got Mike.

Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
This is Jack from Connecticut.

Speaker 5 (01:27:59):
He's trying to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:28:00):
Terry Key. You know I got to give you a disclosure.

Speaker 4 (01:28:03):
I stole that voice from a friend of mine named
Tim Tuttle that some of you remember who I used
to work with.

Speaker 3 (01:28:08):
But yeah, oh good voice there, Jack from Connecticut.

Speaker 4 (01:28:11):
He's listening on the free iHeartRadio app and he missed
this Houston traffic Terry. I'm in the generator of supercenter
dot com traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (01:28:17):
I cleared my throat every time you do that. From
our KTRH top tax Defenders twenty four hour weather Center,
Terry Smith is here, and we've got some rain on
the way. There's no doubt about it. Some of us
are going to get some good doses of rain. But
it's not a total washout between now and Sunday, isn't.

Speaker 5 (01:28:32):
No, it's not a total wash out.

Speaker 17 (01:28:34):
What we are seriously lacking is some sunshine between now
and then. But as far as rain goes, there'll be
some soggy days and some not so soggy days. And
as far Asky might goes, he sounds like the Tasmanian
devil to me, for some.

Speaker 3 (01:28:50):
Reason, said that before a future I know.

Speaker 17 (01:28:52):
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know why
you sound like a cartoon.

Speaker 5 (01:28:57):
Well, we are going to be a little.

Speaker 17 (01:29:00):
Today starting mid morning into the afternoon, ninety percent chance
of those showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures today a little bit warmer,
mid sixties to low seventies, only a twenty percent chance
of getting wet. Tomorrow low sixties will be as warm
as we get Friday, are twenty percent chance of rain,
and Hi's only in the fifties, but our range chance

(01:29:20):
is increasing over the weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:29:22):
Jepperture right now fifty seven at your official severe weather station.
News Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 2 (01:29:29):
It's Houston's Morning News, brought to you by New South
Windows Solutions. Now back to Jimmy Barretts and the Houston
Morning News team all the info you need to take
on the day.

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
So you hear stories coming out of local schools all
the time, I mean I've heard some just some bizarre
stories of people, you know, making claims about what's going
on at this school or what's going on at that school.
Get you can't judge in this case. A book by
its covered Katie isd bans fourteen books, including Wicked and

(01:30:02):
Slaughterhouse five. This is a article that I don't think
really gets into the real truth here. It wasn't It
wasn't the school board by the way that is banning
all this. We'll talk to Morgan Calhoun, she's a Katie
ISD board member. We'll talk to her next. First, though,
we've got traffic and weather together. There be short, go ahead,
be short, you're always shorts.

Speaker 4 (01:30:21):
Come on, it's two eighty eight outbound, big ugly wreck
at forty eight County Road forty eight. Eighteen wheeler has
matt and massive backups heading southbound.

Speaker 3 (01:30:30):
Amy from Lake Jackson's on two eighty eight.

Speaker 44 (01:30:32):
Good morning, Michael, northbound, sitting right on the top of
the overpass Shadow Creek Parkway. It looks like two cars
bumped into each other. Officer there hanging out into the
middle of the right lane, so everybody's having to get
over into the center and.

Speaker 4 (01:30:46):
The least all right, Amy, Lake Jackson with the banana sticker.
I'm in the Generator Supercenter dot Com traffic center from
our KTRH top tax defenders twenty four hour weather center
for today's showers and storms with the high temperature right
about seventy cloudy tomorrow by the twenty chance of rain
sixty three, another twenty percent chance with cloudy skies on
Friday in high fifty eight Jemperture right now fifty seven

(01:31:07):
at your official severe weather station, News Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:31:12):
We're checking out some of our top stories once again.
Here's Cliff, Thank.

Speaker 5 (01:31:15):
You, Jimmy. We are sponsored by Texas Mutual Insurance. New
numbers just in private payrolls grew by one hundred and
forty six thousand in November, less than expected. Liberty County
Judge j Knight told our TV partner Channel two, the
county is going to take action after a spike in
feral dog attacks in the county. And on this day
in nineteen ninety one, Terry Anderson was freed by terrorists

(01:31:39):
has belost specifically in Bay Route after twenty four hundred
and fifty four days in captivity. Get the latest news
anytime at KTRH dot com. Our next update is at
seven thirty.

Speaker 13 (01:31:49):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:31:49):
Welcome to this.

Speaker 3 (01:31:51):
Welcome to the know. People have the right to know.
To know what else stay in the know.

Speaker 2 (01:31:56):
Note with used Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:32:01):
Seven twenty three is our time here in Houston's Warnings.
We're joined by Morgan Calhun Katie ID board member. I
saw the Houston Chronicles story. It almost makes it sound
like you're burning books in Katie, I know that's not right.

Speaker 49 (01:32:14):
No, no, that's not what we're doing. And you know,
I can only speak for myself, and I'm not speaking
for the whole.

Speaker 48 (01:32:20):
Board this morning.

Speaker 49 (01:32:21):
But you know, when I read the article, I kind
of laughed because it's such a misrepresentation of what a.

Speaker 38 (01:32:28):
Book ban is.

Speaker 49 (01:32:30):
Maybe I don't know, it's confusing, it would be confusing
for the reader, but it's a salacious title. And so
I understand they have to get clicks and have to
attempt to try to sell a newspaper in some instances.
But that's not that's not what we're doing. It's not
what that's not what I was doing. So and we
didn't do it. To be fair, this is an administrative

(01:32:53):
decision that I didn't know had happened. We found out
when everybody else did. These books have been removed based
on the explicit nature of.

Speaker 38 (01:33:07):
Some of these books I would love to read.

Speaker 3 (01:33:12):
Yes, let's start. Let's start with this one, because I did. Obviously,
there's a film oude right now called Wicked, and there's
also a book evidently that's on the list called Wicked.
Is it the same story?

Speaker 49 (01:33:24):
So Wicked, I'm sure everybody's aware was an adaptation of.

Speaker 38 (01:33:30):
The play that I saw the musical.

Speaker 49 (01:33:34):
I've seen it before, and this was a book that
was written and that's great, but this is not the
Wizard of oz Uh And I would love to read
some of the reasons why this book was removed, but
I believe it's an SCC violation if I read some
of these books on air.

Speaker 3 (01:33:51):
So, in other words, there it contains words that we're
not allowed to say on the.

Speaker 38 (01:33:55):
Radio or among other things.

Speaker 3 (01:33:57):
Among among other things. Okay, our House five made the list,
I know that, but they all have the same thing
in common in that they have either words we don't
want to expose young children to or situations such as
abortion or rape or sexual assault. Some of these things
are not age appropriate for children, especially at the elementary

(01:34:19):
and middle school level. And I think that's just common sense,
don't you It is.

Speaker 49 (01:34:24):
It's just a common sense approach. And I think for
a long time we've had common sense kind of take
a back seat. I think a lot of people have
been really nervous to say to say something that they
know is right. And common sense is no longer in
the backseat. We're in the driver's seat. The common sense
is in the driver's seat. And again, this was not
a bored decision. When again when I read the article,

(01:34:45):
I was like, well.

Speaker 38 (01:34:47):
We didn't do that. I didn't do that. We wrote
the policy, but I didn't remove the book. The administration
removed the book.

Speaker 49 (01:34:54):
Because they were following in compliance with the policy.

Speaker 38 (01:34:57):
That was modeled under law of the state of Texas,
and I think penal codes.

Speaker 3 (01:35:03):
Here's I think as well, Morgan. The bottom line, if
you are one of those parents who believes that you
should expose your children to these things, then take them
to the public library and let them check out the book.
Nobody's banning it at the public library.

Speaker 49 (01:35:19):
Right again, it was a misrepresentation of what a book
ban is. You can still buy these books on Amazon.
You can still go to Barnes and Noble, you can
still go to Books a Million, you can still get
them on at the public library. You can still go
get these books. There's nothing that's been banned. Nobody's burning books,
nobody's ripping them.

Speaker 38 (01:35:37):
Out, nobody's doing anything like that.

Speaker 49 (01:35:39):
It's a cultivation and really a compliance under the wall.
It's kind of boring and I think most parents using
common sense are.

Speaker 38 (01:35:46):
Pretty bored with this because they've trusted that.

Speaker 49 (01:35:49):
We're going to do what we said we were going
to do, which has addressed the problem is.

Speaker 38 (01:35:53):
It presented itself.

Speaker 49 (01:35:54):
And now they're a little bit more concerned about other
things like the encroachment of AI and their public schools
and technology, or how they're going to put groceries on
the table. I think there are other pressing things that
parents are concerned about that don't necessarily include dirty books
because we've we've dealt with it.

Speaker 38 (01:36:14):
So I guess it was a slow news day.

Speaker 35 (01:36:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:36:17):
I guess I was, but I'm glad we had John though.
I'm glad we had the opportunity to this at the
record straight. Thank you for coming on, Morgan. We appreciate it.

Speaker 38 (01:36:24):
Thank you guys. You'll have a good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:36:26):
You too, Katie I s D board member Morgan Calhoun.
It's seven twenty seven. It's time to take a look
at your money. Jeff Bellinger's here and numbers just in Jimmy.
Private sector employers continued to hire last month. ADP estimates
one hundred and forty six thousand workers were added to payrolls.
Stock market futures higher right across the board. With the
now futures up one hundred and seventy five points. I'm

(01:36:49):
Jeff Belinger, Bloomberg Business on News Radio seven forty KTRH,
Houston's News. Whether we're traffic plus breaking you there's twenty
four seventh.

Speaker 22 (01:37:01):
This is US Radio seven forty KTRH Child Everywhere with.

Speaker 2 (01:37:07):
More of what's happening now from the Sean Morris Services Studios.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
Seven thirty one OT time, Houston's Morning News. I'm Jimmy Barrett.
Among our top stories this half hour, Trump playing hardball
with tariffs, Judge sides with Trump on flying out illegals,
and coming up at seven thirty eight, Still suffering in
North Carolina. Details in the minutes ahead. You're in Houston's
Morning News. First, we're checking out that morning drive once

(01:37:31):
again with Skymine. We still haven't cleared the Katie Freeway.
Guestner deal. That's a wreck and the toll lanes.

Speaker 4 (01:37:36):
Get on the regular lanes and get out of that
junk North sam eastbound clear Harding Toll Road. The subconds
is still there from the Veterans Plaza two eighty eight.
Big wreck outbound at County Road forty eight. It's an
eighteen wheeler outbound and let's get with the hard hats.

Speaker 44 (01:37:50):
Hey goy, Mike Bruce on the hard work in east side.

Speaker 27 (01:37:53):
Got a kerfuffle North found going over the toll bridge.

Speaker 16 (01:37:56):
A couple of vehicle's got together, got the party.

Speaker 1 (01:37:59):
Five.

Speaker 16 (01:38:00):
You can own the scene and the traffic start in
the backup.

Speaker 38 (01:38:03):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:38:04):
That's Nord Banana sticker for your hard hat. Extra points
for verbage. I'm Skymike and the Generator Supercenter dot Com
Traffic Center from.

Speaker 3 (01:38:11):
R KTRH Generator super Center, twenty four hour weather center
for today, showers and thundershowers with the high temperature right
about seventy. Well, probably most of us will see that
rain probably around lunchtime or by lunchtime. I should say,
we'll talk to Terry Smith about all this in eight minutes.
Temperature right now still fifty seven at your official severe
weather station, News Radio seven forty k TRH. It's time

(01:38:33):
now for the news. Here's Cliff Sanders, thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:38:35):
Jimmy seven thirty two on KTRHR. Top story.

Speaker 23 (01:38:38):
It than Trump expects Mexico to fulfill its obligation.

Speaker 5 (01:38:43):
Incoming Trump administration. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller there
not backing down on Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexico if
they don't help secure the border. The Trump team got
a win yesterday from a federal appeals court, a judge
ruling that ICE can use Seattle Airport for flights to
deport illegal aliens. In the meantime, the Biden administration and

(01:39:04):
sanctuary cities continue to push back on Trump's mass deportations.

Speaker 24 (01:39:09):
I mean, we're at the point now with this administration
where it's someone who enforces the law. Ice officers, they're
the bad guys for those who broke our laws. They're
the victims. This whole world's upside down under this administration.

Speaker 5 (01:39:20):
Orders our Tom Homan with KTRH as Sean Hennity on
Capitol Hill. Three of Trump's cabinet picks, Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseith,
and Christy dom all met with senators on Capitol Hill yesterday.
Heg Sith is back on Capitol Hill today as reports
say he's about to be replaced as Defense secretary nominee
by Ron DeSantis. Seven p. Thirty three. Now on KTRH, Well,

(01:39:44):
it's a trend we've been telling you about for years,
the population migration from blue to red states.

Speaker 25 (01:39:51):
And the majority of people are heading to the South.
According to a new National Association of Realtors survey, top
reasons include housing and family and Lone Star College professor
Hank Lewis says.

Speaker 26 (01:40:02):
I'd actually saw another one, and there would be taxes.
Several Southern states, most notably Florida and Tennessee and Texas,
do not have a state income tax, and some of
the other states people are migrating from have a state
income taxas kind of hefty, I might add, and that's
also a big turn off to a lot of people.

Speaker 25 (01:40:18):
Far fewer people than you might expect list climate related
reasons for their move, even for the top destination states
of Florida and Texas. Michael Shanglohone News Radio seven forty KTRH.

Speaker 5 (01:40:30):
Thank you, Michael. Well, if you've driven downtown, you've probably
seen all of those empty office buildings. Your research says
Houston has a billion dollars plus worth of vacant office space,
and it's because a lot of us are working from home.

Speaker 3 (01:40:43):
And it's not just lazy kids.

Speaker 27 (01:40:45):
There are a lot of people who suddenly realize that,
you know what, I don't have to go into the office.
Not every job requires that you go into an office.

Speaker 5 (01:40:55):
Ktrh's Michael Berry says that many companies realize they can
save some money on all that space by just allowing
their employees to keep working from home even after COVID.
With home prices up, the need for affordable housing is
causing developers to repave rural America, and it's transforming small

(01:41:15):
town Texas in the process.

Speaker 28 (01:41:17):
Real estate investor Jennifer Hammond says developers are looking for
cheaper land and less red tape. That's how the one
small Texas town of Salina, about forty miles north of Dallas,
became the fastest growing city in America last year.

Speaker 29 (01:41:29):
I think there's definitely a problem with so many people
wanting the same thing at the same time and again
going to those small towns, and if everybody comes at
the same time, you are going to lose that small
town field.

Speaker 3 (01:41:42):
And it's happening around here too.

Speaker 28 (01:41:44):
According to the US Census Bureau, the city of Conrod's
population has increased by roughly twenty thousand in just the
past ten years. Eric Sharp News Radio seven forty KRA.

Speaker 5 (01:41:54):
Seven thirty five now on KTRH, Well, the weather is
finally turning colder around here, and Urkant says it's not
expecting a repeat of the twenty twenty one freeze this winter.

Speaker 30 (01:42:04):
We have really seen very significant increases in performance due
to this weatherization.

Speaker 5 (01:42:11):
Erkan President Pablo Vegas says that despite an increased risk
of due to demand, the grid is ready. Also in Austin,
lawmakers hope to tackle AI and maybe even regulated during
the legislative session that starts next month. Zack Whiteing with
the Texas Public Policy Foundation, says he thinks Texas will
lead the way in AI policy.

Speaker 31 (01:42:33):
I think Texas be a leader in research and development, innovation,
but also making sure that we are always protecting the
commandity and human dignity and privacy, which have been a
cornerstone I think of Texas technology policy over the last
few years.

Speaker 5 (01:42:46):
It's now seven thirty six. Well, if you thought American
politics was a roller coaster, check out Asia. Impeachment proceedings
are underway against the president of South Korea.

Speaker 32 (01:42:57):
An incredible twenty four hours in South Korean police, the
shock decision by President Jun sugg yul to declare martial
law has ended up with President Jun himself on the brink.
Lawmakers climbed over Parliament's walls, gaining entry to the chamber
and unanimously voting to overrule the order.

Speaker 5 (01:43:15):
Jonathan Savage reporting elsewhere in Israeli airstrike kills a senior
has be loot official in Damascus yesterday seven point thirty seven. Now, well,
if you believe the research, in this economy, most employers
are going to give out holiday bonuses this year.

Speaker 33 (01:43:31):
It might not seem likely in this economy, but it's
more about retention.

Speaker 34 (01:43:35):
We're in a war for talent right now with the
stopping shortages that we're facing, and bonuses are going to
help keep the aces in their places.

Speaker 33 (01:43:42):
Betsy Allen Manning of Destination Workplace says the bonuses show
businesses are hopeful for the future, and it would also
go a long way with younger workers.

Speaker 35 (01:43:50):
To show them this is how it's done. When you
work hard, you get rewarded for that hard work. It's
changing people from being coasters in your company to contributors
in your company, she.

Speaker 33 (01:43:59):
Says, employed, so he's won a sense of purpose and
this helps give them that. Andre Perard News Radio seven
forty KRH and.

Speaker 5 (01:44:05):
The Rockets loose to Sacramento one twenty one to eleven.
I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News, Weather and Traffic station KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:44:13):
The tools you need to take on the day news
in the morning, Weather and Traffic. This is Houston's Morning
News with Jimmy Barrett. Well, Western Carolina is still a mess.
Seven thirty eighties of their time here in Houston's Morning News.
We haven't done a story on on hurricane damage in
North Carolina and quite some time. There are approximately in
western North Carolina alone, they're about fifty three hundred families

(01:44:36):
living in hotels. You have other people who are living
in tents and RVs. The tents in particular are a
bit of a problem because they've just had a bit
of snow. That's the momain this part of North Carolina.
They do get snow, so the winter is there and
it's it's causing a lot of problems. Here's a guy
by the name of Ron Saint pr He owns a

(01:44:57):
business in western North Carolina. He got asked about FEMA
and FEMA help and how things are going here is
what do you have to say.

Speaker 50 (01:45:05):
I haven't seen FEMA do anything since I've been down there.
I've seen their vehicles, I've seen their their flags flying.

Speaker 3 (01:45:13):
The amount of families.

Speaker 50 (01:45:14):
That I've been in contact with working.

Speaker 3 (01:45:16):
With, I have not seen FEMA anywhere.

Speaker 11 (01:45:21):
Tell me some of the stories, the families that have
affected you the most, well.

Speaker 3 (01:45:24):
I can go forever.

Speaker 50 (01:45:28):
One one one family, she grew up in this home.

Speaker 3 (01:45:33):
Her great grandfather built it.

Speaker 50 (01:45:35):
It flooded, kind of knocked it off the foundation a
little bit, but they basically lost everything. In their seventies.
She has stage four cancer. They take care of their
shriner grandson. He is a forty year VET, and they
have nothing, and they were they were they were given

(01:45:55):
a little bit of FEMA money, but it's not even
going to pay for the cleanup. There's a guy that
was helping me unload my trailer a couple of weeks
ago down in Jefferson, North Carolina. He was working at
a distribution center and he had cancer and he was
helping me unload the trailer. Lost his mobile home taking

(01:46:17):
care of his seven year old daughter. And I called
him the other day and his camper just burned down
because he's trying to keep it warm.

Speaker 3 (01:46:24):
So I could go on for hours.

Speaker 26 (01:46:26):
YEA.

Speaker 50 (01:46:27):
The people that I've talked to, the people that I've
seen to look in their eyes, the devastation that they're
going through.

Speaker 3 (01:46:33):
This isn't the American way, you know. The problem is
these things, even under the best of circumstances, they take years,
you know, waiting on the red tape that's involved with
government relief insurance, provided you had insurance, all those types
of things. I mean, in the rebuilding process, it can
take years. What are these folks supposed to do? I

(01:46:55):
did see where there is a group called Camper's Care
Guys based out of Virginia. It's a disaster relief ministry.
And what they're doing is they're building eight by sixteen
foot structures, not unlike a shed. They don't have any
running water, no kitchen, no electricity, but it comes stocked
with the composting toilet, storage space, supplies for water, small

(01:47:18):
cooking stove, a mattress, you know, solar panels, just a
few things to help those that are just trying to
live in a tent right now, to avoid the elements
all right, Time for traffic and weather together. Let's check
out that diar offense again. Sky Mike's here. I'm trying
to reroute you for two eighty eight.

Speaker 4 (01:47:33):
It's horrible southbound that's an eighteen wheeler wreck has mets there.

Speaker 3 (01:47:36):
I hope everybody's okay.

Speaker 4 (01:47:38):
Outbound County Road forty eight backs you up from one
oh one. Do you know the back roads through Sienna
go to Siena Parkway. That makes sense and I get
around that business here North Sam a lot of suckets westbound,
all the westfield eastbound from the earlier wreck at the Hearty.
It's all backed up from the Veterans toll Plaza on
the East Sam Tollbridge northbound minor wreck. Thank you, Bruce.

(01:48:00):
From the hard work in east side. The super Friendly
toll Way. People have that in the system now Katie Freeway.

Speaker 3 (01:48:05):
They've cleared.

Speaker 4 (01:48:06):
Guestner pure backups now visors for you from Graham Parkway,
Terry the golf ball on the north side.

Speaker 3 (01:48:13):
What are they doing in there? There's no windows.

Speaker 4 (01:48:14):
Eastbound on the Grand Parkway, you've got the brakes now
after twenty nine to twenty. I think they're playing asteroids.
Twelve extra minutes that way, tall sticker.

Speaker 5 (01:48:23):
Big shots, Yes, guy Mike.

Speaker 12 (01:48:24):
On the Hardy Toll Road, the entrance from nineteen six,
there is a big trailer on the.

Speaker 4 (01:48:30):
Right hand side.

Speaker 3 (01:48:31):
Yeah, I think they're about to clear that now.

Speaker 4 (01:48:33):
Ben from Tomballs on two forty nine, having an easy
ride in.

Speaker 12 (01:48:36):
I always thought that you sounded more like.

Speaker 3 (01:48:39):
Uh, well man, you mean when I talk like this.

Speaker 31 (01:48:41):
The Vady and Devil, you sounded more like Sandford from Sandford.

Speaker 3 (01:48:46):
I'm coming, Jimmy.

Speaker 4 (01:48:48):
I think this is your Terry Jordia hed Hey, that
big dummy doesn't acted like a pool.

Speaker 3 (01:48:52):
Come on, Terry, you could do it. Do the voice?
Come on, you got this. I'm in the classic BUW
at GMC traffic Center. I want to hear it. Robart
KTRH Jenny cold Front from our RH Generator Supercenter. I
actually think you sound more like those seventy sam I'll
tell you what you know, Snegen. There you go, uh
that burned rabbit anyway, from our KTRH Generator super Center,

(01:49:15):
twenty four hour weather Centerry is here. There's just a
few peaks and peaks in the cloud right now, so
the rain rain's not here yet, but it's coming.

Speaker 5 (01:49:23):
Yeah, yeah it is.

Speaker 17 (01:49:24):
I stepped away from pac Man long enough to check
out the radar here, and yeah, it's pretty quiet right now,
but the rain is on the way, folks, so grab
the umbrella, keep it with you, just as an insurance policy.
Maybe that'll delay the wet weather a little bit. Ninety
percent chance though of getting wet at some point today,
temperature's mid sixties to low seventies. Only a twenty percent

(01:49:47):
chance of rain tomorrow and Friday, but the rain chance
is increasing over the weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:49:52):
Jebitcha right now, still at fifty seven here at your
official severe weather station, News Radio seven forty KTRH. What
you need to know for the day ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:50:01):
This is Houston's Morning News, brought to you by New
South Windows Solutions. So finally, after two years, the Congressional
COVID report came out and told us all the things
that most of us knew from pretty much day one.
It took two years to figure all this out. More
than that story coming up next. First, we've got traffic
and weather togethers we check in again with Skyline.

Speaker 4 (01:50:22):
All right, we're going to continue looking for re routes
around the two eighty eight situation. That's an outbound eighteen
wheel orec at County Road forty eight. It has two
eighty eight just stopped from County Road one oh one,
which is also the Bailey exit. That's at least a
fifty minute wait here tollbridge suckets northbound. That is a
records minor. This is on the northbound span. That makes sense.

(01:50:42):
We're backed up from two twenty five and let's get
north sam both ways. We're packed up now eastbound the
Veterans Plaza, westbound from Alding Westfield Katie Freeway all stacked
up now from Mason Road. I'm Skymike and the Generator
Supercenter dot Com Traffic Center from r kti H Generator
of Supercenters twenty four hour Weather Center.

Speaker 3 (01:51:01):
Showers and thundershowers about seventy for the high today, cloudy
Tomorrow's light. Chance of reigning about twenty percent with a
high sixty three, mostly Claudi. Fifty eight for the high
on Friday. Another twenty percent shower chance right now fifty
seven at your officials. Severe weather station. News Radio seven
forty KTRH. Check out some of our top stories of
the morning. Here's Cliff, Thank you, Jimmy.

Speaker 5 (01:51:21):
Brought to you by D and M Auto Leasing. Pete
hag Seth, who reportedly could be replaced as the Defense
secretary nominee for Donald Trump, is back on Capitol Hill today.
Jimmy mentioned this early in the show, but we wanted
to update you that an asteroid that was headed towards
Earth has burned up over northeastern Russia, and a firearm
that was discovered in Arizona. According to researchers, it's four

(01:51:44):
hundred and eighty years old, believed to be the oldest
ever found in the continental United States. I wonder what
a four hundred and eighty year old fire arm could
possibly do.

Speaker 3 (01:51:55):
I bet it doesn't work very well.

Speaker 5 (01:51:56):
I don't think so. Get the latest news anytime at
KTRH dot com. Our next update is at eight o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:52:03):
US whether and traffic updates. It makes my day easier.
Remember the rule of three can make the day better.

Speaker 2 (01:52:10):
On Youth Radio seven KTRH.

Speaker 3 (01:52:14):
All right, is this the final COVID update? I don't
now that Congress has concluded their two year investigation into this.
And guess what they figured out? That COVID nineteen came
from a laboratory, most undoubtedly the Wuhan laboratory, which we funded, which,
of course doctor Fauci spent a tremendous amount of time

(01:52:35):
denying that that could even be a possibility. They found
that there was nothing about that virus that could have
come from an animal, that it came from one single
human being who had been infected somehow, and no doubt
not from an animal. So the lab theory has held.

(01:52:57):
What else we find, oh, social distancing, no scientific basis
for recommending in fact that they found. Oh, the education
system harmed for decades. Our kids are woefully behind because
of the school shutting down during the COVID pandemic. All
the things that most of us knew a long long

(01:53:19):
time ago. Here is former CDC director doctor Robert Redfield.

Speaker 23 (01:53:23):
I'm of the view that the origin of COVID nineteen
was the gain of function research in the Wuan Institute
of Virology lab, which was funded highly by the United States. Well,
clearly there's a number of things that are not consistent
with natural evolution. First and the most prominent is the

(01:53:46):
fearing cleavage site, which is a unique cleavage site in
this virus, which I told Mike Pompeo when it was
classified at the time that that was really a smoking
gun that just didn't come from nature because with that
faver site does has changed the orientation of the binding
site of the COVID virus for its receptor. So now

(01:54:07):
that it no longer likes the bat receptor, but now
it's it is attracted to the human ace receptor. So
when you you know, one of the problems I have
with Tony on all this issue is when you ask
the questions, is COVID nineteen now that came from bats?
According to his view, does it now affect can infect bats?

Speaker 3 (01:54:30):
And the answer is it's.

Speaker 23 (01:54:31):
Highly inefficient now in infecting bats, but it's learned how
to be highly efficient to humans. And that's because of
that peer and cleaver site. That changes the orientation.

Speaker 3 (01:54:42):
But the end to be very specific about this, the
report found that social distancing quote was not based on science.
During closed door testimony, doctor Fauci testified that the guidance
quote sort of just appeared, appeared. How toware what was
it a magic? What do you mean? It just sort
of appeared. They also found that masking wearing masks no

(01:55:09):
conclusive evidence that wearing masks protected Americans from COVID nineteen.
And the worst part of this whole thing is the
long term impacts on American adults and children. Report finding
that unemployment skyrocketed and children quote lost decades worth of
academic progress. We listened to fools We did what they

(01:55:30):
told us to do, and we're still paying for it.
Y'all have a great day. See tomorrow morning bright nearly
five am. I'll also see the staff from four an
am nine fifty KPRC