12.16: Christmas Shoes - Hour 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It took me a few seconds here to realize, Okay,
this is a Christmas song, right. I heard something about
I heard something about shimmying down the chimney, and that's all.
That's all. That's all I needed to confirm this was
the Christmas This is Clinton Black Christmas for every boy
and girl. Wow, Clint Black and Christmas Time. It goes
good together. I like it. I like it all right,
let's get it started, shall we?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
As a Tuesday morning five oh six here at News
Radio eight forty whas Coffee and Company with you, and
we are fueled about Thornton's and we've got the full
crew here today, myself, Nick Coffee, Scott Fitzgerald, and the
Johns John Shannon of course he'll be in with News
before too long, and also the one and only mister
John Alden. So a loaded show this morning, fellas as
we uh as we get started here. I feel like

(00:41):
a liar because I know yesterday I was letting folks
know that warmer weather was on the way. And technically
that's not a lie because it is. It's twenty eight
degrees right now with clear skies. Yesterday it was seven
degrees at this time, so we did get warmer weather,
but like it didn't feel that didn't feel warm, and
that it wasn't gonna it's still freezing, but definition it's freezing.

(01:01):
But uh yeah, I guess it's better than being in
the single digits. And we've got warm weather the rest
of the way before Christmas. Other than like one day.
It sounds like Friday could be a day where we
we're expected to be below freezing and now I'm seeing
there's potential chance of some snow. So maybe I just
maybe I should just shut up because I might have
got It's not that I'll misled you, but you know
when you talk about a warm up and you're still

(01:23):
below freezing like we are right now, I mean, it
doesn't feel like much.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
It's it's hard, you're hard pressing it is if you're
looking for white Christmas. In fact, I heard when to
meteorologist say yesterday, if you're looking for white Christmas, go
out and grab that snow that's out there now and
just put it in the freezing.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
And Christmas.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
It's gonna be a warm, wet Christmas this year.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, and uh warm though, I mean it's we what
are we looking at like forties fifties.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Maybe fifties.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, we gotta watch it's not warm. Forties fifties is typical.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
For a rafter after seven, after seven degrees though, yeah,
it'll feel like, yeah, it'll feel very tropical in comparison.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Like if it was if it was to be like
forty five forty four degrees and you were to go
from one day seven or eight to forty to forty
five in between there, like I wouldn't need a coat.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Like honestly, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
I don't know if I would go that extreme, but yeah,
it's uh, it's all relative to what you're what you're experiencing,
and uh, you know with that, I thought that because
we are up twenty degrees, it'd be really noticeable, but
I was, I was pretty chilly this morning.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
How's the shopping going? Are you good?

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Are you calling me out?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
You? And John?

Speaker 1 (02:28):
That was that was out of that was out of nowhere.
And I just realized five minutes ago that I'm behind.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
No, it's just a standard question because I'm a little
behind in some aspects, but I'm also I'm right where
I need to be.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
We'll call it that.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Today. Today's a big day for me because I need
to get I need to get some some things taken
care of that I've been putting off. This is where
I can either just say, this is where this is
make or break time for me. Are you going to
continue to be a procrastinator and really push it? Or
are you going to you know, be a grown up
and be more responsible and not have to worry about it?
And I choose to be the latter. But you know,

(03:03):
I know myself well, like I don't want to lie
and act like I'm gonna be you know, one thousand
percent on time everybody's gifts wrapped and ready to go.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Typically always make it, but it's always a sweat and
uh it's kind of part of my Christmas tradition, right,
sweating it out. Making sure. I mentioned this a little
bit yesterday, But there's always when I think of Christmas
shopping for me, I think of looking online for last
not last minute, but just gifts that I have. Probably
this could make it even worse. Gifts that I've known

(03:33):
I was going to get people, but then realizing, all right,
I gotta find whichever online option is going to get
it here by Christmas. Because instead of looking at price
or anything like that, it's a date of a rival.
That's what I start looking at. And that's again, that's
not a good thing for it to become part of
my Christmas tradition. But this is there we are.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I was gonna say, this is the time of year
and I'm just like you and I wait, I'm wrapping
stuff at work and this is the time of year
where everything feels like I'm spending three hundred dollars a day.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
And I'm not that actually because I don't make.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
That kind of money, but it just feels like that
because you're like trying to get caught up and then
I'm wrapping stuff last minute at work, trying to get
it in the house without people seeing it.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
So are you doing that now like as we see
because you and I've got a different different view on
what last minute is.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
Ye.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
No, because we're still nine days away.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
No, you're right. No, I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
I'm I'm right about where you're at. It really hit.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Full board for me come Monday, because Monday's December twenty second. Yeah,
I think that's when everybody rounds the corner and heads
for home.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
So what I was going to say is just thinking
out loud here to me last minute, still having to
scramble to make things happen, rather it be wrapping or anything.
Day before Christmas Eve is where I'm like, all right,
I've that I've hit that wall of all right, here
we go. It's crunch time. You got to get it done.
So yeah, we're nine days away, and I know I'm
certainly excited, but let's set the table here as very busy,

(04:49):
busy morning. As some unfortunate news yesterday, all sixteen hundred
Kentucky Battery Plan employees have been laid off as the
as Ford has decided to pivot away from the ev
business right now now, and we'll talk a little bit
about what we know about this decision, what it means
for those employees, and of course what it means for
the jobs that we were expecting to be available in

(05:11):
the future with this Now obviously those are I wouldn't
even say in question, they're just they're just not gonna
happen right now. So that's certainly a big story and
not a good one. Also, there is a tragic ride
share accident yesterday that is just a just a just
a terrible accident. There's really no other way to describe it.
And just makes you appreciate life. I mean, if you

(05:33):
haven't seen the details. We'll get into this on the
other side, because it's just awful how somebody just go
on about their day, starting their day, and then just
a tragic accident ends up with them losing their life. Also,
I don't know how much we need to get into it,
but the comments from President Trump on the murder of
reinerd and his wife, that, of course is a big

(05:55):
conversation nationally. I have a takeaway from that that is
not gonna be I think in any way controversial, although
it might be I don't really know, but I'm looking
forward to sharing with that because it's something that I
haven't really heard many others point out. But again, we're
loaded today. Stick with us. We've got traffic and weather
updates to get this thing started. We'll see how these
roadways are looking here at five eleven. Roy O'Neil's gonna

(06:17):
get us. In fact, roy O'Neil, I don't know why
I keep always tasking him with also doing traffic for us.
He does enough. He's gonna be with us though at
five forty five. But Bobby Ellis has got the roadways
covered for us. Also, we'll see how this forecast is
looking with Matt Melosa, bitch of WLKY. So stick around
right here. It's news Radio eight forty whas. It's five eighteen.
Here at news Radio eight forty whas Coffee and Company,

(06:40):
and we are fueled by Thornton Stop in this morning
at Thornton's. They've got a lot of good breakfast options
for you. They've got what you need to stay fueled
for the day ahead. We are field by Thornton's and
you should be too, all right. So, just a tragic
accident yesterday that is a reminder to appreciate life. You
should always, of course appreciate life and not take for granted.

(07:00):
But it's hard to and by the way, I think
it'd be difficult to live like that and actually enjoy life,
right if you're just sitting in every moment worried about
when it's going to end because you just want to
cherish it so much. But yeah, just a just an
just an awful accident. As it was in the Clifton
Heights neighborhood, and there was a ride share vehicle that
was dropping somebody off and the passenger decided to get out,

(07:25):
and and and and walk because it looks as if
they were having some trouble with the ice getting up
the wherever they needed to go. And actually, let's just
i'll let you hear specifically, this is from Matt Rice,
who had the story yesterday.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
Again.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
This developed yesterday morning. Just a tragic accident.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
A ride share driver was unable to get his car
up a snow covered hills or the passenger, a man,
informed the driver he would get out and walk po
least say. The man then walked behind the car, but
the driver didn't see him and began backing the car
down the hill. Is strunk and killed.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
So if you if you've seen any of the coverage,
our partners at w OKA why they had the story
as well. And it is a pretty steep hill, so
I mean, it's exactly as you heard there in the story. Uh,
the passenger getting out probably letting the driver know, hey,
this is good. You don't have to try to fight
to get up this hill. And I don't know about
you guys, but I've done that many times. In fact,

(08:24):
that's probably the more likely scenario. I'm impatient. I'm a
control freak as it is, so if I see where
I need to go and and and they're still trying
to get I guess to the exact destination GPS wise,
I'll just say, hey, you know, I'm good here. And
that's what this individual did. And uh they went behind
the vehicle and car rolls back and and kills the

(08:45):
individual and no charge is going to be filed. But
what a what an awful an awful accident. That is
exactly that, just an accident, And and they happen every
single day and every single single day across the world.
Accidents take people's lives. And this this is not unfortunately,
this is not something that never happens. But just the
I just I tried to, I guess put myself in

(09:06):
the shoes of this this person who lost their life,
just going on about their day and then out of nowhere,
boom and and again it's it's part of life. But
uh yeah, tragic. And also the the ride share driver,
I mean, that's that's a heavy thing to to deal with,
to say the least, knowing that you know that accident

(09:29):
that of course you were, you were the one operating
the vehicle, and the guilt that you may that you
may feel is understandable. But again it's just just an accident,
so it was a snow covered hill that again they
just if you've seen any of the visuals here as
far as just pictures of footage, w k Y again
has the story and you can tell that that from

(09:51):
from the look of it, it would have been tough to
get up there, and that's probably why the passenger decided
to go ahead and uh and get out. But yeah,
the just the randomness of life at any moment can
can result in something like this. So again, maybe we
don't need I mean, I don't think I think we
have enough reminders as it is, but when you do
have things like this happen, it should just remind you
that once again, don't take any try your best not

(10:13):
to take anything for granted. All right, let's get to
a quick time out. We've got trafficking weather updates on
the way, and also a sports update is coming from
mister Scott Fitzgerald. I'm not sure if he's going to
have it in his initial sports update this morning, but
the cards in the vaults tonight in Knoxville. A big
game for Louisville is they get a chance to do
something they haven't done yet this year, get a true

(10:33):
road victory and also do it against a really good
team in Tennessee. So I'm looking forward to seeing how
they look. Don't go anywhere, keep it locked with us
right here at news radio eight to forty whas. Thank
you very much, John Shannon. He's he's got me tempted
to break my rule, John, because he brought us some
homemade breakfast burritos this morning.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
Oh yeah, and.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
I can't eat. But when I'm on the air, I
just I can't even snack. It just it throws me off.
So I'm gonna try to wait. But as this this
extra large breakfast brito, it's it's appealing, but I'm gonna
I'm gonna try to trust the process here because it's great.
Though when you get off the air, it's still breakfast time.
It's a good way to look at it. It's a
good way to look at it.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
All right.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
It's Coffee and Company. We are field by Thornton's here
at news radio eight forty whas. So some big news
yesterday that will impact a lot of people here in Kentucky,
as all sixteen hundred employees at Ford's brand new EV
battery plant in Glendale, just south of Louisville are gonna
be laid off as the company has abandoned its original
EV plan for the facility and they're now pivoting to

(11:40):
a completely different business model. So this is of course
part of Ford's broader retreat from the EV market. And
you'll see a company do that when they lose billions
of dollars, and that's that's what's happened here. So they're
shutting it down and this is essentially going to end
all Blue Oval sk jobs in Kentucky. So Blue Oval

(12:01):
essentially is no more. So these employees will continue to
receive pay and benefits for sixty days, but there's no
there's no long term timeline for layoffs at this point.
So what Ford is going to do, and by the way,
this is now a forward project totally. They're meaning Blue
Oval sk is no more. But they're going to convert

(12:24):
that plant to manufacture battery energy storage systems and that
is now I guess that's what that facility is going
to be used for.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
Now.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
What that looks like tough to know. Now they are
expected to hire in this new operation twenty one hundred workers.
But what we do know is the laidoff employees only
have the opportunity to apply. They're not guaranteed jobs. So
this sucks. There's no way around it. Just to be
blunt and you could point fingers wherever you want, But

(12:57):
I think what this comes down to is just the
EV industry is not doing what I guess a lot
of people thought it would do. And when it comes
to what went wrong to me, it seems like electric
vehicles are still too expensive for middle class buyers, especially
when it's something that is so new and unknown. I
think there's gonna be hesitancy from folks to jump in.

(13:18):
I know plenty of people that have. I know many
that you know would never even think about doing it. So,
you know, charging infrastructure is inconsistent, frustrating to a lot
of people. You know, there's been complaints about like cold
weather performance, and then of course buying a car right
now with interest rates, I mean that hasn't been exactly

(13:40):
a great situation recently, so it it just didn't. It
did not do what was expected as far as just
the boom. And when you look at the numbers here,
I mean, this is this is insane. Ford's lost thirteen
billion on evs since twenty twenty three. And it's going
to take a night eighteen point five billion profit hit

(14:02):
as they now have to clearly shift their strategy. So
battery production at this rework planet's not expected until late
twenty twenty seven. And again this is what really is
going to stand out. Only twenty three percent of the
site's original capacity is going to be used. I mean,
it's massive if you haven't seen it. And now right

(14:23):
now the plan that again isn't going to be up
and running until twenty twenty seven. They only need they
need less than a quarter of the actual space, So
what they do with the rest of that, we'll see.
But to also a real sign here as far as
where evs are right now in this country, the production
of all of the electric F one and fifty lightning

(14:44):
they've been canceled. So Fords ended that joint venture with
sk and they're taking full ownership of those plants. And
what they decide to do we shall see. But certainly
big news, big news, tough news here in the city
of Kentucky, all right, Traffick and other updates are coming
up next. We'll see how the roadways are looking. Bobby Ellis,
He's got us covered there. Roy O'Neil's going to join

(15:05):
us on the other side from NBC News. Stick with us,
don't go anywhere, hang tight, hang out, keep it where
you got it. Anything else, I feel like I'm blanking
on one of the obvious ones. Anyways, just put it
this way, just stay here, don't go anywhere, Listen to us.
We appreciate you, and this radio eight forty whas It's

(15:27):
News Radiate forty whas Coffee and company with you on
a Tuesday morning. And we now bring in mister Rory O'Neil. Rory,
We've got we've got a man hunt for the shooter
in Rhode Island over the weekend at Brown University. It
seems as if right now they've continued to show what
footage they do have. They've let the public know to

(15:48):
be on alert. But and again they're not going to
give us every bit of information. But as if right
now they're still looking right.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
They are, and that video they have is certainly an improvement.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
But boy, the guy apparently was wearing a mask, you know,
like those COVID masks we were wearing. It appears to
have been a light gray camouflage in color, So there
isn't a whole lot we can see of his face,
but they say, look, he's a bit chubby, about five
foot eight, So that helps narrow things down a little
bit more. And they're hoping that more video like this

(16:20):
comes forward. This was apparently picked up by some doorbell
cameras in what is a very affluent neighborhood there next
to the campus at Brown, so it's a little bit
more information. Hopefully they're inch and closer to finally being
able to identify the suspect and make an arrest. But
there's an awful lot of anxiety across that area of
Providence as this mass shooter is still on the.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Loose certainly, And when you look at the footage they have,
it's good quality. It's just this individual is you can't
see him. I mean, there's no way to really make
any I mean, I feel like you would have to
just have a you know, maybe you recognize a posture
or something like that. But yeah, this person, there's not
a whole lot to run with. But I'm sure, at
least I'm hopeful that they can apprehend this suspect sooner

(17:05):
rather than later. Well, can you tell us something, by the.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Way, and something they haven't spoken about publicly, and if
I were there, I'd be asking these questions.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
I want to know more about the phone data.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
If you have a guy walking all by himself on
a street, you're trying to tell me you can't track
that phone number and who was there at that time?
You know, I'll bet your Instagram knows who that is,
only because I assuming of course he's carrying a phone.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
But I would like to know what the phone data is.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
I bet TikTok phone data they got everything data was right,
and the phone data was key in the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
They were able to identify that guy because they use
the phone data that show that was the only guy
in the woods where they found the gun.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
I mean, even if you've got to just get every
number that's within within that location, you know, one by one,
you can vet them and that gives you simwhere to start.
So if we end up finding out that phone data
is a factor in how they can and apprehend this
this individual, I'm going to think of you, Rory, You're
on all.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Right, well because you know, well everything's timestamped, right, you
know the exact time that person and that phone could
be walking back. Now if he has no phone. Okay,
my argument goes right out the window. But you know,
he doesn't look to be over forty, so I'm guessing
that he's got a phone.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, and these phones we're on him at all times,
and they leave digital fingerprints. I guess there's ways around it.
But yeah, that that is how a lot of criminals
are caught this day and age, and who knows, maybe
maybe that ends up helping him out here. So on
the murder of Rob Ryiner, we now know that that
his son Nick was charged. What's the latest here.

Speaker 4 (18:43):
Right, The formal charges came yesterday. You know, it's interesting when.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
The police gave that brief press conference the night that
the bodies were found, they said that they were not
looking for a suspect.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
So that led you to believe two things.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
It was a murder suicide or they had the suspect
already in custody, so he may be cooperating with police,
he may have already confessed to this. There may have
been obvious evidence that linked him to the crime scene.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
But when they weren't looking for a suspect.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
That immediately made you think that this was something that
was happening within the Reiner family, So apparently that's how
this is unfolding. He's now being held on a four
million dollar bond. And again we don't know exactly what
led to this. There were reports that there was an argument.
I think it was TMC first report that Rob Reiner
and his son Nick had an argument while at Conan

(19:34):
O'Brien's Christmas party, and this attack may have happened just
a few hours later.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Royo Neeal of NBC News is our guest joining us
here at News Radio eight forty. Whas so US military
activity is increasing in the Caribbean, there's some real tension
with Venezuela. How significant is this military build up in
the Caribbean as far as his plans? I mean, is
it routine posturing or something a little more serious?

Speaker 4 (19:57):
Well, nothing routine about it.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
We haven't seen anything like this since the days of
the Cuban missile crisis over sixty years ago.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
So yes, it's been all very different. It's been a while.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
And then we got a report from Axios just coming
out a few minutes ago saying that it looks like
the administration may try to seize more of these oil tankers.
We saw that pretty remarkable footage of the seizure we
are using the Coastguard and special ops. Well, there are
eight more tankers like the skipper, I think thirty eight
tankers in all, but eight like the supersized tanker like

(20:29):
that that could be targeted to similar seizure efforts.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
Once they get out of Venezuelan waters.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Apparently they're all just sort of hanging out on the
other side, not wanting to leave, knowing that this armada
is just sitting there waiting for Rory.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
As always, we appreciate your time, my friend. Enjoy the
rest of your day. We'll talk soon.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
Thanks Nick, talk tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
That is Rory O'Neale of NBC News. All right, let's
talk some Louisville Cardinal basketball on the other side, shall we.
Louisville on the road tonight in Knoxville, taken on Tennessee,
and this is I believe the first time this season
that Pat Kelsey and his team are underdogs Tennessee currently
favored by one and a half. They are, of course
a good team, and they're at home, so good tests
for Louisville, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens tonight.

(21:13):
It's seven o'clock, all right, travicking weather on the way.
Also again we're gonna get to some sports on the
other side right here in Hissradio eight forty whas