12.22: Christmas Spirit - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's right, he'll be here in just a few days.
Good morning, Kentucky. In it is Kentucky and it's Morning
News News Radio eight forty whas Coffee and Company Field
by Thornton's. As we get this Christmas week started, and
we've got another violent crime in Louisville. In fact, this
is a man that has been accused of a violent
crime spree and his most recent crime ended with a

(00:20):
police shooting. And this is this is somebody that was
out on three different types of releases after again showing
consistency as a violent criminal and a threat to the
safety of louivillions. So Winthrop Taylor, thirty six year old man,
he was on probation, he was on conditional release, and

(00:42):
he was released on his own recognance in separate felony
cases when police say he went on a string of
armed carjackings late Thursday night into Friday morning. So police
say this individual committed multiple robberies and vehicle thefts at
gunpoint over the course of several hours. And obviously the
incident that escalated was on Barchtown Road where officers responded.

(01:05):
Actually they were conducting what looks to be an unrelated
traffic stop and then they were they were able to
see what was going on, and they say that this suspect,
Winthrop Taylor opened fire on his alleged victim and the
officers as he was trying to commit a carjacking, and
one of those officers was shot, and then the victim

(01:27):
was also injured, although there's not really been any I
guess clarification on what the injury was. In fact, it's
unclear whose bullet struck this person. But this this criminal
was arrested Friday morning after again another alleged carjacking led
to an apartment complex. Right, because he ran away after
the situation on Barchtown Road, but continued to, you know,

(01:49):
do what he does, commit violent crimes because when he's
able to do it and still roam free, why would
he stop, right? So this is this is just it's
almost hard to believe. But this was not like an
isolated situation for this guy. We're talking as recent as
October of twenty twenty five, he was arrested for driving
a stolen vehicle and after that arrest, he was released

(02:12):
on his own recognans questionable, but that's what they decided
to do. So he was ordered to appear in court
and commit no new crimes. He didn't like that offer,
he decided to commit more crimes. So let's just start
from that arrest in October of twenty twenty five, just
a few months ago. At that time, he was already
on a twitter and seventy five day conditional release that
was tied to a March twenty twenty five felony conviction

(02:35):
stemming from a domestic violence case, so a revocation hearing
for that case wasn't scheduled until January of this upcoming
year next year. So on top of that, he was
also serving two years of supervised probation from a September
twenty twenty four felony conviction where he swerved inn oncoming
traffic fled from police at a high speed in a

(02:59):
near by crash. Was after officers called up. Officers called
off the pursuit for public safety. This guy's running from
him in no regard for anybody else but himself, and
the officers made the decision that they can't they can't
pursue him because it could be more of a danger
to the public than than than you know, than makes
it worth it. So when they did find him after that,

(03:20):
he was trying to run again. And uh, this again,
this is somebody that with the way in which they
they they're they're they're arrested and then sometimes convicted of
these violent crimes, but yet they don't have to actually
stay in jail. What sense does this make on any level?
Do you think that this person's learning from their actions?

(03:40):
Are they actually being held accountable or are they being
held responsible to where they would maybe even consider changing
their lifestyle and changing their ways. So, if you are
somebody that fully believes in rehabilitation at the highest level,
this isn't it. But let's look at the other side
of it, which is, you know, if you are somebody

(04:06):
that is just you know, going about your day. I mean,
this is somebody that at any moment could could you
could be the next victim. And it's so avoidable because
again it's right in front of you. This person has
no regard for other people, doesn't care and have done
enough clearly to be held responsible to where they should
be incarcerated, and judges are making these decisions that I

(04:27):
just I don't understand it all. There are certain times
where you really are from from a legal standpoints, you
can only do so much when it comes to punishment.
But again, this is somebody that I'm not saying he
did enough up until Friday that would have led to
him having a twenty five thirty year sentence, But the

(04:48):
many felony convictions within a calendar year, and this person
having three different ways in which judges decided to let
them out and roam the streets, it's just it's reckless,
is what it is. And I mean, they're putting citizens
in danger for again, what reason, I don't know, even
if they wanted to just claim that, they don't believe that,

(05:10):
you know, incarceration is the best way to rehabilitate. What
you're doing now is not rehabilitation at all. It's I mean,
I wouldn't say that it's encouraging more of it, but
they're able to do it and to an extent still
absolutely get away with it. And if I'm somebody just
like the woman who was robbed, I mean, this was

(05:32):
the story from over the summer, similar situation. A violent
criminal was let out early on shock probation, and what
did they do. They end up home invasion, took a
woman and her two children hostage to an ATM and
held a I think it was a knife to their neck.
I mean, if I'm the victim there, yeah, I'm blaming

(05:53):
the criminal, but I'm blaming the judge. You made that
decision just as much they made the decision to not
keep this person behind bars, putting other people at risk.
In you became a victim. So this is this is
not not new. But now you've got law enforcement getting
shot because this criminal was not held behind was not

(06:17):
in custody whenever. Clearly that would have been the safer
move and it's the logical move. Any Anyways, we'll move
on quick update of trafficking weather on the way. We'll
talk to Jill Slessinger on the other side as we
get a look at some financial resolutions as we head
into twenty twenty six. Stick around right here. It's News
Radiate forty whas coffee and company with you here at

(06:41):
news Radiate forty whas. We are fueled by Thornton. So
we are now joined by Jill Slessinger. She's a CBS
News Business analyst joining us here. How are we doing
this morning, Jill, Happy holidays to.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
You, happy and healthy. Have you finished up all of
your shopping?

Speaker 1 (06:54):
I did, big question. I've been letting folks know how
proud I am of myself. I'm sure they care. But yes,
I got all my shop done and I went with
the order it from the store online. But don't rely
on shipping and worry about the last minute, you know delay.
I just I'm picking them up at the store. It's
making it super convenient. Although I have noticed that as
I'm entering malls and whatnot, just different stores. Maybe it's

(07:16):
just because of the time I'm going, but man, a
lot these stores are empty compared to what it used
to be. It makes me kind of sad.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to be one of
those old stores, because I get it. I do a
lot of online shop also, but it's convenient, it is.
I like the idea of kind of ordering and picking
up because it says feel like some modicum of control
over the process. That is good, right, so I think.
I mean, look, retail is such a weird business and

(07:44):
it is changing so much and so dramatically that we'll
see where we land. There's still people who like the
physical experience of being able to touch, feel and kind
of try things on and just be part of a
more spirited endeavor. We'll see if that ever comes back
or comes out back in a different way. So far,
it's been more like coming to our store. And my

(08:06):
favorite story is like the company that said we are
selling Parkas and Big Boots and they have a basically
a meat locker freezer where you can put things on
and test how warm it is. Yeah, that's good, right.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Oh yeah, I think you hit it on the head
with the ordering online and then picking up. I'm still
benefiting from the convenience we have here in twenty twenty five,
but also I'm at least showing up to where I'm
out and about running errands and doing the shopping, and
it gives me a little bit of that feel of
what it used to be like. But as we wrap
up twenty twenty five and we head into twenty twenty six,
from a financial standpoint, I know a lot of Americans

(08:43):
are very stressed, and the holidays can enhance that even
more with Christmas gifts that you have to buy. But
just big picture here, what's America feeling as far as
the things they want to see better? As we get
twenty twenty six started here in a matter.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Days, you know, almost half of Americans say they just
are feeling financially pressured. It's a big number, almost half
for an economy that is growing. It's incredible. Actually it's
a bit of a head scratcher for economists. But I
think when we get down to it and you storat
of you go beneath the circus surface, what you find
is because the COVID reopening saw this big spike in

(09:19):
the inflation rate, prices, the levels, price levels went up
so much. We had this low inflation environment for like ten, fifteen,
twenty years. Then it all popped in like one year,
it felt like. And now even though the rate of
increase has come down, it could come down to zero,
it wouldn't matter because the overall level is so high.

(09:44):
So if you're grappling with that and you're trying to
figure out what to do next, my antidote to that
is to try to do something you can control. So
I'm gonna give you these are like New Year's resolutions,
but I'm just gonna give you one thing that I
think every single person always feels better doing once it's
it's done, and that is to track where your money
is going. It doesn't matter how, I really don't care.

(10:05):
You could write it down, you can use an app,
you can have your bank help you out. You literally
can put receipts into a shoe box. I don't care
for ninety days track where your money is going. Without
that information, you're kind of flying blind because if you
hear someone like me, certified financial planner Jules Lessinger say, oh,
you should have six to twelve months of your living

(10:26):
expenses as a safety net, you don't even know what
that number is. So if you're just seeking one thing,
a very specifical track where your money is going for
ninety days, don't create some scary budget, don't go on
a huge binge diet where you're just not going to
eat anything for ninety days. You're going to just track

(10:47):
your spending and with that information you might be able
to create a resolution. You might be able to say, hey,
I can say fifty bucks every month that I was
spending somewhere else, I'm going to put that into my
savings account to put that extra fifty downs fifty dollars
down automatically and add it to a really high interest

(11:09):
rate card, you know, like a credit card to balance.
So all these things, they are like little prompts that
can help you. And I think that it would be
really helpful for people to feel a little bit more
in control during this period of time when people feel
so out of control.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
No doubt about it. And you mentioned flying blind. I'm
holding my hand up here because I'm somebody that you know.
I keep up with the bank account to an extent,
but I'm not tracking enough to where I think I
am flying blind. And just having that information, as you mentioned,
can can can quickly help you trim some things that
you're spending. And it's really not You're not making a
whole lot of changes. You're just realizing, hey, I'm spending

(11:49):
things on that I don't really need to be spending
right now.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Okay, So that's the key, right, Everybody has a category.
I don't care how rich or poor you are. Everybody
has a category where you're like, oh, that's what I did,
That's how I spent money doing that. That's crazy. I
don't want to do that anymore. But you don't know that.
It all gets glossed over and you're big spending, you know,
like sure, oh right, And so we have a frictionless
economy where you can use your phone and throw a

(12:13):
credit card and do all this. But like you're very
out of touch with how the dollars are really spent.
So we're not talking about Listen, big categories matter. Don't
spend too much on a house, watch your rent, make
sure that you're really combing through your getting everything you
want out of your insurance company. By the way, this
happened to me recently, just in like the holiday season.
I don't tend to be the kind of person who

(12:34):
looks at a bill very carefully. In the moment I
got home and I looked at a bill and I'm like, hh,
that's funny. They charged me for three things. I only
got two things. I called the store up and then
I'm like, I say, you owe me forty bucks, Jill.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
It scares me to think about how many times that
may have happened to me, and not to say it'd
be super frequent, but I don't look at it close enough,
and sometimes having that information can be a little demoralizing.
I'm sure to think, Wow, there's no way I blew
that much money on that, did I? But hey, and
once you have that information, that's the first step and
you know, doing something about it.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
You know, my friend had the funniest comment to me
because she like she did this for a year, actually
all tracking all of her money. These kids are eating
me out of house and home. So you know you're
not going to say not feed your kids, but are
you spending a lot on these activities? Sometimes those things
creep up. You know, do you really need that you need?

(13:25):
Do you need everything in the same way?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Not?

Speaker 2 (13:29):
In other words, sometimes tracking your money just helps you prioritize, sure,
and you have feelings about that, you and your family,
your house, whether you're single running your household, whether you're
married or partnered, it doesn't matter you all. We all
have a prioritization and unless you know where the money
is going, you cannot properly prioritize the way you're spending.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Jill, as always, we appreciate your time, enjoy the holidays,
and we will talk to you in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
You bet you thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's still celestis your good stuff. When it comes to
just the amount of things we spend money on, I
mean I mean it when I do check or on
just little things that are set up to come out
of my account. And it's not a substantial amount of
money per thing, However, it adds up and I need
to take some of that advice heading into twenty twenty six,
because that could be money that, even if it's not

(14:19):
a whole lot, if I'm no longer spending it every month,
I mean, have that rolling into some kind of a
savings account or something. I mean, yeah, good stuff. And
I'm realizing I should have done that long ago. But hey,
no better time to start than right now. All right,
Traffic and weather updates are next right here at news
Radio eight forty whas it is seven thirty five. Here

(14:40):
it news Radio eight forty whas Coffee and Company fueld
by Thornton's take us with you wherever you go. Listen
live on the Aheart Radio app. You can also use
the talkback line powered by Alex R. Whiteplcseudistractor driver dot com.
All right, so have you had John and Scott? Have
you guys had any Christmas celebrations just yet with family
and laws anything? Just has it gotten started yet for

(15:01):
you yet?

Speaker 4 (15:02):
We had one on Friday night at my brother's house.
It was all it was like our sibling Christmas, if
you will.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
So we had my wife's immediate family at our house
Friday night, had a great evening and then yesterday we
had her grandmother's so and then I've got it rolling
starting tomorrow night really for the rest until the till
the weekend. But yesterday we did a Secret Sanna type
of thing with uh at my wife's grandma's house and

(15:28):
uh Nana as we call her. And it was something
that I guess was a TikTok trend that we that
that uh my wife and her sister wanted to do,
and uh it was. It was. It was fun and
some would say maybe it would be it would be mean,
but I thought it was harmless and and Nana seemed
to enjoy. But what we did is everybody actually brought
a secret Santa gift to play, like we typically do,

(15:49):
but we also uh my wife and her sister told
the rest of the family that was there as they arrived, Hey,
here's what we're gonna do before we actually play the
real Secret Sanna. We're going to go around the house
and each of us pick up random items in the home,
like a candle in Nana's bathroom or a little a

(16:10):
little piece of decor that sits in the dining room
that says World's best Nana. Just little things that may
not be super noticeable that they're missing. So as we're
playing the game, we were waiting to see how long
how many gifts had to be opened until Nana realized
that every single item was one of her own. And
and it took until I was I was paying attention

(16:33):
to her face from afar and noticing that by about
the third gift, she was at least in her mind thinking,
I think I have that what's going on here? And
then and then sure enough, I think by by gift
number five, she was she was convinced. And then it
took the sixth gift for her to say, you all
just took all my stuff, and she she was, she was,

(16:55):
she was surprised. And she also just happens to have
plenty of items in her home that, you know, one
here and there in each room would ad missing, would
not be necessarily noticeable. So I thought the best Nana
item was going to be a giveaway. But then I
think she probably thought, well, maybe somebody brought that because
they know that I, you know, in the Secret Santa,

(17:15):
they would she would steal it because she's she's Nana.
But anyways, getting creative playing games like that is is
a lot of fun and I'm sure others would notice
right away, but I thought we were able to pull
it off pretty smoothly. Do you all do the Secret Santa?
By the way, what's the Secret Santa? White Elephant? Is
that the same thing?

Speaker 4 (17:31):
So white Elephant is Originally you would take something from
your own house and gifted to somebody else.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
So the white Elephants the regifting Secret Santa is just
like a smaller gift, right correct? Gotcha? Do you all do?
Did your traditions?

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Have?

Speaker 4 (17:44):
We had the sibling Christmas on Friday and that's exactly
what we did. And I end up getting something I've
I've been really looking forward to hopefully getting for a
while as a record player. Nice, I'm gonna start collecting
some old records. Great gift in general, John, I mean,
as much as I love music, I've thought about it
the t a couple of years. I'm like, do I
really want to get into this? But I think the
physical representation of like an album that I really like,

(18:05):
I think it's cool to have.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Well, I know you you are you are a man
with a record player like that? Is that? Yeah? That
that is your lane for sure? How about you? Scott?
You all do the Secret Santa.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
We've done them in the past, and the problem is
they get pretty intense.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
With my wife's family as far as like the stealing
of Oh yeah, that's what makes it fun.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
You're right.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
I mean, we didn't do them a whole lot in
our family, but my wife's family.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
She has three other sisters competitive, I bet.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
Very and I mean it's at first you think they're joking.
You think, oh, no, I wanted that, and then suddenly
you realize, no, this is about to get real.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
I've seen it. When somebody steals something that you really
want it, it's it's hard to not take it personal.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
That's dirty. Our secret saying is where you're giving somebody,
you're given a name and you don't know what the
name is, Okay, so if you go ahead.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Confused, there's there's different ways to do it, because I
have played. I've seen it play where you don't really
get to steal. You just get what you get as
far as their rotation. But the stealing is what makes
it fun.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Absolutely does. And I mean it's the Christmas spirit turns
turns the other way.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
Real competitive juices get flowing.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
But to your point, people get angry, they take it personally.
When you want to steal their gifts.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Well, I think it is there's such a randomness to
what's available, and then you realize, hey, this is this
was this is a better like John, it might have
been the best gift he gets from anybody, just because
it's absolutely you know, it's a cool gift. So the unknown,
the intrigue of the unknown, makes it to where you
in the moment you want it more and you realize,
I didn't ask for this, but I need it and
I want it. You better not steal it, and then somebody,

(19:35):
and then somebody does.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
It's like sitting on a plane and people come walking
down the aisle and you're like, no, don't sit, don't sit,
don't sit, don't sit, and then they sit.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
So I don't remember what we called it. It might have
been dirty Santa. But before I worked here, I worked
at a software company and they really cool office culture,
small small company and they did where you bring in something,
but like people brought in some wild stuff. Yeah, Like
it was almost like they brought in like things you
you know, Like for example, there was one year where

(20:05):
like in the winner was not who got it, but
like who brought the craziest, most random, like wild, wild
gift that they I mean, maybe it wouldn't be a gift.
They just put it in a bag or wrapped it up.
One was like a a book, a book from like
the sixties, but it was about all the different positions
one can use in the bedroom. Oh and it was

(20:25):
Oh and it was also like some kind of hand
me down to where people had taken notes and circled
things within the book that I guess they were into.
It was it was wild. Yeah, it was wild. But
but you know, just think that kind of gift and
that was a winner one year. But like the goal
was to find the most crazy thing that that you
know you can find, and that was that was interesting
to say the least. Yeah, didn't necessarily always feel like Christmas.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
But hey, sounds like there's a lot of ways you
can go go with this. Noted themes which would be.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
And I would encourage you, Hey, keep that in mind, folks.
The one we did yesterday. If you if you know
you're going to grandma's, grandpa's or just who have our
hosts and they typically have you know, they got a
lot of stuff that could be a lot of fun
because I think you'd be surprised that it may take
somebody longer than you realize to notice. Hey, I already
have that. Wait a second, is that mine?

Speaker 3 (21:09):
So when you're we regifted some of the gifts for
our kids, just see that they would notice when they
were younger, never even knew gave the same gift names.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Why do we tell me about this before I bought
all the gifts? Scott the Sun hasn't opened some of
his Christmas gifts from last year. I don't think right exactly?
Good stuff, Thanks guys. Let's get to a quick time
out trafficking. Weather updates are on the way, so hang out.
Bobby Ellis would tell us how these roadways are looking
on this Monday morning. Right here, there's radio waight forty
whas so some big news here in the state of Kentucky,

(21:37):
of course, already getting some national attention as Jim Beam
has shut down distillation for all of twenty twenty six,
So starting at the beginning of twenty twenty six, which
again is just a little over a week away, the
place is still going to be up and running at
Jim Beam, right, I don't want to to if you
haven't heard any any of that news. It's not as
if they're they're shutting their doors or anything like that,

(21:58):
because they're still going to have their visitors in a
open The restaurant they have there is going to be opened.
Bottling and warehousing operations will continue to operate as is
at their Claremont campus, but they're hidden pause as far
as just the production and it it It's understandable when
you look at it from the financial standpoint for those

(22:18):
who don't realize the taxes that that these these companies
have to pay to the state every year. It's it
is not cheap. So Kentucky is currently the only state,
and it's the only place globally that taxes aging barrels
of distilled spirits, which of course includes this. So at
the at the end here of twenty twenty five, I

(22:40):
mean this this taxing situation. They're not citing it specifically,
but I think it'd be foolish to not assume that
it's at least somewhat of a factor in this decision,
because Kentucky distillers are shelling out roughly seventy five million
dollars in barrel taxes in twenty twenty five alone. So yes,
that's a lot of money. It's up twenty seven percent

(23:00):
from last year, and it's up one hundred and sixty
three percent over the past five years. So sixteen point
one million barrels of bourbon are aging in Kentucky warehouses
as of right now. So because of property tax, you know,
the longer the bourbon ages and the more the more

(23:21):
valuable it becomes, the higher it actually ends up being
on your tax bill, right, because that's just how that's
how bourbon works. So I don't I don't think this
is really any reason to worry about the popularity of
the of the product, and of course the industry that
appears to be gaining momentum, and it has been for
years now. I mean, I will admit I'm somebody who

(23:44):
is well aware that when people think Kentucky, some people
think bourbon. But maybe because I'm just not somebody, you know,
i'd say these two things. One, it's not new to me, right,
I've known it for a long time. I'm in my
own bubble here. But also, I'm not somebody that is
a big bourbon guy. I'm fascinating about the culture to
an extent, but I just it's not something that I
drink or really you know, study up on. But clearly

(24:06):
a lot of people do that live here and call
Kentucky home, and many people across the world will travel
to Kentucky to get their own experience of it because
that's how popular it's become. But again, when you look
at how the state is taxing these companies, it makes
total sense that they may make some decisions that will
be you know, more beneficial for them in the long run,
at least right now when it comes to the financial impact.

(24:29):
So yeah, the halt of distillation is is certainly a
cost for concern, but more so just about what these
companies got to you know, how they navigate that, because
that adds up right, I mean again, just in twenty
twenty five, seventy five million is the tax for these

(24:50):
aging barrels. And also isn't it wild to think about
that many in this state? I mean again, probably shouldn't
be surprising that we are are the leader because again
that's what we do, right Kentucky bourbon. But sixteen point
one million, sixteen point one million barrels of bourbon right

(25:11):
here in this state. I mean, that's that's unheard of, unless,
of course, you know you're in a state that's that's
what they do. But again, this is something that you'll
see probably get some attention nationally. I know there was
a story overnight about it at the national level, and
I just I think if you if you're somebody from
Afar and you really look at it, it'll make a
little more sense to you. But certainly newsworthy, no doubt.

(25:32):
R Let's get to a quick time out. We will
get an update on the traffic, see how these roadways
are looking as we get this Christmas week started. We'll
also talk some sports with Scott Fitzgerald coming up here
in about five minutes, so stick around. It's News Radio
eight forty whas