10.16: Plumpkin - Hour 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's get this party started, shall we.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's a party starting at five oh five here on
a Thursday morning at news Radio eight forty whas Coffee
and Company with Kit Kentucky and his Morning News. Appreciate
you joining us here early as we get it started.
Always appreciate our five o'clockers. Maybe they're just early risers
getting the day started like Scott Fitzgerald does, or maybe
they're maybe they're on the.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Way home from work.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Right, We've always got I always forget about that aspect
of listenership at this time.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
It could be people that are wrapping up.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Third shift or really you could be doing anything, but
you're with us, and we certainly appreciate it. It's gonna be
another beautiful day and I'm looking forward to it. This
is something I'm doing, I believe for the third time.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Scott.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm sure you've done it many times. John, You're not
there yet, but you will be one day. I am
chaperoning a field trip today.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, where you go? Oh that's a good place to
go guy, right.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, uh, looking forward to it and should be a
lot of fun. Good day for it. And yes, as
you mentioned, John, good good place for a field trip.
It's gonna be. I mean, it's kind of one of
those things if you're if you're a kid, you don't
even really feel like it's a school event, right, Like,
I'm not really sure what the plan is as far
as you know, doing a lot of I mean, I'm
sure you can learn some things, but to me, it
just seems like a fun day. And sometimes field trips

(01:09):
were like that, and then sometimes you know, you'd leave
school and just go do school elsewhere.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
And that wasn't as fun.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
So do you have other kids under your supervisory controller?
Is it just your son that you're.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Supervi it'll be. It'll be.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
So my my daughter's class is going along, her special
needs classes going along with some other classes, So both
kids are gonna be there nice, and the wife's going too.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
So I think we've got I think it's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
We're gonna we're gonna have other parents collectively kind of
watching over. But yeah, it should be a lot of fun. Typically,
when I've gone to field trips, there's usually i'd say
for every especially with the smaller class size, there's usually
probably one parent for every two kids. So you know,
I'll be I'll be monitoring as best I can, but

(01:51):
of course keeping an eye on my little ones as well.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
But should be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
And again, weather seems like it's going to cooperate, which
I mean, it's one of those things that I would
imagine and if it did not, you're really just that's
that's part of it, right, you chalk it up. If
it gets too bad, they just wouldn't go, And they
probably wouldn't reschedule it because I don't think you can
just show up randomly with the whole school kids, uh,
without you know, without having it planned.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
So did your has your son or daughter said to
you what they liked best about humbers as far as
like for some kids, it's like.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Oh, they want they want the biggest pumpkins possible. That's
that's that's that's what they want.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Did you a plumpkin as they called it?

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Right?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
So, uh, Scott had Did you go on many field
trips as a chaperone?

Speaker 4 (02:27):
I did not?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
That was my wife. Yeah, because I worked here. Yeah, impossible.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
So this is the first time we're both going to
be able to go. I'm going to meet them there.
I'm not able to take the trip from school. But
it should should be a lot of fun when you
were in school. What was the what was the go
to field trip for you as a as as a
young Fitzgerald.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh, we had to one.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
We had the orchard, Okay, that's fine, where's did that?

Speaker 4 (02:47):
And fall?

Speaker 3 (02:48):
And then we went to one I'll never forget the gyp.
We had gyps and mines and it really wasn't down
under you actually going to the side of a mountain.
But I got so creeped out in there just looking around.
I had to leave and go sit on the bus.
And then the class went the following year and I
stayed behind, and I was so embarrassed.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
You regret it, No, not at all.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
No, I mean it's just kind of like, you know,
that's when I first heard the words claustrophobia.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
I had no idea that was a real thing.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, when you think of when you hear that word,
you probably go back to that mine, right.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Amen, dude, Amen. But yeah, those are my history of
field trips.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
So we didn't have a whole I mean I say that,
but now I'm thinking of more field trips that are
coming back to me here. But we the Science Center
was always fun because there's just so much to see
and do there.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sometimes it was hit or miss, but we would sometimes
go to Actors Theater to watch plays.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Did you do that one?

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
We both grew up in the Bullet County Public school system.
Proud alums. At least I'm proud. I'm not sure about
John Oh, definitely, yeah, But but I think there's there's
there's others that were just regulars that.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Oh yeah, my old Kentucky home. We went there.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
That was more so whenever I was younger. And then
I'm thinking there's some other places we went to, but yeah,
we didn't. Huber's was one and we did every year
and it was always a lot of fun. And uh,
I don't remember. I get my trips as a kid
mixed up. Sometimes of course I went with family and
then sometimes I went to school. But I remember the
tractor ride, the hay rattle always always.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
We still do that with our kids. They still love that,
and my kids really growing now.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
That's cool.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
In fact, a week from Sundays our annual Huber's trip.
We go every year and my kids still believe me,
the big pumpkin thing never leaves. Because one year I
had to teach my kids I'm like, grab the thing
off the vine. Don't just grab one of those because
it's big and they just threw it out in the patch.
Go grab one off the vine. And my kids still.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
I'm glad to know that as young adults they still
enjoy that, because I mean, I'm worried about any day
now my son being too cool for me because he's already,
you know, doing his own thing, playing his video games.
But last night we actually had a good night where
he he was one to make sure I was tagged
by his side every every step he took. So yeah,
i gonna have gonna have a big, busy morning this morning,
of course, but of course I'm heading to Uh.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Good for you to go.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
I'm looking forward to heard about this tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
I hopefully everything goes smooth.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
I don't think I'm gonna be tasked with a whole
lot of responsibility, but if I am, I'll be ready.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
I'll be ready to chaperone.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's another thing to saying it out loud as another
realization that I'm I'm getting older.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
This is life now.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
So some of those donuts up there too, man.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah, but getting not a bad idea, not a bad
idea all right.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Let's get this party start. Let's get it update of
traffick and weather. We'll see how we're looking here to
get things going. Busy, busy morning, he said, she said,
finger pointing about JPS's financial nightmare continues as WDRB. They
have I don't know why they didn't air it initially,
but they have shared some comments and maybe they shared
the whole thing about an interview with Marty Polio as

(05:42):
he was exiting his position as the JCPS superintendent, and
clearly two people saying completely different things.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
And I'll let.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
You determine which one of those you believe as far
as the transparency or maybe lack thereof when it comes
to the financial mess that they're in. So we'll get
into that and a lot more. Could there be a
federal aira elation sounds like I mean eventually there will be.
I don't see how there's not. But when is it coming?
I don't know, but some I think are making a
legitimate case that it might be needed asap. So again,

(06:11):
a lot more to get into. So don't go anywhere,
hang out with us. It is Coffee and Company and
we are fiel Abouth. Thornton's right here, on news Radio
eight forty whas. So, this JCPS financial situation is certainly
something been a big talking point and probably will continue
to be until they can clean up things and get
rid of that insane deficit. One hundred and eighty eight
million dollars is the deficit that Brian Yerewood, the new superintendent, inherited.

(06:36):
That's undeniable. That's what he walked into. And he also
has said that he was not aware that the situation
was as bad as it was when he took the job.
No clue if that would have impacted his decision. But
now we've got WDRB who has shared never before seen
footage from an interview that they did with doctor Marty Pollio,
the former superintendent who of course stepped down and moved

(06:59):
on and at the end of this past school year.
So in his final interview before retiring, he was confident.
I mean, he told DRB that the district had a
plan to, in his words, soft land once federal COVID
relief funding ran out. But you know, what he described
as a manageable forty million dollars shortfall is nowhere near that.

(07:20):
It's one hundred and eighty eight million dollars, So I mean,
that's that's his claim as he's exiting. And of course
this was this was some months back, and that is
clearly not the situation that they are in right now.
And when asked about it now, I mean, it's just
clear that one side's saying this thing, the other side

(07:42):
saying something else, and you can determine, you know, you
can determine who you believe. A quote here from Marty Polio.
We knew COVID dollars were ending, We knew there was
going to be a shortfall. We were going to have
to correct. That's what he said at the.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Time of that interview.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
He went on to talk about again the forty million
dollar He said they would need to cut forty million
in the next fiscal year, describing it as a soft landing.
But of course now district leaders know that that's not
the case. They face on one hundred and eighty eight
million dollar deficit, could potentially have to sell off assets
to cover teacher salaries. I mean, this is this is
not normal. And the new superintendent again, the guy who

(08:17):
inherited this mess, he says next year's budget's going to
require one hundred and thirty two million dollars in cuts.
So the guy, the long term superintendent that that parted.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Ways and moved on.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
He was ninety million dollars off in his projection, which
is really again kind of unthinking. I mean, this is
just insane if you think about it. So again, he
had he said that the district had plans to phase
out the federal relief money and had intentionally spit down
part of its four hundred million reserve on one time
expenses and seemed to be you know, I'm just reading

(08:52):
the quotes here. This again was from months back. This
was completely planned out. This was part of spending down
the serves and coming off of COVID. So not a
surprise at all. But doctor Earwood has no uh, has
no hesitation seemingly to let people know that that's that
that doesn't add up, that makes sense. Here's what he
said to DRB on Tuesday night following that board meeting. Quote,

(09:14):
we added programs, position things like that, and so when
funds ended, we just did not have a plan to
actually make cuts. So district records show overspending began long
before there was any COVID and any COVID relief money.
And I mean I don't know how you look at
this and you don't say the guy that was actually
in charge is the one responsible for this, maybe not solely,
but at the end of the day, he's the superintendent,

(09:36):
even if it's not direct involvement, direct doing, direct spending.
I mean it, he's the one that's accountable. No, and
they are in I mean if I was, I don't.
I don't know Marty Polio, and certainly there's probably way
more of the situation than I'll ever know. But again,
to be fair, this this isn't him chirping up.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
This is an interview that that that they decided to
put out that is months old. But he does seem
to have a defensiveness and and I would just I
would just ride off into the sunset. And he's got
a new gig in Indiana and doing well for himself.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
But I don't.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think we'll we'll see more as far as just
my expectation is that there'll be more that we uncover,
not than anything crazy, anything salacious, But at the end
of the day, this guy was in charge, and look
at where they are. I mean hard to not have
him be the guy that looks, you know, the most
responsible here just because again happened on his watch. All right,
we've got an update of traffic and weather coming your way.

(10:31):
We'll see how we're how we're getting off to a star.
How our Thursday is getting started here As far as traffic,
Bobby Ellas has us covered there. We've also got an
update of weather coming your way for Matt Melosovich and
a sports update. Our first sports update in the morning
is coming up right now, So don't go anywhere, keep
it locked right here on News Radio eight forty whas So,
Chad GPT is going to uh make some changes allowing

(10:53):
Erotica to enter the platform for verified adults. And I
can't be the only one hearing this and thinking what's
this look like? Right? Like, what do you mean we're talking?
Because when I think of the ways in which I
use Chad GPT, I don't really know what you mean.
So looks like my first my first, I guess thought

(11:17):
is not exactly what it's going to be like. You're
not gonna be able to stream or watch any type
of X rated content. That is still going to be
something you can't do. No, I mean again, clearly you
can't do this, but I'm sure it would be done
if it was allowed, And that is the deep fake pornography,
where you can basically find, you know, endless amounts of

(11:38):
X rated content on the Internet, share it within chad GPT,
and do like face swap stuff to where you can
make it appear that you have nude photos of people.
And I don't know, I don't know it for sure.
I just heard that there's a lot of xxx content
on the Internet. I wouldn't know, never seen any of it,
but I've just heard a lot about it, and apparently
it's the thing. I mean, apparently it's a real thing
that the Internet has a lot of pornography. Again, not sure,

(11:59):
not not for familiar myself, but I assume what everybody's
saying is true. You also will not have any interactive
visual sex simulations, so you know, AI sex spots not
going to be a thing. And you can have any
sexualized content obviously that includes violence, non consent themes and

(12:20):
of course minors. So big picture here, I guess they're
just letting, you know, treating adults a little more like adults.
That's I think how they're how they're framing it. The uh,
the CEO of of Open AI, so I'm not sure
what what what really I mean. I've I've never tried
to use chat GBT for anything other than what I

(12:42):
use it for, which is just helping me organize things
and and whatnot. And I've done some stuff with like graphics,
and it's super useful. By the way, I would encourage
if you've never checked it out, maybe don't lean on
it too much because your brain will turn to mush.
There are studies that show that has happened, understandably so,
but it's a real you, it's a real resourceful tool

(13:04):
that can probably help you really regardless of what it
is that you do. As far as your gig, I'm
sure you could find a way to where it can.
It can help you be more productive, maybe help you
save some time, that kind of stuff. But eventually you'll
be able to use chat GPT for some type of
X rated reasons. But again, the message from the from

(13:26):
the CEO of open Aiyes, his name is Sam Altman,
and he said that they're going to treat adult users
like adults, and verified adult users will gain access to
erotic content through them, though the company hasn't defined exactly
what qualifies as permitted erotica. Erotica. That sounds like that
sounds like VHS soft core stuff, Like I how often

(13:48):
does that word come up in day to day life erotica?

Speaker 1 (13:51):
It's definitely from the eighties and nineties.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yes, I mean like if you were it, or maybe
even like I don't know, like late seventies, like if
you And I guess when I'm thinking of the last
time I saw that or I heard that word just
out there in conversation, I think when I'm driving on
the Interstate, driving past one of those remote exits that
doesn't have anything other than a gas station and a

(14:16):
sex shop, the Lion's Den, Yeah, and they just have
this sign that says erotica. Like I think that's when
I think of erotica. That's what I think of. By
the way, drove to US Iowa once, terrible drive Western Illinois,
not a fun trip. And then I made it into
Iowa to go to Des Moines, and I remember thinking
to myself along that that long journey, that that stretch

(14:38):
had to be where there's the most lions Den locations
in all of America. I mean just not not a
you know, you you may go an hour without seeing
civilization you're going to pass about four spots where you
can stop in for the Lion's Den.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
There are any lines in Iowa.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, well they mean line in a different way, I suppose,
but yeah, the uh so, again, this is get a
whole lot of attention, obviously, but I'm not sure what
to expect and don't take this throw away, but I
am a little curious just because I just given the
amount of content one can can consume on the Internet
that is of the X rated erotica. Yeah, that's in

(15:19):
the erotica world. I just don't really know what you
would get out of this, because honestly, you can have
a relationship with somebody that is that is a bot
within chadgypt right. Obviously, there have been stories about people
wanting to get married to their to their companion, that
is the person the robot they talk to you on
chad GPT. So I'm just assuming that they will be
able to do that more in an erotic way here,
but it sounds like that's not what they're going to allow.

(15:40):
So anyways, all right, let's get to a quickupdate of
trafficking weather. Rody O'Neil said to join us. We're not
talking erotica with Rory. We're talking about the hard hitting stories.
That's what we do news Radio eight forty whas. This
is coffee and Company and we are fueled. Bout Thorton's
here on news radio eight forty whas. Happy Thursday to you.
We're not Joe mabb Rory on al of NBC News. Rory,

(16:01):
let's get an update on Gaza. I guess I should
ask first, is there much of an update as far
as the peace deal and raveling? Only been a few days,
but any any real update as far as how things
are going since this big news.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, I think perhaps more of a realization that this
is going to be still a long, slow, difficult process.
The whole idea of having the human remains turned over
of the hostages, that's going to take longer than we feared.
And apparently Hamas has said it's turned over all of
the bodies it can. There are still nineteen hostage bodies
that have not been turned over. Hamas says that they

(16:37):
are now in places that are inaccessible. They may not
know they're all their locations, and they'll need specialized equipment
to get through some of the debris and rubble.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, I mean that makes sense and when it comes
to gist and it may be tough to know. But
as far as just the overall, you know, the violence
in the streets of Gaza City, I mean, are there
are we seeing real progress there just yet?

Speaker 1 (16:58):
It sounds like maybe.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
Not not in that case. No, it seems that HAMAS
members essentially just roaming the streets. It's really more of
a gang. It seems a gang like vibe. As mobs
are running through the crowd, executing people, according to some
videos posted on social media. And this is where they're
trying to get the policing component put in, using some

(17:20):
of the partners there to try to bring order. President
Trump said yesterday from the Oval Office that he is
confident still that Hamas will disarm, and he said, look,
and if they don't, they will be disarmed by force,
saying American troops won't be on the ground in Gaza,
but said that they will be disarmed.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, you mentioned it the first day, of course, reacting
to the big news, and you're right. I think just
the historic news might have distracted people a little bit
from just what the process is going to look like
as far as just how long it may take. But
certainly get Any progress is good progress for rory' neils
our guest, he joins us here our news radio eight
forty whas let's talk some holiday spending. We haven't even
reached Halloween just yet, but there's already some real stress

(18:02):
about out there from folks when it comes to spending
money this holiday season, and maybe even some buyer's remorse.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Right well, yeah, it.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
May be filtering through so two different reports we're sort
of pushing mashing up here. First on the holiday remorse
or concern anyway, seventy percent of Americans say they have
concerns about going into the holiday season because they just
might not have the money they for all the presents
that they want to buy, the decorations, even just the

(18:30):
big meal. A survey of two thousand Americans found fifty
four percent fear the inevitable approach of the holidays due
to the financial requirements of the season. And another report
that also came out from the National Retail Federation found
that the amount of stuff we return I was sort
of dumb struck by the number. It's fifteen per point

(18:52):
eight percent of annual sales are actually returned to stores.
It's just shy of eight hundred fifty billion dollars in
consumer returns this.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Year, fifteen percent of what is purchased is returned. That
I would have guessed, so I would have guessed below
four percent, right.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
My thought was around five. Is that maybe five? But yeah,
yep and eight hundred and actually that number is down.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
Last year was sixteen point nine percent with total returns
of eight hundred and ninety billion, But they're expecting that
to come down a bit. A lot of that is
through online sales, because you know, people buy stuff for
clothing in particular, and it doesn't fit, don't like it,
send it back less so than if you go in
person try it on in an old style fitting room,
that kind of thing. And also there's a big part
of this is scammers too, and because almost a quarter

(19:40):
of those returns are then scams.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, most shopping, of course, is done online these days,
and that's not going anywhere. And I tried the last
few years to make to get out to a mall
during Christmas time just to maybe get like a last
minute gift item, and I guess really just it's sad
each time I go, because the nostalgia of what a
mall used to look like during Christmas time is not
what it is once more. But I know one day
I won't be able to probably go to a mall
and and experience Christmas time. So I'm gonna still take

(20:04):
advantage of that while I can.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
And yeah, we'll all go in our flying cars next.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
But it's right.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
One thing that they did note though, that the return
process is a critical way to keep a valued customer
because if you give them a hard time on the return,
like I say, ah, I'm never coming back to this
store again. So it's an opportunity to make that customer
a customer for life if you treat them well at
the return counter. Next.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Total sense, Rory.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
As always, we appreciate your time and enjoy the rest
of your day. We'll talk tomorrow morning, my friend.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Thank Nick.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
That is Rory O'Neil of NBC News. Absolutely, that makes
total sense when it comes to the return process being
a good way to really stand out to your customer,
because if they're comfortable purchasing something knowing that if in
fact it's not what they wanted, it's not it's not
you know, it's it's not the right item, not for them.
If there's that remorse if they know they can come

(20:54):
back and replace it, get store credit, or get their
money back, they're going to be comfortable shopping with you.
And there's a lot of companies that I have absolutely
been blown away by how loose they are with just
like oh, you know receipt, Yeah, we'll take it back.
And I think it's because they just know if people know,
if customers are aware that they can do that, you're
going to be first in mind when it comes to shopping.
I would imagine, all right, let's get to a quick update.

(21:17):
We'll see what the traffic's looking like here on a
Thursday morning. Also we'll get a look at the forecast
with Matt Melosovich and another sports updates coming your way here.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
NFL.

Speaker 4 (21:24):
What is it?

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Week Week eight starts tonight?

Speaker 4 (21:27):
Is that that?

Speaker 1 (21:28):
I think that is week e. That's crazy to think about.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Don't go anywhere, keep it lock right here on here
his radio week forty whas