Monday, June 26, 2023

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
He's talk fourteen thirty ks six eighteen. On a Monday morning, Dave Sprout
along with Scott Kovac filling in fromBell in the Morning today. Scott,
how are you? I'm doing allright, Dave, how are you?
Um, fantastic, glad you're well. Glad. We got to enjoy a
little Chris Isaac music this morning.Because it's Chris Isaac's birthday today. I
was wondering if it might be alwayslike to work those connections in there and

(00:23):
yeah, to a happy sixty seventhbirthday to Christopher Joseph Isaac, recording artist,
actor, nearly thing. Yeah,you know, multi songwriter, I
should say, if you don't throwthat well he plays a little guitar,
you know, you can probably tellanyway. Uh, he's sixty seven years
old today. That's probably his bestknown song, Wicked Game, which came

(00:46):
out and it kinda hurts my heartto say this came out in nineteen eighty
nine, eighty nine. Yeah,it doesn't feel like that long ago.
But as well, besides, you'reyou're getting older, right, it's just
um because you're really pumping this songhim out, Is that what you're saying?
Well, I enjoyed it when itcame out. I actually haven't listened
to it in a while, butit was a big hit song when it

(01:07):
came out. Uh and uh thatalbum, um was this the album came
out, it was called Heart ShapedWorld. It was his third studio album,
but really his big breakthrough and gotgot some attention because it was in
a film that came out in nineteenninety called Wild at Heart, which was
directed by David Lynch, one ofmy favorite directors. UM film didn't do

(01:29):
great, but the song helped out, I guess or it helped the song
out one way or the other andalso had a very um Uh, I
hadn't an attention grabbing a video thatshall we say? Uh? And uh
recently, I don't know familiar withTenacious Dye, the fake rock band Jack

(01:52):
Yeah, Jack Black and Kyle Gasright. Uh. They think it was
just the last couple of weeks theyput out a video, uh, them
covering that song and kind of mimickingthe uh the music video which for two
larger dudes like that as opposed toChris Isaac and a supermodel rolling around on
the beach. It's very different vibes. But you know anyway, Uh,

(02:13):
Chris Isaac also he I didn't remember. I don't remember this part. I
mean he I know he was anactor. He's been in a bunch of
movies. He was in another DavidLynch movie, uh, that came out
similar years later. I remember himbeing in Silence of the Lamps. Saw
another movie I've seen about a milliontimes. Um. He also had a
role in That Thing You Do,which is the Tom Hanks movie about the

(02:35):
you know yeah and one Hit WonderBand. I don't remember him and that
one at all. But anyway,so he's done some act He actually in
his own sitcom for a while,really, which I either totally forgot about
or never. And he had hisown talk show for for a little while.
So uh, he's been a verybusy guy. Uh. If you're

(02:57):
maybe not into Chris Isaac so muchand would like an introduction, I think
a really good uh introduction for meanyway. Um. An album he put
out a few weeks, not afew weeks, a few years ago.
Weeks. Yeah, actually it wastwelve years ago. I can't believe it's

(03:21):
been this long. Um. Intwenty eleven, he released an album called
Beyond the Sun, which is analbum of cover song except for one.
He had one original on that andthe bulk of that album was recorded at
Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.He also did some studio recordings in Memphis
and then uh yeah, it's somestudio recordings in Memphis, uh, somewhere

(03:45):
else beside Sun Records. But thisguy who was very heavily influenced by the
early rock and roll rockabilly style,and you know, he's got to kind
of Elvis pompadour, going and andthat and singing some old, you know,
rockabilly tunes for him. The SunRecords studio that's Slabel there. Yeah,
that's where Elvis started. Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee, Lewis, um

(04:09):
Roy Orbison, Boebe King, alot of great artists recorded for Sun and
uh recorded at that uh Sudden studio, which I've been to, of course.
Oh of course. I mean,come on, what do you expect
from me? It's a really coolalbum, I think, But I kind
of like that rockabilly stuff, sonaturally I would kind of lean towards the

(04:29):
style of mister Chris Isaac sixty sevenyears old today. Oh oh, by
the way, he's probably not theonly person with a birthday today. You
wouldn't think so we got Well,that's what I'd like to find out I
want. In fact, here's whatI'll do. I'll invite our listeners to
call us and tell us who hasa birthday? How about that? There's

(04:51):
a unique Oh no, wait,this is something we do. Everything we
do every day anyway. The HIVYBirthday claub Yes is now open to three
two fourteen thirty. Give us acall. Let us know if you or
someone you know as a birthday today. We'll get him on the list and
then later this morning we'll we'll handout free birthday cakes or balloon blue case
to our winners, and we canhave up to two winners because we have

(05:13):
two high V locations nights. Doesthat work out very susle five one five
two three two fourteen thirty is thenumber four the High VY Birthday Club on
Newstalk fourteen thirty k A s Isix twenty five on Newstalk fourteen thirty k
A s I to Monday morning.Dave here along with Scott Phillion from mel
Mel is out today and tomorrow.He's back on Wednesday, the Scotten Me

(05:36):
on Thursday and then the breakfast clubon Friday. The final Mel in the
Morning breakfast club coming up this Friday. It's hard to believe we're down to
the last week of Mel in theMorning. In case you don't know,
if you haven't heard, if youhaven't been here the last thirty two years,
yeah, well if you if youhaven't been paid attention to the last
six months. Mel is retiring atthe end of the week, which also

(05:59):
marks stand a month. So hisfinal breakfast club is going to be Saturday
at the Aims Water Plant. Andeven if you don't typically come out to
the breakfast club, if you don'thave anything to promote or talk about,
but just want to say goodbye toMel, feel free to stop by.
Everybody really is invited if you want. You don't have to talk on the
on the radio or anything like thatif you don't want to, but you

(06:21):
can wish Mela fund farewell. Ifyou want to stop out there and uh
and say goodbye or say hi.Maybe you've never met Mel and just want
to say thanks, Well, that'sunderstandable. He'll be at the water plant
out on the thirteen Street and that'llbe starting at seven thirty. Typically,
we said that breakfast club at seventhirty to eight thirty. I don't know.

(06:43):
I gotta I gotta feeling this onemight go a little long. Yeah,
maybe a little past eight thirty.But if you want to stop by
and promote something, whether it bea nonprofit organization, a fundraiser, community
organization, anything like that, giveus a well, I was gonna say,
give us a call. Then youdon't even to bother giving us a
call. Actually you could just goto the water plant on Friday morning and

(07:08):
just show up. Mel. Idon't know all this little signing cheet or
is he it's right done away withthat by now this particular um, this
particular breakfast club, he may notbe signing people in. It might not
be enough room on the sign him. Maybe not enough room around exactly.
Just so much fun, that's exactly. But it's gonna be um, and

(07:30):
I know a lot of folks I'msure from the city are gonna turn out
because it's city is hosting the breakfastclub for this month, and um,
what happens with the practice club orthe morning show in general? This I
don't know. I haven't been toldanything, so I don't know if there's
some plan in the works. Orwhat happens after that. But that'll be
here the last chance to to listento Mel, to visit Mel. I'm

(07:54):
getting all choked up about it.It's gonna be it's it's gonna be.
Uh. I don't even know.I don't even know what words to describe
how it's going to be. That'swhat. Yeah, every year, the
town's going to change the other alittle bit every year. I you know,
us media types talk to athletes atIowa State about Senior Day or Senior

(08:15):
Day for the football team, SeniorDay for the basketball team, whatever,
Oh what do you we said,what do you think it's gonna be like
when you go out there for seniorDay or last time at hill in Coliseyamo
or the last time I checked?And they all say, well, I
don't know most of like some guyshave actually done weie. But that's a
different matter. You know, thisis this is going to be unique for

(08:35):
us on Friday to say goodbye toMel. I mean it's gonna be a
yeah. It's a major change,and I don't want to overstate it.
I mean it's as you said,I think it is a change for everybody
in this town. This this showand Mel himself I'd like to think of
as a community resource, not justa regular old radio show, and I

(09:01):
think that's what endears Mail to alot of people, not only being as
charming humorous self, it's also thatwho talks to people here in the community,
talks to people from the city orthose various organizations who've visited Breakfast Club
through the years, and just youknow, it's part of the way people

(09:26):
find out what's happening in Ames hasbeen the Breakfast Club and Meil in the
Morning in general, and so it'sgoing to be a dramatication no matter what
happens after he's done, and we'vegot you know, next Monday and Tuesday
or holidays. I'm sure we'll havesome special iHeart programming for that, as
we would on holidays generally. Butagain, like like I said, what

(09:48):
happens after that is a whole differentmatter for people who get paid more than
us to decide. So we'll waitto see how that plays out. But
a reminder that the final Mail inthe Morning, in the final Breakfast Club
with Mel Friday at morning, andhe'll be live at the Eames Water Plant.
Started getting about seven thirty and wehope that you can stop by,

(10:09):
even just real quick to say helloand or goodbye to Mel. You can
pick or do pick one or doboth, whatever you want. Six thirty
Time for news update on news Talkfourteen thirty K A s. I Hew's
Talk fourteen thirty K A s Isix forty one On a Monday, Dave
and If Scott along the side hereto bring you the B Squad edition of

(10:33):
Mel in the Morning. Mills takena couple of days off. You'll be
in on Wednesday and Friday of thisweek, and you're the Ways I Squad.
So I thought you're gonna put yourselfon the A squad, and I
would have not have I would nothave argued with these guys I know,
but no, I'm willing to putyou out there, maybe the C squad,
maybe at best. This is whatyou're stuck. Well, I just

(10:56):
I hope you had a better weekendthan me. I gotta admit I was
a little disappointed weekend. It didnot work out the way I had hoped.
And I don't want to talk.It's pretty embarrassing. I don't want
to talk about it a lot.But yes, I tried to take over
the Russian government, but it didn'twork out and I had to turn around
and go back. It's just listen, I mean, it's a hard thing

(11:18):
to talk about. You. Imean, you want to take over a
country. It's like a lifelong dream. You want to overthrow the you know,
the guy in charge because you don'tthink he's hardcore enough for you,
and you try to. You start, you know, you get a bunch
of your buddies together, maybe someyou know, some military weaponry on your

(11:39):
side, and you start thinking,you know what, this guy in Moscow
is putin guy he's not he's notdoing enough for us. You know,
we need more you know, supplies, we need more pay we need more
men. Let's go. Let's gothere and teach him a thing or two.
Let's start marching our way through thisreads and it you know, things

(12:03):
change, situations change. We stoppedshort. We say, you know what,
now that we've talked a little bit, we're gonna we're gonna maybe not
do this. And so we neverreally, never really even got to Moscow.
It's kind of a disappointment, butyou know, nonetheless, still a
fun way to spend the weekend.I think this is I mean, this

(12:26):
whole story is really incredible, andI know I'm sure many people were.
We're following this, uh during theweekend, a coop attempt that lasted twenty
four hours if that? Yeah,not very long? Yeah, no,
not even well certainly not to day. I mean it more or less started
on Friday and ended on Saturday.And I'm not sure exactly the timing of

(12:48):
you know how that works, sohow many exactly how many hours that covered?
But holy cow, this is Imean, it's it's insane. It's
kind of insane in a way tothink of out. First of all,
a coup in a major, majorcountry, like you think about some smaller
countries that have very unstable, youknow, political systems, then that's a

(13:15):
more likely thing to happen, becauseyou know, you might not need a
whole big army. This is moreVenezuela than this. Russia. I don't
want to name names, I don'twant to specific countries, but yeah,
that might be one of them.Anyway. Uh, you don't like a
nation the size of Russia with anarmy the size of Russia has you wouldn't

(13:35):
think an armed coup would have.But you know, you wouldn't think an
attempt to attempt to throw overthrow theUS government would happen in this day and
age, and we had that ayear and a half ago. But anyway,
the most fascinating story, The mostfascinating thing about this story to me,
since I don't know all the insand outs of the politics involved,

(13:56):
and I'm sure there's a lot offascination in that, but the guy who
tried to foment this rebellion, overthrowcoop, whatever you want to call it,
sixty two year old guy whose nameI'm probably gonna busher here. You
have Genny Pregosan, Sure, sure, why not? Uh, let's call
him. You have Genny. Uh, he is the sixty two year old

(14:18):
owner of the Wagner Group. Ibelieve it is. It's not Wagner,
I don't think. I think itwell, in German it would be Wagner.
But these guys are Russian. Butit's very confusing, isn't it.
Yeah, because that's definitely not aRussian name. I believe it is.
The Wagner Group, a private armyof mercenaries basically that has fought some of

(14:39):
the deadliest battles in Russian invasion ofUkraine. The whole background here is just
amazing. So Pregosian uh actually,according to his own story, he actually
did some prison time in the latestages of the Soviet Union, uh and

(15:01):
and was released at some point.He never said, he's never said from
what we know that what exactly senthim to prison in the first place.
But when he got out he owneda hot dog stand. This, I
mean, this guy who you know, was this close to taking over the

(15:22):
Russian government started out selling hot dogson the street. It's got to inspire
a lot of people that dogs.Oh listen, Nicki Haley is crediting the
guy for pulling himself up by hisown bootstraps at this point. So anyway,
Progosian started off with the hot dogstand, then opened up a couple
of restaurants, which we're on thefancy side, like I don't know if

(15:46):
it's fancy hot dogs or or somethingthe kind of cuisine, but the little
upgrade from the old hot dog standthere when he opened his restaurants, and
those restaurants actually drew attention from footinghimself. And actually he took the president
of France. This is several yearsago, with President Frances Jockshrok was the

(16:07):
president of France at the time,and they went to one of these restaurants
owned by Progosian, uh, andthey they must have hit it off.
Putin and Progosian must have hit itoff. And uh, the uh Progosian
business whatever you called it, expandedsignificantly to catering, and in twenty ten

(16:30):
Putin helped open Progotions factory was builton generous loans by a state bank.
I wonder if any you know,certain politicians might have had some influence there.
Uh. The company is called Concorde, and the company actually has won
millions of dollars in contracts to providemeals of public schools in Moscow. And
Provo Progosian nervous company at least hasorganized catering events for a Kremlin for many

(16:56):
years. And Proosians became known asPutin's chef because of his role in providing
the food for these these uh orproviding catering at the Kremlin. I guess
anyway, Prooshan, of course,you know he makes all this money from
all these government contracts from his restaurants. He says, you know what I'm

(17:18):
gonna do, I'm gonna hire abunch of mercenaries and put together my own
military force isn't quite the jump thatnecessarily would seem to be. And the
members of this Wagner group includes memberswho were recruited from prison. So if

(17:40):
you think that, you know,they might be a little bit on the
psycho side, you're probably right.The United States, European Union, United
Nations, and other state the MercenaryForce has involved itself in conflicts and countries
across Africa. Wagner fighters allegedly providedsecurity for national leaders or warlords in exchange
for lucrative payments, often including ashare of gold or other natural resources.

(18:03):
Youse officials say Russia may also beusing Wagner's work in Africa to support its
war in Ukraine. And basically,this Wagner group goes from place to place,
often at the best of Russia andits military, to basically commit war
crimes in countries in other countries,particularly in Africa. So the initial reaction

(18:29):
was like, oh, man,Putin's gonna get overthrown and it's gonna change
everything. Well, it turns out, you know, this guy in his
group are not fans of Putin becausenot because they oppose the war in Ukraine
or anything like. They think Putinisn't doing enough to defeat Ukraine, and
they want more military and provisions andarmaments and everything like that. They want

(18:51):
more of that stuff because they think, you know, the Wagner Group and
just the leader you know, Progos, and think that they haven't been getting
enough support from Moscow and a numberof the members the mercenaries in the Wagner
Group have been killed in Ukraine,so they want Putin to actually be more

(19:14):
Putin. They think Putin hasn't gonefar enough. So that's the scary part.
If this has worked, actually mighthave turned out worse for everybody involved
because there'd be more killing and maybeeven less consideration of what is or is
not a war crime. But whenI first saw, and of course I'm

(19:37):
looking at this on Twitter, whenI first saw that the march to Moscow
had ended, I said, well, somebody you know finally gave this guy
what he wants. And it turnsout it was probably you know, Putin
himself struck a deal or somebody youknow in his government struck a deal with
the Wagner Group to h, yeah, um, concourage them to turn around

(19:59):
and have back to Ukraine. Justjust such a wild story and to think
it all started at a hot dogstand. And you know, I'm what
I like is the jumps, likethere are people might have steps in between,
but it sounds like he went fromhot dog stand to find dining to
international mercenary and a possible war crimestype guy. Yeah, exactly right.

(20:22):
I mean careful you buy hot dogsfrom if you're going to start a restaurant,
I mean, why not parlay thatthose riches into uh yeah, starting
your own millet militia? Right anyway, for the time being, I guess
we're it's a good thing that thewhole thing came to an end. But
also on the other hand, theseguys are going to go back to being

(20:45):
maybe the most extremely violent and we'rea crime group fighting in Ukraine. So
there's no happy ending here, butit's something of an ending anyway. Six
fifty two on Newstalk fourteen thirty KASI. Six four on Newstalk fourteen thirty k
SI. It is June twenty sixsunnay and sixty three right now on Ames

(21:06):
by the way too, and Scott, I just want to make sure I
wish you the happiest National Barcode Day. Wow, it's exciting. I know
you have big plans. Yeah,I have a whole series of events lineup
for National Barcode Day. I whatcan I say? I'm I'm a lover

(21:26):
of the stripes. Yeah, Imean. Scott has known far and wide
for his annual National Barcode Day partiesright and scan away. Oh yeah,
all guys, people show up.National Barode. Barcode Day commemorates the more
than forty years of efficiency and accuracythat began on June twenty sixth, nineteen
seventy four. We're getting close tofifty years here. On that date,

(21:51):
a clerk scanned a ten pack ofWrigley's Juicy Fruit gum at a Marsh supermarket
in Troy, Ohio. On thatday. The barcode system and to change
the world, and everything's got abarcode on it pretty much does. Yeah,
exactly. National Barcode Day. Yeah, you gotta go out and buy
something, I guess just to standthe barcode. Yeah. The barcode system

(22:18):
was invented by George Lauer, anengineer at IBM. Barcodes, also known
as UPC one dimensional codes, containeddata that help businesses and organizations do their
jobs more easily. A more modernversion of the barcode be your QR code.
We've all used from at one pointwhere I think you use your phone

(22:41):
to scan it and opens up awebsite or an app fourier or something like
that. Barcodes contain a wealth ofinformation, including pricing, product dates,
manufacturer and shipping. They are idealfor tracking inventory and sales. Almost every
industry uses barcodes, and they arealso you find them not only on you

(23:02):
know, the products you buy atthe store, but on your vehicle information
was v the VIN number vehicle informationnumber? Anyway? Yeah, there you
go, just called the VIN number. Day. Everybody knows what that is.
There's a bark if you look there, you know there's a barcode on
the VIN. Uh. Libraries,of course, these bar codes to track
books have been checked out. Logistics, of course, you know healthcare.

(23:27):
I don't know if you've been toa hospital or a clinic. Every time
I go from my annual physical,I know they give me this little sticker.
I don't know why it's a sticker, but anyway, he's got a
barcode out and they scanned the barcode and say, oh, it's Dave.
You don't do your thing, andthat's how I know I need to
be a blood test for this,that and the other thing. Whatever.

(23:48):
Uh. And agriculture also use alot of barcodes. They used to be
back in the day. You know, they'd have these little tags they'd stick
in a cow's ear so that youcan identify your your cows, I guess
from other cows. Now they gotbarcodes. I don't know they've they're like
just put them right on the cowlike branding used to be. But I

(24:10):
have no idea. Probably it's probablynot true anyway. Enjoy your National Barcode
Day. Go barcode something. It'sa six fifty eight. I'm protext the
nation and a news update right hereon news Talk fourteen thirty seven thirteen on
a Monday morning. To me,now adjust your radios? Didnt Mel in

(24:33):
the Morning is out today? Davesprout here with you alongside Scott Kovac Smells
taking a day off and he'll beoff tomorrow as well. He's back on
Wednesday. Then Mel's taking a dayoff Thursday, and then he's back on
Friday, and then he's taking offforever. Retirement sets in as soon as
he shuts it down on the breakfastclubs Friday morning. If you want to
join Mel out there, whether youwant to be on the radio or not,

(24:57):
you're more than welcome to bid.Our long time morning host of fun
Farewell, he'll be at the aimsat water Plants, aims pollution and control
water pollution. And the place onthirteenth the big water thing. Yeah,
yeah, the big building out thereon the other two. As you head

(25:17):
to the east on thirteen, youpassed the softball fields and head up an
incline there. It's on your right. It's a large building pretty much to
yep. So it just a littlebefore you get to the interstates. If
you're finding your way, if youprobably can just google water treatment. Yeah,

(25:38):
you'll find it. You know whereto you know what to do,
you know where to go or ifnot, you can figure it out.
You're very resourceful, uh smart listener, right, all of our listeners.
I believe it's just the also verygood looking people astounted by almost as good
looking as dead. Well, let'snot go crazy, no, trust me.

(26:00):
Generally speaking, I think our audiencesprobably better looking than me. But
anyway, I was just checking outthe weekend box office numbers, which always
fascinated. Number one movie in theland is Spider Man Across the Spider Verse,
which actually was number one a fewweeks back, dropped to number two,

(26:22):
and now back to number one.It took in nineteen point three million
dollars this weekend in North America andoverall three hundred and seventeen million dollars domestically
and five hundred sixty million dollars worldwide. And this is if you're not familiar
and animated Spider Man film. It'snot part of the whole Marvel cinematic universe.

(26:45):
It's separate from that. But Iwent to see it, and it's
obviously really impressive the way they usedthe animation, and there's just a whole
blend of different styles and it's verycolorful and very uh, I mean,
it's just fascinating just to look at. I think this is. If there's

(27:06):
a flaw in the movie, it'sthat it's well, it's a little too
long. Most movies are at leasta little bit too long these days,
it's my opinion. But it shouldn'treally take more than two and a half
hours to tell your story. AndI don't think Spider Man is that long.
But if I was just to placea cap on how long a movie
two and a half tops? Okaythat the thing about it is not necessarily

(27:30):
with this Spider Man across the SpiderVerse movie, it's it's not that start
to finish it feels long. It'smore like there are parts of the movie
where it seems like everything just stopsfor a while. And these long conversations
happened between various characters. And Imean, on the one hand, they

(27:51):
actually take the time to discuss theirfeelings and emotions and all these things.
And you know, the Spider Mancharacter whose real name in this series is
Miles Morales, he's trying to youknow, hide his identity from his parents,
from his friends to protect them.Pretty familiar storyline for people who are
familiar with the Spider Man thing theuniverse, if you will, um,

(28:18):
But these it just felt to melike these conversations that are supposed to be
so very emotional and involved just draggedon so long. It's like you could
have said what you wanted to sayby now, and you eventually get there
in these conversations, but it takesso long. Maybe that's just me maybe

(28:41):
I just don't connect with the emotionalparts and now I just want to see
bright, shiny color zooming across thesky at action sequences. But it's possible.
That's my personal review of the latestanimated Spider Man movie. Is it
drags on too long in spots.Let's get let's get back to some web
slinging here, come on, let'soh, that's just me. They also

(29:03):
end the movie on a cliffhanger.Really, yes, and I think it's
done very well. I was talkingto a friend of mine about this over
the weekend. So a movie likeDune that came out last year, you
know that movie, if you know, if you follow any of this,
you know going in, that movieis not going to cover the entirety of
the book on which it's based.You know there's going to be at least

(29:26):
one other Dune movie. You knewthat going in, So at some point
they are going to leave you hangingin this Dune movie. But what felt
like the end of that movie,it just felt like it just they just
stopped, Like at some point,it's just we're halfway through, We're done,
come back later. The Spider ranacross the Spider Verse movie, I

(29:47):
think there's a really good job ofsetting up the cliffhanger, but they throw
a little twist there near the end, and then obviously I'm trying to stay
away from spoilers here and not giveaway the big cliff hanger at the end.
I think you're doing a pretty goodjob. Yeah, but it's one
thing that it achieves some closure onsome of the plot lines that are set

(30:07):
up there. But it also,you know, with that twist towards the
end, sets up a whole newthing which is obviously going to be the
next animated Spider Man movie. Um. I don't know when that's coming out,
but um, I think the twistthey threw in there was really good.
And the way they just left youhanging it certainly it you know,

(30:29):
feels feels still feels like the storyis incomplete, and that's by design because
they are intending to pick up thestory. But it's like, oh,
we're we're shifting into a whole newstory now, whereas the story arc gets
rerouted. Yeah, yeah, exactlyright. That's a very good way of
putting it. And whereas we done, it's just like, oh, we're
halfway through. Now we're going tostop Okay. You know what's interesting about

(30:52):
Dune that fascinates me is they didnot yet have budgetary approval for the second
film, really when they ended thefirst film that way. Yeah, and
that's that's I didn't know that,And that would explain why I was caught
off guard when I see news ofwho's being cast in the next Dune movie,
and I was like, weren't theyalready planning to do this? Didn't

(31:15):
they already have this cast? No? I guess yeah, they needed to
make sure that it did well atthe box office first and then move on.
Yeah, I don't know movies likethat, this Spider Man flick,
Dune. Uh, there's a lotof movies out there, and and this
kind of way of the how theywould entertainment industry now it's either big blockbusters

(31:36):
that are going are designed to dowell globally, or smaller, more niche
features that you know, it mighteven call them independent pictures, uh,
that are designed for smaller There's nota lot in between there right now.
You know, it's either big blockbustersor smaller independent films, more independent or

(31:57):
more artsy films. You know,that's just my perception and not just mine.
A lot of people think that allright. Getting back to the box
office. Number two movie during theweekend is the latest Pixar flick eighteen and
a half million dollars for Element Elemental, which was number one spot the previous
weekend third in the box office race, the Flash, taking in fifteen point

(32:22):
two million dollars during the weekend,and that's the second weekend the Flash has
been out, and the growth orthe receipts for that movie fell off by
seventy two from opening weekend to weekendnumber two. I was very trigged.
DC films I don't and there's abunch of Marvel films I either just enjoy

(32:43):
or really really like, whereas Ihaven't seen a DC movie yet since maybe
like the original Superman that is reallywell, the Batman that came out in
the late eighties with Tim Burton andMichael Keaton also very very entertaining to watch.
Other than that, I haven't seenmuch from the DC universe. It
really appeals to me. But thenthey could starting about with previews of this
Flash movie and boom there's Michael Keatonplaying Batman again. I'm like, oh,

(33:07):
intrigued. And then I started readingreviews of the movie, and I'm
like less intrigued. It's like,yeah, that's not that great. So
there you go. The number fourmovie at the box office. It's called
No Hard Feelings. It's a comedystarring Jennifer Lawrence. I've seen the previous

(33:27):
for this hasn't made me want toreally go out and see it. Took
in fifteen point one million dollars duringthe weekend box office and running out the
top five at the movie theaters.Transformers, Rise of the Beasts there's another
one of those things. It's likea global tent pole movie. Right,
it's designed to make make a lotof money around the world. Eleven point

(33:51):
six million in the in North Americaduring the weekend for the latest Transformers and
flick which is now been out forthree weeks and has taken in one hundred
and twenty three million dollars. That'sthat's in North America. It's hard to
know with some of those because theyspend so much in special effects. When
somebody says one hundred and twenty threemillion, I don't know what to think.

(34:12):
I mean, was the budget forthis two hundred million? Yeah,
it's a huge difference, right,I don't know, But they more than
makeup I mean, whatever they're puttingin the budgets, and they make it
up Global box office, home videoor whatever, video and demand whatever we're
calling that these days, VHS rentals. You know when you go down to
the Blockbuster. Oh wait, ohwait yeah. Anyway, big movie coming

(34:36):
out Friday is Indiana Jones and TheDial of Destiny. I will be seeing
that one. I don't I don'tsee myself going to this. I Harrison
Ford. I'll check out the reviewsand make my decisions based on what I've
seen on the previews. I'm notterribly excited for it. I was not
very terribly excited for The Kingdom ofthe Crystal Skull. That's the last time
that came out, and it justgot bad reviews and people make fun of

(34:59):
it, say it's bad, andI'm like, I don't know if I
want to see eighty year old HarrisonFord running around trying to save us from
Nazis again. I mean not thatit's you know, going out beating out
beating the Nazis is never a badthing, especial right right. I don't
know. We'll we'll see how we'llsee all the reviews on that come out
before I decide whether to see it. So that's that's the big one.

(35:22):
It'll I'm sure it'll be number oneat the box office next weekend and they
won't worry about my money. Seventwenty four News Talk fourteen thirty KSI,
Hews Talk fourteen thirty KSI seven twentysix On a Monday morning, June twenty
six, and the Birthday Club isopen. Five one five two three two
fourteen thirty is a number two callif you want to share a birthday with

(35:44):
us, whether it's yours or someoneelse's, we'd love to know about it.
And then a bit later this morning, uh sometime before nine o'clock,
we promise we'll pick out a winneror two. If we got enough names
on the list, we can getup to two winners of a free birthday
cake or balloon bouquet from the AmesIVY. So feel free again. The
number five one, five two threetwo fourteen thirty is the number of few

(36:05):
or someone you know has a birthdaytoday and you want to share it with
us. We would love to shareit with the world. Some other birthday
stay start mentioned just back in justafter six o'clock when we got this whole
thing started. The musician and actorChris Isaac is a sixty seven today.
Writer director Paul Thomas Anderson is afifty three. He starrected a lot of

(36:29):
movies out like another of my favoritedirectors. Boogie Knights was his big breakthrough.
Uh movie um, which still verygood movie, I think. UM.
I think my favorite of his ism oh I can't remember that any
one, the one about the aboutoil and uh. You know at the

(36:49):
end you have the whole high drinkyour milkshake line. There will be blood.
That's the name of the movie.It's about a California oil prospector.
I think early twentieth entree. Ithink it's just a fantastic, fantastic movie.
Daniel day Lewis is a lead actor, and that he's incredible, as
he always is. Some other birthdaystoday. Actor Sean Hayes, probably best

(37:13):
known for his role on Will andGrace for many years, fifty three years
old. Nick Offerman is fifty threeas well, probably best known for his
role on Parks and Recreation. Igot to see him perform live a couple
of years back at at Steven's Auditorium, which was which was pretty fun.
Some other birthday. Singer Greshen Wilsonis forty nine today. Actor Jason Schwartzman

(37:35):
is forty three. Another actor fromParks and Recreation, Aubrey Plaza, is
a thirty nine today, and singeractor Arianna Grande is thirty years old today.
Did we get a birthday? Callit? While I was yacking on
there, you got all right,who's got a birthday today? So we
have Taran Striegel and Michelle Banstra sofar, and we're happy to add to

(37:57):
that list. All right, well, happy birthday. We got two names
on the list, so that meanswe're gonna have two winners today at least.
But you can't win if you don'tenter, So let us not five
on five two three two fourteen thirtyis never gonna call. How cool is
it to celebrate your birthday? Toshare your birthday with Nick Offerman? Yeah?
The to me, Nick Offerman isthe quintessential example of masculinity in our

(38:24):
time. He's a man's a man, but he's also not a jerk.
Like you think about what it meansto be a man. Sometimes men in
particular conflate that idea with being ajerk, Like you got to be like
an alpha male all the time.You have to dominant, you have to
be dominant, you have to assertyour control at all times. And that's

(38:45):
not the kind of guy Nick Offermanis, as much as he might come
off with with the deep the greatvoice of his and the mustache, and
he's like he's got yeah, alittle bit particular's character on parks and rec
was you know particularly, But he'salso, you know, a guy who
will he writes music. He uh, I get woodworking would be rather manly

(39:07):
sort of pursuit. But he buildscanoes, he builds all sorts of things,
very accomplished woodworker, as well asbeing a tremendous actor. Um.
But he's he's someone who gives usa very masculine vibe without being like,
you know, and over the topsort of aggressive personality either. So I

(39:30):
think I think he's a fine exampleof what manhood should be in this day.
An't he you know? I justcan't, you can't know. I
mean, he's not afraid, he'syou know, not afraid to show you
care. But you're also strong andmasculine and make wood into things you want,
build your own chair and then sittingit. Yeah, exactly, Yeah,

(39:51):
that kind of thing. Seven thirtyand time for a news update on
a Monday morning on Newstalk fourteen thirtyKSI seven forty two on Newstalk fourteen thirty
k A s I Dave alongside Scotthere in the morning, filling in four
miles taking a couple of vacation dayshere. It will be in on Wednesday
as well as on a Friday.Otherwise you're stuck with with Scott and myself.

(40:13):
But will of course be sure bringyou the rushman It's report every morning
this week as we check on thelatest traffic when we don't have any any
anyone with the Eames Pluce department onthe line at the moment to give us
an update. So hopefully that meanthere's either meeting things are going super well
or super bad because everybody's on thescene of an incident. Hopefully that the
ladder is not the case. Let'snot start anything. We don't need to

(40:37):
start your rumors anything. No,we don't know why they're not calling at
the moment, but you know,maybe they're just a little behind. Sometimes
the timing is different for everyone.Now, hopefully they don't have to deal
with a cow loose on on theIowa State campus. Uh, this this
might be something that comes up becauseuh, we've we've already seen it this

(41:00):
week. In fact, Cutstown Universityin Cutstown, Pennsylvania had a cow loose
on its campus described as aggressive toThe Cutstown University Police department said it was
notified to the situation around seven fifteenlast night. I guess was this is
Eastern time. A caller explained thecow was running along main Street and onto
the campus, so they sent outan alert saying avoid North campus, aggressive

(41:23):
cow, do not approach, andthey also said that the cow seem scared
and unfamiliar with its surrounding. Thealert said all should stay away from cow.
The animal is not safe to approach. Eventually, the cow's owner responded
to the scene and a follow upapparently the very least last update we knew

(41:46):
about the cow had left the CutstownUniversity campus in Pennsylvania. This is you
know, this is a plausible thingthat could happen here because there are you
know, livestock on the IOSA campusso to speak, maybe not central campus
so much, but nonetheless there arefacilities with livestock as part of the universe.

(42:06):
Iowa State University here seven forty four. We've got somebody on the line,
Scott, the Ames Police Partment checkingin. Who's joining us? Scott?
Who do we have? Sophie byRoad is on the line. Sophie.
Good morning to you. Good morning. How are you. I'm well,
I understand you are an intern Yes, I am, just for the

(42:27):
summer, just for the summer,and it's part of the Ames Police Parment.
I didn't even know they had aninternship program there. Yeah, I'm
having fun so far. Oh that'sgood. Then tell us a little bit
about yourself. Are you a studentat Iowa State? Yep, I'm going
to be a senior this year.I'm interning here and hopefully go into law
school. Okay, and your majoris English, Well you got to be

(42:50):
able to speak the language if youwant. Oh yeah, that's not what
an English major means. Dave,I know, I know. But Sophie,
what led you to becoming part ofthe Ames Plice par through this internship
program. It's just a big communityof great people here, and lawyers tend
to work with the police a lot, so I figured I could see the
other side of things before I gointo that field, you know. So,

(43:13):
yeah, this is you can putthis on your resume or application for
law schools. Definitely what kind ofschools are you're looking at right now?
I'm looking somewhere in Florida, hopefullyget out of the cold weather. I
don't blame you at all of that. I guess where'd you grow up,
See the Rapids area, so I'mused to the snow, but not a

(43:34):
big fan. Look, even ifit's just a few years at law school,
to get away from the Midwest fora few winters might be worthwhile you
are training that in for the landof oppressive humidity, large bugs, and
some of the strangest criminal cases you'llever come across, that might be a
plus for you. Actually, ohyeah, probably, I don't know.

(43:55):
I've always heard that the reason wehear about so many sort of strange criminal
stories coming out of Florida is becausetheir open records laws are different from most
other states, and that there's moredetail available to the public than most other
states. So I don't know,Maybe it's that, Maybe it's just Florida's
a genuinely strange place and you're goingto find out first hand. Right So,

(44:17):
are you looking to specialize in criminallaw? Are you still maybe figuring
out what exactly what you want todo in the law field. Definitely criminal
prosecution, So putting those bad guysaway. You know, somebody's got to
do it, and I'm glad tohave you on our side. Sophie.
What led to your initial interest ina career in the law. My I

(44:40):
have families who are lawyers, soI just kind of grew up in the
field and I think it's a veryadmirable thing to pursue. But I'm sure
you've heard every lawyer joke in thebook by now. Oh yeah, do
you have a favorite lawyer joke?Um, nothing that really comes to mind.
Yea, I'm putting you out ofthe spot here. Uh well,

(45:02):
my favorite is you know, whatdo you call a thousand and lawyers at
the end of the at the bottomof the ocean? A good start?
I know, I know. Seethese jokes they don't apply to prosecutors,
right, They only apply to likethe ambulance chaser type attorneys. We don't
like them, No, they're justout to exploit human misery. You want

(45:23):
to put bad guys behind bars,and we salute you for that. Thank
you all right, Sophie, Thanksso much for your time. Glad you
can join it. You probably don'tknow how the traffic is doing this morning.
I'm looking at it. There isnothing so good to this point.
But no, that's all right.Watch out for construction and aims and on
your morning commutes. So yeah,just generally drive safe. Yes, all

(45:45):
right, Sophie, appreciate the time, Thanks so much, and best of
luck with your internship there at theAmes Squeet Aspartment and your future as a
as a prosecuting attorney. Yeah,thank you so much, have a good
thing. Thank you, Sophie,an intern with the Amesquee Apartment. Joining
us Rushman's report to you by MaryGreeley Medical Center, Doing What's Right seven
forty eight here on new Stalk fourteenthirty KSI seven fifty on new Stalk fourteen

(46:09):
thirty Kasi, Dave and A Scottfilling in from melt in the morning on
your Monday and joining us now ourfriends from Syride, Barbara Neil and Chris
Crippen, Good morning, good morning, good morning. It's great to have
you both here and talk about what'sgoing on with Syride. And I know

(46:30):
are the new battery electric buses makingtheir way around the roads now, well,
they will be out on service.We're hoping the beginning of July.
Okay, what's the not quite yet? Yeah, what's what's the process has
been like getting getting going through theacquisition of those buses and getting them ready

(46:51):
to hit the streets here in names. Well, it's been a long process
for us. We got a grantfor these buses in twenty nineteen and then
COVID happened, so and then therewas a strike and supply chain issues and
a whole bunch of things. Sowe were fortunate to actually receive them in
March. And other than that,it's been working great. The city has

(47:13):
been awesome to work with with ourelectric and we're looking forward to having them
out on the road. And didyou have to make any changes at the
bus barn to make sure you couldfully charge those vehicles? Yes, obviously
we had to put in a differenttransformer and a step down switch station,
a lot of things like that,just so that we have the capability of
charging them at a level two chargers, so not the fastest charger but kind

(47:37):
of a medium one. Okay,And so how long can these vehicles,
these battery buses stay on the roads. Well, we're hoping we're going to
have them out initially on routes thatgo about nine ten hours, and so
hopefully we can kind of evaluate howthey do on route. And you know,

(48:00):
there's a lot of factors like whatthe weather's like, how many passengers
we carry on them, so we'llsee how it goes. Yeah, well,
that'll be interesting. How many Howmany of those battery electric buses will
be out there? We have tworight now and the plan is to get
five more. Oh wow. Soand now, so if a bus goes

(48:21):
by you really quietly, you'll knowthat's the one with the batteries, right,
Yes, and then actually is alittle bit different looking than our other
buses. Um, it's painted slightlydifferent. It looks more like an over
the roadbus kind of maybe, andit's called electric side the side part,

(48:42):
Yeah, emphasis on the side.Yes, as always, we will have
them in the fourth of July parade, so people, we'll have at least
one of them in the parade.Nobody so as terms in terms of riding
on it, though it is itgoing to feel any different than a normal
bus? Nope, feels like insounds like a normal bus from the inside.

(49:04):
The nice part is the bus willhave a nice new bus smell.
See that I've probably never experienced that, the new bus smell that. I
mean, that's the reason a Laurenright right there to try to take a
ride. So what long smell?Now? Will you uh put out on
social media or let people know whichroute those electric buses are running so you

(49:28):
we know that to you know whereto hop on to catch that new bus
smell. Sure. Well, thenice part is we have one will be
on Green Route, which runs fromWest Dames out on Ontario through downtown City
Hall area and then it runs upnorth by the high School and to the
mall, so that one will reallyrun through town and I think people will

(49:50):
be able to see it and it'llstand out. I'm sure a little more
white on them than the normal redI see. Oh look forward to maybe
catching a ride on one of thoseone of these days. What else is
going on with Syde Ride these days? Well, we're still looking for part
time employees. The nice part isin July everybody gets a pay raise,

(50:14):
so we'll be going up to twentyseventy nine twenty dollars or twenty dollars and
seventy nine cents. It's the hourlyrate for the part time we still have
the thousand dollars sign on bonus.We offer a lot of shift differentials depending
on what kind of shifts you pickup to work. So really, right

(50:34):
now our main focus is looking forpart time folks who want to come in
and maybe work just in the mornings. It's a good job for people who
have retired, not mel and we'veall hire hands, sorry and disqualified.
That's right. And so yeah,like if you only want to work when

(50:54):
Iowa States in sessions, so youget all their breaks off, or you
want the summer off, it's agood part time job. And I think
the only other thing that I wouldadd to what Chris said is you don't
have to have a CBL to comework for us. We do train you
for that and then we help youtake the test. Well, I was
just about to ask about that,because you know, it can seem pretty

(51:15):
intimidating looking at those buses and thinking, well, I don't I can't drive
one of those. But you guysyou got the full training there. So
just about anybody who's a capable drivercan probably handle a bus, right,
that's right, And we always laughand say, okay, it's easier to
drive a bus than you think.No one ever believes us until you start
driving one, and then you realize, oh, it really is easier.

(51:37):
Plus you know, you're sitting upa little higher, you can see everybody
around you. It's really not thathard. And I feel like a little
bit easier though, is because wehave such an excellent training program. I
think we really teach you where thebus is, how the bus turns,
and a lot more than you probablylearn or at least remember from driver's head.

(51:58):
That's good to know. Now I'vedriven an RV before, would that
be comparable? Oh yeah, really, depending on how big the RV is.
I mean, some of those onesthat roll into Iowa State tailgate,
they're probably actually bigger than the bus. Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah,
Well, it's it's fascinating. What'sgoing on? So the summertime here,
we're in the middle of the summer. Uh, there's a I'm sure

(52:22):
a reduced schedule compared to the whenwhen classes aren't session at Iowa State.
What's the comparison? How many routesyou know are how frequent or I don't
I don't even know how to determine. How would you describe the difference between
you know, what the level ofservice now and what's the level of service
between or during UH school sessions.Well, definitely we have less service out

(52:43):
there in the summer. I don'tknow that it's so noticeable to the community
riders, Well, there is areduction. The reduction tends to be on
our circulator route, so there's lessorange routes like the Goal, the Cardinals,
some of those don't run over thesummer because they tend to um you
know, have mainly Iowa State studentson them. I would love to tell
you the ridership, but ridership hasn'tfully recovered. I can give you like

(53:07):
pre COVID riders, which I feellike that's going to be words I say
forever. We used to carry aboutthirty thousand a day when if you went
in session, and then when iFU is not in session, we carry
about twelve thousand a day. Okay, well it's fascinating stuff. We are
out of time, unfortunately, butBarbara Chriss, thank you so much for
your time and we always enjoy talkingsyride. All right, Thanks Dave,

(53:30):
thanks for having us, Dave,you bet, Barbara, Neil Chris gripping
from Syride joining us this morning,and if you're looking for some part time
work, check them out like youas your time. It's coming up on
eight o'clock, we're gonna bring youthe Iowa Almanac and then a news update
on Newstalk fourteen thirty Kasi eight fourteenon Newstalk fourteen thirty Kasi, I'm Monday

(53:50):
morning without Mel in the morning DaveSprout along beside Scott Kovac filling in as
well as taking a vacation day today, which means he's missing out on this
weekly or bi weekly visit with AmesMayor John Hala John, Good morning to
you. How are we doing?Good morning day, Good talk to you.
And we want to say, firstof all and make sure that you
are aware and you are invited toMel's retirement party on Friday morning. You're

(54:14):
going to be there, right,I did not know that. Oh well,
he's only at the Water Plant,I mean just an Ames City facility.
No big deal, right, youcall me flat footed? Yeah,
you know it's basically the usual breakfastclub show starting at seven thirty, but
since the water Facility, it's gotthe conference room there where he hangs out.

(54:39):
It's funny of parking. So everybody'sinvited, including you, John,
including everybody with the city and everybodyin the city to come out and wish
Mel a farewell, as he willdo his last show on Friday morning.
So let's get that in your calendar, mister mayor. It will be on
my calendar, and I'll be outthere to get him. Did him ado?

(55:00):
And I just didn't know people atthirty nine years old could retire.
Oh, like you know what,that's just how good Mel is at this
at this well he must see anastute investor. And well, I,
uh, we'll miss him, butI'm sure you'll have someone'll take over.

(55:20):
Maybe it's go meet you. I'lltake over and do a great job.
And as in instead, yeah,you know, if we knew what was
going on, we'd tell you,but we don't. So well, move
along and talk about the city councilmeeting that's coming up tomorrow evening. And
first thing that jumped out to meis a resolution that will prove asset priorities
for fiscal year twenty twenty four andtwenty five. And this, uh,

(55:44):
I take it is different from theactual funding process for asset. Good.
Good question, And you are absolutelycorrect. Every year of council um meets
with the volunteers and our staff laisonand they present different priorities that Council has
set previously to help the volunteers knowwhich programs to continue funding and or increase

(56:09):
or potentially adjust as we perceive theneeds in the community. And so there's
gonna be just a few minor tweaks. Council has been very committed to using
these funds. You know, welast year, I think are this coming
fiscal years, over one point sevenmillion dollars from our one sales tax is

(56:31):
going to help invest in services forthose who are in need of it in
particular and usually low to moderate incomefamilies. But there's going to be has
to do with mental health, hasto do with housing, and also some
education component and I think council,I mean, Council has done a great

(56:54):
job of kind of refining those downto the point that are more specific in
the volunteers have expressed great appreciation forhaving those guidelines because, as you can
appreciate, there's a lot of peoplewho provide great services, but maybe the
services that they provide aren't maybe thehighest priority that council sees needings met in

(57:14):
the community. Yeah, based onwhat I'm seeing here with the some of
the things that's been prepared, thematerials prepared for tomorrow night's meeting, sounds
like the volunteer feedback, the volunteerswho are involved in ASSE that had a
lot to do with laying out thesepriorities. Well, yeah, they actually

(57:37):
they meet ahead of time and theymake some suggestions based on what they're seeing,
and for example, they are askingin the overall overarching emphasis last year
said an emphasis is placed on LOADOmoderate income in all categories and services.
And the volunteers, I think wisiersaying, could you just add the words

(57:57):
individual and families ours load to moderateincome individual and families versus being programs or
you know, facilities, and thenour three priorities are meat, mental health,
and substance used disorder needs through fourdifferent priorities that are listed in order
and then meet basic needs. Um, they're suggesting that emergency sheltering H is

(58:21):
kind of rising to the top ofbeing a important aspect to help fund and
then housing cost offset programs from foodcost offset programs. So besides that,
those are the those are the mainchanges that are you know, being proposed.
Accounts will review that discuss it.But we are volunteering. These asset

(58:45):
volunteers spend so much time meeting organizationsand talking to UM different entities that are
providing these services, and they cankind of get a pulse on what's going
on, so they kind of becomeour eyes and years at times. And
then council certainly UM takes note ofthings as they interact with our constituents during

(59:08):
the year and uh so it's uhbut yes, we it's a great it's
a great partnership UM the UH.I can't say enohing enough positive things about
the asset program. M'be last year, but I mean this last year,
this coming fiscal year, it'll beI think over four million dollars that will

(59:28):
be invested in about twenty some UMhuman service agencies and about forty some different
programs, and the county puts moneyin the city, the Iowa State University
and United Way. So it's it'sone of the unique things that we have
at AIMS, and a lot ofpeople when I hear about it just kind
of marvel because there's so much coordinationand we really help UM need a lot

(59:53):
of goals and a lot of needsin our story county. Another item on
the council I know that caught myeye for tomorrow night's meeting is the UH
the property maintenance code discussion. It'llbe just a discussion tomorrow night and with
the potential of meeting next month actuallyapprove the first reading of the ordinance.

(01:00:15):
But this is there is another situationto kind of like with the asset priorities,
it's a long time in the works. There's a lot of discussion and
a lot of things to comb throughto make sure you get it right.
And it looks like things are almostset in stone for the municipal code.
What what's the latest on that.Yes, they had as a workshop last
week where it was talked about.UM. Again, Actually this this goes

(01:00:39):
back or predates even this this calendaryears, goes back even a year or
two where it's been a conversation andUH, this is a challenging one for
counsel to UH to work on fromthe standpoint that UM many people are saying,
well, why can't we do onour property what we want to do

(01:00:59):
on our property? And UH,I think that that fact is acknowledged and
recognized. UM, But when weget emails from constituents where you have a
home that has a large accumulation ofUM items. In one person's mind,

(01:01:21):
it might be valuable items that person'syou view, it's actually um very not
only unattractive, but it may beattracting you know, vermin or rodents or
or whatever, and affects a person'sability to enjoy you know, living next
door or across the street from them. And so uh, we're trying to

(01:01:42):
walk a fine line of respecting allproperty owners. UM. And it's you've
already gotten you know, emails frompeople that are expressing concerned that they don't
want you know, you know allI told to do what they can do
with their property. So it's oneof those times where UM, probably no
one's gonna or everyone's gonna have someissue with the final outcome. UM.

(01:02:07):
But I do believe that council isgoing to be supportive of trying to UM
provide some additional protection for property ownersUM who have concerns or objections to UM
you know, properties that are unsightly. Uh And and and unsightly as a

(01:02:30):
very challenging term to define, becausewhat's unsightful to me maybe not unsightful to
you. So I think it's kindof really focused a lot on in terms
of is its attractive for you knowvermin Rodent's uh pass uh. You know
one in particular I think is youknow, standing water if there's people have
you know, puddles or ponds andthis is not ornamental. We're talking about

(01:02:53):
something which waters is standing in alow spot and for breeding breeding ground for
mosquitoes for a discussion, so uh, it's uh yeah, but the motion
is it is you're right, it'sa discussion as a follow up to the
workshop that was held last Tuesday night. And then the motion is to put

(01:03:13):
this item on the July eleventh CityCouncil agenda with a first reading of an
ordinance. So uh, a publicinput will be allowed tomorrow night and then
also on the first reading public inputwill be allowed and also council reads all
the emails that people you know sendin. Um. But it's uh,

(01:03:34):
I think it's an important one forthe just for the overall m appearance,
safety, public health, UM andproperty values for everybody, not just for
a few. All right. Ialso see there there's another im on the
agenda regarding fireworks for rag Brye afterthe concert there on on the twenty fifth

(01:03:57):
Jul I'm glad to see that we'rewe're gearing up. No pun intended,
Okay, pun somewhat intended. Uh, yes, you see what I did
there? Yeah, but I amawake. Yeah, it's it's a good
or mind. I mean, we'reless than I'm up away from rag right
now. We're ready. We're gettingready here. Yeah. Actually, and
you know next month we actually UMhave a city council meeting on July eleventh.

(01:04:21):
We moved our council meeting from thetwenty fifth to the eighteenth because of
rag raging in town on Tuesday night. But yeah, this one. Uh.
The the musical group Hairball likes umOr always includes a ground fireworks show.

(01:04:42):
UM. That's part of their eventand that's not the issue at all
of where or not they can useit. But um City ordinance requires a
five million dollar liability UM coverage onthe uh anyone using you know, fireworks,
and they care a two million dollargeneral liability or umbrella. And they

(01:05:05):
are asking for consideration to UM havethe five million dollar cap lowered to what
they krol may carry at two million. And according to staff report, it's
an extra twelve hundred dollars premium fora one night um increase in that liability.

(01:05:26):
And I think this is gonna bean interesting conversation because there's gonna be
thousands and thousands of people you know, packed into on main Street, you
know, to watch the show.And we startinly, don't want anyone to
get hurt, and um, hairball. Their representatives said that they've never had
an incident and the person that's doingthe show has done it for I forget

(01:05:49):
it's it's uh, it's many manyyears with absolutely no incidents, and so
they're asking for counsel to uh,you know, lower the live ability insurance
UM and uh, you know theold adage, if you you know,
make a change, well, couldsomething happen? So but so it's not

(01:06:11):
a matter of whether or not thepermit would be approved to steam more less
would the would they be able tochange their limits of liability? Gotcha,
it's more to that than I thought, John. And there's always more to
the city council meetings than we havetime for to on these discussions. But
we always appreciate your time. AndI know that Mel's in here, but

(01:06:31):
I know that he very much appreciatesevery chance he's gotten to talk with you,
whether it's about council meetings or areanything else, And be sure John,
to spread the word throughout city Hallthat all are invited again to Mel's
sort of retirement party on Friday morningout the water plants, starting around seven
thirty. How's that all right?Seven thirty till when whenever midnight the show

(01:06:55):
wraps up. Yeah, the showwraps up at nine o'clock. But I'm
sure there will be many well wishersaround. Still, I think, well
well deserved. He's a he's ahe's kind of an icon on the radio
and in our community. So absolutely, John, all right, thank Mayor
of Ames joining us this morning.Thank you John, as we preview tomorrow
night's Ames City Council meeting and thatgets on their way at six o'clock in

(01:07:17):
the council chambers at City Hall.It's eight twenty eight on Newstalk fourteen thirty
k SI, eight thirty nine onNewstalk fourteen thirty k A s I and
I think we have some winners forthe Birthday Club, don't we, Scott.
We do. Indeed we have Tarnsorry, tarns Striegel and Michelle Banstra

(01:07:42):
as our winners and book because it'sthe HIVY Happy Birthday Club, are entitled
each to either a free birthday cakeor Bulkia balloons from one to the other
of the Ames High Vats and we'llhave to pick that out as we give
them a call, all right,and we'll remind you that we'll do another
round of birthdays tomorrow. So ifyou are someone you know has a birthday
tomorrow, give us a call tomorrow. We'll get things underway, you know,

(01:08:04):
just after six o'clock and take yourbirthday calls for the June twenty seventh
birthdays now eat. It sounded tome I could be wrong, Scott.
You're struggling to read there a littlebit. We're having some trouble with your
handwriting. I confess I I teaseyou, but I know full well that

(01:08:29):
I have terrible, terrible handry.You've seen this first, had you experience
this? It is bad. Imean, it is not at all good.
I sometimes struggle to read my ownhandwrite. It's that bad. Yeah,
I mean. I use an iPad, laptop, you know, phone
whatever to take notes because writing stuffdown it is almost futile at times,

(01:08:57):
because if I can't read what Iwrote down in my own If I can't
read, what's the point. It'slike the information isn't there anyway, So
I yeah, I'll use the notesapp or you know, to take some
notes on the computer or whatever.But in at least one, uh school
district in Canada, cursive it's makinga comeback. Did you learn cursive in

(01:09:21):
school? Yeah, like grade school? Uh? Yeah, yeah, I
remember grade school. Now I'm abit older than you, so I don't
know if it's changed between when Iwas an elementary. Uh. We're in
a lot of computers around when Iwas in elementary, and we didn't really
use them for class work. Weused them to play organ trail. Did

(01:09:43):
you play organ trail? Yeah?Did you do assignments on computer? It's
like in grade schools? Well,let's see, yes, I would have
yeah, yeah, yeah, Idon't. I don't really remember, and
I think it was I can't rememberit was junior high or high school that
I took a typing class. Idon't think it was a requirement to take
the typing class, but that typingclass that was not done on computers.

(01:10:09):
We're talking about nineteen nineties around here. I was in high school then maybe
a few years before when I wasin middle school. Still we used IBM
Selectric typewriters. Electric typewriter, yes, but it had the correctable correction ribbon
in it, so you didn't haveto bust out the white out he make.
You could just erase on the keyboard. So that that's how I learned

(01:10:30):
to keyboard. I don't know,I mean, I don't remember when I
started at Iowa State. I don'tthink you had to take a keyboard.
You had to take the library class, library, one on one or whatever
that was. That's like a halfcredit course everybody has to take. Here's
how to use the library. Ithink you just you come into college now,
if you're in school now, you'veprobably been using computers your whole life,

(01:10:55):
and maybe even tablets, so youknow what a keyboard look like.
Maybe you don't know like the propertyping technique that you know we were formally
taught, but you know what todo. You know how to type basically.
You know, you probably spend moretime typing than writing when you,
you know, grow up in thecurrent era. The Ontario elementary schools actually

(01:11:19):
made cursive writing optional in two thousandand six, but it's it's going to
make a return as a mandatory partof the curriculum starting this September. And
it's not just about actually, it'snot just about writing or being legible and
that sort of thing. This isfrom the CTV News out of Toronto Education

(01:11:44):
Minister Stephen Lucky. I think it'sl ECC said it's more than just teaching
students how to sign their name.The research has been very clear the cursive
writing is a critical life skill andhelping young people to express more substantively,
to think more critically, and ultimatelyto express more authentically. I don't know
what all that's supposed to mean.I know it sounds very holistic though.

(01:12:08):
Yeah, that's very that's true.Yeah, he says what they're trying to
do to create a very talented generationof young people who have mastered the fundamental
skills like reading, writing, andmath that are foundations of any successful,
productive life in the country. Ithink he means not not in the countryside,
in the country of Cana anyway.Um, yeah, I don't know.

(01:12:29):
Do you feel like your life wouldbe richer and more fulfilling if you
had learned to write cursive properly?That's a tough one. Yeah, it
is, that's not both. Myparents write beautifully in cursive, really,
they really do. Yeah. Mymom like these uh these nice maybe curls

(01:12:50):
accents, you know, kind ofleaning off to the side just a little
bit. My dad, his cursivewriting is very small and a little bit
block like looks cool, Yeah,looks cool, but I can't always read
it. Yeah, I would saymy dad's writing is almost as bad as

(01:13:10):
mine. Uh he You know howthere's always the old cliche joke about how
doctors have bad handwriting. Oh,he's a veterinarian, so his handwriting probably
isn't as bad as a physicians,but you know, it's he's still a
doctor. He still you know,his handwriting still isn't great. My mom's

(01:13:30):
handwriting is excellent, which if youknow my mom, he would not be
surprised. But it's so Going backto Ontario here, their new language curriculums
have to be in place for thenew school year, introduces a host of
changes, including a renewed focus onphonics. Many of their curriculum editions can
be traced back to report last yearfrom the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which

(01:13:50):
said the province's public education system wasfailing students with reading disabilities and others by
not using evidence based approaches. Andand I like the term evidence based because
they actually have apparently done some researchinto this, right, there's some evidence
that says, you know, theoutcomes will be better if you learn cursive

(01:14:15):
in grade school. The curriculum reintroducescursive writing as an expectation starting in grade
three. That's how you say thirdgrade in Canadian. Canadian, when they
say grade one, grade two,grade three, we always say first grade,
second grade. They're grade Oh.Anyway, that's something I didn't know.
Shelley Stagg Peterson, a curriculum,teaching and learning professor at the University

(01:14:36):
of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies andEducation, thinks it's long overdue. Cursive
should never have been taken out ofthe curriculum. There isn't a lot of
research specifically on cursive writing preus andsaid, but the work that has been
done shows that it not only teachesstudents the skill of writing that script in
and of itself, but it helpsto reinforce overall literacy, which makes sense

(01:14:58):
to me. I don't no academic, how do you see that? Well,
if you write well, it seemsto me you would put more thought
into what you're writing. If you'reputting thought or concentration into actually making your
writing legible, it would lead yourbrain, I would think to maybe better
word choices are expanding your vocabulary,using better vocabulary when you do write.

(01:15:21):
I don't I can't say any ofthat it's backed by any evidence, but
but kind of maybe evidence based givenone hot minute here, Yeah, well
we'll do that study ourselves. Itreinforces reading as well as writing, as
you know the quote from one ofthe experts here. So that's uh,

(01:15:43):
it's very interesting develop I don't knowif that would ever take off in the
US if we try to get backto cursive and I don't know. I
mean maybe there are districts in thiscountry, in the state, in this
area then never stopped teaching cursive.But I wonder if this takes off on
Ontario and their scores head up asit were, the evidence based approach.

(01:16:06):
I wonder if we would start adoptingthings like that. How far is Iowa
away from doing something like that.I don't know. Yeah, And it's
interesting since it's a different country towhen people look at and say, well
you know, there's different culture factorsor or they might not. It mean
it's easy to dismiss sometimes evidence basedoutcomes, even if they had to have

(01:16:29):
solid evidence if they're they're in anothercountry or another culture is involved. But
it would be interesting to see whatwould happen in the US if more schools,
you know, decided to start teachingcursive again and say well, this
is this is going to help you, This is going to make you it's
it's going to help you read better, it's gonna help you express yourself better

(01:16:49):
in other ways. I remember readingtoo early when I, you know,
started getting into broadcasting. I've reada book that was together by two of
the most famous sports center anchors atthe time on ESPN, Keith Overman and
Dan Patrick, and I think itwas Olverman wrote a passage just about,
you know, people asking for advice, what's what, what to do?

(01:17:13):
How to make themselves better as broadcastersare what having? He said to read
everything? And I think it's it'srelated because he, you know, he
said reading will make you better.And it doesn't matter what you read.
It's not the idea that it's goingto make you smarter or you're going to
learn more. About something. Althoughthat is obviously a benefit of reading,
it's just that will help you toexpress yourself better, whether it's speaking on

(01:17:36):
TV or radio or writing something thatwill be later part of your broadcast.
And I always thought that was veryThat's a piece of advice and made a
lot of sense to me. Notthat i've followed it, mind you,
I don't. I don't read nearlyenough. And usually what I do read
it's research to you know, learnsomething. I don't read for pleasure or

(01:17:57):
a great deal. But and whenI say I'm reading to learn something,
I'm learning something about sports, likewhy this batter is bad at batting right
now, or why this football teamis doing You know, that kind just
doesn't follow. You're the sports directorand you're reading about sports. It should
be enjoying literature a little more,probably, Yeah, less time in front

(01:18:18):
of the TV. Yeah, yeah, that's probably a probably good idea.
Need I should read more biographies,that's what I need to Well, you're
doing your job when you read aboutsports, right yeah, that's why I
tell myself anyway. Yeah, butmaybe, And I don't know if you
how you took notes when you werein college. Did you use longhand to

(01:18:38):
write out notes. Um, Iwould I would be typing things up.
Okay, yeah, one device oranother. I started twenty years ago more
than that, but anyway, andlaptops weren't terribly common and they were very
heavy back then, so the onlyreal option for me was was writing out
in long hand. I didn't wedidn't have iPad ads, you know,

(01:19:00):
and super lightweight portable computers. Butyou know, I did what it could
and I think writing it out inlonghand actually helped me retain information as long
as I could actually read the information, because again, some of my handwriting
is illigible even to me. Notnot the best combination always. It's eight

(01:19:21):
fifty one right now on a Mondaymorning on Newstalk fourteen thirty kasi at fifty
three on your Monday morning here onNewstalk fourteen thirty kasi, sixty seven degrees
Hartley Claudie, A little bit breezyat northwest wind twenty to thirty miles an
hour, and it's gonna be thestory the day. We'll get up to
about eighty, but we'll see somewind along with that and partly cloud.

(01:19:44):
There's just no rain in the forecast. Little it's no chance as a matter
of fact today. So that's that'ssome good news. I bet there's a
good chance that Tom Stucker will beflying soon. He is a guy.
I just came across this story thismorning, and I'm flabbergasted that this could
happen. But anyway, tom Stuckerbody lifetime pass from United Airlines in nineteen

(01:20:09):
ninety and since then has flown twentythree million miles. Wow, he got
his money's worth. Absolutely. Ididn't even know you could ever buy a
lifetime pass on an airline, muchless get it in back in nineteen ninety.
You want to guess how much thislifetime pass cost him in nineteen ninety.

(01:20:30):
Gosh, um, two thousand dollars, Oh buddy. Multiply that by
ten and you're still not there.Multiply that by one hundred and you're still
not there. Two hundred ninety thousanddollars. Wow. But he's so he's
gotten his money worth then, Iwould think so. I mean, and
you lay out two hundred ninety thousanddollars in nineteen ninety and you rack up

(01:20:55):
twenty three million miles just on thatone time payment, that I think it
was worthwhile he was worthwhile to me. Uh and and for Tom Stucker,
yeah, he definitely uh feels thatit's worth worthwhile. He is a car
dealership consultant from New Jersey. Uhand uh and recently he talked with The
Washington Post about his uh, hishistory, and the Post says that this

(01:21:19):
is more miles flown by any outwith any passenger. I guess we should
say maybe some pilots have succeeded that, but the most by any individual in
history. Um Stucker tells the Postshe once spent twelve consecutive days without touching
a bed after he flew from NewYork, New Jersey, to San Francisco,

(01:21:40):
then to Bangkok and Dubai. Andat the only time he was not
on a plane, and he wasin an airport lounge. You know,
I don't know if he was justflying for the sake of flying. I
guess if you can do that.Stucker is now sixty nine years old,
and uh his frequent travels were drivenby the accumulation of airline miles. Uh.

(01:22:06):
That's the other side. You're notonly you know, you lay down
your two hundred and ninety thousand dollarsin nineteen ninety money to get, you
know, flights basically for the restof your life. You're also racking up
airline miles, which there are perksto that that you don't typically you don't
typically get sometimes just by paying incash. Um, yeah, that's not

(01:22:33):
a bad way to go, butum he uh. Stucker tells the Post
that he once used miles to obtainso many gift cards he was able to
renovate his brother's home. Wow,they don't they don't do that any where.
You can't exchange miles for gift cardsnowadays. But uh. He also
won an auction using miles to bidto win this auction to be a guest

(01:22:56):
on an episode of Seinfeld. He'dbeen four hundred and fifty one thousand miles.
There's frequent file miles to to geton TV. No, he didn't
enter a contest. He well,he entered the contest. No that he
entered. I mean he won theauction and apparently was on T. I
don't know what episode of seinfeldt itwas. But you know, if you're
rewatching it, to keep an eyeout for, you know, a guy

(01:23:19):
who looks like he's on airplanes alot. Stucker tells the Post He's been
to more than one hundred countries andmore than one hundred and twenty honeymoons with
his wife's spoiled the misses with thatone for sure. United, for its
part, has embraced Stucker, askingfor his input and crafting the menu at
their Polaris clubs, and they keepa Mercedes ready on the airport tarmac with

(01:23:44):
Stucker needs to make a quick connection, so they're like, yes, you
gave us two hundred and ninety thousanddollars. Yes, you get flights for
the rest of your life on that, but we're also going to treat a
real special. I guess what,what's the point I don't know understand the
point of that. Really, it'slike you already got his money. He's
only going to be flying your airlinebecause he paid you two hundred ninety thousand.

(01:24:05):
Now you don't need to do anyextra for this guy, right.
It's yeah, that's the that's theclassy move. That's exactly right, um
Stucker. Yeah, he gets recognizedon flights. He flights so frequently the
flight cruise even recognize me. Sure, he probably walks into those airline lounges
and they're like norm or you know, whatever you want your usual mister stucker.

(01:24:30):
You know that's that's that's living thelife though. I mean down two
hundred ninety thousand dollars, you canfly all you want. Yeah, go
for it. I think it's cooldown I'd do it. Uh, let
me see if I could script togetherthat two hundred ninety thous well can you
imagine what that would be? Atleast a half million a day? Right?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it onMonday with your friends. David Scott

(01:24:53):
will be back tomorrow as his belltakes another day of vacation. He'll be
back on Wednesday as well as onFriday for his big finale. Keep It
Here a new Stalk fourteen thirty SI