Talkline | Nov. 19, 2025 - MetroNews Talkline

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Well they've done. It's the House passed the bill to
release the files, the Senate Senate on and it's headed
to the President. Let's mention his talk line Renderway.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Jes Radio turned off from the studios of w v
r C Media and the Metro News Radio and Television network,
The Voice Up West Virginia comes the most powerful show
in West Virginia. This it's metron who was talk Line

(00:47):
with Dave Wilson and t J Meadows.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Activated so it's network can from Charles stand By to
David t J.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
You're on.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Metronews. Talk Line is presented by Encovia Insurance, encircling you
with coverage to protect what you care about most. Visit
incovia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Welcome inside the Cove Insurance studios Dave Wilson and Morgantown. TJ.
Meadows is in Charleston. Appreciate you listening in on one
of our great radio affiliates across the state of West Virginia.
Or if you are watching on the Metro News TV
app eight hundred and seven to sixty five talks the
phone number eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two
five five you can text the show at three or

(01:33):
four Talk three oh four. Coming up a little bit
later on, we're going to get back into the discussion
on the school aid formula. A couple of perspectives, one
from Rome County Superintendent Michelle Stillado, and a little bit
later the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy has
some ideas on how to improve the school aid formula.
We'll get into that second hour. Jared Halprin stops by

(01:54):
also everything you need to know before heading out on
the road for your Thanksgiving travels. Yes, it's time to
go over the river and through the woods. Jake Link
is our video producer today. Ethan Collins is handling the
audio side of things, and TJ. Meadows is cracking the
whip down in Charleston. Morning, sir, good morning.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
I'm looking at the price of wholesale gasoline. It's actually
down three percent today ahead of the busiest travel day
of the year. That's kind of surprises me, Like, yeah,
if you're paying it the pump for driving, But it
surprises me.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
You know what, Just take the wind, TJ. If prices
go down, just take the wind. You drive it anywhere.
Thanksgiving still a week out, you guys know.

Speaker 5 (02:39):
We host Man everybody's coming over to the casa and
uh yeah, it's it's wild, it's crazy. There's way too
many people in the house, like twenty five kids under
the age of ten or something, and spills everywhere, and
it's like, oh, it's so much fun. And then when
it's over, you're like, ooh.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
As my, uh as my. Papal All once said it's
time for you good people to leave. That would come
up around holidays at some point, TJ it was time
for you to go home?

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Yeah, ours was, Hey, send them hall bed for the night.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
See yeah, Jim Garretty Triple A will join us later
as we get into the travel holiday travel season. So
yesterday was the big votes on Capitol Hill. The House
of our House of Representatives passed the bill to release
the Epstein files. The Senate Senate on with a unanimous consent.
So now it heads to the President's desk where he

(03:34):
said he will sign it and then we will have
the Epstein files. Brad McIlhenny was covering it from a
local perspective here in West Virginia. How did the West
Virginia delegation vote? What they have to say? Brad mclhenney
was keeping tracking he joins us on Metro News talk
line this morning, Brad, good morning.

Speaker 6 (03:52):
Hello, good morning, And yes, there was only one Congressman
who voted against doing this. It was, uh, there are
so few you can single this guy out. It was
Clay Higgins, a Republican from Louisiana. So the backwards math
means that if it was everybody, it was yes. Riley
Moore and Carol Miller, west Virginia's two congressional representatives. I

(04:15):
will say I was careful to make sure they did
vote yes, because it's always possible somebody is absent. But
they voted in favor of the bill and then came
out with statements afterwards. Riley Moore's was Riley Moore represents
the northern counties of West Virginia. He said, today House
Republicans took an important step to provide the American people

(04:36):
the radical transparency they deserve regarding Jeffrey Epstein and just
laying Maxwell's horrific crimes. And Carol Miller, the Republican who
represents southern West Virginia counties, also posted a statement on
social media saying quote, the American people deserve transparency and
victims of his meaning Epstein's heinous abuse deserve justice. Miller

(05:01):
continued by saying, I trust our Department of Justice and
the House Oversight Committee to handle this investigation with care
to prevent any further pain to the victims and their families.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
So, Brad back to Higgins. I think it's interesting. One
of the most googled phrases last night was why did
Higgins vote? Know I believe it or not? And here's
what he said. He said it abandons talking about the
bill two hundred and fifty years of criminal justice procedure
in America. He put that on X as written, this
bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people, witnesses, people

(05:32):
who provided Alibi's family members, etc. He went on to
deepen his explanation, but was on privacy grounds. Folks can
make of that what they will. There's also a piece
in the Washington Post this morning talking about the fact
that even if Trump signs this the way this bill
was crafted, brat, if an investigation is quote unquote ongoing

(05:53):
or underway, the Justice Department could curtail some of those
files and not actually release them. How does that play
in terms of Congress? I mean, they've passed the Buck.
Now to me, it's like, well, that's on the Justice Department.
I doubt Miller, more or any of the delegations said
anything about it, but I mean, this thing's not over,

(06:14):
and if the Justice Department holds some files back, I
mean we could very much see this back in the news.
And look, West Virginians, I think by and large want
the files released, so that could pet eat back on
Miller and Moore your thoughts there.

Speaker 6 (06:28):
Well, you know, in terms of the question regarding maybe
innocent names being being tangled up with the release of
this material, that was a concern expressed by House Speaker
Mike Johnson, and he said that the bill needed to
be amended by the US Senate. He voted for it anyway,
along with everybody except for Congressman Higgins. When it went

(06:51):
to the Senate, though Senator Dune, the majority leader, did
not apparently see that same need, and they asked the
bill by unanimous consent, didn't really take an individual vote
on it, just unanimous consent and sent it to the president.
The other part of your question about well, are there
enough essentially loopholes to withhold names or to say, well,

(07:13):
we have an investigation ongoing and therefore cannot release this material.
Those are all questions that are out there, and I
think it remains to be seen, that's in the future.
But I think this stampede of four hundred and twenty
seven to one vote shows that there is significant public interest,
that lawmakers were hearing it from the public, that there

(07:37):
were people who werewithstanding, who were standing up to pressure
from the Trump administration, among them Republicans Thomas Massey of Kentucky,
Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Bobert, Nancy Mace, all wanting to
move ahead with the release of these materials, and if
they are not released, yeah, I think the pressure just returns,

(07:59):
just come back.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
US Senator Shelley Moore Capito was on with David and
Amanda yesterday on Metro News Midday, had this to say,
prior to.

Speaker 5 (08:06):
The vote, what do you expect us to learn when
those files are opened?

Speaker 7 (08:09):
You know, I really don't know. I think that somebody
a member of Congress I saw earlier said there's already
been sixty eight thousand pages that have been released. I
assume that this will be maybe more names. I think
we have to be very careful and we'll probably look
at this in the Senate to protect innocent victims.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
And she said she'd released the files already, kind of
along the same lines as everybody else. Brad, I wonder
I know Congressman More said on this program last week.
He said, yeah, he'll vote to release them transparently. Let's
get him out. I don't recall if Congressman Miller had
made any previous statements, but certainly when President Trump said

(08:48):
all right, fine, release them, I'll sign them, that probably
got well. I would say almost all but one Republican
on board, if they were on the fence or had doubts,
they probably flipped when the President said all right, fine, uncle.

Speaker 6 (09:02):
Yeah, you know. And to your point, this has been
flowing on two tracks. The House Oversight Committee has been
obtaining and releasing material that's come from the Epstein estate
through subpoenas, but there was also this effort to try
to get the Justice Department to turn over remaining materials

(09:22):
from the investigations of Jeffrey Epstein and Giseleen Maxwell. The
President made it clear over months that he did not
want this material to be released, and even as recently
as last week, he was applying that kind of pressure
to Thomas Massey to Marjorie Taylor Green and others. Because

(09:43):
there was a discharge petition. The President and his administration
could have released this material on their own, or Congress
could have just run a bill. Instead, it resulted in
this discharge position petition. Back in September, I asked the
communications staffs of Congressman Moore and Congresswoman Miller would they

(10:08):
sign on to the discharge position petition. I don't think
I got a response at all from Congresswoman Miller's office.
I think I got nothing at the time September, Congressman
Moore's office said that he supported the ongoing activities of
the House Oversight Committee, but that he was a no

(10:32):
at the time on the discharge position. And then, as
you said, when the President reverse course just this week
and gave the go ahead on voting for that petition,
all Republicans but one voted yes.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
It's interesting, though, when you think about it in terms
of as much as Trump likes to flirt with this idea, hey,
I'm going to run for a third term. He's a
lame duck president. It's just a matter of when he
becomes lame. And you're already reading all these opinion pieces
about look this was the line, right, and Bobert and
MTG and others have drawn it, and his power over

(11:09):
the House is starting to slip. What if anything, do
you give credence to in that Brad You think that's
the case? I mean, is he starting to become that
lame duck president that I mean it catches everybody in
the second term.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 6 (11:24):
I think those kinds of cracks in bolden members of
Congress who otherwise have been very loyal, and among the
most loyal has been Marjorie Taylor Green, the Republican from Georgia,
but has found herself in the Republican in the President's
crosshairs of criticism within the last week and has stood
up to it. She did not reverse course on her

(11:44):
position and in fact aimed some criticism at the president.
There are, you know, I think other issues. The Supreme
Court right now, which is dominated by Trump appointees, is
considering whether the President really has legal standing to do
the aggressive tariff regime, the aggressive tariffs roll out that

(12:08):
he has so far done. They very well, judging by
their questions, may go against him. So I think that
there is, you know, a significant sense in the air
that his power may be waning within his own party.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Mencher new state wide correspondent Brad mcwhenney, you can read
about that at wv metronews dot com. TJ and I
will have some further Epstein discussion coming up, but Brad
also over at the website. The West Virginia National Guard
will remain in Washington, d C. But there have been
some changes to that arrangement. What's the latest scaling back?

(12:46):
So just a little more than a week ago, Cannad
circ Judge Richard Lindsay concluded that the President was within
his authority to summon the National Guard to the District
of Columbia. It's you know, under such federal authority, and
that the Governor of West Virginia was within his hours,

(13:09):
his his granted authority under the law to send the
National Guard there. However, that that initiative is now being
scaled back the National Guard. The West Virginia National Guard
announced yesterday the continued presence in Washington, d C is
going to be on a voluntary basis. That about one
hundred and seventy one hundred and sixty some Guard members

(13:32):
are going to remain voluntarily as part of the d
C effort. But the rest, it had been three hundred
four hundred people in total. The rest were brought back
this past Monday. The deployment of those who have volunteered
to remain is supposed to be on a timetable of
now until the end of the year, but that's going

(13:54):
to be reassessed as the year goes on. So still
in Washington, d C.

Speaker 6 (13:59):
But it's now voluntary member by member to be part
of the joint DC task Force.

Speaker 5 (14:05):
And if results go back the other way. I mean
for a while there, for maybe four or five weeks, Brad,
you probably know better than meat, we were seeing, you know,
no murders, no incidents, and then that started to spike
again in DC. The inevitable happened. If those numbers continue
to rise, I wonder if that volunteer status will become
less and less or politically, you know, not to get

(14:26):
too deep in the politics of it. Politically, though, the
less guardsmen you have maybe the better case you can make.
If you're Trump and others, see look what happened. You
pulled them out, it went back up kind of thing.
It'll be interesting, I think, to see how all that
plays out.

Speaker 6 (14:40):
Well, it's been sort of hard to describe what the
Guard's mission has been in DC, because I can't see
that they've been taking any direct role in law enforcement.
I mean, they're certainly not arresting people, but they are
providing some support, particularly in highly traveled areas, the public transportation,
metro stations, the public parks, some of the more touristy

(15:05):
areas of DC. They're just establishing a presence. And I
think that they have played a role, you know, if
there is some arrests or activity by law enforcement, they
kind of establish a perimeter. But you know, it's been
hard to say that the National Guard itself has played
any role in crime prevention or anything else there. It's

(15:28):
been more of a we're here, We're a presence, and that.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Mere presence is enough in downtown and I'll use micro
example here TJ Downtown Morgantown. More police on the streets,
less crime on the streets, you have fewer camp sites,
you have fewer places where there's drug use. Why just
simply having people their uniformed officers there is a prevention?

(15:54):
Is it has an impact? So I and again we
can't quantify it though, right it's hard to fight it's
hard to put that into into some sort of measurable
calculus to say, well, it had you know, x percent impact,
although I do believe just just the sheer presence has
an impact.

Speaker 5 (16:13):
When it's volunteer. Either of you can jump in on
this now that it's been made that though, I think
it's it's it's harder to make the case, maybe not legally,
but politically it's I think it's harder to make the
kind of arguments that we've heard. I mean, it's volunteer.
They could come home when they want to. Now they
can sign up if they want to. To me, that
that takes some of the sting out of the arguments

(16:36):
that that those who didn't like this may have. Am
I right or wrong there? Brad?

Speaker 2 (16:41):
You know?

Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think so it had become on the the the
original emergency that the President declared ended in September. Uh
so it became unclear to me what the mission continued
to be, what what the underlying reason was, and when
it was gonna end. I mean, it just kept being

(17:02):
extended and extended and extended. So there was this question about, well,
you know, these are people with jobs in West Virginia
and families. Uh, the holidays are coming up, are they
gonna and there are other things in West Virginia. I mean,
you just saw the National Guard making a great effort
to participate in in beating their fellow West Virginia supporting

(17:23):
food pantries and uh and and food banks.

Speaker 8 (17:27):
UH.

Speaker 6 (17:28):
Certainly there are you know, more floods in West Virginia
than you would really like. So bringing back in time
for the holidays, those who did not want to stay
or or who had no particular interest in staying, I
think makes makes decent sense. And for those who continue
to volunteer, I mean maybe they want to study paycheck
or they're not as tied to other obligations.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
You can read the story. It's posted for you over
at the website WV metro News dot com as well.
Brad macleheaey Metro State Well, I don't know why I
got tongue titled Metro News Statewide Correspondent. I only say
it thirty eight times a week.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
Brad.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Always appreciate it, buddy, Thank you, hey, thanks coming up
your thoughts on the Epstein files a little bit later.
Should the state treasurer be setting political agenda legislative agendas?
We'll talk about that as well. It's talk line from
the ing Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 9 (18:22):
To care for.

Speaker 5 (18:23):
Here at the Healthy we are here.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
From all of us here at the Health Plan. We
want to make your season bright. Whether you're wrapping gifts
or planning next year's goals, We're here for you. Happy
holidays and Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Speaker 10 (18:45):
Here.

Speaker 9 (18:50):
Some say he's a man of mystery. Others say he's
the holiday hit maker.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
No one saw coming.

Speaker 5 (18:55):
It's showtime.

Speaker 9 (18:56):
The holiday hit maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit. What are
you doing.

Speaker 5 (19:05):
Bringing the holiday hype here? Enjoy scratch off?

Speaker 11 (19:08):
It's on me?

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Whoam ticket?

Speaker 2 (19:10):
My work here is done?

Speaker 9 (19:11):
Be the surprise hit maker. West Virginia Lottery games fun,
festive and full of flare. Please play responsibly.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit NCOVA dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Text line is three or four Talk three oh four
coming up. Bottom of the hour. Mister Meadows has a
commentary over wv metro News dot com. Go read it.
This is your assignment. Go read it. Now he weighs
in on whether or not the Treasurer should be setting
a legislative agendable discuss coming up at the bottom of

(20:01):
the hour. Let's get in some text here. Three or
four talk three or four. Texter says, you can thank
King Trump for that cheap gas. Tj uh David's over
the river and through the woods to the stand we go.
We'll talk about that in a couple of days. Oh yeah, yes, yes,
I agree with you about that.

Speaker 5 (20:20):
You have cameras out, can I ask scouting?

Speaker 1 (20:23):
We have one? Okay, you know, we put one up
to try to get an idea what's coming through, what
to keep an eye on. We are not. And I say,
weed and Dad and I I know some people go
all out. They got cameras up all over the place.
The things are going to catch bigfoot or something in
the woods. We do a little bit. You do a
little bit of scouting, try to just kind of see
where deer moving and hopefully one comes by on Monday morning,

(20:48):
prayerfully about eight o'clock. And if it would, you know,
expire near the road so you can get your four
wheeler right up to it. That's even better.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
You got to send a picture.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Oh oh yeah, there'll be pictures hopefully. I hope we
are the pictures. What Dave said about congress members getting
permissioned to vote from Donnie Trump, our congress members are
flat out I can't say that, but I get what
you're saying. I do think that changed the calculus.

Speaker 7 (21:13):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Once Trump said, Okay, then you know, any of those
who are on the fence or a pose, we're going
to vote for this and move forward.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
So one guy does it, it's tough. The next guy,
the next guy after that a lot easier. And it's
getting easier.

Speaker 12 (21:25):
All right.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
We got some more thoughts to get to. We'll try
to get to those a little bit later on this hour. Also,
should the Treasurer be rolling out a legislative agenda? TJ.
Wade in on that his commentary at wv metro news
dot Com will discuss on the other side of the
news break. This is talk Line on Metro News, the
Voice of West Virginia. It is ten thirty and time

(21:48):
to get a news update. Let's check in on the
Metro News radio network find out what's happening across the
great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. The funeral tr
of US for coal minor Steve Lipscom is scheduled for
Saturday at four at Herbert Hoover High School, his alma mater.
The forty two year old Lipscomb died in a Nicholas
County coal mine earlier this month, where he was a
foreman and an emt. His obituary says he left this
life a hero, but for those who knew him, he

(22:17):
was a hero every day. You can link to that
obituary at our website now wv metronews dot com. Wester
Viginia's congressional delegation part of the nearly unanimous vote to
release the Epstein files. The House passed the measure first Tuesday,
in the Senate quickly agreed. The votes came a day
after President Trump caught on the release here sentat of
Sheldon Or Capitol saying Tuesday on Metro News Midday, the

(22:38):
controversy has gone long enough and has been a distraction
in Congress.

Speaker 7 (22:42):
So let's get it over with. Let's just rip the
band aid off and go forward.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
And Capitol went on to say she wasn't sure what
would be learned when the files are opened. High school
students from several other schools scheduled to meet in Charleston
today for day two of the gear Up Forum. Students
are discussing ways to encourage fellow students to get training
or head to college after high school. West Virginia Gear
Persistant director of Mallory Carpenter.

Speaker 13 (23:01):
Part of today's message is definitely that those jobs are here,
but you have to have the education and training to
do that so you can stay. You can find a
good job in here in West Virginia that will support you,
it'll support your family, it'll allow you to contribute to
your community.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
But you have to go on and get that certificate.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
You can read more at WV metronews dot com. You're
listening to Metro News for forty years, the voice of
West Virginia.

Speaker 14 (23:24):
Attention high school football fans. If you're wondering where your
team ranks each week, check out the Tutors Biscuit World
powererankings at WV metronews dot com. Each Tuesday morning, Metro
News will update the power rankings for all four classes,
and to find out where your favorite team ranks, simply
go to WV metronews dot com click on the high
School sports tab and then the high School Power Rankings.

(23:46):
Twenty twenty five Metro News Power Rankings are presented by
Tutor's Biscuit World. Start your day the homemade way. Visit
them at tutorsbiscuit World dot com.

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(24:19):
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Speaker 1 (24:20):
Find out what CEC can do for you.

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Visit CECI inc dot com.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
The check will be one million dollars For the person
who purchased a winning powerball ticket at missd Valley Grocery
in Hardy County. The ticket has five winning numbers with
the player missed on the powerball. Monday's numbers were seven
thirty three, fifty to fifty seven sixty six and the
powerball was twenty three. The State Cheer Championships are today
at the Charleston Coliseum A Convention Center. Session one begins
later this hour Class Double A, followed by Class A

(24:49):
Session two. At three o'clock, Class Quada, followed by Class Trip.
Away from the Metro News anchor desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Coming up more on the funding issues facing schools, the
school aid formula. How do we adjust this thing to
make it work better? We'll get into that discussion coming
up just a little bit. Over at WV metro news
dot com. This morning, TJ. Meadows has a commentary. Yesterday,
State treasure Larry Pack was on this show and others

(25:34):
rolling out his legislative priorities for twenty twenty six. And
there are some who pose the question, maybe murmured a
little bit and said, wow, what's the treasurer doing rolling
out a legislative agenda? Should he even be doing something
like that? Well, TJ, you wait in this morning with
the commentary over at WV metro News dot com.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
I think it's a fair question to ask, right, should
he be doing this? Some people may not like it,
I said my piece, they're entitled to their feelings. However,
I think that's misguided. And here's why. This particular treasurer,
like it or not, has a history of building businesses
from the ground up from nothing and turning them into

(26:16):
money making job employing enterprises. And he's done a heck
of a job at it. I believe that that kind
of acumen, that kind of success can translate very well
into government in helping us right the ship, in helping
us state that is losing population that desperately needs to

(26:37):
turn that around in order just to maintain our standard
of life here, let alone growing it and ensuring that
our children can stay. So when I see that kind
of expertise, I think we should run toward that. I
don't think we should shun that. I don't care if
it's the treasurer, the governor, the Secretary of state, guys
on the board of public Works. If you don't want

(26:57):
him to weigh in get rid of the border of
public works, I guess. But I think what he brings
to the table is valuable and it would be a
disservice not to at least entertain it. And listen, my
two cents.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Don't disagree with you and forget for a moment his background,
as you know, as a businessman. Whatever the things he
was talking about on this show yesterday. As far as
his legislative priorities, defending the Hope Scholarship, well, his office
administers the Hope Scholarship. It was, you know, the brainshot
of you know, his predecessor, Riley Moore. He was talking

(27:32):
about giving pay raises to teachers, he was talking about
eliminating state income text. Those are all areas that come
through the Treasurer's office. It's not as though he rolled
out a list of legislative priorities yesterday TJ that included
repealing certificate of need or addressing what was one of

(27:53):
the other popular ones from last year vaccination policy. It were,
it wasn't those types of priorities. These were directly or
very closely tied to his job as treasure So from
that point of view, yes, it would make sense that
he would come out with, hey, these are some things,
and these are the directions I think we should go

(28:14):
as treasure of the State of West Virginia. It makes
a little bit of sense if he had come out
with something like again repealing certificate of need or weighing
in on one of these major divisive social issues that
have taken up so much oxygen in the last couple
of sessions. Different story, different conversation, but these are all
tied to the job at hand, So I don't have

(28:35):
a problem with what he rolled out yesterday.

Speaker 5 (28:37):
It's really interesting that you hone in on that, because
feedback when you write these things is always so intriguing,
and you always get a few people that are politically
tied in. They'll send you a text or something, they'll
say this or that. I've gotten quite a number of
those on this particular commentary. And there are two themes,
not surprisingly. The first theme, and I'm not saying one

(28:57):
outweighs the other. The first theme is that hey, love Larry,
known him a long time, great guy. He's out of
his lane. He shouldn't be doing this as treasurer. Okay.
Second theme, thank god, somebody is talking about substantive policy

(29:18):
and night not these right, far right wing social issues
that just divide the state and will not move them forward.
Thank God, somebody is talking about ideas that can actually
spur the economy and can translate into success for West Virginia.
Those are the two themes that you're getting from the
insiders that like to talk about these things and like
to toss their ideas out there so that guys like

(29:38):
us talk about them on the radio. That's what I'm hearing.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
And there is a tightrope or a fine line, a
fine line he has to walk and anybody else on
the Board of Public Works has to walk. You don't
want to be perceived or intentionally undermine the administration because
that's not going to buy you any friends, that is
not going to get you support, that's not going to
help your at all. And I don't think he's doing that,

(30:01):
by the way, But there is a fine line to
walk there, and these are all things that Governor Morrissey
would support. No tax on tips. I would assume he
would be open to the idea of increasing salaries for
teachers across the state. Certainly we need to address that.
And you know, the Hope scholarship's not going anywhere. So
it's not as if he's undermining the administration at all.
He's rolling out an agenda that would fit into when

(30:23):
I think Governor Morrissey would like to see done in
twenty six as well.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yeah, and I agree with all of that the reality
is this starts to make people uncomfortable because of this
juxtaposition fair or unfair that has been out there with
Morrissey and also Jim Justice. Right, there's this long running speculation,

(30:48):
I guess would be the best word, that Morrissey is
vulnerable when it comes to that business focused, traditional conservative
vote who isn't as concerned about these social issues as
much as they are economic issues. Those folks that would
tend to fall into that Justice camp. And the idea

(31:09):
that Jim Justice would come back being disenfranchised with Washington
and want to run for a third term for governor
now that he's set a term out, and that Morrissey
would face this primary challenge. It's uncertain what Justice will
do and pack being one of his lieutenants and having
these ideas and having his own success. I mean, you know,

(31:32):
he's successful of his own right, doesn't need Jim Justice
to prop him up being able to come in and
fill that role and challenge Morrissey on that flank. These
kinds of things make people nervous who might not want
to see that, And you say, well, why do they
not want to see that? Well, to your point, these
are conservative staple ideas that if you move the needle on,

(31:55):
they transition into policy wins that Pack can then go
out and campaign on statewide. So if you're afraid that
you'll face that challenge, you don't necessarily want to give
him those wins to be able to go out and
campaign against you. So it happens earlier and earlier, Dave.
We're a primary state now, that's where we decide things,
and it's going to happen, whether it's Pack or Justice
or whomever. I'm fairly confident that Governor Morrissey will face

(32:18):
a challenge in that primary from a fellow Republican. It's
just who will it be.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
And PA's not going to come out and say, yes,
I'm going to run for governor that's undermining the administration. Yes,
do I believe this is the last office he will
run for? Absolutely not? Absolutely not.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
Well, And he said this morning he was on with
our buddy Howard mun Rod and Wheeling and you know,
Howard just put.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
It right to him, which is great eating shrimp right.

Speaker 5 (32:41):
Yeah. I talked to him about his Green Break trip.
He said the food was fabulous by of course of
those ds who follow that, but as expected, as I wrote,
my piece, and I think, as everybody knows, if justice
is in this is what Pack said today. I'm on
the next bus going around fifty five counties campaign for him.

(33:01):
So it's Justice's decision in that regard. If justice is out,
I do think the odds of Pat getting in rise dramatically.
That's my two cents.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
We got three years to talk about it, TJ. Well,
I mean twenty five, it's almost over two and some
change to talk about it.

Speaker 5 (33:18):
Well, it's earlier and earlier.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's well, do you remember when when Congressman Mooney he
declared he was running for Senate as soon as he
got elected to Congress the last re elected to Congress
last time.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah, so well, and you got Governor Morrissey. I never
followed up when I wrote a piece about the political
junkets or whatever fundraisers he was to win a Napa
Valley and other places. And to be fair to him,
one of the reasons you have to do that it's
dad gum expensive these days to run for governor, even
in the state of West Virginia, and you have to
start earlier and earlier. It's it's almost like the House

(33:49):
of Representatives, and that you are always campaigning. From the
day that you get there and take a seat in Congress.
You have to start raising money in order to be
able to effectively mount the next campaign, giving all of
the money that will come in against you. So it
is what it is.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Three or four talk three or four is the text
line eight hundred seven six five eight two five five.
You can read TJ's commentary wv metronews dot com. Coming up,
we'll talk about the school aid formula when we return.

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Speaker 2 (35:28):
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Speaker 1 (35:38):
I've been talking about this for the last several weeks
with regards to the public schools in West Virginia. In fact,
Upshur County is now considering closing a couple of elementary schools,
or closing one and sending students to Believe to French Creek.
They're in Upshur County. Logan County is considering closing in

(35:58):
elementary school, but that's because of a mudslide. Would cost
millions upon millions of dollars to renovate and repair that school.
So we've been talking about the funding issues and in particular,
the school aid formula has come to light in this discussion.
Last night there was a discussion workshop form about the
school aid formula. How can it be tweaked, how can

(36:19):
it be improved? Rome County School's Superintendent, Michelle Stilado, was
part of that conversation, she joins us. I guess the
conversation maybe two days ago actually, but Michelle joins us
on Metro News talk line, Michelle, good morning.

Speaker 17 (36:31):
Good morning. Thank you so much for having me. And yes,
it was Monday. We held the assassin Monday morning through
the afternoon at Geary Elementary Middle School, which is one
of the schools that we have slated to close.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Mischelle, I gotta be honest, I really don't have any
idea what day it is at this point. Everything just
kind of runs together.

Speaker 17 (36:50):
Yes, I understand, So what did.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
The discussion focus on? Because the school aid formula. Look
I sat in on a couple of the meetings last
year in House ed Education, listening to them explain it
and go over it. It's complicated, to say the least.

Speaker 17 (37:06):
It surely is, and I will tell you, as a
rookie superintendent, I struggle to understand it completely myself. But
every time I listen to your Ria Cummings, who's the
director of finance at the State Department. Every time I
listen to his presentation on it, I learn more and
more and it makes more sense. And every time I
hear him prevent this information I have, you know, an

(37:27):
epiphany of this is why we in Rome County are
in this financial situation that we're in. You know, we
don't have a levey. We don't have those funds available
to us. And when I look at how much that
is expected to come out of the local share fifteen
percent that we actually get to keep, it's no wonder
that we're struggling financially. We just don't have the resources

(37:50):
to take care of all the things that have to
be taken care of out of the local share.

Speaker 5 (37:54):
So do you think then it's not a matter of
it being wrong so much as people don't understand it.

Speaker 17 (38:02):
So here's the thing I will sideway something is wrong
or it's right, because I'm kind of undecided on that.
What I know is that your eyes shared with us
that it hasn't been changed or looked at since he
was born and your eyes you know, maybe in his thirties,
but you know, it's it's something that it hasn't kept up.
And he'll say, you know a few things that if
you just took into account of inflation, if we looked

(38:23):
at changing the way that we find special education services
because it's very expensive to offer the specialized services that
our students need. There are slight tweaks that that could
make a world of difference if if the four for
enrollment was truly fourteen hundred and not a percentage of
fourteen hundred and a percentage of the distance from Pohontas County,

(38:47):
which is the most farsely populated county in the state,
and so we all all of the funding, if I'm
understanding it correctly becomes in relation to what where Pocahontas
County is falling. So even if we just put that
to a flat every county's going to be funded at
fourteen hundred students at a minimum, right if you're down
to seven hundred, or like us, we're at fifteen thirty seven,

(39:09):
If we drop down to fourteen hundred, then we know
we have that much to count on to be able
to run our school district and not have to wait
for those calculations and things to come in based off
the other counties and our relations to them.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Michelle Stilao is joining us run County school superintendent. There's
nothing in the formula that I'm aware of, Michelle, that
takes into account if you are if you are a
prosperous county. Say, if you're a Montingalia county and you
have a levy and your property taxes, property tax revenues
are high because of economic development. Should there be something

(39:42):
in the formula takes into account if you are in
a more depressed area, maybe get more state aid. If
you are able to cover more of the costs locally,
you get a little bit less. Should that be worked in?

Speaker 17 (39:54):
So it's just the thing to me bring that up
because that was one of the points that came out
of our time together on Monday. And I will say that.
Let me answer your question first. Yes, I feel like
it should because it naturally. I said this the last
time I was on Metro News. I said, you know,
it naturally cost me more to educate a student in
rural Rome County than it did when I was working

(40:16):
in Montaguelia County. It's just it's harder for us to
bring those specialized services in. You know, when I if
I have to bring a legal team in for something,
I'm paying their travel from either Parkersburg or or Charleston.
You know, if I'm in Morgantown, I'm probably not paying
the travel time for an attorney and for us, that's
an hour, and so those those costs are to add up.
And I'm just using that as one of many examples

(40:38):
of how we struggle to get specialized services to our
rural communities. So yes, there probably should be some level
of index that that takes them too account the availability
of resources to those.

Speaker 5 (40:50):
Communities, the fixed cost base that you just talked about.
It would be really hard to do any kind of
long range projection or even mid range, to say, a
three to five year projection without some level of that certainty.

Speaker 17 (41:08):
I would think it's very difficult.

Speaker 11 (41:12):
You know.

Speaker 17 (41:12):
One of the things that we've been criticized for actually
when we wrote our consolidation and closure plans is that
we didn't it doesn't require you to take into account
the drop and enrollment that might occur as a result
of closure and consolidation. And so therefore, if by design
is a moving target, and you know, we we were
actually you know, encouraged to try to not calculate those

(41:35):
because it is completely flexible and you have no idea
where it's actually going to land. So we're about to
go into a personnel season. If the state Department, you know,
does vote to close our schools, We're going to go
into personnel season knowing that we have to put more
than what we think we need because we can't anticipate
what the enrollment decline is going to be because they're

(41:56):
not fixed, and so it's completely tied to student enrollment.
It's completely tied to what the student population looks like.
So if we have a you know, I think right
now we're at twenty one percent of our students require
specialized services. So if that number jumps up even to
twenty two percent, and we haven't budgeted, you know, and
we're paying contracted services, meaning I don't have speech language totologists,

(42:19):
I don't have physical therapists on my staff. I have
to bring all of those services in from Charles Center Perkersburg.
Those costs can fluctuate, and we're on contract you to
do that. So it's very difficult to plan, you know appropriately.
I mean, we get as close as we possibly can,
but it is a moving target in many respects.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Michelle, We've got about ninety seconds here before we got
to hit the break. Does the formula need to weigh
student enrollments numbers? Should that be weighed less or or
taken less into account? Given all of the other costs,
all of the other expenses.

Speaker 17 (42:56):
You know, again, I'm not I'm not the math person,
but I think if we look at I think that's
one of the main reasons why people say it's broken, right,
because it does just look at you have X number
of students. Right, there's a rule that requires us to
fund classrooms of twenty five. Well, if we just simply
fund it our teachers at based off classroom enrollment of

(43:17):
twenty five or grade level enrollments. If we did that
on a school basis, I could save two teaching positions
in two of the schools that I'm closing, and that
would make a big difference. So we've got to look
at other ways other than you have X number of
students and you have to do all of your costs
based on those X number of students.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Michelle Stillado Roun County Schools Superintendent. We'll continue this discussion
as we move forward. Michelle, thank you very much for
the time this morning. We appreciate it absolutely.

Speaker 17 (43:43):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Coming up, we've got some of your thoughts. Get ready
for our number two three or four talk three four
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(44:06):
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Speaker 14 (44:16):
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(44:38):
to count on. West Virginia Coal Association President Chris Hamilton
stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy generation
capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifty is a dynamic
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(44:58):
action of the legislat, West Virginia is once again America's
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Speaker 10 (45:04):
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Speaker 14 (45:09):
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Speaker 1 (45:32):
Three h four Talk three or four is the text
line coming up. Jared Halpern will join us top of
the hour. We'll check in on the White House, more
on the Epstein files, and there's new polling data that
shows Democrats in good position for congressional races going into
twenty six. We'll talk about that with Jared Halpern coming
up top of the hour. A couple of texts here
three or four Talk three or four. Texter says, we

(45:54):
do not need fifty five county school boards. Save money,
spend it on the kids, teachers and service personnel. Long
talked about, but politically very very difficult, very difficult. I
have a prediction, says the Texter. Pam Bondi will refuse
to release the Epstein files because she has initiated an
investigation into Bill Clinton and others for their actions related

(46:17):
to Epstein. Worse than Watergate, says the Texter.

Speaker 5 (46:21):
Bondi and Patel about to take the podium presser, uh three.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Or four Talk three or four. Don't care what party
or job you have. In politics in West Virginia, the
number one issue is affordability for the people. Start with
apployments for PSC. This needs to change to a voter's choice.
I don't think I like the idea of that.

Speaker 5 (46:45):
I've looked at that extensively. I can find no definitive
research that says rates are lower because you elect commissioners.
And the reason for that is most rate cases, I mean,
they are an adjudication as a matter of law, and
law determines where your rate tends up. So I don't
know that that really does much.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
This Texter simply says, settle down, TJ. Settle down.

Speaker 5 (47:13):
I get it either way. I'm too excited. I'm not
excited enough.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Second hour of Mention News talk Line coming up on
Metro News. For forty years, the Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Metro News talk line is presented by Incovia Insurance, encircling
you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit Incovia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Second hour of Mention News talk Line from the Cove
Insurance Studios. Dave Wilson in Morgantown. TJ. Meadows is in Charleston.
The phone number is eight hundred and seven to sixty
five Talk eight hundred seven sixty five eight two five
five Text the show at three oh four talk three
oh four. More on the school aid formula, The West
Virginia Center on Budget and Policy has an idea about

(48:02):
how to tweak that formula, and Jim Garretty, Triple A
mid Atlantic, will join us. We'll get you everything you
need to know to be prepared for holiday travel going
into Thanksgiving next week. Man, the year has flown by
height one hundred seven six five talk three or four
to talk through four. TJ. Meadows is in our Charleston

(48:24):
bureau once again. Good morning, TJ.

Speaker 5 (48:26):
Good morning, sir. I was trained some notes with Michelle
Stillato after that interview and we ran out of time.
We were hard up against it. But I did ask her,
I'm like, so what next? Right you had this forum?
What next? And she told me, Dave, they're going to
be meeting coming up later this week, the fifty five
superintendents with some key leaders in Charleston. They had several

(48:47):
legislators who were at that forum this past Monday. They're
going to take these ideas and they're going to try
to put them into the form of legislation and see
what they can do.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
So you know, as well as I do. What you
need to do is you need to go to the
legislature and say, here's what we need. Oh yeah, you
don't get it. Does you no good to go to
the legislature and go we need you to fix this,
and then good luck. There's too much going on, There's
too much to do. And let's face it, this is
your area of expertise, right, I mean, not you. I'm

(49:20):
talking to educators superintendants. Obviously, tell them what you need
and then you have something to work with when that
goes to the subcommittees in the House and the committee,
you know, through the committee process there.

Speaker 5 (49:31):
I find that's a good rule when it comes to
dealing with the legislature as well as life. Put the
ask out on the table, this is what I need. Boom,
boom boom. Leave no ambiguity. At least we're all on
the same page, singing from the same hymnal.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
As we used to say, three or four talk three
or four is the text line? Uh speaking of singing
from the same hymnal. In an awkward transition, all but
one of the Republicans were yesterday voting to pass the
bill to release the Epstein five. How's it gets through
the Senate on a unanimous consent and now heads to
the President's desk. Fox News Radio is Jared Halpert, I'm

(50:06):
sure has been monitoring all of this very closely. He
joins us this morning, Jared, good morning.

Speaker 18 (50:11):
Good morning, And yeah, the president is expected to sign
that legislation. We're told as soon as it gets over
there is you know, some formulaic stuff that has to
happen in the House. It will go straight from the
House though, to the President's desk because of that unanimous
consent that the Senate passed, which essentially said, once it's
transmitted by the House, we deem it passed, and boom,

(50:32):
it's good to go. So really an extraordinary kind of
turn of fortunes for this. Recall that this was tied
up for months. It got voted on because of what's
called a discharge petition. So in the House of Representatives,
if legislation can't get through a committee or gets tied up,
there is a way to basically discharge it force a

(50:54):
vote in the House if you can get a majority
of signatures. Two hundred and eighteen signature. It took until
the newly sworn in Democrat from New Mexico from Arizona
was able to sign that. And you know, there were
only four Republicans who signed that discharge petition. There was

(51:16):
pressure put on them to remove their names by President Trump,
by the White House. They had described us as a
Democratic con and a hoax. But you have seen the
President pivot on this, essentially saying I have nothing to hide,
let's look at all these files. He wants investigations of
key Democrats. He believes that this is being used by

(51:38):
Democrats to basically be a distraction for what he sees
is a lot of policy successes from the administration. And
so I think the strategy has become instead of becoming
a roadblock and blocking it, let's just get it out
of the way. And I think that's what you saw happen,
all but one Republican getting on board with that and

(52:01):
it moving forward. The President yesterday was asked about it
and said that, you know, he threw Epstein out of
his club because he was a pervert, and he's got
nothing to do with him. And let's let all of
these files just be released and so we'll see now
what that timeline looks like. Obviously there is going to
have to be some measures take and you would think

(52:22):
by the Justice Department, these are supposed to be unredacted,
but that is a general rule before they are kind
of for public release. It takes steps to shield victims
and kind of what we would call unindicted folks that
may be mentioned but not accused of a crime. So
we'll see what these ultimately look like and how long
that takes. But it's clear that the president's view on

(52:44):
this change from one of you know, this is a
hoax and something we don't shouldn't be focused on, to
the only way we can get beyond this is to
just let this vote happen, and that seems to be
what we saw play out yesterday.

Speaker 5 (52:56):
Before we get to the DJ one can't help. But no,
the stance that MTG and Bolpert and others, originally Thomas
Massey took on this issue, what if anything Jared does
that say about Trump's ability to wield power in the
party is that diminished?

Speaker 18 (53:13):
Listen, I think that President Trump still has an awful
lot of flex especially in the House. Lawmakers are still
very cognizant that his endorsement or lack of endorsement carries
a ton of weight. That has always been the sort
of stick he has held. He has talked about now

(53:35):
wanting the primary Massy, although Massey's kind of been a
thorn in his side for a number of issues. He's
a different kind of Republican that doesn't vote for a
lot of these spending bills and things like that. He's
very much in the mold of Rand Paul right, almost
the libertarian kind of been to him. Marjorie Killer Green
again is one that has been maybe the biggest defender

(53:57):
of President Trump over the last many years, certainly from
that America First movement. But she has been critical, she says,
of President Trump moving away from his promises, and her
beef has not been just with the Epstein files, but
some of the foreign policy. She does not like President
Trump's inviting like the leader of Syria to the Oval

(54:21):
Office does not has been critical of how much money
has been given to Israel, has been critical of other
foreign aid that President Trump is put forward, and so
that is more of an ideological it seems different right now.
President Trump has been critical of the interviews that she
has done, going on you know, the view going on CNN,

(54:43):
going on which I think she was on Bill Maher,
going on places that you know have have been critical
in the past of President Trump. So we'll see how
that plays out over the next couple of weeks. The
President took the rare step of rescinding his endorsement of
Marjorie Taylor Green said that he will support anybody who

(55:03):
primaries her. I imagine there are folks in that district
who are looking at doing that now, given that they
are likely to get the thumbs up there from President
Trump in what is a still very very very red
pro Trump district there in Georgia.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
Fox News Radios Jared Halpern is joining a Sero Metro
news talk line this morning. So, Jared, I guess I'm
asking you to predict the future here. The files get released.
Let's say there's there's no there there, the conspiracy theorists
don't get the big bombshell story they're expecting. I mean,
you'll never satisfy them.

Speaker 18 (55:40):
But I mean that was I think I think that
was the answer I was going to give, because even
President Trump has said that he's like, listen, you're never
going to like people who are looking for something you're
never going to satisfy people. He kind of said the
same thing. He's like, you know, we released all of
the JFK files, We released all of the MLK files,
Luther King files in an effort of maximum transparency to

(56:03):
put an end to a lot of these conspiracy theories,
and you know, people aren't satisfied. So his argument is that,
you know, one of the reasons he was sort of
opposed to this legislation at least initially, was because it
wasn't going to in this right that there are going
to be folks that are still unsatisfied and it will continue,

(56:27):
I think in the administration's view, to be kind of
fodder for critics or Democrats or whomever. That again takes
away from the message that the administration wants to be on,
which of course is you know, cost of living, affordability,
things like that.

Speaker 5 (56:45):
Jared, I want to go inside the White House in
the Oval Office. Yesterday the meeting with MBS Mary Bruce
from ABC posed a question. I'll tee it with that,
you take it from there. I'd like to know your
thoughts on what the President had to say yesterday, how
people are reacting to that.

Speaker 18 (57:01):
Well, I think people are reacting kind of largely based
on policy and party lines. I thought the question was
one that everybody was expecting to be asked. This was
obviously in the Crown Prince's first visit to Washington, first
visit to the White House. I should say, since the
killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamalkashogi during the Biden administration,

(57:25):
the CIA and the US intelligence assessment was that MBS
likely ordered that or at least was aware of it. Obviously,
the Saudi government has said that that is not true,
and these were I mean, I thought it was newsmaking.
But because we heard publicly and in English MBS talk
about this, right, he said that this was a tragedy,
that they have changed their systems. They don't want something

(57:48):
like this to happen again. President Trump obviously was annoyed
at the question. He again did not want that to
be the focus. He wants to talk about these defense partnerships,
the expanded security agreements, the expanded economic agreements with Saudi Arabia.
Has described Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince is a
new partner for peace and so listen. I don't think

(58:09):
it's surprising that President Trump was perhaps upset or annoyed
at the question. But I also think that, you know,
it certainly sounded like the Crown Prince was prepared for
the question, because even when the President kind of wanted
to move on, you saw NBS say no, no, she asked,
I'll take the question, and he talked about it. And
I thought that was a very newsmaking answer that we heard.

Speaker 5 (58:28):
I thought he handled it better than Trump did. If
you want my candid opinion, I don't expect you to
say anything. You're a reporter. I'm just a talk show host.
But I thought her question was in bounds. I thought
Trump handled it very poorly.

Speaker 18 (58:39):
Dave, again, I think that it was not an unexpected question. No,
I think that again, just given that that you know,
this was the first visit, there are still questions about that.
There have been, and you saw in other questions that
were asked too, about this kind of burgeoning defence partnership
with Saudi Arabia. The President last night making them a

(59:02):
non NATO major. Ally is that opens the door for
a lot of defense cooperation, and Israel and others in
the region have raised concerns about that. These f thirty five,
So you know that there were always going to be
questions about this relationship and kind of how President Trump
views it, and I think we certainly got his answer,

(59:24):
and we got the Prince of the Crown Prince's answer
as well.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
Jared Halpern Fox News Radio joining US mentioned News talk Line.
Jared You tweeted this morning the new Marris poll that
has Democrats up fourteen generic Democrats up fourteen in congressional races.
So Democrats have to be feeling like they're in pretty
good position going into twenty six.

Speaker 18 (59:45):
Here listen, I think and I probably should have put
a little bit more context, but people can read that
for themselves. These are generic polls, so it kind of
the fast people would you vote for a Republican or
a Democrat in the midterms. A party out of power
usually does pretty well term elections. That is the history.
We certainly saw what happened earlier this month, but also

(01:00:06):
keep in mind that candidates matter an awful lot. We
have seen races where one party or the other seem
to be very favored on these generic ballots. Candidate quality
became an issue and those races went the other way.
You've certainly seen Republicans and Democrats talk about that, and
I think both parties have made a lot of progress

(01:00:28):
in kind of doing that type of vetting even before
a primary process, kind of in their candidate recruitment and
things like that. But listen, it's a baseline. It certainly
shows that Democrats are in an advantageous position. I don't
think it's predictive necessarily, because again, there's a year before
the midterm elections. Let's see what the economy looks like,

(01:00:50):
Let's see what the state of the world looks like.
Let's see if there are any more government shutdowns and
who gets blamed for those. And most importantly, the names
on the ballot will matter a lot more than a
generic Republican or Democrat that you're asked about in one
of these polls.

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
That Pole did go on though Jared and pointed out,
affordability in the economy is right at the top of
that list.

Speaker 18 (01:01:13):
And listen, the White House is fully aware of that.
You've heard President Trump kind of take that on in
a new way and actually be critical of Republicans. He's
saying Republicans aren't talking about it. We've let Democrats take
this message, and I think between now in November of
next year. That is going to be the argument that
you hear again and again and again from President Trump

(01:01:35):
is that affordability is what they are trying to provide.
And listen, Democrats are going to look at the price
of everything and make that a centerpiece of their campaign.
I think then somebody wants to say it's the economy.

Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
Yeah. Famously, right right hand, left hand, Donald Trump continues
to talk about these two thousand dollars rebates for moderate income.
I don't want that means moderates, and it's it's very fad,
but it works out. Yeah, you have Scott Bessett saying
we need legislation to do that, so it's like the right.

Speaker 18 (01:02:07):
Yeah, well no, I mean even in the White House
that suggested that they need legislation to do it. President
Trump wants to do this. I don't think there's a
way you can just hand out checks to people without legislation.
But the President's going to have to to kind of
lead this bus. He is going to have to essentially
present to Congress. I think legislation, here's two thousand dollars,

(01:02:29):
here's who qualifies for it. They will certainly put income
caps on it. There is some precedent for this, and
some templates. There were these types of checks that were
handed out if you were called during COVID that people
got I think a couple of rounds of it, and
I think they it was capped it at incomes right
ninety thousand or eighty. I don't remember exactly what it was.
But there are also questions about can we afford this.

(01:02:51):
There have been, you know, some studies done that say,
you know, given kind of the COVID model of these
types of checks, it would cost probably six hundred billion
to do it one time. This year, this fiscal year,
there are about three hundred billion dollars in tariff revenue
expected to come in, so you're gonna have to make
those numbers match. And so we'll see kind of how

(01:03:12):
that moves forward. But I will say this, the President
seems serious about this. They want to do this. I
would imagine next year. I don't want to say like
tied to the midterms, but you could see this kind
of picking up steam maybe next summer, next spring, And
certainly it seems like something that Congress is going to
have to start taking a look at sooner rather than later.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Fox News Radios Jared Halpern. Always appreciate the insights. Jared,
thank you, sure thing take a break back at them
all talk line from the Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 19 (01:03:40):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
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Three h four Talk three oh four is the text
line texter perfectly illustrates what I was talking about with

(01:05:22):
Jared just a minute ago. We're not getting the truth
from the Epstein files. Trump and his DOJ had months
to scrub them of Trump's involvement. Anyone who does not
acknowledge that is a moron, says the Texter. My point
in one text the conspiracy theorists will not be satisfied.
There's because right conspiracy theorists always use a lack of

(01:05:43):
evidence as evidence. I think it's a gamble. I think
it's a gamble. Trump in the administration, the Republican's dj
are vulnerable on a lot of issues, spending, the economy.
I mean, there are a lot of things. There are
places to attack them. Your bet is the Epstein files
come out and they are going to be this bombshell

(01:06:04):
information that we haven't already got out. Okay, if that's
the way you want to go, but I don't think
that leads to success down the road.

Speaker 5 (01:06:14):
Anybody who did what Jeffrey Epstein did should be in jail.
And you know what, if the punishment is unusual, I
don't know that I'm minded, if I'm being quite frank,
So if there's evidence that people helped him, they're implicated,
they deserve whatever they have coming With that said, you

(01:06:34):
know why this won't go away. The real reason it
employs too many people. It gets too many clicks. People
have monetized it. It's not going away. It's not because
it generates too much buzz and people capitalize on that
way in the world.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
Again, I will be and look, I'll do about face
if there is a there there when these files get released.
And remember there's a federal court judge who has sealed
many of these files and they're not getting released anytime soon.
There have been two administrations, two Department of Justices that
have had access to these Okay, release the files, release

(01:07:14):
the files, all of them. But nobody's gonna be satisfied.
Nobody's going to be satisfied.

Speaker 5 (01:07:22):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
There was my rant on Epstein three or four, talk
three or four. The candidate on the ballot does not.
It does matter. Unfortunately, the Democrats won't let their voters
pick the candidate, says the Texter. Still some saltiness over
the Kamala Harris thing.

Speaker 5 (01:07:37):
I would take a little bit of exception with what
Jared said. I mean, he's right, the candidates are going
to make the difference. But that's a heck of a
gap in that poll. And you know why I like
about that poll. It takes all the personal biases aside
and it identifies very clearly what is important and what
is top of mind to Americans right now. This will
come down to if I hate a Democrat personally and
he ends up in a position that I have to

(01:07:58):
vote for him, but I deplore the economic situation and
what's going on, It's gonna come down to how many
people can swallow hard and pull the vote for the Democrat.
And at that gap fifty five, that was it, fifty
five to forty one, I mean it's a huge gap.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
It's a huge gap. But if that candidate is a
Zoron Mondani Mondami type candidate, Bernie Sanders type candidate versus
a Josh Shapiro. That makes a difference if you're an
if you're an independent voter, right TJ. If you're an
independent voter, if the guys you know from the Democrat

(01:08:33):
Socialist Party or is more of a Josh Shapiro and Andy
Bursheer Abigail Spanberger type, that makes a huge difference whether
you huge swallow that and pull that lever.

Speaker 5 (01:08:44):
So the theme get it right Democrats, if you want
to win back.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
You have an opportunity. Get it together. We'll try to
get it together here during the news break, talk more
about the school aid formula coming up to The West Virginia
Center on Budget and Policy has some recommends on how
that can be tweaked. We'll talk about that right after this.
This is talk Line on Metro News for forty years,
the voice of West Virginia. It's eleven thirty in time

(01:09:12):
to get a news update. Let's check in with the
Metro News Radio network. Find out what's happening across the
great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 10 (01:09:19):
West Virginia Atturnews. I'm Chris Lawrence. Memorial services this weekend
for the man who perished in a mining accident in
Nicholas County. Visitation for Steve Lipskim will be one to
four Saturday afternoon at Herbert Hoover High School and the
funeral will be be at four. Lipscomb died when the
mine where he was the shift foreman and Nicholas County flooded.
His body recovered five days later. The forty two year

(01:09:40):
old was a lifelong resident of Eloped View and a
two thousand and one graduate of Herbert Hoover High School.
He joined the Marines following September eleventh and was an
Iraq combat veteran. The family asking Lewis Flowers that donations
be made in his name to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Wheeling City Council's given the green light to using opioid
Settlement dollars to help with efforts to house the homeless.
After a lengthy discussion at Tuesday's City council meeting, the

(01:10:03):
decision was made to assist Life Hub in the Salvation
Army with some of Wheeling's portion of that money, a
seventy five thousand dollars allocation. However, council was adamant about
monitoring the money and setting certain benchmarks along the way
Logan County parents had plenty of questions about plans to
close Verdonville Elementary School and send the students to Omar
Elementary permanently. Parents Zachary McDonald.

Speaker 6 (01:10:24):
And when we planned this out.

Speaker 20 (01:10:26):
A side note to this, why didn't we instead of
sending them to Omar, which is actually twenty to thirty
fifty five minutes on the road, why didn't we seend
them to Holden. That would make a lot more sense.

Speaker 8 (01:10:39):
It's ten minutes.

Speaker 10 (01:10:40):
School officials say the cost to repair Verdonville is not
worth it. You're listening to Metro News for forty years
the Boys of West Virginia.

Speaker 21 (01:10:48):
Managing your money and planning for the future can be challenging.
Huntington Bank can help. I'm Matt Harris, a local Huntington
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(01:11:08):
they might impact you. Be sure to catch Money Minutes
this Thursday at three forty five on Metro News Hotline.

Speaker 22 (01:11:16):
The high school football playoffs are here. Four classes, sixty
four teams. Four champions will be crowned. Download the Metro
News television app to watch all the postseason's most exciting
matchup and some of the state's top players. Each week,
the West Virginia High School football Playoffs are brought to
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Challenge Academy. Stream the action live on Metro News Television,

(01:11:39):
available on mobile, Roku, Fire TV, smart TVs, and online
at WGV, METRONEWSTV dot com.

Speaker 10 (01:11:46):
West Virginia's congressional delegation part of the nearly unanimous vote
to release the Epstein files. The House bash the Manager
first Tuesday and the Senate quickly agreed. Votes come a
day after President of Trump called for its release. US
Senator Shelley Moore capitos as the controver has gone on
long enough. It's been a distraction in Congress.

Speaker 7 (01:12:04):
So let's get it over with. Let's just rip the
band aid off and go forward.

Speaker 10 (01:12:07):
And Capita went on to say she's not sure what
they would learn once those files are open. From the
Metro News anchored desk, I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:34):
Text rolling in. We'll get to those coming up at
three four Talk three oh four. You can also give
us a call at eight hundred seven sixty five Talk
eight hundred and seven six five eight two five five.
Back to the discussion on the state school aid formula.
We talked to Rone County School Superintendent Michelle Stillado a
little bit earlier. They had a workshop earlier this week

(01:12:54):
to discuss The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy
also has some recommendations on how to modernize the school
funding formula and prioritize community school needs. Tamaya Browder is
education policy fellow with the Westerrginia Center on Budget and
Policy and joins us on Metro News talk Line this morning. Tamaya,
good morning.

Speaker 11 (01:13:13):
Good morning. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:13:15):
Appreciate you coming on. So, first of all, when you
look at the state's school aid formula, it hasn't been
updated since go back to the nineties, so it's thirty
year old formula. Where is it deficient in your opinion?

Speaker 11 (01:13:28):
To start with, there are a couple areas, Like you said,
it's been quite a bit of time since we updated
the funding formula, so it's really just outdated. There are
some changes that we can make so that it better
meets the needs of our schools across our state as
well as our students. And so one major area is
that we have several high poverty school districts where we

(01:13:48):
have a lot of families living in poverty, and we're
not accounting for that in our funding formula. We're actually
one of only a handful of states that doesn't, and
so you have a situation where there's a huge disparity
of school districts that are actually more higher income where
they're able to raise more revenue locally, that are actually
getting more funding compared to our higher poverty school districts.

(01:14:11):
So we want to make sure to adjust that to
ensure that high poverty school districts get more because kids
living in poverty they need more resources to be just
as successful as their peers. We can also make sure
to provide more funding for different positions like student support
personnels or our school counselors and social workers as well
as teachers. We need more staff for the number of

(01:14:32):
students that we have, so we need to change the
funding formula to improve that ratio.

Speaker 5 (01:14:38):
So let's get into the first topic that you talked
about adopting that weighted calculation for higher school districts. Talk
to me about the nuts and bolts and what that
would look like. So a county that has a levey
or a county that has relatively high property taxes that
obviously goes back to their local school system. So are

(01:14:58):
you saying that would be to into account and then
that county would get a lower portion of state funding
to be able to send more to a county that
doesn't have that. I mean, I'm just curious the logistics
and the mathematics around how that would work.

Speaker 11 (01:15:13):
Right of course, Well, like I said, are districts that
have more local capacity, they have better property values, They're
able to raise more revenue locally to fund their schools,
whether through regular property tax collections or an excess levee
like you mentioned, and so that leads to some disparities
where they actually have more funding. And we know that
funding leads to better outcomes for students. The more we spend,

(01:15:35):
the better that students do. There's clear research to show that,
and so the modification there would really make a point
of ensuring that those higher poverty school districts get a
greater share of support from the state because without that
local capacity for raising property tax revenue or to even
have an excess levee, you have situations where these school

(01:15:57):
districts are left with not enough resources or funding to
provide for their students. And compare it to those higher
income districts like a canal or a cabal, where maybe
they have an excess levy. When it comes to cases
where maybe they want to hire more teachers or counselors,
but they don't have enough state funding to do that.
They have a local pot that they can dive into,

(01:16:17):
but those higher poverty school districts don't have that additional
funding that they can get to. So making sure that
at the outset, we're providing that funding to these school
districts so that they're really well equipped to meet the
needs of students.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
Tamaian Browner is joining us SO Westreegian Center on Budget
and Policy. Should student enrollment numbers be weighted less in
the formula?

Speaker 11 (01:16:41):
We definitely have some considerations around enrollment, particularly for students
that have higher needs. We know that about half of
kids in public schools in West Virginia are from low
income families, about one in five have a disability and
these students need more funding and resources to have the
same outcomes as their peers, So we want to make
sure that they're funded appropriately in the funding formula, and

(01:17:03):
so we want a weight at calculation where those student
groups get a greater percentage of funding to make sure
that they have everything that they need, especially for students
with disabilities. That is a major area of improvement in
our funding formula because, like I said, one in five
kids have a disability in our public school system, but
our districts aren't funded appropriately upfront to meet those needs

(01:17:24):
of students, and so in those cases, they could have
gaps in the services that they receive, or funding is
then diverted from other areas of education to cover those
needs for students with disabilities.

Speaker 5 (01:17:36):
You talked about some of those counties that are doing better.
I think you mentioned Cone on Putnam. I live in Putnam,
so let's just take Putnam since it's easy. I know
that county. I would imagine I don't have kids in
the public system in Putnam County, but I would imagine
those parents that do would say, our kids are going
to be getting less dollars. We're already challenged in Putnam

(01:17:58):
County and that there's other things we want to do
that we can't pay for. You know, I doubt they're
going to be willing to raise their excess levee in
order to cover what they wouldn't get from the state.
What do you say to a parent who would be
concerned about the fact that now their child's district, who's
done the right things and has been successful, is now
going to get less money as a result of this plan.

Speaker 11 (01:18:17):
Well, they wouldn't necessarily get less. Like I said, they
have a greater local capacity, they have that excess levey funding,
they have those property tax collections, so it's not necessarily
about them getting less. It's about those higher poverty school
districts getting more. We do have more funding available that
we can put towards our public schools. We're putting two
hundred and nearly two hundred and fifty million dollars towards

(01:18:38):
the Hope Scholarship next school year, and if that money
was instead directed to our public school system, we could
have major improvements to our school funding formula to make
sure we're able to hire more teachers, nurses, school counselors,
and social workers, and to make sure that they're paid
more that they're paid appropriately. Hope scholarship is one area
where we have funding that we could very easily redirect

(01:19:00):
to public schools.

Speaker 1 (01:19:00):
It's my browner joining US Westernian Center on Budget and Policy.
I like the idea and the thought of waiting the
county's needs, whether it's to educate special needs students, whether
they need more help because it is an economically depressed area.
Here's where I've seen lawmakers really squirm in committee meetings

(01:19:21):
because the formula relies so heavily on student enrollment. When
they start trying to put a number on students, and
what I mean is does this student count is one student? Well,
does a special need student count is a student and
a half? To make the numbers work? Boy, you want
to talk about some folks who really start to squirm
in the chairs. It's a very uncomfortable discussion, Tomaya, How

(01:19:44):
do we have that discussion where we're trying to properly
weight the needs of the community, but at the same
time not dehumanize anybody, I guess is what I'm saying.

Speaker 11 (01:19:53):
Of course, when we're looking at this student focused funding
where we're accounting for different student needs, not trying to
dehumanize students. We want to make sure that they're really
looking at them holistically, understanding the full needs of a student,
what they need to be successful and to have a
good experience in a public school system, and we have
tons of research to support that, and so that weighted

(01:20:14):
calculation making sure that we're providing additional funding for these students.
That's to really ensure that they have everything that they need.
That reasoning has been used for the Whope Scholarship. It's
a program that when presented, it's to increase education options
for students, to make sure that you can tailor your
education for your student that they have exactly what they need.

(01:20:35):
We can tailor our needs and our funding for students
in our public school system, and so really just leaning
on the evidence and the research to support the greater
needs of this student and to make those adjustments so
that we're really providing that funding up front and we're
making sure that our school districts are well equipped at
the start of the school year they have everything that
they need to cover the needs of their students.

Speaker 5 (01:20:57):
Everybody is going to be weighing in on this issue,
and that's a good thing. Everybody should be weighing in
and actively participating. As you well know, we have a
session coming up. I'm curious what your organization will do.
Are you looking at trying to take some of these
initiatives and actually turn them in to legislation. Do you
have counterparties on board, do you have lawmakers on board?
Give us a sense of your priorities relative of the

(01:21:18):
upcoming session with these goals.

Speaker 11 (01:21:21):
Of course, the Center on Budget and Policy we're a policy,
research and advocacy organization, So a keyword there is advocacy.
So we definitely want to make sure that we're advancing
policies and budgets that improve the quality of life of
folks here in West Virginia. And with me focusing on
education policy, it's really about making sure that we have
good quality and equitable public schools for kids in our state,

(01:21:43):
and so we are definitely pushing to modernize the school
funding formula. We have a couple of reports, different blocks
and things out where folks can read and learn more
about those adjustments that we recommend to make sure that
the funding formula is improved. We also want to make
sure that lawmakers take a very close look at the
Hope Scholarship. This program has ballooned rapidly over the few

(01:22:06):
years that it's been in operation, and it's a huge
cost to the state where this is public money being
diverted to non public schools. So with that, we want
to make sure that the legislature puts some guidelines around
the program, because we started with essentially none, So making
sure that we could put a cap on enrollment or
the overall cost of the program so that we can

(01:22:26):
really accurately budget for that as well as our public
school system and other areas funded with public funding, but
also putting in some accountability measures, making sure that the
schools that participate in the Hope Scholarship are based in
the state of West Virginia, that they're accredited, so that
we have reasonable and really responsible distribution of this money,

(01:22:47):
making sure that we're collecting the data on how it's working,
who is it benefiting, and what are the outcomes for
these students. And so these are some areas where we
definitely want the legislature to take a closer look this session.

Speaker 1 (01:22:58):
To my broader education policy fellow at the West Virginia
Center on Budget and Policy, thank you for the insights today,
appreciate it. Thank you coming up, We'll get you ready
to go to Grandmall's house Thanksgiving holiday travel. We'll talk
about it next.

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Some say he's a man of mystery. Others say he's
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Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
No one saw coming.

Speaker 5 (01:23:48):
It's showtime.

Speaker 9 (01:23:49):
The Holiday hit Maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia Lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit. What
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Speaker 5 (01:23:57):
Bringing the holiday hype here?

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
And I scratch off? It's on me wood ticket.

Speaker 2 (01:24:03):
My work here is done.

Speaker 9 (01:24:04):
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Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
Coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday travel window, eighty two
million Americans are protected to travel over Thanksgiving holiday travel
volume expected to be up this year. Joining us from
TRIPLEA East Central is Jim Garretty, Director of Public Affairs, Jim.
Good morning, Dave TJ.

Speaker 8 (01:24:56):
Mays talking to you. Happy early Thanksgiving. And we're already
ahead and seen some big traffic coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:25:02):
So when will the heaviest travel days occur leading up
to Thanksgiving?

Speaker 8 (01:25:08):
So here's what you typically see happen is people as
early as Tuesdays start hitting the road, right, but then
you have the folks who are the early birds, so
to speak, and they are going to be mixing on
the road with people who might still be going back
and forth to work. So you know, as you're leading
into those days, you could expect to see a lot
of people. Our partners at Inrix, who have been working
with us for years, helped us determine that the Tuesday

(01:25:32):
and Wednesday afternoon leading into Thanksgiving are going to be
the most congested. And then think about this a couple
of days later, right when everyone's coming home on Sunday,
you should expect to see a lot of traffic then
as well. So if you could travel on the actual holiday,
that's when you're going to see the most minimal amount
of traffic because a lot of people are already in

(01:25:52):
place where they're going to be. But guys, I mean
there's going to be a lot of folks out. There
are records setting amount of people nearly eighty two million
across the country, you know, millions coming through this area alone.
That's that no matter where you're going, the vast majority
of people are driving. You should give yourself plenty of time.

Speaker 5 (01:26:09):
So if you're on the roads like sixty four for instance,
I'm thinking, if you don't have an easy pass, now's
a good time to get one. Anything you can do
to speed through those tolls, I can just imagine the
bottlenecks on the highway like that. Anything you can do
to make it easier on yourself.

Speaker 8 (01:26:22):
Right, anything like that. And also here's another thing you
can do to make it easier on yourself is make
sure that your car is ready. You know, not without
knowing off the top of my head, with the exact
weather is looking like next week, it's the cold time
of the year, you know, like we've had some snow
already and it's not going to stop. You know, you
could potentially run into weather conditions and the cold and
this time the year just do they have. It's a

(01:26:44):
different sort of challenge for your vehicle. So you definitely
want to check the battery, you want to make sure
there's air in the tires. You don't want to be
one of the maybe hundreds of thousands of people the
Triple is going to come out and rescue. You know,
you don't want to be you don't want to be
waiting at the side of the road. The holidays are
stressful enough, right You want to you want to be
wherever you're heading on time, and then a car that
is ready to tackle those conditions Triple Aze.

Speaker 1 (01:27:06):
Jim Garritty is joining us here on Metro ne nes
talk line. Howard gas prices shaping up as we headed
into the holiday travel season.

Speaker 8 (01:27:12):
You know, for anyone who's driving, we are looking at
prices that are relatively where they were last year, So
there's a little bit of stability at the pump and
that which makes it easier, of course for people to
kind of budget and make sure that they have the
money they need where it needs to be so that
they can get where they're headed. And a lot of
that is on the back of some pretty steady oil prices,
you know. You know, I'm old enough to remember a

(01:27:34):
couple of years ago when we had wild fluctuations and prices,
you know, especially in twenty twenty two when we were starting,
when we were setting records. You know, guys, if you
remember record in West Virginia a couple of years ago,
four dollars ninety three cents and two dollars in twenty
twenty two, four dollars ninety three cents. Today, it's sitting
around two dollars ninety nine, So it's it's been relatively

(01:27:56):
stable in that kind of that could fluctuate as you
get into the into the days, as more people start
hitting the road, but it's definitely not going to be
like we saw back then.

Speaker 5 (01:28:05):
And if you do.

Speaker 8 (01:28:06):
See fluctuations, it doesn't it's never. It's never, you know,
I wouldn't say large fluctuations at the pumpets. It's maybe
ten cents twenty cents, but it still remains to be seen.

Speaker 5 (01:28:16):
I was a bit pleasantly surprised I was looking at
commodities RBOB gasoline, Wholeso Gasoline's actually down today, so you know,
maybe we'll get a little bit of a break. Who knows.
I know we're talking primarily about driving, but just with
everything that was going on with the shutdown and flying,
you hearing anything there, you have any advice if we're
hitting the airports.

Speaker 8 (01:28:34):
Well, with everything back up and running at the airports,
there's that does that does bode well for people who
are flying. But here's the thing. You never know what
might happen, and whatever the situation is, it could be
weather that impacts flying through the airport. You need to
have a plan be anytime you're flying, just in case,

(01:28:55):
you know, because you're better having your contingency plan in
advance of your travels instead of, you know, at the
last minute because your flight got canceled or delayed because
of some downstream effect. So I would say that for
anyone who is flying, just have a plan be you know,
drive maybe and maybe that's just driving. Maybe if the
destination is close enough, it's driving. Or maybe it's flying

(01:29:16):
on a different day, a less busy day, or maybe
it's coming back a little bit later than you thought
you were or earlier, whatever that is in your situation.
If you don't have a travel advisor, find your nearest
Triple A branch to talk to one of ours and
they can actually help you map out what your plan
B is going to be. Have that in place before
you go, not you know, not trying to scramble at
the last minute to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
Any ideas why travel is going to be up this season.

Speaker 8 (01:29:41):
I think what you're seeing is it's a it's sort
of a continuation of what we've seen the last couple
of years, more excitement around travel. This Our our travel
advisors and our Triple A Travel Agency have been busy
over the last couple of years, and a lot of
people it's calling in and sop being into our branches
and trying to see what is out there. But what's

(01:30:04):
important is that people are interested in travel and getting out.
They're not putting off making those memories. They're they're they're
they're saying, I'm going to do this today. You know,
we're going to make these memories today. Thanksgiving it it's
a very over the river, through the woods type of holiday.
You know, most people drive and it's it's going to
see family and friends. So you know, that's that's why
you do see such a large increase and we see

(01:30:25):
records set over the last couple of years. Yeah, it's
just been a very hot year for traveling. It's only
getting the hotter, it seems.

Speaker 5 (01:30:32):
Jim, forgive me for getting a little personal. But your
favorite part, sir, of the holiday feast, the Thanksgiving feast.

Speaker 8 (01:30:39):
You know, I got a really unpopular opinion and this
I'm I am of the opinion that Thanksgiving food is
just okay. But you know, like I've never got the hype.
But I'm more, I'm more, I'm more interested in seeing
old friends and catching up with catching up with family

(01:31:00):
that maybe haven't seen a while. Although you know, if
you made me pick, i'd say sweet potato. Sweet potato, definitely.

Speaker 5 (01:31:05):
And so it's not like ordering chinese out and bringing
it in or something. You're still somewhat of a traditional list,
but it's just not high on your list.

Speaker 8 (01:31:12):
No, And you know I would make another note, by
the way, on a serious note, that we're talking about
seeing old family and friends that night before Thanksgiving. Big
night for that catching up with folks, right, but it's
also a big night for drunk driving. And unfortunately so.
So I would say that anyone who is planning on
catching up with some old friends from high school, whatever
you're doing, before you go out for and do that celebrating,

(01:31:35):
make sure you have your plan in place. Don't go
out and then because what do you see happen is
people go out, they have a couple drinks and then
their inhibition drops and they say, well, I've only had
one or two I can drive home. In reality, no,
you shouldn't. You shouldn't be anywhere near the wheel of
a car. So put that plan in place before you
go out because it is a big night. And if
you are a sober driver out there the night before Thanksgiving,

(01:31:57):
make sure you got your eyes open and you're keeping
distance from cars and maybe you're swerving.

Speaker 1 (01:32:01):
Jim Garrity Triple I always appreciated Buddy Happy Thanksgiving as well.
Talk line from the co Insurance Studios. We'll wrap it
up in the moment.

Speaker 24 (01:32:08):
Picture a community where every space tells a story. Those
are the communities we're designing at ZMM. Architects and engineers
with a blend of creativity and technical expertise, we design
spaces that inspire, innovate, and ignite change, from cutting edge
educational facilities to community centric gathering spaces. We're committed to

(01:32:29):
improving lives through design.

Speaker 12 (01:32:30):
Let us help you.

Speaker 24 (01:32:31):
Shape a brighter future for generations to come. Because at ZMM,
it's more than architecture. It's about building your legacy.

Speaker 22 (01:32:43):
To care for.

Speaker 5 (01:32:44):
Here at the Healthcam, we are here.

Speaker 4 (01:32:50):
From all of us, Here at the Health Plan, we
want to make your season bright. Whether you're wrapping gifts
or planning next year's goals, We're here for you. Happy
holidays and merry Christmas. From our family to yours.

Speaker 14 (01:33:06):
Here.

Speaker 1 (01:33:28):
Jackpots are growing in West Virginia. Jackpots are on the
rise every week. Power Ball hits Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Mega Millions lights up Tuesdays and Fridays. That's five chances
a week to get in on life changing jackpots. Play
in store and online eighteen plus to play, Please play responsibly.
The Powerball jackpot is five hundred ninety three million dollars.

(01:33:48):
Mega Million's jackpot is sixty million dollars, So go ahead
play today, rumor has it ToJ Sources close to the
situation are reports Hoppy Kerchible may return to the program tomorrow.
What's it been for two weeks, three weeks since we
talked to hot.

Speaker 5 (01:34:08):
I think I think we can talk about his travels
a bit and things that he's done. I'm always interested.

Speaker 1 (01:34:12):
You know, it's our show. We can ask him.

Speaker 5 (01:34:16):
And he can fire us after the show.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
Yeah, he can't even do that anymore. He's retired. He
can't do that. We can. We can mock him mercilessly,
and you'll have to take it like a spanking to
a bad, bad donkey.

Speaker 5 (01:34:30):
Hoppy Thursday is back.

Speaker 1 (01:34:32):
Ah, that's the rumor. That's the rumor. Met You News
Middays coming up, David Amanda hot Line a little bit later,
don't forget about high school sports Line tonight, Fred, Dave
and Joe gets you set for the quarterfinals of the
high school football playoffs. Talk Linel Metion News, the Voice
of West Virginia.

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