Talkline| Nov. 24, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning all across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
It's Monday.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Let's get after it.

Speaker 4 (00:10):
Metured News talk Line Stressed Out.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Turned Off from the studios of w v RC Media
and the Metro News Radio and Television Network, the Voice
of West Virginia comes the most powerful show in West Virginia.
This is Metro News talk Line with Dave Wilson and TJ. Meadows.

(00:43):
So it's that work can From Charles stand By to
David TJ. You're on Metro News talk Line is presented
by Kova Insurance, encircling you with coverage to protect what
you care about most in Covia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's a beautiful day inside the capital city here at
historic eleven eleven Virginia Street at East. T'm TJ. Meadows.
Dave Wilson on assignment today, otherwise known as out in
the Woods, trying to bag the big buck. He's going
for that thirty point buck. He's off this week, so
you've got me a little bit of rundown for the week.
We'll be live Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We'll have a
best of show on Thursday, and then we've got something

(01:26):
special I think planned for you on Friday, a live
show that we'll do here as you enjoy Thanksgiving. Coming
up today, we'll talk to the DNR at eleven forty five.
It is opening day off gun season here in West Virginia.
The take expected to be a little lighter. I read
on the Metro News website this morning. We'll talk to
the DNR and see they have any of the latest
statistics for us on what things look like early on

(01:48):
into opening day. Mike McKenna joins us columnist from the
Washington Times, All Things Washington, Trump, MTG tariffs. We'll get
into it. Brad McElhinney Coming up at eleven two twenty three.
Jim Justice back in the news again about those lots
at Glade Springs and the dues that come with them.
We'll also talk to Brad about Shelley Moore Capito and

(02:10):
her stance on these ACA credits. She had media availability
at the end of last week. Brad filed a story
on that yesterday at West Virginia Metronews dot com. Doctor
Matt Rafa he is the executive director of the West
Virginia Pharmacy Association. I want to talk with him a
little bit about this idea of PBMs. We read last

(02:32):
week about the closing of Fruit Pharmacy seventeen stores in
West Virginia. One of the things that the owner, I
don't want to say blamed, but brought up as a
reason that these stores were closing was the continued pressure
from pharmacy benefit managers and their role in essentially making
it harder for local pharmacy chains to survive. So I

(02:56):
want to ask some questions about what these things are,
what they started as, what are they doing. Are they
manipulating the market. We'll get into that. Stephen Allen Adams
for End of the Show has an interesting piece today
in his reporters a Notebook talking a little bit about
Larry Pack and that legislative agenda announcement that Pack had.
I guess it was last week, maybe earlier the week before.

(03:19):
I wrote about that as well. Stephen has a different
take on it, So go and read his column. He's
on at ten thirty. We'll talk with him, But first
today we begin with Senator Joey Garcia represents Marian County
among other areas of the state. He joins us on
Metro News talk Line. Joey, Good morning, sir.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
Hey good morning, TJ.

Speaker 6 (03:39):
How are you, buddy, I'm man in a good morning man,
beautiful sunshine, Chris Day had a nice walk with my
dog Sonny.

Speaker 5 (03:48):
So I mean ready to go, just starting work, I
hear you.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
I just I don't go out and hunt. I don't
have the patience for it. I don't know if you
do or not, but it's just not my thing. So
I guess guys like us are in the office this week.

Speaker 5 (03:59):
I feel like there's too much going on right now.
But I'm glad for all the hunters out there that
are enjoying this. I think a great day to start.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
The day, every bit of it. The Marion County Board
of Education, Joey, they made the decision to dispatch a
letter to the state legislature addressing specific concerns that they're
putting forward in terms of Hope and other issues that
they say are challenging. I'll put it that way, to
the public education system in West Virginia. You represent the county.

(04:31):
I want to talk a bit about their concerns and
where you're at on them. Let's start with the Hope scholarships.
You want to detail what they've been telling you and
talk a little bit about how that might be playing
a role. Let's start there.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
So I think this is certainly not a surprise to me.
Although the fact that you have a letter signed by
every member, all five members of the Marion County Board
of Education, I just I think shows how strongly the
impacts of the Hope I called the Hope Voucher, not

(05:04):
the Hope Scholarship, the Hope Voucher are being felt at
a local level. And I know this year in Marion
County in October there was reported I think two hundred
and nine people students that had left the school system.
So there's a decrease there. Obviously, with that comes a
decrease of funding of approximately six thousand dollars per student,

(05:29):
and we are having to look at consolidation, just like
many other counties across the state of West Virginia have
been doing the last couple of years. For us, it's
about five different schools, and so this is something you
know the House Democrats and they let me tag along
on ten kitchen table towards this fall. This is one

(05:51):
of the hugest issues that we're seeing around the state.
And I think what I've heard from Marrion Kannon the
last couple of years from our board, from our superintendent
is let's fix the school aid formula. You know, it's
one thing if the legislature has made it a priority
to allow for more money to go into school choice.
But you know, the teachers, the service personnel, the building

(06:15):
getting cleaned. I mean, all that just doesn't change overnight.
And I think a lot of these schools have already
been strapped for cash to provide a good product that's
going to bring people here to the state. So that's
an issue. It's been an issue, and I agree with
them wholeheartedly.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
How do we find the sweet spot in this? Because
I would think there's an opportunity for someone to utilize
the voucher of the scholarship, the voucher, as you say,
to put themselves into a better situation, but at the
same time, you know, not be a detriment to the
public school system. Maybe I'm naive in my thinking, but
is there a sweet spot here to be found? And

(06:54):
what does it look like?

Speaker 5 (06:57):
I mean, it's it's interesting to think about the fact
that next here two hundred and forty five million dollars
are coming from our state budget, expecting to come from
our state budget, and it's bypassing our public school system. Meanwhile,
the money that goes to help with the promised scholarship,

(07:18):
which is you know, that's something that that students have
to that they earn that they allows them to go
to college. I think that's right around twenty five to
thirty million dollars. I mean, the amount of money that's
escalated right here is amazing, and especially in such a
short period of time when it's it's basically going to
double next year. And again, this money is coming directly

(07:40):
out of our school system right now. And so as
far as the balance goes, I don't have anything against
people wanting to have school choice in this idea of
having the right school system for their child, I think
that's important. But there I think if we're not ready
to backfill what's going on in our public school system,

(08:04):
when we're not even where we need to be as
far as paying teachers in school personnel, we don't compare
it to Pennsylvania, and we don't compare to Maryland, we
don't compare to Virginia and the bordering states. You know,
we're not doing we weren't doing well already, so then
to come in and say, well, we're just going to
take this money from over here and expect anything but
terrible results for the majority of students who or who

(08:28):
are needing an education in the state. What they're going
to use our public schools. And so if the legislature
wants to, I think the legislature needs to come back
and see how to fix this formula so that schools
have what they need. And if it's a priority to
allow parents to have extra money too, then figure that

(08:49):
out somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Is it a matter of understanding why parents are choosing
alternative education, whether that's homes school, whether it's private or
parochial school. And frankly, I would think, you know, I'm
not seeing a bunch of private parochial schools pop up
as a result of this legislation, so I would think
their capacity is somewhat maxed at this point. So you know,

(09:13):
I don't have any data on how many your homeschool
and how many of your private and parochial. But with
that said, I'm wondering if it would be beneficial. I
know Joe Statler has talked about this to try to
focus group some of these parents sit down and understand
why they're making this decision, and if we understand why
they're making it, maybe we can make corrections within the
public school system that would address that, and maybe they wouldn't.

Speaker 7 (09:35):
Go that route.

Speaker 5 (09:37):
I mean, I think there are certainly issues that need
to be faced in the public school system right now,
and like one of those, for example, that we've had
some a lot of discussions about the last couple of
years is school discipline and just how I think some
there are difficult students nowadays that teachers have a tough

(09:57):
time with that take away from edge cation and the
time spent to teach the other kids in the classroom.
And so we've done we passed a bill last year
kind of giving more flexibility to teachers to try to
figure out how to deal with that. But what we
haven't done is provide more money for social workers. We

(10:18):
haven't provided any any sort of place for these students
to go other than in some cases to take them
out of the schools. And so I feel like we're
you know, we talk a good game sometimes as a
legislature saying all, we want to pass legislation, but ultimately

(10:38):
it takes money to fix certain things. And I could
see a parent getting really upset and I know that
that's happening right now. And that's just one example of
us think something that is a problem in our school
system that if we take away more money and there's
no alternative place for students to learn, and there's enough

(11:00):
money to kind of help support the teachers and other
the personnel at the schools, well, then they're going to
feel like they're on an island. And I think that's
that's how they're feeling right now. But you know, when
it comes to kind of this, I think you said
Joe Stadler talked about sitting down and focus grouping.

Speaker 8 (11:21):
You know.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
One of the issues that I've seen also is that
this idea of the Hope Voucher was supposed to help
lift up people that maybe weren't poverty, that didn't have
the opportunity to go to private school And like you said,
there haven't been a lot of new private schools that
have popped up. So what does that mean. I've heard
that puition has actually increased, so the people that can

(11:43):
always afford it continue to afford it and actually have
this Hope voucher to help them even though they don't
need it. But in places like mcdowll County, in southern
West Virginia. They don't have these opportunities right now, and
many of them I imagine being priced out. So I
don't think this is what a lot of people promised
that this voucher program would be. And I don't see

(12:05):
how it's holding our education system accountable.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Talk to me a bit about this kitchen tour you've
been on with the House of Democrats. Affordability has become
huge in the last couple of weeks at the national level.
I imagine you've heard some of the same conversations as
you've traveled throughout the state. What are constituents telling you,
what are their top concerns.

Speaker 5 (12:28):
So, yes, affordability is now a buzzword, and I think
we need to be careful that it's not. You know,
I think we get this idea in our heads about
magic words or magic communications, But what does that mean altogether?
It means the peak, like the basics that people need.
And for example, we're down in Gilbert, West Virginia. We

(12:49):
heard from probably about half of a two hour long meeting.
Half of the people. We're talking about clean water like
basics like that, And you know, in the grocery store
the other day, finally getting an early getting all the
things I need for Thanksgiving, And I had a lady
come up to me start talking about how she's spending

(13:10):
one hundred dollars more on her groceries. It seems like
every time she goes to the store. She said, I've
been buying the same things for years, and I can
I can feel that. And you know, we hear. We've
heard so much about energy costs from people throughout the state,
how they just can't afford it. At the same time,
we've got programs like Peia for state workers, and we've

(13:32):
got retirees that you know, Cola's and other prices are
going up. We're just not helping as a West Virginia legislature.
And unfortunately, and I think people are starting to finally
get a little bit mad about this. There has been
so much emphasis on things that are just not a
normal part of people's lives, all these different social issues,
scary tactics that have tried to divide us the last

(13:56):
couple of years, and I think people are finally saying, hey,
my life's getting a little worse the last couple of years.
And I'll be honest, that's come under Republicans in state
of West Virginia. That has been their outcomes. It's been
a government that hasn't worked well. While we try to
cut taxes that they give an average family like sixteen

(14:17):
dollars a year, but ultimately we have a foster care system,
we have systems that are supposed to take care of
homelessness and other things that it's just not working. And
so that's the message that I heard is people just
want government to work for them and make their lives
a little better and stop with all this showmanship about
trying to create the next boogeyman?

Speaker 1 (14:39):
What can government do? Give me a quick hit on that.
We're up against the clock, But what can government do
to make the cost of goods cheaper, make the turkey
cheaper in the store? I'm not sure it can do anything,
if I'm being honest with you, Yes, And.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
Some of the I think some of those are trade issues.
Some of those are absolutely trade issues at the federal level.
I don't know if the state can always do something
about that. You have like, what have our policies been
at the Department of Agriculture to try to help, you know,
with farmers throughout the United States. Again, tariff, I think
those are federal issues, and again, we have a Republican

(15:13):
administration right now that has taken some detours from what
you've seen in the past, and I think we're seeing
the effects of that. I think as a state, though,
one of the things that we are going to have
to consider as the West West Virginia legislature is as
we're having less funds that come to help with SNAP programs,
we're having less money that comes in. We're Title eight

(15:34):
vouchers to help people get out of homelessness, and people
will like to complain about not seeing people in the streets,
but then again, we're cutting the amount of money and
that's ultimately what's going to happen. So what can we do.
We can put our money where our mouth is for
the priorities that makes sense for us, like healthcare, like education,
and like actually finding some goals like trying to lift

(15:58):
people out of homelessess, like trying to make sure kids
are not hungry. I think those are important things that
every West Virginia can agree on and that we should
give to work together to buy person mantors solve.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Joey Garcia, Marian County Senator, We'll see at the Capitol
here in a few weeks. Buddy, Meanwhile, have a happy
Thanksgiving and let me be the first wish of Merry Christmas.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
Hey, fav you, TJ, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Take care when we come back, Ryan smells Fox News
Radio from the Hill in DC.

Speaker 9 (16:24):
Governor Patrick Morrissey as set of very bold goal fifty
gigawats a new energy capacity by twenty fifty. Thanks to
House Bill twenty fourteen, West Virginia's coal plans will be
upgraded to run longer, stronger, and more efficiently, thus delivering reliable,
affordable base load power. Our families and businesses will be

(16:45):
able 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 approach to economic development which will supercharge our state's
coal industry and broader economy. With Governor Morrissey's leadership and

(17:06):
the action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again
America's energy leader. Coal is powering progress. Cole is powering
West Virginia. Brought to you by the West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaker 10 (17:22):
You're listening to talk Line on Metro News. The Voice
of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
West Virginia Outdoors is the Mountain State's only hook and
bullet radio show dedicated to the more than quarter million
hunters and anglers across the state. Award winning host Chris
Lawrence has been tracking down hunting and fishing stories for
more than twenty five years.

Speaker 11 (17:44):
In a stream or a river, they really like to
have a mud bank and they like to have a
place where they can dig an underwater hole as a refuge.

Speaker 12 (17:53):
That's correct. You. They have to evade predators. Now, some
prayers will take them there a maker and author obviously,
but they can avoid they can avoid the coyotes, the hawkses,
the bobcats, the owls and the hawks. And that's really
the ones that probably take the most up.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Whether it's hunting and fishing news or just compelling stories
about the enjoyment of the great outdoors. West Virginia Outdoors
covers it all Saturday mornings at seven oh six am,
and for your daily fix, Outdoors Today brings you two
and a half minutes of news and notes from the
woods and water every weekday morning on Metro News. The
Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 13 (18:30):
I'm Kyle Wigs, I'm Greg Hunter, and I'm Brad Howe,
and we welcome you to join us each weeknight at.

Speaker 14 (18:35):
Six oh six for the City Net state Wide Sports Line.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
As always, will dive deep into mountaineer athletics.

Speaker 15 (18:40):
We'll cover the Mountaineast, we'll cover high school sports, and
if it's happening in the world of sports, we'll be
talking about it.

Speaker 14 (18:46):
You can listen live and text into the show each
night at six oh six, or watch anytime on the
Metro News TV app. It's the City Net state Wide
sports Line on Metro.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
News News in the Mountain State and quick and for
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(19:20):
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(19:43):
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Let's go straight to Washington, DC.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Ryan Schmels, Fox News Radio joins us Ryan, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Morning.

Speaker 7 (20:00):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (20:02):
I'm good?

Speaker 2 (20:03):
You dropped the phone?

Speaker 1 (20:04):
What happened?

Speaker 7 (20:05):
I might slam my coffee mug against the microphone that's
in the White House press booth here.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, happy Monday, Happy Monday. Brother. Hey, I spilled coffee
all over the deal here the other day. So at
least you didn't do that. Talk to me about this.
Did you have MTG resigning Friday night on your bingo card?
Took me by surprise.

Speaker 7 (20:26):
No, I definitely took everybody's surprise. You know, this is
the second week in a row that major news related
to MTG dropped late on a Friday night. You saw
it happen when she would President Trump provoked her endorsement
last Friday, and then now with her ultimately old announcing
that she's going to resign on January fifth. So yes,

(20:47):
she has made late night news while everyone was that
happy hour two weeks in a row.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
So she did the video thing. They're pretty drawn out
about ten minutes, but did she tell us why she's
doing this?

Speaker 7 (20:59):
Yeah, Well, the big reason is she didn't want to
have a contested primary or put her district through a
very contentious and what could be a very toxic primary
that she was expected. She cited a number of other
personal things that had happened to her while she was
in office too, and kind of talked about the toxicness
of just Congress in general. So there are a number
of different things, But ultimately, I think everyone's going to

(21:20):
be honing in on you know, what ultimately happened with
her relationship with President Trump, which is that it deteriorated
after she was considered to be one of the most
loyal supporters of him for a number of years.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
I don't want you to speculate, but I just I
can't imagine her just going home to Georgia and not
being part of the political process. Maybe I'm being a naive.

Speaker 7 (21:38):
But I mean, she's got a tremendous brand on social media.
She has a lot of followers, she has a lot
of people who support her. Well, I mean, obviously we
don't know how many of them will stick around with her,
you know, no longer being closely aligned with President Trump,
but then yes, I mean there's two races in Georgia
that are very key. You of the governor's race coming
up next year, and you also have a Senate race

(22:00):
coming up next year. And it doesn't appear that any
Republican has really seized the momentum and and kind of
become a stand away candidate yet, So she very well
could potentially launch an effort that that could get her
through those primaries.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
So being there at the White House, give me a
quick thirty seconds. What's making news today? Or is it
a slow holiday Monday's totally of.

Speaker 7 (22:20):
A slow holiday month Monday. But there are some things
that President Trump could be announcing. But I think we
just broke some news that President Trump did speak with
she from China. So I'll be probably putting a report
together on that. I'm trying to get through what the
readout was so far.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
And I'm also hearing word could come this week on
ACA extensions. What the White House made one day.

Speaker 7 (22:42):
Yes, yes, President Trump is supposed to be putting out
a plan possibly this week, maybe today, but we don't
know if that that that's legitimate yet or not.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
What are you doing for Turkey Day?

Speaker 7 (22:53):
I am going back to my family's house in Carroll County, Maryland. So,
as you know, there is a Carroll County and every
single state, and usually it's the county that has all
the rednecks in it.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
I don't think we have one here, but you can
come to my county. We have plenty of rednecks where
I'm from here. So we said that proudly because I am.

Speaker 7 (23:13):
We We do some redneck stuff, we do some bonfire,
then we just we just all hang out and have
a good time watching football. So it's a It's one
of my favorite time of the year. For sure.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
You're gonna have to come to one of the shoot
up losers I do where we just take all the
guns I own and go out to the range and
let you know, we literally put a toilet out there
and just blow the thing to smithereens.

Speaker 7 (23:31):
Oh man, that's that sounds like a great stress reliever.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
We'll make plants. Thanks Ryan Trammels, Fox News Radio. Appreciate you, buddy,
See you, buddy, Thank you. You're listening to the talk
line on Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It's
ten thirty. Time to check in for a state wide
news update. Find out what's happening all across the great
state of West Virginia.

Speaker 16 (23:52):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins along talking about
additional exit on Interstate seventy nine in the Morgantown area
has picked up key approval.

Speaker 17 (24:01):
After seven years of work and planning, the interchange Justification
Report for the proposed I seventy nine Harmony Grove interchange
has been approved by the Federal Highway Administration. The approval
now gives state officials to go ahead to issue a
solicitation for engineering. Estimates are the construction could start for
that key access to the Morgantown Industrial Park sometime in

(24:25):
twenty twenty seven. Mike Nolting for wv Metronews dot com.

Speaker 16 (24:30):
That ongoing dispute between the Glades Springs Homeowners Association and
a company owned by US Center Gym Justice and Famili
has ended up before the State Supreme Court and now
oral arguments will take place next year. The High Court
enter that order back on Friday. At issue is a
disagreement about homeowners association fees. The association says the justices, Oh, then,
but the Justices say their lots are not really part

(24:51):
of that community. Read more from Metro New statewide course
by a Brad mccalhaney at WV metronews dot com. This
is the first day the gun season in West Virginia
in deer hunting you will last for the next two weeks.
Read a preview story at wv metronews dot com. And
Governor Patrick Morris, You're going to make a couple of
stops in the state today. He'll be in Spencer and

(25:13):
Harrisville later today. You're listening to Metro News for forty years,
The Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Now showing on Metro News Television, Peak Health. Your doctor's
built it, your neighbors love it, and your friends at
Hope Gas present episode four of State of Minds. Hoppykerchible
visits with Academy Award nominated filmmakery Lane McMillian Sheldon.

Speaker 18 (25:32):
I just felt really a fir and I was like,
whatever I'm done up until this point.

Speaker 12 (25:35):
I'm glad it's letting me hear because this is such
an incredible moment.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
State of Minds Episode four now available on Metro News TV,
presented by Hope Gas and Peak Healf with support from
Career Industries. Only on the Metro News television app.

Speaker 19 (25:49):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
posted on the podcast center of wv metronews dot com
and the Metro News TV app.

Speaker 8 (25:56):
While there's no cure for COPD, patients can still have.

Speaker 20 (26:00):
There are a lot of newer medicines out there to
help manage and decrease the symptom burden as well as
to help the exacerbations to avoid progression of the disease.

Speaker 19 (26:09):
Listen to Live Healthy West Virginia for candid conversations with
insights for improving your health and well being. Live Healthy
West Virginia is presented by WVU Medicine.

Speaker 16 (26:18):
Health net Aramedical Services President and CEO Clinton Burley tells
Metro News health Net is pleased to be able to
partner with several high quality organizations that do what they
do in other states. Burley says that new organization is
called Aero Terra Health. He says each program keeps his
own identity under this but the work one behind the
scenes to keep and improve best practices for patients. Read

(26:42):
more at wv metronews dot com From the Metro News
anchored desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Talk Alient on Metro News eight hundred seven six five
eight two five five is the phone number. Context the show.
We will get to some of those texts three oh
four Talk three oh four. Our producer today is Ethan Collins,
Zach carrollcheck manning the video stream. One of those texts,
now TJ. What are you anti gun? Why aren't you

(27:29):
out in the woods hunting? A couple of reasons. One,
somebody's got to work. Dave loves this, so I'm not
gonna take the vacation or try to lobby for the
vacation when he wants to be gone for a week.
Number Two, I don't have the patience to sit there
in the cold and be quiet and do whatnot. That's
not how I'm wired. Number Three, I'll bet you I
own more guns than you do. Let's go to the
range and fire off and have a good time with that.

(27:51):
Steven Allen Adams joins us on this show. Good morning, buddy,
good morning.

Speaker 18 (27:55):
And I own a rifle and don't remember the last
I've even shot it. Not anti gun at all, and
not anti deer hunting. If you've got some deer jerky,
particularly spicy deer jerky, I want to eat some, so
send my way. Just send the Metro News, Cara, Metro News,

(28:17):
send your deer jerky. I'm all here for it. But yeah,
I'm not a deer hunter myself. I've never done it.
I've got family members to do it, and I just
enjoy the spoils of their hunting. So they bring me
some venison, steak or ground deer. It's all good to me.
A good deer burger is just a wonderful thing.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, no, I agree with that. My cousin is a
huge hunter, has a big spread, has two different spreads
in the north central part of the state. They're out there.
He's been out there all month doing things. I mean,
he already got a nice one this morning. Sent the pictures.
That's wonderful. I don't have the patience. I remember my
dad would sit me down. I could last maybe twenty minutes,

(28:57):
and if something didn't. The only deer I ever killed
came by minutes after I sat down. At minute twenty,
I'm shooting chipmunks or anything that I see.

Speaker 18 (29:04):
So look, I'm the same way with phishing. I enjoy
phishing except for all the time it takes sitting there
doing nothing. If I'm going to use that time I'm
going to read a book, That's what I'm gonna do.
Or my new hobby these days is putting is building Lego,
So I'm I'm back to building adult lego.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
What are you building? What are you what are you
working on?

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Uh?

Speaker 18 (29:23):
Well, the thing I just finished up recently is just
a little still camera or just it's one of those
three and one kids. You can do multiple things, but
the main one was like an old school camera that
you could put literally a roll of film into and
it's fun. I have a feeling my family is going
to do something dumb and spend way too much money
on that USS Enterprise d Lego that just came out.

(29:44):
That's like four hundred dollars and it's about the size of,
you know, a small TV. I hope they don't do that,
but that's going to take forever to build.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
The Legos store at Easton is one of my kids
favorite up in Columbus, And when dad used to work
in Columbus, they would come along on trips and stuff
and we would almost end up there and just because
we're up there shopping whatever.

Speaker 18 (30:03):
Disney Springs for me, okay, Leo's store Disney Springs is.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Where I go.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
You can spend some killer money in there. I mean
a large amount of money in a very small amount
of time.

Speaker 18 (30:13):
Well, you know the Millennium Falcon, the big one. They've
got a couple of different sizes, but the big hero
Millennia Falcon, I think is over eight hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Let's get into it. You're here to talk politics. You
have a great column today, available to various outlets, The
Wheeling Intelligencer, Parker's put News and Sentinel, among other Ogden outlets.
You're talking about Larry Pack. You're talking about one governor
at a time.

Speaker 18 (30:34):
Lay it out, yes, sir, And I want to be
very clear. You had a wonderful column last week, and
when you had published yours, I was already working on mine.
So this is not a This is not like a TJ.
Meadows Brian Hilton debate. This is it's just a different column.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
It was a civil debate, by the way.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
It was.

Speaker 18 (30:52):
It absolutely was, and I thought that was wonderful. But
so I come at it from a different tack than you.
And again someone I've covered Larry Pack for a long time. Again,
it's a small state. I've known Larry Pack forever and
no doubt he's got the resume that's going to make
him one day, I think a pretty good, pretty good governor.
I mean, if you're on the opposite political perspective, you
might disagree with that fair enough, but but he definitely

(31:15):
has the qualifications to one day run for governor. My
big issue is a little bit with separating Larry Pack
the State Treasurer, from Larry Pack just a politician in general.
And I do think you do need to be a
little careful in how you you can have these opinions.

(31:35):
And I think they're all valid. And his point is,
you know, you know, if it's a dollar that somehow
touches the State Treasurer's office, he thinks and believes that
he has the ability to provide, you know, advice and
provide input on different processes. But I would make the
argument that some of the things he proposed last week

(31:58):
don't really fall really in the purview to State Treasurer's
office directly. And doing it in front of the banner
of the State Treasurer's office, with State Treasurer's office staff,
state Treasurer's office equipment, I think you get into a
little bit of an area, especially since it is a
little nebulous as to what he's doing. Is he running

(32:19):
for governor in twenty twenty eight. He's not directly said.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
I've asked him.

Speaker 18 (32:24):
He's stayed mumb which is you know, typical politician speak.
You know, is he doing this because you know he
feels slighted because the governor, Governor Patrick Morrisey has taken
sort of unnamed digs at former Governor Jim Justice administration
that Larry Pack was part of. That could be part
of it too. But I'm just you know, saying, I'm

(32:44):
putting my call umn out there just to say, as
sort of a yellow flag, just be careful on how
you do these things because it is seen. And you
even make mention of it in your column. People were
noticing that, you know, he's saying these things, and he's
doing these things. He's doing all this travel. They on
social media, they put out his itinerary from the past week.
I mean, he is sort of kind of acting as

(33:07):
a governor so in a way. So that was sort
of the point in might call him someone on X
that I follow. I think you do too.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Andrew Donaldson said it's the best campaign non campaign for
governor he's ever seen. I agree with him. I think
it is very good messaging and positioning. I wonder this
almost like a shadow governor kind of concept. Are we
in that today? Because of the fracture that we see

(33:36):
in the Republican Party within West Virginia and also because
people start running for governor the second they're elected, because
they almost have to with the amount of money and
no morse, he's out there. He's had campaign fundraisers all
over the US. Is that why we're seeing this so
early on?

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Oh?

Speaker 18 (33:50):
Yeah, I mean people keep jumping in earlier and earlier.
At one point, leading up to twenty twenty, it was
Democrat candidate Stephen Smith that you recall him from Western
and you can't wait. He jumped in way early, start
raising money to try to get the Democratic nomination. He
lost it to Ben Zelango County Commissioner, but that was
an early campaign. Or if you look most recently at

(34:12):
the Republican primary for governor for twenty twenty FOD, the
earliest person that jumped in was Huntington automobile dealer and
businessman Chris Miller. He got in pretty early too on
that at the ground level and start raising money and
started making appearances and things that nature. So yeah, I
mean we are in a situation where these things were

(34:33):
starting earlier and earlier. And of course, again just to
be very clear to the listeners and viewers, Larry Pack
has not said he's running for governor.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
But.

Speaker 18 (34:43):
It's pretty clear that he's laying the groundwork for something.
And it's not uncommon for people and other offices to
do that sort of thing. We've seen some real real
politic and from other people before in that regards as well.
And sort of also to your point, I mean, you know,
Governor Patrick Morrissey himself has not specifically engendered the sort

(35:07):
of enthusiasm out there that you would expect to see.
I wrote a colum literally last week about that and
his speech to the Energy Summit and how it was received,
how I interpreted it, and how I others received it.
So maybe you could also make the argument that the
nature abhors a vacuum, and perhaps because some people see

(35:28):
that the governor is not engendering that type of enthusiasm,
that provides an opportunity for someone like Larry Pack, who
is well liked, you know, well liked and very well experienced,
to kind of fill a hole to maybe others.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
See, Yeah, I look at it like this, and you know,
my background is business. I love disruption. I love it
because it breeds new ideas. It's almost a staple for innovation.
So whether it was Pack, whether it's one of the
other members of the Board of Public Works, I think
in the long run, as an accountability mechanism, I think
it's good. I also wonder in this age where independents

(36:02):
are no longer going to be able to vote in
the primary, yes, if this is facilitating that, because there's
just you know, look, there's a lot of conservative independence
in this state. Republicans couldn't win without them before, but
now you've taken that influence essentially out. Unless they're willing
to change party. Many may not be. So you're fighting
for less and less people.

Speaker 18 (36:20):
So you start sooner, and we're about to see the
first real test of that here in twenty twenty six,
because I mean, the Republicans still have one more opportunity
to reverse themselves. I let the independence vote in the primary,
I don't think they will. I don't think the state
party has the votes to make that happen. So I
think this will be the test to see whether kicking

(36:43):
independence to the curb and just letting it be a
Republican party primary, whether it has a negative effect. And
again you could see voter registration in the state. Republican
voter registration keeps going up, Democratic voter registration keeps going down.
Independence kind of stays a little bit static. So we
may see more people jump over to the Republican side
the closer we get to the twenty six elections, but

(37:06):
keep in mind we're going to I think the test
of this is going to be, I think in state
Senate races going into twenty twenty six, because there's obviously
a lot of recruitment, business friendly, well liked you would
call moderates today, but would have been normal Republicans, you know,
even five years ago, challenging some of the more i'd

(37:26):
say dark red Republicans such across the state that we're seeing.
And I think that's the fight the watch and depending
on how that turns out, because I've made I've postulated
the theory that as long as Independents aren't in those races,
perhaps it's going to bring out the more enthusiastic side,

(37:48):
which is going to be more of probably the far
right side of the party perspective and make those races
really competitive. We'll see. But I do think you've got
You're onto something. There where just a sort of I
think an answer to the same situation that you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Stephen Allen Adams, columnist for Ogden Newspapers. Where can we
read you? Give us the Rundown.

Speaker 18 (38:09):
Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Wheeling Intelligencer and News Register. We're
in Daily Times, the Inner Mountain of Elkins, the Martinsburg Journal,
and The Dominion Post in Mortartown.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Also follow him on X Happy Thanksgiving tam to you too,
my friend, appreciate you when we come back. Kannall County
Sheriff Joey Crawford on that sad, terrible teen suicide revolves
and circulates around sextortion. We'll talk about that next. As
Metro News talk line continues.

Speaker 21 (38:39):
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Are here.

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You're listening to talk Line on Metro News, the voice
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Speaker 2 (39:42):
Metro News this morning, the biggest stories from around the
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To get the bay going with all the information you need.

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In the Mountain State, Jeff Jenkins brings you the day's headlines.

Speaker 16 (39:55):
Not enough votes in the US Senata Passaville for some
of the federal workers who are currently working without pay
during the federal government shut down to receive pay. You're
Sator Shady mar Capito says enough Democrats would not agree
with the pay bill on Thursday.

Speaker 23 (40:08):
I just think that we would do better to open
the government. We've tried to get appropriations bills going. They
will not do that, so we're stuck in the mud
here because it does take sixty votes.

Speaker 16 (40:17):
Capitol says she is not in favor of eliminating the
required sixty vote threshold.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Luke Wiggs at the sports Desk from the NBA.

Speaker 24 (40:24):
Last night, the Thunder a one forty one to one
thirty five winner over the Pacers in double overtime and
just one overtime. The Warriors beat the Nuggets one thirty
seven to two one thirty one.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
The Chargers.

Speaker 24 (40:33):
On Thursday night football beat Minnesota thirty seven to ten.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Metro News This Morning Listen where you get your favorite
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Speaker 13 (40:42):
Hither Dave Weekly here from metro News Online. We don't
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Even beer talk.

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On Fridays, we hit the high notes and the hilarious
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fire us up on your drive home weekdays three to
six on Metro News, it's two.

Speaker 25 (41:11):
Hours of sports conversation to wrap up your weekend. It's
the City Net Sunday Night Sports Line. Hey, this is
Travis Shows, joining myself and Greg Hunter every Sunday night
from six oh six until eight o'clock as we wrap
up the sports weekend. We talk mountaineers, high school, Mountain
East Conference, and the latest in the national scene. The
Sunday Sports Line is listener interactive. You could call or
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(41:34):
It's a perfect weekend sports wrap up on your favorite
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Speaker 2 (41:54):
Metro News Talk Line is presented by Encovia Insurance and
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Speaker 1 (42:04):
Kennell Couny Sheriff's Office has released additional information regarding the
death of a teenager in cross Lanes earlier this month.
According to the release, on November sixth, round seven to
ten pm, deputies had responded to calls from appearents of
the victim reporting a shooting on Kelly Kelly's Creek Road
in cross Lanes or Kelly Road, excuse being cross lanes.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered Bryce Tate, fifteen,

(42:27):
deceased inside the residence from a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Tate was a student at Nitro High School. Joining us
in the in Cove Insurance studios. Kenwall County Sheriff Joey Crawford,
good morning, sir, Thank you, TJ. I appreciate you. This
is such a sad story. Explain what has happened.

Speaker 26 (42:44):
You know, this is first and foremost, TJ. I want
to extend our deepest condolences to the Tate family and
what they're happened to endure and deal with during this
holiday season. Such a tragic event. But you know, the
same token is I want to commend them for being
able to get this out there so parents, maybe another

(43:06):
parent doesn't have to endure with what they're going through
at this point in time. And you know, I think
that says a lot about the family. Uh but uh,
what a tragic, uh tragic event.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
And this involves sextortion. That's a word many of us
may be new to us. Explain what happens. You may
hear that.

Speaker 26 (43:26):
Yeah, it's it's basically just to give you a little definition.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Of what that is.

Speaker 26 (43:32):
It's uh, it's an online exploitation through coercion and threats.
And what they do is they engage. Normally, they target
a young adult audience, you know, in the teenage years
up through high school, of sending pictures, uh, explicit pictures

(43:52):
and then trying to extort money out of them. A
lot of these people are probably not even in the country.
So at the end of the day, you know, they
tell you, hey, either send me some money or we're
going to release these photographs. So I think it behooves
all of us that have children, grandchildren to sit down

(44:15):
and have these conversations so we don't see this tragic
event unfold again.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
And Tate was specifically targeted, the fifteen year old Bryce Tate.
He was targeted by whomever correct. And this is a
young man, my understanding, had a good relationship with his parents, yes,
kept his nose clean, had open communication with his parents. However,

(44:43):
that threat, he perceived it to be so fierce and
these folks, who sadly are very good at what they do,
were able to create enough angst in him that he
took his.

Speaker 26 (44:56):
Own MinC create fear and panic, like you have to
do something right now. So I mean, and that's what
a lot of these schemes are. What they do is
you know, they pray on the week or they prey
on elderly people.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Or young people with you know.

Speaker 26 (45:12):
So that's what we're seeing, not only in this case,
but there's been other cases, but specifically specifically to this one.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
That's how they're targeting the young adults. Do we have
any idea how they make contact? Is is it through
social media? How do how do they how do they
come to know these people and come to identify.

Speaker 26 (45:34):
Their absolutely, you know, and I think, you know, it's
worth a discussion talking about how these these types of
events occur. That's why they call it the world Wide Web.
It's not just located in the United States, and that's
what makes it difficult for law enforcement to be able
to prosecute these cases. You know, we we have several
of our members of our Investigative Detective Bureau that are

(45:57):
signed to the FBI Task Force. Uh so they're actively
looking looking at that case, obviously working it as best
they can, but ultimately what sometimes ends up being they're
out of country and trying to identify these people and
get them prosecuted. So I think, you know, we need

(46:19):
as parents to try to chip in, say hate contact
which if you know this is going on, talk to
kids and say, hey, we need to talk to law
enforcement and get them on board because there's some proactive
stuff we may be able to do while they're engaged
in these conversations online.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Should we start talking about in schools with our children
middle school as they you know, my kids kindergarten, they
went to school with an iPad, absolutely, and and just
start putting it out there, sheriff and saying, look, these
people will target you. This is how they work. Recognize
this when you see it, and do not be afraid. Absolutely,
I'll come talk.

Speaker 26 (46:55):
That's that's Those are the conversations that we need to
have as parents and grandparents to say, hey, yeah, this
is not the end of the world. We can deal
with this, we can work with this. You know, you
made maybe a bad decision or you were lured into
making a bad choys or decision, but at the end
of the day, we can still you know, we can
recover from this. And having that dialogue and that confidence

(47:17):
and trust with your parents to say hey, we need
to call police, immediately, contact your local law enforcement. US
is a state wide This is not just isolated to Kenall
County or whatever, So I think it's nationwide we're seeing
and it's probably going to be an uptick and increase
in these types of events, and our job is to
try to educate and get that information to your law

(47:40):
enforcements as quickly as possible so we can try to
be proactive and target these people tragic situation.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
I appreciate you coming in and educating the audience on
what is going on. Talk with your children, folks, don't
be shy about having these conversations. My prayers are with
the family and with you and your officers and the
FBI as you continue you to investigate this case. We
you know we're gonna work vigorously to try to bring
justice if we can. So, I mean that's our commitment

(48:08):
to the Tape family, and I think we owe it
to them to be able to try to do that.
Sheriff Joey Crawford. You can read more at our website
wv Metronews dot com. Hit a few texts after the break.

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(49:13):
Visit citynet dot net today. City Net connects, protects, and perfects.

Speaker 10 (49:21):
You're listening to Talkline on Metro News, the voice of
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Wvmetronews dot com the only website you need to stay
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Speaker 29 (50:11):
I'll go out on a limb because people won't like
my answer.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Probably.

Speaker 29 (50:15):
I think there's fewer coyotes than most people imagine. Really,
because when number one, when you hear a family group
of them this time of year, the pups are very vocal.
The coyotes are getting They've been kind of shut mouthed
during the spring when they're young, and it's like a
bunch of teenagers. When they get to September, Mom, dad

(50:35):
can't keep their mouths shut anymore.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Whether it's hunting and fishing news or just compelling stories
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Speaker 25 (50:57):
It's two hours of sports conversation to wrap up your weekend.
It's the City Net Sunday Night Sports Line. Hey, this
is Travis Joes joining myself and Greg Hunter every Sunday
night from six oh six until eight o'clock as we
wrap up the sports weekend, we talk Mountaineers, high school,
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The Sunday Sports Line is listener interactive. You could call
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(51:19):
oh four. It's a perfect weekend sports wrap up on
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Speaker 1 (51:44):
Talk line on Metro News. TJ Meadows Flying Solo. Dave's
on vacation, hopefully back in the Big Buck. He does,
He's promised to send pictures along, so we'll be on
the lookout for those. Three oh four Talk three oh
four is the text line. The DNR needs to simplify
hunting regulations. You need a college degree to understand all
the rules and regulations. Quit running hunting season like a business,

(52:05):
says the text. Two hundred students. Make them consolidate five schools.
The hope scholarship bashing is insane. The hope is only
five thousand, and the school still receives more money than
to not educate these students. My kids receive hope, but
we self funded homeschool prior to receiving HOPE and going
to a private school. The county receives money for our

(52:26):
kids that they were never part of their system. Says
the texture. I'll read them as they come in. The
best advantage you could give our schools is to eliminate
teachers unions, says this texture. They're only in it for
the teacher, not in it for the students. Look, people
have a right to organize in this country. I've had

(52:48):
my issues with unions, but I know a lot of
teachers that are members of unions that are definitely in
it for the kids. I'm just saying Massachusetts has the
best school system in the nation. They dedicate one sense
of their state tax to education. I'm not sure what
that is per capita. I'll have to look, but you know,
go to the State Revenue Secretary's website and what you're

(53:09):
going to see is we dedicate a huge amount of
money into this state. It's one of our biggest spends
right along with dahhr whatever they call that nowadays, So
we spend our fair share as well. Don't be deceived
by that hour number one in the books. See you
back at eleven oh six for hour number two. You're
listening to Talkline on Metro News. Metro News is the

(53:30):
voice of West Virginia.

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Metro News talk Line is presented by Incovia Insurance, encircling
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Speaker 1 (53:57):
Welcome in our number two of Metro News. Talk Line.
Eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five
is the telephone number. If you'd like to weigh in
that way, you can always text the show three h
four talk three to oh four. We have texts lined up.
We will get there. I make that promise to you.
One of the interesting things that's been popping up lately
and much of what I read, this concept of PBMs

(54:21):
pharmacy benefit managers. Last week we read of the closing
of Fruth Pharmacy, well known throughout the state of West Virginia,
seventeen locations. Uh the owner, Lynn Fruth. One of the
things that she noted as a contributing factor was PBMs
and their role in her assertion that they make it,

(54:42):
call it what it is, make it harder, more difficult
for smaller pharmacies and smaller chains to be able to
compete with the big boys. It keeps coming up. I
want to dive into it and fully understand PBMs and
their role. So we turned to Matthew Reifa, who is
the executive director of the West Virginia Pharmacy Association. A

(55:02):
practicing pharmacist himself, joins us on Metro News talk line
mag Good morning, sir.

Speaker 5 (55:08):
Good morning, it's a pleasure to be here with you.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Let's start here. Explain to me what a PBM is,
how it came to be, what it's doing today.

Speaker 5 (55:18):
Sure, so, a pharmacy benefit manager is, in very plain
terms of middleman. So if you think of all of
our insurances being pulled together for a larger pool, that's
the whole point of having an insurance company is that
you're putting all the risk into a pool and along

(55:41):
with some healthy people and some people who need medical attention,
and insurance company handles the risk of that population. Well,
pharmacy benefit manager helps to let those insurance companies into

(56:01):
a much larger pool, and they would claim that they
try to reduce costs because they've got more bodies that
they're taking care of and that they're able to negotiate
better rates. But the fact of the matter is, being
the middlemen that they are, they are extracting money from

(56:24):
the system, which is causing healthcare costs to go up
and causing pharmacies to have to dispense medications at a
loss on a regular basis. And that's something that is
really hard for people to wrap their heads around because

(56:45):
you are paying higher copays than you've ever paid before,
and so I think that it's easy for people to
assume that pharmacies are making more money than they have
in years past. But the fact of the matter is
the copay that they pay plus what the insurance company

(57:06):
splash pharmacy benefit manager pay us often is still at
a loss of the drug costs that costs us just
to get the medication in stock for you.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
So let's let's break down a couple of things. As
I read about this business model, one of the things
I've discovered is that a lot of the large pharmacy
retailers or drug manufacturers, they've kind of integrated. They're vertically
integrated and have ownership interests in the PBMs. Do I
have that correct?

Speaker 5 (57:38):
That is one correct. So to add even more ambiguity
to this whole scenario, you have PBMs who now own
their own pharmacies. A perfect example of that is CBS
care Mark. Obviously their pharmacy is CBS, and so where

(58:03):
CBS may report that they are losing money in areas
of their business, much like many of our independence and
smaller chains are in West Virginia, the fact matter is
they are filtering a lot of that money up to
the PBM. The PBM is making all the money for them,

(58:23):
and they're able to look like they are also struggling
in this model. So it truly is a matter of
if you look at the PBMs and what they account
for in our medication prescription coverage, they account for the

(58:47):
Big three account for about eighty percent of all the
prescription claims in the United States, And with that kind
of power, they're able to give us very unfair contracts
that we either have to accept to continue taking care
of our patients that we love, or we have to

(59:09):
refuse them and our patients have to go elsewhere and
Neither one of those is ideal.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
Do you get the same reimbursement as the big boy
pharmacy chains that have ownership in the PBMs? Are they
differentiating you at all?

Speaker 5 (59:23):
They are not the same contracts. There are much more
favorable contracts for bigger pharmacy chains. There are less favorable
ones for many of our independent pharmacies, which we rely
on in West Virginia because of our rural landscape.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Talk to me about the idea that at the end
of the day, right or wrong, the consumer benefits. I
hear stories all the time about people shopping drugs. I've
done it myself. About a month ago, I had a prescription.
I took it to a local. It was three hundred dollars.
I took it to a chain. Second chain it was
like one twenty five. The one I went with was

(01:00:09):
a chain. The third option, I got it for forty dollars.
So do I care if I'm just a guy buying
the drugs?

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
You should care from the standpoint that at some point
there will be a medication that you will need that
you will have a hard time getting a hold of.
And so when when we start seeing closures like the
unfortunate closures of the fifteen stores of fruit that leaves

(01:00:41):
holes for care in those areas, and especially when they
are in rural locations. They may be the only pharmacy
in town. They may be the only health establishment in
that small community, and the patients in that community rely
greatly on that pharmacist and the pharmacist staff in order

(01:01:04):
to take care of their needs in that small rural community. So, ultimately,
what would make the most sense is for transparency so
that we have you can get the same prescription, the
same medical care that you need wherever you're going, for

(01:01:27):
the same price. There should not be different prices based
on what pharmacy you go to or you know the
terms that you use. That you shouldn't have to shop
around for your healthcare.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Why isn't this anti trust? It sounds anti trust to me.
I'm not an attorney, but it would seem to at
least raise the eyebrow of suspicion. And we have a
long standing history in this country of being anti monop monopoly,
anti trust. I'm wondering why it hasn't risen to that level.

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
Well, it has been investigated at that level. The Federal
Trade Commission has been looking into it I think since
twenty twenty two, if not before that. And unfortunately it's
shady political landscape. You've got a lot of lobbyists with

(01:02:22):
a lot of money who are really doing everything in
their power to try to keep things the way they
are because they stand to benefit greatly financially from it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
But while they.

Speaker 5 (01:02:37):
Are doing that, they're farming patients. They're making it harder
for pharmacies to survive to take care of those patients
and putting stress on all of us. The fact that
you had to go look for numerous places to find

(01:02:57):
the medication at a decent price as added stress you
don't need in your life.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Talk to me about the true independence. So Fruit being
an independent, they had fifteen seventeen stores, I think you
said fifteen. My fault will go with that. If they
can't do it with that kind of volume, if they
can't survive, the guy or the gal that's trying to
run the pharmacy that's been around forever. They still do malts,

(01:03:23):
they have hot dogs for sale, they offer other goods.
I mean, it would seem to me that their days
are completely numbered. And if a medium regional size chain
can't overcome the big boys, I'm not sure they're going
to be able to.

Speaker 5 (01:03:41):
Sure and I would say without some reform and hopefully
in your future, I would agree with you that we're
definitely in dire times where a lot of our independent
pharmacies are doing everything they possibly can to keep their
doors open because they know how important, uh, the care

(01:04:01):
that they offer to their patients is in those communities.
And you know, it's it's a tough decision two decide
to sell to a bigger company. It's a tough decision
to decide to close your doors because you're just not
making money. And you know, I would venture to say

(01:04:22):
that most of the pharmacists in West Virginia, most of
the pharmacists probably in the country, they don't do it
for making money. They do it because they care about
people and they want to help people. And when when
we have to decide, uh, you know, whether to close

(01:04:45):
our doors or stay open with a contract where we
lose money constantly, you know, it's just it's unfair to
the pharmacists, to the staff that they employ. I mean,
you go back to the small business aspect. Most of

(01:05:08):
our independence are very dedicated to the communities that they serve,
not just in terms of serving from prescriptions and medical care,
but they also fund your Little League baseball teams and
sponsor events in your communities, and so it really is

(01:05:33):
the heartbeat of a lot of our small rural communities.
It's been a while since I've actually looked at as
a figure, but I know as of just a few
months ago, we had eleven pharmacy deserts in the state
of West Virginia, and pharmacy desert is an area of

(01:05:55):
ten miles or more that there's no pharmacy serving that
that community. And you know, for many of us, ten
miles is nothing. We hop in the car and we go.
But you know, we do have people who have transportation issues,
mobility issues, and they need a pharmacy close by to

(01:06:17):
take care of their prescription needs and their other medical needs.
And so it's it's something that I'm very passionate about,
and I know a number of the pharmacists in West
Virginia are very passionate about. Is trying to find that
balance to where we can keep our doors open, keep
serving our patients, but also be able to pay our

(01:06:42):
staff and keep the lights on.

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
Matthew Riff He is the executive director of the West
Virginia Pharmacy Association, also a practicing pharmacist. Thanks for your
time today, sir. I wish you and yours a happy.

Speaker 5 (01:06:54):
Thanksgiving absolutely Sam to you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Take care. Three h four talk three is the text line.
Eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five
is the telephone number. Look, this is complicated, and I'm
a as big a free market capitalist as you're going
to find. But when I hear stories of vertically integrated
firms with price controls and short paying, and that's what

(01:07:23):
I heard. I heard short paying, so in other words,
going to make you pay a fee that is, you know,
more expensive or you're not covering your cost. Right, that's problematic.
That's not free market. So if you're giving it to

(01:07:45):
the vertically integrated pharmacy at one price that's less expensive
or is cost advantageous than what you're giving it to
the independent, that can be problematic. It's like the old
it's kind of like the old streategy, not exactly, but
it's kind of like the old strategy. Remember the real
big boys in gasoline, they used to short sell. They

(01:08:07):
would short sell gasoline while the independent couldn't because that
would get people to come to their location buy their gas,
and they would do that to run the competition out
of town, get them to close down, and then they
would up the price later on, and they can make
up the difference in between because you were going in
there and buying coffee and all these other things that
they had a higher margin on the gasoline, which you know,

(01:08:30):
you know, most most firms make about ten cents or something.
The more I read about that, it's not all that
dissimilar from what's going on here. And the ultimate goal
is market share. If you can make it hard for
an independent to do business, you can gobble that independent up. Now,
the other part of this is online pharmaceuticals, things like
cost plus drugs like more Cuban wants to do. That

(01:08:53):
is going to hurt PBMs, and look, it's going to
hurt independence too. That's just a better mouse trap, I think.
But this where you talk about the vertically integrated firm
receiving price advantages over what the independent is and creating
that unfair disparity in the market. That's not true competition,
that's worthy of investigation, that reeks of antitrust and look

(01:09:17):
proofs in the putting. So I know Senator Capito is
following this. I've seen remarks from her, I've seen remarks
from Governor Morrissey. It'll be interesting to see if what
has happened with truth that's actually you know, translates into
some kind of legislation, because I'm sure this is going
on elsewhere, as Matthew said, And at the end of
the day, in the long run, what will it do

(01:09:39):
for prices for the consumer, because again back to the
gasoline example, in the short term, great, go shop it around,
get the best price. In the long term, when we're
the only game in town, we can make it up
then and there food for thought. Eight hundred and seven
six five eight two five five three oh four talk
three oh four is the telephone number? Still a lot
to understand on this. Will continue to dive into that

(01:10:00):
topic in the week's head We'll talk with Brad mcelhaney.
Coming up next, Jim Justice back in the news pertaining
to those lots at Clayde Springs, that story coming.

Speaker 2 (01:10:10):
Up to care Here.

Speaker 7 (01:10:19):
We are here.

Speaker 22 (01:10:22):
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.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
From our family to.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Yours, we are here.

Speaker 30 (01:10:43):
Some say he's a man of mystery. Others say he's
the holiday hit maker. No one saw coming.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
It's showtime.

Speaker 30 (01:10:49):
The holiday hit maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia Lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit. What
are you doing bringing.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
The holiday hype here? Enjoy scratch off? It's on me?
Why ticket? My work here is done?

Speaker 30 (01:11:05):
Be the surprise hit maker. West Virginia Lottery games fun,
festive and full of flare.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Please play responsibly.

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(01:11:34):
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Speaker 10 (01:11:42):
You're listening to Talkline on Metro News, the Voice of
West Virginia.

Speaker 13 (01:11:50):
Listen. I'm a West Virginian through and through. Grew up
in Bridgeport. Thirty five years in the Charleston area, rooted
for the Mountaineers since well.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Let's not talk ages.

Speaker 13 (01:11:58):
You won't find a bigger fan of our tea, but
they get called out when they deserve it. Metro News
Hotline's the same for everything, movies, music, local happenings, my
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We're your afternoon anecdote to the ordinary on weekdays three
to six on Metro News. The Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 10 (01:12:21):
Hi, this is Dave Wilson along with TJ Meadows. Join
us weekdays at ten o six for Metro News Talkline
on this Metro news radio station.

Speaker 6 (01:12:28):
TJ.

Speaker 30 (01:12:29):
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
That's right, Dave. We'll continue to examine and discuss issues
important to West Virginia, hold elective officials accountable, and make
certain you have a forum to make your voice. Earny
new host, same talk line.

Speaker 10 (01:12:43):
Join us weekdays at ten oh six on this metro
news radio station and Metro News TV app.

Speaker 9 (01:12:49):
It's the time of the year when Friday nights are special,
and that's because Friday nights are reserved for high school football.
This is Fred Purer Singer inviting you will join Dave
jecting in me every Friday through November twenty eighth for
year number twenty four of Game Night. Every Friday night,
We'll bring you all the stores and stories from around
the state US. We'll take your phone calls and talk

(01:13:09):
about your favorite team. It's Game Night presented by Match
a Mountain State Assessment of trends and community health Survey.
Visit wvmatchsurvey dot org.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
Metro News Midday with thirteen News and Tonight Live anchor
Amanda barn and Metro News is Dave Allen.

Speaker 31 (01:13:26):
I'll deliver live, up to the minute news spotlighting people
and communities and covering breaking news stories as they happen.

Speaker 1 (01:13:32):
Join us as we interview newsmakers from around the state
and world. Have provided a platform for your voice to
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Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
Metro News Midday presented by Soulango Law from noon to
three on this Metro News radio station.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
Justices Glade Spring Lots once on the verge of auction,
will be the focus of Supreme Court review next year.
Brad mclaney has the story at wv metronews dot com.
He joins us Brad, lay it out, what's happening.

Speaker 32 (01:14:19):
Oh, I have some disappointing news for you and Toby
and Edith and anyone else who might have been thinking
you'd get a Glade Springs lot for a good price
at auction back on October twenty ninth. That didn't happen.
And it's because the be owned by Senator Justice and
his family, Justice Holdings, has disputed that sale in court.

(01:14:46):
This was the subject of a long standing property dispute
between the Justices, who once held the majority stake in
Glade Springs, and the homeowners Association. Glade Springs is a
lovely place to own property, but there's a homeowners' association
just like anywhere else, and property owners are expected to

(01:15:08):
put forward dues for the common property, the roads, in
this case, the golf course, swimming pool, that kind of thing.
The Justices Justice Holdings disputed the fee assessments and the
resulting leans, arguing that the real estate that they held
there was never properly incorporated into the Glade Springs Village

(01:15:32):
Common Interest community. So they're arguing sort of a technicality there,
but an important one. This all went to the local
courtroom in Raleigh County, and the judge was Todd Kirby,
a former Republican state delegate now on the bench in
Raleigh County. I say that in part because you know,

(01:15:53):
I think it's important. Sometimes when Jim Justice has had
financial disputes, he has said that there are political interests
at play. This was a Republican state lawmaker, Todd Kirby,
who now serves on the bench in Riley County. It's
hard for me to see where there would be any

(01:16:13):
kind of political motivation on behalf of Judge Kirby. But
he issued a final order almost a year ago, December fifth,
directing a special commissioner to sell hundreds of parcels of
real property owned by Justice Holdings to satisfy those leans,
the leans claimed by the Glade Springs Property Owners Association.

(01:16:36):
The justices have been fighting that an auction was declared publicly.
There was a notice of it in the Beckley newspaper.
It was going to be October twenty ninth. Now it's
all been either either gummed up or under review court,
depending on your view. But nevertheless, the Supreme Court of

(01:16:59):
What's Fridge, the highest review court in the state has
agreed they're going to take a look at this, but
it's not going to be until their next term, which
begins in January. INDs in June, there will be arguments
at some point and then some time to actually put
out a decision. So it's going to be a while
and anybody who had hoped to put a bid on

(01:17:24):
any of those Justice properties going to have to wait,
probaly at least another year.

Speaker 1 (01:17:28):
Brad, I got to leave it there. Thanks for the update.
Continue to follow at wv metronews dot com. You're listening
to talk Line on Metro News, the voice of West Virginia.
It's eleven thirty. Time for news update from the Metro
News radio network West Virginia.

Speaker 16 (01:17:43):
Metro News signed Jeff Jenkins. A very foggy morning in
West Virginia, where some of that fog beginning to clear
this hour. The fog may have been a contributing factor
when attractor trailer rector long State Route too this morning
in Wayne County. The truck slammed into a brick building.
The driver was trapped for a while and later hospitalized.
I already say no one was believed to be in
the building, which houses a business You can see a

(01:18:04):
photo of the damage at wv metronews dot com. Go
to Patrick morris He says he's wishing all of those
deer hunting this week good luck in the woods.

Speaker 25 (01:18:11):
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or you're heading to the
fields for the first time, I want to wish you
a safe, memorable, and very enjoyable season.

Speaker 16 (01:18:21):
Morrissey's making stops today and Spencer and Harrisville will probably
run into a few hunters in those locations. The two
week gun season began today stretches through December seventh. State
Vision Natural Resources says hunters may have to work a
little harder for the big bucks this year. Big crop
of acorns probably means the deer won't be moving around
as much. Dan Our Deer Project leader Brett Scully says
big bucks are going to be found in heavy cover.

Speaker 33 (01:18:43):
So getting away from other folks as best you can
and looking for areas that are not what you traditionally
think as being maybe good deer areas. If those deers,
particularly those bigger bucks, are trying to get away, you
know they may be in some really thick, brushy cover
that you wouldn't necessarily want to go set in because
you know your visibility may not be great, but there's

(01:19:04):
a good chance that they could be hiding out and
that kind of habitat.

Speaker 16 (01:19:07):
You're listening to the Metro News for forty years, the
voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 6 (01:19:10):
Well 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.

Speaker 14 (01:19:23):
Each week.

Speaker 6 (01:19:24):
The West Virginia High School Football Playoffs are brought to
you by the Thrasher Group, Marshall University, and the Mountaineer
Challenge Academy. Stream the action live on Metro News Television,
available on mobile, Roku, Fire TV, smart TVs, and online
at WV Metro newstv dot com. Hi.

Speaker 34 (01:19:40):
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Speaker 16 (01:20:10):
It's going to take additional steps for Mondhealth to get
his plans for new Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital near Weston
to the construction phase now that the Supreme Court says
if they're going to do it, they have to get
a con certificate of need. Monhealth President CEO David Goldberg
says the current Stonewall hospital is in desperate need.

Speaker 1 (01:20:26):
Of an update.

Speaker 5 (01:20:27):
Vandalia Health is absolutely committed to making sure that that
hospital maintains itself and grows within Lewis County.

Speaker 16 (01:20:34):
You can read more at wv metronews dot com from
the Metro News anchor desk. I I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (01:21:00):
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(01:21:23):
seventy millions, So go ahead, play today. Eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two five five eight hundred seven to
sixty five ta l K is the text line, let's
go there. Walgreens is owned by a private equity firm.
They're already cutting paid holidays from Walgreens employees and they're
buying out competitors. Why cut and buy out the competition

(01:21:46):
Because private equity rings businesses for all their value, then
moves on to the next company. Walgreens customers should brace
for higher prices and lower quality. That's what private equity contributes.
A couple of thoughts on that. That is the trend. Look,
there is a lot of private equity investment in main

(01:22:06):
street these days because it's been proven as an avenue
to generate returns. So this is happening in the HVAC
business in particular. There was an article well a couple
of weeks back in the Journal talking about private equity
buying up hvac, consolidating the firms and capturing the market share.

(01:22:28):
That's business that's going to happen. I don't think private
equity is the lead contributor to this problem. I didn't
hear that out of matt rafil. What I heard was
vertical integration between the pharmacy and the PBM, and the
PBM using that as leverage to negotiate a deal against

(01:22:52):
the independence giving them a reimbursement. That doesn't make them
whole speculating, but probably knowing they can do the same
thing that and they are doing the same thing. They're
not giving the vertically integrated pharmacy that raw of a deal.
They're two different deals. Short selling. It's short selling to

(01:23:15):
buy your competition, drive them out of business, and then
be able to capture the market share long term. It's
an old trick. I'm not saying it's right, but that's
what they're doing. Plus, I also think, look, if this
ends up, you've got Walgreens, CVS, and it's that that
top three that he talked about for that eighty percent
market share. Let's say we get to that point, they're

(01:23:37):
going to have competition too, and it's going to be
for the likes of cost Plus Drugs, dot Com and others.
Competition is always going to be there. I'm not saying
what those folks are doing is right. I think the
fact that if you're vertically integrated and you're offering the
pharmacy you own as part of the vertical integration a
better deal, a favored deal, than what an independent can get,
that's not right. That's not free market, that's not competition,

(01:23:59):
that's fixed. I'm not advocating for that. The government officials
who've written laws for the medical industry are to blame
for out of control cost, the cost that you and
I pay. Those government officials both sides, by the way,
have received billions in contributions from these companies. What you're
left with is a poor and healthy population. Money controls everything,

(01:24:21):
including the narrative.

Speaker 2 (01:24:23):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
You are so ignorant of the consolidation and corporate power
that resulted in the PBM problem. But the market and capitalism,
you say the same stuff as happening with telecom, software,
internet providers, retail, water, energy, et cetera. Why don't you
just say it that the free market worked as to fruit.
They couldn't compete, so they lost, right, I just went

(01:24:48):
over that. I don't know that when you are vertically
integrated in your price fixing for lack of a better term,
I don't know that that's free market, so we can
agree to disagree. There can PBMs be eliminated without an
harm to patience or the extra costs you described as
you said they are anti trust laws in place, or
using those the solution, I don't know. I don't know,

(01:25:10):
but it does sound anti competitive to me and somewhat
anti trust. I'm not a lawyer, but I think it's problematic.
And will Congress do anything about it? I don't know.
When does Congress do anything about anything. Our governor is
doing nothing but damage to the state. Good to see
pack getting his message out take care of the people

(01:25:32):
with less focus on data centers and megawatts. The reality
is the governor's office has become something that you're going
to have to continually run for a couple of reasons.
For that, we talked about it with Steven Allen Adams
case number one. There is a fracture in the Republican Party.
There is Republican populism and there are what I call

(01:25:55):
traditional old school conservatives that are focused on business economic development,
and then that populist movement still has some of these
social issues and even things like vaccines and other central
planning kind of narratives that is alive and well, especially
in the state Senate. And you see that in the
challenges that are already being talked about in West Virginia.

(01:26:18):
A lot of folks in that far right populist movement,
they're going to see a challenge from a more conservative,
traditional business focused Republican. If it's happening there, it's going
to happen in other state offices. You're going to start
to see it, and you're going to see it in
the governor's race. It's like having a shadow governor. I
don't mind it simply because I think disruption is good.

(01:26:40):
I think breaking things is good because it results in
a fix. And if this is the course our politics
are going to take, if we're going to start to
focus on the governor's race earlier and earlier, and it's
going to shine a light on who believes what and
why they believe it, I don't have a problem with that.
I also think locking independence out forces a lot of
this because those traditional conservatives I just talked about need

(01:27:03):
that independent vote. They're used to getting it, and they're
not going to be able to get it when independents
are locked out. This is what you get when the
sexploitation involves threats of outing a closeted gay kid. Exactly,
how is he supposed to go and speak to his
HOMOPHONEBIC parents think about that?

Speaker 5 (01:27:25):
That.

Speaker 1 (01:27:25):
Referring back to the sexploitation sextortion story we were talking
about with Kennah County Sheriff Joey Crawford, a young man
from Nitro High School committed suicide when he was backed
into a corner basically from what I would imagine, is
probably a global scheme. He had been lured in by

(01:27:49):
predators fishers and they threatened to expose him. And this
is a young man, from what I've read and what
I understand, had a good head on his shoulders, had
a great relationship with his peer parents, very open with
his parents. He was not gay by the ways my understanding.
So I don't want to confuse what this texture is
saying with that young man, but it doesn't matter. We

(01:28:10):
have to be able to talk to our kids. We
have to be accepting of our kids. I think the
broader narrative here, I think that's a little too specific.
The broader narrative is we need to start educating students
about this in our schools and be deliberate about it
and not shy away from this conversation. We need to
talk to our children very early, very young, and let

(01:28:31):
them know that this is a threat. People will approach you.
They will try to put you into the corner. They
will paint a picture that will try to create a
context that is devastating to you. They will make you
believe that the emotional horror that they will put you

(01:28:51):
through is so severe, is so punishing, that no one
will love you, no one will care for you. It's
just not the case. And they will try to earn
money off of that because they do not care. And
they are evil. The people that did this to that
young man, Taatee Bryce, they are evil period and we

(01:29:13):
need to start talking about that. And from talking with
the sheriff, his parents have been very vocal about talking
in the community about this. I know they've done some
media interviews. They want people to understand what happened to
their son, and I'm sure it's part of the grieving
process to ensure that what happened to their son does
not happen to another young man or another young lady.

(01:29:36):
Go talk and if it's not your parents. And if
you feel like you can't go to your parents, go
to that teacher, go to that guidance counselor go to
somebody I like. And Larry Pack to the BMW weaving
in and out of traffic, trying to pass every single
car before taking his oath as treasurer. He was thinking
of the next office. He'll never earn my votes. Okay,

(01:29:58):
that's one opinion, and I that's fine. I appreciate it.
Let me ask you a question. You ever met a
politician that wasn't ambitious? You ever met a politician that
wasn't thinking about the next thing. That's the problem in
the US Senate. Everybody wants to be president. It's our nature.
And when you have what I described in republican politics

(01:30:20):
in this state, I don't see that as a bad thing,
especially when no offense to the Democrats, you have an
opposition party of what are they at? Eight or nine
people now, and it's tough to make a difference. So
you know what break it hop in Texter says, be
sure you wish Freddy Persinger a happy birthday. Happy birthday,

(01:30:42):
Fred Persinger. I'll tell you what what a great guy
come in the office every morning. He's always there, always
willing to listen, always willing to be a coach, and
we all need a coach from time to time, and
just an all around great guy that wants the best
for people. So happy birthday, Fred. World's a better place
because you're with Usuddy TJ. I'm all for lower taxes,

(01:31:02):
but I have a big problem with any conservative who
wants me to pay a personal property tax year after
year after I already purchased it and paid taxes on it.
And income tax is a much fairer tax, like pay
as you go. I would say a consumption tax is
the best way to do it, but we can get
into that. That's my two cents. We've talked about that before.

(01:31:23):
Eight hundred seven sixty five eight two five five eight
hundred seven sixty five. Ta LK is the phone number,
three oh four, Talk three oh four. We'll get to
as many of your texts as we possibly can. Colonel
Trader from the DNR on the line. We will speak
with him next. It's opening day in West Virginia. We'll
get the latest when Metro News Talk Line continues.

Speaker 19 (01:31:42):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
posted on the podcast center of wv metronews dot com
and the Metro News TV app. While there's no cure
for COPD, patients can still have hope.

Speaker 20 (01:31:53):
There are a lot of newer medicines out there to
help manage and decrease the symptom burden, as well as
to help a dis asturbations to avoid progression of the disease.

Speaker 19 (01:32:03):
Listen to Live Healthy West Virginia for candid conversations with
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Speaker 9 (01:32:12):
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Speaker 10 (01:32:42):
You're listening to talk Line on Metro News, the Voice
of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:32:49):
West Virginia Outdoors is the Mountain State's only hook and
bullet radio show dedicated to the more than quarter million
hunters and anglers across the state. Award winning host Chris
Lawrence has been tracking down hunting and fishing stories for
more than twenty five years.

Speaker 11 (01:33:03):
In a stream or a river, they really like to
have a mud bank and they like to have a
place where they can dig an underwater hole as a refuge.

Speaker 12 (01:33:12):
That's correct. They have to evade predators. Now, some prayers
will chase them. There a mankro and auger, obviously, but
they can they can avoid the coyotes, the hawkses, the bobcats,
the owls and the hawks. And that's really the ones
that probably take the most.

Speaker 2 (01:33:28):
Of whether it's hunting and fishing news or just compelling
stories about the enjoyment of the great outdoors. West Virginia
Outdoors covers it all Saturday mornings at seven oh six
am and for your daily fix, Outdoors Today brings you
two and a half minutes of news and notes from
the woods and water every weekday morning on Metro News,
the Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 13 (01:33:50):
I'm Kyle Wigs, I'm Greg Hunter, and I'm Brad Howe,
and we welcome you to join us each weeknight at
six oh six for the City that Statewide.

Speaker 1 (01:33:57):
Sports Line, as always, will dive deep into mountaineer f
let us.

Speaker 15 (01:34:00):
We'll cover the Mountainees, will cover high school sports, and
if it's happening in the world of sports, we'll be.

Speaker 2 (01:34:05):
Talking about it.

Speaker 14 (01:34:06):
You can listen live and text into the show each
nine at six oh six, or watch anytime on the
Metro News TV app. It's the City Net state Wide
sports Line on Metro News.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
News in the Mountain State happens quick and for decades
you have depended on Metro News for accurate news delivered fast.
Now here's your chance to help keep your fellow West
Virginians informed. If you see news happening, become a Metro
News Hawk by texting News to three five sixty five
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(01:34:40):
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Insurance and circling you with coverage to protect what you
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Speaker 1 (01:35:14):
The city net is bringing ultra fast fiber internet to
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net cannects, protects and perfects. Text line TJ. Your description
of shoot a Palooza increases my favorable opinion of you

(01:35:36):
by one thousand percent. Don't know if you accept guests,
but I would bring five hundred rounds of nine millimeters
m and a nice Dutch apple pie. I'll take that
under under consideration. I got it where I go. I
gott to see if we got enough room for guests
or not. But yeah, man, have some fun, shoot some guns.
Lieutenant Colonel David Trader is with the West Virginia DNR.

(01:35:58):
He joins us on Metro News awkline Kindel, Good morning.

Speaker 5 (01:36:01):
Good morning, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:36:03):
What's the latest? Do you have any stats anybody killing deer?
What's happening?

Speaker 3 (01:36:07):
Well, it's still a little early coming in. I can
tell you that I talked to my major of field Operations.
He said that around the state, the officers, I've seen
you quite a few people out hunting. They're moving around
a little bit. I think the fog might have had
a little bit of an impact on the early morning
part of it. But you know, they're moving around a

(01:36:28):
little bit. So hopefully we'll, you know, we'll see some
success rates. Typically. I think, like last year, we killed
about forty one thousand deer in that buck farm season.
So I think one of the bill just is in
charge that said about eighty percent of the of that
kill is within the first three days of that buck

(01:36:50):
farm season. So I suspect we'll see some some successful hunters.
That's my hopes.

Speaker 1 (01:36:57):
At least talk to me about safety. I mean, we
got to practice safety. What should we be doing if
we're heading into the woods.

Speaker 3 (01:37:05):
Well, this weekend I spent some wonderful time with some
students teaching hunter education. Most of our every one of
our district offices we're teaching hunter education classes. We always
talk about muzzle control, making sure that you identify your
target before you fire your firearm. You know, we always
preach about wearing blaze orange. You can't, you know, the

(01:37:28):
law requires foreigner square inches, but I always like to
wear more than that. I have hats in gloves and vests,
and everything because I want to be seen, and you know,
that's a good start.

Speaker 2 (01:37:40):
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:37:41):
The next thing, and we've seen this happen probably over
the last couple of weeks, about a few incidents of
people falling from tree stands, out of tree stands, and
you know, when you hunt from an elevated position, it's
really important to wear your safety strap. There's four times
that into vidials typically get hurt in a tree stand,

(01:38:02):
and that's going up, coming down, getting into and getting
out of the stand. So it's really critical to wear
your safety strap and stay anchored to that tree during
those times while you're off the ground.

Speaker 1 (01:38:14):
The things I hear too, Colonel, is you know, sometimes
we don't want to listen to our body. We think
we can do things that we can't. You know, we're
walking up hills, we get a little little heated, a
little sweat going there, and maybe the old ticker isn't
the best for that, So we got to listen to
our body, right.

Speaker 3 (01:38:31):
Absolutely Again, every year we usually have one or two
instances where somebody's suffered a medical condition out in the woods,
and you're absolutely right, you know, it's important to you know,
consult your doctor, make sure that you're capable of doing that.
If you're if in an individual that needs help, I
encourage you to get some help. You know, if you're
dragging deer out or or if you're going back into

(01:38:54):
two areas that that might be somewhat remote. And I
can't stress enough to you know, to the build it
somebody where you're going and when you can be back,
because if you don't show up, they can send some help.

Speaker 1 (01:39:06):
I'll keep in contact with you throughout the week, send
you a text or two. Maybe you can give me
some stats that are that are going on. I'm always
interested to see, you know, I've already had a couple
of texts this morning. You know, it's that prize eight nine,
ten point. People want to get it out there, so
we're seeing some of those roll in already.

Speaker 3 (01:39:22):
Well. I talked to the assistant chief of Wildlife this
morning before I came on the show, and I asked him,
I said, you know, do you typically put together first
week stats? And and one of the issues that you
know when they try to try to put numbers together
is is that they want to try to make sure
that you know, people had the opportunity maybe to check
the deary in you know, maybe they might wait for instance,

(01:39:43):
to till you know later that night or whatever. So
it's you know, when you run the reports, it's kind
of this ever evolving thing, you know, with these numbers
and uh, but I did, I did talk to them.
I mentioned that they'll probably be in some stats and
uh and we'll s certainly do what we can to
help out with that.

Speaker 1 (01:40:03):
There means well it Tenant Colonel David Trader, West Virginia
Department of Natural Resources, Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time.

Speaker 3 (01:40:10):
Ill thank you again and again. You know, can't stress
enough where that blazer owns would be safe, right.

Speaker 1 (01:40:15):
Yes, sir, absolutely, thank you. I wish I had the patience.
I just I don't have the patience. Never have. My
dad loved to hunt. I didn't have the patience for it.
I wish I had more patients. Maybe we would have
went more often, but uh, to me a handful of
times and I just couldn't set steal. I don't know,
that's my my thing. I can't set still. Even now.
I have to talk with my hands all the time.

(01:40:36):
If you watch the video stream, you know that I
cannot not talk with my hands I'm very animated. Okay,
A few more texts him. For the end of the show,
run down what's coming up on Metro News Midday with
thirteen News anchor and Tonight Life anchor Amanda Baron alongside
Dave Allen, do that coming up next?

Speaker 35 (01:40:55):
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Speaker 30 (01:41:27):
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Speaker 10 (01:41:55):
You're listening to Talkline on Metro News, the voice of
West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:42:02):
Metro News this morning the biggest stories from around the
state of West Virginia when you want them. Chris Lawrence
at the anchor desk, we are ready to.

Speaker 1 (01:42:10):
Get the bay going with all the information you need.

Speaker 2 (01:42:12):
In the Mountain State, Jeff Jenkins brings you the day's headlines.

Speaker 16 (01:42:15):
Not enough votes in the US senator pass a bill
for some of the federal workers who are currently working
without pay during the federal government shut down to receive pay.
You're Senator Shelty Moore. Capitol says enough Democrats would not
agree with the pay bill on Thursday.

Speaker 23 (01:42:28):
I just think that we would do better to open
the government. We've tried to get appropriations bills going. They
will not do that. So we're stuck in the mud
here because it does take sixty votes.

Speaker 16 (01:42:37):
Capitol says she is not in favor of eliminating the
required sixty vote threshold.

Speaker 2 (01:42:41):
Luke Whiggs at the sports desk.

Speaker 24 (01:42:43):
From the NBA last night, the thunder are one forty
one to one thirty five winner over the Pacers in
double overtime and just one overtime. The Warriors beat the
Nuggets one thirty seven two one thirty one the Chargers
on Thursday Night football beat Minnesota thirty seven to ten.

Speaker 2 (01:42:56):
Metro News This Morning Listen. Where you get your favorite
podcasts and line at wv metronews dot com.

Speaker 13 (01:43:02):
Hi, there, Dave Weekly here from Metro News Hotline. We
don't just talk sports or talk news. We mix it
up fast and fun coops in the booth with me
every weekday three to six on Metro News. You'll get
everything from wild interrout debates to movie reviews, fantasy sports tips,
even beer talk. On Fridays, we hit the high notes
and the hilarious ones too, real conversations, big opinions, and

(01:43:24):
plenty elapse. So fire us up on your drive home
weekdays three to six on Metro News, it's.

Speaker 25 (01:43:30):
Two hours of sports conversation to wrap up your weekend.
It's the City Net Sunday Night Sports Line. Hey, this
is Travis Shows joining myself and Greg Hunter every Sunday
night from six oh six until eight o'clock. As we
wrap up the sports weekend, we talk Mountaineers High School,
Mountain East Conference and the latest in the national scene.
The Sunday Sports Line is listener interactive. You could call
or text the show at three oh four Talk three

(01:43:53):
oh four. It's a perfect weekend sports wrap up on
your favorite metro news a philia or watch the show
at wv metronews dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:44:23):
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(01:44:44):
So go ahead, play today. Texture asks our PBMs a
downside of capitalism or just another example of people cheating
when they can capitalism or not? I think they might be,
might be I gotta go a little deeper. A good
example of crony capitalism. And I've talked about why when

(01:45:05):
you're offering the firm, you own a better deal and
you're vitally vertically integrated and that's not regulated. Yeah, that
that's something we need to look at. Some more to come.
I don't know yet, but I suspect how about that.

Speaker 17 (01:45:22):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:45:24):
Yeah, go to your teacher and counselor about the problem
while knowing they have to tell your parents. Don't you
know that Republicans required this as part of their insipid
groomer panic. Yeah, I do know about that. I know
it went through a bill. And look, the parent's got
to be brought in at some point. But that first
contact can be a parent, excuse me, a teacher, counselor whomever,
and they can bridge that gap. But parents need to

(01:45:46):
know what's going on with their children. Pretty simple. Amanda
Baron of thirteen News Tonight Live anchor also co host
of Metro News Midday, joins me on Monday, Happy Monday.
What you got on the show today?

Speaker 31 (01:46:00):
Coming up in just a little bit, we're gonna talk
Huntington's needle exchange program. Those have been those are controversial
programs all across the state. They are ending that program
in a couple of weeks, and we're going to talk
with some of the people who've been involved and that
about the lack of funding that's happening. Also that sextortion
case that happened in the Canaw Valley at a nitro
just just terrific and you just can't even imagine what

(01:46:22):
those parents are going through.

Speaker 1 (01:46:23):
Off I want to strangle somebody.

Speaker 31 (01:46:25):
I mean, it's just it is so sad and it's
you know, I said this repeatedly last week on our broadcast,
you know, a television but if you got to have
that conversation with your kids, talk with your kids about it,
because it's something that that that the Tape family would
want you to do, yes, but absolutely want you to
do that.

Speaker 5 (01:46:44):
Yes.

Speaker 31 (01:46:44):
So we're going to talk with the FBI about the
very latest night case. Also, Gordon Gee wrote not Beed,
and we're going to talk to our favorite NC double
A analyst about Gordon Ghee's op ed.

Speaker 1 (01:46:55):
It's in the hill. He's not shy, No, he's not.
I like that, talk about it. Don't be afraid to
say what you think. We need more of that.

Speaker 31 (01:47:03):
But you know what, you practice some great restraint over
the weekend. I did, and I got to get the
backstory on that. But in the meantime, we're gonna talk
more about your commentary coming up on midday.

Speaker 1 (01:47:13):
Talk Line on Metro News, Let's be back tomorrow, Day's
still out on the big hunt. Metro News for forty years,
the voice of West Virginia,