Talkline | Oct. 1, 2025 - MetroNews Talkline

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Well, the federal government is partially shut down. Some interesting
comments at the state school board meeting this morning, and
thank goodness there are no physical fitness requirements for this show.
Metro News talk Line is underway.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Radio turned off from the studios of w v RC
Media and the Metro News Radio and Television Network. The
Voice up West Virginia comes the most powerful show in
West Virginia. This it's Metro News talk Line with Dave
Wilson and DJ Meadows.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
So it's not work control.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
From Charles stand By to David t J.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
You're on.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encovia Insurance, encircling
you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit incovia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Good morning, Welcome into the program Metro News talk Line
from the Cove Insurance and studio. Stave Wilson with you
coming from Morgantown, TJSON, Charleston. Eight hundred and seven to
sixty five. Talk is the phone number eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two five five. You can text the
show three or four Talk three oh four. Zach Carrolchick
is running the video stream. If you're watching on the

(01:37):
Metro News TV app and Ethancollins is our audio producer.
A little bit later, we'll get the latest from Washington, DC.
White House reporter Jared Haupurn will join. US Senator Justice
will stop by as well. Revenue reports with Secretary Eric
Nelson from here in the great state of West Virginia.
Brad McIlhenny stops by a couple of minutes from now.

(01:58):
We'll get his thoughts and re cap of some interesting
comments from the state Board of Education meeting earlier this morning.
With all that, good morning, TJ. Meadows, the government is
in fact shut down this morning.

Speaker 5 (02:11):
Good morning shut down and shut down early. I mean
they had the vote last night at about I think
it was a thirty day they had that final roll call,
so it didn't even go up till midnight. The Senate
recessed until ten am this morning. I was struggling to
find truth. You know, DEM's blame Republicans. Republicans blame Democrats.
So I did what I do when I'm struggling to

(02:31):
find truth. I kind of looked at numbers. Numbers can
sometimes be deceiving, but here's what the numbers say. Roll
call five twenty eight on HR five three seven to
one TJ. What the world are you talking about? That
was the first vote on the continuing resolution on September nineteenth.
Only one Democrat joined Republicans voting AA. That was John
Fetterman last night roll call five thirty five on the

(02:54):
same piece of legislation, Fetterman continued to vote YEA yet
Angus King of Ma, independent who caucuses with the Dems,
also voted yay, as did Cortes Mastow, Democrat of Nevada,
and Murkowski switched back as well. Translation, Dems lost ground
even from the get go last night and couldn't maintain

(03:14):
what they had on the nineteenth vote. They're cracking. They'll
continue to crack. My prediction is this hangs over their
head and they'll eventually capitulate.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Two things can be true at the same time. One
of my favorite cliches these days, because both signs are
trying to assign blame to the other. Republicans saying well, hey,
we gave you a clean cr you didn't vote for
Democrats saying well, we wanted to talk about these things,
you won't negotiate with us. Both things can be true
at the same time, and that's kind of where we are.
At this point, I thought Democrats approached this. We talked

(03:44):
to Michael Tamaski yesterday and I threw the question to him,
U TJ. Are they asking for too much? And he
said he didn't think so. He liked the strategy go
go for broke, throw it all in there. I don't
like that strategy. It's it reminds me of when you
wheel and deal when you're buying a car. If you
go into a dealership and you say, I want to

(04:04):
buy this brand new pickup truck, but I'm only going
to pay thirty grand for this brand new truck that
msrp's for sixty, they're gonna laugh at you and say,
have a very nice day, come back later. But if
you come in with a realistic offer, then you can
kind of wheel and deal.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
And you've you know, we've.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
All bought cars where you walk out the door, you
feel pretty good and you go, oh man, maybe maybe
I could have got another grand off that deal.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Maybe you could, maybe you couldn't. But my point is this,
if you come in with.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
A realistic offer and realistic expectation, and Senator Kapito said
this yesterday when we talked to her, if we were
just talking about the ACA tax credits. Okay, maybe we
could do something, Maybe we can extend those with the
CR and we can move on. That is not what
they brought to the table, and that's why there were
no negotiations.

Speaker 5 (04:52):
I agree one hundred percent. It's just one thing too many.
And I think if I'm per Thune today, he knows
who he needs to talk to, knows what Democrats are
going to waiver. You start having those conversations. I mean,
this thing could be wrapped up pretty quickly. And the
unfortunate reality is we will have spent even more money
because there's a startup cost to get the wheels going again.

(05:14):
So from a fiscal standpoint, guy like me that's always
moaning and complaining about the thirty seven trillion dollar debt,
guess what, Dave, we just added to it for no
good reason, at least the deficit for this year.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Which brings me to I got a little bit of
a chuckle out of your commentary this morning because you
blamed everybody.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Teach you did, but I did.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
But make that make sense for folks, and you can
read it at WV metro news dot com.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
But make it make sense.

Speaker 5 (05:38):
So the gist of it is this, when you look
at personal finance in the United States, we have eighteen
trillion dollars in household debt. The average household debt is
something like a little over one hundred thousand dollars. The
average household credit card balance is sixty three one hundred dollars.
Don't get me started on retirement. We are woefully unprepared

(05:59):
in savings for retirement. Most households can't cover a simple
financial emergency. All of this stems back to my criticism,
which I think is fair, that we do not teach
personal finance. You heard Brad Smith a couple of weeks
ago in this program talked about how important getting college
for you know, graduating debt free, because it just it

(06:19):
hangs around your neck, and we don't teach personal financial acumen.
He was exactly correct. If we don't teach that and
we don't practice it, should we expect anything different from
our leadership. Twenty nine years they have failed to pass
all twelve appropriations bills. Twenty nine years ago was the
last time they did it. We let him come back.
We let him come back. We let him come back again.

(06:41):
If your boss let you slide, Dave, if our boss.
Let us slide for twenty nine years. Are we really
worried that at year thirty he's gonna say, well, Fellas
cracking down on you? Now? No? No, so yes, shame
on Congress, but also shame on us. We facilitated this,
and that doesn't matter if you're a Republican Democrat. We

(07:04):
all allow it, so we're just as much to blame.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
I like your thinking there, although isn't this a symptom
of that old old adage, Well, your senator is the problem,
your your representatives problem. Mind, mine's part of the solution.
So if you go district by district, you look around,
nobody thinks, and I'm beating broadbrushes right, nobody thinks their
senator is part of the problem.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Their senator is trying.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
To fix it. It's it's Chuck Schumer, he's the problem.
It's you know, it's Nancy Pelosi, it's you know, it's
Shelly Moore Capito. We go around, it's everybody else's senator,
it's everybody else's delegate.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
They're representative. That's the problem. TJ.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah, you know, collective accountability is tough, right.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
I mean, if we could vote in the election in California.
Maybe you know, we probably vote differently, but they they
vote that way. If Californians could vote here, they would
vote differently, right, So yeah, uh, Collectively, I think he
got a point, but it's everybody else's senator and representative
that's a problem.

Speaker 5 (08:00):
I kind of had some fun with an old biblical tale.
Remember when God went looking for just ten righteous men.
If he could find them, he said he wouldn't destroy
Sodom Abraham.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
I was speaking of wheeling and dealing. Abraham's wheeling and dealing, right,
he was wait from fifty down to ten.

Speaker 5 (08:14):
I don't think God could find ten physically responsible members
of Congress these days. I think he would struggle to
do it. It's a shame. It's a problem. And I
even said in the commentary it's not going to change.
I don't have hope it's going to change, unfortunately, but
food for thought. Some will agree, some will disagree, but
I don't know. Man, something's got to give because eventually,

(08:35):
as we always say, and this ties back to it,
we're going to offer our debt to the market, and
somebody's eventually going to say, you kidding me, You kidding me,
I'm not no way not taking that risk, and then
we really have a problem.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
We'll get into it more a little bit later on.
Jared Halpern Fox News Radio is going to join us.
He'll give us the White House perspective on the shutdown
and what's the deal with the Trump ur ex deal.
We'll dive into that coming up later this hour. Senator
Jim Justice will join us at eleven six.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
We'll get his.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Take on the events that have unfolded over the last
twenty four hours or so. When we come back, Brad
mclehanny will join us, mentioned who state Wide correspondent. He's
been monitoring the State Board of Education meeting this morning
and Paul Hardesty, the state board president, had some very
pointed remarks. We'll bring those to you when we return.
We are off and rolling much news talk line from

(09:25):
the in Covidsturtance studios. Back in a moment.

Speaker 6 (09:28):
Governor Patrick Morrissey has set a very bold goal fifty
gigawatts of 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

(09:50):
able to count on. West Virginia Coal Association President Chris
Hamilton stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy
generation capacity fifty gigawatts by twenty fifteen is a dynamic
approach to economic development which will supercharge our state's coal
industry and broader economy. With Governor Morris's leadership and the

(10:11):
action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again America's
energy leader. Cole is powering progress. Cole is powering West Virginia.
Brought to you by the West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visitancova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Coming up bottom of the hour, retired Rear Admiral Mike
Smith will join us.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Look at his thoughts.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Saw Pete haig Seth's Secretary of Defense, Secretary of War,
whatever his title is these days. Pete hegg Seth's comments
yesterday to generals and flag officers. We'll talk about that
coming up a couple of minutes from now. Earlier this morning,
the State Board of Education was meeting for its regularly
scheduled meeting and State Board President Paul Hardesty had some

(11:21):
pretty pointed comments. Metro New state wide correspondent Brad mackilhenny
was covering and watching and joins us on Metro News
talk line this morning.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Brad, good to see you. Glad you could join.

Speaker 7 (11:33):
Us, Yes, good morning, Thanks so.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Paul Hardesty, president of the State Board of Education, was
speaking after the delegations this morning in the meeting, actually said,
you know what, I'm gonna interrupt the regular proceedings here
because I got something to say.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Brad. What did Paul Hardesty have to say?

Speaker 7 (11:51):
Well, President Hardesty is a physically large man. He's tall,
of stature and not afraid to speak. But this was
a little unusual for him. He doesn't necessarily take the
spotlight right away in these meetings. And he said it's
unusual because he has something to say. And to me,
it operated on three levels. One is I think President

(12:13):
Hardesty big Paul is good and tired of being called
an unelected bureaucrat. He said, Look, first thing he did
was hold up state code and he said, we are
bound by this this book State Code applies to all
of the education laws and we have to follow them.
But I think it also served as a resetting the

(12:34):
context of the situation West Virginia's public education system finds
itself in as well as a look forward, and that
context is the state has lost about thirty five thousand
students over the last decade, either through out migration or

(12:54):
the pandemic. Certainly had some disruptive aspects the defect of
the school system, but also Hardesty pointed toward he thinks
the state has gotten out of balance on school choice,
and he was careful to say that he doesn't object
to school choice policies, but he pointed toward the advent
of charter schools in West Virginia, but the most popular

(13:18):
of those are the virtual schools. Pointed toward the Hope Scholarship,
which is financial support for families who want to choose
an educational path outside the public school system, so can
put that money toward private schooling or homeschooling, a range
of options, and Hardesty again didn't object to people having options,

(13:40):
but said, boy, we've really gotten out of balance. So
resetting in terms of where do we stand, and then
looking forward saying, you know, we're going to take a
snapshot of student population. We think it's going to get
worse again, and if people want to save their local
community schools that they value, then we're gonna have to

(14:01):
take another look at the school aid formula. And he
turned again to the legislature to say, it's the lawmakers
to make the school aid formula. The financial support for
wester Virginia's public school system the community schools that we value,
and that's largely based on student population. So Hardesty operating
on those three levels and trying to draw attention to

(14:24):
his view of the factors on school population laws and
saying that he'll make the same speech over and over
and over again until there's some action by lawmakers.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Let me play a quick clip, guys, from Paul Hardesty.
He literally had the school lawbook sitting there in front
of him, pointing it out.

Speaker 8 (14:45):
And the legislature has made a lot of changes to
this book to incorporate the school choice model. They've made
no changes to the funding cycle. They've made no changes
to Chapter eighteen, which causes a public school system to
have to operate like a business, but operate like a

(15:08):
business without the ability to effectively manage your workforce, and.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
That jumped out to me.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
That comment and his full comments went on for about
fifteen minutes there. We don't have time to play them
in their entirety, and we will reach out to see
if he'd like to come on the show tomorrow. Programming note,
but that jumps out.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
That spoke to me.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
What Brad was talking about a reset and finding that balance.
We've done the school choice part of it, but the
public school's part of it, adjusting state law, adjusting the
state state aid formula for public schools, We've not done
that part, and that's put them behind the eight ball
at least. That's what I took away from that comment
and the entirety of all of his comments there.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
Yeah, he talked to us about eighteen A. Eighteen A
is personnel, so I assume, and we'll get this from
Paul tomorrow day. But sounds to me like you're saying, Hey,
we operate at a business, but we can't manage our
FTEs like it's a business. Maybe we're more regulated there
than what we should be. I don't want to put
words into his mouth, but that's what I believe eighteen

(16:10):
A does. The other side of that Brad, I wonder
any talk about fifty five school districts. I mean, if
nothing's changing, if the funding formula isn't changing, and you know,
I think it begs the question do we need fifty
five districts? Where there was there any discussion of that.

Speaker 7 (16:30):
No, not today, But you know, I think when you're
talking about FTE full time equivalent, what he's saying, I
think is the school aid formula is largely based on
student population, and when you're losing student population, there's no
money going into the school systems, but there's less money
going into the school systems to pay for educators, to

(16:51):
pay for the people to staff the schools. And so
that's why we're seeing, just his last year, historic levels
of school consolidations, and he's saying, gonna see that again
this year if something doesn't happen, you know, to get
to your more recent question about fifty five school systems,
I wonder if that's politically possible to consolidate counties.

Speaker 9 (17:16):
You know.

Speaker 7 (17:16):
The trouble we're having, I think is West Virginians do
seem to embrace school choice options, but they take such
pride in their community schools, and I think that pride
that that is rightful and correct, and people you know,
cheer for the football teams and take pride in academic success,
and they know students who go to those individual schools.

(17:41):
But I think that's also an argument that makes it
very politically difficult to do the kind of cross county
consolidation that you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Brad Mackleheady met NEO state wide correspondent joining US was
covering the state Board of Education meeting earlier this morning.
One of the other comments that jumped out to me,
Brad was, and I didn't take it as a criticism,
but the reality of the situation that with school choice
and the opportunity for students to go to charter schools,
private schools, homeschooling, whatever the case may be, some of

(18:14):
the best students have taken that option, and what that
has left public schools. And this wasn't a he wasn't
lamenting that those students have taken that option. They're perfectly
capable of doing that, but that leaves a bigger challenge
for public schools when you are dealing with students who
may come from a poor socioeconomic background, may have learning.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
That's not the correct term anymore.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Learning disabilities an the correct term individual education plans.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah, IEPs.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
When you have those challenges, that presents a new challenge.
And there's also it can be expensive, was his point.
That will take that challenge head on, but understand there
is a financial burden to that as well. Again I'm
paraphrasing his comments, but that that stuck out to me
that you know, we have to recognize that part of

(19:07):
this school choice era where we are now in.

Speaker 7 (19:11):
M well and one of the points he made that's
related to that is, you know, he he, as you said,
held up the entire book of state code to say, look,
we've got to abide by all of this. We we've
we've got to be here in the public school systems
for all of the students, uh, no matter what their
challenge is personally, academically or at home, got to be

(19:33):
there for all of them. And then he said he
showed the state law applying to the charter schools and
his point was that it's comparatively uh far less thick
uh and significantly you know, and then talked about the
Hope Scholarship as well in terms of uh, it is

(19:55):
very broad for you know, for individualized education, but the
school says has to be there for everybody, and it
can be you know, expensive, and resources can work.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
Then I've got more questions than I've got answers, and
Dave I already have a note into the powers that
be for Paul tomorrow, so we're working on that. I
wonder how many of these problems and to what extent
we would still be facing them even if we didn't
have Hope, because I don't think we can blame everything
on the Hope, scholarship or school choice. I still think

(20:25):
we would have the consolidation issues because of our decline
in population. I still think we would have funding challenges.
I mean, is that a fair assertion on my part?
Or am I just being naive?

Speaker 10 (20:38):
No?

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I think you're right TJ. The challenges would still be
there whether or not you have Hope. And I didn't
get Brad. I didn't get the impression again we're coming
up on a minute, that he was blaming Hope or
blaming school choice or blaming this wasn't a blame game
to me. It was more of a recognition of we
have these issues, we need to address and fix them

(20:59):
so public education can also be successful in this model.
About twenty seconds.

Speaker 7 (21:03):
Brad No, I agree. You know, I made a point
in my story because because President Hardesty did, he was
not criticizing school choice policies on the whole, but merely
to say West Virginia, in his view, has gotten out
of balance. And I certainly think that, you know, that
may be a factor the school choice options, but also

(21:24):
the post pandemic atmosphere, outbound migration, all those things are
challenging in West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Brad will have a story up at WDV metro news
dot com shortly. Brad, thank you so much for coming on.
Appreciate it, buddy. Okay, thanks guys coming up.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Good thing.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
This show doesn't have any physical fitness requirements. We'll talk
about the Secretary of Defensive Speech. Next, talk a lot
of Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It is
ten thirty time to get a news update. Let's check
in on the Metro news radio network. Find out what's
happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 11 (21:55):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. Less than forty
percent of the space Philip Barbara High schools being used
a proof of shrinking student population. County school officials are
floating a plan to close the county's middle schools, move
the students to the high school to make it six
through twelve. Barbara County School Superintendent at events and says
they can save money on buildings in people.

Speaker 12 (22:15):
We can get ourselves of a financial situation where we're
pretty good spot if we can get that number down
to where we're not in debt with personnel by making
these changes.

Speaker 11 (22:26):
You can read more about the plan at wv metronews
dot com. Meanwhile, the state Board of Education meeting today
and could have some comments about student population. The Putnam
County Manufacturer says it's going to expand its facility in
Eleanors one hundred and seventeen thousand square feet so it
can build more buildings used as backup power sources for
data centers. INVN announced the expansion during a Tuesday ceremony.

(22:48):
I'm going to hire one hundred more workers for that work.
Site controller Andy Metz says. The data center industry is
a busy one.

Speaker 13 (22:54):
That building there with all of the electrical cuncil will
take three to four weeks to build. And one of
the things with this expansion and the investment that we're
working in here is to cut down that time substantially
and to improve the quality on a day to day basis.

Speaker 11 (23:07):
M BEN already has one hundred and fifty workers. So
Charleston Man could be sentenced to spend the rest of
his life in federal prison after being convicted in recent
days for sex trafficking Quick Bailey traffic get Ford women
between twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. You're listening
to Metro News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 9 (23:24):
What are you doing out there?

Speaker 14 (23:25):
Come on, I saw you at the game the other night. Yeah,
you up there getting mad, acting like we're all out
there making a million a game.

Speaker 9 (23:34):
Well, let me be real with you.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
This isn't the pros.

Speaker 14 (23:37):
It's school sports, and it's a game, our game, So
please let us play school sports.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Fans, remember when you cheer for your team, make noise
for the right reasons. This message presented by the NFHS
and the NI Triple A.

Speaker 14 (23:51):
And all student athletes in West Virginia.

Speaker 6 (23:54):
Attention high school football fans. If you're wondering where your
team ranks each week, check out the Tutors World powererankings
at WV Metronews.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
Dot com.

Speaker 6 (24:03):
Each Tuesday morning, metro Neews will update the power rankings
for all four classes, and to find out where your
favorite team ranks, simply go to wvmetronews dot com, click
on the high school sports tab, and then the high
school Powererankings. Twenty twenty five Metro News Power Rankings are
presented by Tutor's Biscuit World. Start your day the homemade way.
Visit them at tudorsbiscuit World dot com.

Speaker 11 (24:25):
State Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby says the surgeon tourism that
began in the state a few years ago hasn't stopped.
Ruby with some new numbers from the Annual Governor's Conference
on Tourism.

Speaker 15 (24:35):
Everything is trending in the right directions or Overall economic
impact for the first time in the state's history exceeded
nine point one.

Speaker 16 (24:43):
Billion with a B. We've got a lot of happy
people here, Ruby says.

Speaker 11 (24:46):
What she likes is the diversity that she's seeing. You
can read more at wv metronews dot com from the
Metro News anchored desk. I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Updated SSAC playoff for ratings posted yesterday afternoon. We've got
them at double DV metronews dot com. Morgantown, Bridgeport, Independence,
Wheeling Central are your number ones and their respective classes.
You can see the full ratings over at double DV
metronews dot com. And of course Fred Persinger, Dave Jacklin,
and Joe Bracado will be along later tonight on many

(25:33):
of these same Metro News radio stations for Metro News
High School Sports Line. They'll talk about the ratings. Get
you ready for week six? Hard to believe. After this
week we will be over halfway through the high school
football season. Oh man, time flies in the fall. It'll
be DECEMMI you know what, TJ. This happens to me
every year. Every year, I say, I'm gonna get my

(25:53):
Christmas shopping done early. This year, I'm gonna get my
wife's presence taken. And really that just means I have
to buy for my wife, right, because I'm a guy.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
That's what we do.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
And every year it gets to be about December twelfth,
and I go, oh, no, how did that happen?

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Happens to me every year?

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Yeah, it comes earlier and earlier, though, And I don't
know if I like that personally. I'm sure I could
walk in the home depot today and see Christmas trees up,
and I'm not trying to be a scrooge, but let's
have Thanksgiving first and then worry about that.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
I'm with you. I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
The Halloween stuff's out, though I've seen some neighbors have
got the Halloween stuff out, which is a program.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
It's October.

Speaker 5 (26:31):
First half of my kids, my kids tuck my wife
into will blow up, and I'm just like, do we
have to be that?

Speaker 3 (26:37):
You're that house.

Speaker 5 (26:39):
I've fought that for years and a couple of people
up the street did it, so now we have to
do I'm like, well, I guess at least we're not
the first ones. But yeah, I was cringing hard over
the weekend when that thing went out.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yesterday morning, Secretary of Defense or Secretary of War of
Pete higgs Hath announced ten new policy directives focused on
raising physical fitness standards and forcing merit based promotions, reforming
military equal opportunity procedures, and producing non combat mandatory training requirements.
Also had harsh criticisms of the woke or politically correct leadership.

(27:11):
Retired Rear Admiral Mike Smith is graduate of the US
Naval Academy. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his
action during combat. He joins us on at Metro News
talk Line this morning. Admiral, good morning, Thanks for joining.

Speaker 17 (27:21):
Us, Oh, thanks for having me back.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
What did you make of Secretary Hegseth's comments yesterday as
he addressed hundreds of generals and flag officers.

Speaker 17 (27:31):
You know, it was just a waste of time and
such a missed opportunity. Everything he talked about was his
political grievances and when he could have been talking about
what are the threats our country faces and how he
wants these commanders to approach those threats. So it was

(27:52):
really unfortunate.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
Do we lack a warrior ethos quote unquote within the
ranks of the military focused enough on war to achieve
peace through strength?

Speaker 17 (28:04):
You know who doesn't want increase warrior mentality or are
a greater lethal force. Every single officer in that auditorium
was a commander. They every minute of the day they
think about how do I instill more warrior ethos in
my people. They're the ones that are going to be

(28:26):
responsible if suddenly some major war breaks out, because everybody
will say, well, we always told you to be prepared,
so they think about that every day. They don't need
the Secretary to tell them, you guys need to instill
warrior ethos. They know that's their responsibility.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
We're retired, we're able. Mike Smith joining us on Metro
News talk line. He hit on physical fitness standards. I
guess we're not going to have any more fat officers
by the way I heard that during the speech. What's
your take on the physical fitness standards? Should there be
one standard across the board? Is there and we're solving
a problem that doesn't exist?

Speaker 3 (29:05):
What's your take?

Speaker 17 (29:07):
You know, when you take a look at the instruction
he came out with, he's dividing it into those that
are in combat arms and those that are not, and
saying that if you're in combat arms, you have to
meet the male standards. As I understand it, first of all,
there's no you know, I'm in the Navy, there are
no females in the seals and in special ops. In

(29:31):
the Army and the other services, they have to meet
that standard. So you're really fighting an issue that doesn't exist,
and you're sending a huge negative message to women and
minorities about the welcome they have at the senior ranks
of our military.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
So I looked at some of the b roll from
the meeting. Granted it was limited, there were still shots
as well. I didn't see anyone unkept I didn't see
any you know, unkept facial hair. I didn't see anyone
that was fat. Let's just say it. Everybody looked trim
and in shape. Who was he talking to?

Speaker 14 (30:08):
You know?

Speaker 17 (30:10):
He entered that auditorium with a list of grievances that
he has clearly articulated since before he wrote his book,
you know. So that's part of why I think it
was such a wasted opportunity. There wasn't a person in
that auditorium that didn't already understand the secretary's view on
this list of political grievances. He didn't need to spend

(30:33):
millions of dollars to fly everybody in at the last
minute to articulate those So those folks in that auditorium,
even though they're in their forties and fifties, and some
probably in their sixties, they still have to themselves do
a physical fitness test, you know, and pass it to
continue serving in the military.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
You can't get into his mind, But where are the
lists of grievances come from. Because if I'm hearing you,
you're you're saying, look, these things are not real problem.
So where does the grievance? Where do the grievances come from?

Speaker 17 (31:09):
You know, I too can't get in his mind either.
You know, he's he served in the military.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
UH.

Speaker 17 (31:17):
He had his own perspective. I would I would opine
that that that perspective is very much that of a
of a you know, mid grade officer in a special
ops or in the infantry, UH as a National guardsman.
But that doesn't necessarily equate to the space for US

(31:38):
or the or the Navy, let alone his view of Okay,
when we take a look at what the military does,
you know, we're just going to focus on the military
aspect he had. It reflects a real lack of understanding
of how complex it's going to be if we really
had a global war with China, and that's what many

(31:59):
of those commanders are responsible for being able to respond to.
So he has this very narrow view of the military.
When those commanders understand that the depth that their responsibilities
are so much faster.

Speaker 5 (32:14):
Admiral, I'm gonna be honest, I'm hesitant to even ask
this question because I don't want to plant the seed,
but all that brass in one room in the world
we live in today, I would think that's a security
risk bringing that kind of collective intelligence together in a
single room for a single target.

Speaker 17 (32:36):
Well, I think that that luckily right now, probably the
intel assessment is such that, you know, holding that event
in the middle of the Marine Corps base in Quantico,
you really minimized that specific type of threat. But you know,
they were all traveling. It was advertised that they were

(32:56):
all traveling. They many have to travel on commercial airlines,
so if there was somebody who wanted to do damage
that it certainly was advertising that. But at the end
of the day, I don't think that was really as
great a risk as some people are thinking.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Well, we'll to go back to something you mentioned there
that the comments maybe I can't remember how you phrase
exactly discouraging to people of color women in the military.
Am I framing that correctly? I don't want to misrepresent
what you said.

Speaker 17 (33:29):
Yeah, I think that his statement that we are not
in essence, that our military is not stronger because it
reflects our society, that that concept should be struck from
the thought process. Of those leaders. That's just unconsciable. I mean,

(33:52):
you can have women and minorities in the leadership positions
and still have a warrior ethos and still have a
lethal force. Those people all many who served in Iraq
and Afghanistan and other operations have examples from their career where,
thank goodness, they had a reflection of society, especially if

(34:14):
in positions where they were, where they were leading their
enlisted men. We've learned so much about the importance of
bringing in women and minorities to serve in leadership positions
from you know, they talked a lot about the Greatest
Generation and how wonderful war to us, and it was,
but it was it was a segregated military and you

(34:38):
had white officers running you know, minority units. We don't
need to do that anymore. We're just the reflection of society.
And I just think that the signal he is sending
is if you're a woman, you're a minority, don't join
the military. Don't expect it to be promoted, don't expect

(34:59):
to to lead troops. You know that's not your role.
You'll be in a support role.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
But if the standard is the same for everybody, could
that be encouraging though, like, hey, we don't care if
you're purple with pink polka dots. You come in here,
you do what you do, and you do it well.
You're going to.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
Rise up through the ranks no matter who you are.
I mean, could that be encouraging.

Speaker 17 (35:20):
Absolutely, And if that's all he had said, that's great
because that's what we're promoting right now. But he specifically
said that the day of believing that we're stronger because
we reflect society is over. That's where I think he
went too far again. His going in is great. We
want a more lethal force. You know, we want warriors

(35:43):
to have the same standards. If you're in a job
that's physically demanding, you have to be able to meet
a standard everyone. There's men that don't meet that standard,
and they'll be women that don't meet that standard.

Speaker 5 (35:55):
President suggested yesterday during his portion of the speech, using
dangerous cities as military training grounds. Like your reflection on
that comment.

Speaker 17 (36:07):
You know, I think there wasn't an officer in that
auditorium that didn't cringe when they heard that. You know,
we train our forces so that they are ready for combat,
they are ready for their mission, but we don't train.
We don't send recruits. We didn't send recruits to Afghanistan

(36:28):
and train them in Afghanistan to be able to be prepared.
So if we're going to use our cities as training grounds,
there are going to be casualties. People are going to
make a mistake. We want people to make a mistake
when they're training so they won't in real life. That's
such a dangerous concept. And all of those officers understand

(36:52):
the public opinion of the military in Vietnam, and that
is driving the American people to have that experience. If
you start militarizing our cities and where uniformed people are
commonly patrolling our streets and being trained on what is
right and wrong and making mistakes, we're going to go

(37:15):
back to the time when, when you know the people,
the public opinion of the military was so negative. We
can't afford that. We spent too much time and effort
and blood and sweat and tears and money to get
where we are today. Let's not go backwards.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Retired Rear Abral Mike Smith, US Naval Academy Graduate Bronze
Star recipient, thank you for the perspective this morning.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 17 (37:39):
Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
Great day.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Absolutely coming up next an unprecedented segment TJ. Unprecedented because
both Ryan Smells and Jared Halpern have called in and
you know what, We're going to put them both on
at the same time.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
What they are, all right, we'll do that next. We
are there for you to care for you the health.

Speaker 18 (38:00):
The health Plan is still growing, giving you a large
network of doctors, friendly and helpful customer service representatives, and competitive,
flexible pricing.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Plans that meet your needs.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
Log on to healthplan dot org for more information.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
We are to care for you, and we are here.

Speaker 19 (38:24):
Picture a community where every space tells a story. Those
are the communities we're designing at ZMM. Architects and engineers
with a blend of creativity and technical expertise, we design
spaces that inspire, innovate, and ignite change, from cutting edge
educational facilities to community centric gathering spaces.

Speaker 20 (38:44):
We're committed to improving lives through design. Let us help
you shape a brighter future for generations to come.

Speaker 21 (38:50):
Because at ZMM, it's more.

Speaker 20 (38:51):
Than architecture, it's about building your legacy.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance encircling
you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
I'm just saying one of these guys was scheduled for
this time slot. One was not joining us on a
Metro news talk line this morning, both from Washington, DC,
although probably slightly different parts of town. Fox News radios,
Ryan Schmells, Ryan good Morning, Good morning, and Jared Halpern
also this morning, Jared, good morning.

Speaker 15 (39:36):
Did I did I call the wrong number?

Speaker 3 (39:38):
No?

Speaker 1 (39:38):
No, you're You're at the proper time, on the right number,
in the right time slot.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Some other guys.

Speaker 15 (39:43):
We have a new system that we're trying. Yes, and
I thought I would be the one to not do
it correctly.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
So you know, you know, some other guy got busy
covering I don't know. You know, Senate and House leadership
talking this morning.

Speaker 15 (39:57):
You know.

Speaker 16 (40:00):
He's being a diva.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
So Schmell's let's start with you. What did leadership have
to say this morning?

Speaker 16 (40:07):
Well, it looks like in a couple minutes now, at
eleven o'clock, give or take, we are going to have
another vote on the Republican plan to keep the government
open or at least reopen the government and fund it
until November twenty first, So last night they had a
vote on this. Three Democrats broke ranks and voted with Republicans.
To break the filibuster, they need to flip five Democrats

(40:31):
total to get the sixty votes. So we will see
if that number changes at all. But if it don't,
it looks like the plan is to keep voting until
they get that number.

Speaker 5 (40:41):
Ran Any suspicions on who would be Democrats that Thune
may target first, I mean, any names popping up to
the top.

Speaker 16 (40:48):
Well, there are some conversations going on. From what we understand,
we don't know who specifically that's with, but you know
people were watching for you. You got the two New Hampshire Democrats,
one of them voted for the bill last time back
in March. You've got probably Gary Peters from Michigan, Tina
Smith from Minnesota who's retiring after the midterms. And you know,
you could look at maybe John Austoff, who is the

(41:09):
only Democrat in the midterm elections who's going to be
defending a state that President Trump won.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Jared Halpern joining us as well. So what is happening
at the White House? What's been the President's reaction to
all of this.

Speaker 15 (41:21):
Well, it's so far kind of business as usual. Now,
I will sit in the press briefing room where you
see the Press Secretary brief room. They had some monitors
up there that are playing on a loop clips of
Democrats urging basically to trying a government shutdown in funding
Bill's past right, trying to use their words to push
them to vote differently this time around. But you know,

(41:45):
the White House here does not seem really upset at
the prospect of a shutdown. Nobody wants a shutdown. But
yesterday we heard President Trump kind of suggests, listen, there
are things we can do that are versible. It'll be
bad for Democrats. We could cut workers, we could cut

(42:05):
programs that they like, kind of giving this warning that
this could keep getting worse and worse for Democrats. We've
seen russ Vote, the Director of the Budget Office essentially
say that they could have mass firings, mass layoffs, and
federal agencies not the types of furloughs that generally happen
in shutdowns. What usually occurs is a lot of federal

(42:26):
workers are told not to come in. They don't get
paid until the shutdown is over, but their jobs are
waiting for them when their job, when the shutdown is over.
We're hearing from the administration this time around that may
not be the case. And so again, I think part
of that is the pressure point that the administration that

(42:47):
Republicans have here against Democrats.

Speaker 5 (42:50):
Well, Jared, I would think that that would be the
proper tone. We talked about these numbers. Ryan just brought
them back up the September nineteenth roll call. You know
you had more. You had one dem that came over
last night. You had you had three? Well, yeah, you
had three.

Speaker 15 (43:08):
Pretty good with Democrats. Yeah good, Rand Paul's Rand Paul
is going to be a hard No, I think, yeah, yeah,
But well, I mean, so here's the thing I've covered
now quite a few of these. The two biggest shutdowns
that kind of in recent memory. Right, there was a
twenty thirteen shutdown during the Obama administration. That was that

(43:32):
head Cruise led shutdown over attempts to repeal the Affordable
Care Act.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
Right.

Speaker 15 (43:38):
What eventually happened was after about two and a half weeks,
the government reopened, Obamacare remained the law of the land.
You had the thirty five day shutdown that went from
twenty eighteen into twenty nineteen during the first Trump term
that was largely triggered by President Trump wanting border wall
funding is part of a spending that went on thirty

(44:01):
five days. Eventually there was a short term spending bill
passed did not include that border wall funding. My point
is this, in shutdowns, at least these lengthy ones, and
this one could end up being that the side that
is making these demands to add things or draw lines
in the sand on a spending bill are not successful.
Maybe this is the exception to the rule, but that's

(44:25):
why I think you are right to kind of start
looking at which Democrats are going to start breaking with
Schumer Ryan mentioned a couple of them. I would also
mention that Virginia has two Democratic senators in a state
with a whole lot of federal workers. So the longer
this goes on, that pressure point becomes harder and harder,

(44:45):
especially for the side that's kind of being seen as
the hold outside, which in this case would be Democrats.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
And ran about thirty seconds here. We talked to Senator
Capito yesterday and she said, hey, look, if the ACA
tax credits extension of that tax cred was the only
thing we were talking about here. Yeah, we can talk
about that and we could probably work something out, but
she said, there's so much more other than that that,
you know, there's not even a starting point to negotiate.

Speaker 16 (45:10):
Well, yeah, and look, there's ACA tax credits is kind
of what Democrats have hung their hat on with this.
There's another provision they're trying to work in here that
would pretty much stop Republicans from using recisions to cut
spending in the federal government. So those are probably the
two big ones that Democrats have kind of locked in here.
But they do have a pretty extensive bill that has
a lot more other things that are in it that

(45:32):
failed yesterday as well.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
But those are the.

Speaker 16 (45:35):
Two things that they want at least included in the
GOP proposal in order to get their votes.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Unprecedented Ryan Schmelz and Jared Halpern at the same time,
Metro News talk Line, guys, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
Thank you. Thanks boys.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Coming up, we wrap up our number one it's talk lin.
I'll mention news from the in COVID Insurance studios.

Speaker 22 (45:56):
The West Virginia Park from dawn until dusk. Through hard work, dedication,
and resilience, these folks supply their communities with a safe
and reliable product, and the West Virginia Farm Bureau while
we are right there with them as the voice of
agriculture in West Virginia. Join us today as we build

(46:16):
a better future for all of us. To learn more,
visit us at wvfarm dot org.

Speaker 23 (46:22):
The city Net fibernetwork is growing every day, bringing lightning
fast internet to more communities across West Virginia. With plans
for every budget and speeds up to ten gigs, the
fastest in the Mountain state. City net keeps you streaming,
gaming and working without limits. And for businesses, city net
delivers powerful network management and cybersecurity solutions, protecting companies here

(46:45):
at home and across the nation. Whether it's fiber for
your home or cybersecurity for your business, connect with us
at citynet dot net.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
A quick first hour US sentator Jim Justice go to
join us at eleven six. We'll get an update on
state revenue numbers at the bottom of the hours. Talklineal
Metro News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Metro News talkline is presented by Incova Insurance, encircling you
with coverage to protect what you care about most visit
incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Second hour of Metro News talk Line. The roster is
the same David Morgantown TJ and Charleston's at Carrolcheck operates
the video stream if you're watching on Metro News Television,
and Ethan Collins is our producer and operator sitting by
at eight hundred seven sixty five Talk eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two five five.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
That's the phone number Ethan will take.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
He'll patch you through, just like Sarah Wood and Mayberry
patch you through to the two of us, and you
can offer your thoughts. You can also text, as many
of you have at three or four Talk three four
got a couple of open segments planned this hour.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
We'll get to your.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Thoughts on anything and everything as we continue.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Once again. Good morning, mister Meadows, Good morning.

Speaker 5 (48:20):
I don't think they ever showed Sarah's face. I don't
think that's it. As far as I remember. There's something
for the text line little trivia. I can't recall it.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
I off the top of my head. I think you're
correct on that.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
Yeah, she was there, but never saw her face. Interesting
little tidbit. Good morning to you, sir.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Good morning to you of course.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
The federal government partially shut down today after lawmakers could
not reach an agreement on a continuing resolution. Senator Jim
Justice reacted yesterday on x posting, this should not be
a food fight, Senator, Republicans, but for it a clean
bill to keep the government open, a bill similar to
what Democrats have voted for thirteen times in the past.

(49:04):
Now West Virginians will face the fallout of a Democrat
forced government shutdown all over political demands. Joining us on
Mention News talk line this morning is the Senator from
the great state of West Virginia, Senator Jim Justice.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Senator, good morning, thanks for joining.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Us, Thank you guys for having me. I hope everything's
good there and we got it some way somehow get
just things straightened out up here. But you know, we've
got some sure obstacles, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Well how do we get this straightened out?

Speaker 4 (49:33):
Senator Well first and portant mercy. You know, I think
we really need to step back and understand really what's
going on. And here's the bottom line. It's one word.
The word is cause you see, the Democrats really are
in a real pickle. They got midterms coming and they
don't really have a platform because every single thing that

(49:55):
Trump has done has come to pass, whether it be
the wars or or taxes or whatever it may be,
all the different things, the border, on and on and on,
all the things that we've done work. And so the
Democrats are basically grabbing at strong and they're looking, they're
looking for a cause, a cause to run on. This

(50:19):
doesn't have anything to do with sympathetic, you know, to
certain things and really trying to health the American people.
What the Democrats are doing is absolutely black mail. Black
mail that's hurting all kinds of people, all tens of
millions of people across this great nation. And it's embarrassing

(50:40):
the nation on top of that. And why the whole
why is one thing? We got to come up with
something to run on. We got to be able to
come up with something and say we were here for you.
We tried to get your health care, we tried to
get all the illegals back, We tried to do this
and this and this and this, and look how good

(51:01):
we all really at the end of the days. Black
Mail on the high seas, it's absolutely ignoring an election.
It's ignoring the one big, beautiful Bill. It's a retrade
of a treeion and a half dollars. Are you kidding me?
I mean absolutely, it is going completely against the grain

(51:24):
that can spend our nation into all kinds of trouble.
And it's a crime, pitiful shame, because it's a bunch
of people that are trying to do one thing, and
one thing alone, get reelected. What was about you get
about getting re elected.

Speaker 5 (51:41):
We'll get to the Republican side of it in a minute,
but you talk about getting reelected, there's a narrative out
there that it's really Chuck Schumer to his flink, you know,
specifically last night the talking heads, we're saying he's trying
to head off a challenge from AOC. Do you buy
into that? Do you think that's a valid point?

Speaker 4 (52:00):
Of course, it's a valid point. I mean, I mean,
I see the whole build up here, The building up
was all around this. Well, by god, we got to fight,
we got to fight back, and then there was the
thing to take could come up with about fighting back?
And now you know, this is the classic example of
showing you're behind in spades and then trying to turn

(52:24):
around and trying to figure out, well, what in the
world are we going to do? You know? But at
the end of the day, this is all about It's
all about Chuck Schulmer retaining his power. It's about absolutely
trying to make a big splash in upon on the
mid on the mid terms, it is about a cause.

(52:44):
That's all there is. Students, it's not sympathetic towards our people.
In fact, they should give a who We're hurting so
many people, it's unbelievable. And at the end of the day,
you guys know me and know me well enough that
I said so many times here if you're a Republican
or Democrat, I don't care at all. I'm gonna be
respectful to all. But I'm gonna call it like I

(53:06):
think it is. And this is exactly what I think.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
US Senator Jim Justice joining US Metro News talk line,
one of the sticking points for Democrats is extending the
expanded ACA tax credits, and that will impact tens of
thousands of West Virginians.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
Is that something you're willing to discuss.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
Well, anything, you know, we'd be willing. I'd be willing
to discuss anything, you know. I mean, I'm always one
that is welcome's discussion welcome's negotiation and everything else. But
you got to remember, now, I was that to him
right in the middle of all the COVID and the
tax breaks and everything else. And they were temporary. They

(53:45):
were toosed to be there forever more and everything. And
so at some point in time we've got to draw
a line in the thing and say, Okay, we're way
past the COVID situation. Now, these were temporary. They should
go away. I'm in favor of them going away. But
you know, here's the whole thing again, guys, is we

(54:08):
are trying to negotiate something and basically holding our government
as a hostage. I mean, if we're going to negotiate stuff,
we can do that and do that over time into
proper space. But to shut our government down in this
situation just to show your band to me, it doesn't work.

Speaker 5 (54:32):
Senator, Do Republicans share some of the blame, though maybe
this time it's more Democrats. But we were talking earlier
in the show. It's been twenty nine years, twenty nine
years since all twelve appropriation spills were passed. We see
shutdown threat after shutdown threat. I mean, folks are frustrated,
and I'm sure you are too. But it takes two

(54:53):
to tango, doesn't.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
It It does. You know, I'm not going to deny
that a bit in the world, you know, in in
this situation, I believe what's happened is terrible from the
standpoint of the democratsman at the same time, and this
place up here is is dysfunctional in so many ways.
I mean, it's it's it's just what I said, you

(55:14):
know earlier, you know, in a statement, it becomes a
food fight, it becomes a contest. A lot of times
the House is doing this. We got out and do
the House, even even whether they be Republican, Republican to
Republican or Democratic Democrat. It is absolutely dispensing one in
so many ways because we've lost we've lost our ability

(55:36):
to set down and be reasonable and negotiate and be
respectful and everything else. And so absolutely there's there's, uh,
there's there's bad stuff on both sides here, but in
this one, in this one, this one is absolutely preposterously
ridiculous on the Democrat side.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
US Senator Jim Justice joining us here on Metro News
talk line. So do we reach a resolution? What what
what is the feeling you get from d C is
this going to drag out? Do you think this has
resolved quickly?

Speaker 4 (56:10):
Well, you know, three Democrats moved, you know, on the
Republican side, and and you know, I really I just
keep going back to just this is you know this,
this this makes about as much sense as me being
able to or baby dog and I being able to
fly through the sky. But uh but it just uh it,

(56:33):
I really it would not surprise me. It would not
surprise me that enough Democrats will come to their senses
because these Democrats are running again too, you know, and
uh it wouldn't surprise me that enough.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Yuh oh, I think baby dog just chewed through the cord.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
You can just before you hear the click, there's like that.
You have a half second of so one thing. You
know it's coming, you know what I'm trying to describe.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
Yeah, I think hang on, I think he's calling back in.
You know, Senator Jim Justice was joining us, and you know, hey,
I'm just saying, maybe maybe Chuck Schumer, you know, cut
the cord there. Maybe it was Chuck Schumer didn't like
just let's get that conspiracy theory. Go ahead, X, get
with that conspiracy theory, all right.

Speaker 5 (57:24):
You see the headline. Now, Chuck Schumer shuts down West
Virginia senator on statewide talk show.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
Illuminati Involved, question mark, all right, I think we got
the senator back. Senator, are you there?

Speaker 4 (57:35):
I'm back. Sorry, we're sitting right here to Capitol. The
phone's got to be able to work here. But maybe
maybe they're shutting the phone lines down through.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
Senator Jim Justice joining us from d C H.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
I believe I just asked you, do we get a
quick resolution to this thing or not?

Speaker 4 (57:57):
I think there's anything is possible. I think this thing
is probably going to have to play play its way
out just a little bit. You know, A quick resolution,
you know, may be more difficult than you think I would.
I mean, I predicted there's no possibility they're going to
shut the government down. You know, I said, there's no

(58:19):
way this is going to happen. This is all just
saber rattling, and they'll never do it because I mean,
it makes zero's sense, you know. But uh but a
lot of times this place, you know, people get by
with it making zero sense. That's the thing that's so
bizarre about this whole thing. You know, the worst thing

(58:40):
I can possibly tell you is just you know, my
chief of staff and director of operations, you know, we
were meeting one day and I was I said, look,
we've got to we've got to solve the real here.
I mean, there's a way for us to really get
stuff done here. And they look back at me and said,
you don't understand all these people where they don't want
get stuff done. All they want to do is keep

(59:02):
it going. Because by keep it going, you know, they
absolutely find ways, fundraisers, everything under the sun to benefit
from it. This is not about getting something done. This
is about keeping it going. And that's a crying shame.
And I'm not gonna be party to that. You know,
I'm gonna down the hill, you know, against that one,

(59:25):
because I'm gonna try everything in my power always to
get something done.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
I can hear the frustration in your voice. I mean,
you were an executive here in the state. You could
put people in a room. You can't do that up
there at senterdy No.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
But you know I said this before. The good thing
about being here, you know, not rolling in here at
forty years old, and you know, trying to make your
way and then get more power and then get you know,
it's a committee chair or whatever it may be. You know,
when you roll in here, white hair at seventy three
years old, now seventy four, you know, they're there's a

(01:00:00):
lot of people here that really listen to me, and
and you know, they they know we did a lot
of good things in West Virginia and uh, and we
did and and so so with all that being said,
we just uh, I mean, I'm just too stubborn to
not really try, you know it. Uh. But but this
situation is going on right now is a shame us.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Senator Jim Justin is joining us here on Metro News
talk line. Have you had any talks with with folks
up on Capitol Hill? What are you What are you
hearing up there?

Speaker 13 (01:00:33):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:00:34):
Gosh, I mean we're talking to everybody. I mean we're talking,
you know, to everybody, all the all the presidents, folks
and every everything, all all the time. But uh, and
you know, you know, President Trump and I have been
buddies forever. But uh, and he's frustrated, but but it
it this, this will pass. But the unfortunate thing about

(01:00:56):
this passing is today today there's people that are really
getting hurt right now, and it's going to get worse.
And it's unnecessary. That's all there is to it, because
I truly believe in my heart. You know, we can
say it's political, but it's way beyond that. This is
all about a power grab. You guys pointed that out,

(01:01:19):
and it's absolutely about getting re elected. And both of
them just don't fit with me.

Speaker 5 (01:01:25):
Senator, Let's come back to the great State, if for
no other reason than give you a little peace of
mind here you waited. In yesterday, Larry Pack called for
no tax on tips and overtime in the state of
Western Virginia. He wants a special session to get that passed.
Is he right to call for that? Do you support
the plan?

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
One hundred percent? One hundred percent. Listen, we we cut
taxes I think twenty six times in the state of
West Virginia. And you know, we can say what we want.
But guys, when I walked in the door, there could
never have been a more bleak situation. And when I
walked out of the door, absolutely we were just knocking

(01:02:03):
it out of the park. Everywhere you turn. We were
doing stuff all over the place to help all kinds
of people like you can't imagine. And really, the net
of the whole thing is one thing, you keep the
economics right. Absolutely, you can do a lot of stuff
you don't keep the economics right, and you start chasing
one of these social issues, whether it be whatever, I mean,
you know, vaccines or red dye or deer antlers or

(01:02:26):
carrawl milk, and you start chasing all that stuff and
spend your time with all that and everything. Really, at
the end of the day, you're going to eventually the
wheels are gonna fly off. You know, we're not doing
enough economic development projects. We're losing out to neighboring states.
And absolutely Larry is splitting the bullets out on what
we ought to do. We ought to fast track as

(01:02:47):
best we possibly can to eventually get rid of our
state income tax. But absolutely the stuff on tips and overtime.
Those people work and work their hind ends off, and
they want a shot at the American dream. And we
ought to really try to reward the people that are
working and helping us every day, especially those they're stepping

(01:03:11):
up and taking on overtime to do extra work. You know,
I mean, come on, why in the world will we
not reward those folks and do everything we possibly can
to give them the opportunity for that American dream.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
US Senator Jim Justice joining us on Mention News talk line. Senator,
thank you so much for the time. We'll continue to
see how this all plays out.

Speaker 4 (01:03:33):
All right, guys, thank you all so much for all
you do. I mean this, Thank you for all you
do every day.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Thank you appreciate it. Thank you very much. Coming up,
we'll get some of your thoughts at three or four.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Talk through four. It's talk line from the Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 24 (01:03:43):
Building a stronger West Virginia isn't just a dream, it's
a mission. The High Technology Foundation knows economic diversity is
the key. For over thirty years, they've been dedicated to
transforming the state's economic landscape. Conveniently located in the heart
of West Virginia, innovation, growth, opportunity all under one roof.
There's no need to look far for change. It's happening

(01:04:06):
right here at the High Technology Foundation in north central
West Virginia. Visit WVHTF dot org to learn more.

Speaker 25 (01:04:14):
Days, evenings, weekends, and holidays. You can't predict when you'll
get sick or heard, but WVU Medicine Urgent.

Speaker 5 (01:04:21):
Care is prepared to help when you do.

Speaker 25 (01:04:24):
Our team treats minor illnesses and injuries and perform services
like on site lab and imaging, vaccinations, and sports physicals.
WVU Medicine is ready to assist you and your family
when life happens. To find the closest location near you,
visit wvumedicine dot org slash urgent Care.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
Let's do some text three or four talk three oh
four eight hundred seven to sixty five talk eight hundred
seven sixty five eight two five five the phone number
Textas says Dave and TJ, if the Democrats wanted those
ACA subsidies to continue, why did they set a time
for them to expire when they had a chance to
vote on them? Or were they meant to be temporary

(01:05:24):
because of COVID?

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Hmm, I wonder what I think.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
I can't tell you. Factually, I'd have to go back
and look. That was the intent to be temporary. But TJ,
as we have learned with government budgeting, you set those
things to expire. That is a budgeting trick for down
the road, right.

Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
Yeah, it's the only way you can get it to
wash so that it doesn't carry some kind of long
term deficit or debt.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
So my guess is that a number one? Did I
say a number one?

Speaker 7 (01:05:52):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:05:53):
There?

Speaker 5 (01:05:53):
A one man.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
The second part of that is, once you give something
like that, look how difficult look at the fight we're in.
Because those may expire and go away. It almost becomes
entrenched to where it does become permanent. It doesn't go
away once those temporary subsidies are put in place. We've
I mean, how many times we've seen that over the
course of our lifetimes.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
So here that's my thought.

Speaker 5 (01:06:18):
You were one hundred percent correct. Here's another thing. Why
not pass a budget bill that disallows these temporary mechanisms.
It'll never happen for the very reasons you've just talked about. Yeah,
can't get the toothpaste back in the tube. All we
got it, We're addicted to it, we want it, you

(01:06:39):
gave it to us, can't take it back. No one
remembers the temporary side of things. And what is it?
I think fourteen hundred dollars a year is what the
average person is going to face off these ACA increases.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Yep, this is real and TJ Governor, she did it again,
Senator Justice, two terms man, hard to break that habit.
I don't think he's that far off with the idea
that in Washington, d C, what's your number one goal?
If you're in Washington, d C. For probably ninety nine
percent of the people there, reelection, stay there.

Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
And this is a this is a platform builder.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
This because Democrats took a lot of grief, right, took
a lot of grief last time when they went along
with the CR and the Continuing Resolution.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
And they're they're answering to their constituents.

Speaker 5 (01:07:28):
I guess at this point I agree with those that
are calling for term limits. I get why it won't happen.
I get the challenges to make it happen. The arguments, oh,
you'll never have seasoned leadership and legacy, knowledge will be lost.
I don't care time for something new.

Speaker 4 (01:07:45):
You are.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
You have the ability to be so much bolder, and
that could be good and bad depending on where you're standing.
Right if you don't have the thought of an election
looming over you the next time. Uh, let me get
some more text in here quickly before automn the our
Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson's going to join us a couple
of minutes from now. Dave and TJ, too funny, baby
dog may be a Democrat says the Texter. I can

(01:08:10):
remember the government shutting down at two times now, once
the Democrats were in control, once the Republicans are in control.
What's one common thread of the two shutdowns? Not a coincidence,
says the Texter. And now Senator Justice thinks he quote
knocked it out of the park as governor while we
remained forty fifth to fiftieth in USA in all important categories.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
Of improvement for our state.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Why would Democrats agree to spending when you need sixty
votes when Republicans can get a recision with only fifty,
says the Texter. You might want to better understand the
ASA enhance tax credits before you comment on them, says
the Texter.

Speaker 5 (01:08:50):
Okay, what are we missing?

Speaker 4 (01:08:52):
Then?

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
I thought that one was pretty cut and dry. We
got to hit the brake.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
News is coming up Eric Nelson on the other side,
we'll talk about state revenue for the month of September.
You're listening to talk Line on Metro News for forty years,
the Voice of West Virginia. It is eleven thirty. Let's
get a news update from the Metro News radio network.
Find out what's happening across the Great State of West.

Speaker 26 (01:09:15):
Virginia West Virginia Metro News. I'm Chris Lawrence. Two people
are dead three hospitalized after a fire in Jefferson County.
That blaze broke out Tuesday in the Harper's Ferry community.
I ath already said the bodies of a man and
a woman yet to be identified, were found in the
ashes of the home after the fire was out. A
woman and her two adult children were able to escape,
but are hospitalized. A Charleston man is convicted on multiple

(01:09:38):
counts of sex trafficking. The federal jury seated in Charleston
Tuesday returned to guilty verdict in the case of forty
nine year old Taiwan Quick Bailey. He was on trial
for the past week and a half for running a
sex trafficking ring that involved four women, one of whom
was a miner. In Kanawa County, the student population in
Barbara County has dropped significantly in recent years, to the

(01:09:59):
point that Philip Barbar High School is only about forty
percent used. So now, the county superintendent Eddi Vincent says
they're examining a consolidation plan that would shut down the
county's three middle schools at Belington Philippine and Casson and
move the students to Philip Barbara High making it a
six through twelve school.

Speaker 12 (01:10:17):
That building's build for twelve hundred kids and it's a
so we're not we're using about thirty eight percent of
the building. And that's the very typical of all of
our buildings right now. Or you know, not just our
student enrollment, but our the general population of Barboia County has.

Speaker 26 (01:10:29):
Declined now, he says, the closing three buildings and cutting
back on the personnel it takes to staff them would
be a solid financial move at the county's operating budget.
Public hearings on that plan are set for this month.
You're listening to Metroneues for forty years, the voice of
West Virginia to.

Speaker 27 (01:10:47):
Every referee, umpire, and judge in high school sports, we
want to say we see you.

Speaker 9 (01:10:54):
We see everything you do for us that goes unnoticed.

Speaker 27 (01:10:58):
We see the positive role models that you are.

Speaker 9 (01:11:01):
We see the way you get unfairly criticized just for
doing your job.

Speaker 27 (01:11:05):
The truth is we couldn't play.

Speaker 9 (01:11:07):
Without you, So thank you for investing your time in us.

Speaker 27 (01:11:11):
Thank you for protecting the integrity of the game. No
matter what we.

Speaker 9 (01:11:17):
Hope you always know how much we appreciate.

Speaker 27 (01:11:19):
You, because without you, this is just recess. It's not
really a game.

Speaker 9 (01:11:25):
Thank you for always making it possible for us to
play the sports we love.

Speaker 27 (01:11:32):
Want to save the students in your community. Sign up
to become an official in West Virginia at High School
Officials dot Com.

Speaker 26 (01:11:43):
From the State Tourism Conference in Morgantown. Tourism numbers are
up and Governor Patrick Morrissey says that means more revenue
for West Virginia.

Speaker 10 (01:11:51):
More visitors to New River Gorge a national park, means
more people staying in hotels. That means more tax revenue
that gets fed back in to lift the standard of
living up, return more money back to the people. It's
a great thing.

Speaker 26 (01:12:04):
Morseley spoke at the tourism conference on Tuesday. It ends tomorrow.
From the Metro News anchored desk. I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
Oh, by the.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
Way, TJ, we got an answer to your previous question.
Texter says, no, Sarah was never seen. Sincerely, your Mayberry aficionado.

Speaker 5 (01:12:48):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
So there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
I thought you things you think you know until you
start thinking about it, you go, wait a minute, did
I happen to miss a cameo.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
Yeah, but yeah, you know, And that's really smart if
you think about it, because it leaves that theater of
the mind thing. I would imagine everybody in their own context.
I bet Sarah looks like this or that or whatever
it might be. That's smart.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Three or four Talk three oh four best. I've said
it before, best audience. You can put these questions out there,
you'll get answers. Best audience around.

Speaker 5 (01:13:22):
Good show too. I still watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:25):
I've always said, if my dad could just have Seinfeld
and Andy Griffith and some sports, that's all he would
need in a cable package.

Speaker 5 (01:13:33):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
Everybody Loves Raymond. That makes its way on when Seinfeld
Andy Griffith aren't on. Everybody Loves Raymond.

Speaker 5 (01:13:40):
Nice all right?

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
Three four Talk three or four is the text line.
It is October first, hard to believe.

Speaker 1 (01:13:46):
And for a check on state revenue collections for the
month of September. Joining us on Metro News talk line
is the State Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson. Eric, good morning,
glad you can join us.

Speaker 28 (01:13:57):
Thank you, Dave, Good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:59):
So how do we do in September?

Speaker 28 (01:14:02):
How did we do well? We've got the first quarter
of the year behind us. September we are very excited
about and positive, and for the month we were up
a very crisp forty three million, about three percent over budget,
and that's about five hundred and forty two million for
the quarter, which is three point two percent better than

(01:14:25):
prior year. The two primary drivers, as you have heard
me maybe the last couple times, personal income tax accounted
for about a third of the of the jump, and
then severance. Severance is a timing issue, but that also
was about a third of our job. But all areas

(01:14:48):
of collections from consumer sales tax, corporate interest, and even
tobacco were up during the month of So we're pretty
excited where we are, and you know, we've got some
momentum and steam behind us right now.

Speaker 5 (01:15:08):
Eric, As I look at the summery you sent us,
I mean, if this was the opening bell, my friend,
it would be a green board for the most part.
I mean, we're even covering the inflation nut on most
of these. So what's keeping you up? What are you
worried about? If we're doing this good?

Speaker 28 (01:15:24):
Hey TJ. You know, when you're when you're somewhat risk averse,
you always look around the corner because times can change.
But you know, how can we continue going where we are?
You know, so mentioned last month. We're in the middle
of our budgeting process for twenty seven. We like the

(01:15:45):
consumer sales tax numbers. The personal income tax against September
is one of our quarterly estimated payment months, and those
came in rather nicely withholding taxes are above statements, So
you know, it's nice to be able to get some
good sleep on these numbers. But still looking ahead and

(01:16:09):
trying to manage things.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
Talking to Eric Nelson, revenue secretary here in the great
state of West Virginia, have you been able to do
an analysis on the first quarter of the year as
a whole?

Speaker 3 (01:16:20):
How's that looking?

Speaker 28 (01:16:22):
But again, first quarter of the year, Dave crossed the board.
All segments are up and again led by the personal
income tax, which in some ways is quite surprising when
you think that our taxes are six percent lower than
they were the prior year because of income tax cuts,

(01:16:43):
and we're still beating that. Consumer sales taxes are strong,
and you know, I may have to pivot back TJ
with maybe keeping us all up right now or what's
going on in DC and I will say that the
governor has convene his team here over the last week,

(01:17:04):
and one thing that we have done internally is done
a better or done a deep dive into what if
any effects will this government shut down have on West
Virginia revenues. To the best of our knowledge, we do
not foresee any immediate needs. Should this go on beyond
thirty days, then you start to have a little concern

(01:17:28):
as it relates to our federal employment. And I think
he may have had some discussion with the Senator yesterday
of the various areas, and we do have a fair
amount of federal employment. So we hope that they get
their agreement sooner rather than later.

Speaker 5 (01:17:46):
In DC, I think it will be sooner rather than later.
That's just my educated or uneducated depending on your point
of view. Guess, talk to me about our creditors in
this state, because I'm sure they're looking at these numbers.
In today's point we got a quarter, What if any
feedback are you hearing from our creditors. How do these
kinds of positive numbers benefit the state as we go

(01:18:09):
out and we have to service debt or refinance debts.
Would like to understand how these numbers affect that if
at all.

Speaker 28 (01:18:17):
Yes, thank you TJ. Very good question and somewhat leading
in that you have the governor and myself and team
that are a matter of fact meeting with their doing,
having our annual meeting with rating agencies this week. And
the state of West Virginia roughly has two point five
billion dollars in outstanding debt. You know, we have our

(01:18:39):
pension obligations. You know, we have our workers comp There's
a number of different liabilities and that gets looked at
all the time. As we have improving revenue numbers and
especially on the income and consumer sales tax side, that

(01:19:00):
provides those that do the do the analysis and provide
the rating numbers much more comfort as to our ability
to repay any obligations going forward. And we ought to
be very proud in West Virginia with our pension performance,
our regular pers account. It's over one hundred percent fund

(01:19:25):
our teachers and that's you know, just three decades ago
I was down in the low single digits. We have
a very crisp Rainy Day Fund over at one point
billion dollars. H p I t Reserve fund over four
hundred and sixty million dollars. So we are hitting on

(01:19:48):
a lot of good points there, but we still have
our challenges across the board as it relates to our
healthcare needs and obviously our roads. I hope that maybe
hit some of your point.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
It's there, hit a lot of points there, and we're
talking Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson just trying to digest all
of that with budget season. Is budget season already underway?
I mean, lawmakers are back in a couple of months.
Are you already starting to look ahead for fiscal twenty
seven s.

Speaker 28 (01:20:18):
Sure, Dave. If all the agencies have put their numbers
into the Budget Office, budget Office prepare for face to
face agency meetings during the month of October. That is
a very busy time, a lot of interaction. The governor
has indicated that he plans to be in many of those,

(01:20:41):
as he was early in the year, getting a better
handle on our spends. But as we finish October in
those meetings, Dave will row into November and December putting
the product together that'll be presented to the legislature when
they come in. I guess it's January fourteenth, So we'll

(01:21:03):
have some back and forth, not only with our agencies,
but bringing in the legislators during that budget process.

Speaker 5 (01:21:11):
Eric, I'm good with a few things, terrible with a lot,
and this is one that I'm terrible with. So you're
going to have to help me here. I think yesterday
was the last day for folks to do what they
need to do in order to claim their rebate on
personal property. I'm talking about that car tax. First off,
make sure I frame that correctly, and then two, how

(01:21:34):
does that affect what you're doing? What kind of uptake
did we see, how many people left it on the table.
Just some general thoughts around and data around what came
in and what didn't with that.

Speaker 28 (01:21:46):
Yeah, So TJ. The budget for this current fiscal year
was two hundred million dollars and to date we have
just north of one hundred and thirty almost one hundred
and forty million that has been claimed. What has yet
to be claimed and won't until really here later in October,

(01:22:08):
are from the corporate returns those corporations that have fleets.
We have not seen those come in. And again we
have budgeted for two hundred To the extent where we
get there from these corporate returns, I don't see that,
but more to be said this time next month on

(01:22:30):
the car tax, and then again that's still in play
for next year as well for individuals to get that rebate.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
Tell you what, we'll talk about it all about this
time next month. How's that sound wonderful?

Speaker 28 (01:22:46):
David A one last final note, if I may, you know,
typically at the beginning of the year, the state does
borrow money from rainy Day to cover cash flow in
that first month. That loan of seventy nine million will
is repaid in the middle of September. So all is
good on the States front, and glad to share that

(01:23:07):
with everybody.

Speaker 5 (01:23:07):
Why can't you just get Washington to do that? Eric,
just go over to DC and show him how to
do it.

Speaker 28 (01:23:12):
Man, Uh, we don't have enough time on that one.

Speaker 3 (01:23:18):
TJ Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson. Eric, thank you so much.
We'll talk again soon.

Speaker 28 (01:23:25):
Thank you, gentlemen. See you hi.

Speaker 1 (01:23:27):
Rest of the show belongs to you at eight hundred
seven and sixty five Talk eight hundred seven sixty five
eight two five five three or four talk three oh four.
Sitty Net protects businesses here in West Virginia and across
the nation with powerful network management and advanced cybersecurity solutions.
They keep your data safe, your network running, and your
business connected. Visits sitting neet dot net to learn more.

(01:23:47):
Remember sitting net connects, protects and perfects.

Speaker 3 (01:23:54):
You do care for you at the health plans.

Speaker 18 (01:23:58):
The health plan is still growing, giving you a large
network of doctors, friendly and helpful customer service representatives, and competitive,
flexible pricing plans that meet your needs.

Speaker 5 (01:24:08):
Log on to healthplan dot org for more information.

Speaker 4 (01:24:11):
We are to care for you and the health.

Speaker 3 (01:24:17):
Me here.

Speaker 29 (01:24:23):
Looking for a big new game to play, Well, there's
no game bigger than the new Dino sized Jurassic World
scratch off game from the West Virginia Lottery, which gives
you a chance to win up to fifty thousand instantly.
And if that weren't enough, you can enter in our
app for a chance to win a trip.

Speaker 3 (01:24:40):
To Hawaii where you could.

Speaker 29 (01:24:41):
Win up to one million dollars. So get down to
your local lottery retailer today and welcome to Jurassic World.
Must be eighteen year older to play play responsibly.

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit Encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:25:16):
Text line is three or four talk three or four
phone numbers eight hundred and seven to sixty five talk
eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five.
By the way, wanted to mention congratulations to Hedgesville baseball
product Hasville High school product Chase the latter making his
major league debut in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:25:35):
I mean he's making his major league debut in.

Speaker 1 (01:25:38):
The playoffs, not his playoff debut, his debut period with
Cleveland today. Going to be back in seventh as Cleveland
takes on Detroit in the wildcard playoffs. Congratulations, young man,
good luck. Let me see anything else sports relate. Oh,
I gotta we'll do this next segment. I found an
article scrolling through the Twitter machine X machine there. The

(01:26:01):
Dallas Morning News did a list of the salaries of
high school football coaches in that area. M just take
a segment and think, try to guess what those coaches
are making. I'll rattle a few of those off.

Speaker 5 (01:26:15):
You want me to do that too, now think.

Speaker 3 (01:26:16):
About just just come up with a number in your head.

Speaker 5 (01:26:19):
I won't cheat, I won't look.

Speaker 1 (01:26:21):
We'll do like the three guys. We'll do over under.
You know price is right you know, closest without going
over We'll do price on the right rules.

Speaker 3 (01:26:27):
All right, let's get some uh, let's get some text here.

Speaker 1 (01:26:30):
Three or four talk three or four thought rebate for
personal autos was part of the state tax return. What
deadline is TJ talking about?

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Yeah, I goofed that. I did not articulate that well,
and I knew I was going to butcher it. I'm sorry.
You're right. You have to pay the first half of
your bill by October one, twenty twenty five, in order
to be eligible. That's what I'm reading. So you got
to pay the first half of your property taxes today
on time in order to be eligible for that. If
you don't, there can be issues. Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
By the way, that illustrates how ridiculous this whole thing is.
By the way, the whole property tax rebate thing, we
could have just done away with it with a constitutional amendment.
We voted it down, and then we put this into place,
which is complicated and weird. Wasn't a fan then, And
I love the rebate, don't get me wrong, man, I
love the rebate, but this was not the way to

(01:27:23):
do it.

Speaker 5 (01:27:24):
I'm hesitant to say more. I don't ever want to
give tax advice. That's a no no. I think google
to just google it. But thank you for saying that,
because I don't feel as stupid as I used to,
like five minutes ago, having butchered the question to Nelson.
So thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:27:39):
Uh it was a question, you know, just at our house,
like do we pay that on time? Okay, we're good, hey, fellas.
Here in southern West Virginia, the real estate market has
skyrocketed because of out of state a TV trail visitors
so much that we have lost population because of it.
Residents are seeing it as a way to get out

(01:28:00):
while they can with a little bit of money. I'm
all for the state making money, but I fear this
is short term gain. I think we need manufacturing and
industry jobs to keep residents here.

Speaker 5 (01:28:12):
That is a really good text. I had not thought
about that. But if you've been looking to get out,
not saying people are and prices are where, yeah, you're
gonna jump right. So that's it's an interesting we need
to look. I'll try to dig on that a little
bit and see who might be able to speak more
intelligently about what's happening there.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
Three or four talk three oh four. I understand the
temporary ACA subsidies. However, I find myself funneled into the
current situation by the decision of previous policy decisions. I
don't know where this fourteen hundred a year figure is
coming from. I will lose a four hundred and seventy
five dollars month subsidy and I work full time and
pay all my taxes. Do you have an extra four

(01:28:51):
hundred and seventy five dollars per month lying around? I
don't know many who do. Whatever the figure is, it's
going to affect them in a very real way, despite
it being quote unquote temporary. And that was the point
I was making. Once these are in place, even if
they were meant to be temporary, they artificially hold down

(01:29:12):
the market, and then when you lose them, you have
this big jump. And that's why the subsidies rarely ever
go away.

Speaker 5 (01:29:19):
And those numbers are coming out of Washington, and they're
being rereported by various entities. And that's an average, and
I'm not making light of your situation, but it seems
more severe than that average, and obviously I think that's
bringing the average up. I'd love to see median numbers
on that to get a better sense. But I'm not
trying to make light of that in particular plate that

(01:29:41):
that person faces. But that number is far above what
is being reported as the average.

Speaker 1 (01:29:45):
Textra points out, you never saw Sparky from mash either.
Another good one, Republicans say the undocumented people get medicaid
is a total lie. Actually, if anyone comes to a
hospital emergency room without insurance, the hospital is acquired legally
to treat them, the cost of that care is added
to the bills of the paying clients. Three or four

(01:30:08):
talk three four, All right, we'll get some more texts
coming up. And uh man, it's been a brisk show today.
This one feels like it went by quick, pretty quickly.

Speaker 5 (01:30:16):
I love it when they feel like this. I do.

Speaker 1 (01:30:19):
I imagine the rest of you all do too. Versus all man,
another ten minutes with these two. They've got at least
another five. We're back in a moment to wrap things up.
It's talk line from the Encove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 21 (01:30:33):
Did you know Marvel production may Clarksburg the Marvel Capital
of the World by acro Agatet up until the late
nineteen fifties, and today those Marvels are worth thousands of dollars. Clarksburg, Yes, Clarksburg.
Did you know that Clarksburg's Robinson Graham was the first
theater in West Virginia to introduce talking pictures in nineteen

(01:30:53):
twenty seven.

Speaker 5 (01:30:54):
Clarksburg, Yes, Clarksburg.

Speaker 21 (01:30:57):
Explore more at come home to Clarksburg.

Speaker 29 (01:31:03):
Looking for a big new game to play. Well, there's
no game bigger than the new dino sized Jurassic World
scratch off game from the West Virginia Lottery, which gives
you a chance to win up to fifty thousand instantly.
And if that weren't enough, you can enter in our
app for a chance to win a trip to Hawaii
where you could win up to one million dollars. So

(01:31:23):
get down to your local lottery retailer today and welcome
to Jurassic World. Must be eighteen year older to play
played responsibly.

Speaker 1 (01:31:47):
All right, a couple of quick texts, then I'll tell
you about these silly salaries. The tax cuts were temporary,
says the text, for ten years.

Speaker 3 (01:31:54):
This is stupid.

Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
Republicans and Jim Justice constantly lie, and half the country
are so stupid that they believe it's Oh yes, Republicans
did the same thing with the Trump tax cuts. They
had to put an expiration on them to make the
numbers work. That's why we had that battle earlier this year.
Some world class whining from Justice and sheilanmore Capitol yesterday.
So glad they have time to do radio spots when

(01:32:15):
they should be working to get the government back, hoping
how can Justice discuss Aca? We left everyone hanging on Peia. Well,
I mean, look, hey, if we're man, I don't want
to get in the assigning blame game. But all the
Republicans except Ran Paul voted to keep the government open.

Speaker 5 (01:32:33):
So I mean, math ain't mathing.

Speaker 3 (01:32:39):
It is what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:32:43):
A couple more texts not reading that the real rear
admiral doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm talking from
lower ranks, says the Texter, going back to that discussion.

Speaker 3 (01:32:56):
Oh, by the way, I didn't want to mention.

Speaker 1 (01:32:59):
The State Democrat Party has put out a press release
regarding the government shutdown. In response to Donald Trump and
West Virginia Republicans forcing a government shutdown, State Democratic Party
Chair Mike Pushkin released a statement seeing Donald Trump and
West Virginia Republicans refused to negotiate and ensure that healthcare
expenses don't double for forty nine thousand families who are

(01:33:21):
already struggling under the Donald Trump economy goes on from there.
But the Democratic Party of West Virginia putting that statement
out earlier this morning. All right, don't want to leave
you hanging, but I just this blew my mind. The
Dallas Morning News TJ published the salaries of one hundred
and forty head football coaches high school football coaches in

(01:33:42):
their coverage area.

Speaker 3 (01:33:43):
Would you like to guess?

Speaker 1 (01:33:44):
Take a guess at the top salary for Riley Dodge,
say South Lake Carroll High School in Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:33:50):
What his salary is?

Speaker 5 (01:33:52):
I'd say north of three hundred thousand.

Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
Oh wow, Sorry, you do not win the showcase. You
are over one hundred and seventy five grand. Though for
a high school football coach.

Speaker 5 (01:34:03):
I started to say two fifty. I should have went
with that. Sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:34:05):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:34:06):
Still, they do things big in Texas. That's all.

Speaker 1 (01:34:08):
But the top twenty five they're all six figure salaries
for their high school football coach.

Speaker 3 (01:34:12):
Pretty good in Mallas, Texas.

Speaker 5 (01:34:14):
Really good money ain't bad.

Speaker 3 (01:34:17):
I know this.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
I don't think any high school football coaches are making
six figures.

Speaker 10 (01:34:21):
Here.

Speaker 3 (01:34:23):
Maybe they should be.

Speaker 4 (01:34:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:34:24):
I'll bring that up when I see the coaches on
Friday night. Hey, do you know what they're making in Texas?
All Right, it's kind of like us compared to Dave
Allen and his salary, right, he's like a high school
football coach from Texas. Metro News Midday is coming up.
We'll talk to tomorrow. This is talk a lot of
better news. The Voice of West Virginia.

All Episodes

Talkline | Oct. 1, 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Cardiac Cowboys

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Talkline | Oct. 1, 2025