Talkline | Oct. 22, 2025

Eric Nelson, State Revenue Secretary, talks about the state's bond rating. Compound GLP-1s are concerning state attorneys general across the country. Steven Allen Adams drops by. Del. Tristian Leavitt discusses overpayments to medicaid providers. Mark Martin remembers the life and career of Kennie Bass. Plus, Dave just doesn't care about the East Wing. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Good morning, Metro News talk Line on a Wednesday. We've
got lots to get to this morning. Stephen Allan Adams
will drop by and how much did West Virginia overpay
in Medicaid payments? We'll get into that as well. This
is talk Line. We are underway.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
We radio turned off from the studios of w v
r C Media and the Metro News Radio and Television network.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
The Boys 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 4 (00:56):
Activated switch that where can we hold from Charles Urn
to Bloke?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Stand by you, David, DJ, You're on.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance, encircling
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Visit incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Good morning, Welcome into the program Metro News talk Line
from the Encova Insurance studios. Thank you for tuning in
on one of our great radio affiliates across the state
of West Virginia, or if you're watching on the Metro
News TV at Jakelink runs the video stream and Ethan
Collins is our audio producer. He is sitting by awaiting

(01:38):
your call at eight hundred seven to sixty five Talk
eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five.
That is the phone number. You can text the show
three or four Talk three oh four coming up later
this hour. With the rise in popularity of the GLP
one's osimpic, the weight loss drugs, there are foreign compounded

(01:59):
substances maybe being sold through lesser markets that is posing
a problem. We'll get details on that. Also, we'll remember
the life and career of Kenny Bass, the WCCHS television
news anchor, reporter, film reviewer, sports guy. He did a
little bit of everything. Kenny passed away yesterday evening at

(02:19):
the age of sixty two. Mark Martin, longtime friend and colleague,
will join us later this hour. Steve and Allen Adams
will drop by and we'll talk to Delegate Tristan Levitt
from Kanawha counting the state overpaid by a dollar or
two on some Medicaid payments to MCOs. We'll get more
details on that and how that is being remedied. Got
it all? Did you write it down? Did you make notes? Good? TJ.

(02:41):
Meadows anchors are coverage from Charles to Morning TJ hang
on Operator Air morning. TJ.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Morning, I'm giddy as can be to talk about bond ratings.
Let's get to it.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
You know what, Okay, TJ. Let's dive right into it.
Yesterday Governor Morrissey's administration release that SMP and its latest
outlook on West Virginia's credit worthiness, upgrading the state's outlook
to positive from stable and affirming the double A bond
rating on West Virginia's general obligation debt. Joining us is

(03:19):
the Revenue Secretary for the Great State of West Virginia,
Eric Nelson. Eric, good morning, glad you could join us.

Speaker 5 (03:24):
Thank good morning, guys. Glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Before you and TJ dive into the details of bond ratings.
What's this mean for the average West Virginia. What's our
takeaway here?

Speaker 5 (03:35):
You know two things really when you look at bond ratings. One,
to the extent we are issuing debt, it would bond
ratings are critical. And what the interest rates are. So
a better rating generally involves a lower interest rate, so
that's less expenses out for the average tax payer. But

(03:57):
more importantly, I think we look at this is businesses
that are looking at West Virginia and other states, and
when ratings are going up in a state is very
positively viewed. That pays a lot of dividends as it
relates to decision making and corporations coming into West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
So, Eric, I read the report from s and p
pretty pretty positive overall. Moved us to a positive outlook
from stable. We maintain that doub a minus, which is good.
They call out a few things right, and I don't
think it's any surprise. They talk about our declining population,
they talk about our age, et cetera. From your chair,
I would think that this report from SMP would make

(04:38):
the perfect legislative roadmap, something the legislature should look at
and try to put proactive fixes in place to maybe
address some of these things. I'd like your thought on that.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
Yeah, TJ, you're spot on with that, and you know,
to get this positive outlook and I'll get into some
of the details that we went through and things, but yeah,
first and foremost, you know, West Virginia has had an
unfortunate decline in population over the years and let's just
say less than diversified economy, which has been improving, and

(05:11):
you know, the rating agencies look at that very seriously,
and if I may before maybe digging into your specifics
of the legislature question, there's three primary rating agencies. It's
S and P, Moodies and FETCH. And you mentioned the
double A well. The rating agencies typically look at a
triple A, double A in a single A and then

(05:33):
it goes below that that very poor credit. We are
at double A, so we're in the middle of the pack,
but very strong. Rating agencies look at four things. First,
they're looking at the economy and a lot of that
is the demographics and income growth. They look at the
financial performance of the state. They look at our governance.

(05:57):
You know, how are we structured as it relates to
legis going through the legislator legislature, and then how the
governor handles that and we have a very very strong
governance policy. And then lastly they look at our long
term liabilities and cash reserves. But specifically to your question
as it relates to our demographic changes and whatnot. Yes,

(06:22):
the legislature, I think is if you look back in
some of the moves that have been implemented, like not
so much the legislature but the assent program, and you
look at changes in our education policies when they put
in the Third Grade Success Act, and then West Virginia

(06:43):
Incentive to provide that last dollar for college education. Providing
money is for site developing economic development. I mean, all
these things are critical as it relates to taking advantage
of West Virginia's location and diversifying and attracting people from
the outside and companies from the outside.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Eric Nelson is joining US Revenue Secretary West Virginia's talking
about Westvirginia's bond rating. It wasn't that long ago, Eric,
We were on the other end of this. We had
a half billion dollar budget hole to fill and the
outlook was looking a lot different, maybe eight nine years ago.
So how did we get here?

Speaker 5 (07:24):
So thank you David. If you know, if one does
look back, we were at the high end of a
double A rating in twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, and a
few years after that we had some financial issues and
challenges and all three rating agencies dropped us to the

(07:47):
low end of the double A status. Some of the
things that have changed, well, when leadership changed in twenty fourteen.
I think you can quickly look at some of the
policies that were implemented, and one of a big one
is you know, the right to work law, and so
that opened it up to have more companies look into

(08:09):
West Virginia. You've had the stability that's been put into
our pension plans and unemployment and providing some stability on
our long term end. And then you've had the we've
had the surpluses. Many of those surpluses have been gone
into one time spends. But what the rating agencies really

(08:33):
focused on when we met with em earlier this month
was our structural balance and how are we as a
state looking out and evaluating our risks, looking at our
revenue flows. And you know, there's been a challenge with
West Virginia in the eyes of the rating agencies that

(08:53):
how are we go handle the twenty six percent tax cut.
And we laid a lot of things on the ground
as to what we've done legislatively as well as leadership
applies of how we're addressing that drop in revenue and
future changes in cost. So, David, it's one of a

(09:15):
multitude of I think positive legislation that we've got to
build upon and then leadership from the governor on down.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
I want to point out something here in the rating
they talked about we could raise the rating, should West
Virginia maintain sound financial practices and preserve reserves. Oftentimes we hear, well,
we got some money in the Rainy Day Fund. We
could use some money from the Rainy Day fund. Talk
about the importance of maintaining the integrity of that fund, Eric,

(09:45):
And then if you can, you talked about that better
bond rating. It may just be a matter of basis points,
but help folks understand just how much money that change
in bond rating can actually add up to when we
go out to the market.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah, so first on your if you will, the CA reserves.
You know, our Randy Day Fund has grown to roughly
one point four billion, and then when you put the
personal income tax reserve on top of that, we exceed
one point eight billion dollars, which is about a third
of our general revenue. And how not only do we

(10:19):
on the and the budget team look at this as well,
and especially the rating agencies, is should.

Speaker 6 (10:26):
There be a hiccut?

Speaker 5 (10:27):
And you know, we've got some unknown challenges going forward
on the federal front. We always have unknown challenges because
of our fluctuating energy sector and there may be something
else there. But they look at that is no different
than you and I and Dave. You know, to the
extent we have a savings account, and should something happen

(10:48):
with our monthly paycheck, we can go to that savings,
but it's not meant to go to every day to
live a higher lifestyle. We've got to live within our means.
And then you know the second part of your question.
Every quarter of a point, which generally as as we
move in ratings, the rates move, you know, zero point

(11:13):
two five percent. And when you have two point seven
billion dollars outstanding, which West Virginia does, that is a
significant amount of money. And generally that comes into play
when we have new debt issuances, and we as a
state have really not had a significant debt issuance since

(11:35):
we did the Roads to Prosperity a few years back,
which exceeded over one point five billion dollars. So I
hope that touches on that. But these these amounts to
tens of millions of dollars in the long run when
these bonds are issued.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
Eric Nelson, West Virginia Revenue Secretary Brad McIlhenny has a
story posted over at the website WV Metronews dot com. Eric,
appreciate it as always, and we'll talk to you the
first of the month.

Speaker 5 (12:03):
All right, thanks guys, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
See you, Eric Nelson, West Virginia Revenue Secretary. This is
talk Line on Metro News, the voice of West Virginia.
Back in a moment.

Speaker 7 (12:12):
Governor Patrick Morrissey a set of 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 baseload power. Our families and businesses will be able

(12:34):
to count on. West Virginia Coal Association President Chris Hamilton
stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy generation
capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifty is a dynamic
approach to economic development which will supercharge our state's coal industry.

Speaker 4 (12:51):
And broader economy.

Speaker 7 (12:52):
With Governor Morrissey's leadership and the action of the legislature,
West Virginia is once again America's energyly Cole is powering Progress.
Cole is Powering West Virginia. Brought to you by the
West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaker 8 (13:11):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
posted on the podcast center of wv metronews dot com
and the metro News TV app.

Speaker 9 (13:18):
Peak Advantage twenty twenty six is bigger and better with
new benefits like the Aging Well program.

Speaker 10 (13:23):
It could be yoga classes, it's exercise classes, it could
be different programs like We're going to have the FBI
involved to help out with like scams.

Speaker 8 (13:32):
Listen to Live Healthy West Virginia for candid conversations with
insights from improving your health and well being. Live Healthy
West Virginia is presented by WVU Medicine.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Metro News. Talk Line is presented by Incovia Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care most.
Visit INCOPA dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Text line is why oput it three o four Talk
three oh four. Phone number is eight hundred seven to
sixty five Talk eight hundred and seven six five eight
two five five. Latest edition of the WVSSAC high school
football playoff ratings released yesterday afternoon. You can see those
at double V metro news dot com, Huntington morgantewl Martinsburg,

(14:26):
Wheeling Park University your top five. In four A, Princeton
moves up to number one in triple A, then Bridgeport,
Fairmont Senior, Herbert Hoover, Greenbrier, East Independence, number one in
double A, Frankfort, Bluefield, Philip Barber and Doddridge County, and
single A Wahama, Wheeling, Central Sherman, Tung Valley, Penalton County
your top five. See the full ratings atu WDV Metro
news dot com to find out who your team would

(14:49):
play if the playoffs began today. One of my top
four I think all time hated phrases in sportscasting TJ
if the playoffs began to well, they don't, so it
doesn't matter. But it is nice to know where you
stand in the world, so you can check those out.
WV Metro News dot Com. A couple of texts here

(15:10):
first three or four talk three of four. First, the
legislature must put back on the ballot. The amendments remove
personal property taxes from West Virginians. The tax rebate is confusing.
It does not help with the promotion of lower tax
comparisons to draw people to West Virginia, especially in the
border counties. The people want it, and it's no, it's
a no brainer as long as the governor doesn't campaign

(15:32):
against it, says the Texter. Yeah, I agree with that.
To that, but here's the catch with that, TJ. And
this was the catch. I know, governor Justice campaign. Was
that amendment to that he campaigned against with one on
the ballot?

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Yes, one.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
There were too many amendments on the ballot that year
to the governor campaign. But there was also you've got
to have a consistent mechanism so the counties can fund
the obligations. Fun sheriff's departments fund, you know, the other
obligations that counties have. They get their money from property taxes.
So if you can figure that part out of it,

(16:10):
I'm all in.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
I'm gonna try to say this very nicely.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Go ahead.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
It was on the ballot, it failed. I don't know
what more you want. Yes, there were a number of
things on the ballot. Yes, there was a lot of
campaign about whether or not the school board should run
the school system. I get all that. I just think
it gets into a slippery slope when people vote and
then oh, well maybe they were confused, you know, I

(16:40):
get it, But they voted for it time to move on.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
I'd run it again. I'd run it again. I would
not have run this silly rebate program. I mean I
like it, I appreciate it, but it's confusing. Oh it is.

Speaker 4 (16:54):
It's confusing.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
I wouldn't have done that. Three or four talk three four?

Speaker 4 (16:59):
Well, one last thing.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Hyeah.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
I'd rather have pay tax on my car and get
a break on my income tax. It's just me personally.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Three or four talk three of four. Let's be honest.
Uh nope, not reading, no one.

Speaker 4 (17:14):
Let's be honest. Is that like a red flag?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Let's be honest reading. I got to read through that
one more before I read it on the air. How
about that?

Speaker 4 (17:24):
That's fair, guys.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Another broken promise. Trump promised he would not touch the
White House proper when building this ballroom, but would build
a separate structure. Now the cost has risen to two
hundred and fifty million dollars, and he only recently said
it'd be coming from private donations. What happened? Asks the Texter,
am I the only one that doesn't care. It's the
East Wing, it's the go then please have that. I

(17:48):
could not care less.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
I care. I mean, I'm not gonna lose sleep over it.
Don't touch the White House.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
It's the East wing. It's just offices. It's not Lincoln's bedroom.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
I don't care. It's historically significant, all fine. Fine with
the ballroom. I'm totally fine with it, because you know
what they did. They put up one of those portable
things year over year because the one inside isn't big enough.
Wherever you put up that portable thing that was big enough,
build the new one there, the main structure there. Don't
tear anything down.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
I don't care. That's fine.

Speaker 10 (18:20):
Off.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Look, historic, here's what I'm here's another one of my
pet peeves, TJ. If you haven't noticed, I have a
few of them. Yeah, you know what historic is usually
code for tell me old and junk. Most of the
time when they say the historic Wrigley Field, you know
what they really mean, dumphole? Well you did not just

(18:45):
call it is go? Should they tear down?

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Should they tear down Fenway and have a new park
in Boston?

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Hey, George Steinbrenner would.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yet see what I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Look, he had a tiff or something on that deal.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
I mean, you know he made pretty good in that deal.
I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Look, I'm just saying it's it's the east wing, it's
not the West wing. If if it were another section,
I would probably I may agree with you, TJ. But
I of all the things going on, that one's the
least of the ones that I really I'm going to lose.
I'm gonna put much thought into That's all I do.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
I do think the whole presidential Wall of fame in
the portico from the residence to the West Wing is
just gaudy as you can imagine all that gold in
the oval office, gaudy as you can.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Imagine his personality.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Though, doesn't mean it doesn't look terrible. I mean, and look,
I'm no Biden fan. The auto pen thing be an adult,
and doesn't every president have their portrait in the White
House hanging anyway for the most part somewhere.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
I mean, are you telling me you don't have gold
leaf crown molding up around the TJ? Meadows manner? You know,
I'm more of a chrome kind of guy.

Speaker 4 (19:59):
I guess maybe it's just my humble upbringing, but yeah,
I just I'm not down with that.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
Man.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
It looks like Caesar's palace, and there's a place for that.
If I'm in Vegas. I'm feeling that, but I'm not
feeling it in Washington, DC.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Texters says, since homeowners are basically renting our home and
land because we must pay property taxes, then shouldn't our
government landlords be responsible for all repairs we may need,
especially since we can't afford it ourselves. I mean, we
pay for welfare housing and their upkeep. Just seems fair, right,
says the Texter.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Get that through the legislature, and man, you are a
person of persuasion. You can be doing a lot more
than texting this show with those powers up at it
that way, Still.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Waiting on Trump's concept of a healthcare plan three or
four to talk three or four. Our property tax is
a rental payment. You never truly own your house, just
on lease from the state, says the Texter. If we
do vote on personal property tax down, I guarantee you
that the county I live in Berkeley will gouge us
on something else. Unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
I mean, you gotta pay some taxes. Can we agree
on that? I hate taxes. I think consumption tax makes
a ton of sense. I think when you tax income,
you're taxing someone's labor, taking it right off the top
of the till. I don't like that, but we all
got to pay something. I mean, we have to have
a society.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Texters says Wriggleyfield is a dump, cramped and smelly. Ever
been there?

Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yes, I went one time and I kind of had
I had a good time. I was like I had
a hot dog at Wrigley Field.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
All right? Three or four? Talk three or four is
the tax line eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Talk the phone number when we come back. There are
attorneys General's Attorneys at General from around the country who
are pushing back on these compounded GLP ones. Why we'll
get into that subject in a moment. This is talk
Line on Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It

(21:46):
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 Chris Lawrence in Harrison County.
A fatal officer involves you shooting incident is under investigation.
State police said the man was killed when he fled
police Tuesday evening and a traffic stop just off of
Route twenty and pulled a gun during the chase, which
ended in the Mount Clair community.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
Now.

Speaker 11 (22:11):
Troopers said the man, whose name was not released, refused
orders to drop that weapon and was fatally shot when
he made an overt gesture toward the officers with a firearm.
Governor Patrick Morrison continueschouting the state police partnership with ICE
to seek out and arrest any illegal immigrants in West Virginia,
and he said this past Saturday they caught eighteen on
US Route nineteen, nine of them at the intersection nineteen

(22:34):
and seventy seven in Beckley, and that many more on
the northern end of that corridor near Sutton.

Speaker 12 (22:39):
It a similar dynamic near Ice seventy nine, where state
police and ICE also arrested additional nine legal immigrants, bring
the total to eighteen this weekend.

Speaker 11 (22:51):
Those arrests, we're in a traffic stopp for drivers were
violating the traffic patterns that are changed for the Bridge
Day event, the governor said. As of now, sixty illegals
been arrested in West Virginia part of the ongoing partnership.
Investigators say they are continuing to look into the cause
of a fatal fire from late September in Harper's Ferry.
That blay is on September thirtieth on BlackBerry Lane and
the city claimed two lives and left three others injured.

(23:14):
Names of those injured and killed were not revealed. The
fire Marshal continues to investigate it as suspicious. You're listening
to Metronews for forty years the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 13 (23:24):
Managing your money and planning for the future can be challenging.
Huntington Bank can help. I'm Matt Harris, a local Huntington
Wealth Team member right here in West Virginia. We help
people like you navigate the market and your life changes.
Join us for Money Minutes this Thursday at three forty
five on Hotline, as Huntington Bank's local Wealth Management team
provides insight on this week's hottest market topics and how

(23:45):
they might impact you. Be sure to catch Money Minutes
this Thursday at three forty five on Metro News Hotline.

Speaker 14 (23:53):
Hi, I'm Lane to Open and I'm a project consultant
with similar environmental consultants. Growing up in West Virginia, I
always dreamed of giving back to maxim unity. That's why
I chose CEC as an employee owned firm. We combined
big company support with a close knit culture, from stormwater
management to new pedestrian trails. With every project, I see
the impact we're making and I couldn't be prouder. CC
isn't just where I work, It's where I make a difference.

(24:14):
At CEC, we engineer progress in the great state of
West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Find out what CEC can do for you visit CECI
Inc dot com.

Speaker 11 (24:22):
One of the best known media personalities in the Charleston
Huntington area has died. Kenny Bass passed away overnight following
a long battle with cancer. His family posted the news
to social media overnight. Bass worked in the Charleston market
for several decades, working as both a news and sports
anchor on television and an investigative and feature reporter, as
well as stints on various radio shows. He most recently
worked for Doulecchs and Fix eleven TV, a job he

(24:44):
left in January to fight his illness. He was also
a member of the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Bass was sixty two from the Metro News anchor desk.
I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Betch News talk Line continues. Coming up, Mark Martin is
going to join US sports director WCCHS Television down in
Charleston Friends, longtime friend of Kenny Bass, coworker with Kenny.
I will talk to Mark about Kenny's life and career.
Coming up a couple of minutes from now. I've got
a story post that you heard Chris talking about Kenny's

(25:30):
passing yesterday evening at the age of sixty two. Got
a story over at the website wdvmetronews dot com. Well,
the cost of GLP one's like ozimpic, the weight loss drugs,
people are looking for alternatives, and sometimes they're purchasing unregulated
and foreign compounded GLP one drugs sold through lesser channels,

(25:52):
and that can be both dangerous and a problem. Kirsten
Axelson has worked with biopharmaceutical and related companies for over
twenty years. She is an analyst and writer with the
pharmaceutical industry. She works with the American Enterprise Institute, and
she joins us on Metro News talk Line this morning. Kirsten,
good morning, me, appreciate you coming on here. So the

(26:17):
demand for golp ones are up, They're expensive. People are
looking for alternatives, so what are we talking about here
with foreign compounded golp ones. Can you explain what we're
talking about.

Speaker 15 (26:28):
Yes, So, in a time of shortage or if there
is a specific need, a compounded drug can be created
to meet that need. And that is when a pharmacy
takes ingredients that are imported, often imported from other countries
and creates a medicine. For example, if you can't swallow
a pill and the drug is only available in the
FDA approof pill form, then a syrup or some other

(26:51):
form of that drug can be created. Or if, as
we experienced with these GLP one drugs, there was such
overwhelming demand there was a shortage, compounding was permitted. What's
happened now is the shortage is ended. The FDA has
declared that the shortage is ended, and the companies that
made the FDA approved drugs are meeting are creating enough

(27:11):
drug to meet the demand. But a lot of insurance
companies don't cover GLP ones, so people look for inexpensive alternatives,
and what they're finding online they may not know, are
drugs that can be made from ingredients from uninspected facilities
in China and India and by uninspected I mean not
even registered with the FDA, So the FDA doesn't know

(27:33):
specifically to even inspect these facilities because their lack of registration.
You wouldn't want to put something in your body that
the FDA has said does have an elevated risk of
bad events, including gastric issues even suicidality. But people often
don't know what they're taking is not the drug that
they would come to trust, either from a branded drug

(27:56):
or a generic drug.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
What about domestic am I hearing you say that as
long as the ingredients come from a domestic source that
is tested, compounding is still safe and may still be cheaper.
Is that accurate?

Speaker 15 (28:11):
Well, you can also import safe ingredients and compound them
safely in the US. The question is do you know?
Do you know which version you're getting? And there is
currently no way to really separate the good actors from
the bad actors, those that have clean manufacturing processes. So
there is a way to do this safely, which is
why it's allowed, especially allowed in the case of patient

(28:34):
need or shortages. What's happening now is there's mass production
of these drugs. You know, we do things in times
of shortages or of intense need that maybe carry some
elevated risk and healthcare because you have to make you
have to make do right, you have to make do
in a critical situation. What's happened now is a provision
that's allowed for a critical situation is being used for

(28:54):
mass production, and so you have sort of not the
same oversight that you would have in any other mass
produced medicine that you might take for your heart disease
or your asthma. You have this mix of some drugs
are being overseen, and they're in factories that are carefully monitored,
and some are coming from outside of the US and
factories that aren't monitored. The other thing to Consenator is

(29:17):
undercutting US manufacturing. Like here are administration is trying to
bring manufacturing back to the US. You can't compete as
a US manufacturer meeting all the qualifications that the government
asked you to do with an unregulated factory in India
or China. So we're basically undercutting our own manufacturing efforts
by saying, oh, we can just just import ingredients from
other countries and don't inspect them and sell them to

(29:40):
American consumers without warning them what they're getting.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Kirsten Axelson is joining us who's a pharmaceutical analyst. Thirty
eight state Attorneys at General are pushing back on this.
What have they called for.

Speaker 15 (29:55):
They've called for closer regulation of what's coming into the country.
I mean, the FA the power to stop uninspected ingredients
from coming into our country. There's already an estimate that
the supply that's in the country already from uninspected facilities
could take years to get out. You can stop those
thingcs from coming into the border. State boards of pharmacy

(30:16):
can do more to ensure that the online pharmacies that
are selling compounded or other unapproved medicines are following good
manufacturing practices. You could do more to help patients figure
out what they're getting so they're not confused when they
do purchase online and thinking, oh, somehow I'm just getting
a deal with a perfectly safe drug.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
So I think this is complicated. I mean, obviously they're expensive.
That's why people do this, or otherwise you wouldn't have
people doing this, right, they would be able to afford
it the brand name or go to their normal pharmacy. However,
at the same time, the people who made these drugs,
they have a very high innovation cost that they need
to recoup to depreciate over time. Can't get it all

(30:59):
in one pill, or no one would be able to
afford it. Is there some kind of mechanism that can
merge the two make it more affordable for the everyday consumer,
weaning us off of these you know, foreign glp ones
for lack of a better term, but at the same
time not dilute the price so much that the researchers

(31:19):
take it, you know, they have to eat It's what's
the middle ground here?

Speaker 15 (31:24):
I mean the typical middle ground in most other medicines
is there's competition, which drives down prices, which has already
occurred in these medicines. We're seeing discounts of sixty and
seventy percent because there are multiple glp ones, and then
insurance covers these drugs, and people get it at a
cope which is twenty five to fifty dollars, still a

(31:44):
lot of money, but affordable, right Like no healthcare service
is affordable without insurance. You can't get open heart surgery
or a broken leg set if it's not covered on
your insurance. So the typical pathway is competition insurance makes
these things affordable. What's happened here is during the period shortage,
a very lucrative online unapproved drugs business was developed that

(32:06):
is not now being shut back down. So we have
this sort of gray area that has proliferated and become
very profitable, and so there is still an outlet where
insurance companies maybe don't feel they have to cover these
drugs because people are going to these online providers and
getting low cost non FDA approved alternatives.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Kirsten, apologies for the very bad comparison you're about to get,
but is this the digital version of buying drugs out
of the you know, somebody's the back of somebody's van
and a parking lot.

Speaker 15 (32:37):
Well, I suppose it could be. I hope it's a
little bit cleaner than that. But again there's I mean,
if you survey the ads and who's selling these, you
know there's some big companies that probably have some good oversight,
and then there's a whole bunch of small companies. And
I have to say, as a parent, I look at
now that I do all this research, I see what
my Instagram feed has, and it's thousands of advertisements from

(32:59):
this a bunch of different companies whose names I don't
necessarily recognize, and I wouldn't know the difference as an
unsavvy consumer. Some of them offer without a prescription. Even so,
it's just you know, to make it a bit safer
for people to know what they're getting was not really
what we have right now.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
I mean back on affordability though, and you're the expert,
correct me here, but I hear stories about GLP ones
will go v o zenpic those things that you know,
insurance won't cover them, So there's no benefit for the
consumer there. They have to go out of pocket if
it's not as if weight loss right, if they want
to use it for weight loss, they're going to have

(33:38):
to go out of pocket, is what I hear. And
I hear tales of thousands of dollars, so I don't
it's not affordable even with insurance.

Speaker 15 (33:50):
It's not affordable without insurance.

Speaker 6 (33:53):
You know.

Speaker 15 (33:53):
The two branded companies are offering their GLP ones online
for around five hundred, so you can go to the
companies directly. That's still a lot of money, you know.
I think that's why people are still pursuing these drugs
through these online pharmacies, and sometimes you see them forty

(34:14):
nine dollars, one hundred dollars, two hundred dollars. I mean,
I would say, if it's that cheap, you really have
to question the quality and the manufacturing practices. But to
be the solution is is to have these covered through
insurance so people can get the drugs in the way
that we get most of our other drugs. The FDA
approved version out of Copey, you know, developed in a

(34:34):
manufacturing plant with high standards, and many of these manufacturing
plants are right in the US using US uh, you know,
great US technology and at our workers.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Thirty eight states Attorneys at General have called on the
FDA to take decisive action and hey, we found something
that can be bipartisan. These includes takes from California to
West Virginia calling for to se of action. Kursten Allen,
pharmaceutical analyst. Thanks for the insight stake. We appreciate it.

Speaker 15 (35:05):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Absolutely coming up, Mark Martin will join us. Next we'll
talk about the life and career of Kenny Bass. This
is a talk line from the Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
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Speaker 3 (36:27):
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Visit Encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
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So go ahead play today. We'll get to your text
coming up. Stephen Allen Adams will join us at eleven
oh six yesterday evening. Kenny Bass, who was a mainstay
and local news in the Charleston Huntington market and around
the state for that matter, passed away after battle with cancer.
He was sixty two. Kenny was in the Broadcasting Hall
of Fame here in West Virginia. He was an anchor,

(37:23):
investigative reporter. He was a sports guy, a movie reviewer,
a movie buff. Some might say he did a little
bit of everything, and he had an influence on many
who are working in media today in West Virginia. One
of his friends, longtime co workers, Mark Martin, the sports
director WCCHS Television, joins us on Metro News talk line. Mark,
good morning, and thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 17 (37:46):
Dave appreciate having me buddy Kenny Bass.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
When I think of Kenny mark a larger than life
I know we throw this out there with a lot
of people larger than life personality, but that's how I
remember and thought about Kenny Bass. When I thought about
Kenny Bass.

Speaker 17 (38:05):
Oh my goodness, you hit it correctly, Dave. Kenny was
one of a kind, and I got to first begin
working with Kenny in nineteen ninety seven. I knew Kenny obviously,
I was working at the Way and Okill. Kenny was
a sports guy in the market, and then he came
over to WCHS, and then later we took on Fox

(38:28):
eleven as well. But he came on board in August
of ninety seven, and I came to WCHS in December
of ninety seven. So then we got to start doing
a football show together in nineteen ninety eight, and we
had been doing that together right up until last year.
Kenny left us to take another position, and it was

(38:51):
tough to lose Kenny off of that. And did a
tribute piece of his great career last January. And never
in my wildest dreams would I ever think I would
be putting another piece together on what it's just taking place.
Been a tough time.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
Mark Our condolences for Kenny's family and for you. It's
obviously tough to lose a friend and coworker, great sports guy,
but man, what an investigative journalist too. If not for
Kenny's efforts, the state may have never come to know
all of the corruption that was happening at the State
Supreme Court. Talk about his role and that aspect of
his career.

Speaker 17 (39:33):
I think, really, TJ, what that really says about Kenny
is he really could gain the trust of a lot
of people. And you know, I don't think anyone cracks
those stories, or any stories for that matter, unless you
know people and they kind of gravitate towards you. They
like you, and they want you to be the one

(39:55):
to tell that story. And Kenny just had that incredible knack.
And I first kind of experienced it with the Jessica
Lynch situation, and that family just loved Kenny, and Kenny
was right there, you know, with all the networks, and
Kenny was the guy that they really wanted to share

(40:17):
a lot of what was happening with and he did
just a remarkable job with that, and that was early
on when I first started working with Kenny. I saw
it then, and then of course it just continued over time,
and he was just a great and I just marveled
at his work daily, and just a terrific writer and

(40:40):
just a very talented guy.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Mark Martin is joining us WHS television sports director Kenny Bass,
longtime anchor investigative reporter, passing at the age of sixty two.
What was he like, Mark though? When the lights were off,
the cameras were shut down after a newscast and it
was just, you know, hanging out in the newsroom.

Speaker 17 (41:01):
Probably the funniest human being I've ever been around my life.
And you know, Dave, we the two of us have
had a chance to share a lot of time together
on the airwaves with Marshall and traveling and going to
dinners and breakfasts and what have you. And I was
thinking today when you decided you're going to have me on,

(41:22):
I thought, wow, can you imagine if it would have
been Kenny joining you, Steve Cotton and myself. I mean
you think of the phone we have and Kenny and
I would go to a lot of places to eat
on Friday nights and There were a lot of twenty
four hour places back then, but I incorporated into the

(41:42):
piece I did today, just you know, places at Kenny
and I like to go. And there were too many
dimension but three were Jim Spaghetti and Huntington, the Whites
in Saint Albans and deals in Nitro. But it was just,
you know, I think about, you know what, what kind
of impact of people have on one's life, and you know,

(42:04):
kind of uh dealt with a tear stained face most
of the morning, and but yet I think about Kenny
and uh, he just uh he had this gift of,
at least for me and I know for a lot
of other people, really just making you laugh and making
you smile. And the guy loved animals, and he just

(42:26):
he's just a really he's just a really good good
guy and you know, talent aside, he just he just
brought a lot to the table in his lifetime.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
I remember calling the movie line Mark, you know, he
was a cinema bus. To Dave's point, he called the
movie line find out what's playing?

Speaker 17 (42:42):
Kenny would tell you, Oh, I'm seen Kenny Aby sitting
at his best doing that. And of course we always laughed,
you know, there's a scene in Seinfeld where Kramer, you know,
they get his telephone mixed up with the movie line
and Kramer's trying to do it, and he says, why
don't you just tell me the movie you want to see?
So Kenny would be doing that and he would be

(43:05):
recording it for the movie to the cinemas, and he
would see me walk by and he would have to
do it over because he would always do, why don't
you just tell me what movie you want to.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Mark? We got about thirty seconds here. We'd be remiss
if we did not mention Kenny getting to cover his
Nitro Wildcats in nineteen ninety eight win in the state championship.

Speaker 17 (43:28):
You know it, man j our House first ten touchdown
passes and yeah, Kenny on Friday nights, I usually let
him do the Wildcat highlights and we always had a
lot of fun with that. And we have helmets or
colors for that theme of the color theme for that
shows red and black and white. So always put the
we have a red helmet, a black helmet and a

(43:49):
white helmet. Always put that black helmet with a Friday
Night Football extra logo on where Kenny was. So that's
usually the color helmet for Nitro. So yeah, he was
a He was a proud nineteen eighty one graduate of
a Nitro High school. He's in there hall of fame,
you know, for a lot of things, and at Kenney.
Bass was one of a kind. And we've lost a

(44:12):
wonderful friends, Kenny.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Bass passing away age sixty two. We've got a story
posted at wv metronews dot com this morning, Mark Martin,
longtime sports director WCCHS Television. Mark. We appreciate you coming
on and sharing some stories. Thank you, buddy.

Speaker 17 (44:25):
All right, thanks guys, appreciate you absolutely.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
This is talk line from the Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 18 (44:31):
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(44:52):
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Speaker 1 (45:47):
A couple of texts at three or four Talk three
oh four David TJ. Kinney Bass was one in a
million human being, outstanding talent that will be deeply missed.
Prayers for the family. I didn't know Kenney Bass, but
really enjoyed his reporting, says the text. Uh three or
four talk three o four, What a wasted time for

(46:09):
a story. Trump r X is going to take care
of everything. Remember he even said some drugs are going
to be discounted one hundred percent, says the Texter. The
attack on golp One's is straight from the pharmaceutical companies.
Compounding pharmacies get visits from the FDA more than pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Why die? Golp One manufacturers limit the lower doses of

(46:30):
golp ones, forcing patients to take higher doses that have
more side effects. Compounding pharmacies titrait the dose to the
individual patient, follow the money. Who's saying compounding pharmacies are unsafe?
Says the text? What are you people going to stop
defending the compulsive liar who is our president? He said
out loud that he wasn't going to touch the existing

(46:51):
White House structure, but there's a gaping hole in one
end of it. Looks like he touched it to me,
says the text.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
I don't care.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
That's there. I just don't care. Coming up, Go ahead?
You got Is it that you don't care?

Speaker 4 (47:08):
There's just way too many more things to care about.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
No, it's all that I don't care. Okay, yeah, there's
other things as well. But it's talk Line Metro News
for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
Metro News.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance, encircling you with
coverage to protect what you care about most. Visit incova
dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Second hour of Metro News talk Line from the Encova
Insurance Studios eight hundred and seven to sixty five Talks.
The phone number eight hundred seven six five eight two
five five. The text line is three h four talk
three oh four and oh. We'll get some of your
texts coming up. Gotta talk with Steven Allen, Adams, Ogden Newspapers,
Deliat Tristan. I'm going to join a spottom of the hour.

(48:02):
The state overpaid how much in medicaid payments? We'll get
into that subject at eleven thirty three. We'll get your
text in as well. Jake link Is our video producer.
Ethan Collins is standing by awaiting your calls. At eight
hundred and seven to sixty five Talk once again. Say
hello to mister TJ. Meadows. He anchors coverage from Charleston.
Of course, I'm in Morgantown morning, Tjack.

Speaker 4 (48:23):
Good morning. Sorry, I don't have anything with you. I
was busy shorting the Argentine Paso over the break.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Do you want to get into that maybe next segment?
Sure here as we plan the show on the air,
I don't want to keep Steve waiting too long. But
you got a commentary up at wv metro news dot com.
This morning regarding Argentina Pesos bailouts China, what through China
in there?

Speaker 6 (48:45):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Sure, why not?

Speaker 1 (48:47):
It's all at wv metro news dot com. Steven Allen
Adams is the capitol reporter and columnist for Ogden Newspapers.
He took a look at the bond rating release from
Yes and said, wait a minute, there's a caveat to
all of this. Steven joins us, I'll mention news talk
line this morning.

Speaker 20 (49:06):
Morning Steven, Good morning, gentlemen. Also, I want to kind
of express my condolences to Kenny Bass's family. Definitely a
legendary reporter in the state and as a fellow curmudgeon,
very curmudgeingly, sometimes in a lovable way. Sometimes him and

(49:28):
I have gotten into it before, but I can't really
argue against his passion for what he has done. And
of course his career is lengthy, but not only that,
but his career more recently in regards to the State
Supreme Court story, which really led to changes in that
organization for the better. I mean no doubt Kenny Bass's

(49:50):
work is going to continue to reverberate. So my condolences
to his family.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Yeah, well said you know, Steven. I don't know if
you had this moment in your reporting career, but you
watch these guys. I watched Kenny Bass growing up, Mark Martin,
guys like that. I watched them on television growing up.
And the first time this was actually in the Marshall
press box. I don't think i'd ever spoken to Kenny before,
you know, you know, other than hello, how you doing
in kind of a passing fashion, But this time he said, hey, Dave,

(50:16):
how you doing. I was like, Kenny Bass knows my nick?
How does Kenny Bass know who I am?

Speaker 20 (50:22):
So?

Speaker 1 (50:23):
But that was the moment, though, Like that was the
kind of you know, that's where I held him in
regard because I'd watched him all these years as an anchor,
as a reporter, as a sports guy, and when he
knew who I was, I was like, man, maybe I
got a career in this business.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 21 (50:37):
No, I can relate to that too.

Speaker 6 (50:39):
You know.

Speaker 20 (50:39):
I've had many conversations with them over over the years,
and some good and again some bad. I mean, the problem,
as you know in this business sometimes news personalities butt heads.
We kind of battled back and forth a little bit
during COVID or whatnot. But but he never took anything
personal and we could come back together the next day
for another briefing and have a friendly converse station. So

(51:01):
I mean, true, true legend and also somebody who, as
you as has been stated, very active in the local community,
theater community here in the Charleston area. I've seen him
perform before. Really amazing actor and took took that stuff
very seriously. I really kind of put them on a

(51:21):
big map.

Speaker 21 (51:21):
I think.

Speaker 20 (51:22):
So good good for him. I say, God speak Kenny Bass.

Speaker 4 (51:26):
Yeah, you know, you raise a great point very quickly.
And he was good. He was good on the stage
in the roles. I saw him in several productions with
the Light Opera Guild and the like, So yeah, kudos
he did. He did a great job there too, all.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Right, Steven. The bond rating for West Virginia, there was
a lot of positive takeaway, but there was a warning.
And what's the warning you think West Virginia needs to heed?

Speaker 20 (51:49):
Well, I mean maybe just going back to being a curmudgeon.
Maybe I'm a glass half empty type guy.

Speaker 10 (51:55):
Uh.

Speaker 20 (51:55):
You know, I saw the governor's press release come out
yesterday talking about you know, the S and p G
ratings and the fact that we had our outlook raised
from stable to positive, and that's wonderful. But I really
wanted to pull up the actual s and p report
and see the whole thing for myself. And when I
got looking at that report, sure it gives us a

(52:18):
lot of positives, particularly the Morrissey administration. The Justice tried
to take credit for some of us two in a
tweet last night, and some of that is attributable, I
think to the previous fiscal year financials, for sure, which
were done mostly under the Justice administration. But I also
think this is looking at Governor Morrissey's budget now that

(52:39):
we're in the new fiscal year and taking a look
at those financials. So I think you can give them both,
both Morrissey and former Governor Justice.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Credit for this.

Speaker 20 (52:49):
But while it's given us some praise for maintaining some
SOLF financials, having a lot of money in reserve, things
of that nature, it does have some caveats. And the
big caveat, particularly is our population loss, which is nothing new.
We've been dealing with it now for seventy five years,
but it's still happening. And I mean, sure, we have

(53:11):
some new people coming into the state, but the problem
is like the number of people that are dying were
outpacing the number of people being born and moving into
the state, and if that continues, that's going to create
some long term financial instability and economic instability in the state.
That's one of the big things that the S and
P report warned us of.

Speaker 4 (53:31):
A couple things. Number one, thank you for reading the report.
I appreciate that it's important that you dive into the details.
Here's what I thought, and you can tell me if
I'm right wrong my experience. S ANDP is doing what
they always do. They're protecting the downside. They're telling investors,
here's what you have to worry about. I don't want

(53:53):
to say they're stating the obvious, but they're ensuring people
that may not be as familiar with West Virginia's woes
as what we are understand what they're investing in. I
also think it's a roadmap to say, look, if you
want to get to that double A plus, here's a
couple of things that we're going to look for next
time around. So back to glass half empty, half fall.

(54:15):
I think they were giving us a way to improve
if we will heed it. The question is whether or
not we will listen to their advice.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
TJ.

Speaker 20 (54:22):
I think you're absolutely correct on that. I mean, they
are financial analysts, so you know they want to give
you the full way of the land. So again, great
remark remarks in regards to how our state is doing fiscally.
A lot of money saved up, you know, I think,
I mean, you're talking about more, well more than a
billion dollars.

Speaker 21 (54:42):
In our rainy day fund.

Speaker 20 (54:43):
We got money saved back in the in the income
tax Reserve Fund in case there's any issues with that
going forward, as we still have the formula in place
to cut taxes. That's not happening for personal income taxes.
This is coming calendar year tax year, but it could
still happen down the road. But I think you're right.
I think they are putting out a warning saying and

(55:06):
of course they're always revising these estimates every couple of
years anyway, but they're making it pretty clear that you know,
if things change, if say, changes in federal funding to
the state, which we know are coming, we just don't
really exactly know what that is, how big of a
hit the state's going to take to that from things

(55:27):
like the One Big Beautiful Bill or other actions at
the federal level. We know that's coming. We just don't
know how it's going to affect things going into this
next fiscal year, fiscal year twenty twenty seven, or going forward.
But if things change, if say, population continues to be
an issue with trying to get and not only the
fact that we're losing population, but the fact that a

(55:48):
lot of our populations either under the poverty level or
they're older. So all those things put strains on the economy.
Fewer people, more people either getting federal benefits, that sort
of thing. That puts a lot of pressure on the
remaining tax base here. So if it keeps shrinking, that's
going to cause problems. It's all warning of what could come.

(56:09):
And I think you're right, TJ. I think it does
give lawmakers in the governor a little bit of a
roadmap to say, what can we do in a short
term to try to mitigate these factors.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
We just need a couple one hundred thousand people to
move into the state, our problems will be solved. I
say that tongue in cheek, but I mean we need people, Steven,
We need people.

Speaker 20 (56:30):
We do need people for sure, and a lot of
the changes that's been done over the last decade could
help in that. It's always going to be a little process.
If you look I looked at the charting of our
population by the Federal Reserve, which does a good job
and they're taking you as census Stata, but they do
a good job of mapping that out and you can

(56:52):
just see, you know, the fluctuations over the last seventy
five years. You know, we peaked really in nineteen fifty
with our population started to come back down, but in
the seventies and eighties we saw rebound pop back up.
But then again we've been on a slow, steady decline
since then. So in order for that to get reversed

(57:13):
in a lot of things that we're seeing that have
been done in regards to the state government and economics
and things like that, I think it's going to take
some time for that to be seen on a chart
and see that going either narrow, either kind of going
flat or coming back up. I know John Deskins has
often said that I think our population is going to

(57:35):
remain somewhat stagnant, and past economic outlook reports that he's done.
So it's going to take some time, and there's certainly
more work to do you know the Chamber of Commerce
certainly put out a report here not that long ago,
talking about all the things that are remaining to be
done by the state that could reverse some of these trends.

Speaker 4 (57:55):
As a student of West Virginia, as a student of
the legislature, someone who's followed it for quite a long time,
will we ever have the political appetite to use these
kinds of reports? To Dave's point, we can't, you know,
magically wish up two hundred thousand people. But we could
do some things about population density. We could try to
figure out how to consolidate, we could try to figure

(58:19):
out how to get people to relocate to city centers.
There's things that we could do that would address some
of these metrics outside of just population game. And look,
I think ascend in those kinds of things. I think
it's great. I think it's working. But even that program
targets certain areas and leaves other areas out politically, culturally, Well,
we ever get there to the point that we're willing

(58:40):
to make tough decisions and actually do something about these
kinds of reports, I question it.

Speaker 20 (58:46):
Well, I mean, if we don't, I think you're going
to continue to see the problems that we do currently
have as a state. You know, my editor at the
Wheeling Intelligencer, John McCabe, had a good column ro op
ed here very recently talking about this issue up in
the northern Panhandle, talking about the need to really consider
the idea of metro government. Again, that's something that had

(59:07):
been talked about in Knell County a long time ago.
Very much bought that. But I mean, when you're talking
about local governments, when you're talking about your county board
of educations, I mean, we are a shrinking population, which
means services are shrinking, which means do you need to
have a city police force on top of a sheriff's

(59:28):
department deputies out there? Do you need to have those
two different things? Can you not consolidate some of that
and divide and conquer a little bit based on the
fact that you still have reducing populations. It's something that
needs to be on the table and thought about. There
was a bill during the session to do a pilot
project about doing regional boards of education that got shot

(59:50):
down pretty quickly, especially by lawmakers in the southern part
of the state that saw that as a potential losing
their county borders. Per chance it might be something that
has to be considered down the road, but all options
need to be on the table. Question is, like you said,
we'll lawmakers be willing to truly consider that, and that

(01:00:11):
remains to be seen. But I think if things continue
to cause hurt, I don't know what choice we have.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Steven Allen Adams joining us on to newspapers Capitol reporter
and columnist Steven Senator Justice. His companies have a pretty
long history of having issues paying their taxes on time,
and now the Senator and his wife Kathy but personally
having some issues with tax at the IRS putting tax
liens against them. We've seen this before with his companies. Steven,

(01:00:43):
I watch this and think he's got a sixty percent
approval rating. His numbers are through the roof. I don't
know if it's going to change anybody's thoughts about the
Senator and his job performance.

Speaker 20 (01:00:54):
Unfortunately, no, I don't think it will. I mean, as
a news reporter, my job isn't to make you care
about anything. My job is to simply present you the
information and make sure you're aware. So you know, a
lot of reporters have touched us, you know from Rye Rivard,
former state House reporter for the Daily Mail West Virginia
now at Politico. Great story over the weekend detailing this

(01:01:18):
issue with Justice and first former First Lady Kathy Justice.
Eight million dollars IRS debt directly on them. This is
not on their businesses. They've had IRS leans put on
their businesses before. This is directly on them. It's different.
So that could either go away or they try to
work out a deal and try to get some money
out there and deal with that as well. Do people

(01:01:41):
care about this? As we've seen from governors first and
second term to now getting elected to the US Senate,
it would appear that West Virginians don't care. I don't
know if it's just because they use to some extent
so they kind of relate to to Jim Justice in
regards Obviously, I don't know what will cause people to care.

(01:02:01):
And again I can't really make people care and I
can't try. But people do need, I think, to know
about this infition and use it how they will.

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
A few thoughts I think people dislike, I'll use a
kind word, the politicians, or much more than these, The
higher rest is who takes the money out of your pocket.
There's that as a reason perhaps why most folks don't care.
Dollars something people could relate to rather than eight million dollars,
maybe they would care more, Maybe it would be more
tangible to them and seem more real. I don't know.

Speaker 20 (01:02:34):
I think the only thing that's going to kind of
make people kind of stand up and notice is if
there are real consequences for these actions. You know, we've
seen the Greenbrier resort, you know, placed on nearly on
the or last year. I don't know what it's going
to take other than maybe the governor the senator losing
the Greenbrier or or Glade springs or or some other

(01:02:57):
property or some other business. You know, if you have
a situation where you get shuttered because it's talking about
a lot of people losing their jobs. I think that's
what it's going to take, unfortunately, for people to kind
of pay attention to these issues and ask of their senator,
you know, is this appropriate to be having these issues.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Steven Allen Adams Capitol reporter and comers. You can read
his work all over the state of West Virginia. Steven
always good to catch up, buddy, appreciate it. Thanks gentlemen
for Talk three or four. That's the text line. Eight
hundred and seven and sixty five Talk that's the phone number.
This is talk line from the ing Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 18 (01:03:38):
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And if that weren't enough, you can enter in our
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(01:03:58):
get down to your local lottery rec Taylor today and
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Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
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Speaker 22 (01:04:13):
The health Plan is still growing, giving you a large
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Plans that meet your needs.

Speaker 4 (01:04:23):
Log on to health plan dot org for more information.

Speaker 9 (01:04:26):
We are there for you to care for you and
the plan.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
We are here. Three or four Talk three oh four

(01:04:58):
that's the text line. Texter says, I don't think Dave
cares much about anything. How a person who minimizes everything
got into Hoppy's chair is a mystery. I bribed him. Actually,
I have to wash his car every other Thursday. And
you know I speaking of that. I gotta oil his
bicycle chain later this afternoon. Glad I thought of that.

(01:05:19):
Appreciate it, Dave, I get you don't care. Seems like
you are disturbed by very little by the things that
the president does. That's a said commentary on how much
he has truly destroyed facts, truth and law. I hope
you can remove your head from your own rear end
and see what's happening before we pass the point of
no return for the good old us of A. I

(01:05:39):
just I don't care about the ballroom. I don't by
the way point of no return. You can make an
argument we passed the point of no return a couple
of administrations ago. Hey, as far as expanding executive authority
and Congress becoming less and less and less influential and
important because it can't do anything. I mean, that's been

(01:06:01):
happening for at least twenty five years, maybe longer. I
just don't care about the ballroom.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
Go on, you just spray some WD forty on it
and move it around. Then how you oil the chain?
I mean, what do you do?

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
No? Actually, I got one of those old timy you know,
like probably your granddad had with the you know, oh the.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Can, and I got a little long stem on it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Yeah. See, he's very picky about his bicycle chains. Well, Dave,
you really should care. This is our nation's history and
a legacy. There's a long, a long established process to
make modifications to the White House, a committee that considers
all aspects of a renovation that keeps everything in line
with government standards and guidelines. Trump disbanded the committee so

(01:06:39):
he could have free hand to do anything he wants
without consequences. Hopefully the next president will follow his lead
and tear down the monstrosity known as the Trump Ballroom
and put the White House back the way it should
be a place for all Americans, not the rich, spoiled
brats that are currently running the country.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
Now, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Tear it
down once it's belt. Let mean, come on, could they
have put it on the grounds not damaged the east wing.
I'm with you on that, But once it's built, I mean,
come on.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
A place for all Americans. You spent the night in
the Lincoln bedroom lately?

Speaker 4 (01:07:10):
Hmmm. They changed chefs and after that I didn't really
care for the Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Didn't they They gutted the White House and the Truman administration, right,
didn't They completely gutted the inside.

Speaker 4 (01:07:20):
Of it down to the studs.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Yeah, the structure was failing. So I mean, it's not
anyway I can. I just don't care.

Speaker 4 (01:07:29):
Just defense. It was gonna fall down. That's the point.
I mean, you know you had to reinforce it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Well, But all I'm saying is that this the room
Lincoln sat in and contemplated the Gettysburger dress doesn't exist.
It got it got gutted. By the way, there was
a Texter. I lost it a long time ago. It
was somewhere in here. They agreed with me, Fenway's a
dump by the way.

Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
A couple of people did, which I was surprised about.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Well, historic is just historic is usually code for its own.
That's all.

Speaker 4 (01:08:02):
That's all I will say this. Though, you ever see
a really nice house the would work and everything in
it beautiful. If you were going to recreate that today,
you wouldn't be able to afford it. We talk about
that the capital all the time. You wouldn't be able
to afford.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
Those hundred those old houses with the woodworking and the
solid oak. They're beautiful, they're also a money pit.

Speaker 4 (01:08:21):
They are try a money pit. Any house is a
money pit in my humble opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:08:25):
All right, coming up, Delegate Tristan Leott going to join
us from Canawac County. The state way overpaid on Medicaid payments.
Why and how do we get that money back? We'll
get into that subject coming up. More of your text
as well. Three or four Talk three oh four. Phone
lines are open at eight hundred and seven sixty five
Talk eight hundred and seven six five eight two five five.
This is talk Line on Metro News for forty years,

(01:08:46):
the voice of West Virginia. It is eleven thirty and
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 (01:08:58):
West Virginia Metro NEWSIM Chris Laurence. An investigation is ongoing
after an officer involved shooting in Harrison County. The suspect
was shot after he fled a traffic stop on a
road off route twenty Tuesday evening of the chase finally
ended in the community of Mount Clair, where troopers and
sheriff's deputies so the man got out of the vehicle
with a firearm and, according to state police, refused to

(01:09:18):
repeat the commands to drop it. He was fatally shot
when he allegedly made a threatening gester toward them. His
name has not been revealed. State's Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission
has made four recommendations to fill a vacancy on the
Supreme Court. Those candidates aimed at replacing Justice Tim Armstead
are Eric Hudnall, Stephen Redding, Robert E. Ryan, and Gerald Titus.
The governor as the duty of making the appointment to

(01:09:41):
fill the vacancy created with Armstead's death. His term was
set to end in twenty thirty two. Whomever is appointed
would serve until December of next year, but the seat
will be up for election in the May primary. Finding
new volunteer firefighters has proved to be a growing challenge.
Mark Lambert, director of fire Training at the State Fire
Academy in WVU Fire Servi Extension, says, it's that way worldwide,

(01:10:02):
And you said all volunteer models just don't work.

Speaker 6 (01:10:05):
Modern life is kind of putting pressure on the system
as it is today with the jobs and families, and
you know, people commuting to work, and there are times
of day when it's harder to find a volunteer in
this area of that area.

Speaker 11 (01:10:23):
You're listening to Metronews for forty years the voice of
West Virginia.

Speaker 7 (01:10:27):
Governor Patrick Morrissey as set a very bold goal fifty
gigawatts of new energy capacity by twenty fifty. Thanks to
House Built 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

(01:10:48):
able to count on. West Virginia Coal Association President Chris
Hamilton stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy
generation capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifteen is a
dynamic approach to economic development which will supercharge our state's
coal industry and broader economy. With Governor Morrissey's leadership and

(01:11:09):
the action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again
America's energy leader. Col Is powering Progress cole Is Powering
West Virginia, brought to you by the West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaker 11 (01:11:25):
Department of Education's Culineering Challenge is Tomorrow and Wheeling. The competition,
in a fourth year combines food prep and engineering skills.

Speaker 10 (01:11:32):
It also just allows these students to get real hands
on experience in the programs that they're in. You know,
the culinary students get to show off their culinary skills,
the engineering students get to show off their skills.

Speaker 11 (01:11:45):
And Emily Pearson, coordinator of the Department of Education's Career
Tech ad Office. The competition is tomorrow at OBI Resort
and Wheeling from the Metro News anchored Ask Guy, I'm
Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Three or four Talk three or four is the text
line eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five.
That is the phone number. During recent interim committee meetings,
we learned that West Virginia is working to recover up
to thirty two point four million dollars after it came
to light that the states may have mistakenly paid Medicaid
participant fees for thousands of ineligible individuals who are either

(01:12:39):
incarcerated or dead. Kanawha County Delegate Tristan Levitt has sent
a letter to the Post Audit divisions and has talked
about this. He was in that meeting that day and
he joins us on Metro News talk line. Delegate Levitt,
good morning, Arnie, how are you doing well? How did

(01:13:02):
we pay thirty two million dollars in Medicaid fees to
people who were ineligible?

Speaker 23 (01:13:10):
Well, the Bureau of Medical Services, which administers that program
for US Virginia, has a process by which each month
they send out payments, or maybe it's each year, but
they send up payments to these providers with a list
of people who are supposed to be covered by Medicaid.
And ultimately, because of an audit by the legislature's Post
Audit Division, they identified that Bureaumedical Services at least for

(01:13:35):
three years, wasn't taking into account that if people were
incarcerated for the entirety of that month, there was no
payment that was owed. Similarly, if someone was dead, clearly
there was no payment that was owed. And so that
thirty two million comes from this three year period. But
the letter that I actually sent to Commissioner being at
BMS was to figure out if this has been a
problem far beyond that three year period.

Speaker 4 (01:13:58):
So audits are good. That's why we do audits. Thirty
two million dollars, however, that's a big amount. And I
don't know this business. I don't know the processes the
way you do. But thirty two million dollars. We should
have had a control in place on the front end
for thirty two million, shouldn't we?

Speaker 23 (01:14:13):
I would think so. Commissioner being told me in the
hearing that they'd conduct an annual audit, and when I
asked what that consisted of, she said, you'd have to
get back to me. I don't It's unclear what information
they look at, but this is the sort of thing that, again,
the strong impression in anyone watching the hearing got was
we only discovered this issue specifically of the incarcerated individuals

(01:14:35):
because of the audit deceased individuals. There was a period
of time when BMS's own internal control mechanisms kicked in,
apparently after a year and a half and said, hey,
we haven't been cross referencing this data for a year
and a half. That seems like a long time, but okay,
they can go back. It's not too late for the providers.
Because of course, the unfair side of This is if
you're a provider of these medicaid services, you're receiving the

(01:14:56):
money from the government, you're just going off of what
they tell you. Many people don't these Medicaid services in
a month, so there's no way you can know that
someone is incarcerated. That's data that the government's going to have.
And so you know, at this point twenty twenty five,
we're not going to go back to twenty sixteen to
these companies and say, hey, you owe it's money from
ten years ago.

Speaker 21 (01:15:12):
This is on the state. This is BMS's fault.

Speaker 23 (01:15:16):
And so it seems like year by year they should
have been checking it against the incarceration data and found
this a long time ago each year instead of all
at once.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
And we're talking to a Canalla County Delegate, Tristan Levitt,
whose responsibility is it, because it seems like there's a
communications failure. Whether it's BMS to the Department of Corrections
or Department of Corrections to BMS, whose responsibility is it
to check to make certain the other agency knows who's incarcerated.

Speaker 23 (01:15:41):
The Department of Corrections definitely doesn't administer Medicaid, so it's
their challenge if corrections is not getting them the data
in a certain way, then that's fine for BMS go
and say hey, we need this a more timely way.
My understanding is that because of this audit there is
now closer to real time communication. But the end of
the day, it's the Bureau of Medicaid server or Medical
Services response ability, and you know they need to be

(01:16:02):
the ones in putting this information. Commissioner being referenced that
she thought maybe some of the data they received from
counties or others wasn't sufficient. But again, it seems to
me responsibility then is to say, hey, without better data
counties or state, we can't perform this responsibility of making
sure we're not overpaying Medicaid. So again, to me, all

(01:16:23):
all roads lead to the Bureau Medical Services.

Speaker 4 (01:16:26):
You asked for the data on the audit. I guess
the audit criteria what two weeks ago?

Speaker 6 (01:16:30):
Is that?

Speaker 4 (01:16:31):
Right?

Speaker 23 (01:16:32):
In the hearing, I did yes, and then I reiterated
that in the letter I sent to data commissioner being
because in the two weeks she hasn't sent the answer.

Speaker 21 (01:16:38):
She testified that she would.

Speaker 4 (01:16:40):
What does it say to you that in two weeks
you haven't got that criteria?

Speaker 23 (01:16:45):
Either one they're extremely disorganized, to she's upset that we've
been talking about this publicly and doesn't want to give it.
Or three, the data is a lot worse than she
wants anyone to know, or that the Bureau wants anyone
to see. There my suspicion, this was a clear theme
from the hearing before me Commissioner Marty Gearheart. Commissioner Delegate
Marty Gearheart also ask Commissioner being about how we could

(01:17:08):
know that this problem was just limited to these three years,
and she kind of tried to deflect to again, we
learned about the deceased data, the vital statistics data, but
the bigger issue here is the incarcerations, and she didn't
have any good answer. And so my suspicion is there's
a real likelihood that in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen,
they just were never checking the medicaid payments against the

(01:17:31):
incarceration data learned because of this audit that was initiated
several years later, that they should have been or realized
they should have been, and that they weren't, and now
are in this position of you know, being caught, you know,
totally flat footed with this tell.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Tristan Levitt joining us Kanawa County, was I want to
go back to the audit for a second. Was this
an audit that happens over the normal course of reviewing
the agency's work, or was this specifically initiated to find
whether or not these payments were going out?

Speaker 23 (01:18:01):
So internally, EUREA of Medical Services conducts its own regular audits.
Commissioner being said my letter asked how regularly those happened
and when they'd happened since she's been commissioner. The audit
that found these larger issues. Again, just to put this
in context, the internal audit found something in the neighborhood
of or led to will say something the neighborhood of seven

(01:18:22):
hundred and seventy thousand being identified as overpaid. The legislative audit,
which is not a routine thing and shouldn't be a
routine thing, right, just every so often the legislature will
do a certain check in. And this was initiated because
of news that I believe in Louisiana that another state
had made over payments, and so our legislative order says, well,
we should check and see how we're looking on this.

(01:18:44):
It was there one time audit that discovered that the
other thirty one point seven million had been overpaid. So
this was not something that routine checks discovered. It's just
because in another state they looked our legislative Auder's office
was proactive and they, you know, successfully identified for this
three year period a real problem that again may well

(01:19:04):
have been a problem more much longer than those three years.

Speaker 4 (01:19:07):
Kristan, I don't have my copy of the Big Beautiful
Bill in front of me right now, so you're going
to have to help me through a little bit if
you can't give me.

Speaker 21 (01:19:13):
You left that out in the car, Yeah, that's out.

Speaker 4 (01:19:15):
Well, it takes up the whole trunk, my friend, I mean,
so yeah, it's a hard to tote it around, So
help me out and throw me some rope here if
you can. But as I recall, there's going to be
some new efficiency standards as part of the Big Beautiful
Bill that gauges how correct we are in making payments. So,
in other words, the Feds are going to be looking
at whether or not we're making payments, whether or not

(01:19:36):
there's any fraud, whether or not we're catching these issues,
and that could affect our level of funding. Initially, that
comes down from the federal government and things like Medicaid
and those programs. This is troubling giving what we're talking about,
because look, man, Washington's cutting the dollars. Like it or not,

(01:19:57):
They're cutting the dollars, and if we perform at the
level we need to, we're going to suffer as a result.
So anyone talking about that element, how one may feed
the other here or maybe I'm off tell me if
I am.

Speaker 23 (01:20:10):
I think that's a good question. I'll just say it front.
I'm not an expert in this area. You know, my
day job is just looking for government efficiency overall, but
Medicaid is a highly specialized, you know, area of knowledge
and uh and the way that the healthcare providers work.

Speaker 21 (01:20:22):
So I don't I don't.

Speaker 23 (01:20:23):
I don't know the precise details from the big goog
for bill, but I had the same kind of joke
you public understanding that this was intended to cut down
on some of that. And so again, not only is
this could this impact that. It just seems really unfortunate
that at a time when you have seen some Medicaid
cuts the state has in the past. Again before the
current governor, he had not any any fault to be

(01:20:44):
laid at his doorstep. You know, Commissioner being has been
there since twenty fourteen, that we have let this money
go to waste when this you know, it goes to
provide services for people in really vulnerable situations. I will
say another issue that it raises, which is not just
to your broader point that it harms us from a
fraud detection standpoint, it also really hurts the providers. Again,

(01:21:05):
this is a complicated issue, and I won't try to
explain it fully on this show, but you know, there
is an element where each year, if the state is
coming back and requesting certain amounts, that impacts the next
year the total amount that kind of the provider can
build to the state.

Speaker 3 (01:21:21):
And so.

Speaker 23 (01:21:24):
Business like they should have Okay, it's fine that we
pay out this month and we learned later in the
month that someone died. There's no way no one can
know that in real time. You know, so in the
normal course of business like, there's gonna be some churn
of going back and saying, well, we paid you for this,
we need this back.

Speaker 21 (01:21:36):
That's totally legitimate. But to go back and.

Speaker 23 (01:21:39):
At one point and say well we ever paid you
thirty one million, we're gonna need all that back, right,
You can't do that to the providers. And what it
does is the following year it results in some sort
of cap on what they're able to build, even for
a legitimate service services they did provide to people on Medicaid.
So it harms both the providers as well as just
our state and our public funding overall.

Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
Tell like a trystan Levitt joining us mentioned is talk line.
So you kind of started down the road. How do
we get the money back? There's thirty two million dollars
whatever it is that West Virginia overpaid the MCOs. How
do we call that back?

Speaker 21 (01:22:10):
Well, I think it's a two part thing.

Speaker 23 (01:22:12):
And for one, I again keep in mind that it
might not just be the thirty one million for those
years that said, regardless of what the total number is,
and that's part of what my letter asked. The Bureau
of Medical Services did a ten year look back whatever
the amount is that they discovered they overpaid over that period.
I think there has to be some discussion between the
state and these medical service organizations, these MCOs to say, hey,

(01:22:35):
here's where here's where it's fair for us to go
back and ask for the money versus you closed your
books a long time ago. At this point, you know,
as of the time of the hearing, this this audit
had been ongoing for a couple of years. BMS realized
as soon as the audit kicked off that they had
a real problem. So while the auditor's goal is to
kind of retrospectively look and just say what happened, document that,

(01:22:58):
BMS is furiously trying at the same time to recover
as much as they can. And they kept pointing to
that saying, well, we don't know if these numbers are right,
because you know, we we were changing the dynamic. Man,
the auditor's job isn't to do that in real time.
The auditor is trying to figure out what's the full
scope of the problem. But so BMS as of the
hearing had only recovered over two million. I don't know
how much ultimately they will be able to recover for

(01:23:18):
that period if it's the full thirty two million, and
again even if they discovered that in the years before
that we overpaid. At a certain point you have to
just say, you know, this office screwed up, and that's
where it stands. We just need to learn from that
and input better safeguards for the future.

Speaker 4 (01:23:35):
Run the timeline for me, how long do they have
to respond to this latest letter? What power, if any,
do you or the legislature have to compel them to
give the data over.

Speaker 23 (01:23:43):
I put a one way time timeline on it, a
deadline on it, you know. I will say my experience
writing letters exactly like this for Congress is whether or
not someone has the power to compel them. People certainly
don't like being in the news with this kind of
information and recognizing that they said they would do something
publicly and haven't so far. So I would hope that

(01:24:04):
maybe it's just an oversight, or again, maybe it's just
taking a little bit more time for them to gather.
But I hope that they will send this over in
the timeframe move requested. If they don't, again, I think
a lot of people in the public. The response I've
gotten is a lot of people have questions about what
happened here and again, whether it extended beyond just this audit,
and so I think there's some level of public pressure
that ultimately they're going to have to face if they don't.

Speaker 1 (01:24:25):
Should anyone lose their job over this?

Speaker 23 (01:24:29):
I think it depends on the information that we're given.
If it turns out that this was not an issue
that the Bureaum Medical Services was monitoring at all, that
millions of dollars was going out the door, I think
that is worth someone losing their job over. Yes, if
it turns out that as commissioner being tried to portray it,
in fact, they were recovering the appropriate amounts each year.
This was only tied to COVID, even though the you know,

(01:24:52):
the audit went back to twenty nineteen before, a year
before COVID. You know, maybe this wasn't anomaly, and that
would be great news. And so, you know, you hate
to lay all the blame at someone's doorstep if it
really is just a lot of bureaucratic missteps.

Speaker 21 (01:25:08):
And I see that a lot again in my day job.

Speaker 23 (01:25:10):
But yes, I think if there was a lot of
money that should have in the regular course of business
been recovered and hadn't been, there needs to be accountability
for that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:17):
Dell get Tristan Levitt, Kanawa County, appreciate the insights. Thank
you very much. Today. Having me coming up, we'll get
to your texts. We got a lot of them. Three
or four talk three or four is the text line
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To go ahead, play today, text line three or four
Talk three oh four. On Monday, you had a gentleman
text in and say that people who voted for Trump
were stupid. Well call me stupid. I voted to lower
the working class people cost of living, such as lower Texas,
lower fuel cost. I hope that I can text in
about every day to inform mister smart. I can't say

(01:28:01):
that word all the time for mister smarty pants. My
edit to why I Am stupid says the Texter bring
all the ballroom. Are they sure it's a ballroom Trump
is building? Or is it a bomb shelter? He said,
not to take any pictures of it. Hmm, conspiracy. Now
it's racist construction projects. Add that to racist underpasses peak

(01:28:24):
Buddha jedge, and there's your modern Democrat party.

Speaker 4 (01:28:28):
It's really a data center.

Speaker 1 (01:28:33):
And the Washington Monument will be the power the micro
grid for it.

Speaker 6 (01:28:37):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:28:37):
Yeah, there you go, Dave. Concerning the White House situation
and the immortal words of Elaine benis Ugh who has
the energy, well said, you, guys, attitudes are sad, sad
commentary on your generation. The lack of seriousness and professionalism
is astounding. Everything is a joke, all right? How can
anyone then take your opinions or comments seriously? You guys

(01:28:59):
need a complete drop politics and just do a John
Boy and Billy style comedy show, since you don't care
about anything that doesn't make you laugh, says the Texter.
Did you see they're retiring, by the way, I did.

Speaker 4 (01:29:10):
I did see that they're retiring.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
That's an institution, John Boy and Billy they were over
I think they were well over one hundred affiliates at
one point at their heights in the whate it being
the nineties, nineties.

Speaker 4 (01:29:22):
Early two thousand based out of Charlotte.

Speaker 1 (01:29:24):
If I recall the Big Show, Robert d Rayford.

Speaker 4 (01:29:28):
That guy was funny. That guy was funny. Look, we care, guys,
but I'm gonna be honest with you. Sometimes I need
a little levity or my head is going to explode.

Speaker 1 (01:29:38):
Texter says, true, there are many things more important than
the destruction of the East Wing. But I think you're
completely missing the point. It is Trump's cavalier disregard of
history to suit his own superficial need for gaudy grandeur
that irks people. He doesn't care if there's history there.
He doesn't care if there's history there because he doesn't
know the history. He doesn't care if there's a process
for going about these changes because he thinks he's above

(01:30:01):
doing anything by the rules. He doesn't care if there's
a better use of this money, even if it's from
private sources, because he had never known the need. Never
no need, I could go on, says the Texter. Hey,
I'm a former moderate Republican and really never found him
to be a likable politician. Dave and TJ. After Trump's
monument to misery is completed. I don't see any point

(01:30:22):
in tearing it down, but I do hope they can
remove his name from the stones they are carving it into.
Dave paid no attention to the haters with TDS. It's
refreshing having an open minded individual such as you to
listen to, as opposed to an individual determined to perform.
I can't say that every couple of weeks on Joe
Mansion handling him with kid gloves while criticizing everything about Trump,

(01:30:44):
from his supporters to his hair to his religious beliefs.
Three or four talk three or four. I guess the
rallies worked. I check very thoroughly. The only kings I
can find are playing hockey in LA, taking sports bets online,
or trying to get back to Skull Island. Pretty good run, now, y'all.

(01:31:07):
On point, I'll give you that TJ and Dave Regarding medicaid,
if the point hasn't been made, it should be noted
that payments go to providers, not patients. Thank you, says
the Texter. You are welcome three or four talk three
or four is the text line eight hundred and seven
sixty five eight two five five that is the phone number.
A super serious final segment is coming up. You got

(01:31:30):
your serious face on TJ villa.

Speaker 4 (01:31:31):
I always clearly I do see what you get here.

Speaker 1 (01:31:37):
It is well wrap it up when we return.

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Speaker 1 (01:32:56):
Mettion New's high school game nine coming up tonight. So
I'm any of these, saying Metro radio stations. Joe Riccanto
along with Fred Persinger and Dave Jecklin will be with
you seven oh six until nine. John Lilly from Independence
High School will stop by. Joey Fields, Herbert Hoover, Logan's
Nick Booth, Jeremy Moore Midland Trail, Eric Wright, East Fairmont

(01:33:18):
girl Soccer at eight twenty five. Paul Pernett from Rhone County.
There's your lineup coming up tonight. Metro News high School
Sports line seven oh six until nine on many of
these same Metro News radio stations and of course the
Metro News TV app. Heading into week number nine of
the high school football season, just two weeks left in

(01:33:39):
the regular season. After this week, Texter says, Dave, I'm
with you. I don't care either. Look all of you
all who are outraged about it, go ahead. It's okay.
You can be mad. I don't. I don't care if
you're mad or not. It's just not on my radar.
That's all I think.

Speaker 4 (01:33:56):
There are levels of outrage. I wouldn't say I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:33:59):
Out I don't think you're outraged.

Speaker 4 (01:34:02):
You know, I don't like it, but I'm not outraged.

Speaker 1 (01:34:04):
But when it comes when it comes to Trump, it's
either get with the current political climate, TJ. You're either
completely outraged or you're all for it. You cannot be
somewhere in the middle out so do I. Because we
are out of time, we'll talk to you tomorrow, talk Line.
I'll bet your news. The Voice of West Virginia