Introduction
In this episode of "Buyers and Co," the hosts discuss significant current events, including a tragic air crash in Washington, D.C., and dive into poignant reflections on life, loss, and the community. This summary aims to encapsulate the key insights and discussions from the episode, highlighting expert opinions and practical takeaways.
Key Events Discussed
Mid-Air Collision Tragedy
- Incident Overview: The podcast opens with a Fox News alert about a severe mid-air crash involving an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C.
- Casualties: It was confirmed that there were no survivors, with reports indicating 64 people on the plane and 3 on the helicopter. Emergency services have shifted from rescue operations to recovery operations due to the severity of the situation.
- Human Impact: Fire Chief John Donnelly highlighted the tragic loss and emphasized the emotional toll on families and the community.
Community Connections and Reflections
- The hosts engage in a broader conversation about how such tragedies resonate on a personal level. They reminisce about similar historical events, drawing parallels with the Challenger disaster and cultural impacts associated with public figures like Buddy Holly.
- Life’s Fragility: A poignant discussion unfolds around the fragility of life and the connections we feel when tragedies involve identifiable individuals or groups. The idea that community connection often fosters deeper emotional responses during national tragedies is explored.
Thematic Discussions
Navigating Personal Loss
- Personal anecdotes highlight how loss can shape our understanding of life. One host recalls a childhood friend’s passing shortly after the Challenger explosion, illustrating how such events can leave lasting scars and affect a community’s psyche.
- The importance of empathy and support within communities is emphasized, particularly during times of grief.
Education and Community Leadership
- The episode transitions into a discussion about the challenges faced by educational institutions, particularly in Decatur, with the impending retirement of a school superintendent and frequent turnover in school board members.
- Leadership Stability: The hosts argue for the need for stable leadership in education to foster continuity and progress, reminiscing about effective long-serving leaders like Robert Oaks, who provided vision and accessibility during his tenure.
Broader Context on Loss and Community Resilience
- There's a sense of urgency in addressing how communities can support each other through tragedies. The discourse around loss is aimed not just at mourning but at celebrating life and encouraging people to focus on what truly matters.
- Call to Action: Listeners are reminded to engage with local communities, support each other, and recognize the shared human experience in all moments of joy and sorrow.
Conclusion
This episode of "Buyers and Co" captures a moment of reflection following a national tragedy, fostering community bonds and encouraging listeners to appreciate the fragilities of life. The hosts effectively weave personal stories and broader societal issues, reminding us that in times of grief, community connection, and empathy can lead to resilience and healing.
Was this summary helpful?
accounts on your credit report that you didn't open and being denied alone because your credit is suddenly bad. Those stories and more stories, podcasts and videos at nowdecatur.com.
This is a Fox News Alert. No one survived the mid-air crash near Washington, DC. I'm Dave Anthony. We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. After an all-night search in the frigid waters of the Potomac River, we're both the American Airlines regional jet and the US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with wind down after an explosion. We have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.
Washington, D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly. There were three soldiers on the helicopter, 64 people on the plane that's now in three pieces in the water. This is devastating. It's, um, we are all hurting incredibly. American Airlines CEO Robert Eissam. The flight was coming in from Wichita, Kansas. Some of the passengers were members of the U. S. Figure skating team. The organization brought a statement that the athletes coaches and family members were returning from a development camp following U. S. Figure skating championships.
in which to our transportation secretary Sean Duffy says to try to figure out what went wrong, why they collided on a clear night. This was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at DCA. The plane was just about to land at the time. President Trump posted on Choose Social. It's a bad situation that looks like it could have been prevented. This was hours after the president signed his first bill since returning to the White House, the Lake and Riley Act, named for the Georgia woman murdered last year by a man on the U.S.
to legally. The law expands the ability to deport illegal immigrants charged with various crimes. Now, President Trump also says as immigration raids continue nationwide, arresting people here illegally have committed crimes. He's going to send some to Guantanamo. We have 30,000 beds.
in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Hamas has set eight more hostages free from Gaza as part of a ceasefire. The first one was an Israeli soldier then to Israeli civilians and five residents of Thailand. America is listening to Fox News.
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or visit consumercellular.com today requires two lines of service, age validation, and credit approval such as system and area limits taxes and other fees apply. I'll get our top Fox news story. No survivors in the mid air crash last night between an American Airlines regional jet and the U. S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, 64 people on the plane, three soldiers on the helicopter.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. We'll be back at the Senate. For a second confirmation hearing, is the Health and Human Services Secretary nominee? I believe that vaccines play a critical role in healthcare. Consisting he's not anti-vax, not anti-food industry, but pro-safety. But Kennedy sparred with Democratic senators like Ron Wyden. Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, charlatans,
especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Also this morning, two other controversial Trump nominees have hearings. Tulsi Gabbard in line to be director of national intelligence. Senator Tom Cotton shares the intel committee, the cool question Gabbard tells Foxy supports her. You have a lot of Democrats critical over the day because she finally saw the light and left the Democratic Party and came over to the Republican side. The president's choice of the FBI director also under scrutiny.
But Cash Patel worked in the first Trump administration, including a senior advisor to the acting director of national intelligence. But now he's the president's pick to run the FBI. He's got an uphill climb and quite a few critics, many of whom question everything from his experience to his beliefs. He said he'd close the FBI building in Washington, D.C. and turn it into a museum about the deep state and send the 7,000 people who work inside to go chase down murderers and criminals. Go be cops, he told a podcast last fall.
of the hearing Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durban asked the FBI and DoD for more information about what he said were unauthorized comments Patel had made about the rescue of two Americans held captive by Iranian-backed militants in Yemen. Jessica Brosenthal Fox News. On Wall Street, it's the day after selling a mixed bag. Dow futures are down, but Nasdaq futures are rising. I'm Dave Anthony. This is Fox News.
Get ready to lace up those roller skates and spin back in time at Fairview Park Pavilion 1. Join us for roller skating fun on February 7th through the 9th and 14th through the 16th. Admission is just $6 per hour, with skate rentals available for $3. Bring your own skates if you'd like. Refuel with delicious snacks like hot chocolate, hot dogs, chips, and mini donuts. Whether you're a pro or new to skating, there's something for everyone. Don't miss out.
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Tonight rain and possible thunderstorms overnight, patchy fog and cloudy low of 41 for Friday rain and some fog in the morning. Then cloudy with a high 48 Saturday, partly sunny high near 46 current temperature in downtown Decatur, 33 degrees. Your WSOI time is 706.
Good morning and welcome to the Thursday edition of Buyers and Company. This hour, we'll check in with Paul Osborne, City Hall Insider, Mark Topper and Topper on Sports. Company starts now. Buyers and Company W. S. O. Y 13 40 a.m. 103.3 FM.
Good morning and welcome. We're back here on a, well, it's going to be a rainy day. That's okay. Rain means above freezing temperatures and I'm a okay with that. Sometimes life works out in such a weird fashion of where you think I started today. Obviously we're watching this story unfold as you are in Washington, D.C. that they did report after the briefing here just a few minutes ago. And these are always the words you hate to hear that it is.
now recovery operation, not a rescue operation. And they've evidently been able to pull 28 bodies out so far of the 64 passengers and crew of the airplane. And there were three on board, the military helicopter. And so worst case scenario that we expected is apparently unfolding as we speak.
But it's interesting because I get the Tribune. Paul brings me kind enough to bring me a copy every week. And we were talking about the Challenger explosion and how when they identified this plane being full of ice skating folks, you know, they just held the United States Championship there in Wichita. And there's this eerie thing that you identify like the school teacher on the Challenger, you know, and instead of just a group of strangers,
you feel this deeper sense of connection to it. And there on the front page of the Decatur Tribune, you write about the day the music died. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of interesting. And then it kind of just unfolding all this time. And now, clearly, I was not around for this. You know, my, I knew about it. I was done, uh, had the, uh, uh, uh, I'm a claim with the American pie song and the Richie Valens movie and, you know, LaBamba, you know, those kinds of things, but,
You were a teenager? Yeah, I was a senior in high school, you know, when it happened. And I think, you know, as indicated too, in the column, you know, when you're a teenager, you're just not that acquainted with death. Maybe, you know, like you'll have a grandparent pass away that, you know, that's much older and it's a part of life. But you just, I guess at that stage, you just don't think about death that often. And I know when
uh, you know, the buddy Holly and, and Richie Valens and the big bopper. I mean, they were very, very popular, particularly buddy Holly. Well, buddy Holly and Richie got a movie, big bopper got kind of short changed. Yeah. The whole thing. Uh, but young talents, you know, people, then this is back when they would go play state fairs and this type of thing and get on these tiny little, you know, airplanes and go from county to county and state to state. And tragically, they all lost their life.
Yeah, and I pointed out to also, they were, Buddy Holly was slated to play in Springfield just a week or two later than that. That was part of the schedule that they had. And I think what was significant, and I reprinted in the viewpoint, editorial I wrote 16 years ago, was three days, that was shocking.
to the high school, all the kids listened to those records and everything else and felt like they knew those performers. But then my best friend in high school three days later was killed in an automobile accident just a few months before we graduated. And that really brought it home. And I think it's very sobering then. And I think today when we see, you know, someone's life's taken in high school or at that stage,
That has a profound effect on the kids and on the young people that stays with them, you know, the rest of their life. And certainly did me with Bob Phalan, who just had a really bright future, a nice looking guy, best friend in high school. It's just three days after Buddy Holly, then this happened. And I think it, and now we're talking about the tragedy, you know, too, in D.C. that
You know, life's pretty fragile. We don't have any guarantees. And I think we need to focus in life on the things that are really important. And sometimes we forget that, you know, we're not going to be here forever. But what are we going to do while we're here? Yeah, it's also odd how we view things. You know, this is an awful story out of Washington, D.C. But the last time this happened at this level was 43 years ago there in Washington, D.C.
And the fact that 45,000 people a year are killed in automobiles in the United States of America. And we just get in our car every morning. We don't have that thought process. We don't relate it the same way for whatever reason. We don't. And I think as you indicated too, it's almost like even though we don't know the people, I don't. And most people here probably indicators don't know the people involved in that crash. But when you found out it was a community, it was so much more identifiable just on a human level.
Yeah, you connect with them. You connect. And I think that's that doesn't happen usually in a car crash in Washington DC or something. Or even if it's just, I think it was because this was particularly full of a certain group of folks in a certain world that you're maybe only every, you know, a couple of years watching in the Olympics or whatever. It's something you can relate to obviously for their families and all the folks involved and the three people that were on that military helicopter. I'm sure in the days ahead, we'll learn what happened.
right now, it's just time to grieve and feel nothing but empathy for the family members. No survivors, not a surprise. They said they found the fuselage and upside down in three different sections of the Potomac. So, I mean, it was a pretty violent crash. Yeah, it was. And I guess when you first heard that last night that you felt that probably no one would survive something like that. And I think that was probably a pretty good
pretty good analysis. But anytime you hear something, you're exactly right. Something like that. And then you find out who's on board and you started identifying with that, even though he didn't know them, yet you kind of know them. And it wasn't because they're part of humanity. They're part of a community and so are you. Yep. All right. I got to ask you. I've not heard this name for years. Ben Kenningham reached out to you.
Yeah, he did. He saw something in the paper that I wrote here a few weeks ago about Central Park and the memories I had of Central Park as a kid, and apparently he had the same memories of Washington Park and Springfield, and he kind of related to that, but he's a former WSO or contributor. I remember I recognized the name. I don't know him personally, but I recognized the name from his years, you know, giving reports from the Capitol.
Well, he worked for the, I believe the Illinois Radio Network IRN, right, that they've been since purchased by other folks with a whole other agenda. But yeah, it was a name you would hear a lot on our airwaves. Yeah, and that's the reason I recognized it, because when I first saw that, I thought, you know, what's he writing about?
And then he went on to explain later on the years that he kind of did that and contributed to WSOI. But the reason he wrote was the memories he had of the park when he was a kid, although it was in Springfield. So he identified with what I wrote about Central Park. And I think there are places in our childhood, whether it's a park or whatever, that you have fond memories of and those kind of stay with you too. And that's apparently with him.
The same thing happened. It was interesting to read. It made me smile. You know, you work in this business long enough. And man, there's just so many people you intersect with over the years. It's easy to forget people. It's easy to let go. What was that guy's name? I think that's probably just also a factor of getting older, right? But if you have a career long enough, you just realize, man, there's a lot of people to come and go.
Yeah, and I think, yeah, I've thought a lot about that recently. It seems like we've lost a lot of people that both have known for years and there are a lot of connections. You're connected to a lot of people either through interviews, either through working with them or they worked for you or with you and you're right. The older you get, the more you see this, the more you see the transformations and
in their lives and their lives evolving. You know, I've had the paper long enough, you know, I'm covering kids that graduated from high school, got married, you know, celebrating their 50th anniversary, the pictures in the paper now, and even running into paper boys. And when I first had the paper, they're now retired. So what's that say about me?
You are a veteran. You are a long serving member of the community. I also read with interest that you heard from Robert Oaks's family. I want to point something out. And this is interesting because Robert Oaks was not the superintendent of district 61 in any time during my career here on the radio. I didn't start doing the radio show until 1996. I think he retired in 88 something like that. Yeah. But if you look at his service from
66 to 88, right? And then you look at, like, say, from then to now, there's probably 21 superintendents after his very lengthy service. It's part of the problem, I think, with public education in general. Well, I think so. And Bob certainly, I know him in fact,
You know, we started as superintendent the same year that I started as publisher of the paper. So there was kind of we talk about connections. There was that connection. But in all the years that I covered him that he was there almost 20 years, you know, he was always very accessible.
He was always very approachable. If you saw him on the street or anything, and he worked well with whatever school boards he had. He understood what they were about. But he also had the vision for the community and for the district, and he wanted to run it in the best way possible. Yeah. And I also, I feel like at the same time, you know, there were people, the city managers that were that way. Yeah. You think we're like less alum?
He was there for a long time. Yeah, I feel like not that everything in the past is better. A lot of things were awful and we've improved in a lot of areas, but this stuff of kind of coming in for 18 months or two years and then the next person comes in and the next person and everybody wants to start over and I don't know how you build any continuity.
Well, you don't. I think that's true in business and everything else in public service. And I think Bob Boaks, he was here before he was superintendent. I mean, people knew him. He knew the system. He knew the school district. He knew what it was about and what should be done. And sometimes we don't have people with those kinds of roots in the community and those kinds of connections. And I think, you know, those are important. I think someone mentioned to me the other day, he said, well, when you write about
Roosevelt and those you were there. He said someone coming from the outside has never experienced it. It works both ways. You can get old and stale too. I mean, there's no magic answer one way or the other, but I just can't help but think about some of these areas that we probably need a little more long-term stability. Yeah.
Well, yeah, and I think I think we probably need both. You know, we need new ideas coming in, but we need that we need the experience. We need the wisdom from being here and seeing what's happening in the community, seeing things that have been tried before and what they didn't work. But you need that, you know, that energy and that new vision for a community coming in and the combination of the two. I think that's what moves the community forward. Yeah, finding that balance. Yeah. And it's, you know, over the years,
There's always two sides of this argument, it seems. I'm in the middle that I think both work, you know, but there's always people that always want you to promote from within, you know, they always want a local person to get the job. And then there are people like, no, no, no, no, you got to go out and find the best person and bring the brain power to the community. I think you can either one works if you have the right person.
I think that's right. I think in indicator over the years, it seems it may have changed now. It seems that promoting from within and the police department and the fire.
for the most part as work pretty effectively. I think we've had the last three police chiefs are as good as we've had. Yeah, I would agree. And that President police chief, you know, I was supporting him before they even named him. He came up and talked to me that this is the right guy. He knows what's going on. Is professional demeanor? You know, like just coming in here doing an interview on air or doing a press conference.
But even more so private conversations, there's, there's, I feel like he is as solid as there is. I also feel like he's probably getting close to retirement. Yeah. Well, yeah. And I think that the ability that that he has in communicating, you know, sometimes you don't find that in a police chief, you know, they're, and we've had some way in the distance. Oh, not all of this. Yeah. That this would not communicate. And I think when you have someone who knows what he's doing, he has the experience
and he can communicate in this day and age what's going on and uh... it makes a big difference and that's what you look for and he's just a common sense guy uh... and i i i really appreciate his service you know with with law enforcement you know we you know you you max out on pensions at a relatively young age just because the way the job is right and so the incentive to keep doing things you know really isn't there and it's a tough hard job for a very long time
And so they're able to retire earlier than most folks. But I hope he sticks around. I really do. And I'm a big fan of the last three. We've really, I thought, had really, really good service from there. But he did stop by. He was on the air with us. It was a last week, Nick. It was a couple weeks ago. It's been an
with the statistics, which, you know, let's have a little round of applause. When you bring down everything across every category, job, well done. Yeah. Well, and two, he made it a personal point that I received those two. He wanted me to have that information.
And I think the fact you get in front of a lot of potential problems when you communicate and you release information that's important to show the public where you are as a department, where the community is. And he's really good at doing that. Yes, he is. It has been. You know, some people are good at it at the beginning, meaning like, hey, I'm new to the job. So I want. And then some people just do it consistently, even, you know, all the way through to the end. Yeah. And I mentioned when he was just on the trial period,
He came to talk to me and down at the newspaper office about you know about what he saw in the job and everything else and And before the city manager made him the police chief I mean I was writing in the paper. This is the guy that you want I was very impressed with him and still am well, there you go We kind of went full circle and all that without trying it just sort of happens that way in life sometimes interesting stuff You were
I don't know if you've talked to the DPS 61 folks. They were in is an interesting podcast. You can go listen to it. Go to the buyers of company interviews is the easiest way to find it. But we had the assistant superintendent in along with a community member. Sonia from Memorial who is serving as a citizen capacity. This committee, they put together to look at the year 2030.
back to this kind of Bob Oakes thing in this discussion. The big question I have is that, you know, the current superintendent is retiring at the end of her contract. There's a school board election coming in just a little bit. I mean, like, literally, right, a couple months, if even that. Yeah, not long. And how do you plan
You know, and they've got an op. They're inviting the community out. We'll give you the dates and times of that as a reminder because I do think people should participate. I just, how do you build continuity with somebody going out?
Obviously somebody new is coming in or promote from within. And you don't know who the school board is going to be. And the school board really determines who the superintendent is going to be. You know, it makes it almost impossible to plan, doesn't it? Well, it does. I think at this point, and it's been that way for the last, you know, four, five, six years, the school board would just have a calm, almost a constant turnover.
of school board members. You know, we do. And there's not a lot of stability and length of time there as we've talked earlier. I think that's kind of important in the board and it's important in selecting the next superintendent. How do you plan and how do you have that vision unless you kind of know what you're dealing with people-wise?
And it's not ideal. No one's. It's not like they're choosing. I mean, this is just the situation that presents itself. You know, it wasn't like anybody made a bad decision. It's just, you know, it is what it is. I think that's why it's important for the candidates, you know, for those board positions.
Maybe to get rid your attention between now and election day because we need to know what they're about if we're going to understand what the vision is going to be about. Well, Nick and I had the chance to meet one of them who's running Old King's Orchard a couple of weeks ago, very impressed with him. And that guy's got a passion about kids. And that's what I want. Oh, yeah. I want somebody that cares. Yeah. I mean, cares about results and cares about, you know, that the kids are the most important thing.
That's the qualification I'm looking for. And you go from there. If the kids are the most important aspect of this to a school board member, you can build from that then. What's best for the kids? What's best for me? What's best for me is what's best for the kids? One final email from Mark this morning, who literally his daughter is a pilot. We interact all the time.
but had a near miss collision several years ago with an F-16 while landing in Charlotte, South Carolina. She flies for United Airlines. Then, according to him, some of the problems is that commercial and military operate on different radio frequencies. And, you know, so there's not as much communication as you might think there would be across both.
And then he also mentions that the challenger see everybody really I mean you mentioned the challenger and we've heard now from like six people this morning about their memories of where they were when that happened and they were in Florida to watch the challenger launch they spent two days that were both scrub because of weather and then their vacation was over and they came back and it just got in home when the explosion happened so they were down there for two days trying to watch the original launch Wow
But you just go back like that, right? Yeah. Well, I think also my oldest son is a pilot flies all over the country. And anytime anything like this happens, it just kind of takes you back. I wonder where he is right now. Yeah. And it's just there's a connection. And that's true of all of us. It really is. We're connected by community. We are. We'll go get our cars.
Yeah. So this is over. That's right. And not thanks to us. Yeah, exactly right. All right, Paul. We appreciate it. Thank you for being here today. Pick up a copy of the Decatur Tribune. A lot of great memories and look back at the day the music died. Nick's got your three day forecast. We'll be back with more right after this. Here's a look at your WSLY three day weather forecast today. Rain likely, mainly after 2 p.m. Some fog and cloudy.
high of 46 tonight rain and possible thunderstorms overnight. Some patchy fog and cloudy again with a low around 41 for Friday rain and fog in the morning and then cloudy high of 48 Saturday, partly sunny with a high near 46 her temperature in downtown Decatur, 33 degrees. Your WSLI time is 728 and this look at your weather. It's brought to you by
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Now, the Rock Springs Nature Center is inviting the public to an event to get to know the center's educational animal ambassadors. This Sunday at 2, you can meet the Nature Center's resident snake, turtles, frogs, and rabbit. Guests will learn about these animals' wild counterparts, discover what it takes to care for them, and assist staff with a feeding. It's $5 for person. Space is limited. You need to register by tomorrow.
you can do so at maconcountyconservation.org. With Valentine's Day coming up, the FBI is reminding the public that online relationships are not always as they appear, people can and do fall prey to romance scams, where a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim's affection and trust with the illusion of a romantic or close relationship, then they steal the victim's money, personal or financial info, or even items of value. For tips on how to keep something like this from happening to you, visit our website now Decatur.com.
This is a Fox News alert. I'm CJ Poppa. It's now a recovery effort following a midair collision of a U.S. Army Blackout helicopter and an American Airlines jet, moments from landing at Reagan National Airport, DC, Washington, DC, Mayor Burial Bowser. Oh, very sad. We are for American Airlines or the United States Department of Defense.
And for all Americans who are the laws of life officials do not believe there are any survivors American airline CEO Robert Isum. We're absolutely heartbroken for the family and loved ones of the passengers and crew members. And also for those that were on the military aircraft. Now, the airport expected reopen at 11 am Eastern. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy says the plane broke up into three sections ending up in the icy Potomac River. America's listening to Fox News.
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Here's a look at your WSOI three-day weather forecast today
Rain is likely after two p.m. Some patchy fog then after that. Otherwise mostly cloudy in a high near forty six tonight rain and possible thunderstorms overnight patchy fog and cloudy low of forty one for Friday rain and fog in the morning to start the day. Then mostly cloudy high of forty eight and Saturday partly sunny with a high near forty six current temperature in downtown Decatur thirty three degrees. Your WSOI time is seven thirty three.
on sports on W. S O Y 13 40 a.m. And 103.3 FM streaming live at now, Decatur dot com. Each and every weekday morning, we have the great fortune to check in with Mark Tupper and Tupper on sports. I'll start with the Align. I. Try this again. I don't have any idea.
right. It's been a week long thing, Brian. You know, we've we've got some gremlins running around clearly not following those gremlin rules. OK, let's start with the line. Well, back at it tonight and back at it, short handed still again. However you want to say it, Senator Tommy, he was such will miss his third straight game as he deals with mono and other people on the team are still
fighting the flu bug. So we'll see how this is. Illinois looked lost without Tommy even such the first game that he missed and then had a couple of days to work on some adjustments.
And the biggest of which involved Senator Mares Johnson. Mares was a non-factor in the loss to Maryland and then was probably the star of the game last Sunday when they pretty much destroyed Northwestern. And it's clear that they need Mares to be a difference maker without Tommy out there. He is first and foremost a big time rebounder who offers muscle and rim protection inside. But he can be a clever finisher offensively around the basket. He's not going to
be a 30 point guy, but he can be a, you know, 12 to 15 point guy with a bunch of rebounds and some blocked shots. And then when he needs a breather, Ben Hummerkhouse, who's a six nine forward can slide in there. The bottom line is you're watching Morez Johnson grow.
out of necessity. And I always say that the best thing that can happen for you, I say this in sports, but it's also true just in life, is if you get pushed outside your comfort zone. And then you grow whether you like it or not. It may be some stumbling along the way, but after that process has moved along, you're better for it. And Perez Johnson is going to be a better basketball player because Tommy Eva Sitch isn't out there. Nebraska is
inconsistent, but dangerous at home. This is a team that comes in on a six game losing streak. They they have beaten some good teams and they've been in some very close games. They lost to that same Maryland team that clobbered Illinois. They lost to them 69 66.
They lost to Iowa and overtime. They beat UCLA. They beat Indiana. Their best player is Bryce Williams. He's a 6 7 senior guard. Very good player. 18 points a game. So it's 7 30 this evening at Lincoln, Nebraska. Can listen to the game here on WS. So why you can watch it over on Fox Sports one.
It means that we will have a short sport talk show tonight will be on from five to five thirty and then go straight into the extended pregame show. And we also learned I told you yesterday about Taren Shannon having his jersey retired on February 15th as part of the Michigan State game. And now we learn that they are also going to retire Kofi Komerans.
Jersey four days before that on February 11th against UCLA. So that will be two very exciting things to happen to really good Illinois basketball players. All right. And I can't wait for that. We'll be sending winners to see that in person to both of those games. This look at Tupper on Sports brought you by First National Bank. Visit Matt Beavers and the friendly team at FMB.
Hi, I'm Dave Koszinski, CEO of Investment Planners and IPI Wealth Management. At IPI, integrity and ensuring significance and peace of mind are the key to the way we do business. Our clients trust us to take care of their investments and it is our responsibility to work with business partners that will help us do just that. First National Bank is one of those partners. FNB's Quality Service and two Decatur branches provide us the stability we need to accomplish our mission. Thanks, FNB. First National Bank, member FDIC.
back here with Mark Tupper and Tupper on Sports. All right, the lead up to the Super Bowl. This is the Super Bowl week before the Super Bowl week, and I never know what we're supposed to do this week. Do we read up and study the teams? The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. Do we wait a week to do that? Do we? Do we push the?
Football to the back burner for a few days. Do we plan the party? Do we hope we're not invited to a party? That's me. I don't I don't want to be around people to watch the Super Bowl.
Do we, I read this story about there being more visible security presence in New Orleans and I hated that somebody had to write that story, but you know what they do and that's going to be part of the story, this Super Bowl week. It's sad, but it's true. I said I would not pick against Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes ever again in one of these big games and I'm spending part of this week
thinking I might ignore my own rule the more I consider.
Philadelphia and Saquan Barkley, and all that they have going for them as a team. I think they're the better team, but I still go back to the Patrick Mahomes rule. And so next week we'll see, we'll get to some point in the week when I'll make a decision and announce it. But I hope all of you are pondering that as well. So it's a weird time, I think, this two week.
break leaves us as one brute one week when we just don't know what the heck to do. And that's where we are right now. A reminder a shortened version of Sport Talk tonight will be on from five to five thirty. We'll cram as much as we can in as possible and then get you right over to the Illinois. Pre-game show Illinois Nebraska that tip off is at seven thirty could listen to it right here. All right Mark have a great day. We'll check in with you first thing tomorrow morning. Can't wait. All right. We've now replaced the frozen tundra.
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So not only are they giving you this unbelievable stuff, they're sponsoring things. They're involved. They're a part of our community. It's the best of both worlds. We'll take a break and when we get back, don't forget, giving away tickets for this weekend. And by the way, we're giving away tickets for those two games Mark just talked about. So users see Cofy's number retired or 10. We're going to have people there. Care to see the first mid ticket window. That's just an extra bonus. I love going to games like that.
where there's something really special. I mean, those are big marquee games that will have huge attention. The game itself, yes. And in terms of
wanting to celebrate a player, get the collectible that's going to be there, or be part of what is, to some degree, history or celebration history, those days work. And then sometimes they have little things are given away and, yeah, like commemoration of the shirt for tenant Shannon. And they have a bobblehead available. I didn't read the email that I got from Kofi. I just saw that it was happening. And I'm sure it's where those emails come from from the team.
from the there. It's probably because I have tickets now. I usually get the Alina. You know, feed stuff. Yeah, but they announced that yesterday. And I was like, Oh, that's pretty sweet. Yes. Those are fun. And I remember people doing that for Darren and Dee and all that stuff.
back in the day, Ephraim and people. And then between Kendall and Nick Anderson and on the whole flying a line. Yeah, for sure. Fun stuff. And I want to thank the folks first mid for operating the ticket window. We're giving away those tickets. And then when the Cardinals baseball season ramps up spring training about ready to start, we'll have tickets to give away. Hopefully a product that's worth going to see. It's probably not going to be great.
Well, you might also like the road team sometimes. That works out. Yeah. Check out the schedule. Look at those home games. And maybe you can see the doctor. You're going to go watch of Tony. Yeah, there you go. I'm going with Dodgers. Yeah. Well, that's, I think the Dodgers more than anyone simply because they have the greatest, maybe the greatest baseball player in the history of baseball, right? I mean, and the most ridiculous payroll of, I mean, there's loaded as a team. Yeah. But to be able to say, like, I got to see Hank Aaron hit two home runs, you know, in St. Louis.
Yeah, I saw Tony hit home run. That's what I'm saying. And that's and but but a special bonus because they're West Coast team that just rarely. Yeah. Yeah. You just don't get that much opportunity to see them the hours we keep here. Oh, yeah. I've made it a point to go see bonds. I made it a point to go see Sosa, made it a point to see Maguire and Tony and St. Louis has done that. I like watching the Cardinals, but you line up and see some of the greats. I like the ballpark village. I like the whole experience. Museum is great. Great. And if we're giving you the tickets,
Right. Enjoy the nachos. Yeah. Go to the museum. Go to the museum. Hit up the build a bear. Do whatever. I was going to ask you this. I'll do it on the other side of the break. Everybody. There was this whole online thing about Kansas City and their red fountains. You know, they turned the water red and everybody was like,
saying how tacky it was. This is a thing they've been doing down in the Cardinals land for a long time. Yeah. And I always thought it looked weird, but I never said anything. I didn't bother me. I just read just doesn't work with water. I mean, it's whiner blood or wine. That is blood. All right. Let's do the break. I just it's always if you go down opening day, you know, to see the Cardinals, they've got those red fountains all over the church.
And it's just always been a thing. And I've always kind of looked at like, yeah, really work. I'm a fan of Hawaiian punch. So I don't give a kiss. There's another alternative. It has to be blood. That's right. It doesn't be game of thrones. I see. Kool-Aid. Yeah. It's all that. We'll take a break. Nick's got your three day forecast. We'll be back with more right after this.
Today, it's going to be rainy after 2 p.m. And then foggy after that, mostly cloudy and a high of 46 tonight. Rain and thunderstorms overnight fog again and clouds low of 41 for Friday. Rain and fog in the morning, mostly cloudy, high near 48 and Saturday, partly sunny with a high near 46. Current temperature in downtown Decatur, 33 degrees. Your WSLY time is 747. This look at your weather. It's brought to you by Shainer's towing.
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You're listening to buyers and company streaming live at now. Decatur dot com.
All right, we're back here on a Thursday. Hope you're having a great start to your day. Nick just holds warmer temperatures and a little rain falling today and tomorrow. But man, I'm looking ahead 50s. Nice.
It's looking good. 50s. Okay. I'm going to give you a suggestion. I don't know. You're not a big fan of the challenge. There's two kinds of the challenge that airs every year. There's the challenge, you know, which is, I think they just wrapped up their 40th season. Now they do two a year. So it's kind of misleading. They haven't been doing it for 40 years. Right.
But there's the challenge all stars. And if you want a snack bite version of the challenge, like this only lasts like 10 weeks, I think, instead of like 18.
see that was that's my only hang up with the challenge. Plenty good formula. No, I get it. I get it. So this is a shorter version. It aired last night's episode one on MTV. You could set your DVR to record it or whatever. But here's the reason you might want to buy into this. And one of the things that I love first, it's called the challenge all stars. It's so you get a lot of the people that have been around a while and they know how to do it. Yes.
Now, here's the great addition and they've had some of these over the years and they announced it last night because the people participating didn't know until they got there. It's rivals. What does that mean, Brian? Rivals means you are teamed up with your worst enemy.
So the people who've had the biggest fallouts, the people who've had knocked down drag out fights, the people that have done unbelievably cruel things to each other now have to rely on each other as teammates. It's one of my favorite storylines in wrestling when they pull that out.
around survivor series. How are they going to coexist and come together and and you get those nice moments where it happens. And then you absolutely are waiting for that. I picked to go on and back. And there's nothing at all phony about this. There's different levels of hatred. You know, some probably will have some are just I don't know that I can do this. I don't know how I'm going to stay here. In some case, they cost them a lot of money, right? Here's your second twist. Now, we don't know yet.
in rivals in the past, it's gone both ways, but there is a potential to where the winning person, meaning the teammate who has the highest amount of points or however the keeping score can decide to keep all the money or split it with their partner and they make that decision at the very end. Big payback. That has happened. Yeah. Yeah. You've mentioned that. Yeah. So we don't know yet.
If that's the case, it's been a while since they've done that. I mean, there was a girl named Ashley who's back who took a million dollars and did not give a penny of it.
And it's not a partner teamed up with that person. I don't think it's the same, but, but yeah, but yes. So if you haven't given it a shot, this might be a good entryway, shorter version. Probably if you spend any time with the real world or road rules, you know, you sort of know these, some of these people, uh, the, the competition isn't, it's still tough, but it's not as stringent. Uh, and the whole rivals thing makes all kinds of fun. Just, you know, just that recipe. I like that. That sounds like fun.
just started last night. That's cool. That's a fun one. And then I watch special forces too. Oh, okay. That thing. You know, I think when they started last night and they're long, they're like two hour episodes. I was doing a shortened season, you know, just because they were down to eight people. Wow.
They're only like seven or eight days of their time into this. Right. And they've lost way more than half of the cast. That's the danger. I bet they have to straight up throttle it if it looks like they don't have the numbers. I mean, what are you going to do? And after three episodes, I'm wondering if maybe why they didn't do these double episodes. I don't know because it's like every week. It's like two hours.
Yeah, it's not a guarantee that there's going to be a lot of people there at the end. If any. Right. And some of those people bow out themselves. Some of those people get injured and they just can't continue for reliability reasons. Right. And you can't control that. Right. I like the formula. I like the show so far. I've watched this year. All right. I think if you like all that, this year is going to give you what they're going to give you what you want. Nice. What you want.
And then I told you about did you get a chance to check out any of the paradise? So we tried to watch it on the Xbox and it was crashing it just a long show. So we it's it's there It was meant to be played for whatever reason that show crashed the Xbox at an update overnight. So maybe it fixes
That's strange. I will. I don't know that it's strange. I've never watched anything through an Xbox. So I don't even know a lot of stuff through the Xbox, but I don't know if it's just the encoding or something. No big deal, but we're going to watch it. OK, for sure. Going to watch that. There's also a new show on Apple that I called Prime Target.
that the trailer looks really good. It just started and Apple drops their shows once a week. I don't know if the first maybe two episodes are available. I have not watched it, but if you're into that sort of edge of your seat thriller, Kid walks into some big smart kid, uncovers something now, the world after him kind of bang. OK, I like those shows. Yeah, if they're done well, yeah.
So it looks interesting. I just saw last night that it was available at least episode one such give a couple of things back to you know what I am good Nick Smith I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna start that from the beginning I know and you've told me that from day one and I have resisted it's fun I think trackers back to it is okay and the FBI's I was like
Yeah. Yeah. It's like a plethora, a treasure trove. Look, the premise that I didn't know that I thought kept me at bay. Yeah. They're episode ones, the nostalgia episode. And then there's bare, it's just barely a thing moving forward. I mean, barely. Yeah. But man, Kathy Bates is awesome in it.
I like her a lot. No, she carries the whole thing. Yeah, there's no doubt. I remember the very first time everybody thinks about misery, but not primary colors. She was so good at that movie. Misery, though, was like, oh, yeah, but there's the political operative in that movie that was loosely based on the Clintons. Yeah, you know, I loved her. And this show, she's very endearing like, like you'd think Angela Lansbury would be. Like, and then she's also kind of cutthroat. Yeah.
And she's vulnerable and she's strong, but she's also messed up. I mean, she does a whole range of what you wouldn't expect. It should just be paint by numbers. And she's actually pretty wide in her in her role. She's great. Great. All right. But I'm going to do that. I just have too many things on the plate right now. But I'm going to go back. I saw it had started up because there was a break in the CBS stuff.
for whatever reason, the holidays or whatever. And they're slowly kind of coming back now from the break. Not all of them are back. Tracker may not be back until. I mean, it's to the point where it's like, hey, get ready. Maybe it's next week. But I know the FBI's came back. I know Matlock came back. You see it kind of when you open the app. But yeah, after that winter break, new episodes are coming. Very exciting.
All right, let's do this. We're going to take a break for the top of the hour when we get back. I did read something yesterday that I thought, is this really a demand? You know, is a return of this thing really what people want?
I can't wait to hear what that is. All right. We'll do that. And we have a line I take is to give away for this weekend. Ohio State Sunday courtesy of the first mid ticket window. We'll be doing that in one hour back with more after this car home mobile device. We're there. W. S. O. Y. Decatur 13 40 a.m. And 103.3 FM streaming live at now. Decatur dot com. This is RJ Christ with your stories.
Now, Illinois Democrats are reintroducing a bill they say could make some medications more affordable. The legislation would create a prescription drug affordability board that could put price limits on prescription drugs.
The board would review high cost drugs and determine whether they're affordable. If not, the board could set an upper payment limit. Sponsors say price limits would make it so people wouldn't have to choose between groceries or medications. The Macon County Mental Health Board will hold focus on the future 2025 to spotlight the results of the recent unmet needs survey. That survey is still available through tomorrow. It's for anyone living or working in Macon County.
along with its use for the health board. Many social service organizations use the results of the survey to bring grant dollars to the community.
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