111424 6AM Thursday Byers and Co

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An early test of loyalty. I'm Chris Foster, Fox News. Some Senate Republicans say no way to President-elect Trump's choice for Attorney General Matt Gates, an now former Florida House Republican. House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed Matt Gates resigned from Congress shortly after Trump tapped him to be the next Attorney General. His resignation comes days before the House Ethics Committee.

was set to vote on releasing a potentially damaging report about him. The committee has been investigating the now former congressman for years for allegations including sex trafficking, drug use and accepting bribes, all of which he denies. Gates immediately faced some opposition from senators on both sides of the aisle.

with two Republican Senate sources telling Fox News he will never get confirmed. Fox's Brooks Singman Gates is one of several Republicans in Congress whose seats are opening up because they've been chosen to serve by President-elect Trump.

Party will now, for sure, control the White House, Senate, and House. Fox is with Jenkins. It was clinched after the House race in Arizona was called for GOP candidate Juan Siskamani, and it does bring that House balance of power to 218 to 208, with a handful of races still yet to be called. In the Pennsylvania Center race, Democrat Central Bob Casey refusing to concede to Republican Dave McCormick. And that's now going to an automatic recount.

There is life threatening flooding into forecast for Central America because of a late season tropical storm that could make its way to Florida, New Jersey's in its first declared droughts since 2016. Gusty wins also enhancing fire danger over areas that are experiencing extreme drought. What will soon be Tropical Storm Sarah moving into Central America will have to watch its development as the system is forecast to pop into the Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

I'm Jan Asteen, Fox News. Disney reports earnings slightly higher than expected. We get the labor department's report on wholesale prices this morning. America's listening to Fox News.

Have you ever thought about the causes, the brands that you support stand behind? Well, Pure Talk, my cell phone company supports veterans. They've relieved $10 million in veterans' debt, donated tens of thousands of dollars monthly to prevent veteran suicide, donated $50,000 to micro works, and that helps provide scholarships to veterans after active duty. Dial pound 250, say the keywords save now. Do it now. You save an additional 50% off your first month. Pure Talk, America's Wireless Company.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation welcome US Army specialist Brent Menard into a new mortgage-free smart home in Florida. Now, while on a road clearance mission in Afghanistan, well, Brett's vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosive device. Brett became a T4 Power Collegiate. Tunnel to Towers built him a specially adapted smart home that allows severely injured heroes like Brett to live more independently. We hope you'll donate 11 bucks a month so this great work can continue.

Just go to their website, the letter T, the number two, the letter T dot org. College athletic conference is being sued over a transgender player. Eleven female volleyball players and a coach are suing the Mountain West Conference and Commissioner for allowing a transgender athlete to play on the San Jose State volleyball team. Those suing allege the conference's new transgender participation policy is an attempt to chill and suppress the free speech rights of women athletes. Five teams have forfeited games this season in protest.

of competing against the biological nail player. The lawsuit seeks financial damages and is asking the court to issue a ruling before the Mountain West volleyball tournament scheduled for November 27 through 30th San Jose State University has not commented.

Sue Gussman Fox News. Texas House Republican Mike McCall says mixing ambient and alcohols while he was briefly detained at Dulles Airport in Virginia last week, appearing intoxicated. He explained to police he'd taken a pill to help him sleep on a flight back to Texas, but he inadvertently missed that flight. He also had an adult beverage, and McCall says that mixture left him disoriented. Police helped him phone a family member to pick him up.

In a statement, McCall says he has nothing but respect and gratitude for the officers who intercepted me, and he is determined to learn from this mistake. Fox's Jack Callahan, 14th in California, accused of staging a fake

insurance claims. Investigators say the teams claim the bear damaged the interiors of three high-end cars and submitted video footage to the insurer. But investigators later determining in the video that the bear was actually a man in a bear costume. The alleged fraud costing the insurance company's losses of more than $141,000. The four suspects all facing charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy.

Christian Mayo Fox News. A plan to charge to charge a toll to drive into the busiest part of Manhattan is being revived with a lower base price nine bucks instead of 15. It was due to it. It could affect the summer before being put on hold. Chris Foster Fox eight.

Football season is here and returning for year three is the United Way NFL Challenge, courtesy of Dale Southlake Pharmacy, Coley's Corner Drugs, BackTech, Goodfellas on Merchant, and Buick Real Estate's Cole Babcock. For a $5 donation each week, pick a winner in the NFL games. Pick the most right in a week, win 100 bucks, pick the most right for the season, and win even more cash. And join Johnny Asherman and Lance Amos in the Champions Club. Visit UWDecatur.org or United Way of Decatur's Facebook page for the weekly game card, year three of the United Way NFL Challenge.

you some money. Good morning. Here's a look at your news channel, 20 storm team forecast today, slight chance of some morning showers cloudy and high 54 tonight. Mostly cloudy low around 41 for Friday, partly sunny, high near 56 and Saturday, some patchy fog early, then mostly sunny with a high of 58.

current temperature in downtown Decatur, 50 degrees, your WSOI time of 606.

you.

Good morning and welcome to a misty start to our day here in downtown Decatur Paul Osborne City Hall insider Mark Topper and Tupper on Sports. A little later today, United Way update with Debbie Bogle. The Thursday company starts now. Buyers and company W. S. O. Y. 13 40 a. M. 103. 3 FM streaming live at now Decatur.com.

Good morning and welcome on the bright side of that 50 degrees.

Yeah, it is definitely November 14th. Yeah, we'll take the temperature. Can we get the yuck away? It's going to be it looks like it's going to get out of here and then not too bad. The rest of the week, 57 59 62 62 65 not any rain in the forecast again until next Wednesday. So that's good. Good news for football on the weekend for high school sports. People are normally bundling up and wearing stocking hats and everything else.

And it looks like Saturday is going to be almost 60 degrees. So that's fun. A quick reminder of our sports programming for this weekend today. Well, we have NFL football on over on our.

sister station, the commanders versus the Eagles. That sounds like a pretty good game. Yeah, great game. And then on Saturday, we've got the pre football game show at 11 30 right here on W. So why for the University of Illinois? And then they take on Michigan State 12 30 pre game and then

the high school playoff action will be happening on W. D. Z. Quincy Notre Dame at Maro foresight one forty five pregame and then following that game out Zion at Breeze Central with a four forty five pregame or immediately following the end of the Maro foresight game. It should line up OK as long as I'm going to get some wacky, you know, double overtime game. Worst case scenario we join in progress, but you get both games back to back.

on WD-Z, Fox Sports 1, 1050, or the Nauticator app. If you're traveling or out and about and you want to keep up with what's happening on the local front, you can certainly do that. I was reading a very interesting report yesterday that was sent to me. We get all this stuff sent to the news email address.

And it is a US mobile phone market size and household spin report for the year 2024. And it breaks down what the average spend is per month in mobile phone bills and what that looks like around the rest of the state in comparisons. And then how many households in the Decatur market

have mobile phones. You know, you kind of feel like regardless of income level, this is a thing that most people have. And in fact, this study says 92% of households have a mobile phone plan. And the average spend is $132 per month. I believe that's that about right to you. Yeah. And I think it would be considerably higher if the budget carrier programs didn't exist where

You know, a family is spending $300 a month, but there's a household that's spending 60. Yes. And so the averages get brought down considerably.

in that regard. Yeah, I think that's probably right. And I don't know how all that works. They all, you know, must be renting, you know, space or something. I mean, they don't have their own networks or sometimes you have, you see the ads and I don't know what the, you know, I've been they're all owned by the big carriers. That's why I assume, right? The companies are so like Ryan Reynolds companies. A lot of them have been consolidated. And then there are some that are independent.

But most of them are owned by the big companies and the whole thought is that, hey, we have it and they're not going to be able to spend 150, but we can get 30 bucks out of them. So let's get 30 bucks out of them. Sounds cynical, but that's probably. That's what it is. All right. So and then I was looking beyond just the cell phones and the Decatur residents spend

$1,583 a month or that is $18,997 per year on the 10 most essential household bills. So your power, your, you know, that, and that is 26% lower than the national average. Yeah, I believe that per month spending. Yeah, I believe that.

affordability cost of living. These are the things that factor in when you're thinking about economic development from a 30,000 foot view. And is it more expensive? And I'm going to dig into the report a little bit. I mean, if you go over to Champagne or you go up to Bloomington, that number is considerably higher. And so when people are making choices about where they live,

versus where they work and we live in such a, you know, post COVID where work isn't the way work always was and still isn't and won't ever be again about, you know, here's your cubicle and you're here five days a week from eight to five and where does the spouse work and as we recruit people to move to these communities and take these future jobs.

at the same time doing all we can and workforce development to lift people up here in the communities that are already here to take these jobs. It's going to have to have a mix of both if you hit an economic boom or this. I fab thing turns out the way many people think that it could turn out. So you know you start looking at cost of living and what does

Well, how much house can I buy here versus there for the same cost? What's my cost of living in this community with a 20 minute commute or a 30 minute commute? Those three days a week that I go and the other two that I work remote, all of these things are very different today than they were 10 years ago. Yeah, at proximity and time or things that people are really interested in and for in multiple different directions. So you could look at it like, for example, you're right.

I could get a big house and live in Decatur and I could work in Bloomington. I can work in Rhode Island. It doesn't matter. This is a place where I could live. The cost of living is good. And that's a positive. The negative could be, hey, I could spend a little more or percentage more and live 45 minutes away where they already had the higher population so they have more retail. And so I could already reap the benefits instead of getting in early here. And so there are different reasons.

But now they're going in all directions and they can all be kind of sold as one in the same. That's exactly right. And you decide that you're not going to choose for them. I think that's the way it used to be. The mentality was, well, you're going to come do this. And now smart companies have figured out, we want you to come. We're going to allow you to figure out what that looks like.

And if you look at the state of Illinois, household bills are 4% higher than the national average as a whole. They cater Illinois 26% lower.

I mean, this, that's, that's Illinois math. It's easy math to understand. Sure. It is where population centers are in larger communities and all of that. But if you look at neighboring communities, I mean, Champaign Decatur Bloomington Decatur isn't Chicago Decatur. I mean, that's right in the middle of a, of a place where one is struggling to keep up with real estate, you know, and prices are surging because there's all demand and no property. You know what happens there. And so there's, I think some smart

investment sort of strategies here to make this sort of a choice that people would go, Oh, you mean, I can get 20% more house and my bills are 26% lower. And I'm only a 35 minute commute to work. Yeah. That's living in the burbs. Yeah, essentially. Yep. With ease with the no traffic commute.

It's just a straight line commute. Yeah, you're not sitting in a car burning gas. Yeah, 35 minutes battery. Yeah, 35 minutes. And from here to Springfield is drastically different in Chicago where it's 35 minutes to go two miles, sometimes three miles. You know, it's a different mental sort of thing. No doubt about it. Now, those those essentials that they were talking about, the breakdown is mortgage or rent, auto loan, utilities, auto insurance, mobile phone.

cable or satellite health insurance life insurance alarm and security. It's pretty extensive. Look at what your bills might look like. And sure, some people are going to have more. Some people are going to have less. But on average, Decatur looks pretty good. So I just thought it was an interesting little stat as we start thinking about.

what the next 10 years looks like here in the central Illinois area, and in particular when it comes to that corridor between here and Champaign and this IFAB deal and the projects that are in the works here locally, Nova Feed coming online fully, all of those different things. And when you recruit people for a very specialized thing like that, and I'm talking about management or executives, they don't know the difference between Decatur, Champaign and Bloomington. That's right.

Yeah, it's Illinois, not Chicago, which is what it is. Everything else. It's all the southern part of the state. And it might as well be in terms of what it looks like. It might as well be Indiana, Missouri, or Ohio. I mean, how do we know any of that? You might know the politics. You might know. But I mean, really, when you're in the Midwest, if you're not in one of the big cities, you're mostly in the Midwest.

Yeah, I think you're right. But I generically to the outside or somebody else from New York. I would tell you that Indiana is very different from Illinois. And I mean, I had family growing up to live in Indiana, but I really learned that more from just our time.

with our friends over in Lafayette. You know, there's a whole bunch of similarities. Caterpillar is there. Premium is there. You know, there's a major big 10 university there. It's just a different speed. I mean, I know I family lives there, but I mean, if I live in, you don't know that if you're coming from New York and if you're driving through, if the signs don't tell you by and large, you didn't know you left one state and went to the other. No, if you live there, you'd know drastic differences, no question, but

And then I don't know what, you know, politics plays a role in those kind of things you choose. I mean, clearly we're one of the few blue states, you know, in around a whole bunch of red states, but then downstate is different than upstairs, you know, even in those when you look at the map. So anyway, it's harder.

I wish I'm one of those 300. I mean, I've got three phones on it. So it's not like one phone. I mean, it is a family package plan. And it, you know, when you finally pay off all the phones and you do everything else, you know, it comes down to a fairly reasonable amount. Yeah. Yeah. For what you get, it can be pretty decent. As important as it is to your life. I wouldn't even call it important. I'd call it really essential. Yeah. You know, and that's one of the things that

people when they talk about social services and things like that, they go, well, why don't you sell your phone and fix your life? It's like, how would you fix your life without a phone? Yeah, what do you do? I mean, there's almost nothing you can do. And we're not going the other way. No. Access Internet is almost access to the Internet in this world where everything is where sometimes it's mandatory. You have to go online to do this. That is something that has become

increasingly important in all the way to the point of we've got to make sure people have access to the Internet. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And that's the easiest gateway to it. And the most affordable. Sure. I mean, your Internet bills higher than, you know, or as high as your phone bill. Oh, yeah. All right. I wanted to say rest in peace to Theodore Olson, Ted Olson, who was

This is just bear with me for a second here. An interesting man. We had him on the show at one time after a very conservative career, you know, involved in stuff against the Clintons and all of that. Literally the Bush versus Gore, just about any sort of legal, historical kind of thing went on.

literally to be one of the along with a Democrat lawyer counterpart that they had fought each other in court to really go out full on to before same sex marriage and equality. I mean, it was like a complete

shock, I think, to some, but he was just that kind of guy. You know, he worked alongside Lawrence Tribe, you know, who was like the left version of this, and they had a great mutual respect. David DuBois, I mean, all of these big names. And we had him on the show when they when they broke that book and they went out and did that thing. And many Republicans were upset and all that.

But it was interesting because I had the chance to interview him. But years ago, I had the chance to interview his wife, Barbara Olson, who was at the time, like on Fox News, not like a contributor. But she was in the plane on 9-11 and died during the terrorist attacks. I believe she was on the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. And it was just a weird connection to have a big world like that and to have had

Yeah, 10 minutes to talk to these people in real life. And you sort of look at their place in history and all of them, how all of that ended up working out. It's just an odd thing in my life. And I saw he passed away yesterday from a stroke at the age of 84. He was, you know, there's calm lawyers and there's the lawyers that like try to breathe fire. Oh, yeah. He was one of those very, you could just tell he was really smart and he didn't have to agree with everything. But I just love the fact that in an older age, he went

against political grain to go do something he felt very passionate about and thought that it was important, teamed up with an old rival to be able to sort of push that. And it's like you're never too old, you know, to have different thoughts about things. And I just thought he was an interesting guy. So I passed away yesterday and then it reminded me of his wife Barbara so long ago. So long ago.

down. I mean, 911. I don't know. Yeah. United flight 93. Hang on one second. And I will tell you, I had some notes here. And then I forgot to be honest with you. Um, his birthday is September 11th. Here's the weird. Oh my goodness. That's certainly. And her original plan was to fly to California on September 10th.

But she delayed her departure until the next mornings because she wanted to be able to wake up with her husband on his birthday. So she, the day she died, you know, those stories. I mean, they were told thousands of times. She was on the American Airlines flight 77. The Pentagon crash into the Pentagon on his birthday, September 11. So the story even is even stranger full circle kind of thing. And that is very, very strange.

those decisions that you make in life and you have no idea the consequences. I mean, she wouldn't know, you know, I mean, I guess she would in those last moments, you know, on that plane. But I just thought all of that was so interesting to me and how you get an intersection in that just some brief way. And there are more human beings to you because you've spoken to them. And I mean, you know them or clothes or anything like that. I just want to saw you passed away yesterday. Maybe think back about all that long time.

Well, rest in peace. All right. Nick's got your three day forecast. We'll be back with more. Hopefully the rain is out of here by this morning. There's a little bit of mist in downtown, but warmer temperatures. Today, we've got a slight chance of some rain in the morning. It'll be cloudy the rest of the way. I have 54 then tonight, mostly cloudy with a low of 41 Fridays, partly sunny, high near 56 and Saturday. Some patchy fog to start, then mostly sunny, high near 58.

Current temperature in downtown Decatur, 50 degrees. Your WSOI time is 624. And this look of your weather brought to you by Shop on Maine downtown Decatur. Modern looks old-fashioned pampering. Get ready to shine this holiday season with Shop on Maine and the party shop for Pink Friday, a nationwide celebration of local boutiques. Kick off the festivities with a sip and shop event on Thursday, November 21st, from 4 to 6 p.m. Enjoy Pink Champagne

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Experience playoff football fever with the Meroa Forsyth Trojans in the Brinkotter Realtors Game of the Week on WSOI 1340 AM, 103.3 FM, and streaming at nowdecatur.com. Brought to you by Dale Southlake Pharmacy and Coley's Corner Drugs, immerse yourself in high school playoff football with the Meroa Forsyth Trojans during the Brinkotter Realtors Game of the Week on WSOI. Stream the game on your smart speaker for nowdecatur.com.

You have no idea how weird that is that you just played this song. Why is that? Because I have an article pulled up in front of me from Rolling Stone magazine about a new documentary this month appearing on HBO called Yacht Rock, a documentary as in

Yeah. And it is directed by Garrett Price looks at the history and legacy of this genre of music, which is spearheaded by a handful of superman talented musicians. It looks like Michael McDonald, Chris Cross, Toto.

I'm in. Are you really? It would be fun to watch. Just I don't get a sense. I think everybody has their own definition of what fits in the rock. Like it's not clearly defined to me. It may be very well defined to others, but it seems like that kind of moves a little like what I thought it was and then like what it is today. It's a term has been around a long time, but it's just so funny that that was like completely not coordinated at all.

And there you have it. Wow, that's pretty cool. I mean, there's my screen. It happens. Sell the dulcic tides of yacht rock in this new documentary trailer. They've got the trailer up for it. I think it makes its debut on HBO at the end of the month, November 29th, which by the way, that's what is that? The Friday of Thanksgiving, you know, so you got kind of that five day weekend. Everybody could take time to take that in.

That's awesome. Speaking of taking that in last night, I was like, Oh, I'm going to watch cross. And then I get there and it's it's tonight, not last night. Hey, when you're off by a day. Oh, yeah. Because I said, I mean, I was like, all right, let's wrap things up early so we can get one episode in. Yeah. Didn't happen. Yeah. Same thing tonight is the day of the Jackal makes his premiere on Peacock crosses on Amazon. Yep. And that one I'm really looking forward to. I read all those books many years ago.

about the detective and of course he was most famously in the movies with Morgan Freeman came a spider yeah all of those something the girls kiss the girls yeah and the characters they didn't really they made Morgan Freeman the star and they didn't really build the world around him the way the books were and I watched I went on the

card on Amazon Prime. And I got a sense from the little three minute snippet that auto played that they wanted you to look at the baddies and the they weren't as focused on Aldous Hodge or I guess Alex Cross.

as much as they were like, look at the scenery and what world you're gonna get into. So I think maybe they're being conscious. No, in the trailer though, they, you know, they introduced you to John Sampson, they introduced you to the mom and the kids, you know, because he lost his wife and he's raising. You know, so they didn't do that in the Morgan Freeman movies. They just stuck very much to the procedural and they were good. I know they wrong with them. But if you got to know the Alex Cross world, there was, it came with this whole family.

And this best friend, you know, that it was also in law enforcement that they came up together. And those were integral characters in the stories. And then the trailer that I've seen for the show, it looks like they're going to build that world for you. Absolutely. And they've had such success with this.

Yeah. I mean, creating books and turning them into very successful series. Several of them are doing very well on Amazon in particular. It's almost like they just leaned into this niche. You know, you've got Reacher. You know, you've they went back to the Tom Clancy well and did, you know, brings the power. Yeah. Also from books. So they do this pretty well, at least so far. I'm looking forward to it. So that's tonight. You're not going to watch Thursday night football.

My team doesn't play. You don't care. Nope. At least the commander's team is interesting to me. I might peek at that. And they're playing the Eagles. So that seems like kind of some great history there and rivalry and good game. Good teams right now. Yep. I don't have to be my choice. It'll be on how tired Lindsey. I'm not fooling anyone. I won't be making any of those choices. I will watch what I will watch.

And I'll enjoy it. All right, we'll think break for bottom of the hour. When we get back here, a lot to get to. Stay tuned, folks.

As Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Federman speaking to reporters, Gates resigned his house seat yesterday. His resignation comes days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a potentially damaging report about him. The committee has been investigating the now former congressman for years for allegations, including sex trafficking, drug use, and accepting bribes. As Fox's Brooks Singman, Trump also selecting former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence.

and Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State and Republicans officially keep control of the House. America is listening to Fox News.

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Every holiday season, St. Mary's Hospital lights up the night sky with our Christmas star. Each light on the star honors a loved one. On Thursday, December 5th at 6 p.m., we'll gather for a special evening at St. Mary's Hospital. Names of those being honored will be read. We'll share in prayer and song. And you can purchase a light on the Christmas star at nowdecatur.com. We hope you'll join us as we celebrate this holiday tradition, community tradition, family tradition. The St. Mary's Christmas Star.

All right, what are the next three days look like today's light chance of morning showers cloudy in a high of 54 tonight, mostly cloudy low around 41 for Friday, partly sunny, high near 56 Saturday. Some patchy fog to start then mostly sunny, high near 58 current temperature in downtown Decatur, 50 degrees. Your W so why time is 633.

You're listening to fires and company streaming live at now Decatur.com. This Michael Strahan thing, I don't know if you've followed this at all. I wasn't going to mention it earlier in the weeks. I thought, what is the big deal? I didn't understand why.

And evidently it continues to be a deal online with people hating on one of the I seems to be most likable people that's come out of sports in years.

evidently he was standing alongside his fellow broadcasters football game and anthem was playing and they had their hand on their heart and he was kind of lost in the moment. You know, I don't know preparing for whatever and didn't realize or whatever. I can tell you as a member of the media when you go to things and you're doing things and the cameras on or off and the mics are on or off. It's a whole different thing than being in an audience like that's sitting there watching the performance and okay, now ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem.

uh... and his dad was military his whole family was military was the military day or one of those you know they do that thing with the nfl down on the above the carrier and every yes and so it turns into this huge uproar i say huge meaning the people that do this uh... and he said to come out now and you know uh... clarify and apologize in and i saw headline in the athletic that i thought was absolutely one of some accurate uh...

The only reason you're mad at this is because you just want to be mad. There's no, there's nothing here. There's no protests. There's no, there's no signaling of anything other than the guy was just kind of lost in the moment and didn't realize the situation. I mean, and people get stuck with their hat on, you know, they forget to take it off. You see the guy go, Oh,

you know, you've got your, you're literally have barbecue sauce all over your hands. You got a train. Whatever. There's a million circumstances. But as a member of the media, I can tell you when you're at something that's going on, you don't, you're not always plugged into the thing that's going on the same way.

and audiences. I mean, when he said what he said, it clicked with me. Like, I can remember being at something and taking photographs. And the whole story was about, you know, Memorial Day or whatever. And that includes taking pictures like when the National Anthem is playing. You're not there as a participant, you're there as a reporter. And I'm not saying this things are the same, but I know what he's saying. Yeah.

I mean, when you're when you're actively like, I'm on the clock and I'm working directly like in the photo, make myself as small as I can out of the way. Try not to be interrupted. Don't make any noise. In his case, I met he's quote, unquote, at his desk, shuffling his papers, prepping for the next segment, getting ready or whatever. I mean, it's the same thing. I guess he needed the for all intents and purposes probably needed to be camera ready at most times.

I have no problem with him or that or any of that. I don't necessarily agree with the idea that you just want to be mad. I think that I understand why someone might feel that way, although I don't agree with it even 1%. I think that if you if if you just want to take whatever it is you're mad about from before and apply to this because he's a former player or he's black or whatever, I think is incredibly

Hey, you don't know anything about him as a human being like like that. He hasn't earned any sort of cache of goodwill because he's just a good dude who comes from a military family. I mean, I just I don't know. I think and you know, maybe we just disagree on this. I just think there's a whole bunch of people out there that wake up every day and can't wait to be outraged by something. Sure. I think there's definitely some of that. And if

in the cases where someone's just mad because there's something there to be mad about in general. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not saying universally. But then if you're still mad after he's, is it still going on? Yeah, that's dumb. I'm not on board with that. I don't, I mean, I can see where someone might be miffed by it initially. And then you sort of look into and go, Oh yeah, I guess he was working or I already know who the man is and I've grace for it. Yeah, I don't, I just, you,

You will see every time you go where there is a national anthem played, someone will forget to take their hat off. And it's not because they're trying to do something. I don't think I've ever been anywhere with any size of a crowd where it didn't happen. And there's just this realization, you know, oh crap, my hat's still on. You didn't do it as some sort of posture or some statement. You just forgot you were wearing the damn thing. Right.

What is the bit about he assaulted a reporter asking about him? Do you do you know about that part? I do not know about that part. Yeah. He put his hand on the camera. I could see that, but he did. And I don't get that he was somebody was in his face and he's walking into like a brownstone or something and he has his hand on the camera. But

I don't, I don't know. Anyway, he put a very lengthy Instagram post up about, you know, sort of picture of his father and uniform and how much that meant to, I mean, that this was his family. I think, okay, you clarified, you don't need to say anymore. And if you're still mad about this thing, you are just one of those people I described. It's one thing that is worth probably discussing. And I'm sure it gets discussed at the highest level, the trade offs and the value 95% of anything patriotic around sports.

is a paid exchange. It's essentially marketing. You know, anytime that they're saluting the troops, anytime they're doing this, this is marketing from our military doing this. And I think that the discussion probably is already being had. Like, are we to the point where we're nitpicking it and making it a bad thing? I don't think we're anywhere near that. But we're starting to see more things come up. Your world, way more than my world, right? I mean, I'm paying more attention to that world this year than maybe last or the last couple of years.

But I don't know enough about that. I mean, yeah, I get the marketing part of it. I actually think it's probably pretty smart marketing. I mean, it is. You know, if you're if the main problem you have is getting young men and women to join. That's where they're looking. Go where they are and it looks cool and they put the, you know, the coaches are on the sweatshirts and the towels and, you know, whether it was breast cancer awareness or whatever, you know, we were doing real men wear pink here before they were doing it as NFL. You know, so I think that is fine. I don't.

And you're right. I don't know that a lot of people either know or want to know that that's a cash transaction thing. You know, the people are just doing it out of the goodness of their heart and their patriotism. Yeah. And maybe there's a lot of that. I mean, it's mostly that. I mean, it's mostly people don't stop to think. Oh, I thought you I met some players, coaches, executives may buy into it a lot more than others gets just truly the way they feel. And that is.

teens go out of their way to showcase the ones that are natural fits. My dad was this. Anytime that you're in a stadium, they'll go, Hey, I want to thank my my friends over. I just think what a great perk for a man or woman surfing in the uniform to be able to be there at the sidelines and do that. Oh, imagine love it. Cause the end of the day, most of those are just still kids. Right. So I have no problem with any problem with it. I do think you're probably right that most people aren't

haven't either thought about it or, or, or acknowledge when they're consuming it, that it's not just this organic thing. Yeah. The, the, the big controversy of years ago of kneeling during the flag, it's like on one hand, it's kneeling during a patriotic moment and things like that. On the other hand, it's like a commercial that didn't need to be there. Like, you know what I mean? So it's like,

What point does it get in the way of the people that are like just shut up and play the game? That's exactly right. I don't and or forget that the Kaepernick asked a military member. Yeah, I didn't even want to get the best but no, but I'm just saying there's all kinds of nuance, but that's not this

and an honest mistake. And if you have cameras pointed at you long enough, microphones opened up long enough, you're going to make mistakes. And it's not like he went, oh, screw you. I mean, he went out with a very lengthy explanation. Also, let's keep it clear, the context of what's happening. The dude is standing.

on a boat full of troops honoring them, celebrating them, cheering with them, signing for them. And then I'm going to take that time to, you know, it's silly. All I'm saying is he find as you gave some grace of people just saw it and thought it was something that once he says, hey, let it go, let it go, let it go.

And can people build up any goodwill? I mean, it feels like in life anymore. And I know it's not everyone, but with the constant harping and social media and then everybody just trying to be a voice somewhere. And we've just learned it works in elections, you know, this outrage stuff.

But can a person, you know, work his whole career? Be a great football player and then transition to television. I mean, so likable. It's good morning. America, most of a pyramid. Yeah. All right. And by all accounts, charitable is family life's been, you know, had some tragedy and some, you know,

And you go, OK, don't we ever give anybody like that a benefit of the doubt anymore? The answer is overwhelmingly we do by and large. I mean, that's why he is on Good Morning America likeable because most people, most of us absolutely don't just look at this imposing physical specimen six foot eight to 50 and vicious on the field. Then we do give him the case. And why? And this is a greater question beyond just Michael Strahan or this one incident.

then why and the media has a role in this as well. Do we feel the public pressure to have to come out and cater to these people? It's not. Well, it's, it is simply the commercialization of all the things and hits and impressions and views and. But if the vast majority of people were already, it was a pass to them from the get go.

Why does he have to come out and clarify, apologize to these people who do this with everything? I mean, isn't that feeding the beast? His apology or the fact that it's sort of, quote, unquote, needed. Well, either or or both. He probably personally had his own motivations like, Hey, this isn't who I am. And if you didn't know that, now you know. Yeah. So I don't have any problem with him doing it. I hate the thought

that it's probably the, the pressures to need to do that. Yeah. Unfairly in a lot of cases. Yeah. And then, and then we also live in this world today where, you know, you don't even have to have been participating in this online stuff to tell your buddy, well, you see what he did. And then they just take it as fact. Yeah. And that, it just seems to reward the worst kind of behavior. It validates it.

Yeah, there's enough of that sort of, but it's nowhere near like the majority of the stuff. I mean, like I said, you could turn on and watch hours and hours and hours of Michael Strahan. I could have brought this up Monday and I thought, well, this is stupid. It doesn't need any more attention. He clarified everything's good and it's still raging. So, I mean, that's the problem. It doesn't matter because the people who are raging, they don't care about the truth. Well,

But look, you know what it also does is a positive reinforces what kind of guy is. So I might I might be the casual fan. Good football game. Nice, seemingly nice guy. Hey, I didn't know all this. I don't know. I don't. I get what you're saying there. I just don't think he should have to go through that. He should not have to have adversity because of these trolls that just do this with everything. Nope. Should not have to. No. I'm on board with that all the all the every time. Yeah.

And a guy who grew up in a family whose dad served for 23 years in the army. I mean, this narrative doesn't fit. While he's standing on a battleship. Yes. I mean, yep. Yep. And it is.

The fact that the screen grab has soldiers all around. I know. I don't like I'm going to go. I'm going to parachute in here for my protest. Yeah. Let me let me sneak one in. But the rest of the three hour or five hour broadcast, I'm going to. I watched a lot of it. I didn't see this specific thing. It's the same broadcast every year. The right. All right. It's almost like they hold up the sign like now go wild guys. Of course they do. But it works. We like it.

Anyway, I don't know Michael Strahan. I don't have anything to do with Michael Strahan in any sort of life circumstance. But I just feel like there's no reason to keep kicking this guy. And if you're still mad at this, you're just mad. I mean, you're just a person who likes being mad. Right. And you could kick him right in his pocket where all that money's going to you'll hear the coins jangle because he's America likes him, accepted him, and he's going to be in projects all over the place. So kick away. Yep. He's fine. No.

So any who as you watch football tonight, and as we and what clearly, you know, Monday was Veterans Day. So I mean, I get why they were doing everything over the weekend. Is that just a certain timeline every year? Is just no calendar of October. Does the

I don't know. What do they call that? They've changed the name. Oh, they have this stuff with all the cancer colors. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then November is the military stuff. And this would be the equivalent. OK. Somebody not wearing the stocking hat with all the colors. And oh, you're against cancer. Right. Yeah, it's ridiculous. You're just stretching. You're just just trying to reach. I'd reach with somebody smaller. I think it's pretty big. And physical physicality wise.

He's one of the most violent in a positive way. Unbelievable players in his position.

me. I still think it's one of my favorite moments in football because I just the when you're out there in the middle of all of that to have the wherewithal to realize I can give this guy this thing on both sides. Yeah. Yeah. That was pretty interesting. But he would he could have he would have got it. Oh yeah. All right. Not on that Michael Strahan by all accounts seems like a decent dude. No protest here.

All right, we'll take a quick break. Time now for the marquee coffee break. I got the new blue cups. I like whether they switch back and forth because it feels like retro some days. Yeah. And then I get the new. Yeah. And I was making the pot down there today. I'm kind of enjoying making my own coffee now. And what's really weird is you're here this time of day with us. That one pot last for like a whole show.

Yeah. A lot of people say what you just said, they like making the coffee and the process of it and the bean grinding and the bean grinding is amazing. It's cool. And I can't figure out. I say, I call it kind of a lava lamp, but it actually looks more like like when you see the sand, you know, like start to like make little holes and everything starts moving. I get to see this like, oh, it's unbelievable. You should give them a call if you're interested as a business as an organization. You know, you're going to have

something nice for your employees. Don't do the folders. Yeah. Set them up with really good coffee. That was just just roasted fresh. When I say fresh roasted, it's not a label on a can. It's like literally, I mean, I fresh roasted this. Yeah. And then literally put it in the machine, put it into the bun coffee maker. And that's about as fresh as you're going to get. Pretty much. Give Markey a call. We'll be back. Stay tuned.

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We've talked a lot about public art over the years on this show, important to both Nick and I. I saw yesterday a press release from the University of Illinois about some unique art pieces at State Farm Center. So I don't, there's so many pictures like they're up. So maybe our winners last night got a chance to see it.

when they went to the basketball game last night. What kind of art is it? It's interesting because it's the Carl and I apologize. It's W-O-E-S-E. I don't know how the last name is pronounced. This is a guy who literally it's named after a microbiologist who discovered the third domain of life. I mean, this guy is so they do genome research and is it genomic? Is that the word biology?

the Institute's Art of Science exhibit series. It's a fascinating, colorful sort of, and I don't even know much about the two pieces themselves. They're just the press releases about, hey, they're in this concourse and you can see them on the south side. And I just think they're cool looking. I love the fact that you can take something like an arena.

and still find space for public art in it. And not just big blowups of basketball players or, you know, the team. There is a I love this and I can see the orange, red, yellow. Yeah, they mean that I see at least one piece. And I can't wait to see it when I'm over there in the Mercedes Benz Stadium. They have these commissioned world renowned artists, local artists. And so it's almost like lost in not lost.

equally spaced in between the Bud Light signs and the pictures of the athletes are murals by Mr. Brainwash local tapestry. It's like it's also a museum gallery that I get to do and it fits works. Well, you've got all this space. You know, you go to a baseball stadium, football stadium, basketball, essentially the email. And these concourses have all of the, I mean, you can put all the food vendors in. You can do all the Bud Light and we love Bud Light. Good. You know, but you've got more room.

Yeah, it works. When it's done right, it works. When you just hang like a silly picture in a hallway, it doesn't do the same job. But when you integrate it and you buy in, it really does. And it also, I think, maybe sometimes gets to an audience that it wouldn't normally get to. Yeah, you know, and now that I'm thinking about it, I've gone to the State Farm Center and they have artwork about the athletes hanging up there, like interpretations of them.

It seems like a next logical step. Well, you've got some really smart people on the campus, University of Illinois, and this is showing off one of the areas. It's very, very high level, high level education and what they're doing, literally. And this school in particular is, I mean, when you think about their initiatives,

And what they're doing at that Institute and their biology and art of science program, you know, food security, you know, global war. I mean, what I mean, they're working on some major league things. No question. But let's integrate art. Yeah, thank you for that. That was cool. I just think that.

We've got, you know, it's contagious in a way. The more you do, the more people want because the more people see it, the more people go, oh, that's really cool. And maybe they can't identify exactly why it makes them happy or they like it or whatever. It's just getting it in front of more eyeballs and then it's easier to get more people to do it. I mean, we've seen that in Decatur, Illinois.

the new wraps there. I saw a picture of Shaney's yesterday on Facebook. So, you know, that kind of thing. I mean, just the thought of, well, you got this electrical box that's sitting here and it's not ugly, but there's nothing art about it. It's just a metal thing. And but now all of a sudden we can add multi colors and messaging and something that even if you're just driving by and you can't read the fine print, you still get the burst and you're okay. That's way better than the electrical. Easy enhancement. Yes. Easy.

So if you're heading over there courtesy of the first mid ticket window, take a second and check it out. I thought it was really cool. So they have the artwork was installed as part of the Institute's Art of Science exhibit series and joins a variety of similar displays and other prominent locations throughout the state of Illinois and across the country. So this is kind of a thing that's an organized thing. And you literally, I'm trying to figure out where they are.

This is such a dense press. I think I saw a south side. It's not a big huge place. There's probably a pretty good opportunity. New unique pieces can be viewed from either concourse on the south side of the venue. OK, cool. Yeah. So going over there, just a little extra something and representing an incredible

department there at the University of Illinois, very, very smart, smart people. And I love the fact that you can, you know, athletics brings a lot of people to your front door. But while they're there, show off all the other stuff that you do. Yeah, absolutely. I don't even need to add to that. That's exactly right. I love

integrating and showcasing what this place is all about. Yeah. All about. And the other place is kind of hard. It's a hard entry because most people aren't going to do genome and bio. But art can introduce you to that. Exactly. Smart on every single level. It sure is. All right. Anyway, if you get over there, you can check it out. We will be giving away football tickets today, plus two tailgate passes for this weekend, the last home game.

for the University of Illinois football team. So our last first ticket or first mid ticket window giveaway coming up at the end of the program today. Debbie Boga will be in that last segment. We'll do those and the passes. So Saturday morning enjoy. All right, we're going to take a break for top of the hour. When we get back here, City Hall insider Paul Osborne is going to join us.

We'll also visit with Mark Tupper and Tupper on Sports, a lot to get to on kind of a dreary, misty Friday morning or Thursday morning here, but it's going to get better. Great weather for playoff football. We'll be back right after news. Stay tuned. This is Brian Barnhart, voice for the Fighting Align Eye on Decatur's home for Fighting Align Eye Athletics for over 75 years. WSOY Decatur 1340 AM 103.3 FM and streaming at nowdecatur.com. This is RJ Christ with your stories.

Now, plaintiffs in an Illinois case hope the US Supreme Court will hear their arguments in a lawsuit challenging so-called buffer zones around abortion clinics. The case involves an ordinance, the city of Carbondale enacted, but has since repealed, creating a buffer zone between medical clinics and protesters. Coalition life suit the city, saying the new rules violated their right to free speech. Two lower courts have dismissed the case, but coalition life is asking the US Supreme Court to take it up.

The High Court postponed a hearing last week putting off a decision on whether to take the case. Attorneys for former State House Speaker Michael Madigan and his co-defendant attempted to undermine the credibility of a star government witness yesterday in Madigan's racketeering and bribery trial.