112124 7AM Thursday Byers and Co

Far too many people. There will be a unique tour of the city through the eyes of those seeking services for homelessness issues. For more stories, podcasts and videos, visit our website now Decatur.com.

Standing by his guys. I'm Chris Foster, Fox News. The Trump campaign says the release of a police report on a sexual assault allegation against a fence secretary nominee Pete Hesketh just corroborates that the incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed. Woman in 2017 says Hesketh then and until this month, a Fox News channel host assaulted her in a hotel room in Monterey, California. Hesketh attorney says that what happened was consensual and the woman was paid off to keep Fox from learning about the accusation. Vice President-elect

Senator JD Vance has been taking nominees around to meet with senators voting on confirmation, Fox's Alexandria Hoff. According to a Trump official, the president-elect is confident that Senate Republicans will approve his cabinet nominees, but we also know that not all have been won over. So, Vice President-elect, he has taken the lead on trying to soothe concerns. Just as yesterday, the focus was on former Congressman Matt Gates, whose nomination for Attorney General has been the most controversial.

The House Ethics Committee has been investigating gates for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Yesterday, a vote was split on party lines whether to publicly release the findings in that report. A Thai vote means no, the report is not being released.

The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Joav Galant for war crimes against Palestinians. The International Criminal Court says it has reasonable grounds to believe the two men intentionally directed attacks against civilians. When prosecutors requested Netanyahu's arrest earlier this year, he called it a moral outrage of historic proportions. There's also an arrest warrant for a Hamas commander believed to have been killed in an airstrike.

Republicans flip a house seat with a close race in Alaska now called for Nick Beggage, the third over Democrat incumbent, Mary Pultola. Today in Alabama, Kerry Dale Grayson is scheduled to be the third US inmate executed with nitrogen gas. He's one of four people convicted of torturing, murdering and mutilating a woman hitchhiking in 1994. America's listening to Fox News.

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The death penalty is on the table for Brian Cober, accused of murdering for University of Idaho students. The defense claimed that the death penalty goes against contemporary standards of decency. But the judge pointed to the fact that both the Idaho and the U.S. Supreme Courts say the death penalty is constitutional. Well, the family of Kayleigh Gonzalez reacted on Facebook with this, quote,

We finally have a judge who appears prepared, thoughtful, and well-versed to the legal process. There is a newfound level of seriousness that has been absent for far too long. Justice is moving forward, and we pray that one day in the not-so-distant future, it will be served.

at least three hunters have died in Michigan during this deer hunting season two. Trying to haul their kills away. The hunters men ages 57, 65 and 83 died in our neck in Tuscola counties. The medical examiner in those counties suggested the Department of Natural Resources should require proof of a physical for hunters adding. I've never seen three people die in 48 hours from heart attacks while deer hunting before firearm deer season began November 15th.

Tom Ergotti, Fox News. Baseball say young awards for best pitcher are announced. In the American League, there wasn't much question. Detroit Tigers left the Terricks School will be leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA and getting all 31st place votes on the same day that he turned 28.

The National League Award also goes to a lefty who also won the Triple Crown as Chris Salve, the Atlanta Braves caps, which has been an absolutely incredible comeback. Sal was among the best pitchers of the last decade, finishing the top six of Cy Young voting seven years in a row from 2012 to 2018. But he was hurt almost every year after that until he found the fountain of youth at age 35, leading the majors in ERA. Fox is Greg Thompson. I'm Chris Foster Fox News.

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, 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.

Here's a look at your News Channel 20 Storm Team forecast today. A chance of rain and snow cloudy high of 40 and windy with gusts as high as 46 miles per hour for tonight. A chance of rain and snow until midnight cloudy and windy low of 35 for Friday. Cloudy and windy high near 46 and Saturday, mostly sunny with a high near 48.

Current temperature in downtown Decatur, 30 degrees, your WSOI time is 706. Good morning and welcome to the Thursday edition of Buyers and Company. Well, if you wanted to know where November was, it arrived overnight.

Thanks for that forecast, Nick. We've got the City Hall Insider, Paul Osborne, former mayor of Decatur, publisher of the Tribune in studios next.

All right, we're back here on a Thursday. Hope you're having a great start to your day. You might want to take a little thicker coat with you on your way to work this morning. Temperatures aren't that bad, but that wind out there is just brutal. And hopefully, and it looks like it's going to get out of here by this weekend. So those high school football playoff games won't be awful on the sidelines and in the bleachers. Paul Osborne in studios with us here today.

city hall insider. Can you believe next week is Thanksgiving? No, it's really been. It's been a fast year. It just, I don't know. It seems like every year that passes goes by more quickly than a year before. I had maybe at the aging process. I don't know. It's a Matthew. You know how that works.

Well, happy holidays. We won't be here next week. Thursday or Friday will be off. We do have a big auction, holiday auction coming up next Tuesday. If you're interested in supporting local businesses and companies and getting great prices and bidding on items, you can do that next Tuesday morning. It's been a pretty good year overall, don't you think, for the community? Oh, yeah. I think with the community food drive and so many other things happening in Decatur.

, and

You know, so many people have looked out for other people and they've been a very giving community. And that's one I've always loved about living in this community and running a business in this community is we have just great people here, people with a big heart. There's a need, you identify that need, they step up to help out. I also think that there's economic. I think on the economic front, there's good news. And I know that

Small businesses. It's always been tough to run a small business. You've been a small business owner for decades and decades and decades. And, you know, a restaurant will close or this thing. Well, and then everybody talks about, well, we can't if you look at the overall picture and we're not where we need to be. There's work to be done.

But there's just so much coming so much that's already here. I mean, later today, we're going to tell you about, you know, how long has Garver feed been here? Like ever since I can remember. Right. Yeah. Now they're partnering up with the Nova feed, who's brand new from France. And we'll have them in studios coming up about one hour from now. Tell you about that.

There are so many exciting opportunities. This IFAB grant thing that's happening between Decatur and Champagne and what will be on the manufacturing side for us and the potential for all of that. You go out to the Northeast and you look at the construction and stuff that's underway and the projects that are coming. I think it's okay to be rosy in your optimism right now.

And you're right. And I think it's the history of this community of being able to change and to adapt. There are always a few people that just, you know, they don't want to move forward. But I think for a community to survive, even a nation to survive, you have to change with the times. You have to adapt to the technology that's available. You have to partner with others that maybe you didn't have to before. And I think I see so much of that indicator. And I know the news releases that

You'll come to us at the newspaper this time and time again. Those news releases are about good things happening in this community about people working together, businesses joining together to make a bigger impact from an economic standpoint in our community. So I guess I'm always optimistic about Decatur because we've shown a way to survive and exceed expectations of so many people.

And yeah, we've got stuff we need to work on. Housing is one of those. You know, I think many people feel property taxes are too high. Yet you look at the city of the cater or other entities and you know, with the grocery tax, you know, being shut down by Governor Pritzker and people can argue whether that's right or wrong. But the fact of the matter is that that money went to local communities and they got to figure out how to fill those holes. It's not like we don't have problems, but you can have those things simultaneously. It's not all one way or the other ever in life.

Well, yeah, if you just have problems and you don't find ways to deal with it and overcome those problems, then you die as a community. You go the other direction and that happens in some communities and that's not what Decatur is about. Yeah, but you were there as mayor and when you have to make tough decisions and when you have to raise taxes or you have to put taxes on things that maybe, you know, I look at the gas pump is the one thing where you just go

Okay, it's expensive to begin with, but can you imagine how affordable it would be if you took off all of the people who are putting taxes on that gallon of gasoline you're buying? Well, that's true. But I don't know how they fix roads without it. Yeah, and I think also it's true of

A lot of grocery items that you see the time you tax and pass from person to person and get actually get to the consumer. There are so many hands in the till, you know, for that particular product. I think we just see that so often that prices keep going up.

someone makes a move over here in order to save money but it costs money over here and usually it costs the consumer. But here's the trick though and take off your publisher hat and put on your old mayoral hat. You know if there's a shortfall and you mean the services that you have to offer and the only way you can do that is by putting a food and beverage tax or a gas tax and

Roads are in terrible condition and I know you can't blame the city for all that. Many of these are state roads that they can't fix if they had the money to fix, meaning the city. But you have to make those tough decisions. Yeah, and that's why I think you have to be strong as a council member and as a mayor because as a citizen looking at that, you think, well, why would they do that? Why do they want to do that?

It's to keep this city running and keep this city operating to provide safety for you and your family to provide roads to drive on that, you know, that don't destroy your car when you're driving over them. And sometimes you think, well, when you're going to fix this road, there are a lot of roads indicator to be fixed indicator. Well, I'll tell you. And then it's not even all their fault. I was where was the press conference earlier this week where I had to take. I took

Uh, but row is not a street. I drive on that often. I'm just not, you know, but I was heading out towards Pershing and it was the day it had rained just all morning. It was still raining hard and you could just tell the gutters were just full of leaves because I mean, it was like driving on a lake. I mean, it wasn't even like in the downhill parts of things. I mean, it was just flooded across everything. Yeah. And you know, it's like, well, okay.

people can't just put their leaves in the streets and then they go into the sewers and then everything gets blocked. How do you keep people from doing that? Yeah. Yeah. And, but, you know, Nick, how many bags do you have out today? Twenty. Yeah. Twenty bags. But, but, you know, so these are the things you don't have to worry about. It's your household, you know, but they have to find a way to make sure they can pay for all of it. Now, the flip side of that, and this is my problem with bureaucracy in general,

is that we live in a business world, small business world, both of us, that if you don't bring in more money than you have cost, you don't stay in business. Period. It's as simple as it gets. And there's a lot of philosophies in a lot of ways, and I think some are better than others. And I think you can still try to make a profit and do a good thing and help other people and all that. The tax rules come in regardless of how good a job you do. There's no reward for doing it better.

Well, the reward is, you know, if you grow your business and that you pay more taxes. For the government, for the people who take the taxes, those taxes come in whether they're doing a great job in this area and this area or whether they're doing a terrible job in those areas. Well, I think as you've often said, too, you start looking at local races and those for council, those for school, district, and you start looking at those races, those impact

on your life because these are the people making those kinds of decisions with your property tax money and money that you contribute through taxation. So I think people sometimes don't realize how important it is to make the right choices for people that you want to represent you on City Council or the school district because they will impact you directly in

Terms of taxes and services. Yeah, so how did you when you were there? How did you what was your philosophy as mayor? Balancing trying to get the biggest bang for the buck for the taxpayers Realizing it's not a business and I know that that you can't put them side by side and say all the rules apply but yet being a small business owner being mindful of People not being able to afford all this. I mean, how did you balance all that?

Well, it's difficult. I think you have to have the outlook when you go in there that this is not necessarily about my personal convictions. It's about what's best for the people of City of Decatur. And sometimes I think decisions are made that's based on, oh, I don't like this, you know, well,

I think there's some decisions that I made that I particularly care for, but I knew they were the right decision for all of the community. And I think that's what you have to look for when people run for office. Are they running on some gripe they have, you know, with the city, if it's a city council race, or they're there to serve all the people, regardless of whether they voted for you or not, that this is

I'm going to make these decisions based on what I feel is best for the city of Decatur, the people of Decatur. And I think there are still people that react that way and act that way in office. And we just need more of them, I think.

It's coming up. We get through Christmas in the new year. It will be here before you know it. Yeah, and I think it's really important. And I've just talked to a gentleman a couple of days ago who was kind of bemoaning the fact that he remembered a time that professional people would step up. People that you'd known for years would step up for these offices.

And he was promoting the facts. I just don't see that. There's no reflection on the people that are stepping up. But he said, I don't know a lot of these people that are running for office now, like I used to. And I think that is true. And he also indicated, which is true,

that we've lost a lot of people in terms of shrinking population. Some of these people that used to run for these offices have either retired or, you know, they've moved to other communities. Maybe some of them live in Forsyth now or other communities where they can't run for these offices. Well, I think that's always been the case. You know, people will retire to Florida or Arizona and may keep a home here or as you said,

There's a lot more outlying area than just a cater proper than there used to be. I mean, if you look at the growth of rural foresight or even Mount Zion or others, I mean, those dynamics have changed over the years for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think the decisions that have to be made too, you're making those decisions based on

You have the same geographic area. You have less population, but you still have to cover. They have to cover it. That's the thing that always argue or that I always get a beef with when people argue that we don't need as many police officers because we have fewer people.

They're covering the same amount of area. I mean, and yet everybody, if it's time to call 911, they want them there right now. Yeah, well, same with street repair and fixing roads in that. You may have less population, but you had the same amount of roads, maybe even more than you had. Same amount of structures that can burn, same amount of need for firefighters. And I think most people understand, like, when you think fire, when you think police department,

I think it's the other areas. How important is it to be able to have real trust in your city manager? Because that's the guy or gal who's being paid to recommend these decisions. That's right. I think as you go in as a council, you're not a professional when it comes to

you know, being a city manager. I mean, there are credentials there. You have to have to be a city manager in a city this size. And you have to depend on them. Yeah, you may look at what's available and say, this is the direction I want to go. But the city manager is the one that recommends whether that's a good direction. And if you and if you tell him as a council,

You know, I appreciate your advice, but this is the direction I want to go. The city manager is the one that will take you there, or is supposed to take you there. Yeah, and it's the job of you and the council to make sure that's the right person.

That's right. And that's why it's so important when you're interviewing a person from the city manager's position. You check to see the record of that that, you know, what kind of a person is he will he work well with the council? Because if you have someone that wants to go out on his own and not be able to identify and relate to the council, you're going to have problems. You are. It's one of the big misnomers about, you know, a few years back, people wanted to go to a strong mayor, Alderman, an

what they don't tell you is in Springfield. There's a strong mayor and that what that means is it's still a person like you that runs for the office and then gets paid a big salary.

And they still have a city manager. They just don't call them a city manager means they have a professional that's in that role because the person running for office isn't qualified to be a city manager. That's right. Yeah, there are qualifications that you have to meet in order to run the city. And because you're elected to office, you don't immediately have to say you're paying two salaries now for the same job. Yeah. And you still have basically a city manager still doing what the city manager does in this form of government, the council manager, former government, but you're also then paying a mayor, you know,

to relate. Pretty good. Pretty good salary, too. Yeah. So have you heard any noise about that? That was a big thing for a while. I mean, it seemed like every couple of years for a while, there was this big push that we need to change the form of government. No, I really haven't. And that big push came, I think, for a few years, even after I left office, that they were still pushing to have each have aldermen represent various districts of

It got a lot of attention for quite a while, and you had people pushing that and after a while it just died out. And I don't know if they moved on to other things or what. But and I've often said, I don't care what form of government a city has, it's not going to be any better than the people that you elect to that government. You have good people in any form, whether it's a form that this Springfield has or we have, you're going to be OK. You're going to get the best possible result.

But you can have the best form of government and you'd like people there that don't care one way or the other. You're going to have a bad result. It's not the form of government so much as the people you elect to represent you there. I saw a picture you posted online. I'm assuming it's in the paper as well. I haven't looked at the hard copy yet of you and Bob Falstrom and horse living. Oh, yeah. Take me back to 2007. What was this? You honored horse and Otis Livingston.

That's, I mean, what do you think the three of you standing in that picture? How much time are we talking about, you know, serving as news people in this community? Well, it's got to be. Yeah, 250 years. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And of course, Bob Foster, he was, I believe, 88 when he passed away and except for the last two weeks of his life and the time he was a teenager, he worked at the Herald and Review. And it was kind of neat. And in those years and Horace Livingston,

I'm sure the voice of the black community for so many years. And it's funny, like when I first started in business, we didn't get along all that well. And over the years, we just kind of grew together, you know, and Bob Foster and son wrote me here a few weeks ago and said, my dad was a big fan of yours. You know, that made me really feel good. You know, Bob and I would go to historic events, this one at the

history museum. It was there to talk about the newspaper business over the years. And it was just fun being with those two guys, both have passed away now. We had our differences. We had different ways of looking at thing. But we come together. We're all about Decatur. Yeah, we love the city. We love the history of Decatur. And it's a great picture. Yeah, I saw that picture and just, you know, that's one thing about having to pay for so long. You see pictures like that and think,

That's great memories of those people. And that's what I love. We still have people in this community that love this community and just working hard to make it better. Nick and I had this conversation the other day about the World War II Memorial that sits out in front of the Civic Center. I was so happy that Bob and others got a chance to see that. Oh, yeah. They worked on it for so long.

That's right. When I was mayor, Bob came up also and talked to me about it, Bob Paulstrom. And he really wanted to see that happen before he passed away. And it just, that was something that they felt very, very strongly about. And for that to happen, most people don't realize how important it was

to a certain segment of our community that that monument be there. You know it's amazing because you're of the age to speak to this my grandfather was in World War II and you know those guys they didn't come back and talk about it. In some ways I think they were the last to be honored because they were the guys and gals that just didn't talk about it.

Yeah, and my and my uncles served in World War II and some of the worst battles of the war of Battle of the Bulge and others and I know Uncle Bill who's of course passed away, but now He came so close to being killed over there and I remember him he would sit around and He wouldn't talk about it, but you knew in his mind You could tell there are a lot of things that he probably never would get over and he went on He was a successful businessman in Chicago

But that was always with him. But it wasn't just here locally. I remember doing a chamber fly-in with Ray LaHood, and it was in May, and they were putting the finishing touches on the World War II monument in Washington, D.C. Remember, on Memorial Day, they opened that. It was the last, I mean, they were in Washington, D.C. They were the last, to be recognized.

Yeah, yeah, and it's I'm not really sure but I I think you go back in the history this country that was really a Unique time and that generation was unique. Yeah, that's right And as you know, who was it referred to that generation the greatest time broker? Yeah, the book that he wrote. Yes, Paul. Thanks for the picture that alone was worth spending 20 minutes on his grace and Horace and I miss the voice, you know used to read it every week and

good old days. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of good memories here. Have a happy Thanksgiving. You do in your family and we'll see in a couple of weeks. That's right. Paul Osborne, the city hall insider next got your three day forecast. We'll be back with more right after this. Today, we've got a chance of rain and snow cloudy with a high of 40 and breezy with wind gusts as high as 46 miles per hour tonight.

chance of rain and snow until around midnight, cloudy and windy low around 35. For Friday, cloudy and windy high near 46 and Saturday, mostly sunny with a high near 48. Current temperature in downtown Decatur, 30 degrees, your WSOI time is 726. 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.

paid for by Christian care ministry. So right now may be the perfect time for you to rethink how you pay for health care. And here's why this time of year is decision time for a lot of people. But it's also when you can join MetaShare and save even more than usual. For many families joining MetaShare means saving about 500 bucks a month, which is a game changer for a lot of people obviously. But what's more, MetaShare members like it a lot. Their satisfaction rate is 98.

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just watching a white paper bag be blown down Main Street took a left came right by the studios and then just straight all the way south at about 30 miles an hour. I can relate. That might be another Oscar award winning movie like what was it American Beauty where the bag was just flying. Yes, that's exactly got lost. I was a little mesmerized just watching it happens during the break. It sort of felt like this lonely little thing out there being swept away in the 30 mile an hour wind.

a lot of gray. Listen, I don't mind rain. I don't even mind wind and I don't even mind sort of cold. I just hate all three of them together. Sure. That's all. Can we get two out of three? A lot out of this weekend. We should get none of the three. Yeah, I was looking, uh, not that Cupertino is ever right about any of this stuff. And I mean that. They just got awful. Yeah, it looks like Saturday, partly sunny high 49. So

If there's no wind, 49 is good. Sure. If there's this kind of win, it's cold, not great. Yeah, it's bone chilling. So I think it's going to be OK. But anyway, our coverage on WDC. We're looking forward to bringing that to you clearly to be back to back games. Starting at 3 15 with the pregame on WDC. We'll be back on the other side of the break. We're going to check in with Mark Tupper and Tupper on sports. We'll be back right after news. Don't go anywhere.

This is RJ Kreis with your stories now. Dedicator family YMCA is hosting a youth two ball competition on December 14th. It's open to ages seven to 14. This event challenges two person teams to rack up the most points by shooting from designated spots on the court in 60 seconds. Top teams in the state for each age group advanced to the IHSA state finals where statewide winners will have the chance to compete during halftime at the high school basketball state championship games next March.

The competition will be at the Decatur YMCA Gymnasium with age-specific time slots. You can learn more and register at NowDecatur.com. The Symphony Orchestra Guild of Decatur is celebrating 50 years with a Golden Holiday Gala on December 6th. It's at the Country Club of Decatur. The event will help provide financial support and service to the Milliken Decatur Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $125 per person, including fine dining, live music, and auctions. For tickets, go to NowDecatur.com.

Fox News. I'm CJ pop of murder persecution starvation used as methods of warfare that from the International Criminal Court issuing a West warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. The International Criminal Court says it has reasonable grounds to believe the two men intentionally directed attacks against civilians.

When prosecutors requested Netanyahu's arrest earlier this year, he called it a moral outrage of historic proportions. Fox's Jonathan Savage reports 79 senators vote against the measures stopped the U.S. from sending more weapons to Israel, 18 senators voted in favor of three resolutions.

the north east is getting it. It really set in overnight. And this is the most significant rain that we've seen in months. Watch where there's been emerge. It's been 93 days since Philadelphia reached over half an inch rain. America's listening to Fox News.

This is Tom Brinkater, designated managing broker and owner of Brinkater Realtors. I'd like to take a moment to extend a heartfelt thank you to our clients, partners, and the community for your continued trust and support. Your loyalty drives us to deliver excellence in every transaction, whether you're buying, selling, or just doing anything about it. You're doing next home. We are here for you. Brinkater Realtors, connection, commitment, community. Find your way home. Brinkater.com.

Join the fun in Warrensburg for the great turkey drop. On November 27th at 6 p.m., watch 500 rubber turkeys soar at the Lyle Jones Community Stage. Remember WKRP's famous drop? It's happening again in Warrensburg with proceeds going to Vinny's Helping Hands and Warrensburg Corn Festival. Purchase your turkey for $20 for a chance to win up to $1,000. Get tickets at Diberg, Decatur Jewelry and Pawn, or Warrensburg Cafe.

The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft. That's why Lifelock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity stolen, their U.S.-based restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans, or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with Lifelock. Save up to 40% your first year with promo code clave is at lifelock.com. Terms apply.

Here's a look at your news channel 20 storm team forecast today. Chance of rain and snow cloudy with a high of 40 and windy gusts as high as 46 miles per hour. Tonight, a chance of rain and snow until midnight. Cloudy and windy with a low around 35 Friday. Cloudy and windy without the wet a high near 46 and then Saturday, mostly sunny and a high near 48. The current temperature in downtown Decatur 30 degrees, your WSOI time is 733.

on sports on W. S O Y 13 40 a.m. And 103.3 FM streaming live at now, Decatur dot com. Back here on a Thursday, we check in with the Mark Tupper each and every weekday morning with Tupper on sports. All right. The line I lose to Alabama. You know, I've got a lot of thoughts. Good and bad.

after seeing number eight Alabama beat number 25 Illinois 100 to 87 last night and what essentially was a home game for the Crimson Tide in Birmingham. The bad includes this team in progress is not defending with the kind of nastiness it will take to beat good teams and Alabama final 14 a year ago is a real good team skilled bigs

So much quickness can shoot it can drive it. Sometimes you close out too hard on three point shooters and players drive right by you. Other times you play the drive and you leave three point shooters open last night for much of the game. Illinois let Alabama have both options. The three and the drive into the lane that has to get fixed.

Turnovers have to be reduced. You know, it's a lot to hand the primary play handling duties to an 18 year old. And it's obvious that Kasparos Yacosiones is really talented, but he has to cut down on turnovers last night. He had six.

And the team does as well. They're just, they're just not tight enough with the basketball. And this is supposed to be a team known for its shooting. And hopefully it will be, but they need to be better than 10 of 30 from three. And against good teams on the road, you cannot have 11 missed free throws. Can't, can't do that. Individually, six foot nine, Ben Hummert House.

can't have just one rebound in 30 minutes. He has to impact the game on the glass. On a positive note, I love the way Kyle and Boswell played. He held all American guard Mark Sears scoreless. I mean, he was really locked in. He finished with 17.7 rebounds, three assists. Will Riley needs to defend better. But wow, the freshmen from Canada can score. He led Illinois with 18 points. He also had nine rebounds.

in four assists Tommy even sits with a double double cast bars with 15.6 assists now cut to six turnovers in half. Illinois made a run late got to within eight had a shot to take it to five but Alabama always had an answer too many easy baskets in the paint 50 of their hundred points in the paint Illinois scored 87 points last night that that should be enough to win a ball game.

but not when you're playing defense like that. So back to practice, tightening up the defense, Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday at three, then Little Rock on Monday, and then another tough one with Arkansas on Thanksgiving Day. You know, I'm a little more patient than some people. And some people, if they don't see it right away, they're convinced it'll never happen. Brad Underwood pointed out last night, Alabama last season started six and five.

and made it to the final four. These things are works in progress, especially when you're so long and young and you only have one player who was in uniform last year. So let's see how they progress. I saw some things I liked last night, but against this team, not near enough to win. All right, a little more college hoops and preview of tonight's sport talk on the other side of the break. This look at Tupper on sports brought to you by First National Bank proud supporter of the Milliken women's basketball team.

Hi, I'm Britt Miller, new owner of Beck Tech. Our business is a family-owned business and has been located in Decatur for over 50 years. Keeping our business in Decatur and in the family for future generations is at the very heart of our business. When I approach First National Bank about helping the transition to the next generation, their team responded by helping make sure the financial side of the process was taken care of and worry-free. Beck Tech looks forward to many more years in Decatur and banking locally at First National Bank. First National Bank, the Quality Bank. Member FDIC, FNB Quality.Bank.

back here with Mark Tupper and Tupper on sports. Speaking of women's basketball, huge milestone. No kidding. I think we have to acknowledge UConn women's coach Gito Oriama who last night became the winningest.

basketball coach in NCAA history, his record. I mean, I've seen his record. I've read his record. And every time I read it, it just blows my mind. The list of achievements is mind-boggling. He has won now 1217 games more than any men's or women's coach in history. Along the way, 11 national titles, 23 final four births, including 15 of the past 16

seasons. Imagine that. They build statues to you for that. Six undefeated seasons, separate winning streaks of 98 and 111 games. He was surrounded by virtually all of his great all American players last night in a massive celebration. And at age 70, he's still going strong. And this feels like a record that probably won't be broken. The guy has had unimaginable success.

And the victory total is still growing. You can win the national title number 12 this season. And the women who have played for him, excuse me, genuinely like him. I mean, he is demanding for sure, but they love the impact he's had in their lives.

pretty great legacy that extends beyond the mere numbers. And they're currently ranked number two in the country behind South Carolina, and they will play South Carolina in February. So, congrats to Geno. He just keeps doing it, man. He's unbelievable. We'll undoubtedly talk about that on Sport Talk tonight. Hope you can join us from five to six.

with Tim Kane, Scott Chapman. We'll all be in the studio. We're going to be talking to Kendrick Prince about Illinois basketball, Illinois football this weekend against Rutgers and women's hoops too. They're all going good in the NFL and some hot stone baseball, Cardinals entertaining, Nolan, Aaron Otto trade talk conversation. So we'll talk a little bit about that. Got a little bit of everything. Enjoy the show. We'll see you at five. Mark Tupper and Tupper on sports at a line. I game is a home game right on the 23rd. So we have tickets to give away.

through the ticket window. Yeah, I think it's a home game. It is. Yeah, we definitely do. The Maryland Eastern Shore game. Yeah, that would be that we should win that. So that would be fun. I didn't even know what Maryland Eastern Shore is. Right. So if you lose that, you got bigger problems. But well, not sometimes that's the kind you get. You lay down a little marks a professional sports guy. He knows a lot. He gave you a lot of stuff, but he left out the fun fact of the day. Gino R. M is real name is Luigi.

Is that weird? Both would work. Yeah. So is there another game? I'm sorry, I'm just I'm looking at the schedule here. A lot. I schedule. Yeah. What is today? So they play November 23rd and then there's also a game. They're playing Little Rock on the 25th.

I'm trying to pull up the, I typed a line.com and it's for sale for a hundred grand. You're kidding me. No, that's funny. I think that you, you've, I should maybe pony up for that. You think. Yeah, it looks just looking at the men's schedule, fighting a line at calm. Uh, so it looks like I'm just trying to figure out between now and Thanksgiving, uh, the tickets that we need to give away. Tuesday, the 26 is the only one. And then Wednesday, uh, they've been Kentucky also. Okay. Hang on a second.

Are we on the same schedule? All right. I just played Alabama, right? Okay. That was the Wednesday night. Oh, that's according to this one. Maryland Eastern Shores, November 23rd, Little Rock, November 25th, both at home and champagne. You're 100% right. I have no idea what schedule they were feeding. It's not as easy as it should be. I just needed to go to the source. One of the, like Google was pulling in the wrong feed.

And I don't know what they were pulling in. But yeah, Maryland East and Shore and a little rock. So those are the next two games that we have to give tickets away. So that's Saturday. That's this Saturday and then Monday. Yeah. Yeah. And then they go on the road, Kansas City, Evanston, and then back home, not again until December 10th with Wisconsin. So courtesy of the first mid ticket window, we have tickets to give away all season long for the men's align. I basketball team regular season tickets that doesn't come with postseason.

Yeah, I'm looking at their schedule just scrolling through Tennessee at home. A lot of big names. Yeah. There's a lot of storied franchise. UCLA, Ohio State, Maryland. Penn State. A lot of big USC. Yeah. Good schedule. Yeah. From a fan perspective. Ohio State will be in town later in February. Yeah, you're right. Tickets all season long. All you have to do is listen in and we'll tell you how you can win those and they are electronic tickets. So please, please. You don't have to be

genius just have a little bit of tech savvy or what other people would just call living in 2024. Yes, it's not a hard one. You say that, but relative to some of the things that you have to do, this one isn't very difficult. Nick, I agree. I'm just saying relative. I'm not saying that everybody will nail it. I'm trying to save you from a 35 minute phone call. I know I've been there. The MLB app less easy. It's gotten way better now, but

This one's just, can you put your name and your phone number? OK, you're good. Hey, I'd like to say thank you to the ADM Decatur volunteers that are going to be at Northeast Community Fund today, helping to pack those Thanksgiving Day food boxes that the food drive paid for as part of the gift. Well, they're packing. I was told by Angel that they were they were giving out about 200 a day.

And they will do somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000, which is roughly what the Judy Mason Thanksgiving basket project. I mean, they picked that up and have continued with that service. But as you can imagine, it's like an assembly line of putting things together. And so ADM and their volunteers are going to be out there doing that. I've watched this volunteer group of them. There is an action. It's unbelievable.

sounds it sounds like. Well, we've seen pictures of it. I've been I'm just telling you, they genuinely enjoy it. I mean, like no one's going, OK, Bob, you're turned to volunteer and go do this thing. I mean, they show up with a passion and they get the job done. It'd be hard not to realize what it is that you're doing. You know, when you're putting that together, do you know where it's going to go and what it means? And everybody's had an opportunity at some point in their life. Are you guys familiar of sitting at a table with your family? Absolutely. So.

You can look, we'll do a story for that. Not a kid or not. But anyway, just thank you for what you do. And people just don't realize how many people it takes to come together to do this kind of thing. It's like, great. We get to help fund it with the WSOI community food drive. So you don't have to worry about that. Now, how do we get 200 boxes, date 4,000 boxes, volunteers, and every single one of you that donated a dollar to the food drive?

It was the one check that we actually caught early, you know, so they could get ahead of for Thanksgiving. So Angel and the entire crew down there just do an amazing job. Just so happy. But kudos to ADM and their whole volunteer crew, the stuff they do is if you see it in person, it's just, it's pretty cool. Okay. So still had here today partnership with a very new company in our community with a very old company in our community.

And we'll find out how it's going out in Nova Feed and talk about some of the particulars that are involved in this, because I think it's fascinating. And if you look at what they're able to do, and it's on so many scale levels, I mean, it's absolutely amazing to me. In some ways, it's going to change the world. And in other ways, it may be like I have chickens at home. It's pretty fascinating. And I want to say upfront,

Because there are plenty of people that do this. They, they're coming for our cows kind of thing. This is the exact opposite of that. This is making it more affordable and healthier to raise better cows. So unlike going from, I don't know what to celebration dances in four years, you know, this is consistent. And it's also very good for our community.

And they're building and jobs are coming. And the people who are here on the ground already, it's a fascinating, fascinating look. Is that tomorrow for what is today, the 21st? Yes, I'm sorry. That's tomorrow that 80 and we'll be doing that. I read that wrong. I thought it meant today. I'm having a hard time tracking days. I don't know. I have to. It feels like Friday to me again, just like it did last week. I was like, man, what am I going to do for?

show and tell. And yeah, I have a whole other day. Well, I think I'm the opposite. I think I'm both directions this week. So I don't have any rhyme or reason. All right. Let's do this. Let's take a break. We'll get back and then folks from Garber and you know, people will join us at the top of the hour eight o'clock and Max Verstappen when his fourth title for the championship in Las Vegas this weekend. Yes, he absolutely can. Oh, I saw those all this talk about Lando and it that just

fizzed, you know, with Lando, right? A lot of mistakes by that guy. And it's so crazy because I came into this so new, thanks to you and the Netflix show and watching it got to experience the most exciting year in the history of F1. Meaning two drivers were going into the last race of the year, statistically tied exactly.

And now we're like, Oh, well, it's only 38 points. And it was even more than that, Brian. They ended up side by side. I mean, it was like, they're not in different parts of the track. I don't think that there will ever be another race that exactly the last nugget. Yeah. And then the controversy and the decision to this day, I understand why Lewis fans didn't like it, but to this day, it didn't seem fair that lap cars would be in the way. I mean, you'd always get them out of the way. So I mean, I don't think I think each side's got a claim here.

It was just weird. They didn't lap all of them. Just the ones. Okay. But that's what they would have done with all of them in any other race. That guy got fired. That kind of liked him in the series. He's like an affable guy. They fired a lot of people lately. Las Vegas, the race this weekend. Cannot wait. Plus we're on a three week gap or whatever. I'm like Jones and for some effluent action. We'll be back after this. Stay tuned.

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You know, one other note about Geno slash Luigi is that he may be the only basketball program that could afford to pass on Caitlin Clark and didn't do anything. Yeah. It's wild. Right. Right. So there you have it. By the way, the league rosters were released for the new women's basketball, the unrivaled league. Oh, I didn't realize. Yeah, they came out yesterday. And I think this has me.

And I don't know why I'm interested in this more than I am in watching the NBA or any of the other sort of offshoot kind of things from sports, right? You know, like where they'll, but they announced yesterday and there's a lot of names, a lot of names. Will you watch this? About as much as I will, the big three, like if it's in front of me and I

remember there's a big game or a tournament or, you know, something coming up to it. Yeah, sure. But I'm not going to overly seek it out. So it's a three and three league played on a compressed full court. What does that mean? Just smaller size? Yeah. Okay. I mean, it looks like a court, but it's just not the same dimensions. Right. And several of the WNBA's top stars are committed to playing. It starts January 17th until March 17th. So it's in that sort of footballs over or almost over. Yep.

three on three seems really I don't know. There's I look at the names and they certainly have some of the biggest names. They sure do. Yeah, Leah Boston's right there. Yeah, so many Brandon Stewart at Edwards. So many. It's Ricky Jackson. Yeah, there's a lot of them. Most notably is not the two.

New superstars angel and Caitlin. Yeah. Well, they already have other revenue streams. They clearly do that. They have an advantage and it's a deserved advantage. I mean, they've earned it. Yeah, created an audience and they're probably also exhausted.

Oh, yeah, but this is below there. No, but I'm talking about just coming straight out of the college season, the postseason right in the WNBA. And the angel was hurt too. I don't know what that, you know, she didn't play the last number of weeks, you know, in the WNBA regular season. So I would think for them, it would be very attractive to have a couple of months to prepare for next. Probably so. And then they probably also have all their other obligations. This is where they're going to work. Caitlin's playing golf at every like LPGA event, crowds. Yeah.

We're talking about the crowds and the crowds at an LPGA event versus a PGA event in general. It's like two different sporting events. I mean, just in general, it's been that way for women's sport. I mean, like empty NBA, NBA arena, we're now like,

Hey, let's just play it a wrecked league plays. But I'm seeing improvement though. I'll be right. You know, big time. But when she showed up to play in the pro am or whatever, it's like a Wednesday morning at like 7 a.m., there were like 4,000 people. I believe it. Just at her or she was teeing off. I'm sure of it. It translates. I mean, no matter what. She's a star. She's a rock star. And I think the two of them, if they're smart,

play this rivalry. I don't mean mean girl stuff. I mean like bird just as you become friends and you just you understand the value of the role that you can each play in bringing this game into new heights. It's not burden magic. It's in this.

example. I'm about to bring a bird Michael Jordan and the McDonald's over the window through the hoop. Oh, sure. But not the idea that if you just play off each other and you bet bird by then had been established. I mean, that was more bird bringing Michael Jordan. My point was

put those two brands together and magical things, not in a mean way, just in a fun way. But I think you get that starts with the rivalry, right? And I also don't think that they dislike each other nearly what people have assumed or thought or tried to put on them throughout. I mean, I'm sure there's rivalry. You don't play at that level. That's part of the competitive spirit of being a modern athlete. I mean, you want that person to play off of.

And I'm sure there's when you're playing against them, there's no love lost. But I don't think it was nearly as antagonistic as people outside tried to make it. And people assigned a lot of value on top of it that maybe wasn't there. Yeah. But like Bird and Magic, there's that friction and you come into a league and people just don't remember or aren't old enough to remember the NBA was on its way out. I mean, it was in horrible. I mean, they weren't they weren't even playing live games. They were like tape delay games.

when they came into the league and then certainly Michael lifted it to another, you know, but that started with Bird and Johnson. Sure. No question about it. And they're on the front end of the league just announced their teams that are going to be coming. They're expanding to 15 teams. There's a 16th in Cleveland probably coming within two more years and that's great. The NBA is growing. Yeah. And they, you know, the NBA is investing in it and the

sports broadcasting's investing in it. I think if you look at the US women's soccer team, right? And they are as responsible for growth in this country and made way more money. I mean, like revenue coming in and sold out stadiums. But it's also, you want success. You know, bird and magic were vying for titles. Right. You know, you storied franchises to guys that were playing at the highest in college.

and then went right to the two teams. Yes. I mean, it was a perfect story, but the great thing about the WNBA, if you bring new audience and you don't have that kind of, I mean, there's no Celtics Lakers franchises that are cutting stone that have been there for a hundred years. I mean, I think you can make the Indiana team that thing. You can make the Chicago team that thing geographically. Oh, sure. Modern basketball teams fans.

are willing to migrate. They're willing to watch all the league. They are willing to follow a player from one team to the next. You don't have to get lucky. You can land in Indiana and make a name for yourself. You can land. It might be easier in India to make, you know, you're not competing with anything else. Certainly not the Colts. No, not at all. So anyway, I'll watch some of this. This is the thing that Ice Cube is involved in, right? Or is this not big three is the males. I don't remember if they own the I thought he offered Caitlin Clark a big contract.

to see on this one. I came on something. He owns the big three. Yes, this is the male thing. I want to think maybe I just know there was a story about him making a big offer. Wasn't he offering her to play in the big maybe maybe I just go back and look that up. Yeah. Anyway, that's on my radar screen. I can't tell you all be watching every game. But I like to see like the top golf thing that's coming. You know, I'd like to see what it looks like. Yeah. It may be basketball meant for me.

short of time. Fewer players names to remember. Yeah, more scoring. And it is. It's just fast basketball. Yeah. Pretty easy low key. There's entertainment manager version of the All-Star game. Right. Have you seen that million dollar match play that's coming up with all the for golf? I have all the big name like a lot of big names. Yes. What's that about? Well, we've only got like a minute here. I mean, is it like all of them whittling down to two match play means

you can have a bracket. You know, so player A plays player B, winner moves to the next. You know, that's how match play works if it's individual, right? So you can set it up like a college bracket and, you know, pick your players and it's, it's all in or nothing. I mean, as soon as you lose your out, when you go to the next thing, it's another match play, whoever wins moves on goes out. So it's not like a leaderboard.

You know, where you've got, you know, people tied at the top because of this. It doesn't matter what you shoot as long as you shoot better against the guy you're playing right now. And then that gets thrown out and you start all over again. Oh, peek at that. Yeah, that's a little. That's why Ryder Cup is so much fun because it is a completely different format. And you do get more excitement because of the suddenness of like, oh, that's done. Right. There's four holes to play and I'm a five. You're out gone. All right, let's take a break for top of the R news.

When we get back at guests coming in studios, I think this will be fun. I'm excited to tell you all about a very new company, very old company right here in Decatur and how they're working together. Stay tuned. This is Brian Barnhart, voice of 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, the Decatur Park District will host the 50th annual Turkey Trot on Saturday in Fairview Park. A few reminders, West Fairview Park Drive South and West of McClellan will be closed during the race, but neighborhood residents will still have access. Dreamland Lake Drive and Monument Hill Drive will be closed, blocking access into the park from Oak Crest Summit and Park Place.

All parking in Fairview Park will be closed for handicapped parking starting at 8 a.m. Racers and volunteers can park in Kirkland Fine Arts Center in Westminster Presbyterian Church. The Decatur Turkey Tournament returns for a 54th year, November 26th, 27th, 29th, and 30th at Stephen Decatur Middle School. Participating schools include Eisenhower, MacArthur, and several others from around the