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What really caused the gunfight at the OK Corral? Most people chalk it up to a simple showdown between good and evil, with Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday on one side and the Clantons and McLaury brothers on the other. Thirty seconds, roughly thirty shots fired at point-blank range, and three men left dead in the street. But contrary to popular belief, the violence in Tombstone didn't just materialize out of thin air. Months earlier, a botched stage robbery near Benson set off a chain reaction of rumors, arrests, and broken trust. Doc Holliday found himself accused of crimes he likely had nothing to do with. At the same time, Wyatt Earp quietly negotiated with Cochise County Cowboys who were willing to betray their own for reward money. When those secrets began to leak, threats followed. Today, we'll examine the long fuse behind the famous gunfight and how mounting tensions and fear finally erupted into the most legendary shootout in all of the American West. Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Doc Holliday Part 1 - https://www.wildwestextra.com/doc-holliday-the-early-years-part-1/ Doc Holliday Part 2 - https://www.wildwestextra.com/doc-holliday-the-road-to-tombstone-part-2/ Shane Derden - https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZEzUX8LOI00rhYMbQblOP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
One of the most exciting parts of traveling today? The ability to disconnect. On this episode—ripped from the pages of our upcoming spring print issue—Dan speaks with Tess Leach of Ranchlands, a massive land management business in the American West that includes the remote Paintrock Canyon Ranch in Wyoming that offers experiences for travelers of all stripes. The pair speak about what it's like to visit this incredible corner of the country, the community surrounding it, and the luxury of being totally disconnected from the modern world (with great food, of course). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Keith shares how a recent trip to Colorado Springs and a changing commission landscape reveal what really matters for real estate investors now From there, the show dives into the three levers investors truly control—leverage, operations, and relationships—before welcoming lender Caeli Ridge to break down the major mortgage options for investors. You'll hear how different loan types fit different strategies: from your first conventional "golden ticket" loans, to DSCR loans based on property income, to short-term fix-and-flip and bridge loans that prioritize speed and flexibility. The episode then moves into how more advanced investors can scale beyond 10 doors, navigate debt-to-income and tax strategy, and even approach financing for short-term rentals—all while highlighting why having the right lending partner and long-term plan can make a big difference to your results. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/591 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments. For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text 1-937-795-8989 to speak with a freedom coach Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review" For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript: Keith Weinhold 0:01 Welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold with new ways to think about your life through goals momentum in the real estate market. Then learn about various mortgage loan types, conventional DSCR, fix and flip, bridge loans, short term rental loans and more. Knowing which loans to use can save you millions and learn the fatal mortgage mistakes you must avoid today on get rich education. Corey Coates 0:29 since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads and 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki. Get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast or visit get rich education.com Speaker 1 1:14 You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education. Keith Weinhold 1:30 Welcome to GRE from Winnebago, Minnesota to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to get rich education, the voice of real estate investing since 2014 before we get into the mortgage discussion, where we'll discuss five or 10 different investor loan types and their various pros and cons, which could save you millions over the course of your life. I shared with you that I traveled to Colorado A couple weeks ago, for a goals retreat hosted by the real estate guys, top notch event, I spent extra time there in Colorado Springs, because I find it really livable, and I spent five hours with a local realtor there, one day out and about visiting properties in the area I'm potentially looking for a home or a second home. And by the way, how is this for a price range? The realtor wanted to know what my Buy Box is, and since I'm just learning the Colorado Springs market, I told him I'm willing to spend between 400k and 1.2 million on the property, yeah, pretty wide range, a mile wide. Fortunately, my other Buy Box criteria are more narrow and specific, and I have got to say, I'm surprised at how low the area's home prices are. I thought they'd be higher. Interestingly, before touring homes, my buyer agent wanted me to sign a six month exclusive representation agreement. Fair enough, that's standard stuff. It was on the agreement, though, that I as the buyer pay a 3% commission up on the purchase, and the seller would presumably pay the other 3% to make up that total 6% commission for the agent compensation. Well, historically, the seller paid the entire 6% and this, of course, goes back to the NAR settlement, and that ruling that became effective in August of 2024 you probably remember this, and I talked about it on the show back then, and how it's not really that big of a deal, especially to investors like us, because at GRE marketplace and with our GRE investment coaching, it's a direct model. There's zero commission on either side, and then you, in turn, get some of those savings, but out in the larger world and in the owner occupant world. Well, that rule change that started a year and a half ago. It means that sellers are no longer required to pay the buyer's agent. Instead, the fee is now negotiable between buyers and their agent. The other change is that property listings no longer display the buyer agent's commission offer. But here's what's interesting in practice, and what really ends up happening in the end, in most cases, is that the seller still pays the full commission and compensates both agents that full 6% sometimes it's 5% instead of six buyers and buyer agents, they still operate under the seller pays. And that's largely because that has just been the norm. It's what's seemingly always been done. It's what buyers are used to. And the reason that that often persists. Is because the seller is the party in the transaction that has that thick equity in the property, deep equity, and buyers are the ones often just trying to scrape together whatever they can for a down payment and closing costs. Buyers are not going to be able to come up with another 15k for an agent commission when they're buying a 500k property, that's 3% especially today, this is true because American homeowners the seller then still have record equity positions of about 300k an all time high. Nearly half of mortgaged homes are considered equity rich. What does equity rich mean? It means that the loan balance is less than half of the home's value, yeah, the seller has the means to pay the full commission. So the point is, in practice, the seller, yeah, still pays that full five to 6% commission in the overwhelming majority of cases, and the buyer pays nothing. And if that does change, it's going to take a long time. You know, a lot of these evanescent real estate stories that people think are going to have some seismic impact. It rarely does, like this erstwhile NAR ruling or the 50 year mortgage proposal or banning big institutions for buying more single family rentals. You know, this stuff is like one little baseball sized asteroid striking an entire planet. I mean, it's like a barely discernible impact. Real estate is anchored in one place like Jabba the Hut. It is solid. These stories are interesting, but they're not impactful. Keith Weinhold 6:52 Instead, I've mentioned it before. What are three things you control in real estate that really matter. And these are evergreen things. First, it's, how many dollars are you leveraging? That's where your wealth is going to come from. In fact, we're going to discuss that today with mortgage loan types. Second, what's the efficiency of operations on your existing properties? And thirdly, what is the quality of your relationships? And actually, we're addressing the third one today too, talking to a lender that you could make part of your team. You can control these three things. They're unyielding, they're evergreen, they're long term, and they all have gratitas and impact those three things, leverage operations and relationships. Now my agent drops me off and picks me up from my hotel here at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. This was also the event hotel for the goals retreat. I just extended my stay to hang out in the area. Look at real estate, do some climbing on Pikes Peak. Pro tip for you on hotel room rates, talk to a human being before I booked my stay, I called the front desk and asked them if they could extend the attractive event room rate to more nights on my extended stay. And they agreed. You might have heard of the Broadmoor. It is well known. It's been here for more than 100 years, and it is such a fine place to stay. Let me tell you about this special piece of real estate. In fact, I've thought it through, and I will now hereby proclaim that it is the finest us hotel experience that I've ever had in my life. I say us because I stayed at an amazing place in Dubai. But what makes the Broadmoor stand alone? It's the details and the service. A lot of hotels are nice, but this is on a different level. And I don't say this to brag, and this is because you probably can afford to stay here, yeah, like I have. You might have paid more elsewhere in your life for a lesser hotel, although I am here in the low seasons. Okay, now, sure, you've got views of the Rockies and a man made lake and waterfall and even a beautiful chandelier in my hotel room. The thing that sets it apart, though, is you have this service that feels old world and not corporate. That's what makes the difference. The Broadmoor is horse themed, since horses are a symbol of the American West. There are about 800 rooms here. It's kind of like a self contained adult Disneyland championship golf courses, a world class spa, even an outdoor lap swimming pool like that has lanes that I swam in one morning for. Fine dining, casual dining, access to hiking, fly fishing, even falconry, zip lines, tennis, pickleball pools. Take the cog railway to the Pikes Peak, Summit. Okay. Now, other nice hotels have attractions that are sort of like that, but when I rave about the service, it's the little things they are knocking on my door before 10am to come in and clean the room. And you know how so commonly, when you first check into your hotel room and you look in the closet, there are not enough clothing hangers, and they're all like stupidly mismatched. These all match. They're all nice wood, and there are plenty of them. So I'm talking about these details. I'm telling you. I had dinner at one of the broadmoor's restaurants the other night. I just happened to take a close look at the tag on the napkin. Sure enough, it is made in Italy. I mean, jeez, no detail is overlooked at this stellar place. In fact, here's what I'll do. You know, I'll just completely stop my Colorado Springs home search right now. Instead, I'm going to stop down by the Broadmoor front desk, tell him to give me some moving boxes, because I'm moving into the Broadmoor and I'll be here for the next decade. Start forwarding my mail here and everything. And hey, at least I was courteous enough to give them notice. I can't stay here too long, or my standards will be rising faster than my net worth. Yeah, yeah. Can't go to sleep with a mint on your pillow every night, I suppose. Keith Weinhold 11:38 Now, the reason I came here now is to attend that aforementioned goals retreat, and let me take all the time and all the resources that I put into being here and distill them into just a few of the most salient takeaways for you. Goals should be smart, strategic, measurable, actionable, relevant and time based, they must be written down. Now, how would you describe yourself to somebody else that didn't know who you were? Write that down next. What do you think your reputation is? How would others describe you? Write that down now that you can see how you describe yourself and how others describe you, you can see that there's a gap there. That gap is what you need to work on. I learned that goal should be written in the present tense, not the future tense. I did not know that before. For example, say it is January 1, 2035, and I own $5 million in rental property. That's an example of how you would do that. So take future events and write them in the present tense. Other questions at the goals retreat that got really introspective are, what are you really going to do with your life? And write down that answer. Sheesh, that is tough. And if you think that's a hard question for you to ask of yourself, the next one is even harder. It's simply why? Why is that where you're going with your life? And then write that down? I mean, would you answer questions like this for yourself? And you really think about it, that can occupy a new segment of your entire headspace. It is a big cognitive load, and a last one to leave you with is to dream not just big, but gigantic. Get it out there, write down a dream that interests you, but it's so grandiose that you're actually embarrassed to tell someone about this stretch dream, for example, for me, it's the first person to walk on another planet. No human has ever done that, and this would most likely happen on Mars. See, this is so grand that is sort of embarrassing for me to even share that with you. It almost makes you sound Loony, like I would have to learn so many new skills to travel to and walk on Mars. But you should write down a bunch of other goals too. You're sort of brainstorming on goals, attainable goals. Recall that is the A in the SMART goals acronym, you want to write down a bunch of attainable ones, not just that stretch one. So for attainable ones, one of them is for me to become the highest man on earth. To give you an example. And I attempted that goal two years ago, and I failed. I told you about that at that time. But see now, compared to my embarrassing stretch goal of walking on Mars, the highest man on earth feels attainable, I know what it takes to achieve it, and it's worth doing, ah, but it's a grind to get there, yet it would be worth it. Those are some quick take. Ways from the real estate guys goals retreat while on stage the event host Robert helms he took a minute respite from the goals material, and he recognized the fact that, as he calls it, the four OG real estate podcasters are all in the same room. One of them is helms himself, and now I feel like the other three are all older and doing it longer than me. I was one of the four that he mentioned. But you know, there is only one podcast that was mentioned from stage, and that is that Robert helms told the audience that they should be listening to the get rich education podcast. That was a nice thing to say, and he is always a gracious giver. Keith Weinhold 15:45 Next, we're talking about four major loan types, conventional DSCR, fix and flip and then bridge loans. When we discuss the first two parts of it could sound repetitive, but you'll see why we do this, because then you'll be able to compare it to nichey loan types that we discuss, for example, the speed of a bridge loan, where you can get funded in just one week, compared to a slower conventional loan. The mortgage landscape changes. I still remember how in 2012 we had still somewhat freshly emerged from the global financial crisis, and back then, you could only get four conventional loans, four rental properties, not 10 like you can today, 20 married. So get your loans while you can, you probably won't always be able to get 10 loans. We'll start with loan types that are more for beginners, and then we'll get to advanced material. Let's welcome back one of our favorite recurring guests. Keith Weinhold 16:54 You can make millions more throughout your life by understanding mortgage loans. This is key, and today it's the return of the woman that's created more financial freedom through real estate than any other lender in the entire nation, because she's the president of ridge lender group. Hey, it's time for a big welcome back to the incomparable, yet somehow still so approachable Chaley Ridge Caeli Ridge 17:16 my Keith, thank you for having me. I love being here. I love what you're doing. It's my pleasure, sir. Keith Weinhold 17:23 And our followers, our listeners, have been approaching you since 2015 you're one of the longest running guests, truly one of the OGS around here at GRE and now Caeli, before we discuss loan types. You know, we don't really talk politics on this show rather policies, and we're in the midst of a presidential administration that often, in the name of the word affordability, is trying to supremely shake things up in the housing market. Help us dissect what matters and what won't. Caeli Ridge 17:58 I have found that at least as it relates to current administration, whoever that might be, I wait for the buzzwords or the taglines to become the actual policy. Like you said, That's a good point in this case. You know, you've got things floating around, like the 50 year mortgage cutting off the hedge fund guys and that kind of thing. Whether or not, those things come to fruition. I'm happy to give my opinion on them. I do not think that it's going to move the needle much for the people that you and I serve with regard to I mean, just taking them one at a time, I don't think that the 50 year is going to come to fruition. Just first and foremost, if it did do, I think it would be a good idea for a homeowner, probably not, but for an investor, maybe if there's some way that we can keep our payment lower, given the maturity date of a mortgage for an investment property is usually about five years. I mean, I know that this is a 30 year fixed mortgage, but statistically speaking, the average shelf life of a non owner occupied mortgage is about five years. So getting a 50 year amortization, if that were going to reduce the payment, I don't think is a bad thing for an investor, however, and this may get a little bit technical for the listeners, so I apologize in advance if we were to go to a 50 Year am the adjustments, something called, and you and I have talked about this before, something called an llpa, that stands for loan level price adjustment, I think would be such that it could end up defeating the purpose of having the longer term amortization, because I think the interest rates would be higher and I think they may offset so that was a long way to say. One, I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think it's actually going to get to its final resting place. And two, would it be a good idea for investors, yeah, I think it would be worth considering if it kept the payment lower. Okay, that's that as the other piece to cutting off the hedge funds, the big, you know, BlackRock, some of the big players, and giving them access to the residential housing and first right of infusion or etc, because they've got such deep pockets. You. It's such a small amount to what our individual investors are going to have access to that I don't think that that moves the needle either. So I don't know if I'm answering the question, except to say anything that they're going to tout, I would wait for it to actually become written in stone and pass by the rest of the powers that be before I would get excited about or concerned about any of it. Keith Weinhold 20:21 This is pretty parallel with what I've been telling our listeners. All these things seem to make splashy news, but I haven't seen anything that's going to make a deep impact yet, whether it's the 50 year mortgage, which probably won't even come to fruition, or if it's doing these mortgage bond buy downs in order to bring more liquidity into the market and bring rates down, or if it sees any of these other things being discussed with these institutional investors, since they already own such a smaller proportion of the housing market than a lot of people think, we'll discuss seasoned real estate investors and their loans shortly, but first for newer real estate investors, you Know, chili, I kind of think of four or more loan types that a beginner should be familiar with. I think of conventional loans, dscrs, fix and flips and then bridge loans, the first one with conventional loans. What are the basics that someone should know? Caeli Ridge 21:17 So first of all, you should know that there are 10 of these. We call them the golden tickets. I'm pretty sure I coined this, okay, 100 years ago, the golden ticket. We call the conventional aka Fannie Freddie, aka agency. They go by different names, but they all mean the same thing. We call them the golden tickets because it's the highest leverage and typically at the lowest interest rate you can find. Now I do have a hook in our conversation today about that. I'll get we'll get to it. There are 10 of these per qualified individual. So one of the first things that I would tell somebody is, is that if they are a partnership or a husband and wife team, you want to make sure to keep the debt obligation separate, because if you want to maximize these golden tickets, let's just say it's a husband and wife team. You each have, per qualification access to 10, and that includes a primary residence. In fact, let me just take a quick second and define what counts in the 10, because some people get this wrong. So the 10 golden tickets are counted by any residential property, single family, up to four Plex that has a loan on it, where the loan is in the individual name or personally guaranteed by the individual. That's where people get tied up. So if they went out and got a kind of more of a commercial type loan, that was in an LLC name, for example, but they signed a personal guarantee, per Fannie Freddie guidelines, that particular mortgage is going to count against the 10. So those would be some of the first pieces of news or detail I would give them about conventional Keith Weinhold 22:40 for married couples, don't take ownership in both the husband and wife's name, either the husband or the wife. That way, you can get to 20 rather than 10. And yes, you do have to be mindful that your primary residence does count in that 10 or 20, whatever it might be. Anything else quickly with conventional loans, LTVs so on, Caeli Ridge 23:01 yeah, LTV can go to 85% loan to value. So you get a little bit extra than you're going to get in some of the other loan product types. It will have PMI, private mortgage insurance, anything over 80% LTV will always have PMI on a more conforming, conventional basis. So keep that in mind. But the factor is pretty low. I would encourage people that are looking to stretch the almighty dollar. Do the math. Look at the 85 with PMI against, say, an 80% and see what are you giving up versus what you're getting. And then qualification stuff, you guys, my dumb joke, it's Keith's favorite. I'm sure vials of blood and DNA samples are sort of required for the Fannie Freddie loans. So just be prepared to supply or submit us the tax returns and pay stubs and bank statements and and all that stuff, Keith Weinhold 23:44 you'll feel like you're getting fingerprinted almost for a conventional loan qualification. And the second one that I brought up DSCR loans, that's short for debt service coverage ratio. And these mortgages are pretty standard for rental properties. They're underwritten based on a property's income potential. So you know, the way I think of dscrs Chaley from the lender's perspective, is that sustainable cash flow is what matters. The rent has got to support the property's monthly mortgage payments. So we talked to us more about dscrs. Caeli Ridge 24:15 Yeah, I love this product, and this is for somebody that either can't fit into the conventional Fannie Freddie box, or maybe they've exhausted their golden tickets and they're graduating and moving on. This is a great option that will reduce the amount of vials of blood and DNA samples that you're going to have to submit. It still provides for a 30 year fixed mortgage. The leverage is roughly the same, 80% in most cases, on a purchase. And to your point, the gross income divided by the principal, interest, taxes, insurance and Hoa, if it's applicable, is the simple formula, the easy method I'll give people, just to kind of solidify that math, is that if the gross rents were $1,000 a month, and if the PI TI was $1,000 a month, when you divide that, your debt service is 1.0 Now you can go as low, believe it or not, as low as a point seven, five, DSCR, they have those available be ready for the interest rate to get a little hair on it. Okay, it's going to be higher than what the 1.0 and above is going to be. But you can go as low as point seven, five, those are going to be for the investors that have found a property, maybe in distress, and they cannot show the current market value rent, perhaps, and it's on the low end. So you can still get that done at point seven, five, just be ready for a higher interest rate. Keith Weinhold 25:30 So the DSCR loan an alternative for you, which might be especially useful, like Chaley touched on, if you've already exhausted your 10 golden ticket. Fannie Freddie loans, a DSCR of 1.2 for example, means that your rent income needs to exceed your principal, interest, taxes and insurance payment by 20% or more. That's what we're talking about here. And then Chile, those were more of loans for the buy and hold type of investor. Tell us about fix and flip loans. Caeli Ridge 26:03 Yeah. So these are shorter term loan that will allow you to include not just the purchase of the property, but also some renovation or rehab money if you need that. And we're going to be looking at an ARV after repair value. So you've got a purchase price, you've got your renovation or scope of work budget. And then we're looking for an ARV with the ARV to be somewhere around 75% so what that means, if you've not heard of this before, you're going to take, let's say, $100,000 value. And if we want the ARV to be at 75% we're going to lend 75,000 is kind of the mix there. Those are quicker loans. You're going to be paying much higher rates on those. You know, between nine and 13% depending on the deal. The points are also going to be a little bit higher, but a great option for that quick turn and burn where you know your deal has enough skin in it and you can recapture all your capital and make a good tidy profit on it. Keith Weinhold 26:53 We're talking about basically fixer upper loans here with Chaley Ridge, the president of ridge lending group, yes, these are jalopies that rarely qualify for traditional bank financing. And oftentimes, when I think about these fix and flip loans, I'm thinking that often there is interest only flexibility with regard to those higher interest rates that you need to pay. And I think of it as, you know, a shorter term loan that you've got during your renovation period, oftentimes 12 to 18 months. Does that sound about right? Caeli Ridge 27:24 Yeah, 6,18, even 24 months. And to your point, yes, all of these are going to be interest only. And one of the cool things is about these loans is, is that, if there's enough room in the deal, right, based on what you need to borrow and what we think the ARV is expected to be, you don't even actually have to be making those interest payments. You can build it into the final payout when we go to refinance you out of this short term loan, or you simply sell the property and pay off that loan. So for example, let's say that your interest only payment is $1,000 a month, okay? And the value of the property is going to be $200,000 and you only took 120 okay, we're going to be well within that 75% ARV. You can build in that $1,000 say, for 12 months, there's $12,000 and just add it to the outstanding balance that you started by owing, and not have to be making those payments on an ongoing basis. It's not rented, right? So it might be nice to be able to factor that in to the actual payoff when you go to refinance that if it's a fix and hold versus go to sell it on a fix and flip. Keith Weinhold 28:31 Now, long term, we know that the big gains for real estate investors really come from that leveraged appreciation getting that loan. But sometimes there are situations where we might want to act as a cash buyer. And that brings up this fourth of four loan types that I brought up, the bridge loan, short term loans that can temporarily finance a property purchase while you're waiting for a longer term loan to come through. The bridge loan, so I think of it as a pretty speedy loan, if you sort of want to act like you're an all cash buyer. Caeli Ridge 29:04 Yeah, I like this, and in many ways it's similar to a fix and flip interest only. Obviously the term is going to be shorter, six months, 12 months, up to 24 months, and based on largely relationship, the bridge loan for the purpose that you described, really comes into play for an investor that we know and we're comfortable with, we can fund those inside a week, for somebody that we've done several of these loans for. So for those that need that really quick turn, once you've established yourself as a seasoned, experienced investor in that space, those are pretty slick and easy to get through. Keith Weinhold 29:39 Why would someone use a bridge loan, rather than a fix and flip loan. Caeli Ridge 29:43 So if they're in a very competitive market, that might be another option, because those are going to be faster. The bridge loan is going to be faster where they need to say that they're an all cash buyer and they only need seven days to close, or whatever it is. It depends on the municipality in the state. But what if you're at the courthouse steps? And you need cash quickly. Sometimes it needs to be immediate. So that might not be applicable in this case, but if you put the bid in, and you win the bid, and you've got, you know, three days to perform, usually we can get those done. So it's circumstantial. Those would be two variables or two scenarios that that would apply to Keith Weinhold 30:17 the bridge loan gives you the advantage of speed, but that speed can come at a cost. Caeli Ridge 30:22 Oh yeah, yeah, you're going to be paying probably three points, maybe four points, and it's short term interest, 13, 14% Keith Weinhold 30:30 so with these four loan types that we've discussed, conventional DSCR, fix and flip and bridge loans, you can kind of see that there is a loan for most every investment scenario, and there's no reason to rely on only one type, a flipper. Might start with a short term fix and flip loan or a bridge loan and then later refinance to a DSCR or a conventional loan. So consider mixing and matching based on your needs. You're listening to get rich education. We're talking with Ridge leninger, President Taylor Ridge, more when we come back, including steps for more advanced investors, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold Keith Weinhold 31:06 mid south homebuyers with over two decades as the nation's highest rated turnkey provider, their empathetic property managers use your return on investment as their North Star. It's no wonder smart investors line up to get their completely renovated income properties like it's the newest iPhone, headquartered in Memphis, with their globally attractive cash flows, mid south has an A plus rating with a better business bureau and 4000 houses renovated. There is zero markup on maintenance. Let that sink in, and they average a 98.9% occupancy rate with an industry leading three and a half year average renter term. Every home they offer you will have brand new components, a bumper to bumper, one year warranty, new 30 year roofs. And wait for it, a high quality renter in an astounding price range, 100 to 150k GET TO KNOW Mid South. Enjoy cash flow from day one at mid southhomebuyers.com that's mid southhomebuyers.com Keith Weinhold 32:08 you know, most people think they're playing it safe with their liquid money, but they're actually losing savings accounts and bonds. Don't keep up when true inflation eats six or 7% of your wealth. Every single year I invest my liquidity with FFI freedom family investments in their flagship program. Why fixed 10 to 12% returns have been predictable and paid quarterly. There's real world security backed by needs based real estate like affordable housing, Senior Living and health care. Ask about the freedom flagship program when you speak to a freedom coach there, and that's just one part of their family of products, they've got workshops, webinars and seminars designed to educate you before you invest, start with as little as 25k and finally, get your money working as hard as you do. Get started at Freedom family investments.com/gre or GRE, or send a text now it's 1-937-795-8989, yep, text their freedom coach, directly again. 1-937-795-8989, Keith Weinhold 33:19 the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage, start your pre qual and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally, while it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com Blair Singer 33:53 this is Rich Dad, sales advisor, Blair singer. Listen to get rich education with Keith Weinhold. And above all, don't quit your Daydream. Keith Weinhold 34:09 Welcome back to get rich education chili when we go beyond this beginner stage that we've been discussing, how about for an investor just trying to scale to 10 doors worth of one to four unit properties. Now, are there any strategies there or more of a loan order that you would recommend in getting up to your first 10 you know Caeli Ridge 34:29 I think the strategy starts with calling your lender, ideally Ridge lending group, and having that deep strategy call that, that discovery call, so that we can really understand and plant some seeds that say, Okay, Mr. Jones, these are your qualifications today. This is where you want to be in a year or 10 years. These are the steps that are going to be important that we are mindful of and we take to accomplish and reach those milestones. It's really important to have that baseline understanding of what is your debt to income ratio on day one, what are your assets? Sets. What is your credit? Where do you want to be in a year or 10 years? Right? Do you want 10 properties in a year's time? It's going to be a very different conversation than if you're going to slow roll this and want to establish 10 purchases or 10 investment properties over 10 years. So identifying those details is going to be part one, and then next, in terms of order, I would say, largely the higher price point properties, typically, I would say, put those in one through six. And the reason that I'm saying that is is that the underwriting guidelines under conventional financing, they will change based on how many finance properties you have. So of all of the inner working guidelines and things that go into securing a conventional mortgage loan, the three top most heavily weighted are going to be debt to income ratio, credit score and assets. Okay? And within each one of those, the marker or the qualification guideline changes as you evolve and acquire more property. So the higher up the ring you go, or the rung that you go to 10, the more restrictive the guidelines are going to be. So I would typically say, get the higher price point properties go into maybe one to four, one to six, if that's part of your strategy and your diversification of portfolio ownership. Then after you've established having two or three or four properties and that higher price point it as it gets harder to qualify, potentially, if your debt to income ratio is a little bit tight, you've got the smaller loan sizes that might be less impactful in debt to income ratio. All of this is very subjective to the individual's qualifications and needs, of course, but that might be one rule of thumb that I would take Keith Weinhold 36:39 gosh, this This is absolute gold in helping you structure the architecture of a growing income property portfolio. And we're coming up on this Super Bowl, and whatever mortgage lender advertises for the Super Bowl or has some big, splashy campaign nationally, you know they are not the ones that are going to have conversations like this for you, they might be fine for buying a primary residence, but this is why you want to have a long term strategy and work with a lender that's aligned with you on exactly that sort of thing. And Chaley, is there a specific way in which one can avoid hitting the Fannie Freddie loan ceilings too early if you haven't already touched on it. Caeli Ridge 37:22 Yeah, very good question. You know, I think that this is going to come down to a debt to income ratio conversation. It's easy enough to ensure that we contain assets and credit. Those are easier conversations. The debt to income ratio is the piece that's more complicated and can get away from an investor without them even knowing it. You don't know what you don't know, right? So I would say that debt to income ratio and making sure that your lender again, hopefully Ridge lending, because we know this like we know our own faces, making sure they know how to structure and provide feedback and consult on that schedule E, part of the beauty of real estate investing is the tax deductions. Right? Many people get into real estate investing, not for the cash flow, not even for the appreciation, but for that tax strategy, because they're high wage earners, or whatever it may be, and they're sick of paying x in taxes. So the debt to income ratio is key in scaling and making sure you can continue to qualify for those loans. The conversations that we have with our clients really go deep about where we can maximize our deductions to ensure that we get the tax benefit without precluding our qualification on a conventional underwriting basis in the DTI category. Keith Weinhold 38:35 Now, during my growth as an investor, when I got above 10 doors, one gets above 20 doors. When one gets to 216 doors, I began where I needed to qualify more on a DSCR basis, where the lender is looking at the properties qualification, more so than me. So are there any other thoughts with regard to how one can set themselves up for success in really going big and well beyond 10 doors Caeli Ridge 39:03 absolutely so once we've exhausted the Fannie Freddie, and I think one of the real value adds about Ridge is that we are not a one size fits all, and we are extremely holistic versus transactional. So having that first conversation and understanding what those goals are, so that we can pivot as we need to maximize the golden tickets, whether that be 10 to 20, right? If you're in a marriage or a partnership or whatever, and then setting up for the DSCR loans when the time comes, and taking advantage of those, there is no limit to how many DSCR loans we can get for one individual. We have yet to file an individual that we've had to say no, and we've done quite a few of the high, high acquisition investors, so I don't expect that to be an issue, but yeah, I think it's about planning, planting those seeds, creating roadmaps together and have those smart discovery conversations. Keith Weinhold 39:50 Now, as you grow, one way you might diversify is to have perhaps at least a part of your portfolio in short term rentals. So what I. Comes to getting loans for sort of Airbnb or VRBO type properties. What does one look for there? How much does the landscape change versus the longer term rentals that we've mostly been talking about here? Caeli Ridge 40:10 Yeah, I think that the differences are going to be about purchase versus refinance. If we're just talking about purchases, let's kind of try to keep it in one lane. If we're talking about purchasing a short term rental, you may be limited on leverage. You might lose a little bit of leverage, 5% let's say you could get to 75% and maybe on a short term they're going to back it off to 70% LTV, so there may be reduction in that loan to value. And the way in which we're going to quantify the income is absolutely important to share with your listeners on a purchase transaction, we have access to things like an appraisal. An appraisal is going to give us some median rental income, whether it be long term or short term, that we will use to offset a new mortgage payment if that's needed for the individual's debt to income ratio qualification. Now, if they don't need the rental income to qualify, then it's a non issue. But if they do, like most of us, need that rental income to absorb this new mortgage payment that we are securing for them, how that's going to quantify is important. So if it's not in a short term rental area, let's just say it's kind of off the beaten path, and there may not be enough data points to support the income that you need. It's important to know that up front versus way down the rabbit hole, when you paid for appraisals and you're all the way through the transaction and earnest money might be off the table if you had to cancel that kind of thing. So really important to understand the numbers in advance, I would say, when we talk about short term rentals and how the income is going to be quantified from an underwriting perspective, Keith Weinhold 41:43 why does a borrower often need to make a higher down payment on a short term rental than they do a long term rental? Caeli Ridge 41:49 You know, I think that in secondary markets, as we talk about mortgage backed securities and things like that, it's looked at as a higher risk. A short term rental is going to be a higher risk than just the stable long term, long burn tenant is going to be there and they've got their lease for a year, two years or whatever, at a time, the short term rental is more volatile and it's seasonal. It can be I mean, there's all those different factors, so higher risk means more skin in the game for the investor. Keith Weinhold 42:13 That makes a lot of sense. Does that higher risk also translate into a higher mortgage rate for short term rentals than long term rentals? Caeli Ridge 42:18 Fannie Freddie versus DSCR The answer is no. On the Fannie Freddie side, the interest rate's not going to change on a DSCR loan. Yes, it can be slightly higher, usually about about a quarter of a percentage point on a short term versus a long term. Keith Weinhold 42:33 Now, are there any particular markets that lenders want to avoid with short term rental loans? Caeli Ridge 42:39 No, as long as the property is habitable, and all the other metrics fit Qualifications and Credit and assets and all that stuff. No, there isn't a market that we're going to have any issues with now. We do get the notifications for natural disaster areas, and as that relates to the appraisal and things like that, if it's in a natural disaster area or zone, we may have to hold funding until after the disaster is over, and then we can go and take more pictures and make sure it's still standing and there's no major issues. But otherwise, aside from that, as long as it's habitable, no, there is no market restriction. Keith Weinhold 43:12 Yes, with that variability of income for short term rentals, you can understand how a lender would be more careful in making a loan, and would want you, the borrower, to put more skin in the game for a short term rental. Well, Caeli, overall, what should an investor do in the next 24 hours to make themselves more lendable before contacting someone like you? Caeli Ridge 43:36 I would say the answer is sticky, but call rich lending group. That's how you're going to make yourself more lendable. And the reason that I can say that is is that everybody's qualifications and needs and goals are inherently different. So calling someone that understands this landscape and can navigate the battleship in the creek like I like to say, that's the visual aid for those of you that need the visual is the first key. And with that conversation, we're going to be able to identify for you specifically what you would need to do to become more lendable. And it may be nothing Keith Weinhold 44:07 well over there, Chaley, you're growing. You do loans in almost all 50 states. The GRE podcast has more than 5.8 million listener downloads, and you have helped countless GRE listeners acquire smart investor loans for fully a decade now. Just amazing. So talk to us about all of the loan types that you offer investors there at ridge. Caeli Ridge 44:30 My gosh. Okay, so I think one of the real value adds for us is that we have such a diverse menu of loan products. We touched on a few of them already. So we've got the conventional Fannie Mae Freddie, Mac stuff. We've got our DSCR loans. We have bank statement loans, asset depletion loans. I can touch on those if you want. Keith, we have our short term bridge fix and flip. We have our All In One my favorite, first lien, HELOC we have second lien HELOCs. We have commercial loan products, and commercial can apply to residential and commercial property. A cross collateralization, commercial for residential properties. That just means, if you're putting 10 single families into one blanket loan, that would be cross collateralization, or if you're buying a storage unit that's straight commercial, and probably even more than that, ground up construction, there's really not a limit to the loan products that we offer, specifically for investors. The only thing we don't have, I would say in our arsenal is bare land loans. Those are hard to come by Keith Weinhold 45:24 It sounds like you recommend a call in order to get some of that back and forth, to learn how you can best help that investor. But tell us about all the ways that someone Caeli Ridge 45:32 can get a hold of you. Yes, there's a few ways. Of course, our website, ridgeline group.com, you can call us toll free at 855-747434385, 747-434-3855, 74, Ridge. Or feel free to email us info at Ridge lending group.com Keith Weinhold 45:49 and you might get lucky. Hey, spin the wheel. Chaele does get on the phone and talk to individual investors herself too. So Chaley, it's been valuable as always to cover all these different loan types for beginners, and then what one does when they advance beyond that. It's been great having you back on the show. Caeli Ridge 46:09 Thank you, Keith. I appreciate you. Keith Weinhold 46:16 Oh yeah, a lot to learn from Chaley today. You've got mortgage rates three quarters to 1% lower than they were a year ago. At this time, in fact, last month, they ticked below 6% for the first time in years, and their lowest level in over three years. But when you introduce geopolitical uncertainty, well, that tends to make rates tick up again. Now, just what does happen when you have a lower overall rate trend like we have? Well, in this cycle, it's already spurred an increase in housing sales volume. It surged to 4.3 5 million in the latest reporting month, and that is the hottest annualized pace in nearly three years. Some of the same people who said, wait until rates fall, they're about to realize that prices didn't wait. Demand comes back fast. Inventory doesn't if mortgage rates take another leg lower, we could see quite a refinance wave in balanced markets or in supply constrained markets, bidding wars could follow. Now I've shared with you before that I totally do not predict interest rates. I don't know if anyone should. It is a great way to be fantastically wrong and supremely waste a lot of people's time. Instead, I think it's more efficacious for you to be able to interpret the signs that can trigger a further rate drop. Those signs are a weak jobs report that tends to bring lower rates because the labor market needs the help. So does softening wage growth, GDP below expectations, inflation continuing to cool, or a pickup in US Treasury demand. These are all signs that can lead to even lower rates. In fact, right now, with already lower rates and higher wages, real estate is more affordable than it's been in about three years, but overall, longer term, yeah, income properties still feel somewhat less affordable. It's less affordable than it was in pre pandemic times. That's for real for US investors, though, affordability is less about the price of the property, it's about whether the property pays for itself and grows your net worth while inflation does the heavy lifting for you, that's why it still works for us as investors. Higher prices don't kill investors inaction during inflation does you're not so much buying a say, 350k property. You're controlling it with 70k while your tenant and inflation do the rest. We don't rely on hope or appreciation. We start with inflation, tax benefits and debt pay down, and then appreciation typically happens too. A lot of times, the question for us goes beyond whether or not a property is affordable. The question is whether owning an investment property is better than inflation compounding against us, which is an investor mindset for this era, Ridge landing gear. President Chaley Ridge is a regular guest here because the mortgage space is so dynamic and things change a lot. For that reason, we expect to have her with us every few months this year, I'll see you next week. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream. Speaker 2 50:01 Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively Keith Weinhold 50:30 The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building, getricheducation.com
In this episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins talks with author Linda Stasi about her historical novel, The Descendant, inspired by her own Italian-American family history. Stasi traces her ancestors' journey from Sicily to the Colorado mining camps, revealing the brutal realities faced by immigrant laborers in the American West. The conversation explores the violent labor struggles surrounding the Ludlow Massacre and the role of powerful figures like John D. Rockefeller, as well as the diverse immigrant communities that shaped Colorado's mining towns. Stasi challenges stereotypes about Italians in America, highlighting their roles as workers, ranchers, and community builders—not just mobsters. Jenkins and Stasi also discuss Prohibition-era bootlegging and the early roots of organized crime in places like Pueblo, weaving together documented history with deeply personal family stories of survival, violence, and resilience. Drawing on her background as a journalist, Stasi reflects on loss, perseverance, and the immigrant pursuit of the American dream, making The Descendants both a historical narrative and an emotional family legacy. Click here to find the Descendant. 0:04 Introduction to Linda Stasi 3:12 The Role of Women in History 7:05 Bootlegging and the Mafia’s Rise 9:31 Discovering Family Connections 14:59 Immigrant Struggles and Success 19:02 Childhood Stories of Resilience 24:04 Serendipity in New York 26:19 Linda’s Journey as a Journalist Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here. To purchase one of my books, click here. [0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers out there, glad to be back here in studio, Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective, and I have an interview for you. This is going to be a historical fiction author. This is going to be a historical fiction book by a writer whose family lived the life of, whose family, This is going to be a real issue. This book is going to, we’re going to talk about a book. We’re going to talk with an author about the book. We’re going to talk with the author, Linda Stasi. We’re going to talk with the author, Linda Stasi, about her book, The Descendants. Now, she wrote a historical fiction, but it’s based on her actual family’s history. [0:50] From Sicily to New York to California. The wild west of colorado now get that you never heard of many italians out west in colorado but she’s going to tell us a lot more about that and how they were actually ended up being part of the pueblo colorado mafia the corvino family and then got involved in bootlegging and and then later were involved in ranching and different things like that so it’s uh it’s a little different take on the mob in the United States that we usually get, but I like to do things that are a little bit different. So welcome, Linda Stasey. Historical fiction, how much of it is true? Is it from family stories? All the stories are true. I’ll ask you that here in a little bit. Okay, all the stories are true. All right. All the stories are true. [1:41] It’s based on not only stories that were told to me by my mother and her sisters and my uncles and so forth, But it’s also based on a lot of actual events that took place while they were living in Colorado. And it’s based on the fact that, you know, people don’t know this. We watch all these movies and we think everybody who settled the West talk like John Wayne. There were 30 different languages spoken right in the minds of Colorado. So my uncles rode the range and they were, drovers and they were Italian. I mean, they were first generation. They were born in Italy and they made their way with all these other guys who were speaking Greek and Mexican and you name it. It wasn’t a lot of people talking like, hey, how are you doing, partner? How are you doing, bard? Talking like I do. Right. [2:46] But it took a long time for you you can blame the movies for that and the dominant uh uh caucasian culture for that right and you know there was that what was the movie the the martin scorsese movie killers of the flower moon oh yeah all the uh native americans spoke like they were from like movie set in color and oklahoma so he was like what. [3:13] Yeah, well, it’s the movies, I guess. [3:25] Unlike any women that I would have thought would have been around at that time. They were rebellious, and they did what they wanted, and they had a terrible, mean father. And I also wanted to tell this story. That’s what I started out telling. But I ended up telling the story of the resilience of the immigrants who came to this country. For example, with the Italians and the Sicilians, there had been earthquakes and tsunamis and droughts. So Rockefeller sent these men that he called padrones to the poorest sections of Sicily, the most drought-affected section, looking for young bucks to come and work. And he promised them, he’d say, oh, the president of America wants to give you land, he wants to give you this. Well, they found themselves taken in the most horrific of conditions and brought to Ellis Island, where they were herded onto cattle cars and taken to the mines of Colorado, where they worked 20-hour days. They were paid in company script, so they couldn’t even buy anything. Their families followed them. They were told that their families were coming for free, and they were coming for free, but they weren’t. They had to pay for their passage, which could never be paid for because it was just company script. [4:55] And then in 1914, the United Mine Workers came in, and there were all these immigrants, Greeks and mostly Italians, and they struck, and Rockefeller fired everyone who struck. So the United Mine Workers set up a tent city in Ludlow. [5:14] And at night, Rockefeller would send his goons in who were—he actually paid the National Guard and a detective agency called Baldwin Feltz to come in. And they had a turret-mounted machine gun that they called the Death Squad Special, and they’d just start spraying. So the miners, the striking miners, built trenches under their tents for their women and children to hide. when the bullets started flying. And then at some point, Rockefeller said, you’re not being effective enough. They haven’t gone back to work. Do what you have to do. So these goons went in and they poured oil on top of the tents. And they set them on fire. [6:00] And they burnt dozens of women and children to death. They went in. The government claimed it was 21 people, but there was a female reporter who counted 60-something. and they were cutting the heads and the hands off of people, the children and women, so they couldn’t be identified. It all ended very badly and none of Rockefeller’s people or Rockefeller got in trouble. They went before Congress and Rockefeller basically said they had no right to strike. And that was that. So here are all these men and women now living wild in the mountains of Colorado, not speaking the language, not. Being literate, not able to read and write. [6:44] And living in shacks on mountains in the hurricane, I mean, in the blizzards and whatnot. And then it’s so odd. In 1916, Colorado declared prohibition, which was four years before the rest of the country. [7:00] So these guys said, well, we need to make booze. We need to make wine. What do you mean you can’t have booze and wine? So that’s how bootlegging started in Colorado. And that’s how the mafia began in the West. with these guys. [7:18] It’s kind of interesting. As I was looking down through your book, I did a story on the more modern mafia. This started during bootlegging times in Pueblo, and I noticed in your book, I refer to Pueblo, this was the Corvino brothers. So did you study that? Is that some of the background that you used to make, you know, use a story? You used real stories as well as, you know, the real stories from your family, real stories from history. Well, the Carlinos are my family. Oh, you’re related to the Carlinos. Well, what happened was I didn’t know that. And my cousin Karen came across this photo of the man who was her son. [7:59] Grandfather that she never met because he was killed in the longest gunfight in Colorado history when she was 10 days old. And he was Charlie Carlino. So she came across it and we met, we ended up meeting the family. Sam Carlino is my cousin and he owns like this big barbecue joint in san jose california and uh we’ve become very friendly so i i said i look i’m looking at this and i think wait a minute vito carlino is the father he has three sons and one daughter the youngest son charlie who was the the handsome man about town cowboy, they had a rival family called the dannas in bootlegging and charlie carlino and his bodyguard were riding across the baxter street bridge driving in one direction and the dannas were coming in the other direction and the dannas got out and and killed them and it’s exactly what I’m thinking to myself, Vito Corleone, three sons, Charlie gets killed on the bridge while the two cars are… I thought, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I mean. [9:26] It can’t be that coincidental, right? No. No, it can’t be. Even the bridge. Somebody was doing their research. [9:46] And had baby Charlotte, who was only 10 days old at the time. So all these stories are true, and it started other gunfights and so forth and so on. But I thought, holy shit. That’s my family. I had no idea. I mean, I knew my aunt was married to a guy whose name was Charlie Carlino, And I should show you the picture because he looks like the missing link from the village people. He’s got big fur chaps on and a cowboy hat. I mean, he’s got his holsters on and he’s got his long gun over his shoulder. It’s like, wow. Yeah, so that story is true. And my mom was a little girl when the Pueblo flood happened. And she always recalled the story to me about watching in horror as the cows and the horses and people were floating away, dead. [10:54] So now the name of your book is A Descendant, which is you, of course. And you kind of use the situations that you just described and the real life people in this book. So then how does this book progress and what other situation do you use? Well, I used many of the acts. I used the Ludlow massacre, the flood, the bootlegging, the prohibition. I also uncovered that the governor of Colorado said. [11:30] Assigned all these guys to become prohibition agents, but they were all KKK. Yeah. So they actually had license to kill the immigrants, just saying they had a still. They had a still. And they were wholesale killing people. So there’s that story. There’s the story of the congressional hearing of Rockefeller after that. And um the the book ends up with my mother um beating my father um who was not in colorado she met him at my aunt’s wedding and avoided him and avoided him and they finally got together and it ends up the book ends up at the start of world war ii and my father was drafted into the air Force, or the Army Air Corps, as it was called that time, and his was assigned to a bomber. He was a co-pilot or a bombardier or something, I forgot. And my grandfather on my father’s side said, well, wait a minute, where are you going to do this? And he said, well, we’re going to Italy. And he said, you’re going to bomb this? Your own country? And my father said, no, no, Bob, this is my country. [12:47] So the book comes full circle. Yeah, really. You know, I, uh, uh, sometimes I start my, I’ll do a program here for different groups or for the library once in a while. And I always like to start it with, you know, first of all, folks, remember, uh. [13:03] Italians came here after, you know, really horrible conditions in southern Italy and Sicily and they came here and they’re just looking for a little slice of American pie the American that’s all they want is a some of the American dream and you know they were taking advantage of they had they were they were darker they had a different language so they didn’t fit it they couldn’t like the Irish and the Germans were already here they had all the good jobs they had the businesses and so now the Italians they’re they’re kind of uh sucking high and tit as we used to say on the farm they’re they’re uh you know picking up the scraps as they can and form businesses. And so it sounds like, you know, and they also went into the, I know they went in the lead mines down here in South Missouri, because there’s a whole immigrant population, Sicilians in a small town called Frontenac. And it also sounds like they went out to the mines in Denver, Colorado. So it’s based on that diaspora, if you will, of people from Southern Italy. And they’re strapping, trying to get their piece of the American pie. Right. And I think that I also wanted very much to change the same old, same old narrative that we’ve all come to believe, that, you know, Italians came here, they went to New York, they killed everybody, they were ignorant slobs. And my family had a ranch! They were ranchers! They had herds of cattle! It’s like, that’s just been dismissed as though none of this existed because. [14:30] Yes, they were darker, because they had curly hair. [14:34] There’s a passage in my book that’s taken actually from the New York Times, where they say that Southern Italians are. [14:43] Greasy, kinky-haired criminals whose children should never be allowed in public schools with white children. Yeah. They used to print stuff like that. I’ve done some research in old newspapers, and not only about Italians, but a lot of other minorities, they print some [14:57] horrible, horrible, horrible things. Well, every minority goes through this, I guess. Everyone. I think so. Part of it’s a language problem. You hear people say, well, why don’t they learn our language? Well, what I say is, you know, ever try to learn a foreign language? It’s hard. It is really, really hard. I’ve tried. It is really hard. I got fired by my Spanish teacher. Exactly. You know how hard it is. I said, no, wait, I’m paying you. You can’t fire me. She said, you can’t learn. You just can’t learn. My grandkids love to say she got fired by her Spanish teacher. [15:36] But it’s such a barrier any kind of success you know not having the language is such a barrier to any kind of success into the you know american business community and that kind of a thing so it’s uh it’s tough for people and you got these people young guys who are bold and, they want they want to they end up having to feel like they have to take theirs they have to take it because ain’t nobody giving it up back in those days and so that sounds like your family they had to take however they took it they they had to take what they got how did that go down for them, start out with a small piece of land or and build up from there how did that go out well from what i understand um. [16:21] They first had a small plot, and then that they didn’t own. They just took it. And then as the bootlegging business got bigger, they started buying cattle and sheep. And they just started buying more and more land. But my grandfather was wanted because he killed some federal agent in the Ludlow Massacre. So he was wanted. So it was all in my grandmother’s name anyway. So she became, in my mind and in my book, she becomes the real head of the family. And my grandfather had a drinking problem, and she made the business successful and so forth. And then I do remember a story that my mother told me that—. [17:16] Al Capone came to the ranch at some point, and all the kids were like, who’s this man in the big car? There was other big cars. And then they moved to New York shortly after that, although they were allowed to keep the ranch with some of my aunts running it. I think there was a range war between the Dana family and the Carlinos and the Barberas, and they were told, get out of town, and they got out of town. And then they made a life in Brooklyn. And then my mom went back to Colorado and then came back to Brooklyn. [17:54] You think about how these immigrants, how in the hell, even the ones who come here now, how in the hell do you survive? I don’t know. Don’t speak the language. You don’t have the money. How do you survive? I don’t know. I truly don’t know. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t either. I couldn’t either. I don’t even want to go to another country where I don’t speak the language unless I can hire somebody to do stuff for me, you know, try to scuffle around and get a job, work off the books. You know, you got to work off the books, so to speak, and take the lowest, hardest jobs that they are, that there are. I don’t know. It’s crazy. I don’t really understand. Yeah. But, uh, so this, uh, it’s really interesting this, uh, the whole thing with the ranches and, and building up the ranches out there. I know we spoke, talk about Al Capone. Well, his brother, I think it was, it was not Ralph. There was another Capone brother. Which one? Well, another Capone brother who became, came a revenuer and I’ve seen some pictures of him and he looks like a cowboy with a hat and everything. He was in Nebraska or something. [19:02] It’s so funny. And I just, when I was growing up and I would tell people that my mom rode her donkey and then her horse to school, and they’d always say to me, but aren’t you Italian? [19:19] That’s Italian. Italian. Yeah, it’s interesting. Now, of course, your mom was, I noticed something in there about being in Los Animas in that area. Yes. Was there some family connection to that? And I say that because my wife’s grandfather lived there his whole life in Los Animas. Well, Los Animas County takes in Pueblo, I believe. Oh, okay. That’s the northern, that’s the far northern edge of Pueblo. The whole big area. I didn’t realize it was that close to Pueblo. I think my mom’s birth certificate actually says Los Animas County. Uh-huh. Something like that, yeah. Okay, all right. I didn’t realize Los Andemos was that close. I think. I might be wrong. Oh, it could be. It had those big counties out west, a great big county, so it would probably do. [20:10] So let’s see. Tell us a couple other stories out of that book that you remember. Well, there’s a story of my mother and her sister, Clara. Clara was a year what do they call Irish twins you know Italian twins she was like 14 months younger than my mom and um, When my mom had to start school, she was very close to my Aunt Clara, and they refused to go to school without each other. So my grandmother lied and said they were twins. And the teacher said, I don’t think they’re twins. This one’s much littler than the other, and I’m going to send the sheriff to that guinea father of yours and make sure. Well, unfortunately, the town hall burnt down with all the records that night. So they were never able to prove that Aunt Clara was a year younger. [21:14] Interesting. And also there’s a story of how they were in school when the flood hit. And my mother did have a pet wolf who was probably part wolf, part dog, but it was her pet named Blue. They got caught in the flood because they were bad and they had detention after school. And um had they left earlier they would have um so the dog came and dragged them was screaming and barking and making them leave and the teacher got scared because of the wolf and so they left and the wolf was taking them to higher and higher ground and had they stayed in that schoolhouse they would have been killed the teacher was killed everybody was washed away Wow. Yeah, those animals, they got more of a sense of what’s going on in nature than people do, that’s for sure. But she had always told me about her dog wolf named Blue. When they went back to New York City, did they fall in with any mob people back there? They go back to Red Hook. They had connections that were told, they were told, you know, you can, like Meyer Lansky and a couple of other people who would help them, um. [22:33] But my mom—so here’s an absolutely true story, and I think I have it as an epilogue in the book. So a few years ago, several years ago, my daughter had gotten a job in the summer during college as a slave on a movie set that was being filmed in Brooklyn. And she got the job because she, A, had a car, and B, she could speak Italian. And the actress was Italian. So every night she’d work till like 12 o’clock and I’d be panicked that she’d been kidnapped or something. So she’d drive her car home. But then every night she was coming home later and later and I said, what’s going on? She said, you know, I found this little restaurant and right now we’re in Red Hook where the, and it wasn’t called Red Hook. It was called, they have another fancy name for it now. [23:32] And she said and I just got to know the owner and he’s really nice and I told him that when I graduated from college if I had enough money could I rent one of the apartments upstairs and he said yes and she said we’ve got to take grandma there we’ve got to take grandma there she’ll love the place she’ll love the place and so my mother got sick and just came home from college, and she was laying in the bed with my mother, and she said, Grandma, you’re going to get better, and then we’re going to take you to this restaurant, [24:03] and I promise you, you’re going to love it. So my mother, thank God, did get better, and we took her to the restaurant. [24:12] The man comes over, and it’s a little tiny Italian restaurant, and the man comes over, and he says, Jessica, my favorite, let me make you my favorite Pennelli’s. And my mother said, do you make Pennelli’s? And he said, yes. She said, oh, when we first came to New York, the man who owned the restaurant made us Pennelli’s every day and would give it to us before we went to school. And he said, really, what was his name? And she said, Don, whatever. And he said, well, that’s my grandfather. She said, well, what do you mean? He said, well, this is, she said, where are we? And he said. [24:53] They called it Carroll Gardens. And he said, well, it’s Carroll Gardens. She said, well, I grew up in Red Hook. He said, well, it is Red Hook. She said, well, what’s the address here? And he said, 151 Carroll Street. And she said, my mother died in this building. [25:09] My daughter would have rented the apartment where her great-grandmother died. What’s the chances of that of the 50 million apartments in New York City? No, I don’t know. And the restaurant only seats like 30 people. So… My mother went and took a picture off the wall, and she said, this is my mother’s apartment. And there were like 30 people in the restaurants, a real rough and tumble place, and truck drivers and everything. And everybody started crying. The whole place is now crying. All these big long men are crying. Isn’t that some story? Full circle, man. That’s something. Yeah, that is. Especially in the city. It’s even more amazing in a city like New York City. I know. That huge. That frigging huge. That exact apartment. Oh, that is great. So that restaurant plays a big part in the book as well, in the family. Okay. All right. All right. Guys, the book is The Descendant, Yellowstone Meets the Godfather, huh? This is Linda Stasi. Did I pronounce that right, Stasi? Stacey, actually. This is Linda Stasi. And Linda, I didn’t really ask you about yourself. [26:17] Tell the guys a little bit about yourself before we stop here. Well, I am a journalist. I’ve been a columnist for New York Newsday, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post. I’ve written 10 books, three of which are novels. [26:34] And I’ve won several awards for journalism. And I teach a class for the Newswomen’s Club of New York to journalists on how to write novels, because it’s the totally opposite thing. It’s like teaching a dancer to sing, you know? It’s totally opposite. One of my mentors was Nelson DeMille, my dear late friend Nelson DeMille, and I called him up one night after I wrote my first novel, and I said, I think I made a terrible mistake. He said, what? I said, I think I gave the wrong name of the city or something. He said, oh, for God’s sakes, it’s fiction. You can write whatever you want. [27:17] But when you’re a journalist, if you make a mistake like that, you’re ruined. Yeah, exactly. So I have. We never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Go ahead. I’m sorry. I said I have a daughter and three grandsons. My daughter is the only female CEO of a games company. She was on the cover of Forbes. And my husband just died recently, and he was quite the character. He got a full-page obit in the New York Times. He’s such a typical, wonderful New York character. So I’m in this strange place right now where I’m mourning one thing and celebrating my book. On the other hand, it’s a very odd place to be. I can imagine. I can only imagine. Life goes on, as we say, back home. It just keeps going. All right. Linda Stacey, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Oh, thank you. I appreciate you talking to me. You’re so much an interesting guy. All right. Well, thank you.
When Cole Burgett was young, he loved Star Wars. He wanted to live on Tattoine like Luke Skywalker. But as he grew, Cole realized there were threads running between that galaxy far away and the dusty frontier towns of the American West he read about in Louis L'Amour novels. What does the moral imagination of these genres tell us about ourselves, our longings, and God? Find out on Chris Fabry Live. Featured resource:Article: Where the Frontier Meets the Galaxy: The Western Genre and the Moral Imagination of Star Wars by Cole Burgett January thank you gift:How Should Christians Think About Israel? by Michael Rydelnik Chris Fabry Live is listener-supported. To support the program, click here.Become a Back Fence Partner: https://moodyradio.org/donateto/chrisfabrylive/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stu Landesberg is Co-founder and CEO of Seneca, a company developing autonomous aerial systems to detect and suppress wildfires before they grow out of control. Designed for rapid initial response, Seneca's technology deploys robotic aircraft that launch within minutes, helping protect homes, infrastructure, and communities in fire-prone regions.In this episode of Inevitable, Landesberg shares why he left Grove—his first company focused on sustainable consumer goods—to tackle what he sees as a civilization-level challenge: early wildfire intervention. The conversation explores how climate conditions, outdated fire cycles, and insurance market failures have converged to threaten life in the American West. Landesberg walks through Seneca's approach to changing that trajectory: distributed strike teams of large autonomous suppression copters, built in the U.S., designed to reach fires faster than any existing response method. He also unpacks the product's potential for mop-up operations, prescribed burns, and utility asset protection.In this episode, we cover:(2:40) Wildfire as a threat to housing and the economy(10:07) The urgent need for faster fire response(15:12) Why helicopters aren't a scalable solution(20:03) New use cases beyond initial attack(28:25) What autonomy looks like in practice(33:11) Why Seneca isn't just another drone company(38:21) Wildfire as a climate and national security risk(46:18) Seneca's first deployments and what's nextLinks:Stuart Landesberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartlandesbergSeneca: https://seneca.com/ Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
There is probably no historian working today more influential in shaping how we think about the way in which humans and animals engage with each other and the environment than Dan Flores. Today, Dan joins in to talk about his epic work, Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History, on the eve of its 10th anniversary release, along with discussions on wolf reintroduction, bison on the plains, the American Serengeti, and his relationship with Steven Rinella and the crew over at Meateater. About our guest:New York Times best-selling author Dan Flores is one of America's most celebrated historians, renowned for his deep explorations of the country's landscapes and the remarkable figures who shaped them. While he has 11 acclaimed books to his name, Flores is first and foremost a teacher. He served as Professor Emeritus of Western History at the University of Montana. This year, Flores brings a lifetime of expertise and storytelling to the MeatEater Podcast Network with his new podcast, The American West with Dan Flores.
In Episode Twenty-Six Dr. Benjamin Cawthra sits down with Dr. Andrew Kirk, professor of History, Director of the Reid Public History Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and co-editor of the Modern American West Series for the University of Arizona Press. Kirk is an expert on the American West, cultural & environmental history, counterculture and public history. In his oral history interview, he discusses the field of public history, the award-winning Nevada Test Site Oral History Project, and writing his book, Doom Towns: The People and Landscapes of Atomic Testing.
Who was the worst American army general of all time? We round off our month of military history by looking at the leaders who standout for all the wrong reasons. Don's guest is the wonderful Cecily Zander author of the upcoming 'Abraham Lincoln and the American West', and 'The Army Under Fire: Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era'. Edited by Aidan Lonergan, produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As a dirty high pressure ridge sits over the West, sending all the cold and snow to the east coast, the boys recount the past month and how it feels like an entire ski season has transpired. A grab bag of topics is covered this week including a Downieville mountain biker somehow getting lost on an out-and-back, the dying dream of the ski bum and instead take up wind sports in Florida, I-80 from San Francisco to Nevada ranking as the 8th most deadly highway in America and the ski patrol strike in Telluride ending with a whimper. Pow Bot asks, how long do you have to live somewhere to be considered a local? Core lords call in with some finders keepers stories and aggro locals in the lift line. A few DOPE or DERPs including drop bars on mountain bikes, Leadville 100, driving to the trailhead in ski boots, waxing your split board in one piece and poaching backcountry freshies at Sky Tavern. Also, Pow Bot pays tribute to the passing of Bobby Weir with the story of his very first Grateful Dead show at 16 years old. 3:00 – The last 25 days feels like the entirety of a full winter ski season, base build, pow, corn, melting and thinking about bikes again.5:30 – Colorado off to its worst winter snowpack in recorded history. Crazy dry across the American West.7:30 – Lack of Colorado River runoff could be devastating to the Southwest. Lake Powell and Lake Mead could go below minimum power pool, aka dead pool.11:45 – Mountain biker in Downieville gets lost riding and has to get helicopter rescued by CHP.13:00 – Pow Bot gets lost on an epic mountain bike ride in Montana.15:30 – Search and Rescue is getting overwhelmed by ill-prepared people who get lost.17:25 – Pow Bot's Florida Man adventure – don't move to an expensive ski town, move to an affordable place like Florida and get into wind sports.22:00 – The ski bum dream is dying, and season ski passes have become DERP.24:25 – Sugar Bowl mid-mountain lodge catches on fire.25:35 – Telluride ski patrol strike is over and patrollers did not get what they wanted.29:05 – Interstate 80 from San Francisco to Nevada is 8th most deadly highway in America.31:30 – Forest Service in Lake Tahoe legalizes 110-miles of non-motorized trail for Class 1 ebikes.32:50 – Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead passes. Tom tells his first Grateful Dead show story.45:45 – Core Lord Call-ins – Lee recommends Bridger Watches – Tom recommends OutMap.50:22 – More Finders Keepers in the backcountry.54:30 – Aggro local yelling at people in the lift line at Heavenly.57:00 – How long do you have to live in a place before you are considered a local?1:02:15 – Fritz comments on Sugar Bowl.1:06:20 – DOPE OR DERP – a packable backcountry rescue sled the size of a camping hammock.1:12:20 – DOPE OR DERP – waxing your split board in one piece.1:19:15 – DOPE OR DERP – driving to the trailhead in ski boots or snowboard boots.1:23:40 – DOPE OR DERP – poaching backcountry freshies at Sky Tavern.1:28:30 – DOPE OR DERP – drop bars on mountain bikes.1:36:30 – Making sure your feet are dialed in your ski boots on big hut trips.1:38:00 – How to set up a split board special mini-episode coming next week.
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE!Once a notorious hub of vice, violence, and wild entertainment, the Birdcage Theatre has earned a reputation as one of the most haunted locations in the American West. Opened in 1881, the Birdcage served as a saloon, theater, gambling hall, and brothel—hosting countless tragedies, illicit dealings, and untimely deaths.In this episode of The Grave Talks, we're joined by paranormal investigator and author Steven Blackwell to explore the history and hauntings that still define the Birdcage Theatre today. Reports of shadow figures, phantom voices, unexplained touches, and lingering presences suggest that not everyone who entered the Birdcage ever truly left.Are the spirits said to haunt the Birdcage Theatre dark and malicious—or simply souls trapped by unfinished stories and violent history? Together, we examine why this iconic Wild West landmark continues to draw both investigators and the unexplained, more than a century after its doors first opened.#TheGraveTalks #BirdcageTheatre #HauntedTombstone #WildWestHauntings #HistoricHauntings #ParanormalPodcast #HauntedLocations #GhostsOfTheWest #UnexplainedEncounters #ParanormalInvestigationsLove real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! PART TWOOnce a notorious hub of vice, violence, and wild entertainment, the Birdcage Theatre has earned a reputation as one of the most haunted locations in the American West. Opened in 1881, the Birdcage served as a saloon, theater, gambling hall, and brothel—hosting countless tragedies, illicit dealings, and untimely deaths.In this episode of The Grave Talks, we're joined by paranormal investigator and author Steven Blackwell to explore the history and hauntings that still define the Birdcage Theatre today. Reports of shadow figures, phantom voices, unexplained touches, and lingering presences suggest that not everyone who entered the Birdcage ever truly left.Are the spirits said to haunt the Birdcage Theatre dark and malicious—or simply souls trapped by unfinished stories and violent history? Together, we examine why this iconic Wild West landmark continues to draw both investigators and the unexplained, more than a century after its doors first opened.#TheGraveTalks #BirdcageTheatre #HauntedTombstone #WildWestHauntings #HistoricHauntings #ParanormalPodcast #HauntedLocations #GhostsOfTheWest #UnexplainedEncounters #ParanormalInvestigationsLove real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
At 20,000 feet, running feels like moving through molasses… but Erin Ton has found that climbing Colorado's highest peaks in stilettos actually makes her a more thoughtful athlete.Erin was born and raised in Colorado. After graduating from Cornell University in 2020, she moved back to Colorado to pursue professional mountain running. Her primary focus is on Fastest Known Time (FKT) speed records, specializing on steep, technical terrain at high altitude. She currently resides in her van and can be found chasing records all across the American West and all across the world. Jon chats with Erin about:High altitude running challenges and trainingFKT (Fastest Known Time) pursuitsfourteeners climbed in high heelsprofessional athlete sponsorship journeygoal of climbing all Colorado 13ersupcoming Aconcagua speed record attemptStay connected:Follow Erin:https://www.instagram.com/erin_ton7/Erin's Strava:“Erin Ton”This episode is supported by:AmazFit Check out the T-Rex 3 and a selection of GPS watches at http://bit.ly/4ojbflT and use code “FTLR” for 10% off.Rocket Money Take control of your spending. Cancel unwanted subscriptions and reduce the rest with Rocket Money: RocketMoney.com/GORUN
At the end of the 1930s, the West was in peril. A cultural and economic backwater, the Great Depression had all-but wiped out the extractive industries which had fueled the region's economy for decades. What catapulted the West into the global twentieth century was mobilization for World War II. In The Mobilized American West: 1940-2000 (U Nebraska Press, 2023), University of Washington emeritus professor John Findlay argues that once began, that mobilization never really ended, and continues to define the West to this day. As the latest entry in Nebraska's lauded History of the American West series, Findlay uses the latest scholarship to offer a synthetic look at the recent history of the West, a period that often gets short shrift in Western historiography. Findlay also takes new approaches, looking at the West through the lenses of family history and political culture, to make the case that the region is still distinct and worthy of study as a unique place. Findlay's West is a place of violence, democracy, competing interests, and of beauty, and is a grand confirmation that there are still rich veins to be mined in regional Western histories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Can a used Nissan with over 100,000 miles and a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) survive the salt flats of Bonneville and the rock crawling trails of Moab? In this episode of VADA Live, host Dan Carrigan sits down with Tim Pohanka, Executive Vice President of the Pohanka Automotive Group, to discuss his hit new YouTube series, "Tour Detour: The Good, The Bad, & The CVT." Tim and two fellow dealers set out to bust the myths surrounding Nissan's CVT reliability by taking three high-mileage vehicles on a punishing 1,500-mile road trip across the American West. From river crossings to desert sand dunes, they wanted to prove that these cars could handle conditions no engineer ever intended. Watch the "Tour Detour" Series here: https://thetourdetour.com/episodes
Dive into gripping real-life stories from the front lines of law enforcement in this powerful episode of Things Police See Podcast with host Steve Gould (Ole Gingerface). Guest Cameron Pavlicek, an active Montana narcotics investigator, Afghanistan war veteran, former president of the Montana Narcotics Officers Association, and founder of Yellowstone Narcotics training company, shares intense, bizarre, and eye-opening experiences. Hear about a chilling first homicide call in freezing Montana conditions, using a baby as collateral in a meth deal gone wild, a 36-hour armed standoff ending in tragedy, creative undercover social media operations catfishing drug dealers online (posing as women to bust perps), bizarre encounters with a schizophrenic man carrying a stolen 100-pound welded California sculpture, and much more. Perfect for fans of true police stories, narcotics investigations, undercover ops, body cam breakdowns, and rural policing in the American West. Don't miss these raw, unfiltered cop tales from the Big Sky State! Yellowstone Narcotics https://yellowstonenarcotics.com/ Contact Steve - steve@thingspolicesee.com Support the TPS show by joining the Patreon community today! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=27353055 Sergeant Steve - Bodycam Breakdowns https://www.youtube.com/@UCuobtuGxJny9V5lX5a1ieuw
In a new biography, the historian Max Perry Mueller argues that Wakara, a Timpanogos Ute leader, should be considered one of the founding figures of the American West.
Wild horses have been roaming public lands in the American West for over a century but their population numbers are far greater than what is considered an appropriate management level. This is causing ecological damage and strains on natural resources, in addition to concerns about the horses' health. This has become a deeply contentious and emotive issue. We head out into the desert, driving 100s of miles across the mountains and plains of Nevada and California, to witness first hand how different stakeholders are putting their differences aside and coming together to find innovative solutions.
At the end of the 1930s, the West was in peril. A cultural and economic backwater, the Great Depression had all-but wiped out the extractive industries which had fueled the region's economy for decades. What catapulted the West into the global twentieth century was mobilization for World War II. In The Mobilized American West: 1940-2000 (U Nebraska Press, 2023), University of Washington emeritus professor John Findlay argues that once began, that mobilization never really ended, and continues to define the West to this day. As the latest entry in Nebraska's lauded History of the American West series, Findlay uses the latest scholarship to offer a synthetic look at the recent history of the West, a period that often gets short shrift in Western historiography. Findlay also takes new approaches, looking at the West through the lenses of family history and political culture, to make the case that the region is still distinct and worthy of study as a unique place. Findlay's West is a place of violence, democracy, competing interests, and of beauty, and is a grand confirmation that there are still rich veins to be mined in regional Western histories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
Since this episode first aired, Corey Christenson's article on Alfred Dahlin's World War I experiences earned the 2025 Schell Prize for Best Article in South Dakota History. The story began when the Dahlin family donated Alfred's uniform and gear, sparking Corey's quest to uncover his remarkable journey. Serving in a unit drawn from the American West, Dahlin faced the brutal realities of war—but his wounds and recovery reveal a deeply personal and insightful perspective on a global conflict.
This week on Scottsdale Vibes, I'm turning the mic on a fellow podcaster who's spent nearly a decade telling Arizona's stories. I'm joined by Jose Acevedo, founder of the award-winning Finding Arizona Podcast, to talk about curiosity, community, and why Scottsdale continues to inspire creators and entrepreneurs. And fun fact: I was just a guest on his podcast, so today we're continuing the conversation and flipping the roles. If you love discovering the people, businesses, and stories that make Arizona special, chances are you've already heard of Finding Arizona. It's an award-winning weekly podcast that highlights local business owners, creatives, and community leaders from all across the state : all through organic, conversational interviews that feel more like talking with a friend than sitting through a formal Q&A. Jose has now interviewed more than 400 Arizona business owners and entrepreneurs, gaining a unique perspective on what makes this state and communities like Scottsdale — so special. Finding Arizona: https://www.findingarizonapodcast.com/ Calendar of Events Barrett Jackson Car Collector Auction January 17-25, 2026 at Westworld of Scottsdale Check out thousands of the world's most sought-after, unique and valuable automobiles on display and on the auction block in front of a global audience. There's so much to do and see. All of the info is on their website as well. https://www.barrett-jackson.com/2026-scottsdale Scottsdale Western Week A week-long celebration of the American West in Old Town Scottsdale. January 24–February 1, 2026. Events include, The Trails End Festival, Art Exhibits and The Parada del Sol Historic Parade is a major highlight . Come and share your spirit for the old West. https://oldtownscottsdaleaz.com/events/western-week/ Waste Management Open Feb 2-8th at the TPC Scottsdale Home to the largest and most enthusiastic crowds in the game as well as the most iconic hole on the PGA TOUR – the famed 16th hole Coliseum Visit their website for tickets. https://wmphoenixopen.com/general-admission-tickets/
At the end of the 1930s, the West was in peril. A cultural and economic backwater, the Great Depression had all-but wiped out the extractive industries which had fueled the region's economy for decades. What catapulted the West into the global twentieth century was mobilization for World War II. In The Mobilized American West: 1940-2000 (U Nebraska Press, 2023), University of Washington emeritus professor John Findlay argues that once began, that mobilization never really ended, and continues to define the West to this day. As the latest entry in Nebraska's lauded History of the American West series, Findlay uses the latest scholarship to offer a synthetic look at the recent history of the West, a period that often gets short shrift in Western historiography. Findlay also takes new approaches, looking at the West through the lenses of family history and political culture, to make the case that the region is still distinct and worthy of study as a unique place. Findlay's West is a place of violence, democracy, competing interests, and of beauty, and is a grand confirmation that there are still rich veins to be mined in regional Western histories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Religious identities have shifted dramatically in the last quarter century. But how, and it what ways? Is religion as we once knew it dying in the U.S.? Or are people finding other ways of expressing the same kinds of needs for affiliation and meaning in different forms? What do people really mean when they say they are spiritual but not religious? Or religious but not affiliated with any traditional communities or institutions?This panel discussion, held on October 25, 2025, centered around what recent trends might tell us about the future of faith and belonging in American life. Our panel of experts, moderated by Bushman Chair Laurie Maffly-Kipp, explored one of the most communitarian traditions, the Mormon faith, as well as other American religious affiliations and spiritual identities.Visit our website to learn more.PanelistsRosemary Avance is Assistant Professor of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. Her research focuses on the interplay between social dynamics, communication technologies, and identity formation across diverse domains. Avance's recent book, Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age, examines case studies of practicing and former Latter-day Saints to understand how these individuals relate to the church, the internet, and modernity during our media-saturated age.Matthew Hedstrom is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. He specializes in religion and culture in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly examining the intersections of American modernity and Protestant and post-Protestant religious modernity in the United States. Within this field, Professor Hedstrom studies the rise in spirituality among Americans who aren't tied to particular religious institutions, as explored in his 2012 book The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture and American Spirituality in the Twentieth Century, and his popular undergraduate course: “'Spiritual But Not Religious': Spirituality in America”.Jana Riess is an author, editor, and senior columnist for Religion News Service. Her written works have primarily focused on the intersections of American religion with popular culture, ethics, and society. Riess's most recent book, The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church (Oxford University Press, 2019) discusses the faith practices and institutional distrust of Millennial Mormons. She is currently writing a follow-up book, based on her research with Benjamin Knoll, about the Mormon faith crisis and changing understandings of belonging among Latter-day Saints.ModeratorLaurie Maffly-Kipp is the Richad Lyman Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia. She is a distinguished scholar of American religious history and has authored numerous influential works on Mormonism, religion in the American West, and African American religious history. Over the past few decades, Professor Maffly-Kipp has become an influential interpreter of Latter-day Saint history and participated in shaping the field of Mormon Studies. She is also a former president of the American Society of Church History and the Mormon History Association.
In front of an audience at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the Australian actor/writer/director reflects on how he wound up in George Lucas' second 'Star Wars' trilogy, his memorable turns in art house standouts like 'Warrior' and Loving,' and the challenges and rewards of giving a largely dialogue-free performance in Clint Bentley's adaptation of Denis Johnson's 2011 novella about a laborer in the early 20th-century American West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
If you are listening, go to YouTube and watch the video version of this for visuals and subscribe while you are there! At minimum, go to Instagram to see the wild before and after photo from me when i was over weight. enjoy!Join me on my outdoor adventures on public lands across the American West and beyond. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@thehuntersquest Check out The Hunter's Quest Podcast here:https://open.spotify.com/show/1bvtyKal41T76jLgPTXp10 Follow along on Instagram:@TheHuntersQuest My Favorite Eberlestock Gear! – www.eberlestock.com/quest or use code QUEST save 10% www.browning.com Browning Firearms & Ammunition – The Best There Is. www.canisathlete.com - use code: QUEST and save on Tactical Hunting Apparel__________________________________________________________________________ OnX Maps – use code: QUEST and save 20% when you join / support the show Seek Outside Shelters – use code: QUEST and save 10% on shelters, stoves, etc.____________________________________________________________________________ FENIX Lighting – www.fenixlighting.com Leupold Optics – www.leupold.com___________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to my YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGVP4F5g3SiOookJK01Jy5w Follow me on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thehuntersquest/ and @huntermcwaters____________________________________________________________________________ www.thehuntersquest.com
Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature | Bioneers Radio Series
Erosion and evolution. Shadow and light. Death and rebirth. These are some of the strands that the acclaimed author, naturalist and activist Terry Tempest Williams weaves together in the face of today's broken world. Standing in the lineage of the greatest nature writers, she links her deepest inner experiences with the state of the web of life. In this program, Williams asks: How do we find the strength to not look away at all that is breaking our hearts? Hands on the earth, we remember where the source of our authentic power comes from. We have to go deeper. She also explores histories of privilege, religion, and identity in Utah, and how reconciling her experiences with these cultural strands have helped unleash and shape her voice as a storyteller who translates the voice of nature and speaks for justice. Featuring Terry Tempest Williams, one of the greatest living authors from the American West, is also a longtime award-winning conservationist and activist, who has taken on, among other issues, nuclear testing, the Iraq War, the neglect of women's health, and the destruction of nature, especially in her beloved “Red Rock” region of her native Utah and in Alaska. Credits: Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Monica Lopez and Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Producer: Teo Grossman Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Production Assistance: Claire Reynolds Music was made available by: Jami Sieber at JamiSieber.com Gigi Masin at MusicFromMemory.com APM This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the radio and podcast homepage to learn more.
Ed Roberson is a conservationist, endurance athlete, and the creator of Mountain & Prairie, a podcast rooted in the stories and landscapes of the American West. But long before that, he was chasing a very different life—until a sudden health scare forced a reckoning that changed everything. In this episode, Ed and Ryan talk about discomfort as a compass, the pull of wild places, and the quiet transformation that happens when you choose effort over ease. Ed opens up about rewiring his ambition, leaving behind the shallow chase for success, and leaning into a slower, more deliberate path. They unpack the practices that keep him grounded, from long runs to long-form interviews, and the clarity that's come with doing hard things on purpose.
In early 2024, a video emerged from western Wyoming showing a wolf being chased down by a snowmobile, brought into a bar, tormented, and killed. The man at the center of the video, Cody Roberts, has since been criminally charged and pleaded not guilty—turning a viral act of cruelty into a legal test of Wyoming's animal protection laws. In this episode of the Animal Wellness Podcast, we examine where that case stands now—and what it reveals about Wyoming's broader relationship with wolves. Our guest is Mark Heinz, outdoors and wildlife reporter for Cowboy State Daily, who has covered wolves, grizzlies, and wildlife conflict across the Mountain West for decades. Drawing on on-the-ground reporting, Mark discusses community reaction in Daniel and Sublette County, the legal and cultural forces shaping the prosecution, and why wolves remain one of the most polarizing animals in the American West. We also explore whether the Cody Roberts case marks a turning point—or simply another chapter in a long-running conflict over fear, cruelty, and coexistence. The Animal Wellness podcast is produced by Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. It focuses on improving the lives of animals in the United States and abroad through legislation and by influencing businesses to create a more humane economy. The show is hosted by veteran journalist and animal-advocate Joseph Grove. www.animalwellnessaction.org www.centerforahumaneeconomy.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalWellnessAction Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/centerforahumaneeconomy/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AWAction_News Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHumaneCenter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animalwellnessaction/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centerforahumaneeconomy/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/animal-wellness-action/
Funding for disaster response is much needed in the American West where vast rangeland ignites quickly under dry conditions. In Eastern Oregon, innovative Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) bring together local ranchers and state resources to work collaboratively when fires break out. Derek Burkhardt is a 4th generation rancher and farmer from Vale, Oregon who is in a leadership role with his two local RFPAs, and Allison Rayburn is the Oregon Dept of Forestry's Rangeland Fire Program Coordinator. They share their motivations, recent firefighting experiences, and wish lists.
New weapons, new opponents, new technology - as warfare evolves, armies need generals able to evolve with it. In this episode, Don is joined by Cecily Zander to discuss the most innovative generals in American History. Whether it's the use of tanks, total war or local scouts, these mean have changed the world we live in.Cecily is the author of the upcoming 'Abraham Lincoln and the American West', and 'The Army Under Fire: Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era'. Edited by Aidan Lonergan, produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today on the Scottsdale Vibes Podcast, we're talking cars, community, and breaking barriers with Rebecca Nguyen—founder of The Warehouse and a lifelong WRX enthusiast whose passion turned into a career. From a yellow Subaru in her teens to leading one of Arizona's most unique automotive social hubs, her story is one of grit, vision, and redefining what a car collector looks like. I'm excited to welcome Rebecca Nguyen to the Scottsdale Vibes Podcast. Rebecca's journey into the automotive world started with a sonic-yellow Subaru WRX she inherited at sixteen—sparking a passion that led her into car shows, photography, industry events, and ultimately to launching The Warehouse, a collector-car storage and social club. As a woman thriving in a traditionally male-dominated space, she's built a community that celebrates enthusiasm, heritage, and connection. With Arizona's car week and Barrett-Jackson right around the corner, there's no better time to hear her unique perspective on the culture driving our state. Calendar of Events Barrett Jackson Car Collector Auction January 17-25, 2026 at Westworld of Scottsdale Check out thousands of the world's most sought-after, unique and valuable automobiles on display and on the auction block in front of a global audience. There's so much to do and see- Including the kick off concert with Cole Swindell All of the info is on their website as well. https://www.barrett-jackson.com/2026-scottsdale Arizona Concours d'Elegance. Brought to you in partnership with Scottsdale Arts, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 (gates open morning) at Scottsdale Civic Center. This isn't just a car show — it's a celebration of design, heritage and style set against the desert's shimmering backdrop. See the Website For Admission Details https://arizonaconcours.org/ Scottsdale Western Week A week-long celebration of the American West in Old Town Scottsdale. January 24–February 1, 2026. Events include, The Trails End Festival, Art Exhibits and The Parada del Sol Historic Parade is a major highlight . Come and share your spirit for the old West. https://oldtownscottsdaleaz.com/events/western-week/
We unravel the mystery that haunted Europe for over a century: What happened to the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinettte after they met their tragic end? It's a real True Crime mystery that will take us from the worst days of the Reign of Terror to the deepest depths of the American West. Only now, over 200 years later, do we finally have the answer. ⚜️ Music used in this episode included a piano rendition of Mozart's "Lacrimosa", perfromed by Soviet pianist Maria Yudina in 1954. Battle Royale's intro/outro music is "Dansez" by Fasion. Go check out more of their stuff here. ⚜️ Visit our website for episode images, score summaries and more! Contact us by Email, or follow us on Instagram, our Facebook Group or BlueSky. Make sure you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. You can also support the show on Patreon! Join the official Angry Mob and get access to our bonus content: movie reviews, deep dives, bonus biographies and our exclusive spinoff series rating the Royal Mistresses. ⚜️ Details of our 5 categories used to rate the French Monarchs can be found on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In the American West in the late-1800s, the search for dinosaur bones created the Bone Wars in which two paleontologists battled one another in their pursuit of making the most historic find. One writer noted how the two “used underhanded methods to try to outdo the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and the destruction of bones.” He noted how, in trying to ruin each other’s work, both destroyed their own reputations as well. Conflict and competition are inevitable in our broken world. How we choose to engage those conflicts reveals what’s in our hearts. Paul learned of conflict between two women in the church at Philippi and wrote, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.” He asked a fellow believer to “help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel” (Philippians 4:2–3). When we find ourselves at odds with fellow believers in Jesus, we need the Spirit’s help. As we submit to His work in our hearts, He’ll help us demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We’ll experience healing and peace—if not for our own reputations, for the reputation of Christ and the gospel.
Mark Twain's 1872 semi-autobiographical travel book detailing his adventures in the American West from 1861–1867, serving as a prequel to The Innocents Abroad. Original Air Date: October 05, 1956Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Western StoriesPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Star:• Luis van Rooten (Sam Clemens) Special Guests:• D.J. Thompson• Eddie Marr• Daws Butler• Peter Leeds• Howard McNear•...
Podcasting is incredibly unique and fun work that has allowed me to meet so many rivers and river people. And podcasting is a job that I really just created for myself. Yes there are other podcasts and podcasters, but by nature of the work, we are all kind of hidden in quiet places behind microphones and editing screens, so finding a podcasting friend is so helpful. Ed Roberson has built the Mountain & Prairie Podcast and we have become colleagues and friends that can support each other when we have questions and challenges. For this episode, Ed and I decided to interview each other in a single episode and go deeper into our work, and publish it on both of our respective podcasts. Ed is a leading interviewer finding some of the most humble and impactful people of the American West and Ed is in the process of writing his own book. To start off 2026, here is an episode with two podcasters talking about our work, focus and plans for this coming season of episodes. GUESTSEd RobersonMountain & Prairie Podcast websiteOn AppleOn Spotify@mtnprairieSPONSORSDenver Area Nissan Dealers@nissanusa THE RIVER RADIUSWebsiteRunoff signup (episode newsletter)InstagramFacebookApple PodcastSpotifyLink Tree
This month, we got to speak with Chaz Yingling and Andrew Kettler about their forthcoming book: The Once and the Future Cow. The book's aim is to show an understudied history of the cow not just in the American West, but on the islands in the Caribbean. But recentering the cow also means paying attention not to the typical unilateral framing of human-nonhuman interaction as humans impacting cows, but instead to how cows themselves are agential actors that profoundly shaped their surroundings. For more of Yingling and Kettler: Yingling Website: https://www.chazyingling.com/ Kettler Email: smellhistory@gmail.com Kettler Academic Profile: https://andrewkettler.academia.edu/ ASLE EcoCast: If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA Twitter: @ASLE_EcoCast Lindsay Jolivette: @lin_jolivette Alex Tischer: @ak_tischer If you're enjoying the show, please consider subscribing, sharing, and writing reviews on your favorite podcast platform(s)! Episode recorded December 11, 2025 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
New Year, new Scottsdale Vibes Podcast. This week, we're joined by Jennifer Reynolds, CEO and co-founder of Ideation Design Group. Jennifer brings 25 years of creativity, innovation, and big-picture perspective to how design influences culture, tourism, and the way cities like Scottsdale thrive on a global stage. I'm excited to welcome Jennifer Reynolds to the Scottsdale Vibes Podcast. Ideation Design Group is a boutique architecture and interior design firm that has spent the past two decades creating standout restaurant and hospitality spaces across 48 states and around the world. With 25 years of experience and an incredible eye for detail, Jennifer's helped transform how people dine, gather, and experience community: both here in Scottsdale and in major destinations globally. She's giving us a look at how design shapes culture, attracts big events and brands, and helps put Scottsdale on the national and international map. Barrett Jackson Car Collector Auction January 17-25, 2026 at Westworld of Scottsdale Check out thousands of the world's most sought-after, unique and valuable automobiles on display and on the auction block in front of a global audience. There's so much to do and see- Including the kick off concert with Cole Swindell All of the info is on their website as well. https://www.barrett-jackson.com/2026-scottsdale Arizona Concours d'Elegance. Brought to you in partnership with Scottsdale Arts, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 (gates open morning) at Scottsdale Civic Center. This isn't just a car show — it's a celebration of design, heritage and style set against the desert's shimmering backdrop. See the Website For Admission Details https://arizonaconcours.org/ Scottsdale Western Week A week-long celebration of the American West in Old Town Scottsdale. J January 24–February 1, 2026. Events include, The Trails End Festival, Art Exhibits and The Parada del Sol Historic Parade is a major highlight . Come and share your spirit for the old West. https://oldtownscottsdaleaz.com/events/western-week/
[REBROADCAST FROM June 30, 2025] "The Gilded Age" star Morgan Spector discusses the third season of the period drama, in which his character heads to the saloons of the American West to shore up his railroad empire.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comIntroducing The Revolutionaries, a new Fifth Column miniseries for the SemiquincentennialExactly 250 years ago yesterday, George Washington's Continental Army attempted to drive the redcoats out of Canada, thereby protecting the rebels' northern flank, by launching a two-pronged assault on Quebec.It was a disaster.There was snow and ice everywhere (who knew that Canada might be cold on New Year's Eve?), Major General Richard Montgomery was shot and killed, second in command Benedict Arnold (yeah, that one) was injured, 30-50 more Americans died, around 400 were taken prisoner; just a total fiasco. The Hudson River, valley, and related north-south waterworks all the way up to Montreal would, instead of staying firmly in Yankee control, prove to be a heavily contested corridor until literally the last day of the Revolutionary War.All of which to say is, EVERY day is a Semiquincentennial day in the year of our Lord 2026, and I am absolutely here for learning and sharing weird & wonderful things about our 250th.To that end, I'm delighted to introduce a new miniseries-within-the-pod, called The Revolutionaries, in which I'll be yakking with historians, podcasters, and other oddballs to tell us some crazy, misunderstood, and lesser-known stories about our awesome if not exactly crystal-pure revolutionary past. The idea is not only to learn new (and fun!) history, but also pick away a bit at the historiography – why some important characters and stories get forgotten; and how even the hagiographic celebrations of various Founders flatten the far more captivating and complicating detail.What better historian to kick us off than none other than Charles C. Mann, author of the groundbreaking books 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, and 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created? Mann walks us through a fascinating revolutionary precursor: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, in which early Americans, through coordinated violence, shook off the misrule of European imperialists.Special shout-out to Arch Stanton for the fab animated intro, and Fleetwood Hack auteur Eli Lake for the theme song. Enjoy!* Woulda been awkward if Charles had played for the Redskins* How science changes history* Man vs. the Amazon* Massive urbanism under the canopy* The myth of pristine wilderness* “we're like beavers”* Sometimes called “the first American Revolution”* “huge impact in the history of the United States as a whole, because it's the reason we have California”* “Pueblo” = catch-all; they spoke different languages* “Jeffersonian, independent villages…very democratic”* “to become a member of the council, they sit you in a chair in the center of the village, and everybody makes fun of you and pelts you with garbage”* Chaco Canyon abandonment = No Kings* “very leery of centralized authority, so much so that the Spaniards find them hard to deal with, because they don't have like a governor or a king, and they're constantly complaining.”* Spaniards didn't even call themselves Spaniards, BTW* Silver and gold, because small cargo-holds* “Spain becomes fantastically wealthy. They spend it all on wars and Dutch bankers”* Whoops, no silver and gold in New Mexico* Juan de Oñate = Juan de jerk* “The Franciscans are obliged to convert people by enslaving them to build churches so that they can be converted in the churches….And weirdly, the Pueblo don't like it.”* Spaniards: much bigger New World bastards than the English* “they got off on the wrong foot”? Too soon, Charles* Don't mess with Po'pay* The knotted-rope code* A simultaneous revolt against 32 missions!* 2 days, 400 dead Spaniards* How Po'pay was NOT like Washington* 12 years a non-Spaniard* Autonomy even after the Reconquista* Thank the Pueblo that Spain never found gold and silver in Cali & Nevada* Cool history happens when tribes produce archaeologists* The West is the best* American ethnic cleansing* The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World, by Charles C. Mann* Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, by Russell Shorto* Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner* Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West, by Donald WorsterIntro sequence by the one and only Arch Stanton!Outro music (audio podcast only) by the great Eli Lake!
Scott D. Marianno is a historian and writer for the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He received an MA in history from Utah State University in 2015 and a BA in history from Brigham Young University in 2011. He writes on race and religion in the American West and on twentieth-century Mormonism. The post Salt Lake Temple – Scott Marianno – 999.5 appeared first on The Cultural Hall Podcast.
Sammy Matsaw Jr. is the Director of the Columbia Basin Program at The Nature Conservancy, where he works at the intersection of salmon recovery, tribal sovereignty, and large-scale river restoration across one of the most complex watersheds in North America. In this role, Sammy helps guide conservation strategies that span state lines, political boundaries, and cultural histories—while keeping people, relationships, and responsibility at the center of the work. Sammy grew up on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, surrounded by salmon stories, land-based learning, and a deep sense of responsibility to place. He served in the U.S. military, including combat deployments overseas, before returning home to heal, reconnect, and rebuild—eventually earning advanced degrees in ecology, policy, and conservation science. Along the way, he's navigated life as a soldier, scientist, ceremonial practitioner, husband, father, and now grandfather, carrying Indigenous knowledge forward while engaging directly with Western institutions and systems. In this conversation, we talk about salmon restoration as a healing journey—not just for rivers, but for communities and cultures shaped by loss, displacement, and change. We dig into Indigenous knowledge alongside Western science, the role of humility and trust in conservation, and why Sammy believes real progress only happens through relationships and long-term commitment. We also explore his vision for the Columbia Basin, his leadership inside TNC, and what it means to show up—day after day—with curiosity, care, and what he calls "barefoot trust-building." This is a thoughtful, hopeful, and vulnerable conversation, and I greatly appreciate Sammy taking the time to chat with me. I hope you enjoy. --- Sammy Matsaw Jr., Director of TNC's Columbia Basin Program TNC's Columbia Basin Program Full episode notes: https://mountainandprairie.com/sammy-matsaw --- This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive. During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 3:00 - Intro, where and how Sammy grew up 10:03 - Sammy's decision to join the military 15:34 - Readjusting to home 20:48 - What helps heal 24:58 - Sammy's academic journey 32:12 - Salmon work 39:09 - Entry into TNC 43:55 - Salmon restoration as a healing journey 50:09 - Layers of the job 57:31 - Book recs 1:01:18 - Wrapping up --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Support Mountain & Prairie Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts
Clay welcomes Colorado historian Walter Borneman to the program. Borneman has written more than a dozen books, from the events at Lexington and Concord to a soon-to-be-published history of the American West following World War II. He's a public historian with a wide reach. The great question is: where are we as we approach the country's 250th birthday? How did we get here, and where might we be headed? Does a study of American history help us understand what feels like an unprecedented moment in our national destiny? Will we survive this current crisis of national confidence? Clay's conversation includes a discussion of the sweep of the Europeanization of the North American continent, with particular emphasis on the presidency of James Polk, an unapologetic expansionist, and, of course, Thomas Jefferson, who may have been our most intense national imperialist. This episode was recorded on October 28, 2025.
shorten it a bitSkis, speed, and charging horses collide in Skijoring, a winter sport rooted in Scandinavian tradition and reborn in the American West. In this episode, lifelong friends and Utah cowboys Joe Loveridge and Brian Gardner share how they turned their passions for skiing, horses, and ranching into Pro Skijor, a new pro tour spanning Utah, Idaho, and Montana. Recorded at the High West Whiskey Library, the conversation dives into Western heritage, big-time energy, and why skijoring has captured crowds across the Mountain West.
Twenty-five years ago, President Bill Clinton stood before a podium in the East Room of the White House, and, in front of an all-star lineup of researchers and dignitaries, made a historic announcement: After years of painstaking work, scientists had created “the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind” — the first-ever survey of the human genome.In his remarks, Clinton compared the achievement to the maps created by Lewis and Clark's expedition into the American West — but maybe a comparison to the space race would have been more accurate. Because, behind the scenes, the journey leading up to that day's announcement had been defined by nerve-wracking, cut-throat competition — a competition where every minute counted, and the future of scientific inquiry was at stake.On this encore episode, we look back at how what started as a scientific collaboration fractured into a bitter race to finish decoding the human genome. On one side was the federally funded Human Genome Project; on the other, a private start-up called Celera; and, in between, a raucous mashup of conflicting personalities, values, and ideas that would eventually help to transform science and medicine.
Clay welcomes eminent western historian Paul Hutton for a discussion of his new book, The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West. Hutton is a distinguished emeritus professor of history at the University of New Mexico and also the Interim Curator of the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Hutton's latest book attempts to strike a balance between the old, unreconstructed triumphalist view of America's westward movement and the more recent, guilt-ridden academic condemnation of the American experiment. We attempted to unpack the concepts of discovery, manifest destiny, the "Indian Wars," and the mythology of the West, including in Hollywood Westerns. How should America think about its westward movement as the 250th birthday of the United States approaches? This podcast was recorded on October 30, 2025.
Ponderosa pine trees dominate parts of Eastern Oregon and Washington and have long been an icon of the American West, but in the past decade more than two hundred million ponderosa have died. Particularly in the Southwest, scientists estimate that by mid-century less than 5% of the ponderosa trees may remain. Portland author Gary Ferguson explores the history and the future of the ponderosa forests of the Southwest in his newest book, “The Twilight Forest.”
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! In the heart of Tombstone, Arizona, stands a building where the Wild West never truly died. Opened in 1881, the Birdcage Theatre was a notorious crossroads of entertainment, crime, and vice—serving as a saloon, brothel, and gambling hall where fortunes were lost, tempers flared, and lives ended violently. The walls absorbed it all. And many believe they still remember. Today, the Birdcage Theatre is considered one of the most haunted locations in the American West. Shadow figures move through empty rooms. Voices echo long after closing time. And presences linger that feel far too aware of the living. In this episode of The Grave Talks, paranormal investigator and author Steven Blackwell takes us deep inside the Birdcage's dark history and its ongoing hauntings. Are the spirits here dangerous… or simply trapped in the roles they played in life? Some stages never go dark. And some performances never end. This is Part Two of our conversation. #BirdcageTheatre #TombstoneArizona #HauntedWildWest #ParanormalHistory #TrueParanormal #GhostStories #HauntedPlaces #TheGraveTalks #WildWestHauntings Love real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! In the heart of Tombstone, Arizona, stands a building where the Wild West never truly died. Opened in 1881, the Birdcage Theatre was a notorious crossroads of entertainment, crime, and vice—serving as a saloon, brothel, and gambling hall where fortunes were lost, tempers flared, and lives ended violently. The walls absorbed it all. And many believe they still remember. Today, the Birdcage Theatre is considered one of the most haunted locations in the American West. Shadow figures move through empty rooms. Voices echo long after closing time. And presences linger that feel far too aware of the living. In this episode of The Grave Talks, paranormal investigator and author Steven Blackwell takes us deep inside the Birdcage's dark history and its ongoing hauntings. Are the spirits here dangerous… or simply trapped in the roles they played in life? Some stages never go dark. And some performances never end. #BirdcageTheatre #TombstoneArizona #HauntedWildWest #ParanormalHistory #TrueParanormal #GhostStories #HauntedPlaces #TheGraveTalks #WildWestHauntings Love real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
Join Field Ethos founder and CEO Jason Vincent and Baker Leavitt for an unfiltered conversation through the world of modern adventure hunting. From the raw instinct of staying calm when a plane is crashing to stalking Cape buffalo and elephants in Southern Africa, tracking lions with local hunters, dodging venomous snakes, and navigating Australia's elusive dangerous game under strict gun laws—this episode is packed with real stories from the edge. The conversation flows from spearfishing and lobstering in crystal waters to calling elk in the American West, tasting hippo steaks washed down with African beer, and debating the finest wild-game meats on the planet. Gearheads will love the deep dive into hand-built custom rifles, Q's groundbreaking designs, and SIG Sauer's latest innovations. At its core, this nearly two-hour episode is a passionate manifesto for bringing hunting back to its roots: true adventure, ethical harvest, conservation through utilization, and the unapologetic pursuit of wild places and wild game. It's also the origin story of Field Ethos Journal—how two hunters set out to build the most trusted, credible, and beautifully crafted hunting media brand from day one. TOPICS COVERED: ● Hunting in Africa ● Bringing Hunting Back to Adventure ● Founding Field Ethos and Using Journals to Spark Interest in Adventure
Chloé Zhao was the second woman to ever win an Oscar for Best Director, for her 2020 film “Nomadland.” After taking a wide turn to create the Marvel supernatural epic “Eternals,” Zhao has taken another intriguing change of direction with “Hamnet,” based on Maggie O'Farrell's novel about how William Shakespeare coped with the death of his only son. In conversation with the New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman, Zhao discusses the role that nature plays in her filmmaking, from the American West to the forests of Britain; the process of adapting manga to film; and how neurodivergence informs her creative process.New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.