Podcasts about Bright spot

The movement continues among state lawmakers to ban cell phones in schools. one central Pa. district says they have seen benefits from restrictive phone policies.Pennsylvania officials say the Trump administration could be holding up millions of dollars of Homeland Security grants until states comply with election demands. Lawmakers are calling for tighter commercial driver's license laws in Pennsylvania. Their calls come in the wake of the July 1st crash that killed a state police trooper in Schuylkill County.A data center being built by Amazon in the greater Philadelphia area is sparking public outcry.The Public Utility Commission will hold public hearings on allegations related to operational and service-related issues within the Veolia water system. The Trump administration replaced an exhibit on slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia with a version that historians say whitewashes the nation's history. The Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority is partnering with Amtrak to provide passenger rail service from Reading to Philadelphia.The Harrisburg Fringe Festival began Thursday and stretches through the weekend. The fourth annual festival features more than 200 independent artists at nine venues across the city.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is this:Two orphaned bear cubs are making central PA their new home.ZooAmerica North American Wildlife Park in Hershey took the pair of 5-month-old American black bear cubs in, after they were rescued by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.It's been one year since public media's federal funding was revoked. Thanks to our community, we're still here for you and looking toward the future. Join the thousands of members who are building a stronger WITF. Go to  www.witf.org/givenow. And thank you. 

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 16, 2026. We open with a story that should trigger Logan Act investigations — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch has revealed that New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani attempted to arrange a secret meeting with the Iranian government while the United States is actively engaged in military operations against Iran. We walk through the constitutional principle at stake: the United States speaks with one voice in foreign affairs, that voice belongs to the federal government, and a city mayor has no more authority to conduct foreign policy than he has to declare war. We also connect it to a pattern — from Obama's hot mic moment with Medvedev to John Kerry's shadow diplomacy during Trump's first term — of people who want the power of the presidency without the accountability of holding it. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. launched strikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive day — targeting air defenses, rocket and drone facilities, and ports, with reports of 35 killed and 300 wounded in Iran, and a blockade-running ship disabled after repeated warnings. Then President Trump fired a newly appointed federal prosecutor in Seattle less than an hour into his first day on the job — a position filled by federal judges after Democrat Senate obstruction left the slot unconfirmed for more than 120 days. And a former Marine and congressional candidate in Florida was arrested for posting videos to social media calling for the murder of President Trump, describing him as the Antichrist, and advising what weapons and shooting patterns should be used — the latest of more than 20 documented assassination plots against the president, by far the most in American history. We also cover the Trump administration restoring the public charge rule — requiring that applicants for lawful permanent residence demonstrate they can support themselves without depending on government assistance. We explain why this was standard immigration practice throughout most of American history, why it is the policy of virtually every developed nation on earth, and why the most compassionate thing you can say to someone who wants to become an American is that we believe you can make it here on your own. Our American Mama Teri Netterville responds to a podcast host who said she doesn't trust any mother who wants to be with her children all day — and that homeschooling is weird. Teri's answer is simple and devastating: children are not a burden. They are a reward from God, an inheritance, arrows that parents are called to form and launch into the world for impact. The proof showed up at a stoplight on the way to the studio — Psalm 127, in a bumper sticker, on a car Teri had never seen before, minutes before a segment she didn't know she'd be having. She calls it a God thing. We do too. We dig deep into Senator Elissa Slotkin's remarks at a Michigan town hall — where she explained her opposition to the SAVE Act by saying it would make it impossible for any Democrat to win any election anywhere. We play the clip. We let her words sit. And we point out that if requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote is what makes Democrats lose elections, Senator Slotkin has just told you everything you need to know about who has been voting in Democratic primaries. The SAVE Act doesn't prevent anyone who is legally entitled to vote from voting. It just makes sure people who aren't legally entitled to vote don't get to cancel out the votes of those who are. We also cover Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego and reports that he had relationships with multiple congressional staffers before his marriage — and use it to return to the core principle that power causes brain damage. The part of the brain that processes empathy is measurably suppressed in people who accumulate power and believe they deserve it. The only people largely immune to this effect are those who genuinely believe they don't deserve the power they have. Public office is a public trust — and the people underneath you in that office are not perks of the position. We also cover a White House teleprompter technician who allegedly fed Trump's speech content into prediction markets before the speeches were delivered — trading on insider access to profit from words she was trusted to keep confidential. Every position of trust comes with an obligation of restraint. Some people just haven't figured that out yet. For our Bright Spot, the New York Times ran a piece headlined Mom, Dad, I Want to Be a Welder — following young Americans in their twenties who had the grades for college, chose trade school instead, and are thriving. Trade school enrollment is up nearly 20% since 2020. Starting salaries for skilled tradespeople now beat many college-educated entry-level positions. And a 23-year-old welder from Arkansas named LaDonna Glass said it best — she felt like if she didn't go to college she would be a failure. She isn't. We close with Earl Nightingale's definition of success — the progressive realization of a worthy goal — and note that success begins the moment you commit to something worthy of your time, your talents, and your character. And we close with a 2007 photograph taken at a Barcelona charity raffle — a baby boy named Lamin Yamal posing with a young Argentine footballer named Lionel Messi. Eighteen years later, Lamin Yamal is on the Spanish World Cup team and Messi is considered the greatest of all time — and the two people in that photo are about to face each other in the World Cup final. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 15, 2026. We open with the biggest election integrity news in years — the House passed the SAVE Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, 217 to 209, with Speaker Mike Johnson delivering exactly what he promised us two weeks ago when he sat down with American Ground Radio. We explain what the SAVE Act actually does — and what it doesn't. It doesn't change who is eligible to vote. It doesn't alter the Constitution. It simply requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. We point out that we verify identity to board a plane, open a bank account, and buy a beer — and that the only people who benefit from not verifying citizenship at voter registration are people who aren't citizens. We also note that Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin's claim that no Democrat will ever win again if the SAVE Act passes raises an obvious question about how many non-citizens have been voting for her party. The bill now goes to the Senate, where John Thune needs to do his job — or be voted out at the first opportunity. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch testified before the Senate in his confirmation hearing — telling senators that his client is not the president but the American people, while more than 1,200 former DOJ employees signed a letter opposing his confirmation, which may be the best endorsement he could have received. Then the House passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent year-round — meaning darker mornings in winter and lighter evenings, with states currently on permanent standard time allowed to stay there. And Senate Democrats boycotted a hearing on government fraud, with only one Democrat showing up before leaving after his opening statement — even as investigative journalists Nick Shirley, James O'Keefe, and Dylan Heder-Gaudette presented documented findings on billions in fraudulent benefits claims. As Nick Shirley said, no dollar says Republican or Democrat on it. We also tackle the question of whether a New Hampshire state representative can drive 102 miles per hour on her way to the legislature and claim constitutional immunity from arrest under a provision dating back to the era of kings arresting parliamentarians on their way to inconvenient votes. We acknowledge the historical purpose of the law. We reject the application of it to someone who simply didn't plan her schedule well enough. Rules for thee but not for me is not a constitutional principle — and if you don't care about the safety of the people on the road, why would you care about the safety of the people you represent? Our American Mama Teri Netterville weighs in on the Emmy nominations — and the conversation becomes a broader indictment of an awards system that has completely lost touch with what Americans are actually watching. Greg Gutfeld hosts the number one late night show in the country. Not nominated. Taylor Sheridan has produced Yellowstone, Landman, 1923, and The Madison — all massive hits with critics and audiences alike. Not nominated. Meghan Markle's show As Ever received a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, was called the sweet spot between irrelevant and intolerable by the Times of London, and was canceled. Emmy nominated. The awards don't reflect excellence anymore. They reflect ideology. In our Digging Deep segment, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced that the Army has already met its 2026 recruiting goals — with 61,500 new recruits — eight and a half months before the year ends. Compare that to 2022, when the military missed its goals by 25%, and 2023, when it missed by 10%. Nothing changed except the administration and with it the clarity of purpose. We play Simon Sinek's story about a Marine recruiter who told a high school auditorium full of teenagers that not a single one of them was good enough to be a Marine — and walked out with the longest line of any recruiter in the room. People don't want to be told service is easy. They want to be challenged to be worthy of it. Trump and Hegseth figured that out. The numbers prove it. We also cover France's assisted suicide legislation — which has passed the lower house and would allow physicians and nurses to end the lives of patients who cannot do so themselves. The Catholic Church in France has threatened excommunication for any legislator who votes for it, and Pope Francis personally asked Macron not to sign it. We make the pro-life case plainly — compassion means walking with those who suffer, not eliminating the one who is suffering. A society's worth is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable, not by how conveniently it removes them. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has now threatened to shut down all Middle Eastern oil exports if Iran cannot export its own — using energy as a weapon exactly as both Iran and Iraq did during the 1980s war. We note that this is exactly why the Iraq oil pipeline deal through Turkey matters, why the Strait of Hormuz matters, and why at some point the president may have to say what needs to be said about ground troops. For our Bright Spot, a Spanish conservation group called El Burrito Feliz — the Happy Little Donkey — has deployed 18 donkeys around Doñana National Park on Spain's Atlantic coast, an area with the same fire-prone Mediterranean climate as Southern California. Since the donkeys were introduced, there has not been a single wildfire in the park in nine years. The donkeys eat the dry scrub and tall grasses that fuel fires, reach terrain that vehicles cannot, and cost a fraction of what California spends on fire suppression after the fact. We suggest California try it. What have they got to lose? And we close with Jenny Stepien, who walked down the aisle on her wedding day wishing her father could be there. Her father Michael had passed away ten years earlier — but he was an organ donor, and his heart had saved the life of a man named Tom Thomas, who became Jenny's pen pal out of gratitude. On her wedding day, Tom was there in person for the first time — to walk her down the aisle in her father's place. At the end of the aisle, Jenny placed her hand on Tom's chest and felt her father's heart beating one more time, just before she said I do. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 14, 2026. We open with the Democratic Socialists of America's national co-chair going on record calling for the abolition of the United States Senate — and we explain why this isn't a fringe idea anymore. The DSA wants to replace the Senate, the presidency, and the Supreme Court with a single legislative body allocated purely by population, rename it the People's Bureau, and hand it public ownership of the nation's largest corporations. We walk through what that actually means — that seven or eight major cities could effectively govern the entire country, that the constitutional protections for smaller states would vanish, and that the structure they're proposing is the same one that produced the Third Reich, the Soviet Union, and Communist China. We also note that 51% of the DSA's National Policy Committee openly identifies with communism, Marxism, or Marxist-Leninism — not according to conservative critics, but according to a report cited by the former Democratic chief counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. The Democratic Party needs to decide whether it is going to continue letting these people run under its banner. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump formally notified Congress that hostilities with Iran have resumed — opening a new 60-day window under the War Powers Act after Iran repeatedly violated the ceasefire and continued attacking civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Then inflation dropped from 4.2% to 3.5% last month — the largest single-month decrease in four years — driven largely by falling gas prices during the ceasefire, with core inflation down to 2.6%. And Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett testified jointly before Congress requesting increased security funding — with Barrett revealing that six weeks ago her teenage son opened the front door to find their street filled with police cars responding to a swatting attack on their home. We also weigh in on President Trump's signature appearing on the new $100 bill as part of America's 250th anniversary commemoration — and we have a genuine disagreement about it. It's a milestone that comes once in a nation's history and deserves recognition. But putting a sitting president's name on currency in circulation is outside American tradition, starts to look like the kind of thing emperors and monarchs do, and gives his critics an easy target that's hard to defend. Our American Mama Teri Netterville makes the case that moms are still better matchmakers than any dating app ever invented — and backs it up with evidence. Three couples she personally set up are now married, including her own daughter Summer and Louisiana Tech baseball captain Phillip Matulia, whom Teri identified as the right match before her daughter was even willing to consider it. She also shares the story of Andrea Swift — Taylor's mother — who heard that Travis Kelce loves his mother, said ding ding ding, and the rest is history. Terry's conclusion: we know our children. Apps know your data. There's a difference. In our Digging Deep segment, a Fort Worth police officer threatened street preachers Richard Pankoski and David Grisham with disorderly conduct citations at a Pride parade — telling them directly that if someone is offended by their talking, that constitutes a problem warranting a citation. We explain why this is not a close constitutional question. The First Amendment does not exist to protect popular speech. It exists precisely to protect the kind of speech that offends people. The Fort Worth police chief acknowledged the officers were wrong — but we push back on his framing. They weren't wrong in the manner they addressed it. They were wrong to address it at all. Religious speech enjoys the same constitutional protection as secular speech. If marchers get to publicly celebrate what scripture calls sin, preachers get to publicly call it sin. We then turn to Zoran Mamdani's New York City — where Manhattan's average one-bedroom rent has hit an all-time high of nearly $5,500 a month and Brooklyn is setting its own records, with critics calling the housing situation DEFCON 1. We connect it directly to Mamdani's rent freeze threats, which gave every landlord in the city a powerful incentive to raise rents before the freeze could take effect, and to congestion pricing, which is now making it financially attractive to live inside Manhattan rather than commute — driving up rents from the demand side. The left created this crisis with its own policies and is now running on those same policies as the solution. For our Bright Spot, President Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced that U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by September 30th — ending a 23-year military presence that peaked at 170,000 troops and is now down to roughly 2,000. We also cover Iraq signing new oil deals with Chevron and other American companies to build pipelines running from Iraq through Turkey to Europe — bypassing the Strait of Hormuz entirely — which would permanently reduce Iranian leverage over global energy markets. And we close with 28-year-old Rishi Sharma, who at 18 became curious about World War II, interviewed one veteran, then another, then another, until curiosity became an obsession — and he has now spent every single day of the last ten years interviewing veterans of the Greatest Generation, preserving 3,000 firsthand accounts of American history on hard drives and SD cards before those voices are gone forever. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 13, 2026. We open with a story New York City's leadership refuses to learn from — a new report showing the city's share of America's million-dollar earners collapsed from 12.7% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2022, dropping New York from second to fourth in the national rankings as California, Florida, and Texas all dramatically grew their millionaire populations. We explain the core economic truth the left keeps getting wrong — affordability and willingness are two entirely different questions. Wealthy residents can afford to pay more. They are simply not willing to. And unlike ordinary citizens, they have the means to act on that decision immediately. When New York voters hired Zoran Mamdani to demand even more from the people already leaving, they didn't change the math. They accelerated it. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Senator Lindsey Graham passed away suddenly over the weekend from an aortic dissection — a tear in the aorta that is often fatal before help can arrive. President Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff and posted a tribute calling Graham a dear friend and a truly great man. Then South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster named Graham's sister, Darlene Graham Nord, to fill the remainder of his Senate term — with a special Republican primary scheduled for August 11th to select the party's nominee for the fall race. And the U.S. and Iran exchanged another round of fire over the weekend, with Iran firing missiles and drones at U.S. bases across the Middle East and the U.S. responding with strikes on Iranian military installations — including the first-ever use of unmanned naval drones against an Iranian port used to repair submarines. Our American Mama Teri Netterville reflects on the life of Lindsey Graham — and what she didn't know about him until he was gone. That his mother died at 53, his father sixteen months later, and that a 22-year-old Lindsey Graham adopted his 13-year-old sister so she could receive military benefits. That the same man who was Trump's fiercest critic in the first term became one of his closest allies and friends. That Democrats who disagreed with him on nearly everything counted him as a genuine friend. And that his finest hour may have been the Kavanaugh hearings — when Graham stood up among colleagues he called friends and said plainly what millions of Americans were thinking: what you are doing to this man is wrong. We also cover an 84-year-old Florida man suing Waffle House because a sign advertising their strawberry shortcake waffle caught his attention while he was walking and he tripped over a curb. We wish him a full recovery. We also note that attracting attention is the entire point of advertising, that curbs have been stationary obstacles since the invention of sidewalks, and that if noticing something relieves you of the obligation to watch where you're going, America is going to need an attorney on every corner. Some of them will have billboards. In our Digging Deep segment, CNBC released its annual ranking of the worst states to live in — and all ten are red states, every single one of which gained population from other states in 2024. Texas led the country with 72,000 net new residents. Tennessee gained 36,000. Oklahoma gained 34,000. Meanwhile, CNBC's ten best states include Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — half of which are losing population to other states, with New Jersey alone shedding 64,000 residents in 2024. We examine CNBC's methodology — which rewards states for high minimum wages, mandatory union participation, gender ideology in law, abortion access, and no voter ID requirements — and conclude that CNBC has produced not a quality of life ranking but a Democratic National Committee platform checklist. The American people are voting with their feet, and the scoreboard is not close. We also cover ICE's latest weekend sweep — dozens of arrests including individuals convicted of murder, manslaughter, child sexual abuse, and drug trafficking — and ask the only question that matters: how is any reasonable person opposed to removing violent criminal offenders from the country? The answer, we conclude, is that the people most loudly opposed are not being reasonable. They are making an emotional leap to an accusation nobody actually made. For our Bright Spot, a new study projects that a one-gigawatt data center campus in northwest Indiana would generate $16.1 billion in regional economic output over 20 years, support nearly 15,000 construction jobs, and create $176 million in annual earnings once operational. We connect it to the Meta data center being built in northeast Louisiana — not yet complete, but already doubling teacher salaries in the surrounding community purely from tax revenue. Data centers are the railroads of the 21st century. If your community gets one, you are in tall cotton. President Trump is also planning a direct address to the American people on Thursday night about Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and the safety of global shipping — because in an era of constant rumor and social media speculation, there is no substitute for the president going directly to the people and telling them what's what. And we close with four-year-old Roman Butzlaff, who really wanted a friend. His family had split up, his grandparents were far away, and his new neighborhood didn't have many kids. So every morning he went outside, sat in a chair in the front yard, and waved at everyone who walked by. One neighbor crossed the street to introduce himself. Then another came. Then another. Before long, Roman had turned a street full of strangers into a community — and they came to his birthday parties, his soccer games, and his preschool open house. People like connecting. At a human level, not just behind a screen. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 10, 2026. We open with a Senate map conversation nobody on the left wants to have — Democrats need to win every single toss-up race in November to take control of the chamber, while Republicans need only one. We walk through the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball projections, the four toss-up races that will decide everything — Alaska, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina — and why Republican overconfidence is still premature even with the structural advantage. We also explain why Graham Plattner's implosion in Maine may not be the gift Republicans assumed it was, why Roy Cooper is very likely to pick up North Carolina, and why Ken Paxton is making a race in Texas far closer than it has any business being. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump refused to sign the bipartisan housing bill — saying he won't put pen to paper until Congress passes the SAVE Act — but the bill will become law without his signature anyway, and House Republicans plan to celebrate its passage regardless. Then Trump fired the remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission, citing the Seila Law decision as precedent and issuing a statement that the president reserves the right to remove individuals not fully aligned with the task of securing America's elections. And eight men from across the country — Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, Washington, California, and West Virginia — have been indicted for plotting a drone and sniper attack on the UFC fight at the White House lawn, with all eight now arrested and facing life in prison. We also cover Joy Behar warning that President Trump is practically destroying democracy — and we note that the one place in America where a democratic election result was genuinely made null and void was the 2024 Democratic presidential primary, where Kamala Harris never won a single vote outside the convention floor. The Democrat Party is the party of projection. Whatever they accuse you of doing, they have already done. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson answer a listener question about Type 1 and Type 2 fun — and the conversation becomes a beautiful tribute to feral childhood. Type 1 fun is a roller coaster — thrilling in the moment, forgotten by morning. Type 2 fun is hiking in sleet, throwing rocks at alligators on the bayou, going off into the woods alone for hours while your parents had absolutely no idea where you were. The kind of fun that shapes you, scares you, and becomes the story you're still telling at 50. Teri and Kimberly worry that today's children — tracked by phones, sheltered from consequence, raised on Dateline — are growing up on Type 1 fun and missing the Type 2 experiences that built the people they became. We dig deep into California's 2022 decision to decriminalize loitering with intent to commit prostitution — signed by Governor Newsom on the grounds that 56% of those arrested were Black women, making it, in his telling, a racist law. The results, documented by City Journal and investigative journalist Abigail Schreier, are exactly what common sense predicted. Prostitution spiked immediately. Human trafficking followed. LAPD officers at the 77th Street Station rescued 123 children in 2024 — nearly eight times the number rescued in 2022, the year before the law took effect. Police now report seeing 14-year-old girls in G-strings on Los Angeles streets and having no legal authority to intervene. We make the case plainly: the left is not trying to reduce crime. It is trying to reduce the number of people arrested for crime. Those are not the same thing — and the difference is being paid for by the most vulnerable people on the streets. We also revisit a 1950 speech by Joseph McCarthy — and note that whatever his excesses, his core distinction holds up: there have always been two kinds of Democrats, the millions of loyal Americans who vote the ticket and want safe neighborhoods and stable jobs, and a small activist class that has been dragging the party toward something that looks less like democratic socialism and more like the thing McCarthy was warning about. The question in 2026 is whether that activist class is still the minority. Then it's Fake News Friday — including a California HOA fining residents for flying the American flag, activists pushing schools to teach Black English and girl math, Adam Sandler officiating Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding, a BB gun attack on a mosque that turned out to be carried out by a Muslim man, Iran threatening to kill President Trump at Khomeini's funeral, a new Broadway musical called Dolly about Dolly Parton, and CNN airing a quote from a fake congressman who runs a parody account. Justin Trudeau is now a backup dancer in a Katy Perry video. Spoilet Alert: that one's real. For our Bright Spot, weekly unemployment claims came in at 215,000 — with the January through July average of 213,000 representing the lowest sustained jobless claim numbers since 1968 and 1969, when the country had a third fewer people and the Vietnam draft was pulling hundreds of thousands of men out of the civilian workforce. We call it what it is — a labor market that is outperforming history in a country that was told it couldn't. And we close with words of wisdom on patriotism — from Calvin Coolidge, Edward Abbey, Adlai Stevenson, and Charles de Gaulle. You've got to love your country enough to tell the truth about it, defend it when it's right, and fight to make it better. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode 2089, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian, writer, and co-host of Yo, Is This Racist?, Andrew Ti, to discuss… MAGA Rep hates his beautiful wife because Indian? Meta Data Center Donates Fecal Bacteria To Local Community, Eric Trump’s Bitcoin Venture Is Down $600 Million, Horror Is The One “Bright Spot” In Hollywood’s LGBTQ+ Representation, The Odyssey Trojan Horsed A Bunch Of Influencers Into Screenings and more! MAGA Rep Blasted for Cutting Indian-American Wife Out of Ad AI Could Use as Much Water as 1.3 Billion People by 2030, U.N. Report Warns 'I wouldn't want it anywhere': Officials trace rare bacteria back to Meta data center construction Wyoming tightens wastewater rules after Meta datacenter contractor flushed contaminated water Eric Trump’s Bitcoin Bet Erases $600 Million From Family Fortune Trump’s Son Wipes $600M From Family Fortune With Disastrous Bet LGBTQ Characters in Film Decline for Third Year Where We Are In Film: Analyzing LGBTQ Inclusion From Top Film Distributors LGBTQ Characters in Film Decline for Third Year ‘The Odyssey’ First Reactions Are Raves for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Astonishing’ Epic and ‘Flawless Filmmaking’: ‘Breathtaking, Bold and Perfection’ ‘The Odyssey’ First Reactions: “Staggering … Nolan’s Biggest Film to Date” Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ to Skip “Word of Mouth” Screenings A Trojan Horse Only Works Once: Why Universal’s Decision to Skip Influencer Screenings for ‘The Odyssey’ Is Good for the Entire Movie Business Has the social media influencer killed the art of critical film reviews? The Brewing Battle Between Film Critics and Influencers Who needs film critics when studios can be sure influencers will praise their films? Influencer screenings aren’t going away Influencers Didn't Hijack Film Criticism, Marketing Did How Twitter users became the film industry's favourite critics LISTEN: Jackpot & Foil (A COLORS SHOW) by SALIMATASee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Students from Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster won a national manufacturing competition, bringing home the grand prize of $100,000.Big Boy generated some big numbers for the Scranton area during its two-week stay at the Steamtown National Historic Site. As part of America's 250th birthday, there's a renewed interest in the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia has more versions of the Declaration of Independence on display than any other city.Six projects across Cumberland County are receiving more than $750,000 in grant funding. Many of the recipients are using the money to improve or host sporting events.Former Pennsylvania State Senator Shirley Kitchen, who died last weekend, is being remembered as a tireless advocate for her district in North Philadelphia.Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday to remember Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michael Pahira Jr, who was struck and killed by a tractor trailer along I-81 in Schuylkill County on July 1st. In Lancaster County, a 19-year-old man was killed when he lost control of his electric unicycle and was struck and killed by a tractor trailer on Route 322 Wednesday morning.The National Weather Service confirms a tornado touched down in Perry County, this past Sunday evening, July 5th.The York County Commissioners have issued a disaster declaration following severe storms over the July 4th weekend.The Penn State Extension now has a toll-free hotline that provides the latest ag news. Callers can hear updates on the latest crop production, weather outlook, and disease and pest management issues facing crop producers in the state. Lawmakers in the state House have overwhelmingly approved a bill to provide opportunities for hunter-trapper education in Pennsylvania schools. The bill calls for the Pennsylvania Game Commission to develop the program for students in grades 6 through 12. Saturday is the start of the 40th annual ChambersFest in Chambersburg, Franklin County. The event started as a way to commemorate the town's historic rebuilding in 1864.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is this: It's that time of the year, when hikers attempting thru-hikes on the Appalachian Trail, are passing through Pennsylvania. Luzerne County native Hunter Lacomis is one of them. He was inspired by his uncles to take the trek through 14 states along the East Coast. It's been one year since public media's federal funding was revoked. Thanks to our community, we're still here for you and looking toward the future. Join the thousands of members who are building a stronger WITF. Go to  www.witf.org/givenow. And thank you. 

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 9, 2026. We open with Mayor Zoran Mamdani's map of immigrant neighborhoods in New York City — and a glaring omission that Louis takes personally. Little Italy isn't on it. Neither are the Irish neighborhoods or the Jewish neighborhoods. What is on it? Little Palestine, Little Pakistan, Little Odessa, and 27 other enclaves — a deliberate cartography of division that tells certain communities where they belong and erases the immigrant story that built New York in the first place. We make the distinction between a melting pot — where you bring your culture and become American — and a mixing bowl, where a city planner plants a flag and tells you to stay in your lane. Put Little Italy on the map. Put the whole beautiful, messy, glorious immigration story on the map. That is New York. That is America. In our Top 3 Things You need to Know, fresh explosions hit southern Iran — but CENTCOM says the U.S. was not behind them, and Israel said the same, as Iranians buried their former Ayatollah Khomeini for the first time since his death in March, having been too afraid to hold the funeral until now. Then Graham Plattner dropped out of the Maine Senate race after a fourth woman came forward with sexual assault allegations — with the Maine Democratic Party now scrambling to name a replacement by June 27th, having defended Plattner right up until the moment the polls shifted against him. The Democrats didn't discover morality. They discovered math. And an illegal alien from Slovakia was arrested in New Jersey for registering to vote and casting a ballot in the 2022 elections — proof once again that the thing that never happens keeps happening, and that the Save America Act cannot wait. We also cover Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum threatening legal action against the United States after ICE officers shot a Mexican national who allegedly used his vehicle as a weapon against federal agents in Houston. We have a suggestion for President Sheinbaum — if she is genuinely concerned about how Mexican citizens are being treated during U.S. immigration enforcement operations, she could simply tell them to go home. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson answer the listener question of why it's so hard to find couple friends — and the answer turns out to be equal parts logistics, life seasons, and the quiet devastation of watching a couple you love fall apart. Teri and Kimberly talk about the friends they found through their children's sports, the couples who drifted away when the games ended, the dream scenario of children who marry each other's best friends' children, and the husband-centric theory of male friendship — guys don't have friends, they have wives, and their wives have friends, and those friends have husbands. We enter week four of the Mitch McConnell hospital saga — still no quotes, still no specifics, still no clarity on why he's there or what his condition actually is. We contrast this with John Fetterman, who disclosed his stroke within 48 hours of it happening and his clinical depression diagnosis the day after checking himself into Walter Reed — even though depression was far more politically embarrassing than a stroke. The public doesn't need every medical detail. It needs to know which box to put its senator in. Four weeks in, we still don't know. In our Digging Deep segment, a Real Clear Investigations report compares U.S. crime rates to Canada and Australia using victimization surveys rather than police reports — and the results demolish the international media's narrative. Overall violent crime in Canada is 295% higher than in the U.S. In Australia, assaults are 227% higher and rape is 355% higher. The reason U.S. crime statistics look worse is that Americans are far more likely to call the police when they become victims. We make the case that the anti-American crime narrative isn't about journalism — it's about political control. If Canadians and Australians found out they would be safer with guns, their governments would have a much harder time keeping them disarmed. We also note that the conspiracy theories surrounding Charlie Kirk's assassination appear to be collapsing under the weight of Tyler Robinson's own confessions — three separate admissions that he planned and carried out the murder deliberately over a period of weeks. We say what needs to be said about the people who spent the last ten months spinning elaborate alternative theories: if you ever thought Candace Owens was onto something, you need a new way to filter your news sources. For our Bright Spot, John Fetterman's transparency about his own medical crises — stroke disclosed in 48 hours, depression disclosed the day after hospitalization — stands as a model of what elected officials owe the people they serve. We don't have to agree with his politics to recognize that walking in integrity looks exactly like that. And we close with words of wisdom on honesty — from Thomas Jefferson, William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Benjamin Franklin, and Billy Joel. Honesty is such a lonely word. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 7, 2026. We open with a story out of Germany that hits uncomfortably close to home — the German defense minister is publicly discussing whether a conservative party that finishes first in national polling should be denied access to classified information if it wins power. We explain why this isn't just a European problem: it's exactly what James Clapper attempted with Donald Trump in 2016, what the FBI did to the Tea Party under Obama, and what the DOJ did to pro-life Catholics under Biden. When a government starts treating political opponents as security threats, the next steps — denied clearances, restricted briefings, platform pressure, donor investigations — become easier every time. Germany is showing us where that road ends. We'd prefer not to follow. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump declared the ceasefire over after Iran attacked three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz — launching a second night of U.S. strikes on Iranian air defenses, fast boats, and missile launchers, and saying of negotiations, they're liars, they're cheats, they're sick people. Then Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy Beshear formally demanded transparency from Senator Mitch McConnell's office about his medical condition — noting that while several Republican colleagues claim to have spoken with him at length, not one of them has quoted a single word he actually said. And a 51-year-old Australian citizen living in Franklinton, Louisiana was arrested and charged by the DOJ for registering to vote by falsely claiming American citizenship and casting ballots in both 2022 and 2024 — which is exactly why the Save America Act exists and exactly why the Senate needs to pass it. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson get into the financial realities facing young families today — the near impossibility of one parent staying home, the role grandparents and extended family play in filling the gap, and why the bonds forged through that kind of mutual help are often the strongest ones families have. Teri shares how she told her daughter-in-law directly that private school for the grandchildren is something she and her husband are prepared to help with — because that's what family does when it can. We dig into the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling — and the Texas hospital advertising birth packages in Mexico for $4,000 natural or $5,500 for a C-section, with the implied promise that the baby goes home as an American citizen. Governor Greg Abbott has ordered an immediate investigation of Mission Regional Medical Center. We also cover Chinese birth tourism to American Samoa — where more Chinese babies are now born than American babies — with those children raised under the Communist Party before returning to the United States as adult citizens with full legal access. We make the case that the 14th Amendment's original meaning of subject to the jurisdiction thereof meant complete political allegiance — not one foot on American soil — and that Congress must act before birth tourism becomes the dominant business model along our southern border. We then cover Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Plattner — who still hasn't dropped out as of broadcast but faces a Monday deadline — and the stunning reversal from a Democratic Party that was fully behind him while he was ahead in the polls and is now trying to deny him any role in choosing his replacement. We note that the only Democrat who called Plattner out while he was still leading was John Fetterman — who this week demanded that every Democrat who championed Plattner publicly apologize to the voters of Maine. A party willing to undo its own nomination process when the polls turn is a party that has made clear the democratic process is a means to an end, not a principle. For our Bright Spot, firearms manufacturer CMMG has announced it will only sell to state and local government agencies the same configurations it is allowed to sell to that state's citizens. If a state bans AR-15 style rifles for civilians, CMMG will not sell AR-15 style rifles to that state's law enforcement. Their statement says it plainly — we do not have two classes of citizenry in this country. We are all subject to the Constitution. A government that doesn't trust its citizens cannot be trusted by its citizens. We call it exactly what it is — a principled stand worth celebrating and worth other manufacturers following. And we close with Jordan Rosenberg, who married Max Creamer this summer after knowing him for about ten years. At the wedding reception, Jordan's parents played a home video of four-year-old Jordan describing her future wedding — naming the friends who would be there, all of whom were present as adults. And when asked who her husband would be, four-year-old Jordan said the name Max. She spoke it into existence. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 7, 2026. We open with a story that's more than just an economic migration — it's a cultural sorting happening across America in real time. Conservatives are leaving blue states for red states chasing economic freedom, while nonprofits in Seattle are reporting they've helped more than 1,500 transgender people relocate there since the 2024 election — more than 20 times the number they helped before it. We make the distinction: conservatives making the move don't need charities to pay for it, they just do it. And we connect both migrations to the same underlying truth — people are voting with their feet, and they're moving toward communities that reflect how they want to live and away from places that make them feel legally, culturally, or politically out of place. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. relaunched strikes against Iran after Iran attacked three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz — with a Pentagon spokesperson telling CNN simply, this is punishment, it won't be over for a bit. Iran then had the audacity to call the reimposition of oil sanctions a violation of the ceasefire agreement — the same ceasefire they violated by setting three ships on fire. Then former Tallahassee mayor and 2018 Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum — who nearly beat Ron DeSantis by less than half a point — was arrested in Daphne, Alabama after being spotted driving erratically, with officers finding marijuana and methamphetamine in his vehicle. And the former mayor of Jackson, Mississippi pled guilty to bribery — this from a mayor who presided over a city that went without water for at least one full month every year of his tenure. We also address Marjorie Taylor Greene's suggestion that the multiple sexual assault allegations against Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Plattner — the man with the Nazi SS tattoo — might be a political hit job. We make the distinction between the timing of Politico's publication, which may have been orchestrated around the July 13th ballot deadline, and the underlying allegations themselves, which were there long before anyone ran a story. Not every damaging allegation is a political hit job. Sometimes people just do bad things. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson share what liberal friends actually say about 2028 when nobody's performing for a crowd. Teri's Danish-American friend in Wyoming — who can't stand Trump — says when asked who she'd want as next president, the answer wasn't AOC, wasn't Gavin Newsom, and definitely wasn't Kamala Harris. It was Marco Rubio. And she says all her liberal friends feel the same way — presidential, articulate, someone who could actually bring people together. We discuss what a Trump-Vance-Rubio sequential presidency could mean historically, and compare it to Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe's consecutive terms that effectively ended the Federalist Party. We discuss whether Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito should consider strategic retirements before President Trump leaves office to lock in conservative influence on the Supreme Court for the next four decades — and we make the case that while winning elections is the cleaner solution, two and a half years is not a long runway if something changes in November. In our Digging Deep segment, we run through a YouGov poll on flag favorability by party — and the results are genuinely stunning. For Republicans, the American flag comes in at a net positive of 97%, followed by the Betsy Ross flag, the Trump flag, the thin blue line flag, and the Israeli flag. For Democrats, the most popular flag is the Black Lives Matter flag at plus 69% — beating the American flag at plus 62%. Democrats also rate the flags of Ukraine and Mexico more favorably than the Betsy Ross flag — the very first symbol of this nation. We connect it to Sunny Hostin's claim that seeing an American flag in a neighborhood makes her feel unsafe — and to the FEMA report that Biden administration workers were instructed to skip homes flying American flags because they were likely Trump supporters. We also cover an ICE officer who shot and killed an illegal alien in Houston who allegedly used his vehicle as a weapon against federal agents during a targeted enforcement operation — and we make the only point that needs to be made: if you try to run over a law enforcement officer with a two-ton vehicle, the officer has the right to defend his life. The left will ask whether the officer should have been there in the first place. They won't ask whether the illegal alien should have been here in the first place. For our Bright Spot, a left-leaning author in a left-leaning publication — Washington Monthly — writes that despite his deep opposition to Donald Trump, he is still hopeful about America because of how far the country has come since the Bicentennial in 1976. Life expectancy is up six and a half years. Heart disease deaths are down nearly 60%. Cancer deaths are down more than a third. The air is dramatically cleaner. The Chicago River — which hospitalized his sister after she fell in during 1972 — now has people swimming in it on the Fourth of July. Car crash fatalities have been cut in half. Even the murder rate is down 50% over 50 years. We take it as a bright spot — not because we needed to be convinced, but because a leftist went looking for objective evidence and found it anyway. And we close with Andres Robles, who turned eight years old and celebrated at Disneyland — where he was greeted at the train platform on Main Street USA as the one billionth visitor to enter the park since it opened on July 17th, 1955. His family unveiled an updated sign reading population one billion and received a VIP tour. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jerry is in for Gio alongside Boomer today, starting with the U.S. World Cup loss to Belgium and a wild Mets win highlighted by Juan Soto's clutch ninth-inning home run. Boomer still wants Francisco Lindor traded, while C-Lo steps in for updates right after Boomer calls out Rami's early day off. Plus, hear the sounds of the U.S. defeat, Dave Sims calling Jose Caballero's two homers backed by Cam Schlittler's strong pitching, and Soto's dramatic blast. Finally, video emerges of Dianna Russini on a family cruise, and Mike Vrabel and Kevin Burkhardt attend the Taylor Swift wedding.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for July 6, 2026. We open with reports from investigative journalist Laura Loomer that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who was hospitalized on June 14th after EMS had to restart his heart at his home — has not left the hospital and may not recover. We discuss the lack of transparency from his staff, the separate story of his wife Elaine Chao traveling to Beijing to meet with the Chinese Vice President three days after her husband's cardiac emergency, and the broader question of McConnell's legacy — a man who served as Republican Senate leader longer than anyone in American history while half the national debt was added on his watch, Obamacare was never repealed, and regular order budgets were never passed. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Washington D.C. held the largest fireworks display in American history over the Fourth of July weekend — more than 850,000 fireworks launched in close to an hour, massive crowds, and only four total arrests. Most local D.C. media chose to lead with air quality warnings. Then Graham Plattner, the Maine Democratic Senate nominee who has already survived scandals involving a Nazi SS tattoo, alleged spousal abuse, and sexual messages to women on a predator website, now faces a new allegation from a woman who says he entered her home drunk and forced himself on her in 2021. And Paul Pelosi — husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — has been charged with hit and run after allegedly crashing into a parked car in Napa County and driving away even as his car became inoperable from the damage. This is his second major driving incident in four years. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson recap the Spinks Sisters' 24th annual Fourth of July party — 100 people, a prayer circle, volleyball, a slip and slide, and scenes that made them want to stop and freeze the moment in their memories. They also discuss the contrast between what they saw at the party and what they saw in CNN's coverage of the historic Washington D.C. fireworks show, and reflect on World Cup tourists from around the world going viral saying they had never experienced this level of patriotism in their lives and that they were sorry for believing what their home country media told them about America. We cover a guest on Joy Reid's podcast actively rooting for the U.S. to lose in the World Cup — not because of any team loyalty, but because a U.S. victory would benefit President Trump. We also note that Arizona Senator Mark Kelly spent the Fourth of July in a Mexico jersey at a World Cup watch party — and while anyone can cheer for whoever they want, doing it on America's 250th Independence Day as a sitting U.S. senator is a choice worth commenting on. In our Digging Deep segment, a White House report on the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History finds that the museum has been ideologically captured — with its director on record saying her job is to problematize the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, to move attention away from what she calls an Anglo-centric focus on the American founding, and to use the museum's collection as a tool of social justice and activism. The report concludes the museum no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance but as a political instrument to divide and dispirit American citizens. We make the broader point that a museum which teaches only celebration is propaganda — but a museum that teaches only shame is propaganda too. And we return to a point worth making again: separating Black history into its own building while calling Black history absent from the National Museum of American History is not representation. It's segregation. We also cover Sunny Hostin of The View saying that seeing an American flag in a neighborhood makes her feel unsafe as a Black woman — and we connect it to the report that FEMA workers under the Biden administration were instructed to pass over homes flying American flags because they were likely Trump supporters. We make the case clearly: the American flag is not a symbol of white supremacy. It is the flag of the Republic. If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail — and if the only lens you have is racism, you will find racism in every American flag. For our Bright Spot, President Trump officially launched Trump Accounts — ringing a bell in the Oval Office that simultaneously opened trading on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq for the first time in history from the White House. More than 6 million accounts have been opened for children under 18, with 1.4 million receiving a $1,000 federal pilot contribution at an annual management fee capped by law at 0.1%. Michael and Susan Dell donated more than $6 billion to the program. We call it what it is — teaching children to bet on America, building financial confidence, and giving kids a real starting point for wealth that no government program has ever offered at this scale. And we close with 32-year-old Kelsey Findler, who spent 43 days alone in the Pacific Ocean rowing from Monterey, California to Hawaii — 2,400 miles with nothing but her boat and two oars — arriving at the Hawaii Yacht Club on July 3rd to become not only the youngest woman to complete the crossing, but the fastest ever, shattering the previous record by more than 40 days. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heated debate in Harrisburg Wednesday shows the two parties are far apart on a state tax credit that benefits private schools. And that's just one reason the state budget is overdue.A Pennsylvania State Police trooper was killed Tuesday after being hit by a tractor trailer as he inspected a stopped tractor trailer along I-81 in Schuylkill County.In Dauphin County... Lower Paxton Township Police are beginning an enforcement effort they're calling Operation Colonial Crush. Environmental advocates continue to fight against a proposed hydroelectric project in Cuffs Run, York County. As we head into the July 4th weekend, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is raising awareness of boater safety and the dangers associated with Boating Under the Influence, or BUI. As America celebrates its 250th birthday, a Central Pennsylvania amusement park is marking its 100th anniversary.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.    Today's bright spot is this: Amid all the stories about America's 250th, here's one that could help you party like it's 1776. The New York Public Library asked a local brewery to make a beer concocted from a 250-year old recipe in their collection - George Washington's original recipe.If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 30, 2026. We open with the fight over the SAVE America Act on Capitol Hill, where House Republicans blocked not just the bill, but Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to advance it. Representative Anna Paulina Luna argued Johnson's strategy of pairing the election bill with the National Defense Authorization Act would allow the Senate to strip out the election language. We explain why we think Johnson's approach is the only one that forces the Senate to take a vote—because a bill that never leaves the House can't become law. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, we break down three major court rulings. The Supreme Court struck down President Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship, upheld state laws barring biological males from competing in women's sports, and the Colorado Supreme Court rejected two ballot measures that would have redrawn congressional districts mid-cycle. Our American Mama, Teri Netterville, reacts to the women's sports decision, reflecting on the athletes whose stories helped shape the national debate and why she believes the ruling marks an important step toward restoring fairness in women's athletics. We also discuss the launch of Donald Trump Jr.'s new MAGA club in Georgetown, complete with a reported $500,000 annual membership and America 250 celebration. While there's nothing illegal about it, we ask whether the optics fit the America First message. In our Digging Deep segment, we examine a new Economist/YouGov poll showing a sharp partisan divide in how Americans view their country. We explore the difference between criticizing America's shortcomings and rejecting the country altogether—and what that says about the current political climate. For our Bright Spot, a CBS poll asked Americans what they believe is the best thing about the United States, producing some encouraging answers about the people, the land, and the ideals that continue to define the country. We also discuss Senator John Fetterman's criticism of the far left and close with memorable reflections on American exceptionalism from Paul Tsongas, Bill Clinton, Rand Paul, and Ronald Reagan. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 29, 2026. We open with the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling — authored by Amy Coney Barrett — upholding Mississippi's law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after Election Day as long as they're postmarked by Election Day. We explain why Justice Alito's dissent gets it right, ask the question Barrett's majority doesn't answer — if five days is fine, what about thirty, what about Washington State's weeks-long window — and connect it to the simplest proof that this is a choice, not a necessity: in 1948, with no computers, America knew who won the presidency by the next morning. We also call out the Republican senators blocking the Save America Act that would fix much of this. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Iran violated the ceasefire by launching four drones at cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, with the U.S. Navy shooting down three and Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner heading to Doha to discuss Iran's breach of the agreement. Then the Supreme Court's mail-in ballot ruling lands in the context of a midterm election four months away. And the Court declined to hear President Trump's appeal of the E. Jean Carroll verdict — meaning the $5 million sexual assault finding stands despite a jury that rejected the rape claim entirely. We're heading to Washington D.C. this week for the Great American Fair — and we push back on the outlet that ran a piece called "I went to the fair so you don't have to." The families, veterans, farmers, and World Cup tourists actually there weren't thinking about politics at all. The Mall belongs to the American people. And only 8% of Democrats think America is the greatest country on earth — a number worth sitting with. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson answer the question of how to raise kids who don't fight — and admit immediately that their own absolutely did, including a legendary Spinks sisters showdown on a Mississippi school bus so bad the principal-slash-bus-driver had to pull over and remind them they had both just been elected to the homecoming court. The real lessons: make siblings do things together until they laugh, enforce the no-friends rule until harmony is restored, and require both an apology and a forgiveness before anyone moves on. In our Digging Deep segment, a new Voters Voice poll finds that 86% of registered voters — crossing all party lines — say they support America's founding ideals: life, liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, equal treatment under law, and government by consent of the governed. But only 31% think the country is living up to them. We dig into why those two numbers can coexist — and the answer is that we agree on the words but not the meanings. When the left says freedom of speech, they mean speech that isn't offensive. When they say the right to bear arms, they mean weapons that can't hurt anyone. The words are the same. The definitions have been gutted. Words have meaning, and when we stop defending the meanings, we lose the ideals. We also cover naked participants at Seattle's Pride parade exposing themselves to children — while the state of Washington treats parents who refuse to transition their children as abusive. We make the same point about a Pride parade in Los Angeles where someone responded to the nudity by shooting participants with a BB gun — that is wrong, full stop. Conservatives who rightly condemn violence against pregnancy resource centers and Trump rallies must apply the same standard here. Violence is not how we settle disagreements in America, regardless of how offensive the behavior being protested. For our Bright Spot, Bill Maher sat down with J.D. Vance and said on air that if the Democratic Party keeps heading toward democratic socialism, anti-Israel politics, and rejection of capitalism, his vote is in play in 2028 — and that he could see voting for either Vance or Rubio. Bill Maher has never endorsed a Republican for president across three Trump elections. We make the case he's not alone — there are a lot of people who feel the same way and just haven't said it on television yet. And we close with Officer Sean Revy, the school resource officer at Greenway Middle School in Arizona, who found out the school couldn't afford the $2,000 needed to take 144 seventh and eighth graders — some of whom had never been to a movie theater — on their annual field trip. He bought all 144 tickets himself. You can't break a promise to a child. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Note of Gratitude:

Plans for Susquehanna Riverlands State Park in York County continue to evolve, more than three years after the land bordering the Susquehanna River was acquired. The park's riverside cliffs will feature prominently in those plans.President Donald Trump is coming to Carlisle this summer, as part of a technology and defense summit.Hundreds of skill game supporters gathered in Harrisburg Wednesday to urge a “fair tax” on the devices.An inmate at the Dauphin County Prison died of an apparent suicide Tuesday.Meantime, Dauphin County has agreed to a $3.3 million settlement with the parents of a 21-year-old man who died in the Dauphin County Prison in 2019.A York City police officer was justified when he shot and killed a dog, also wounding its owner last week. And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is this:In addition to being your companion here on the Morning Agenda, starting this week you can also catch me on a brand new podcast from WITF called Susquehanna Scout. And today we're bringing you the trailer as a preview.If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 25, 2026. We open with the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling clearing the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals — and we explain why this ruling is exactly right and why it took this long to get here. The T in TPS stands for temporary. It always did. The left shortened it to the acronym specifically so they wouldn't have to say the word. We connect it to Samuel Adams' warning that the tools of a tyrant pervert the plain meaning of words — and explain why a humanitarian program that has lasted 15 years and spawned a shadow immigration system was never what the law intended. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. Senate passed a war powers resolution demanding the U.S. cease military engagement with Iran — then President Trump called out specific Republican senators by name at a White House lunch, and the Senate voted on the exact same resolution again, with Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy flipping their votes. Then the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a sweep of major wins — ending asylum claims from those who haven't yet crossed the border, upholding the end of temporary protected status, striking down Hawaii's concealed carry ban as unconstitutional, and ruling in favor of Monsanto over claims that Roundup causes cancer. And a series of massive earthquakes — a 7.1 followed by a 7.5 — struck Venezuela, with President Trump immediately offering USAID and instructing all agencies to move quickly to help the country the U.S. now considers a new and great friend. We cover Rosie O'Donnell telling Jim Acosta's internet show that she doesn't think Trump's 2024 victory really happened and that she believes Kamala won — with no evidence, just the emotional need to reject a result that offended her politics. We note that Donald Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, that Kamala Harris doesn't even think Kamala won, and that the left's habit of calling Republicans election deniers while doing exactly that themselves is the purest form of projection. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson debate whether party games kill the vibe or enhance it — and the answer, it turns out, depends entirely on timing. Throwing out Uno mid-conversation is a vibe killer. Showing up to a designated game night is a completely different experience. We also hear about a competitive grandmother who never let anyone win, a son-in-law who travels with board games, and the Parr family's ongoing Dungeons and Dragons campaign that has been running for a year and a half with six-hour sessions. In our Digging Deep segment, we read the Democratic Socialists of America's actual platform — all of it, including the pictures — and what we find is nothing short of a blueprint for revolution. They explicitly call for a new democratic constitution that would replace the current government with a single legislative branch — no Senate, no executive, no judiciary — with representation limited to workers, powerful labor unions, and social movements. This is not a party that wants to amend the Constitution. This is a party that wants to abolish it. We ask why the Democratic Party is allowing a party with a completely different platform to run its candidates in Democratic primaries — and we call the DSA exactly what it is: a parasite inside the Democratic Party whose first objective is to destroy its host. We also cover Letitia James publicly expressing unhappiness with Mamdani's primary wins — and we notice that her complaint, stripped of the language, is essentially that the new wave of progressive candidates don't look like the old wave of progressive candidates. When diversity reaches positions of power that threaten your own position of power, suddenly it becomes complicated. We note — with some genuine surprise — that Mayor Mamdani has added 580 new police officers to the NYPD, triggering protests from the very Democratic Socialists of America activists who helped elect him, who are now protesting outside City Hall because they feel he has abandoned the cause of defunding the police. For our Bright Spot, Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion in the asylum case is a masterclass in the plain meaning of words — ruling that a person who has not crossed the border has not arrived in the United States, and therefore cannot claim asylum under a law that only applies to those who have arrived in the United States. He quotes the American Heritage Dictionary. He gives everyday examples. He is doing what every judge should do — letting words mean what they say. We call this a genuine bright spot. Joy Reid says no Black person is really excited about the 4th of July because it's a symbol of slavery. We remind her that the Declaration of Independence — written during the era of slavery — declared it a self-evident truth that all men are created equal, and that statement was used to justify abolition. The United States was the first nation to ban the transatlantic slave trade, six months before Britain. That's what the Fourth of July represents. And we close with the discovery that the Lincoln Memorial has a 15,000 square foot basement — called the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft — that has existed since the building was constructed in 1922 and is now open to the public for the first time, featuring a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and graffiti left on the walls by the workers who built it. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 24, 2026. We open with the results of New York City's Democratic primaries — and what they mean for the entire country. Nine incumbent Democrats were voted out across New York State in favor of more radical candidates, with Mamdani-backed democratic socialists winning clean sweeps in three congressional districts. Claire Valdez, who wants to abolish ICE, demilitarize police, end the Israeli military occupation of Gaza, and impose a wealth tax, won the 7th Congressional District. Brad Lander beat a two-term congressman in the 10th. Daria Laza Avila Chevalier — who once posted that America is an effing disgrace and wiped her hands on the flag instead of getting a napkin — won the 13th. We make the case this is not a fringe movement anymore. The Democratic Socialists of America are doubling their block in Congress, they have labelled the Democratic Party itself as center-right, and New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox said it plainly — the DSA is no longer a faction within the Democrat Party. It is the Democrat Party in New York. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the DOJ announced the largest combined federal and state healthcare fraud enforcement action in U.S. history — 455 people charged across 45 states for $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other healthcare programs. Then Mamdani's three hand-picked candidates swept the New York City congressional primaries — with President Trump congratulating Mamdani in a move we explain was pure trolling, tying together the rise of the communist left and the media that celebrates it in a single sarcastic statement. And the gunman who opened fire on an ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas last Fourth of July was sentenced to 100 years in prison, with his accomplices receiving 30 to 70 years — which is exactly how you deal with terrorism. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson take on the question of whether toxic men or toxic women are doing more damage to the country right now — prompted by a viral psychiatrist who went on record saying women are destroying America. Teri and Kimberly push back on the broadness of that claim while acknowledging the phenomenon of toxic femininity — the unrelenting rage they see at protests, on social media, and in the halls of Congress — and the faux feminists who scream about the MeToo movement right up until the Democrat Senate candidate with the SS tattoo needs their support. We cover British World Cup fans going viral with apologies to America — one fan posting that his country owes America a huge apology because America is nothing like the media told them. We note that the U.S. built zero new stadiums for this World Cup because we already had them — unlike Qatar, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia who built new stadiums. We connect it to the broader point: there is an entire ecosystem internationally and domestically that profits from portraying America in the worst possible light, because if people actually saw what capitalism produces, they would reject the socialism being sold to them. In our Digging Deep segment, it turns out the Biden administration ran its own version of Fast and Furious — not with guns this time, but with fentanyl. DEA Special Agent David Howell, a 14-year agency veteran, has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque deliberately allowed more than one million fentanyl pills to flow onto the streets of New Mexico — including individual shipments of 150,000 and 50,000 pills — in hopes of making bigger arrests that never came. When Howell blew the whistle, the Biden DOJ sidelined him and barred him from testifying in any cases. We ask the obvious question — doesn't a government that breaks the law, gets people killed, then silences the patriots who call it out sound exactly like a communist government? We also cover the Department of Justice threatening to sue California over its planned July 1st ban on Glock handguns, with Assistant AG for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon telling Governor Newsom and AG Rob Bonta to drop the unconstitutional restriction or face federal litigation. We explain why the Second Amendment is not a suggestion and why the courts have been moving toward stricter enforcement of Second Amendment protections in recent years. For our Bright Spot, Kansas City, Missouri had to cancel its free bus program after six years because it ran out of money — with costs nearly doubling from the projected $8.8 million to over $15 million annually, while riders and drivers described the buses as unreliable, filthy, rolling homeless shelters. We call the failure a bright spot — because if any other city in America looks at this story and decides not to try it, including New York City where Mamdani has promised free buses for every New Yorker, then this expensive lesson will have saved someone else from an even more expensive one. That's what socialism always does — increases costs, increases misery, and eventually runs out of money. We also note that President Trump's approval rating has spiked to 47% in the latest Daily Mail poll — driven largely by his push toward de-escalation and agreement with Iran — and discuss what comes next. And we close with Dylan Munaki, who was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer at 14 and given eight months to live. His doctor, Dr. Mary Austin, promised that if he beat his cancer, she would come to his graduation. After 52 weeks of chemotherapy, Dylan was declared cancer-free. Dr. Austin took a job 1,500 miles away in Seattle. She kept her promise. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JPMorgan's upgrade for IBM Corp. (IBM) set the foundation for a rally Tuesday as the rest of the tech sector takes a beating from an AI memory sell-off in South Korea. Marley Kayden walks investors through the upgrade and outlines the bull case JPMorgan sees in Big Blue. Tim Biggam offers an example options trade for IBM. ======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 23, 2026. We're broadcasting live from Times Square in New York City — on primary day, as Mayor Zoran Mamdani attempts something far larger than winning a few congressional primaries. We explain why what Mamdani is trying to do is bigger than New York — he's attempting to remake the entire Democratic Party in the image of democratic socialism, purging what's left of moderate Democrats and replacing them with Democratic Socialists of America candidates. We ask the question nobody on the left seems willing to answer — name one socialist experiment anywhere in the world you would describe as compassionate. Venezuela? Cuba? China? The Soviet Union? If your ideology has no successful historical examples, what exactly are you basing it on? In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. is allowing Iran to sell oil in U.S. dollars through August 21st — within the 60-day window of the initial peace agreement — with Vice President Vance making clear that everything goes back on if Iran doesn't deliver. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is actually increasing. Then three non-citizens — from Brazil, Haiti, and Cuba — pleaded guilty to voting in U.S. federal elections in both 2020 and 2024, had their residency status revoked, and reminded everyone that the most secure election in history apparently had at least some fraud in it. And the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District resigned this week following FBI raids on his home, office, and Miami property earlier this year — with scuttlebutt about potential kickbacks tied to an educational software program he was promoting. We also cover a federal judge blocking the Trump administration's use of the SAVE database — a system the government already has — to allow states to cross-reference their voter rolls against citizenship and immigration records. We explain why this ruling is breathtaking in its logic: the government cannot share data it already has with another part of the government to verify data it already has. We ask why this is even controversial. Our American Mamas Terri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson discuss a Dallas case where a 75-year-old man named Chung Kim shot and killed his upstairs neighbors after they repeatedly dropped dog waste and dirty diapers onto his balcony, documented everything, went to management repeatedly, and got no help. We explore the line between a system that fails its citizens and the moment someone takes matters into their own hands — and connect it to John Adams' warning that our government is only suitable for a moral and religious people. We dig into Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner — George Soros' most famous district attorney — and a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that found Krasner's office committed a pattern of misleading and mendacious filings, withheld material evidence, submitted a false stipulation of fact, misstated facts in filings, and opposed required evidentiary hearings — all in service of helping convicted murderers and rapists avoid prison through fraudulent post-conviction relief claims. We ask the obvious question — if the state Supreme Court found all of this, why isn't Larry Krasner in jail? We also revisit the Fauci documents dumped by Tulsi Gabbard on her way out as DNI — and ask the question plainly. If Fauci used USAID through back channels to fund research that created the COVID-19 virus, which killed 7.1 million people internationally — and did nothing wrong — why did he lie to Congress? And why did Joe Biden issue a preemptive pardon for crimes nobody had formally accused him of yet? Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has expanded his trans-femicide state of emergency — focused on a statistically tiny number of transgender murder victims — while nearly 200 people have been killed in Chicago already this year by conventional violence. We explain why dividing crime victims into political categories is not just morally wrong but strategically stupid — if you actually enforce the law against everyone, everyone is protected. For our Bright Spot, we work through the five most visited landmarks in New York City — Central Park, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the 9/11 Memorial — and find a deeper American story in each one. The conservationist tradition. The triumph of capitalism. Industrial ambition. A monument from France to American liberty. And a reminder that there are people in the world who want to tear down everything on that list. And one of Mamdani's congressional candidates — Dira Liza Avila Chevalier — posted in 2021 that America is an effing disgrace and that when she needed a napkin for barbecue, she just wiped her hands on the American flag instead of getting up to get one. She has since deleted the post. Mamdani still supports her. We note that men and women have bled for that flag. We close with the passing of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at 100 years old — who served under four consecutive presidents from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush — and the John McCain quote that may be the best tribute anyone ever paid him. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 18, 2026. We open with a California bill moving through the legislature that would allow minors in residential treatment facilities to trigger state investigations of their own parents — and we explain why this isn't about protecting children from genuine abuse. It's about a state that has spent years operating from the assumption that parents are wrong and government is right. We walk through the mechanism — buried inside dry juvenile dependency language is a process by which a child who disagrees with their court-ordered treatment can initiate a legal review that effectively places their parents under state investigation. We connect it to a pattern the left has run for years — driving a wedge between children and the parents who are trying to save them, and then letting the state step in as the replacement parent. And we warn parents outside California that bad ideas rarely stay behind state lines. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the United States and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding — covering the five key pillars, with a 60-day negotiating window to reach a final deal and reconstruction funds from regional partners available if Iran follows through. Then D.C. Democrat primary winner Janice Lewis George is heading toward the general election, with President Trump already promising to take back D.C. if a socialist wins the mayor's race. And the Coast Guard intercepted a speedboat off the coast of Florida carrying 25 Chinese nationals attempting to enter the country illegally — firing on the engines to disable the vessel after repeated warnings went ignored. We note that we have never in our lifetimes heard of the U.S. government disabling boats trying to enter illegally — and call it exactly what it is: a closed border. We sit down with Dr. Peter Earle of the American Institute for Economic Research to take the actual temperature of the U.S. economy — separate from the media's doom-and-gloom narrative. Dr. Earle's assessment: the hard data still describe an expansion, but forward-looking indicators are more cautious. Consumer spending remains positive, corporate earnings are holding up, and there are no overall recessionary conditions — but elevated interest rates, housing affordability, and the national debt are real concerns. He also explains why gas prices won't drop overnight even with the Iran deal — the research shows it takes about 22 weeks for oil price reductions to fully pass through to consumers, meaning relief at the pump is more likely late summer or early fall. And he explains why Elon Musk becoming the world's first trillionaire is less about personal wealth and more about what it will cost to turn SpaceX into the Amtrak of space travel over the next several decades. Barack and Michelle Obama appeared on Good Morning America to promote the opening of the Obama Presidential Center — and Barack said he wants visitors to walk through and think, what's possible? We take him at his word and answer the question. We also note that many of the subcontractors who built the nearly billion-dollar complex — which ran nearly $300 million over budget — have reportedly not been paid. Our American Mama Teri Netterville responds to the San Francisco Giants story — where pitchers were warned by MLB after writing Bible verses on their caps during Pride Night. A San Francisco player spoke beautifully about why the rainbow holds deep biblical meaning for Christians as the sign of God's Noahic covenant — and why writing Genesis 9:12-16 on a hat is not anti-anything. It's pro-something. Teri says she supports marriage equality — and still thinks forcing players to celebrate someone else's sexuality on their uniforms is wrong, performative, and is actually pushing people away from the very acceptance the movement says it wants. We also cover the New York Knicks' White House visit — and their championship celebration at City Hall, where Mayor Mamdani delivered a 10-minute speech before anyone from the actual championship team could speak. Knicks owner James Dolan stepped to the mic and said simply — I don't need your vote. I don't need to quote you. If you're a real Knicks fan, you already know. Nobody needed a program to figure out who that was aimed at. For our Bright Spot, a new American Enterprise Institute poll on civic values finds that 82% of Americans believe in equal opportunity regardless of race, religion, or gender, 79% say everyone has the right to their religious beliefs, 72% still believe hard work can lead to prosperity, and 66% believe people can criticize the government without fear of punishment. We call this exactly what it is — evidence that the American idea is still alive in the hearts of most Americans — and note that 75% say the Declaration of Independence should be taught in high school, even though only 29% have actually read it. It's two pages, folks. We also cover a Trump-appointed federal judge who ordered ICE to release a Palestinian green card holder convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli armed forces — a man the U.S. government has known about for 25 years. We ask the more important question — why did we let him in in the first place? And we close with Alyssa Goralnik, who published a children's vocabulary book called Weighty Words in 1985 and never made a dime. Forty years later, an author named Eli McCann posted a video about the book on social media. Within weeks it hit the top of Amazon's bestseller charts and publishers rushed a second printing — not bad for a book written 20 years before Amazon existed. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

State lawmakers are considering a proposal that would update the commonwealth's public school code on nurse-to-student ratios and the funding formula for medical needs. The legislation would increase reimbursement rates and the required number of nurses per student.Here in Pennsylvania, it used to be, if you had a seizure, you had to wait 6 months to drive again. It's now three months and many patients and advocates alike are celebrating the reduction, which lawmakers approved this year and went into effect in March.State funding for arts groups has been flat for a decade at $9.6 million dollars in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the money has increasingly gone toward entrepreneurship and economic investment. Now, key programs are poised to sunset when the fiscal year ends on June 30th.Over the past year, the Penn State Board of Trustees and its committees held nearly 20 private conferences in which top university officials briefed members on key projects, plans, and initiatives... as a review of university records by our partners at Spotlight PA discovered. The practice potentially runs afoul of Pennsylvania's open meetings law, according to legal and First Amendment experts.On this holiday weekend, Juneteenth celebrations are planned across the region - including Harrisburg. Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19th every year to commemorate the end of slavery in the U-S.And the city of Reading is gearing up for its World Cup watch parties. Mayor Eddie Moran says the Berks County community is being transformed into a destination for soccer fans from around the region. Reading is one of three official “Fan Zone” sites across Pennsylvania, in addition to Pittsburgh and Scranton.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Sports often offers bright spots in our lives – and right now, in the midst of the World Cup, there are many stories serving as bright spots. Today's bright spot is a story about loyal, rowdy soccer fans from Scotland who discovered a unique form of transportation here in the U.S.If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 17, 2026. We open with the growing influence of New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani and the rise of democratic socialism in America. Mamdani is backing congressional candidate Darya Avila Chevalier, who argues that all deportations are wrong — even for illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes. We examine what that position means for immigration policy, public safety, and whether some politicians have abandoned the most basic responsibilities of government. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, we break down the latest election results in Georgia and Alabama, including where President Trump's endorsements helped and where they fell short. We also discuss the shocking legal strategy being used by the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, whose attorneys are preparing an "extreme emotional disturbance" defense. American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle a surprising study on which professions have the highest divorce rates, leading to a candid conversation about marriage, social influence, friendship, and why some couples survive difficult seasons while others walk away. In Digging Deep, we expose a troubling pattern in government spending. A new report shows America's largest cities increased spending by 18% over the past decade with little measurable improvement in homelessness, violent crime, affordability, or income inequality. We also examine a massive fraud scheme in Minnesota involving 7,700 fake college students, stolen identities, and more than $12 million in taxpayer-funded financial aid. We also cover subcontractors who say they are still fighting to get paid for work performed on Barack Obama's $1 billion Presidential Center, the celebrity lineup celebrating the grand opening, and the double standard surrounding patriotism, politics, and public performances. For our Bright Spot, Scottish World Cup fans leave a lasting impact on New England by donating thousands of dollars to local charities, and a determined New York detective spends months tracking down a stolen wedding ring for a dementia patient — reuniting her with a treasured piece of her family's history. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 16, 2026. We open with Hollywood's next election cycle project — Sean Penn and Warner Brothers are producing a film about January 6th from the perspective of an anti-Trump police officer, described as based on a real person but fictionalized. We discuss what an honest January 6th film would actually require — including the FBI coming clean about how many informants were in that crowd, whether they incited the violence, and why that information has been withheld from both Congress and defendants. We also note that the FBI agent who ran the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping sting — which a Michigan appeals court just threw out — was the head FBI agent in Washington D.C. on January 6th. Do we trust Sean Penn to tell that story? We already know the answer. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the FBI disrupted a terrorist plot to attack the UFC fight on the White House lawn — suspects planned to use explosive-laden drones to drive survivors into sniper fire, with 23 people named as suspects arrested across Ohio, California, Missouri, and Nebraska. Then President Trump arrived in France for the G7 summit, where topics include the Iran peace deal, Russia-Ukraine, and energy security — with French President Macron already looking for alternative routes to move Middle Eastern oil that don't depend on the Strait of Hormuz. And 15 Antifa members were arrested in Minnesota and charged with conspiracy to injure federal law enforcement officers after attempting to block immigration enforcement operations earlier this year. We also cover James Carville's latest prediction that President Trump will resign by Easter of 2027 — bored, tired, distracted, and facing political collapse. We point out that Carville appears to be describing his own audience, not the man who negotiated an Iran peace deal, hosted a UFC fight on the White House lawn, and is still running laps around every critic who has ever declared him finished. Our American Mama Teri Netterville responds to the competing events on the same weekend as the UFC fight — the anti-Trump Hollywood rally featuring Bette Midler, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, and Julia Roberts telling the crowd to breathe in the love and breathe out the fear. Teri asks where this outrage was when men with surgical implants were flashing the White House lawn on Easter during the Biden administration. She researched the cultural events Obama hosted at the White House — and says she's glad he did them. Her only point is that if a white president had done the same things specifically for white audiences, the left would have called it a scandal. The hypocrisy is the story. We also cover Major League Baseball warning San Francisco Giants pitchers for displaying Bible verses on their caps during Pride Night — and connect it to a broader question about whose expression gets protected and whose gets punished — including the founding principle that rights come from the Creator, not from government, and why that matters the moment you try to elect someone who doesn't believe in a Creator at all. In our Digging Deep segment, we document the cascading consequences of the FDA's Biden-era decision to allow abortion pills to be shipped through the mail without an in-person doctor visit. We walk through a documented series of cases — a woman trying to secretly give her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend an abortion pill, a man who pretended to be a woman online to obtain the pills and then told his pregnant girlfriend they were supplements, a doctor who tried to feed the pills to his sleeping mistress, and a DOJ employee accused of baking the pills into cookies for his girlfriend. Her baby died two days later. We make the case that in their zeal to make abortion as easy as possible, the left has created a system that makes it easier to force abortions on women who don't want them — which is a direct contradiction of every argument they've ever made. We also cover a Cornell University student who refused a job interview and then told the employer he wasn't interested in working for a Jew — then doubled down when given a chance to walk it back. A crowdfunding campaign raised over $13,000 to reward him. We note that the Maine Democratic Party just nominated a man with an SS tattoo for Senate, endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and connect the dots on where mainstreaming anti-Semitism leads. For our Bright Spot, a high school junior in Charlotte painted Live Like Kirk and a Bible verse on her school's spirit rock with prior permission — and was then treated like a criminal, forced out of class, and made to surrender her phone logs. The Alliance Defending Freedom took the case. The school board adopted a new speech policy, issued a public statement exonerating the student, and paid $95,000 in damages and fees. The Alliance Defending Freedom wins again. And we close with Jim Freeman, a fourth grade teacher at Tully Elementary in Louisville, who isn't even Ryan Neighbors' teacher — but when he heard that Ryan, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, would have to miss the school field trip to the Falls of the Ohio State Park, he bought a specialized backpack and carried her through the park himself. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 15, 2026. We open with a major Supreme Court immigration case heading into the next term — the question of whether non-citizens with serious criminal convictions can be held in detention during deportation proceedings without bond hearings. We explain why this isn't a simple bumper sticker case, why the flight risk argument for criminal aliens is fundamentally different from that of U.S. citizens with community roots, and why the ruling could become one of the most consequential immigration decisions of the new term — directly testing how much process is due before temporary custody starts looking like indefinite imprisonment. We also get into President Trump's peace deal with Iran, and why Barack Obama's claim that this is essentially the same deal he negotiated is not just wrong but precisely backwards. Obama's deal had a time limit on nuclear development — legally allowing Iran to have a bomb by 2030. Trump's deal requires Iran to destroy its highly enriched uranium, pledge never to obtain nuclear weapons, stop funding Hezbollah and Hamas, and open the Strait of Hormuz immediately upon signing — with economic relief only after the first two conditions are fully met. No cash on the runway. No expiration date. Not the same deal. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump announced a peace agreement with Iran over the weekend — covering the five key points — with a final signing expected in Switzerland on Friday. Then a B-52 Stratofortress crashed in Southern California after taking off from Edwards Air Force Base, with military officials saying the crash was unsurvivable — we offer our prayers and gratitude to the crew. And President Trump endorsed Congressman Mike Collins in the Georgia Senate Republican runoff against Derek Dooley, a former football coach who admits he didn't vote in either 2016 or 2020. We walk through the five pillars of the Iran deal in detail — destruction of highly enriched uranium, a permanent pledge never to obtain nuclear weapons, ending the naval blockade only after the first two steps are complete, immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz upon signing, and a requirement that Iran stop funding all terrorist proxies including Hezbollah and Hamas. We note what makes this deal structurally different from every previous Iran negotiation — enforcement is built into the sequencing, not assumed as an afterthought. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson discuss whether women should still take their husband's last name when they marry — prompted by viral videos of couples doing rock-paper-scissors and tug-of-war at their own weddings to decide whose name to use. The Spinks Sisters kept their maiden names as middle names, missed them immediately, and are pretty clear on where they stand. We also explore what it signals about a marriage when a woman doesn't take her husband's name — and why in Washington especially, different last names make it a lot harder to spot the conflicts of interest. In our Digging Deep segment, we take on the left's use of adjectives to alter meaning and control thought — starting with the phrase progressive Christianity versus Christian right. We work through why these two constructions mean completely different things, why the need for the adjective tells you the noun isn't what's being advertised, and how a pastor writing in Salon Magazine misquotes Jesus — changing blessed are the poor in spirit to blessed are the poor — to make Christ's words align with progressive ideology. We connect it to George Orwell's observation that whoever controls the language controls the masses, and explain why this linguistic sleight of hand is one of the left's most effective political tools. We also note that Bill Maher is endorsing Graham Plattner — the Maine Democratic Senate candidate with the SS tattoo and the predator website — and explain that this isn't about principle. It's about keeping Susan Collins out of the Senate. Power, not values. We also push back on Robert De Niro's claim that loving America today is like an abused spouse loving an abuser — and point out that conservatives who disagreed with everything Obama and Biden did never stopped saying they loved their country. Disagreeing with your leaders and loving your country are not the same thing. They never have been. For our Bright Spot, the U.S. Men's National Team beat Paraguay 4-1 in the World Cup — the most goals the U.S. has ever scored in a World Cup match, with Florian Balogun scoring two in the first half. But the moment that mattered most came after the final whistle, when the entire team circled up in the middle of the field and prayed. Defender Mark McKenzie, whom teammates call pastor, led the prayer. On the biggest stage in the world, the U.S. team's first instinct was gratitude. We contrast that with Diego Maradona, who scored a goal with his hand and called himself a god. We'll take our team. And we close with Emily Matijovic, a 16-year-old from Michigan who passed away in December and whose family chose to donate her organs. This spring — the spring she was supposed to graduate — her family threw her a graduation party. Four-year-old Ripley Farrell came from West Virginia. She received one of Emily's kidneys. Teenager Landon Coleman came from Virginia. He received Emily's heart. He told her family it lets him do things he couldn't do before. It is in giving that we receive. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we have a deep dive into Pennsylvania's water quality. The waters of a western Pennsylvania stream are getting tainted by ‘forever chemicals' from Pittsburgh International Airport. Researchers are looking closely at how much these chemicals could be getting into the sediments and wildlife that depend on the stream.Less than three weeks remain until the state budget deadline. Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking for ways to help balance the budget by considering taxes aimed at the tech industry.The Pennsylvania SPCA removed 78 cats and kittens from a Lancaster County home on Tuesday.House lawmakers are calling on their counterparts in the state Senate to pass legislation that would allow Pennsylvania's high school athletics governing body to split up playoff competition for public and private schools.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is this:The podcast NPR Music this week came out with a playlist of songs that listeners say help them reset their mood. For example, one is “Lovely Day” from Bill Withers. One listener said, “I have a dear friend with MS and when I visited him, he played this song every morning. He used it as a daily tribute for the gift of life and it resonated with my soul. The lyrics are spot on for not just living, but living with purpose and gratitude.”If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 11, 2026. We open with one of the most disturbing stories we've covered — federal officials have located 146,000 unaccompanied migrant children who entered the country during the Biden administration and disappeared into a broken government tracking system. Nearly half a million unaccompanied children were transferred into federal custody between 2019 and 2023, and the government lost track of three out of every four of them. Over 32,000 failed to appear for immigration court hearings — children who legally don't even have the capacity to be responsible for that. We point out that some sponsors used the same addresses and names over and over to claim multiple children — a hallmark of trafficking networks — and that acting Attorney General Todd Blanch confirmed this program was exploited for sexual assault and trafficking. We make the case that this level of failure isn't incompetence. It's a feature, not a bug, of an administration that prioritized volume over accountability — and we ask where these children go to get their childhoods back. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump paused another round of attacks on Iran after announcing a breakthrough in negotiations, with a final deal expected to be signed in Europe as early as this weekend — including guarantees Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to shipping without Iranian tolls. Then the CEO of ActBlue refused to answer questions during a congressional hearing, repeatedly citing attorney-client privilege and Fifth Amendment protections amid allegations of fraudulent campaign donations including foreign contributions. And a Michigan court overturned the conviction of one of the men accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, ruling that kidnapping isn't a violent felony under Michigan's terrorism statute — we revisit the role the FBI itself played in organizing that plot. We also cover New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani attending the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden with a roughly $1,000 standing-room ticket — despite running a campaign built on taxing the wealthy and claiming he'd have to move back in with his parents due to financial strain. We make the broader point about socialism and its leaders — the people at the top always seem to find their way to the good seats while telling everyone else to live within their needs. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle the question of whether MAGA is dead, as several prominent former Trump-aligned commentators have recently suggested. They point to Trump-endorsed candidates sweeping primaries in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas as evidence the movement is alive and well, and discuss the pattern of high-profile pundits — Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens — making abrupt reversals after years of consistency, while Trump's messaging has remained the same. They draw a comparison to Ann Coulter's earlier break with Trump over the border wall timeline, suggesting some of these breaks come from single-issue voters whose patience ran out on one specific promise. We dig into the controversy over whether ICE enforcement should pause during the World Cup — with activists arguing that immigration enforcement makes undocumented immigrants feel unsafe attending games. We point out the absurdity by comparison — nobody argues pickpocketing laws should be suspended during the Super Bowl. In our Digging Deep segment, we cover the case of a Somali World Cup referee who was denied entry into the United States after Customs and Border Protection flagged his connections to Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate — and his own social media posts containing antisemitic statements. We walk through why this isn't about ethnicity, despite Al-Shabaab itself issuing a statement calling it racial discrimination, and why a country has every right to keep people connected to designated terrorist organizations out, regardless of their profession. We also cover the first arrest from a new federal fraud task force's top-10 most-wanted list — a $100 million bank fraud case in Orange County involving falsified title insurance documents and altered digital metadata. For our Bright Spot, a new study out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and published in the Annals of Family Medicine found that patients who received five minutes of intercessory prayer — including the laying on of hands — experienced significantly greater pain and anxiety reduction than those who listened to faith music or meditation, with benefits lasting up to six weeks. Remarkably, the results held regardless of whether the patient receiving prayer was a believer — what mattered was the faith of the person doing the praying. We connect it to the biblical example of the centurion asking Jesus to heal his servant, and note that researchers are now suggesting intercessory prayer become standard medical practice. And we close with Jimmy Kimmel mocking Spencer Pratt over losing his home in the LA wildfires by renting him a U-Haul — which we call exactly what it is, shameful — and the congressional baseball game, where Republicans beat Democrats 11-2, with Florida Rep. Greg Steube striking out five batters and Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt named MVP for a diving catch that left him bloodied. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 10, 2026. We open with a deep dive into the Iran negotiations — and the fundamental question that no amount of dealmaking experience can easily solve. President Trump is the greatest negotiator of his generation, but every negotiation assumes both parties want a mutually beneficial outcome. The Iranian regime wakes up every morning chanting death to America and death to Israel. Where is the common ground with people who want you dead? We trace the Iranian Revolution back to its founding act — not signing a constitution, not declaring independence, but taking Americans hostage — and explain why a regime defined by its opposition to America may never be capable of the kind of deal Trump has made in every other negotiation of his life. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire again this week following Iran's shooting down of an American Apache helicopter — the U.S. launched fighter jet strikes on Iranian air defenses, Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait, and the U.S. launched a second wave of strikes Wednesday evening. President Trump said Iran was taking too long and would now have to pay the price. Then Democrats in Maine voted overwhelmingly to nominate Graham Plattner — the man with the SS tattoo, the predator website, and the endorsements of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — as their Senate candidate against Susan Collins. And Carmelo Anthony was convicted of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison — a jury that took just three hours to convict and another three hours to sentence, while protesters outside claimed the verdict was racist despite multiple Black teammates of Metcalf testifying that Anthony committed the crime. We dig into the aftermath of the Anthony verdict — specifically a petition circulating on Change.org calling for the arrest of Austin Metcalf's surviving twin brother Hunter, claiming his alleged behavior contributed to the murder. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson respond to the mother outside the courthouse who asked what she should tell her five sons after the verdict. The answer, says Teri, is simple — don't stab people. We also discuss the race-baiting that surrounded the trial from the beginning, the GoFundMe that raised millions for Anthony's defense, the impact statements from the Metcalf family in the courtroom, and why Carmelo Anthony's parents walked out rather than listen to Austin Metcalf's father speak. We also cover President Trump bringing the workers who restored the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool into the Oval Office — giving them presidential challenge coins and publicly honoring the people who actually did the work rather than the politicians who show up for the gold-plated shovel photo op. We call it exactly what it is — a reminder that America was built by people in tool belts, not people at podiums. In our Digging Deep segment, a new Signal poll heading into the midterms shows that swing voters — the ones who actually decide elections — believe Democrats are more focused on hating Donald Trump than solving problems by a margin of 23 points. We also note that only 58% of Americans say they are extremely or very proud to be American, including only 28% of voters under 30, and that 30% of Democrats say they are not at all proud of their country. We make the case that if you can't tell the American people what you love about this country or offer them solutions that have actually worked somewhere on earth, running on hatred of one man is not a winning message. We also weigh in on Graham Plattner's victory speech — in which he said it was his job to earn the trust of disappointed voters. We point out that trust is not the starting point. Vision is. And we ask the question JFK would have asked — what can you do for your country — and wonder how well his 1961 inaugural address would play at a 2026 Democrat rally. For our Bright Spot, the World Cup kicks off Thursday in the United States, Canada, and Mexico — and European fans traveling across America to follow their teams are going viral for the most American reasons imaginable. A German man driving from Georgia through Mississippi to Texas ate Waffle House at 1 a.m., stopped at Buc-ee's, and attended a practice match at Auburn Stadium where he posted that his European mind could not comprehend what he was seeing. A Swedish woman who flew into Indianapolis posted from a flight over Colorado that she had faster Wi-Fi than at home and that the United States had completely radicalized her within 48 hours. We call it what it is — the American dream, visible to everyone who arrives here with open eyes. And we close with the Chicago Bears officially heading to Hammond, Indiana — after Governor Pritzker couldn't offer them what they needed. They weren't asking for a bailout. They were willing to invest $2 billion of their own money. All they wanted was tax stability. A government that has no stability itself cannot give stability to anyone else. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 9, 2026. We open with President Trump's declaration that the U.S. will achieve total victory over Iran within two weeks — and we dig into what that actually means. Iran just shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. Both pilots survived and were rescued by an unmanned drone in the first such rescue of U.S. service members in history. We work through the tensions in Trump's statements — between declaring victory in two weeks and talking about trillions of dollars in infrastructure reconstruction — and ask whether those two things can both be true at the same time. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Iran shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz — both pilots bailed out safely and were rescued by an unmanned drone in a historic first. Then Vice President J.D. Vance sent a criminal referral to the DOJ urging prosecution of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for covering up Medicaid fraud, intimidating whistleblowers, and directing state employees to stop investigating fraud in Somali immigrant communities to avoid accusations of racism. And Carmelo Anthony has been convicted of murdering high school track star Austin Metcalf — who was stabbed in the heart with a knife Anthony had hidden in his backpack at a Texas track meet after refusing to leave a rival school's tent when asked. We get Dr. John Eastman — former attorney for President Trump and former California attorney general candidate — on the phone to explain why Spencer Pratt was eliminated from the Los Angeles mayor's race after holding second place on Election Day. Eastman explains California's universal mail-in ballot system, the notoriously dirty voter rolls full of dead people and illegal immigrants, the practice of runners harvesting ballots from apartment mailboxes, and the statistical impossibility of a ballot batch update in which 24,000 votes were counted and zero — literally zero — went to a candidate who had been pulling about 30% throughout the count. He also explains why the courts in California refuse to accept statistical anomalies as evidence of fraud and why the system has been deliberately designed to make post-election proof nearly impossible to obtain. And he connects it all back to the founding principle — the only legitimate government is one based on the consent of the governed, and consent can only be given through free and fair elections. We also cover new information from Jim Jordan's congressional hearings showing that the Biden Justice Department met with the Southern Poverty Law Center on a quarterly basis, treated them as a credible source, and used their designations — which labeled the Family Research Council, Moms for Liberty, and the Alliance Defending Freedom as hate groups — to inform federal law enforcement decisions. The Richmond FBI memo suggesting pro-life Catholics could be linked to extremism? The sourcing came from the SPLC. We explain why this matters to everyone regardless of party — because when a government starts investigating viewpoints instead of crimes, nobody is safe. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle the question of whether someone with an OnlyFans page can ever expect to get a husband — prompted by the news that Denise Richards joined OnlyFans after her own daughter did. We get into why the platform combines the two things people most want — money and fame — while delivering neither happiness nor lasting value, and why the basketball player's wife who kept her page secret for five years until her husband found out and divorced her is the most honest version of where that road ends. We dig into Washington D.C. public school sex education — which has apparently stopped using the terms male and female to describe human biology in order to avoid conflicting with gender ideology. We note that this is being done in what some consider the most educated city in America, and compare it to trying to teach geography without using the words continent or ocean. For our Bright Spot, Meta has announced America's Workforce Academy — a cost-free, five-week training program with an initial $115 million investment that will train fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled trade workers and guarantee jobs for all graduates. Mike Rowe calls it an important step in the right direction. We call it exactly what it is — a private company solving a public problem without waiting for the government to screw it up first. And we close with the crew of Artemis 3 — Colonel Randy Bresnik, Colonel Frank Rubio, Commander Andre Douglas, and Italian astronaut Colonel Luca Parmitano — announced by NASA this week for the upcoming lunar landing mission expected to launch in late 2027. And an Air Canada pilot who flew commercially for 17 years without a valid pilot's license — proof that AI isn't the original scam. People have been fooling each other since the beginning of civilization. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 8, 2026. We open with Border Czar Tom Holman's revelation that the protesters outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark are not grassroots New Jersey residents — they are professional travel protesters identified by facial recognition as having shown up at ICE facilities across the country, many from Portland and Minnesota. We explain why this isn't surprising, why Nancy Pelosi herself coined the term astroturf back in 2010 to describe the exact same tactic, and why the left's first instinct is always to accuse their opponents of the strategies they're already executing. We also ask the question nobody in the media is asking — who is funding this, and why haven't the organizers been charged under the RICO Act for coordinating criminal activity across state lines? In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Spencer Pratt has apparently been eliminated from the Los Angeles mayor's race — after holding a clear second place on Election Day, his vote share in ballots arriving after Election Day collapsed from 28% to 19%, while Democratic socialist Nithya Raman went from third place to first, gaining 17 percentage points in post-Election Day ballots to overtake both Pratt and Karen Bass. The DOJ is in California investigating the election. Then a 200-page House Oversight Committee report accuses Minnesota Governor Tim Walz of covering up massive Medicaid fraud in his state — including ordering employees to stop investigating fraud in Somali immigrant communities to avoid appearing racist, and then turning the investigative apparatus against the whistleblowers themselves, photographing their cars, monitoring their phones and computers, and finding out where their children went to school. And a nonprofit filed a lawsuit to stop the UFC fight on the White House lawn, claiming it violates federal law and an environmental impact study wasn't conducted before the temporary stadium was built. We discuss President Trump walking out of his interview with Kristen Welker — and our American Mama Teri Netterville says what millions of Americans were thinking when they watched it. We talk about the growing gap between what the media is willing to report on Republicans versus Democrats, how the same anchor who challenges Trump's claim that Capitol Police let protesters into the Capitol has shown that footage on her own broadcast, and why after years of being asked to sit down with people who are going to misrepresent everything he says, the president finally said enough. We also weigh in on Steven Spielberg's new movie Disclosure Day, in which he says he believes aliens have been here, that they are here, and that his film will leave Christians questioning their faith in God. We respectfully decline. We also note that he seems considerably less eager to challenge the faith of groups that don't respond with patience. In our Digging Deep segment, Scott Pelley went to the New York Times after being fired from CBS and complained that his new boss suggested the public thinks CBS is biased — and Pelley demanded to know what evidence exists for that claim. We provide the evidence. Gallup's 2024 poll showed only 31% of Americans had any trust in mass media — the lowest since 1972. In 2025 it dropped to 28%. An Emerson College poll from 2025 found only 18% of Americans have a great deal of trust in national news organizations. Half of Americans believe news organizations deliberately mislead them. AllSides rates CBS with the same left-leaning bias as CNN, the New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post. All of this was available on the first page of a single search engine query. We say if Pelley couldn't find it, he should have been fired for incompetence, not just insubordination. We cover WNBA player Breonna Turner's objection to the USA 250 anniversary patch on WNBA jerseys — because, she says, none of the players would have been free 250 years ago. We note that basketball wasn't invented until 1891, and more importantly, that America's 250th anniversary is a celebration not of perfection but of the principles in the Declaration of Independence that Martin Luther King himself called a promissory note — the promise that made her freedom possible. For our Bright Spot, the Department of Energy announced last week that a new nuclear reactor reached zero power fueled criticality at a lab in Idaho — the first reactor in 40 years to reach criticality in the United States — a month ahead of President Trump's July 4th deadline that most experts said was impossible. We explain what zero power criticality means, why micro-reactors are a game changer for energy independence, why the U.S. Navy has operated nuclear reactors on submarines and aircraft carriers since the 1950s with zero accidents, and why the future belongs to nations with abundant, affordable, and reliable energy. And we close with Hakeem Jeffries apparently trying to launch his own Contract with America — assembling a Democratic affordability agenda with AOC in charge of healthcare and a transgender member of Congress in charge of caregiving. We wish him luck. We also close with 1,000 avocado growers in the Mexican state of Michoacán setting a world record with 15,000 pounds of guacamole. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're going to begin with a deep dive today: An ICE detainee says he was put in solitary confinement and transferred out of state in retaliation for speaking out about conditions. The alleged retaliation came after a protest at Pennsylvania's Moshannon Valley Processing Center, ICE's largest immigrant detention facility in the northeast United States. The U.S. House, including Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, voted to approves a measure to restrain President Trump's action in Iran. Fitzpatrick is one of four Republicans who voted with all Democrats to adopt the resolution Wednesday. Motorists in Pennsylvania will soon face fines for distracted driving.  The 10th Annual Lancaster Water Week kicks off today (Friday 6/5). The week-long series of events is designed to raise awareness for the health of Lancaster County's 1400 miles of streams and rivers.The Lancaster County borough of Columbia continues to celebrate its 300th anniversary. The latest celebration is a parade set for this Saturday afternoon, June 6th, beginning at 2.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is this:Paper ephemera is still very collectible, from old postcards to World War I and II posters.We met some digital natives who have a passion for collecting some of these paper items, at the Allentown Paper Show recently. One even talks about how much she enjoys writing letters – and how much the recipients value receiving them. They stand out, amid all the texts, emails and other digital messages.Here's the link to this uplifting, quirky 3-minute audio story by NPR. If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 4, 2026. We open with a conversation about Congress's seemingly unlimited capacity for symbolism and its equally limited appetite for actual governance — prompted by the bill to rename the street in front of the Chinese embassy Tiananmen Square Memorial Boulevard. We love the trolling, we love the underlying principle, and we think every Chinese diplomat should have to write that address on their stationery every day. But we also note that the SAVE Act — which 70% of Americans support, including 69% of independents and nearly half of rank-and-file Democrats — is still sitting unactioned. You cannot tell us you can walk and chew gum at the same time if you're only blowing bubbles. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump announced he wants Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch to become the permanent AG — and after overseeing the indictment of James Comey and launching the National Fraud Enforcement Division, we think he's earned it. Then the federal government cut off Hawaii from Medicaid funding after decertifying its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit — a unit that received millions of dollars to fight fraud, produced zero criminal indictments between 2022 and 2025, and watched Medicaid enrollment explode by 40% in the same period. And water began flowing again into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — restored for an estimated $13 to $20 million, which is less than half of what the Obama administration spent on a failed repair project that left the pool just as dirty six months later. Our American Mama Teri Netterville responds to the Black Crows concert in Florida where the lead singer told a crowd chanting USA that he didn't understand why they were cheering for this country. Thousands walked out. Teri says she would have been one of them — and explains why the cultural fatigue is real and permanent now. We talk about why woke entertainment keeps failing at the box office, why Snow White bombed, why the all-lesbian Star Trek didn't survive one season, and why Americans are done pretending they'll tolerate being told their country is awful by the people it made wealthy. We dig into the Austin Metcalf murder trial — which CBS News and most of the media are calling the Carmelo Anthony trial, burying the name of the murdered boy seven paragraphs down. We explain why the jury ended up without any Black members — and the answer, straight from CBS News itself, is not that prosecutors were racist. It's that several prospective Black jurors admitted under oath they could not vote to convict a defendant who looked like them, or who looked like a kid, regardless of the evidence. One said he would have a hard time putting a brother in jail. We ask the question nobody wants to ask — if jurors in the other direction had said the same thing in reverse, what would happen? And we ask how many juries have had people on them who felt the same way but didn't say so out loud? The Senate voted to strip the SAVE Act from the reconciliation package — with four Republicans joining Democrats to kill it: Murkowski, McConnell, Tillis, and Collins. We explain why each of them voted the way they did, and we note that 81% of Americans support requiring voter ID and 80% want states to purge non-citizens from voter rolls. This is not a radical idea. It is the will of the American people, and four Republican senators just overruled it. For our Bright Spot, Senator John Fetterman — standing alone again among Senate Democrats — went on record calling out Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Plattner over the new revelations about his explicit messaging to women on a platform known for sexual predators. Fetterman said if you've already lied about the Nazi tattoo situation, there are probably a lot more ranches you haven't seen yet. We make the comparison to Alexander Hamilton's endorsement of Thomas Jefferson — I may disagree with his principles, but at least he has them. We also cover the Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah ceasefire framework — and explain why the big if in that deal is Hezbollah, which has never wanted peace with Israel and still doesn't. And we close with Sterling Nassa, who was sitting in the audience at a live orchestra performance of La La Land in Sydney when the pianist came down ill at intermission. The conductor walked out and asked if anyone in the house could play. Sterling was a trained pianist and an accomplished sight reader. He walked up, sight read the second half of the concert, including a complicated piano solo, and saved the show. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 3, 2026. We open with the numbers behind Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill that the media isn't telling you — 96% of taxpayers receiving a tax cut earned less than $200,000 a year, 70% earned less than $100,000, and households between $50,000 and $100,000 received an average reduction of over $815. We dig into what those numbers actually represent — 29 million filers claiming no tax on overtime, 7.5 million claiming no tax on tips, 35 million seniors claiming the enhanced senior deduction, 40 million families claiming the enhanced child tax credit, and 127 million taxpayers claiming the doubled standard deduction. We also explain why a tax code is more than a collection of rates — it's a statement about what a government chooses to encourage, and when you tax work and savings and punish overtime, you get less of all three. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling allowing Alabama to proceed with its congressional maps — overruling lower courts that had blocked the state from using the old map even after the Supreme Court itself had reversed its earlier ruling requiring minority-majority districts. Then longtime CBS News anchor Scott Pelley was fired after publicly confronting the new 60 Minutes executive producer at a staff meeting, calling him unqualified and accusing CBS News leadership of trying to kill the show — and refusing to make peace afterward. We note that anyone who refuses to acknowledge there has been a bias problem at CBS News is not capable of being part of fixing it. And Samsung announced it is moving its U.S. corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Plano, Texas — following ExxonMobil, which announced its own departure from New Jersey the week before. New Jersey has the highest corporate income tax rate in the country. Texas has zero. We also cover Colorado Governor Jared Polis signing a law requiring college and university health centers to stock and dispense abortion-inducing drugs — meaning one of the primary services a Colorado college campus must now provide is access to pills designed to end pregnancies. We ask what would happen if that same level of energy were directed toward helping pregnant students continue their education and carry their children to term. Our American Mama Teri Netterville joins the conversation on the California elections — where at the time of broadcast, Steve Hilton leads Xavier Becerra in the governor's race and Spencer Pratt trails Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayor's race with about half the votes counted. We discuss why NBC was already telling viewers that mail-in ballots would push Pratt to third place before counting was even finished, why Brazil counted 124 million ballots in two hours while California is projecting 37 days for 10 million, and why the SAVE Act matters more after watching California's election unfold in real time. We also cover Democratic Congresswoman Camlager Dove shouting at Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a congressional hearing and then walking out before he could answer — and Rubio's perfectly measured response, which sounded remarkably like a man watching his wife leave the room mid-argument. We make the point that committee hearings have stopped being about answers and started being entirely about social media soundbites. In our Digging Deep segment, 1,100 STEM professors in California have written a letter begging the state to restore standardized testing after the University of California system dropped ACT and SAT requirements during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020. The results are in — the number of college students whose math skills fall below high school level has increased nearly 30-fold, with 70% of those students performing below middle school level. Professors are being forced to reteach middle school algebra while simultaneously teaching college-level engineering and sciences. We explain why eliminating standards doesn't help minority students — it abandons them, and then blames the test for their unpreparedness rather than the system that failed to prepare them. We also cover a Breitbart roundtable discussion on America's greatest strategic advantage in the AI race against China — and the surprising conclusion that it isn't technology, military power, or economic strength. It's the human soul. Communism, by suppressing religion, individuality, and free will, has weakened the very thing that separates humans from machines. The founders protected that, and it still matters. For our Bright Spot, DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen testified that the border wall is on track for completion from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of America by this time next year — with all contracts out by end of month, a secondary wall being added in high-traffic areas, and a smart wall system that deploys drones the moment sensors detect a breach. We call it exactly what it is — a promise made, a promise being kept. We also note that Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is now saying that 77 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump are ignorant and uninformed. We respond briefly and move on. And we close with Leah Wilson, who heard crows cawing around a rain gutter, called the fire department, rescued an injured crow, and held its claw on the drive to the wildlife center. The crow recovered, was banded, and released. A couple of days later, while walking her dog, a crow dove down and dropped a bundle of feathers at her feet. Now they bring her gifts every day. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 2, 2026. We open with House Democrats promoting the Reproductive Health Care Leave Act — a bill that would require employers to provide up to 12 days of paid leave annually for menstrual and reproductive health issues. We ask the questions nobody in Washington is asking — what does this do to small businesses, what does this do to GDP, and what kind of incentive does this create for employers deciding between male and female job candidates? We also connect it to the same pattern we see in every Democrat policy proposal — from Obamacare to minimum wage mandates — where the people making the rules have no concept of how a business actually functions or how the cost gets paid. We also revisit Obamacare's core promise — bend the curve down on health care costs — and note that the average American family now pays $2,200 a month for health insurance, more than the average mortgage payment, while most Americans still can't find out what an x-ray actually costs. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, President Trump signed an executive order lowering tariffs on copper, aluminum, and steel from 25% to 15% — a move Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick requested in response to conditions affecting domestic industries. We note this kind of market-reactive decision is exactly why tariff authority may need to sit with the executive rather than the legislature. Then Mexican authorities discovered a cartel smuggling tunnel running three football fields long, 20 feet underground, equipped with lights, ventilation, and electric sliding mechanisms — running from Tijuana directly under a home and into San Diego. And Tulsi Gabbard has officially resigned as Director of National Intelligence to care for her husband as he undergoes surgery for a rare form of bone cancer — with Bill Pulte, currently head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, named as interim DNI. Our American Mama Teri Netterville joins the conversation on the Reproductive Health Care Leave Act — and she has opinions. Teri calls it utterly ridiculous, points out that there is already sick leave for genuine medical issues, warns that if 12 paid days are mandated, every single one of them will get used regardless of medical necessity, and asks the question the Democrats haven't answered — define what a woman is before you pass a bill about women's health. We also revisit the fundamental contradiction — the same party demanding menstrual leave for women is demanding women serve in combat alongside men with no accommodation. We cover President Trump declaring June Title IX Month — rather than Pride Month — and make the case that Title IX may be the most consequential piece of legislation for women in American history. We point to the U.S. women's soccer team, which has won more World Cups than any other nation on earth — not because American women are more interested in soccer than their male counterparts, but because Title IX forced colleges to build women's programs that no other country was building. We note the irony that Megan Rapinoe, whose career exists because of Title IX, now argues that biological males should be allowed to compete against women. In our Digging Deep segment, South Dakota has passed a law banning the advertising of abortion pills — which are already illegal in the state — and the New York-based nonprofit Mayday Health is suing, claiming free speech protection. We dig into the constitutional question — can you advertise for something illegal? Can a state that has declared abortion to be murder allow advertising for murder? We also note that the advertising isn't passive — the web address in the ad leads directly to shipping the illegal drugs into the state. We lay out the arguments on both sides and acknowledge this is likely headed to the Supreme Court. We also take on Steph Curry's decision to sign an athletic branding deal with a Chinese company rather than an American one — and make the case that while it's his right, symbolism matters when your entire brand is built on American fans. For our Bright Spot, Indiana Governor Mike Braun has declared June as Nuclear Family Month — complete with a proclamation citing research that children raised by married biological parents have better physical and emotional outcomes, that when families weaken society compensates with expensive inferior substitutes like welfare systems and surrogate discipline, and that the nuclear family is the most effective means of raising capable adults. We call it exactly what it is — something any parent can explain to their children in ten seconds without any awkwardness whatsoever. We also cover Pete Hegseth's discovery of $5.1 billion in duplicate contracts at the Department of Defense — overlapping IT systems, consulting contracts, and overpriced services — and explain why you won't hear about this in many other places — because it confirms what most Americans already suspect about how Washington spends their money. And we close with words of wisdom about the importance of family from Thomas Jefferson, Princess Diana, Lee Iacocca, and Mother Teresa. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 1, 2026. We open with a question that sounds simple but goes deeper than you'd expect — why do we accept visible decline? In our public spaces, in our monuments, in our cities. We connect the psychology of personal presentation to the way communities signal what they expect of themselves, explain why Washington D.C. went decades without anyone in power noticing a fountain outside Union Station hadn't worked in 17 years, and give credit where it's due — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who says squalor is not a destiny, it is a choice — for the restoration happening across the nation's capital right now. Even in a city where 98% voted for Kamala Harris, people are noticing the fountains are running again. In our Top 3, New Jersey police finally broke up the well-organized, well-funded riots outside the ICE detention center in Newark after Governor Mickey Sherrill instituted a curfew — and once order was restored, ICE was able to resume visitation rights at the facility. Then the frontrunner for the Democrat Senate nomination in Maine is now facing allegations of sending sexually explicit messages to multiple women on a platform known as a predator's paradise — on top of the previously reported SS tattoo — and is still leading in the polls. And the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas can enforce its state-level law making illegal entry into Texas a state crime — a significant win for state sovereignty and border security. We revisit the CDL license story — a naturalized Chinese citizen in New York who could not speak or read English was given a commercial driver's license and subsequently killed five people, four of them from the same immigrant family. We ask the hard question — when you relax your standards past the point of logic, people die. And the state of New York failed those people by treating a CDL as a checkbox rather than a safety standard. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle the great group chat divide — who leaves, who stays, who creates the devastating side chat that accidentally gets sent back to the main group, and why the proper etiquette for exiting a group chat is to announce your departure before the precious baby photo drops and not the second after. We also get into the workplace group chat that becomes a clique engine, and why men with fat thumbs just don't participate. We dig deep into a CBRE study on corporate headquarter relocations covering 2018 through 2024 — and the results could not be clearer. In 2024 alone, California lost 17 corporate headquarters, 12 of them to Texas. Texas gained nearly 50% of all interstate relocations. The number one reason companies gave — by a margin that made every other reason almost irrelevant — was business climate, meaning lower taxes, fewer regulations, and local governments that actually want you there. We connect it to the same reason individuals move from blue states to red states and tie it back to the core argument of our book Bright Spots, Big Country — economic freedom is the engine of everything. We also dig into the Iran situation — where President Trump is continuing negotiations while maintaining military and economic pressure through the Strait of Hormuz blockade. We share our theory that the timeline for final resolution may be connected to the midterm elections, why the next military step would create a humanitarian crisis Trump is trying to avoid, and why the Democrats calling it a quagmire have it exactly backwards. We also cover the Pennsylvania woman now on the FBI's Most Wanted list for faking a terminal cancer diagnosis to swindle friends and family out of $11,000 — and use it as an illustration of what a law and order administration looks like when it sets a tone that no fraud is too small to chase. For our Bright Spot, Target is testing a new employee evaluation system that measures customer interaction — eye contact, greetings, offering assistance, projecting the energy of someone who is actually glad you're there. We call it common sense disguised as innovation and point out the oldest truth in business — what gets measured gets done. We also check in on the Los Angeles mayor's race, where Spencer Pratt is not just competitive against incumbent Karen Bass — he's running what may be the most effective political advertising campaign we've seen, built entirely on common sense ideas and the willingness to acknowledge visible reality. We make the case that in 2026, voters don't care about your resume anymore. They care whether you're willing to tell the truth about what's in front of them. And we close with Ethan Hayes, playing guitar in his backyard, and eight-year-old neighbor Madeline Glenn, who wrote a song request on a piece of paper, folded it into a paper airplane, and tossed it over the fence. Ethan played Love Story. The video went viral. Taylor Swift found out, and sent handwritten letters and signed guitars to both of them. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blue crab populations in the Chesapeake Bay are rebounding from a near-record low.  Environmental protection efforts in Pennsylvania are helping keep the water clean downstream.Western PA Congresspersons Summer Lee and Chris Deluzio say mine operators must do more to help communities dig out of problems left behind when mines close.A federal judge is denying bail for a York County man, citing a history of online threats and alleged illegal gun possession. The criminal case gives insight into how the federal government monitors and prosecutes people connected to certain neo-Nazi groups.The developer of an ICE warehouse in Berks County is paying more than $82,000 dollars to resolve deficiencies.Five fatal crashes happened over the Memorial Day holiday weekend - and two involved intoxicated driving. Pennsylvania State Police report there were a total of 843 crashes over the four-day weekend.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is an update on our WITF Central PA Spelling Bee Champion. Among the 247 spelling bee champions from across the country, competing this week at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, our WITF Central PA Spelling Bee Champion 11-year-old Vedika Burman of Central Dauphin Middle School, has finished in 79th place.(Click here for Vedika's recent interview on The Morning Agenda.)

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 27, 2026. We open with the growing controversy at Delaney Hall — the immigration detention facility in New Jersey now at the center of a political firestorm after detainees launched a hunger strike demanding better food, including culturally specific meals. We break down the difference between humane treatment and hospitality, why the left is framing detention as cruelty itself, and why Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s response — “This is not a Holiday Inn” — instantly became the defining line of the debate. We also explain the deeper issue driving the outrage: whether the left’s real objection is conditions inside detention centers or immigration enforcement itself. In our Top 3, Texas Senator John Cornyn suffers a crushing primary defeat to Attorney General Ken Paxton after President Trump’s endorsement helped fuel another major MAGA victory — making Trump-backed candidates a staggering 119-for-119 in 2026 races. Then Maryland Governor Wes Moore signs sweeping new gun restrictions targeting Glock-style handguns, prompting an immediate constitutional challenge from the NRA. And former Attorney General Pam Bondi lands a new role inside the Trump administration’s Artificial Intelligence Advisory Panel after stepping away from the DOJ amid a thyroid cancer diagnosis. We also dive into why patriotism itself has become controversial in modern America. Using a powerful recording of John Wayne reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, we ask how loving your country became viewed as radical by parts of the political left — and whether America’s approaching 250th birthday is exposing a deeper cultural divide over national identity, citizenship, and the meaning of the American experiment. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle the bizarre world of so-called “audio drugs” — including binaural beats, music frequencies, and the growing debate over whether sound can alter mood, behavior, and even brain chemistry. That conversation expands into the influence of music on mental health, violence, spirituality, parenting, and whether some forms of entertainment can genuinely shape human behavior for good or for evil. In our Digging Deep segment, we examine Trump’s unprecedented political dominance inside the Republican Party as his endorsed candidates continue winning at a historic pace. We debate whether Trump himself is the movement or whether his popularity is simply the result of policies conservatives believe actually work. Then we turn to Texas Democrat Senate nominee James Talarico — a progressive seminary student whose comments on abortion, gender identity, and Christianity are raising eyebrows even beyond conservative circles. We break down his claims that “God is non-binary,” why critics say he is rewriting Scripture to fit progressive ideology, and why polls suggesting he could compete statewide in Texas have Republicans alarmed. We also cover the Trump administration’s proposal to halt international airport processing operations in sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with ICE. We explain the constitutional logic behind the move, why cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco could be affected, and whether sanctuary policies can realistically coexist with federally managed international travel and customs enforcement. For our Bright Spot, we spotlight new research showing that making children laugh may be one of the most important things parents can do for healthy brain development. Scientists say humor strengthens emotional resilience, reduces stress, and helps children better process complex information — leading to a broader conversation about joy, family connection, and why laughter may be one of the most overlooked ingredients in raising healthy kids. We also discuss Europe’s accelerating crackdown on free speech as Germany moves toward requiring social media platforms to prioritize government-approved “reliable” media sources — raising major questions about censorship, state-controlled information, and whether the West is drifting toward managed speech systems once associated with authoritarian regimes. And we close with an incredible story out of Kansas, where 12-year-old fossil enthusiast Corbin Bullard discovered a fully intact Tylosaurus skeleton during a 4-H field trip — including the skull and vertebrae of a massive prehistoric sea predator that once swam across ancient North America. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stay connected with us at americangroundradio.com, on Facebook, and Instagram. You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 26, 2026. We open with New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani's plan to seize properties from so-called negligent landlords and transfer them to tenant or community ownership — and we explain exactly why this is not a housing policy, it's a blueprint for ending private ownership in New York City. We walk through the deliberately manufactured cycle — impose rent controls that make maintenance financially impossible, wait for the slumlords those rent controls created to fall behind on upkeep, then seize the properties they could no longer afford to maintain — and explain why this is not a bug in the socialist playbook, it is the feature. In our Top 3, U.S. and Iran negotiations continue as American forces struck Iranian boats laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran fired missiles at U.S. ships, those missiles were shot down, and the U.S. destroyed the launchers. President Trump says progress is being made and suggests the end state should include all Arab nations joining the Abraham Accords. Then Texas voters headed to the polls for the Republican Senate runoff between incumbent John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton — with Trump backing Paxton but Paxton carrying the baggage of an impeachment, an acquittal, and his wife filing for divorce citing biblical reasons in the middle of the campaign. And a federal three-judge panel blocked Alabama from using its current congressional map — creating a collision between the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that required a minority-majority district and last month's ruling that struck down racial gerrymandering as unconstitutional. Our American Mamas Terry Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle why there are no good teen TV shows anymore — which leads directly into a conversation about Euphoria, the Sidney Sweeney show that markets itself to teenagers while featuring content that is essentially soft-core pornography. We talk about whether Sweeney will one day regret the roles she accepted, whether the show's director is deliberately using her to make a political statement, and how decades of progressive cultural influence in Hollywood have normalized things on screen that no parent would allow in their home. In our Digging Deep segment, we push back on the left's Memorial Day weekend obsession with George Floyd — and use the data to make the case that the income inequality, incarceration disparity, and educational gap the left attributes to institutional racism are explained far more powerfully by a single variable that has nothing to do with race. We lay out median income, two-parent household rates, high school graduation rates, and incarceration rates broken down by race — Asian, white, Hispanic, and black — and show that the rankings are identical across every single category. The highest-earning, lowest-incarcerated, highest-graduating group in America is also the group most likely to be raised in a two-parent home. We call it what the data actually shows — two-parent privilege. And we make the case that no amount of government spending or racial grievance politics will fix an outcome problem that is actually a family structure problem. We also cover Trump's perfect annual physical exam — and note with some sadness that there are people in this country actively rooting for him to have failed it. We contrast that with how those on the right responded to Joe Biden's declining health — not with celebration, but with concern for the country. For our Bright Spot, a Gold Star widow named Cheryl Ann Shaw posted on social media asking if anyone visiting Arlington Cemetery over Memorial Day weekend would take a fresh photo of her husband's grave — Staff Sergeant Alan W. Shaw, killed in Iraq in 2007. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who is stepping down from her position to care for her husband who is battling a rare form of cancer — saw the post, drove to Arlington, placed a coin on Sergeant Shaw's grave, and posted the photo herself. She didn't have to. She did anyway. Mrs. Shaw responded that seeing Gabbard standing there brought her to tears — and thanked her for saying his name and reminding her there are still people in this country who have not forgotten the cost of freedom. We also note that even after losing their entire military infrastructure, Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khomeini is still posting death to America and death to Israel on social media. And we close with off-duty FDNY firefighter Travis Langan, who saw a woman trapped in a flooding Tesla on Jackie Robinson Parkway during flash floods in New York City, jumped on the roof, and pounded through the sunroof with his bare hands until he could pull her out. She said God sent her an angel. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richards: Pete Crow-Armstrong has been a bright spot for Cubs since run-in with fan (Hour 2) full 2515 Tue, 26 May 2026 00:40:00 +0000 joksEIvO8krDixz75KS8CKDOAfJd65fl sports Best of 104.3 The Score sports Richards: Pete Crow-Armstrong has been a bright spot for Cubs since run-in with fan (Hour 2) Best of 104.3 The Score Best of 104.3 The Score is a curated snapshot of the station at its best, delivering the standout moments Chicago sports fans don't want to miss. Featuring top interviews, expert commentary, and memorable segments from across the lineup, the podcast covers everything from Bears Sundays and Cubs summers to Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox headlines. Whether you're catching up or reliving the biggest conversations of the day, Best of 104.3 The Score brings the voices, stories, and debates that power Chicago sports talk into one easy listen. © 2026 Audacy, Inc. Sports ht

Tuesday's primary saw incumbents and moderate candidates prevail despite high levels of political polarization and dissatisfaction with the Democratic and Republican parties.State lawmakers are considering shifting oversight of Pennsylvania's medical marijuana program to a new entity. Some say it could be a key step toward legalizing recreational cannabis.PennDOT has announced bridge repairs on coming to a span in Adams County beginning June 1st. With motorcycle riding season in full swing, PennDOT is reminding cyclists, as well as the entire motoring public, the importance of sharing the road and cutting down on the risk of accidents. A winning Powerball ticket worth 150-thousand dollars was sold in York County for the Wednesday, May 20th drawing. Bravo Supermarket on West Market Street in West York Boro sold the ticket. And then our Friday feature, The Bright Spot with Karen Hendricks

Stay connected with us at americangroundradio.com, on Facebook, and Instagram. You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 21, 2026. We open with JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's message to New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani — you can be an ideologue all you want, but at some point you have to compete, you have to produce, and you have to deliver results. We use that framework to explain exactly why democratic socialism fails every single time it is tried, why the mayor of Seattle just apologized to Starbucks after threatening to drive them out of the city, why Delaware is hemorrhaging corporate headquarters to Texas and Tennessee, and why the people left behind when productive citizens and businesses vote with their feet are always the ones who can least afford to be abandoned. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, former Cuban dictator Raul Castro has been indicted in a U.S. federal court for murder and the destruction of two private planes belonging to Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue, shot down over international airspace in 1996. Then Louisiana became only the second state in the country to receive the Department of Education's Returning Education to the States waiver — freeing up $18 million in federal education dollars for direct classroom use over four years, with Secretary Linda McMahon saying Louisianians know best how to serve their students, not bureaucrats in Washington. And a Canadian man living in Massachusetts has been charged with illegal voting after admitting he has voted in U.S. elections since 2008 — meaning he voted illegally in five presidential elections, including the most secure election in American history. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle whether girls are meaner to their moms than their dads — and land somewhere warm and true. We talk about the prom moment where a daughter snaps at her mother and then asks her father for a picture, the four-page love letter that same daughter wrote her mom on Mother's Day, why moms are the soft place to land which means they also absorb the worst of the shrapnel, and why one mama's daughter-in-law used to cry watching friends be rude to their mothers — because she would have given anything to have one. We dig into the Texas case of a man who ordered abortion pills online, crushed them, and mixed them into a pregnant woman's drink without her knowledge — killing her unborn child and now facing murder charges. We explain exactly why this case is the inevitable consequence of the FDA's 2023 decision to allow mifepristone to be dispensed by mail without a doctor ever seeing the patient, why this specific scenario is impossible when the drug must be administered in person by a physician, and why the FDA needs to reverse its decision immediately. In our Digging Deep segment, a former managing assistant U.S. Attorney named Carmen Lineberger — who worked on Jack Smith's investigation into Donald Trump's handling of documents at Mar-a-Lago — has been indicted for stealing sealed documents from that very investigation and emailing them to herself disguised as a cookie recipe and a Bundt cake recipe. We explain what makes this story so extraordinarily revealing — a member of the team that prosecuted a president for allegedly mishandling documents allegedly stole documents herself, renamed them dessert recipes, and sent them to her personal email. We also connect her history of pro-DEI advocacy and racial justice work at the DOJ, and make the case that this is not irony — it's the deep state in action. We also cover the FBI dismantling a major Indian call center fraud scheme that stole nearly $1 million from American senior citizens — and call it exactly what it is: putting Americans first doesn't just mean border walls, it means protecting the most vulnerable of our people from predators anywhere in the world. For our Bright Spot, the state of Washington settled a lawsuit brought by foster parents Shane and Jennifer DeGross — represented by Alliance Defending Freedom — after the state denied their foster license renewal because they wouldn't affirm that children can change their biological sex. The settlement requires Washington to revise its licensing policies to respect religious families' deeply held convictions and prohibits the state from attaching conditions to a foster license based solely on religious beliefs about marriage, gender, or sexual relationships. The state also paid $250,000 in attorney's fees. We ask the question nobody at the state agency apparently asked — what is best for the children? We also cover Congresswoman Nancy Mace's proposal to ban naturalized citizens from serving in Congress — and while we understand the frustration that motivated it, we call it what it is — a law of unintended consequences that would tell millions of legal immigrants who became Americans the right way that they can never fully participate in self-government. We draw the line at dual citizenship, not at the immigrant. And we close with Lexi McClellan — a second grade teacher who took a special interest in a seven-year-old foster child named Mary, watched an adoption fall through, stepped forward with her husband to become Mary's foster parents, and filed adoption papers within months. Lexi said it felt like God had led it, like she was meant to be in her life. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stay connected with us at americangroundradio.com, on Facebook, and Instagram. You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 20, 2026. We open with what may be the most consequential immigration enforcement move in American history — and it has nothing to do with border walls or patrol agents. President Trump signed a new executive order directing the Treasury Department to scrutinize all financial activity tied to illegal immigration — targeting payroll tax evasion, hidden bank accounts, labor trafficking networks, underground cash economies, and the remittance systems that funnel billions of American dollars back to Mexico and other countries. We explain why going after the money is more powerful than any physical barrier, why Willie Sutton's famous explanation for robbing banks applies perfectly to why illegal immigration exploded, and why choking the financial infrastructure of the entire illegal immigration machine may be Trump's most consequential domestic policy move of either term. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Thomas Massey lost his Kentucky congressional primary to former Navy SEAL Ed Gowran — in the most expensive House primary in American history at $25.6 million — after Trump endorsed Gowran and a district that voted for Trump by 85% finally ran out of patience with a congressman who spent his career blocking the agenda they elected him to advance. We note that Massey primaried himself out. Then Trump endorsed Texas AG Ken Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn in a Senate runoff — and we raise the concern that while Paxton may win the primary, he may be a harder sell in the general against Democrat James Tallarico. And Alabama's gubernatorial race will be a Tuberville-Doug Jones rematch — and we think Tuberville wins easily as Kay Ivey is term limited out. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle the question of whether women have forgotten how to age gracefully in America — from Demi Moore's skin-and-bones appearance at the Met Gala to Madonna's increasingly alarming transformations, from Lori Loughlin's well-done facelift to Helen Mirren as the gold standard of graceful aging. We also get into the GLP-1 revolution, the body positivity pendulum that swung hard in the other direction, and whether there is still room in American culture for a woman to be beautiful, powerful, and visibly her age at the same time. We play the Hakeem Jeffries clip from the Center for American Progress that should alarm every American regardless of party — the House Minority Leader saying out loud that the goal of House Democrats is not to persuade MAGA voters but to break them and break their spirit. We explain why that language is not just offensive but genuinely dangerous — because when the goal of politics shifts from persuasion to breaking half of your fellow citizens, you have crossed into territory that leads somewhere nobody should want to go. In our Digging Deep segment, the NAACP has launched a website called Out of Bounds urging black high school athletes to boycott colleges in the South — Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Clemson, Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M — because those states are redrawing congressional districts without race as a primary factor following the Supreme Court's ruling. We call it what it is — the NAACP demanding that 17-year-old black athletes from struggling families sacrifice life-changing scholarships for the Democrat Party's political agenda. No one's right to vote has been suppressed. Every vote still counts exactly one. The Supreme Court said you cannot draw districts based on race — and that is equal protection, not suppression. We also cover California's bizarre new rule allowing a biological female who finishes behind a transgender athlete to share the podium spot with the winner — which we describe as a participation trophy that accidentally acknowledges the injustice without having the courage to fix it. And the mother of the transgender athlete who won the race is upset about the rule. We note that the girl is the problem, apparently. For our Bright Spot, J.D. Vance filled in at the White House press briefing after the mosque attack in San Diego and was asked about religious violence in America. We play his answer in full — because it is one of the most theologically and constitutionally precise defenses of religious liberty we have heard from any public official in years. The right to find God through your own free will is the first right in the Constitution because you cannot force anyone to it. Violence against religious freedom is a violation of the laws of God, not just the laws of man. We call it a bright spot and mean it. And we close with 10-year-old Ernesto Hernandez — who wanted a 3D printer, whose mom told him to save up and buy it himself, who did chores until he had $500, bought the printer, started making keychains and fidget spinners, now runs three printers full time, is selling in local stores, and says he wants to invest in a house for his mom and him when he grows up. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stay connected with us at americangroundradio.com, on Facebook, and Instagram. You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 19, 2026. We open with the Iran situation from every angle — President Trump paused another planned strike at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE while negotiations continue, but Iran's latest peace proposal still doesn't address the one non-negotiable point: they will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. We dig into whether this pause is genuine diplomacy or strategic deception, why Trump's unpredictability is itself a form of deterrence, why Iran is almost certainly using the ceasefire to dig out its buried missile infrastructure — essentially handing the U.S. a fresh target list — and whether the Iranian people have any realistic chance of overthrowing a regime that will shoot into a crowd to disperse it. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Trump paused a second planned attack on Iran at the request of multiple Middle Eastern heads of state while negotiations continue. Then in Los Angeles, 64-year-old Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong agreed to plead guilty to paying homeless people to register to vote at her personal address — meaning she collected their ballots and could vote them however she chose. We explain why this has nothing to do with whether homeless people can vote and everything to do with fraud. And President Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a $1.7 billion anti-weaponization fund to reimburse people prosecuted for political reasons during the Biden administration — including January 6th defendants. We play a clip that the White House itself shared this week — a black woman in Cook County, Illinois at a voter board meeting who tells the panel directly that voting is not in danger, that she has voted since she was 18 without a single problem, that her parents could say the same, her grandparents could say the same, and that the constant narrative about suppressed black voters is being used to manipulate the Voting Rights Act when everyone in the room knows it isn't true. We call it one of the most clarifying moments in the entire voter ID debate. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson react to the Unite the Kingdom March in Great Britain — described as one of the largest peacetime demonstrations in British history, with over 2 million people taking to the streets to say they want their culture, their heritage, and their country back. Prime Minister Keir Starmer branded it a march of thugs, hooligans, and far-right racists. Reporters who showed up found grandparents walking dogs. We talk about what it means when a government criminalizes its own citizens for reposting patriotic content online, why Britain's Conservative Party collapsed and gave way to the new Reform UK movement, and why this is a roadmap — not a foreign curiosity — for what can happen here. We also cover James Comey lecturing Acting AG Todd Blanche about compromising institutional integrity for suggesting there is evidence worth investigating about the 2020 election. We ask the obvious question — where was Comey's institutional integrity when he lied to the FISA court, changed the legal standard for Hillary Clinton in the middle of a press conference, and leaked classified memos to the media? In our Digging Deep segment, we take a hard look at what Lee Zeldin is doing at the EPA — and make the case that it is not only justified but overdue. The EPA was created to solve real problems — air pollution, water pollution, toxic waste — and it largely did. But then it forgot its aim and became fanatical, redoubling its efforts long after the problems were solved. We walk through the Integrated Risk Information System that set formaldehyde standards lower than what the human body naturally exhales, and explain the critical difference between hazard and risk that the EPA abandoned somewhere along the way. For our Bright Spot, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a landmark $10 million settlement with Texas Children's Hospital — which was illegally performing gender transition procedures on minors and billing Medicaid with false diagnosis codes. The settlement does more than extract a fine. It requires Texas Children's to create the first-ever detransition clinic in the United States — a multidisciplinary medical center designed to help patients reverse as much damage as possible from ideologically motivated procedures they received as children. We talk about what detransition actually looks like, why this clinic will likely become a national destination, and why it took this long. We also cover Kimberly Guilfoyle's enthusiastic promotion of the most technologically advanced McDonald's in Europe opening in Athens — and the Greek internet's very Greek response. And we close with Trinka and Mark Henderson of Gilbert Christian School in Arizona — 40 years and 18 years of teaching respectively, a combined 58 years in education, who walked into what they thought was a staff meeting and found their own retirement party. Trinka said she's had kids of kids. Mark said he'll probably be back as a substitute. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Giants' inconsistencies continue to raise concerns; Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle breaks down the team's recent up and down stretch. With a mix of feast and famine, the Giants have been playing closer to a .500 ball, but their inconsistency is still a major issue that has plagued the team since the start of the season; we ask Susan how she sees the lack of offense & how to get young plyers into the lineup, plus her thoughts on the value of Luis ArraezSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Giants' inconsistencies continue to raise concerns; Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle breaks down the team's recent up and down stretch. With a mix of feast and famine, the Giants have been playing closer to a .500 ball, but their inconsistency is still a major issue that has plagued the team since the start of the season; we ask Susan how she sees the lack of offense & how to get young plyers into the lineup, plus her thoughts on the value of Luis ArraezSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stay connected with us at americangroundradio.com, on Facebook, and Instagram. You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 14, 2026. We open with a statement from the NAACP Charlotte Mecklenburg branch that we believe represents peak racial politics in modern America — declaring it is, quote, seriously disturbing for white folks to be lobbying to be the interim mayor of Charlotte because the outgoing mayor is a black woman. We play it straight. We ask the question nobody wants to ask out loud — if a major civic organization had said it was disturbing for black candidates to seek a position because the outgoing officeholder was white, what would happen? We both know the answer. We also point out the obvious irony of an organization called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People lecturing anyone else about racist language. And we make the foundational argument — the moment politics stops asking who is best for the job and starts asking what color of skin should hold this seat, you are no longer operating inside the framework of equal citizenship. You are inside racial factionalism. And that is incompatible with the Declaration of Independence. In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy pushed through a rule change on a voice vote that will withhold senators' salaries the next time there is a government shutdown — a measure he first proposed during the last Democrat-caused DHS shutdown and couldn't get passed. It goes into effect after this fall's elections. Then Georgia Governor Brian Kemp called a special session to redraw the state's congressional districts — potentially adding two Republican seats — though the new maps won't take effect until 2028. And two sitting members of Congress have been missing from Washington for over a month with no explanation — Democrat Frederica Wilson of South Florida, whose staff has been recycling old photos on social media as if they were recent, and Republican Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey, who finally responded to Speaker Johnson's outreach by saying he was experiencing health difficulties. Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson tackle a deeply personal question — when was the last time you felt euphoric? Kimberly shares the moment she was driving home from the grocery store with all her kids home and was hit by sudden joy — followed immediately by the crushing realization it was the first time she had felt that way since her mother died. Teri talks about her son getting a full ride to SMU Law School and her daughter announcing a pregnancy. And Stephen admits he can't remember the last time he felt euphoric — and explains why that's actually okay. We dig into the Supreme Court's ruling allowing mail-order chemical abortions to continue while legal challenges proceed — and make the medical case that no responsible physician should be prescribing mifepristone without seeing the patient in person. We explain the ectopic pregnancy danger in detail — how telemedicine cannot diagnose it, how the abortion pill will not resolve it, how it can cause organ rupture and sepsis, and how a young woman alone in her apartment experiencing severe complications cannot solve those problems with a Zoom call. In our Digging Deep segment, we follow two parallel fraud stories that together tell the same national story. In Minnesota, House Republicans released a report showing the Walz administration was aware of massive Medicaid fraud as early as 2019 and not only failed to act but created a culture that allowed the fraud to explode. In Florida, the founder of Health Splash was convicted for a $1 billion Medicare fraud conspiracy involving medically unnecessary orthotic braces. And in both Minnesota and California, Dr. Oz cut off 800 providers suspected of fraud — and fewer than 20 of them called to contest it. That means at least 780 were outright fraudsters. We also cover the Trump administration withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California for failing to address the problem. We also cover the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division investigation into Yale Medical School — where black and Hispanic applicants allegedly received significantly better odds of admission than white and Asian applicants with identical academic credentials. We make the case that medicine should be the most merit-driven profession on earth, and that public suspicion about whether doctors are chosen for competence or for racial checkboxes harms everyone — including the patients they treat. For our Bright Spot, independent journalist Alex Berenson — formerly of the New York Times, banned from Twitter in 2021 at the direct pressure of the Biden administration for saying the mRNA vaccine doesn't stop infection or transmission — has won his First Amendment lawsuit and received a formal written admission from the United States government that it did in fact violate his constitutional rights by coercing social media companies to suppress his speech. He also received $150,000. We note that Pfizer executives were directly involved in pressuring the administration to silence him. And we share that AGR itself was shadow-banned and nearly removed from YouTube for saying the same things Berenson was banned for saying. And we close with Dawn Kraft who enrolled in medical school after her husband Carl survived a brain hemorrhage and they both started working on their bucket lists. This spring, Dawn graduated from St. James School of Medicine at the age of 72, becoming the oldest graduate in the school's history. She took out no loans. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Commencement season upon us, the State System of Higher Education is sending thousands of graduates out into the workforce. Nearly 20,000 students are graduating from state system universities. Nearly 90% of the students are from Pennsylvania and most graduates stay in the state. Four-day school schedules are gaining in popularity across the country. Starting this fall, students at a Catholic secondary school in Williamsport, Lycoming County are joining the trend.The State Department of Health is working closely with health care providers in Lebanon County after three individuals were hospitalized with measles. The Office of State Inspector General has new office space in Forum Place in Harrisburg.  State Inspector General Michelle Henry says the move allows her entire department to be located on one floor, as opposed to three.A state House committee is advancing a suite of six bills to combat child sex trafficking Wellspan Health has officially opened Wellspan Carlisle Hospital.  It's the third new hospital Wellspan has opened this year following locations in Newberry and Shrewsbury, York County. York is being awarded $1.5 million to help city officials convert the vacant Dentsply Sirona property into affordable housing including 81 apartments, plus retail and office space. York's funding is part of a total of $10 million Governor Shapiro is awarding for affordable housing programs across the state.Who owns blighted homes in the city of Reading? The answer is often unclear. And it's hampering city officials from tracking down those owners and ultimately increasing the city's housing stock and tax base. You can learn more about this story on our website, here. And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.  Today's bright spot is this: There's a new free online quiz to predict and plan for longevity. It's good timing, as the oldest millennials turn 45 this year - and the oldest Gen Xers are 60. What's your longevity score? Take the quiz and find out, in a story from NPR, linked here. 

Into month two with the miles increasing, I'm truly living in the woods now. Life seems to have become more feral, and the simplicity of my life agrees with my temperament right now. My loneliness seems to have gone away as I'm spending more time with others, and this week we hear from Bright Spot and Wolf, who I met along the way. I'm using Polarsteps to record my AT thru-hike this year. If you'd like to follow my progress between episodes, as well as photos of my journey, please go to https://www.polarsteps.com/mightyblue and click on the follow button. I used my hike in 2024 on the South West Coast Path in the UK to help raise money for my absolute favorite charity, Parenting Matters, on whose board I've been privileged to serve for over a decade. You can learn more about the hike and the organization–and donate–by visiting Hike with Steve - Empowering Parents, One Step at a Time | Parenting Matters %. I hope you want to support this critical mission. Don't forget. Our entire series of videos from our Woods Hole Weekend in 2022 is now FREE and available at my YouTube page at Woods Hole Weekend - Trailer There, you'll find all sorts of tips and tricks that our guests took away from the weekend that helped them with their own hikes this year. Check it out. I often ask listeners for ideas on who to interview, and I'm sure several of you say, "I could do that. I've got an awesome story to tell." You're the person we need to hear from. If you'd like to be interviewed on the podcast, just register as a guest on the link below, and I'll be in touch. Come on the show! If you like what we're doing on the Hiking Radio Network, and want to see our shows continue, please consider supporting us with either a one-off or monthly donation. You'll find the donate button on each Hiking Radio Network page at Hiking Radio Network . Additionally, you can join our membership at Steve (Mighty Blue) Adams. It's worth checking out what is on offer for you there. If you prefer NOT to use PayPal, you can now support us via check by mailing it to Mighty Blue Publishing, 3821 Milflores Drive, Sun City Center, FL 33573. Any support is gratefully received. Additionally, you can "Zelle" me a donation to steve@hikingradionetwork.com. Or "Venmo" me at @‌Steve-Adams-105. They both work! If you'd like to take advantage of my book offer (all three of my printed hiking books–with a personal message and signed by me–for $31, including postage to the United States) send a check payable to Mighty Blue Publishing at the address just above.