Podcasts about Cleveland

Episode 350 invites Andrew Santino to come take his shoes off for the 4th time. The boys almost choose not to post this episode because Rick's assistant, Duncan, sent cookies and din't warn them that they were weed cookies. Take Your Shoes Off is nominated for 2 WEBBY AWARDS! Link to vote (by April 16th) on the top of Rick's website: https://www.rickglassman.com

It's The Troy Lee Designs Race Tech Blair Matthes Project where industry insiders Daniel Blair and Steve Matthes dig in on a multitude of topics. Weather is slated to hit the Cleveland area and we discuss whether they will stick to the Triple Crown format, how much this could affect both championships, and much more!

Anthony Lima reacts to criticism from Nick Wilson regarding his "ball knower" persona and his defensive stance on the Cavaliers. He and Ken Carman also debate why Cleveland fans hold the Browns to a significantly lower standard than the city's other professional sports franchises.

The playoffs are set and the Toronto Raptors are headed for a compelling first-round showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In this episode, we dive deep into the matchup—breaking down the key battles that could ultimately decide the series, inspired by a detailed piece from Sportsnet's Zulfi Sheikh, outlining the most important head-to-heads. We explore whether Toronto's chemistry can outweigh their lack of playoff experience, and what that balance looks like over the course of a seven-game series. Plus, how much does continuity matter when the pressure ramps up? On the other side, the addition of James Harden adds a fascinating wrinkle for Cleveland. We discuss how his presence changes their offensive ceiling, impacts tempo and forces new defensive decisions for Toronto. From X-factors and under-the-radar contributors to coaching adjustments and pressure points, we break down where this series could swing—and what each team needs to do to come out on top. All that, plus what to watch for when the series tips off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support the sponsors to support the show!When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/SODER That's BetterHelp.com/SODERhttps://www.betterhelp.com/get-started/?go=true&slug=soder&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=1093&utm_term=soder&promo_code=soder&landing_page_img=https%3A%2F%2Fd3ez4in977nymc.cloudfront.net%2Faffiliate_images%2Fc8f1e33eccfdd97908db536def2e7dbd2d9ae59240ff77c0f1ee89f46ed7f544.png&aff_channel=podcast&discount_rate=10&discount_period=P1M&date_interval=P1M&percentage_off=10&amount=1&amount_spelled_out=one&unit=month&gor=startStop shopping and get styled today at StitchFix.com/soder  to get $20 off your first order That's StitchFix.com/soderhttps://www.stitchfix.com/men?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=audioboom&utm_campaign=podcast|audioboom|mens|m|fix|pros|web|us|soderHead to Factormeals.com/soder50off and use code soder50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box, with new subscription only, while supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details)https://www.factor75.com/pages/podcast?c=SODER50OFF&mealsize=1-8&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=cpm&utm_campaign=podcast50off&discount_comm_id=ae97cdba-b315-4752-8023-6a6a77bae942&utm_content=act_podcast_podcastadsThe Golden Retriever of Comedy Tour is coming to your city!Get tickets at https://www.dansoder.com/tourApril 17 - Munhall,PAApril 18 - Cleveland,OHApril 19 - Columbus,OHApril 24 - Larchwood,IAMay 15-16 - Omaha,NEJune 5 - Newark,NJJune 13 - Mill Valley,CA - Special TapingFollow Becky Lynchhttps://www.instagram.com/beckylynchwwe/?hl=enhttps://x.com/BeckyLynchWWEWrestleMania 42 is a two-night WWE event taking place on Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, 2026, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Known as WWE's biggest annual event, this 42nd edition features top stars like Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Rhea Ripley. The show will stream on ESPN and Netflix. PLEASE Drop us a rating on iTunes and subscribe to the show to help us grow.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soder/id1716617572Connect with SoderTwitter: https://Twitter.com/dansoderInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansoderTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dansodercomedyFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dansoderYoutube: http://www.youtube.com/@dansoder.comedy#dansoder #standup #comedy #entertainment #podcastProduced by  Mike Lavin     https://www.instagram.com/thehomelesspimp/?hl=en

Discussing the scoops that affect your PulpMX Fantasy picks before you make them. Thanks to Motosport.com, Fly Racing, & 100%

(00:00-32:05) – Query & Company opens on a Tuesday with Jake Query and producer Eddie Garrison highlighting the moves that Darian DeVries has made in the transfer portal for Indiana basketball. Purdue Football Head Coach Barry Odom calls into the show to recap how spring football went for the Boilermakers, compares how he started building up UNLV to what he is doing at Purdue, evaluates how his offensive and defensive line looked in spring football, shares how he handled last season’s struggles, and addresses if it is challenging not focusing on how IU turned things around so quickly considering the rivalry between the two teams. (32:05-40:46) – Last night the Indiana Fever drafted three players to potentially round out their roster for the 2026 season. Jake gives his thoughts on the roster construction so far for the Fever in year three with Caitlin Clark and year two with Stephanie White. (40:46-46:08) – The first hour of Query & Company concludes with Jake Query highlighting the members that are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight in Cleveland. (46:08-1:11:32) – ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder joins Query & Company to discuss how likely it is that the Indianapolis Colts trade Anthony Richardson Sr. or Kenny Moore II prior to voluntary workouts from the complex next week. They discuss when they believe Daniel Jones will get back to 100% health and Jake asks Holder about what storyline about the Colts offseason we haven’t talked about enough yet. (1:11:32-1:28:09) – Jeff Rabjohns from Peegs.com makes an appearance on Query & Company to discuss the additions that the Indiana Hoosiers have made in the transfer portal in the last 24 hours for Darian DeVries. He profiles what type of players Darren Haris, Jaeden Mustaf, and Markus Burton are and explains why Indiana was never really in the running for Jalen Haralson. (1:28:09-1:34:39) – Hour number two of Query & Company concludes with Jake continuing to hype up his upcoming interview with Peter Brady on Thursday. Eddie breaks sad news to Jake in conjunction with the countdown. (1:34:39-2:01:57) – Scott Agness from Fieldhouse Files joins Jake Query to discuss what the players for the Pacers are doing now that the season is over, debates with Jake on who should be the franchise’s representative at the NBA Draft lottery, discusses how big of a season this was for Andrew Nembhard and making him a bigger focus on the scouting report next season, and weighs in on what the Fever have done in free agency and the WNBA Draft. (2:01:57-2:10:35) – Earlier in the show, Barry Odom joined Jake Query and had a nice answer to Jake’s question about not getting frustrated with IU’s success with a coaching change and how Odom handled last season’s struggles. (2:19:01-2:25:35) – Jake Query issues an apology to women’s basketball fans because he had no idea at how dominant and talented the UCLA Bruins were in college basketball this season. JMV also joins Jake Query to preview his show!Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/query-and-company/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Thomas joins the morning program on 92.3 The Fan to announce his new local sports show, "The Fan Warmup," which will provide Cleveland sports coverage starting at 5:00 AM. They also analyze the Cleveland Cavaliers' playoff outlook and debate the importance of Donovan Mitchell's postseason performance.

Nic Barlage joins Ken and Anthony to discuss the Cavaliers' upcoming playoff run and the team's resilience through injuries. He also provides updates on Cleveland's future WNBA franchise and major development projects like Cosm along the riverfront.

Ken Carman and Anthony Lima analyze the national perception of Donovan Mitchell versus his status as a local hero in Cleveland. They discuss the mounting pressure on the Cavaliers to make a deep playoff run and highlight Evan Mobley's significant improvement since the All-Star break.

Nic Barlage joins Ken Carman and Anthony Lima to discuss the bright future of WNBA expansion and the massive development projects transforming Cleveland's riverfront. They also analyze why the NBA faces integrity concerns regarding tanking and look ahead to the pressure facing the Cavaliers in the playoffs. 21:59 - WNBA Expansion Debate 25:15 - Cleveland Gateway District Projects 30:40 - NBA Competitive Integrity 34:15 - Sports Media Landscape Evolution 38:15 - NBA Playoff Storylines 41:15 - Cavaliers Postseason Pressure

Ken and Lima analyze the immense pressure facing Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers as they head into the postseason. They are joined by Nick Barlage to discuss Cleveland's sports growth and address a controversial hypothetical regarding the Browns starting quarterback. This segment also features a major announcement regarding Jeff Thomas joining the station's morning lineup. 02:23 - Guardians Series Opener 10:45 - Likable Guardians Roster 19:40 - Cavs Playoff Pressure 30:30 - Mitchell's Career Crossroads 39:10 - Myles Garrett Trade Speculation 48:10 - Trading Franchise Icons 59:15 - Danny Cunningham Interview 01:08:15 - James Harden's Contribution 01:19:30 - WNBA Commissioner Discussion 01:27:50 - Jeff Thomas Show Announcement 01:38:50 - Nick Barlage In Studio 01:47:40 - Riverfront Development Projects 01:58:40 - NBA Load Management Concerns 02:09:45 - Mitchell's Playoff Track Record 02:18:40 - Mobley's Offensive Growth 02:27:20 - Quarterback Huddle Trust

Hello Ohio Mysteries Backroads listeners. In the quiet railroad town of Bellefontaine, crates of bananas once arrived daily—ordinary cargo masking an extraordinary and sinister story. In this episode, we dive into the shadowy world of the so-called “Society of the Banana,” a chilling chapter tied to the rise of the Black Hand in small-town Ohio. What seemed like a simple fruit business became entangled with whispers of extortion, secret threats, and violence carried over from the Old World into America's heartland. Through the lens of a brutal early 20th-century crime, we explore how immigrant communities were targeted, how coded warnings and fear spread through tight-knit neighborhoods, and how something as innocent as a shipment of bananas could conceal a much darker reality. Join us as we peel back the layers of this forgotten mystery—where commerce, crime, and culture collided in Bellefontaine, and where the reach of the Black Hand may have been closer than anyone dared to admit. You are invited to join me, your co-host Dan, for a fun discussion of your favorite Ohio Mysteries episodes on Thursday, April 16th at 7pm at the Music Box Supper Club at the Music Box Supper Club in Cleveland, Ohio. It's 100% free event and open to all ages. So come and say hello and get ready for a night of laughter, stories and fun. Click the link and I will see you there! https://musicboxcle.com/event/famous-mysteries/ Check out our Facebook page!: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558042082494¬if_id=1717202186351620¬if_t=page_user_activity&ref=notif⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Please check other podcast episodes like this at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.ohiomysteries.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dan hosts a Youtube Channel called: Ohio History and Haunts where he explores historical and dark places around Ohio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj5x1eJjHhfyV8fomkaVzsA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick Wilson and Jonathan Peterlin discuss Dianna Russini's decision to resign from The Athletic amid investigations into her conduct involving Mike Vrabel. They also explore the possibility of a Francisco Lindor reunion with the Guardians and the backlash Lindor has received from Mets fans during his early season struggles. 01:00 - Diana Russini Resigns 05:32 - Francisco Lindor Trade Rumors 08:42 - Guardians Fans On Lindor

A to Z Sports NFL Draft Analyst Joe DeLeone joins Afternoon Drive on The Fan. He talks about the Browns options with the No. 6 pick, the market for wide receivers in the draft, how the board will fall before Cleveland's on the clock, and more.

The MMQB's Albert Breer joins Afternoon Drive on The Fan. He talks about what he's hearing about the NFL Draft, the players that are commonly linked to the Browns with the sixth overall pick, Myles Garrett's future in Cleveland, and more.

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 5 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100 & 106.9

Zack Meisel and T.J. Zuppe discuss Cleveland dropping their first series of the season to Atlanta, chat about which players have done the most to confirm or change their outlook for the year so far, unlucky hitters, the rotation -- Joey Cantillo, Parker Messick and Tanner Bibee in particular -- and Angel Martinez's hard-hit increase.We hope you'll consider joining our exclusive Guardians community of fans in our Discord, you'll get an ADDITIONAL episode per week, all for supporting the show for $5 per month at Patreon.com/SelbyIsGodcastListeners get $20 off their first ticket purchase at SEATGEEK with the promo code: SELBY.

Ken Carman and Anthony Limacompare the social atmosphere of the NFL Draft to the Super Bowl before evaluating the Cleveland Cavaliers' postseason outlook. They analyze the pressure on Donovan Mitchell and Kobe Altman while addressing fan skepticism regarding a potential series against the Toronto Raptors. Callers weigh in on whether the Raptors' length and physicality pose a legitimate threat to Cleveland. 01:45 - Draft Vs Super Bowl 08:22 - Cavs Playoff Expectations 17:20 - Team Softness Labels 21:28 - Kobe Altman Pressure 23:35 - Raptors Upset Debate

Ken Carman and Anthony Lima break down news that Pittsburgh hotel occupancy for the NFL Draft is surprisingly low at just 60 percent. They compare Cleveland's history of hosting major events to Pittsburgh's struggles and question if the draft is a destination event for fans outside the local area. Anthony Lima shocks the crew by asserting he would choose a front-row seat at the draft over a ticket to the Super Bowl. 01:24 - Traffic Report 02:09 - Pittsburgh Draft Hotel Issues 07:27 - Draft vs Super Bowl Debate

Ken Carman and Anthony Lima analyze the mixture of skepticism and high expectations surrounding the Cavaliers as they prepare for the postseason. They contrast the team's path with the LeBron James era while examining if Cleveland fans are ready to embrace a deep playoff run.

Ken Carman and Anthony Lima explore rumors suggesting the Cleveland Browns could trade Myles Garrett after June following his contract restructuring. They are joined by Daryl Ruiter to discuss the likelihood of such a move and potential draft strategies involving players like Jeremiah Love and Caleb Downs. The conversation shifts to the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh and a heated debate over whether the draft is a better event to attend than the Super Bowl. 01:54 - Myles Garrett Trade Speculation 07:31 - Future Ramifications of Garrett Trade 18:00 - Daryl Ruiter on Browns Offense 24:05 - Browns Draft Strategy and Needs 33:35 - Pittsburgh NFL Draft Attendance Issues 39:40 - NFL Draft vs Super Bowl

From Gangster to Child of God with Brian Butler (Episode 290)   Disclaimer: This episode contains thematic material. Listener discretion advised.   2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Butler married his wife Pam in 2011. They have four children and eight grandchildren. Brian received his Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana State University in 2009. Arriving in Peoria, Illinois in 2009 Brian began his career working with the impoverished in his community as a Safety Net Monitor at The Salvation Army. He was afforded the opportunity to work with individuals in the community for four years providing case management assisting people to learn the value of work through work therapy and securing income and eventually housing. Brian was called to Peoria Rescue Ministries in 2014 and began his career there as the Assistant Director of the Rescue Mission. In 2018 Brian became the Program Director and in 2021 became the Director of Residential Ministries. In 2024 Peoria Rescue Ministries became Pathway Ministries. Coming from a former lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction Brian has been able to transform programs at Pathway Ministries that address the needs of the impoverished community he serves to create pathways out of poverty through Jesus with his neighbors in need. Pathway Ministries provides emergency shelter, residential programs, and community services with a focus on counseling, education, and work to help the men and women they serve make transformative changes in their lives. Pathway Ministries is a social enterprise organization and has a partnership with Caterpillar – they reclaim discarded wood and turn it into pallets, mulch for industrial and commercial use, and home décor. Their residents are employed in these businesses while participating in their program.    Pathway Ministries Website   Thank you to our sponsor for today's episode: Midwest Food Bank   Topics We Cover: Growing up in an abusive home Lifestyle choices leading to prison God's miraculous redemption and restoration   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 143 Prodigal Story: Sexuality, Drugs, and Scripture with Dr. Christopher Yuan   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:08)   Laura Dugger: (0:09 - 3:30) Hey friends! Thank you so much for joining us today. If you're watching this, you may notice that there's a unique screen that's going to pop up periodically.   So, here's the backstory. We delight in getting to do this work, and we do believe it's what God has called our team to do. And yet, we have a very present and active enemy.   And Satan has tried to thwart the progress of these podcast episodes in so many ways.  It's almost uncanny what will happen before a podcast recording. There's almost always something, yet it's different every time.   So, the way it showed up with this episode, first of all, when Brian and I tried to connect, somebody was working in our yard, and they accidentally cut our line for internet.  And so, we had to cancel that and reschedule. And then, when we got the episode rescheduled, Brian and I were chatting, and we haven't recorded.   We were just talking for a little while before the official interview began, and everything was great. And then, as soon as I said, “Welcome to The Savvy Sauce.” The screen went a little wavy, and something happened, and my audio quality was completely distorted. So, sorry for the lengthy explanation, but I wanted you to know how much work has gone into this episode.   So, if you ever have somebody that you want to thank, it should be Natalie, our editor, who had to go back and replace everything that I said to cover up the very convoluted form that was originally recorded. So, I hope it doesn't interrupt this episode or make it difficult for you to listen to, because Brian's story is so powerful, and I believe God has you here listening to this right now for a reason. So, please continue.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living.  I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   Today's episode includes some thematic material. I want you to be aware before you listen in the presence of little ears.   Thank you to an anonymous donor to Midwest Food Bank who paid the sponsorship fee in hopes of spreading awareness. Learn more about this non-profit organization at MidwestFoodBank.org.   Brian Butler is my outstanding guest for today, and he's going to take us on a very real journey with him from an extremely abusive childhood to a life of addictions and eventually to redemption and restoration all because of Jesus Christ. Brian's humility is so Christ-like, and I think that you're going to leave this conversation as a changed person. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Brian.   Brian Butler: (3:31 - 3:33) Thank you so much for having me here. I appreciate it.   Laura Dugger: (3:34 - 3:42) Well, I would just love to start backwards. Where did you grow up, and what was childhood like for you?   Brian Butler: (3:43 - 9:46) I grew up all over the place, really. I'd spent several years in Danville as a child, Hartsburg, Illinois, eventually settled down in southern Illinois in a little town called Bridgeport. My dad was a professor at a local college, and he ended up being a high school teacher.   Where I went to school, my mom and dad were continually in chaos with their marriage.  My dad had some severe mental health issues. He was a pretty rough guy to be around.    He was a chronic alcoholic. He was abusive, and I'll just say for this podcast, in every kind of way you can imagine how a little boy might be abused by his daddy, that was my dad. Yet, that was just our normal.   I didn't know if it was bad, if it was wrong, whatever. He was very verbally abusive to the whole family, him and my mom. I think my mother, the whole time growing up, was just trying to salvage her marriage and to save face with her family, so on and so forth.   It was a pretty rough childhood, but I want to say that in those moments, it was just the way it was.  We didn't know good from bad. That was still my dad.   I believe that in some weird way that he loved us and cared for us, but there were so many mental health and substance abuse issues with him and the perversion that he had in his life that just leaked over to my little brother and me.  It was a different relationship with my little brother. He was very abusive to my little brother.   My little brother had a lot of behavioral issues and rebellion issues.  I was more of the compliant, the good kid in school. I made the good grades.    I wanted to please my dad, and yet I hated him from the inside. I just couldn't stand him. I rebelled against him.    There were a lot of drugs and alcohol my parents were. My mother was not an abuser by any means. My mother was not an alcoholic by any means, but my mother went along with my dad.   My whole childhood evolved around parties. My dad was a pretty social guy. He was into politics and those kinds of things.   I was exposed to a lot of stuff at an early age. I can remember being seven, eight years old, going around in parties and just sipping whatever it was out of unknown glasses and enjoying the effect that it had on me as a little kid. I was a big fan of Billy Bear.   I didn't even know what Billy Bear was, but I was drinking Billy Bear. That's a Jimmy Carter beer, so that takes you back in the day. All the music that we listened to back in those days all evolved around afternoon delight and getting high in some kind of form or fashion.   That was just what I clung to as a little boy and as a young man.  I was a full-fledged blackout alcoholic by the time I was a sophomore in high school. I was drinking regularly.   I was able to fly under the radar pretty good because mom and dad were always in the middle of crisis. As long as I wasn't in a lot of trouble, that was easily hidden, even though it was really out in the light, if that makes any kind of sense. It was pretty rough.    Looking back on it, it was rough. In today's standards, we would have been taken away from our homes, and those kinds of things would have been exposed. We just didn't know.   That's just kind of the way it was, but it did lead me into a lifestyle.  I don't want to say they led me into it. I really chose to and clung to a lifestyle.   When I was a little boy, Laura, I grew up Catholic.  We went to parochial schools until I was in fourth grade. I can remember even now.    I loved God. I loved God. He was my refuge.    I didn't know what a refuge meant. I can just say it by language now. I can remember having my crucifix above my bed and I would pray.    I wanted to be a priest. I really did. By the time I got to about 10, 11, 12 years old, the things that had happened and the things that had occurred in my life and my behavior as well just led me to believe that if God was even real because I cried out to him a lot and it didn't seem like he was there.   If he was real, then he really didn't want anything to do with me anyway.  I became kind of anti-God, anti-rebellious. I was just a very rebellious young man.    I went to high school. I mean, I'm getting pretty good grades in high school. My dad was a high school teacher in the same high school I went to.    It was very tumultuous. You can imagine our house. There were split-ups and break-ups, this and that. My dad was a party guy. All the students loved him. I hated him for that.    He was separated from my mom. He was a cheater and a liar. There were a lot of things that bothered me.   After I graduated high school, I had a partial scholarship to go to Eastern Illinois University, but I showed my dad. I got in my little car and drove to Wyoming. That just became my lifestyle, drinking, drugging, roaming all around the country as a young man.    Then I eventually got married to a gal I met down in Kentucky. We had three children really fast. I would say that we got along about three times. That was Emily, Amy, and Mark. We were divorced after five years. Then I was just as a young man and a young adult, just wild and crazy.   Laura Dugger: (9:48 - 10:05) Wow. Brian, thank you for sharing a glimpse of your childhood and even into adulthood. Just for clarification then, when you did get divorced, did you stay in the same state or how did all of that work with your children?   Brian Butler: (10:08 - 16:52) Yeah. No. Like I said, when I was 18, I was out in California for a while.  I was in Wyoming for a while. I landed in Kentucky and met my first wife. We had three kids really fast, divorced after five years.   Then I always wanted to be in a relationship with my children. I don't know if there's anybody out there listening, but I was really stuck in an addictive lifestyle. I was alcohol and drugs, just crazy in it.    I still loved my kids. Now, people on the outside looking in would say, oh, he doesn't love his kids by his lifestyle, but I still love my kids. I paid child support, crying out loud.   I really did. My relationship with my ex-wife was so volatile that she would prevent me from seeing the kids. After several years, I just gave up.   I just didn't give up on the visits and so on and so forth.  I was in Tennessee for a few years. I was all around the country.   Eventually, in the late 90s, I did actually get temporary custody of my kids because my ex-wife had went off the rails bad.  I had my kids for about a year that they lived with me. That was a sweet time.   Once again, my alcoholism and drug addiction and the mom came back into play.  There were just so many issues there. That's when I really got into it.   After the kids went back to their mom, I got into hard drugs, really hard drugs.  I started manufacturing methamphetamine, so on and so forth. There was a time, I'll back this up.   With my childhood and everything that happened there with my dad, before I got divorced from my ex-wife, one of the pivotal moments, I believe, looking back on my life and what led me into just this trajectory of anger and malice and hating God and anything that was good was the moment that my dad called us all together for a family meeting because him and my mom were officially going to get divorced. I was like 21 years old, something like that.   My dad came to tell us that he was a homosexual and that he had been living a homosexual lie for his whole life and that this was the lifestyle that he was choosing. For me, at that age, everything prior to that moment in my life just became a lie. I can't begin to even put into words what that did to me inside because of the perversion that I've experienced with my dad.   My father had made several comments along the way that I was gay, that I was going to be a little queer, a little this and that. I wasn't, but the things that he had done, then you've wrestled with all that stuff. I just became so angry and so fueled with resentment that I really started on this trajectory with my drug and alcohol use that even though I still liked it, I don't want to remove that from it.    I liked being high. I liked being drunk. I enjoyed all the aspects of that lifestyle at the time.   I went at it in a much different way because I didn't really care anymore.  That's just from a looking back perspective. In the moment, I think I cared a lot about everything, but I just had really taken this perspective on in my personal life that nothing matters as much as it did.    It just really didn't matter. I was just going to keep moving forward and doing the things that I to the extreme. I was very extreme on everything.   If it was drinking, I'm going to drink more than you are. If it was smoking something, I'm going to smoke more than you are. If it was snorting, look at the schmoz.    That's just the way I lived my lifestyle. It really took on that trajectory in my adult life until the law started becoming an issue when I was in my 30s. After I'd had the kids for all my life, I tell folks, in those times, I was like a functioning zombie.   I was still getting high, still drinking, but golly, I was the dad that got up and had breakfast for the kids.  I was a strict disciplinarian. I was over the top on so many things.   I was abusive in some ways like my dad was, the way that I spoke to the kids, the way that I treated my children. I didn't certainly know sexual abuse or anything like that with my own children, but I was a really strict disciplinarian. I regret that now.   It's one of my biggest regrets ever, the way that I treated those kids. I tried to make a good life for about a year. Then when they went back to their mom, it just really, really flew apart my life.   It was me doing it. I was flying it apart. I just destroyed everything around me.   If you've cared about me, then that would make me hate you even more. Anyone that cared about me, I would get you to care about me, and then I would hate you for caring about me. It's crazy making stuff, but that's the way that I live my life.    I eventually was introduced to a fellow that knew how to manufacture methamphetamine. He taught me the method. Of course, being the extreme person that I am, I went all in.   I became a methamphetamine manufacturer and dealer and lived that lifestyle for quite some time. It's not like it is now where you're driving around in cornfields with a five-gallon bucket making methamphetamine or Mexican methamphetamine. I had a lab down in Southern Illinois, and I sold a lot of methamphetamines, which is disastrous to me now, but I really became an in-my-own-mind gangster kind of person.    It was a very violent lifestyle. It was very awful, certainly nothing that you would want to glorify, but that's just who I became. And I lived my life for a number of years, and it was disastrous.   Laura Dugger: (16:53 - 19:27) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Midwest Food Bank exists to provide industry-leading food relief to those in need while feeding them spiritually. They are a food charity with a desire to demonstrate God's love by providing help to those in need.   Unlike other parts of the world where there's not enough food, in America, the resources actually do exist. That's why food pantries and food banks like Midwest Food Bank are so important. The goods that they deliver to their agency partners help to supplement the food supply for families and individuals across our country, aiding those whose resources are beyond stretched.   Midwest Food Bank also supports people globally through their locations in Haiti and East Africa, which are some of the areas hardest hit by hunger arising from poverty. This ministry reaches millions of people every year, and thanks to the Lord's provision, 99% of every donation goes directly toward providing food to people in need. The remaining 1% of income is used for fundraising, costs of leadership, oversight, and other administrative expenses.   Donations, volunteers, and prayers are always appreciated for Midwest Food Bank. To learn more, visit midwestfoodbank.org or listen to episode 83 of The Savvy Sauce, where the founder, David Kieser, shares miracles of God that he's witnessed through this nonprofit organization. I hope you check them out today.   Well, I'm hearing all of this for the first time, and it's unimaginable what you were endured growing up, and my heart just aches to hear what happened and then hear the choices that were produced out of that and see where that lifestyle was leading you. But Brian, I just appreciate you for so many reasons, and one of those is for being transparent and vulnerable but also sharing the truth that there was some pleasure in it. You were enjoying it for a while, and the Bible does talk about pleasures of sin for a season, but we all know that that trajectory leads to death, even if it's death of relationships.   So, looking at your relationships at that time, were you still in contact with your mom or your brother or your dad throughout all of this?   Brian Butler: (19:28 - 21:37) No, not really. My brother, it's an interesting story. My brother had married a gal right out of high school.    He got born again. He became a Christian. So poor guy, I just tortured him my whole adult life.   I just made fun of him, and I called him weak, and he was a crutch, and we got in even physical fights over it a couple times, but we didn't have much of a relationship as you can imagine. I think that there were several times that we tried to reach out and be in contact, but it just didn't work due to my addictions and my alcoholism and his pride and all those other kinds of things. My mom held on to me for years.   I put my mother through, I tortured her. I was arrested seven times for driving under the influence. I had five DUI convictions.   I was in and out of trouble. I was always in the forefront of her mind, and I've experienced this with my own children after I came to Christ, continually worried that she wouldn't get the phone call that her son was dead, basically. The last two or three years of my being out there, I had no contact with my mom because she finally said, you're dead to me.   I'm done. You're not my son. I don't want to hear from you, and I was like, cool.   I don't care. You've been dead to me for 40 years, right? I blamed her for allowing things to happen.   It just wasn't true, right? I mean, it wasn't her fault at all of any of my childhood, and she was just trying to be a good mom and save her marriage, and she was being abused mentally and stuff that whole time. But you know how we are as sinful creatures.   I didn't want to take the blame on me because it wasn't my fault, so I was blaming everybody else around me. So, I didn't really have any solid relationships as far as family, anything like that goes while I was out there in my addiction. It all changed when I was arrested in 2003.   So that's a story.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 21:43) Are you willing to take us back to 2003 and share that story?   Brian Butler: (21:45 - 38:08) Yeah, yeah. So I was, like I said, I had become, you know, I was living a gangster life, so I was in the drug world, and I don't know if anybody knows anything about the drug world, but it's not like the movies. It's worse.    It's worse than they depict in movies. So, I was living that lifestyle for several years. I had a lot of money. I had a lot of guns. I had a lot of property. I had all the methamphetamine I could possibly use because I was manufacturing it.    I was selling more than I could possibly imagine. I was using more than that. I was king of the world is what I thought while everything around me was burning.    I was the king, if that makes any sense. And so that was the lifestyle that had led up to 2003. I'll never forget one time I had married another gal after my first wife and I had divorced several years later, and that was just a relationship based on lies and substance abuse.   So, it really wasn't a marriage at all, but I had been arrested in Vincennes, Indiana for dealing narcotics, and I had some other arrests down in Kentucky for dealing narcotics, and I made bail and all this. And so, what happened was in 2002, I went on the run. I still had my meth lab, and I was still selling lots of methamphetamine, but I had these warrants, and I was king of the world in my mind, and nobody was going to catch me, and I was going out like a gangster.    They were never going to take me alive, this fact. So, she went with me, which is great. She was crazy.    And we went on the run, and we just lived from casino to casino. I would make methamphetamine. I would sell $20,000 worth, and then we just kind of traveled around and lived that kind of lifestyle.    And I'll never forget one time down at the Casino Queen in St. Louis, Missouri. There's a casino down there. I just done a pretty big dope deal, and the casino was hot, and the air conditioning was down, and it was like 5 o'clock in the morning, and I just had to get out of there.   I just had to get away, and I got in my van and took a spin down in Belleville, Illinois, and I ended up in a cemetery on top of this cemetery, and it was looking down this great big hill. And I haven't been there since, but people from that area are like, yeah, I know that cemetery. I'm like, yeah, well, that's where I really had my Lieutenant Dan moment with God almost.    I sat on top of that. I was so, I can't explain it. I had lived my life in that addiction, loving that addiction, and loving getting high, loving drinking.   At that point in my life, I was still doing it. I hated myself, and I wanted to die, and I didn't like it so much anymore. I just wanted it to be over, and I kind of had it out with God.   I was drinking a fifth of whiskey, and I'm smoking methamphetamine. I'm a nine-millimeter pistol, and I'm putting it in my mouth. I was too much of a coward to pull the trigger, so that made me even more angry, and I thought for a moment that God might be real, and that there might be something worth living, but it was just a moment, and I kind of gathered myself together, and I went back to the casino, and just like as if nothing had happened, and just a few weeks later, I was arrested in Washington, Indiana.    I had made arrangements to see my kids. I had my kids for the weekend, which is crazy to think that I was in any kind of shape to be around my kids, but I was. I was always a functioning guy, and I was a gangster, so we had the kids for a weekend, and when the kids left the location I was at, my ex-wife called the police and told them where I was, and so that led into a great big chase, and there was all kinds of SWAT teams and all kinds of things.   I was holed up in a house at one point, and police were banging on the windows and trying to get in the house, and eventually they called on the telephone, and it just kept ringing and kept ringing and kept ringing.  I'm stuck in this house. I didn't have my guns.    I didn't have any drugs. I didn't have a cigarette, right, and the crazy thing about that whole thing is, I'll just back to the subject, so I'm in this chase, right, on foot from the police. I tried to pull a guy out of his pickup truck.   Of all things, God put this guy in the pickup truck. He was an off-duty police officer, and so I'm trying to carjack an off-duty police officer. He's having none of it.    I get away from him. I get in this. I'm running through a residential neighborhood trying to get any door open that I possibly could to get away from the police who were chasing me, and I made it to an open door, and I opened up that door, and it was an insurance company, and there were a bunch of little ladies sitting around computers in this room, and I was just like, hey, can I get a glass of water, and out there I am sweating profusely just in 10 o'clock in the morning with Harley Davidson boots, Hawaiian t-shirt, obviously in distress, and I scared these ladies to death, and I'm hearing them call the police anyway, and I just grabbed a glass of water and went out on that front porch, and some fella drove up in a pickup truck and got out of the truck to come in to do business with the insurance company, and I went and stole his truck, and I was able to get away and get to a safe spot.   I think it's safe because I'm only there for about three or four minutes, and the police show up all the way around that house, and so they're calling.  They're banging on the windows. We know it's you in there.   You need to come out, and eventually after about an hour or so of that, I did answer the phone, and the police officer said, I had a fake ID, and they were like, we know you're not Bill Berkshire.  We know that you're Brian Butler. You need to come out of that house.   You need to come out of there now, or we're going to come and get you, and I said, well, try it, because I'll kill the first three of you through the door. Now, they had already confiscated my fan and guns and all that kind of stuff, but they didn't know what I had. I didn't have anything.   There was a six-foot decorative simmer I swore on the wall that couldn't cut butter that I was arming myself with, and it took about another hour or two, and the SWAT team showed up, and they eventually got me out of that house. I was arrested and facing 120 years in the 20th century. I had multiple carjacking, dealing, manufacturing, every possible imaginable that you could possibly imagine of illegal substances.   I had those on me in my van and the property, and so there was the chase and all that happened, so they were unwilling to run any of those charges concurrent. They took four major charges and said, we're going to run a consecutive, and I was facing 120 years in prison. Honestly, when I was in jail, it was kind of like a relief in a way.    I was so angry. I was delusional. I really thought that the people who owed me money were going to break me out.    That's how delusional I was. They didn't, but that's where I had a moment, and I come back to my mom. I'd been in jail about a month, and what had happened was my mom came to the jail, and she didn't come there for a visit.   She came on a Saturday morning, and the police let her in, and she wanted to know if I would sign papers because I still had temporary custody of my children on paper and if my brother could have legal custody over my kids while all this was going on. Because my children, I'll back that up, my children were in Kentucky with their mom, my youngest daughter at that time. I was 14 years old, and she was using methamphetamine.    She was into alcohol. She wasn't being supervised. She was in abusive relationships with her mother's friends.   She was cutting herself because her daddy was going away forever. That was my daughter, and I loved her, and I was just taken aback that my brother would go down and rescue her. The whole story of how I came to Christ is all involved in this.   I'm kind of all over the place, but the Friday night prior to my mom showing up at the jail, back in those days in jail, there was no overcrowding in Indiana, and there were 16 of us in a six-man cell, and I had been in that jail for, like I said, three or four weeks, and on Friday nights, they would have the Gideons come in. Now, the only thing I knew about a Gideon was those Bibles that they put in hotels, and I was none too interested in any God talk. I didn't believe in that.   I just didn't want anything to do with that. As a matter of fact, I was mad about it, but after three or four weeks of being in there smelling nothing but feet and urine, I was willing to do anything for 15 minutes to get out of that cell, and so I agreed to go, and me and two other guys went up to a visitation booth, and there was a little fella in there, and he was very nice, but I couldn't tell you anything he said for the 15 minutes, nothing.    I wasn't paying attention. I was just sitting there looking around, just glad to be out of that cell, but at the end of that 15 minutes, he knocked on the window, and he pointed at me. He said, can I pray for you, and I said, hell no, you can't pray for me.   I don't want your prayers. I'm not here for your prayer, and whatever language it was, I was very vile. I said, but if you want to pray for something, you think that God of yours is listening, you pray for my daughter, and I kind of told her a little bit about what's going on with my kid.   I said, and so you pray for her, and he did, and I can't tell you what he prayed because I really wasn't listening, but it was nice, and I remember that night going back to my cell, and with my Catholic upbringing and everything that had happened, I think I probably said a little prayer myself that night to this God that I didn't believe in, and then a week later, my mom shows up telling me that my brother in Cleveland, Ohio, born again Christian, that the very night that this guy was praying, my brother and his wife decided to come down to Vincent's, Indiana, and they got my mom, and they drove to Owensburg, Kentucky, and literally kidnapped my daughter and took her back to live with them, and I wasn't, I was just kind of in a haze.   I wasn't putting all that together in the moment, and like I said, mom wasn't there for a visit, and I was just like Mark, would you do that for me?  He went and got Amy. I just couldn't believe it, and she's like, yes, I just need you to sign the paper so I can get out of here, and so I did, and that night, I was back in that jail cell, and all those lights were off, and man, the Holy Spirit of God fell on me, and he told me he was real, and to the best of my ability, I confessed my sins.    I repented for my sins. I was just, I just spent the whole night as a 40-year-old gangster, blubber, and idiot in a jail cell just crying about everything, just about my dad, about my lifestyle. I missed my kids.   It just came crashing down on me, and I believe that that was the night that I was truly born again. I believe that God had his hand on me before the foundation of the world. He knew me, and that he loved me, and he chose me, and that I loved him as a little boy, and for whatever happened in my life that I chose to ignore him and run away from him and hate him, but through his mercy and grace and through even facing 120 years in the penitentiary that he saved me, and I believe that night that I got saved, and I just told him, I know we're not supposed to make a deal with God, but it was just kind of like, man, I believe you're real. I don't know anything about you.   I don't know what, you know, my Catholic brother, I don't know if Mary has anything to do with this. I don't know nothing about you, but I believe you're real, and I'll do anything you tell me for the rest of my life if you just take this taste out of my mouth. I just don't want this addiction. I don't want all this crap anymore, and in that moment, he did.   I really believe that he took that away from me, and I've been following him kind of ever since. The next morning when they opened up the cell, we went out to the day room.  I'll never forget. There was a Bible there. Now, that Bible's been there the whole time, but it's the first time I see the Bible, and I kind of, you know, I'm still struggling.   I've been up all night, and I'm kind of wiped out anyway, drinking instant coffee and, you know, having a God experience, and there's a Bible, and I pick up this Bible, and it was in Romans chapter five. I'll never get it, and I'll just paraphrase, but I remember reading the verses that having been justified by faith, and it just kind of hit me that I wish I really believed God was real, and I don't know what that means, and I don't know anything about it, but I went on to read that I was no longer his enemy and that I could have peace with him and that he was going to give me good character and that I could persevere. It didn't matter what I had in front of me, so it was just God speaking to me in those moments that I'm going to be with you through all this, and it was just a wonderful, life-changing experience. It didn't, you know, sanctification takes a long time.   I still was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was a miracle, right? I was facing 120, and there it was nothing that I had done prior to my conversion. I had been in front of a judge, and I had a $1 million full cash bond.   I was in front of the judge, and I'm like, I want a bond reduction. The judge is like; you're telling me you're going to pay $100,000 to get out of jail. I said, angrily, you could reduce my bond, and he said, denied.   We're not going to do that, and that was the last time I really talked to a judge or an attorney, and I sat in jail for six or seven months, and this attorney that was appointed to me after the one that I fired, he came to me one time and said, hey, they're willing to give you a 15-year sentence in prison if that's what you want to do, and I said, okay.  I wasn't concerned about prison. I wasn't concerned.   I just wanted to do what the Lord wanted me to, and that's been my whole life since.  People will ask me about prison. It was horrible, as you can imagine.    I was in the state of Indiana. There were no separation of offenders at that time. I was in a medium-max facility, so I was doing time with guys who were doing life, which were the best guys to do it with because they were just doing life, and then little gangbangers from Indianapolis.   It was a terrible affair. Every kind of drug possible, every kind of perversion possible was there, but it's where I met Jesus, and it's where I learned to follow Christ, and I had a godly man come alongside of me in the prison, Pastor Woodcocks, who just assigned my guy, and he helped me to work through so many things and to be a man of truth and integrity and all the different things that he taught me, so while I look back at that, and I say, yeah, prison sucked.   It was awful, and I never want to go back again in that capacity, but it's where I learned to follow Christ, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I wouldn't trade that time for anything. I needed every ounce of that time to become closer to him and to be less about me, and then I got out of prison in 2009.   It was a shock probation here to Peoria, Illinois, where my oldest daughter was at that time, and I moved in with her.  She's been following Jesus ever since. It's not been an easy road, right?   It's not been being a convicted felon and having all those things, but God does, if he is for us, who can be against us, right?  He has really, really, really been by my side. There's been so many things that have happened.   I could go on for hours and hours and hours, but that's how I came to Jesus and where I got to know Jesus and where I really solidified my relationship with, I believe, and he's saved.   Laura Dugger: (38:10 - 38:55) What an incredible journey he took you on.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month.  Enjoy.   So, then Brian, as a freed man at that point, once you were out of prison, how did you eventually find your way to what is now Pathway Ministries?   Brian Butler: (38:57 - 45:56) It's been a wild ride. I got out of prison thinking I was going to be a prison minister and there was going to be all kinds of things that were going to happen. You kind of buy into that prosperity stuff while I was locked up.   I really thought that there were big things in store. After I was out of prison for about three months, it was 2009, and so the economy in Peoria was really bad. The cap shut down.    Places weren't hiring. I couldn't find a job anywhere. I remember going to Kroger in Madison Park.   If anybody remembers Madison Park Kroger in Peoria, it was a really rough part of town.  They were banging out in the parking lot. I'm here.   I called the manager and he said set up a time for an interview.  I went to the interview, and I took him my resume. They taught us in the penitentiary and in classes.   I got a bachelor's degree in prison, by the way. I filled out my resume, and I filled the time up in my resume with the prison ministry I was involved in. Just so you don't have that slack of time.   The manager said, oh, I see that you were in a prison ministry. Man, that's amazing. Did they let you in there every day?    Well, I lived there. I was in prison at that time. This is what I was doing while I was in prison.   His words to me shook me to the core because he handed me back that resume and he said, “We don't hire your kind here.” I'm telling you, after all the disappointment I have for two or three months of not being able to find a job and rejection after rejection, I walked out in the parking lot. My daughter took me back to her house and I remember sitting on the end of her bed.   I'm not a crier, really, but at that time I think I might have been crying a little bit. She was bawling and I was just like, “Just take me down to the shelter. I don't want to be any more of a burden to this family. Please, I got to go.”   She's like, “Don't give up, dad, don't give up.” I'm like, “I'll give it up, oh God, I just don't want to be a burden.”    She said, “Just wait, just wait, just give it a little more time.” I agreed to do that. That week, through the grapevine, one of the friends of a guy that she went to church with, John McCormick, at McCormick Auto Place in Belleville, Illinois, called and said, “Hey, I heard through the grapevine you're having a hard time getting a job. I need somebody washing cars.”   That was a far cry from, you know, I'm a 46-year-old man and I'd walk around with briefcases full of money. It was a humbling experience, but I went to work for John, and he ended up, you know, as a Christian, he was just a Christ follower.    He accepted me into his family. I went from 10 hours a week to part-time. I eventually got a part-time job at the Salvation Army.    They called me. It was one of the first places I put in a resume. Paul Cousin called me from the Salvation Army.   He's like, “Hey, I don't know why we never saw your resume before, but we need help. Would you like to come to work at the safety net working with homeless guys?” I'm thinking, well, you know, I've been homeless, so sure.   And I went down there and I started working there.  And so eventually that turned into a full-time job at the Salvation Army. And I stayed working washing cars.    I washed cars for 12 years with John. He's just so great. He's one of the greatest Christian dudes you ever met.    He just, he was so vital in my Christian walk in my life. But I was at the Salvation Army. I was running, believe it or not, the lead case manager of Drop-In Center for the Homeless.    And I had conversations with Peoria Rescue Mission at that time, Peoria Rescue Ministries. Now, I'd never been there. I thought they were religious zealots.    You know, it was everything. It was so religious that the guys couldn't be there. But I did know that they did not allow drugs or alcohol.   And so, when I would meet a man that was struggling with addiction and they wanted to get out of them, I would call and talk to Lee and say, “Hey, listen, I got a guy I think would be good for your fit. Can I send him down there?” And so, we kind of built this bond.    Lee and I had this relationship over the phone. I'd never met the guy ever. Back in those days, Lee was really into sending those funny little emails.   You know, they always have a little cartoon or a little message. You know, the email knows that when you're really busy at work, you kind of start deleting after a while. And one day he sent me an email, and it said, “Are you interested?”    And for some reason, I opened it. And I know the reason is God. And he said that they had a position as the assistant director of the rescue mission, but I'd be interested in coming down and applying for the job.    And I went down and met with Lee. And one thing led to another. My wife, Pam, who I'm married to now, I consider my wife.   I can't believe that I'm married to somebody who loves God. Now, I know we're supposed to stay the way that we are, biblically a single and all these things scripturally as we come to Christ to stay that way. But this is my first marriage.    This is my marriage. In Christ, we're in marriage. She is the most wonderful. She's my gift that God just kind of gave me to care for and to nurture and to love her the way that I should.  But she really encouraged me. At the time of the Salvation Army, we were HUD funded.    I couldn't openly share my faith. I always had to take back doors to it. And she's like, this is what you've always prayed for.    They'll let you do that there, take the job. And so, I did. And that's how I came on at Peoria Rescue Ministries.    Eventually it became Pathway Ministries. I just kind of worked as Mr. Rokey, came on board in 2016. And then in 2018, we're really trying to do some things back there.   And from the way we used to do them, meeting people in crisis, I had a lot of good ideas.  And John had a lot of great ideas. And we're on the same page.    And he asked me to be program director. And I'm like, well, I'd love to, if I can write a program. And so, he just gave me free reign.   And then now I'm the director of residential ministries at Pathway Ministries. Just being able to allow God to blow that whole thing up. And he has to meet people just like me, just like so many other sons and daughters out there that need to have a God block put in front of them while they're in their crisis.    And so, it's just been a beautiful thing. And I just praise God for all the leadership and just what we've been able to do. And that's how I came to Pathway Ministries.    Just being able to do God's work there. It's incredible. It's crazy.   Putting it in a nutshell is really hard because there's been so many things that the Lord has done personally and through the ministry. It has just been incredible, the path that he's had me.   Laura Dugger: (45:57 - 46:35) You do such an amazing work there, and it is a worthy ministry to support. We'll definitely put links in the show notes for today's episode for Pathway Ministries. And that's a whole other conversation to talk about the miracles witnessed there.   But just to go back and close a few loops, I'm sorry, I'm going to throw a few things at you.  So, when did Pam come into the picture? And what's a current snapshot of your life with your children now?   And what did forgiveness look like with your family of origin?   Brian Butler: (46:37 - 52:04) Yeah, so my father passed away while I was in prison. It was an amazing story with my dad. He met me in prison and wanted to meet with me.   And I hadn't seen my father in years, and he came to the prison lot. I had worked through the forgiveness of my dad, I think, before we met, but he came to ask my forgiveness. And I'll never forget, he said, Brian, I made the wrong choice.    My whole life, I've made the wrong choices. And I'm just really sorry. And so, it was a sweet moment with me and him.   I'm not saying that we had a, you know, it wasn't like we're father, son kind of stuff.  But when he passed away, there's no false guilt. There's no guilt.    There's nothing I'm trusting. He even actually became a minister of the Catholic Church in the place that he lived. And I believe that he came to faith in Christ and Christ alone.   So, it was really something to see that transformation in my dad, even though he was, you know, he saw a lot of stuff. But I truly believe that the father entered his heart. My mom, shortly after I was incarcerated, after that experience at the jail, started to come around a little bit and supported me.   You know, and I think the biggest thing that helped me in or helped our relationship in the prison was I didn't ask for things. When I was able to talk to my mother, I was able to say, how are you? And just kind of relieve her of the burden.   It was bad enough that her son was in prison. It was bad enough that she had to see her son on the evening news and everything that I put her through. I just wanted to mend that and just to comfort my mom and just love my mom the best possible.    So, our relationship really grew through those days. And it's so amazing. So, here's a woman that said, you're dead to me, and I don't want around anymore.    In 2019, my mom and stepdad have been since Indiana, and they're aging now. They're in their early 80s. But in 2019, we had a family conversation, and she wanted to move to Peoria, Illinois, so that my wife and I could take care of her and him in their old age.    So, they lived two miles away from us, and we were able to meet my mom. It's crazy. And just to be able to be in a relationship with her and to be able to care for her, getting ready to take a trip down to Kentucky to see her sister, and all that entails.   So, it's just been a wonderful blessing for a relationship. My mom knows God's real because he's changed me and my children. While I didn't beat them over the head with the Bible, they know that God is real because they've seen him work in me.   They've all struggled with addiction and all those kinds of things. But I'm happy to say that all three of them are clean and sober. Right now, my son followed in my footsteps.    Unfortunately, he grew up, even though I wasn't there. I was divorced from his mother when he was two years old. But he always looked to me, and he always saw the tough guy and the gangster.   And I think that's what he really wanted to be. He ended up getting a prison sentence, and he spent 13 years in prison. And he is getting out in February.    So that's encouraging. But all three of them are clean and sober, and those relationships have been restored. Pam and I, you can imagine, Pam had no idea about addiction or lifestyle or gangsters.   So I am completely off the rails, foreign to her.  But she tells me all the time, she doesn't know that old guy. All she knows is me.   And she can hear stories, and she can hear testimonies. And of course, my mom is very open to share anything at a family dinner about Brian, which I'm like, please, mom, don't talk. But she hears those stories, and she just says, I don't know that man.    I don't know who that was. This is the man I'm married to. And so, it's just, we have a wonderful relationship.    She's my biggest supporter, my biggest fan. We pray together. We love the Lord together.  It's really something. I'm not saying that we haven't had a lot of hurt because my kids have been in addiction. I'm saying it hasn't been really, really hard.   But through those sufferings, that's how Jesus makes it more like him, through those sufferings and through those hard times.  And he's given me an avenue personally to be able to help others. So, I love that scripture.    It gives us this comfort. We needed the comfort so that one day you can comfort others with that same kind of comfort. So, he's enabled me to be in a position where I can comfort other folks in addiction and build great teams here at Pathway that are ministering to the folks that we serve in a meaningful way for the Lord.    And then I've been able to serve my wife. I've been able to serve her and that's what I want to do.   Laura Dugger: (52:05 - 52:31) Oh, it is evident to see you two at church and see you two holding hands and just your gentle way of interacting with each other is even a testimony. So how incredible that God has restored so much that was broken. And even going back to your brother Mark, was he rejoicing to hear you were now walking with Jesus as your Lord and Savior?   Brian Butler: (52:32 - 54:07) Yeah, well, at first it was kind of like the prodigal son story, and he was the big brother rather than me. I think at first there was a lot of, and rightfully so, I was no good. And so, I had the hearing officer tell me one time in Springfield Illinois when I was trying to get my driver's license back, which was another God story.    And I have a driver's license after five DUIs. I had that hearing officer tell me, even though I had been clean and sober for seven years, he said, you know, talk is cheap. He said, walking it is different.   So, you come back and see me in a year and when you've walked it, then we'll have a talk about giving you a driver's license. And I've always kind of stored that in my heart with my relationship with my brother. And now after my brother has seen me walk it, we have a pretty good relationship.    We're in cahoots because I'm taking care of mom. And so, we have a pretty good relationship there. Yeah, so it's been really a miracle.    Miracles of what has happened in relationships. Now some relationships that I've had, even with family members, you know, hey, that Brian Butler is still nothing but a no-good dope dealing maniac. And we're, you know, we're done.    And that's okay. That's God's job. My job is to keep walking the walk and talking the talk and sticking close to him and not letting anything get in the way of that and doing whatever I can to restore relationships and then let God do the rest.    And so, it's been, it's hard, but good. Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (54:08 - 54:22) You are a new creation. And Brian, I know you could continue teaching us so many things. Is there any encouragement you want to share before our conversation comes to a close?   Brian Butler: (54:23 - 56:46) Yeah, I would just say if you're, I had some, when I was going through it with my daughter, I had a lot of good counselors around me.  And then I got some advice that I didn't follow. And I'm so glad that I didn't.   I certainly think that if when we meet people that are in living destructive lifestyles, or you have a child in addiction and alcoholism, and they are just burning everything down around you, absolutely to set up boundaries and to limit communication to where they're draining you to death.  But if they're still breathing, then there's still hope. And we should never forget that there's hope and that God is so much bigger, and we can trust him with them more than what we can do with them.   I struggled for years with my daughter in addiction and being up in the middle of the night, just waiting on a phone call and praying and pleading and even thinking, Lord, it would be better if she was just gone.  If you just took her, would you? It's so harrowing.   But I never cut off communication completely because when she came out of the pig pen, I'm going to run. Now there were several runs that I made that, you know, she wasn't really out of the pig pen, but I don't regret that. And my daughter will say to a lot of folks, even though inside I kind of gave up in certain times, but I didn't make the life to end.    And she'll say, my dad never gave up on me. My dad was always there for me. And so, I just want to encourage people, if they're breathing, there's still hope and you can still put up boundaries and be strong and not give in and not give money and not do all those things, but there's still hope and our hope was in Christ.   And then we can hope that he does that work and that he'll do that work in us as we're hoping him to do it in others. So that's what I would just leave with folks that are really going through it because I've been through it. I've put people through it.   It's a tangled web and there's a whole lot, but you need to be around people that are going to love you and care for you and come around to you. You need to tell the truth to other people so that you don't hide it because it will destroy you.   Laura Dugger: (56:47 - 57:22) That's so good, Brian. How special to have her daddy never give up on her. And it reflects that greater truth that our heavenly father never gives up on any of us.  And he died for us even while we were still sinners. Thank you for sharing that.   And you may be familiar that we are called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for you today, Brian, what is your savvy sauce?   Brian Butler: (57:24 - 58:36) I would say my savvy sauce is living in a daytight compartment, living this life one moment at a time, one day at a time, certainly making plans for the future, certainly living that life out. But I'm going to do what the Lord wants me to do right now. And then what he wants me to do next and what he wants me to do after that.    But just really staying in that daytight compartment. You know, I teach our students all the time at Pathway Ministries, really when we come to faith, this is really simplistic, but after we come to faith in the Lord Jesus, it really is about doing the next little right thing. And then the next little right thing after that, and the next little right thing after that.   And no one does the next little right thing all the time. But when you don't do the next little right thing, you get up and do the next little right thing. Understanding that sometimes doing the next little right thing might be the hardest thing you've ever done in your life.   And so, if we stay in that daytime compartment with Jesus, he'll help us through that next little right thing.  And so that's my savvy. So, I was just staying in the moment and doing the next little right thing.   Laura Dugger: (58:37 - 59:08) Oh, I love that so much. Ryan, you are an admirable man who walks the walk, and God has gifted you with such passion and such a compelling story. So, thank you for continuing to faithfully obey him.   You are certainly shining in our community and faithfully serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, thank you for being my guest.   Brian Butler: (59:09 - 59:11) Thank you so much, Laura Dugger. We love you.   Laura Dugger: (59:11 - 1:02:28) We love you, too.   One more thing before you go, have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you, but it starts with the bad news.    Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.    We need a savior, but God loved us so much. He made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.    That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life. We could never live and died in our place for our sin.    This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished. If we choose to receive what he has done for us, Romans 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    So, you pray with me now. Heavenly father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you.    Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life? We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus name we pray.   Amen. If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me. So, me for him, you get the opportunity to live your life for him.    And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you're ready to get started.    First, tell someone, say it out loud, get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes and Noble and let me choose my own Bible. I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it.    You can start by reading the book of John. Also get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you.    We want to celebrate with you too. So, feel free to leave a comment for us here. If you did make a decision to follow Christ, we also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.    And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “in the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.    And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Nick Wilson and Jonathan Peterlin discuss the immense pressure on the Cleveland Cavaliers as they enter the playoffs. They also address the narrative surrounding James Harden's postseason history and Donovan Mitchell's stated goal of bringing a championship to Cleveland. 01:00 - Pressure on Evan Mobley 02:24 - James Harden Comparison 04:53 - Mitchell's Playoff Legacy 06:50 - Mitchell's Title Aspirations

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100

Listen to Cleveland's Morning News with Wills and Snyder weekdays from 6 to 10 am on Newsradio WTAM 1100 & 106.9

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Arsenio Hall grew up in Cleveland dreaming of being the next Johnny Carson – kind of. “I wanted to do this show that didn't exist when I was a kid, and I knew the talent was out there.” Hall spoke with Tonya Mosley about his groundbreaking talk show, ‘The Arsenio Hall Show,' and why he decided to end it, despite its massive success.  Before he was a comic, producer and the “roastmaster,” Jeff Ross was a kid growing up in his family's kosher catering hall in New Jersey, serving weddings and bar mitzvahs. “My bar mitzvah was like something between a Super Bowl halftime show and like something Saddam Hussein would throw for one of his kids,” he tells Terry Gross. Ross shows his more vulnerable, introspective side in his new Netflix comedy special, ‘Take a Banana for the Ride.' To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Two cities in one! Cleveland and Pittsburgh brought out the fun with Gandolfs Dad, Jennifer the manufacturing queen, Amish, recently divorced guys and Pineapple drinks that make you taste, um, mmkay, we'll keep it right here. Oh, and what is Slipper Rock? And why do they make up jobs there? Like, Subscribe, and keep coming back for more! Tickets for the "Who Is Me" tour and merch available at ⁠adamraycomedy.com⁠ Tour dates! April 17th - Chesterfield, MO April 18th - Denver, CO April 28th - New York, NY April 29th - Troy, NY April 30th - Peekskill, NY May 1st - New York, NY May 5th - Los Angeles May 12th - Seattle, WA May 16th - Napa, CA June 4th-6th - Eugene, OR June 15th & 16th - Brisbane City, AU June 17th - Sydney, NSW June 23rd - Melbourne, VIC Dr. Phil Live! June 18th - Sydney, NSW June 20th - Brisbane, QLD June 21st - Melbourne, VICThis Episode's Sponsor HomeChef! 50% off and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Homechef.com/ALN⁠⁠⁠⁠ Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ralph welcomes Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at Fairplay to tell us about how a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for harming children's mental health and safety, violating state law. Then when present highlights from last week's symposium on impeachment, featuring Dennis Kucinich, CIA whistleblower, Jeffrey Sterling, Public Citizen co-president, Rob Weissman, GW law dean Alan Morrison and many more.Haley Hinkle is policy counsel at Fairplay, where she advocates for laws and regulations that protect children and teens' autonomy and safety online. Ms. Hinkle has also worked on issues at the intersection of government surveillance technology and civil liberties.We saw a lot of that in the discovery for these cases and other lawsuits that are currently being brought against the companies—that they have a lot of internal research where they're very specific with their features. And also their safety features. They test them to make sure safety features aren't too effective. They don't reduce too much screen time. And this is completely overwhelming for young brains. And it's completely overwhelming for families that are trying to make the choice between protecting their children and isolating them from the virtual spaces where all of their friends and classmates are gathering. And so it's not straightforward. And in many cases, the parental controls or settings that may give a family some semblance of control are not usually very effective.Haley HinkleI think if juries continue to make such resounding decisions on behalf of families, that's maybe going to motivate these companies to try to find ways to avoid further jury trials and to settle. But all of this raises the fact that as these processes continue (and they're so important), we can't wait for lawmakers to do their part to also step in and act and try to get some strong rules of the road in place to fill the void that has created this situation.Haley HinkleWe're in a moment right now where we have to decide who we are as a people—not who the President is. We already have an estimation of that. The question is who we are. Because, with few exceptions, almost each and every statement the President has made in the last month has been an impeachable offense. He is a walking, talking impeachment machine.Dennis KucinichLet me remind everybody watching this and this panel that this entire Congress is complicit in every crime of this administration for letting Donald Trump pass that threshold into his illegal presidency by not upholding Section 3 of the 14th Amendment on January 6, 2025. I am preaching to the choir if I tell this audience that we have passed so many thresholds when accountability should have happened, when somebody's foot should have been put down, and this should have stopped. This obscene, lawless war launched by a draft dodging pedophile domestic terrorist in concert with an international war criminal…Generations are going to be looking back to this moment to see what those people, those men and women (Democrats and Republicans in that body, but at the end of the day, human beings with moral compasses somewhere deep within themselves) were doing when American democracy was being burned to the ground.Jessica Denson, founder of the Removal CoalitionNews 4/10/26* This week, many felt that the U.S. came as close to a nuclear conflagration as it has since the Cuban Missile Crisis, as President Trump whipsawed between vowing that Iran's “'whole civilization will die” and striking peace deals with the Islamic Republic. Ultimately, the U.S., Iran and Israel all signed a two-week cease-fire agreement, mediated by Pakistan, including a provision that Iran will “allow oil, gas and other vessels to proceed unmolested” through the Strait of Hormuz, per the New York Times. However, this is just a cease-fire – not a peace treaty – and is being immediately pushed to the brink as Israel continues their ongoing, devastating assault on Lebanon. The Guardian reports that both Iran and Pakistan view Lebanon as included within the deal, while Israel maintains that it is a separate matter. In retaliation, Iran is now demanding tolls as high as $2 million per ship to pass through the Strait. With Israel showing little interest in acceding to a ceasefire in Lebanon, it seems unlikely this crisis will be resolved swiftly.* In the lead up to Trump's address Tuesday night, a large number of Democrats came out publicly in favor of Trump's removal via the 25th amendment, or failing that, a new congressional impeachment effort. According to Axios, this group includes both progressives like AOC, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as well as more moderate members, including even Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Some Democratic Senators, including Senators Ed Markey and Ron Wyden also signaled their support. Perhaps most strikingly, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called for Trump to be removed through an invocation of the 25th amendment, though she stopped short of calling for impeachment. This all coincided with Congressman John Larson introducing a new set of 13 articles of impeachment – that he may soon force a vote on under House Rule IX – and the legal symposium on impeachment organized by our own Ralph Nader and friend of the show Bruce Fein, available on C-SPAN.* Leading the moral opposition to the Iran war meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV – the first American Pope – has come out in opposition, telling journalists that “all people of goodwill” should “always search for peace and not violence… [and] reject war,” emphasizing that many have called this war “unjust” and that it is ”continuing to escalate and…not resolving anything.” Pope Leo stressed that “the innocent: children, the elderly, the sick…will become victims of this continued warfare.” The pontiff even went so far as to conclude with a call for political action, urging the people of the world “to contact the authorities—political leaders, congressmen—to ask them, to tell them, to work for peace and to reject war and violence.” This from Vatican News.* However, this is just the latest flashpoint between Pope Leo and the Trump administration. Administration officials were already irate with the Vatican earlier this week, following Pope Leo's statements on Easter Sunday, when he called for world leaders to give up their “desire to dominate others” and “the imperialist occupation of the world.” In response, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby – grandson of former CIA Director William Colby – reportedly told Vatican officials that “America has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world,””and “The Catholic Church had better take its side.” They also reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy, implying that the United States could sponsor an heretical anti-pope as an alternative for rightwing Catholics. This exchange was apparently so shocking that Vatican officials canceled a planned American visit by the first American Pope. This from Newsweek.* Another deeply immoral story comes to us from Michigan, where the Detroit News reports Danhao Wang – a Chinese electrical and computer engineering research assistant at the University of Michigan – has died after falling from an upper level of the George G. Brown Building. According to this report, the university's police department is investigating this incident as a “possible act of self harm,” but Chinese authorities are demanding an investigation into his death, noting that it came on the heels of Wang enduring “hostile questioning” by federal law enforcement. This tragedy has occurred within the context of a Trump administration-led “crackdown” on foreign influence at U.S. universities. The Chinese Consulate in Chicago meanwhile put out a public statement decrying that “For some time now, the U.S. has overstretched the concept of national security for political manipulation and groundlessly interrogated and harassed Chinese students and scholars,” like Wang, implying some role in his death, while simultaneously “infring[ing] on Chinese citizens' legitimate and lawful rights and interests, poison[ing] the atmosphere of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the U.S., and creat[ing] a serious chilling effect.” The Consulate is also demanding that law enforcement “carry out a full investigation, give the family of the victim and the Chinese side a responsible explanation, stop any discriminatory law enforcement targeting Chinese students and scholars in the U.S., and stop imposing wrongful convictions.”* Elsewhere in the midwest, Republican lawmakers in Ohio are taking first steps to do something about the out of control sports gambling epidemic. These legislators have introduced two bills, one designed to ban in-game gambling, parlay and prop bets and wagers on all college athletics and a second bill which would prohibit the “use of credit cards to make bets…[limit] bets to $100 and only [allow] up to eight wagers per 24 hour [period].” It would also ban ads during events broadcast live. However, the number one biggest rule these laws would impose would be banning online sports gambling period. Republican State Rep. Gary Click is quoted saying “[We're] going to put some common sense consumer protections in place to protect Ohio citizens.” Yet, this report also notes a huge loophole in these bills: they would not apply to prediction markets like Polymarket or Kalshi, just pure sportsbooks. This from ABC News 5 Cleveland.* Turning back to foreign affairs, French authorities have arrested Rima Hassan, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Jean-luc Mélenchon left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party. The charge? According to Al Jazeera, suspicion of “apology for terrorism” for a post that referenced Kozo Okamoto, a participant in the deadly attack at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport in 1972. However, Hassan's allies in the LFI see this as a thinly veiled attempt to silence pro-Palestine voices. Sophia Chikirou, an LFI MP said “The French police and justice system are being used to intimidate those who support the Palestinian people,” while Mélenchon himself wrote “So there is no longer parliamentary immunity in France. Intolerable.” Mathilde Panot, an MP and head of the LFI delegation in the National Assembly, said “the criminalisation of political opponents has reached a new level,” under President Emmanuel Macron and demanded that “This relentless attack, trampling on the most fundamental rights, must end immediately.”* Our final stories this week cover Latin America. First, a delegation of American members of Congress, including Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Congressman Jonathan Jackson, visited Cuba in an attempt to see “firsthand the devastation and suffering caused by the U.S. blockade of fuel,” according to Jayapal. In their joint statement, Jayapal and Jackson wrote that they met with “families, religious leaders, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations, the Cuban government, Latin American and African ambassadors, humanitarian aid organizations, and Cubans across the political spectrum, including dissidents,” all of whom demanded an end to the blockade. Further, they wrote that they witnessed “premature babies in incubators, weighing just two pounds, who are at tremendous risk because their ventilators and incubators cannot function without electricity. Children cannot attend school because there is no fuel for them or their teachers to travel. Cancer patients cannot receive lifesaving treatments because of lack of medications. There is a water shortage because there is little electricity to pump water. Businesses have closed. Families cannot keep food refrigerated, and food production on the island has dropped to just 10 percent of the people's needs.” They concluded by calling for “real negotiations” between both countries. Sadly, it is unlikely that those will come after such a long, acrimonious relationship since the 1959 revolution.* Next, in Venezuela, NPR reports that the Office of Foreign Assets Control – a division of the Treasury Department – has lifted sanctions on acting President Delcy Rodríguez. NPR notes that this sanctions relief “allows Rodríguez to more freely work with U.S. companies and investors.” In a statement on the platform Telegram, Rodríguez wrote “We value President Donald Trump's decision as a step toward normalizing and strengthening relations between our countries...We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of current sanctions against our country, enabling us to build and guarantee an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our people.” Yet, her presidency rests on shaky legal grounds. While the Trump administration recognizes her as the “sole Head of State” the Venezuelan political system still recognizes Nicolás Maduro as the rightful president and Rodríguez as acting president for just 90 days – a window that is ending as we record this segment – though the National Assembly, presided over by her brother, can extend her acting term by six months. After that point however, the future of Venezuela looks far murkier, particularly if Maduro remains in U.S. custody.* Finally, in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that her government will consolidate the various branches of the Mexican public health apparatus – including the Mexican Social Security Institute, the Social Security Institute and Social Services of Workers of the State, and the IMSS Bienestar program – into a single Universal Health Service. According to TeleSUR English, President Sheinbaum stated that the “objective is that any citizen can attend any health institution and be guaranteed full and free coverage throughout the national system.” President Sheinbaum emphasized that “universal breast cancer care will also be incorporated, including mammograms, biopsies, and treatments at the nearest facility, expanding preventive and therapeutic coverage for women nationwide,” and that the plan would “ensure continuity of complex treatments for conditions such as cancer, HIV, kidney disease, and hemophilia, even if the patient loses or changes their health insurance coverage, preventing interruptions in critical therapies.” She hopes to have this system in place by next year. While Mexico has a much more robust public health infrastructure than the U.S. to begin with, it is remarkable how, with the right combination of administrative competence, popular government and political will, Sheinbaum is poised to achieve yet another social safety net expansion considered a complete political impossibility in this country in such a short window of time. Never let yourself be beaten down. A better world is possible.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

92.3 The Fan presents a selection of conversations about the Guardians from during the past week by The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima, Baskin & Phelps, and The Afternoon Drive. The guys react to Jose Ramirez breaking the franchise record for games played. What does it mean for Ramirez's legacy, and where will he rank among greatest athletes in Cleveland sports history? Plus, should the Guardians sign Chase DeLauter to a Konnor Griffin-type of extension? And, the Guards are getting love from national writers -- what do you make of it? All that and more!

92.3 The Fan presents a selection of conversations about the Guardians from during the past week by The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima, Baskin & Phelps, and The Afternoon Drive. The guys react to Jose Ramirez breaking the franchise record for games played. What does it mean for Ramirez's legacy, and where will he rank among greatest athletes in Cleveland sports history? Plus, should the Guardians sign Chase DeLauter to a Konnor Griffin-type of extension? And, the Guards are getting love from national writers -- what do you make of it? All that and more!

92.3 The Fan presents a selection of conversations about the Guardians from during the past week by The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima, Baskin & Phelps, and The Afternoon Drive. The guys react to Jose Ramirez breaking the franchise record for games played. What does it mean for Ramirez's legacy, and where will he rank among greatest athletes in Cleveland sports history? Plus, should the Guardians sign Chase DeLauter to a Konnor Griffin-type of extension? And, the Guards are getting love from national writers -- what do you make of it? All that and more!

Full Show Friday April 10, 2026 full 7982 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:52:42 +0000 kfYh5nUb2Dvqf4vT2Ac4btfhN8UlAOyQ nfl,mlb,nba,cleveland browns,cleveland guardians,cleveland cavaliers,sports The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima nfl,mlb,nba,cleveland browns,cleveland guardians,cleveland cavaliers,sports Full Show Friday April 10, 2026 The only place to talk about the Cleveland sports scene is with Ken Carman and Anthony Lima. The two guide listeners through the ups and downs of being a fan of the Browns, Cavaliers, Guardians and Ohio State Buckeyes in Northeast Ohio. They'll help you stay informed with breaking news, game coverage, and interviews with top personalities.Catch The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima live Monday through Friday (6 a.m. - 10 a.m ET) on 92.3 The Fan, the exclusive audio home of the Browns, or on the Audacy app. For more, follow the show on X @KenCarmanShow. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%

Jason Benetti joins to preview the Guardians' matchup against the Braves and analyze the development of Cleveland's starting rotation. He also discusses Chase DeLauter's unorthodox swing and leads a debate on why Major League is a superior film to The Natural. 01:00 - Benetti Previews Guardians Matchup 05:19 - Chase DeLauter Swing Discussion 09:33 - MLB Challenge System Evaluation 16:09 - Divisional Play-By-Play Rankings 21:53 - Great Baseball Movie Debate

Broadcaster Jason Benetti joins Ken Carman to preview the Guardians' matchup against the Braves on Sunday Night Baseball. He shares his thoughts on Jose Ramirez's national reputation, Chase DeLauter's hitting potential, and the strength of the Cleveland pitching rotation. Benetti also addresses the Detroit Tigers' early-season offensive struggles and Tarik Skubal's status with the team.

Abe Gordon fills in to preview a massive weekend for Atlanta sports including the Masters and a Braves series against Cleveland. He stresses the importance of the Hawks taking advantage of a short-handed Cavaliers team to lock in their postseason positioning. 01:00 - Weekend Sports Reset 02:13 - Braves City Connect 04:48 - Hawks Playoff Seeding 09:05 - Braves Series Preview 12:33 - Masters Weekend Update

In Hour 3, Abe Gordon talks about a big weekend at The Masters and both the Braves and Hawks hosting Cleveland teams, Golf Analyst Dennis Paulson joins the show, and the AMA.

It is rare for a Hall of Fame player to be traded in the middle of his peak away from a contending team, but that's just what happened to Tris Speaker 110 years ago this week, when the Red Sox dealt him to Cleveland. Mike and Bill take the opportunity to look back at one of the inner circle Hall of Famers they haven't covered yet, and find a great player and leader whose personal beliefs and associations have almost come to overshadow his accomplishments on the field.  Plus, happy birthday to Ron Hansen and Happy Felsch! And farewell to Wayne Granger and Roy Face.

On today's packed episode of What the Truck?!?, hosts Malcolm Harris and Michael Vincent are bringing you the highest-signal news and interviews in the freight industry. The Headlines A massive $1M stolen Lego heist gets stopped in its tracks. Mexican truckers end their strike following clashes with authorities. The troubled USPS moves to raise stamp prices to conserve cash as it faces a “financial blackhole”. project44 acquires LunaPath.ai to accelerate AI agent orchestration. A deep dive into freight fraud: how a load booked completely right still went wrong. Jake Papa (Co-Founder & CRO, Carrier1): Jake pitches “Vault,” a new product built to replace broken email tendering with database-to-database connectivity to protect brokers from fraud. Stefan Heck (CEO, Nauto): Stefan explains how Nauto's AI safety technology predicts and prevents collisions before they happen using data from billions of real-world driving miles. Chase Osborne (Demand Generation Lead, Cargado): Chase shares his experience at the Freight Caviar documentary watch party and discusses the realities of cross-border freight and nearshoring. Join the Freight Fraud Symposium this May in Cleveland, Ohio, to debate threat intelligence and establish the new gold standard for transaction security. Watch on YouTube Visit our sponsor - TRUCKSTOP Subscribe to the WTT newsletter Apple Podcasts Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts #WHATTHETRUCK #FreightNews #supplychain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

   What's that you say?  FIFA, the organization that runs the World Cup, is pulling a bait and switch with fans that have tickets to matches at Arrowhead Stadium this summer?  Look, they're like a stereotypical rock star.  We'd be disappointed if they didn't create a bunch of problems.    The most hilarious story of the year is unfolding in KC as the Star reports Mayor Q's staff had a years long audit of bias by the media outlet AGAINST the democrat mayor.  I can't stop laughing.    Kansas governor Karen slapped a veto on a bill that would have reeled in property taxes around the state.  You get what you vote for.    The Masters tees it up with Tom Watson taking the ceremonial first shot.  A former major winner is booted from the grounds and one player is trying to play with the first ever 3D printed golf club.    The Royals have an awful day in Cleveland, ESPN writes a piece suggestion Andy Reid is too old to win another Super Bowl.  Jim Nantz joined the Kelce boys on their podcast because it's Masters week and shares a fun story about the Chiefs Super Bowl in in Vegas.    And you won't believe how many meals, cups of coffee and energy drinks our troops poured through during operation Epic Fury.

Adam B. is an active-duty police officer in Ohio, a 17-year military veteran, and a former M1 Abrams tanker who deployed to Iraq and Korea. He grew up in the foster care system after being removed from a violent home in Cleveland at age four, was adopted into a rural family that changed his trajectory, and went on to serve in the Army, the National Guard as an MP, work corrections at the Cuyahoga County jail, earn a spot on a SWAT team, and build a career in patrol. This conversation covers a lot of ground. Adam walks through what it was like growing up with 12 siblings in a house that got raided by the DEA. He talks about what drew him to the military, what it felt like to hold a dying child overseas, and why that moment still makes it hard to hold his own kids. He describes working the tenth floor of one of Ohio's roughest jails, responding to a domestic violence murder in front of three children, and why most patrol officers are dangerously undertrained compared to SWAT. Then the conversation turns to East Palestine. Adam was activated with the National Guard and sent to the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment. He stood 200 yards from a controlled chemical detonation with no protective equipment. He watched a mushroom cloud rise and tasted vinyl chloride in the air. Within weeks, his appendix had to be removed. Three years later, he's dealing with memory loss, vision problems, and symptoms his doctors are still trying to explain. Norfolk Southern spent millions lobbying against the very safety regulations proposed after the disaster.  Help me become undeniable to the NYT: https://www.clearedhotpodcast.com/book

Visit our brand new YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/@the-compound-pod, video episodes are posted at 9 AM CT on Wednesdays.  Visit ParceRum.com and use code COMPOUND for $10 dollars off your next order of a bottle of Rum!  BRUCE BOLT - Texas-based designer of premium batting gloves: Look good. Hit dingers. ⁠⁠⁠https://brucebolt.us/?afmc=HAPP⁠⁠  On this Week's episode of the Compound Podcast with Ian Happ, the guys discuss the opening days in Cleveland and Tampa Bay, including Ian's homer during a doubleheader. After that the guys breakdown the special 2024 Draft Class, and some of the reasons behind their success and how technology has changed and evolved over the past decade.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hall grew up in Cleveland dreaming of being the next Johnny Carson. He got close – closer than anyone expected – and then he walked away. Thirty years later, he's finally telling the full story in a new memoir. “I wanted to do this show that didn't exist when I was a kid and I knew the talent was out there,” he tells Tonya Mosley. I found Bruno Mars and put him on the show when he was two feet tall. I wanted those things that Johnny didn't do.” He talks about some of the iconic moments of 'The Arsenio Hall Show,' his decision to end it, and his friendships with Jay Leno and Richard Pryor.Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead marks the 100th birthday of the composer Randy Weston.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy