Podcast appearances and mentions of Dolly Parton

Today on the Woody and Wilcox Show: Brenda Lee-AC/DC mashup; Fun With Football Audio; Pilot has uncontrollable nose bleed; Listener learns about Pony; Lost tomato on the International Space Station; Percentage of Americans who think the would be able to land a plane; Man discovers he has a pea plant growing in his lungs; Dolly Parton is having a moment; Tums purse; Woody's never had stomach problems; And so much more!

In this episode of the Class E Podcast, Dr. Kasie Whitener and Host, Mary Sturgill explore the fascinating intersection of Taylor Swift's career, entrepreneurship, and the power of love.  From the impact of Taylor's re-recording on the music industry to her savvy business decisions in negotiating streaming rights, the conversation delves into the entrepreneurial lessons embedded in Taylor Swift's journey. Join the discussion as they uncover Taylor Swift's entrepreneurial blueprint, offering valuable insights for leaders, innovators, and dreamers.  Guest: Dr. Kasie Whitener Host: Mary Sturgill Producer: Isabella Martinez TRANSCRIPT: MARY: Hi there, everyone. You may have noticed that that is not our regular music. And that's because today we are talking about Taylor Swift. Yeah, that's right. More specifically, we are having a discussion about her innovation, her entrepreneurial spirit, and the economic impact that she is having on our country and now that she's started her world tour, probably other countries. So I want to welcome you to this episode of the Class E Podcast all about Taylor Swift. This is the podcast that is brought to you through the partnership with the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Communication Studies Department here at Furman University. And of course, I'm your host, Mary Sturgill. And can I just tell you I've been so looking forward to this conversation that we're gonna have today, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed researching it and chatting with my friend Kasie Whitener. Dr. Kasie Whitener is joining me today. Kasie is an author. She's an entrepreneur, she teaches entrepreneurship at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. She and her daughter are Swifties. I do believe. Kasie, that you have some proof of that. Yeah, there we go. The friendship bracelets.  She and her daughter are Swifties. And she's my friend of course. So when I thought about this podcast episode topic, of course, I thought about having Kasie on the show to talk with us about that. Kasie, welcome to the show.  KASIE: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here and any excuse to talk about entrepreneurship, which I get paid for. And also Taylor Swift which I don't get paid for. This is like it's perfect. It's the perfect combination of both.  MARY: Yeah, I love it.  “It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me…”  MARY: And of course, she is not the problem. She's our topic today. That's Taylor Swift. She has been in our lives for 17 years, guys. I can't believe it's been that long. We've known her since she was a kid. And now of course as especially with people like Kasie who have children, she is in her children's lives as well, socially. And so today the conversation is going to be about her innovation, her entrepreneurship, her economic impact, as I said, because now her entrepreneurship is bolstering others, not just herself. And Kasie I want to start with…we talked about, you know, her fandom and, and all of that and how she's pulling more fans in every day and I want to start with talking about her marketing. Can you talk about some of the things that you've noticed that she's doing right?  KASIE: Yeah, so you know, I'm hosting this digital marketing class in the honors college right now at the University of South Carolina. And one of the things we have been talking about is online communities, and the ability of online communities to amplify the message of a product, a company, a brand, right? So Taylor Swift very clearly a brand…has put together this Eras tour, which the idea of it is so beautiful, she's got 10 albums, she's walking people through 10 different versions of herself essentially. We're seeing her entire kind of career all onstage at the exact same time. Artists typically come forward… they do the one album that they're promoting right? And they'll play mostly from that album, but in her case, she's decided she's going to do them all and so depending on which show you get to see, you get to see two or three songs from each of the albums.​​​ The fandom has gone crazy online because a lot of people are going to a show… they're seeing three or four songs from Lover, they're seeing two songs from Folklore, they're seeing one song from you know…the version she put in the movie theater only had one song from our favorite album, which is the one that she released over the summer, Speak Now Taylor's version, and so when we you know you kind of get obsessed with it. You're like, oh, this is my album. I can't wait and then you get to the show, and you're like, oh, she only gave me one song for my era, you know? And so then people just keep coming back for more and more. So everything around the excitement of it. This online kind of cult following for her, the community that has grown up around it. She also drops a bunch of hints and creates these little kind of Easter egg nuggets that people started building up these conspiracy theories and well she said this at this time and she was wearing a blue dress on this day and I can't even pretend to keep up with all of that except that it all shows up in my Instagram.  MARY: Mine too. And my Tik Tok and my Tik Tok.The other thing is with those little easter eggs…and there's a Tik Tok video going right now that came up on my feed last night about the Easter eggs. I think this is brilliant on her part because like you said: one, she's creating that community, that family. She talks directly to her fans that other artists…not in a way that any other artist does right now I don't think or has in the past I should say. But the Easter eggs… we all love a good mystery right? And we all love trying to figure things out so she has us intrigued and on the edge of our seats.  KASIE: Well, the way that she's predicting what she's going to do next. So everybody kind of says, Well, are we going to see this next? Are we going to see that next? So of course, I know we're going to talk about this on the business side. But she's been rerecording some of her earlier albums because she didn't own the master recordings. But she did own the copyright of the music itself. And so she re-recorded them so that she could then profit off the albums being sold, right? So we have all these albums where they're Taylor's version albums. And the Taylor's version albums are the ones that she actually re-recorded, which there's a whole other sideline there about really that is because when you get to take a look at your own work and do it again, you're a different person. You're a different artist, and it's just been incredible to listen to how her voice has changed. And sorry..I went crazy fangirl, down the rabbit hole with that one.  MARY: No, it's true though. No, I totally agree. It's true. I was listening to something, maybe her it was her first version of 1989 or something. And, or maybe it was, I can't remember which one it was quite honestly. But I was listening to the first version of her first album. And then I was listening to the newer version. I believe it was the first album. I might be wrong about that. I was listening to a version of one of her albums. And then the other version and her voice of course has matured because she started when she was a kid, right? And we can see the same evolution and other people we've known who've grown up from kids. I see this in Kelly Clarkson who can sing anything right? But I'm also seeing it specifically in our girl Taylor, and just the re-releasing of those with her, with the maturity in her voice and the way that she sings certain lines I've noticed and the different clips that I've seen online and stuff is totally different too and people are here for it.  KASIE: Yeah, well so the two…I think the two songs that we hear on that first album that are so… you hear “You Belong With Me,” which is the song about the girl in the bedroom, you know, and the boy that doesn't realize that she should be more than a friend right? There's that song and then the other song is the “Love Story” song which is about the guy getting on one knee and asking her to marry her right? These two songs… very wistful, very teenagery, teenage-y like this kind of first love ish kind of sound. And then when we hear it in Taylor's version, it's this kind of backward looking, nostalgic sort of feel to it, and I gotta tell you, I think Gen X is here for it. Like I think when we first heard those songs, we were too old for those songs, right? Like they were teenager songs and like the turn of the early 2000s, mid 2000s. Like we were past that right? And you get into now this age and she re records them and you hear that nostalgia to them and you're like yes, that's the voice I'm looking for on those particular songs. So I definitely think she swept in an older generation with the Taylor's version on some of these older versions.  MARY: Yeah, I completely agree with that. We're both of Gen X right? And I have been swept up with all of this. I mean, I've always been a Taylor fan because I mean her poetry, her lyrics are just… No one writes a song like she does except maybe Dolly Parton, right? In my book. That's my personal opinion. Which is why she has a gazillion awards and that kind of thing because she's recognized by her peers as a good storyteller, as a good songwriter. And it's that storytelling, I think that is the key to her marketing, right? So it's the songs , the lyrics, it's the storytelling with laying the Easter eggs for her fans and giving them hints about things when things are coming out and she and her PR team. You know, we know Tree Paine's her publicist, they are brilliant. They make a brilliant team. I think of Tree Paine as the Olivia Pope of the music industry.  KASIE: You're not wrong about that. So I think you're right about there being… the marketing piece here is knowing exactly who your audience is, and what they want, and giving them what they want. And it's interesting because I've been listening to these other podcasts lately that are talking about how the danger of pop culture is that it gives us exactly what we want. And so it's not necessarily stretching us or making us better people and this kind of thing. And it's almost like Taylor's like I get it, I get there are people for whom that's the thing they do, right there are philosophers, there's whoever else that's out there that wants to make us all better people. What I'm here to do is give you exactly what you want, which are the stories that you recognize, the lyrics that you like, the poetry that you're looking for, and she's delivering. I think right now she's firing on all cylinders.  MARY: Yeah, I agree and when I talk to my students about the importance of storytelling because I teach storytelling and its place in marketing, these are the kinds of stories that I want my students to come up with, right? And if successful entrepreneurs come up with these kinds of stories, we just had a podcast recently with Chad Price of Kettlebell Kings, and they were making that online community before the athletic communities or the workout communities that we see that are online now. And they were doing that back in 2012. So I think that's… and of course, Taylor has been doing it since day one just about….  KASIE: Well, let's talk about that online community growth over Taylor. Because I think it's so organic. I think that people go to talk about what they're interested in and what they care about. And she's been quoted as saying things like anybody who makes you feel bad for the things that make you happy, that's like the worst kind of person, right? And so instead, she's encouraging this idea that people should come together and talk about things that make them happy and that's the feel, that's the vibe in the Taylor Swift fandom..is this sense of this makes me happy and and sharing it with other people makes me happy. And when other people are happy, I also feel happy. Like there's this tremendous joy in this community, which I think is something unique that we don't see in a lot of other fandoms and I'll be honest to say like, I'm not in a lot of other fandoms. I'm not in the Star Wars fandom. I'm not in, but my kid is in a lot of fandoms and her take on some of them is like there's some purity tests to it, right? Like are you really a Star Wars fan? Do you know this, that, or this, right? But you don't get that from Swifties.  Swifties aren't out there being like how Swiftie are you? Do you know this about that? Do you know this about? Instead they're just like, welcome! What can I share with you that you don't know?  MARY: And have a friendship bracelet!  KASIE: Have a bracelet! Yeah.  MARY: I love that. Um, is there anything else from a marketing standpoint that you've noticed or that you've even talked about in your classes with that, that our audience should understand about maybe some takeaways that they could take away from Taylor to their own businesses?  KASIE: Yeah, so marketing is all about channels, right? Figuring out how to reach your customer, how to get the right message in front of them at the right time. So understanding what their buying cycle looks like, giving them, you know, awareness, giving them a reason to make your choice that you want them to make, right. All of these kinds of things. And I think what Taylor does a good job of is using all the channels available to her. So she has her music, obviously, right she's got video appearances. Anytime she's on, you know, interviews or talk shows or anything like that promoting things. She's done her own video content. So if you haven't been to see any of these videos, the short films that she's made to get over these videos, like take yourself down the rabbit hole because it's totally worth it. But then on top of that all the social media channels too, where she's purposely using different social media channels to drop different information and trying to bring all those fans access to her no matter where they are, which I think is a huge marketing lesson for anybody that's doing marketing. Meet your customers where they are, and bring them the messages that they need to be able to choose you and choose your product.  MARY: Right. And that movie, the Eras movie, that's doing exactly that. We're going to talk a little bit about the economic impact of that a little bit later, but that's doing exactly that.  KASIE: To meet them where they are, yeah.  MARY: She's meeting them where they are because not everyone can afford concert tickets or to go to the cities. I mean, we have a lot of rural people in America who love Taylor Swift, right? Not everybody lives in a city. And so she's giving everyone the opportunity to get, you know, the feeling of the tour to be able to experience that in some way in the theaters, which I absolutely love.  KASIE: I gotta say my favorite reel about the Eras tour movie was the video of her actually watching it. Like, this is the first time Taylor Swift has seen Taylor Swift on tour. You see her in the movie theater, just like, yay! She's as excited as everybody else. And I can't even imagine what that must be like to watch what you've created there live for people to see and enjoy. Well,  MARY: Well, and I want to point out too that that is not an act. You know, people see through when things like that or an act. The joy that she shares with people is truly her and who she is. I mean, I don't know her… like I haven't met her, but I feel like I have. And that is a great skill for anyone in the public eye to have or anyone who is the face of the company to have because that can transcend not just the music industry or the creative industry, right?  KASIE: I think the critical word there is authenticity, and especially if you're trying to appeal to Gen Z. Gen Z is so cynical about what they see everywhere. I mean, online and politicians, in person, in the classroom, like Gen Z is so cynical, because they've been so overexposed, right? They've seen so much and authenticity really resonates with them, and they and they pick it out. And I think Taylor Swift just has a gift of being authentic all the time. She is…what you see is what you get. She is who she is right? And um, people will say that. Other celebrities will meet her and talk about or they'll just be like, it's just amazing how kind and gentle she is and how she's just genuinely interested. And whether or not you've enjoyed your experience either at the tour or wherever they are like, it's… people are blown away by her.  MARY: I think one of the things that show that is the growth in her Instagram following. You know, when we first had this conversation about doing this podcast, I checked her Instagram following and it was at 265 million followers. Just in the past month, it's grown to 276 million followers.  KASIE: Wow.  MARY: Yeah, that's a lot of growth.  KASIE: That's 10 million people jumping on board in the last month.  MARY: Exactly, exactly.  KASIE: That's wild.  MARY: So I would like to get a look at her Instagram stats because that's… just based on that number, it's gotta be crazy.  “I promise that you'll never find another like me…”  KASIE: There's this great viral version of Taylor, while they're writing this song, and she's sitting on the couch and she sings it, she puts her hand up like that she gets really excited about it, and it's in the writing process. It's well before it's ever been recorded. It's like as she's putting down the lyrics for the first time ever. And I mean, you can't stage that, like it's, it's clearly not staged. It's obviously spontaneous, and her joy in the process and how excited she is when it clicks for her, and then we hear what it turns into right afterwards. But I think that that really resonates with people too. That creative process piece really resonates too.  MARY: And that's part of the story too, because she's showing behind the scenes of how she does her work. Right. And that draws us in. I get that same feeling. I understand that feeling when she puts her hand up in the air and is like I'm onto something right here.  KASIE: Yes.  MARY: Any creative knows that feeling. One of my students the other day, or even this morning, one of my students figured out how to do this great thing for her video. And I did it for her basically I was like, woo hoo, you know, whatever.  MARY: Yeah, so proud that they have that moment where everything just comes together like that. So I want to shift now to talk about her Eras tour because we've been talking about it a little bit but I want to dive into the economic impact of this thing. Right? Because we had three great tours I think going on this past summer, Beyonce, Pink, and of course Taylor Swift and the economic impact, specifically of Taylor Swift, since she's our topic today, has just been crazy. The overall impact of the tour should be around, and this is the United States part of it, North American part of it, $2.2 billion just in ticket sales, right? That doesn't include the hotels, the merch, the food, all that other stuff.  KASIE: And don't forget the hospitality tax that everybody's paying, right? So all these cities that have posted or that have had this massive 11% or whatever it is hospitality tax, you know, yuck it up communities, but you're getting all of that too.  MARY: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So based on research that I found, I believe this was from Time Magazine, maybe… typically every $100 spent on a live performance generates an estimated $300 and ancillary local spending on things like hotels, food, transportation, I forgot transportation a minute ago. But for the Eras tour…That's just a regular tour, right? For the Eras tour, it's anywhere from $1300 to $1500.  KASIE: Per $100 spent.  MARY: Per $100 spent.  KASIE: Nice.  MARY: Yeah, so that's boosting all of those local economies.  KASIE: All the restaurants, all the hotels, yeah, all the transportation. So Uber, you know, taxi services. Everybody else. Yeah, absolutely. So I want to talk a little bit about the structure of the Eras Tour. So what I think what sparked our first conversation about this was how impressed I am with the way the Eras Tour was built. So usually, and you can watch these videos where they talk about, they break down the economics of a tour. Usually a team will go out on and you'll see the artist kind of zigzagging across the country. They're hitting, you know, sort of regions, maybe but they're basically going all over the map right? And the Eras tour is designed very intentionally right? It was designed years out actually. Where it was okay, we're gonna go to Atlanta, we're going to play for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday night, and now everybody that was performing those three nights in a row is now off, right Monday through Friday as we travel from one place to the next place. Then we're gonna go to the next town. We're going to set up and we're going to perform Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, right? And so we have these three shows in one place performing three nights back to back, which is like an easy Broadway to schedule, right? Like it's an easy schedule versus like a Broadway schedule, but they're doing it right? And the setup is there on Friday, and it stays up through the whole weekend. And then they bring it down and then they travel on Monday, right? This and they've been very intentional about the cities they've gone to and how they've moved around the country. This has never been done before this particular way or something on this kind of scale. And it's the economy of it. The idea that they're not wasting gas, they're not wasting hours, they're not wasting transportation time. They're not they're not there's no waste here, right, which is so compelling to me.  MARY: Yeah, let's remind everybody that normally, in how this is different, is that a concert will go to one place for one night, and then pick up and go to the next place for the next night. And so you have all that picking up and moving. And in this particular case, they're saving all of that picking up and moving…that time, that energy the people power, but she employs hundreds of people, if not 1000s…  KASIE: The jobs are there, right, and you mentioned the economic impact like that's there. It doesn't cost less necessarily except that they are maximizing the economy of being in one space for three days in a row and selling and those shows are selling out all three shows in every place, right? So yeah, I mean, I think from a design perspective, when we talk about an industry in general, entrepreneurship, always, it's about disrupting the industry. So if you take a look at what's happening in our industry, this is very blue ocean strategy stuff. All of you business nerds out there, just Google Blue Ocean Strategy. It'll say like, what are, what is not going well in our industry? What does our industry not do well? And one of the things that music industry does not do well is show to show to show to show, because there's just so much like this venue is not available, that town's not available. We're using planes. We're using buses. We're all these different things, right? And she really got into a place and said, Look, we're gonna do this well, and in order to do it well we're gonna have to book it several years out, we're gonna have to plan you know, this far ahead. And I want to say they started doing this like 2020 is when she started booking this tour.  MARY:  Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think so and planning of course before that, even before. I mean, she, she probably was thinking about this years ago, because I think she really thinks that far ahead. In her head she does.  KASIE: More than likely 17 years old. You know what I'm gonna do when I'm 30?  MARY: Exactly when I'm 30 this is what's gonna happen. Right. Um, we were talking a minute ago about the impact of her re-recording. We all know Scooter Braun bought her masters and Kelly Clarkson tweeted to her redo them, you own the copyright, right? The initial releases, especially her first album sold over like $10 million, 2 million copies, or brought in $10,000,000, 1989 brought in 10 million, but now she's re-releasing those and they're making that much money again if not more in some cases.  KASIE: The second time around.  MARY: The second time around. Taylor's version. So unlike other artists who haven't done this, they release it, they release an album and yay, they get all the money and the economic impacts of all you know, all that entails. But now she's doing it round two.  KASIE: So what's interesting about this and again, like we go back to this concept of Blue Ocean Strategy. What do people in my industry not do well? And one of the things that artists typically don't do well is they don't capitalize on reusability for their songs, right? But streaming services have taught us that people don't they don't need to own the song. They just want to hear the song, right? And so as you look at okay, streaming services, there's all the there… The people who own the master copies are making money on the streaming services, you know, .000001, you know, penny, per play or whatever. Okay, here's all these artists that are like, what am I going to do about that? Like, it's just it is what it is right? And instead, you see Taylor go well, number one, I don't want Scooter Braun making all that money off of me for the streaming services, no matter how much it is. And number two, here's the thing I can do about it, which is I'm going to release a new version of something I know people already love. And this I mean, this feels like something out of the Disney playbook. When you go… Disney's got their animated Beauty and the Beast. They've got their live action, Beauty and the Beast, they've got their Broadway Beauty and the Beast, right? Like they had their TV version of Beauty and the Beast like they took that Beauty and the Beast and they've ran it for whatever it's worth right? And so that's not new necessarily, but the way she's gone about doing it to be able to monetize existing property, things that you already do have possession of, and then find a new way to package it. I think it's just genius.  MARY: Yeah, and I read also somewhere that because of the Ers tour…  obviously streaming of her music and this happens for all artists but in particular, since we're talking about Taylor Swift… if they if they're having a concert, especially one that's so huge, like this one, right, the streaming of their music goes way up. So then that of course has the other economic impact of raising more money, right? For the artist and for whoever gets a piece of that pie. Right? So I think that's super interesting is that we can't leave that out of the economic impact as well when we talk about that.   KASIE: Another one of the channels when we were talking before about channels. So on streaming services like Spotify, you can create your own playlists, right? Some of the most popular playlists are fan created playlists. Taylor's got fan-created playlists that are replacing the original versions with the Taylor's version as they come out. So you're not getting both versions of “Love Story.” As soon as the new version came out, the old one was gone. And so it's like they're erasing her digitally. They're erasing these old versions digitally. You can still access them. They're still on Spotify. But the fans are saying those aren't the ones we listen to anymore. We only listen to Taylor's version.  MARY: And they're on that train. They're on that Taylor train.  KASIE: They're all bought in.  MARY: And we're going to only listen to the new stuff that's Taylor's version. That's our stuff. And I think that that circles back around to her marketing and her building that community and the positivity that she puts out there and that her fans kind of feed off of right? You know, one of the things that makes her so inspirational to me is her generosity, right? We've heard the stories of every city that she's been in with the Eras tour. She's donated 1000s and 1000s of dollars. Nobody's disclosed the amount but we know it's a lot to every food bank in the city where she's had a concert. And that, that says a lot because that has its own economic impact… we talked about the financial gain of people buying stuff and going to hotels and restaurants and stuff, but this has another economic impact on those cities.  KASIE: Yeah, I think so. It wouldn't surprise anybody who's a Taylor Swift fan to know that she's, you know, overseeing some of these decisions that are made at the concert level, right? So we don't know how many of these are Taylor Swift decisions necessarily, but it does feel like it comes from an overall vibe. So if you think of like a corporation having corporate values, what are the corporate values and does this corporation always act within their values? And in Taylor Swift, if Taylor Swift is a corporation, one of the values is generosity. And so where does that generosity manifest itself? And it is of course in charitable donations, it is in economic impact, it is in bonusing your own employees, caring for your own employees, those kinds of things. And so yeah, I don't think it would surprise anybody to know that Taylor Swift is living her values all the time.  MARY: Right. And it's a great example to other leaders and whatever industry it doesn't matter the industry because you mentioned taking care of her employees. We heard about the bonuses that she gave, not just her truck drivers, but all of her employees. So like $55 million I don't know many people that would take $55 million out of their own pocket and spread it around to people that work for them.  KASIE: Well, two it speaks to this… So as a Gen X-er are right, like I kind of hate to give it, you know, the millennial credit right? But I think it speaks to this sense in that generation that enough is as good as a feast. And so I don't need $55 million more. You know what I'm saying like, what else is that money going to do for me except just be more money, right? And so I can't take it with me like there's this kind of sense and I will give 100% the millennials the credit for that. They have a sense that enough is as good as a feast. And so when somebody has so much more than they really believe that they need right? We see that with Mr. Beast. There's a lot of these kinds of digital entrepreneurs that are recognizing, hey, I want to take care of myself and my family. But beyond that, I want to take care of all the people around me right? And that generosity, I think is generational.  MARY: That's the generosity that I wish would permeate throughout all of society.  KASIE: I think we're gonna see more of it honestly I think and like I said, I'm giving credit to the millennials. They're not all that way, but a lot of the leaders in that generation are and I think Gen Z is going to be the most generous generation we've ever seen.  MARY: I completely agree with that. My students every day… they just impress me so much and surprise me. Speaking of… one of my students is my producer. Isabella, pop in here and show everybody and say hi.  KASIE: Hi Isabella!  MARY: She's the one. And for all of our podcast listeners, she's the one that makes this podcast sound so good. So we thank her tremendously. She graduates by the way, she graduates in May and I'm going to hate to lose her but somebody out there is gonna get a really good employee, who's very creative, who's just on top of things. So.  KASIE: And here's an opportunity for somebody in your ranks that maybe gets to move into Isabella's spot.  MARY: Absolutely, absolutely. I love that you pointed that out. We're talking about the economic impact. $4.6 billion to the local economies, according to QuestionPro, is what her tour should be when all is said and done, should have kind of input into local economies.  KASIE: And remember this isn't in a vacuum, right? This is a community effort. This is all the people who are taylor Swift fans coming forward spending their money, wanting to be part of something that is bigger than themselves, wanting to give their money to the community like wanting to go out to eat, wanting to make it a thing, right? Like all this stuff, so it's not…it is Taylor Swift. It is the tour. It is of course like hey, thank you Taylor, for creating this amazing company. But the key to it is that she's providing something people want, and people are willing to part with their money in order to get that thing and I think that's really critical because she's getting some heat from certain elements of like, how expensive the tickets are and like how much it costs and you mentioned before, because I want to maybe this segues into our conversation about the movie, about people not being able to afford to go and she gets some heat for that. There are people who don't, maybe they don't recognize the experience that is the Taylor Swift Eras tour, so they don't feel like you know, this is just not worth it. Nobody should charge that much. Blah. Blah, blah. Market economics tell us that people will pay the value that they believe it's worth right? And so they're willing to pay this money. That's them being willing to…don't feel sorry for these ticket buyers, right? They're willing to do that right?  MARY: They're choosing.  KASIE: Exactly it's a choice. She didn't make anybody spend that money on those tickets. And then she put the movie out. And the movie tickets which I love. First of all, the tickets are $19.89 So this is one of those Easter eggs, right? She charged 1989 for her tickets. When the tickets went on tour, we found out first of all, we thought it was only gonna be one night. So as soon as we found out they were going on tour we did not get to see the Eras tour. We fell in the group of people that was like we don't have two grand to go see this right? Not that I would in any way not spend that money if I did. I would 100% spend that money if I had it but anyway, all that to say when the movie was coming out… we're huge movie people. So Holly and I were super excited. We jump on the app. We're gonna buy the tickets. And when we see it, I just turned it to her like, it's $19.89 and we lost it, like, cackling that she had priced them at 1989. Like, I mean, come on. Come on Tay.  MARY: Yeah, but it's another one… It's genius exactly, because it created that feeling in you guys that you are now even more excited because you're like this is right on right on what we expect from her. KASIE: Oh, it's on brand, like it's fully on brand and it makes you feel like because you get it when you see it's 1989 you're like, oh, I get it. Good job, Taytay, right? Like and then you feel like you're part of this squad because you know this thing that other people don't know. I think the same when we showed up to the actual movie theaters… we're walking in, and everybody's got their bracelets on. People are singing along like nobody's telling you to shhh we're watching a movie like it's not.. We didn't have one of the big dancy theater ones. I think if we had gone to a later show, maybe but we went to an earlier show. There were some small kids like we kind of… people didn't want to stand up in front of people and not let them be able to see so we just all sat and watched but, man we sang. I mean we definitely sang.  MARY: And you're not alone. Everybody around the country. So the movie worldwide has grossed over $123 million.I mean, it's just, these numbers are just mind boggling, right? It's reached $90 million within like the first week I think..it's crazy, right? KASIE: Can I tell you where I think this is the only mistake I think Taylor Swift may have made? MARY: Oh yeah. Let's talk about that.  KASIE: Are you ready? MARY: Because we learn from our mistakes, right? KASIE: So the Eras tour movie grosses $129 million dollars,can you imagine if they're had been six versions of that movie?  MARY: Oh good lord. Yeah.  KASIE: If she had issued… you never know which version you're gonna get. Remember when clue came out? And there were three things to clue. Yeah. So you went to see it three times because you weren't sure which ending they were going to show in that theater is a thing that needs to be done more often. And with the era's tour movie, she had a chance to do it, especially because there were shows that she recorded where she had played more songs. Like I said, we only got the one song from our favorite album. There were shows where she played more songs from that. So why not get film from a bunch of different shows and piece together three or four or six, but like say you get three, three versions of the error story. And you don't know so you show up like not sure is this going to be the Argentina one? Is this going to be the Indianapolis one? Is it…I don't know which one I'm watching. I'm just watching one of the three Eras movies that may be showing today. Right? Come on, we'd be back. We've got 1989 every time.  MARY: Right. Dr. Kasie Whitener. That is why I have you on this show. Because you bring up things like that. I love it. I love it. I love it.  KASIE: It's just a missed opportunity. Just a missed opportunity. It's not a criticism. It's just an opportunity. MARY: Absolutely. And who knows, maybe she's gonna listen to this podcast and check out that missed opportunity. And if not, maybe somebody else will.  KASIE: I think we get the world tour. I think she's going to do another movie. It's going to be whatever she does overseas.  MARY: I think you're probably right about that. If I had to guess as a matter of fact, I also heard that she is also extending some dates after she comes back to the States again. So we'll see if that pans out. I don't know for sure if that's true or not.  MARY: But now we're coming to my favorite topic of the podcast. And that is the love, the romance… KASIE: We're here for it MARY: You're right. We're all sitting here. I swear to God after the Buenos Aires video came out and of her changing the lyrics, of her running up to Travis at the end. Literally, I'm watching it from every angle that I could find on everywhere and I'm not alone because there's a gazillion Tik Tokers who are talking about the same thing. And we are all on even as old women…all of us Gen X-ers are loving this.  KASIE: Yes right here for it.  MARY: We're here for it. And I know the reason I'm here for it is because I love love. I've have always been romantic. But we're here for it and that is turning into some economic impact with the NFL. And with anything related to Travis and Jason Kelce, you know, I mean, right after she showed up at the Chiefs game, their podcast went to number one.  KASIE: Yep. MARY:  The sales of his Travis Kelce, his jersey have gone up 400% You know, their song that they just released the brothers Christmas song… number one on iTunes charts even beating Taylor, right, in some places. So that economic impact is spreading beyond just the world of Swifties and spreading to the NFL, and they're eating it up.  KASIE: So there's two possibilities here right there's the cynical side, which is like this is a publicity stunt. The Kelce brothers organized this… their podcast was launching, their documentaries launching, blah blah blah publicity stunt, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, okay. Fine. If that's the case, there's a publicity stunt. I'm here for it.  MARY: Me too.  KASIE: I'm all in, it's fine. It doesn't have to be real. Like I'm into to read the story. Live the story. Love the story. I'm fine with it. It doesn't have to be real. So that's fine. So many haters that are out there. They're like oh, they're just doing it for, you know, for record sales. Okay. Oh, they're just doing it to get more. Okay. I have no problem with it.  MARY: Whatever. Yeah. Me either. I don't think that's true. KASIE: By all means, okay. So there's that one side. And again, that's fine. And then the other side is this could be real. Right? And I think that this could be real side is really compelling for a number of reasons of course because through her lyrics, through her songs,  all the sad stories. I just watched her go through all this right and and of course, she gets torn down to the media for two reasons, one for serial dating and then the flip of it is for writing songs about being a serial dater, right. And then it seems like what we're seeing, and again, it could be a publicity stunt. But it seems like what we're seeing is somebody who has a career in his own right has plenty of competence in his own right, feels perfectly good about himself as a human being in his own right, and is glad to share a spotlight with her and it's almost in awe of her and how wonderful she is and that worship that all of us feel for her… when we see him demonstrate it to is gratifying because we think she deserves it. And we think she deserves somebody who believes she deserves it and is not ashamed or unwilling to give it. MARY: Right exactly. And who's confident… I think you've hit on it right there… who's confident enough to stand he's, granted I'm not taking anything from Travis, but stand in her shadow a bit and really support her right because she's now a billionaire and not because she's a billionaire. But because she's so creative because she's so talented. She's gotten to that financial place because of her talents. And because of her work ethic, right?  KASIE: Oh the work ethic, easy.  MARY: The work ethic is crazy, right? And so which we also aspire to but I don't I don't know about that.  KASIE: She's a once in a lifetime talent. And I'm perfectly fine with that.  MARY: Exactly. I want to be Taylor Swift. But the great thing is we can learn from it. Right? And all the NFL is learning from it right now. Right?  KASIE: I gotta say there's two pieces of that that I think are really brilliant. I know your classes look at digital media… look at digital governorship too and the first one was with the New Heights podcast, watching Travis Kelce watch the video of the couple that had been the Travis Taylor couple. I don't know if you saw this right. MARY: Yes I did.  KASIE: So first of all, to back up just a little bit… MARY: It was Jax and her… putting him on the map… KASIE: But yeah, so there's a big trend on the internet of women talking about how Taylor Swift put Travis Kelce on the map people you know I don't even watch the NFL but I'll watch it for Taylor Swift like it became this like running joke around women who know better, but are intentionally trapping their husbands into like, you know, oh, I don't even know who this person is. Like, I mean, she made him famous. And these men just like losing their minds, because they're angry. She's not even a thing. It doesn't even matter. Okay, so that piece of it was really funny when the NFL changed their twitter handle to Taylor's version, right and so then you get the mash up of her saying. So now when you see it says Taylor's version it's because I own it. And then they show the NFL thing. This is Taylor's version. Taylor owns the NFL, like, like all of this was really great publicity for the NFL. Really great publicity for Taylor Swift and for Travis Kelce. And I think again, even if it is a publicity stunt, I'm here for it because it was clever. It was new, it felt fresh and it felt real and authentic. And then the other part was, of course, like I said with the Halloween costume. Jax is talking about her putting him on the map. And he just falls for it, the boyfriend supposedly falls for it And he's like. Oh, come on. He actually puts his face on the map. And then Travis is watching and he goes oh, I get it. She put me on the map. That's pretty funny. Like he's in on a joke. It's okay with him. He's not feeling ashamed, but he's not wanting to hide it and pull it off. He's not throwing a temper tantrum about it. And that just shows this like grown up man behaving like a grown-up man. And I think I want to be here for that too. I want to see more of that on the internet.  MARY: We could have a whole nother podcast about just the romance and how Travis is a grown up man and the right person or the right type of person for her. They have the same energy. I don't want to go down this rabbit hole but they have the same energy. He matches her energy. If you saw the video of him at the Buenos Aires concert on his off week, he was cheering her on just like she was cheering him on at the game she went to right.  KASIEL Yeah, well you see videos of him when she's not even around. Like Travis just being Travis is that way. There's a kind of like goof factor to it. There's a kind of so much confidence and who they are and how they are. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. This is good. And again, this is a love story. We're all here for it. We want the best thing for both of them either, of course like nobody's over here going. If they break up, we're gonna be pissed at them. It's not like that, everyone's like along for the ride. We're just glad to see two people who we all believe deserve happily ever after maybe maybe seeking one.  MARY: Yeah, now we can't ignore the... I don't want to go down this rabbit hole but we can't ignore the people who are the naysayers and I just ignore… I mean, we can't ignore them. That's the way I should have said that. We can't ignore them and I do ignore them. Because like you said, the whole marketing, everything is brilliant about it. And just to talk a little bit to remind some of our viewers or listeners about the impact it's had on the NFL, not just the ticket jersey. The Jersey sales but ticket sales to actual games have gone up. Where people, the Chiefs games in particular, or even the Eagles games where people thought Taylor might be at the Eagles game. A few weeks ago those ticket sales went up and of course ESPN and the viewing viewership on TV went up as well, which of course, increases financial gains there for ESPN and NFL both. Right? Yeah.  KASIE: So it's just a good thing all around. And I think for the haters that are out there, either sick of it or they don't know anything about it or they don't care about it. They don't want to talk about it, all of that, you know, it goes back to what Taylor said about if somebody is gonna make you feel bad about the thing that gets you excited, then that's just the worst kind of person. Like, why would you make people feel bad for the thing that gets them excited? It makes them happy, like, just let them be happy. You know, like, I just, yeah, just… MARY: That's why all of us are drawn to her because of that mentality. Right? And, and we know that she's been through it. And to come out and to see the happiness on her face right now. Just the joy and the… she's at peace right now. Right? She's loving everything that she's doing. And then when she's with Travis it's just great. I could just talk about it forever.  KASIE: But I'm here for it. MARY: I know we've gone down a rabbit hole a little bit. For our listeners and our viewers. Hopefully you've come along right along with us. But we also have given some golden nuggets here in this podcast, some Easter eggs if you will, not as clever as Taylor has done them. But things that you can take with you. Take away. Always look, I tell my students all the time, look for the blueprint in your story. Look for the blueprint that people can take with them into their lives. And we try to do that with this podcast every episode that we have, and talking to people about their stories and having conversations like we are with Dr. Kasie Whitener here. And so there are things that you can take and apply to your business or figure out how to apply to your business or your entrepreneurial venture whatever wherever and whatever stage you're in, right? KASIE: I think the most useful thing is, it's a climb. I mean, it's a climb. Taylor Swift didn't wake up at 17. And have an impact of billions of dollars, you know, on global markets. That's not how things worked out, but she's been working. She had a vision for what she wanted to do, for how she wanted her career to go. When she left country music, she wanted to sing her own songs. That was a huge risk. I remember being in a conversation with my brother, uh, when she left when she decided to walk away from her label and country music because she wanted to sing her own songs and he was like she's gonna fail and I was like, I don't know, I wouldn't bet against her. I'll be honest with you. I wouldn't bet against Taylor Swift. And here she is, you know, having rewritten the rules in her own industry to fit things the way she wants it to work. And she and she gets knocked down. She just gets back up again. I mean, things that should… if you think of the Kanye…I mean, it's humiliation, basically, public and professional humiliation. And she just came right back. Right? And so, and I know that's not.. I say that she came right back making it sound like it's easy.  MARY: It took two years for her to… KASIE: And the way she wrote about it and the way she talked about it. The way she processed it and brought us all along for that journey too because who she is as a songwriter. You know when we see all of that I think that's why we want such good things for her now. If you know her through her music that well then you go okay, we're at the climax of the story now, right, where all the things are supposed to be working out the way they're supposed to work out. And I want to see the beautiful things happening for her.  MARY: So yeah, oh, I love that. I do want to circle back around to the idea of bringing people along with you. Because one of the two things she's done recently that I think we all should point out is that she's used the status that she has to help. I mean, obviously, we talked about philanthropic ventures and things like that, but in her contract with Universal and in her contract, she made them agree to give more artists more percentage of their streaming rights, you know that you get paid so much for every time you stream, it''s pennies on the dollar, right, right. But in that negotiation process, she got Universal to give all of their clients, all of their musicians, all of their bands, singers, everybody, more percentage from their streaming rights. That's huge. Because they knew what they would lose.  KASIE: Yeah, exactly. It's industry leadership but saying I have a position of power and I'm gonna use it to lead the industry and I think that's a very mature place for her to be. It was mature for her to walk away from country music when she was however old, you know, in her 20s. But this is a really mature thing for her to do this late in her career, even to say I'm an industry leader, I have industry power, and I'm going to use that power to improve the lives of all of my fellow workers.I mean, you don't need a union when you've got somebody in a powerful position that willing to work for you. Right?  MARY: And willing to work for you is the key thing there. And then the same thing with the Eras tour and the movie, right? She bypassed the studios to get it out to the theaters because the studios wanted to take a higher percentage than she knew that she would be able to get if she just dealt directly with theaters. I KASIE: I love how aware we are of the inner workings of Hollywood and movie theaters now, because of Taylor Swift. Like I love the visibility that we now all have to the system and where everybody takes their cut, because Taylor Swift was very clear about I'm doing it this way and here's why. And I think that if you're in an industry where somebody that powerful is calling you out for doing the wrong thing, or for behaving in the wrong way, you got to take a look at yourself and be like, Okay, our business model just got called out for being shady and we need to figure out a way to… and you just have to compete. I think that's the biggest part is like we see industries where competition has been driven out by bad practices, you know, just just bad practices. And when you have somebody like Taylor Swift come in and say we're just not going to do things that way. You have to compete. And I think sometimes companies get a little bit slack, a little bit lazy, they start taking things for granted, and they get caught blindsided and they're bad about it, and they'll say terrible things about it. But at the end of the day, if you're not competing, you're not winning in your market. You know, you got nobody to blame but yourself.   MARY: I think we could drop the mic on that one. Because that's true, right? Yeah. Dr. Kasie Whitener and my friend, thank you so much for joining me. This has been a great conversation. We could talk about this for hours, but she has to go pick up her little Swiftie, her daughter. Kasie, thanks so much.   KASIE: Thank you so much for having me, Mary. And anytime you want to talk entrepreneurship, I'm your gal. And if you add Taylor Swift, I'm here for it, I'm absolutely here for it.   MARY: We love it. Absolutely. Thank you so much.   MARY: All right, Class E Podcast listeners, that does it for this episode of the Class E Podcast. Remember that  this is the podcast is brought to you through a partnership between the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Communication Studies Department here at Furman University. I'm your host, Mary Sturgill. This is produced by our student producer Isabella Martinez, who you got to see in this podcast episode. By the way, remember that you can find us wherever you listen to your podcast, and on YouTube as well. So please subscribe, hit those subscribe buttons wherever is most convenient for you. But until next time, everybody take a page out of Taylor's book and dream big.      

Today on the Woody and Wilcox Show: Brenda Lee-AC/DC mashup; Fun With Football Audio; Pilot has uncontrollable nose bleed; Listener learns about Pony; Lost tomato on the International Space Station; Percentage of Americans who think the would be able to land a plane; Man discovers he has a pea plant growing in his lungs; Dolly Parton is having a moment; Tums purse; Woody's never had stomach problems; And so much more!

Friday News Flyover, December 8, 2023Intro: On this episode of The Heartland POD for Friday, December 8th, 2023A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Texas abortion bans creating legal confusion | MO Pastor jailed facing sexual abuse charges | Sen Josh Hawley and Rep Cori Bush speak against defense bill without funds for St. Louis residents exposed to radiation | AL Senator Tommy Tuberville gives up his misguided military holds | Dolly Parton gives books to millions of kids, if you didn't knowWelcome to The Heartland POD for a Flyover Friday, this is Sean Diller in Denver, Colorado. With me as co-host today is Adam Sommer, how you doing Adam?We're glad to have you with us. If you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on social media with @ THE heartland pod, and learn more at thehearltandcollective.com Alright! Let's get into the storieshttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/06/1217637325/texas-woman-asks-court-for-abortion-because-of-pregnancy-complicationsUpdated Thursday, Dec. 7 at 1:55 p.m."Kate Cox needs an abortion, and she needs it now." Thus began a petition filed in a Texas district court this week, asking a judge to allow the abortion to be performed in the state, where abortion is banned with very limited exceptions.On Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Texas, ruled from the bench, granting permission for Cox to have the abortion she is seeking. Cox's fetus has a genetic condition with very low chances of survival and her own health and fertility are at risk if she carries the pregnancy to term.The petition was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is the group behind a high profile case heard at the Texas Supreme Court last week.In that case the group's senior staff attorney Molly Duane argued on behalf of 20 patients and two OB-GYNs that the medical exception to the ban on abortion in the state's laws is too narrow and vague, and that it endangered patients during complicated pregnancies. An attorney for the state argued the exception is already clear and that the plaintiffs didn't have standing to sue.On the very day of those arguments, Nov. 28, Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two who lives in the Dallas area, got "devastating" news about her pregnancy, the filing says. At nearly 20-weeks gestation, she learned that her fetus has Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome, a condition with extremely low chances of survival.So, as the Texas Supreme Court considered whether its abortion laws endangered patients with pregnancy complications in the past, Cox was trying to figure out what to do in her present situation.Cox had already been in the emergency room three times with cramping and other concerning symptoms, according to court documents. Her doctors told her she was at high risk of developing gestational hypertension and diabetes, and because she had had two prior cesarean sections, carrying the pregnancy to term could compromise her chances of having a third child in the future, the brief says.Last Thursday, she reached out for the Center for Reproductive Rights. Five days after that, the group filed this petition on her behalf.The filing asked a Travis County district court for a temporary restraining order against the state of Texas and the Texas Medical Board, blocking enforcement of Texas's abortion bans so that Cox can terminate her current pregnancy. It also would block enforcement of S.B. 8, which allows civil lawsuits to be filed against those who help patients receive abortions.That would protect the other plaintiffs in the case, Cox's husband, Justin, and Dr. Damla Karsan, who is prepared to provide the abortion if the court grants their request. Karsan is one of the OB-GYN plaintiffs in the Zurawski v. the State of Texas case.Thursday's ruling will allow Karsan to provide an abortion without threat of prosecution. It only applies to Cox, her husband and Karsan. Issuing the ruling, Judge Guerra Gamble said: "The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice."There are currently three overlapping abortion bans in Texas. Abortion is illegal in the state from the moment pregnancy begins. Texas doctors can legally provide abortions only if a patient is "in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function, " the law says."I don't know what that means," Duane says of the language of the medical exception. "But I think [Cox's] situation must fall within whatever it is that that means."The Texas Attorney General's office did not respond to a request for comment on Cox's case, but the office argued in the Zurawski case that the medical exception needs no clarification.Sponsor MessageTexas Alliance for Life, a group that lobbied in the state legislature for the current abortion laws, published a statement about Cox's case Wednesday. "We believe that the exception language in Texas laws is clear," wrote the group's communication director Amy O'Donnell, and accused the Center for Reproductive Rights of pretending to seek clarity while really attempting to "chisel away" at Texas's abortion laws.The timeline of this case was very quick. "I have to be honest, I've never done this before, and that's because no one's ever done this before," Duane says. "But usually when you ask for a temporary restraining order, the court will act very, very quickly in acknowledgement of the emergency circumstances."The hearing was held via Zoom on Thursday morning.The State of Texas cannot appeal the decision directly, says Duane. "They would have to file what's called a writ of mandamus, saying that the district court acted so far out of its jurisdiction and that there needs to be a reversal," Duane explains. "But filing a petition like that is not does not automatically stay the injunction the way that an appeal of a temporary injunction does."In the meantime, the justices of the Texas Supreme Court are considering the Zurawski case, with a decision expected in the next few months. "I want them to take their time to write an opinion that gets this right and will protect patients, doctors and their families going forward," Duane says."But the reality is that in the meantime, people are going to continue to be harmed," and Cox couldn't afford to wait for that decision, Duane says.Duane praises Cox for her bravery in publicly sharing her story while in the midst of a personal medical crisis. "She's exceptional – but I will also say that the pathway to this has been paved by all the other women in our lawsuit," she says. "There is strength in numbers."https://www.kmbc.com/article/court-documents-independence-missouri-pastor-charged-child-molestation/46058889Court documents state that multiple people under the age of 18 accused Virgil Marsh of sexually assaulting them between 2011 and 2018.Marsh, 71, is now in the Jackson County jail.He was charged with two counts of first-degree of child molestation and first-degree statutory sodomy.A probable cause statement indicates that Marsh told police he was a current pastor in Independence and admitted he had "inappropriately touched" one of the victims.He did tell police he 'potentially kissed' a second victim on the mouth but denied sexually touching them.He also told police he has asked for forgiveness with God and is no longer the man who "had previously done things to the victim," the probable cause reads.https://missouriindependent.com/2023/12/07/compensation-for-st-louis-victims-of-nuclear-waste-stripped-from-federal-defense-bill/Compensation for St. Louis victims of nuclear waste stripped from federal defense billProvisions that would have compensated those exposed to radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project were removed on WednesdayBY: ALLISON KITE - DECEMBER 7, 2023 9:03 AM      A joint investigation by The Independent and MuckRock.U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Thursday he would do everything he could to stop a federal defense spending bill after a provision offering compensation to Americans exposed to decades-old radioactive waste was removed. Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the Missouri Republican called the decision to remove compensation for Americans who have suffered rare cancers and autoimmune diseases a “scar on the conscience of this body.”“This is an injustice,” Hawley said. “This is this body turning its back on these good, proud Americans.”This summer, the Senate amended the National Defense Authorization Act to expand the existing Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include parts of the St. Louis region where individuals were exposed to leftover radioactive material from the development of the first atomic bomb. It would have also included parts of the Southwest where residents were exposed to bomb testing. But the provision was removed Wednesday by a conference committee of senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives working out differences between the two chambers' versions of the bill.Even before the text of the amended bill became available Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was decrying the removal of the radiation compensation policy. “This is a major betrayal of thousands and thousands of Missourians who have been lied to and ignored for years,” Hawley said in a post on social media Wednesday. Dawn Chapman, a co-founder of Just Moms STL, fought back tears Wednesday night as she described hearing the “gut-wrenching” news from Hawley's staff. Chapman and fellow moms have been advocating for families exposed to or near radioactive waste for years. “I actually thought we had a chance,” Chapman said. But she said the group hopes to get the expansion passed another way. “Nobody has given up on it,” Chapman said.The St. Louis region has suffered from a radioactive waste problem for decades. The area was instrumental in the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Almost 80 years later, residents of St. Louis and St. Charles counties are still dealing with the fallout. After the war, radioactive waste produced from refining uranium was trucked from downtown St. Louis to several sites in St. Louis County where it contaminated property at the airport and seeped into Coldwater Creek. In the 1970s, remaining nuclear waste that couldn't be processed to extract valuable metals was trucked to the West Lake Landfill and illegally dumped. It remains there today.During the Cold War, uranium was processed in St. Charles County. A chemical plant and open ponds of radioactive waste remained at the site in Weldon Spring for years. The site was remediated in the early 2000s, but groundwater contamination at the site is not improving fast enough, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.For years, St. Louis-area residents have pointed to the radioactive waste to explain rare cancers, autoimmune diseases and young deaths. A study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found people who lived along Coldwater Creek or played in its waters faced an increased risk of cancer.Chapman said she knew two individuals who made calls to members of Congress while receiving chemotherapy. It's hard to ask people to keep fighting for the legislation, she said. “They're not going to see another Christmas, and they're not going to see the compensation from this,” Chapman said. “This won't help them.” An investigation by The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press this summer found that the private companies and federal agencies handling and overseeing the waste repeatedly downplayed the danger despite knowledge that it posed a risk to human health.After the report was published, Hawley decried the federal government's failures and vowed to introduce legislation to help. So did U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. In a statement Wednesday night, she said the federal government's failure to compensate those who have been harmed by radioactive waste is “straight up negligence.”“The people of St. Louis deserve better, and they deserve to be able to live without worry of radioactive contamination,” Bush said. Missouri's junior senator, Republican Eric Schmitt, grew up near the West Lake Landfill. He said in a statement that the “fight is far from over” and that he will look into other legislation to get victims compensation.“The careless dumping of this waste happened across Missouri, including in my own backyard of St. Louis, and has negatively impacted Missouri communities for decades,” Schmitt said. “I will not stop fighting until it is addressed.”Already, two state lawmakers have pre-filed legislation related to radioactive waste in advance of the Missouri General Assembly reconvening in January. One doubles the budget of a state radioactive waste investigation fund. The other requires further disclosure of radioactive contamination when one sells or rents a house.In July, the U.S. Senate voted 61-37  to adopt Hawley's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include the St. Louis area. It would have also expanded the coverage area to compensate victims exposed to testing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico. The amendment included residents of New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Guam and expanded the coverage area in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, which are already partially covered.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that expanding the program could cost $147.1 billion over 10 years with St. Louis' portion taking up $3.7 billion of that. The amendment would have also renewed the program for existing coverage areas. Without renewal, it will expire in the coming months. Hawley said, however, the “fight is not over.” “I will come to this floor as long as it takes. I will introduce this bill as long as it takes,” he said. “I will force amendment votes as long as it takes until we compensate the people of this nation who have sacrificed for this nation.” https://www.azmirror.com/2023/12/06/in-bid-to-flip-the-legislature-blue-national-dems-announce-spending-on-az/With Republicans holding the barest of majorities in the Arizona Legislature, national Democrats are already making major investments in a bid to flip the state's legislature blue. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on Wednesday announced it would spend $70,000 in Arizona to aid in candidate recruitment for key races, hiring staff, digital investments and more. The spending is the start of the DLCC's push in swing states where the committee hopes to either solidify Democratic majorities or pick up seats and win legislative control. The money is part of an initial $300,000 push in swing states by the DLCC, with Arizona and Michigan getting the lion's share of the money. The DLCC is also spending money in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. In Arizona, Republicans have one-seat majorities in both the 60-member state House of Representatives and the 30-member state Senate. DLCC interim President Heather Williams told the Arizona Mirror that the committee is hoping to flip the House and Senate in part by highlighting the extreme positions of Republican lawmakers. Many proposed law changes inspired by those extreme positions earned vetoes from Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this year. “The Republican majority in both chambers is vulnerable,” Williams said, adding that this is only the committee's “initial investment,” as the group anticipates spending much more in 2024. Williams did not elaborate on which Arizona races the group plans to target, but mentioned that the group aims to do something similar to what happened in Virginia this year. Last month, Virginia Democrats gained control of the House and solidified their control of the Senate. The DLCC hopes to mirror that in Arizona. In that election, all 140 seats in the Virginia legislature were up for grabs, and Democrat wins will block Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's ability to fully enact his conservative agenda. The DLCC ended up spending more than $2 million in Virginia. “Here is what we know about Republicans, they are legislating in a way across the country that is not where their constituents are,” Williams said, citing access to abortion and health care for women as key. Republicans and Democrats are eyeing a number of key state house races for 2024 but Williams is confident that her party will come out on top, adding that the DLCC intends to have a dialogue with voters and to help people get registered to vote. “I think we feel really strong with our position as an organization,” Williams said, adding that having Hobbs, a former state lawmaker as a Democratic ally in the governorship will offer advantages. https://alabamareflector.com/2023/12/05/tuberville-relents-on-months-long-blockade-of-most-military-nominees-blaming-democrats/WASHINGTON — After blocking hundreds of U.S. military promotions for most of 2023 in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Tuesday he will lift his holds on all of them except for a handful of four-star general nominees.The senator, who sits on the Senate Committee on Armed Forces, said he told his fellow Senate Republicans “it's been a long fight” but ultimately he said Democrats were to blame for stalling hundreds of service members from moving up in the chain of command. Tuberville had said repeatedly that Democrats could bring each of the nominees to the floor for votes, which would take hours of debate.“We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach, and an abortion policy that's not legal,” Tuberville said after announcing his about-face to his fellow Senate Republicans during their regularly scheduled weekly lunch.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Tuesday that he would move the nominations to the floor “as soon as possible, possibly later this afternoon.”“I hope no one does this again, and I hope they learned the lesson of Sen. Tuberville. And that is he held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn't get anything that he wanted,” Schumer said.Tuberville has blocked hundreds of nominees since the spring because he opposes a recent Pentagon policy that allows armed services members time off and travel reimbursement should they need to seek an abortion in a state where it remains legal.Roughly 80,000 active-duty female service members are stationed in states where legislatures enacted full or partial bans following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a RAND analysis.The Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin maintain the policy is legal, as did a 2022 Department of Justice opinion.The list of nominees affected by Tuberville's months-long hold grew to 451 members of the military as of Nov. 27, according to a Department of Defense official. Majority staff for the Senate Armed Services Committee list 445 affected nominees.Tuberville's agreement to halt his protest means that all but 11 of those nominees are expected to clear final Senate approval, according to figures from committee's majority staff.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that GOP senators are “pleased obviously that that situation seems to have been ameliorated by recent announcements by the senator from Alabama.”Sen. Jack Reed, chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said in a statement Tuesday he's “glad that hundreds of our nation's finest military leaders will finally receive their hard-won, merit-based promotions.”“They, and their families, have shown us what grace and grit look like in the face of hardship. Senator Tuberville's actions have been an affront to the United States military and the Senate,” said Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island.“He has jeopardized our national security and abused the rights afforded to all Senators. No Senator should ever attempt to advance their own partisan agenda on the backs of our troops like this again.”Threat of Democratic-led procedure changeTuberville's change in course arrived as Schumer was poised to bring to the floor a Democratic-led rules resolution to bypass the Alabama senator's blockade.The proposed temporary change in floor process would have allowed senators to quickly approve large blocs of nominations simultaneously on the floor, saving hours and hours that would have been required to vote on each individually.Tuberville said Tuesday that he and fellow Republican senators decided they did not want to see any changes to Senate floor procedures and that is the reason he decided to lift his blockade.“All of us are against a rule change in the Senate, OK. We're all against it,” Tuberville said.The Alabama senator's own Republican colleagues have grown publicly frustrated with his stalling of military promotions.GOP senators, including Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Todd Young of Indiana, have on two occasions held the Senate floor into the wee hours bringing forward the names of nominees, only to meet Tuberville's objections.Some frustrated Republicans last week mulled whether to support the Democratic-led effort to override Tuberville's blockade. Democrats would have needed nine of them to pass the change in procedure.“I have said that right now I support Tommy Tuberville, but if he makes a statement that he's going to maintain this posture through this Congress I intend to vote for nominations under the rules suspension,” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told States Newsroom Nov. 29.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/12/06/ohio-senate-wants-to-stop-you-from-growing-weed-house-fights-back/Ohio Senate wants to stop you from growing weed; House fights backBY: MORGAN TRAU - DECEMBER 6, 2023 4:55 AMWhile Ohio Senate Republicans move to dramatically change recreational marijuana policy, the House is fighting back in a bipartisan fashion — saying the will of the voters must be followed.On Thursday, adults 21 and older in Ohio will be able to smoke weed and grow up to six plants.When Issue 2 passed in November, state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) knew he could be part of clarifying public policy. He invited WEWS/OCJ's Morgan Trau to his introduction of H.B. 354 in a “skeleton” session Tuesday morning. Skeleton sessions are when typically two lawmakers gather with the House clerk and take less than five minutes to introduce policy.“We preserve the things that the people voted on,” he told Trau after he banged the gavel and Finance Chair state Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) watched.Callender, who has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana, has been working on recreational implementation for years. Issue 2 came after all of his efforts were purposely stalled in the Statehouse.“The Marijuana Legalization Initiative” allows Ohioans to grow up to six plants, with 12 per household. In addition, the proposal would impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction. It also establishes the Division of Cannabis Control within the Ohio Department of Commerce.Ohioans voted in favor of the statute 57-43%.“I'm glad it passed and I'm excited that we're going to be able to take some of these measures that make it a more responsible act,” Callender said. “I want to make sure that here in this chamber, the People's House, that we carry out the will of the people — and the people have spoken.”His bill doesn't make major changes, but it does add safeguards — like guidelines on advertising, public smoking bans and provisions that give local governments more of a say in where tax revenue goes. It also explains that home grow must take place at residential addresses.“We've seen folks aggregate those six plants and, in essence, create a mega farm which is simply an aggregation or a co-op of a whole lot of home grows,” he said, saying that he is trying to prevent that.The bill, one that Callendar says has bipartisan support in the House, deeply contrasts the Senate's version.The proposal by state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) also includes guard rails to prevent exposure to children, including advertising guidelines. It would require marijuana to be packaged in a child-resistant container and prevents “cartoon character” or other pop culture figures whose target audience is a child from being used in weed marketing.However, those safety guidelines are the end of the common ground.The Senate proposal would reduce how much weed you could possess from 2.5 ounces to 1 ounce and 15 grams of marijuana concentrates to 5 grams; It would make weed less strong by limiting THC levels for plants to 25%, when the minimum was 35%. In addition, it would limit extracts to 50%, when the minimum was 90%; and it would make marijuana more expensive by raising the tax from 10% to 15%.It also changes where the taxes go.As mentioned, it was a 10% tax at the point of sale. It was 36% revenue to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund; 36% to the host community cannabis fund to provide funds to jurisdictions with adult-use dispensaries; 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund; and 3% to the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund. Issue 2 capped the number of dispensaries permitted at once to 350, but the bill cuts that down to 230.The Senate version ups to 15% tax at the point of sale. It is 30% to the law enforcement training fund, 15% to the marijuana substance abuse treatment and prevention fund, 10% to the safe driver training fund, and the remaining 45% goes to the grand revenue fund — aka, the state lawmakers.“The social equity program — when you really got down to the nuts and bolts of it — it was tax revenue being collected to be put right back into the hands of the industry,” McColley said. “It was a tax grab by the industry to prop up more dispensaries within the industry.”The “Social Equity and Jobs Program” was established by Issue 2. It is designed to fix “the harms resulting from the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana-related laws” and “reduce barriers to ownership and opportunity” to those “most directly and adversely impacted by the enforcement of marijuana-related laws,” according to the initiative.The most significant change is the proposal eliminates home grow.“The opposition has been all around the black market,” McColley said. “It's been around, ‘how do we keep these plants from then being transferred and sold illegally?'”After facing backlash, McColley assured he wasn't going against the will of the people, since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.“I think what the voters really voted for would have been access to products,” the senator added.Clearly, the voters want home grow, Callender argued. Access to products means access to home grow, he said.It isn't just Callender who is frustrated with the legislation moving through the other chamber. Dozens of Republican and Democratic representatives are infuriated with the Senate.One with a unique perspective is state Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.) The Senate took his legislation, H.B. 86, that revised the limit on the gallons of spirituous liquor that a micro-distillery may manufacture each year and added their marijuana proposal onto his bill.“Slap in the face of Ohio voters,” LaRe told WEWS/OCJ.The lawmaker doesn't support recreational marijuana, but he does respect the will of Ohioans, he added.“It's unfortunate they want to use a bill that is focused on helping certain small businesses recover from the pandemic to fast-track language that changes the intent of the ballot initiative,” he said. “I believe we should look into where the tax dollars are spent, but this goes way beyond those details.”Democrats agree. House Minority Whip State Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) says she can't and won't support the Senate version.“I'm not a fan of turning my back on the Ohio voters and the will of what they said when they overwhelmingly passed Issue 2,” Miranda said.When asked what happens if the two chambers don't reach a compromise, Callender said he will be in better standing — since the House can just block the Senate version.“I'm okay with just letting the initiated statute go into effect, which is a pretty strong bargaining position,” he said. “If we don't come up with an agreement, I'll trust the rule-making process, trust Commerce to make good rules to do this.”The Senate is expected to pass the marijuana bill out of committee Wednesday morning, putting it on the floor for a full vote later in the day. The House version is set to be heard Wednesday, as well.This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/dolly-parton-imagination-library-officially-launches-statewide-in-illinoisPritzker says goal is to send free books to all children, ages 0-5By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Illinois families with infants and toddlers now have access to free children's books that can be sent directly to their home, regardless of their income.Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday announced the official launch of the state's partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program founded by the country music legend in 1995 in her home county in east Tennessee. It now sends free books every month to nearly 3 million children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.“Today, I couldn't be prouder to announce that the Imagination Library is working with the state of Illinois to begin our journey to provide every child under the age of five an opportunity to receive a free book delivered to them every single month,” Pritzker said at an event at the Bloomington Public Library.Pritzker first announced in June that the state had formed a partnership with the Dollywood Foundation, Parton's philanthropic organization, after Illinois lawmakers included $1.6 million in this year's budget to fund the state's share of the program. Other funding comes from the Dollywood Foundation and local, county-based organizations.Since then, about 44 local programs have been operating in the state, serving roughly 4 percent of eligible children. But Dollywood Foundation executive director Nora Briggs said the goal is to reach all of the estimated 755,000 children under age 5 in Illinois.“We know that nothing is more basic, more essential, more foundational to a child's success in life than the ability to read,” Briggs said. “The research is clear. We cannot wait until kindergarten for children to have access or exposure to books. It must happen early. It must start in the home environment. And reading at home requires books.”People who are interested in enrolling their child in the program can find their local provider on the “check availability” tab located at imaginationlibrary.com. From there, applicants submit basic information including their address, their child's name and date of birth, and the parents' information.Once a child's eligibility is approved, they will start receiving one book each month, addressed to them. Each child within an age group receives the same monthly book. Books on the distribution list are chosen by a panel of early childhood literacy experts who review potential titles for inclusion in the distribution list. In addition to funding the Imagination Library program this year, lawmakers also approved Pritzker's “Smart Start Illinois” initiative that will provide $250 million this year for early childhood programs, including expanded access to preschool, wage support for child care workers, early intervention programs, and home visiting programs.“We're making our mark on every aspect of early childhood, and working with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library literacy efforts will begin now at the earliest ages,” Pritzker said. “Illinois is well on its way to solidifying our status as the number one state in the nation to raise young children.” Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.Stories in today's show originally appeared in the Missouri Independent, Capitol News Illinois, Alabama Reflector, Michigan Advance, Arizona Mirror, KMBC9 Kansas City, Ohio Capital Journal, and NPR News @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Friday News Flyover, December 8, 2023Intro: On this episode of The Heartland POD for Friday, December 8th, 2023A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Texas abortion bans creating legal confusion | MO Pastor jailed facing sexual abuse charges | Sen Josh Hawley and Rep Cori Bush speak against defense bill without funds for St. Louis residents exposed to radiation | AL Senator Tommy Tuberville gives up his misguided military holds | Dolly Parton gives books to millions of kids, if you didn't knowWelcome to The Heartland POD for a Flyover Friday, this is Sean Diller in Denver, Colorado. With me as co-host today is Adam Sommer, how you doing Adam?We're glad to have you with us. If you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on social media with @ THE heartland pod, and learn more at thehearltandcollective.com Alright! Let's get into the storieshttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/06/1217637325/texas-woman-asks-court-for-abortion-because-of-pregnancy-complicationsUpdated Thursday, Dec. 7 at 1:55 p.m."Kate Cox needs an abortion, and she needs it now." Thus began a petition filed in a Texas district court this week, asking a judge to allow the abortion to be performed in the state, where abortion is banned with very limited exceptions.On Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Texas, ruled from the bench, granting permission for Cox to have the abortion she is seeking. Cox's fetus has a genetic condition with very low chances of survival and her own health and fertility are at risk if she carries the pregnancy to term.The petition was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is the group behind a high profile case heard at the Texas Supreme Court last week.In that case the group's senior staff attorney Molly Duane argued on behalf of 20 patients and two OB-GYNs that the medical exception to the ban on abortion in the state's laws is too narrow and vague, and that it endangered patients during complicated pregnancies. An attorney for the state argued the exception is already clear and that the plaintiffs didn't have standing to sue.On the very day of those arguments, Nov. 28, Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two who lives in the Dallas area, got "devastating" news about her pregnancy, the filing says. At nearly 20-weeks gestation, she learned that her fetus has Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome, a condition with extremely low chances of survival.So, as the Texas Supreme Court considered whether its abortion laws endangered patients with pregnancy complications in the past, Cox was trying to figure out what to do in her present situation.Cox had already been in the emergency room three times with cramping and other concerning symptoms, according to court documents. Her doctors told her she was at high risk of developing gestational hypertension and diabetes, and because she had had two prior cesarean sections, carrying the pregnancy to term could compromise her chances of having a third child in the future, the brief says.Last Thursday, she reached out for the Center for Reproductive Rights. Five days after that, the group filed this petition on her behalf.The filing asked a Travis County district court for a temporary restraining order against the state of Texas and the Texas Medical Board, blocking enforcement of Texas's abortion bans so that Cox can terminate her current pregnancy. It also would block enforcement of S.B. 8, which allows civil lawsuits to be filed against those who help patients receive abortions.That would protect the other plaintiffs in the case, Cox's husband, Justin, and Dr. Damla Karsan, who is prepared to provide the abortion if the court grants their request. Karsan is one of the OB-GYN plaintiffs in the Zurawski v. the State of Texas case.Thursday's ruling will allow Karsan to provide an abortion without threat of prosecution. It only applies to Cox, her husband and Karsan. Issuing the ruling, Judge Guerra Gamble said: "The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice."There are currently three overlapping abortion bans in Texas. Abortion is illegal in the state from the moment pregnancy begins. Texas doctors can legally provide abortions only if a patient is "in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function, " the law says."I don't know what that means," Duane says of the language of the medical exception. "But I think [Cox's] situation must fall within whatever it is that that means."The Texas Attorney General's office did not respond to a request for comment on Cox's case, but the office argued in the Zurawski case that the medical exception needs no clarification.Sponsor MessageTexas Alliance for Life, a group that lobbied in the state legislature for the current abortion laws, published a statement about Cox's case Wednesday. "We believe that the exception language in Texas laws is clear," wrote the group's communication director Amy O'Donnell, and accused the Center for Reproductive Rights of pretending to seek clarity while really attempting to "chisel away" at Texas's abortion laws.The timeline of this case was very quick. "I have to be honest, I've never done this before, and that's because no one's ever done this before," Duane says. "But usually when you ask for a temporary restraining order, the court will act very, very quickly in acknowledgement of the emergency circumstances."The hearing was held via Zoom on Thursday morning.The State of Texas cannot appeal the decision directly, says Duane. "They would have to file what's called a writ of mandamus, saying that the district court acted so far out of its jurisdiction and that there needs to be a reversal," Duane explains. "But filing a petition like that is not does not automatically stay the injunction the way that an appeal of a temporary injunction does."In the meantime, the justices of the Texas Supreme Court are considering the Zurawski case, with a decision expected in the next few months. "I want them to take their time to write an opinion that gets this right and will protect patients, doctors and their families going forward," Duane says."But the reality is that in the meantime, people are going to continue to be harmed," and Cox couldn't afford to wait for that decision, Duane says.Duane praises Cox for her bravery in publicly sharing her story while in the midst of a personal medical crisis. "She's exceptional – but I will also say that the pathway to this has been paved by all the other women in our lawsuit," she says. "There is strength in numbers."https://www.kmbc.com/article/court-documents-independence-missouri-pastor-charged-child-molestation/46058889Court documents state that multiple people under the age of 18 accused Virgil Marsh of sexually assaulting them between 2011 and 2018.Marsh, 71, is now in the Jackson County jail.He was charged with two counts of first-degree of child molestation and first-degree statutory sodomy.A probable cause statement indicates that Marsh told police he was a current pastor in Independence and admitted he had "inappropriately touched" one of the victims.He did tell police he 'potentially kissed' a second victim on the mouth but denied sexually touching them.He also told police he has asked for forgiveness with God and is no longer the man who "had previously done things to the victim," the probable cause reads.https://missouriindependent.com/2023/12/07/compensation-for-st-louis-victims-of-nuclear-waste-stripped-from-federal-defense-bill/Compensation for St. Louis victims of nuclear waste stripped from federal defense billProvisions that would have compensated those exposed to radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project were removed on WednesdayBY: ALLISON KITE - DECEMBER 7, 2023 9:03 AM      A joint investigation by The Independent and MuckRock.U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Thursday he would do everything he could to stop a federal defense spending bill after a provision offering compensation to Americans exposed to decades-old radioactive waste was removed. Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the Missouri Republican called the decision to remove compensation for Americans who have suffered rare cancers and autoimmune diseases a “scar on the conscience of this body.”“This is an injustice,” Hawley said. “This is this body turning its back on these good, proud Americans.”This summer, the Senate amended the National Defense Authorization Act to expand the existing Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include parts of the St. Louis region where individuals were exposed to leftover radioactive material from the development of the first atomic bomb. It would have also included parts of the Southwest where residents were exposed to bomb testing. But the provision was removed Wednesday by a conference committee of senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives working out differences between the two chambers' versions of the bill.Even before the text of the amended bill became available Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was decrying the removal of the radiation compensation policy. “This is a major betrayal of thousands and thousands of Missourians who have been lied to and ignored for years,” Hawley said in a post on social media Wednesday. Dawn Chapman, a co-founder of Just Moms STL, fought back tears Wednesday night as she described hearing the “gut-wrenching” news from Hawley's staff. Chapman and fellow moms have been advocating for families exposed to or near radioactive waste for years. “I actually thought we had a chance,” Chapman said. But she said the group hopes to get the expansion passed another way. “Nobody has given up on it,” Chapman said.The St. Louis region has suffered from a radioactive waste problem for decades. The area was instrumental in the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Almost 80 years later, residents of St. Louis and St. Charles counties are still dealing with the fallout. After the war, radioactive waste produced from refining uranium was trucked from downtown St. Louis to several sites in St. Louis County where it contaminated property at the airport and seeped into Coldwater Creek. In the 1970s, remaining nuclear waste that couldn't be processed to extract valuable metals was trucked to the West Lake Landfill and illegally dumped. It remains there today.During the Cold War, uranium was processed in St. Charles County. A chemical plant and open ponds of radioactive waste remained at the site in Weldon Spring for years. The site was remediated in the early 2000s, but groundwater contamination at the site is not improving fast enough, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.For years, St. Louis-area residents have pointed to the radioactive waste to explain rare cancers, autoimmune diseases and young deaths. A study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found people who lived along Coldwater Creek or played in its waters faced an increased risk of cancer.Chapman said she knew two individuals who made calls to members of Congress while receiving chemotherapy. It's hard to ask people to keep fighting for the legislation, she said. “They're not going to see another Christmas, and they're not going to see the compensation from this,” Chapman said. “This won't help them.” An investigation by The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press this summer found that the private companies and federal agencies handling and overseeing the waste repeatedly downplayed the danger despite knowledge that it posed a risk to human health.After the report was published, Hawley decried the federal government's failures and vowed to introduce legislation to help. So did U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. In a statement Wednesday night, she said the federal government's failure to compensate those who have been harmed by radioactive waste is “straight up negligence.”“The people of St. Louis deserve better, and they deserve to be able to live without worry of radioactive contamination,” Bush said. Missouri's junior senator, Republican Eric Schmitt, grew up near the West Lake Landfill. He said in a statement that the “fight is far from over” and that he will look into other legislation to get victims compensation.“The careless dumping of this waste happened across Missouri, including in my own backyard of St. Louis, and has negatively impacted Missouri communities for decades,” Schmitt said. “I will not stop fighting until it is addressed.”Already, two state lawmakers have pre-filed legislation related to radioactive waste in advance of the Missouri General Assembly reconvening in January. One doubles the budget of a state radioactive waste investigation fund. The other requires further disclosure of radioactive contamination when one sells or rents a house.In July, the U.S. Senate voted 61-37  to adopt Hawley's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include the St. Louis area. It would have also expanded the coverage area to compensate victims exposed to testing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico. The amendment included residents of New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Guam and expanded the coverage area in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, which are already partially covered.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that expanding the program could cost $147.1 billion over 10 years with St. Louis' portion taking up $3.7 billion of that. The amendment would have also renewed the program for existing coverage areas. Without renewal, it will expire in the coming months. Hawley said, however, the “fight is not over.” “I will come to this floor as long as it takes. I will introduce this bill as long as it takes,” he said. “I will force amendment votes as long as it takes until we compensate the people of this nation who have sacrificed for this nation.” https://www.azmirror.com/2023/12/06/in-bid-to-flip-the-legislature-blue-national-dems-announce-spending-on-az/With Republicans holding the barest of majorities in the Arizona Legislature, national Democrats are already making major investments in a bid to flip the state's legislature blue. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on Wednesday announced it would spend $70,000 in Arizona to aid in candidate recruitment for key races, hiring staff, digital investments and more. The spending is the start of the DLCC's push in swing states where the committee hopes to either solidify Democratic majorities or pick up seats and win legislative control. The money is part of an initial $300,000 push in swing states by the DLCC, with Arizona and Michigan getting the lion's share of the money. The DLCC is also spending money in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. In Arizona, Republicans have one-seat majorities in both the 60-member state House of Representatives and the 30-member state Senate. DLCC interim President Heather Williams told the Arizona Mirror that the committee is hoping to flip the House and Senate in part by highlighting the extreme positions of Republican lawmakers. Many proposed law changes inspired by those extreme positions earned vetoes from Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this year. “The Republican majority in both chambers is vulnerable,” Williams said, adding that this is only the committee's “initial investment,” as the group anticipates spending much more in 2024. Williams did not elaborate on which Arizona races the group plans to target, but mentioned that the group aims to do something similar to what happened in Virginia this year. Last month, Virginia Democrats gained control of the House and solidified their control of the Senate. The DLCC hopes to mirror that in Arizona. In that election, all 140 seats in the Virginia legislature were up for grabs, and Democrat wins will block Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's ability to fully enact his conservative agenda. The DLCC ended up spending more than $2 million in Virginia. “Here is what we know about Republicans, they are legislating in a way across the country that is not where their constituents are,” Williams said, citing access to abortion and health care for women as key. Republicans and Democrats are eyeing a number of key state house races for 2024 but Williams is confident that her party will come out on top, adding that the DLCC intends to have a dialogue with voters and to help people get registered to vote. “I think we feel really strong with our position as an organization,” Williams said, adding that having Hobbs, a former state lawmaker as a Democratic ally in the governorship will offer advantages. https://alabamareflector.com/2023/12/05/tuberville-relents-on-months-long-blockade-of-most-military-nominees-blaming-democrats/WASHINGTON — After blocking hundreds of U.S. military promotions for most of 2023 in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Tuesday he will lift his holds on all of them except for a handful of four-star general nominees.The senator, who sits on the Senate Committee on Armed Forces, said he told his fellow Senate Republicans “it's been a long fight” but ultimately he said Democrats were to blame for stalling hundreds of service members from moving up in the chain of command. Tuberville had said repeatedly that Democrats could bring each of the nominees to the floor for votes, which would take hours of debate.“We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach, and an abortion policy that's not legal,” Tuberville said after announcing his about-face to his fellow Senate Republicans during their regularly scheduled weekly lunch.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Tuesday that he would move the nominations to the floor “as soon as possible, possibly later this afternoon.”“I hope no one does this again, and I hope they learned the lesson of Sen. Tuberville. And that is he held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn't get anything that he wanted,” Schumer said.Tuberville has blocked hundreds of nominees since the spring because he opposes a recent Pentagon policy that allows armed services members time off and travel reimbursement should they need to seek an abortion in a state where it remains legal.Roughly 80,000 active-duty female service members are stationed in states where legislatures enacted full or partial bans following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a RAND analysis.The Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin maintain the policy is legal, as did a 2022 Department of Justice opinion.The list of nominees affected by Tuberville's months-long hold grew to 451 members of the military as of Nov. 27, according to a Department of Defense official. Majority staff for the Senate Armed Services Committee list 445 affected nominees.Tuberville's agreement to halt his protest means that all but 11 of those nominees are expected to clear final Senate approval, according to figures from committee's majority staff.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that GOP senators are “pleased obviously that that situation seems to have been ameliorated by recent announcements by the senator from Alabama.”Sen. Jack Reed, chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said in a statement Tuesday he's “glad that hundreds of our nation's finest military leaders will finally receive their hard-won, merit-based promotions.”“They, and their families, have shown us what grace and grit look like in the face of hardship. Senator Tuberville's actions have been an affront to the United States military and the Senate,” said Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island.“He has jeopardized our national security and abused the rights afforded to all Senators. No Senator should ever attempt to advance their own partisan agenda on the backs of our troops like this again.”Threat of Democratic-led procedure changeTuberville's change in course arrived as Schumer was poised to bring to the floor a Democratic-led rules resolution to bypass the Alabama senator's blockade.The proposed temporary change in floor process would have allowed senators to quickly approve large blocs of nominations simultaneously on the floor, saving hours and hours that would have been required to vote on each individually.Tuberville said Tuesday that he and fellow Republican senators decided they did not want to see any changes to Senate floor procedures and that is the reason he decided to lift his blockade.“All of us are against a rule change in the Senate, OK. We're all against it,” Tuberville said.The Alabama senator's own Republican colleagues have grown publicly frustrated with his stalling of military promotions.GOP senators, including Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Todd Young of Indiana, have on two occasions held the Senate floor into the wee hours bringing forward the names of nominees, only to meet Tuberville's objections.Some frustrated Republicans last week mulled whether to support the Democratic-led effort to override Tuberville's blockade. Democrats would have needed nine of them to pass the change in procedure.“I have said that right now I support Tommy Tuberville, but if he makes a statement that he's going to maintain this posture through this Congress I intend to vote for nominations under the rules suspension,” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told States Newsroom Nov. 29.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/12/06/ohio-senate-wants-to-stop-you-from-growing-weed-house-fights-back/Ohio Senate wants to stop you from growing weed; House fights backBY: MORGAN TRAU - DECEMBER 6, 2023 4:55 AMWhile Ohio Senate Republicans move to dramatically change recreational marijuana policy, the House is fighting back in a bipartisan fashion — saying the will of the voters must be followed.On Thursday, adults 21 and older in Ohio will be able to smoke weed and grow up to six plants.When Issue 2 passed in November, state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) knew he could be part of clarifying public policy. He invited WEWS/OCJ's Morgan Trau to his introduction of H.B. 354 in a “skeleton” session Tuesday morning. Skeleton sessions are when typically two lawmakers gather with the House clerk and take less than five minutes to introduce policy.“We preserve the things that the people voted on,” he told Trau after he banged the gavel and Finance Chair state Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) watched.Callender, who has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana, has been working on recreational implementation for years. Issue 2 came after all of his efforts were purposely stalled in the Statehouse.“The Marijuana Legalization Initiative” allows Ohioans to grow up to six plants, with 12 per household. In addition, the proposal would impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction. It also establishes the Division of Cannabis Control within the Ohio Department of Commerce.Ohioans voted in favor of the statute 57-43%.“I'm glad it passed and I'm excited that we're going to be able to take some of these measures that make it a more responsible act,” Callender said. “I want to make sure that here in this chamber, the People's House, that we carry out the will of the people — and the people have spoken.”His bill doesn't make major changes, but it does add safeguards — like guidelines on advertising, public smoking bans and provisions that give local governments more of a say in where tax revenue goes. It also explains that home grow must take place at residential addresses.“We've seen folks aggregate those six plants and, in essence, create a mega farm which is simply an aggregation or a co-op of a whole lot of home grows,” he said, saying that he is trying to prevent that.The bill, one that Callendar says has bipartisan support in the House, deeply contrasts the Senate's version.The proposal by state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) also includes guard rails to prevent exposure to children, including advertising guidelines. It would require marijuana to be packaged in a child-resistant container and prevents “cartoon character” or other pop culture figures whose target audience is a child from being used in weed marketing.However, those safety guidelines are the end of the common ground.The Senate proposal would reduce how much weed you could possess from 2.5 ounces to 1 ounce and 15 grams of marijuana concentrates to 5 grams; It would make weed less strong by limiting THC levels for plants to 25%, when the minimum was 35%. In addition, it would limit extracts to 50%, when the minimum was 90%; and it would make marijuana more expensive by raising the tax from 10% to 15%.It also changes where the taxes go.As mentioned, it was a 10% tax at the point of sale. It was 36% revenue to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund; 36% to the host community cannabis fund to provide funds to jurisdictions with adult-use dispensaries; 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund; and 3% to the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund. Issue 2 capped the number of dispensaries permitted at once to 350, but the bill cuts that down to 230.The Senate version ups to 15% tax at the point of sale. It is 30% to the law enforcement training fund, 15% to the marijuana substance abuse treatment and prevention fund, 10% to the safe driver training fund, and the remaining 45% goes to the grand revenue fund — aka, the state lawmakers.“The social equity program — when you really got down to the nuts and bolts of it — it was tax revenue being collected to be put right back into the hands of the industry,” McColley said. “It was a tax grab by the industry to prop up more dispensaries within the industry.”The “Social Equity and Jobs Program” was established by Issue 2. It is designed to fix “the harms resulting from the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana-related laws” and “reduce barriers to ownership and opportunity” to those “most directly and adversely impacted by the enforcement of marijuana-related laws,” according to the initiative.The most significant change is the proposal eliminates home grow.“The opposition has been all around the black market,” McColley said. “It's been around, ‘how do we keep these plants from then being transferred and sold illegally?'”After facing backlash, McColley assured he wasn't going against the will of the people, since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.“I think what the voters really voted for would have been access to products,” the senator added.Clearly, the voters want home grow, Callender argued. Access to products means access to home grow, he said.It isn't just Callender who is frustrated with the legislation moving through the other chamber. Dozens of Republican and Democratic representatives are infuriated with the Senate.One with a unique perspective is state Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.) The Senate took his legislation, H.B. 86, that revised the limit on the gallons of spirituous liquor that a micro-distillery may manufacture each year and added their marijuana proposal onto his bill.“Slap in the face of Ohio voters,” LaRe told WEWS/OCJ.The lawmaker doesn't support recreational marijuana, but he does respect the will of Ohioans, he added.“It's unfortunate they want to use a bill that is focused on helping certain small businesses recover from the pandemic to fast-track language that changes the intent of the ballot initiative,” he said. “I believe we should look into where the tax dollars are spent, but this goes way beyond those details.”Democrats agree. House Minority Whip State Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) says she can't and won't support the Senate version.“I'm not a fan of turning my back on the Ohio voters and the will of what they said when they overwhelmingly passed Issue 2,” Miranda said.When asked what happens if the two chambers don't reach a compromise, Callender said he will be in better standing — since the House can just block the Senate version.“I'm okay with just letting the initiated statute go into effect, which is a pretty strong bargaining position,” he said. “If we don't come up with an agreement, I'll trust the rule-making process, trust Commerce to make good rules to do this.”The Senate is expected to pass the marijuana bill out of committee Wednesday morning, putting it on the floor for a full vote later in the day. The House version is set to be heard Wednesday, as well.This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/dolly-parton-imagination-library-officially-launches-statewide-in-illinoisPritzker says goal is to send free books to all children, ages 0-5By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Illinois families with infants and toddlers now have access to free children's books that can be sent directly to their home, regardless of their income.Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday announced the official launch of the state's partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program founded by the country music legend in 1995 in her home county in east Tennessee. It now sends free books every month to nearly 3 million children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.“Today, I couldn't be prouder to announce that the Imagination Library is working with the state of Illinois to begin our journey to provide every child under the age of five an opportunity to receive a free book delivered to them every single month,” Pritzker said at an event at the Bloomington Public Library.Pritzker first announced in June that the state had formed a partnership with the Dollywood Foundation, Parton's philanthropic organization, after Illinois lawmakers included $1.6 million in this year's budget to fund the state's share of the program. Other funding comes from the Dollywood Foundation and local, county-based organizations.Since then, about 44 local programs have been operating in the state, serving roughly 4 percent of eligible children. But Dollywood Foundation executive director Nora Briggs said the goal is to reach all of the estimated 755,000 children under age 5 in Illinois.“We know that nothing is more basic, more essential, more foundational to a child's success in life than the ability to read,” Briggs said. “The research is clear. We cannot wait until kindergarten for children to have access or exposure to books. It must happen early. It must start in the home environment. And reading at home requires books.”People who are interested in enrolling their child in the program can find their local provider on the “check availability” tab located at imaginationlibrary.com. From there, applicants submit basic information including their address, their child's name and date of birth, and the parents' information.Once a child's eligibility is approved, they will start receiving one book each month, addressed to them. Each child within an age group receives the same monthly book. Books on the distribution list are chosen by a panel of early childhood literacy experts who review potential titles for inclusion in the distribution list. In addition to funding the Imagination Library program this year, lawmakers also approved Pritzker's “Smart Start Illinois” initiative that will provide $250 million this year for early childhood programs, including expanded access to preschool, wage support for child care workers, early intervention programs, and home visiting programs.“We're making our mark on every aspect of early childhood, and working with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library literacy efforts will begin now at the earliest ages,” Pritzker said. “Illinois is well on its way to solidifying our status as the number one state in the nation to raise young children.” Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.Stories in today's show originally appeared in the Missouri Independent, Capitol News Illinois, Alabama Reflector, Michigan Advance, Arizona Mirror, KMBC9 Kansas City, Ohio Capital Journal, and NPR News @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Dennis is joined via Zoom by four different guests, each of whom have products that are perfect for holiday give gifting. First up is Michael DeMartino from Pillow Top, a line of queer-centric pillows and accessories. Michael talks about why he went into pillows, the thrill of having his leather harness pillow featured on Netflix's How To Build a Sex Room and the sexy hunk bowling ball he designed himself. Next up is author Eddie Shapiro whose third book of Broadway interviews Here's To The Ladies is perfect for the musical theater lover in your life. Eddie talks about what he's observed about the demands on being a Broadway diva, the magic of live theater and being invited by interviewee Faith Prince to come check out her new show Boop. Then we have Dudley Beene, the founder of Studley Duds, a line of chic and campy caftans. Dudley talks about why he decided to go into the caftans, his decision to create designs inspired by Dolly Parton and the Golden Girls and why having good-looking friends is helpful when it comes to marketing. And finally, we have Patrick Marks who started making and decorating sugar cookies during the pandemic and discovered he was good enough at it to start his own business, Cookie Patch. Patrick talks about going from knowing nothing about baking cookies to creating Instagram-ready masterpieces thanks to YouTube tutorials, learning cooking terminology like flooding and piping and taking inspiration from Charles M. Shultz and Peanuts. And all four guests offer advice to other would-be entrepreneurs and talk about what taking on these creative projects has brought to their lives. www.thepillowshop.com www.studleyduds.com @cookiepatch2 on Instagram

From the Rolling Stones to Bonnie Raitt and Dolly Parton, there are plenty of septuagenarians creating new, quality works. These performers are redefining “oldies but goodies,” but what can they teach us about prospects for an economy with an aging population? We rock out a bit, then discuss. Also on the show: Sweden’s Ericsson sees a win over Finland’s Nokia, and Moody’s issues a negative outlook for China’s government debt.

Headline News In a big win for Gymnasts for Change, British Gymnastics released new safeguarding policies that should be the model for federations around the world Riley McCusker is injured, and Spencer tries to convince you it's all just a bad dream Lindenwood is shutting down its gymnastics team after the 2024 season More on the banning of Elvira Saadi in Canada NCAA 2024 - Getting Ahead of the Game Jessica corners you in an elevator and tells you what she loves about college gymnastics Death to the "Alabama Shuffle:" a major rule change is coming to college gymnastics landings in 2024. We administer a quiz on the new regulations, discuss which gymnast the new requirement was obviously modeled after, and give our overall impressions Meet the Ninja Level 10s: Learning the names of gymnasts you can become obsessed with before the bandwagon starts, including KJ Kindler's dream come true, the new queen of bars, and...Nastia's clone? Power Rankings Fight A.k.a., why does Jessica hate Flavia? We released our new GymCastic World Elite Power Rankings, and Spencer would like everyone to know that it's not his fault. Plus, an update on Russia at the Olympics, as well as lawsuits about NIL and Title IX The GIFT of Club Gym Nerd Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes Q&A episodes, dedications, mini-commissions and group commissions Club Gym Nerd members get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails episodes. Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here and even "tapestries" (banners perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast here. RELATED EPISODES Emergency Gymternet News Biggest Gymnastics Pet Peeves Authorized Neutral Athletes Gymnastics Movie Club: Perfect Body Trouble in Romania Best Cheng Ever? RESOURCES & CITATIONS Gymlytics Fantasy Gym Make It Count Dolly Parton Stampede meet (not an NCAA meet) Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Follow the effects of the Russian invasion to Ukraine at Gymnovosti The Highest D and E scores from The Gymternet Men's Gymnastics coverage from Kensley Neutral Deductions MORE WAYS TO LISTEN HERE    

Today's thought-provoking new episode may challenge the way you think about judgment and body image. Host Heather Creekmore delves into the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, exploring how our tendency to judge others based on their bodies might not align with biblical principles. Heather emphasizes the impact of the judgments we make about others on our own body image struggles and the importance of recognizing our own idols of the heart as part of the impetus for judging others. Heather even tackles the topic of Dolly Parton's attention-getting half-time show performance on Thanksgiving, when she appeared in a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform. Should we judge Dolly? Or, should we simply say, "You do you, boo?" Or, is there another answer the Bible prescribes? Heather goes through Matthew 7, the Bible's most famous judging verses, and talks about what it means to judge others, and explains the Bible's very clear prescription on parameters around how we should judge. Heather examines the challenges of judging people's bodies by their size or appearance, shedding light on the dangers of complementing weight loss and the complexities of body size and health. Heather also talks about how our quickness to judge may reflect more work that needs to be done in our own hearts around the topic of body image. Heather explains, "Until I'm able to stop idolizing the woman that has the body size that I think would make me happy, until I'm able to stop judging others by their bodies and, really, therefore, objectifying them, it's really hard for me to break free from my own body image issues." Don't forget to check out Heather's brand new book, "The 40-Day Body Image Workbook." Learn more here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-Day-Body-Image-Workbook-Christian Ready to go deeper in your journey to freedom next year? Sign up for coaching and Heather's online class: The Body Image Freedom Framework. https://www.improvebodyimage.com/christian-body-image-course-coaching Photo credits: Jeff Schultes, Shutterstock. DFree, Shutterstock   Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Following the recent inductions of Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we decide to sit down with comedian and Rock Hall expert Joe Kwaczala (Who Cares About the Rock Hall? Podcast, Funny Songs and Sketches album) to see who has been snubbed and what does this  mean for rock and country's tenuous relationship going forward. It's a fun and fascinating listen!For just $5 a month you can help keep the lights on and get access to bonus episodes! Consider supporting us on Patreon HERE!Check out our Patreon!Check out our new merch store!Instagram: @TakeThisPodandShoveItFor everything else click HERE!Want to create your own great podcast? Why not start today! We use BuzzSprout for hosting and have loved it. So we suggest you give them a try as well! Buzzsprout gets your show listed in every major podcast platform, and makes understanding your podcast data a breeze. Follow this link to let Buzzsprout know we sent you—you'll get a $20 credit if you sign up for a paid plan, and it helps support our show.

Three women over age 75 are topping the Billboard charts — Brenda Lee, Dolly Parton, and Cher. They've been making music for decades.  Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is peaking nationwide. And with holiday gatherings, COVID and flu numbers are rising too. What can you do to protect yourself? Last week, Congress expelled fabulist and alleged grifter George Santos. Screenwriter Marty Kaplan wrote that very movie, called “The Distinguished Gentleman,” 30 years ago. “The Star Wars Holiday Special” aired only once in 1978, and has never been officially released. It's legendarily terrible. A new documentary examines its cult status.

From the Rolling Stones to Bonnie Raitt and Dolly Parton, there are plenty of septuagenarians creating new, quality works. These performers are redefining “oldies but goodies,” but what can they teach us about prospects for an economy with an aging population? We rock out a bit, then discuss. Also on the show: Sweden’s Ericsson sees a win over Finland’s Nokia, and Moody’s issues a negative outlook for China’s government debt.

Yellowstone breakdown. The season 2 finale begs this question: was this the best Taylor Sheridan season ever? Billy Dukes and Adison Haager unravel Ep. 9, including (3:46) Jamie

The competition is over, but the discussion of comeback songs isn't -- and today's is about comebacks in the answer/clapback sense. Seven "answer" songs come under the MASTAScope, as well as the frequency with which Neil Young is told to shut it, Bavaria's unexpected move to Ireland, the Judy Cycle opera we need to see, and pop songs that have become microplastics in their ubiquity. Vaseline those teeth and have a listen. Our outro for today's episode is by Neil Young. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas. SHOW NOTES Not sure what's going on here? Start at the beginning! Answer songs on Wikipedia The Lost Songs Project on "Judy's Turn To Cry" "No one knows why Ambrose Bierce disappeared, but here are some theories" Episode 79: TLC, "No Scrubs" Episode 195: Dolly Parton's Underrated Hits

NEXT GOAL WINS PODCASTInspired by the incredible true sports story based on the documentary movie by the same name NEXT GOAL WINS.Get ready for an exhilarating ride as we dissect the inspiring journey of the American Samoa soccer team, spotlighted in the film "Next Goal Wins". Prepare to be moved by the powerful underdog story masterfully crafted by famed director Taika Waititi and the compelling portrayal of the team's coach by the versatile Michael Fassbender. We'll pry open the creative process that birthed this exceptional film, revealing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of this cinematic gem.As we pivot, we will touch upon the film "Fast Break" and its unique resonance with Dolly Parton's timeless hit "Nine to Five". We'll analyze the importance of joy and resilience in the face of adversity and how the film successfully handles these deep themes with a light touch. We also have a fascinating discussion about cultural customs and traditions, essential to the fabric of the story, complemented by an impactful clip that underscores these values. Furthermore, we'll dive into the eagerly anticipated film "Oscar Kightley", exploring its themes of hope and collaboration, and offering sneak peeks into its creation.Lastly, we conclude the episode, acknowledging the transformative power of music. Embark on this podcast journey with us for a blend of captivating discussions, hearty laughter, and poignant reflections.

Drew is in Nashville chatting with country music legend Dolly Parton. Drew and Ross Mathews are at the Drew's News desk tackling a special set of headlines all about Dolly! Then, Drew is sharing tips for visiting Nashville with her Nashville Travel Guide. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It is a pleasure to welcome Emmy-winning journalist Michael Mackie to The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast. Michael Mackie is a proud Midwesterner. Growing up, he always knew he wanted to be in TV. Or on TV. Or watching TV. (He's not picky.) "I even got my degree in broadcasting from the University of Iowa to prove to the world I was not only educated but well-versed in sitcoms, game shows, and Oprah," he says. "Also, I got minors in French and acting as well. Someday, that will enable me to write, produce, direct, and star in a straight-to-video project in Quebec." Not only is Mackie an Aries with a Pisces rising, but he's also an eight-time Emmy award winner. He's worked and freelanced for various local television affiliates in Des Moines, Orlando, and Kansas City and was the co-host of a local daily entertainment show, KC Live. A prolific travel writer by trade, Mackie recently joined the prestigious Society of American Travel Writers. "My parents never could comprehend how I earned my keep stringing words together for the universe to appreciate," he says. "Frankly, that makes three of us. But I feel like it's what I was put on this earth to do. I was born to tell people's stories. Whether you read it—welp, that's up to you." In this edition of The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Michael Mackie spoke about his most memorable interviews of 2023 and his Four Inane Questions column for The Pitch Kansas City.

People live and travel around the world in many different ways.  From luxury to simple living, the options are endless.  What type of lifestyle living best fits your travel dreams?  Listen to us discuss our favorites on all podcast platforms and at DamnOpinion.com.The DAMN Opinion Podcast. Where the Big, the Bold and the Bald offer entertainment on the latest society news, strange topics, human behavior, interesting facts, social dilemmas and entertaining conversation. Listen to us discuss, and debate, what's hot and what's not on all podcast platforms and at DAMNopinion.com. Schedule: Weekly Website: www.DAMNopinion.comEmail: info@damopinion.comHosts: Mark Montgomery, James Smith and William Craig"Smarter Entertainment for a Distracted Audience"

Welp, that's pretty much 2023…DJ's Thanksgiving leftovers were delicious…unfortunately his mom's, not so much…stay tuned for your weekly Hall & Oates update…dime = Scrooge McDuck…longing for clubbing days without wanting to get off your phone…seriously, just come down 95 to Miami…unless you've got a prob with us being 1 in 4 Americans by 2060…good move with Magic 93.9, I Heart Media…Shakira: English vs Spanish, discuss…absolutely embrace The Box of it all, go all in…please connect us to the Merenbooty Girls…phew, Thunder Wheels is going but not gone…how dare ANYONE criticize a national treasure…Last soda: Henry Kissinger & Dolly Parton's critics Theme Song: Pero Let Me Freestyle, composed by Michael Angelo Lomlplex - the Official Gay Guy Pero…Let Me Tell You shop: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/pero-let-me-tell-you-podcast?ref_id=26603 FL Dairy: FloridaMilk.com or lechedeflorida.com Use PERO20 for 20% off at The Perfect Jean: https://theperfectjean.nyc

Welcome to another adventurous "Try It" episode of "Back on the Broomstick," where your favorite witchy hosts, Chelle and Laylla, step out of their comfort zones to explore uncharted (to them) divination methods!In this episode, Chelle takes a swing at pendulum divination. She shares her candid experience with this age-old practice, which, to her surprise, turned out to be somewhat underwhelming. Listen in as she recounts her journey with the pendulum, the challenges she faced, and her thoughts on why it didn't quite click for her.Meanwhile, Laylla delves into the mystical world of bone throwing, or osteomancy and cleromancy. It turns out, this ancient practice was a perfect match for her! Laylla has always been drawn to collecting found objects imbued with energy, treasuring ancestor trinkets, and has a deep-rooted love for bones and their magical connections. Hear her excitement as she describes how bone throwing resonated with her spirit, offering a rich, tactile experience that deeply connected her to her craft. And find out how Dolly Parton is connected to this practice that has it's roots in American Folk practices, Hoodoo, and cultures around the world and throughout history. Join us as we navigate these divination methods, sharing laughs, insights, and maybe even a few surprises along the way.These Old Bones - Dolly PartonEmail: backonthebroomstick@gmail.comFacebookInstagramBack on the Broomstick WebsiteInterested in contributing to The Solarium? Whether it's a letter, some quirky trinkets, or if you're a small business eager to showcase your products, we'd love to hear from you! We feature unboxings and reviews in our Solarium episodes, giving your items a spotlight in our magical space.Send to:Back on the BroomstickLaylla & Chelle1029 Lyell Ave Box 420Rochester NY 14606

After six decades as an icon in country music, it's hard to imagine Dolly Parton had anything to prove.  But when she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in 2022, she admitted to feeling uneasy.  A result of that feeling is “Rockstar,” the 77-year-old's first foray into rock music.  “I wanted the rock people to be proud of me, let's put it that way,” Parton tells the contributor Emily Lordi. “I wanted them to say, ‘Did you hear Dolly's rock album? Man, she killed it.' ” For this album, which is largely comprised of covers of classic rock songs like “Freebird” along with originals like the title track, Parton channelled the likes of Joan Jett and Melissa Etheridge (who also both appear on the album).  She didn't want to make a countryfied rock album, but even at a full roar, her voice is unmistakable Dolly. “It's a voice you know when you hear it, whether you like it or not,” Parton says. The artist is known for avoiding comment on political subjects, but she describes the volatile state of the culture in her song “World on Fire.” “The only way I know how to fight back is to write songs to say how I feel,” Parton says. “It's just me trying to throw some light on some dark subjects these days.”

Welcome back to The Radcast! We kick off the holiday season with some festive banter and a touch of impromptu Santa Claus spirit. Ryan and Chris bring you the weekly roundup of marketing insights and business highlights. From Apple Music Replay challenging Spotify Wrapped to Pop-Tarts introducing an edible mascot for a bowl game, we've got your weekly dose of intriguing news. Tune in as we discuss Dolly Parton dazzling in a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform, Instagram's new feature to filter spam followers, and much more.Stay tuned for this lively discussion! As we wrap up, Ryan and Chris extend warm wishes, encouraging everyone to stay cozy and relish the holiday season. Happy December 1st! And with approximately three weeks left for your holiday shopping, there's no need to feel pressured – just enjoy the process. Tune in now for this lively discussion and stay radical!

This week Willam is joined by special guest co-host Delta Work to discuss their favorite holiday foods, drag queens flying through the air, outlandish critiques of Beyoncé and Dolly Parton, and is it Mario Lopez or Mario Diaz? Plus they get into that cave to read your letters about banana bread, spicy content, and not giving up the cookie on the first date. Listen to Race Chaser Ad-Free on MOM Plus Follow us on IG at @racechaserpod and click the link in bio for a list of organizations you can donate to in support of Black Lives Matter Rainbow Spotlight: I Want House (Delta ReWork) by BOY2K FOLLOW ALASKA https://twitter.com/Alaska5000 https://www.instagram.com/theonlyalaska5000 https://www.facebook.com/AlaskaThunder https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9vnKqhNky1BcWqXbDs0NAQ FOLLOW WILLAM https://twitter.com/willam https://www.instagram.com/willam https://www.facebook.com/willam https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrO9hj5VqGJufBlVJy-8D1g RACE CHASER IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Memorable moments on the radio! // Kraft NOT Mac-N-Cheese // Kalyna Astrinos- Whats the Buzz? Dolly Parton NOT texting // Flying / Kids / Earaches

Piers Morgan names royals who were concerned about baby Archie's skin color! Plus, Dolly Parton prefers a fax machine over texting, Da Brat dishes on her 'Brat Loves Judy' five-part baby special which premieres tonight, and are Lori Harvey and Damson back together after being spotted at Beyonce's Renaissance Film premiere? We're dishin' it all on today's Dish Nation. 

Dolly Parton has been a fixture in country music for decades, and now she's ready to be a rock star as well. Fittingly enough, her new album out now is called Rockstar. Singing alongside her on 30 songs are some of the rock world's most legendary musicians, including Paul McCartney, John Fogerty, Pat Benatar, Lizzo and Miley Cyrus. Dolly Parton joins The Excerpt to share the story of how it all came together.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Carolina Reeper! It's like a PM Magazine from the Carolinas on the Crack Corn! Today's show is an elderly NFL version of The Apprentice!  You're fired! Frank Riech gets fired as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Who should be the new head coach? You should try my new BBQ sauce... "South in Ya Mouth"! Check it out at JonReep.com. Did you see Dolly Parton's performance during halftime at the Cowboys game?  Did she look pretty good? Or was it embarrassing? We're gonna get into it. We'll also talk about my family's Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving Feast!  Find out why I was pissed at my Mom... and why I'm now going to apologize. And in Irrational National Holidays today is NATIONAL DAY OF GIVING so on this episode I will be giving money away as we play another round of How Much is That Screen Actors Guild Residual Check? Download and Listen to the CAROLINA REEPER with Jon Reep Podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/tbxIcLlT Come see Jon LIVE in concert: https://jonreep.com/tour-dates/ Visit the MERCH shop: https://www.jonreep.com/shop Find Jon online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonreep Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonReep Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonreep/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jonreepcomedy Email: info@countryish.com #CarolinaReeper #JonReep #Allthingscomedy #SmallTownNews #Comedy #Podcast

A recent article written by Mary Kay Cabot on Cleveland.com scared Ken and Anthony, Mary Kay joins to discuss his current shoulder condition as well as her take on Dolly Parton

Originally from a small town in Kentucky, Caleb Crosby moved to Nashville to study music at the Belmont University. In a short amount of time, Caleb met a young Tyler Bryant, and they form what's now known as Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown. The group has released an impressive one body of work since they began recording around 2011. There're touring credits include opening and being direct support for groups like AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Jeff, Beck, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Caleb splits his time between the band, their new record label, freelance drumming and raising a young family.  Just recently, Caleb was the drummer with Dolly Parton during her halftime show at a Dallas NFL game. In this episode, Caleb talks about    Capturing the moment in the studio    The power of positive energy    Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown    Being in a band and freelancing    Playing with Dolly Parton    Building a record label    Creating parts in the studio    Family

C&R have a fun Turkey Taco Tuesday, on FSR! They talk Josh Dobbs falling on his ass-tronaut! The show has a great "Chose Your Own Adventure" with Russell Westbrook, Jason Kelce's wife & Tony Romo! The Westbrook door turns into a hot debate! Dame is at the Heat tonight! Plus, is Jim Nantz responsible for making Tony Romo's Dolly Parton analysis creepy?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

C&R have a fun "Chose Your Own Adventure" with Russell Westbrook, Jason Kelce's wife & Tony Romo! The Westbrook door turns into a great debate! Dame is at the Heat tonight! Is Jim Nantz responsible for making Tony Romo's Dolly Parton analysis creepy? Then the focus is on a strange habit. "Unc," Shannon Sharpe revealed that he brushes his teeth around 7 times per day & goes through 1 tube of toothpaste per week! The guys react. 'SHOWTIME MAHOMES TRIVIA' wakes up your NFL brain & gives love to Ohio! Plus, what is Mark Cuban up to?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris and Lauren are giving post-Thanksgiving details. Plus, Dolly Parton's epic performance and Chris reveals what he would do if he became a father again.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Click here to subscribe, rate, and review the newest episodes of GoJo and Golic!  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/ NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. New customers only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TWS News 1: Giving Tuesday Fails – 00:25Yougle It: Traffic Stops – 3:41Time Capsule Tuesday – 8:17TWS News 2: Kid Slang – 15:34When You Needed an Intervention – 19:25The Scoop: Calendar Method – 24:47TWS News 3: Love at First Flight – 28:45Tips for Holiday Hosting – 31:593 People to Be This Season – 36:41Rock Report: Dolly the Rockstar – 40:42Hallmark Christmas Movie Game – 44:17Wedding Readiness – 51:22Good News Giddy Up – 54:32 You can join our Wally Show Poddies Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/WallyShowPoddies

C&R return from the holiday & have fun with NFL Week 12! 'THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMM