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Industrial Talk is onsite at PowerGen and talking to Robert "Bob" McGinty, Director, Marketing and Sales at Braden about "Advanced SCR Solutions". Bob McGinty, a veteran in the power industry, discussed the evolution and growth of the power generation sector, particularly driven by data centers and AI. He highlighted Braden's role in emission control and gas turbine technology, emphasizing their advanced SCR system for faster compliance and reduced costs. Bob noted the increased demand for power due to population growth and technological advancements, stressing the need for responsible environmental practices. He also touched on the challenges of renewable energy costs and the importance of mentorship and family-oriented environments in the industry. Outline Introduction and Welcome to Industrial Talk Podcast Industrial Talk, sponsored by the Propane Education and Research Council, highlighting their commitment to safety, training, and innovative propane power technology.Scott Mackenzie, welcomes listeners to the Industrial Talk podcast, emphasizing the focus on industry professionals and their innovations.Scott thanks listeners for joining the top industrial podcast, celebrating industry professionals for their boldness, bravery, and problem-solving skills.Scott mentions the PowerGen event in San Antonio, encouraging listeners to attend next year and introduces Bob McGinty from Braden. Bob McGinty's Background and Current Role Scott introduces Bob McGinty, who has been in the Navy and has extensive experience in the emission and environmental marketplaces for over 35 years.Bob shares his journey from the Navy to the emission marketplace, focusing on improving emission controls through technology in the power industry.Bob discusses his transition into the gas turbine industry and his role in growing the Braden group, a multinational company.Bob emphasizes the importance of contributing to society and bettering human life through his work in the power industry. Impact of Data Centers and AI on Energy Market Bob explains how the data center industry and AI business have driven the energy market to new heights, contributing to the growth of power generation.Scott and Bob discuss the increased demand for power in the US due to population growth and the retirement of aged coal-fired systems.Bob highlights the role of new gas turbine technology and the symbiotic relationship between conventional and new power generators.Bob mentions Braden's involvement in various aspects of gas turbine technology, including auxiliary systems, acoustic control, and emission control systems. Challenges and Opportunities in Power Generation Bob discusses the structural challenges in the way power is consumed and delivered, emphasizing the need for different approaches to meet growing demand.Bob highlights the importance of responsible environmental compliance and the US's leadership in this area.Bob explains the migration of transparency between conventional and new power generators, particularly in the data center and AI industries.Bob shares Braden's expertise in building advanced air pollution control systems and the company's global presence in design, supply, and manufacturing. Braden's Role in Power Generation and Emission Control Bob explains Braden's role as an equipment supplier for power generators, providing systems according to specifications or best practices.Bob discusses the importance of managing exhaust trains safely and preparing air for generator operation.Bob highlights Braden's experience in building gas turbines since the 1960s and the company's knowledge in preparing air for generator operation.Bob emphasizes the need for advanced emission control systems to meet regulatory requirements and improve air quality. Regulatory Challenges and Technological Advancements Bob discusses the evolution of emission control technology, from addressing efficiency haze in the 1960s to advanced catalytic systems today.Bob explains the use of precious metal catalysts and the development of technologies to meet single-digit parts per million emission levels.Bob shares his experience working in Southern California, a region known for its strict air quality regulations, and the impact on Braden's technologies.Bob highlights the importance of developing technologies to meet regulatory challenges and the role of the EPA in setting and enforcing standards. Impact of Renewable Energy on Power Market Bob and Scott discuss the challenges and costs associated with renewable energy, particularly in California.Bob explains the high cost of electricity in California and the impact on consumers, comparing it to other regions.Bob highlights the need for a balanced approach to energy generation, combining renewables with traditional sources.Bob emphasizes the importance of reliable power supply and the challenges of rolling brownouts in a major economy like the US. Future of Power Generation and Workforce Development Bob discusses the return of baby boomers to the workforce and the importance of mentorship programs in developing new talent.Bob highlights Braden's family-oriented environment and flat organizational structure, fostering a supportive work environment.Bob emphasizes the need for continuous development and the role of new technologies in meeting market demands.Bob shares Braden's involvement in bringing power to remote areas in the US and globally, addressing energy needs in underserved regions. Braden's Advanced Technologies and Market Impact Bob introduces Braden's advanced emission control system for gas turbine exhaust systems, designed to meet the demands of data centers and AI companies.Bob explains the benefits of the new technology, including reduced footprint, lower costs, and faster market deployment.Bob highlights the importance of speed to market and the role of advanced technologies in addressing regulatory challenges.Bob expresses excitement about Braden's innovative solutions and their impact on the power generation market. Conclusion and Contact Information Scott thanks Bob for the insightful conversation and encourages listeners to reach out to Bob for more information.Scott highlights the importance of attending events like PowerGen to stay updated on industry trends and meet key industry professionals.Scott invites listeners to visit industrialtalk.com for more information and to connect with other industry professionals.Scott concludes the episode, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and innovation in the power generation industry. If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation. Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2026. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy! ROBERT MCGINTY'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-mcginty-34717119/ Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/braden-europe-b-v-/ Company Website: https://braden.com/ PODCAST VIDEO: https://youtu.be/OeeDOmQkYcw THE STRATEGIC REASON "WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST": OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us Hexagon: https://hexagon.com/ Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/ Fictiv: https://www.fictiv.com/ Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/ Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/ Industrial Dojo: 

Are current American food policies truly protecting public health, or are they putting it at risk?In this week's episode ofThe Feds, Stephanie speaks with Zen Honeycutt, the founder of Moms Across America, a national movement dedicated to educating families about toxins in the food supply and advocating for healthier agricultural practices. After witnessing her own children's health improve dramatically when they switched to organic foods, Zen launched a nationwide effort to test everyday products and raise awareness about the presence of glyphosate, pesticides, and other chemical residues in food. Zen discusses the widespread use of glyphosate in American agriculture, shares testing results revealing concerning levels of these substances in popular items such as cereals, baby formula, Girl Scout cookies, and even military food, and examines the roles of the EPA and FDA in regulating food safety. The conversation also addresses concerns regarding the Farm Bill and the President's recent Executive Order, and the growing demand amongst many Americans for greater transparency about what is actually in their food. Zen offers practical steps that families can take to reduce their exposure to toxins and support healthier farming methods. Moms Across America website:https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/Moms Across America Movement:https://www.momsacrossamericamovement.org/Test your body:https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/test_for_glyphosateFollow Zen:https://x.com/zenhoneycutt,https://www.instagram.com/zenhoneycutt/President Trump's EO:https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-ensures-an-adequate-supply-of-elemental-phosphorus-and-glyphosate-based-herbicides-for-national-security/

The climate policy landscape in the US is in flux. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency repealed its own power to regulate greenhouse gases. Two weeks later, the Supreme Court said it will hear a case which the city of Boulder, Colorado, brought against the oil companies ExxonMobil and Suncor that could determine the fate of lawsuits brought by cities and states against fossil fuel companies over damages from climate change.  Since its adoption in 2009, EPA's endangerment finding — which says that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare — had formed the legal foundation for major federal climate regulations. In announcing its rescission, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called it the largest single deregulatory event in US history. But the repeal may be held up in courts for years, and it's just one piece of a complicated regulatory puzzle.  Petitions for review challenging the EPA's rescission of the endangerment finding are due in just over a month. So how might these major policy swings play out in practical terms? What are the near- and long-term stakes at the federal and state levels? What are the reactions from and the preferences of industry? And how might all of this play out in terms of US greenhouse gas emissions? Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Michael Gerrard and Jeff Holmstead about possible legal strategies and outcomes for challenges to both the endangerment finding rescission and the Boulder case. Michael is the founder and faculty director of the Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Before joining Columbia in 2009, he practiced environmental law in New York for three decades. Jeff is a partner and co-chair of the Environmental Strategies Group at Bracewell, LLP, an international law firm. From 2001 to 2005, he served as the assistant administrator for air and radiation in the EPA during the administration of President George W. Bush.  Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.  

In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins sits down with author Aaron Mead to discuss his gripping novel Body in the Barrel, a story inspired by a real-life discovery in Lake Mead that shocked the nation. In 2022, as water levels at Lake Mead dropped to historic lows, authorities discovered a body in a barrel with a gunshot wound to the head—a killing style that many investigators immediately linked to organized crime. The discovery triggered speculation that the remains could date back to the 1970s or 1980s, the heyday of mob activity in Las Vegas. Aaron Mead explains how this discovery sparked the idea for his novel. Although Mead is a longtime water engineer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the mystery of the barrel victim and the history of mob activity in Las Vegas inspired him to craft a fictional story grounded in real events. Gary and Aaron dive deep into the Chicago Outfit's influence in Las Vegas, discussing figures like Tony Spilotro and hitman Frank Cullotta, whose violent methods and stories helped shape the mythology of organized crime in the desert. They also explore the long-standing mob practice of disposing of bodies in barrels, including the infamous case of mobster Johnny Roselli, whose body was also discovered stuffed in a drum. The conversation examines several possible identities of the Lake Mead victim, including casino insiders and Outfit associates who disappeared during the era of casino skimming. Mead's novel follows a fictional mob associate named Lenny Battaglia, who becomes terrified when news breaks about the barrel discovery. The reason? He knows there's another barrel—with his victim—still resting somewhere in Lake Mead. The discussion moves beyond mob history into the psychological consequences of violence, comparing Mead's story to classic works like Crime and Punishment. Rather than focusing on a traditional “whodunit,” the novel explores what happens after the crime, examining guilt, fear, and the moral weight carried by those who commit violence. Gary and Aaron also discuss the broader context of violence in American culture, including parallels between organized crime murders and modern tragedies such as the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. Finally, the conversation shifts to Mead's professional expertise in Western water law and the Colorado River, explaining how drought and declining water levels at Lake Mead are literally revealing pieces of hidden history—sometimes including crimes buried for decades. This episode blends mob history, real crime mysteries, and fiction inspired by true events, offering listeners a fascinating look at how the past can resurface in unexpected ways. Click here to find Body in a Barrel Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. [0:02]Introduction to Gangland Wire [0:00]Hey, all you wiretappers, good to be back here in studio of Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins. You know, I’m a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective. Now I have a podcast and I interview real crime mobsters, policemen, FBI agents, do authors that are doing true crime books. And I do authors that are doing novels that are based on true crime. Because we stick with true crime as close as we can here, guys. You know that. And today I have one of those authors that has written a book that is a novel, but it’s based on a lot of real events in Las Vegas. And we all know a little bit about Las Vegas and the Mafia. So Aaron Mead, welcome, Aaron. Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s great to have you on the show. Tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your history. [0:47]Sure. Yeah, I’m actually I’ve been working as an engineer, a water engineer for 30 some odd years. And so I come by my writing habit as a sort of a side interest. I, I, yeah, I just, I got a very, I’ve got a varied educational background too. So I started out as a, as an engineer in my training and then just had a creative itch and went back to school, ended up doing a PhD in philosophy of all things. And while I was doing that, I, I thought I might be an academic. I thought I might be a professor at one time and through the job search, things didn’t really work out. I did find a job, but it just wasn’t going to pay well enough, consider moving my family across the country for it. So I ended up not going into academia, but I stuck with writing, which was my favorite part of the PhD, the dissertation. [1:31]And I just started writing different things, some nonfiction stuff related to my dissertation research, but then just got an idea for a story, wrote a novel. It’s still sitting in the drawer. I’m interested in publishing that someday. But this idea for the book related to kind of Las Vegas mob stuff actually came connected with my work as a water engineer. So I work for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. We import water to Southern California from the Colorado River. And so I track the Colorado River news pretty closely. And in 2022, the lake was dropping because of drought and overuse. And this body in a barrel showed up on the shore of Lake Mead. And there was a gunshot wound to the head. And this looked an awful lot like a mob hit to the authorities. And so this just piqued my interest and got me thinking about how did this barrel get there and this body and what’s the story behind it. And I started doing a little research and it turns out that the clothing on the body was pretty well preserved. [2:29]So the police dated it to the late 70s, early 80s potentially. And that’s of course the heyday of the mob activities in Las Vegas. It got me onto the Chicago outfit and, Some of the characters involved in the outfits activity in Vegas there. And so my story just went from there. But, yeah, I guess that’s a little about me and the story. So, yeah. Yeah. Those are the days when Tony Spolatro was really active out there. Chicago outfit man on the scene, if you will. And Body in a Barrel, another interesting Chicago link is they found a guy named Johnny Roselli, who was a highly placed mob guy who was connected to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. He had been their guy before Spalatro. He had been their representative out in the West, and they found his body in a barrel down in Florida. Wow, okay. There’s some reference there. [3:21]I’d read a little that this is a pretty popular method of body disposal in various times. And Tony Spalatro was, I understand that they haven’t actually identified the victim yet, but the kind of style of killing they think is pretty connected with something Tony Spalatro might do. I guess the sort of low caliber gunshot wound was a popular way to dispose of it, to whack people just because it was a little less messy than a high caliber weapon. Yeah, this is one they call it a lupara blanca, which means white shotgun in Italian. And that means that you never find the body. In this case, they found the body. Every once in a while, they’ll find the body. Not very often, though. Usually they hide them pretty good. Now, who’d ever thought that Lake Mead would drop that much? Yeah, they dropped it at 100 feet of water, and I don’t think anybody expected it to drop that low. And it could go even lower in the next couple of years here, honestly. Really? Oh, really? It’s still dropping. I thought there’d been some more rain and some snow up in the mountains that were going to add to that. It’s going to be still dropping, huh? Yeah, there has been a fair bit of precipitation this year, but in the areas that count most, where you get most of the runoff, which is up in the mountains of Colorado and Utah, it’s really quite dry, actually. They’ve had some rain, but not much snow, and so they’re talking about a snow drought. Yeah, things could. It just depends. We’ll see how things develop, but it could get bad. Yeah, talk about that gun now. Chicago was noted. [4:40]For using these 22 caliber high standard i think they’re browning semi-automatic pistols with a silencer on it and they had them out there i believe and they also another interesting thing about the outfit in order to keep the sound down they would load their own shells and so they were had less powder in them and sometimes the shells didn’t do the job that they wanted to do now frank Kulata, who was in Las Vegas working for Tony Splattro during these years, he tells a story about trying to kill a guy with one of those guns and how he had such a hard time getting him killed. So I don’t know how many holes were in this guy’s head, but you got to get somebody just right in the head with that .22 caliber pistol. Yeah, they say it had to be pretty close range. You’re talking about the Jerry Listener murder, I think. Is that right? Yeah. I read about that one. That’s actually the kind of the murder in question in my book is based on that loosely. And so yeah, Kolata advises my main character, Lenny, to load his gun with half loads because they’ve lost their silencer or something. So that’ll keep the sound down. But yeah, I guess Lister ended up with multiple bullets to the head. And when they found them, more than you’d imagine would be necessary. [5:55]Really? There’s a guy that worked for the Stardust named Jay VanderWalk that disappeared at the time. It disappeared for a long time. Did you look at that one, too, as some of your source material? Yeah. So there’s this great article that’s been turned into a podcast on the Mob Museum website. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that in Las Vegas there. And they suggest there might be three potential victims. [6:21]VanderMark is one of the—is that the guy you mentioned, George VanderMark? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they call him by Jay. That’s right. Yeah. So, yeah, he is one of the, he’s a missing person, right? From that era, had connections with the Argent company. So they think he, that’s one of the possibilities. He was running the skimming operation, at least in some of the casinos there for Argent. And I guess the, as the gaming control board in Nevada found out about the skimming operation, gradually, they were starting to talk to people. And I think that they were worried that he was going to talk or actually this is, I think the, the outfit suspected he was stealing money from him. I think it was a combination. Stealing money is worse than talking. Right, yeah. So I guess he took off to Mexico, maybe, I read, or Costa Rica even. But I think… He came back. I can’t remember the exact story, but yeah. Yeah. So from what I read, Nick Calabrese, who I guess was a hitman for the outfit, and then turned eventually and started talking to the feds. He suggested that, I guess, Vandermark ended up in a hotel in Phoenix or something, and the outfit sent a couple of hitmen after him and whacked him there. And then Calabrese said they buried his body in the desert. So that means, you know, if that’s true, then obviously it’s not the guy in the barrel, but he’s one of the ones they talk about because they never found his body. Yeah. And I guess the other one I read about was William Crespo. [7:40]I don’t know that story. Yeah. So the little I know of it is he was a drug runner [7:48]Stories of the Las Vegas Mob [7:45]involved with the outfit in Las Vegas. And he got caught kind of landing in the Las Vegas airport coming from Miami with $400,000 worth of cocaine on him. And the feds arrested him. He accepted an offer of immunity to become an informant. And he was set to testify about this drug ring that the outfit was part of. And he actually ended up testifying before a grand jury, got a bunch of folks indicted. I guess one of the names of folks who was indicted was Victor Greger, according to this article. He was a former Argent executive. But then when Crespo himself went to testify, he was set to testify in June 83. And they got to him before then and he never testified. So, he’s another kind of missing person they suspect could be in the barrel. But the article thought the most likely candidate was a guy named Johnny Pappas. I don’t know if you know him at all. Yeah, I don’t know the story of that. Okay. So, this is a Chicago native guy who was involved in some of the Argent Corporation casino work. And he was, I guess by the 70s, late 70s, he was managing this resort on the northern part of Lake Mead called Echo Bay Resort, which was an Argent Corporation Resort. [9:00]And it’s closed now. It’s not there anymore. It used to be like a hotel and a boat launch. And so he was at the lake at different times. He also owned a boat on Lake Mead. And so in 1976, the day he disappeared, his wife told authorities basically that he went to meet this guy at a restaurant who was interested in buying his boat at Lake Mead. And so they think it could have been a ruse set up by outfit folks luring him basically down to the lake to show him his boat. And then they knock him off and take him out on his own dang boat and drop him in the lake. The motive is a little less clear in this case, but it was around that time when stuff was coming out about the Argent Corporation and the skimming. And they could have just thought he was a liability, might be set to talk or something. Yeah, those are the three that I read about anyway. He just disappeared after this meeting to go sell his boat. Yeah, they found that theory makes sense. They found his car parked in the circus casino parking lot on the strip the next day. And yeah, he’s just gone, disappeared. [10:01]I’ll be darned. I hadn’t heard that story. That is a pretty likely scenario. Say, hey, I’ll drive and let’s run down there and let’s see that boat. I got the money right here. You show the guy a bunch of money and he’ll drop all caution. It’ll go to the wind. That’s how they do it. and got him isolated then. [10:18]Yeah. And maybe it’s a last minute deal. So nobody really knows who he’s meeting and where he’s going and that he’s even going. So that’s, that’s a classic in the mob. Yeah. Apparently he told his wife he was going to go sell his boat, but that’s about it. Yeah. I’ll be darned. Yeah. The, as Lake Mead’s gone down, has there been any other bodies or any other things that have been found out there recently? Yeah, there’s been some strange things turned up. One is a sort of a World War II era airplane, honestly, started coming out of the water. But that was known about for some time. You could see it, I guess, from aerial photos. But other bodies, yeah, there’s a few other bodies, just skeletons, nothing in barrels and no gunshot wounds. And so, people just, I think authorities have identified most of those and suspect they were just drowning victims, unfortunate boating accidents and whatnot. But nothing like this body in a barrel. I think they’ve been trying to identify that body. There’s lots of DNA evidence, right? You got still a pretty intact body. But the problem is back in that era, I guess they didn’t have the DNA database to be matching with. Yeah. So, it’s not borne a lot of fruit. I think it’s still an open case, honestly. Really? The chance they have is if one of that guy’s descendants goes to something like 23andMe and then does that. And I know they’ve come up with a deal where they can start running an unknown DNA through those… [11:44]Files and see if you can come up with a connection and then go back and say, okay, where would this guy have ever come across or be in this other person’s family tree, if you will, and then they can eventually get it. That’s fascinating. Amazing. Yeah, it is what they could do. I had a guy that used to be a professional criminal talking about it. He said, I don’t know why anybody does crime today. He said with the DNA and the cameras and the cell phones and all that, he said, there’s just way, way too many ways to get caught. That’s wild. Yeah. Oh boy. Yeah. I watch a lot of crime shows and I see a lot of that stuff. And everybody watches those crime shows. So they know about those tools out there. So first thing, you got to go get a burner phone. If you’re going to go do something, you better go get a burner phone. And then you better dress up in one of those suits in those English police movies, those white hazmat suits and your whole face covered. Crazy, crazy. Yeah. And then go do it. Don’t use your own car. You better go steal a car somewhere. Man, complicated. It’s too hard. Yes. And even then, if they look at you and say, your phone never moved for 24 hours, but yet you were seen over here or over there. How come you didn’t have your phone with you or your car? You parked your car here for 12 hours and then you came back and got it. What were you doing? [13:08]It is just crazy, isn’t it? Yeah. But tell us, what’s the storyline of your book? Don’t give too much away. You want people to buy it. I understand that. But tell the guys the storyline of your book. Sure, yeah. So the storyline is, it starts out with the true events of 2022, right? This headline that there’s a body in a barrel shows up on the shore of Lake Mead. And my main protagonist, who’s sort of made up from my imagination, his name’s Lenny Battaglia. [13:37]The Body in the Barrel [13:33]And he reads this headline. He’s an old time mob associate. He, at one time when he was young, was connected with the outfit, but ended up getting out of it barely. But he reads this headline and starts to get worried because he’s got a barrel with a body in it that’s his victim farther out in the lake. So this one that he reads about is not his. It’s actually his partners who, in my story, the partners loosely based on Frank Collada, actually. [14:01]And so he reads this headline, gets worried, goes out in his little boat to try to move his victim farther out into the lake because he’s concerned that his lake, the lake’s continuing to drop and the kind of the falling lakes acts like a ticking clock in my story in some ways. I think the Sopranos did something like this. They thought somebody was going to come up and buy some farm, and they had said, these guys have to dig this body up and move it. So that is not out of the realm of possibility, is it? No, no. But what is out of the realm of possibility is this old guy in his tiny little boat actually moving the barrel. So he goes out with just a gaff with a hook on it and tries to yank it out with his little outboard motor, and it just won’t budge. The thing’s really heavy. If you know anything about water, stuff under water is really heavy. Really heavy. Yeah. He’s wrestling with it and ends up falling in while he’s trying to pull this barrel farther out. And so it’s a big failure. And while he’s falling in, he has this flashback to the killing, basically. And so the story kind of goes from there, but it’s really focused on how he deals with what he’s done, basically. [15:10]Crime is no mystery from the beginning. it’s not a it’s not a traditional it’s not a traditional police procedural of where who done it yeah it’s not like that it’s more like kind of what is what’s the aftermath what’s the effect of, a terrible crime like this on even the perpetrator yeah yeah and as I said one of my characters is based on Frank Collada who so he was the story takes place in kind of two time frames right we’ve got the, contemporary time frame, but then we got flashbacks to his time at the mob and Frank was his partner in this hit. We’ve also got a character showing up who’s based on Tony Spolatro. I call him Tony Bonucci, named after one of my favorite Italian soccer players. [15:50]But yeah, so we’ve got this connection to the early 80s, late 70s, and then also this kind of contemporary period. And I understand Frank Collado was actually, he recently just died, right he was he did during covid times i think he he already had copd he was already everything he did he you’d see me to have his oxygen on and so he was already weakened then he got covid during uh during covid that’s a shame you know yeah i did some listening to a podcast he was on in researching my book and it was really fascinating to listen to yeah yeah he is he’s and he’s got his there’s a whole book out there that he mainly just told stories about his life during the whole book. It’s amazing. I did one with him and then added some more clips in from that a long time. One of my earlier ones, I got to know him real early because we had the mob con out there. I knew the guy that was getting it going and I went out to the guy that actually Denny Griffin who wrote the books with Frank Collider, wrote several books with Frank Collider and I’d gotten to know Denny and so Denny invited me to come out and do a program at the first mob conference and I met Frank then. I met him and a couple others after that. He was gruff, but he was a good guy. I mean, he was gruff, I’ll tell you. He wasn’t a guy that just, it was hard to joke around with him. Interesting. Okay, interesting. [17:12]Yeah, I got a bit of that vibe from the podcast of him that I was listening to. Yeah, it’s funny. Just genuine Italian Chicago, like to the core. Yeah, he was that. He was born and bred, born and bred from early his childhood. He was a Chicago mobster. There’s no doubt about that. That’s wild. [17:32]Yeah, Denny Griffin’s book was really helpful to me, actually, in my research. Yeah, the battle for Las Vegas in particular was. Yeah, that’s the one I used. Denny was that. Denny’s dead now. I don’t know if you knew that. I did know that, unfortunately. Yeah, I was pretty good friends with Denny. He helped me out a lot when I got started and got me out there. And he gave me for my first documentary, which was about the skimming, a lot about the skimming. He got me several people to interview, lined me up with them and verified, hey, this guy’s okay and work with him. And I flew out to Las Vegas and interviewed a bunch of people and interviewed him too. But he got me an employee of the Best Casino that knew Lefty Rosenthal really well. She gave us some really great sound bites. I get calls today or emails wanting to know if she’s still around. She’s died since. People are still trying to find her to get to interview her. That’s wild. That’s wild. That’s because old Denny Griffin, he was a good guy. He really was. That’s neat. His book was certainly good. Yeah. Interesting. So what else do you want to say about your book before we get out of here? Besides, go out and buy it. Go out and buy it. It’s on Amazon, I’m sure, and I’ll have a link to the Amazon site. I appreciate that. Yeah, it is on Amazon. What do I want to say about it? I guess the other thing to say is it’s got some, I don’t want to give too much away, but gun violence is really a big part of the book. Not only this single mob hit, but also it wraps in. [18:56]This mass shooting in 2017, the one where the guy was a shooter was in the hotel suites up high and he was shooting across the street into that country music festival. So it’s really funny. I compare it to two things, right? I compare it to Casino, which is this famous Scorsese film from that mobster era, which everybody knows about. And actually, Frank Collado was in. He had a cameo in that. Yeah, that’s funny. But then the other thing I compare the book to is Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, which is obviously this sort of towering literary novel. But the parallel is just dealing with this aftermath of violence, right? What happens when you kill somebody and what’s the sort of dealing with guilt and fear and the consequences. [19:44]Exploring Themes of Violence [19:40]So I’d say those are the sort of things I point to as parallels for the book. I don’t know. There’s a lot more to say. Like you’ve said, it’s grounded in true life crime, but it’s also definitely fiction. I’ve made up the better part of it. Yeah. [19:54]All right. Aaron Mead. The book is Body in the Barrel. Aaron, I really appreciate you coming on the show. And guys, I’ll have links to this book down below. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure meeting you and hearing some of your stories. And I’m enjoying your podcast. And it’s been a privilege to be on here. So thank you. Okay. We like to hear that. Thanks a lot, Aaron. [20:17]Yeah, thank you. Okay. Okay. I’ll do a little extra here in a minute. I just want to tell you something. When I went to law school at the police department and my favorite class was water law and I did my, you have to do a 50 page publishable paper to get out of law school. I did mine on Western water law and it was just, I was fascinated by that Western water law and all the things that go into that, the Rio Grande Pact and all the different political entities that are trying to use that water and how they use it. And then how the EPA rules and figured in on using water out West. And the fact that out West, they treated water like they treated gold or some other mineral. If you found the source, you owned it. Whereas they had riparian interest in [21:06]The Complexities of Water Law [21:03]laws back East here, where you have plenty of water. You can use all the water you want as long as you don’t reduce it. But nobody owns that source of water. [21:12]If it’s a big source, it’s just a fascinating topic. Yeah, it is a bit of the Wild West, like applies to water out West. It’s that first in time, first in right thing. It’s pretty crazy. The Colorado River especially is so complicated. You got seven, seven states take water from it. You got the federal government running the dams there. You’ve got Mexico that takes a portion of it. You’ve got this whole hundred year history of law layered on top of each other. And even today, the rules on how the water gets distributed are about to expire in this year. And so we’re trying to come up with new rules. And it’s just so tough because… [21:49]There’s less water in the river than there used to be, and so the old agreements don’t quite work out, and we’re having to take reductions, and, you know, who takes what? It’s just sort of a big mess, honestly. We’re fighting over it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up in court, honestly. But that would be not a good outcome, but it seems potentially likely. Yeah. There’s a judge I heard say once that, you better make a deal outside of my courtroom. If you come into my courtroom, my decision is not going to hurt everybody’s feelings with my decision. Yeah. And inevitably, like the folks, the special masters or whatever the justices are that are making the decisions, they don’t know as much about water as we do. If we can’t work it out, it’s going to happen. I know. And there are just so many pressures that are on it. And it’s tough. And plus, one thing we haven’t mentioned is a huge growth in population over the last 20, 30 years out there. It’s true. Yeah, it’s true. Yes, unbelievable how many people have moved to Phoenix and Albuquerque and Las Vegas, especially Las Vegas, but just being such a huge growth in population out. And before it was desert that nobody really, they didn’t live, they didn’t want to live out there. [22:55]It’s true. Yeah. And surprisingly, like in a lot of these cities, actually, the demand for water has not increased. Like in Las Vegas, it’s actually gone down. Oh, really? They have done an incredible job of conserving water. Same in Los Angeles. The demands for water have gone down despite the population growth. The thing that makes it challenging is that the whole pie is shrinking and it’s the agricultural use that’s the highest. I think it’s something like 85% or 80% of the water in the Colorado Basin is agriculture. And so, those are the things you’re going to need to find conservation there, which is harder. [23:30]Like those Israelis did, it was something called drip irrigation where they used, they were more skillful in the way they used their water in their fields down in the desert. Yeah, and some of the folks that’s been, some of the agricultural folks have been converting to that kind of irrigation for quite some time now. So, it’s like we’re wringing out every sponge we got and running out of options. But, yeah, we’ll figure it out one way or the other here. Yeah, I’m sure we will. This is America, after all. [23:59]Or is it still America? It’s hard to know. Yeah, it’s hard to know. We’re going down that path. Looking a little different these days. Yes, it is. Yeah. Oh, my God. Okay, Aaron, I really appreciate it. I’ll get in touch with you whenever I send an email with the links after I put them up. It’ll be, I don’t know. It’ll probably be a month or more before I get it up. Sure. I stay way ahead. I’ve got quite a few kind of scheduled up for the next two weeks now or three. Smart. Two weeks now, one just went up today. So I put it up, video, I put them up on Sunday evening, and then the audio comes out like 4 o’clock in the morning on Monday morning. Okay. Don’t ask me why. I just started doing that. Yeah. No worries. It gets ahead of everybody. Then they can see it. Hey, I’ve got a question for you, if you don’t, if you don’t mind. No. Do you know about any contemporary organized crime activity in Las Vegas? Is there still stuff going on or is it? I don’t. I really don’t. Yeah. Okay. [24:59]Trying to think of a source for you. I’ll check with a source for you. Okay. I know it’s not Midwest folks from your era, but yeah. Yeah, no, probably something up there out at Los Angeles and people that moved out there a generation ago and stayed under the radar. And then, of course, international. Yeah. Those like Russians and people like that out of Phoenix or in Los Angeles, both. Anyhow, I’ll check on that. Okay. Yeah. If you think of something, that’d be great. I’d be interested. Okay. Okay. I will. All right. Thank you. Thank you again. Take care. All right. Bye-bye. Can you go ahead and do, can you exit the meeting? I’m going to do a little ending thing here. I will. Yeah. [25:40]That was interesting, folks. I did Waterlaw in, well, that was interesting, folks. I really liked Aaron and I think his Body in the Barrel book is going to be pretty darn good. [25:53]Concluding Thoughts on Crime and History [25:50]So I’d recommend you try it. I haven’t actually read it myself. I’ve read excerpts from it. I’ve got it here. I need to sit down and take some time and read it. I like when they base it on the real life people and some people that I know something about. It’s kind of like hearing stories about your hometown. Oh, yeah, I know that guy. Oh, yeah, I remember when that happened. And it’s an interesting thing, the lowering of Lake Mead. He and I, he’s a water engineer, and he and I talked a little bit more about it. I find it a fascinating topic, that Western water law and Western water rights and how that all works. It’s different than back east where we have plenty of water. So don’t forget, I’ve got videos on Amazon Prime for rent. Just use my name and mafia, Gary Jenkins Mafia on Amazon Prime, and you’ll find them. And I’ve got books there. Do the same thing. Gary Jenkins Mafia books. I’ve got three books on Amazon and I’ve got them on my website. And I always appreciate when people make comments on my YouTube channel or on my Gangland Wire podcast page. We’re just here to report mob history. That’s all we want to do is report mob history. And in this case, we got a fictional book that’s reporting mob history based on real mob history. I’ll do that every once in a while, too. [27:07]So thanks a lot, guys. I always appreciate doing this show. It’s a way to end my life out, if you will. I’m down to that last quarter, maybe down to the last two minutes one of these days, but we’ll get there. Thanks a lot, guys.

In this episode:The Rundown (:35): Editor of NDA's publications Alexa Schlosser shares upcoming NDA education opportunities in Washington, D.C., including the Foundations of Demolition Project Management and Job Cost Tracking courses in April, as well as the Demolition Methods, Planning and Design course in May. She also outlines NDA's recent advocacy efforts, including formal requests to OSHA and EPA seeking regulatory clarity on silica dust controls in freezing conditions and torch cutting of PCB bulk product waste.From the Field (4:24): Doug Thomas of Independence Demolition shares why “lessons learned” shouldn't be an afterthought; they should be a system. From safety and near misses to estimating, contracts and client management, Doug explains how documenting and sharing lessons across teams drives continuous improvement. He outlines how Independence uses a formal database, monthly reviews and toolbox talks to reinforce both the good practices worth repeating and the mistakes worth avoiding. His challenge to listeners: Every job has a lesson if you're willing to look for it.Member Conversation (9:21): In a conversation with Brandenburg's vice president of sales, Dennis McGarel, Richard Miller, CEO of Resource Environmental Inc., traces his path from working in his father's scrap yard in Los Angeles to leading a $50 million demolition and environmental firm. Along the way, he reflects on the mentors who shaped him, the risks of entrepreneurship, the realities of bonding and public work, and the discipline required to grow sustainably. At the center of his story is a clear theme: Success in demolition isn't just about equipment or contracts; it's about relationships, culture and investing in the people who power the business.

Appalachian Voices v. EPA

This week on America on the Road, roomy SUVs go under the microscope. Host Jack Nerad tests the family-focused 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 SEL AWD, Hyundai’s newest three-row electric SUV. And co-host Chris Teague details his week-long experience in the luxurious 2026 Lincoln Navigator. The hosts also discuss key industry developments, including Honda’s reverse exports and federal oversight of autonomous vehicles. Plus, Jack sits down with Cameron Creighton, an expert on the 2026 Toyota C-HR and bZ Woodland, to explore Toyota’s latest compact crossover and electric SUV offerings.

Rivian has spent four years and billions of dollars building electric vehicles that most people cannot afford. The R2 — a mid-size SUV that starts at $45,000 and tops out at $57,990 — is the company's answer to that problem. Full pricing and trim details dropped today, 12 March 2026, and deliveries of the first Performance variant begin this spring. If it works, Rivian becomes a proper carmaker. If it does not, the maths gets ugly fast.From Concept to ConcreteThe R2 platform was first announced in 2022, with production originally pencilled in for 2025 at a planned factory in Georgia. That changed in March 2024, when RJ Scaringe, Rivian's founder and chief executive, unveiled the production-ready R2 alongside the smaller R3 and R3X crossovers at a packed event at the Rivian Theater in Laguna Beach, California. Mr Scaringe also confirmed he was scrapping the Georgia plan — at least for now — and would build the R2 at the existing Normal, Illinois plant instead. That decision saved more than $2.25 billion in capital expenditure and, crucially, pulled the launch date forward.Within 24 hours of its unveiling, Rivian had taken more than 68,000 reservations at $100 apiece. By July 2024, the company's VP of manufacturing Tim Fallon said reservations had surpassed 100,000 and were still climbing. Rivian has not updated that figure publicly since.Production began in January 2026. Validation vehicles rolled off the Normal line first, and the factory is now ramping toward a target capacity of 155,000 R2 units per year — alongside the R1 models it already builds there. Each R2 takes roughly 15 hours to assemble, down from 18 hours for an R1.Why the R2 Matters More Than Any Vehicle Rivian Has BuiltThe R1T pickup and R1S SUV earned Rivian a devoted following and the top spot in Consumer Reports owner satisfaction surveys. They also bled money. Rivian posted a net loss of $3.65 billion in 2025, on top of a $4.75 billion loss in 2024. The R1S starts near $75,000 (around £59,000) — a price that limits the addressable market to a sliver of American buyers."R2 is really instrumental for driving the business to positive cash flow and overall profitability," Mr Scaringe told CNBC in February. He was not exaggerating. The bill of materials for the R2 is roughly half that of the R1. Rivian slashed the number of computing units from over 60 in a traditional vehicle to seven, and cut wiring length by about two miles (3.2 km). The result is what Mr Scaringe called "a dramatic reduction in the cost structure to build it."Rivian did scrape together a positive gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 — a milestone, though the margin was wafer-thin at around 2%, compared with Tesla's 17%. The R2, with its leaner architecture and lower price, is meant to close that gap at volume. Analysts expect around 15,000 R2 deliveries in 2026, though some believe Rivian could exceed that figure. By 2027, with three full shifts running, the Normal plant could produce roughly 155,000 R2s annually.Today's Pricing: What You GetThe lineup spans four trims, all sharing an 87.9 kWh usable battery and a $1,495 destination charge. Here is how they break down:The Performance trim arrives first, this spring, at $57,990 (around £46,000) including the Launch Package. It runs dual-motor all-wheel drive with 656 horsepower, 609 lb-ft (826 Nm) of torque and a 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) time of 3.6 seconds. Highway overtaking is savage: 50–70 mph (80–113 km/h) in 1.55 seconds. EPA-estimated range sits at up to 330 miles (531 km). The Launch Package bundles lifetime Autonomy+ access, a tow package rated at 4,400 lbs (1,996 kg) and an exclusive Launch Green paint option.The Premium trim follows in late 2026 at $53,990 (around £43,000). It shares the 330-mile range and dual-motor AWD layout but dials the power back to 450 hp and 537 lb-ft. Zero to 60 takes 4.6 seconds — hardly slow.The Standard RWD Long Range arrives in the first half of 2027 at $48,490 (around £38,500). A single rear motor delivers 350 hp and 355 lb-ft, reaching 60 in 5.9 seconds. Rivian estimates range at up to 345 miles (555 km) — the longest in the lineup, because rear-wheel drive is more efficient.Finally, the Standard RWD variant lands in late 2027 at approximately $45,000 (around £35,700). It uses a smaller battery pack and offers 275+ miles (443+ km) of estimated range. Rivian has shared few other details so far.All trims charge from 10% to 80% in 29 minutes via a native NACS port, which grants access to the Tesla Supercharger network. CCS adapters are supported too.Built Lighter, Built TougherThe R2 rides on an entirely new mid-size unibody platform — a departure from the R1's body-on-frame architecture. The result is a vehicle that weighs nearly 2,000 lbs (907 kg) less than its bigger sibling while sitting on a 115.6-inch (2,936 mm) wheelbase. At 185.9 inches (4,722 mm) long and 75 inches (1,905 mm) wide, it is squarely in Tesla Model Y territory.The weight savings translate directly into agility, but Rivian has kept the off-road DNA intact. Ground clearance of 9.6 inches (244 mm) is best in class — nearly three inches more than a Model Y. Approach and departure angles of 25° and 26° respectively, plus a wading depth of 19.7 inches (500 mm), mean the R2 can do more than look adventurous in a car park. The Performance trim gets semi-active suspension, eight drive modes including Rally and Soft Sand, and a low centre of gravity courtesy of the structural battery pack.Inside, the cabin seats five adults with 40.4 inches (1,026 mm) of rear legroom and headroom — enough, Rivian says, for occupants over six feet (1.83 m) tall. Total enclosed storage is 90.1 cubic feet (2,551 litres), with a front trunk that swallows a carry-on suitcase and a backpack, fold-flat rear seats that create a level loading surface, and dual gloveboxes. The rear drop glass — a powered window that lowers completely into the liftgate — is a genuine talking point, allowing surfboards and other long cargo to slide in or a breeze to sweep through. It is included on Performance and Premium trims.Materials lean sustainable: upcycled Birch wood accents, a headliner made from recycled ocean plastics and Rivian's second-generation Adventex material, which is designed to withstand muddy boots and wet dogs in equal measure.The Technology PlayRivian calls the R2 a "software-defined vehicle," and the specification sheet backs that up. The perception stack comprises 11 HDR cameras with a combined 65 megapixels and a five-radar system — hardware that comes standard on every trim.Rivian Autonomy+, the company's Level 2+ hands-free driver-assist system, covers 3.5 million miles (5.6 million km) of roads across the United States and Canada. It costs $49.99 per month or $2,500 as a one-off purchase. The Launch Package includes it for the lifetime of the vehicle. Every R2 gets a 60-day trial.On-board AI compute runs to 200 TOPS, dedicated to the in-cabin experience. This powers the forthcoming Rivian Assistant — a voice-controlled system that processes complex requests locally, even when offline. The 5G-connected architecture ensures updates arrive over the air, while the offline capability means the vehicle is not hobbled in areas without signal.At the steering wheel, Rivian's in-house Haptic Halo dials replace conventional switchgear. These context-aware controls scroll, push, pull and tilt with distinct tactile feedback for different functions — an attempt to bridge the gap between touchscreen convenience and physical control that many rivals have abandoned entirely. Two digital displays complete the cockpit: one behind the wheel for driving data, and one in the centre for everything else.The Elephant in the Room: TeslaThe R2 lands in the most contested segment of the electric vehicle market. The Tesla Model Y — the best-selling EV on the planet and briefly the best-selling car of any kind in 2023 — starts at $44,000 in the United States and delivers up to 357 miles (575 km) of range. It has a vast Supercharger network, a mature software ecosystem and years of manufacturing refinement behind it.The R2 fights back with 3 inches (7.6 cm) more ground clearance, genuine off-road hardware, a richer interior (Model Y's cabin has always divided opinion) and that distinctive outdoor-adventure identity that Rivian has cultivated since its founding. Whether that is enough to prise buyers away from Tesla — or from the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Chevrolet Equinox EV — remains the central question.Why Failure Is Not an OptionRivian burned roughly $3 billion in the first nine months of 2025 alone. It ended 2024 with about $5.3 billion in cash, a figure being steadily eroded by capital expenditure and operating losses. The Volkswagen joint venture — worth up to $5.8 billion in total — provides a lifeline, as does the potential for Department of Energy loan access. But lifelines do not last for ever.The company's stock tells its own story. Rivian went public in November 2021 at $78 a share, briefly touched $170 and now trades around $15. A 90% decline from the peak concentrates the mind wonderfully.The R2 must do three things at once: attract a materially larger customer base than the R1 ever could, generate a positive gross margin per vehicle and ramp to volumes that spread fixed costs across enough units to bend the loss curve downward. At a planned capacity of 155,000 units per year from Normal alone — with a second factory in Georgia eventually to follow — Rivian has the industrial ambition. The Volkswagen partnership supplies software licensing revenue and engineering credibility.Mr Scaringe has described the R2 as "the most important thing that we've developed as a company." On the evidence of today's specification sheet, it is also the most complete. The range is competitive, the technology is ambitious, the price is within reach of mainstream buyers and the off-road capability gives it a personality that few electric SUVs can match.None of which will matter if Rivian cannot build it at scale, on time and at a cost that leaves room for profit. The company that once dazzled Wall Street with a $170 share price now needs to dazzle customers with a $45,000 truck. That is the harder trick — and the one on which everything depends.

You would think that baby food would be among the safest things a human could eat. Not necessarily. This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about health effects of exposure to wireless radiation, how the EPA is opening the door for states to sue over climate change, and why recent cuts to SNAP-Ed are negatively impacting families who need it most. Then Dr. Elizabeth Dunford of the George Institute for Global Health in Australia talks about the study she and her colleagues recently conducted on the actual ingredients in baby food, and why new parents need to read labels carefully. 

Why are we finding Roundup in children? Glyphosate exposure in children can have devastating health consequences. In this video, learn about the toxic chemicals in American food, glyphosate health effects, and practical ways to reduce glyphosate exposure for you and your family. TEST LINK: https://detoxproject.org/ Download Dr. Berg's Free Daily Health Routine: https://drbrg.co/45qtO070:00 Introduction: Roundup in children0:38 Glyphosate controversy 3:26 Roundup, glyphosate, and other chemicals 4:23 The EPA, Monsanto, GMO, and glyphosate controversy6:50 Glyphosate health effects8:13 Roundup health risks9:18 How to avoid glyphosate exposure and pesticide residues in foodThe World Health Organization (WHO) says that glyphosate causes cancer, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it's safe. What's the truth?Roundup has been used in farming to kill weeds since 1974. Genetically modified crops were introduced in 1994 and were able to withstand being sprayed with glyphosate. This drastically increased glyphosate exposure and chemicals in American food. Glyphosate is also sprayed on wheat products as a drying agent right before harvesting. The WHO and the EPA have looked at the same data on glyphosate, but have come to startlingly different conclusions. In 2022, a federal court examined the EPA's safety determination on glyphosate and determined it was not supported by substantial evidence. The EPA did not consider the animal studies that showed the connection between glyphosate and cancer, and the court deemed that this was a disregard of tumor results. Cancer is not the only health risk associated with glyphosate exposure. For years, it was argued that because glyphosate kills plants through the shikimate pathway, it is safe for humans since we do not have this pathway. However, our gut bacteria do have this pathway! Non-Hodgkin lymphoma rose by 90% between 1950 and 1999. Today, 80,000 Americans are diagnosed every year. Bayer, the company that bought Monsanto, has paid out over 11 billion dollars in Roundup cancer settlements. In 2023, Bayer removed glyphosate from at-home Roundup, replacing it with diquat dibromide, fluazifop-p-butyl, triclopyr, and imazapic. This new formulation is 200 times more toxic than glyphosate. To reduce glyphosate exposure and minimize the consumption of toxic chemicals in food, do the following:1. Opt for organic when possible 2. Replace cereals with a protein breakfast3. Support gut health with fermented foods4. Test urine for glyphosate levelsDr. Eric Berg DC Bio:Dr. Berg, age 60, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals and author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.Disclaimer: Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients, so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose, and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

It's EV News Briefly for Wednesday 11 March 2026, everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the EV News Daily Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/EVNewsDailyMERCEDES VLE TAKES AIM AT THE PREMIUM VANMercedes is launching the all-electric VLE on its new VAN.EA platform to replace the V-Class, offering two battery options: an 80 kWh LFP unit charging at 300 kW and a 115 kWh NMC pack from CATL on an 800-volt system charging at up to 315 kW, with a WLTP range of around 700 km. The cabin offers up to 8 seats, a 31-inch 8K rear cinema screen, electric sliding doors, a centre-console fridge, and pricing from roughly €68,000 to €135,000 in Germany.GM REVIVES BOLT, THEN SETS AN END DATEGM has brought back the Chevrolet Bolt for 2027 as the cheapest EV in the US at $28,995, featuring a 65 kWh LFP battery, 210 hp, 262 miles of EPA range, and 150 kW NACS fast charging with a 10–80% time of 25 minutes. However, GM plans only one model year of production, as ending Bolt output frees its Kansas City plant to shift Equinox assembly from Mexico to the US.PORSCHE ADDS CAYENNE S ELECTRICPorsche has added the 2026 Cayenne S Electric at $128,650, slotting between the 435 hp base model and the 1,139 hp Turbo with 536 hp standard and 657 hp on launch control, hitting 0–60 mph in 3.6 seconds. It shares the range's 108 kWh battery and 400 kW peak DC charging, reaching 10–80% in under 16 minutes, and borrows the Turbo's direct oil-cooling system for improved thermal resilience.ELLI CONNECTS FIRST GRID BATTERY IN SALZGITTERVolkswagen's energy subsidiary Elli has connected its first large-scale battery storage system—a 20 MW / 40 MWh PowerCentre across 13 containers—to the grid in Salzgitter, Germany. The system uses cells from VW's PowerCo plant, trades energy on the European Power Exchange, and is designed to stabilise grids and support renewable energy integration.GENESIS GV90 SPOTTED CHARGING AT SUPERCHARGERA camouflaged Genesis GV90 has been photographed charging at a Tesla Supercharger in Mesquite, Nevada, confirming the model will feature a standard NACS port as Genesis rolls out NACS across all new US-market EVs from 2026 onward. The GV90 is expected to ride on Hyundai's new eM platform, which promises 50% more range than the current E-GMP architecture, with higher trims set to feature coach doors and panoramic displays.SLATE AUTO CHANGES CEO BEFORE TRUCK LAUNCHSlate Auto has replaced founder and CEO Christine Barman with Peter Faricy, a former Amazon VP and Ford executive, less than a year before the planned launch of its low-cost electric truck. Barman, the company's first hire and one of only two women leading a US automaker, moves to the role of president of vehicles at the Jeff Bezos-backed startup.DACIA READIES SECOND SMALL ELECTRIC CARDacia is preparing a second small EV to sit alongside the Spring, developed in under 16 months and targeted at under €18,000, built on Renault's AmpR Small platform that also underpins the Renault 5. The unnamed model is part of Dacia's plan to launch four new EVs by 2030, with design direction hinted at by the Dacia Hipster concept unveiled in October 2024.IVECO PUTS WIRELESS ROAD CHARGING INTO TRAFFICIveco has launched a real-world dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) trial on the A35 Brebemi motorway in northern Italy, using a production eDaily van fitted with inductive charging hardware that can charge both while stationary and while driving over embedded road sections. The project moves DWPT beyond lab testing into live traffic conditions, though it remains a technology demonstration rather than a commercial rollout due to the large infrastructure investment required for wide deployment.BYD, CHERY AND GEELY EYE CANADABYD, Chery, and Geely are preparing to enter the Canadian market by end of 2026 following a January trade reset between Canada and China, under which Canada agreed to allow 49,000 China-made EVs at the most-favoured nation tariff rate in exchange for lower Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural goods. Up to 15 additional Chinese brands could follow, though homologation remains the key bottleneck, with Tesla, Volvo, and Polestar best positioned to move quickly under the quota as they already have certified vehicles and established retail networks in Canada.

She's back!  For a third time, National Agriculrual Law Center Staff Attorney, Brigit Rollins, joins us to give us an update on Dicamba.  You may be aware that the Environmental Protection Agency recently approved three over-the-top Dicamba products for use in cotton and soybeans.  We talk about the history of the Dicamba registrations and litigation, what we restrictions are in place under the new labels, and what we know about the new litigation already filed challenging these registrations.   Contact Info for Brigit (Email) brollins@uark.edu (Phone) 707-494-3138   Links to Other Topics Mentioned on the Show Prior episodes with Brigit Rollins National Agricultural Law Center  NALC The Feed Newsletter Blog post about 2024 label revocation Blog post about 2020 label revocation EPA 2026 announcement approving three products Brigit article in Durnell v. Monsanto Brigit article on state pesticide liability limitation bills National Agricultural Law Center The Feed Newsletter   Restaurant Recommendation Handshake (Fayetteville, AR)   Ag Law News Source Recommendations Politico Agri-Pulse   Sponsors

Subzero Engineering is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Dissolvable Air Barrier (DAB) Panels product line from Cambridge R&D, further expanding Subzero's portfolio of data center containment solutions and reinforcing its commitment to safety, performance, and turnkey system delivery.  DAB Panels are a unique overhead containment solution designed to provide effective airflow separation during normal data center operation while dissolving within seconds when exposed to water during sprinkler activation. This dissolvable design helps eliminate falling panel hazards and supports safer fire suppression outcomes—addressing a critical challenge found in traditional rigid overhead containment systems.  “With this acquisition, we're strengthening our ability to deliver truly integrated, safety-driven containment solutions,” said Shane Kilfoil, President of Subzero Engineering. “DAB Panels complement our existing containment portfolio and give our customers another proven option to address airflow management and fire safety without compromise.”  DAB Panels are engineered for both hot aisle and cold aisle containment applications and offer a combination of airflow performance, safety, and installation flexibility. Made from EPA-certified, plant-based cellulose materials, the panels achieve Class A fire and smoke performance, producing low heat and minimal smoke while maintaining visibility for emergency personnel.  Despite their dissolvable design, DAB Panels remain durable during normal operation—withstanding high static air pressure and maintaining airflow separation where it matters most. Panels can be easily modified in the field to accommodate varying cabinet heights and existing infrastructure, eliminating the need to relocate sprinkler heads and reducing installation time and cost.  DAB Panels integrate seamlessly across Subzero's full portfolio of data center containment products, including aisle frames, doors, roofs, and airflow management systems. This unified approach enables Subzero to deliver turnkey containment solutions engineered for performance, safety, and long-term scalability—backed by a single partner and a coordinated system designed to work together. 

Kentucky's war on woke is far from over—our public universities are openly defying the law!I talk with Adam Guillette from Accuracy In Media (AIM) to break down their recent explosive undercover investigations that have exposed Western Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky. Hidden cameras caught staff admitting DEI is still alive and embedded in curricula—rebranded, hidden, and funded by YOUR tax dollars—in direct violation of Kentucky's ban.We dive into the MOST RECENT video: AIM's undercover footage from Western Kentucky University (WKU), where an admin casually admits they're still forcing "anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion" down students' throats using an accreditation loophole. They think we're too dumb to notice. Why does stopping these DEI policies matter? Because DEI lowers standards, discriminates against qualified Kentuckians based on race or sex, wastes millions in taxpayer money, and drags down academic excellence for EVERYONE.Plus: SB 199 lets chemical manufacturers hide real risks behind EPA-approved labels. DEIinKentucky.com

Send a textThe guys discuss the new EPA deregulations in the US. Does this help or hurt the diesel and gas vehicle repair, sales, and customizing industry? Let us know what you think. Buy the guys some guzzoline! https://buymeacoffee.com/getoutndriveThe Get Out N Drive Podcast is Fuel By AMD ~ AMD: More Than Metal https://www.autometaldirect.com/Visit the ‪AMD‬​ Garage ~ Your one stop source for high quality body panels for your restorationhttps://www.autometaldirect.com/amdgarageFor all things Get Out N Drive, cruise on over to the Get Out N Drive website. https://getoutndrive.com/Be sure to follow GOND on social media!GOND Website: https://getoutndrive.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/getoutndrivepodcast/X: https://x.com/getoutndrivepodFB: https://www.facebook.com/Get.Out.N.Drive.podcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getoutndriveRecording Engineer: Paul MeyerSubscribe to the ‪Str8sixfan‬​ YouTube Channel:  @Str8sixfan  #classiccars​ #automotive​ #amd #autometaldirect #c10 #restoration #autorestoration #autoparts #restorationparts #truckrestoration #Jasonchandler #podcast #sheetmetal #mecum #bobbyadams #mecumscandal #carauction #classiccarauction #usedcar #buyaclassiccar #sellaclassiccar#tradeschool​#carengines​#WhatDrivesYOUth​#GetOutNDriveFAST​Join our fb group to share pics of how you Get Out N Drive: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getoutndrivepodcast/Follow Jason on IG: https://www.instagram.com/oldecarrguy/Follow Jason on fb: https://www.facebook.com/oldecarrguySubscribe To the OldeCarrGuy YouTube Channel:  @OldeCarrGuy  Follow John on IG: https://www.instagram.com/customcarnerd/Recording Engineer, Paul MeyerSign Up and Learn more about National Get Out N Drive Day: https://nationalgetoutndriveday.com/Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/getoutndriveSupport the show

This Day in Legal History: Confederate States ConstitutionOn March 11, 1861, delegates of the newly formed Confederate States adopted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama. The document closely resembled the United States Constitution in structure, language, and institutional design, reflecting the Confederacy's claim that it was preserving the original constitutional order rather than rebelling against it. But the similarities masked a fundamental and disturbing difference: the Confederate Constitution explicitly protected and entrenched slavery. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, which used indirect language around the institution, the Confederate document openly required that slavery be recognized and protected in Confederate territories. It also prohibited any law impairing the right of property in enslaved people, making the protection of slavery a central constitutional commitment rather than a political compromise.The constitution also attempted to limit certain federal powers, reflecting long-standing Southern arguments about states' rights and suspicion of centralized authority. For example, it restricted tariffs and internal improvements, policies many Southern leaders believed favored Northern industrial interests. The document also changed the structure of the executive branch by providing for a single six-year presidential term instead of allowing reelection. These provisions were intended to prevent what Confederate leaders viewed as excessive federal power or political manipulation. Despite these structural adjustments, the document largely replicated the American constitutional framework while placing slavery at its legal core.The legal significance of the Confederate Constitution lies in how clearly it reveals the central constitutional dispute of the Civil War era. While defenders of the Confederacy often framed secession as a fight over federalism or states' rights, the constitutional text itself makes clear that preserving slavery was a primary objective. By embedding the protection of slavery directly into its governing charter, the Confederacy transformed the defense of human bondage into a foundational legal principle. The document therefore stands as a stark example of how constitutional law can be used not only to secure liberty, but also to entrench injustice.Federal judicial officials announced plans to speed up development of a new electronic case management system after a major cyber breach exposed weaknesses in the courts' existing technology. The decision was discussed during a closed meeting of the Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's main policymaking body, held at the U.S. Supreme Court building. Judge Michael Scudder, who leads the conference's information technology committee, said recent cyber intrusions made it clear that modernization can no longer proceed at its previous pace. The breach, disclosed in July 2025, raised concerns that foreign actors may have accessed sensitive materials, including sealed files and information about confidential informants. The incident followed an earlier cybersecurity breach involving the federal courts in 2020.In response, the judiciary plans to begin testing components of the upgraded system in six courts during 2026. Officials hope to begin rolling out parts of the new system to federal district courts nationwide next year. Appellate and bankruptcy courts would receive updates afterward. Judiciary leaders now expect that most of the modernization work could be completed within two to three years, a faster timeline than originally planned. The project also aims to improve the search tools used in PACER, the public database that allows users to access federal court filings. Despite long-standing criticism from lawmakers and transparency advocates, the judiciary does not currently plan to eliminate PACER's user fees. Court officials say those fees provide roughly 85 percent of the funding for the modernization effort.US judiciary to fast-track court records system upgrade after hacking | ReutersFederal and state lawmakers are considering measures that could reshape lawsuits involving the weedkiller Roundup as Bayer continues to face large-scale litigation over the product. In Kansas, legislators debated a bill supported by Bayer that would prevent individuals from suing pesticide manufacturers for failing to warn that their products might cause cancer or other illnesses. The proposal is part of a broader legislative strategy by the company, which has supported similar bills in roughly a dozen states. These efforts come as Bayer prepares a proposed $7.25 billion settlement aimed at resolving most of the roughly 65,000 remaining lawsuits alleging that Roundup caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma.Bayer inherited the litigation when it purchased Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018. Since then, the company has faced extensive legal costs and large verdicts, contributing to significant financial losses. Supporters of the Kansas bill argue that without such protections, pesticide manufacturers might remove widely used products from the market or raise prices, which could affect farmers and agricultural businesses. Critics, however, question the Environmental Protection Agency's conclusion that glyphosate—the main ingredient in Roundup—is unlikely to cause cancer and argue the legislation would shield companies from accountability.The debate is occurring alongside other legal developments. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in April about whether federal pesticide law requires Bayer to warn consumers about potential cancer risks. Meanwhile, members of Congress are considering a farm bill provision that would require uniform pesticide labels nationwide, preventing states or local governments from mandating warnings different from those approved by the EPA. A Missouri judge has also given preliminary approval to Bayer's proposed $7.25 billion class-action settlement, with a final decision expected later this year.Bayer takes its multi-front battle on pesticide liability to Kansas | ReutersA federal judge in Manhattan is set to review a proposed agreement that would end the U.S. government's criminal prosecution of Turkey's state-owned Halkbank. The case accused the bank of helping Iran bypass U.S. economic sanctions through financial transactions. Prosecutors and the bank reached a deferred prosecution agreement, which would pause the case while the bank demonstrates compliance with new restrictions. Under the proposal, Halkbank must avoid transactions benefiting Iran and hire an independent monitor to review its sanctions and anti-money-laundering controls.The agreement does not require the bank to pay a fine or admit wrongdoing. If Halkbank complies with the conditions, the criminal charges would likely be dismissed after the monitoring period. Prosecutors have asked the judge to pause the proceedings for 90 days so the bank can begin demonstrating compliance. Although judges generally have limited authority to reject deferred prosecution agreements, the court may still review the deal to ensure it follows established legal precedent.The resolution could ease tensions between the United States and Turkey, which had been strained by the case. U.S. officials indicated that resolving the prosecution also carried diplomatic importance during negotiations related to Turkey's role in securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in 2025. The announcement of the deal caused Halkbank's share price to rise sharply. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had previously criticized the case as politically motivated.Judge to weigh Halkbank, US prosecutors' resolution to criminal case | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Chuck And Julie Show with Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden Can the Save Act save Colorado? Election Integrity, Global Strategy, and Colorado's Shifting Political Landscape This episode of the Chuck and Julie Show explores the potential impact of the federal SAVE Act on Colorado's election system, analyzes the rapid military decline of Iran under current U.S. pressure, and discusses local Colorado developments, including significant economic losses in Denver and recent political appointments. The SAVE Act and the Fight for Election Integrity The hosts argue that the SAVE Act is essential for restoring voter confidence in Colorado, a state they describe as having a "closed system" favoring progressive outcomes. Chuck emphasizes two transformative provisions: the requirement for in-person registration with proof of citizenship and the prohibition of universal mail-in voting. They contend that shifting back to a request-based absentee ballot system would eliminate what they perceive as a massive structural advantage for the Democratic party. The discussion highlights a personal anecdote regarding the "Motor Voter" system, where the hosts' 15-year-old son was automatically prompted to register to vote while obtaining a learner's permit. They express concern over the efficiency of the state's registration outreach compared to the slow delivery of actual government IDs, suggesting that the current system lacks sufficient safeguards against non-citizen or underage voting. Geopolitics: The Neutralization of Iran Donald Trump has reportedly indicated that the conflict in the Middle East is nearing a conclusion much faster than anticipated. According to the discussion, Iran's military capabilities have been severely diminished, leaving them with no functional navy, air force, or reliable communication systems. The hosts, supported by analysis from Victor Davis Hanson, suggest that Iran's previous "rope-a-dope" strategy—waiting for a change in U.S. administration—has failed as the current executive action has moved to eliminate the nuclear threat directly. The conversation also touches on the broader geopolitical consequences of this shift. As the U.S. exerts control over global energy interests, including potential moves in Venezuela, the hosts suggest that driving oil prices down to approximately $50 per barrel would lead to the economic collapse of Russia. They note that China has already begun scaling back military exercises near Taiwan due to fuel shortages, indicating that energy-based diplomacy is yielding tangible national security results. Colorado Economic Trends and Local Policy The hosts discuss the financial health of Denver, citing a study that estimates the city has lost nearly $1 billion in revenue due to downtown office vacancies, declining property taxes, and lost sales tax from retail closures. They argue that the current municipal and state leadership is pursuing "unsustainable" financial paths. On a more positive note for the hosts, they celebrate the appointment of Dr. Brian Dundep to the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. They view this as a sign that the federal government is dismantling "regulatory warfare" in favor of common-sense environmental policies. Additionally, they note that Colorado Democrats have withdrawn a controversial bill aimed at legalizing prostitution, which the hosts attribute to a lack of public support and a desire to avoid giving Republicans a potent campaign talking point. The episode underscores a sense of urgency regarding structural reforms in Colorado's election laws while expressing optimism about the effectiveness of current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Despite local economic challenges in Denver, the hosts see the withdrawal of radical legislation and new federal appointments as signs of a shifting political tide.

OA1242 - Ever heard of the “major questions doctrine”? Most lawyers sure hadn't until a few years ago. So how did it get that important-sounding name? Where did it come from? What even is it? How can we call something a “doctrine” or a rule if we don't have a clear rule statement to cite to? (Hint: You can't). If you've been feeling like maybe this is all made up and the points don't matter, you can get your vindication here as we trace back the history of this ever-changing heavily-politicized increasingly-disputed amorphous blob. Jenessa read way too many cases and law review articles to tolerate this nonsense today. Timeline, each citing the one below it: 1. “Major questions doctrine” first appearance in any court case: West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 597 U.S. 697 (2022) 2. “Major question doctrine” [not plural] in an EPA statement on deregulations: Repeal of the Clean Power Plan, 84 Fed. Reg. 32520, 32529 (proposed Jul. 8, 2019) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 60). 3. “Major rules doctrine”: U.S. Telecom Association v. F.C.C., 855 F.3d 381, 422-423 (D.C. Cir 2017), Kavanaugh dissent. (Note: There are many decisions by this name, including one from the D.C. Circuit in 2016, all of which are more prevalent online. Only this exact citation, minus the “422-23” pincite, will get you to the right case. Unfortunately I cannot find it outside the paywall to provide a link). 4. “Economic and political significance” allegedly the first unnamed use of the concept: F.D.A. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. 529 U.S. 120 (2000) 5. “Major questions” first appears in any legal scholarship… well those words appear in that order, at least: Stephen Breyer, Judicial Review of Questions of Law and Policy, 38 Admin. L. Rev. 363 (1986). Meanwhile, in another timeline: Cass R. Sunstein, There are two “Major Questions” Doctrines, 73 Admin. L. Rev. 475, (2021). First ever use of “major questions rule/exception” in a positive light in legal scholarship. Would become more mainstream around 2013-2016: Abigail Moncrieff, Reincarnating the "Major Questions" Exception to Chevron Deference as a Doctrine of Non-Interference as a Doctrine of Non-Interference (Or Why Massachusetts v. EPA Got It Wrong), 60 Admin L. Rev. 593 (2008). Moncrieff, above, cites this as the original coining of “major questions”, not Breyer's 1986 paper: Cass R. Sunstein, Chevron Step Zero, 92 VA. L. Rev. 187 (2006). Other definitions from legal scholarship: Allison Orr Larsen, Becoming a Doctrine, 76 Fla. L. Rev. 1 (2024). Austin Piatt & Damonta D. Morgan, The Three Major Questions Doctrines, Forward Wis. L. Rev. 19 (2024). Thomas B. Griffith & Haley N. Proctor, Deference, Delegation, and Divination: Justice Breyer and the Future of the Major Questions Doctrine, 132 Yale L.J. F. 693 (2022). Chad Squitieri, Who Determines Majorness?, 44 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 463 (2021). Kevin O. Leske, Major Questions about the “Major Questions” Doctrine, 5 Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law 479 (2016). Jonas J. Monast, Major Questions About the Major Questions Doctrine, 68 Admin. L. Rev. 445 (2016). Other relevant cases: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S --- (2026) Biden v. Nebraska, 600 U.S. 477 (2023) King v. Burwell, 576 U.S. 473 (2015) Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, 573 U.S. 302 (2014) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

There is a storm coming with the challenges of navigating the TRUSTEE CRISIS. It is one of the biggest blind spots in the “GREAT WEALTH TRANSFER” and will be the source of mountains of litigation for the unwary, https://youtu.be/hwQev88A03M Summary In this conversation, Frazer Rice and Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey discuss the current crisis in trusteeship, highlighting the shortage of qualified trustees amidst a significant wealth transfer. They explore the importance of modern trust planning, the challenges faced by individual trustees, and the need for better education and training in the field. The discussion also covers the emotional and interpersonal aspects of trusteeship, the functions and responsibilities of trustees, and the necessity of managing risk effectively. They emphasize the importance of building a pipeline for future trustees and improving the perception of the profession, while also identifying opportunities within the trust industry. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4qpkrVdaUa2AfDxgl7j3yN?si=XVgG3jE_Qpqq2JTqi8XLXQ Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠) Takeaways The coming crisis in trusteeship is already here. There is a significant shortage of qualified trustees. Trusteeship requires strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. Managing risk is a fundamental aspect of trusteeship. Trustees critically need education and training. The role of a trustee is evolving with increasing complexity. Beneficiaries need to understand their rights and the trustee’s role. Custodial responsibilities are essential for asset protection. There are many opportunities for growth in the trust industry. Trust law and investment management are distinct fields. This Episode is for . . . Anyone that has an estate plan with a trust in it and doesn't know what a trustee does Any advisor who works w/ multi-generational situations (that’s everybody in wealth management) Any RIA looking to sell Financial types worried about compliance world Fiduciary litigators Chapters of “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges” 00:00 The Coming Crisis in Trusteeship 02:06 Importance of Modern Trust Planning 04:11 Challenges with Individual Trustees 08:03 The Dwindling Pool of Qualified Trustees 10:06 Functions and Responsibilities of a Trustee 12:20 The Emotional and Interpersonal Aspects of Trusteeship 16:05 Managing Risk in Trusteeship 19:07 Building a Pipeline for Future Trustees 22:10 The Role of Education in Trusteeship 25:07 Improving the Perception of Trusteeship 28:19 The Need for Better Trust Education 30:39 Bifurcation of Trustee Functions 33:26 Distribution Functions and Beneficiary Relations 36:52 Custodial Responsibilities in Trusteeship 40:19 Consequences of Poor Asset Management 46:41 Curriculum for Trustee Education 52:13 Opportunities in the Trust Industry Transcript of “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges” Frazer Rice (00:01.068)Welcome aboard, Jennifer. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (00:02.723)Thanks Frazer, how are you today? Frazer Rice (00:04.782)I am doing great. We’re going to dive into a topic that is near and dear to both of our hearts. And that is what I’m describing as the coming crisis in trusteeship, but I think it’s already here. Which is the concept of qualified trustees being in short supply, right in the face of a gigantic wealth transfer. And first of all, before we get into that, just describe what you do on a day to day basis first. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (00:33.445)Sure, I actually wear a bunch of hats. Day to day, right now, I’m a full-time practicing trust and estate attorney. I’m also an individual trustee for a variety of trusts that need either somebody here physically located in Delaware for a short period of time or even a successor trustee. But I’ve also spent many, many years building programs in trust management and trust administration. Because there is this crisis of human capital that just does not exist. I built multiple programs. They’re housed out of the University of Delaware. So I act as a trust and estate attorney, do planning, administration, I teach in the area, I build programs in the area, and I serve as a trustee. PEAK TRUST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE Frazer Rice (01:23.182)A full plate to be sure. To me, I came out of Wilmington Trust and another trust company served an individual trustee too. I’ve seen all these different flavors of trusteeship. My general sort of bon mot around that is that the individual trustees. I’d say 95 % or higher don’t really have an appreciation of the risk and responsibility that they’re taking on. And then the corporates have their own issues, which we’ll get into in a little bit. If we pull back even further, modern trust planning in wealth management, why is this so important? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (02:06.275)That’s massively important. It’s not just for the mass affluent or the ultra high net worth. It’s for everybody. We have all of these assets that we have this hyperfocus on building and increasing our wealth. Making sure that we have the ability to sustain ourselves throughout our entire lives. But if we don’t do this type of planning, if we don’t have structures and implementation for when we die, then our assets that we’ve planned so diligently for will fall off of a cliff. We lose the ability to control ultimately what happens to those assets. Layered on top of that, of course, is the tax component for ultra high net worth folks who are trying to really focus and direct their assets to make and create generational wealth transfers. Without this type of functionality and wealth planning and estate planning long-term, people lose control of what they’ve spent so much time building. Frazer Rice (03:13.338)One of the things I tell people as far as trusts are concerned is that, you know, we’re putting these structures together. They’re durable enough to withstand taxation or creditors or other asset protection features, create some guidelines around distributing the assets to the next generation or other constituencies. But also have some flexibility to be able to deal with the things we can’t look into the crystal ball and figure out over time. And that those three things just putting a document together that tries to do all that is hard enough, but then to put it in the hands of somebody or something to administer and to exercise discretion around it. That’s where the real art and science kind of stitched together and create this issue. You know, as we think about that too, the idea, the history of these types of scenarios kind of goes back to, you know, you’d put a structure in place and then you’d go hire a bank and they’d take care of everything. How do you look at that and say, all right, we’ve gone well past banks to individuals and then to dedicated institutions. What is the problem there? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (04:22.956)Now the problem, there’s two problems. In my opinion, what I see is that, you know, your individual trustee by and large is Uncle Joe, right? He’s the guy that everybody goes to in the family. The responsible one. He’s the smart one. The wealthy one who, great, doesn’t know what the fiduciary duties are. He doesn’t know that he has a duty of impartiality. He doesn’t know that… Frazer Rice (04:32.419)Right. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (04:48.475)He can’t self deal unless the instrument says so. Doesn’t understand how the instrument works. He doesn’t understand the nuance and the legalese written into the instrument. But he’s flying by the seat of his pants and everybody looks to him as the respected one in the family. No one knows that they have the ability to challenge him. So with your individual run of the mill trustee named in the instrument, they just don’t have the expertise, they don’t have the technical knowledge. Don’t know what they don’t know. They can get into trouble in that way. The other problem that you have with professional individual trustees oftentimes is that they are not formally trained. They may be an attorney who is working in that area, who’s doing plans for people who may or may not know what the full scope of being a trustee is. They may not realize, I have to get a special insurance policy because my malpractice insurance policy doesn’t actually cover this type of fiduciary engagement. There’s a lot of landmines that individuals can run into when they’re doing this type of work. On the corporate side, the problems that we run into is that there’s just a complete and utter lack. Frazer Rice (05:50.061)Hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (06:12.059)Of available educational programs to teach people the proper way to be able to understand trusteeship. It has always been, and it just has developed over time through, you know, oh, we’ll give it to the bank, the bank will do it. This apprenticeship model, and that just does not scale well because if you learn improperly at the edge of a desk from somebody that learned improperly at the edge of the desk. Then the person that you’re teaching now at the edge of the desk is learning what you learned improperly. So anecdotally, I did karate for a long, long time. And the man who taught me karate, I’m almost a secondary black belt to like, was serious in karate. And the man who taught me karate said, you practice, it makes permanent. Don’t practice wrong. Because when you’re practicing wrong, you’re making permanent wrong things. And that’s what the apprenticeship model has the risk of lending itself to. It’s not that every trustee that learns at the edge of the desk learns wrong, but the risk is too high because the fiduciary responsibilities and the duties are too high to run that risk. The other problem is that we have a dwindling pool of really qualified senior trust officers because of just the nature of the job. You’re a human being, you’re an individual, you age, you retire. And it’s not something that people go to school and say, when I grow up, I want to be a trustee. They fall into it sideways. And unless there are academic programs that are out there that people are aware of and that they can get some formal training, some formal education to enter into the field. Frazer Rice (07:49.742)Yeah Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (08:03.82)Separate and distinct from, I’m in the field and now I want to get a CTFA. I want to earn my certification to really show that I have the chops in this area. We have this shrinking pool of expertise. We have a lack of knowledge, a lack of formal education, and an apprenticeship model that doesn’t scale. On top of, with the individual side and the corporate side, this massive wealth transfer and an explosion of trust complexity that’s all taking place at the same time. Frazer Rice (08:31.918)One of the issues at the corporate level too is that as you say that the impregnance model is not necessarily the best way to do it. They’re cutting back on training programs. The business model around being a trustee or even a specific trustee does not make the big money. And so the ability for those types of institutions to develop the people.who ultimately are now in a very sort of pro-employee environment where there’s such a demand for trustees that they can kind of switch around and get a 10 or 20 % bump each time they go because people are desperate to have them. There’s a real cavern there to try to create the permanence that you’re looking for in a structure that really rewards consistency over time, especially as it relates to discretion and process of decision-making. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (09:23.15)Yeah, that’s exactly right. And that leads to this revolving door in the industry, because people are just trying to make more money and they’re going and bouncing to different trust companies. And there isn’t that backfill. Just because it’s a trust company and there’s policies and procedures, trusteeship is about relationships that you make with your beneficiaries, the relationships that you develop with multiple generations in a family. And when you have somebody that’s acting and serving in that and they move, they leave, they’re no longer acting and serving in that capacity, a new personality comes into the mix and it can really be disruptive. So having that consistency and minimizing the attrition is so valuable. Frazer Rice (10:06.766)The other thing I try to bring up, especially to individual trustees, is that the thing that you’re signing up for is probably going to look a lot different in five or 10 or 15 years when people are aged on, they remarry, they have kids, etc. That the conditions are a lot different than what they were before. And it’s going to be difficult to take on a structure that has eight people when before there were two. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (10:37.517)Yes, and that’s that complexity, that increased sophistication and complexity of trust structures that are available now to people. With the increase in the exemption, these trust structures, they’re not necessarily changed. For example, qualified personal residence trust, if people really need that anymore, but there’s a ton of them sitting around there. Are trustees properly administering it? Did you actually transfer the real estate into the trust at the time? So there’s all kinds of sophisticated structures that the trustees may or may not have the right skills. But they’re saddled with having to do it. Frazer Rice (11:19.47)Let’s take a step back and just talk about the functions of a trustee for a second. I break them down basically into three. Which is the first one. You have to administer the trust, meaning you have to dot the I’s, cross the T’s, make sure things get executed, tax returns are filed, statements get sent out to the extent that that happens, and that the administration of a structure like that occurs. Then I talk about the concept that the investments have to be made monitored moved around decided and that they’re appropriate for all classes of beneficiary that are in there and then the distribution function which is The assets have to be distributed according to the law. First the trust then maybe the intent or the law if everything is silent and that those three things are very different components and that it’s tough to find somebody who’s great at all three housed within one brain. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (12:20.217)Yeah, I agree with that 100%. It is a three legged stool. It’s the investments, the administration and the distributions. And in that administration umbrella in and of itself, there’s a tremendous amount of work that sort of goes unsung. know, it’s not the sexy stuff where you’re investing and making a bunch of money for your income beneficiaries and managing to preserve the corpus for your principal or your remainder beneficiaries. And it’s certainly not the personal interaction that you’re doing with your beneficiary day to day. Making distributions, helping them, seeing the product of that help. It’s the making sure you file ax returns are properly. Understanding how to read that tax return. Even if you’re not preparing it, making a proper selection on the accountant that you’re using to prepare those tax returns if you’re not preparing it. Make sure to set up statements properly, make sure that in this world of silent trust documents that you’re not sending a statement to somebody who’s not supposed to have it. Communicating with beneficiaries on an even keel. Making sure that you’re not inadvertently violating your duty of impartiality because it’s more than just a substantive duty, there’s a procedural duty as well. That’s really, really challenging to find within one human being, let alone add on top of it somebody who’s financially savvy enough to understand investments and all of the different complex investment tools that are out there, as well as having the personality and the interpersonal skills to keep beneficiaries engaged and happy. Frazer Rice (13:56.426)Just on top of that, the EQ, the bedside manner, and the ability to simplify the complex, et cetera. At the same time, that dedicated note taker that is able to document everything that happens within a decision. Whether distribution or investment or otherwise, that it’s just two different people most times. I find that something falls apart as time goes on. Ultimately if things aren’t laid out correctly, that’s when conflict starts to simmer. Then you know if there is something that’s wrong. That’s allowed to compound that’s where you get into a huge problem later on. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (14:36.922)It’s all that feeling. People are behaving in ways that they may or may not be able to articulate their emotional proximity to. When you’re talking with beneficiaries. There’s something simmering under the surface that you inherited because you’re a trustee. You may not even be aware of it because the beneficiaries may not even be able to articulate it. You have to have a certain sense. A gut check of feelings of rntuitively being able to read what’s going on under the surface. To pull it out of people in a very balanced and even keel way. It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. On top of financial literacy and personal liability and executive functioning skills, being detail oriented, making sure your documentation is not overly explicit. isn’t, you know, scarce. You’re now wondering how and why did you make those decisions? People don’t think about the decisions that they make on a day to day basis. We don’t think in a way to articulate why I made this decision. Why I exercised this type of judgment. And that’s what we’re being asked to do as trustees is to document what is my decision making process? Why am I making the decision? What are my factors involved in making that decision in a way that’s defensible. If we ever need to defend it. Frazer Rice (16:05.292)Well, in favoring one class of people over another is usually where the rubber hits the road on this. People who are used to seeing the income from a trust and don’t want that touched come hell or high water. Then future beneficiaries who’d like to see the trust go from X to 2X to 5X. So that they have something larger to enjoy. You have a natural tension that you have to manage. It’s just not easy. If you don’t document the hows and whys of what you’re doing, you set yourself up for a problem. From one class or another looking at you saying, you you should have done it differently. To go back to that liability component. You’re the only one who sits in the chair of having made that decision. You’re the one with the bullseye on your back when it’s called to account. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (16:53.093)That’s right, that is exactly right. And now add on top of it, you’re just named because you’re Uncle Joe and everybody goes to Uncle Joe. You have no technical background and you just don’t know the landmines that are there. You don’t know what you don’t know. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were able to create a pipeline of really sophisticated entry level employees or folks that are, you know sophisticated in financial literacy that now want to take the job to become trustees, that we were able to give them this technical roadmap for what the job actually is and then have them get the ability to apprentice on all of those policies and procedures. What does this corporation do? How do we document things? When you’re trying to learn it all at one time, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. Let’s give people the ability to really have a chance at doing it successfully. Frazer Rice (17:53.048)So let’s dive into that pipeline issue for a second. We already diagnosed that the, let’s call it the trust companies or the banks are, they’re just not resourced enough. They can’t run people through an internal school to do it quote unquote correctly. The apprentice model really kicks in. Which means you’re at the sort of mercy of what people are good at, not good at, et cetera. People turn over quickly so that apprenticeship doesn’t even work anymore. The RIAs I think are the worst place to learn about this type of thing. They have a completely different modus operandi as far as keeping clients happy. The word fiduciary means something so different to them than it does to an actual trustee. I wouldn’t feel good about the training on that front to sort of create trustees And then so law schools. They’re they’re just trying to create people the trust in the states vertical as a general matter. Let alone trying to delineate into a trustee situation. You’re putting the pipeline together and you put these programs together. How do you stitch together the needs and what does that manifest itself into? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (19:07.642)So that’s a really, really good question. I think that the very first place that we start with answering that question is advising on a trust as an attorney. It’s different from the administration of a trust and the skills that you need for that. So when you create a program like this where you’re trying to teach about trust management. You have to start with the technical skill. The legal side of what is it that we’re even doing? What is a trust? What are the fiduciary duties? Where do they come from? Then we have to, after we teach or create a structure or foundation on what the legality is. Now we go into how does this translate into administration? So when I created the programs, I looked at what’s the law they need to know? What is the level of sophistication of the student? And what do I need to, from a foundational perspective, teach first? What are the building blocks? And then how do I translate that into administration? The one thing that I have found is trust law does not equal investment management. So if people are coming along… Frazer Rice (20:26.254)No question. I’m nodding audibly at that comment. I like that. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (20:31.226)Your fiduciary duties as a trustee are fundamentally different than those of an RIA, where some RIAs are not even fiduciaries by law. They’re not. So being able to delineate and explain where that line is, what makes you a fiduciary, what are those duties, after you know the legal basics. And taught to you at a level that you can understand. I don’t expect everybody to be a lawyer. And people have asked me time and time again, do I need to be a lawyer to know this? No, you don’t need to be a lawyer because you’re not advising on the law. You’re advising on the administration of a legal structure and how that administration affects the fiduciary duties that are inherent in the relationship. Then how those fiduciary duties are translated out to the beneficiary. That’s the way that I’ve always built these programs. Where do I start? Start with the law. Where do I go from there? Start with how the administration translates the law. And then how does that administration get heard by the beneficiary? Where does the RIA come into the mix? The RIA should not be dabbling in advising on trusts. They should know that they need to bring in somebody who has this particular skill. And if they’re not doing that, they’re doing the client a disservice by trying to give one-stop shop advice. Frazer Rice (22:06.85)Yep, no question about it. One of the things that…we delve into the world of trusts and their function, et cetera, is that you’re dealing with an ecosystem from client to outside advisor, whether RIA or even accountant, et cetera, that they’re looking for certainty and airtight. quality to these structures that you put them in place and then everything runs like a clock going forward. When in actuality, I think there is a bandwidth of risk around everything. And so it’s the poor trust officer or individual trustee who sometimes has to be the bearer of bad news to say, yeah, you know, I think this is going to work 98 % of the time, but there’s a 2 % problem here or we’ve got this to fix or something like that and everybody else sort of sighs with disappointment and gets mad at the administrative function when in actuality they’re really doing their job and trying to, you know, keep a lot of things that are spinning out of control kind of within view. How do you get a trust officer or that administrative function or even the full trustee function to be comfortable with that risk and everything that’s involved with that? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (23:20.504)You have to start with explaining that there is risk and we’re not our job is not as a trustee to eliminate risk. Our job is to manage and identify risk. It is inherent in the job. There is going to be risk. No matter what you do, you cannot divorce risk from trusteeship. It’s a matter of identifying perceived risk and actual risk. And if you can teach that, if you can teach These are the things that are going to trigger a likely outcome. They’re gonna trigger a likely risk. Then you can essentially, you can’t foresee everything. I mean, there are things that are just gonna happen. But in a trust instrument, you’ve got contingency plan upon contingency plan upon contingency plan. That’s what the flexibility of those structures are building. We need to, as trustees, be able to recognize What is the risk with contingency plan A? The risk with B? What is the risk with C? How can we minimize the risk? And how can we make sure that we’re managing perception of risk versus actual risk? Frazer Rice (24:29.31)as someone who’s been in trust companies, advised trust companies, advised trustees, and advised clients, the lack of appreciation for the management of that risk and that that as the intersection of the business model of trusteeship and risk management and use of discretion and making hard decisions and even kind of an insurance quality around these structures, how do you fix that, where people place a level of respect on the job that I think is completely lacking in the wealth management ecosystem? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (25:09.089)Absolutely. It’s a tough one to answer. How do you fix it? First and foremost, I think that it’s a top-down fix, especially at a corporate trust company, a bank, and even an independent trust company that’s not affiliated with a bank. The management has to… really understand the function of the trust company. For so long, it’s been just an extra service that we provide and and we’ll do this, the back office trust company. It’s really, really important that the management recognizes what the functionality of the trust company is and stops treating it as sort of a back office stepchild. From the corporate level, I think that’s the very first place we start. Frazer Rice (25:38.478)Mm-hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (25:57.818)The second place we start is investing in our trust officers, investing in the team, giving them the education that they need, continuing to give them education, providing training programs, whether they be in-house, external, bring in trainers. None of this is set it and forget it. At the individual level, I think it’s really, really important to have functions like the Individual Trustee Alliance, groups like that, where you have an ability to talk to other professionals that are doing what you’re doing. That’s another way to impress upon people that we have to manage the risk and we can’t do it all alone. Nobody knows everything. You really have to, you have to talk to other people. You have to engage. have to, what is it called when we were practicing law and we’re a little bit outside of our comfort zone, we have to consult with other people who know more than we do. It’s our obligation as lawyers. It’s the same thing with a trust company, with a trustee, whether you’re an individual or you’re not. Widen that circle. Frazer Rice (27:08.474)I think this is my idea for the day that there’s got to be a bit of a public relations campaign sort of describing what’s going on here because I think especially when we go into the family members that sort of occupy these roles, they have no earthly idea what they’re doing. They’re usually doing it for free. Everything’s hunky dory up until a point and everyone hopes that everyone is not going to sue each other if something goes wrong. But the level of wealth that’s being transferred now is now so significant that everyone sort of talks about, AI is going to get rid of lawyers. Nope, not in fiduciary litigation. I think that’s a medium term growth industry, especially around insurance, around ILITs, around revocable trusts, around elder care. But this is my advertisement for people who are in law school looking for a productive way to go. I think that one is going to be, I think that one’s recession proof, at least for a while until I retire anyway. So my thought is that awareness over these things, and it’s probably going to take a very difficult case or a class action suit, something like that, where somebody really gets hurt in order for that awareness to come up. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (28:24.922)Yeah, I would agree. think that some of the solutions would include better trust education, you know, whether it be for RIAs, lawyers. Trust in the states is a throwaway class in law school. And there are so many law schools that are essentially rolling it back because bar exams aren’t testing it anymore in a variety of states. And ACTEC is definitely working with the law schools to try and increase trust in the states being taught and certainly being tested. So education for lawyers coming out of law school, education for RIAs that are advising on trusts, education for trust officers, for trust administrators, trust professionals in general, clear role delineation. What is the role of the RIA? The role of the trust officer? What is the role of the trustee if they’re an individual trustee? And then creating a culture of collaboration on what we’re doing as a team for the beneficiary, not substitution, but collaboration with the advisors and the trustees. Frazer Rice (29:32.59)Let’s go into the role delineation for a second. About 20 or 30 years ago, the concept of bifurcating or sort of cordoning off the different functions I described before the investment, the administration and the distribution has come into vogue. I think that came out of frustration with bank trust companies where you got one set of advice for every trust that they had as far as investments and distributions and administration and a lot of modern larger families wanted something a little bit more specific to their needs. And that’s really turned, it’s exploded as an industry for increasing sophistication and size of wealth. Along those different functions, where maybe the administration goes to a professional trust company or a trust officer in the state that you want, Then there’s some intersection maybe in the distribution committee. And then the investment side of it is a bit of a free for all, think, depending on what you’re, dealing with. How do you educate the, that continued the delineation, but the coordination within those types of structures. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (30:41.275)Yeah, I think it’s really important. And I’m a Delaware lawyer. I’m licensed in multiple states, but Delaware is my home. It’s where I learned how to be a lawyer. It’s where I grew up as a lawyer. So this directed trust model that you’re describing, where you’re bifurcating, truly bifurcating these particular functionalities of a trustee, it originated in Delaware. sort of, we didn’t, I mean, we invented it, right? We codified it. It was being done, but we codified it. The idea of making sure that everybody understands what their function is and knowing that there’s a limit of liability that’s built into the instrument and communicating what that means to the RIA that is named in the document. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard companies, heard trust companies say, we’re advisor friendly. And I’m like, not unless you’re directed, you’re not. Frazer Rice (31:37.528) “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges”Yeah. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (31:40.439)If you are directed, you are 100 % advisor friendly because there’s no chance that that trustee is going to try and take the investment management. They’re not a portfolio manager. Not a clerical administrator. They’re not a passive rule follower. We need to identify what does that trustee actually do when they are an administrative or directed trustee. Clarify that role so that people who are engaged in this bifurcation, this structure where we’ve got a distribution committee, maybe it’s individuals who are close to the family, close to the beneficiaries, where you don’t have somebody who’s objectively uninvolved with the family members making decisions as to whether or not there’s a distribution that should be made. But also advising those rolls those advisors that your administrative trustee is not just a pencil put a paper pusher. Not just checking boxes. They really do add value to the role that they provide and making sure that everybody understands what each other are doing, having regular meetings amongst the team instead of operating in a vacuum or operating in a silo. And taking the approach of it’s not my job, misunderstanding trustee powers and the advisor’s authority. So when that’s delineated, when that’s really understood, not just by the advisors, but also by the beneficiaries, there are so many beneficiaries out there, Frazer, that have absolutely no idea that they actually hold all the cards. They don’t know. Frazer Rice (33:25.87)Along that line, so in the administrative, we just walked through pretty nicely. The distribution function is one that, let’s talk a little bit for a second about what it means to ask a trustee for a distribution and maybe the difference between income and principal and why having a steady hand at the wheel within that function, whether it’s a corporate trust company of qualified individual or family input in that function, why real good thought needs to go into how that’s staffed. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (34:04.73)Yeah, absolutely. 100%. In a corporate trustee ship or a corporate trust company structure, there’s always going to be distribution committees, right? So if you are the trustee, you’re going to have to go through a committee that’s looking at what your reasoning is for making that distribution. They’re asking questions about what have been the prior distributions? Have they come from principal? Have they come from income? What is the spend rate on that trust? How is this going to affect long-term spend rate? Is this an aberration? Is this something that’s gonna become a habit? Really understanding what the distribution, the guidelines are in the trust. What is the distribution standard? Making that decision? What are our factors? And how many people are at the table? Who’s communicating that to the beneficiary? Does the beneficiary know that the trust officer alone does not have the ability to say yes or no? That when they’re in this ecosystem of a corporate trust company, they have their checks and balances to make sure that that risk is being managed. So when you’re looking at corporate trust companies, are a lot of layers behind understanding what the distribution standard is, whether it’s hems or if it’s purely discretionary. The other thing that you need to look at when it’s not a corporate trustee and it’s an individual trustee is, how is that individual trustee making that decision? Are they doing it in a vacuum? Alone? Are they favoring one beneficiary over another because they like them more, you need to have some communication to the beneficiaries so that they understand what they are, what their interest is, what they are entitled to, if anything, and why the trustee stands in that position as the gatekeeper. And I really think in my heart of hearts, we need to make a shift from a gatekeeper trustee Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (36:16.708)to a beneficiary enhancement trustee, where the beneficiary is really taking on the understanding that the trustee is there to facilitate enhancing the beneficiary’s life. That even though the trust may have started at the outset as a tax strategy or something that the grantor decided they needed to do with the advice of counsel. At the end of the day, you wouldn’t have been named as the beneficiary if there wasn’t some sense of love or obligation even, that it’s for your benefit. It’s in the name. Beneficiary. Trustees need to understand that and beneficiaries need to be taught. Frazer Rice (36:54.958)Right. Frazer Rice (37:00.646)And it goes to the circle back to the notion of making sure that you write down the whys of the decision because ultimately if the concepts of favoritism or you didn’t communicate this or anything, the idea of having the beneficiary submit a budget but having them understand why they are submitting a budget and then if there is some discretion that’s happening around that decision that the data points that are informing that discretion, that’s gonna keep everybody safe a lot later on. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (37:32.666)Absolutely. I break it down into a couple of different factors. It’s fiduciary decision making. How is that fiduciary making the decisions they’re making? Why are they making those decisions? And who is being affected by the decisions? Document interpretation. Do you understand the document that you’re administering? If you don’t understand the document you’re administering, hopefully best case scenario, you know what you don’t know and you ask. But if you don’t understand the document and you don’t even have the wherewithal to say, hey, I need help to understand the document, it’s really problematic. The third part, balancing beneficiary interests. Really taking on board this idea of the principal income problem that all the assets in the trust are not the same. That some of it doesn’t at all in any way affect a certain class of beneficiaries. And at the same time, it’s inextricably intertwined in the way that it affects another class of beneficiaries. And then risk management and governance. How is this being governed? How are we managing perceived and actual risk as a trustee? Frazer Rice (38:40.13)The investment function, which I alluded to before, I see storm clouds on that horizon, not really at the RIA level, because I think there’s sort of a default mode that investment policy statements are in place. Diversification is a true commodity at this point. And I never really worry about an RIA sort of understanding how to invest to get to a certain expected return and deal with the risks and drawdown and all that stuff. The storm cloud I see is when individuals sit in that role and they are being tasked with, let’s call it quote unquote, overseeing concentration, meaning that trust is holding a building, farmland, a nuclear reactor, crypto, all of these different things that sometimes can be, A, they have their own different maintenance responsibilities that are not just looking at a fidelity statement, but that they also have their own volatility And, you know, in the case of a building, you got to make sure it’s managed correctly. are they going to get sued or the windows kept up, all of that stuff, and that there’s a whole different component there. And I’m waiting for the shoe to drop on some fact pattern there where somebody is sitting in the role of an investment advisor. It doesn’t say trustee in the document, so they don’t really think that they have trustee liability. But. they sit in that role and all of a sudden somebody finds 10 55 gallon drums of green fluid in the basement of a building and all of a sudden the trust has a big set of red brackets that say minus $100 million that you owe to the federal government and the EPA. How do you think about that? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (40:21.454)Hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (40:25.242)That’s a heavy question. so the Delaware stock answer, obviously, direct it, right? It’s just to get the trust, cut off the liability. At the first, at the inception of your hypothetical is bad drafting, right? So if there’s no statement as to whether or not your investment advisor is acting as a fiduciary or not, Frazer Rice (40:35.042)Right. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (40:52.836)What does your statute say? Does your statute impose that they are as a default a fiduciary or not? So that’s the very first step. That’s bad drafting. We need to know. But if it’s silent, let’s say it’s just a lousy document, there’s, God knows. Anybody who’s seen trust documents knows that, you’ve seen them all, right? And everything in between. Some are good, some are bad. If this is a bad one. Frazer Rice (41:13.08)Seen good and you’ve seen bad. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (41:20.079)Then we need to document the statute. If we can correct it, modify the document, let’s modify it. But if all of that can’t happen, then I would say the best way to handle it, make sure you have adequate insurance. mean, over-insure that, over-insure it. Make sure that there’s regular checks on the actual… Assets that are in the trust, if you have a concentration and that concentration is real estate, get the advice of counsel, put that bad boy into an LLC, get yourself some distance from the actual asset itself being held in the trust, hold an interest, hold a financial interest, push it down to the corporate level. But if you can’t do all of that and you’ve got those 500 gallon drums of green fluid and now you’re… Frazer Rice (42:14.286)You Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (42:15.371)You you’ve got a super fun site. What do you do? You don’t shy away from it. Have to address it head on. You got to take the accountability. You got to communicate and document, communicate and document some more. Talk to your beneficiaries. Make sure that they’re aware of where it went wrong, why it went wrong. Because I have found in my exposure in the industry over time and in reading case law, it’s when you’re trying to cover stuff up. Frazer Rice (42:43.913)Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (42:44.027)You’re just making more problems. Bad news doesn’t age well. It doesn’t get better over time. You have to approach it head on and make sure that there’s communication and documentation. Meet with your beneficiaries. If there’s a trusteeship where you are appointed as a trustee individually and you’re not having at least quarterly meetings with your beneficiaries, If you’re not going out and seeing the asset, if you’re not going out and making sure that the asset is properly custodyed, you’re not, you’re violating your fiduciary duty. You are not doing what you’re supposed to do. Frazer Rice (43:21.804)You brought up an interesting word there, custody, which is the administrative function, whether held corporately or individually, one of the major things you have to do is to safeguard the assets. And that’s a big two syllable word that carries a lot of weight with it. That custodial function, how do you teach the trust officers or the individual trustees where that starts and stops? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (43:48.579)Yeah, mean, custody is super, it’s a really touchy, touchy subject, especially with the dynamic way that trusts have developed in the current climate from tangibles. You know, I’ve got artwork and my beneficiary wants to hang the artwork in their house. Well, do you have custody? Has it been assigned to the trustee and how do you maintain that asset? Make sure nothing’s happening to it. Do make an appointment, go over to the, visit your artwork? What if it’s prize horses, you know? What if it’s, you know, a stud that, you know, we’re gonna need to breed and it’s gonna be the next Triple Crown winner? How do you make sure that the barn is properly safeguarded? It’s a really touchy subject, especially with things like tangibles and things like assets held away when you technically custody the asset, but you don’t have control over the asset. I think in the education part for custodying, what I do in my programs and when I teach this is I make sure that we talk about different types of asset classes. And what the risks, again, what are the risks that you run with these asset classes? How can we manage the actual and the perceived risk of holding that asset? Even if you have custody and name only, but you don’t have physical custody, how do you maintain your control over that asset? Because it’s really the C’s, right? The custody and control. Just because you don’t have custody doesn’t mean you don’t have control. So we have to make sure that there’s an education that’s provided about the different asset classes, whether it’s tangibles, intangibles, assets held away, if it’s a concentration of stock, if it’s crypto, and most trust companies are not taking crypto. I think that there’s like a circuitous way that they’re getting in right now, but it all boils down to education, isolating what the issue is and educating people on it. Frazer Rice (45:59.586)I’ll give you a third C, it’s consequences, which is what happens when you don’t understand these functions. on the crypto side of things, Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (46:01.786)Uhhh Frazer Rice (46:11.544)Holds the key to get to the crypto. What happens if that trust officer quits and walks away with the key and they’re like, well, multi-sigil figure this out. I’m like, okay, that’s not that. That doesn’t make me feel great at the moment. And now there have been some advances, which is good, but traps for the unwary to be sure. the good news too for crypto is for people who want exposure, the spot ETFs take away 90 % of the problems with that. But as we start to think about winding down here, because I have a feeling we could probably talk for four or five hours on this subject, when putting your programs together, what does a curriculum look like? And we don’t have to go through it bit by bit, but how does that work when someone comes to your program? How much time does it take? What’s the commitment? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (46:47.172)Yeah, I think so. Frazer Rice (46:54.851)Mm-hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (47:06.33)So the program that I created that’s really available anywhere across the country is called the Peak Trust Management Certificate Program. Peak Trust Company, may be familiar with it. They have name rights because they gave the donation to the University of Delaware for me to build the program. So it’s housed at the Lerner College at the University of Delaware, but bears the name of Peak Trust Company. I look at five different things. The first thing is trust law and administration. So like I said previously when we were talking, you lay that foundation of what is the legal component of this? What is the baseline that people have to know? And then what is the administration? The second component is, and it’s inextricably intertwined as taxation. What is the income tax? What are the deductions? And now let’s take all of that income tax knowledge, individual income tax knowledge, and build on it with fiduciary income tax. What is DNI? What is FAI? How does it go out to the beneficiary? What’s the character of the distribution? How do we manage that? What are we deducting in the trust? So teaching taxation and not because trustees necessarily are tax preparers, but because the trustees obligation is to be able to understand and read that tax return, they need to know how to spot problems. So from my perspective, teaching fiduciary income tax is a critical component. It also helps. Yeah. Frazer Rice (48:38.828)No, no, I was gonna say no question about that. And there are elections to make, just because it doesn’t just go on autopilot, there are choices to be made so that if you’re the trustee, you may not have to prepare the tax return, but you may have to make a choice on the tax return and you’ve got to be informed because that can be an issue. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (48:58.651)65 day elections, perfect example, right? You just, you need to understand what your role is and how it overlaps with that of the CPA. The third part, of course, investments. Investments are inextricably intertwined, whether you’re doing it yourself as the trustee or you’re directed or even delegated, which is like the hairy scaries of every trusteeship known to man, because you’re not actually in control, but you’re responsible. So it’s the gray. When I build a program, because of the, you know, the directed trusteeship being so popular in today’s day and age, we have to talk about not just investments of, you know, marketable securities, not just the custody of tangibles, but also subscription documents, because so many alternatives are held in trust right now. unique assets, need to know how the trustee is actually carrying out their fiduciary duty when it comes to engaging in an investment that is an alternative investment. The fourth component is of course compliance. We cannot ever get away from compliance and I think we could do a whole nother podcast on compliance in trusteeship but. You know, it’s a regulated entity. And even if you’re an individual trustee and you’re not using what those compliance frameworks are, what the guidelines are by OCC, Reg 9, FDIC, if you’re not looking at that and using that as a guideline, don’t do the job. understanding KYC, BSA, AML, all of those compliance components that have tentacles. That’s the fourth part. And then for the fifth part of this program, because it’s specifically geared toward trustee education in trust companies, although it can be applicable, very applicable to individuals, is operations. I was very fortunate that I was able to partner with SCI on building the operations component. So we license their platform called Plato. It’s essentially their training platform. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (51:12.888)so that trustees can see how fees are set up, fees, that’s a whole other podcast, fees, statements, distributions, how are we doing this? How are we documenting everything? What are the logistics of the day-to-day operations? So that’s how I built the program and it’s available anywhere in the country. It’s 10 weeks, how long does it take? I would say from three to five hours a week of an investment that you’re making at a bare minimum. Obviously there’s a whole lot more of depth that you can go into. The resources are built in. But I would say 10 weeks, about 50 hours of time where you’re actually engaging with the material. And then I bring in guest lecturers on each different area of expertise for lack of a better description. And they get a certificate at the end, they get a digital badge, and now they really have something where they can add value day one in a trust company or as a trustee. Frazer Rice (52:17.902)With Delaware being, you one of the real gold standards as far as trust jurisdiction, I assume that everything that comes out of this program is pretty transportable to the other useful jurisdictions, let’s call it, within the country. know, the Tennessee’s, the South Dakota’s, the Nevada’s, the Alaska’s, Wyoming’s, New Hampshire’s, et cetera. Obviously, there are hairs to split with different foibles in their law, but everything that you’re describing sounds like works everywhere else. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (52:47.928)And I’ve always taken the approach, you’re 100 % correct, I’ve always taken the approach of UTC. I base everything off of UTC and if there’s something different or unique based upon the jurisdiction that you’re in, I always encourage people you have to look at your statute, you have to look at the jurisdiction that you’re actually practicing this in and administering in. I use Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska as examples quite often when we’re talking about the directed stuff, but By and large, it’s UTC. Frazer Rice (53:20.966)It just a weird subset. So special needs trusts and islets, which are two types of trusts, very specific. One holds life insurance. The other is designed to really take care of people who can’t take care of themselves. And they are types of trusts that a lot of trust companies don’t like to take on because the liability is harder or the profit margin is less. For those individuals who get the opportunity to participate in those and I put that in air quotes. How would you advise people to get ready for those types of situations? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (53:58.308)People who are in need of those types of trusts. Frazer Rice (54:02.122)Well, maybe both. The people who need those trusts, you know, they’re going to, they, you know, it’s almost like they get set up and then the staffing gets kind of figured out later, barely. And then, you know, the, for the people who end up taking on that role, they really have no idea of what they’re in for in a sense. Is there sort of like a mini, I’m not going to say a full course like you’re describing, but a crash course in, in what’s going on here and what can I do to keep myself safe? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (54:30.271)Unfortunately, no, I don’t know of one. and there isn’t much built in. there’s, we talk about a little bit in the program that I built, but, those are specialized and eyelets we talk about a little bit more there, you eyelets had their day and sort of they has done ish. but special needs trust. It’s a whole other ball game because It really incorporates state law and social security and Medicaid, all of those government benefits that I think you would need something more specialized than my program that I developed. And I don’t have a great answer for that, I’m sorry. Frazer Rice (55:12.482)No, there’s not a great answer for it because it’s tough. it’s a, all of which is to say for someone who’s involved with those things and feels confused by what’s going on, that’s one where it’s worth it to spend the money to lean on a dedicated Medicaid elder care, special needs type of lawyer on that front because there are traps for the unwary. Okay, now we’re starting to butt up against an hour here of. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (55:29.764)Yes . . . Frazer Rice (55:38.827)Four hours. No, I’m kidding listeners. We’re not going to talk for four hours, but How do people find your program and and then I’ll ask a bonus question at the end Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (55:49.339)So the program is on the University of Delaware’s website. You just type in peak trust management certificate and it’ll pop up. My name will be there. I think my picture might be there. It’s all over my LinkedIn. So if you look me up, you’re going to see the peak trust management certificate program. You can always email me, jennifer at zeldenlaw.com. Happy to push people into it. start, I’m in the new cohort right now. We’re two weeks into a 10 week program. But we have a new cohort starting in May. I think it’s May 4th. So may the fourth be with you. Frazer Rice (56:24.622)Terrific. So the final question here is really more of a crystal ball question. In this trust industry, trustee industry, what are the real, I’m going to say opportunities out there, and we’ve sort of painted a picture of doom and gloom and its low profit margin and things like that. Where can someone who is thinking from a business perspective about this find something? Once they’re properly educated about it and being able to participate in it. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (56:57.582)There are so many opportunities. There is an absolute need for good trustees everywhere. Trust companies from coast to coast, individual trustee alliance. People really, really need trustees. There’s tremendous opportunity with Heritage Institute, not the Heritage Foundation, but the Heritage Institute. There’s opportunities with…various family offices and various trust companies for education, for beneficiary education. So many opportunities out there. Trust companies are just clamoring for people. So if people are interested in becoming a trustee, getting that education, you will not have a hard time finding a job. Like you said, it’s basically recession proof. This wealth is going to transfer. We need sophisticated, knowledgeable trustees. on the receiving end of that transfer so that it happens correctly. Frazer Rice (57:56.578)I’d go so far as to say financial advisors. I just gotta say, a CFP is useful, CFA is on your investment side, but something like this, you know so much more about how intergenerational wealth works than what’s happening in those particular situations that I think it helps people stand out when I see something like that on a resume. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (58:00.302) “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges”That’s all the podcast. I hear you. I hear you. Frazer Rice (58:24.386) “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges”All right, with that, Jennifer, it’s great to catch up and I will have all of your information on the show notes and I will either see you at the ITA conference in Dallas or what I’m down in Delaware next. More Around “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges” BUILDING A TRUST COMPANY TENNESSEE AS A JURISDICTION DIRECTED TRUSTEES DELAWARE WELL BEING TRUST THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT/ Keywords for THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges trusteeship, wealth transfer, trust management, fiduciary duties, trust education, estate planning, risk management, trust administration, individual trustees, trust companies, the trustee crisis, navigating the challenges, the great wealth transfer,

This week on America on the Road, Jack Nerad test-drives the luxurious new 2026 Lexus TX 550h+ plug-in hybrid three-row SUV, and Chris Teague reviews the adventure-ready 2026 Honda CR-V TrailSport Hybrid. Plus, the two hosts break down the top news stories, including a stunning wave of nine major auto CEOs replaced in just over a year, Scout Motors' possible U.S. launch delay, Canada opening the door to up to China-built EVs, and NHTSA closing its seven-year Stellantis headrest investigation without a recall. The guys welcome special guest Greg Migliore, Editorial Director of AutoGuide.

A New Orleans initiative to increase citywide recycling is under threat. This is despite the fact that the city has more than 5 million dollars worth of support from the EPA and a national nonprofit to support this program.Reporter for Verite News, Katie Jane Fernelius, tells us more. Sea habitats are vanishing in the Gulf due to overfishing. Now, there's a potential human-made solution for this human-made problem: artificial reefs. In the first part of the latest episode of Sea Change, we learn how artificial reefs are helping to provide a new habitat for sea life in Alabama. And next week, we'll learn about a similar initiative being deployed in Cambodia.___Today's episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We get production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos and our assistant producer Aubry Procell.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It's available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you're at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you'd like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Alon Refining Krotz Springs, Inc. v. EPA

Explore how the EPA consistently approves dangerous pesticides, exports banned chemicals, and ignores global progress on regulation. #EPAFailure #GlobalToxins #ChemicalPolicy #HealthTalks

Episode 2762 - In this health freedom and product integrity episode, Ted and Austin Broer examine EPA fluoride regulation battles while addressing autism research panel forming to counter Kennedy's vaccine investigations, wild salmon verification fraud, GHI cleanse artificial ingredient avoidance, European travel experiences, Israel global politics influence, and airline technology advancements.

In this Ask a Nutritionist episode, dietitian Alyssa Krejci explains the difference between fish oil and cod liver oil and how to choose the right one for your needs. Learn how omega-3 fats support heart, brain, and inflammation health, why EPA and DHA matter, and when cod liver oil's added vitamin A and vitamin D may or may not be helpful. Alyssa also shares simple tips for choosing a quality omega-3 supplement and getting more omega-3s from foods like salmon, sardines, and mackerel.

In Podcast #372, Jessica Ray fills in as host to discuss some of the latest new vehicles that the MotorWeek crew has been testing. We start things off with Mazda and a first-drive in their best-selling model, the CX-5 crossover as it enters its 3rd-generation with some well executed updates. Then it's over to BMW and our recent track time in their entry-level track car, the M2 CS. Finally, it's over to Jeep where we drove both the all-new Cherokee and updated Grand Cherokee, which feature the future of the Jeep brand's powertrain options. Plus, a Lightning Round which considers the EPA's recent decision to rescind credits to automakers for utilizing auto stop/start technology.

Comprehensive coverage of the day's news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. Trump admin touts military success of Iran war, amid growing friction among allies and chaos for humanitarian aid; House rejects War Powers Resolution to limit president's power to go to war; California among states suing Administration in Court of International Trade over Trump tariffs; Judge rules companies entitled to refunds after SCOTUS ends Trump's tariffs; California youth lawsuit against EPA says it fails to protect them from climate change; Trump fires Homeland Security Secretary Noem after numerous scandals; March 5 is International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness, UN chief Guterres says it's time to invest in the architecture of peace, not the tools of war The post Trump admin touts Iran war as UN describes chaos for humanitarian aid; House rejects resolution limiting president's war powers – March 5, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

A quieter federal enforcement environment presents both risk and opportunity. On this episode of Environmental Law Monitor, Daniel Pope and Tim Wilkins explore how companies should respond. While EPA enforcement actions have declined, the underlying statutes, regulations and permits remain in force. The five-year federal statute of limitations means that today's violations may be tomorrow's enforcement targets.The episode focuses on practical strategies such as: reinforcing compliance cultureleveraging audit toolsensuring corrective actions are both effective and well documentedDaniel and Tim highlight continued scrutiny from state agencies and non-governmental organizations, reminding companies that enforcement exposure extends beyond EPA.

Michelle Roos returns to The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about the dismantling of the EPA under Trump and what she's been up to at the Environmental Protection Network, where they're working to protect the environment and safeguard public health.

In this episode of the Cornelius Seed Podcast, host Juan sits down with Shane Brockhoff of Meristem Crop Performance to break down what Meristem calls the “Biodefense Revolution.”From EPA-registered biologicals delivered through the planter box to innovative starter fertilizer technology, this conversation dives into practical, field-ready solutions for protecting yield in corn and soybeans.Shane explains Meristem's patented Bio-Capsule™ delivery system, designed to keep biological products alive all the way to the furrow — while making it easy for growers to stack multiple layers of protection.We cover:

Exciting news - pre-order my debut book https://linktr.ee/HealthySBTH?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

Omega-3 fatty acids (particularly EPA and DHA) have a long history in nutrition and cardiovascular medicine, yet the clinical trial literature is often perceived as inconsistent. This episode examines why some randomized trials show clear benefit while others show null or mixed findings, and how differences in trial design, dose, population risk, and outcome selection can materially change what we observe. A key theme is separating (1) the persistent cultural narratives around omega-3s (including origin stories that do not hold up well to modern evidence) from (2) the more precise, mechanistic and clinical questions about where supplemental EPA/DHA may reduce cardiovascular risk. The discussion focuses heavily on understanding heterogeneity: why "omega-3 supplementation" is not a single, uniform exposure, and why subgroup patterns (e.g., secondary prevention, higher baseline triglycerides, and higher doses) may explain much of the apparent conflict in the evidence. Note: This discussion is taken from a previous episode of the podcast. The audio has been remastered and improved, and now study notes and full transcript are available. Timestamps [04:10] Omega-3 historical context and Inuit studies [08:38] Mechanisms of omega-3 benefits [12:49] VITAL and ASCEND trials analysis [23:41] GISSI-Prevenzione trial insights [26:44] REDUCE-IT trial and residual risk [32:19] Significance of baseline triglycerides [37:57] 2018 Cochrane review [46:02] Hu et al. meta-analysis [01:00:27] Practical takeaways for omega-3 supplementation [01:03:55] Key ideas segment (premium subscribers only) Related Resources Go to episode page (with links to mentioned studies) Join the Sigma email newsletter for free Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium Enroll in the next cohort of our Applied Nutrition Literacy course Alan Flanagan's Alinea Nutrition Education Hub

Nutritional Support for Brain Health: Lifestyle, Curcumin, Magnesium, and Key Nootropics: Nutrition educator/formulator Neil Levin from Protocol for Life Balance details nutritional support for brain health amid skepticism about “brain-boosting” supplements, citing a preprint randomized controlled trial using a multifaceted lifestyle plan (diet, exercise, sleep) plus targeted supplementation that reportedly improved and even reversed symptoms in people with mild cognitive impairment. They contrast lifestyle strategies with costly, side-effect-prone injectable “plaque-buster” Alzheimer's drugs and notes debate about whether amyloid is a root cause or byproduct. The conversation highlights inflammation and oxidation as major aging-related brain threats and reviews supplements including a brain-targeted curcumin (discussing bioavailability, delivery methods, blood–brain barrier crossing, and claims of lowering beta-amyloid protein), magnesium L-threonate for CNS delivery, phosphatidylserine and acetylcholine support (including huperzine), ginkgo and gotu kola, glutamine/GABA pathways, creatine, omega-3s (DHA/EPA and algae sources), B vitamins, acetyl-L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, and cocoa flavanols, plus concerns about supplement industry enforcement.

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Neil Levin, the Senior Nutrition Education Manager and a product formulator for NOW(r) Foods and Protocol for Life Balance. 

"We, the people we can definitely keep the pressure on, not only on our lawmakers, our governors, our mayors, our senators, our Congress people. We have to keep reminding them that we care about these issues…There's a real key also to the future reimagining, asking companies to reimagine themselves as energy companies, not oil companies or gas companies, but energy companies. So all of these pressure points are incredibly important. We all have favorite stores, favorite brands that we shop on. If you love Walmart writing to the customer services and to the president of Walmart saying, 'Hey, get those solar panels on all of our Walmart stores. We want to do our part. They care. They care about consumer response. It's important to say that you care. You want them to care." Dominique Browning on Electric Ladies Podcast This Women's History Month 2026, it's critical that all our elected officials at all levels know that we care about climate change, clean air, clean water and protecting the environment. That pressure is what makes them pass legislation that addresses these issues. How? Listen to Dominique Browning, Founder and head of Mom's Clean Air Force, who is also a Vice President at the Environmental Defense Fund, in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson.   You'll hear about: ●        How to pressure your Mayor, Senators, Congresspeople, state legislators, governors, the head of the EPA, the president, and even your School Board members to pass legislation to address the climate crisis and protect our clean air, clean water and environment. ●        How states and cities are leveraging Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure Act funding and incentives, still, for a range of clean energy and climate solutions, such as electric school buses and solar panels. ●        How important it is to show gratitude when elected officials do the right thing. ●        Plus, career advice, such as:   "Just say yes, say yes to everybody who wanted you to do a project or consult on something or talk about something, meet, brainstorm, et cetera. And slowly but surely, I started building up a network of people who were interested in the same things I was interested in…Another piece of advice I got …(was) 'you got to go with the love.'…Over time, I began to see that what she was talking about was think about what you love, what you're passionate about, and what you can do… And that's very motivating, especially when things are difficult." Dominique Browning on Electric Ladies Podcast Subscribe to Joan's weekly newsletter here to stay abreast of episodes, trends, career advice, and events where Joan is speaking. You'll also like: ·       How to Talk About Climate In A Polarized Culture -- with Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Chief Science Officer at The Nature Conservancy & Professor, Texas Tech University ·       The Politics of Climate & Energy – with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, Co-Chair, Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus ·       How to Rebuild Cities After Disaster  – with Majora Carter, Urban Development Expert ·       How Design & Technology Are Redesigning Cities – Nikki Greenberg, Real Estate of the Future, live at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 ·       Unique Practical Climate Solutions For Cities – Joan's panel at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona   Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blogs, events and special coaching offers. Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review! Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson

Two Penn legal experts discuss the strategy behind EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding and the court challenges ahead. --- On February 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally rescinded the endangerment finding, the 2009 determination that established the legal basis for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. For 16 years, that finding has underpinned EPA climate policy, reflecting the agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and that, under the law, it was required to regulate them. The move represents a major shift in federal climate policy. But agencies cannot simply reverse themselves without making a legal case that can withstand court review. Cary Coglianese of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Shelley Welton of the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law examine the legal rationale behind the rescission and how it draws on recent Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed federal agency authority. Rather than disputing climate science, the EPA’s argument rests on a more limited reading of its powers under the Clean Air Act. Welton and Coglianese explain how that argument fits within the Court’s evolving approach to administrative power, and what it could mean for the future of federal climate regulation. Cary Coglianese is Director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Shelley Welton is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy with the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law. Related Content Policy Design Issues for Border Carbon Adjustments https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/policy-design-issues-for-border-carbon-adjustments/ Boomtowns in the Battery Belt: Risks and Opportunities of Clean Energy Investments in Small Towns of America https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/boomtowns-in-the-battery-belt-risks-and-opportunities-of-clean-energy-investments-in-small-towns-of-america/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scott Novak and Allison Watkins Mallick offer a breakdown of EPA's decision to rescind its 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding and how the agency is interpreting the Clean Air Act. The discussion covers implications for vehicle and power plant standards, expected litigation, and what long-term uncertainty means for companies navigating federal and state climate rules.

More updates on green bus funding from the EPA via the Clean School Bus Program. Plus, we dive into our March issue on optimization and efficiency, whose cover features the smiling school bus team from Loudoun County in Virginia. We see mirrors on school buses every day, but how much have you thought about the decisions behind their placement? Dave McDonald, president of Safe Bus Consulting and retired executive vice president for Rosco Vision Systems, discusses everything from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 111 to driver distraction, plus techniques and technology for student safety in the Danger Zone. Hear more from him at STN EXPO East in Charlotte-Concord, North Carolina this month. Read more about safety. Episode sposnors: Transfinder, EverDriven.

Andi L. Fristedt, former senior official at CDC, FDA and the Senate HELP Committee, heads up a newly established Washington, D.C. office of the Parkinson's Foundation. The Foundation acts in close allegiance with Michael J. Fox and his foundation; advocates; scientific and policy leaders such as Professors Okun and Dorsey; and new voices such as Harvard Professor Sue Goldie. It supports research on the genetic underpinnings of Parkinson's Disease: 13% of Americans have genetic variants that place them at considerable risk. The foundation focuses on therapies and improving the quality of care; education of the public; and strengthening prevention against environmental toxins. The Washington office's mandate is to “connect the dots” between science with those in Congress and the administration able to be champions and shape policy. There is progress: “We just know a lot more. And how to tell our story.”  A paramount concern is the pesticide paraquat, which continues to be used widely in the United States, while outlawed in dozens of countries. Over 40 years of scientific research has made very clear the danger paraquat poses, especially to children. The EPA is currently revisiting paraquat, while many states spring into action.

In episode 248 of America Adapts, host Doug Parsons is joined by Professor Mark Nevitt of Emory University School of Law to unpack the repeal of the Clean Air Act's Endangerment Finding and what it means for climate governance in the United States. Long considered the legal backbone of federal climate regulation, its rescission raises fundamental questions about agency authority, the role of the courts, and the durability of federal climate policy. Mark explains the legal theory behind the repeal, how it intersects with Supreme Court precedent, and what likely comes next in federal court. The conversation also explores the practical implications of regulatory instability — from increased climate litigation to the shifting balance between federal, state, and local responsibility. For listeners working in adaptation, public policy, infrastructure, law, or risk management, this episode offers a clear look at how legal shifts at the federal level can reshape the broader climate landscape — and why adaptation efforts must continue regardless of political volatility. Transcript for this episode here.  Key Themes Covered in This Episode What the Endangerment Finding actually did under the Clean Air Act Why Massachusetts v. EPA mattered The legal basis for the repeal How the repeal affects federal climate regulation The role of the Supreme Court and administrative law What happens next in federal court More emissions and rising adaptation costs States and cities filling the federal vacuum The growing role of climate litigation Adaptation continuing — but in a more fragmented system Previous appearances by Mark Nevitt on America Adapts Destroy, Rebuild, Repeat: How to Break the Climate Disaster Cycle with Mark Nevitt Climate Change and the Legal System: Why the U.S. Constitution Needs to Adapt with Law Professor Mark Nevitt Climate Adaptation Predictions for 2025: What the Experts Say For Educators & Students The structure and limits of federal agency authority The interaction between executive action and judicial review How Supreme Court doctrine reshapes environmental governance Federalism and the division of climate authority between states and Washington Legal uncertainty and its impact on infrastructure and long-term planning Climate governance in periods of institutional instability The evolving role of courts in climate policy disputes Risk management when regulatory frameworks shift abruptly Professors are welcome to assign this episode or excerpts in syllabi. Who Should Listen to This Episode Climate adaptation and resilience professionals navigating shifting federal policy State and local government officials responsible for long-term planning Urban and regional planners integrating climate risk into infrastructure decisions Insurance, reinsurance, and financial sector professionals assessing regulatory volatility Corporate risk, legal, and strategy teams tracking climate governance shifts Environmental law and public policy scholars following administrative law developments Funders and foundations evaluating the durability of climate investments Climate communicators explaining governance instability to broader audiences   ClimateTech Connect Conference Mentioned in the Episode! ClimateTech Connect Registration Use code: AAVIP for 25% discount off ticket prices   Support for America Adapts helps make episodes like this possible, including more international conversations on how adaptation is unfolding globally. All donations are now tax deductible! Check out the America Adapts Media Kit here! Subscribe to the America Adapts newsletter here. Listen to America Adapts on your favorite app here!   Facebook, Linkedin and Bluesky: https://www.facebook.com/americaadapts/ https://bsky.app/profile/americaadapts.bsky.social https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-parsons-america-adapts/ Doug Parsons and Speaking Opportunities: If you are interested in having Doug speak at corporate and conference events, sharing his unique, expert perspective on adaptation in an entertaining and informative way, Now on Spotify! List of Previous Guests on America Adapts Follow/listen to podcast on Apple Podcasts. The 10 Best Sustainability Podcasts for Environmental Business Leadershttps://us.anteagroup.com/news-events/blog/10-best-sustainability-podcasts-environmental-business-leaders For more information on this podcast, visit the website at http://www.americaadapts.org and don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.   Podcast Music produce by Richard Haitz Productions Write a review on Apple Podcasts ! America Adapts on Facebook!   Join the America Adapts Facebook Community Group. Check us out, we're also on YouTube! Subscribe to America Adapts on Apple Podcasts Doug can be contacted at americaadapts @ g mail . com

Shoot us a Text.Episode #1282: Honda leads the nation in fuel economy, destination charges quietly climb to $1,600 per vehicle, and a new Gallup report shows staffing shortages may be holding back customer experience across retail.If you had to guess the most fuel-efficient automaker in America, who would you pick? According to the EPA's newly released 2025 Automotive Trends Report, Honda just claimed the top spot—blending hybrids, smart engineering, and affordability into a winning formula.Honda posted a 31.0 mpg “real-world” fleet average for 2024—3.8 mpg higher than the industry average among full-line brands.The EPA ranking looks at automakers offering a complete mix of gas and electrified vehiclesHonda's efficiency dominance isn't new. The Civic topped the EPA's very first fuel economy rankings back in 1976.The average Honda transaction price in 2025 was $35,060—roughly $10,000 below the industry average.Honda also set a third straight annual electrified sales record, surpassing 400,000 units, led by CR-V, Accord, and Civic hybrids.There's a new line on the Monroney that's getting a second look: destination charges. These once-overlooked shipping fees are quietly adding billions to vehicle costs without technically raising MSRP.Buyers spent more than $26 billion on destination charges this year, an average of $1,600, according to Edmunds.Some increases are steep: F-150 fees jumped to $2,595, Tahoe rose to nearly $2,000; Toyota Sequoia's fee is up more than 50%.Automakers say the hikes reflect higher fuel, logistics, heavier SUVs and trucks—and now tariffs. Stellantis alone expects $1.9B in tariff costs in 2026.The charge is the same whether the vehicle traveled 10 miles or 1,000, and courts have ruled consumers shouldn't be surprised that it includes profit.John Morrill, Massachusetts dealer: “It's a way to raise prices that is, shall we say, less transparent to the consumer. Carmakers have raised them a lot, certainly faster than they've raised prices.”A new Gallup report highlights a growing gap in retail and beyond: employees feel deeply responsible for customer experience—but don't believe their companies can actually deliver on promises. And staffing cuts appear to be the biggest culprit.43% of workers strongly agree they feel responsible for customer experience (up from 38% last year), but only 23% believe their organization consistently delivers on its promises.Leadership is 10 points more confident than frontline employees that promises are being kept.Staffing is the top barrier to service, cited by 37% of workers—more than training, tools, or unclear standards combined.Today's show is brought to you by iPacket Value. From accurate MSRP validation to smarter merchandisJoin Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/

On February 12, the Environmental Protection Agency dealt a major blow to the government's power to fight climate change by rescinding a key piece of research called the endangerment finding. The finding, issued in 2009, basically says: Greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare—and because they're harmful, they must be regulated. It's the legal basis for the federal government's regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. So what does it mean that this finding has been thrown out? Host Flora Lichtman digs into this question with Andy Miller, an original author on the endangerment finding who spent more than 30 years working for the EPA. Guest: Dr. Andy Miller worked on air pollution and climate change at the EPA for more than 30 years. He was an original author on Endangerment Finding. Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

→ My one stop shop for quality supplements: https://theswellscore.com/pages/drg Episode Description That Brita in your fridge? It's not doing what you think it is. You bought it to protect your family. You fill it up, watch the water drip through, and feel like you've done something good. But here's the reality: Brita is NSF-certified to remove five contaminants. The Environmental Working Group just found 324 in U.S. drinking water. That gap is the problem. PFAS (the forever chemicals) have been detected in the drinking water of over 200 million Americans. Hexavalent chromium, the chemical from Erin Brockovich, has no federal limit and is present in water systems across all 50 states. Nitrates. Microplastics. Pharmaceuticals. Fluoride. Brita addresses essentially none of them. In this episode, Dr. Christian Gonzalez breaks down exactly what's in your tap water, what Brita actually filters, and what it's leaving behind. Then he gives you six evidence-based alternatives across three price tiers—so you can make the best decision for your budget and your household. In this episode, Dr. G breaks down: • Why EPA regulations are decades out of date—and why that matters for your family • The six PFAS chemicals the EPA finally regulated in 2024—and why there are 5,000 more they don't touch • The best pitcher upgrade under $60 that removes over 365 contaminants Brita ignores • Under-the-sink options with 50x the filter life and clinical-grade PFAS removal • The reverse osmosis systems Dr. G actually uses—and why they're the gold standard This isn't about fear. It's about knowing what's real so you can take control of one of the biggest daily exposures most people never think about. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - What's Really in Your Tap Water (324 Contaminants) 3:26 - PFAS Forever Chemicals: 200 Million Americans Affected 5:38 - What Brita Actually Removes (The Real NSF Data) 9:47 - What Brita Leaves Behind: PFAS, Fluoride, Arsenic & More 11:43 - 6 Cleaner Alternatives Across 3 Budget Tiers 12:05 - Tier 1: Best Budget Pitcher Upgrades (~$40–60) 1:40 - Tier 2: Under-the-Sink Carbon Filters (~$150–350) 15:02 - Tier 3: Reverse Osmosis Systems (Clinical Grade) 17:01 - Which Filter Tier Is Right for You? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Joey and Cal are dreaming up the things they would change if we were solely focused on bird production and hunting success across the United States and Canada. We discuss the changes the EPA has made in rollbacks to the Clean Water Act and how it might affect bird populations and hunting. If we keep letting little things like this go, eventually there might not be duck hunting. Carter cooks up a new game for us to play called What the Duck and you're going to want to watch that section on our podcast YouTube channel if you plan on playing along. Thanks so much for listening and be sure to subscribe and review!   New Waterfowl Film out now! Out West | Waterfowl Hunting in Montana Stay comfortable, dry and warm: First Lite (Code MWF20) Go to OnXHunt to be better prepared for your hunt: OnX Learn more about better ammo: Migra Ammunitions Weatherby Sorix: Weatherby Support Conservation: DU (Code: Flyways) Stop saying "Huh?" with better hearing protection: Soundgear Live Free: Turtlebox Add motion to your spread: Flashback Better Merch: /SHOP

In early February, the EPA repealed the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, a landmark regulatory move reversing the determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health. Pat Parenteau, emeritus professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School and former EPA regional counsel under President Ronald Reagan, explains what happens next, including the many challenges the Trump administration is facing from environmental groups, and how the repeal could impact both health and climate change.Photo: [Smog obscures view of Chrysler Building from Empire State Building, New York City] / World-Telegram photo by Walter Albertin.

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3305: Danielle Omar breaks down the essentials of omega 3 fatty acids, explaining their structure, the different types (ALA, EPA, and DHA), and why they're crucial for brain, heart, and joint health. You'll also learn which foods to prioritize and how to get enough omega 3s through simple daily choices that support overall well-being. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://foodconfidence.com/2018/11/16/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-omega-3-fatty-acids/ Quotes to ponder: "Long story short, omega 3 fatty acids are essential polyunsaturated fats." "EPA supports your body in a ton of different ways. Getting enough EPA is super important for brain health and decreasing inflammation." "Omega 3s support heart health in some major ways! They can reduce triglycerides and blood pressure, increase HDL ('good') cholesterol, and help prevent plaque build up in your arteries." Episode references: USDA FoodData Central (Omega-3 Content of Foods): https://fdc.nal.usda.gov Recommended Daily Intake for Omega 3s (NIH): https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-Consumer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our good friend and host of The Fast Politics Podcast, Molly Jong-Fast, returns to the show! Molly's recent writing in the New York Times has covered the Epstein files and why only a fraction of them have been made public. We tackle the Prince Andrew arrest, Howard Lutnick's lies, and the DOJ's blatant attempt to scrub the files that have been made public.We also get into the SAVE Act and how this is just another attempt by Republicans to subvert democracy. Republican Senators know that the midterms spell trouble for them, so suppressing votes is their best strategy. Will the GOP blow up the filibuster? Does John Thune care more about democracy than Mike Johnson?Plus, we get Molly's thoughts on the latest CBS vs. Stephen Colbert saga, Trump's EPA destroying climate progress, ICE crackdowns around the country, and MUCH more.LISTEN to Molly's podcast, Fast Politics: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fast-politics-with-molly-jong-fast/id1645614328READ Molly's writing in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/by/molly-jong-fast

Friday on the News Hour, after the Supreme Court strikes down President Trump's global tariffs, he pledges to keep most of them in place through other means. In the midst of a military buildup, the U.S. considers a limited strike on Iran, but many fear this could lead to an all-out war. Plus, the EPA loosens restrictions on coal-burning power plants, allowing emissions of hazardous pollutants. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks to Jeffrey Tucker about the complicated legacy of Richard Nixon; Nixon's political genius and realpolitik, including opening relations with China and ending the Vietnam War; the long-term economic consequences of abandoning the gold standard, wage and price controls, inflation, and the expansion of big government; how Nixon's personal insecurity shaped policies like the EPA and centralized power; and how Watergate ultimately overshadowed his presidency and defined his historical reputation, and much more. Check out the NEW RUBIN REPORT MERCH here: https://daverubin.store/ ----------  Today's Sponsors: Lean - A powerful weight loss supplement with remarkable results to help lower blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curb your appetite. Rubin Report viewers get 20% off plus free rush shipping off their first order! Go to: https://TakeLean.com and enter promo code RUBIN for your discount Rumble Wallet - Don't let the big banks freeze your accounts. Own Tether Gold - real gold, on the blockchain and get direct ownership of physical gold bars, each one fully allocated, verifiable by serial number, purity, and weight. Download Rumble Wallet now and step away from the big banks — for good!  Go to: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbFlsSHNsQl9NRV9kQmJuT2VjQzY4UFdaRnNJUXxBQ3Jtc0tscWRQcTZfNUFsekFjZmduTXJidUp2OUVSUDJ2YmZ3TVhTQzIwckhOUW9LZWlGRFlRVUhhWVpvZW1BV0FrTXVTQ2p2NGhEam50U1dndlNTNHhMYmRqUFhfZW1SOFNPaGFFVkNKRXkzazBlRVlEZnBLOA&q=https%3A%2F%2Frumblewallet.onelink.me%2FbJsX%2Frubin&v=_X994757ipQ

Mike tracks the interstate absurdities created by the EPA's repeal of emissions standards. Buy a car in Iowa, and by the time you hit Illinois, you're dodging an environmental, legal, and ideological patchwork quilt. Then, it's the grand opening of a brand new Cultural/ Podcast institution! Author and critic Kat Rosenfield joins Mike to cut the ribbon on the "Museum of Bad Ideas." Today's inaugural exhibit: Harvard University's proposal to introduce the "A+" grade. With 60% of Harvard students already getting A's, is the solution really to just add an 11 to the grading dial? Mike and Kat break down the customer-service model of higher education, the loss of youth resilience, and why the Ivy League's meritocracy is starting to look a lot like Spinal Tap's volume knob. Produced by Corey Wara Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig Do you have questions or comments, or just want to say hello? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com For full Pesca content and updates, check out our website at https://www.mikepesca.com/⁠ For ad-free content or to become a Pesca Plus subscriber, check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ For Mike's daily takes on Substack, subscribe to The Gist List https://mikepesca.substack.com/ Follow us on Social Media:⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pescagist/ X https://x.com/pescami TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@pescagist To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠ad-sales@libsyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist