Podcasts about Joe Ricketts

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication (and my full-time job). To receive new posts and to support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.WhoChris Cushing, Principal of Mountain Planning at SE GroupRecorded onApril 3, 2025About SE GroupFrom the company's website:WE AREMountain planners, landscape architects, environmental analysts, and community and recreation planners. From master planning to conceptual design and permitting, we are your trusted partner in creating exceptional experiences and places.WE BELIEVEThat human and ecological wellbeing forms the foundation for thriving communities.WE EXISTTo enrich people's lives through the power of outdoor recreation.If that doesn't mean anything to you, then this will:Why I interviewed himNature versus nurture: God throws together the recipe, we bake the casserole. A way to explain humans. Sure he's six foot nine, but his mom dropped him into the intensive knitting program at Montessori school 232, so he can't play basketball for s**t. Or identical twins, separated at birth. One grows up as Sir Rutherford Ignacious Beaumont XIV and invents time travel. The other grows up as Buford and is the number seven at Okey-Doke's Quick Oil Change & Cannabis Emporium. The guts matter a lot, but so does the food.This is true of ski areas as well. An earthquake here, a glacier there, maybe a volcanic eruption, and, presto: a non-flat part of the earth on which we may potentially ski. The rest is up to us.It helps if nature was thoughtful enough to add slopes of varying but consistent pitch, a suitable rise from top to bottom, a consistent supply of snow, a flat area at the base, and some sort of natural conduit through which to move people and vehicles. But none of that is strictly necessary. Us humans (nurture), can punch green trails across solid-black fall lines (Jackson Hole), bulldoze a bigger hill (Caberfae), create snow where the clouds decline to (Wintergreen, 2022-23), plant the resort base at the summit (Blue Knob), or send skiers by boat (Eaglecrest).Someone makes all that happen. In North America, that someone is often SE Group, or their competitor, Ecosign. SE Group helps ski areas evolve into even better ski areas. That means helping to plan terrain expansions, lift replacements, snowmaking upgrades, transit connections, parking enhancements, and whatever built environment is under the ski area's control. SE Group is often the machine behind those Forest Service ski area master development plans that I so often spotlight. For example, Vail Mountain:When I talk about Alta consolidating seven slow lifts into four fast lifts; or Little Switzerland carving their mini-kingdom into beginner, parkbrah, and racer domains; or Mount Bachelor boosting its power supply to run more efficiently, this is the sort of thing that SE plots out (I'm not certain if they were involved in any or all of those projects).Analyzing this deliberate crafting of a natural bump into a human playground is the core of what The Storm is. I love, skiing, sure, but specifically lift-served skiing. I'm sure it's great to commune with the raccoons or whatever it is you people do when you discuss “skinning” and “AT setups.” But nature left a few things out. Such as: ski patrol, evacuation sleds, avalanche control, toilet paper, water fountains, firepits, and a place to charge my phone. Oh and chairlifts. And directional signs with trail ratings. And a snack bar.Skiing is torn between competing and contradictory narratives: the misanthropic, which hates crowds and most skiers not deemed sufficiently hardcore; the naturalistic, which mistakes ski resorts with the bucolic experience that is only possible in the backcountry; the preservationist, with its museum-ish aspirations to glasswall the obsolete; the hyperactive, insisting on all fast lifts and groomed runs; the fatalists, who assume inevitable death-of-concept in a warming world.None of these quite gets it. Ski areas are centers of joy and memory and bonhomie and possibility. But they are also (mostly), businesses. They are also parks, designed to appeal to as many skiers as possible. They are centers of organized risk, softened to minimize catastrophic outcomes. They must enlist machine aid to complement natural snowfall and move skiers up those meddlesome but necessary hills. Ski areas are nature, softened and smoothed and labelled by their civilized stewards, until the land is not exactly a representation of either man or God, but a strange and wonderful hybrid of both.What we talked aboutOld-school Cottonwoods vibe; “the Ikon Pass has just changed the industry so dramatically”; how to become a mountain planner for a living; what the mountain-planning vocation looked like in the mid-1980s; the detachable lift arrives; how to consolidate lifts without sacrificing skier experience; when is a lift not OK?; a surface lift resurgence?; how sanctioned glades changed ski areas; the evolution of terrain parks away from mega-features; the importance of terrain parks to small ski areas; reworking trails to reduce skier collisions; the curse of the traverse; making Jackson more approachable; on terrain balance; how megapasses are redistributing skier visits; how to expand a ski area without making traffic worse; ski areas that could evolve into major destinations; and ski area as public park or piece of art.What I got wrong* I blanked on the name of the famous double chair at A-Basin. It is Pallavicini.* I called Crystal Mountain's two-seater served terrain “North Country or whatever” – it is actually called “Northway.”* I said that Deer Valley would become the fourth- or fifth-largest ski resort in the nation once its expansion was finished. It will become the sixth-largest, at 4,926 acres, when the next expansion phase opens for winter 2025-26, and will become the fourth-largest, at 5,726 acres, at full build out.* I estimated Kendall Mountain's current lift-served ski footprint at 200 vertical feet; it is 240 feet.Why now was a good time for this interviewWe have a tendency, particularly in outdoor circles, to lionize the natural and shame the human. Development policy in the United States leans heavily toward “don't,” even in areas already designated for intensive recreation. We mustn't, plea activists: expand the Palisades Tahoe base village; build a gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon; expand ski terrain contiguous with already-existing ski terrain at Grand Targhee.I understand these impulses, but I believe they are misguided. Intensive but thoughtful, human-scaled development directly within and adjacent to already-disturbed lands is the best way to limit the larger-scale, long-term manmade footprint that chews up vast natural tracts. That is: build 1,000 beds in what is now a bleak parking lot at Palisades Tahoe, and you limit the need for homes to be carved out of surrounding forests, and for hundreds of cars to daytrip into the ski area. Done right, you even create a walkable community of the sort that America conspicuously lacks.To push back against, and gradually change, the Culture of No fueling America's mountain town livability crises, we need exhibits of these sorts of projects actually working. More Whistlers (built from scratch in the 1980s to balance tourism and community) and fewer Aspens (grandfathered into ski town status with a classic street and building grid, but compromised by profiteers before we knew any better). This is the sort of work SE is doing: how do we build a better interface between civilization and nature, so that the former complements, rather than spoils, the latter?All of which is a little tangential to this particular podcast conversation, which focuses mostly on the ski areas themselves. But America's ski centers, established largely in the middle of the last century, are aging with the towns around them. Just about everything, from lifts to lodges to roads to pipes, has reached replacement age. Replacement is a burden, but also an opportunity to create a better version of something. Our ski areas will not only have faster lifts and newer snowguns – they will have fewer lifts and fewer guns that carry more people and make more snow, just as our built footprint, thoughtfully designed, can provide more homes for more people on less space and deliver more skiers with fewer vehicles.In a way, this podcast is almost a canonical Storm conversation. It should, perhaps, have been episode one, as every conversation since has dealt with some version of this question: how do humans sculpt a little piece of nature into a snowy park that we visit for fun? That is not an easy or obvious question to answer, which is why SE Group exists. Much as I admire our rough-and-tumble Dave McCoy-type founders, that improvisational style is trickier to execute in our highly regulated, activist present.And so we rely on artist-architects of the SE sort, who inject the natural with the human without draining what is essential from either. Done well, this crafted experience feels wild. Done poorly – as so much of our legacy built environment has been – and you generate resistance to future development, even if that future development is better. But no one falls in love with a blueprint. Experiencing a ski area as whatever it is you think a ski area should be is something you have to feel. And though there is a sort of magic animating places like Alta and Taos and Mammoth and Mad River Glen and Mount Bohemia, some ineffable thing that bleeds from the earth, these ski areas are also outcomes of a human-driven process, a determination to craft the best version of skiing that could exist for mass human consumption on that shred of the planet.Podcast NotesOn MittersillMittersill, now part of Cannon Mountain, was once a separate ski area. It petered out in the mid-‘80s, then became a sort of Cannon backcountry zone circa 2009. The Mittersill double arrived in 2010, followed by a T-bar in 2016.On chairlift consolidationI mention several ski areas that replaced a bunch of lifts with fewer lifts:The HighlandsIn 2023, Boyne-owned The Highlands wiped out three ancient Riblet triples and replaced them with this glorious bubble six-pack:Here's a before-and-after:Vernon Valley-Great Gorge/Mountain CreekI've called Intrawest's transformation of Vernon Valley-Great Gorge into Mountain Creek “perhaps the largest single-season overhaul of a ski area in the history of lift-served skiing.” Maybe someone can prove me wrong, but just look at this place circa 1989:It looked substantively the same in 1998, when, in a single summer, Intrawest tore out 18 lifts – 15 double chairs, two platters, and a T-bar, plus God knows how many ropetows – and replaced them with two high-speed quads, two fixed-grip quads, and a bucket-style Cabriolet lift that every normal ski area uses as a parking lot transit machine:I discussed this incredible transformation with current Hermitage Club GM Bill Benneyan, who worked at Mountain Creek in 1998, back in 2020:I misspoke on the podcast, saying that Intrawest had pulled out “something like a dozen lifts” and replaced them with “three or four” in 1998.KimberleyBack in the time before social media, Kimberley, British Columbia ran four frontside chairlifts: a high-speed quad, a triple, a double, and a T-bar:Beginning in 2001, the ski area slowly removed everything except the quad. Which was fine until an arsonist set fire to Kimberley's North Star Express in 2021, meaning skiers had no lift-served option to the backside terrain:I discussed this whole strange sequence of events with Andy Cohen, longtime GM of sister resort Fernie, on the podcast last year:On Revelstoke's original masterplanIt is astonishing that Revelstoke serves 3,121 acres with just five lifts: a gondola, two high-speed quads, a fixed quad, and a carpet. Most Midwest ski areas spin three times more lifts for three percent of the terrain.On Priest Creek and Sundown at SteamboatSteamboat, like many ski areas, once ran two parallel fixed-grip lifts on substantively the same line, with the Priest Creek double and the Sundown triple. The Sundown Express quad arrived in 1992, but Steamboat left Priest Creek standing for occasional overflow until 2021. Here's Steamboat circa 1990:Priest Creek is gone, but that entire 1990 lift footprint is nearly unrecognizable. Huge as Steamboat is, every arriving skier squeezes in through a single portal. One of Alterra's first priorities was to completely re-imagine the base area: sliding the existing gondola looker's right; installing an additional 10-person, two-stage gondola right beside it; and moving the carpets and learning center to mid-mountain:On upgrades at A-BasinWe discuss several upgrades at A-Basin, including Lenawee, Beavers, and Pallavicini. Here's the trailmap for context:On moguls on Kachina Peak at TaosYeah I'd say this lift draws some traffic:On the T-bar at Waterville ValleyWaterville Valley opened in 1966. Fifty-two years later, mountain officials finally acknowledged that chairlifts do not work on the mountain's top 400 vertical feet. All it took was a forced 1,585-foot shortening of the resort's base-to-summit high-speed quad just eight years after its 1988 installation and the legacy double chair's continued challenges in wind to say, “yeah maybe we'll just spend 90 percent less to install a lift that's actually appropriate for this terrain.” That was the High Country T-bar, which arrived in 2018. It is insane to look at ‘90s maps of Waterville pre- and post-chop job:On Hyland Hills, MinnesotaWhat an insanely amazing place this is:On Sunrise ParkFrom 1983 to 2017, Sunrise Park, Arizona was home to the most amazing triple chair, a 7,982-foot-long Yan with 352 carriers. Cyclone, as it was known, fell apart at some point and the resort neglected to fix or replace it. A couple of years ago, they re-opened the terrain to lift-served skiing with a low-cost alternative: stringing a ropetow from a green run off the Geronimo lift to where Cyclone used to land.On Woodward Park City and BorealPowdr has really differentiated itself with its Woodward terrain parks, which exist at amazing scale at Copper and Bachelor. The company has essentially turned two of its smaller ski areas – Boreal and Woodward Park City – entirely over to terrain parks.On Killington's tunnelsYou have to zoom in, but you can see them on the looker's right side of the trailmap: Bunny Buster at Great Northern, Great Bear at Great Northern, and Chute at Great Northern.On Jackson Hole traversesJackson is steep. Engineers hacked it so kids like mine could ride there:On expansions at Beaver Creek, Keystone, AspenRecent Colorado expansions have tended to create vast zones tailored to certain levels of skiers:Beaver Creek's McCoy Park is an incredible top-of-the-mountain green zone:Keystone's Bergman Bowl planted a high-speed six-pack to serve 550 acres of high-altitude intermediate terrain:And Aspen – already one of the most challenging mountains in the country – added Hero's – a fierce black-diamond zone off the summit:On Wilbere at SnowbirdWilbere is an example of a chairlift that kept the same name, even as Snowbird upgraded it from a double to a quad and significantly moved the load station and line:On ski terrain growth in AmericaYes, a bunch of ski areas have disappeared since the 1980s, but the raw amount of ski terrain has been increasing steadily over the decades:On White Pine, WyomingCushing referred to White Pine as a “dinky little ski area” with lots of potential. Here's a look at the thousand-footer, which billionaire Joe Ricketts purchased last year:On Deer Valley's expansionYeah, Deer Valley is blowing up:On Schweitzer's growthSchweitzer's transformation has been dramatic: in 1988, the Idaho panhandle resort occupied a large footprint that was served mostly by double chairs:Today: a modern ski area, with four detach quads, a sixer, and two newer triples – only one old chairlift remains:On BC transformationsA number of British Columbia ski areas have transformed from nubbins to majors over the past 30 years:Sun Peaks, then known as Tod Mountain, in 1993Sun Peaks today:Fernie in 1996, pre-upward expansion:Fernie today:Revelstoke, then known as Mount Mackenzie, in 1996:Modern Revy:Kicking Horse, then known as “Whitetooth” in 1994:Kicking Horse today:On Tamarack's expansion potentialTamarack sits mostly on Idaho state land, and would like to expand onto adjacent U.S. Forest Service land. Resort President Scott Turlington discussed these plans in depth with me on the pod a few years back:The mountain's plans have changed since, with a smaller lift footprint:On Central Park as a manmade placeNew York City's fabulous Central Park is another chunk of earth that may strike a visitor as natural, but is in fact a manmade work of art crafted from the wilderness. Per the Central Park Conservancy, which, via a public-private partnership with the city, provides the majority of funds, labor, and logistical support to maintain the sprawling complex:A popular misconception about Central Park is that its 843 acres are the last remaining natural land in Manhattan. While it is a green sanctuary inside a dense, hectic metropolis, this urban park is entirely human-made. It may look like it's naturally occurring, but the flora, landforms, water, and other features of Central Park have not always existed.Every acre of the Park was meticulously designed and built as part of a larger composition—one that its designers conceived as a "single work of art." Together, they created the Park through the practice that would come to be known as "landscape architecture."The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

This week, we're discussing Wyoming's recent ban on conservation groups bidding on oil and gas leases on state land and how, by doing so, they might actually be hurting the school system that they're obligated to fund. A recently published study shows how human recreation and noise can negatively impact wildlife by displacing them and keeping them out of the area for extended periods. In Wyoming, billionaire Joe Ricketts has halted construction on a massive resort near a small town along a mule deer migration corridor. A story in the Wyoming Games and Fish Wildlife Magazine highlighted the struggles wildlife face when it comes to fences on the landscape. Anti-hunting groups in Colorado have been collecting signatures for a ballot measure to ban mountain lion hunting within the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're discussing how you might be a jerk on public lands and not even realize it. A few news stories from this week include the following: A quick update on Colorado's proposal to do away with non-resident over-the-counter archery elk tags. In Montana, American Prairie just acquired 12,500 more acres of land, bringing its total between deeded and leased property to 475,000 acres. In Wyoming, Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, has been attempting to build a luxury resort in the heart of prime elk and moose wintering ground and on the Sublette mule deer migration corridor. A new update to wildfire risk.org has shown that significantly more people and homes are at risk of wildfire than previously thought. In New Mexico, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Bureau of Land Management, and several other partners supplied funding for new water sources for wildlife in the Sierra Padrones, Polvadera, and Chupadera mountains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

to watch this episode, subscribe to my YouTube channel: optYOUmize podcast YoutubeSummaryThis script emphasizes the importance of learning from successful entrepreneurs to achieve success in one's entrepreneurial journey. It begins with a personal anecdote about learning from expert bodybuilders to underline the value of drawing insights from those who have achieved greatness in their fields. The narrative then transitions to recommending biographies of ten business moguls, highlighting the diverse paths and philosophies that led them to success. These biographies include stories of figures such as Phil Knight, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Howard Schultz, Ray Kroc, John D. Rockefeller, Tetsuya Honda, and Joe Ricketts, spanning various industries from technology and retail to food and finance. The script posits that understanding these entrepreneurs' journeys provides a source of inspiration, lessons, and effective strategies while allowing listeners to discern their paths by applying relevant insights to their ventures.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Learning from Business Legends01:10 Personal Anecdote: Lessons from Bodybuilding04:21 The Power of Learning from the Best05:03 Top 10 Biographies for Entrepreneurs06:29 Deep Dive into Selected Entrepreneur Biographies24:18 Conclusion and Call to Action#biographies #successmindset #successhabits #believeinyourself #businesslessons #entrepreneur #worklifebalance #successhabits #digitalbusiness #personaldevelopment #successhacks #businesslessons #lifelessons #success #entrepreneurslife #entrepreneurialmindset #entrepreneurtips #entrepreneurmind #entrepreneurmotivation #optyoumize #brettingram #digitalmarketing #onlinemarketing #digitalmarketer #entrepreneurpodcast

The beginning of the week witnessed a substantial financial gain for the country's 45th President Donald Trump. This financial surge came as a result of Friday's significant double-fold events. A successful consolidation took place between Digital World Acquisition Corp. and Trump Media & Technology Group, which Trump significantly owns. Furthermore, the conclusion of a legal battle involving New York Attorney General Letitia James bore a favourable outcome for him. The triumph of this new social media platform, Truth Social, has been instrumental in this financial boom for the business tycoon. The consequential success from this venture resulted in a nearly $4 billion swell in Trump's fortune. This came as the shares took an upward leap in the stock market, largely in part due to the platform's growing popularity. As the major stakeholder of Trump Media & Technology Group, Trump owns about 79 million shares, which is approximately equivalent to owning 58 percent of the company's total share. Currently, the market value of DWAC's shares stand at $49.95 each. With Trump's substantial holdings, this translates to an increase of more than $3.9 billion in his net worth. This massive accumulation of wealth legitimizes Trump's position in the global billionaire club. The expansion of his fortunes has elevated his net worth to $6.5 billion, placing him among the top 500 wealthiest individuals globally. The names in this elite group, akin to Trump's stature, include the likes of Joe Ricketts, Gordon Getty, and Tony James.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ralph welcomes Bishop William Barber from the Poor People's Campaign to discuss their March 2nd mass moral march on State Assemblies and their efforts to mobilize millions of poor and low-wage voters. Then, Ralph is joined by Washington Post health reporter Dan Diamond to discuss his team's recent report on a $2 billion Medicare fraud scheme. Bishop William Barber is President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, which was established to train communities in moral movement building. He is Co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Founding Director and Professor at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.The biggest mistake people who are not poor can make is [thinking] that helping poor and low-wage people in this country doesn't improve their life. Total nonsense. And we're going to see how a greater turnout of poor and low-wage people in the elections can transform politics in this country at the national, state, and local level.Ralph NaderYou cannot, in a democracy, let your power sit on the shelf. If folk are not recognizing that, you must force them. And we now have this power— we don't even know what battleground states are. Because if poor and low-wealth people voted at the same percentage rate as middle class and others, it would change all of the political calculations. And it is the fear of the greedy aristocracy. It is time for us to realize their fear.Bishop William BarberBad policy is mean, it is violent, and it is deadly. Because now we live in a reality… [where] poverty is the fourth-leading cause of death in this country. If you are not for ending policies that perpetuate poverty and low wages, then you are an accessory to the crime of human beings' lives being takenBishop William BarberDan Diamond is a national health reporter for The Washington Post, focused on accountability, federal agencies and public health. He joined the Post in 2021 after covering the Trump administration for Politico, where he won a George Polk award for investigating political interference in the pandemic response.One would think that somewhere at Medicare, there was the alert that this was a scheme to be looking out for. On the state level, several states began last year to issue warnings—the state of Hawaii, the state of Oklahoma, among others—saying, “Watch out, Medicare beneficiaries, for these catheter-fraud schemes.” So that was nine months ago at this point. Medicare itself—nationally—were not aware of any similar warnings or action, at least publicly. Again, they may have been doing things behind the scenes. They may have been wanting to bait the trap for these potential fraudsters,and maybe that's why they didn't say anything. But still it raises real questions—why they have waited so long to do anything, and why it takes news coverage in February 2024 to put a spotlight on something that's been going on for eighteen months.Dan DiamondIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 2/28/241. The Michigan primary was held on Tuesday. On the Republican side, Donald Trump cruised to victory over Nikki Haley, but on the Democratic side, all eyes were focused not on the candidates themselves but on the “Uncommitted,” ballot line. In recent days, activists and prominent progressive elected officials urged voters to register their opposition to President Biden's support for Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza by voting Uncommitted. The campaign set a goal of 10,000 Uncommitted votes; according to the New York Times they won over 100,000. The success of this protest vote movement in a key swing state should be setting off major alarm bells within the Biden campaign and hopefully will force the president to reckon with dissent to his Gaza policy from within his party.2. On Sunday, U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell self immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, registering the ultimate protest against the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Just before igniting himself, Mr. Bushnell shouted “Free Palestine,” yet that did not stop mainstream outlets like the New York Times and NPR from obfuscating the motives of his sacrifice, with their coverage featuring lines like “NPR was not able to independently verify the man's motives.” As Ryan Grim of the Intercept put it, “what more could he have done to make a point NPR would hear.” Rest in Power, Aaron Bushnell.3. A new Institute for Social Policy and Understanding or ISPU poll, conducted between December 2023 and January 2024, found that majorities of all religious groups favor a ceasefire in Gaza. Support for a ceasefire is strongest among Muslim and Catholic Americans, with both groups reporting over 70% support. Support is weakest among Jewish Americans, yet 50% still favor a ceasefire, with only 34% opposed. In other words, President Biden giving a blank check to Israel is alienating Americans of all religious persuasions, including American Jews.4. Signaling another troubling omen for Biden, a new poll of Black voters in Michigan, conducted by Howard University, shows the president's support among African-Americans has dropped from 94% in 2020 to just 49% today. This is coupled with a tripling of support for Donald Trump, who now attracts 26% of Black voters.5. On February 22nd, Representatives Jerry Nadler, Jamie Raskin, Dan Goldman, and 10 more Jewish members of Congress took the first step toward calling for a ceasefire, sending a letter urging the Biden Administration to “Facilitate [a] ceasefire in Gaza.” Many of these liberal members, including Nadler, Goldman, Raskin, and Becca Balint of Vermont have been the subjects of pressure campaigns by pro-Palestine activists to push them toward support for a ceasefire. Contrary to the headline however, this letter only calls for a temporary pause of hostilities.6. Democracy Now! reports “Ireland's senate unanimously voted last week to impose sanctions against Israel, prevent the passage of U.S. weapons to Israel via Irish airspace and advocate for an international arms embargo against Israel.” Ireland has been among the most vocal countries condemning the Israeli campaign of terror in Gaza, particularly in Europe. Irish Senator Frances Black is quoted in this piece saying “I remember one woman…she said that she was…from a human rights organization…And she said, 'Why have the international community abandoned us?' And those words stay with me.”7. Lauren Kaori Gurley, who covers Labor for the Washington Post, reports that last week baristas at 21 Starbucks stores around the country filed for union elections. This is “the largest single-day filing since the campaign's launch in 2021.”  The location of these stores ranges from Brooklyn and Chicago to Grand Forks, North Dakota and Sulfur, Louisiana – demonstrating the popularity of unions throughout the nation. Starbucks has now agreed to recognize the union and work with their employees to forge a master contract.8. In more labor news, the United Auto Workers union has announced they are allocating a stunning $40 million for new organizing through 2026. By contrast, the AFL-CIO pledged only $11 million annually for new organizing in 2022. UAW Region 9A leader Brandon Mancilla adds that “The UAW will provide material support to Mexican autoworker organizing and their independent union reform movement. We need to end the international race to the bottom. The Mexican working class is our ally, not our enemy.” And Luis Feliz Leon of Labor Notes reports that “Workers at Mercedes-Benz's largest plant in the U.S. announced that a majority of their co-workers have signed union cards in support of joining the @UAW. Workers at Mercedes Benz's Alabama plant launched their organizing committee 60 days ago.”9. In a major loss for local journalism, WAMU – Washington DC's NPR member station, run out of American University – has shuttered it's flagship publication, DCist. Per Washingtonian magazine, “DCist was originally owned by the company Gothamist. Joe Ricketts, the billionaire who bought it in 2017, shut down the site that same year after employees voted to unionize…The next year, two anonymous donations allowed WAMU to buy DCist.” The University said in a statement that this move represents “a new strategy to deepen engagement with Washingtonians…centered around audio and live experiences.”10. Finally, St. Louis Public Radio reports that local Girl Scouts Troop 149 “decided to raise money for the humanitarian nonprofit Palestine Children's Relief Fund…inspired by other Girl Scouts troops that raised money for war victims in Ukraine.” Yet, instead of backing this effort, the  Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri responded with a legal threat, writing “Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri and Girl Scouts of the United States have no other choice than to engage our legal counsel to help remedy this situation and to protect the intellectual property and other rights of the organization.” Discouraged, the troop leaders opted to disband the troop. The national organization later apologized for their threat of legal action, but the troop leadership intend to remain disaffiliated from the group, and instead function as an independent troop. So far, they have raised over $10,000 for the PCRF.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Having spent more than 35 years helping establish and run the world's largest online brokerage, Mr. Ricketts today has returned to his roots, focusing on a wide range of entrepreneurial and philanthropic ventures. A pioneer in using technology to revolutionize the financial services sector, Joe founded the company now known as TD Ameritrade, a securities industry leader. Since 2008, he has devoted himself to various entrepreneurial and philanthropic ventures, including Opportunity Education Foundation, The Cloisters on the Platte Foundation, The Ricketts Conservation Foundation, and The Ricketts Art Foundation.   Mr. Ricketts shares some phenomenal insights on the show today. We discuss why being let go from the family business as a young man helped focus his mind on what he really wanted to do with his life. Joe talks a little about his non-conformist attitude to life and why he feels that you need to step forward when you're called to be a leader. He also shares the details of why he and his son decided to take their family business, Ameritrade, public and the reason Joe left the company, and why it turned out to be a much more emotional process than Joe anticipated.   “Responsibility and reliability come from you, not from anybody else.” - Mr. Ricketts   “If you don't enjoy the journey and the challenge of getting there, you're not going to get it done.” - Mr. Ricketts   “I always felt we were going to be successful. So whatever came at us by way of a problem, we had to find the way to overcome it.” - Mr. Ricketts    This Week on The Wow Factor: Joe's first job and how it gave him invaluable insights into how businesses worked Why Joe left a secure role at Dean Witter to make the leap into entrepreneurship Joe's philosophy on dealing with his competitors The importance of providing not only and great product but also an excellent customer experience How Joe managed to get the Legacy Act of the Wyoming Range passed to protect a local wilderness area Why Joe doesn't get involved in partnerships in his business The trusts started by Joe and his wife that required all of their four children to work together to manage their money and what they ended up doing with it Straight Arrow News, Joe's latest initiative, and why he decided to launch the news outlet on 2021   Joe Ricketts's Words of Wisdom: Being honest, candid, and straightforward is the best way for a leader to achieve success.   The Cloisters on The Platte: The Cloisters on The Platte is a spiritual retreat for people who want to get closer to God. The goal of the retreat is for people to realize the deeper level of how Christ is our king. The 3 day silent retreat is a private and contemplative experience, tucked away in the rolling hills of Gretna, Nebraska.   Connect with Joe Ricketts: Joe Ricketts' Website Straight Arrow News   Connect with The WOW Factor: I Like Giving: The Transforming Power of a Generous Life by Brad Formsma Words of Wisdom Website Brad Formsma on LinkedIn Brad Formsma on Instagram Brad Formsma on Facebook Brad Formsma on Twitter      

NBA – National Basketball Association Last Night Detroit Pistons 122, Atlanta Hawks 101 Sacramento Kings 110, Indiana Pacers 109 Pistons 122, Hawks 101 – Grant, Cunningham lead Pistons to rare rout of Hawks Jeremi Grant scored 21 points and the slumping Detroit Pistons routed the Atlanta Hawks 122-101 on Wednesday night. Cade Cunningham added 17 points and eight assists for Detroit. The Pistons led by 29 points while winning for the second time in eight games. Detroit had eight players in double figures as they easily surpassed its previous biggest victory margin of the season, 16 against Toronto on Jan. 14. Saddiq Bey hit his 192nd 3-pointer of the season in the fourth quarter, breaking Allan Houston’s franchise record. Trae Young had 21 points and nine assists for Atlanta, De’Andre Hunter scored 15 points, and Bogan Bogdanovic added 13. The Hawks had won five of seven. Kings 110, Pacers 109 – Jones’ last-second tip-in lifts Kings over Pacers 110-109 Damian Jones’ tip-in with less than a second left lifted the Sacramento Kings to a 110-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Trey Lyles missed a 3-pointer but Jones tipped in the rebound with 0.2 seconds remaining. Davion Mitchell scored 25 points and Chimezie Metu had a career-high 22 as the Kings snapped a three-game losing streak. Buddy Hield led the Pacers with 25 points and Goga Bitadze added 20. Tyrese Haliburton had 13 points and 15 assists. Haliburton and Hield were traded by the Kings to the Pacers in February. Tonight Chicago Bulls at New Orleans Pelicans, 8:00 p.m. Indiana Pacers at Memphis Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. NHL – National Hockey League Last Night Chicago Blackhawks 4, Anaheim Ducks 2 Blackhawks 4, Ducks 2 – Blackhawks snap 3-game losing streak with 4-2 win over Ducks Dylan Strome scored the go-ahead goal with 3:50 remaining and Patrick Kane had another big night against Anaheim as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the skidding Ducks 4-2. Strome redirected Riley Stillman’s shot from near the blueline past John Gibson to help the Blackhawks snap a three-game losing streak. Kane had a goal and two assists, giving him a point in nine straight games against Anaheim. Sam Carrick — who was playing in his 100th NHL game — scored twice for Anaheim, marking the first multigoal game of his six-year career. However, it wasn’t enough for the Ducks, who have dropped eight straight for the fifth time in franchise history. Tonight Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings, 10:00 p.m. NCAAMBKB – Men’s NCAA Tournament Tonight Sweet 16 – South Region – AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX 11 Michigan vs. 3 Villanova, 7:29 p.m.             News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM 6:45 5 Houston vs. 1 Arizona, 9:59 p.m. Sweet 16 – West Region – Chase Center, San Francisco, CA 4 Arkansas vs. 1 Gonzaga, 7:09 p.m. 3 Texas Tech vs. 2 Duke, 9:30 p.m. NCAAMBKB – South Preview: ‘Nova vs. Michigan again at site of ’18 title Villanova is back in San Antonio for the first time since winning the national title there four years ago. Even the opponent is the same, though the Sweet 16 game against Michigan is at a different arena. The Wildcats and Wolverines meet Thursday night at the home of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. That is about three miles from the Alamodome, where Nova won the title in 2018. In the other South Region semifinal, top seed Arizona takes on Houston. The Cougars are playing only a three-hour drive from home. NCAA – Study: Michigan, Kentucky top academics-based NCAA brackets Michigan and Kentucky stood out in a study examining the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament brackets based on graduation rates, academic success and diversity in the head coaching ranks. The Wolverines were the overall No. 1 seed as the national champion for a third straight year in the men’s field according to the study released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida. The Wildcats held the overall No. 1 seed as the women’s champion. Teams that performed well and are still in the tournaments are the Michigan and North Carolina men, along with the Notre Dame women. NCAA – NCAA men’s, women’s tournaments see double-digit TV gains The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are seeing double-digit viewer increases over last year. The men’s tournament is up 12% over last year. The tournament is also off to its best start in five years, averaging 9.12 million viewers through the second round. The women’s tournament is up 15% overall through the first two rounds. The second round averaged 474,000 viewers, a 25% jump from last year. Both tournaments are back to their normal setups for the first time since 2019. They were played in a bubble last year after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB – Major League Baseball – Spring Training Yesterday Detroit Tigers 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 6 – TIE Texas Rangers 14, Chicago White Sox 5 Chicago Cubs 5, Oakland A’s 4 Today New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 p.m. San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox, 4:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels, 4:10 p.m. MLB/EPL – Cubs owners denounce racism after backlash over Chelsea bid The owners of the Chicago Cubs, who are bidding for Premier League club Chelsea, touted their anti-racism credentials after a backlash in England about offensive comments by the father of the baseball team’s chairman. It has been three years since family patriarch Joe Ricketts apologized after online media outlet Splinter News published emails featuring him making Islamophobic comments, such as “Islam is a cult and not a religion.” Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s first Black player, tweeted “a big fat anti racism NO to the Ricketts bid.” The Ricketts family says it “rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms.” MLB – Lynn ready if needed to start on opening day for White Sox Lance Lynn says he’s not particularly concerned about who starts on opening day for the Chicago White Sox. Manager Tony La Russa hasn’t announced whether Lynn or Lucas Giolito will get the ball when the White Sox face Detroit on April 8. Lynn says “it’s awesome” that the White Sox have multiple potential opening day starters. Lynn finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting last season. He made his spring debut on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers. WNBA – Griner seen by US consulate in Russian detention facility The U.S. State Department says a U.S. Embassy official has visited with WNBA star Brittney Griner, who remains detained near Moscow, to check on her condition. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN the official found Griner “to be in good condition.” Price did not identify the official who had been granted consular access to Griner, something the United States had been demanding. Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. COVID – New York City to let unvaccinated athletes play home games New York city’s mayor will announce Thursday that he’s exempting athletes and performers from the city’s vaccine mandate for private workers. The move will allow Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to play home games, and let unvaccinated baseball players take the field when their season begins. According to a person familiar with the upcoming announcement who was not authorized to discuss it publicly, Mayor Eric Adams will make the announcement Thursday morning. It will be effective immediately. The city’s sweeping vaccine mandate for workers will still apply to people with other types of jobs, including government employees. NFL – Lions add ex-Chiefs CB Mike Hughes, ex-Ravens LB Chris Board The Detroit Lions have addressed pressing needs, signing cornerback Mike Hughes and linebacker Chris Board. Detroit announced the moves Wednesday, adding depth where it is needed on defense. Hughes started in five of 17 games last season with the Kansas City Chiefs. He had 45 tackles, one interception, forced four fumble and returned a fumble for a score in 2021. Board started in two of 63 games over the last four years with the Baltimore Ravens. He had 59 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, forced two fumbles and was a key contributor on special teams. NFL – Michaels, Herbstreit to call Prime Video’s NFL package Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will be the announcing team when Prime Video takes over “Thursday Night Football” in September. Michaels moves to Prime from NBC. His contract with NBC ended last month after he was in the booth for his 11th Super Bowl. Herbstreit will remain ESPN’s lead college football analyst and do NFL games for Prime. ESPN also announced that Herbstreit had signed a multiyear extension. Tennis – That’ll do: Barty signs off on tennis at 25, ranked No. 1 Ash Barty signaled the end of the photo opportunities at her retirement news conference in her typically low-fuss, matter-of-fact style: “Righto, that’ll do.” Barty surprised almost everyone in tennis when she announced her retirement at age 25 in a video posted to social media on Wednesday. She’s spent the last two years atop the women’s tennis rankings and won two of the last three Grand Slam singles titles. A day later she confirmed she’d set a date to get married but wasn’t ready to make it public. For all other details about her future plans, Barty says “You’ll have to wait and see. Be patient.” Russia/Ukraine – Russian Olympians face backlash after Vladimir Putin rally Russian Olympic athletes who participated in a rally supporting President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine are facing a backlash. They gathered on stage at the Luzhniki Stadium on Friday as part of the concert and entertainment program around Putin’s speech. Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov is under investigation from the governing body of swimming. Swimwear manufacturer Speedo has dropped Rylov for his involvement in the pro-Putin rally. It says the remainder of Rylov’s sponsorship fee will be donated to the United Nations agency caring for refugees. MHSAA – High School Sports Last Night Girls Soccer St. Joseph 6, Kalamazoo Christian 0 St. Joe’s Ellie Smith scored a hat-trick, while Eleah Hedstrom scored twice in the Bears 6-0 win over Kalamazoo Christian.  Anna Kalamaros scored the other goal for St. Joe. South Haven 4, Saugatuck 0 Hudsonville 2, Portage Central 1 Gull Lake 2, GR Forest Hills Central 1 Allegan 5, Hopkins 0 Harper Creek 2, Otsego 2 – TIE Today Girls Soccer Three Rivers at Parchment, 6:00 p.m. Baseball Kalamazoo Hackett at Paw Paw, 4:30 p.m. Softball Decatur at Paw Paw, 4:00 p.m. (DH) Kalamazoo Christian at Grandville Calvin Christian, 4:30 p.m. Boys Basketball – State Semifinals    Division 3 at Michigan State University Menominee (22-3) vs Ecorse (9-10), 12:00 p.m. Schoolcraft (23-2) vs Flint Beecher (22-2), 2:00 p.m. Division 4 at Michigan State University Ewen-Trout Creek (22-3) vs Lake Leelanau St. Mary (21-4), 5:30 p.m. Wyoming Tri-unity Christian (19-6) vs Genesee Christian (21-4), 7:30 p.m.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NBA – National Basketball Association Last Night Detroit Pistons 122, Atlanta Hawks 101 Sacramento Kings 110, Indiana Pacers 109 Pistons 122, Hawks 101 – Grant, Cunningham lead Pistons to rare rout of Hawks Jeremi Grant scored 21 points and the slumping Detroit Pistons routed the Atlanta Hawks 122-101 on Wednesday night. Cade Cunningham added 17 points and eight assists for Detroit. The Pistons led by 29 points while winning for the second time in eight games. Detroit had eight players in double figures as they easily surpassed its previous biggest victory margin of the season, 16 against Toronto on Jan. 14. Saddiq Bey hit his 192nd 3-pointer of the season in the fourth quarter, breaking Allan Houston’s franchise record. Trae Young had 21 points and nine assists for Atlanta, De’Andre Hunter scored 15 points, and Bogan Bogdanovic added 13. The Hawks had won five of seven. Kings 110, Pacers 109 – Jones’ last-second tip-in lifts Kings over Pacers 110-109 Damian Jones’ tip-in with less than a second left lifted the Sacramento Kings to a 110-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Trey Lyles missed a 3-pointer but Jones tipped in the rebound with 0.2 seconds remaining. Davion Mitchell scored 25 points and Chimezie Metu had a career-high 22 as the Kings snapped a three-game losing streak. Buddy Hield led the Pacers with 25 points and Goga Bitadze added 20. Tyrese Haliburton had 13 points and 15 assists. Haliburton and Hield were traded by the Kings to the Pacers in February. Tonight Chicago Bulls at New Orleans Pelicans, 8:00 p.m. Indiana Pacers at Memphis Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. NHL – National Hockey League Last Night Chicago Blackhawks 4, Anaheim Ducks 2 Blackhawks 4, Ducks 2 – Blackhawks snap 3-game losing streak with 4-2 win over Ducks Dylan Strome scored the go-ahead goal with 3:50 remaining and Patrick Kane had another big night against Anaheim as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the skidding Ducks 4-2. Strome redirected Riley Stillman’s shot from near the blueline past John Gibson to help the Blackhawks snap a three-game losing streak. Kane had a goal and two assists, giving him a point in nine straight games against Anaheim. Sam Carrick — who was playing in his 100th NHL game — scored twice for Anaheim, marking the first multigoal game of his six-year career. However, it wasn’t enough for the Ducks, who have dropped eight straight for the fifth time in franchise history. Tonight Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings, 10:00 p.m. NCAAMBKB – Men’s NCAA Tournament Tonight Sweet 16 – South Region – AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX 11 Michigan vs. 3 Villanova, 7:29 p.m.             News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM 6:45 5 Houston vs. 1 Arizona, 9:59 p.m. Sweet 16 – West Region – Chase Center, San Francisco, CA 4 Arkansas vs. 1 Gonzaga, 7:09 p.m. 3 Texas Tech vs. 2 Duke, 9:30 p.m. NCAAMBKB – South Preview: ‘Nova vs. Michigan again at site of ’18 title Villanova is back in San Antonio for the first time since winning the national title there four years ago. Even the opponent is the same, though the Sweet 16 game against Michigan is at a different arena. The Wildcats and Wolverines meet Thursday night at the home of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. That is about three miles from the Alamodome, where Nova won the title in 2018. In the other South Region semifinal, top seed Arizona takes on Houston. The Cougars are playing only a three-hour drive from home. NCAA – Study: Michigan, Kentucky top academics-based NCAA brackets Michigan and Kentucky stood out in a study examining the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament brackets based on graduation rates, academic success and diversity in the head coaching ranks. The Wolverines were the overall No. 1 seed as the national champion for a third straight year in the men’s field according to the study released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida. The Wildcats held the overall No. 1 seed as the women’s champion. Teams that performed well and are still in the tournaments are the Michigan and North Carolina men, along with the Notre Dame women. NCAA – NCAA men’s, women’s tournaments see double-digit TV gains The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are seeing double-digit viewer increases over last year. The men’s tournament is up 12% over last year. The tournament is also off to its best start in five years, averaging 9.12 million viewers through the second round. The women’s tournament is up 15% overall through the first two rounds. The second round averaged 474,000 viewers, a 25% jump from last year. Both tournaments are back to their normal setups for the first time since 2019. They were played in a bubble last year after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB – Major League Baseball – Spring Training Yesterday Detroit Tigers 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 6 – TIE Texas Rangers 14, Chicago White Sox 5 Chicago Cubs 5, Oakland A’s 4 Today New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 p.m. San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox, 4:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels, 4:10 p.m. MLB/EPL – Cubs owners denounce racism after backlash over Chelsea bid The owners of the Chicago Cubs, who are bidding for Premier League club Chelsea, touted their anti-racism credentials after a backlash in England about offensive comments by the father of the baseball team’s chairman. It has been three years since family patriarch Joe Ricketts apologized after online media outlet Splinter News published emails featuring him making Islamophobic comments, such as “Islam is a cult and not a religion.” Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s first Black player, tweeted “a big fat anti racism NO to the Ricketts bid.” The Ricketts family says it “rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms.” MLB – Lynn ready if needed to start on opening day for White Sox Lance Lynn says he’s not particularly concerned about who starts on opening day for the Chicago White Sox. Manager Tony La Russa hasn’t announced whether Lynn or Lucas Giolito will get the ball when the White Sox face Detroit on April 8. Lynn says “it’s awesome” that the White Sox have multiple potential opening day starters. Lynn finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting last season. He made his spring debut on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers. WNBA – Griner seen by US consulate in Russian detention facility The U.S. State Department says a U.S. Embassy official has visited with WNBA star Brittney Griner, who remains detained near Moscow, to check on her condition. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN the official found Griner “to be in good condition.” Price did not identify the official who had been granted consular access to Griner, something the United States had been demanding. Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. COVID – New York City to let unvaccinated athletes play home games New York city’s mayor will announce Thursday that he’s exempting athletes and performers from the city’s vaccine mandate for private workers. The move will allow Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to play home games, and let unvaccinated baseball players take the field when their season begins. According to a person familiar with the upcoming announcement who was not authorized to discuss it publicly, Mayor Eric Adams will make the announcement Thursday morning. It will be effective immediately. The city’s sweeping vaccine mandate for workers will still apply to people with other types of jobs, including government employees. NFL – Lions add ex-Chiefs CB Mike Hughes, ex-Ravens LB Chris Board The Detroit Lions have addressed pressing needs, signing cornerback Mike Hughes and linebacker Chris Board. Detroit announced the moves Wednesday, adding depth where it is needed on defense. Hughes started in five of 17 games last season with the Kansas City Chiefs. He had 45 tackles, one interception, forced four fumble and returned a fumble for a score in 2021. Board started in two of 63 games over the last four years with the Baltimore Ravens. He had 59 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, forced two fumbles and was a key contributor on special teams. NFL – Michaels, Herbstreit to call Prime Video’s NFL package Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will be the announcing team when Prime Video takes over “Thursday Night Football” in September. Michaels moves to Prime from NBC. His contract with NBC ended last month after he was in the booth for his 11th Super Bowl. Herbstreit will remain ESPN’s lead college football analyst and do NFL games for Prime. ESPN also announced that Herbstreit had signed a multiyear extension. Tennis – That’ll do: Barty signs off on tennis at 25, ranked No. 1 Ash Barty signaled the end of the photo opportunities at her retirement news conference in her typically low-fuss, matter-of-fact style: “Righto, that’ll do.” Barty surprised almost everyone in tennis when she announced her retirement at age 25 in a video posted to social media on Wednesday. She’s spent the last two years atop the women’s tennis rankings and won two of the last three Grand Slam singles titles. A day later she confirmed she’d set a date to get married but wasn’t ready to make it public. For all other details about her future plans, Barty says “You’ll have to wait and see. Be patient.” Russia/Ukraine – Russian Olympians face backlash after Vladimir Putin rally Russian Olympic athletes who participated in a rally supporting President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine are facing a backlash. They gathered on stage at the Luzhniki Stadium on Friday as part of the concert and entertainment program around Putin’s speech. Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov is under investigation from the governing body of swimming. Swimwear manufacturer Speedo has dropped Rylov for his involvement in the pro-Putin rally. It says the remainder of Rylov’s sponsorship fee will be donated to the United Nations agency caring for refugees. MHSAA – High School Sports Last Night Girls Soccer St. Joseph 6, Kalamazoo Christian 0 St. Joe’s Ellie Smith scored a hat-trick, while Eleah Hedstrom scored twice in the Bears 6-0 win over Kalamazoo Christian.  Anna Kalamaros scored the other goal for St. Joe. South Haven 4, Saugatuck 0 Hudsonville 2, Portage Central 1 Gull Lake 2, GR Forest Hills Central 1 Allegan 5, Hopkins 0 Harper Creek 2, Otsego 2 – TIE Today Girls Soccer Three Rivers at Parchment, 6:00 p.m. Baseball Kalamazoo Hackett at Paw Paw, 4:30 p.m. Softball Decatur at Paw Paw, 4:00 p.m. (DH) Kalamazoo Christian at Grandville Calvin Christian, 4:30 p.m. Boys Basketball – State Semifinals    Division 3 at Michigan State University Menominee (22-3) vs Ecorse (9-10), 12:00 p.m. Schoolcraft (23-2) vs Flint Beecher (22-2), 2:00 p.m. Division 4 at Michigan State University Ewen-Trout Creek (22-3) vs Lake Leelanau St. Mary (21-4), 5:30 p.m. Wyoming Tri-unity Christian (19-6) vs Genesee Christian (21-4), 7:30 p.m.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NBA – National Basketball Association Last Night Detroit Pistons 122, Atlanta Hawks 101 Sacramento Kings 110, Indiana Pacers 109 Pistons 122, Hawks 101 – Grant, Cunningham lead Pistons to rare rout of Hawks Jeremi Grant scored 21 points and the slumping Detroit Pistons routed the Atlanta Hawks 122-101 on Wednesday night. Cade Cunningham added 17 points and eight assists for Detroit. The Pistons led by 29 points while winning for the second time in eight games. Detroit had eight players in double figures as they easily surpassed its previous biggest victory margin of the season, 16 against Toronto on Jan. 14. Saddiq Bey hit his 192nd 3-pointer of the season in the fourth quarter, breaking Allan Houston’s franchise record. Trae Young had 21 points and nine assists for Atlanta, De’Andre Hunter scored 15 points, and Bogan Bogdanovic added 13. The Hawks had won five of seven. Kings 110, Pacers 109 – Jones’ last-second tip-in lifts Kings over Pacers 110-109 Damian Jones’ tip-in with less than a second left lifted the Sacramento Kings to a 110-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Trey Lyles missed a 3-pointer but Jones tipped in the rebound with 0.2 seconds remaining. Davion Mitchell scored 25 points and Chimezie Metu had a career-high 22 as the Kings snapped a three-game losing streak. Buddy Hield led the Pacers with 25 points and Goga Bitadze added 20. Tyrese Haliburton had 13 points and 15 assists. Haliburton and Hield were traded by the Kings to the Pacers in February. Tonight Chicago Bulls at New Orleans Pelicans, 8:00 p.m. Indiana Pacers at Memphis Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. NHL – National Hockey League Last Night Chicago Blackhawks 4, Anaheim Ducks 2 Blackhawks 4, Ducks 2 – Blackhawks snap 3-game losing streak with 4-2 win over Ducks Dylan Strome scored the go-ahead goal with 3:50 remaining and Patrick Kane had another big night against Anaheim as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the skidding Ducks 4-2. Strome redirected Riley Stillman’s shot from near the blueline past John Gibson to help the Blackhawks snap a three-game losing streak. Kane had a goal and two assists, giving him a point in nine straight games against Anaheim. Sam Carrick — who was playing in his 100th NHL game — scored twice for Anaheim, marking the first multigoal game of his six-year career. However, it wasn’t enough for the Ducks, who have dropped eight straight for the fifth time in franchise history. Tonight Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings, 10:00 p.m. NCAAMBKB – Men’s NCAA Tournament Tonight Sweet 16 – South Region – AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX 11 Michigan vs. 3 Villanova, 7:29 p.m.             News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM 6:45 5 Houston vs. 1 Arizona, 9:59 p.m. Sweet 16 – West Region – Chase Center, San Francisco, CA 4 Arkansas vs. 1 Gonzaga, 7:09 p.m. 3 Texas Tech vs. 2 Duke, 9:30 p.m. NCAAMBKB – South Preview: ‘Nova vs. Michigan again at site of ’18 title Villanova is back in San Antonio for the first time since winning the national title there four years ago. Even the opponent is the same, though the Sweet 16 game against Michigan is at a different arena. The Wildcats and Wolverines meet Thursday night at the home of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. That is about three miles from the Alamodome, where Nova won the title in 2018. In the other South Region semifinal, top seed Arizona takes on Houston. The Cougars are playing only a three-hour drive from home. NCAA – Study: Michigan, Kentucky top academics-based NCAA brackets Michigan and Kentucky stood out in a study examining the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament brackets based on graduation rates, academic success and diversity in the head coaching ranks. The Wolverines were the overall No. 1 seed as the national champion for a third straight year in the men’s field according to the study released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida. The Wildcats held the overall No. 1 seed as the women’s champion. Teams that performed well and are still in the tournaments are the Michigan and North Carolina men, along with the Notre Dame women. NCAA – NCAA men’s, women’s tournaments see double-digit TV gains The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are seeing double-digit viewer increases over last year. The men’s tournament is up 12% over last year. The tournament is also off to its best start in five years, averaging 9.12 million viewers through the second round. The women’s tournament is up 15% overall through the first two rounds. The second round averaged 474,000 viewers, a 25% jump from last year. Both tournaments are back to their normal setups for the first time since 2019. They were played in a bubble last year after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB – Major League Baseball – Spring Training Yesterday Detroit Tigers 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 6 – TIE Texas Rangers 14, Chicago White Sox 5 Chicago Cubs 5, Oakland A’s 4 Today New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 p.m. San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox, 4:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels, 4:10 p.m. MLB/EPL – Cubs owners denounce racism after backlash over Chelsea bid The owners of the Chicago Cubs, who are bidding for Premier League club Chelsea, touted their anti-racism credentials after a backlash in England about offensive comments by the father of the baseball team’s chairman. It has been three years since family patriarch Joe Ricketts apologized after online media outlet Splinter News published emails featuring him making Islamophobic comments, such as “Islam is a cult and not a religion.” Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s first Black player, tweeted “a big fat anti racism NO to the Ricketts bid.” The Ricketts family says it “rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms.” MLB – Lynn ready if needed to start on opening day for White Sox Lance Lynn says he’s not particularly concerned about who starts on opening day for the Chicago White Sox. Manager Tony La Russa hasn’t announced whether Lynn or Lucas Giolito will get the ball when the White Sox face Detroit on April 8. Lynn says “it’s awesome” that the White Sox have multiple potential opening day starters. Lynn finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting last season. He made his spring debut on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers. WNBA – Griner seen by US consulate in Russian detention facility The U.S. State Department says a U.S. Embassy official has visited with WNBA star Brittney Griner, who remains detained near Moscow, to check on her condition. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN the official found Griner “to be in good condition.” Price did not identify the official who had been granted consular access to Griner, something the United States had been demanding. Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. COVID – New York City to let unvaccinated athletes play home games New York city’s mayor will announce Thursday that he’s exempting athletes and performers from the city’s vaccine mandate for private workers. The move will allow Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to play home games, and let unvaccinated baseball players take the field when their season begins. According to a person familiar with the upcoming announcement who was not authorized to discuss it publicly, Mayor Eric Adams will make the announcement Thursday morning. It will be effective immediately. The city’s sweeping vaccine mandate for workers will still apply to people with other types of jobs, including government employees. NFL – Lions add ex-Chiefs CB Mike Hughes, ex-Ravens LB Chris Board The Detroit Lions have addressed pressing needs, signing cornerback Mike Hughes and linebacker Chris Board. Detroit announced the moves Wednesday, adding depth where it is needed on defense. Hughes started in five of 17 games last season with the Kansas City Chiefs. He had 45 tackles, one interception, forced four fumble and returned a fumble for a score in 2021. Board started in two of 63 games over the last four years with the Baltimore Ravens. He had 59 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, forced two fumbles and was a key contributor on special teams. NFL – Michaels, Herbstreit to call Prime Video’s NFL package Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will be the announcing team when Prime Video takes over “Thursday Night Football” in September. Michaels moves to Prime from NBC. His contract with NBC ended last month after he was in the booth for his 11th Super Bowl. Herbstreit will remain ESPN’s lead college football analyst and do NFL games for Prime. ESPN also announced that Herbstreit had signed a multiyear extension. Tennis – That’ll do: Barty signs off on tennis at 25, ranked No. 1 Ash Barty signaled the end of the photo opportunities at her retirement news conference in her typically low-fuss, matter-of-fact style: “Righto, that’ll do.” Barty surprised almost everyone in tennis when she announced her retirement at age 25 in a video posted to social media on Wednesday. She’s spent the last two years atop the women’s tennis rankings and won two of the last three Grand Slam singles titles. A day later she confirmed she’d set a date to get married but wasn’t ready to make it public. For all other details about her future plans, Barty says “You’ll have to wait and see. Be patient.” Russia/Ukraine – Russian Olympians face backlash after Vladimir Putin rally Russian Olympic athletes who participated in a rally supporting President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine are facing a backlash. They gathered on stage at the Luzhniki Stadium on Friday as part of the concert and entertainment program around Putin’s speech. Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov is under investigation from the governing body of swimming. Swimwear manufacturer Speedo has dropped Rylov for his involvement in the pro-Putin rally. It says the remainder of Rylov’s sponsorship fee will be donated to the United Nations agency caring for refugees. MHSAA – High School Sports Last Night Girls Soccer St. Joseph 6, Kalamazoo Christian 0 St. Joe’s Ellie Smith scored a hat-trick, while Eleah Hedstrom scored twice in the Bears 6-0 win over Kalamazoo Christian.  Anna Kalamaros scored the other goal for St. Joe. South Haven 4, Saugatuck 0 Hudsonville 2, Portage Central 1 Gull Lake 2, GR Forest Hills Central 1 Allegan 5, Hopkins 0 Harper Creek 2, Otsego 2 – TIE Today Girls Soccer Three Rivers at Parchment, 6:00 p.m. Baseball Kalamazoo Hackett at Paw Paw, 4:30 p.m. Softball Decatur at Paw Paw, 4:00 p.m. (DH) Kalamazoo Christian at Grandville Calvin Christian, 4:30 p.m. Boys Basketball – State Semifinals    Division 3 at Michigan State University Menominee (22-3) vs Ecorse (9-10), 12:00 p.m. Schoolcraft (23-2) vs Flint Beecher (22-2), 2:00 p.m. Division 4 at Michigan State University Ewen-Trout Creek (22-3) vs Lake Leelanau St. Mary (21-4), 5:30 p.m. Wyoming Tri-unity Christian (19-6) vs Genesee Christian (21-4), 7:30 p.m.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Being a career politician is a tough job. You have to pick sides on issues, you're always in the public eye and you can't always make everyone happy. It takes lifetime of putting yourself out there and hard work before people will trust you enough to lead. Our special guest today Gov Pete Rickets knows all about hard work as his father Joe Ricketts came up from humble beginnings to start something called a self directed brokerage that would eventually become TD Ameritrade. That's right, the same TD Ameritrade that was acquired by Charles Schwab in 2019 for 26 billion dollars. But before all of the politics and fanfare the Ricketts were just your typical Omaha family. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more.   Support us!

Being a career politician is a tough job. You have to pick sides on issues, you're always in the public eye and you can't always make everyone happy. It takes lifetime of putting yourself out there and hard work before people will trust you enough to lead. Our special guest today Gov Pete Rickets knows all about hard work as his father Joe Ricketts came up from humble beginnings to start something called a self directed brokerage that would eventually become TD Ameritrade. That's right, the same TD Ameritrade that was acquired by Charles Schwab in 2019 for 26 billion dollars. But before all of the politics and fanfare the Ricketts were just your typical Omaha family. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more.   Support us!

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The Democrats just might have pulled off two massive wins and taken the Senate, as Rafael Warnock appears to have won his race in the Georgia Runoffs and Jon Ossoff is also a heavy favorite to win as we’re recording this. Meanwhile, Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts declares that undocumented workers at the state’s meat processing plants will not receive the coronavirus vaccine, despite their already-despicable working conditions on the front line of the pandemic. And lastly, Kenosha’s District Attorney announced on Tuesday that no charges would be filed against Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, delivering another disappointing, disgusting, and unfortunately predictable ruling. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Democrats appear to have done it, taking the Senate back for the first time since losing it in 2014. Reverend Rafael Warnock successfully unseated Senator Kelly Loeffler, one of the most openly-corrupt appointed officials we’ve seen in the past few years. Jon Ossoff’s race against David Perdue came down to the wire, but as of midnight or so Tuesday night he was heavily favored to win. Warnock and Ossoff rode a wave of massive voter turnout, out-performing even Joe Biden’s performance in the state. Warnock won a bit more comfortably, with the race called by some pollsters around 10 p.m. last night, while Ossoff’s race was quite a bit closer. David Wasserman, a pollster who has been extremely consistent this election cycle, called the race for Ossoff a few minutes before midnight, although he noted that it’s possible Ossoff’s victory could be less than the .05% margin necessar for an automatic recount. So there’s still a bit of uncertainty there, but things look good. Warnock’s win would make him the first Black Democratic Senator from the Deep South. And indeed, it looks like it was massive black voter turnout and proactive early voting that tipped the scales on election day. This means the Democrats now have the Senate, thanks to VP Kamala Harris’s tiebreaker vote. That’s a far slimmer margin than any ruling party wants for a new administration, but it’s one that can actually produce results, provided that so-called Democrats like Joe Manchin get on board with what the party is doing. But that’s a battle for further down the line. Today, everything looks pretty good for the Democratic party. Nebraska Dooms Undocumented Workers Nebraska’s governor Pete Ricketts has taken one of the most explicitly brutal and inhumane positions of the pandemic, announcing on Tuesday that undocumented workers in the state’s meat processing plants will not be eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine alongside their documented colleagues. Ricketts, who is the son of billionaire Joe Ricketts, claimed that meat packing plants weren’t legally allowed to hire undocumented workers, so they naturally wouldn’t get the vaccine. Quote: “Again you’re supposed to be a legal resident of the country to be able to be working at those plants, so I do not expect that illegal immigrants will be part of the vaccine with that program.” Endquote. But in reality, undocumented workers make up roughly 14% of the industry’s workforce, according to the Migration Policy institutue. Meat processing workers are some of the front-line employees hit hardest by the disease, as many facilities have weathered severe outbreaks among staff, even prompting a lawsuit by the ACLU. If 14 percent of that workforce isn’t eligible for the vaccine, it might as well be crippling the industry as well as prolonging the disease. But that’s exactly the kind of smart policy you’d expect from a soulless politician working for an overtly fascist party! No Charges In Jacob Blake Shooting Kenosha, Wisconsin’s District Attorney Michael Graveley has finally made his decision in the shooting of Jacob Blake. There will be no charges filed. That means that Rusten Shesky, the Kenosha Police Officer who shot Blake seven times in the back, will face no criminal penalties for his actions. Businesses around Kenosha had boarded up their windows again in anticipation of protests, which started soon after the DA’s decision came down. Livestreams on Tuesday night showed protesters marching on the frigid, snow-lined streets, while large numbers of National Guard troops surrounded the courthouse and other federal buildings. DA Graveley’s decision was based on a review of over forty hours of video and hundreds of pages of police reports. Wild how in all those police reports he didn’t find enough evidence to bring charges. The New York Times reported that prosecutors thought the case against Shesky would be too hard to win, as the ironclad argument that the cop was just protecting himself would somehow apply. Again, Blake was shot seven times in the back. Graveley, who is a white guy, admitted his own inadequacy in dealing with the case, saying quote: “I feel in many ways completely inadequate for this moment. I have never in my life had a moment where I had to contend with explicit or implicit bias based on my race.” Endquote. And that, taken together, is all it took to let a cop off the hook for seven bullets that nearly ended a man’s life. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: The GOP mounted a dangerous power-grab in Pennsylvania, forcing Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman from presiding over the State Senate when he opposed a Republican motion to block an incoming State Senator from taking his seat. The actual situation is a bit complicated procedure-wise, but sets a scarily chaotic tone for how the post-Trump GOP is going to conduct themselves in state governments across the country. As a short follow-up to yesterday’s story about the Proud Boys -- a judge banned their leader, Enrique Tarrio, from the District of Columbia, in an order released Tuesday shortly after his release from jail. He’s allowed to re-enter the city to meet with his lawyer or appear in court, but definitely not to attend any more of his little rallies. Californian workers are already feeling the effects of the state’s devastating passage of Prop 22. Earlier this week, Vons and Albertsons’ grocery stores fired all of their on-staff delivery drivers except the unionized ones in the Bay Area, shifting their jobs instead to third-party gig workers at Instacart and other companies. In more positive news: Google has a union! A group of more than 200 employees at the tech behemoth’s parent company, Alphabet, announced that they had formed a union under the Communication Workers of America, providing a wide umbrella for more of the company’s thousands of employees to join going forward. JAN 6, 2021 - AM QUICKIE HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Jack Crosbie PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

On this episode of Spark to Fire, Landon was joined by two long time employees and friends of Joe Ricketts, Kurt Halvorson & Alfred Levitt. Through their time working for Joe, they gained insight on what entrepreneurs should do to be successful within their endeavors. Listen in as they talk about how they came to the places they are today!

In today's episode, Landon was joined by two long-time employees and friends of Joe Ricketts, Kurt Halvorson & Alfred Levitt. Through their time working for Joe, they gained insight into what entrepreneurs should do to be successful in their endeavors. Listen in as they talk about how they came to the places they are today! ___ Connect with Spark To Fire | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | YouTube ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more.  

Joe Ricketts talked about his book, The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get: An Entrepreneur’s Memoir, in which he offered insights into becoming an entrepreneur and founding TD Ameritrade. He was interviewed by former Wall Street investment banker and author William Cohan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Joe Ricketts joins Governor Ricketts on the fifteenth episode of The Nebraska Way. Thank you to Heidi Merrill for the use of "Cornhusker Strong" as the intro song for "The Nebraska Way."

Joe Ricketts offers insights into becoming an entrepreneur and founding TD Ameritrade. He's interviewed by former Wall Street investment banker and author William Cohan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews Joe Ricketts, who founded the company now known as TD Ameritrade, a securities-industry leader that empowers investors with innovative tools and training. Since 2008, Ricketts has devoted himself to a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. He has also actively engaged in philanthropy through the Opportunity Education Foundation, the Cloisters on the Platte Foundation, the Ricketts Conservation Foundation and the Ricketts Art Foundation.

Joe Ricketts founded Ameritrade with just $12,500 borrowed from friends and family, and through risk-taking and perseverance grew it into a company now worth $30 billion. He joined the show to discuss his journey and what it says about America's free-enterprise system. The post An entrepreneur’s memoir: Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts on hard work, competition, and free enterprise appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI.

Joe Ricketts founded Ameritrade with just $12,500 borrowed from friends and family, and through risk-taking and perseverance grew it into a company now worth $30 billion. He joined the show to discuss his journey and what it says about America's free-enterprise system. The post https://www.aei.org/multimedia/an-entrepreneurs-memoir-ameritrade-founder-joe-ricketts-on-hard-work-competition-and-free-enterprise/ (An entrepreneur’s memoir: Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts on hard work, competition, and free enterprise) appeared first on https://www.aei.org (American Enterprise Institute - AEI).

Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts gives us a look inside his mind so we can see how entrepreneurs think and act differently from the rest of us -- and the trials he faced in building a company now worth $30 billion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today of ALL DAYS I give you warning from HISTORY no it's NOT one of WAR it's one of Socialism from most unlikely of sources. TAKE NOTE AMERICA! Canadians did not, and our future looks very bleak. DON'T make the same mistake #fightback #cdnpoli #cwr

Today of ALL DAYS I give you warning from HISTORY no it's NOT one of WAR it's one of Socialism from most unlikely of sources. TAKE NOTE AMERICA! Canadians did not, and our future looks very bleak. DON'T make the same mistake #fightback #cdnpoli #cwr

Mark Cuban wants to regulate the news and opinion on cable channels. In other words, he wants someone to be the arbiter of what's news and what's opinion. CNN's Brian Stelter devotes an entire segment to President Trump's misspelling of words in tweets. CBS Sunday Morning airs a pro capitalism segment by Joe Ricketts. Dan Crenshaw & Will Hurd discuss the future of the GOP.

A group of Chicago Cubs superfans have decided that the world needs a musical interpretation of the Cubs World Series run in the context of a blue collar Cubs family losing their faith and then rediscovering it. Knowing that Joe Ricketts is the pro-Trump owner of the Cubs, what bothers you most about this musical?

When billionaire Joe Ricketts of TD Ameritrade and Chicago Cubs fame in 2017 shut down digital news network DNAInfo, Stephanie Lulay and two of her colleagues didn't scatter to other industries. They co-founded Block Club Chicago, a hyperlocal nonprofit news site dedicated to granular coverage of the Windy City's storied neighborhoods. The site launched in summer 2018 after a record-setting Kickstarter campaign that raised $183,000 from 3,000 backers. Lulay, managing editor, trusts her reporters to live and embed themselves in their neighborhoods and largely set the agenda for what they cover. One crucial component: Block Club doesn't focus only on crime and other sensationalism. The site's stories span everything from potholes to serious police misconduct. Block Club Chicago is published on the Civil platform, a digital news network on the blockchain. In this episode of Journalists Are My Heroes, Stephanie talks about her career path into hyperlocal news, how her site approaches coverage, and the newsroom's prospects for long-term sustainability. Please subscribe, rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts. And find and support us on the Anchor network. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/journalistsaremyheroes/support

In our pilot episode, Ron Luce, Justin Hunter and James Jacobson discuss our Cub Fandom, the Joe Ricketts situation, the offseason (or lack thereof), the NL Central and some closing thoughts as spring training quickly approaches for the Cubbies! TIMELINE 0:19 - Intro 1:44 - Who are the North Side 9 guys? 5:45 - The Joe Ricketts Situation 16:24 - Front Office Lack of Moves/TV Deal 29:15 - ANCHOR AD 30:31 - NL Central 56:46 - Closing Thoughts 1:19:12 - Wrap Up

Thanks for downloading the first episode of our 11th season of podcasting on the Cubs.  All of the players have reported to Spring Training in Mesa, and we cover a lot in this episode.  Kurt's Scary Stat looks closer at the PECOTA projections for Cubs starting pitchers.   The Cubs tv deal is official, and as everyone expected, the broadcast partner is Sinclair.  Addison Russell held his first press conference since being suspended for violating MLB's domestic violence policy.  We share our thoughts on his statements.  Joe Maddon spoke with the media a few times.  He made some more comments on Russell, revealed the slogan for the 2019 Cubs, and talked about the offense and coaching strategy.  Theo and Jed also addressed the media.  Theo talked about Russell, how the Cubs are handling domestic violence issues as an organization, and the Joe Ricketts emails.   We take a look at the health of the club heading into Spring Training.  The Cubs have a new bullpen pitcher in Xavier Cedeno, and we talk about what impact that could have on Tyler Chatwood.  Visit IvyEnvy.com/merch and use the coupon code PITCHERS for 20% off your order.  That gets you an Ivy Envy shirt for just $12!

Baseball is finally back! Luke Stuckmeyer takes you out to Mesa, where Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Joe Maddon addressed the media Tuesday to officially kick off Spring Training. The trio cover a wide range of topics, including Joe's new slogan for 2019 (:45), the latest update on Addison Russell's situation (5:30), why the free agent market has been so slow (15:30), Theo's reaction to the Joe Ricketts emails (21:30), how Maddon will change his approach this season (29:45), and what to expect out of Yu Darvish this season (41:15).

This week we talk to AM670’s Julie DiCaro about Joe Ricketts, whose family owns the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field was found to have sent racist and Islamophobic emails to his family. What will be the fallout if any? We also speak to author Bijan Bayne about the legacy of Frank Robinson and the sports anniversaries ahead in 2019. Damn we feel old. We also got ‘Choice Words’ about the legacy of Frank Robinson and ‘Just Stand Up’ and ‘Just Sit Down’ awards for the Maryland legislature and Justin Fairfax, and much more! Julie DiCaro https://670thescore.radio.com/hosts/julie-dicaro  Twitter: @JulieDiCaro Bijan Bayne https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810895782/Elgin-Baylor-The-Man-Who-Changed-Basketball Twitter: bijancbayne Zirin, Frank Robinson Was a Fearless Speaker of Truth https://www.thenation.com/article/frank-robinson-was-a-fearless-speaker-of-truth/ — http://www.edgeofsportspodcast.com/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE) — Music: Eye Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | We Gonna Make It - Jadakiss Feat. Styles P | Ovadose - Twista | It’s So Hard - Big Pun Feat. Donell Jones | Drip - Cardi B Feat. Migos | Life - J. Dilla | My Love - The Diplomats | Big Pimpin’ - Jay- Z Feat. UGK | Grammy Family - DJ Khaled Feat. Kanye West & Consequence | The Wire Theme

Hosts Logan Perrone (@perroenlogan) and Wilson Truong (@w_truong) discuss the Joe Ricketts email controversy, the J.T. Realmuto trade, and proposed changes to Major League baseball.

Thor Schrock, host of "Compute This" heard Sunday mornings at 7 AM on 1110 KFAB, talked with us about the vulnerability of your e-mail. This point was made clear by the release of e-mails that were derogatory towards Muslims and others that were linked back to TDAmeritrade founder Joe Ricketts.

Sean and Ryan discuss the Joe Ricketts email leak and how terrible of an off-season it has been for the Cubs front office and ownership group. Later, Ryan goes over his latest article from Forbes where he gave his five Cubs most likely to make their debuts in 2019. And we wrap up the show hitting on the latest Bryce Harper rumors, that Giants are interesting in outfielders (which means Jason Heyward has come up in trade rumors), and the MLBPA has proposed a rule change that would bring the DH to the National League.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everyone screams about the DH, more rule proposals, more bad PR for the Cubs with racist Joe Ricketts and the latest on Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.

This week Jack and Jeremy escape the polar vortex of Chicago all the way north to Caledonia, Wisconsin to see 17U high school prep baseball as the White Sox Amateur City Elite players take on the Class of 2020 Hitters baseball team! This is the same travel team that #6 pick Jarred Kelenic played on last year! The guys arrive at a wrong address for the facility and are creeped out by Wisconsin back roads - but finally make it to the right place! Tune in to their recap of this really fun, cool, and unique indoor winter baseball experience. There's some salty coach/umpire chirping, some impressive prospects, and some odd ground rules! Also, Jeremy clarifies the Sammy Sosa bad acting commercials he mentioned on last ep. They also touch briefly on an effective way for the Cubs to erase the stupid Joe Ricketts email leaks (hint: it involves signing Bryce Harper). This is a fun one - tune in!

Sean and Ryan discuss the Joe Ricketts email leak and how terrible of an off-season it has been for the Cubs front office and ownership group. Later, Ryan goes over his latest article from Forbes where he gave his five Cubs most likely to make their debuts in 2019. And we wrap up the show hitting on the latest Bryce Harper rumors, that Giants are interesting in outfielders (which means Jason Heyward has come up in trade rumors), and the MLBPA has proposed a rule change that would bring the DH to the National League.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Soshnick and Michael Barr discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs moving to distance themselves from racist emails sent and received by billionaire Joe Ricketts, whose family owns the team and Wrigley Field. Many of the emails had to do with a fear of Muslims, including conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama. Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, has apologized for the emails. One of his sons, Tom, chairman of the Cubs, released a statement that condemned the emails and distanced his father from the franchise. Also discussed are Super Bowl viewership and commercials, and the possibility that the Raiders may play at Oracle Park next season. The 49ers may not waive their territorial rights to San Francisco, meaning the Raiders search for a temporary home would continue.  Hosts: Scott Soshnick and Michael Barr Producer: Madena Parwana

Our panel looks at the racist and anti-Muslim emails of the Cubs ownership patriarch Joe Ricketts, and debates how far owners can go before fans abandon their beloved teams. Then we look the best ways to deal with the never-ending parade of robocalls to your home and cell phone.  

Our panel looks at the racist and anti-Muslim emails of the Cubs ownership patriarch Joe Ricketts, and debates how far owners can go before fans abandon their beloved teams. Then we look the best ways to deal with the never-ending parade of robocalls to your home and cell phone.  

Hub Arkush, David Schuster and Leila Rahimi join Luke Stuckmeyer on the panel.0:00- There's controversy surrounding the Cubs as a website publishes racist and Islamophobic emails sent by Joe Ricketts. Tom Ricketts has condemned his father's emails but has the damage been done?9:00- The Patriots win a Super Bowl that a lot of people thought was one of the worst in a long time. But Hub loved the game. He explains why.15:00- Pat Boyle joins the panel to talk about the Blackhawks match-up with the Oilers, Patrick Kane's amazing season and if the Hawks should still be sellers.21:00- Co-creator of "The Office" Stephen Merchant visits the studio to talk about his new movie "Fighting With My Family". He talks about working with The Rock and the reasons why he loves Liverpool FC.

After billionaire Joe Ricketts announced the shuttering of local news organizations Gothamist and DNAInfo last fall, readers across the country mourned the loss of the beloved sites, and worried about the vulnerability of journalism in the digital age. Now, a consortium of public radio stations, including WNYC in New York, WAMU in Washington DC, and KPCC in Southern California, has banded together to bring some of those sites back from the dead.

This week’s show featured TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts discussing Cloisters on the Platte, a free spiritual retreat between Omaha and Lincoln. Then, Ashley McGrain with the Home Instead Senior Care Foundation talked about the benefits and challenges in hospice care today. After that, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert informed local drivers about the pothole patching efforts. Finally, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst provided details about her efforts to examine what happened to so many Olympic gymnasts before the sexual abuse was uncovered, and how to prevent that breakdown in the future.

DNAinfo/Gothamist: War on local Journalism “On November 2nd billionaire Joe Ricketts waged battle against local journalism. I am Maham Hasan, and this is the story of that day through the eyes of four reporters.”This podcast project walks us through that day and the closing down of both news sites by four reporters who worked there.

On this Struggle Session with talk with Dave Colon, former associate editor for Gothamist who was fired with 100+ other workers for unionizing by billionaire Joe Ricketts. We talk about the fight for unionization in digital journalism (and pro wrestling), Mean Girls style union-busting tactics, the future of local news, and how terrible SNL is. Subscribe at http://www.patreon.com/strugglesession Tune: lil peep x lil tracy - witchblades RIP Lil Peep. If you oranyone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please call 1-800-662-HELP a 24/7 bi-lingual hotline. Photo courtesy Working Families Party: https://www.flickr.com/photos/workingfamiliesparty/albums/72157687067476712/with/26454352069/

The sexual assault scandal surrounding Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein expanded this week into BigLaw. It was revealed that Weinstein’s long-time lawyer David Boies played a part in hiring a private spy firm to help Weinstein suppress a New York Times article detailing the harassment allegations, even though the Times was also a client of Boies Schiller. Senior legal ethics reporter Andrew Strickler comes on the show to explain what happened and the ethical implications for the famed litigator. Also on this week’s show, we discuss a provision in the GOP tax plan that could keep law firms on the hook for higher taxes; the legal pushback billionaire Joe Ricketts may face after shuttering local news sites DNAinfo and Gothamist after a union vote; and an appellate court weighing in on whether a judge falling asleep while on the bench merits a new trial.

Ken Davis is joined by the co-founders of City Bureau. It’s a non-profit news organization that strives to train members of minority communities in Chicago as news reporters and “trackers” who attend all manner of public meetings to document the official proceedings with written reports and live tweets. They discuss the demise last week of DNAInfo, which was shut down by its sole owner, Joe Ricketts, after the New York staff unionized. Chang and Holliday talk about how DNA, for which they, themselves once worked, did wonderful work but was ultimately unsustainable because it didn’t have a diversity of financial sources. They believe that their mix of member support, donations and philanthropy is ultimately a more reliable model. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Joe Ricketts had to shut down his online news sites after twenty five employees decided to Unionize and force a Union on the business leaving many unemployed. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

In this teaser for episode 12, Sam and Jonathan talk about Joe Ricketts, and why bosses are such terrible human beings

Host Rania Khalek has mostly finished a transition to a new journalism project and returns to the show. On this week's episode, hosts Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss 2016, a year that seemingly will never end. The election remains a constant conversation, with the past week dominated by allegations against the Democratic National Committee from Donna Brazile. They both talk about the anniversary of Donald Trump's election or Hillary Clinton's miserable failure. Later in the show, Khalek discusses Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's resignation in Saudi Arabia and what that may mean. She also addresses the CIA's dump of Osama bin Laden files so it could propagandize people into believing al Qaeda is tied to Iran. The show concludes with talk about the EPA, climate change, and Joe Ricketts, a vulturous billionaire who shut down DNAinfo.com and The Gothamist because staff at one of the offices successfully unionized.

In this week's episode... 3:30 - Heather talks the Women's Convention in Detroit and her panel "Confronting White Womanhood," the most attended workshop of the event 12:25 - "Critique as Care" and "Calling out vs. Calling In" 15:55 - The shuttering of Gothamist & DNAinfo by Trump donor Joe Ricketts 22:05 - New York City's West Side Terror Attack 25:40 - Shout out to New Yorkers not giving a f**k 27:45 - White (Woman) F**kery of the Week 37:55 - Papa John race-baits over low sales 43:00 - Elsa is still boycotting football, and the national anthem is a crappy song

Joe Ricketts v Jeremiah Wright