We're here. And you're here too, aren't you? Or not? You get to play. I'm sorry, did you say something? Yeah, I did. I just was making sure you're here. Barely. Okay. Well, the doc is here, too. And he's looking well and ready to go. um olivia sends a question and as we were mentioning before we went on i've heard about vagus nerve stuff but anyway she says i suffer from depression
And I have been reading about vagus nerve stimulation as a therapy. Do you have any information as to its efficacy or as to the efficacy of this treatment? Well, that's a good question, Olivia. I'm sorry that you're suffering from depression. I really hope, sincerely, that you're not suffering from the type of depression for which a vagal nerve stimulation would even be considered. Vagus nerve stimulation, first of all, what is the vagus nerve?
It's a cranial nerve and it's like super important. It affects a number of things. It's the longest cranial nerve. You have one vagus nerve on each side of your body. Both start at the brainstem and pass through your neck into your chest and abdomen. And it's part of a circuit that links, Olivia, your neck, your heart, your lungs, your abdomen. treatment is relatively new. The stimulation uses an implantable device to stimulate the vagus nerve in your neck.
And it's a type of neuromodulation. It alters the activity of the nerve. The vagus nerve stimulation involves implanting a device that sends regular mild pulses of electrical energy to your brainstem. through your vagus nerve, which then in turn relays to the brain.
the upper part of the cortex and the like. After reaching the brainstem, the electrical charge is discharged to different areas of the brain to change the way brain cells work. But it's not a courier service to one area versus another. It works like a pacemaker. It's sometimes called a pacemaker for the brain.
option that might be considered only after traditional treatments have not been successful. The use of this is limited to a select group of individuals who have super treatment resistant epilepsy or treatment resistant major depression You can't be a candidate for this until you've failed, in the case of depression, for modalities for treating the depression. And the reason is pretty straightforward because there's risk to it. There's side effects.
And there isn't really all that much to recommend it. For use in epilepsy, it's... It's approved as an add-on therapy. The folks who have super bad epilepsy and the medications are not controlling the seizures that well they still have to be on the medication but the vagus nerve stimulation makes it the medications work better it's when it's used in depression It's only people who have long-term major depression that has not responded to four or more antidepressant treatments. The side effects.
And the risks, infection, inflammation, damage to your vagus nerve. This is an important nerve for the rest of the body. The common side effects, coughing, hoarseness, change in voice, neck pain, throat pain, shortness of breath, trouble speaking, trouble swallowing. Then when you have serious side effects, you can get vocal cord paralysis. You can have muscle weakness, lower part of your face. Your heart might stop beating because the vagus nerve also innervates the heart.
You can stimulate your vagus by rubbing your neck and the carotid sinus, and it'll lower your pulse rate. Also, another significant side effect is sudden, unexplained death. So this is not something, okay, so you have, so what's behind this, Olivia? You know, there's about a 500-patient study that showed a 50% or greater reduction in seizures in 37% of patients.
At one year, 43% at two and three years, they still had to be on their medication. In major depression, we don't know. How does this work? We don't know. And when you think about it, why should this... simulation work for something as disparate as seizures and depression. Well, if you understand how we treat depression, which is pretty primitive when you get down to it, all of these antidepressant medications are spinoffs of seizure medication.
Seizure medications tone down chaotic activity on the motor strip and other areas of the brain. So what we're trying to tone down in the case of depression, some of the abnormal chaotic... activity in the brain in the areas of the mood so it's it's kind of a It's not very precise, okay? And the... after one year The FDA based its approval for depression on a study with 200 people. You know, that's a boutique study almost.
with treatment-resistant depression. After one year, 20% of the people with depression reported some improvement, but they still had to be under antidepressant. So, Olivia, it's unfortunate, but I hope that gives you some background. All right. And, Doc, I've seen and I've heard, actually heard, commercials for vagus nerve stimulation is that just just hype or just well you know I'd be very suspect of it you know you really People grab hold of the way to monetize everything.
And the fact that the FDA approved it, then you get the next step is, first of all, approval. Then you get Medicare to pay for it. As soon as you get Medicare, then the insurance follows up and starts, you know, kind of gets pressured to start covering it too. It's expensive, but it also has the, and it's a procedure. And procedures don't have the same hoops to jump through that pharmaceutical.
do really and that's unfortunate because you know the really you need to do things that really need to be effective and safe And I'm not saying that this won't evolve. But the marketing of everything that's discovered is so far ahead of the implementation in a responsible way that, you know, we need to wait, get more information on that. I think that's a good course. Helen says, I'm 84 years old and my vision has changed.
I have an appointment with my eye doctor. Our vision change is a harbinger of dementia. Wow, Helen. That's three sentences that brings us into a whole lot of things. 84, I'm assuming that your vision has changed a little bit at some point before 84. And if you haven't, God bless you. because you know the whole issue of you know cataracts dry eye all that so many people have problems within their 50s and 60s that affect their vision so I don't know how your vision has changed
So I can't give you a lot of guidance here, except I can give you, Helen, I think some pretty substantial reassurance that you're doing the right thing by seeing your doc, an eye doc. Now, I'm going to be... Very biased, but it's based on 50 years of experience. You want to go to a retina doc, okay? Whoever you go to is going to send you to a retina doc, Alan, because their risk is going to be highest for either a cataract, maybe you've had your cataracts removed and all that, so that's great.
I had my cataracts done by a retinodon. And what's going on with your vision? Very likely, not an anterior chamber. It's not going to be the cornea necessarily. It's going to be the area of the retina because you're at higher risk as we get older for macular degeneration, dry and wet macular degeneration. That's what you want to be tested for. And so whoever you see, optometrists or what have you,
they're going to run you through a whole bunch of tests, okay, size and drain your insurance policy, and then they're going to say you need to see a retina doc. So, you know, don't get off in Sioux Falls. Get to Chicago. That's where you need to be. So I'm going to name a name, and the Alaska Retina Consultants are the absolute retina people to see.
Scott Lindstrom did my cataracts. He looks at my retina and all that. So you get to where you need to be. Alaska Retina Consultants. I never broadcast, you know, push a particular thing. But, Helen, that's what you need to do. But most important, I want to leave you with, it's not a harbinger of dementia. There's a number of studies that say when you look closely at the vasculature of the retina, you're actually looking at the brain.
you can see a portion of the brain by actually doing an eye exam and looking at the retina. And we think that we're going to be able to develop some means to measure. early cognitive impairment or vascular changes that are going to lead to certain types of dementia, but we're not there yet. However, a vision change by itself, Helen, is not a harbinger of dementia.
The fact that you wrote this sentence, these three sentences, tells me that you're pretty alert. So take that off the plate and get to a retina doc, Helen. All right. Kate says, my new doctor told me that a traditional mammogram may not give me the full story. She said she would like me to follow up with high contrast imaging due to the density of my breast tissue.
I'm 51. I've never had anything but a traditional mammogram. Can you put this in context? Thank you. I listen via the audio stream or the podcast. Kate, you've got a good new doctor. Let me just start out with that. So you have always had dense breasts, Kate. You just haven't been told it. I can guarantee you that the mammogram report that was given to whomever you were seeing said, you know, Kate has dense breasts.
So what do you do there? What is breast density? It's a measure used to describe mammogram images. It's not a measure of how the breasts feel. The breasts are made up of breast tissue, which is the milk ducts, the lobules, and that can be called glandular tissue, and fat. Connective tissue holds everything in place. And so density compares the area of breast and connective tissue seen on a mammogram to the area of fat.
And so breast and connective tissue are denser than fat, and this deference shows up on a mammogram. So high breast density means there's more breast and connective tissue compared to fat. And by looking at your mammograms in the measure, the person reading it can conclude you have dense breasts. So what does that mean? Well, first of all, it's very, very common. High breast density in the United States, 40 to 50% of women between the ages of 40 and 74 have dense breasts.
And like I said, you've had it all along. So why is it now bringing to light that you need to get a different imaging? Well, breast density varies by age and by weight. And as I just said, 50 to 60 percent in your age group will have dense breast. So it doesn't mean that you have an illness, but you do have an increased risk.
breast cancer the older a woman the more likely she is to get breast cancer and so that's why this is a perfect time for you to get a bit of more vigorous imaging because dense breasts have Overall, a four to five times greater risk for breast cancer than not so dense breast. You know, it's a common finding. It doesn't mean there's something wrong, but it can affect you in two ways.
Increases the chance that breast cancer might be missed on a mammogram. That's the whole issue with the mammogram and trying to sort through this density. They can miss a cancer. And then of course the other thing is that the dense breast increased the risk of breast cancer. That's why this imaging is so important to consider. One of the gold standards, of course, is the breast MRI.
you know that's often recommended for those with a very high risk of breast cancer your risk for breast cancer can be stratified by a questionnaire that your new doctor knows all about and can put you through and say you know I think you're at high risk, and maybe we ought to do an MRI. But your current new doc is recommending this.
this contrast-enhanced digital mammogram, and that's an excellent procedure. And I've talked about the whole issue of dense breast in my program, and I think a little bit on Mike's program in the past, and you don't have to go to MRI. It is much more expensive. And then there's always the question, well, now that you're going with an MRI, does that mean you've got to have an MRI every year? And you're into that routine. That can all be worked out. But the point is...
Your situation has been more specifically and accurately shared with you from your doc. that you have a situation where you would benefit by a better imaging. And then when you get that back, then you can decide how often with your doc that needs to continue. It doesn't mean that... anything other than what I just mentioned. It's normal finding in 50% of women your age. And it sounds like she's got a good new doctor, as you said. Absolutely. I applaud.
All right. Ian says, every year I get a physical for work. The doctor orders a blood panel. What is on a typical blood panel? Do doctors treat the numbers on the panel, or is the panel a guide? Well, it always should be a guide. You know, back in the day when I owned and ran Primary Care Associates, I said we would have health fairs. And I would refuse to do a health fair for an employer for their employees unless they let me. Do a brown bag luncheon for free.
that would go through the panel so that the folks in the audience, their employees, would understand what those tests mean. Because, you know, you get a panel done and then you get a phone call that says everything's normal. Well... It doesn't, I don't think is helpful as it should be. And it doesn't tell you what isn't being tested. And the whole issue of normal, you know, there's a range.
more normal than not right okay so you're normal for you yeah right so you know so what's included a bunch of things there's a panel electrolytes for instance so What are our electrolytes? Those are substances that have a natural positive or negative electrical charge dissolved in water. What do they do? They conduct electrical charges. And that's necessary for your muscle contraction. Your potassium. I mean, sodium plays a critical role in helping maintain the right balance of fluid.
magnesium but magnesium is not included on the standard panel so you're probably this panel that you're getting it doesn't include that and I'm saying you need to have it but we've talked about magnesium and I'm just talking about electrolytes But the standard electrolyte on a panel is going to be sodium and it's going to be potassium. Your cells use potassium alongside sodium.
Whether you have too much or too little, calcium is a very important thing. Now, your calcium level isn't going to tell you whether you're at risk for osteopenia or osteoporosis. This is not a bone test. It's a blood test. But too much calcium or too little calcium, there are problems associated with that. Chloride, that's phosphate, bicarbonate. These are all electrolytes. That's part of the comprehensive medical exam.
In addition to that, it's going to include kidney function tests, liver function tests. It's going to include a glucose. That glucose is just a spot test for a tree. It doesn't look at the forest. It's not a glycosylated hemoglobin. And the other thing about these panels is they're a sensitive test.
Basically, tests are divided into two categories, very sensitive tests and very selective tests. So these panels are really designed to kind of identify everything. It's scattergun. And so frequently, something looks like it's amiss. But then when you get to a selective test, you say, well, that was the red herring and it's really not that big a deal. But you do want the sensitivity to pick up things. And so the general health panel helps you do that.
Then you go with a selective test and you find out, okay, you got high calcium. Well, you know, and then when you do the selective test, you say, well, no, actually you don't ionize versus non-ionize and so on and so forth. And, or gosh, you got a parathyroid tumor, it looks like. based on this calcium value that we get. So you start off with the panel and then you go to this very specific test. You're also going to, now the general panel doesn't usually include.
By your employer, you have to ask the doc what's included. Does it include a thyroid function test? Back in the day, we used to do a general panel included in an iron study because one out of... thousand folks had iron storage disease but that's not included in a general panel so a general panel can be 12 items it can be 16 items it can be 24 items but the doc is always going to treat the patient But the laboratory work is a nice aid.
Yeah, right. That's a specific item. Thanks for, because, you know, guys are going to be, Ian's going to be kind of keen on knowing that. So the panel may or may not include a prosthetic-specific antigen test. And the, I really... Like I said, when I was doing these health fairs, you know. It was really important to me that folks didn't think that they got a health panel and they got a notice that everything's fine. That's hunky-dory and you don't need to go further than that.
That it's a green light. What you're alluding to, Ian, is that we're talking about a person. And the person gets a study, and they have a background. They have genetics. They have a personal health history. They have maybe some symptoms. And then there's also the panel doesn't do anything about prevention and surveillance for the items that we need to be mindful of for prevention of illnesses at various stages of our life. So it's a tool. It's a useful tool. But it's not the be-all and end-all.
basically involved in your health. Yes. You take this information and you discuss it with your doc. You don't take it and say, well, I don't see any asterisks here. Check it off. I'm good. Exactly. But people do that all the time. No, you're important to your health. It's your health. Right. And this is a useful piece of information. Yeah. I mean, the way people look at their money, look at your health. It's kind of important.
All right, well, Doc, we won't be seeing you for a little bit. You're going to kind of go off and have some fun, and I think that's well-deserved. You should. I'm going to bring my son, and my son's going to drive up here. And my older son, as I've mentioned to you on the program, he's a neurosurgeon, and he's had it with California. Good for him. He is an Alaska guy, and he's going to come up and he'll practice. Got a good guy coming up.
he's joining the a-team and the a-team invited him well why wouldn't they right So who knows? We might have him on the program. I'd love that. That would be wonderful. Well, listen, you go and you have a great time with the boys, and we'll see you when you get back. You certainly shall. All right. We'll be right back. Get on with Mike and Crash weekdays at 3 on NewsRadio 650 KENI.
Looking at the Alaska total traffic cameras on this Wednesday afternoon. Traffic's looking pretty good around the Anchorage Bowl. It does seem to be a bit of... It's 50 degrees in Anchorage. Do you believe that? 50. It doesn't feel like... Feels like 49 or 51. It feels like 48 and a half. Yep. Very expensive hoodie. I see that. You're dressed like me.
When I was leaving the house, the lovely Mrs. P looked at me. She said, you're going to wear that. Now, if I said that to her, you realize it would be. Right. I would be like spread all over the. Yeah. Yeah. No, you just keep your mouth shut. So I said, what do you mean am I going to wear that? I said, I'm on the radio. Who knows what I'm wearing unless I tell them? So I decided to tell them I'm wearing this very, very nice hoodie.
You know, if you wear a hoodie and turn it around backwards so the hood's in the front, you can fill it with popcorn. Actually, that's a good idea. And you can eat it right out of the hood. I like that. Yeah, it's a movie trick.
Just like when you sit backwards on the toilet, you can eat. Yeah, if you sit backwards on the toilet, you use the tank as a TV tray and have a little feast while you're doing your business. You never have to move. You're basically cutting out the middleman. All right, it's 50 degrees. 51 in Palmer, 48 in Soldata, 46 in Homer, 49 in Talkeetna. Fairbanks is 52. Prudhoe is 14. Seattle, 61. New York is 65. Akaroa, New Zealand is reigning in 48.
Pensacola, 78. Tampa, 80. Tifton, Georgia, 79. And Lake Havasu City, the home of your mom, 87. That's warm. That's pretty good. Is the Casita air-conditioned? It is. You'd have to get the key from my cold, dead hand first. Don't you want to? That's mine. That's my little house. That's your little house. Yep. My mom's friends come over all the time.
They know that I covet that little space there. And it's a running joke that I have taken over that area of her backyard. And they'll go down there and one of them will crawl into the bed and take a selfie. Or I have my Havasu shirt down there that I wear. One of them will take a picture of himself. In the shirt. In the shirt, laying in my bed in my little house. Does that upset you? Yes, it does upset me. It upsets me greatly. Okay. Well, I wouldn't want to upset you.
But I would want to tell you about ABC Seamless. That's called a segue. There you go. Seamless steel siding. That's right. Seamless steel siding. It's going to make your house look better. It is also going to give you superior, long-lasting protection from the elements that we have up here in the Great North.
ABC Seamless. We're talking about steel siding and we're not talking about flimsy stuff. We're talking about the real deal. Heavy gauge hot dip G90 galvanized steel, which makes it more robust. than vinyl or wood it's never gonna need to be repainted or scraped the colors baked right in it's not gonna warp or fade or crack
It is going to give you great protection. There's a long-term warranty on this, long-lasting performance. They custom fit this to your home because they fabricate it right on site. And while you're at it, if you're going to do the steel siding, You might want to do gutters. You might want to do something called the gutter helmet.
You are correct, sir. If you're going to do the steel siding, you're going to want everything to look uniform and the colors match and whatnot. So look into the gutters. If you're going to do the steel siding, you do this gutters. If you're going to do the gutters, you want to do the gutter helmet. It's this contraption that fits on top of the gutter that stops everything.
that's not supposed to be in your gutters from being in your gutter meaning the only thing that's supposed to be in there is water and the benefit of putting the gutter helmet on there is twofold you don't have to clean them and they last a really long time because they're being used for what they were manufactured for
water and water only so look into all three of those things if you want to improve the exterior of your home and that's not the only thing that they do they also do energy efficient doors and windows they do roofing projects Any and everything that has to do with improving the curb appeal of your spot, they can handle it one fell swoop. So if what's holding you back is you have some preconceived notion of what steel siding is, and in your mind it's...
Less than favorable when compared to freshly painted wood. Nothing could be further from the truth. It looks every bit as good, if not better. than freshly painted wood when they hang it. And a couple of years down the road, you're going to have to think about painting the house again, the steel siding.
Not the case. You said it, you forget it. They guarantee the work for a really long time, upwards of 30 years. But you don't have to take my word for it. You can go to the website. Tons of pictures right there online. See what they're all about. It's a great alternative to painting the outside of your home. Before anybody opens a can of paint, do your due diligence and see what they're all about. All you need to know right there online at abcseamlessalaska.com. Give them a call at 907-646-2228.
That's 907-646-2228. That's A, B, C. Seamless. Well, I know that you have your issues with bugs. I do. And now there's a new invasive pet. But it's an invasive pest with deadly venom. Oh, this sounds fun. It's spreading across the U.S. and has triggered warnings from scientists. All right. So. They're called the stinging ant species. They can cause anaphylaxis in humans.
And they've been found in the U.S. for 90 years, but now apparently they're getting some renewed attention because they seem to be on the rise. The Asian needle ant, that's what it's called, is native to Asia. Obviously, if it's the Asian needle. It wouldn't make any sense if they were native to Utah. It wouldn't be, no. And it's been established in the southeast United States since 1932.
The pest is present in Georgia. Oh. So for our friends there, be careful. But what happens is this thing will bite you. And it will bite you with a venom that could cause anaphylaxis. AHHHHHHHHH! Which is not good. Now, they say it is not aggressive unless it gets under your clothes. Okay. And that they hang out in woodpiles. Much like the brown recluse spider. Right. So if you've got wood around, clean it out. Okay. All right. So now here are the symptoms. If you get bit by wood.
Now, you're going to have every one of these symptoms. I'm absolutely... By the end of the show, I will have it. Swelling of the tongue or throat. I'm feeling the onset of it right now. Constriction of the airway, difficult breathing and wheezing. Yep, I got that going on too. Weak or rapid heart. always nausea vomiting and diarrhea well the show's young but i normally get sick towards the end of it let's hope not the last Skin reactions like hives itching or flushed, pale skin. All right.
low blood pressure, dizziness or fainting, or psychological symptoms. Well, I'm on blood pressure medication, so maybe I want to get bit by one of these things that counteract the fact that I have high blood pressure. It could. I'll never forget the day you write out the symptoms for it. By the end of the show, I was convinced I had lupus. So anyway, you will have every one of these symptoms. And there's a picture of one of these. It looks like a regular ant.
There's a lot of things about living here in Alaska I don't like, but one of the things I do like is bugs aren't something we normally worry about. We got mosquitoes, sure, and bees and things like that, but we don't have to worry about snakes and bugs and things like that. We got spiders. Yeah, but we only have really... But they're not that big.
Yeah, and the only ones we have up here that, to my knowledge, that when they bite you, there's a bad thing that happens is that brown recluse, and those are far and few in between up here. But again, I've said it before, every time I see a spider, I convince myself that's what it is. Tell everyone to run for their lives. And we do have voles and mice. We have those, and I don't like those.
I'm not going to get into it again, but my history with mice has long been documented on the show. I hate them. We have bear and moose and squirrels and rabbits and lynx. We have a lot of stuff. Yeah, but the bears and all that kind of stuff, that doesn't creep me out the way that insects and reptiles and stuff like that do. Yeah, but you have a reptile. Yeah, but she's a little sweetheart. She's a bearded dragon. They're not venomous. I've tried to get mine to bite me. It won't.
But I'm a member of BeardedDragon.org. Are you? I am. And there's a message board on there. And some people get these things and they're really aggressive. They go after you. They can bite hard. It'll go right through your fingernail into your... But mine doesn't. Mine's really mellow. Put her on the little remote control Batmobile and drive her around the living room. She doesn't care. You are a child. I really am. You are. Yep. All right, 445. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.
Call Mike and crash now. Be a part of the show on News Radio 650 KENI. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras for this Wednesday afternoon. Still steady traffic around the Anchorage Bowl. Looks like most of the slowdowns... Now you remember just a few months ago we had the election and you had Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Tim Walz is the governor of Minnesota. Tim Walls is described as doing something called a listening tour across the country.
at a Harvard Kennedy School forum, and he was there on Monday night. ruling out a 2028 presidential bid and revealing why former Vice President Harris chose him as her running mate. It's nice to know he's not going to run for president. Yeah, he wasn't qualified to be vice president, let alone president. Wall said Harris chose him in part because I could code talk. to white guys watching football, fixing their truck, and putting them at ease.
What does that even mean? I don't even know. She's saying that basically she couldn't communicate with white guys who work on their truck and watch football. So she picked him to go in. Because he could do it. That's the weirdest thing. That's weird. I mean, would you want this guy, you know, if I were fixing my truck? I wouldn't want him there. What a tool bag. I wouldn't want him watching football with me either. No, I don't want anybody watching football with me.
And it wouldn't put me at ease. No, no. The Minnesota governor described himself as a permission structure, whatever the heck that means for white men from rural America. What is he even talking about? It is cold. I don't know what he's talking about. What's a permission structure? I don't know. He says, I think I'll give you pretty good stuff, but I'll also give you 10% problematic.
He doesn't even speak English here. Walls added when pushed by a moderator, Brittany Shepard, an ABC News national political reporter, about why he didn't take that message to cable news to reach a larger audience. Walls laughed off criticism over inconsistencies in his background on the 2024 campaign trail, describing himself as a knucklehead.
Walz told CNN's Jake Tapper earlier this month that he was considering a third bid for Minnesota governor, but was not thinking about running for president in 2028. When asked by Shepard to explain, Wall said the Democratic Party should run a collective 2028 presidential campaign. She picked him because they both have the same way of speaking. It's just word salad. I think we need to collectively run a presidential campaign without a candidate right now that builds all the infrastructure.
By the time we get to 2028, what is he talking about? It says, think back to a time when you tried to convince someone with an entrenched point of view to change their mind. You may have presented compelling data. Pop up conveyed rational arguments, offered supporting facts, and it was all likely a huge waste of time. That's where this model first popularized by the Obama administration might help.
A permissioned structure provides an emotional and psychological justification that allows someone to change deeply held beliefs and or behaviors while importantly retaining their pride and integrity. What does that even mean? I don't even know what that means. I don't know what it means. He says, and on what he would have done differently, he said, we would have won.
Okay. Acknowledging that Democrats came up short in November, Wall said the party is better off doing more in every forum following criticism that Democrats didn't prioritize media appearances enough. In 2024, whether long form podcasts or traditional network news shows, there is room for Gavin Newsom's podcast. And there's room for Bernie Sanders rallies, Wall said, as he described both instances as opportunities for Democrats to reclaim their own narrative.
Again, I don't know what this guy's talking about. None of that means anything. No. Just a bunch of words strung together that... And for him to, I took from that that they needed to like be out there in front of people in the media more. But did you take that from that? Because.
utilizing podcasting and things like that. The thing is, though, the more that they talk, the worse they sound it. I don't know that they would have, you know... been out there in the public eye any more than they were I don't think that would have helped if that was what he was saying I have no idea well they spent you know more money than Trump did right and they completely blew through it and they got They got a pretty good whooping. Well, she got thrashed. I mean, it just.
I mean, when's the last time you remember them calling the presidential race before you went to bed that evening? I mean, that was... That was unprecedented, especially when you consider the comeback that President Trump made to come back after losing to. It was quite a political comeback. And I think that Trump has benefited from both times that he ran against a completely inferior opponent, too.
And I would argue that Joe Biden was inferior as well. But nobody wanted anything to do with Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. Just the more she talked, the worse she was. And nobody really wanted Joe Biden, but he wasn't Trump. Right. And that's why he won. It's pretty weird, though, because you talk to a lot of people and, you know, you could talk to some people that would say they didn't. It wasn't.
It wasn't so much a vote for Trump as it was against a vote against Harris. And you could make the same argument that happened when Trump lost to Biden. And then you could make the same argument when Trump beat Hillary Clinton. So it's not an indictment on Trump. It's just the way the political landscape seems to work anymore. And it's not exclusive to the presidential election either. I think a lot of the times...
You go to the polls, and I'm not saying that you felt that way about Donald Trump, but you'd have to admit, more times than not, regardless of what the election is, a lot of times you go there and that curtain closes behind you and you look down at the little thing with your black marker and you're like,
Who do I dislike the least? Exactly. And that's what it's turned into. And I think that's sad. Well, he was unable to escape his name, his nickname, Tampon Tim, coined by conservatives for his bill. This is amazing. providing free menstrual products to all menstruating students in school restrooms, grades 4 to 12. in the boys' bathroom. That's just ridiculous. Yeah, the government...
telling you how to raise your kids, that's got to go away for them. They had a tough road. I mean, even Democrats don't like that. Yeah, they'll never win another election again if they keep shoving that down our throats. Exactly. All right, 4.56. Let's take a break. We'll come back. Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me what SIPC is? SIPC? Isn't that, um, no. Miss, can you tell me what SIPC is? SIPC. Don't tell me. Okay, tell me. It's the Securities Investor Protection Corps.
And you. Visit www.sipc.org. Wanna have your two cents? The conversation never stops online. Follow us on Facebook. Tell us what you think. And see what your neighbors are posting. News Radio 650 KENI on Facebook. Listen commercial free. Just open the free iHeartRadio app. Search Beatles now. Mike Porcaro, behind them. Welcome back, everybody. Glad to have you with us on a Wednesday. 522-0650. That's the phone number. It's 50 degrees outside.
We were scheduled to get a call from Senator Mike Schauer, the head of the Republican minority in the Senate. And he sent me a little note and said, can I call tomorrow? There'll be some more news. So obviously, of course. So we will have our conversation with Senator Schauer tomorrow. Sounds like, Crash, there's some stuff that is still not yet baked into the cake. No. So we shall see what goes on. But this education bill, it's one of these things where there's all sorts of stuff that can fall.
And what will the governor do? We don't know. The governor has got some ideas of his own, and he does have that veto. which may end up being taken out. You never know. Anyway, it's interesting. I keep hearing about the fact that the teachers union, not the teachers. I haven't heard this from teachers, but the teachers union is.
always talking about how we need to pay the teachers more money. Right? Is that something? Am I being unfair by saying that? No, no, you hear it all the time. Okay. So you go to the NEA Alaska webpage. It says, our union strives to uphold the rights of educators, enhance learning opportunities for students, and work to build a better Alaska. Okay, that's a good mission and vision. Okay, here's what it says under our vision.
The members of NEA Alaska, understanding their central role in the organization, are fully engaged in the union. Working together, members have built collective power. Public school employees enjoy the best economic and working conditions while public school students benefit from the best instructional conditions in the nation. Okay, you want me to repeat that one?
Working together, members have built collective power. Public school employees enjoy the best economic and working conditions while public school students benefit from the best. instructional conditions in the nation. Public school teachers and education support professionals in Alaska receive the highest compensation packages in the country, and a secure retirement. Now, Crash, does that sound like they're looking for more money?
I don't know, does it? They already have it, according to their website. Right. Right? And they're talking about how the packages are the best and the highest and the securest and all of those things, right? And it's talking about the students are benefiting from the best instructional conditions in the nation. Now, I'm just going to throw a red flag, or a yellow flag, I guess, in football, and say, what are you talking about? Right. You're number 50. Right.
What in the hell are you talking about? Yeah, I mean... There's no universe in which our school system here in the state of Alaska is anywhere near the best. I mean, the proof is right there in the map testing and the results and all that. We're always at or near the best. And at the same time, we already spend a lot more money on education in the state of Alaska than most people do, most places do. Right. And they're saying it, too.
They're saying it, too. I mean, you know, they're not mincing any words here. I mean, I'm reading right from their web page. You know, public school employees enjoy the best economic and working conditions, while public school students benefit from the best instructional conditions in the nation. I mean, that's it. That's the ultimate, right? It's the best. Right. It doesn't get any better than what we have. It is the best. It's the top.
Public school teachers and education support professionals in Alaska receive the highest. Okay, well, the highest means that there's nothing higher, right? The top packages in the country and a secure retirement. So what are they talking about? Over. I mean, you know, you're telling me that you need more teacher salaries. This doesn't say that. You're telling me that you need more money to have better outcomes. This isn't telling me that.
What you're telling me is you guys are the best of the best. So we must be doing everything right now. But we all know that we're not. So I'm just, I'm really, really, really confused here. All right, let's take a break. 5220650. If you've got some ideas here, maybe you can help me understand what I just read. Because my reading comprehension, I realize this is English, and maybe I don't understand the English too well. But, I mean, I think my reading comprehension is pretty good.
What did I just read? We'll be right back. K-E-N-I. from the NEA Alaska's website. What can I say? It's strange. It's kind of the antithesis of everything they're saying publicly. Let's go to Michelle. Hi, Michelle. You're on. Hi, Mike. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. Go ahead. Okay. Well, anyways, I just get so frustrated because... I'm not against teachers, okay? I have some very good teacher friends that are actually conservative.
People need to remember, and all of the teachers that I know that I'm friends with, they all make over $100,000 a year, between $109,000 to $123,000. By the way, people can go and look up salaries online, okay? This is for eight months of work. They have the entire summer off. They have spring break off. They have Christmas vacation off and all the holidays.
so our teachers are not starving do they start at the low end of the totem pole when they first get hired yes just like every other job okay but i will tell you that even my conservative teacher friends they are going to vote for what benefits them. Even if they're conservative, they're not going to be voting for Trump. They're not going to be voting for anything against what the NEA says because it won't benefit them personally.
Now, I don't know if you heard this this morning on the Amy Demboski show, but the president of the Anchorage NEA, his own children go to a charter school. And the NEA is actively trying to discourage and stop charter school. So he doesn't even send his own children to a regular brick-and-mortar public school. neighborhood public school. They go to a charter school, yet he's trying to stop it for everybody else. And I am so frustrated at this point because I see all the stuff on social media.
You know, the Americans for Prosperity, they're putting out ads online and stuff. And all it is is person after person after person coming on there and saying, oh, how bad it is. We're not funding the education. We're not putting kids first. The level of misinformation that these people are under, that they just want to throw money at a problem, just kind of like the homeless problem, just throw money at it.
and not have any outcome for success. And they have no idea what they're even talking about. It's so frustrating to me. I just feel like I'm drowning in a world of stupidity. that these people would rather give up their dividend, pay more taxes, do all of this stuff, and just basically give their money away. so that the Anchorage NEA president can send his kids to a charter school, but your own kids know they have to go to the neighborhood school and fail.
I'm just sick of it. All right, Michelle, well said. I appreciate your phone call, as always. Thank you so much. You bet. Okay. Let's go to Bob Griffin. Hi, Bob. Hey, how are you doing there, Mike? Good morning from Zurich here. Listening early in the morning, kind of following the things that were going on. And good subjects. I've said for years, you know, that our kids are just as bright, our teachers are just as dedicated, and our parents love it.
our kids just as much as anywhere else. It's policy issues that makes our outcomes so different from other places. And so, yeah, I think our teachers deserve you know, fair compensation. And I think for the most part, we're getting that, except that we divert resources away from, you know, classroom operations for a number of things that... You know, we're not necessarily very good at real estate. It's one of the biggest things.
I did want to circle back to and talk about House Bill 57 because I'm a little bit of a contrarian here on this right now. I don't see a ton of daylight between House Bill 57 that the Senate has passed with this. You know, the technical issues they've got going on to get those solved, and I think they will get solved. But there's not a lot of daylight, actually, between that piece of legislation and what the governor is actually proposing that's kind of languishing in committee right now.
I would say a bird in the hand right now is a pretty good option on House Bill 57. We've still got to figure out where we're going to pay for that. I've been an advocate that we've been misallogating resources to things that we don't need. I'm especially... interested in the incentivizing good behaviors by... incentivizing reading performance.
not only kids reading at grade level, but that very poor districts actually have an opportunity to show improvement and get more money. And I think that's when you incentivize good behavior, you get more of it. A bunch of the other elements I'm not too... not too pleased with in this bill, but it's one of these things, and this is the way democracy works. If everybody comes away unhappy, you probably have a, especially in a divided government that we have right now.
I'm not doing backflips for this bill, but I think it's probably the best that we can get in this environment. And if we want to have... major reformative education legislation, it's going to have to come the way the other states did it the hard way. Solid majorities in the House and Senate and the governor's office. And I think if we walk away from... This deal that was set up gives a lot of ammunition for the guys who want to burn the house down and do nothing to leverage.
political purposes in 26. I've said my piece. And that's unfortunate, Bob, that people would use kids and kids' education for some political gain. There's a point in time where I don't care what your political party is, you want your children to be educated. That's just, to me, a very basic thing that we all probably should agree on. And I'm just shocked that we're seeing these kinds of shenanigans going on.
Well, and we have the disadvantages. We have a much more difficult message. The NEA and the other side have a message you can stick on a bumper sticker, and ours is much more nuanced. And it's much harder to reach those low information voters who, you know, they have busy lives. They're not policy wonks that follow things every day.
You know, given the hill that we have, the climate... I think we should take the bird in the hand and see if we can, in the future, build bigger, stronger majorities in the House and the Senate and the governor's office to get real reform legislation passed. I think the reading portion, incentivizing good behavior and reading is worth it. the very small difference between what the governor is proposing.
Walking away from this right now would cause an awful lot of problems and give ammunition to a coalition that could be built to just do absolutely nothing. That would hurt our kids and not help anybody and offer political gain. Well, I'm understanding that in Juneau right now, there's some deal-making and... talking and arm twisting and all kinds of things going on. So I don't know specifically what's going on, Bob, but that's kind of what I'm hearing, and I thought I'd share that with you.
Well, you know, there's always that sausage-making process going on in the background. And that breakfast sausage still tastes pretty good, even though you didn't know that it was scraped up off the floor during the process. Yeah, that's unfortunately the nature. And when you have so narrow majorities in opposition to the governor, there's going to be a lot of conflict. Not a perfect bill, not the one.
again, that I'm doing backflips for, but I think it moves the ball forward enough and it's close enough to... What the governor has already proposed as far as the BSA increase, that it's probably not. worth the risk of burning the house down. Okay. Well, listen, I appreciate that, and I appreciate you taking time calling us from Switzerland, and I hope you're enjoying yourself. Oh, gorgeous hair was 75 and sunny yesterday. I hear it was just the same back home there. Yeah, right, Bob.
All right. Hey, take care. Thanks so much for taking time with us. Hey, thanks. Bye-bye. You bet. All right. It's 529. We'll be right back. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board say it's possible the pilot of the small plane that crashed this week was trying to avoid a dog on the runway and then went into a fatal stall. The crash killing two people, sending a third victim to the hospital with serious injury.
The boy who was found dead in a car near East 13th in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood has been identified as 17-year-old Aaron. John Edwards, Jr. The investigation to his death is still underway. It's a big cleanup effort underway in Kodiak this weekend, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Kodiak High School, the annual Community Cleanup Day from the Chamber of Commerce. The event will last about four hours.
Thursday is the deadline for moving studded snow tires from vehicles in south-central Alaska May 1st through September 15th. Pave roads north to six degrees north latitude. That would be legal to operate with studded tires. Thursday is also the federal tax deadline from the IRS. May 1st, the city and borough of Juneau. It's late because of the severe flooding last summer. That's the latest. I'm Jack Cronin. This is News Radio 650 KENI.
Anchorage. Looking at those Alaska total traffic cameras on this Wednesday evening. Still steady traffic around the Anchorage Bowl. Midtown intersections. New Seward Highway definitely backed up and busy. Also backing up on Benson right now starting the new Seward.
Backing up towards A Street. From the Swickard Chevrolet Anchorage Traffic Studios, I'm Daryl Dean. This report is sponsored by Positive Coaching Alliance. Got issues with youth or high school sports? Positive Coaching Alliance can help. PCA Radio. And apparently House Bill 57 has passed again in the end, according to Suzanne Downing. Most Republicans in the House and Senate backed a spending bill sponsored by Zach Fields.
as she puts it, one of the most hardline Democrats in the legislature and former communications director for the Alaska Democratic Party and former labor organizer for the AFL-CIO. H.B. 57, which has seen twists and turns, took a few more turns on Wednesday as the Senate fix was one section of the bill that was unconstitutional.
One of the major features of the bill is a $700 per student increase in the base student allocation, which is in the funding formula the state uses to appropriate funds to school districts. Three Republican senators voted against the bill after it was sent back for constitutional fixes and then reappeared on the floor.
They were Senator Myers, Senator Schauer, and Senator Hughes. The three had different reasons for objecting to the bill, but one of the main reasons was that Senator Robion's amendment crafted in cooperation with Democrats. had some other technical issues which they say were not aligned. research to determine if any other state has such extensive tracking of high school graduates. And they want to track school students.
for 20 years. The research came up with none. Alaska will be alone in monitoring the activities of its graduates and it may Again, it may violate the state constitution's privacy provision. Now, I can understand why you might want to track. students after they graduate from school just to see how they're doing, et cetera, et cetera. But at some point or other, you're... Your interest in them is over. They've graduated. They've paid their dues to society.
And they're out on their own. It should also be voluntary. It should be voluntary. If you want to send me a questionnaire and I want to fill it out, fine. Yeah. If they're going to track them from a young age. That needs to be voluntary. It needs to be up to the parents of the kid as to whether or not that happens. Exactly. So according to Suzanne, she says it's unclear that the governor will veto the bill. If so, it would take 40 of 60 votes in the legislature to override the veto.
This would put the Republicans who voted for the legislation in a spot. Do they stick with the hardline Democrats or do they support the highest ranking Republican in the state? I'm not gathering that there's... I don't know if there's a lot of support for this bill or if, as Bob Griffin talked to us just a few minutes ago, or if they're just saying, look, this is the best deal we're going to get.
So, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that we did get a note from Senator Schauer saying that there was stuff going on and that he would call in tomorrow. And he's a man of his word. And I absolutely believe he will. And I don't know what's going on down there. So if anybody does.
Maybe you'd like to share that with me. Meanwhile, in another story there, the governor has traveled to Washington with a few business leaders and got a private meeting with the president on Tuesday. This is probably concerning the Alaska LNG project, which the governor has been working on for a long time, along with the Gasline Development Corporation and the Alaska Industrial Export and Development Authority.
The gas line is one of the president's major priorities, articulated by him on the very first day of his presidency. So this is going to be kind of interesting to see what actually happens and if there's something that is going to happen. We'll see. Will we get a gaslight? As I say, I hope so. But I've been up here for 55 years. And when I first set foot... In this great land I was told that there would be an oil line and a gas.
We got the oil line shortly after. It took about seven, eight years to get that oil line. And the gas line was supposed to follow, but not yet. So we'll see. Let's hope, you know. Let's hope. There's always hope. Well, I'll tell you what you don't have to hope. You don't have to hope when you're dealing with PIP because they've got solutions to help you with your business. And one of them is to deal with your windows. That's right, your windows.
They're not just for letting the sunlight in and the beautiful Alaska in, but they're one of the most powerful marketing tools you actually have. They catch your eyes and promote your brand, and they turn passersby into customers with custom window graphics. from the good people over at PIP. Now, they're vibrant, they're bold, they're built to last. PIP. is the place for solutions. And PIP has your Windows cover.
And, you know, what we're talking about too is a lot of tourists are going to be on the streets of Anchorage. And they're going to be walking around. So if you've got great window graphics up, you're bound to catch them to come on into your store or your establishment. But the tourist season is here, and you might want to give Pip a call.
Yeah, if you do anything that has to do with the tourism industry here in the state of Alaska, obviously marketing is a big deal. It doesn't make any sense to do what it is that you do, and nobody knows about it. So if summer tourism is something that you participate in each and every year, you've got to get your message out there. And by your message, I mean... Anything that has to do with that, like business cards, rack cards, brochures, banners, signage.
Maybe you've got a business that's got a few vehicles. You want those things wrapped up. And as you parade them around town, it's a mobile billboard. It's a great way to advertise your business. So when I say tourism, I mean anything. Tours. Maybe you run some sort of lodge.
As Mike mentioned, you've got storefront signage. That's got to pop. You want to bring the visitors into your storefront. You want to make a lasting impression and make sure that the message is clear and it's pleasing to the eye. And one of the main benefits of hiring the folks on a PIP to do the work for is it's not just the print job, it's the creative as well. Every bit is important.
as of the actual print job itself and then after the fact if something needs to be done not only can they design the wrap for your vehicle they can print out the big giant sticker they'll also go ahead and wrap the vehicle right there on site maybe have uh you know some mailing services that need to be done after the fact they can take care of that as well but tourism
a big deal and it's just about time so if it's something that you know you participate in every year you're going to want to go ahead and make sure that your message is clear it gets out there and people understand what it is that you do if you want some visual evidence
of the quality work they can provide, go to the website, pipalaska.com. Check out the portfolio section. Tons of pictures on there, right there on their site. So go check that out for yourself, and hire them on to do the job you'll be better for. That's pipalaska.com. All right, and you can call them at 274-3584. Of course, that's 907-274-3584. Pip. Let's go to Jay. Hi, Jay. Hi, Mike. I hear you say that you've been here 55 years. Did you go to school here? No, I didn't.
After I graduated from college and... Kicked around the New York area for a bit. I decided I was going to do something exciting and try my hand in Alaska. Well, 64 years ago, I was in a territorial school, Anchorage High School. It was double shifted. Yes, my wife went to high school. We got a better education back then than any of these students now. My question is, is there a statistic on how many people actually...
graduate with 18 or 20 credits to their portfolio, or do they get a certificate of attendance? Is there a statistic on that? You know, I don't know. That might be a good question for the school district. But my wife went to high school here, and she got a great education. We had a good school system. It's gone now. I don't know what that is. We used to have a good school system 45, 50 years ago.
One of the planks of the Communist Party is to get into the education system and take it over. While all these good people are making a living, two people, fam, or two... Both parents working and their kids going to the school was a perfect opportunity for the communists to move in, and they sure did. Yeah, well, it's not ideal for sure. We lost so much.
We lost the basic foundation of the family and the basic structure of our educational system. One of the greatest educators of men and women are the armed forces of the United States. Yes, and hopefully Mr. Trump can de-woke-ify him. Gee whiz, yeah, I hope so. I've... I'm so glad that I never had a child in this school system. Well, back when it was good, but now it's very challenging. And I also, you know, when people ask me about college,
College is different today than it was 40 or 50 years ago, too. Harvard's a great example of that. How they took over that. fine institution of learning and put a bunch of left commies in there just grates on me. Well, it's no longer what it was. The great schools of America are no longer what it was. When you start seeing... some of the courses that they're teaching and the anti-Semitic attitudes of these schools, these colleges, places of higher learning, places that would invite.
all kinds of opinions to be in the public square. They're not doing that anymore. No, that's all I had, Mike, but thank you. You bet. Thanks, Jay. Appreciate it. All right, 546. Let's take a break and we'll come back. The Mike Porcaro Show with Crash on News Radio 650 KENI. Looking at those Alaska total traffic cameras on this Wednesday evening. Still steady traffic around the Anchorage Bowl. Midtown intersections.
kind of conclusion almost of the show we still have a few minutes left so if somebody wants to call in you can we'll take Nothing. What you learned today on the show. Nothing. I'm trying to think. You learned about the Asian Needleland. I did. I learned about the Asian Needleland. See? That was something. I learned that...
The NEA is telling everybody that they've got the best instruction and the best paid teachers. Right. So I learned that the NEA is full of crap today. I learned that on the show. That and the needle end. And that's enough. I don't need to know any more than that. Why would you want to? My head's full, man. I mean, my stepdad used to tell me all the time, your head is full of rocks.
Not just mine specifically, but everyone's. And once you have so many rocks in your head, you can't fit another rock in there. So if you want to put a new rock in there, meaning learn something new, you have to take a rock out. And I like my rocks. I don't want to learn anything else. You don't want to fool with the rocks? No, I don't want to mess with them. Okay. I don't want you to. so rock on right on brother as they say all right well i just you know
Just kind of going through that. Tomorrow, we're hoping, and I think we will hear from Senator Schauer, is this education bill seems to be taking on a new life. So I'm not quite sure what is going to happen. The governor is heading out of town. He's going to go to Washington, D.C. to speak with President Trump at a private meeting. most likely to talk about the gas line, and we'll see if that, you know, happens.
Hopefully it will. It's kind of a nice boost for Alaska. The thing I worry about, Crash, I worry about this. I worry about Alaska having... Not because it's bad, but because that means the legislators get to play with it. and spend it. Well, and then when the money's not there and they still need it to...
support their irresponsible spending, they take it from us. Right. I worry about that. And quicksand. Those are the two things. Quicksand. I worry about those two things. And quicksand. They are kind of quicksand. I mean, you know. When I was a kid, I thought quicksand would be a bigger factor in my life because you always heard about it, but I don't know anybody that's ever even seen quicksand. Well, go out to the inlet. That's true. In fact, don't go out to the inlet.
There are people that have tried to go out there and stand or walk or something. Right. And they end up getting... sucked down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very dangerous. Quicksand was a thing when I was a kid, and I didn't make this up. Somebody put it on Facebook, and I thought it was pretty funny. They said, when growing up... The stop, drop, and roll was such a prominent thing being taught to all of us kids growing up. I haven't been on fire once.
What a waste of time. I thought growing up I'd be on fire like every other day. Because stop, drop, and roll is such a big deal. When I was a young lad... In school, we had to go underneath our desk and do duck and cover. That was the Castro stuff, right? Wasn't that the Cuban Missile Crisis? Yeah, even before that. Okay, but yeah, that was what you do to protect yourself from an atom bomb. From an atom bomb.
It's like, oh, just now get under your desk, you know, and put your hands over your head. And you'll be fine. And you'll be fine. Don't worry about the, you know, thermal nuclear action of the bomb. Right. But what are you going to tell a child? You know, you're going to tell it's true too. You just want to basically get under the... Well, here in Alaska... Did they actually do earthquake drills? Because I know the kids did really well in that.
quake we had in in 2018 my daughter did great she my daughter's unfazed by everything she just got under her desk grabbed her desk And then there was a little girl behind her that was freaked out. So Sophie shot her leg out from underneath the desk and said, just hold on to my ankle. It'll be fine. Yeah, it's a nice gesture, but what the hell is your ankle going to do? But my daughter, she's 14 and she's...
She's so even keel. She's so undisturbed or unbothered. As opposed to you. Right. So my wife and I joke all the time that I think she may be a serial killer. My son and I are the exact opposite. Any small thing happens and it's a catastrophe. That's true. See everybody tomorrow. It's a Thursday. I keep thinking it's a Friday. I don't know why. You know, go stay way with a commie. The following message is brought to you by Goodwill and the Ad Council.
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