Mornings with Thom Brennaman 12/18/2025

Getting ready for an essential monetary message. This is the Bloomberg Money Minute on seven WLWA and.

Once more we say hello and good morning from the Bloomberg newsroom to Erica Hrskowitz and Erica. Some Tesla owners, this has been a big story, are buying glass breakers and other accessories to help us gate their car in case those electronic doors malfunction.

I mean, could you imagine having to do that? This after a Consumer Reports online petition tom had been signed by nearly thirty five thousand people calling on automakers to fix the electronic doors after numerous incidents of people being severely injured or even dying when they were unable to

Okay. Meanwhile, speaking of driving, more emails are driving trucks these days for Walmart.

Yeah, it does help that it's a six figure job right well. Walmart truck game workforce has grown by thirty three percent over the last three years, and about eighteen percent of Walmart's truckers are women, nearly double the rate of the female drivers at competitors because of initiatives like pairing drivers up on more dangerous routes and offering more

All right, Erica and our futures on this Thursday morning.

Market futures pointing to a higher open down futures up seventy four points, Nastaq futures up two two, SMP futures up twenty eight from Bloomberg. I America Hrschowitz on news radio seven hundred WLW.

When you sent me this email last night, I'm looking around my house and you know, we have a fireplace right in the middle of the living room, you know, the whole nine yards. We're going to talk about home the safety tips for the holidays. Let's start with we have a live tree. Let's start how important is it to continue to make sure that thing has water on?

Oh, it's so important. You ever see any of those videos when they actually light of Christmas.

Yes, I have a friend of mine that does it outside every year, and I've never seen anything like it.

It is unbelievable how quickly it gets consumed. So we don't want it to dry out. And a lot of this is just common sense, but it needs to be repeated every year. Don't put the Christmas tree over a register vent that's blowing warm air on it. Not that it's going to catch fire, but you're gonna dry it out.

Make sure.

And when you first cut that tree and cut the little you know, stump down at the bottom, open up the pores and let us start drinking water.

It's amazing. You're gonna you're gonna fill up that stand.

Every day, every day, okay, and it'll take about two or three weeks before it starts sealing off. So keep it really watered, I mean from a standpoint of just keeping it from drying out.

So important. Okay, that's number one. And then I started paying attention. I talked about the fireplace, right and hanging garland that could be hanging down off the mantle, say above it, and you don't want that obviously, right.

Right right, and and kind of the same way.

I guess a lot of it depends to I'm on what type of garden you know, you got that foil garden and stuff like that. How much heat comes out of the fire box and just kind of warms that mantle. But you don't want to be hanging evergreens there. And I see it all the time this time of year, and I'll even say something to the people like them. So you guys use that fireplace during the holidays and it's always yeah, you know, we always make a good

Cause I do have a question for you on that one though. Is the fake garland step as flammable as you know, a lot of people will go out and then they'll you know, when they get their tree, they'll get the garland that you know is live for all intents and purposes. Is there a difference as far as being more flammable, Well.

There is to a degree.

So some of them will say flammable. In fact, most of them will okay, but it's nothing like a real live garland. Again, going back to the story about the Christmas tree, how fastly it can bust. This would lot of your garden garland's plastic. It may melt or kind of warp. So I was really kind of focusing on the live But it's really not a good place to put garland anyway, because there's a lot of heat coming out of that firebox.

Yes there is, okay, now talking about a lot of folks. I've seen it done. They burn the gift wrapping yeah, or boxes right right in a fireplace after people open them up. Not a good idea, it's not, it really is.

And here's the story on that.

So I think a couple mo ago we might have talked about making sure the chimney is clean, making sure the creosote's gone out of the chimney. It's flammable, make sure you haven't had a chimney fire.

Let's say you didn't heed the.

Advice and you don't know when you had that chimney cleaner inspected.

If there's kreosode in there.

It catches fire with real hot quick fires, which is exactly what paper produces.

And so that would be more reason than to follow that up based on those of us that have seen a Christmas tree and the way it ignites and burns almost immediately. Sure, don't burn tree trimmings in the fire place.

Absolutely, and it happens all the time. I mean, it happens all the time.

And you know, once we get to November, I'm sure you know, you watch the news and there's there's a house fire almost every other no doubt about it, and they never say what caused it. But we don't have those problems in the summer, and a lot of times it's just because we've got everything in. People are burning fires, they're cooking more, et cetera. So I know these are common sensical, but boy, just just think about it.

What happens.

It's pretty You throw the paper in there, and maybe you get a little different color of flames, but that's burning so hot, and if that chimney's dirty, you run the risk of a chimney fire. And if you've already had a chimney fire and that liner's cracked, you run the risk of starting the house fire.

Okay, sometimes my wife does this from time to time, where she'll close the flume right and then all of a sudden, I'll fire up the you know, the fireplace, and then you know, smoke is everywhere. Now, Cracking the window certainly helps, right mm hmm. Anything else that well recommend.

Just the real deal too, not so much as the I mean, it certainly would do that if the damper was closed.

But a lot of times.

It's negative air pressure inside our homes. So remember, you build a fire, it creates heat, it warms the chimney, and it.

Creates a drawl bringing the smoke out.

But if you got the kitchen and somebody's doing a you know, cooking, and it's a ventilating fan that's pulling air, and that's pulling air down the chimney, or the bathroom fan, it's pulling air down the chimney. So you get a negative air pressure inside the house. You start a fire and the smoke can't really warm up the chimney, so it starts coming into the house.

That's not a good look. No, just crack the window now. Now here's the one that These things terrify me. They always have. I don't know why. I never had a bad experience from them, but talking about space heaters, these things just scare me. To death. Now there are certain places, in certain ways that you would suggest do not do these things. If you're using a space heater, what would they do well?

For sure?

And if people read the directions, and not all people do. Number one, a lot of them will say don't use in bathrooms for just basic reason, a lot of water. Make sure they're ul listed, make sure it has a ground false circuit interrupter on the plug of that space heater.

And the number one thing is.

People get a space heater and then they run a lamp cord extension cord that's fifteen feet long. That's a no no. It tells you do not use extension cords with this. Those things are pulling about fifteen hundred watts. That's a lot of juice. So no extension cords on a space heater. And don't run them under the carpet or under a throw rug in a doorway or in the family room. People walk over that carpet. It's abrasive on the back with jute. So no, no to the

Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, and with all that in mind, a lot of us have a fire extinguisher. Probably a lot more of us do not.

Boy, I agree with that.

And then the next big question is does everbody family know how to use it?

Yeah, and I'll.

Bet you a lot of people driving right now said no. No, there's you know, the old, the old fire extingers. You know, pull the pin, you take, you aim, you sweep at the base of the fire.

But there's a lot of fire extinguishers out there.

Now that come in almost it's almost like an aerosol, like an aerosol canopaign, only it's about twice as big as an aerosol, has as much power as a regular good sized fire extinguisher, so they can be conveniently located. They're inexpensive, and there's no mystery.

I mean, it's like aerosol.

You press the button down on the top and it's blowing out the powder and putting out the fire. It's an ABC, so it takes care of you know, all types of fires. But man, today just go you know, fireplace, no fireplace, A lot of cooking if you do anything.

At all and you don't have one, Go buy one.

Today and put it in the kitchen cabinet underneath the stove, okay, and you can probably get to the garage with it. You could probably get to the our place with it. You can get to the cooking. But there's nothing worse than having a kitchen fire or something like that.

And you have nothing.

All right, I got less in a minute. Last thing that I found interesting you put on here about trimming candle wicks.

Yeah, yeah, that's another thing. Number one we all know, blowout the candles before we go to bed. Before you light it again, make sure it's just got about a quarter.

Inch wick at the top. Tom. If it's got a real long one, you'll get a real long flame. It'll produce a lot of smoke. You can kind of, you know, you can kind of start messing.

Up your walls if you're burning them a long time with the long wicks.

So trim those wicks down.

The base of a pillar candle should almost be two times the size and the pillar candle. Make sure it's good and steady and stay safe.

Amen. Merry Christmas to you, my friend. You are the very very best Tom.

You have a merry Christmas too, well, talking a couple of weeks, I guess.

I'll look forward to it, my friend. All right, God speed ahead. It is eight twenty and let's check the roadways once more with our friend Chuck Ingram, Chuck Cow.

We looking on south bend seventy well, not good coming out of blue Ash into Kenwood. It is because of a broken down southbound seventy one deer ken Wood above Kenwood Road after Montgomery Road that's blocking the right two lianes. It's over a fifteen minute delay now from Feiffer and getting longer from the UC Health Tramphic Center. U SEE Cancer Center offers advanced surgical options for complex liver and pancreatic cancers and clinical trials you won't find anywhere else.

Got a second.

Opinion now called five one, three, five eight five u SECC other spots getting better. Southbound seventy five still slows in and out of Lachland. Northbound four seventy one's running heavy from Grand and crews are working with an accident on Hamilton Avenue above Belmont.

Chuck Ingram News Radio seven hundred wlw OUR WCPO nine First Warning fore Cast presented by Jennifer Ketch. Market's a nice morning out there. Son's coming up and right around forty two degrees. Expecting rain later today, hy have fifty four Tonight the bottom falls out. We're back to frigid temperatures low of twenty three and it'll feel a lot colder than that. Tomorrow we start off cloudy, but then the sun comes up, but it is not going to

This is the Boomburn money minutes on seven hundred WLW.

The White House is set to announce drug pricing deals with pharmaceutical heavyweights no Vartis and Roche as soon as tomorrow, sources tell Bloomberg. Other drug makers could also be included in the announcement. Pfizer, Astra, Zeneca, and other companies have struck deals with the Trump administration in recent months, agreeing to lower prices in certain instances in return for relief

HI. When you hear workin for the weekend, that means it's time for Hey, Michelle, you can follow her at Hey Michelle the number one on Instagram or on Facebook and just hey Michelle, Hey Michelle.

Him there.

How are you? I'm doing great? How are you doing?

I'm fantastic. Thanks.

Are you ready to go for Christmas?

H No, I'm working on it. I'm almost there.

You're almost well, you know what almost? Are beats nowhere close to being there?

Right? I mean I'm assuming you bought my present already?

Well, well, of course it was the first one I bought. Okay, great, yeah, absolutely, you and Juliusfording. You know, I got to take care of you guys, past your chair for coming on all the time. My dad not so much, not so much. You can get a little cranky. You get a little cranky every now and again. You always sound to a beat. You get a little cranky every now and again.

A little bit. But it takes a lot to make me cranky.

Actually, okay, yeah, all right, okay, all right, all right, let's get to it. Let's start with if you're looking for things to do with the family, and of course so much for this weekend A week out from Christmas is holiday theme?

Yes, yes, it's definitely holiday theme. So right now is last call? For Elf Junior the musical, and I did see it and it is super cute at Family Theater. I do suggest a little order on this one, just because it's more of a storyline than a you know, dance and glitter. So anyway, just eight or nine ten something like that. I want to give a shout out to the Festival Lights and Kings Island because the Festival Lights at the Zoo just came a number one for the zoo category in.

USA today, No kidding, Yes, I'd.

Love that for them, and then King's Island came in second place for theme parks, so we were right here for us to enjoy. I mean, we've got that two of us right here.

Wait, we got it going on there, both on top of their game, the Zoo and King's Island. Okay, what else with the family? You got the kids? What else is happening?

Okay, So Rockdale's Honakcup party is going on. That's Saturday five to nine. Are doing minoral lighting and songs and dinner, Kid Zone and Bounty House are projects and all those things. That is a good one. Wanted to talk about Holiday Junction. This is going on at the Sustaining Museum Center. This is just an amazing winter wonderland of fun with that huge train displayed so great, and then wander around while you're there, check out everything else. Is so much out.

There to see.

You know.

I think sometimes people that they would shy away from maybe this time of year, but I would invite them to reconsider if you're going to go there and your kids are old enough to understand what's going on that Auschwitz right now, that tour that's part of the museum center right now. It certainly is a reminder of how fortunate we are this time of the year.

I mean, the connection with Cincinnati and how much Cincinnati history and that exhibit is pretty incredible. You know, when you're in that exhibit, you're looking out those windows and that's where they came off the train. That is a very moving and touching exhibit.

I totally agree, no doubt about it. And then there's always the Nutcracker Ballet.

Yay, So I got to do my hanging with Hey Michelle was last night my event and we did Bubbles ballet and Buttercake.

So we had a champagne.

We got to go to the final dress rehearsal of the Nutcracker and then we went over to the Santi and had buttercake. So it was such a fun night and the dress rehearsal was amazing and just gets you in the spirit.

It was wonderful.

And that starts back up tonight and the music called and runs through the weekend.

Right, yeah, yes, yes it does, so go get your tickets for sure. And then there's a twist on that. So there's hot chocolate at the ear and off and this unique spin on the nutcracker.

This is Cincy's first.

African American Nutcracker was hip hop contemporary dance and this is Friday, Saturday at two and eight and Sunday at two. I love that super cute. I need to check that out.

Okay, all right, now we're going to move to the doesn't have to be single crowd, but we're we're catering to them a little bit. But maybe you're just going out with some of your buddies or a group of friends, what have you. And there's lots on tap to do this weekend as well.

Absolutely so our local guy, Michael Markage. He is performing at Andrew Brady. He grew up in Anderson. Wonderfully talented guy and he toured with the Lumineers this year. I headed on in my car the other day my son was singing along, so clearly he's more, even bigger than I thought.

I thought.

He'd say, you know who is this? So he is Saturday night at seven o'clock. Really cool guy, check him out.

I'll be there.

And he's a mix of kind of a mix between pop and rock and roll. Right, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, exactly.

Yes.

Final Friday is going on this Friday due to the holidays, so you can go buy some arguments, some last minute gifts right from the artist, which I love. Over two hundred and fifty studios in there, so browse around. That's Friday five to nine. More shopping art on vine? Is it rhindeis? This is Sunday twelve to six. That's sort of over eighty vendors there.

Oh, the Ugly Sweater Bar cross. Is there a reason or a theme for a bar crawl seemingly every weekend?

You know it makes a lit a little more fun?

Yeah, it does.

So if you missed Santacon, the Ugly Fliter weekend is Friday seven to eleven, and you check in at Killer Quan and this hops around the Banks area.

It'd be fun. Yeah, are you going to do that?

Or no, I will not be at that. I will miss that.

Did you partake in the Santa.

Con So I did because we missed you, Tom Or I did the judging for the Reindeer or the rain Dog Parade in Mount Adams and then the santacom is going on up there also.

Yeah, I mean, you know, I've I've been shut out a lot of places in my life, especially the last five years. I was heartbroken that I was not this year the what do they call it when you lead the parade marshall Grand Marshall of the rain Dog Parade in Mount Adams, because that's one of my favorite events every single year. Pat Shepherd, head of the Mount Adams Business Guild up there. They owned the bar and grill and they own the Blind Lemon and all that kind

What it was snowing. It was like a Hallmark movie.

It was so great. Yes, it was fun, all right? Now date night?

Yes, okay, So Jeff Lamb, I'm putting her on here. She is going to be at Ghost Baby three fourth performances on Saturday night. Lamb.

I don't know if you know her.

She's local, but she was. She went really far on American Idol years and years ago. She is really viby, very cool woman.

And I would tell everybody not to interrupt you, but I would tell anyone if you've never been to Ghost Baby, that is a must check out joint in this town. I mean, there are great bars, but this joint is a different cat all together, and you got to check it out. Now. Another guy that I used to listen to all the time in my early twenties, Chris Isaac is in town.

Yes, he is at the Hard Rocks Friday at eight playing all of his stuff like Blue Hotel and more. Yeah, like that's the fun. That sounds like a good one jail. A lot of good music going out this weekend. Yeah sure.

Yeah.

Oh and I wanted to the Flight Club with you and I talked about. I did go to the opening soft Oping.

I've been there twice already.

Wow.

I saw you floating around with Sam Hubbard for crying out.

Wow.

I know.

Sam was my dark caddy. I was calling Enemy darts so and then he was walking around with cocktails serving drinks. I was like, okay, this is this is wonderful. Don't think that's going to happen the next time I go.

That place is.

Really it's like a high end dart place and it is just you get your ACKI which I learned that word.

That's your like bay.

It's like fifteen bucks for ninety minutes. This place is so entertaining. If you have groups your work Christmas party anyway, go to this place.

I promise you're.

Gonna have fun.

And that's in the old Sacks building right exactly exactly, Okay, yeah, okay.

So Hamilton the Musical is back and it started last night. It is going on through January.

Fourth at the Air and Off.

I mean this this thing is still huge. This is this musical is must see, I think. And then we have the Island of Christmas Holidays. This is the tenth annual Festive Night of Caribbean Cheer and Dinner and this is at the Red More that lookout. Yeah tonight and.

Tomorrow love that joint. Yeah that's fun.

Well vibe Little Christmas Island. Christmas Jingle Jams is going on tonight at the Porch of Washington Park at six to nine Live music, and they're also have like a Nutcracker walk through that's going on Washington Park. That's kind of fun, the little things all around, and I wanted to give it a shout out to brew River. This restaurant is so great and it is on Eastern Avenue, such a great place there.

They're the only creole.

Restaurant we have, I think around They have live music Friday and Saturday, and the live music with their brunch on Sunday, and it's just so fun to go there for brunch. And they're also doing a New Orleans Christmas tasting menu.

Through the end of the year at brew River. Yeah, that's about midway roughly. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I know I've been there before.

That.

The Brewer River is basically between let's say where Jeff Rubys is and downtown about halfway down right. Yeah, yes you can.

You can kind of see it from there. Put on the levee down on the loop there by Lunkin.

Yes, yes, exactly, Yes, I'm down.

There on the Loop by Terry, you know, Militarry Shirt Club, Burder.

Deaths that area. All right, So what does hey Michelle have in store for this weekend? What are you do. That's what the public wants to know.

Christmas, Christmas party, that'll be fun. Uh and then Michael Martagia and me going to that concert. I'm going back to the flight clutup with the family that's coming into town, and I'm doing the Nutcracker again. I'm taking uh my sister. So she doesn't know that.

Oh well, it's a good thing you didn't tell anybody.

She's in Atlanta right now, so hopefully she's not.

Wait we blow in there like we're next door. I know, I know, I know. Okay, Well, she's in Nada, Cincinnati, and she might be dialed into the morning show knowing you're all might.

Be Yeah, all my family listens in on your phone.

So yes, I love that.

All right, So when's your next big event? I assume it's coming sometime after the new year. Yes, that'll be January.

I'm working on finalizing all those right now. So January February much you'll be lined up. I should be able to tell you that next time we talk.

Okay, all right, Hey, I hope you have a very very merry Christmas, you and your family, and I hope everybody's safe. God speed ahead and merry Christmas. Thank you for every week. Thank you so much, Thank you. Eight fifty two. Let's check the roadways one more time with Chuck Ingram before we get out of here on the Morning Show. Chuck, how you doing, How we do it?

We're doing fine. The road getting closer to being fine, but rainmate change that in the next few minutes. As from the UC Health Traffic Center, you see Cancer Center offers advanced surgical options for complex liver and pancreatic cancers and clinical trials you won't find anywhere else. Get a second opinion now called five one, three, five eet five

Owery WCPO nine First Warning Forecast presented by Jennifer Ketchmark And if you didn't hear her earlier, her entire family has come down with the flu, and she was back to work for the first time today in a while, and we hope and pray that she is feeling better. Next to sun and clouds right now, we're getting up to fifty four degrees. There is a chance of rain sometime after noon today. But tonight, when I tell you