Good morning, Kentucky, Ana. Welcome man.
It is Kentucky Anda's Morning News with coffee and company here on news radio eight forty w h as.
We've got a full crew in house today.
Obviously, Scott Fitzgerald, he's alongside, as he just saw.
The the newscasts was funny. I didn't see that. Get this sense that's your first time seeing that?
Yeah, yeah, well yeah, I ended up. I was pretty much out of touch. Last I was telling you off the ear, I was out of touch. So I'm catching up this morning. I had not seen the person jumping up and down on the water truck.
I swear. As soon as we get we get the party started.
Here. We've got the woky newscast on on our television here of course, our partners. And as soon as Scott looks behind him, there is the woman who was later arrested for jumping in front of the Louisville Water Company trucks. As that person's just trying to do their jobs. So anyhow, we'll certainly talk about that today and that'll be a big talking point obviously.
But again, a full crew. Scott Fitzgerald's here.
We also have John Shannon, he'll be along with the news coming up about five thirty and mister radio Rick Ryder in the saddled today. Rick, let me ask you a question, and I don't want to aid you, but you've been doing this a long time, my friend. That's why I call you mister radio Rick, because you're a pioneer in the industry. What year did you first work in the business of radio? Nineteen seventy many years ago, and that's why again, you're a legend. So we're happy
to have you alongside today. And now we're gonna have some fun. Obviously, as you could expect, we've got a story here that will I don't want to say dominate the show because we're gonna mix it up and have
some fun. But this is now the second time in the last roughly ten days or so that when you check national headlines before starting a news talk show, you see a headline nationally that of course is of local interest in that is, of course, what happened yesterday with Brent Hankinson getting sentenced, which I got the Scott You and I were chatting about this right before we started the show. It did feel regardless of what folks wanted to see happen, meaning a really really harsh sentence, or
maybe they felt as if no sentence was deserved. I didn't think anybody truly knew what to expect.
No, they didn't, And I thought it was a little odd. The one day recommendation.
It was kind of like reminded me when USFL was awarded one dollar when they were going out, So I was like, where did that come from? And that's why I was asking you getting caught up?
Now?
Thirty three months was the sentence for Brent Hankinson. And it's gonna be very interesting listening to the public reaction to this and what people think wasn't enough. I'm sure there are some folks that think it wasn't enough, some folks that think now it was too much, But I like, I appreciate your take you had on this, and I think you're one hundred percent on point here.
I think, yeah, I mean, when it comes to just what Brent hank take take away, And again, this is really hard for people to do, and I'm gonna try my best to lay it out and hopefully you guys will hear me out. But if you just take away and I don't mean to act like it doesn't matter, but when it comes to just the overall sentencing, if you can remove any and again when it comes to a judge, I do think they factor in sort of what is the crime, what exactly is he being charged with.
So if you just look at what he did that night, I mean, he was shoddy police work that clearly put a lot of people's lives in danger, that had nothing to do with what was going on and what the purpose was when they were there to bring, you know, clearly try to serve a warrant that obviously wasn't on the up and ups. So I want to lay that out throughout the morning here. And it's not to try to convince anybody that they should change their thoughts if
their thoughts aren't aligned with mine. But I do think when it comes to just the expectation that there would be no sent it just didn't.
Seem realistic that there'd be nothing.
But the DJ clearly, I guess they feel as if, hey, he was he's a cop, and he was doing what cops do, and yeah, he might have made a mistake and some things happened, but I guess they felt as if maybe he'd already I don't know what they thought, but clearly they didn't think that he was deserving of any any further punishment as far as incarceration, but it was quite clear that the judge felt felt much different, and that is why you saw the three years thirty
three months in prison with three years supervis release. So again, that of course will be a big talking point today and if you have, if you have thoughts on it, you're welcome to share it. We have the talkback feature that's on the Aheart radio app, and I was accused last week of if you're gonna mention the talkback feature, you should listen to it. In fact, we had people using the talkback feature to say that, and I will tell you that you were right. Sometimes I forget about it.
Yesterday was one of those days because we had some issues to start the show yesterday, and had I check the talkback feature, I would have noticed that all of you were letting us know we had some audio issues that we were unaware of. So we'll let you guys contribute to the show. And again, now, if you're I
probably probably should say this. I was gonna not, but I mean, you have thirty seconds with the talkback feature to share really, whatever it is you want, but just do keep in mind there are certain things that I mean, I have to censor you, not because of your beliefs, but because this is radio, right, This is when I censor you. It's not because I'm trying to be you know, two PC or whatnot, but quite literally, there are things you can and cannot say on the radio.
So just keep that in mind.
Yeah, it's a great feature to your point, but yeah, you do listen to it.
Nick.
I can tell folks that you do listen. Nick takes in everything you have to say, but not everybody can be heard because of some of the things that are said. You see, kind of puts the hammer down on us if we allow those things to go on over the air. But yeah, use that feature and use it. And I wanted to tell folks use it for sports as well, to sure take you on on sports. Please do, because that's what we're all feedback.
Yeah right, we're loaded here on a Tuesday again. We'll get you what you've come to expect here on News Radio eight forty whas a check of the traffic out there on the roadways, an updated forecast coming your way, and of course Scott will be back with sports at about fifteen minutes and John Shannon with the news. So again we're loaded here on a Tuesday, and hope you stick with us. Right here, it's Kentucky and this morning News with Coffee and Company right here on news Radio
eight forty whas. All right, let's get a look at the forecast from Matt Melosovich of WLKY. Gonna be partly cloudy and less humid today. High's near ninety tonight bear Sky's Lowe's in the lower seventies and currently at five twelve, it is seventy forty degrees here at news Radio eight forty whas five point sixteen Here Kentucky, Ana's Morning News
News Radio eight forty whas. It is Coffee and Company, Nick Coffee, that is me And certainly a big day here in Louisville yesterday as Brett Hankinson was set to be sentenced, and that that is exactly what happened, But before the final decision from the judge was handed down, a hectic, hectic scene in downtown Louisville as four people
ended up ended up being arrested. And I guess that's not really a surprise considering what the Breonna Taylor situation has has resulted in just with just tension here in Louisville. But there were four people, including Breonna Taylor's aunt, Bionca Austin, who were arrested. The charges from the four different individuals.
Austin was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway, and then there were a few others arrested for this other disorderly contact, highway obstruction, harassment and theft by and lawful taking. So the visual of the individual jumping on the Louisville water truck that was that was something. I mean, that's the kind of clip that certainly will get your attention, and it's gone viral everywhere, and that's just what you probably should expect when it comes to those kind of things.
But I will say the Louisville Water Company employee and you can really find what's the that's the I was gonna say the beauty of the Internet. I'm not sure if it's beauty. I think it's maybe a problem with society to an extent. But you can find anything you want on the Internet, meaning you can if you want to believe something, you will be able to find something to help you support yourself believing what you want to believe. So I'm sure you can find folks that are very
upset with the decision for both reasons. Maybe some people think Hankerson shouldn't have any prison time, Maybe some people think that he should be, you know, in jail for life. So again you'll you'll find a very mixed bag of what people think. But I will say there were only a few that I saw reacting to the video of the person jumping on the Louisville Water Company truck that
thought the Louisville Water Company employee was at fault. And you know, if you play in this, if you mean, look, I don't want to cross the line here, but I'm not really sure what doing that was was set to accomplish yesterday.
But that's just me.
However, most folks I saw reacting to it were thinking, like, not run the person over. I mean, some people certainly did say that, But the one person I saw that was acting as if, you know, maybe this Louisville Water Company employee should be the one going to jail, because here they are just doing their jobs, driving on a street, which they're supposed to be able to do, and there's somebody in their way that then jumps on their vehicle, and I didn't have any expectation as far as any
response from the Louisville Water Company. However, there was a there was a statement that was released saying that they confirmed their employee was caught in the protest but was safely able to exit the area. Which look, think about yourself in that situation in a vehicle. I mean, you could be wanting to get the hell out of there for a lot of reasons, understandably so, but one may be because you feel like you're in a dangerous situation. You don't know, I mean, you don't know what these
people are gonna do. So anyhow, tensions very very high before the sentencing came down, and in the end the sentence was thirty three months in federal prison with three years supervisor release and a one hundred dollars fine. So not going to be able to work in law enforcement ever again or own a gun, and he's going to voluntarily voluntarily surrender at a later date as he's not
considered a flight flight risk. However, the DJ recommended just one day in prison, which that led to some real sharp criticism from Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, who called it troubling and a failure to assign accountability. She also denied the motion that was put in place yesterday for a new trial for Hankerson, as she called the defense disjointed based off of I guess just scrambling there at the last minute. But in the end, that was the sentence
and thirty three months in federal prison. I could be wrong. Maybe some people predicted this exactly the way it played out, but I felt as if, regardless of what you wanted or what you may be hoped for, I don't think many had a real feel for what was going to play out. And in the end, thirty three months in federal prison for Brett Hankerson. All right, we've got another check of traffic and whether Bobby Ellis will get us caught up on how the roadways are looking this morning.
We'll get another check of Matt Melissovitch's forecast, and of course we've got our first sports update coming up here with Scott, so stick around. It is Kentucky in its morning News with Coffee and Company, Nick Coffee, that's me, and this is News Radio eight forty whas. Thank you very much, John Shannon. It is five thirty five here Kentucky in it's morning news on News Radio Whas Coffee and Company. I'm Nick Coffee and we've got the full crew in house today. You just heard John Shannon with
a phenomenal newscast. Well done, sir. Also Scott Fitzgerald, he'll be back with sports coming up in about twenty minutes. And mister Radio Rick Ryder alongside today filling in for John Alden, who is who's out on vacation enjoying his well deserved time off. But Rick, I didn't want to make you sound like an old man today. But there's a reason why I ask you when you got started
in the radio business. I wanted to go back in time a little bit with you, Rick, to when that was that you you got your first your first start, you were cutting your teeth, as they say in the business. Do you want to know what the most popular car was in the fall of nineteen seventy Take a guess close Chevy Chevelle. And then I'm not familiar with this, but the Ford to Reno. Do you know what the Ford Torino is? What about the biggest movie you can?
You take a guess. We're going back many years airport. Do you remember that one? Oh a date or two? Huh? Look at you? How about that?
So you clearly have some good memories from that era in nineteen seventy. And then, of course the biggest band was the Beatles, right, I mean they had just broke up, it says here is.
That true around that time?
Yep?
You are you have.
I mean, I'm reading this from research. You remember it like it was yesterday, because you're right, they broke up in April of nineteen seventy. But the solo projects started heating up after that. So we'll continue to look back at that time just because I think it's fun. It's
fun to do that. And again, I'm a nerd for radio before I was ever able to not only experience it as somebody who has an opportunity on air, but like before I existed, and Rick can go back in time, and I do that with Terry Miners and all the other veterans in the industry. So I'm a nerd for it. In fact, I was told hopefully he can if he's listening. This may be the reminder, but my boss, Gus Allen, he told me he has some older shows of this. It was Kentucky and his Morning News when Wayne Perky
was hosting I think twenty five thirty years ago. He has a couple of different shows that took place at that time, and I would love to go back and listen to that. Just it's almost like a time machine, right, good stuff. So anyhow, again, the big news today, as you could expect, is the sentencing for Brett Hankinson and
it's the second time here. And somebody actually had asked me what story I was referencing, but I mentioned to start the show today that this is the second time that when you check the national headlines before you start a news talk show, you see a national headline that
is of local interest here. And of course the Brett Hagison situation is the one today, but the previous one was the shooting that took place in Lexington where of course the officer was shot at and then the suspect then carjacked somebody and then drove to that church and obviously killed two people. So again, awful stories, but certainly news that is needed to be discussed. And again, if
you are I don't. I feel like it's one of those things where you'd have to be living under a rock to not know what the actual sentence was at this point for Brett Hankinson, but he was the DJ recommended just one day, which was almost hilarious to think about. I mean, I don't know if that's because you can't recommend no punishment.
I don't think that's the case.
But anyhow, the judge did not follow along with what the recommended sentence was because the judge decided to sentence him to thirty three months in federal prison. And one of the things that I have that I've really in the last as we got closer to this date yesterday where he was going to be sentenced, really, I guess since finding out last week that the DJ recommended what they recommended, it's really hard for people to do. And
I understand why. And in no way am I insinuating that the context of the overall situation doesn't matter, because it does. That's why this became the national story that it is. But if you just look at Hankerson firing ten rounds blindly through a covered sliding glass door and a bedroom window from outside of her apartment, I mean, even even though the first shot did come from Kenneth Walker, her boyfriend, who claims to be under the impression at that time that they.
Were being robbed.
Either way, if you just firing ten rounds blindly, you need to be held accountable for doing that, because yes, you are in the line of fire and it's a it's a hectic situation, but it also is reckless. So again, I don't want to act like the context of the overall situation doesn't matter. But when you consider, like for those who think this guy should have been punished at all, take away the entire you know, just just look at
that specific action, firing ten rounds blindly. It wouldn't be a shock that a law enforcement officer would be held accountable with charges and in a sentencing with time in prison, because you can't do that. I mean, I think if you look at it that way, you won't be surprised that he was in fact sentenced. And again some people think he should be sentenced much more severely than he was. But if you want to and we'll let we'll play some of these shortly, I promise you. But if you
want to share your thoughts, you can. We've got the talkback feature available for you on the out radio app. Just pop it open, click that microphone button once you're listening to eight forty whs and you'll be able to share whatever it is.
That you want.
All right, let's get an update to look at the traffic out there from Bobby Ellis. We'll get a look at Matt Melosovitch's forecast. We've got Rory O'Neil coming up here at five forty five, so stick around right here on news radio eight forty whs.
All right, it.
Is five forty seven here a Kentucky INA's Morning News Coffee and Company Nick Coffee.
That's me. He's Roy O'Neil of NBC News.
Rory.
We've got b prices, they're soaring. Gas prices aren't though. Gas prices are pretty solid right now. Comparatively speaking, when it comes to the housing market, nobody wants to sell a house.
Not many you're buying. What can you tell us about how this.
Current economic situation is affecting us Americans here?
Yeah, a few different things all happening at the same time. As you mentioned. For gas prices, yeah, they're not crazy right now. The national average is about three thirteen. In Kentucky it's about two eighty nine a gallon on average, and the prices are pretty much down from where they were a year ago by about three cents, so pretty flat. And this according to Gas Buddy, this week is the
peak demand week of the year. Real about nine point three million barrels of gas consumed each day this week. So even though this is the week of peak demand, peak prices tend to happen in the spring at the time when the refineries have to change over their technology for the summer fuel formula. So we get peak demand this week, but peak prices tend to be in the spring.
And when it comes to beef prices, oh boy, beef is the new egg apparently the way the prices have been going up, I think up about ten percent since the beginning of the year, especially when you look at ground beef and steak prices. But demand remains strong. And that's one of the side effects of having a pretty strong economy is that beef prices tend to go up because there's higher demand for beef when Americans are doing well.
When it comes to the housing market, is can you give as any sign of light at the end of the tunnel here? Because I feel like if you're a young person kind of starting your professional career. Fresh out of college, you've always felt like, Yeah, I don't want to rent an apartment. I want to invest. I want to own my home. It seems to be very, very difficult and not appealing to do, given the current situation with the rates and whatnot.
Well, right, that's the American dream, right, owning your own home. By the way, before we start this, I saw I got some video feed whatever. It was a news story from nineteen eighty one when the mortgage rate the mortgage rate hit twenty percent. Wow, so right now we're all clamoring about, oh, no, how we're going to Well, we're actually much more in the average territory. We got spoiled for more than a decade.
And that I'm glad you brought that up.
Yeah, those rates that were between two and four percent, that was free money. We shouldn't have been going on that train for that long. But that's late to the game. Powell, as the President would say. But yeah, so we're spoiled with those low, low rates, and that's the lock in
effect that we're seeing. People don't want to give up that sweet three percent rate they got ten years ago, even though they may want to upgrade their house when you run the numbers with the higher rates, you're like whoa, And then there isn't as much inventory out there. Report from Redfin yesterday found that new listings fell three percent in June, the lowest level since October of twenty three.
And we're seeing more and more buyers on the sidelines optimistic that maybe we'll see some rate cuts later this year. So that means a lot of buyers just aren't sealing the deal because they're hoping the rates come down. Of course, the advice will be, by the way, if you hate the rate now like close your eyes, grin Barrett, sign it, lock it in, and then REFI if these rates come back down again.
Rory on Naleve, NBC News is our guest, You're our news, Rady eight forty whas last question for you, Rory. President Trump has said that he will attempt to keep the Washington Commanders from having their new stadium put together if they don't go back to being the Washington Redskins. I had the same question that a lot of people had.
Can he do that?
And probably not, but he's trust I'm talking about it on X right. Yeah, so it's and he certainly has the power of the pulpit or the microphone when it comes to being able to get a message out there. But it sounds like the White House is just trying to change subjects here. You know, notice we haven't said the word Epstein and the six minutes we've been talking, I.
Think you're onto something.
Yeah, he wants to have the both the Guardians and the Commanders changed their names back.
Yeah. I wouldn't be shocked if it's just the distraction. But that's just me. Rory as always appreciate the time. You're the best.
We will talk to you soon, my friend. That's wherey O'Neil. NBC News good stuff. All right, we've got another update of trafficking weather coming your way. Bobby Ellis will get a square away as far as how the roadways are looking this morning. We'll get the latest forecast from at Melosovich right here on News Radio eight forty whas I don't know