Good morning, Kentucky, Anda, Happy hump Day. We've got a wet Wednesday as the scattered showers continue, so be careful, maybe try to hustle a little bit as you get out the door because your may hit some delays with traffic. But we'll get the latest on that with Bobby Ellis coming up here at about four minutes or so. But again it is Kentucky Anna's Morning News with coffee and company here on news Radio eight forty whas Nick Coffee, that's me John all on alongside, and we've got measles
here in Louisville. At least one local case has been confirmed that of course has been in the news this morning with John Shannon and yesterday Mayor Greenberg discussed and I'll when I hear the measles, I just I just assumed that it was like some you know, and I'll admit this is probably something that makes me sound ignorant, and I'm probably I probably sounded ignorant along the way for the first couple hours so far today, So hand
up if that's if that's that's what you think. But when when I just assumed that, like the measles was something that like didn't exist anymore, and clearly I'm wrong. Now it didn't exist for at least a little while, and then of course now it's back. But this case involves a child who recently traveled internationally to an area and that is where it came from. Louisville Metro Health conducting contact tracing and of course asking certain individuals to isolate.
And this brings the total number of cases in twenty twenty five in Kentucky to thirteen. But Louisville's case is not connected to any of those others, so in the last twenty years, Kentucky had only eight cases, which again that'll tell you how rare this actually is. Now, the vaccination status of the child who currently has the measles is unknown, but according to the CDC, most measle cases nationwide and twenty twenty five have involved unvaccinated individuals or
those with only one dose of the vaccine. So when it comes to the measles again, highly contagious as far as yeah, I mean, up to ninety percent of the people that are close to those who are not immune get infected from this, so yikes. And I guess the immunization process is really dependent upon your age, so I was born. I was born in nineteen eighty eight, so the MMR vaccine became the standard in the late seventies. By the late eighties, most children received two doses, one
in early childhood and one before starting school. But measles, it's one of those things that I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but a lot of people probably don't even know exactly really what it is, because again, it's just I mean, when I think of it, I honestly think of the vaccine when I was a kid, Like that's just knowing that how important it was, knowing that you had to
have it and whatnot. So for those who literally have no clue as far as like what type of symptoms are, You've got high fever, cough, running nose, red watery eyes. After a few days, a red, blotchy rash can develop. So yikes, hopefully this individual, this child can get can get can get well soon. There are certain diseases, conditions, illnesses that just sound awful, and I'll give you example
of one. I didn't know what this was until I was diagnosed with it, and I didn't even really have a clue what it was when the doctor told me that he thinks I have this, And I knew that it was a thing. I'd heard of it, but I had no clue what it was. And I went from the range here for me was Okay, is this something that I need to be somewhat worried about? Or am I going to die? When I was told that I had gout, I just remember thinking, oh, man, that sounds awful,
because that's a gross word. Gout just sounds And I remember when I would tell people, yeah, I have gout, there were others that weren't quite familiar with what it was. You know, it's it's actually arthritis where you've got build up in your joints and your uric acid levels or not or not main the way that they should be, and you just get your joints like your feet, your hands, your knees, your toes, they can become that you have
bad flare ups. But I only learned that because I had it, and now I take medicine and I'm good. But when the doctor told me I had gout, I mean, for a brief moment, I thought of am I going to die? Do I need to call my loved ones and tell them goodbye? And then his lack of concern let me know that it really wasn't that big of a deal. But I remember telling people, yeah, I got got they back up, like if I breathe on them,
you know something bad was going to happen. So it's not I mean, it's something I'll have to deal with probably for the rest of my life if I don't maintain my health. But yeah, it's a gross word, and I don't enjoy having it by any means. But it's not all that serious, and it's actually way more common. I feel like there's no way to prove this. If gout didn't sound like such a gross word, there'll be more people out there acknowledging that they do have gout.
But you know that if those out there don't know what it is, they're just they might think that, you know, you've got the plague something. Anyways, all right, let's get an update on traving weather again. Bobby Ellis will get you squared away as far as areas that are going to have some delays this morning because of this wet, wet rain that we've got. And also what I want to take a look at on the other side is
another comparison for Louisville. I've been looking at just different things where Louisville compares to other cities in and some of these comparisons as far as who are most alike, may surprise you. And then also we got to talk about the documents being unsealed in the Crystal Rogers murder trial. I mean, if you are the mother and brother of Brooks Howc, I mean, you can be surprised if you get a knock at your door or maybe your attorney
lets you know they're coming for you. Stick with us right here at Katucky and Is Morning News with Coffee and Company News Radio eight forty whs. It didn't take long for a lot of folks to shift attention to the others that are believed to be responsible in some former fashion for the murder of Crystal Rogers. Obviously great news as far as the the you know, the justice the Rogers family was able to get with Brooks Howk
being found guilty and the recommended sentence being life. But again, not long after that, I wouldn't say attention shifted automatically to who's next, But I know a lot of those that just kind of set back and watched this thing from afar and kept up with that trial it's quite clear that it wasn't just these two that had involvement in some way with what happened to her. And if you are the mother of Brooks Hawk, Rosemary Hawk, or you were the brother of Brooks Hawk, Nick Hawk, you
got to be worried. I mean, throughout the trial it was quite clear that there were some things that did not look good, didn't look good for you as far as testimony, the evidence that was there, and now we are getting more information because there's unsealed court documents that really pain and even darker picture as far as who
else was involved in some way. We talked a little bit earlier about how there was zero cell phone activity from June sixteenth to August fourteenth, August fourth so that's a huge timeframe of the disappearance of Rogers, and prosecutors say that the mother, Rosemary Howck, she was using a different phone, a burner phone that nobody ever recovered, and
again that just looks highly suspicious. You just you know, you didn't have any cell phone activity at all for that amount of time because you were probably just trying to stay off the radar. You bought a burner phone allegedly, and again law enforcement never found that phone that was being used instead of the one that I mean, the just went dark, and again that's not proof, but again
let's be real here. And then also the disappearance of Nick Howck whenever whenever the night that she disappeared, and his girlfriend testified that that's not new information, but his girlfriend did testify that that's unusual for him. And by the way, it's his former girlfriend that said that him being just unreachable for twenty four hours is just not
like him at all. And he didn't have much of an explanation for that other than he just didn't want to be annoyed by his girlfriend at the time because they were, they'd probably be fighting. I think that's essentially
what his defense was. Now. Also the plot here, Rosemary the mother reportedly asked Danny Singleton, who was Brooks' employee, if he knew someone who could get rid of Crystal Rogers, and a witness told the grand jury that she seemed to quote take pleasure end quote in Crystal's disappearance, and that again there's so many things that just like I don't remember who it was, it might have been the new girlfriend of Brooks house at the time, but when
you are walking around town ripping down posters that show missing woman, you know, like, what do you? I mean, how how brave? That's just that's dumb. There's a lot of other things that it is, but it's just stupid to think that that won't make you look suspicious. I mean. And then also there were there was hidden audio that
that was there in the record. Yes, so they found a recorder that captured Brooks telling his sister Ronda to bring a red according to her grand jury testimonies, so that the brother could hear it, suggesting, of course the family were they were coordinating. And again that's not proof. But again there's just if the jury was able to find Brooks out guilty of what they found him guilty
of last week. I don't know what the actual charges that'll be brought to these two, if in fact that ends up happening, but I mean, if there was enough evidence to get what we got last week, I think there's enough evidence with these two for a conspiracy charge. But we shall see. All right, We've got another update
of trafficking and weather coming your way. Again. Pay attention to the traffic update because we've got some wet roadways here on a Wednesday, So Bobby ellilso get a squared away there and then we'll have another update on the weather, and of course Scott will be here with sports on news radio eight forty whs. Thank you very much, John Shannon. That's how you deliver the news right there. Well done,
Thank you guys for joining us. Guys and gals, I should say it is Kentucky had his morning news with Coffee and Company here on news Radio eight forty whas Nick Coffee. That's me, hope you that. If not, now you do the company man John Alden alongside. And if you are someone that was annoyed yesterday when you got that very loud notification on your phone, I get it.
Maybe maybe it even scared you, So I understand. But I will use the platform here as the father of a of a special needs kid to just let you know that those this specific situation in place, meaning the IAN alert is appreciated by the special needs community and
certainly necessary. Again, the ian alert similar to the Amber alert as far as just your phone going off regardless of what you're doing, regardless of where you are, I mean, I'm not I wouldn't even shock me as if you don't even have service, there's an ability to somehow get it to your device. And clearly everybody, if you're around
people who all have a phone, it's loud. I mean, I know, I was listening to one of our stations here within the iHeart Louisville world when it went off, and I you know, if your phone was on silent vibrate, it's still going to go off. So that's how serious it is. But the tragic situation in Hart County is just heartbreaking. For lack of a better word, and I'm not sure there is a better word to describe it,
just awful. A five year old boy was found dead after he ended up walking away from his home in Heart County, Kentucky, which of course that's what alerted the IAN alert to go off. Five year old and again he left his house around eight am and they found I'm not sure when he was when he was found, but the IAN alert was activated at nine thirty and about ten fifteen KSP confirmed that he was found dead, so no foul play expected, and the timing here is wild.
One year ago is when the IAN alert system actually became a thing, and it was named after a young man named Ian who was nine years old with autism, who drowned in twenty twenty two after running away. And then the system, of course, it's similar to the Amber alert, and it's tailored to quickly locate missing individuals with cognitive or developmental disabilities. So it's certainly necessary. And I know there are many that just think, oh, come on, are
they putting another one? There's another type of alert that's just going to annoy me. And I get it, like you know, especially if you're not expecting it, and maybe you don't even look at what it says. You just put your phone back in your pocket. And I mean, I get it. But from my perspective again, my daughter
she is she is autistic, she is intellectually disabled. So if in fact she was to end up in a situation where she was she was missing and it's because of her of her disability, I mean I would, I would. I don't know what I would do. I mean I would. I can't even imagine sort of the state of mind I would be in. But this type of situation, this type of system in place, can only help, really, And I think one thing I've learned in my time as
her dad is that everybody with certain everybody's different. Nobody, even if you have the same diagnosis as far as autism or an intellectual disability, that can still look a lot different. So just just awful. But again, I'll always use my platform here to advocate for the special needs
community and special needs kids. And I don't think that if you know, this is something that I've said before, probably not on this show, but you know, people who use the R word and or people who just you know, are annoyed and wish that they're and complain that these alerts are in place, like the e in alert. I mean, I don't think they're doing it from a place of being an awful person. It's probably just because of just
you know, you don't think about those things. And I get why you don't think about those things, but if you the more people are made aware of other situations like special needs people and special needs children, it could go a long way. I mean, maybe you are somebody who says, Okay, Nick, I don't care. I still think it's you know, stupid and they shouldn't have my phone go off because I don't care. I mean, again, I can't change that. But I also think when it comes
to like the R word. That's I don't. I don't think that people ever really mean it in a bad way when it's used. It just became a word that for a while was used socially to just talk about somebody doing something silly or stupid. So like, I don't, I don't ridicule or go off on people who still use it in conversation. And it's not a not a super common thing, but it's also not insanely rare. That's that, you know, I'm around someone that still will will use
it in that context. And again, I don't think they're coming from a bad place. I just try to, you know, let them know, Hey, that can be very harmful, that can be hurtful. And maybe one of those people that over the years have had that conversation with realize, okay, I'm going to remove that from the vocabulary when it comes to discussing certain things. And you know, and if
they don't, you know, at least I tried, right. I just think of the thought of of of my my daughter being teased for anything just gives me insane anxiety, and it's something I try not to think about. But I'm also aware of what the world is like, but just that word specifically, it would just it killed me.
So anyways, very sad news out of Hart County yesterday. Again, no foul play is expected, and obviously thoughts and prayers to everyone affected in that community, not just the family, but of course, I mean, I'm sure there's many others that were close to this young man, as someone who again has has a daughters that's in a special needs class that she has the same teacher every year. She spends the majority of her day in the same class.
And I know a lot of you know, a lot of special needs kids can touch your heart in a way to where you get close to them, you connect with them, and I'm sure there's many that were that were in the situation here with this young man. All right, let's get an update of trafficking weather. Also, we'll take another look here at which cities are most similar to
Louisville when it comes to certain certain data. And Louisville is weird because Louisville's population, I mean, when you pull in the Louisville metro, that's what makes us a bigger city than a lot. But certainly we're not as big as you know, Nashville, Indianapolis and whatnot. So again we'll talk about a couple of those things, because I think
there's some cities where similar to that may surprise you. Again, we'll get to that after we get an update on news I'm sorry, not news, but tracking weather right here on news radio eight to forty whas So, this morning, I've been looking at different cities that are comparable to Louisville in different factors. And we talked earlier about how the cost of living. The most similar city to Louisville
is Oklahoma City. Now with population, it's tricky because with Louisville, it is the Louisville metro so of course that includes just Jefferson County, and as of twenty twenty three, the estimate was one point three nine million is the population here in Louisville. And when it comes to that number, specifically cities that are the most comparable as far as population metro population, you've got the Raleigh, North Carolina area,
Oklahoma City once again. And also this is an area that I would have never I only know this because of my time in sports, but Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, that metro area there, it is bigger as far as population than Louisville. And maybe I'm the only one that would have never believed that, just because there's not a whole lot that I know about that area. I mean, in fact, you could have told me that it was one fourth of the size of Louisville, and I probably
would have believed you. And honestly, another factor that has helped me kind of understand just the amount of people that are in certain cities across our country is television markets. Right just in what we do, you know, you see the number, and that's that gives you, That gives you
the audience that you can reach. As far as the amount of people that are there, like Hartford, Connecticut, I believe is similar to Louisville, and although it's not mentioned here in this breakdown, maybe similar in TV market, but not similar in as far as just the overall amount of people. But also Tulsa, Oklahoma is similar and as far as the closest as far as just the number, Richmond, Virginia one point three six million and Louisville one point
three to nine million. Again that is as of twenty twenty three. Now, also what I think is interesting is the growth not necessarily just the amount of the amount of people. But as far as just like clearly you can be you can have the same level of growth, but the actual total population be insanely different. And I remember this in the nineties, Nashville and Louisville used to
be used to be the same tier of cities. I mean, in nineteen ninety the metro population in Louisville and Nashville were about the same one million, The economy was relatively similar, the culture was different but had its own thing. Obviously, for Louisville it's been the same thing. Bourbon derby, college basketball, that kind of stuff, country music and college football, grand
Ole opry. That's for Nashville. But the Nashville takeoff is I mean, it's certainly not gone unnoticed, but it is wild. In two thousand, the cities were still somewhat similar, but Nashville had grown quite a bit. And then as of twenty twenty, Louisville is at one point three nine million in that range and Nashville is at one point nine million as far as just metro population. And again, so the growth since two thousand, you're looking at fifty six
percent growth from Nashville. In Nashville which again, that's big anywhere. And I remember going to Nashville as a kid thinking that that was a very similar city as far as the size and whatnot, and now now not so much. And I hate to tie everything to sports, but I mean, I think having an NFL team like Nashville does with the Titans and even the team they have in the NHL like that, that's only going to help grow your city. Although Nashville, I mean, I don't know what led to it.
Nashville is a great place, but it just became one of the places to be as far as nightlife and tourism. And again, Nashville's cool, but it's almost become like nothing at all what made Nashville appealing when I was younger. Nashville and Austin, Texas, just those are places that have exploded as far as just people want to live there, people want to go there. All right, let's get to a quick time out. We will get an update on traffic and weather. We'll also get another update on sports.
It is Kentucky INA's Morning News with Coffee and Company on news radio. Wait forty WHS
