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Verity is wrong.
This is Colombia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and five sixty AM w VOC.
Sixteen minutes after six o'clock. Good morning, and welcome in Columbia's Morning News back on the radio. And hopefully you are maybe still in bed under a nice thick set of comforters and quilts and everything else warm blankets. Yeah, welcome to it, and hopefully you don't have to go anywhere this morning. This is uh, it's pretty dicey out there.
It's nasty, yeah, no doubt, especially on the side roads.
Yeah yeah, how are they? I came in last night and you know, just kind of following in the tracks of other vehicles on the interstate. And at that time, about nine o'clock last night, I guess the that was about the roads were covered in snow. You know, as long as you stayed in the the tracks or whatever, you could see what, you know, at least where everybody else was driving. Right, how did they look this morning?
I probably about the same. I mean, it's it's again it's because of this amount of snow that fell last night early this morning, it's I mean, it's it's dicey in places, especially again on the you know, getting out of your neighborhoods a lot worse, yeah, than the highway because the highway has been well traveled. However, I hit some icy spots on the highway too.
Yeah, and those cours those highways were pre treated by dots as best as they could be. Yeah. Yeah. Kelly Nash came in about four this morning said he kind of almost slid through an intersection getting out of his neighborhood. So h yeah, there's really no reason to unless you just absolutely have to. Don't be on the roads this morning or again, listen to our high temperature today is going to be about thirty five degrees and that won't be until mid afternoon. That'd be about for an hour
or so then it'll start dropping again. So these roads, if nothing else still, they'll improve is more people get out there later on today, But you know, we'll have to wait and see how much they do improve. And listen, Okay, tonight, we'll wake up tomorrow morning to fourteen degrees. That'll be
the air temperature tomorrow morning. Fourteen degrees an he winds expected to calm win so hopefully we won't work with too much of a Windsholl's twenty three now here at the radio range, and it feels like about twenty three. The winds are calm, so there's no issues with windshill this morning. It's just cold, but close to ten degrees cold or tomorrow morning, so there's let's there. There's going to be leftover stuff more than likely, especially on the
back roads the interstates. Tomorrow morning may be okay tonight, but the back roads and this is will hard freeze again tonight, so tomorrow morning could be a bit treacherous as well. So uh so there's there's your your four one one on all that if you don't have to be somewhere, just just just certainly state. But I didn't hear of any and I have to double check this, but uh, you know, we and we didn't really expect
to see very many, if any power outages. We didn't get ice around here, thank goodness.
And the wind wasn't bad life.
The wind was not bad, no, but it was we never got the big snow flakes, at least I didn't at my house before I left. You know, we had the smaller flakes and uh last night, first time ever had some snow cream.
Yeah, okay, I hope you use clean snow.
Yes, we use clean snow, thank you. First first time ever for me. It was all right. I wouldn't buy any of the store, but I mean it was all right. So a novelty there.
Now, it's been fun that the novelty of watching people like on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, goodness, or on the beaches in Florida. I mean, it's been fun watching the novelty of them enjoying the snow.
Wouldn't want to have to deal with whether they're having to deal with trying to, you know, get around and get things back and normal. But so for us, we don't have snowfall totals in yet. I mean some places got a little more than others. I know. We heard from one of our coworkers down in Charleston this morning and they got He said he got like two inches of ice. Two. That's that's bad. They closed the bridges in Charleston yesterday as a result of that. So, uh, yeah,
we didn't get that, thankfully. Now a winter store morning does stay in effect until nine o'clock this morning. Now the snow's gone, it's moved on out of here. But this is because because again of the of the dangerous driving conditions, so that stays into effect. Our cold weather advisory continues, and that'll be well again fourteen tomorrow morning. Yeah, that's not going anywhere, but we will warm up a bit after that. Thankfully, school districts they they've all switched
to e learning today for obvious reasons. I was surprised we didn't get announcement on that earlier. I would have thought that, you know, early yesterday we've got it at least and there was one district think it was Clarenon County who yesterday morning we knew it was going to be on a two hour to lay to day they've not gone to E larning. But yeah, we didn't expect
to see those those buses out and this stuff. Yeah, and the a fifteen hundred mile winter storm that was what that was, you know, snow from Texas to Florida
along the Gulf Coast, the Gulf of America. You had what blizzard warnings and blizzards in parts of the Gulf Coast in Louisiana yesterday as you mentioned all that snow and places like Houston and New Orleans and the Panhandle of Florida crazy, but there it was, all right, a couple of quickly run down big stories, hot topics, some other things that will maybe get a chance to look
into today. You know, we mentioned this yesterday. The governor ordered all state offices in Ridgeland and Election and County to stay open yesterday, and when he does, that includes places like a USC and Midlands Tech. They initially had announced that they would close yesterday afternoon because of the weather, but they wound up staying open at least for a while because of the governor's edict. That's got some folks scratching their heads.
I think around two thirty is when they started to shift gears back into Okay, we're done.
Yeah, I don't care what sega, We're out of here. Lawmakers are looking to spend more than a million dollars for a third party consultant to oversee our state's finances. No, what do you see wrong with that?
H No, elects. We elect a couple of people who do that already. We don't need to hire and spend money for anyone else to.
Do it, right, We already paid to get the outside audit from alex Partners. Now we're supposed to pay for oversight of our state finances.
Come on, I think they're trying to force the hand of the state treasurer.
I think you're probably right about that. The governor formerly yesterday asking the US Department of Health and Human Services to reinstate our state's Healthy Connections Community Engagement Initiative otherwise known as Medicaid work Requirements. Here here to that. Okay, we'll get in some of that. I meantime up in DC, it's all about Trump moves. He is a man of action, and the Trump administration directing all federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion staff to be put on leave boom paid leave,
by the way. Okay, the new FCC chairman immediately shutting out all DEI programs after that executive order was announced. Things are moving quickly, my friends. He's disbanded a key aviation security and advisory committee. Of course, on Monday, he didn't waste any time getting rid of the Coastguard commandant who's been DEI assessed. Also, when it comes to illegal immigration, schools and churches no longer off limits, says Trump, for
ice arrests. He's withdrawing again from the World Health Organization and Stargate, a five hundred billion dollar AI initiative announced with Open Ai, Oracle and SoftBank. This may not get might not have been tops on your list of things Trump would do, but this is a big one. We'll spend some time talking about that this morning. And as far as his nominees for cantet positions are concerned, well, John Thune has set up a vote looks like to
confirm Pete Hegzeth by the end of the week. Only one so far confirmed that, of course, Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. But expect things to start moving quickly. All right, That and more coming up here on this the Wednesday edition of Columbia's Morning News. I was always thank you for being with us, and stay off the roads and stay safe.
Celebrities who know not a darn thing other than you know singing and dancing on stage.
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton one on three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one on three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC.
Six forty four. Good morning, Wednesday morning, January twenty second. More on the roads in a minute. You get tired of hearing that this morning, just just don't go anywhere if you don't need to. Also, some airport delays over Columbia Metro, although it appears that it's not so much problems here but problems at destinations. American Airlines delaying one flight that was supposed to take off nearly two hours
ago heading to Charlotte. It's been rescheduled for seven o'clock. However, just say, hearing that it's Charlotte Douglass International Airport, they're well. All inbound flights are being held at their origin until and forty five this morning, so that American Airlines flights is supposed to take off at five ten may be
still a little while longer getting in the air. Also, d C American Airlines to DC is supposed to take off next hour, has been delayed and the Delta has canceled a couple of flights that we're supposed to head to Atlanta. Yeah, I canceled two of them this morning. Now later in the day, any flight scheduled still appear to be ons scheduled you want to check ahead if
you've got plans to fly out of Columbia Metro today. Again, doesn't look like it's Some flights have taken off over the airport, so it's not an issue here, but an issue with their destination. It appears all right. So again to recap, we don't have snow totals yet. We won't have that till later on today.
And the snow has stopped.
Yeah, snow has been stopped for a long time. Yeah, but again, our temperatures as low as they are this morning and have been overnight, it's not going anywhere. And with temperatures just barely get I think about freezing today and that's just for a short period of time mid afternoon, chances are well tonight it's gonna be tricky, and tomorrow morning maybe as well, because we're looking for a load
of night down to fourteen. And the roads this morning again, if you're gonna be on the interstates better because they pre treated DOT did and there's obviously more traffic on interstates. Not much this morning though, but still you gotta be careful there too. But boy, it's it's when you get off the interstate that's when it gets problematic seeing images of what looks to be ice on roadways all over town.
The interstates aren't a joy, but they're no but yeah they're they're in a little better shape than the secondary roads.
Yes, so you're gonna hear this all morning long. Stay off if you can. Just a couple of tips, again, just common sense stuff you probably already know. But what the heck slowed down. I was coming in last night about nine o'clock and I I twenty and I'm I might have been doing forty five maybe you know, I mean, just because it says sixty. You know what, weather like this, don't do that. Yeah, some yahoo went flying by me, I thought, go on, I'll probably see you up the
road somewhere off to the side in the ditch. But slow it down. Keep a lot of distance, obviously between you and anybody in front of you. If you happen to be in a situation where a car gets into a skin, that's happened to me before. If you've got antilge breaks, which most of everybody does now, don't pump them gently. Put in the brake. Remember this is always bizarre to me. But turn into your skin right if
you're sliding to the left. Of course, take your foot off the gas pedal and turn it into that skid.
Yeah, you're trying to get some traction under your tires, but it's against every instinct in your body to do.
Everything everything you want to go the opposite way. But that's how some way people get in trouble. So yeah, counter steer they call it. If you're if your car sliding left, steer it left.
And a little easier to get your car in control at slower speeds. Oh yes, Why everybody's urged to just slow down if you've got.
To be out, if you've got to be out, And of course we all know this bridges overpasses very dangerous places of this morning, and I suspect we'll be agin tomorrow morning with these temperatures being what they are tomorrow morning. The bottom line is this, I mean, well, we see a little bit of this stuff go away, you know, by the night. Who knows. Interstates maybe later this afternoon pretty decent, but the back road is going to continue to be a problem. I suspect at least through us
sometime tomorrow more than likely. I mean again, we will see sunshine today, so that's good. Maybe both burn off a little bit of this stuff hopefully, but uh yeah, it's gonna hard freeze up again tonight. And we mentioned earlier Charleston. Our co workers texted us earlier. He said they got two inches of ice where he is in Charleston. I mean, that's that's considerable. So they closed a couple of the Ravenel bridge and uh well two two bridges
they closed. And that's the last place I'd want to be.
Yeah, well, that means you're not getting anywhere, getting off anywhere, depending on where you are.
You're stuck on Mount Pleasant. You ain't going nowhere. So they got their situation worse than hours. So we have well be thankful for that at least. But again, at the risk of us saying this over and over again, if you don't have to be anywhere today, don't go anywhere. But if you're looking for something, d waffle houses are open. Just f yi.
You're listening to lumi Is Morning News on one oh three point five FM on five sixty am WVOC. Once again, here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.
Good to have you long in morning. It is sixteen minutes half seven o'clock. One bullet We did Dodge was We didn't have many power outages at all yesterday. Just checked a dominion right now reporting a whopping twenty one meters without power twenty one. That's it. The electric cooperatives a few more five hundred and seventy four been considering. There were some icy conditions along the coastal areas low country yesterday and last night, so that's that's not bad.
No wind or very little wind last night made a huge difference.
Yeah, and it was a dry snow. It wasn't one of those wet snow. I don't think it made a big difference, but certainly the ice made a big difference. But yeah, nice dry, powdery kind of snow. So yeah, we didn't have to deal with all that, and thankfully, so there's some good news this morning. Again. The roads good and it may i'll be good for a while.
So again, I know we're all saying this this morning, stay off the roads if you've got to get out there, take it slow, leave a lot of space, and uh for crying out loud, look out for the other person. You're not the crazy one they are, just remember that. Look out for them. Yeah. Airports delays we mentioned earlier doesn't seem like an issue necessarily with Columbia Metro, but with some of the destinations, including Atlanta and Charlotte, where
some flights have been delayed. Couple have been canceled this morning. Flights scheduled for later on late this morning into the afternoon are still most of them are on time. It looks like so, but check ahead, all right, So taxpayers knew me. We ponied up a good bit of money to help the state and the State Treasurer's office assist with this audit just came out from alex Partners.
Let me rephrase, we paid money to discover we didn't have money that we thought we had.
Something like that. Yeah, yeah, the two billion dollars. Remember that two billion dollars was originally a three and a half billion dollar error, and they all started when well money that was designated for our state's colleges was double counted. That's what led to Richard Extrom resigning the Controller General back in twenty twenty three. But still we had two billion dollars sitting there and.
It wasn't that big a deal because we didn't know it was missing. But once we were told it was missing, then it was it was a big deal. Then it became a big deal.
But apparently the folks in charge of our finances knew about this bookkeeping error, but those are the state House, and the rest of us didn't. And boy, but once once we found out, then it became a big deal that the money never existed to begin with. Okay, we didn't lose it, you know the story. Well, so, in the process of this audit that was going on, one point two million dollars was given to the Treasure's office
to help complying with that audit. But according to staffers over the Senate, the Treasure's office never spent any of that. So rather than say, okay, we'll use it for a better purpose, or you know, just not use it at all. You know, it's kind of like you got a bunch of money in your pocket burning a hole in it, right, we got to spend it on something. So now you get to some lawmakers who are looking to take that one point two million dollars and give it to a
third party consultant to oversee our state's finances. This was apparently the top recommendation. There was some two dozen, more than two dozen suggestions in this audit and this was the top one hire an outside entity to as Larry Groom said, babysit. You know, the folks in charge of our state's finances.
This is this is ridiculous, but it's it's obviously a ploy. I mean, this is nobody seriously wants to hire somebody else with that kind of money to do something that we've already elected someone to do. Right, they're trying to they're trying to force they're trying to force Curtis Loftus's hand.
Yeah, exactly what they're doing. It's it's this is not even about the one to point two million dollars, okay, the grand scheme of things. That's a drop in the bucket, but it is taxpayer money and we don't have to be happy about that. But it's one point two million dollars okay, But yeah, the idea and if they're serious about it, the idea that we need again his Grooms called it a babysitter to overlook our finances is laughable,
just laughable. And you know, we are being investigated by these Securities and Exchange Commission over all this we have been this investigation has been going on for a bit now. And who knows how much longer it will go and what it will result in. But if nothing else, it certainly has the potential to damage our state's credit rating, which is the last thing we want to have happen. You know, we've been fortunate for a long time, we've
had an outstanding credit rating here in the state. But that could go by the wayside, and that makes you know, barring and you know, bonds and such for needs. Now it's you. You're paying a lot more interest on that. So imagine how the SEC would look at this, how these credit rating bureaus would look at this if they find out that, yeah, in South Carolina, they don't even trust their own elected officials to keep up with things. They have hired an outside firm. Has anybody ever done this?
I'm sure they have. I mean, you know, government, all that friends of government. You don't think somebody's once upon a time has figured out, Oh yeah, hey, I know so and so at the accounting firm. Let's get them involved and they'll make a little money courtesy of the taxpayers.
But to officially actually say, yes, we have an outside entity that is overseeing or controlling our states finances. Yeah, if I'm a credit bier. I got, yeah, I got real problems with that. It doesn't inspire confidence, No, not at all. Listen, I mean our state's finances. You know, we've talked about it all the time. Every year we in the fiscal year. Look at all this money I left over. Now we have got a little bit of that back US taxpayers who ponied up all that money
to begin with. We're not, you know, on the verge of bankruptcy is not even a question. That's not the that's not the issue we got. We got gobs of money. Every year, we find gobs of money left over. But it's you know, the keeping track of thing. I get it. You know, none of this inspires confidence in any of us as taxpayers. Even though that two billion dollars was never missing, it never existed, it still doesn't inspire confidence.
I get it. But I mean, if this is anything but against you mentioned mister Thompson trying to force the hand of Curtis loft us here, if there's anything but that, it's it's absolutely to me, a ridiculous idea, and you're just asking for more trouble.
And it's just the typical headbutting we usually get at the State House once the legislature is in session between you know this, the legislators and the executive branch.
Well, they took up his idea yesterday and advanced it in committee. The full set Finance Committee took a look at it, but then doing with it yesterday afternoon, and apparently some top leaders of the House say there they're interested in looking at this quickly too. Well, okay, fine, because we need to move on past this.
All right.
Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. But we we have bigger fish to fry than trying to figure out two billion dollars that never existed to begin with. They never was missing. Well, you need to get on past that and move ahead.
Four more years light got old John Trump?
One? Hatpens next? Who knows what happens next?
Happens a year one On three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one on three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC.
Hey, we appreciate you joining us this morning for the Wednesday morning edition of Columbia's Morning News. For the twenty second day of January is again. Yeah, I know you're tired of hearing me say this. We're all saying at Tumbleweed saying it, Tyler's saying it. Stay off the roads today this morning at least, and I don't know, they may be treacherous tomorrow morning because of the We're not gonna warm up much, not much above freezing and down to fourteen to night, So heads up on that one.
But we we fared a lot better than a lot of places, did, Rory O'Neil now joining us this storm fifteen hundred miles long, man, Rory. We saw some places yesterday, just some really unbelievable results from this thing, in places you would expect it. No.
And the videos are fantastic, right, I mean the images are just incredible. A snowball fight on Bourbon Street?
Yeah, what does that all meant?
I mean, after the way the year started for New Orleans, how exciting is that? Devas snowball fight on Bourbon Street? Eight inches of snow in Pensacola, Florida?
What what?
Yeah? And they're just not equipped to deal with it. No one has a snow shovel to clear the front step. No one has an ice scraper. For the windshield or that snowbrush, and of course there are no snowplows either, so sit and wait it out is what is all that a lot of people can do. Of course, it's Florida, so a lot of them aren't using their four wheel drive trucks. But you know, ices in four wheel drives, that's you think you're covered, but you're not.
No no, no, no no no. And if boy, you've never driven or are very seldom driving this stuff, you don't want to be out on this certainly. But I mean, we had what blizzard warnings up in Coasta, Louisiana yesterday morning, blizzard warnings.
Blizzard warnings, and you know they closed the airports, both of them in Houston ahead of the storm, knowing this was going to be bad. So thankfully there was plenty of warning about this system developing. But I think they even got more snow than they had anticipated. And look
at those snowfall totals are record setters. But as you've talked about, there's also that sloppy stuff out there, that snowy, slushy, rainy, sleety mix that you know, if it lands on a bridge, the air gets under there and then that's what freezes it and suddenly you have huge patches of ice. So bridges are especially dangerous right now. And those icy conditions much worse than snowfall.
Oh yes, And I guess the silver lining in the cloud was not that many areas saw ice. It was mostly snow for most. But boy, the places that did, it's not good.
Right again, because they're areas that are not used to it. They don't have sanding trucks and snowplows and things like that to treat it, or the drivers who may be used to it. You know. I had some friends that were trying to drive up to Pensacola yesterday to show their kids snow for the first time.
Yeah. Usually you look at the beaches, you know, those white sand beaches and places like Pensacola and Destin and all that, you don't expect to see snow on them. But that's what it was yesterday. Were there a lot of power out just report along this stretch. We've we got pretty lucky here in South Helina. We just have a handful basically. But has that been a big issue?
Yeah, I mean several thousand. Not when you go from Texas to Florida and up to Georgia and the Carolina you know, a few thousands, So not great, but not not widespread because this has not been a big wind event when I'm seeing a lot of strong winds that normally bring down the power lines. Sometimes though, if there's snow that can accumulate, especially on branches, the branch comes down, it brings down the power line, and that's the problem,
especially in those icier areas. But it hasn't been terrible. But you know, today is going to be transitional, right, A lot of that snow is going to melt, but in places like New Orleans it's only going to be like thirty six today, So ten inches of snow is not going to disappear when it's thirty six outside.
That's that's that's the problem. Now is how long until things do get back and roll up for places again like us here, Well, we don't have the sort of equipment to deal with this stuff. It's it's it's gonna take a while on some spots, man.
Yeah, so please please heed the advice and just stay home, Netflix and chills, you know, do whatever it takes to hang out and just you know, finally catch up on those series, you know, and quote unquote remote work wing wing. You know, do what you can to not be driving today.
All right, Rory, thanks so much, my friend, and stay safe.
Thanks Garry, We'll be in touch.
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC. Once again, here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.
All right, Dad, now already seventeen minutes after eight and the National Weather Service there winter weather advisory, which was supposed to expire at nine o'clock, has been extended until noon. Again, not because we're getting any more weather that we're done with that, but because of what it's left behind. Again again, the roads are treacherous this morning and we'll be for for some time to come, and that's why they've extended that to advisory up until noon. Hopefully conditions will be
a little improved after that. They're not going to be perfect for a while now because we don't get much above freezing today and we're back down to the mid teens tonight. Okay, heads up on that. So now what a first what thirty six hours of the new Trump administration. A lot of the focus has been on executive actions when it comes to securing the border for removing the illegal alien criminal cartels from our shores. On DEI, how
about Trump Man? Yeah yeah, if you're if you're in the federal government, you're working a d office, go home. We're shutting you down. I we'll pay you for now, but your job's going away.
And if you're supposed to be working in the federal office and you're at home, get to work.
Get your butt into the office. Yeah, which they man, it's probably got like you know, mothballs and tumbleweeds blowing through it.
Elon Musk said that they couldn't find a single government building that was one hundred percent occupied in Washington. How about that home that's that's that's waste. That's what he's addressing exactly without the vague.
By the way, who's left the Doge Committee's talking about running for governor of Ohio. He's he's mad that the wine didn't make him a senator anyway, So that's getting most of the focus. But then yesterday there was this.
These world leading technology giants are announcing the formation of Stargate, or a new American company that will invest five hundred billion dollars at least in AI infrastructure in the United States moved and very very quickly, moving, very rapidly, creating over one hundred thousand American jobs almost immediately.
Okay, so this is not you know, a popular science fiction movie. We're talking about here, Stargate. This I mentioned this earlier this morning. I know, probably sounded weird, and we're talking about, you know, border security and all that. How this announcement here, in the long run could be these singular most important thing we've heard. So here you have it. You've got open Ai, SoftBank, and Oracle coming together to, as Trump said, create a new American company stargate.
And again this is what you know we're not talking about. There will be tax pay money involved, certainly, but these these major companies are investing, and we're talking about upwards of a half a trillion dollars in AI infrastructure, a project that Trump said would create over one hundred thousand jobs almost immediately. And this will begin with a one hundred billion dollar invest been from those three companies. This is the future. This is it.
And and good for Trump. You know, he's he's not exactly a spring chicken. I mean, you compare the guy that just left office and they're not that far apart in age. But Trump is on the cutting edge, whereas Joe Biden just never quite got it. So good no, good for him for realizing, you know what a huge investment and for for nothing if there's nothing else then for defense reasons.
Exactly, and for getting it, getting this, getting America to the forefront ahead of places like China. You know, Biden's plan was to work with China on this. Now now Trump's not ruling that out, and we probably will to some degree. But Trump wants to take the forefront. He wants to put America on and you know, in the in the top spot when it comes to to AI development. Now, of course, there are critics that are he's gonna go hog wild here so he can get out of control.
It's gonna spot out of control. Well, okay, it's got five pillars AI research investment, unleashing federal AI computing and data resources, setting AI technical standards, building the nation's AI workforce, and engaging with international allies. And he says this includes guidance for promoting innovation while respecting privacy, civil liberties, civil liberties that is, at American values. This is the future. Whether you like it, or you don't like it. This is the future.
Can I make one request? I know it's kind of going back to the past, but as much as I appreciate the fact that we're going to the future here, can we just have Kamala Harris come back and explain all this every now and then you.
Didn't get enough of the words out. It would be worth kind addressing. Would you like on that?
It would be worth the price of admission right there, just to hear her try and explain this.
Well, she got she got a flag for her words solid in in La. She's she's just the words out of Queen. This is a big deal. And you're already hearing talk about how AI can help come up with cures for things we've been working on for a long time, and you're hearing people talk about the potential for artificial intelligence to come up with a cure for well cancer, for example. I mean, that's worth the price of admission right there.
Right But this, like doge, is going to put some people out of work. We're going to discover there are more efficient ways to do things. So this is going to rub some people the wrong way.
Oh it will this, Yeah, I mean, but you know what jobs are already being lost and will continue to be the AI regardless if Trump gets involved or not. So so you may as well own it, right, Let's own the position. And and we were not owning it under the prior administration. So yeah, I know it sounds weird to say that that announcement yesterday again, in the long run, the biggest thing we've heard so far in thirty six hours from Donald Trump. You mean bigger than
border security eventually? Yeah? Probably, yeah, I would say definitely.
Hear about it a week, Wake up in the country, talk about it.
This is this is here.
Evil one O three point five FFM and five sixty am w VOC. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC.
Hey, forty one on a frigid Wednesday morning, but it'll get even more frigid. Frigid or tomorrow morning. Well it's twenty one now here. I think it's phrase a little bit now fourteen tomorrow morning, so I head job and uh yeah, tomorrow morning again and tonight it could be dicey on the roads and probably will be as well. Timper just don't get much about freezing today. So well, we may have to deal with this all over again
tomorrow morning and later on this evening. It's possibility. Again, reminds you of the National Weather Service has extended their winter Weather Advisory until noon today was set to expire at nine, but now it'll be noon. And that's again not because of any weather happening, but because of what it's left behind. So they want folks to stay off through all right, let's run through this quickly here, final thoughts.
On a Wednesday, yesterday, the governor making it official, he has formally asked the Department of Health and Human Services to work with us to reinstate our Medicaid work requirements otherwise known as the Healthy Connections Community Engagement Initiative. Now, this has been a year's long effort. Here it was seven years ago twenty eighteen the McMaster directed our state's Health EMA services to seek federal waivers in order to
establish work requirements for qualifying recipients. It's again, this is not that anybody and everybody on Medicaid has got to work or be looking for work or volunteering. At least, is said those able bodied working age individuals who could be doing something, do something or else. You know what, we're pulling back the carrot and the handing of a stick. Well, that was approved by the Trump administration back in December of twenty nineteen, nearly two years after it was first asked for.
Doesn't sound all that controversial until you hear the left spin it. Oh yeah, as if you know, tiny Tim from a Christmas Caroll is slugging away digging ditches.
You're gonna make people who can't work go out there and have to give no, huh huh, it's not the way it is. Well, so it was okay by the Trump White House in twenty nineteen, it paused during the COVID pandemic, and then the Biden White House obviously withdrew that approval in August of twenty twenty one. So we're back up to that again. Okay, let's see where it goes. I suspect it will happen pretty quickly. Is that the governor online? One? That is the governor. But I don't
have time to talk to you right now, sir. Sorry, we were talking about the AI initiatives last half hour. Well, again, we mentioned the fact that the move yesterday by Trump to end all affirmative action in federal contracting and directing that all federal DEI staff he put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The new chairman of the FCC didn't wait long to take action on that. He
immediately shut down all DEI programs in the FCC. Yesterday, Trump also announcing our withdrawal from the World Health Organization. He's done this before, Okay, Biden withdrew that too. Well, now Trump's withdrawn Biden's withdrawal. And again it's kind of like the whole NATO thing. We're paying more than our fair share of this and Trump doesn't like it, and either should we. Trump says, everybody rips off the United States. Well, and there was a.
Lot of skepticism about what the who did and didn't do during COVID.
Yes, yes, immigration, here you go. The Chicago p d value will absolutely not cooperate or assist with the President's proposed deportation of a criminal illegal immigrants. This is setting up to be well, quite the showdown in the Windy City, isn't it. By the way, the Coast Guard announcing yesterday deployment of personnel and equipment to various maritime borders here in this country and in the Gulf which I want to go. I call it Golf of America. Golf in Mexico.
This day after Trump dismissed the commandant, who can serve us that it was more interested in dei than anything else. And what about his cabinet, Well, so far again just the one nominee who has been approved. Then that was not surprising. And Marco Rubio John Thune, the Centimajority leader, has put the wheels in motion looking to set up a vote to confirm Pete hegsth for the Department of
Defense by the end of the week. Of course we get some again the Secretary of State, Head of the Pentagon d and I. These are things that need to happen because things are happening in the world and we don't have time to sit around and wait to see what does happen. So well expect that vote hopefully by the end of the week. They're trying to fast track all these things to get the ball rolling in. How
about this. Politico's Global editor in chief John F. Harris, in a new piece making the argument that Donald Trump's second victory proves that he has dominated American politics so thoroughly that he will likely be counted among the country's most consequential leaders of all time. I'm not sure he likes it, but he recognizes what's going on. There you go.