Get the new and improved free iHeartRadio app today. The opinions expressed on this show are those of the host and not of iHeartMedia or its employees. Thank you for listening to NewsRadio 650 KENR. Amy DeVosky. The show starts now. Our lines are open at 907-522-0650. This is The Morning Drive on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Good morning. It is Monday, February 24th. I can't even believe it, Daryl. February is almost over. Last Monday of the month. Literally.
Man, almighty, you know, I got to tell you, I keep telling you spring is here. I really feel like spring is here. With the puddles we had over the weekend and everything else, I'm, well, let's just say my lawn is confused and it's agreeing with you. Well, I want to start by saying a big thank you to my friend Bernadette Wilson for filling in on Friday. I was in Utah visiting my daughter Kennedy. You were in my town? I was in Utah. Oh, I'm sorry.
Yeah, it was great, the weather down there. I mean, when we left, it was like 50 degrees. You know, I always expect there to be more snow in Utah, because I know they do get snow, but it's like the roads, every time the roads are dry, and she sends me pictures, and I'm like...
You know, maybe 30 degrees during the day, but they have, like, no snow on their roads. It was really nice. I mean, I didn't wear a jacket the whole time I was there. I just wore a sweater. That would have been nice, though. Yeah, it was really nice, and I got me some Chick-fil-A, which was amazing. I saw that in that picture, and it's funny. You sent me that picture, and...
I immediately knew what it was, and I immediately, my mouth started to water, and then the jealousy kicked in. It was totally, every bit of that statement should be true, because it was so good. You know, my dad was telling me they have Chick-fil-A now in Oahu. So now I feel like I need to go to Hawaii so I can get some Chick-fil-A. Oh, that is not fair. Not where I got a question of Chick-fil-A. Well, actually, no. Oahu does have...
Yeah, the island of Waco, I think, has a greater population than all of Alaska. So, okay, never mind. Yeah, that's probably true. No, it was nice going down and visiting her for the weekend. And I'm very grateful that Bernadette came in. I heard it was a great show, which I expected no less. Bernadette's amazing, and she's spicy, which I love. So there you have it. It's so energetic and bouncy around here. It was great. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, it's really fun because...
You know, she does a lot of work, policy work, as far as the Alaska legislature goes. She knows everybody. She knows the ins and outs and everything in between. So as you listen to Bernadette, like... She's like me, but she's like times two. She really has no filter. And I love it. I love every bit of it. She will tell you exactly what she thinks to your face.
And anywhere else. And with a smile. With a smile. That's one thing about Bernadette. She has got that smile. Well, just like you. You'll look you right in the eye and say, no, this is the way it is. Live with it or walk off. She's awesome. So I want to say a special thank you to her for...
Filling in on Friday. I don't take a lot of time off, but what I do, I really try hard to get fill-in guests rather than play repeats because I think it's interesting to hear other people's perspective, not just mine. You know, it's a community dialogue. So if we can get...
If we can get live people to fill in, it's really wonderful. And Bernadette's always right at the top of my list for choices. And she was my first choice, and she said yes. And I was really thrilled. So I didn't even worry about the show, not even one bit. while I was gone, Darrell.
I didn't have a chance yet to listen to the podcast, but I got to go back and listen to it because I heard it was amazing. Oh, yeah, it's definitely worth listening to. And it's interesting that you brought up the fact that you wanted to get live people in here on the radio because if this were a progressive or a Democrat show.
You know we'd be pulling the dead people in here to talk because that's just the way they were. That's just a vote. That's just a vote. Well, then we'd have to find out what they voted for. How else are we going to find out? Which way do you vote? Well, you know, when Social Security comes in for the 168th year. Well, Josh is investigating Medicaid fraud right now. That's currently underway, so we'll see what comes up. Oh, my God.
I got to tell you, I mean, you know, there's a lot of headlines right now about Doge basically asking all federal employees, like, what did you do last week? It's not a bad question. And you're going to start seeing some headlines. We'll get into it here in just a little bit. You'll start seeing some headlines. The press is going to try to make it up like, wait a second, you know, this director now is defying Elon Musk. No, it's not. You have some national security things like...
the NSA or the FBI, where they're not going to want every single agent reporting to Elon Musk on what they did last week. But the whole premise of what he is doing, I guess we could just cover right now, the whole premise of what he's doing, he sent out...
memo last week basically saying okay tell us what you did last week because what they're trying to evaluate is you know you have a huge amount of people that were working from home you have a huge amount of people that seemingly had very little supervision nobody really knows what they did
So it's a reasonable question to ask, what did you do last week? Walk me through your day. I can't tell you how many times I've done that when I walked into an organization, because I've done change management now for many, many years. And the first thing you do is tell me about your job. Walk me through your day. That is a very standard question. He may have phrased it differently, like, hey, what did you do last week? And if you refuse to answer, you're gone. I think I...
I think he basically made that general statement, and a lot of people are taking it like, oh my gosh, he's going to get into all these criminal investigations. No, he's not. That's not the intent of this. The intent of this is to create accountability. And so people know there's accountability. So they have to answer the question. You know, I'm not talking about the FBI. I'm not talking about the NSA. But general, you know, if you work for, you know.
I don't know, USAID. Department of Agriculture? Yeah, exactly. Let's see how productive people are. Let's see what they're actually working on. I know when I was running restaurants, especially chain restaurants, national chains and stuff like that.
Literally once a month, that was a question that came out of what did you accomplish? Ours was, what did you accomplish last month? Give me five bullet points. And it was funny when I saw the five, it was like, give me five bullet points. What did you accomplish last month? And if you didn't have five things that you could say you accomplished, well, let's just say you became part of the discussion in the second call. Yeah, are you really...
you know, effective and an intrinsic part of the winning team, right? Right, right. Are you needed? I mean, if you're not accomplishing anything, are you needed? I think the other thing you're missing out with Elon Musk is, you know, he is on the spectrum. There's no doubt about that. He's on the spectrum. And part of what goes with that is a directness, okay? They don't feel that there is a problem asking you directly, what have you done? And expecting an answer...
of what you've actually done. Whereas a lot of people, well, I shouldn't have to, you can't ask me what I did. No, I need to know this. What have you done? So he is very direct and it really bothers a lot of people. Me, I find it refreshing.
You know, I've been in that camp where it's like, especially when things are time sensitive, you don't have time for the niceties. You don't have to be rude to people. You're just very direct. And it is a very difficult thing for many people to swallow. Some people really have a hard time with that.
But what are you going to do? You know, I come back to Alaska. It was beautiful. It was a little crisp. It was great. Right now, Palmer's sitting at 29 degrees. Kenai's tied at 29. Big Leg, 24. Fairbanks, 11. I'm holding 28 in here, so, I mean, I've got nothing really to be too proud of. All right, all right. You see, you're in the mix. You're in the mix. Well, you know, it's one of those, you know, I saw the pictures from Ferrandi, so that was nice to see those pictures. I saw them.
cleaning it up, you know, downtown when I came home last night. So that was nice, but all in all, it looks like it's going to be a pretty decent week. As I'm looking at public meetings for this week, there's not a ton of them. If you're out here in the Mat-Su, at 6 o'clock tonight, there's a Parks Rec Trail Advisory Board.
meeting that's going to be in the lower level conference room of the borough building they also have a team's ID if you want to attend virtually you can do that just go to matsugov.us and you'll be able to find find it on their public meetings calendar The South Connecticut River Community Council special meeting has been canceled for this evening, so that is not happening.
There is a city council meeting in the city of Wasilla tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. That will be at Wasilla City Hall in the council chambers located at 290 East Turning Avenue in Wasilla. If you'd like a copy of their agenda, just go to cityofwasilla.gov and you should be able to find it from there. I don't see anything on the calendar today for the City of Palmer, so we'll just skip them.
But for tonight, the 24th, there is an MOA retiree medical funding program trust for police officers and firefighters board meeting. That's going to be Monday, February 24th at 10 a.m. today. That'll be at City Hall, 632 West 6th Avenue in Suite 715. So that's the seventh floor. and then the subversa board meeting for eagle river that's the eagle river road board they're meeting tonight at 6 30 in the eagle river town center community meeting room so that's the room right behind the library so
Park like you're going to the library, walk down the hallway, and just to the left, room 170 is where they'll be meeting. And that, again, is tonight at 630 in Eagle River. There's nothing on the calendar today for the Anchorage Assembly. As I'm looking at the Kenai Peninsula Borough, we only have a couple meetings on the calendar today. There's a planning commission training session today from 530 to 6.
That will be at the Borough Building at 144 North Binkley Street in Saldotna. And then, as I look at the two more meanings, the Eastern Peninsula Highway Emergency Service Area. Board has a meeting tonight. It looks like it's going to be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Zoom. So if you need the link, just go to kpb.us. Go down to the calendar, and you'll be able to find it there.
Actually, I'm lying about that one. I was looking at the wrong day. Eastern Penn does not have it. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Okay, the Planning Commission does have a training meeting. That's right. The North Peninsula Recreation Service Area Board has a meeting tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Nikiski Pool.
And then the Planning Commission has their regular meeting tonight from 7.30 to 9.30. That's the same place. It's going to be at the Borough Building, 144 North Binkley Street in Saldana. So if you need any information on today's... three meetings in the Kenai. Just go to kpb.us. As far as the City of Kenai goes, the City of Kenai Joint Training Session is happening tonight. That's going to be at 5.30 p.m. And if you need more information,
all you have to do is go to Kenai.city, and you'll be able to find it from there. There's no meetings in Saldatna today, but just a reminder, you have until the 28th, which is this week. to get your grant application in. If you have a storefront that needs improving, the city of Sultanah has a grant up to $7,500 to improve your business exterior. The grant application has to be applied for by February 28th.
2025. If you need more information, just go to soldatna.org or call the planning department at 907-262-9107. That does it for Saldana. The only other thing I see on the calendar today is down in Homer. There is a city council work session that starts at 4. followed by a committee meeting of the whole at 5, and the regular city council meeting will start at 6 p.m. tonight down in Homer.
If you want to attend in person, all you have to do is go to the Cal's Council Chamber located at 491 East Pioneer Avenue in Homer. You can attend via Zoom or, of course, by phone. For all that information, just go to cityofhomer-ak.gov. look to the right when you get on their website and you'll see all the meetings that are listed right there for
Each date. All right, that does it for our public announcements for today. We're going to go ahead and take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to get into the headlines of the day and tell you what's in store for the rest of today's show. It's going to be a good one. Stay with us. Looking at the Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. We could see a few light flurries this morning, but not much accumulating. Highs today near 34.
Meteorologist Tracy Sinclair, Alaska's news source. Amy Demboski, 6 to 8, mornings on News Radio 650, KENI. Call now, 907-522-0650. Welcome back. Current time, 622. On this Monday morning, hopefully everybody had a great weekend. I have to tell you, we have a great show lined up for you today. At 635, Congressman Begich will be calling into the show, so we'll get an update from D.C. At 7.05, we expect Representative Prox from North Pole to be calling in.
My guess is I've heard through the grapevine, Bernadette had a few choice words for some activities in Juneau, let's say. And Mike Prax might have been the target of those opinions. So he's going to call in today. I didn't hear what she said, Daryl, but my guess is it goes something like this. Mike Prox helped the Democrats because he voted the education spending bill at a committee. And then afterwards, he's like, oh, no, I don't support it. My guess is probably she had some commentary on that.
Basically, yes. That was a fine synopsis of the situation. When I saw the Must Read Alaska article from Utah, I knew exactly. I was like, oh, the political gate. Okay, so I'm going to let everybody in on some Inside Baseball. You don't got to read articles about this. This is the story right now that's happening in Juneau. It's the unspoken thing that is actually happening.
Right now, everybody's jockeying for 2026 governor's race. That's what's happening right now in Juneau. So all of the headlines, all of the discussions, the fomenting about... Oh, they just don't love our kids and education and blah, blah, blah. All of this right now, everybody is jockeying for 2026. That's what's happening right now. You have a whole lot of people that are saying that they're going to run for governor. I had lunch with a couple friends of mine.
a couple weeks ago, and one of them asked me on the Democrat side, who do you think is going to run for governor? I said, hmm, don't know. I said, you know, maybe, you know, as I was thinking about it, I was like, we all know Tom Begich wants to run. You know, he's been clear over the years. He's thought about it. Whether he does or not, I don't know. You know, but then I stopped and I said, you know, I think Peltola will be testing the waters. I kid you not, Daryl.
Two days maybe after I said that at lunch to my friends, all of a sudden you start seeing, like, Peltoll is testing the water. Like, it's obvious, because they don't have a huge pool to pull from. So who are they going to pull from? Mark Baggage? Is he going to run for governor? Maybe he'd come back. Maybe he's sick of making tons of money, right, as a lobbyist or whatever he's doing in DC. I don't see that yet, no.
Yeah, maybe he's sick of making tons of money, and maybe Mark Begich would run. But you look at their field, and who? Bill Wilikowski? Look, he's probably one of the smartest Democrats out there, whether you like him or not. That's irrelevant to the fact that he is incredibly smart. I disagree with him on a lot of issues, on most issues, but he's smart, but he's not really caught traction on the Democrat side.
So then you've got to look around and you've got to say, hmm, I think one of Daryl's favorite people, it's a possibility, though he thinks she wants to run for president, Lisa Murkowski. And I was going to say, you know, the Democrats, I can see them pulling her for governor. I can see that, but I still think. Hold on, where's my helmet? Yep, my helmet's here. I still think I've got something going on on that other thought there. But, you know.
I'm not going to put that too far into the ether because I really don't want it to happen. Now, the Republican side is going to be interesting because Cliff Bishop has made it very clear he wants to run for governor, right? The lieutenant governor typically is somebody who would run for governor, right? So Nancy Dahlstrom may run.
Shelly Hughes, there's a lot of chatter about potentially she wanting to run. You know, the name Dave Bronson keeps floating around. I'm telling you, if Dave Bronson runs for governor. There will be a Democrat elected. He cannot win statewide. What about our lieutenant governor?
Oh, I said her already. Okay, sorry. I must have been looking over at the thing. But then you start thinking, Natasha Von Imhoff is somebody that I would never, ever rule out. I know. I'm just telling you. She's got the money. We all know that.
Click Bishop's going to run. He's made it very clear he didn't run for re-election, so he's from Fairbanks. He's a Republican. He's a Republican. That caucus, you know, he's kind of like a Stedman Stevens kind of Republican. Right, right. Would his act be considered clickbait? Well, and I think there's somebody that should not be ever, ever, ever, you know, overlooked is Mayor Machicky.
You know, he was fantastic as mayor of Saldana. He was in the Senate. He was Senate president. Now he is the Kenai Peninsula borough mayor. I know I have a lot of Republicans right now that are going, because he's viewed as very much a moderate. But I will tell you, he is very good at running a government. You look what he's doing at Kenai Peninsula Borough right now. He is very good at it. So the Republicans seem to have a deep...
And we'll see what the fight kind of looks like. But make no mistake about it. What's happening in Juneau right now. is people are jockeying for sound bites for 2026 governor's race, right? That's the reason they're putting the governor, they're putting this ridiculous BSA on the Republicans that they know they can't afford, they know they can't pay for, and then they're going to use
this as, look, Republicans are against education. That's what they're going to use this for. So right now, this fight that is happening right now, even in the halls in Juneau, when you walk through the Senate, there's people right now that are telling me they know.
that the House's education funding bill is absolutely not even possible. It's not even in the realm of reality. This is all about politics in 2026. That's what's happening right now. That's why they passed it the way they did, with no fiscal notes, no anything. I just had an idea of a dynamic duo for governor. Who's that? Mr. White Keys and Jeff Lowenfeld. Well, you know, there's also rumors that, you know.
Speedo boy that I do not name on this show. It potentially might throw his name in the ring. I don't like that little fat. I'm going to stop because I'll cuss. You know, he's just, you know, he's just. I can't, I can't with Jeff because, you know, the thing about Jeff, it is unbelievable to me that nobody, the politicians play this game with him.
He charges basically people for a subscription to his little blog. And then what does he do? He will not write dirty stuff about them or he will not write bad stories about them. I mean, to me, it's like a racket. And I don't find it to be credible. I find it to be dirty and sleazy. So, you know, I tend to not. But his name has floated as potentially running. And, you know, he will pull a certain percentage. of the boat.
So we'll see. That'll make for an interesting candidate interview. It'll be a great speedo advertisement. Yeah, exactly. Look on my face as I'm trying not to get sick from that. Exactly, exactly. So we'll see another name that has been floated on the Republican. side is you know our commissioner of the Department of Finance Adam Crum
So he was health and human services. He's never held a political office. Very smart guy. Very smart guy. He's in my district, District 26, as a matter of fact. Incredibly smart guy. Very successful in business. And now he was, you know, commissioner of the Department of Health and now he's over at finance. But I think his biggest challenge is going to be he was the health commissioner during COVID. And so I think there's a lot of people that.
that we're not happy with some of the things that came out on the state level. I know the governor's attempt was to keep everything on a local level, keep the responses as much as he could on a local level. But, you know, look, I think the Republican bench is very, very deep for the race for government. I think the cream will rise to the top, as they say.
But it is going to be one heck of a humdinger. There's no doubt about it. On the Republican side, the battle for that top spot in the gubernatorial race, again, we still have ranked choice voting. So we'll see. what happens. But at the end of the day, right now, we're waiting to see who on the Democrat side is going to rise to the top and who is going to be their primary candidate because Democrats have been very good about putting one forward.
and then going forward. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. All right, we're going to go ahead and take our bottom-of-the-hour break. When we come back, we are expecting a phone call from Congressman Nick Baggage. Stay with us. This is News Radio 650, KENI, Anchorage.
An Anchorage father will spend five decades behind bars after murdering his adult daughter who he believed was possessed by the devil. A judge sentenced 50-year-old Armando Velador Padilla late last week to 60 years in prison with 10 years suspended. Velador Padilla pleaded guilty to killing his 23-year-old daughter. We'll be right back. Thank you.
The Daily News minor on September 7th, 2022, said that Jack Amadeus Lasota died the previous month following a boating accident. That's the latest. I'm John Fink. News Radio 650. KENI. Depend on it. Looking at the Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. Currently light traffic inbound on the Glen Highway. No stoppages or slowdowns out there that I can see. In town, traffic is still looking good. Also, if you see traffic problems on the road, dial pound 250 on your cell. Say total.
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Whatever you choose, it's as easy as a tap to make a preset. Find out what everyone's talking about and get the new and improved free iHeartRadio app today. Reach out to Amy now, 907-522-0650. That's 907-522-0650. It's Amy Demboski on NewsRadio 650, KENI. Welcome back, Current Time 637. On this glorious Monday morning, it's only getting better because I have to say...
I know there's a lot of them, but we have the best. Our own congressman joining the show now, Congressman Nick Baggage. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Amy. How are you doing this morning? I am fantastic. I was thinking about you calling in this morning and I thought, man, it's not even you have a seat on the court. In the greatest political adventure in our history, you're like on the court playing the game. You're down there in the middle of D.C. while you're seeing all these...
You know, counter-revolutionary things happen where you see Donald Trump trying to get back to normalcy and bring back some common sense. And you're right in the thick of it. It must be an amazing experience. It is an amazing experience, and there is so much happening. As we all know, the administration is moving at breakneck speed, and we have no time to waste. We have...
a nation to save. We all recognize that under the previous four years with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we had an administration that was actively seeking to reshape the United States. in their own image, in a very socialist bent. And we have to spend time now unwinding that effort that they had put in.
over the previous four years, and we don't want that to take four years because we have our own things that we need to do. We need to open up the nation for development. We have to open up the state for development. We've got to get... our national deficit reduce and get the nation on a firm fiscal footing, which is our moral obligation for the next generation. And so people here are working quickly.
and prioritizing the needs of the American people, which hasn't been done for quite some time. So there is a lot of work to be done. We see, it seems, every morning a new set of announcements. from the Congress and from the president's team that are not only unwinding what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done over the last four years, but putting us on that. that better fiscal path.
You know, as I'm watching and we're seeing, I mean, Trump, you know, he ran with a big agenda. Close the borders, get the economy back on track, bring inflation down, stop these endless wars. I mean, it seems like the amount of... work that is to be done is more than I can even express. I can imagine. But it's going to take Congress to permanently fix these things. So as you're working, what are the things that you're starting to focus on? What are the things that
you hear in the hallways that are kind of the big topics everybody's talking about? Yeah, you know, I think... We've seen a lot of success on the border, but you're 100% right. We've got to make sure that law enforcement have the tools necessary to identify folks who are in the nation. illegally, process them and deport them back to their own nations. And the good news is the American people are with us on this. You know, a recent poll showed that 81% of Americans...
support deporting illegal immigrants from the U.S. back to their home countries. And President Trump is enjoying his highest approval rating ever. The administration is getting high marks from Americans, including... Believe it or not, 20% of Democrats who believe that the president's doing a good job. And so that is a tailwind politically here in D.C. We know that we have the support of the American people, yes.
there is a small vocal minority that has decided that the only course of action that they can think of is protest. And so you've got some folks out there on the edges, on the fringes. that take to the streets every time they don't get their way. It would be much better if people were actually constructively working together on solutions to these problems. But I think what's been helpful is...
We know that we have the support of the American people. President Trump is delivering on his agenda. And so that's what I hear in the halls of Congress. Now, what I'm working on, because I'm one person out of 435. We balance our time between the national priorities and the Alaska priorities. And with budget reconciliation coming up, that's a unique process in the Congress. It doesn't require 60 votes in the Senate.
a simple majority in the Senate in order to move budget reconciliation through. We're looking for multiple ways that we can generate revenue for the federal government as part of that budgetary process and at the same time open up. the state of Alaska, and keep the state of Alaska open over a long period of time. One of the things we've seen over and over again is you'll get one administration coming in that's favorable to development in Alaska.
and then a subsequent administration that's not favorable to development in Alaska. And Joe Biden was the least favorable to Alaska that we've ever seen in our lifetimes. And we saw just how damaging that can be. for investment in our state. And so the Congress, to your point, has to make sure we're passing laws that keep the state of Alaska open for responsible resource development beyond President Trump's...
four years in office. We need that locked-in law, that right to produce locked-in law so that we can continue to develop and grow as a state. And you just mentioned it. You know, this is one of the first things you talked to me about when you got down there was Alaska's right to produce. And even as you were campaigning, you were talking about Alaska's right to produce and codifying that, giving us. that
That ability hopefully will stop this pendulum of going back and forth of revoking leases and issuing leases and revoking leases and issuing leases. And I think when we talk about the economy being one of the two biggest issues, the border and the economy, Those are the two big issues Donald Trump ran on. Really, one very effective leg in the stool, so to speak, in stabilizing our economy and bringing inflation down is creating jobs and devices.
So when you look at the energy sector, I think it's probably a key aspect to Donald Trump's plan to bring prices down and to kind of curtail this inflation bubble that we've experienced under Joe Biden. 100%. That's absolutely true. When you think about energy, we talked about it a lot in the past, but it bears repeating. When you look at the cost of anything, whether you're driving to work right now or getting ready to go into work, that's energy.
If you're going to the grocery store, it took energy to get those groceries to the store. If you're turning on the lights, if you're using the Internet, if you're on your phone, it's all energy. So energy... is baked into the cost of living across the board. It's not just the electricity bill. It's basically a part of every good and service that we consume.
And so if we can lower that root cost of energy, it will lower the cost of living across the board. And so how do you do it? Well, you increase production. You achieve energy abundance. And while the United States is producing a considerable amount of energy right now, we're not producing enough to lower inflation. We've got to do more. We've got to do more. And under Joe Biden, we saw the lowest levels.
of new federal leases issued under a president in decades. And so President Trump is preparing to make those federal lands available again for exploration. And in Alaska, that's going to be so important. And it's important to the nation. It's important to us, too. We hear almost on a daily basis now about how the state is experiencing some fiscal pressure. You're hearing some people in the legislature, and I hope we don't go there.
but you're hearing some people call for a state sales tax or a state income tax. The way we avoid those things, A, we make sure government's efficient, but B, we make sure that we have the revenue coming in to pay for government. And we do that in Alaska through predominantly oil. And so we've got to have the ability to pump that oil to explore new areas of the state that can help fill up the coffers and make sure that we don't have.
new tax in our state absolutely well I feel like you open the door for me to ask this question because you talked about government efficiency when you see what is going on right now across the federal administration and you see the efforts of Doge and the Trump administration What do you think the efforts of honing in on government efficiency at the federal level are? Do you think they're overwhelmingly positive, negative? What is your first take on Doge? Oh, overwhelmingly positive.
Overwhelmingly positive. And I know there's been criticism in the press and criticism on the left about finding government efficiency, but we've got to remember, Bill Clinton tried to do this. Obama tried to do this.
And so there have been president after president for years, going back decade after decade, that have wanted to... prem government, make it efficient, and quite frankly, Democrat or Republican, it's the responsibility of the executive branch and the legislative to make sure that the taxpayer dime is spent properly. When we don't balance the budget, when we run excessive deficits, we're actually putting our current expenditures on our children and grandchildren's credit card.
By the time that they enter the workforce, they're burdened. They're saddled with the decisions that we've made today. So people know that it's a moral obligation that we have to find opportunities for efficiency, to ensure we're not wasting taxpayer resources. because we want to make sure that the next generation is set up as well as they can be set up. That's our responsibility. And so Doge, however it's branded, whatever it's called, is a continued effort, as has been...
attempted in the past to find efficiency in government and ensure that we're spending that money wisely. Now, there are people on the left, of course, that are incensed that a number of their pet projects are being canceled. And so, as I was mentioning a moment ago, they're taking to the streets. They're showing up at town halls. They're doing all these things to make noise because their personal projects are on the chopping block.
But the reality is, in most cases, in terms of what has been found so far by the Doge team, those programs probably shouldn't have existed in the first place. Agreed. You know, and what I see coming out of here is a lot of common sense. You know, obviously, we don't have, you know, a couple million people over the age of 150 that should be on the Social Security network, right? They shouldn't be on the pay dole.
we shouldn't have people you know we shouldn't have money going to terrorist organizations we shouldn't I mean the fraud waste and abuse is something it seems like both sides should get behind and say okay we need to end fraud waste and abuse and I think that's why
What so many people are shocked about is seeing some on the left just fight against everything Doge is doing when it could be saving taxpayers millions of dollars of people that should never have been getting some of this money to begin with. So I think it makes a lot of sense.
Well, Congressman Begich, I am going to be seeing you on March 15th at 6.30 at Settlers Bay Lodge. You are the keynote speaker for the Valley Republican Women's Club's Lincoln Day dinner this year. So we're very excited to see you. you back in the state i know you've uh made the rounds you've been to juno already but it'll be nice to have you out in the mat sue i hope uh between then and and now you stay safe and i can't wait to hear what you have to say at that dinner that night
Looking forward to it, Amy, and thanks for having me on. Everyone out there, I'll tell you what, if you've got an idea for ways that we can make government more efficient, reach out to our office, and if it's state government-related, reach out to your state senator or your state House member. Let us know, because that's part of our job, making sure that we're working. for you to make government efficient.
Fantastic. I think, look, you have definitely demonstrated yourself to be a people servant, and you've only been down there for a very short time. You know, have you hit your month mark yet, month and a half? Where are we at? Yeah, I think I'm almost at two months. I think about a month and a half in.
You've accomplished a ton already. I can't believe how much you've already done in this short amount of time, so I can't wait to see what the future holds. Congressman Begich, thank you so much for calling in this morning. Thanks, Amy. All right. We'll talk to you soon. All right. That was Congressman Nick Baggage. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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Getting up and getting out the door, temperatures on the mild side, upper 20s to low 30s across the city. We could see a few light flurries this morning, but not much accumulating. Highs today near 34. I'm meteorologist Tracy Sinclair. Alaska's news source. Now back to the boss, Amy Demfoski. Call 907-522-0650 and be a part of the show on News Radio 650. KENI. Welcome back, Current Time 653.
Well, I will tell you, you don't see this a lot with new legislators, but Nick Begich came out of the gates swinging when he went down to D.C. proposing multiple bills already. He had a couple of different bills relating to native allotments. And he's been right in the middle of pushing for Alaska's energy dominance. I'm not even going to say development. I'm going to say dominance because he is very pro-energy, pro-Alaska.
I will tell you, it has been impressive to watch. I can't wait to see what the future holds. But if you want to see him in person, you can do that. He will be out here in the Mat-Su on March 15th, Settlers Bay Lodge, 6.30 p.m., the Valley Republican Women's... Club of Alaska is holding their Lincoln Day Dinner event. This is a typical event that a lot of women's clubs hold in Alaska. A special guest is going to be Congressman Nick Begich III. The event is scheduled. Open at 6.30.
Dinner will be at 7. There will be an auction, split the pot, wall of guns. Seating is limited, so you've got to get your tickets. All you have to do is go to VRWAK.com. That stands for Valley Republican Women Allowed. So VRWAK.com. And you can get your tickets there for the Valley Republican Women's Club of Alaska's Lincoln Day Dinner, in which Nick Begich will be the keynote speaker. So it's a great time to get out there and visit.
with people, I will be there, so I'll get a chance to say hi to you if you show up, and they're going to put me to work. I'm a member of the Valley Republican Women's Club, so I don't know what they're going to make me do, but I'm sure I'll be working, but I will be there. So, yeah, it'll be great. It'll be a great event. And, you know, another thing he mentioned.
And he didn't mention the name, but I'll mention the name. In Must Read Alaska over the weekend, Suzanne has an article up. Senator Giesel says an income tax on Alaskans is inevitable without question. That's what she says. Inevitable without question. Senator Kathy Giesel's latest newsletter to her district talks about the need for more state revenue and how that will have to come from Alaskans' paychecks. Quote, our traditional dependence on oil taxes to pay...
Our bills doesn't work anymore. Most of our funds come from the permanent fund earnings. Alaskans knew this would happen when they created the permanent fund in 1976. New revenue usually makes Alaskans think of personal income taxes. is in our future without question and quote see I told you see here here's the reality you cannot pass
Billion dollar bills, you know, they're saying this BSA increase that the House wants over the next three years is going to be about 1.4 billion dollars. And that's just the next three years. You can't pass a bill like that. without saying how you're going to pay for it. And I've been telling you for two years, they're going to pay for it coming from your pocketbook.
You know, they've been saying they want to go back to a defined benefit retirement plan, which Kathy Giesel and the Democrat ilk in the legislature are pushing for. But again, that current system is $6 billion in the hole, but they want to go back to now another defined benefit plan. How are they going to pay for it? There's only one way to pay for it. They're going to have to go after new taxes. That means taking money out of your pocket.
So, yes, the big bills that they're pushing for are going to cost money. And what they haven't been telling you to this point is how they're going to pay for it. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast. These spectacular shining silver bars featuring a crisp image of the iconic Morgan silver dollar, a legendary coin that has captivated collectors for generations.
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secure your one ounce Morgan silver bars for only $39.95. That's 1-800-973-9714. The opinions expressed on this show are those of the host and not of iHeartMedia or its employees. Thank you for listening to NewsRadio 650 KENI. Welcome back to live, local, and insightful Morning Drive Radio on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Welcome back to Hour 2 of the Amy Dubosky Show, broadcasting live and local every weekday morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., Monday through Friday, right here on 650 a.m.
If you're streaming us, you can stream us at 650keni.iheart.com. That's our website. Or you can download the iHeart Media app. We have listeners from Fairbanks to Sitka to every point in between, and we appreciate the thousands of you that listen every single weekday morning and those that download the podcast as well we have lots and lots of people that download the podcast you can find us every day as soon as the show's over daryl uploads the podcast so you can find us on spotify
the Amazon app, the iHeartMedia app. You can find us on our website. Lots of places you can find us. All right, we're going to turn our attention a little bit to the Alaska legislature. And joining us now, I'm very happy to welcome to the show Representative Mike Prox. He is from North Pole, District 33. Good morning, sir.
Good morning. How are you this morning? I am fantastic. I have to tell you, you know, it always seems like the legislature is a little bit boring in January. February starts to heat up, but by the time we get to March, it's going fast. and furious. So I can't wait to hear what you've been working on and the things that you've been hearing about. Well, you are right. It gets a little bit fast and furious.
Kind of too bad. Yeah, no doubt. You know, you've represented North Pole since about 2019, right? Representative Prox? Yes. Yeah, I was appointed in the... To the second session of, what was that, 31st legislature in 2019. Yep. Okay, so was this Tammy Wilson's old seat? Correct.
Okay. Yeah, Tammy's a good egg. So we enjoyed her, too. Well, you know, I know I would love to get your take on this because I saw the article that was written in Must Read, Alaska in the last couple weeks, and you're getting a bit of guff. As you voted to move the education bill out of committee, can you talk to us about what the education bill is, what your position on it is, and kind of what you'd like people to know about it? Right.
The education bill, as it stands, and I think that's HB 69, is just a funding bill. All they want is more funding and quite a bit more funding. They're looking... As it's written, it would cost about another half a billion dollars per year. And we're already a billion, billion and a half short. If you look at the spending proposed in the governor's budget and the anticipated revenue, we're about a billion, billion and a half short now. So I don't think it's reasonable to add...
another half a billion, especially without identifying a revenue source. See, that has been...
That has been the biggest, you know, I have two issues with education funding. The first, any bill that they propose, my first question is, how are you going to pay for it? That's always my first question. And then, you know, as I look at the education bill, if we look over... past 20 years and we see we're putting more and more and more money into education but our results are not improving dramatically I mean in some regards they look like they're flat
So to me, money isn't the issue. You know, the governor has taken his position that there needs to be different. policy changes in education in order to achieve results. Where he seems like he's focused on results, the legislature, some in the legislature, appear like they're focusing on just spending more money. I mean...
At what point do we stop and say money's not really the issue here? We have to change something in order to get better results. Well, that's my position. I think, well, this... Not the same bill, but there was an education bill in the legislature last year. And when we got done with it, as much as we could anyway. We included some policies. We did increase the amount going towards education, but we also included increasing the amount for correspondence schools.
and for charter schools, and making it easier for people to either homeschool, choose the homeschool or the correspondence programs, or for people to open up. charter schools. And I would have supported the bill, but that got taken out of what we had on the floor. As I recall, it got taken out on the House floor. There was some... Yeah, there was some debate, and the choice parts of that got taken out, and so I didn't support that. And here we are, back at it today.
That's still my position. We need choice. Well, and it makes sense. When you think about, you know, the education study that came out that showed Alaska charter schools were some of the best in the nation. Last week, I had a member of the Matsubura School Board on the show, and they were talking about their expansion.
in CareerTech and how in their programs where kids are enrolled in two or more classes in CareerTech, they have a 98% completion rate. I mean, that to me blew my mind. So when you look at some of these successes across our state, It would seem like really reasonable to me that people in the legislature would look to say, what are we doing right and how can we expand that? And it just blows my mind when I see a big funding bill like this, as you called it, a funding bill.
When I see a bill like this, it has no accountability measures in it. It has no real leveraging or expanding on the things that are working. It's just throwing more money at it. I don't understand how we keep doing the same thing over and over again that's producing these. really pathetic results. Yeah, correct. And part of the problem is that accountability and results mean something different.
to different people. And that's a little bit to be expected. Personally, I do think that you need some sort of standardized testing because... We have a lot of people coming up here through the military, etc. We have a fairly mobile population. So when people want to come up here... we have to have some way for them to compare where they already are. Sure. The simplest way to do that is a standardized test. And then others will argue that...
No, there's all kinds of things that we should be measuring, and there is some validity to that. In Fairbanks, we have, I believe there's five or six. charter schools. I don't remember things off the top of my head very well. But we have five or six charter schools, and they all approach what they're doing a little bit differently.
When you compare just results, some of the – well, and in the neighborhood schools as well, there's some of the standardized test results, a school – might have relatively low scores, but if you look at the children, the progress they make, that isn't reported publicly or as publicly. There's some value in that. It's a difficult subject to try and figure out. But that's where I think the best way to solve the problem, the first step, is to give...
parents the choice of where they want to send their children to school. Oh, absolutely. I think competition drives up, you know, not just proficiency. I think education, especially when we talk about competition and education, I think when you see the rise of charter schools and you see the competition I think what you'll see is everybody's results goes up because these regular traditional neighborhood brick-and-mortar schools will then start competing really with these choice
And I think what you'll see is improvement across the board. I agree with you. Well, then I have to ask you, like, the million-dollar question that everybody is asking. As we talk about HB69 and kind of the lack of... you know, accountability, if you will. I don't know if there's a better word to use in that bill. Why did you vote for it to move out of committee? Entirely by mistake. I didn't realize that I had voted yes.
So then what's the next step for that bill? Well, the bill then went from the, it did get pulled out of the education committee. And then it went to the Finance Committee, and they didn't talk about it very long. And then it got passed from the Finance Committee. Well, it goes to Rules Committee, where it's sitting right now waiting for...
to be pulled out of the Rules Committee, or sent, I should say is the right word, sent to the floor from the Rules Committee. That's where it stands right now. So let me ask you, with this potential, you know, we talked about this potential bill before. My guess, and I've assumed this from the beginning, is that they would have the votes in the House to pass it. They'll probably have the votes in the Senate to pass it. My guess is the governor will at some point...
come in and have to veto it. But are they identifying an actual revenue source for this particular bill, HB 69? Well, it hasn't been identified thus far. There is... of how that's going to be funded, and it has to go into the mix with every other thing that we're trying to fund, because you can't, Alaska's Constitution doesn't let you dedicate it. a tax for a specific purpose. So it's all mixed together.
There we are. So it will be discussed in the end because they have to pass a balanced budget. So if they're taking it from savings or if they're going to institute a new tax, I don't think you'll see the new tax this year, but my guess is the permanent fund is definitely going to take a hit. have to cut other things but you know when we start talking about these bills I mean at the end of the day
What are we going to get for it, and how much is it going to cost us, and where are they getting their money? I mean, those are all basic questions. I think your residents, I'm sure, are asking the same as we are. Right. And right now, and now I am. speculating, but right now what looks like will happen is they will just take it out of the dividend fund, and so the permanent fund dividends will go way down.
Well, I'm hearing scuttlebutt. I don't know if you're hearing the same scuttlebutt, but I'm hearing scuttlebutt on the Senate side that the Senate is saying that the House's bill is ridiculously large. It's not even reasonable. So my guess is on the Senate side, they'll reduce the bill. bsa increase to some number i have no idea what number that is but they'll reduce it but it'll still probably be bigger than the governor would like my guess by the time it hits his desk
That could very well be. I don't know. Time will tell. Time will tell, right? Yep. Well, Representative Prox, before we let you go, I just want to know, is there any other legislation that you're working on or that you have your eye on that has great interest to you? year? Well, I'm working on a couple of bills. One, to add a checkbox to the PFD application for those who want to send their dividend back to the general fund and make it easier for them to do that.
And then I've got another bill filed to call a DUI diversion bill, and that lets you get into a program on the first DUI, first time you're picked up for a DUI. no other things involved, and you agree to the stipulations in the diversion program, the first one doesn't count on your record.
Oh, those both seem like really interesting bills. I mean, you know, Alaska especially. I mean, the amount of people that I know that have had DUIs, like one DUI, I mean, in Alaska is a big issue. And so I think trying to tackle that issue. issue.
you know at the onset of it rather than having repetitive issues with people whether it's some sort of you know substance abuse help or whatever is a good one and we hear people all the time talking about the pfd how they don't need it if they don't need it then i love the fact that You're giving them an option to give it back to the general fund. Yep. Yep, make it easier and promote that. And there are a number of people that would rather have the state services than the dividend.
And that's fine. I don't want to argue with them. Just send it back. Seems pretty straightforward to me, I know. Well, Representative Prox, as always, it is great talking with you. I appreciate you calling in this morning. get the urge and you want to give us updates on anything that you're working on, feel free to call in, okay?
All right. Real good. Thank you, Mike. All right. Thank you, sir. That's Representative Mike Prox. He represents District 33, which is the North Pole District. If you'd like to call in, be part of the show. The number is 522-0650. Looking at the Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. Currently light traffic inbound on the glade. A national nonprofit offers more than 1,000 free online resources for youth and high school sports coaches, parents, students, and administrators.
visit pcadevzone.org. Getting up and getting out the door, temperatures on the mild side, upper 20s to low 30s across the city. We could see a few light flurries this morning, but not much accumulating. Highs today near 34. I'm meteorologist Tracy Sinclair. Alaska's News Source. You're listening to live, local, and always insightful Morning Drive Radio with Amy Demboski on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Get on the show now by calling 907. 522-0650
Welcome back, Current Time, 723. Well, this week we're going to have North Pole representing. Representative Mike Prox just called in. I want to thank him for taking time out of his early morning schedule to talk to us a little bit about what he's working on in the legislature. this week one of my favorites senator rob myers is going to be calling in he's also from the north pole area um he is just the guy is wicked smart and he is just very straight talking and no nonsense i really
I really like Senator Myers a lot. So, again, we're going to be focusing more and more, like I said, In the legislature in January, it's basically introducing bills. The legislators are kind of getting their feet under them. It's kind of boring, to be honest with you. February, it starts to pick up a little bit. In March, you will see a lot of flurry of activities. in the legislature, because that's what's happening now, is bills are moving, the gamesmanship is afoot.
And you'll start to see a lot of things. Make no mistake about it, this year is going to be the governor's year, meaning this year a lot of power will be with the governor because I expect a lot of big spending bills. I expect a lot of nonsense from the Democrat-controlled legislature to make it to the governor's desk, and then the governor has to hold up.
I think it's 16. Some legislator will call me or text me and correct me if I'm wrong. But the governor only needs a minority number of votes in order to uphold his veto. For some reason, the number 16 is popping in my head. But he doesn't need a lot to uphold his vetoes, and that's members of both bodies combined, right? So the governor will actually be in quite a power position here, and that's where the negotiations will happen, right?
When they know he has the votes, which, let's be honest, if Amy knows going into this legislative session the governor has the votes to uphold his veto, so do they. So that means the conversations really right now, the interesting ones will be the ones behind the scenes between the leadership in the House and the leadership in the Senate and the governor's office of what is actually going to make it.
you know past the governor's veto pen this year so even though the republicans are in quite very quite literally in the minority in both houses this year in the Alaska legislature. It doesn't mean they're without power, because all they have to do is stay unified and stay with the governor, and then they will have a strategy to deal with these big spending liberal bills that come out.
of the Alaska legislature. So it'll be interesting. So I think Thursday is the day that Senator Myers is going to be calling in. I have to double check that because I'm just doing that off the top of my head and no coffee this morning. So there you go. But it will be an interesting conversation. Okay, Daryl cued me in on this late last night. I am so excited.
I missed it last week because, obviously, Thursday, as soon as I got done the show, I jumped on an airplane and went to Utah. But Thursday was a great day because Kash Patel was confirmed.
as the FBI director, the thing that Amy was waiting for the most. I'm very excited about this. And then it just... Now, I saw this as a potential Secret Service pick, but Trump named his, you know, one of the guys, the guy that was... charge of his own personal detail as the head of the secret service because clearly it's somebody he trusts right you got to have somebody you trust well now
Dan Bongino has been picked as deputy FBI director. Oh, my gosh. The crowd goes wild. This is amazing. Suzanne has the article up in Mustard, Alaska. Dan Bongino is president of Donald Trump's choice. for Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday, great news for law enforcement and American justice. Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our country, has just...
named the next deputy director of the FBI by the man who will be the best ever director, Kash Patel, end quote. Bongino began his career as a New York City police officer. and then was a U.S. Secret Service agent. And then it goes on and says right here, There's a quote here. I'm trying to see. I don't see Bongino's quote in her story. But Bongino, on X, I think it was, he wrote that he thanks the president, Pam Bondi, and Kash Patel for their trust in putting...
your faith in them or something like that. So we'll see what happens. But look, I've got to be honest with you. This is a problem you have when you have an organization that potentially has leadership that is...
Let's just say corrupt. They have politicized the FBI clearly to go after political rivals, right? And it's not the everyday officer, but typically when you have an organization like that where you have a problem, A lot of times you have to bring in somebody from the outside as far as leadership goes to be able to know you're getting somebody who's not part of the problem.
I know that sounds harsh, but it's true, and it's always tricky in law enforcement because law enforcement tends to be very insular. Let's put it this way. Like, okay. Every APD officer that's listening right now, you all know what I'm talking about. Same with troopers. You all know what I'm talking about. When you bring in a DEA guy like Tali, we all remember him, to head up APD.
You know, you just don't get the troops lining up behind them. Same thing, Dunleavy made the mistake with Amanda Price. She had no law enforcement background. That was a terrible pick, by the way. I don't usually criticize the governor, but that was a terrible pick. But you bring in somebody with no law enforcement experience or outside law enforcement experience, and then you have this paramilitary organization. And the problem being is if the boots on the ground don't respect you,
it's really hard to lead them. And what you'll see is the leadership will then have a very difficult time kind of getting people to follow them. That can be very difficult in some of these paramilitary organizations. But if you bring people in that the boots on the ground do respect and they know there's a lot of skullduggery, let's put it that way, at the top,
Then what happens is you know you're not bringing in somebody who is corrupted or part of the problem. And this is what plagued Trump in his first term. Right? You had the Christopher Rays. You had the people from within that were promoted up that were part of the problem or didn't have the backbone to actually push back against people that were the problem. And so you don't know if you're promoting the swamp or not.
And that's what the FBI has. That's the challenge they have right now. I don't think it's possible to have promoted from within to head up the FBI because Trump wouldn't have known for sure that he was really going to get it cleaned up.
That's the problem you have with the FBI. So you're kind of at this, like, damned if you do, damned if you don't. I think Kash Patel has proven himself to be one that is not corrupted by the swamp. And I think that's exactly what you needed in this organization, because I think there's a lot of good people.
that want to get the politics out of the FBI that work for the FBI. And there's a little bit of a new information out there right now. Looks like they're expecting Cash Patel to be named the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also. Yeah, that's exactly right. So as you start to look at it, this doesn't surprise me. Breitbart has the article up. FBI Director Cash Patel to be tapped to run the ATF. The Associated Press reported it yesterday that Patel will be...
the acting director of the ATF, crediting the information to a Justice Department official, not saying who. The AP added, the Justice Department official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the move before it's announced publicly. House officials haven't yet confirmed this.
But the ATF, again, one of the issues with the ATF is some of the different regulations that they've been proposing to try to clamp down on firearms. And so, again, from within the belly of the beast, you have regulations that potentially are coming. out that may not be constitutional. So now again, to eliminate this kind of fight against the Second Amendment and whatever type of deep state...
bureaucracy that's happening at the ATF, which has been pretty obvious considering some of their policy positions that they've taken under the Biden administration, you've got to clean house. And again, I'm not always a firm believer in
some of these paramilitary organizations taking an outsider, but there's times, especially when there's corruption, when this deep state activity that's fighting against the executive, the only way to clean it up is to take somebody from the outside. Frankly, that's what Dunleavy had to do with the Department of Justice.
of corrections here at the state of alaska after walker he he named nancy dahlstrom as the head of doc he had to do that because of what was going on at the top and it made a lot of sense why because she's she's unwaveringly honest She's no-nonsense. When there's an issue, she will dig in, and if it's right, she will push, and she will fix it. And that's been her, especially when it comes to corruption-type activities. Like, you have to have somebody who's unwitting.
when you're dealing with those type of things. And so, again, I think dealing with the FBI, dealing with the ATF, I think he's done it. Dealing with the NSA. right dealing with all of these types of dealing with the CIA I think he's done that consistently throughout these departments and I think he has to do that in order to clean it up so
I don't know. I got to tell you, I did a little happy dance yesterday when I heard Bongino was named as the deputy director of the FBI. I got to tell you, like, get out the popcorn. Like, this can't. I don't know. I don't know how this is going to get better, Daryl. I don't know how it's going to get better.
It's going to be amazing. All right, we're going to take a quick break. If you'd like to call in, 522-0650. Turn up your radio. Here's the Sean Hannity Morning Minute. All executive power, granted. by people of the several states invested in the president. The power includes the right to remove executive officials and people deemed unfit to execute his agenda.
You know, you're going to hear from the media, well, so-and-so was a veteran and got fired from USAID. This is not their fault. Just let's be very clear. The president has all of this authority, just like he has the authority. under you know various constitutional clauses the supremacy clause for one to go after illegal immigrants and states that are going to resist and aid and abet lawbreakers and give them legal driver's licenses like in new york they're going to be facing lawsuits
I'm Attorney General Pam Bondi. Check out the Sean Hannity radio show later today, right here. Donald J. Trump is officially the next president of the United States of America. While millions of Americans are rejoicing in the victory, thousands of others are still concerned about their savings. The unfortunate truth is we still have $35 trillion in debt.
The interest on that debt is now larger than our entire defense budget for the first time in history. Plus, the wars that started under Biden are still raging across the globe. So, what can you do to help protect your savings? Many Americans are already taking action by reaching out to the top-rated precious metals company, Gold Co.
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One man is dead after allegedly barricading himself inside a Midtown Anchorage hotel with five hostages, including a woman and several children. The Anchorage Police Department says the suspect died during an exchange of gunfire between him and the officers. Police could be seen escorting the woman and children to... nearby ambulances about 10 minutes after the shooting. No serious injuries were reported among the victims.
No injuries are being reported after four people were rescued from a fire early Friday morning at a vacant building in Anchorage. The Anchorage Fire Department spokesperson said the fire happened at the former America's Best Value Inn and Suites in the Spenard neighborhood.
Crews used a ladder truck to rescue the four people from the top floor. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire. In teenage mushing phenomenon, Emily Robinson is celebrating a historic fourth Junior Iditarod win. The 17-year-old passed the finish line with nine dogs in heart. Sunday morning in first place. That's the latest. I'm John Fink. KENI Anchorage.
chance of leading to human extinction in the next three decades? And what did he learn from losing his wife to cancer about how to approach the future of AI? I'm Osvald Loshan, host of Tech Stuff, and I'm so excited to share this memorable and intimate conversation with Nobel Laureate Jeffrey Hinton. Listen to Tech Stuff on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search Tech Stuff to start listening.
Welcome back, Current Time 741. Now, Daryl, keep your mind out of the gutter on this joke. Do not go in the gutter on this joke. What do you call two chickens kicking a ball? Foul play. Okay, good. I was not allowed to open my mouth. No, I didn't say two roosters, Daryl. Okay. I said two chickens. Two chickens. Foul ball. That's it. A foul ball. I like that. I didn't even let you answer because I was afraid of what you were actually going to say.
I was very upright. I am one of those birds of a feather. Trust me, it crashes even worse than me, as everybody knows out there. But no, my brain just dumped those and bad puns to go with it. That's it. Why does a plain hamburger never win a race? I don't know.
Because it's always looking to catch up. I knew it had something to do with catching up. I knew it had something to do with catching up. You're welcome. I know you guys missed me. I know you did. All right, let's go to the phones. And John is with us. Good morning, sir. Good morning. How are you? Thanks for letting me be here. I am well. Is this our Denali, John? Yes, ma'am. Oh, great to hear from you. What's on your mind this morning? Well...
My advice to everybody, you know, that all of us that are happy with the direction that the new administration is taking things is we need to keep our powder pretty dry, not rest on laurels and don't gloat. Okay, so Doge and... You know, a second look at, you know, government waste, fraud, and abuse. That's always a good idea. That's been a good idea since the time of the Romans. Yeah, exactly. But the fact is, Pax Americana, the American piece.
You know, the post-World War II era, we are in a state of decline. And the reason we're in a state of decline is because we're going broke. And $35, $40 trillion, who knows what it actually is. That thing is so voracious that it threatens. to destroy the entire republic. I mean, even if the Trump administration gets everything they want out of DOGE, it's a drop in the bucket compared to entitlement spending like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the debt.
The entire federal budget is borrowed, and that includes our defense budget. We simply don't take in enough tax revenue. Tom Coburn gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. I'm actually from Comanche County, Oklahoma, born. And so I always liked Senator Colburn because he was a native son of Oklahoma. And he talked about biblical levels of pain if we didn't get this deficit under control. And that was $10 or $15 trillion ago. And that's really...
That's the elephant in the room. You know, that's the dance. You know, you can dance with the 800-pound gorilla. She'll dance with you all night long, but it's her that determines when the dance is over, not you, my friend. And that's what we're up against, and we're dancing with the gorilla.
Just to put it in perspective, Janet Yellen, I don't know, nobody can be that stupid. And then once you've eliminated stupidity as an option, well, then corruption is the only thing, and malice are the only things that are left. To explain what they did, they made a $10 trillion short-term bet on a lot of the U.S. federal debt. And they bet that interest rates were going to go down and that when they refinanced that $10 trillion that they would be doing so at a lower rate.
Turns out that's not the case. Fed's not helping. And we've got real trouble. This is generational theft, this $35 to $40 trillion. Anybody with kids or grandkids. If you want those kids to be able to afford a home and have a mortgage interest rate that's under 8%, then we have to bring this deficit down. I think most Americans would agree on a balanced budget amendment.
Not quite understanding the biblical amount of pain and suffering that's going to occur from that, at least over the short term. We've got to get spending under control in this country, or we are toast. You're exactly, and I think you hit it completely correct. I'm looking at the U.S. debt clock right now. It's tracking at $36.52 trillion right now. And, of course, I mean, if anybody's ever gone to it, it's a nerve.
how fast it's going up but you're exactly right it's not just about cutting you just hit the nail on the head it's about spending you got to stop the bleeding you got to stop the fraud waste and abuse but you have to stop the spending I mean there comes a point where
You just have no, there is a breaking point in the U.S. And I think we're very close to it. And look, you know, I'm excited about seeing, you know, Kash Patel and about seeing some of these people put in these different positions. But the reality is. I agree with you on this.
If we do not codify, it's what I was talking to Congressman Begich about, if we do not codify some of the actions that are being taken, it's all going to just go right back to the way it was as soon as you get a Democrat elected president next. I mean, that's what... The reality of it. So to me, like it's the one thing nobody's talking about. That puts 2026 in perspective, doesn't it? Yes, it does. And we better win that.
Exactly. Exactly. Because you've got to win the midterms. Because if you don't win the midterms, the first thing they're going to do is impeach Trump again. Right? That's exactly what they're going to do. It'll be a weekly impeachment with Hakeem. Exactly. You're hot on political marketing, and I know I'm kind of running long.
But, you know, one of the words that I want to see interchangeable is Democrat and bureaucrat. Like with Senator Murkowski, she's not a Democrat, but she is a bureaucrat. And it doesn't matter whether it's Democrats or bureaucrats. They're going to bring this republic down. And we have got to start looking at them in terms of, look, it's economic suicide what you guys believe in in terms of this ever-expanding...
And it's not just the feds. It's state and local. I mean, look at the Anchorage Assembly. Look at the insanity that's in Juneau. But the bottom line is, in terms of political marketing, we need to start... You know, look at how the Associated Press deals. Look at their left-wing wordsmithing. Let's do a little bit of this on our own, and let's start using Democrat and bureaucrat as an interchangeable term, that they are synonyms one of the other.
And that's a start, too, just to throw that out to the listening audience. Well, I appreciate it, John. You're always full of wisdom. Thank you so much. I appreciate your call. Oh, you are. You are. I love it when you call in. But I do appreciate your call very much. I'm going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. I've not seen any major stoppages or slowdowns out there. Traffic looks to be moving pretty well around the Anchorage Bowl. If you see traffic problems on the road, dial pound 250 on your cell. Say total traffic. From the Swickard Chevrolet Anchorage traffic.
studios i'm daryl dean this report is sponsored by think it up think it up is an initiative to activate student-powered teacher-led learning projects got issues with youth or high school sports positive coaching alliance can help PCA, a national nonprofit, offers more than 1,000 free online resources for youth and high school sports coaches, parents, students, and administrators.
Visit PCADevZone.org. Getting up and getting out the door. Temperatures on the mild side. Upper 20s to low 30s across the city. We could see a few light flurries this morning, but not much accumulating. Highs today near 34. I'm meteorologist Tracy. Welcome back to live, local, and insightful Morning Drive Radio on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Welcome back. Well, I have to play on what?
John brought up with Murkowski and bureaucrats, you know, make them interchangeable because Suzanne has an article up in Mustard, Alaska. Murkowski fumes at Trump and Musk over memo. This is the memo that we talked about earlier in the show where they. put out a memo basically asking federal workers, what did you do last week? Again, at the end of the day, this is not an unreasonable question.
And when Murkowski says, well, she agrees with, you know, evaluating and finding ways from use, just not the way it's being done. Well, what do you expect? This clearly demonstrates to me somebody who's never actually had to have a profitable business.
or do change management. Because you walk in, and I've got to tell you, you've got to break some eggs to make an omelet. I've done this for a lot of years, a lot of years. And I will tell you, it's unfortunate. You've got to go in, and generally you have to fire people.
I mean, that's the reality. You've got to go in, you've got to clean out the old, get rid of the new. Look, people talk about the inspector generals and say, oh, this is so terrible. These people have been doing this job for 20 years, and they shouldn't lose. Well, clearly, but they've been doing a crappy job.
I've got to be honest with you. If you're an IG, if you're an auditor, and there's tons of waste, fraud, and abuse under your tenure, and you've been there, let's say, 10 years, and it hasn't gotten cleaned up, I'd say you're part of the problem. I mean, that's just common sense right there. So, you know, if you want to read this article in Must Read Alaska about Murkowski and her...
Her pushback, but again, it goes to Daryl's theory that Murkowski is keeping herself relevant because he thinks she wants to run for president. Oh, stab me in the heart. She really is making sure that she's getting on national sources that she's never been on before. They are all like looking at her like, oh.
Well, if we want to talk about something that could bring about the end of the Earth, let's talk about an asteroid instead of Lisa Murkowski. Oh, never mind. Not interchangeably. Let's talk about it. Okay, this is a story I've held since last week, and I've been dying to talk about it. the New York Post, NASA plotting how to destroy a city killer asteroid that has a 1.5% chance of hitting the Earth. They've now upped the percentage to 3.1% in later articles.
It goes on to say this is how it would work. NASA is on high alert for a city killer asteroid that's headed toward Earth because they don't want to miss the thing. The asteroid called 2024 YR4. Now has a probability, again, like I said, this article says 1.5%, but I've seen other articles that says 3.1% probability. Yeah, probability of hitting the Earth in 2032, according to NASA.
It says right now they're feverishly working together to track the space rock and looking at how to blow it to smithereens if necessary. Right here, according to a project manager at the Kennedy Space Center, no one is panicking, but it's definitely what we're talking about in the hallways of NASA. We know we have enough time to act, but now it's time to start planning.
I can't say this word. You can't half-butt this at the last minute. I edited his quote for you, Darrell. Nicely done, nicely done. Yes, thank you. So right now what they're saying is they're saying the probability of deep impact. is 3.1% or 1 in 32.
more likely than choosing a correct number on a roulette wheel. The space agency later upgraded the Earth's chance of missing the space rock. So they're observing it, but what they're saying is you know it's going to go around and it probably won't be seen again until 2028 and then they'll be able to get updated trajectory numbers but they're right now saying this could have a cataclysmic impact
out an entire city like the size of New York, the size of New Delhi, whatever. But it's amazing. They nailed the movie Deep Impact. That was an awesome movie. If you haven't seen it, It's one that is worthy of watching. It's entertaining. Yeah, Deep Impact, all about meteorites and asteroids.
I haven't heard anything about the YR-4 was initially spotted rocketing through the solar system in December. Astronomers first believed the asteroid had a 1 in 83 chance of hitting the Earth. But now, of course... It's down to 1 in 32 chance in 2032. The rock will return to the Earth's vicinity in 2028, giving scientists another chance to recalculate the odds and determine if the rock is still threatening the Earth.
Some scientists believe the odds will drop dramatically upon its next orbit. At some point in the next month, a few years, the probability will go to zero. Well, we'll see. We'll see. But you know what? I've got to tell you. I've got a solution. for the asteroid. I have a solution for this. Elon Musk. I'm just throwing it out there. I am fairly confident if he can catch a rocket on an arm coming back and landing here, if he can send rockets to Mars.
Just put Elon Musk on this, and I think what will happen is he'll blow it to some of the reins when it comes back in 2028. I think, look, let's just do it. Let's just plan on it. I think we're good. I gotta tell you, John, I still feel good about winning, but...
I do mean it. They have to codify the wins because otherwise we're going to be right back at this in four years again. All right, that does it for Daryl and I today. We will be back with you tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Until then, stay safe. God bless. Hi, this is Danielle Lynn. Love to have you join us each weekend for great conversations with the brightest minds on the planet, with ways to navigate life for greater wealth, health, wellness, leadership, and personal development at all levels.
best-selling authors, life coaches, entrepreneurs, scientists, innovators, and nutritional experts. It's the Danielle Lynn Show. The Art of Living and Science of Life, Sunday mornings at 5 on News Radio 650 KENI. Join us. He's back and he's got even more to say. Hear the O'Reilly Update with Bill O'Reilly. Only on News Radio 650 KENI.
My life changed forever when a driver crashed his car on the Parkes Highway. Bob's bones were shattered and he had huge medical bills. It looked bleak. I didn't think I'd