All Talk with Kevin Dietz ~ April 22, 2026 ~ Full Show

Good morning. Welcome to All Talk on a beautiful Wednesday morning. I'm Kevin Dietz along with Marie Osborne, bringing you the latest headlines and the stories everyone is talking about. There is something happening right now on television that we don't see very often anymore. It's not chaos. It's not controversy. It's not someone yelling at someone else. What we have on television right now is excellence in the name of Jamie Ding for five straight weeks, night after night. He's been walking onto the stage of Jeopardy and doing something that almost doesn't feel real anymore. Winning again and again and again 28 straight times. Think about that. In a world where attention spans lasts about eight seconds, where everything is fast and loud and disposable, this guy is standing there calmly, quietly, just knowing more than everyone else in the room. And here's what makes it even better. He's one of us. Metro Detroit, Gross Point, 313 area code still on the phone. You can feel it when he talks. You can see it how he plays. This isn't some flashy over-the-top personality. This is... someone who grew up reading everything he could get his hands on, who went to great schools, who just kept learning. But here's the real question, why should you be watching? Why does this matter? Yes, it's fun. It's a game show. It's something you can sit down with at night and just enjoy, but it's more than that because what you're watching is mastery. You're watching what happens when someone commits their life to curiosity, to knowledge, to thinking deeply. And we don't celebrate that enough anymore. We celebrate all the noise. We celebrate all the drama. We celebrate people being famous for not much. But this, this feels different. This is someone earning attention the old-fashioned way by being really, really good at something. When you watch someone like Jamie Ding, you don't just watch. You start thinking. You start asking questions. You start remembering things you forgot. You start realizing maybe I should read more. Maybe I should learn more. Because excellence is contagious. When you see it, it pulls something out of you. It reminds you what's possible. And let's be honest, it's also just impressive. 783 plus correct answers, barely any wrong ones. That's not luck. That's not a hot streak. That's excellence. And here's the other thing. He's not done. We don't know where this ends. We don't know how far he goes. But that's part of the thrill. Every night you tune in thinking, is this the night? So yeah, watch because it's fun. Watch it because it's local. Watch it because it's exciting, but also watch it because this kind of excellence deserves an audience because in a world full of distractions, it's nice just for a moment to sit down and watch someone be great at something that actually matters and realize we could all use a little more of that. We're going to talk.

to Jesse Ding, Jamie's sister at 1018 this morning. We'll take your calls on this at 935. Good morning, Marie. You've been watching all along. I've been watching all along. We're big Jeopardy fans in our family. Not that we know any of the right answers, okay? We're not that people. But we just enjoy watching the game. Jamie's been just so amazing from the very beginning. I mean, literally, he is a machine. He just grinds through every question, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And it doesn't matter what the time. He seems to know everything about everything, not a little bit about everything or a lot about one thing. He seems to know. Everything about everything. And no matter how obscure, he seems to have a little bit of tidbit of information. Now, I know you're going to be talking to his sister a little bit later on. The show can't wait to hear what she has to say. Yesterday afternoon, I got a chance to talk to his father, who was a professor of neurosurgery at Wayne State University. And it was just fabulous to hear. His dad is just so unassuming. It's like, oh, this is just another thing. And he and his wife had been at every taping. so far of the Jeopardy season here featuring their son. Now, we don't know how this turns out, so he couldn't tell me too much, right? But I asked him about when he was little, and I said, you know, what was like, what was he like when he was little? And he said, when he was three, he was in preschool, and they went to a little parent-teacher conference, and the teacher said to him, Jamie can read all the name tags of all the other students in the class because they had them up on the board. And he said he can go up there and read all those names and he knows who those people are, identify his fellow classmates at the age of three. And then he said when he was about four or five, his parents, you know, would they be driving and they'd want to park the car? And he'd read the sign and say, oh, no, you can't park here. This is no parking. You need to go park over here. great. Excellence shows itself early, whether it's sports or education or whatever it is. And boy, it has been fun to watch the family rally around him. It's just very, very exciting. Absolutely exciting. And we've heard from his principal at Cross Pointe North High School saying that he was an excellent student at the time. His dad told me yesterday at one point he was a student council or class president, I should say. And that's one of the things his dad pointed out. It's not just like he's this encyclopedia of just knowledge and whatever. He's well-rounded. He's interested in many things. And as you pointed out, many times... a year and that is the curiosity is key right that he he's just curious about a lot of things and that's a lesson for all of us that the you know if you're curious about things your your breath of knowledge will you know be quite large well when we talk to his sister jesse we might just ask about things like did he clean his room oh you know things like that forget all this knowledge and how smarty is let's get the sister stuff out of the way you know how sisters can be kevin you have a few of those absolutely uh we want to talk a little bit about

Iran presents what he calls a unified proposal. Within hours of that announcement, two ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, gunfire, damage, disruption, and one of the most critical waterways in the world. So while the bombs may have stopped in the sky, the fight is still happening in the water. Now we need to get this fight to move to the negotiating tables. Join us now, Peter Meyer, former Congressman and Army veteran. Good morning, sir. How are you? I'm doing fine, Kevin. How are you this morning? I'm doing well. I appreciate you being with us. I think the key words there is a unified proposal. I don't know if we know what that is or who it comes from, but I think that's probably part of the problem. Yeah, and this is a not unexpected development that on the Iranian side, there is discord, there's disagreement, there's questions about, you know, who can speak on behalf of the country. Frankly, if you remember the very, very early stages of this war, part of the thought around the maximum pressure, air campaign, decapitation strikes. the idea was to sow internal discord and hopefully lead to a regime change from within, we are now seeing some of those stressors begin to manifest themselves at the negotiating table. So I actually think that this is a good sign. It runs contrary to the belief that, oh, we've just replaced. you know moderates with hardliners and you know that more kind of pessimistic take um if anything these are the type of movements that you see as the regime begins to make you know grapple with frankly the questions around their own legitimacy around their own sense of cohesion um you know what what makes it difficult to sit down at the negotiating table may actually change who's sitting down and change the strength with which they're able to negotiate. But that's going to be a process that unfolds in a couple of days or a couple of weeks. I think President Trump taking the decision to say, hey, yeah, we've hit the ceasefire deadline. But, you know, time is, frankly, on the U.S. aside. There's additional pressure for the Iranians to continue to open the strait. There have been some limited movements through there. At the end of the day, you know, the Iranians are the ones with a massive economic crunch, not the U.S. Is that the difference between getting a good long-term deal versus a short-term deal, getting the right people at the table, getting the right regime in charge over there? You need to have somebody, you know, at the table whose words carry weight in order to have any deal. You know, I think the idea that we're going to knock out a long-term agreement in a matter of days, you know, is just not realistic. But that doesn't mean that you don't have shorter-term agreements that bridge you to the point where something longer-term and more comprehensive may come into play. And we've already seen that with, you know, the ceasefire that we're operating within.

sort of at the moment, you know, that ceasefire was itself a short-term agreement between the Iranian foreign minister, the United States, and brokered by the Pakistanis, and the Al-Bad. And so I would expect to see additional short-term agreements. Now, again, none of that precludes the U.S. from taking any action. If anything, you know, the one thing we need the Iranians to do is to just not interfere with... operations in the Strait of Hormuz. The only reason they're interfering right now is because we're interfering with their operations and exerting that degree of leverage. And so, again, I think you could see additional short-term bridging agreements come out. You know, they'll be proposed. Some will fail. Some will go forward while the Iranians sort out their domestic situation. Do we know what the former Ayatollah son's role is in any of this? I don't, I'm sure somebody does. I'm sure the Israelis and members of the American intelligence community have a pretty good beat on it. You know, at least in the communications that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has been broadcasting or elements thereof, you know, they're claiming that he's not signed up with some of these agreements. But that isn't something we've heard from him directly or from anyone. publicly that can be directly attributed to him. You know, so I think he can also be a, I mean, for all we know, the guy might be in a coma, and he's a very useful, you know, stalking horse sitting out there that everyone can use for their benefit. Or he could be, you know, have a hand on the reins and be controlling the whole thing. You know, I'm sure somebody knows I am not in those loops. Yeah, it is interesting how little we do know or hear in that regard, which makes it just very interesting and unsettling when we talk about negotiations, when you just really aren't 100% certain who's there. Hopefully the United States and Israel knows who they're negotiating with. What do you make of the two ships attacked in the Strait of Hermuz shortly after this extended ceasefire? So there was some rumor or some communication that they had actually paid, you know, the toll, as it were, to the Iranians. But they may have been given, they may have inadvertently been scammed out of it. I think it was an Indian container ship, you know, started to. you know, get under fire by the Iranians and they're like, what the heck, you know, we paid our toll. What are you guys doing? Like, we never received it. We have this invoice right here. That's not ours. So that, again, we do not want to have a situation long term where the Iranians are able to extract tolls from what should be an open and free international waterway. But, you know, in all of these circumstances, you know, you're also seeing the challenges of command and control. and communication on the Iranian side, which again, you will need some semblance of that, but the lack of it or the confusion around it, I think it's highly advantageous to the U.S. is negotiating position. And for the prospects in the minds of the people we're sitting across from, that if they don't come to an agreement soon, you know, could be facing even greater troubles from within.

The UK came out and said they support the extension. I don't know what else they would come out and say, but are we feeling enough love from our allies? I try not to rag on our allies, but seeing some European leaders kind of gathering together and being like, we're doing it. We're reopening the street. It's just, it's... Where have you been? It's sad. Yeah, I wish that our allies, you know, took more ownership over their own self-interest. I wish that they were stepping up to the plate. I think if anything, you know, the European allies are going to say that the U.S. rhetoric, you know, this year has harmed relations. You know, I think, you know, words can only go so far. I think it's actions, you know, that really speak volumes or, in this case, pretty profound inaction. We only have a little time left. But do you think this is truly about nukes or is some of this about oil and global trade or both? All of the above. I think it starts with China, and it flows down to all the ways in which, you know, future instability could be to their benefit. And so the U.S. looking forward right now, looks across and says, well, where can we ensure no future instability or try to reverse that to deny Chinese leverage down the line? All right. Peter Meyer, former Congressman and Army veteran, we absolutely appreciate your expertise and your insight on this. Thank you for sharing some time with us this morning. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much, Kevin. All right. Yep. All eyes on that region. Missiles still flying in the strait of Hermuz as the ceasefire is extended. Your calls are next. 1-800-859-0 WJR. Are you watching Jeopardy? Are you watching this Jamie Ding kid who went to Gross Point Schools? Pretty cool. It's all talking. I'm Kevin Deeds. And it is 935. That means it's your turn to talk. 1-800-859-0-9-7-1-800-8-5-0-WJR. Give us a call. Give us a text, be a part of the show. So are you watching this Metro Detroit guy, Jamie Ding? He's not from here anymore, but he grew up here. Went to school in Gross Point. His dad is a professor at Wayne State. He's doing something you don't see very often anymore. He is winning over and over and over and over again on Jeopardy. 28 straight G. games now that he has won. I think he's $700 or $800,000 in earnings. He's a top five all-time winner on Jeopardy. It's how he's doing it that is cool. He's just so calm and so consistent. And he just seems so smart. And it doesn't really matter what the topic is. He seems to know the answer. And even if you don't watch Jeopardy regularly, I think you should tune in and check this thing out. We're going to talk to his sister, Jesse Ding, at 1048 today. And Marie Osborne did an interview with his father as well. And we're going to hear what he had to say at 1105 this morning. But I'm wondering if you are watching. And if you're not watching, what would it take to make you watch? This is a guy.

that is absolutely wildly intelligent, exceptional, calm under pressure. And just a real pleasure to watch. I don't watch Jeopardy regularly. I've watched it here and there. Anytime somebody is on a big win, I will tune in and check it out. And when I first heard about Jamie Ding, particularly that he was from this area, I started recording it. And I'm watching it that way. I'm not watching it live, but I'm recording them and checking them out. And it's definitely cool when you see a run like this. And somebody starts getting up there in the upper echelons of the number of wins because look, one bad day and you're out. It's like the final four NCAA, one and done. You lose one game, you're out. It's not a best of three series like the Pistons are hoping for in their playoff run here. You lose one time and that's it. And it's pretty wild. Renee Vitell, you're watching, correct? Yeah, my husband and I fully invested into this. All right. Tell me what it is about the show itself, what it is about this kid. What has you drawn in? Well, we've always watched the show. Obviously, it's much more exciting right now, one, him being one of our own, and two, this mad streak that he's on. But... It's just so crazy. Like you were saying, how calm he remains to watch this guy. I would love to see him hooked up to, like, a fitness tracker to, like, monitor his heart rate. Right. Because he's so insanely calm. Even when he doesn't know the answer, you think he doesn't know the answer. He doesn't show it. It's wild. He sort of had a close call last night. He really did. And I almost wonder if he is doing that for the mind trickery. You know, he knows he's going to win. He's smart enough to know how much he has to bet, so to say, or put down so that he can advance, right? Sometimes he's untouchable. This was not the case yesterday, but he still, I think he knew he was going to win. Now, when you and your husband watched, how many of the answers do you know? Do you know some of them, most of them, just the $100 one, the $1,000 one? So that... That's funny. We have our categories. I'm strong in music. He's strong in sports. A little bit of politics and history, maybe. But I also have a theory that they're making these categories harder right now to try to keep up with him. That's interesting. It's just a given that he's, you know, somebody said it earlier. He knows a little bit about everything. When I watch, I feel like I should not be watching TV. I should be reading a book or something. I should be learning more. I'm like, why are these people all so smart? Oh, it's very humbling. I need to turn off my TV and go educate myself and learn more. Not every contestant is like that, though. There's contestants that feel, you know, regular like any of us if we had gotten up there.

and played? You know, the girl that was on yesterday, and her name escapes me, but I felt that she was one of us, so to say. She was, you could tell she was very nervous. She kept stumbling over herself. We've all been there. It's easy to say, you know, the answers when you're not on the stage and in front of a million viewers. But she was really struggling yesterday. My heart was breaking for it because I felt like she was the most relatable to any of us should we ever be given the opportunity to be on. Right. Yeah. You know, it's interesting when I watch Jamie Ding there. I don't know if I'm inspired or if I'm intimidated. I think a little bit of both. It's amazing to see what he can do. And then I'm just like, boy, we all had this opportunity to be put on this planet and do whatever we want with it. And maybe I'm not doing enough. We've come up with nicknames for him. So if he beats everyone and sets this new record beats Ken Jennings. We're going to call him King Ding. King Ding? I like that. His fans are ding bats. I like that. Did you see Jennings' response to when they started asking when they said, hey, you know, he's up in the 20s? What does Jenny's have like 75 or something? Yeah, something in the 70s. I know that. Yeah. It's been pretty funny. He said, well, I don't know. I guess if he surpasses me, a trap door will just open up and I'll just disappear forever. And I guess I guess J.B. Ding will be the new host of Jeopardy. He's played along. He also said that he really does hope that he is the host when somebody does beat him because he knows eventually his record will be beaten. Sure, sure. And you know what I love is that right now with everything going on, this is one thing that we're all cheering for. Right. This is Jamie Day. No matter what you think, what you believe, what side of the political aisle, we're all on Team Ding. Well, this is the thing. And I think the audience, local audience in Michigan here is going to grow because the story is just getting bigger and bigger. You know, we're talking with Jamie's sister today at 1048 and Marie Osborne interviewed as his father and his principal is getting interviewed and his teachers. I just think it's one of those things that you're like, all right, at some point you have to be drawn in and watch. Laura, you're not watching Jeopardy, right? I'm following along virtually, but I'm not able to watch it. Yeah, so that's how I've mostly been reading about how he does and I get up in the morning. morning to see if you want or not. I have them recorded. If I take the time to do it, I'll watch it. Kelsey, you're in the same boat. Yeah. I'm not really watching it, but following virtually. Every night I'm waiting for the alert from the papers to say what happened. Right. So I'm in that extent, I'm following along. So my question is, at what point do you feel like you're going to have to... watch and even watch live. Is it, will it be when he's one game away from Ken Jennings record or somewhere before that or never? To be completely honest, the time that Jeopardy is on is not an option for me to be able to watch it. What about Bravo? Are you catching up with that? Yeah, but I watch it the next day. Okay. I watch it on Peacock the next day. I don't watch it live. I know, but you could watch Jeopardy on Peackeg for next day. How can I stream it? I don't have a DVR. Or is it not, well, doesn't Peacock show all the NBC shows? I don't know that does Jeopardy. The next day.

Is it due jeopardy? Yeah. Okay. I'll find. All right. Well, I stand corrected. I didn't know this. I'm looking it up right now. Or perhaps, perhaps even that isn't fun to do the next day if you've already read in the paper that he won. Well, there's that element of it as well. Ooh, it is on Bravo on Peacock. You're right. All right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But to your point, yes. I mean, if I already know what happened, I don't know that I really care. I mean, would you watch when he's on his final game to take over Ken Jenny's record? I think it would depend on the hype around it, to be completely honest. Okay. How about you, Kals? I feel like I would tune in maybe for the last couple, you know, rounds. Yeah, I feel like the hype is there for me. I'm at the point where I'm paying attention. The guy could lose it any day. It's a half an hour. You know, turn it on, watch it, get involved in it. What do they call that jumping on the bandwagon? Yeah. I'm ready to jump on. You're on. Renee's been on. I'm ready to jump on now. You guys, I'm going to drag you kicking and screaming, but I'm going to get you on the Jamie Ding bandwagon. Again, we're going to talk. sister at 1048. Quick break. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's all talk on a Wednesday morning. I'm Kevin Deetz coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. The number is 1-800-8-5-9-7. And joining us now is Barry Owens, General Manager of Treetops Resort. Good morning. How are you? Oh, we've got to turn that mic on for you. Maybe hit that button. There you go. How you feeling? I'm feeling good. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. Yeah, no, thanks for coming. I went out in golf yesterday. I'm feeling it's going to be something like 70 today. There's going to be a lot of people out there golfing today. You've got to be excited up at treetops for the golf season. We sure are. We came through the winter in great shape. You know, you're always nervous about what kind of... Gifts, Mother Nature has left you. Right. And we did well. We thank our lucky stars too. We're in a region there. We haven't had to deal with any of the flooding or any of that that's taken place to some of our neighbors that are unfortunate to have to deal with that. So, yeah. It's the golf course look unbelievable. We were mowing grass out there the other day. Irrigation systems are going. I mean, I went and hit a couple balls the other day myself out there. For people who haven't been to tree tops, talk a little bit about the golf course and what makes it so spectacular, as you like to say. So a big portion. There's a couple ingredients that go to it. First is the canvas, you know, the land itself. Tremendous elevation changes, rich soil, the ability to grow stuff, soil that drains really well. And then you bring in the architects. The famous names, Robert Trent Jay Jones, Sr., Tom Fasio, Rick Smith, and what they created out there is just something special. And it's not... You don't see this everywhere. I mean, just the way they were built and the way they were designed, it's hard to describe if you haven't been there. But it's the first time people come there, it's kind of awe-inspiring because of the just dramatic elevation changes in the views. And it's funny, the signature course, everybody thinks, well, what must go down must go back up, you know? And it's funny on the signature course, there's a, there's like,

15 downhill shots. Right. There's like three uphill. Right. Because every hole, you know, kind of you turn and go back up a hill to tee off again. But irregardless, it's still a very challenging course, even though you're hitting downhill. Yeah, you feel on some of the tee boxes, you feel like you're at the top of the mountain, hitting down the entire mountain. It's just amazing. And you're trying to... figure out exactly what club to use. And it's so fun. And then all of a sudden you're at the bottom and you're looking up the bottom. You're saying, how am I going to get up there? What club am I going to use to get up that hill? And it's just, it's absolutely beautiful. I tell people, honestly, you don't even have to bring your golf clubs. Just drive on the cart for the 18 holes and you will have yourself a fabulous day. Also, the prices are very reasonable. I don't know if that's because it's up north per se or if you're able to keep the cost down. But when I play these spectacular courses around the state, these prices are really reasonable. They are. And I think it's what you talked about. It's the environment that we're in here in the Midwest. You know, it's just it's such a difference between the things that are sitting on the coast, you know, whether it be California or L.A. or out on the eastern seaboard there. So, yeah, it's funny. People have discovered that from all over the country. We'll get people come and play golf this year from 50 different states. Literally, we'll come from all over 25% of our clientels from outside of the state of Michigan. So they have definitely discovered it. That is incredible. And a lot of people think of golf weekends as guys' trips. This year, not so much. The women are going to have their days, too. They sure are. Fastest growing segment of the game, women, youth. and minorities coming into the game in a big way. With the women, we have a variety of things. There's ladies golf schools, which are really popular, which are set up, opportunity to learn, to play golf, and a lot of camaraderie. So we get groups of women that come up together to go through those things. Women's Golf Day, which is an international initiative that's taking place, and you probably got it there in front of you. It's happening in May. I can't remember the day. May 26. Women's Golf Day, May 26. Yeah, yeah. And Alisa Goday, who's the founder of Women's Golf Day, she just, she is tireless in her promotion of this. I had the opportunity to meet her at the PGA show last year. And that day just continues to grow and continues to mushroom and the growth of the game. You know, we see it with the women's amateur at Augusta National and all those initiatives that are taking place. And coming up on Saturday, May 2nd is going to be the eighth annual Grill on the Hill. I'm going to be a judge at this for, I think, the third or fourth year. And I can tell you, this thing is so fun. Just fabulous food, fabulous people, all with a fun competition. It's happening Saturday, May 2nd. And this year, we're going to have special guest world champion pitmaster, Bobby T, there on the scene. And he is on the phone, joining us now. Bobby, are you there? Hey, Kevin, what's up? Oh, man, I'm excited. I have had so much fun at Grill on the Hill the last few years. I am really looking forward to it. Now, what about you?

I'm very excited about it. It'll be my first time there. I hear great things about it. I've been looking at pictures and talking to Barry and Susan. I wish it was this weekend. I'm so fired up. The weather's going to be good. Tell us what the key is to good barbecue. I've been watching these guys go at it. 24 hours in advance, maybe longer. They're marinating the meat. They're getting ready. It's an all-night. thing for these guys in these competitions yeah it really is and i think the key to serving great barbecue to these judges is just you know first of all being organized and having the right equipment, getting the right meats, getting good quality meats, and then just putting a balance of flavors on it, right? You don't want anything too spicy or too smoky or too sweet. You want a good balance. You want it cooked well. And at the end of the day, have a lot of fun, have a couple cocktails, and just enjoy doing it. It is fun. How important is presentation? I think it's very important. We'll eat with our eyes, right? So if it looks good to us, we start salivating when we see it, then we're already going into that as, you know, this is going to be delicious. So it's a mindset. We have first place categories for brisket, ribs, and pork butt. What are the secrets to those? Why are those different? How do you cook those different? Well, I can't tell you all the secrets, man. But I will tell you this, that pork butt and brisket are very similar cooks. You know, they're longer cooked. It's something you want to kind of do overnight to get it turned in in time for the judges. You want to cook it indirect, put a nice rolling smoke on it, and then you want to take them until they're tender. Pulled pork, you know, if you're serving pulled pork in some slices, then I like to take that a little above 200 degrees, so it pulls nicely. It's very tender. Briscuits a little trickier. You want some nice slices. You don't want to fall apart like pork. You want it to kind of hold together but be very tender and juicy. And then ribs, you know, they take a little less time. But again, you're looking for marble meat. You're looking for good quality ribs. And then just slow cook them until they're tender, get the sauce on at the end, and just give these judges a delicious bite. Barry, how great is it, Bobby T. at Grill on the Hill this year? So it's exciting. It's a first for us, and it's our idea to take it to the next level, this event, and we're confident that he can help with that. Ken, people still sign up, or where can people go to find out more about the event?

Go to Treetops.com or give us a call at 888 Treet Treetops. Yeah, if you want to barbecue, this is the place to test your skills. And if you just want to taste good barbecue and have a good time, maybe a cocktail at the beautiful Treetops Resort. Grill on the Hill is for you. May 2nd, Treetops.com. Is that what we said? Yes. Treetops.com. All right. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. It's all talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. Welcome into the 10 o'clock hour of all talk. I'm Kevin Dietz along with Marie Osborne on a Wednesday morning, bringing you the latest headlines and the stories that everyone is talking about. The University of Michigan has launched an investigation into Regent Jim Jordan Acker over allegations of inappropriate and lewd messages. The claims first reported by The Guardian involve alleged sexual remarks about a democratic strategist and female U of M student. Acker has not publicly responded, though as attorney disputes the authenticity of the messages and says he has never used a platform cited. University officials called the allegations disturbing and said an independent outside firm will conduct the investigation. Faculty leaders have strongly condemned the reported conduct saying it would violate professional standards, if true. Controversy comes just days after Acker lost his bid for renomination at the State Democratic Convention with his term set to expire later this year. The situation raises serious questions about accountability and leadership at the university. The future of bankrupt spirit airlines is drawing some mixed signals in Washington. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is urging caution questioning whether taxpayer dollars should be used to prop up a carrier that has struggled to turn a profit despite. repeated financial help. While President Trump says the loss of Spirit could threaten roughly 14,000 jobs and leaves open the door to possible federal involvement, Duffy says the government has to weigh that against the risk of sinking money into a failing venture. He also notes there appears to be little private interest in buying that airline. Spirit is now seeking court approval for another restructuring as rising fuel costs challenge its recovery plan. And we're good. a deep dive on that story at 1118 with Mary Skiyava, former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General, so stay with us for that. Flood waters may be receding in northern Michigan, but residents around Black Lake are now facing a new and dangerous threat. The video is incredible. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Massive floating ice chunks, many homes and cottages remain submerged or surrounded entirely by water, with some residents still unable to return. Large sections of wind-driven ice, including... one estimated at several square miles are crashing into the shorelines and damaging properties. Reports include broken stairs, damaged porches, and concerns about structural impact to homes. Local officials say conditions are improving slowly, but roads remain closed and recovery is far from complete. Some evacuees have returned, though many are still displaced as cleanup continues. The situation shows how the aftermath of flooding can bring unexpected and ongoing dangers even as the waters begin. to fall. A landmark with a long and complicated history is heading to the auction block in downtown Detroit. The Leland House at Bagley and Cass once a luxury hotel and later an apartment building is now on the market. The bidding is set to open later this month. The 22-story building was constructed in 1927 and was designed by these famed architects, wrap and wrap. When it opened, the Italian Renaissance-style hotel was considered state-of-the-art, even had

Air conditioning, which was a rarity at the time. Now, in recent years, the Leland returned to the spotlight amid bankruptcy proceedings. The owner filed court motions to auction the property as part of a plan to sell it free of liens and debt. That process followed a December power failure that forced the residents out of the building and led city officials to declare the building uninhabitable. And some of these former tenants, including longtime residents who'd been there decades, have since asked. the court for access, they haven't even been able to retrieve their belongings. So the online bidding is scheduled to start sometime next month. It'll run through August 27th, starting at $500,000. The final sale will include a buyer's transaction fee for Detroit. It's a potential turning point for one of its most storied buildings. Tucker Carlson says he is tormented by his past support of Donald Trump issuing a public apology. growing tensions over the Iran conflict. Tucker Carlson admitted he feels responsible for helping return Trump to power and said he misled his audience. You and I and everyone else who supported him, you wrote speeches for him, I campaign for him. I mean, we're implicated in this for sure. Yes. It's not enough to say, well, I changed my mind or like, oh, this is bad. I'm out. It's like, In very small ways, but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now. Yes. So I do think it's like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences. You know, we'll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be. And I want to say I'm sorry for misleading people and it was not intentional. That's all I'll say. He was interviewing his brother there. That's who that conversation was with. The comments Marco Rubio sharp break between Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump, who were once close allies during the 24 campaign. Tucker Carlson has been openly critical of Trump's approach to the Iran War calling some actions evil. Trump has responded with personal attacks, escalating a public feud between the two. Split highlights growing divisions within conservative circles over foreign policy. The Pistons, they lost game one. Marie, tonight is game two. That's the big one tonight. I'm going to go and see if I can't turn their luck around. Yeah, I think I think it's time. You need to have your voice tomorrow, Kevin. I know. I'm fighting with this voice. I'll go, but I won't cheer. Let's bring in Steve Courtney, WJR sports analyst. What's going on, Steve? Hey, good morning, Kev, Marie. Hello again, my friends. Yeah, it's been three days since the disappointment of that... game one loss by your top-seeded pistons to the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic. Let me just be the voice of reason here, if that's possible. This situation would be a hell of a lot worse if it was 2002 when the NBA's first round postseason series were best of five. Now, since 2003, there's a best of seven. Plenty of time for the pistons to turn things around. But after that loss on Sunday, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, look, just way...

too many mistakes, way too many defensive lapses. Need to remind you, the Pistons turn the ball over 14 times in that game one loss. And then we focus on Jalen Duren, who was so... very effective during the regular season. He took four shots, ended up in game one with a mere eight points. He said the key to Orlando success against him was they packed the paint. Every time he got the ball deep, they clasped in on him, so he's got to make adjustments. Meanwhile, J.B. Bickerstaff saying just yesterday, don't worry about it, we've got to get the ball into Jalen Durant's hands. It was not only Durant's last. of output you had Duncan Robinson finishing with just nine points. So the Pistons have got to get to work. There's no question about it. We know the Orlando Magic led by Paulo Ben Carroll and his 23 points in that game one win coming in with a boatload of confidence. The very last thing this Piston team needs is to go to Orlando for game three Saturday afternoon down two games to nil. Much like the scenario in game one, the Pistons favored by eight and a half for tonight's game two, which will get underway at LCA at 7 o'clock. Yeah, it's not officially a must win, but it feels like a must win. I think if they can get more physical and get more aggressive, I don't think they're going to have a problem tonight. I think they get the win tonight, Steve, do you? Oh, you know what? One thing about the NBA postseason, you just don't know. And what, you know, the Pistons had such an outstanding regular season. 60 wins. We all know that. But remember this. The other team wants to win, too. So I think the Pistons, coming off a little bit of rust in that game one, need to match Orlando's intensity. Remember, the Pistons Able, as bad as things were going in game one, they had it tied at 65. But yet, every time the Pistons made their move, the Magic had an answer. I think the first 10 minutes of this tilt is very, very important for the Pistons. Yeah, I think this town needs a playoff run, whatever sport it's going to be in. The Pistons. Well, a playoff win because the Pistons have dropped 11 straight home games in the postseason. That goes back to 2008, my friend. Ouch. Steve Courtney, WJR Sports, we appreciate you. All right, enjoy this beautiful day, folks. It's all talk on WJR. It's All Talk on a Wednesday morning. I'm Kevin D. It's coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. The number is 1-800-859-0-957. 1-800-8-9-0-WJR. We're going to take your calls. Read your text at 1035, so be a part of the show. This morning we're talking about something that doesn't get nearly enough attention, but probably should. Lansing. Bridge, Michigan is doing the investigations voters are asking for, and WJR AllTalk has teamed up with Bridge to amplify the reporting and get feedback from you. Right now, Michigan lawmakers are moving at a pace that can only be described as slow. How slow? Through the first three months of the year, just seven bills have made it to the governor's desk, just seven. That's one of the slowest starts in modern state history, and it comes after a year that was already one of the least productive since the Civil War.

At the same time, we've got big issues out there, property taxes, medical debt, infrastructure, transparency, and so much more. So what is going on? Joining us now is Jim Jordan Hermani, Capitol Reporter for Bridge, Michigan. Good morning. How are you? Great. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Jim Jordan Hermony, I'm sorry. This is incredible. Just seven bills. And I know, like, we're split and, you know, we're a purple state and all of that. But we elect people to go to Lansing to get things done, to come how work together and compromise if necessary. But that doesn't seem to be happening. No, I mean, you hit it right on the head. We have seven bills, the first three months of 2026 last year. It's actually a little bit of a better pace than last year where we had six bills in six months. Right now we're kind of starting to see movement on the budgets faster than we did last year, but also this is an election season. So lawmakers have a bit of an incentive to try and get out of Lansing as soon as they can to hit the campaign trail and try and get reelected. And so, you know, we're kind of seeing a return to last year. We're seeing these lawmakers who are locked into fierce partisan personal battles and what this means for Michiganders, what this means for us back at home and the policies that we will see enacted. It really does leave a lot of things up in the air. Well, you look at last year and one of the least productive since the Civil War, I'm surprised anybody can even say they want to run for re-election. I mean, I'm so glad you guys are doing these stories because we're not really hearing this anywhere else. This is something that I think when people find out about it, they're going to be outraged. So it's interesting that you bring that up because in speaking with specifically House Leader Matt Hall, House Speaker Matt Hall, excuse me, he has told reporters, myself included in the past, that he views this more as a quality, not quantity. problem. He says that, you know, the number of bills being passed in Lansing, that doesn't matter to him so much as the policy getting across the finish line. Now, others looking into this say, you know, there might need to be a little bit of horse trading and that sometimes you do end up seeing those bigger ticket items get passed because smaller ticket items get passed earlier in the year. And I do kind of want to return to the fact that, you know, you mentioned rightfully so. We are a purple state and this is a divided legislature. But I crunched the numbers in the last. two divided legislatures that we've had, which ran from through 2008 through 2010. During their second terms, we even saw, you know, double, triple, quadruple the number of bills being passed in the 2008 session. 52 bills were passed by this point last year. And in the 2010 session, 47 bills had already been passed. So, you know, House Speaker Matt Hall, again, he said that it's kind of a goal of his.

to keep the number of bills passed low. But we'll see how that shakes out, especially with, as you mentioned, a number of very large policy items on the table for this year. Yeah, I want to ask our listeners if they're buying this quality, not quantity, if they're content with just seven bills making it through the legislature, 1-800-859-0-957, 1-800-8-9-0-JR. Do you expect more work to get done in Lansing? Or are you absolutely fine with nothing getting done? because you want your party to stick to its guns. It seems to me, Jim Jordan, that there are hundreds of issues that should be bipartisan that could get pushed through. There could be a whole list of bipartisan issues and then a list of the really tough ones that they're going to have to negotiate and go for this quality over quantity. It doesn't add up to me. Well, you know, we have seen some interest in, for example, property taxes. That's been a dominating issue, not just in Lansing, but we're starting to see our gubernatorial candidates talk about that as they stump around the state. You know, again, going back to House Speaker Matt Hall, he said that he's optimistic that the legislature could get a property tax cut this year. I mean, it's a very key interest of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She floated it as part of her own budget process. So I'd be surprised if we didn't see some kind of gains there. Medical debt is another thing that there seems to be some support for, you know, in the Senate, there is a bipartisan package of bills that would do a number of things related to medical debt. including trying to keep it from influencing foreclosures or appear on your credit score. You know, whether or not the House is going to bite on that, that seems a little more up in the air. Hall has said that he personally has looked at a different version out of the Senate regarding price transparency, that he's a little more interested in seeing past overarching all of this. You know, there's some funding for the South Ridge Air Force base that's being tied up. Right now, an appropriations bill passed in the House, and it's now waiting over in the Senate. So again, there's just a lot of moving pieces, a lot of moving targets, and a lot of conflicting ideas is what should get done. But there is some semblance of agreement on some of the bigger items like property taxes and, to a lesser extent, medical debt. When nothing gets moved through, it can give the impression that lawmakers are not even trying. And I don't want to give that impression because I'm not sure how hard they are trying or are not trying. Is it a situation where each party is just presenting their position, their issue, their thought on the issue, knowing that it's not going to get pushed through, but hoping they can use it as a soundbite or something like that in the next campaign? I mean, there's a little bit of that. But like I mentioned, you know, there's larger items, too. I'm thinking back to earlier this year, there was a coalition of House lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, excuse me, who met up in Lansing to talk about the need to make housing more affordable. You know, we, again, going back to medical debt, going back to the property taxes, even, you know, to a lesser extent, folks really want to see this budget passed again so they can get out for summertime campaigning.

There are issues out there. It really does seem, and there are committees being held. I do, to your point, lawmakers are working. They are meeting. They just got back very recently from a spring break that was about two weeks long. So they're getting back into the swing of things. They're pushing bills. They're putting forward bills. But again, when you have one part, one part of a bicameral legislature, say it's kind of my goal to keep things to a minimum. You know, what else can you take from that other than him and his word? Are lawmakers talking to you behind the scenes are off the record about, you know, concerns about the lack of legislation that's getting through? I mean, what are you hearing? Well, so not wanting to maybe necessarily give my off-the-record conversations. No, no. I don't name names or anything. But just, I mean, generally speaking, are people happy with this or are they unhappy with this, the people, you know, the lawmakers themselves? I mean, there just seem to be a little bit of a sense of frustration here. Obviously, when you go to Lansing, you don't necessarily give up. And a lot of these people who gave up personal jobs, careers outside of the legislature. You don't necessarily decide to come to work and say, hey, we're not going to do anything for weeks and weeks on end. Right now, at least it does seem that the focus has been reoriented towards passing a budget. This will be a big one this year because, as listeners may remember, last year we blew through the July. by one deadline that didn't carry any legal consequences, but we also missed the October one constitutional deadline that does carry consequences. We missed it by just a hair and we're able to pass sort of a stopgap spending bill late in the night that prevented a government shutdown. But, you know, so that's something that I think people are feeling a little more optimistic about this time around is the possibility that we won't be put. in that situation. And then again, you know, a lot of thoughts are already turned towards campaigning, wanting to get out and wanting to be in front of the voters who might deliver them back to Lansing and change things, frankly, if the House or the Senate flips one way or the other, you know, that. could potentially make a huge difference when lawmakers come back later this fall. You know, if we end up with, again, a potential trifecta of Democrats or a potential trifecta of Republicans, that'll definitely light a fire under people's. Work ethics. We're talking with Jim Jordan Harmony, Capital Reporter for Bridge, Michigan. When we come back, we're going to talk to her about the response from readers since her report has come out. We're going to take your calls. Are you happy with what's going on in Lansing or the lack of what's going on in Lansing? 1-800-8590 WJR. And we are talking about Lansing and what is not happening there. We're talking with Jim Jordan Hermony, Capitol Reporter for Bridge, Michigan. And she's taking your calls at 1-800-8-9-0-9-7. Pick up the phone, give us a call, give us a text, 1-800-9-0-WJR. If you feel like things have slowed down in Lansing, you're not imagining it through the first three months of the year. Just seven bills have made it to the governor's desk, just seven.

That's not just slow. That's one of the slowest starts Michigan is seen in a long, long time. We've teamed up with Bridge, Michigan. They're doing the kind of digging and accountability reporting that cuts through the noise, and we're bringing that conversation to you. Jim Jordan has been inside the Capitol talking to lawmakers on both sides and tracking exactly why things have slowed down. Jim Jordan, you okay, taking some calls? Absolutely. All right. Let's go to the phone lines. 1-800-8590 WJR. Let's go to John and Chesterfield. John, welcome to All Talk. Okay, good morning. Okay, I'm not very happy with Lansing. I'm sitting here watching and all they do is talk. What I would like Lansing to do is take a look at the kitchen table issues, you know, to where they can stop the wasteful spending. And Governor Gretchen Whitmer, while she's leaving office, she could turn around and implement all the stuff, the good stuff she talked about and put the pressure on those politicians and cut some of the wasteful spending. And another one I got is baseline budgeting. People don't understand that. The government operates. You got to have more money. You spend more money this year and get more money next year. I wish they'd stop that real quick. And then the last thing I have is you talk about Selfage, okay? The DOD has not approved the funding for Selfers, but here we go in Lansing putting money into Selfridge. The base is 108 years old. Now, I've been overseas in Germany and Italy, and I've been through the drawdowns over there. So I just want to watch those spend and be very careful with our money. That's what I have. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that, John. Thanks for calling in. Our callers pay attention, Jim Jordan. They follow this stuff. They really do. I don't know what order you want to take. The selfish thing, I think, is interesting because I feel like we have to commit money to upgrades in order to get the DOJ, to get the feds to continue to support us. If we don't invest, I'm afraid, then we've basically shut the door and put ourselves out of the running on that. Do you see that differently? Well, and that's what how Speaker Matt Hall has been trying to push in speaking with reporters. He's saying that if we don't get this money across the finish line soon, I believe by as soon as next month, that he's afraid that the deal is going to fall apart. You know, looking at it from the Democratic perspective, it appears as though the money is kind of being used. Again, I hate to use this phrase, but in a horse trading kind of way. And that's somewhat not without precedent last year during budgeting, for instance, when we talk about the concept of waste, fraud, and abuse. If you'll remember House Republicans used a little known maneuver to revoke spending from over, you know, $600 million worth of spending for certain key priorities that were funded through the budget cycle. That really took Democrats aback. And so you have to kind of contextualize it through this angle of.

You know, there's always going to be horse trading going on in Lansing. There's always going to be something that I'll give you this if you give me that. But also that this relationship is kind of on shaky footing, considering that, you know, there was a budget agreement. There was an understanding that things would be funded. And then that rug was ripped out from underneath Democrats last year. So it doesn't necessarily surprise me that they're playing things a little closer to the vest this year, that they're being more strategic about what they let through. And that's what I'm also hearing from political observers outside is saying, you know, this is kind of the. where the cards are close to the vest and that if only a few things passed, if only a few things get through, the budget among them, it wouldn't necessarily be surprising. 1-800-8-590 WJR. He was talking about baseline budgeting. One of the things with the budget that just... Man, when they can't get it done on time, I mean, they have that date a full year in advance. They know when that date is, and then they let it come down to the last minute. I think voters get so disappointed. And when they talk about disapproval ratings, I think it's things like that. When there is a deadline and they don't meet it, it gets very frustrating for people. Well, and that's particularly the point with schools, which is the reason why we have sort of this double deadline of the budget. Again, I mentioned earlier that the one in July at the end of June, that is not, there's no legal penalties for missing that. However, what it does do is give schools the reliability to know this is the money that we are expecting. Schools budget cycle does begin during the summertime. So this gives them more of an ease to figure out, you know, what's going on. kind of money they can expect from the state. You know, in good news, I suppose, for this year, we're seeing both the House and the Senate idea of what they'd like an education budget to be. That was not the case last year. We believe at this point in time last year had yet to see any kind of real budget documentation. Now we're really starting to see these things move through the House and Senate in terms of committee. I do want to put a major asterisk on this and that these budget documents as they're advancing right now. are somewhat partisan in that, you know, obviously the House budget is going to reflect much more of what House and the House Republicans who control that chamber want to see in a budget, whereas the Senate is going to reflect much more of the Democratic priorities. I know this is a little bit getting into the weeds here for most listeners, but when we talk about making the budget, they then have to basically pass all of these things, which sounds like they're giving it a rubber stamp, they're really going to take them and try and figure out a way to combine the theoretic best of both worlds. So even though we might be seeing some cuts here and there, it's a little too early to either say yay or nay to them because we're not actually looking at the final documentation yet. You talked a little bit about wasteful spending. When it comes to wasteful spending, there's Republicans who will talk about wasteful spending by the Democrats and Democrats who will talk about wasteful spending about Republicans. Do you ever see any bipartisan effort for Republicans and Democrats to come together and try and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse?

So I think maybe one of the bigger ways that I have seen folks come together is the concept. And Governor Gretchen Whitmer identified it and actually last year's state of the state address with the concept of sort of like repealing bureaucratic red tape making it easier to get licensing for certain people, making it easier to like get into business for certain things. But insofar as, you know, waste, fraud, and abuse, I hate to say it, but it's almost become like the new. concept of woke where people will use woke almost pejoratively or waste fraud and abuse almost pejoratively but it means something different to every single person that you ask so when you ask oh are you against waste fraud and abuse you know on its face obviously everybody would say nobody wants to see tax dollars abused or wasted and definitely nobody wants to be defrauded out of uh government you know using government spending and seeing it being used for fraud purposes. But one man's waste fraud and abuse is another man's necessary spending. And so again, that's kind of why I caution reading the tea leaves too early at this point, looking at these sort of infant budget documents and saying, declaratively one way or another that something will or won't get cut because we're just a little too early in that process to be able to tell at this point. Well, at least hopefully law enforcement will go after abuse and people will be charged when they are doing that. Let's go to the text. Laura, you got a text? Briefly, they want to know about reparations for road funds between northern counties and heavy populated counties like McComb. We got about a minute left. What do you say, Jim Jordan? I don't know if that's something I'd be able to answer in a minute, but I do know that road funding is still a priority for the legislature. Recently saw something roll into my inbox regarding the House Republicans budget. And as we remember, last year, we did secure a historic road funding plan. Again, much like fixing the... darn roads. I'm not sure what I can say on AM Talk Radio at this point, but it's something in progress. So when it comes to road spending, I hate to say it, but stay tuned. Well, and that's something that they did come up with an agreement on, and it took. way longer than it needed to. Finally, in the governor's final year, you know, they agreed to get $2 billion, you know, pull it from one place and bring it in. Jim Jordan Hermony, a capital reporter for Bridge, Michigan. The report, the work you're doing is fantastic. You can find it at bridgemichigan.com. Thank you for doing this, and thank you for joining us. And thanks for having me. All right. We'll talk again real soon. It's all talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's All Talk on a Wednesday morning. I'm Kevin Deets coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. The number is 1-800-8-9-0-957-1-800-8-9-0-WJR. This morning we're talking about one of the most fun stories anywhere right now, and it's happening right here for Metro Detroit. A guy named Jamie Ding, who went to school in Gross Point, is on an absolute tear on Jeopardy. 28 straight wins. He is now in the top five all-time winners, and he is still going night after night.

He's walking out there, calm, cool, and collected and just beating everyone. Behind every run like this, there's a family watching it unfold in real time, cheering, nervous, maybe praying. Jamie gets the answer right. And this morning, we've got a front row seat to that side of the story. Joining us is his sister, Jesse, who's been there from the beginning. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. I'm good. How about you? I'm doing great. Thanks for giving us some time this morning. So what has this been like for your family to watch this unfold? It's been very surreal. I am an incredibly proud sister, obviously, and it's just been really cool. We've obviously, I've always known that Jamie is really smart, but like now it's really cool to the entire country can see how smart he is. It is. It's really fun, that's for sure. When you heard he was going to be on the show, I mean, what were your initial thoughts or expectations? I, to be honest, was actually kind of nervous. My biggest fear was that he would, like, embarrass himself. And I remember I was telling my mom how nervous I was, and she's like, oh, you have nothing to worry about. He'll be fine. And then also, I admittedly didn't grow up watching Jeopardy, so I didn't know. too much about it. So when he won the first game, I was like, okay, so it was the last game that was being filmed that day. So I was like, okay, so we come back tomorrow. And the crew was like, yeah, we'll see you tomorrow. And then when he won his next five, I was like, again tomorrow. And then I'm like, yeah, we'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, I'm sure that, you know, it was just kind of a crazy situation. And you never know, like, how someone's going to do in front of a TV camera, you know, and in that kind of setup. But he does seem very calm and collected. Is he that way normally all the time? Yeah, he's pretty stoic. And he's pretty, he can, he has a good poker face. And you'll notice, like, during Final Jeopardy that he always keeps a very straight face, whether he has it right or wrong. And I think it was because the producers told him to, like, try to keep it just to, like, build suspense. Right. He's really good at it. That's funny. Yeah, I know. And when it comes down to that, you're watching. And you just think, like, oh, there's going to be a little smirk when the question is red or something. But he really does have a great poker face. What was he like growing up? When did you first know that he was going to be intelligent? My parents will tell you he apparently started reading when he was three. I wasn't really cognizant of anything at the time, so I can't verify. But I will say, I mean, seventh, in middle school, he started doing like competition. So he did like the spelling bee, geography B, and math counts.

by eighth grade he had he was going to nationals for all three so it was like a span of like two weeks or something um where he did all three at once and that was crazy um and then i don't know to me he's always just been like the slightly annoying smarter older brother um so i've always known but I guess I didn't, I was, I was kind of shocked at like the breadth and depth of his knowledge. Like I think in like his second game, I, because he'll tell you that I'm better at pop culture trivia than he is, but there was. The answer was vanilla ice. I was actually like pleasantly surprised that he got that right. It is amazing. And it seems like he knows everything about everything, not just a little about a lot of things. I mean, he really seems up to speed no matter what the topic is. There must be something he's not good. Does he clean his room? Does he finish his plate when he eats? There must be something. No, he does clean his room. That's the thing. How annoying. He's pretty type A, I think. Yeah, he's pretty structured. I know. That's annoying. How do you guys watch? Do you watch this alone? Is it a family event? How do you do it? I've been watching. So in my head, I have known. several standout games. So I've been sure to make sure that my friends are watching those. But otherwise, I mostly just watch with my parents. And then he does like a watch party with friends every night, I think. That's awesome. That's really fun. Does he, he's still in it, but has he realized that his life has probably changed now? I mean, if it hasn't already, it's going to. I think he's taking it day by day. We heard, he heard from one of the producers about someone who was watching and it was like a bigger name and that was really surreal for all of us. But again, because he still has a full-time job and he's still a student. So he's like kind of, he's forced to like. continue living as normal. Right. Is there something viewers don't know about him from what we're watching? In other words, is what we see is what we get, or is he different off the show? Listen, I've seen a lot of people say online that he doesn't have a personality, and I would like to put it on the record that he actually does. And he... he's pretty funny and he's very nice and but he's just laser focused when he's playing so he's not and he's not very like a he's not a very bombastic person but um he definitely

is a more interesting person than you're getting on TV. Oh, I imagine. You talked about the early spelling bees and things like that. If you're going to compete like that, you have to put yourself in a game mode or, you know, or let's go mode. Yeah. For sure. Do you think he feels pressure at this point? Is he just in a groove? Or do you think at some point he will feel more pressure? Um, So I will stay a little behind the scenes. So the games that we're watching right now were the fourth filming day in a row, which has, I think it's only happened once. And when that happened back in 2023, it was like there was a new winner like every game. So this is, he has now set the record for. With his 17th win last night, he has now set the record for most games won in a week. And so you can like, I think you can clearly tell he's getting a little bit tired. But I don't think he's ever felt pressure. I don't think he really felt pressure when he was on stage because at that point, my mom and dad told him every morning to just have fun. Right. At that point, you're just there to have fun. But I will say I was very stressed the entire time. And I think that also helped where, like, I was able to take on the stress. So he wasn't really feeling it. Yeah, I don't think everybody realizes they film back to back to back like that. It really is a lot. And I'm sure you do get tired. Yeah, well, we appreciate you coming on, Jesse Ding, Jamie, Jamie Ding's sister, little sister, and sharing some of the thoughts. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. All right. Good luck to your brother and good luck to your entire family. It's been a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Thank you. So much fun. You know, one day he'll lose a game. I don't know when, but it is a lot of fun. If you're not watching, you want to tune it in. Jeopardy. Gross points. Jamie Ding, 28 straight wins. Quick break. It's all talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. And welcome into the 11 o'clock hour of All Talk. I hope you're having a fabulous Wednesday morning. I'm Kevin Dietz along with Marie Osborne, bringing you the latest headlines and the stories that everyone is talking about. Jamie Ding, Metro Detroit Native on a remarkable run on the Jeopardy stage, winning 28 consecutive games and becoming one of the most dominant contestants in the show's history. A streak now places him among elite company drawing comparisons to legendary champions and captivating audiences nationwide. Ding, a graduate of gross point. North High School has combined deep knowledge with calm, consistent gameplay to separate himself from competitors. We just spoke with his sister, Jesse, who says her older brother was super smart to the point where sometimes it was even annoying. Seriously, she said she is super proud of her brother and is having a lot of fun watching his jeopardy run. Marie Osborne is with us. And Maria, you talked with his dad. I talked with his dad yesterday. His father is Dr. Yushan Ding, a professor of neurosurgery. State University School of Medicine. He was a delight to talk to, by the way. He said he's very proud of his son. And what was very funny, I thought, was that the family, Dr. Ding and his wife, the parents of Jamie and his sister here, they'd never watched Jeopardy before, ever. And then their son announces, oh, I'm going to be on Jeopardy. So they thought, oh, well, maybe we should watch. And in fact, they went there, and they've been in the audience again.

you know, we understand that the show is, the shows we see are, you know, there's been, yeah, they're taped. So there's more that have been taped. We don't know what's going to happen in the future. Family does know, of course, but we don't. But anyway, so he says, I've never watched Jeopardy until his son appeared on the show. So I asked him what impressed him most about his son's appearance, and here's what he said. I just quite surprised. Every category he knows. Yeah, a lot in details. So that's a... surprised me. So he was surprised as a lot of people are. You mentioned it, Kevin, earlier, the depth and breadth of his knowledge. He knows a little bit about many, many things. What's funny, though, is last night on the show, it was a squeaker. So, I mean, you know, usually by Final Jeopardy, he's so far ahead that none of the other two contestants could possibly catch up. But last night, he had a couple of good challengers there, and one of them was, you know, could have. doubled his score if they, and they all got the final Jeopardy question right. But Jamie wagered carefully and thoughtfully and came out ahead. So he squeaked by with a win yesterday. Some of his games, though, have just been just absolute blowouts. The sister said that she was impressed with his poker face. She thinks that the producers tell them on Final Jeopardy not to give away whether you knew the answer or not to make it more suspenseful. So when you write down your final answer. and she said he's been very good with his poker face where he's not giving it away whether he knows it or whether he's guessing at the final answer or not. Yeah, a couple of cute things about him too is that his favorite color is orange. So if you watch the show, he's always wearing something that is orange. And he's just kind of endeared himself. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about this. I mean, this is such a big deal. This is just such a huge accomplishment for Jeopardy is just such a tough game. So to have... this kind of a winner is pretty amazing. But they talked a little bit about how he's just quite endearing to everyone. Everybody really likes him. Yeah, it's really fun to watch. If you're not watching, check it out. It's on NBC. House Democrats are launching an investigation into FBI director Kash Patel following allegations of excessive drinking and erratic behavior. Lawmakers are demanding he answered detailed questions under oath about his conduct. Kash Patel has denied all allegations saying he's never been intoxicated on the job. The controversy stems from a report that cites. anonymous sources within the FBI. Republicans have dismissed the investigation as politically motivated. The outlet behind the report is standing by its reporting. This was Kash Patel talking with reporters. I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia. And as when they get louder, it just means I'm doing my job. This FBI director has been on the job twice as many days as every director before me. What that means is I've taken half as many days off. as those before me. What that means is I've taken a third less vacation than those before me. What that means is that this FBI with this Department of Justice has dropped the murder rate 20 points. What that means is this FBI with this Department of Justice has captured eight of the top 10 most wanted fugitives in the world twice.

The Democrats want to put them on the stand and get specific answers to specific questions. The state of Florida is launching a criminal investigation into open AI and chat GPT for their alleged role in a deadly shooting that took place at Florida State University. It happened a year ago. The state's Attorney General James Ulfmeyer telling Fox the suspect had used both platforms to get advice on how and when to carry out his attack. Chat BT advised on... using a shotgun, if in close range, what bullets to use, how to turn off the safety. But the individual then started asking about a school shooting, where he should go. Chat GPT advised on the location and time of day where he would encounter the most people. Pretty eye opening, Phoenix Zilkner killed two people and wounded six others in his attack on campus last April. He was shot and hospitalized by officers. A spokesperson for OpenAI says the company has no responsibility for the attack, adding they previously identified an account believed to be responsible for the incident and shared the information with law enforcement. Kevin Warsh faced intense questioning during his Senate confirmation hearing to lead the Federal Reserve with lawmakers probing his independence and economic views. He was pressed by Elizabeth Warren, who challenged whether he could stand up to President Donald Trump, accusing him of aligning his positions with political opportunity. Kevin Warsh declined to directly answer questions about the 2020 election. Instead, pivoting to criticism of past Fed policies. He argued the central bank made a fatal policy error during inflation surge and called for a regime change. and how monetary policy is conducted. This was Kevin Warsh. Once you let inflation take hold in the economy, it's more expensive and harder to bring it down. And so the fatal policy error going back four or five years is still a legacy that we're dealing with. We need, in my judgment, fundamental policy reforms to fix it. And while it's true that inflation is less problematic, meaning the rate of change in prices is less severe than it was some years ago, hardworking Americans are no doubt feeling it. And this is Republican Senator John Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. The problem is that President Trump has said he's not going to appoint anybody who wouldn't agree to lower interest rates. Have you agreed with the president that you're going to lower interest rights? Senator, I'm glad you framed it that way. The president never asked me to predetermine, commit, fix, decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions, nor would I ever agree to do so. The hearing shows deep divisions over the future direction of the Fed and whether it can remain independent amid political pressures. Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms. U.S. appeals court ruled on this yesterday in a victory for conservatives who've long sought to incorporate more religion into schools. This ruling sets up a potential clash at the U.S. Supreme Court over this issue. In the future, Arkansas and Louisiana have passed similar laws.

which have been challenged in courts. The Alabama governor, Kay Ivey, signed a similar law earlier this month. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said the decision that Texas's law did not violate the First Amendment, which protects religious freedom and prevents the government from establishing a religion. Where do things stand for Spirit Airlines? Is it going to be dissolved? Will someone come in and buy it? What does it mean for any... plans you have to travel on the airline or any points you have with the airline. Coming up at 1118, we're going to talk with Mary Skiyavo, former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's all talk on a Wednesday morning. I hope you're having a great day. I'm Kevin Deetz. Coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. The number is 1-800-8-5-9-7-1-8-5-0-W-JR. We're going to take your calls and read your text at 11-1. 35, so pick up the phone and be a part of the show. Spirit Airlines is reportedly on the brink of collapse, raising question. What happens to your money, your ticket, your trip, your points if the airline goes under? And more importantly, our travelers protected or are they on their own? Join us now as someone who knows this world inside and out, former U.S. Transportation Inspector General, aviation expert and longtime advocate for passenger safety, Mary Skiyavo, former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. It's good to be with you. And maybe a more important credential is that having been a passenger who's lived through, I don't know how many airline bankruptcies, there have been an airline creditor myself. So there are a few things that people can do and a few things that they'll just be simply out of luck on. I bet. Have you been a passenger of Spirit Airline before? Oh, yes. I have two. I find it interesting. For a long time, I would look there first because the price was great. And then I would... find out that they don't have as many planes as some of the other airlines. And sometimes if the plane had a problem, they tell you, well, you got to go home and come back tomorrow, try again. And it would just depend. I feel like if you got a lot of time, you can save a lot of money with spirit. But if you got to get somewhere quick, I usually pick someone else. But what's happening? Are they, I mean, when they talk about liquidation, it sounds very serious. Well, it is very serious, and obviously lots of airlines have gone through it. More typical is what airlines do. They go through reorganization, and they used to do that like clockwork. The law let them do it every seven years. All the majors went through it. You know, they'd wipe out their debt. They'd wipe out some of their unfavorable contracts, and those entities would stand the loss, and they'd start over. And I remember almost all the airlines claimed, oh, we went, some of our bankruptcies were due to September 11, 2001. But in fact,

Most of them are already in bankruptcy or coming out of bankruptcy before then. So they have used it regularly. But when an airline goes through what's called liquidation rather than reorganization, you have some rights and some things you're out of luck on. So, for example, if you have a ticket or if you have anything on which you have used a credit card. You know, you didn't just give them cash or write them a check. Then the law will, if it's still within the time on your credit card, you can void that on your credit card. The credit card will have to reverse those charges if you haven't received the... if you haven't received the money and the united states department of transportation has a website about consumer rights and consumer affairs you don't have many rights as a consumer but there are some things in which if you have used a credit card and there's any way to reverse the charge you can get it back other things for example points and and you know credit things like that will be lost and on one airline that went bankrupt they actually had a suitcase of mine. They had lost and they were routing back to me and they never routed back to me. I guess they auctioned it off to pay off the debts. I don't know. Oh, no. But that's what will happen. And the problem is if you're holding tickets on the bankrupt airline, the Department of Transportation used to encourage other airlines to honor those. There is no force that requires another airline to honor those tickets. It was just, you know, try to help out the poor American consumer. But unless you have an agreement with the airline that called airline agreements and other sharing agreements with another airline, they don't have to honor any spirit tickets. And there's nothing in the law that says they have to. It would just be a matter of goodwill. And then in terms of rerouting, rebooking, I mean, that is obviously left up to the passenger. I was actually a passenger on Pan Am. When they went bankrupt, I was in Bonus Iris, Argentina. And that was it. They just put up a handwritten sign at the airport that says Pan Am is close. That's it. And, you know, you're completely on your own. But like I said, the best hope is getting back any kind of, you know, canceling any credit. If you're with most cards, it's within 60 days. Now, if it's a full liquidation, in other words, there'll be a bankruptcy. administrator and that person will actually send out notices and you can file a claim as a creditor but the court the bankruptcy court will set classes of creditors some creditors will have more power and more recovery than others the losses they are supposed to certainly take into consideration the consumers for some relief

But it will, you know, that will be within the discretion of the bankruptcy court and the credit and the administrator, the bankruptcy administrator and the trustees. And so that recovery will probably be small. So the best hope is if you've got any, if you charge anything on a credit card. complain reverse you know file the notice file the claim right now with your credit card company well that's great that's probably most that's probably most people right most people probably buy with the credit card and and this was avoidable i mean uh you know they applied you know they were mergers buy out there all sorts of things that they tried The government said no, and I noticed in the news, the news is right. Let's hope so that supposedly the president did ask Secretary Duffy as a DOT to try to do something to assist with Spirit Airlines. It might be just too late. It doesn't matter if you have travel insurance or not necessarily. Well, it depends on your travel insurance. If it's for liability, travel interruption beyond your, you know, and some of the insurance is actually cover travel interruption beyond your control, it will be in the fine print of your contract. So if people have bought that, some of the policies will cover that. That's right. What do you think went wrong with Spirit? Well, I think you hit it right on the head. You know, there's a lot, there are lots of studies. You know, those marketeers, they do lots of studies, how to get the last dollar out of every consumer's wallet. And for airline choices, if the passenger has the ability to choose, you know, has the flexibility and pricing, et cetera. People choose frequency. And by frequency, I mean the airline that offers me more than one option for the flight. So if this flight is canceled, I can catch another one. And Spirit didn't have that. They didn't have enough, you know, planes on their bench, so to speak. And so when a plane went down, people could be stuck just as you said. And I can't tell you how many, you know, people called me over the years about that. They would be stuck in it be three days before Spirit could get them to their destination. And, you know, you just don't have that flexibility for work, for family. A lot of people go on to take cruise. They miss their cruise. And so that was the first and foremost is how often does the airline fly to the places that, you know, the place that I went to go? And then the next consideration was, of course, prize. But often the frequency overruled the passenger's choice on price. And so that was something that Spirit just didn't have going for. And then passengers want what's called connectivity. So if you can book on one airline and you connect on through with another and your bag goes with you seamlessly and all that, people like that. And Spirit did not have these interline agreements with, you know, a lot of carriers have interline agreements with just about everybody and they could seamlessly travel. Well, you can't do that on Spirit in many cases. And studies of consumer choices show that that's something that people highly valued.

The Wall Street Journal just put out a push alert saying that the Trump administration nears a deal to rescue spirit airlines. They're saying the U.S. government will lend spirit as much as $500 million in exchange for warrants to take a potential stake in the carrier. What does that mean? It means bailout. Taxpayers are going to pay to keep it alive. Yeah, remember when the federal government bailed out some cities, well, it's the same thing and they would take a stake in it. You know, I would think it, you know, all the things that the problems that, you know, apply to Spirit Airlines, the government bailout is probably not going to save that, not going to serve that. The more logical choice probably would have been before now doing some kind of a merger to keep it going, to give it more of that connectivity, to give consumers more than one option every two or three days on an airline. And that might have helped. So in this case, it's literally the government... the government's going to become a partner with the airline, so to speak. Mary Skiyavo, former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General, we appreciate your expertise and walking us through it. Thank you so much. Thank you. My pleasure. Fly safely. All right. You too. Yep. Okay. Wow. Interesting news. The Wall Street Journal reporting just now. that the Trump administration nears a deal to rescue Spirit Airlines, which was talking about liquidation. The good news or bad news, however you want to look at it, is that the government is going to give them $500 million, and that's basically your tax dollars, $500 million going to spirit to keep them afloat and hopefully get through their current crisis. All right, we have to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Your calls are next. 1-800-8590 WJR. It's all talk. I'm Kevin D. And it is 1135. That means it is your turn to talk. 1-800-859-0-9-7-1-800-8-5-0-WJ. Give us a text, give us a call. We want you to be a part of the show. All right, this news is just coming in. This is one of those stories that hit your wallet, whether you realize it or not. You're paying for it. The Trump administration is reportedly working on a rescue deal for Spirit Airlines. We're talking up to $500 million in government loans to keep the company afloat. This is a private airline that made business decisions. They struggled with debt, all kinds of debt. They filed for bankruptcy. Now it looks like they may be getting help from the federal government, which means your tax dollars. Is it money well spent? Or should they be allowed to fail and liquidate because of the decisions that they made as a business? 1-800-859-0-957, 1-800-8-5-9-0-WJR? So Spirit, I mean, they employ 14,000 people. It's a big company. You know, you lose 14,000 jobs and one fell swoop.

That's a problem. It offers low-cost flights. I don't know if you've ever flown it. If you have, feel free to call in with your experiences. I have flown it. I don't mind the flying it. The cost is low. The flights are usually really early in the morning. But if they have a mechanical problem or some other problem, they don't have multiple planes ready to go. So if they have a mechanical problem, often they'll say, well, maybe we can get you out at the end of the day or maybe you'll just have to come back tomorrow. But it's definitely a low budget deal where you pay for which seat you're in. You pay for if you want to bring an overhead bag, you have to pay for that. You want to check a bag, you have to pay for that. But anyway, they didn't quite make it. And critics say it isn't about protecting the economy. This is about bailing out a single company that wasn't able to make it work. So is this necessary or is it wrong? Let's go to Brian and Brighton. Brian, welcome to all talk. Hey, Kevin. Hey, I just think it's basically, you know, they've had their chance. And you know what? They've been at horrible airlines. And basically they're not Spirit Airlines. They're break your Spirit Airlines as far as I'm concerned. They can be. Boy, I tell you, if you need to get somewhere and you're counting on Spirit to get there, you can be in rough shape because I, in fact, I think the last few times I'm sorry. They've screwed us over a couple of times, and it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's heartbreaking. It really is. I think the last few times I booked, I bought some sort of, uh, insurance for an extra. I don't know, 100 bucks or so that would get me on another airline if Spirit didn't, wasn't able to take off. After that, I just gave up on it. That sucks that you've got to do that. Oh, yes, it's terrible. It's terrible. I really, I honestly don't fly them anymore, but I did for a period of time. And I got, you know, once you get burned once for something important, you don't want to go back. And that's probably, you know, the problem. That's probably why they're in the situation they are. I mean, you know why they say that you're supposed to, or why this is a good idea, or why people say that this is a positive thing. They say that they provide these low-cost travel options for budget travelers, and therefore it sort of forces all the big boys to kind of keep their prices at least within reason. If the spirits of the world all go under, then the big boys will just, you know, amp up their prices because they're the only game in town. Well, yeah, that hurts too. I don't know. I don't have the solution. No, I know. I don't know either. And you hate to see 14,000 people lose their jobs. But basically, we're just paying for those jobs now. We're going to just take the tax money of all of the hardworking Americans and pay for one specific company. I'm sure a bunch of companies with like $500 million in government loans. No, for sure. And they're not going to get them. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And thanks for taking my call, Kevin. Yeah, have a great day. So savings. You too. Yep.

So Saving Spirit Airlines, you know, it could protect thousands of jobs and prevent sudden layoffs across the country. I think that's a big deal. 14,000 jobs is a big number. But it raises this concern. And I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but it's called, it's something that's called moral hazard. And it's when companies. figure that they're so big that they will get bailed out, they'll get rescued, that sometimes these companies will take risks that you would never take normally unless you thought that the government was going to show up and bail you out. And then you take risks that are unreasonable risks, you know, high risk, high reward. But these are the kind of risks other companies would never take unless they thought they were going to be bailed out. So you don't want companies out there. involved in moral hazard, taking risks that are just quite frankly not likely to pay off. Spirit provides low-cost travel. We just talked about this for families and budget travelers. That's a good thing. You want options for people to be able to get from here to there. The government intervention. In one airliner, though, it could distort competition across the industry. It doesn't seem fair that, you know, one company gets a $500 million government loan and the rest of the companies have to continue doing business without that boost. A collapse could disrupt routes and reduce competition. Do you think about that? You know, if Spirit goes to places where other airlines don't, then there's going to be fewer... few, if they shut down, there's going to be fewer options to go to those particular places. It's going to cost a little more. Let's go to Diane and Dearborn. Diane, welcome to all talk. This won't be the first company to ever get money from the government. No. And other companies. So. Don't just pick on Spirit. Picking all the other companies they gave money to, too, too. Yeah, we bailed out the auto industries. The big three, we were happy about that, right? Because there's all Detroit jobs. Yeah, because of jobs, yeah. I'm not picking on. But I don't think Spirit's going to company you've ever got any money. No. Do they have something with the mortgage, when the mortgages? Yes. Yeah, they gave loans to the banks or something. That's what I'm talking about. They told Spirit this is a loan. So it's not really, they're not giving, they say they're, it's a loan. Well, if you have to, you have to pay it back. So that is a, there is a.

So you have to actually say what it is. It's really a loan. Yeah, I said it was a loan in the beginning. If they can pay it back, that would be great. Yeah, if it gets them on their feet and they're up and run again and they pay it back. I'm just saying they're not the only company this has ever been done to. No, my gosh. No, I'm not talking. I'm not picking on spirit. I'm not trying to pick on spirit anyway. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be a little clear. Yeah, the big three, when the big three was bailed out, we thought it was a great thing here in Detroit because, my gosh, all the jobs that were going to be lost here in Detroit, it was going to ruin. uh michigan's economy and uh it was like thank goodness for this bail out and now look at the the big three are up and running and uh they are uh i don't i don't think they had to pay back all that money that the big three got i think uh i think they had uh um a lot of their uh the money they owed uh was uh was taken away. They just didn't have to pay those debts back. At least when there's a bankruptcy, they had to do that. I can't remember the ballot. I'll have to check that out. Get more specifics on the Big Three ballot if they ever paid that money back. And if they pay it back with interest or not. But it is your money. It's interesting. Do you let a company fail because of business decisions or do you bail them out? In this case, Donald Trump. Feels like it's important to bail out Spirit and keep them going. And we'll see if they get a deal. It's not a done deal, by the way. They're still negotiating and trying to figure it out. But Spirit Airlines, they fly out of Detroit Metro Airport. Lots of people are familiar with them. If you're looking to save money, it can be, you might pay $200 for a Spirit flight, and it might be 500 or more on Delta. So. You hate to see that kind of competition go away, but do you want to pay for it with your tax dollars? Quick break. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's all talk on a Wednesday morning. I'm Kevin Deetz coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. This morning we're talking about one of the most powerful positions in state government, a job that can shape everything from public safety to consumer protection to your constitutional rights. The race for Michigan Attorney General is now set. And one of the candidates is Ellie Savitt, the Washington-A-County prosecutor, a former teacher, civil rights attorney, and, of course, current county prosecutor. He's been endorsed by Democrats at their state convention and is now headed toward the general election. His campaign is built around a message of protecting rights, taking on corporate power, and holding polluters and bad actors accountable. But this race isn't just about slogans. It's about decisions, real decisions that affect your life. So this morning, we're going to ask the question. Voters want to hear about. Join us now is Ellie Savick. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. I appreciate you being here. Congratulations on the big win at the Democratic Convention. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Yeah, I appreciate you being here. For people who aren't familiar with you, let the audience get to know a little bit about you. Tell us a little bit about your background.

Yeah, sure. So, you know, I'm born a raise here in Michigan. I grew up in Ann Arbor. I like to say, you know, I did not go to school. U of M, though. The only school that would allow me to play college basketball at a 6-4 center that couldn't jump was tiny Kalamazoo College over on the west side of the state. So went there, had a great experience. Started my career as a public school teacher, taught eighth grade special education and general education classes. then did go to the University of Michigan for law school and, you know, I have had a lot of different experiences in my legal career that I think situate me well for this position at this moment. I am, of course, currently the elected Washington County prosecutor and my second turn there. But before then, I did civil rights, voting rights, public interest work. I worked for the city of Detroit and led the litigation against the opioid industry, which was successful. have been a practicing environmental lawyer and have held corporate polluters accountable. So I think my background right now really situates me well for this position at this critical moment. My daughter had a choice between Kalamazoo College and University of Michigan. She picked Kalamazoo College and is grateful she did. So I wouldn't worry too much about going to KZoo. Go Hornets. Go Hornets. Exactly. So, I mean, why leave the prosecutor's office now and become the next Attorney General? Well, look, I think that we are facing so many challenges right now. And there's challenges to our voting rights, challenges to our civil rights, obviously coming out of Washington, D.C. That's something that I've spent a large part of my career trying to protect. But the other thing is, you know, we are facing a lot of challenges that are right here at home. We've got more identified PFOS sites, the contaminant PFOS, forever chemicals, than any state in the nation. I've litigated those cases. I know how to win them. We are facing a real fork in the road in our society with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, and there's going to be bad actors that use AI to scam people to engage in deceptive marketing to jack prices up on consumers. And I have a consumer protection background, and that's one of the powerful tools that the Attorney General's office has. And I just want to be in this position right now to catch Michigan families. from every threat that is coming at them, whether it's a threat to their voting rights, whether it's a threat to our clean air and clean water, whether it's a threat to their bottom line and the prices that they pay at the store. I want to be there for Michiganers. That's what I've dedicated my career to, and that's why I'm running for this position at this moment. We're talking with L.E. Sevent, Washington County Prosecutor, who's running for Attorney General. When you look at your politics, would you describe yourself as left-of-center moderate, progressive, far-left? And do you think politics play a role in this job at all anyway?

You know, I really try not to be pigeonholed by labels. I believe what I believe in, but fundamentally what I believe in is that in our justice system, there should be nobody who is above the law, no matter how powerful they are. And that's true whether it's a gigantic corporation that's contaminating our air and our water. It's true, whether it's a scammer who's ripping people off. It's true, whether it's a criminal that's harming people on the street. I want to ensure that the law works for people, and that ultimately when people are taking advantage of, that we can get some justice for the people that were harmed. How would you handle conflicts with the federal government if they arise? Yeah, sure. So look, I actually have a non-political position on this. My basic... philosophy here with respect to the federal government is that if the federal government is doing something that I believe violates the law and harms the people of the state of Michigan, the state has an obligation to go into court and to try to stop that, right? And that's true, frankly, no matter who the president is, right? If it's President Trump, he's a Republican, I'm a Democrat, and he's harming people in Michigan in a way that I think violates the law. will be in court suing him. But the same will be true if there's a Democratic president. Again, I don't think these decisions should be made in a partisan way. It's really about whether the line has been crossed, the law has been violated, and the people of the state of Michigan have been harmed. We used to talk about Frank Kelly in this day. We would call him affectionately the Eternal General. He thought consumer protection might be the most important part of the job of Attorney General. What are your thoughts when it comes to consumer protection and priorities? You know, I agree with that. And Frank Kelly, of course, is somebody that I have just tremendous admiration for. He really made the Attorney General's office here in Michigan, an office for the people. And he was a trailblazer not just here in Michigan, but really is known across the country. as somebody who transformed the role of a state attorney general by building consumer protection units, by building environmental protection units, into one that can fight for people against even the most powerful of interest. And consumer protection really is a priority here. I'll mention this. You know, I'm proud to have started the only economic justice unit in a prosecutor's office in the entire state of Michigan, which focuses on consumer protection. And I want to just drill down into why this is so important. frequently when consumers are taken advantage of, through deceptive marketing, through price gouging, through unfair practices, a lot of times they may not be able to get a lawyer to represent them in the case. They may not even be able to go into court because, you know, a lot of times we click these terms and conditions boxes, which gives up your right to sue and you've got to go to arbitration or something where there's just not going to be a lot of money there. But the state attorney general has the authority.

to bring lawsuits on behalf of all the consumers that were harmed in Michigan. So it's a powerful office for that reason. And once again, I just want to emphasize this is important always and always has been important. But the way I think that artificial intelligence can be used to rip people off, to deceive people, to price gouge, really makes this more important now than ever. So it's going to be an absolute priority of mine as Attorney General. Do you have a short list of first things you would do once elected? Well, one of the things that I have promised is on the consumer protection piece. During my first 100 days in office, I plan to issue a comprehensive suite of rules under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act regulating the misuse of AI from a consumer perspective. This is one of the reasons why this decision is so important for consumers in Michigan is because... Under Michigan law, you don't actually need to pass new laws regulating AI necessarily, though I think those are long overdue. From a consumer perspective, if the misuse of AI violates the... existing Consumer Protection Act, the Attorney General can issue rules making that clear and provides that behavior can both be disincentivized and if people violate it, you can go to court to gain relief for consumers. So that's going to be really a day one priority is putting into place those common sense regulations of artificial intelligence to protect Michigan consumers to the greatest extent possible. What is the website where people can learn more and what would you say to undecided voters? So it's E-L-I-F-R-M-E-R-M-Giggin.com. Ellie from Michigan.com, but my name is spelled Eli. So E-L-I-F-R-R-Michigan. What I say to the other side of voters is, look, we are now... gearing up for the general election campaign. And I'm looking forward to having conversations in communities across the state about issues that are important to them. I want to be an attorney general for all the people in the state of Michigan, whether you live in Detroit, whether you live in Grand Rapids, whether you live in the Upper Peninsula, whether you're rural, whether you're urban, no matter who you are, I'm going to be an attorney general for you. And I'm looking forward to making our case to the voters, but also having conversations with people. Because ultimately, The Attorney General is the people's lawyer, and being the people's lawyer means you listen to their clients. So I'm looking forward to having conversations around the state as we move into the general election. L.E. Sav at Washington County Prosecutor, the Democratic nominee for Attorney General. Thank you for your time today. Good luck with the campaign. I'm sure we'll be talking to you soon. Thank you so much for having me on. All right. That's going to do it for all talk, but do not move because the great Paul W. Smith is back in action and ready to weigh in on all the big stories. You do not want to miss the first 10 minutes of focus. In fact, you don't want to miss any of it. So stay where you're at. I'm Kevin Deetz, WJR.