JR Morning ~ August 3, 2026 ~ Full Show

That's something that I'll never take for granted, you know, and the fan support of me and my family. Everywhere I go, I've always truly appreciated that. And it means a lot more than they probably get credit for. At this time, I'm excited to be a Dodger. You know, I'm excited to get down there and meet all those guys. You know, chase three championships in a row. You know, it's hard to do. So I'm excited to be a part of that. But, yeah, it's a lot of different emotions. Oh, you know, despite how much we've talked about it, despite how much we've bandied about this idea of Terrick Scoobel no longer being a member of this organization and not wearing the old English D and trotting out for this team every five days. It still stings when it happens because it was, what, just around 1130 on Saturday night that it became apparent that, that, yes, Terrick Scoble had been dealt and he was destined for the L.A. Dodgers, a team that has won back-to-back World Series, a team that already has arguably one of the best players in baseball and Shohei Otani, somebody who is a complete alien who pitches. Who bats? Who fields? I mean, he does it literally all. And for an organization that I think, you know, I almost wonder if we need to to reexamine our fury when it comes to the East Coast, teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox, I think we might need to shift out west because the Dodgers are an absolute truck. I mean, they are a behemoth. And when you look at what the Tigers got in return for this trade. Now, I just, one of the things that I like to do in instances like this is like, go around and see what all these MLB experts grade these trades out to be. Because like I told you last week, a Terrick Scoobled deal had to happen. because it felt like they weren't getting any closer to signing him to a long-term deal, that they didn't want to pay him the type of money that he probably deserves in the open market and Major League Baseball in 2026. And so they were far apart. And as a result, he is on an expiring contract. He wouldn't probably be here next year. And so with all of those factors involved, the only logical thing to do is trade Terrick Scoobel at the deadline so that you actually might be able to get something in return. And they did. They got three prospects, two right-handed pitchers and an outfielder. I your hope is probably the headline of this deal batting 293, 23 home runs in AA this season. He's got great speed. He hits for power. He hits for average. I mean, this is the headline. This is the crown jewel of this deal if you're Detroit. Then you've got Ryan River, or River Ryan, rather, who is a right-handed pitcher, made a couple of starts for the Dodgers. He's had Tommy John surgery. He's been banged up. That's what kind of slowed down his progress. But most people believe he's got the ability to be a major league starter.

Just not now. Just not today. And to be fair, neither is Zai Your Hope. Your Hope is still a piece that you're going to keep down in the minors for a little more maturation. And then you've got Brady Smith, a part of this deal. He was a third round pick by the Dodgers. He was their 17th prospect before the trade. He's the piece in here that I don't know that most people are going to pay much attention to. but he's a developmental piece as well. So you've got potentially two guys that are going to make an impact at some point, but not today. And for the tigers who are still theoretically in the mix for a wild card, who are still theoretically playing really good baseball, by the way, I mean, They just had a series sweep this weekend. Max Clark continues to dazzle six for 12 over the weekend, a home run, three RBI and four runs as well. So he's getting on base. He's bringing runs in. And he continues to show that this team, this organization does have those players. So it was unfortunate. But it's very odd to me the kind of backpedaling of some. who have were on the same pages, I think a lot of people, which is tigers need to deal scoobble. And all of a sudden it's like, well, I don't, did we really have to do that? Yes. Yes, they did. And I, you know. Baseball has a whole other issue. We could talk about it a little later on, maybe. But there are some other ramifications that are coming down the pipe that could lead to some major changes in Major League Baseball that something like this wouldn't be able to happen again. Meanwhile, the Rocket Classic in its swan song saw Michael Thorne Borson win his first PGA title in Detroit, shot a 7 under 36 on Sunday. And he was able to win this tournament 24 years old. He is now in the FedEx Cup playoffs. And look, this is a bittersweet, I guess. Like, you had a lot of guys in the mix here throughout each day, really. And it was an exciting tournament. It really was an exciting tournament. And there was, I mean, again, you kind of fled back to all the fantastic moments that this tournament is produced. You know, is it, is it the Masters? No, of course not. Nobody said it was. But there are wonderful memories from this tournament, and it's unfortunate that we've now gotten to the point where this thing is no longer on the PGA tour schedule. We're certainly going to miss it here in the city of Detroit. It is primary day tomorrow. I mean, we are just under 26 hours away. And I'll tell you, I have been talking to people behind the scenes. And...

One of the most interesting reactions I got was from the Haley Stevens Abdul El-Sayed race. And I got to be honest, it feels like neither of these camps know really what to expect. Now, that is unbelievable to me. And as we get closer to tomorrow, And we're going to hear a lot about, you know, these races, the importance of these races. Detroit will certainly be in the national spotlight here. But this Senate race is an absolute juggernaut. And it is garnering the attention because of how much money is being spent on this race. the ramifications of having somebody like Abdul El-Sayed, who says he's not a socialist, of course, he's closer to that than Haley Stevens is. And then you've got the pack money allegations that have come in. And, you know, Haley Stevens out there on the campaign trail turning what would be blunderous moments into viral moments and using that in her advantage. It is unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. So we'll talk about the primary today too. And Donald Trump yesterday said at the, at the urging at the behest of a number of countries in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, that this big attack that Donald Trump had been talking about, this big military strike was put on hold. He says negotiations and talks are back on the table. And again, a lot of what the president has been saying on this is things that we've heard him say really over the last, well, I don't know, call it since May, where, yeah, we're talking. Yeah, we're getting close. Yeah, they've agreed to a deal. Yeah, we got a memorandum of understanding. And now we're back to military action. The blockades back in place. So we've heard a lot like the talks are going well. They want to make a deal. They want this to stop. But Iran publicly has shown something very different. And so, again, more of these countries are getting involved and potentially a deal could be looming something that we're going to continue to follow. Meanwhile, coming up on the other side, Mike Lee at Crane's Detroit Business joins us. One of the hot button issues during this primary season has been data centers. We'll talk about that whole heck of a lot more. Coming up, it's share morning.

to demolish that building for a parking lot. It actually is not clear if that's a lot or a parking deck or exactly when it might happen. The Lions are commenting on any of that. This building opened in 2005. Also, how was the call center for Bedrock at one time? Dan Gilbert owned it for quite a while. The timing is interesting because bedrock right across the street is building, life sciences building on the old failed jail site. So this building across the street may have some value. It may have more value as parking than its current vacant state. Meanwhile, we could start seeing some pedestrians this week across the new bridge here in town. Yeah, another opening for the Gordy Hill Bridge this week. On Wednesday, they're opening the bike and pedestrian lanes, 8 a.m. Wednesday. Now you'll be able to cross the Detroit River by foot. It's something we weren't able to do before unless you were running in the marathon. You know, it's kind of a novelty. Most of the border crossings between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, you can't cross on foot, about 30 of 165. So if you're considering making that track, it's a little under two miles each way. So for your 20 minutes on a bike, 45 minutes or so on foot each way, not counting going through customs, you do have to bring, of course, your passport to do this. and the hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Daily, no pets, no e-bikes, speed limit of 12 miles an hour if you're on a bicycle. There's also not really any parking at the base of the bridge. You can park at Clark Park in Detroit or Seth Moulton Park in Windsor. to do this. It could be interesting to see how many people take advantage of this opportunity. They say it's a little bit physically demanding. The bridge is kind of steep in places for someone on foot or on a bike. So we'll see if this actually does bring people on foot, you know, to, to, as a... I'm going to see another recreational activity that you can do in Detroit. Yeah, at least you get a new perspective, a new visual on the skyline here in the city. Mike Lee always appreciate it. Great work and lots more to read on Cranes Detroit business. We appreciate you as always. Thank you. We'll talk next week. Thanks, Chris. Yeah, you got it. You know, it's one of the things about the data center debate is one where I find it to be most interesting. Because. It does very much feel like this is where we are headed. And some states are leaning in. Other states are a little more apprehensive. You know, Michigan does have some of these smaller data centers, but not like the facilities that are being proposed now or the Saline Data Center, for example. And so the worry here is that does Michigan get left in the lurch?

If they are not adopters of this, if we are not on board with putting these facilities here, what happens? What happens to the state? What happens to the tax revenue? What happens to the jobs that might not be here that might go elsewhere? And then on the taking it even further is once other states adopt this is. Are they even going to be looking at Michigan as a viable option anymore? Meanwhile, on the other side, you've got people saying, well, hold on a second, I don't want this in my community. I don't want the potential for increased payments to the utility companies, even though like Garrett Rochow has been on with this show numbers of times and has said that that would not be the case as those. Those utility payments are not going up because it's the companies that themselves that are going to be basically making up that difference. So it's a, it's a question of where are we going and where is the tax revenue going to be coming from? A lot of people would say, well, part of it is coming from our, at least the big junk will be coming from artificial intelligence. And does Michigan want to get left behind in this? This is a fascinating debate leading up to the primaries tomorrow and of course, November. We'll take a break more coming up. Are our water system safe here in Michigan? It's next on Jerry morning.

So federal authorities are warning that hackers targeted municipal water and water waste systems in at least seven states over the last week making this a significant cyber threat to critical infrastructure. And you've got federal authorities, the FBI, the EPA saying that some of these attacks disrupted water operations and warning protocols were followed. that this was potentially a cyber attack that affected 30 community water systems in places like Minnesota. Now, you've got officials saying that there's no evidence that drinking water was contaminated, but investigators are looking at hackers that were targeting these industrial control computers. These PLCs, programmable logic controllers, changing things like passwords and network settings to lock operators out of the system that control the water infrastructure. Now, there were investigators that say this looks like an Iranian-backed attack, cyber attack. The president has come out and dismissed that, but federal investigators are still looking into this. And I think the important thing here is, This isn't a Minnesota issue. This is a Michigan issue as well. And officials here are looking into these reports and trying to figure out what exactly can be done to avoid something like this. It is a, to me, it's a reminder that even these modern day infrastructures that we don't even think about, quite frankly, not even take for granted, are vulnerable. And not just to storms or a thunderstorm or a power outage, but cyber attacks as well. So what can be done to protect these networks that these systems run through? Brent Yax is the CEO of Acom and joins me this morning. Brent, good morning. It's good to have you back. Oh, Chris. Thanks for having me. This is incredibly scary. It's one thing for companies to protect their IP or protect their employees or making sure that you don't have hackers break into those systems to avoid some sort of breach. This is something altogether. I mean, this is drinking water. This is our water system. How important is it to kind of reimagine that cybersecurity isn't just for businesses, but it's for our critical infrastructure too? Yeah, of course, and not just water, right? So all critical infrastructure. So we're talking power systems. We're talking communication systems. So I mean, obviously it's a very important issue that we address. Unfortunately, some of these municipalities, some of these water systems, the systems are 20 or 30 years old. They don't typically have the budgets to be able to upgrade them as quickly as we would like. So although I don't want to, you know.

lead people down the wrong path. They didn't hit any critical items. You know, this wasn't a cyber tech that I think we should be really, really concerned about. But we should definitely be aware of it. It's them kind of showing that, hey, by the way, we can get in here if, you know, we really try. Well, and we saw that on the East Coast with the oil pipeline that was targeted in the in the cyber attack too. So we've seen something like this before and how disruptive it can be. Absolutely. And we know that they were in. This isn't just, you know, we heard that they were scanning and looking around. I mean, the FBI has sort of admitted that, hey, you know, we think that they were into the system, either looking at things and, you know, and doing Renaissance or with their reconnaissance or they were actually turning things on or reading data. So we know they were in. So it is an issue that we have to address. Separate that because the poking around the scanning of these systems is one thing, but then actually carrying out an attack and shutting down a system or locking these employees out so they can't man it is a whole other issue. How difficult is it to catch those potential attacks in that scanning phase, in that probing phase? Well, you know, and it shows I think during this process, like you said, there was 30 and, you know, Minnesota that were targeted. There's a number of in Michigan. I think it was seven or nine in Michigan that may have been affected. But almost immediately, you know, when this access was happening and these weird oddities, you know, were showing up. All of these systems kind of went through their normal processes where they, you know, stop the access, cut off the internet, flip the manual if they needed to. So you can see in the fact that there was no disruption, almost no disruption, virtually no disruption, because the systems work how they're supposed to work. There's those failbacks in place. What are the odds that all of these systems were using the same software, the same operating system? And if you get into one, can you get into them all? That's probably likely the case. And that's probably why there was so many, you know, Minnesota 30 of them and the number of them here where they scan and they look for common patterns, common software. They're not doing this one at a time. There's not an hacker sitting out there trying to break into everything. They're running these scans that have hundreds and hundreds of places. And the ones that have the same vulnerability, they go and see if they can get in. How do you prevent something like this? I mean, I know that's a silly question, but. At some point, is it just about upgrading the software? Is it just about putting these firewalls in place? Yeah, I mean, a lot of this is what we call block and tackle, right? It's where you do consistently the things that you need to do to be safe. You change your passwords. You make sure that you update all the patches. You make sure that you put new software in place if you can. Not all of these systems can do that. Like I said, it could be millions of dollars to replace one of these control systems. So in lieu of that, you just want to take additional safeguards and put additional layers of protection in front of it to try to prevent something like this. Would it make sense for everybody to be like almost?

I don't want to say federalizing it, but if everything is running through the same system, or is that more dangerous? Is that more prone to a cyber attack then? Yeah, I mean, I think no system is 100% safe, right? So if everyone lines up to using the same thing and that same vulnerability is found, it's sort of the opposite effect, right? Now, every single system is vulnerable. So, I mean, I think the fact that some of these are different is a little bit more difficult for these attackers to try to get into everything. But that being said, it's also harder to maintain and harder to update and cost more. So there's pros and cons on both sides. What's the likelihood that this originated from outside of the United States? Is it even, are you even able to tell that from the information that we know? You know, they haven't released anything. I think there's a few people that have speculated. It's, you know, an Iranian-aligned sort of a group or organization that was doing it. We don't know that yet. The likelihood seems a little bit high. Obviously, there's tensions there now. But it is difficult. I would say it's probably not in the United States. We have pretty strict laws against that here. So if they were discovered to be in the U.S., there's some sharp penalties. And we don't have the ability to prosecute out of places like Iran. So the likelihood it's somewhere that we can't touch is pretty high. And just quickly, how, like, we, I remember going back to last summer when the United States carried out those initial strikes on Iran after, on those, on those nuclear facilities. One of the ways that was being talked about as some sort of retaliation was cyber attacks. And Iran has those capabilities. They never really came then. But, but Iran does possess the ability to carry out attacks like this. Absolutely do. And there was speculation a couple decades ago that the U.S. launched one on one of their nuclear refining places by taking out centrifuges. So that was 15 years ago, and they've been building the intelligence since then. Of course, they probably have the capabilities. Well, it's a very scary situation. Thanks for carving out a couple of minutes to talk with us about it and trying to keep our systems as locked up as possible. Brent Yaks at allcom. We appreciate you as always. Thank you, my friend. Thanks, Chris. Yeah, you got it. But it is scary. And the, the situations in Michigan, you've got the Michigan Department of Technology that reported the issue with MI Loggins, my login services. That's the identity management system that allows users to track their systems. And then, of course, you've got... Eagle, the Michigan Department of Environmental Great Lakes and Energy that are looking into this as well. The free press reached out to the FBI that said the FBI and our interagency partners are fully engaged to protect critical infrastructure.

and we remain well equipped to protect against cyber threats of all varieties. So this is something that is very much being investigated actively here in the state of Michigan and others at other locations around the United States as well. Coming up on the other side, John Selleck of Harbor Strategic Public Relations, the state of GOP races as we get you ready for the primary tomorrow. But first at 644, time for ion engineering. Brought you by CSP, rethinking composites for a lighter sustainable future. Learn more at the CSP.com. Supplier Al-Movio has joined the race to develop drunk driver detection tech with a non-invasive finger scanning system it says is as accurate as a medical test of drawn blood. We spoke with Mike Misciuta, Almovio's display systems leader, who said the system uses an infrared emitter and sensor under a glass cover to examine the interstitial fluid between blood vessels and the skin. Then, software developed by partner Trinamics, looks for the spectral signature of alcohol molecules and accurately estimates the blood alcohol content. Ever since NHTSA signaled an intent to mandate impaired driver detection, Companies have been developing different solutions, from analyzing ambient air in the cabin to sensing micro-movements of the steering wheel. What the system would then do from merely warning the driver to notifying authorities would be up to regulators, OEMs, and the insurance industry. For SAE International, I'm Chris Klantz, and that's an eye on engineering.

Well, one of the more compelling storylines to watch during this lead up to tomorrow. has been the governor's race, and particularly on the Republican side. And we've gone through a ton of different iterations of this race as the months have waned on. And now we're essentially down to John James and Perry Johnson for the Republicans. And what once looked like as a going away victory for John James has turned into something a little different as Perry Johnson has caught ground. What can we expect leading up to tomorrow in this? Last second push. John Selleck is the CEO of Harbor Strategic Public Relations and joins me this morning. Johnny, good morning. It's good to have you back. Good morning, Chris. It's a big day today. A lot of people have been waiting for this to happen or probably waiting for it to be over. And I went back in luck to see how long it's been since John James announced that he was running and how long since Perry Johnson announced because I've been through a lot of these campaigns and we forget sometimes that these people are humans and the sacrifices they're going through to get to tomorrow. are enormous. And John James has been doing this for 16 or 17 months, so like a year and a half, Perry Johnson, at age 78, it's been doing it for nine months. And you don't finish, on the pool side, you finish by going 10 times faster than you had been the whole rest of the campaign as they're hitting every stop they can. You know, so it's a pretty incredible expenditure of resources, both financial and human. Well, it's fascinating, too, because one of the storylines that I find most interesting about this particular race, is John James goes ahead and gets endorsed by Donald Trump. And then you've got really ardent some of the more strong supporters in the state of Michigan of the president that are stumping for Perry Johnson. And then the campaign kind of lobs over towards John James from the Johnson side has been that, you know, he's liberal. He is somebody that is pro data centers and trying to paint him as somebody who didn't get the endorsement of Donald Trump. Right. It's actually a template that we've seen used in other places, and we're watching this template here in Michigan to see if it will work. And the number one thing that it requires, apparently is to outspend the other candidate by seven times, was spend $30 million. of your own money to try to drown out President Trump. I mean, that's what it comes down to. And what the Johnson campaign has done, you know, his team around them is very skilled. And what they specialize in are what we call convention races. Not that they haven't won statewide races, but they were behind Governor Snyder back in the day. But what they attempt to do is say that the Trump endorsement or the Trump movement isn't just President Trump anymore. To them, with the claim they're making, it's us. It's the grassroots.

who don't agree this particular swash, you know, of the grassroots don't agree with the president. So we're going to act like we have the president's endorsement ourselves, like they put on their own party outside the president's party and called it a Trump tailgate, which. It seems like a lot of gaslighting. A lot of ways are like, wait, what's happening? You didn't get invited inside the Trump event to speak with the president and be on stage like John James did and Mike Rogers did. So you'll just throw your own party and keep rooting on your own section of the electorate. And I mean, that's what it's coming down to with a two-man race. They are trained to on the Johnson side, press the grassroots side of things because of that, you know, basis in a convention style campaign. brought around the candidates who ran and lost for Attorney General and Secretary of State to kind of be part of this entourage around Perry Johnson. And when you had the money to keep spending, you know, you can do that. And I think because of the massive outpouring of spending, we're going to see a race that's probably closer than we might expect. But every poll we've seen so far would still indicate that John James is going to win this thing. Yeah, it does look like it. I guess I'm interested to see. if that perspective works. Because while Donald Trump has certainly rearranged the Republican Party, he has changed the party fundamentally, certainly from a federal level. I don't know if a grassroots movement can carry that without the president. Do you know what I mean? It feels like there's one guy that can carry that mantle. And I don't know if anybody else can. Well, if you look at the evidence of what we've seen in the primary so far, Chris, is the other candidates who are in the race, like Senate Minority Leader Eric Nesbitt and former Attorney General Mike Cox and former Speaker of their House, Tom Leonard, they all ran hard against John James and along with Perry Johnson. Each time each one of them got out, especially after the Trump endorsement, they all went and endorsed John James when they went with him. The difference maker here is that Perry Johnson has been an incredibly successful business person. Clearly, he's got money to burn, literally, and that's what he's doing. So that can go a long way into making your pitch. And at some point, because the president isn't going to come back into Michigan 14 times between now an election day. your spending is getting more to some of these voters than the president's messages at times. And that's the unique thing about this campaign. But every one of those other opponents, including most recently, Mike Cox, said, I did all my own polling. There's no way I can beat John James, especially after the Trump endorsement. But we are watching a template in place to see if that can be done because, Chris, you know, there's only two years left to the Trump presidency after this. A lot of people are going to be vying for what's to control the MAGA movement and the sense of Donald Trump. And we're seeing in the Perry Johnson campaign a task to see who can take charge. Yeah, no doubt about it. John Selle, good stuff. As always, appreciate you. We'll talk again very, very soon, I'm sure.

All right, Chris. Yeah, you got it. That's John Selleck with Harbor's strategic public relations. All right, we'll take a break coming up on the other side, get you caught up on the headlines. Also, the Pima County Sheriff released those ransom notes in the Nantthy Gussary case. We'll talk about that. What it means as the status of this investigation continues, all that and more coming up here on JAR morning on a Monday. Well, the hottest commodity in baseball didn't need to be, didn't need to wait until 6 o'clock tonight to be traded. Because Terrick Scoobel no longer a member of your Detroit Tigers. He is now an LA Dodger. And that came just around 1130 Saturday night. And, you know, I've been telling you last week, you can't win the lottery unless you buy the ticket. And that's basically what the Tigers did here. Now, you can not like the trade. You can not like the haulback that they got. But the reality is tigers were indicating they were not going to resign Terrick Scoobel. That they were just too far apart on a longer term deal. And as a result, he was on an expiring contract with this team. And they dug themselves into quite a hole early on this season. And so. They have to claw their way back out. And certainly, Terrick Scoobel is a big part of that. If you can, you know, if smart money is a win at least every five days, that's a great bet. You can put that down on any of the betting sites if Terrick Scoobel's on the bump and he's probably going to get you a win. But the problem is, is they need more than a win every five days. And they need more constant hitting, which they've gotten thanks to the youth movement on this team now. But Zaire Hope, the outfielder that the Tigers got is a top 25 prospect in Major League Baseball. Hitting 293, 23 home runs in AA this season. He's got speed. He's got power. He can hit for average. You know, a potentially steady middle of the order bat type of guy. really good in the outfield as well. He's the one that you're going to talk about the most. He's the crown jewel of this piece. And then you got River Ryan, who's a right-handed pitcher. He's probably the closest to an arm that you got. at this point, but he's gone under Tommy John surgery. He's had other health issues. Those have slowed his progress a bit. And then Brady Smith is also in this mix, too. And the reality is he's not close. He's going to be a little bit more of a developmental project. But Scoobel was asked about the trade in the immediate on Saturday night. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. Going into the season, this isn't what I planned on doing. But, you know, circumstances change, situations change, and I'm very appreciative of everything the Tigers have done for me, you know, just drafted me in 2018, you know, giving a kid a chance out of a small school and giving me every resource to use. You know, everything's always been at my disposal, whatever I want. You know, they've always...

at answers or plan for me. So yeah, you know, I feel like I've experienced a lot and kind of gone through the ups and downs and gone through a lot of failure early in my career. And this club never stopped believing in me, you know, kept rolling me back out there every fifth day when I probably didn't deserve to be. So. So a little reflection there from Scoobled. Then he talked about the fan perspective, but he was in the dugout for the Dodgers last night on Sunday night baseball. That's something that I'll never take for granted, you know, and the fan support of me and my family. Everywhere I go. I've always truly appreciated that. And it means a lot more than they probably get credit for. At this time, I'm excited to be a Dodger. I'm excited to get down there and meet all those guys. You know, chase three championships in a row. You know, it's hard to do. So I'm excited to be a part of that. But, yeah, it's a lot of different emotions. Get this, though. The LA Dodgers now have eight players with contracts of an annual value of $20 million per year or more. I mean, that is unbelievable the type of money they're committing to players. And Scoobel sounds like he could be another one. There could be some major changes coming to Major League Baseball. We'll get into that and get a clock hour with Chris Castellani. Meanwhile, the Rocket Classic wrapped up here in Detroit, and it was Michael Thorbjornson who won this thing in its final iteration at Detroit Golf Club. And it's bittersweet. It was a really fun weekend, actually. The tournament was great. A lot of great play. I thought. Honestly, a lot of the renovations did play into the scores that we saw. And a little bit lower than it has been in past years. But some renovations to the course. The rough was very thick. And some of the troubles that they had on the greens were apparent as well. But it was a bittersweet weekend because, again, it's. been such a wonderful tournament over the last, you know, almost decade. And, you know, they've had, they had to overcome some incredible obstacles. First of all, COVID.

All the other golf tournaments did too, but here in Detroit, we felt that in particular. The weather on the calendar, they were never felt like they were in a great spot. And they had to deal with a number of different challenging weather situations. But in its last go-around, it was a really nice weekend, a little bit of rain, pushed things back a little bit. over the weekend, but overall, fantastic weekend out at Detroit Golf Club. And again, Detroit shined through. Meanwhile, the president says that the talks with Iran are back on. The plans for major military operations there, at least at the moment, have come to a halt. And this apparently, according to the president, nations in the region, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, urging the president to pull back on some of those military plans and make way for the diplomatic relations to continue to flourish is the hope. Is the hope. But again, we've been here before. Cautious optimism, as I have maintained throughout much of this. Meanwhile, coming up on the other side, what is going on in New York City? I've got thoughts. We'll talk about it. But first at 712, time for WDJR's business. We brought you by shelving.com. We rock your world. Here's Jeff Sloan, the founder and CEO of Startup Nation, to spotlight the entrepreneurial tech and startup community on WDJR. Good morning. If you're listening to the business beat this morning, you're likely on your way to work like most of us. And speaking of work, CNBC has recently released its rankings of the top states in the U.S. for doing business. To rank America's top states for business by CNBC in 2026, CNBC scored all 50 states on 138 metrics and 10 broad categories of competitiveness. The fundamentals of the study now in its 20th year remain the same, identifying the factors companies consider when making site selection decisions and where states are focusing their economic development efforts to win jobs and business. Each category is weighted based on how frequently states use them as a selling point. The top states categories have been largely consistent since the first study was conducted in 2007. However, CNBC does reweight the categories annually to reflect current market dynamics. And the biggest change in 2006, infrastructure is now the top-weighted category as companies pursue strategic locations close to transport hubs. Top utilities, access to fresh water, and abundant energy to power things like advanced manufacturing and data centers, for example. are key factors. And businesses want it all without red tape. For the first time in 2026, CNBC factored in ease of permitting into their rankings methodology, followed now by the waiting factor associated with a state's local economy. And so under the methodology, states can earn a maximum of 2,500 points. The states are the most points. Well, those are America's top states for doing business. And without further ado, here's the top 10.

Starting with number one, Ohio. Number two, North Carolina, three, Virginia, four, Texas, five, Minnesota. And how about number six, our great state of Michigan. Number seven, Georgia, number eight, Florida, nine, Tennessee, and number ten, Indiana. Noticably, the Midwest did well in these rankings as a great center for doing business. And of course, Michigan fares extremely well. Coming in at number six best state in the country for doing business. I'm Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that's today's business beat on the great voice of the Great Lakes, WJR. You know when some things happen and you just have the thought of, huh? What? Like it feels like sometimes things are completely backwards. Well, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a fresh batch of criticism. Why? Because of the city's new rollout of the Pietater tax. Now, this has only been around for about a month. It officially launched July 1st, but it was approved by the state legislature at the end of May as part of the state budget. And what it does effectively... It targets certain luxury second homes in the city rather than primary residents. So city officials say that if you are of this almost million people or million properties that you could be taxed on these luxury secondary homes that aren't used for rentals or things like that. Okay, fine. I don't love it. But you do you, New York City. Well, then. Zohran Mamdani publishes a searchable database listing these 960,000 city properties. Well, it's not just the properties because this searchable database includes property owners' names, their addresses, and how much their homes are valued. And all of these 960-ish thousand properties say they may be subject to the tax, although it sounds like only an estimated 31,000 may meet the valuation threshold. I, under almost any circumstance, would have never predicted. In this day and age, where you've got, you know, the head of United Healthcare being gunned down in cold blood or, you know, guys like Charlie Kirk being in an era where things are so polarized that you are now going to target some of the richest people in the city of New York. that have other properties and you give them where they live and you give them their names and how much their homes are valued. It is absolutely stunning. Well, one of the people who isn't on board with this is somebody who supported Zohran Mamdani in his run for mayor of New York City and somebody who supports many of these causes.

And that is Scott Galloway. Scott Galloway is an NYU professor. He's a liberal podcaster. And he was on one of the latest episodes of Pivot. That's Kara Swisher's podcast. And here's what he had to say. And I've been doxed. You've been doxed? What? Tell me. So, I don't know if you've heard, but Zohran Mamdani has decided to release a list of the 950,000 residences with addresses and names that might be eligible for his pieter tax. I came out in favor of this tax. This is the definition. He's taken a legitimate source of tax revenue, and he's turning it into a wanted poster. And the question I would have is, Other than trying to identify and imply these people have done something wrong, and then 18 months after a healthcare CEO was executed in the street and then publish the list, what is the upside here? Why is he doing this? I mean, bingo, bango, bongo, as Mickey Redmond would say. It's exactly right. Now, again, you can criticize the tax. You can say that it's ridiculous. And that's fine. But to then turn this into something that is searchable, anybody can go on and find it, anybody who's got a vendetta, anybody who's been, you know, fed this idea that these people are just hoarding their wealth and not, you know, contributing members of society, it is incredibly dangerous. And why do I bring that up? Well, I bring it up because I think it's a bigger problem more broadly, not just in New York City. Because oftentimes we find instances of the hypocrisy of it all. Or we find instances where rules for me, not for thee. You have people here that are technically supporting Zohran Mamdani that are supporting the Pietater tax. And yet they are targeted, targeted not by their tax dollars, targeted by... by essentially being doxed, by putting your private information out there to the public. And I think it is absolute lunacy. I mean, I could never, ever imagine a scenario where you go to work Friday and then this is one of the big stories matriculating out of New York City on a Monday. Absolutely nuts. Absolutely crazy. The ramifications aren't just in New York City because when you are, and we've seen this with Republicans, we've seen it with Donald Trump and his shift of the Republican Party, when you've got people that are openly pushing whatever policy it is. In this case, it's, you know, far left tax policy. If that's what it is, then you have to, other people are going to be asked about this that are running for office. Other people are going, and are you about this? Is this something that now Democrats support? Because you're putting people in danger is what's happening. At the very least, people are people, people's information is out there. And that's problematic.

And this comes as, you know, there's these stories that people are leaving New York City, that business leaders are leaving New York City, people that are prominent and have done well are leaving New York City because they don't want to be exposed to this anymore. Well, how does that translate to places like Michigan? Well, it translates to places like Michigan because you have folks running that are on that side of the Democratic aisle. Now, we haven't heard Abdul El-Sayed propose anything like this. And I'm not saying he has or will or he's thinking about it. I have no idea. But this is where I think the Bill Mars of the world come out and say, look, if this is where the party's going, I'm not on board. I'm not on board. I saw James Carville on Fox News this weekend. Say the same thing. I'm not on board if the Hasan Piker of the world are the new party. I'll be out. Ain't room for both of us. So it's a fascinating look, again, as to a new involvement, a change in the Democratic Party. When the ramifications aren't just in New York City, it's elsewhere. Because. They're going to be questions about this. And they're going to have to stand on an answer for themselves and how that translates into where they're running into places like Michigan. Absolutely fascinating. Coming up on the other side, the Pima County Sheriff's Department in Arizona releases the ransom notes in the Nancy Guthrie case. Some pretty harrowing messages in those notes. And maybe if they are to be believed, which I assume they are if the sheriff's department is releasing them, a different look into the status of that investigation. That's coming up next on J.R. Morning. All right, just as a reminder, if you miss anything we do here on the show on JR morning or on WJR, you can always go to wjr.com and catch anything you missed. And one of the stories that we've been talking about for quite some time is the Nancy Guthrie case and her disappearance and the investigation surrounding it. Well, the Pima County Sheriff's Department released what they say are uniquely written. ransom notes and if you remember when the reports of these notes surfaced they were sent not to law enforcement but they were sent to TMZ and a local TV station in Arizona and I want to read them for you right now Because they say that there is a unique linguistic style here that they hope will help lead towards some sort of breakthrough in the case and being able to find the Nancy Guthrie's captors. The first one says, Hello, Savannah. We have your mother, Nancy. She is safe but scared. She will be held for ransom. And once payment is received, she will be released unharmed. We will not be, or excuse me, we will be holding her for a maximum of seven days. You will need to send Bitcoin in the amount of $4 million USD.

before 5 p.m. on Thursday the 5th. If payment is not received, the ransom will be increased to 6 million USD, which you will need to pay by 5 p.m. on Monday the 9th. Once payment is received to the Bitcoin address below, she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop-off location back in Tucson. If payment is not received by the last deadline on Monday the 9th at 5 p.m., she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this, and her life is in your hands. It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible. You will not be able to contact me from here on out. There will be no negotiation. Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you. Then they go on to say she had a white smart watch on the floor on the foot of her bed and the white floodlight in the backyard was destroyed. Then the next letter. Guthrie family. We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition. We never intended to hurt her. That was not our intention. She perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart-related. She is buried in nature now. Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. We want your family to know this and hope you all can find peace. We are truly sorry. What does this do to the status of this investigation now? Steve Dolan's a retired Detroit Police Assistant Chief and joins me this morning. Steve, good morning. It's good to have you back. What did you make of the Pima County Sheriff's Department releasing this information now? What does that tell you? It tells me the grasping straws. They've waited too long. But it also, we talk about I'm not a linguistic expert from the first of a minute. But the person who wrote this seemed like they're highly educated. Doesn't sound like a typical being a home invasion person writing a note. I mean, how many guys put down at USDA in their note? It sounds like this person is almost a business major. This is how you do. Who's ever to bring? Whoever did this? He's very articulate, intelligent. And actually, for the first time, sorrowful. I've never had a criminal. I apologize before they're arrested. Does it surprise you that the sheriff's department is releasing this now? It feels like they believe this was, these were legitimate ransom notes. Why wouldn't they have released it earlier? Because at the beginning you start out. I'm sure there are more than two notes. And so they're going, okay, let's kind of, you know, sift through these. And then he finally got to hold the FBI and got them in there. And they had said early on that there were a couple notes that they thought may have been legitimate, may have been. And apparently there are these two. I'm sure the family, the family know that they're going to release it before they did it. Because didn't Guthrie, Savannah Gutsi say, we'll give you a million dollars? And then she'd say, we'll just give you the money first. And they said, no, no, no, don't do it. And now they're saying, well, it's too late. But it's the term we buried her in nature. I think is unique. Maybe someone uses that phrase that they're hoping we'll pick up on that. But usually it's like, okay, sorry, she's deceased. But for them doing that, it's almost as bad as, you know what? Remember it's just a lucky case? Or the guy won't tell him where the body is, but he's in jail for another kidnapping at Hyde's Drive or the, was it, the Zion that his body came up missing? Give the family some closure. But these people seem very...

intelligent and it's we not i it's we in the note right in the note so yeah there's there's clues there however the cadence of give us this give us this you have to do this it's almost like a business major someone this is how you do like the business transaction it's very professional not hey we screwed up um you know she's that it's planned Yeah, well, I agree. I think there were some interesting things in here. She is buried in nature now is an interesting statement. She perished shortly after she was taken. I thought that was interesting. And also in the first note, they made mention of something in the room in which she was taken from. She had a white smartwatch on the floor of the foot of her bed and the white floodlight in the backyard was destroyed. So that would lead credence to this being a legitimate note that they knew something about the scene. Absolutely. They had to know something about the scene because, I mean, it's one thing if I know that you wear a white watch, there's another thing that they found it on the floor. So they had access to this, the inside information. So they're either part of it, which I think they were. They could have been the brains behind it. But would a guy of that, I'm assuming it's a guy, that intellectual level. know all this stuff. A home invasion guy gets out. If he knocks it on the floor, he's got it, he leaves. This seems very well planned. And they said, if we did this, we did this, it's like, do they have access to the police reports? You know, because, let's face it, the police reports will tell you, they never released from the news that there's a watch on the floor. They never released that a light was out. It was eventually released that they, didn't they, um, uh, It's a camera disabled. Didn't they say that? Yes. So it's almost something like a well plotted crime. And at first, I was like, no, there's a B&E gone bad. The woman woke up. They seen it. She recognized the voice or something. And they had to take her. But now it seems like it was planned. And they're sad that she perished. Again, I'd work. The whole thing is perplexing to me. It is. Yeah. No, they are still working at it. Does the urgency of the investigation change? When they get a ransom note that says there's a white watch on the floor and the backlight's been broken. So the investigators know that they have insider knowledge of the crime scene. That leads to credibility of the note. And then in the second note, they say that she died. Does that change the... expediency of the investigation when they feel like this these notes are legitimate and and now they they're they're taking the the perspective that she's she's passed away how does that change things

Well, you want to get the body right away for any evidence you can get DNA. You want to get the body before it's buried in nature. But there's a lot of wild animals out there that'll go after the body and destroy the evidence. You want to find the body, not just for closure for the family, but for the closure of the case. So yes, now you know the body's gone. Because there are rumors that, you know, they're taking the body to Mexico. The body has moved around. She's going to be around for a couple days. How many days in between? I can't remember what these notes sent. Does it say? You know, I don't see a timestamp on these notes. Okay. Okay. So you're thinking, okay, now we know it's gone from a kidnapping to a murder. Now it's a murder. We've got to pick it up. And it's a high profile murder. And we've kind of dropped the ball. We better get her act together. I mean, Sheriff came off, unfortunately, as a bumbling idiot at the beginning. We got this. We got this. We got this. We don't have this. Hey, guys, let's get on it. It's a big time kidnapping. Uh-oh. Now we think it's a murder. Right. Even though they didn't murder them, denied her medication. I'm surprised that wasn't in the note, something about the medication. But now we know she's deceased. We had to find the body. So, yeah, it goes from a... A simple family, I guess, a nonviolent kidnapping, because they didn't use any guns that didn't appear. She's 85. Right. To a murder. So, yeah, it picks it up. Yeah. They did say that, you know, she was taken on February 1st, that that first amount was going to need to be paid by Thursday the 5th. So this was very early after she was taken that these notes were sent. So. See, when the second note was sent, though, because they had four days to do it. So what? I'm surprised she laughed at that long without her medication, to be honest with that. Yeah, the second note, there isn't anything. They just said that she perished shortly after she was taken. So in terms of when this second note came in, we don't know exactly, but it was in that first week or so. But that investigation continues. A great insight. Steve Dolan, we appreciate you so much. Thank you for your time this morning. We'll talk again very soon. Thanks, Chris. Take care. Yeah, you got it. Meanwhile, coming up on the other side, the latest on Iran, the president putting military action on hold, making way for negotiations. It's next on J.R. Morning. But first, you know, if you want to change the vibe of your house, yeah, you could go out and buy new furniture or new carpet, new floors, things like that. But one of the easiest ways to completely transform your home is with a fresh coat of paint. And the results depend on the quality of paint you use. That's why I love Benjamin Netanyahu Moore paint from my local Repco paint stores. They say paint is never just paint. There is passion that goes into creating the paint, the craftsmanship, the innovation. It's the kind of quality that you can turn your house into a legitimate home that you will love for years to come. And when you're ready to start your next painting project, make Repco Paint Store your first paint stop. Why? Because their team will actually help you find the perfect Benjamin Netanyahu Moore color. They'll recommend the right finish for your space. And they will answer every question you have to get the results that you actually want the first time so you don't buy cheaper stuff and have to go back and redo it. Whether you're upgrading one room or tackling the entire house, trust Benjamin Netanyahu Moore and the experts at Repco paints, visit one of their four Metro Detroit locations or learn more atrebco.com. That's

So the president has announced that golf leaders in the region weighed in heavily on his decision to pull back on the military action and go the diplomatic route once again and reopen those communication channels. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, all urging Trump to de-escalate on the war front. And the president has listened. And those negotiation routes seem to be back open, back on. What does it mean? Let's get the latest with Evan Brown, our Fox News correspondent and WJR contributor. Evan, good morning. It's good to have you. Where are we at this morning? Well, good morning. We tend to be back in the same cycle. And I think that that's playing out yet again. The president has was, you know, everything was poised for this. incredible strike, which War Secretary Pete Hegseth said would be the largest since World War II. I don't know exactly know what that means if we were invading a beachhead or if we were about to drop something on a certain city. But very likely it meant strikes on infrastructure and things like that. But the Gulf Arab nations, namely Saudi Arabia, probably Qatar, apparently also the UAE, came in and said, wait a second, they're ready to talk. They want to talk in Oman again. And so President Trump said, okay, we'll talk. And now we're back into the same cycle where the foreign ministry spokesperson in Iran says, no, we're not talking. What do you mean? We're not talking. And if the Americans don't cut it out, we're going to strike on the Strait of Hormuz again on ships. And so at some point, I suspect maybe even today, they will fire on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and we'll be right back to where we were. The president has some things to worry about. And that, of course, is the price of oil. So I think any chance to hold off escalation or de-escalate and get the price of oil back down a few points is something that he engages in because he has a midterm election to worry about coming up in short order. It's now less than 100 days away, or fewer than 100 days away, I should say. I suspect that after, you know, probably mid-November, I think the president's MO is going to change on this, and we might see something pretty intense, but one way or the other anyway. So that's where we are yet again. And yes, the price of oil has come down a few bucks overnight because of this being held off. And that might be helpful to some people. In the meantime, we're all, we're all paying a little bit more for gas. And we continue to do that. And we will probably for the coming days for sure. I think a lot of the frustration stems from the length of this, the duration of all of this. And I mean, it. You know, the president initially said this was going to be a few weeks and then this was going to be done. And then, you know, his last cabinet meeting at Andrews, you know, he said, well, look, we were in Vietnam forever. And it's like, well, that's a huge contrast from where we were initially. And obviously things don't seem to have gone as planned.

Yeah, it's a major contrast. The cabinet meeting was at Camp David. Excuse me, David. Yes, Camp David. Yeah, yeah. But it brings up a good point. The president said a couple of things at the beginning of all of this. One will be done in a couple of weeks. I can paint, I remember President Bush saying, we'll be in Iraq for a month and then we'll be out. You know, those are always infamous last words. There was always the president's claim help is on the way. I think a lot of Iranians might feel high and dry right now. But we have been at this for about six months, I think. We Americans don't have a lot of patience when it comes to these things. Six months is really not a long time to affect the foreign policy goal. The foreign policy goal, of course, is to eliminate Iran's ability to create absolute havoc really around the world by holding about a fifth of the world's oil supply hostage. And they have been doing that for 50 years, in addition to all the awful things they've been doing for 50 years, including terrorism worldwide. the threatening of annihilating Jews wherever they find them. And yes, they are responsible for the death of hundreds of American servicemen and women. And that has something that has gone unanswered for five decades. And that, I say, is an awful mistake that encompasses American administrations of both parties for half a century. So we're in a situation, and we're in a pickle, without a doubt. It's a pickle that has been untended for 50 years, and this president has decided to tend to it. It's not necessarily going easy or smoothly or quickly, and the question is, what's a good way to say, okay, we've finished the job? I think at this point we have certainly set them back by decades on their nuclear program. That doesn't mean they wouldn't try to reconstitute. We have, we have, you know, their conventional weapons have been nearly exhausted. They still have some, not nearly what they have. I think they've been exposed in some ways as paper tigers. But at the same time, the Gulf Arab nations have also proven to be some paper tigers as well. They have not been able to fight the way we have been able to fight and not the way the Israelis have been able to fight. If there's any kind of sea change here, it's that the regional power is Israel. It's not Iran. Hmm. It's very fascinating. And then, of course, you've got, you mentioned the political side of all of this with the midterms looming. I mean, tomorrow is primary day here in the state of Michigan. And then you've got the situation of, okay, well, where is the off ramp? And more Republicans on Capitol Hill seemingly pushing back against the idea of pushing forward. And so it's a real contrast for the president that he's got to juggle at this point.

Well, there's a problem among that Republicans are having is that there's a, I don't want to call it a slither, it's not a majority, but there's enough. of Republican-based voters who interpreted no more long foreign entanglements into no more as no more foreign wars at all. Right. And that's just a simplistic and not a realistic way of running the world when you're the world power. No doubt. Eben Brown, great insight. Thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate you. We'll talk again soon. You bet. Yeah, you got it. Meanwhile, we'll take breakage caught up on the headlines. Terrick Scoobull, no longer a member of your Detroit Tigers. It pained me last night to see him wearing Dodger Blue. We'll talk about it. Also, primary day here in the state of Michigan tomorrow. Andrea Bightly joins us. A lot to talk about here on a Monday morning on J.R. Morning, don't go anywhere. More coming up next here on W.J.R. That's something that I'll never take for granted, you know, on the fan support of me and my family. Everywhere I go, I've always truly appreciated that. And it means a lot more than they probably get credit for. At this time, I'm excited to be a Dodger. I'm excited to get down there and meet all those guys. you know, chase three championships in a row. You know, it's hard to do. So I'm excited to be a part of that. But, yeah, it's a lot of different emotions. I'll tell you, it hurt my heart a little bit last night to see Andy or to hear Andy Dirks, Jason Benetti, calling the game, the Red Sox and Dodgers game. And then Terrick School Bull, Dodger Blue. It was tough. It was tough to swallow. But, you know, sometimes you got to do the hard thing when you know it's right. And that's kind of where the tigers found themselves is it was right to trade Terrick Scouble. And they did. And it happened late Saturday night around 1130. And the Tigers got back three prospects. Zaire Hope, who's an outfielder and a couple of right handers, River Ryan and Brady Smith. And the, the, the. player that you're probably talking about this morning is Zai Your Hope. He's a top 25 prospect in all of Major League Baseball. He's got power, speed. He hits for average. He's hitting 293, 23 home runs in AA this year. And he's kind of that next young player that you might see come up at some point. Somebody that might be able to come up. and add a little bit of excitement, kind of like Max Clark did here just in the last week. But the Tigers weren't going to resign Terrick Scoobel. And they obviously were far apart on the money. And at the end of the day, this is a business. I actually don't think Terrick Scuba wanted to leave necessarily. But I think at the end of the day, you see the writing on the wall, your representation, and the organization that are talking, and things aren't. Things aren't.

progressing the way maybe you'd like. And so this is the nature of the business. And he's on an expiring deal. So if they weren't going to resign him this year, if they weren't going to resign him in the off season, then you got to get something for him because you can't win the lottery if you don't buy the ticket. And not that Zaire Hope or River Ryan or Brady Smith are going to net you $800 million. But there at least gives you an opportunity to get something in return. And this is one of the weird things about sports. And if you're a casual sports fan, you're probably like, what? What happened? But it happens a lot. Players that are on expiring deals, if there, if there's some sort of dissatisfaction or there isn't. You know, if there isn't, if everybody's not rowing in the same direction and you're not going to get a deal done, well, all of a sudden you want something for that player and that's what the Tigers did. So I'm not necessarily mad at Scott Harris. And the range of reactions to this trade is what I found incredibly interesting over the weekend. Because you had people breaking this down, a plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus for the Dodgers. I mean, you get Terrick Scoobel. They've got one of the best farm systems in baseball. I mean, they've got talent galore. They've got over, what, eight players that are making over $20 million a year on their annual value. I mean, they're a juggernaut. They're a behemoth. They're kind of like what the Yankees used to be. You know, people hated on the Yankees because they just did, they spent, they did everything they needed to do to get the players to win, and they won. And that's exactly what the Dodgers are doing because this year they're looking to three Pete. in Major League Baseball. They're looking to win their third consecutive World Series. It's unbelievable. Here's Terrick Scouble on his initial thoughts. once that trade was announced. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy going into the season. This isn't what I planned on, you know, doing. But, you know, circumstances change, situations change, and I'm very appreciative of everything the Tigers have done for me, you know, just dropped me in 2018, you know, giving a kid a chance out of a small school. giving me every resource to use. You know, everything's always been at my disposal, whatever I want. You know, they've always had answers or a plan for me. So, yeah, you know, I feel like I've experienced a lot and kind of gone through the ups and downs and gone through a lot of failure early in my career. And this club never stopped believing in me, you know, kept rolling me back out there every fifth day when I probably didn't deserve to be. Well, they swept the athletics this weekend. They won yesterday 11 to nothing. And, you know, again, they're four games below 500. Four games below 500. And again, they're still in the mix here. Still in the mix. Five and a half back from the Chicago White Sock leading AL Central standings.

And they're in the mix. You miss Scoobel, certainly. And that's, again, weird to see him in Dodger Blue yesterday. Meanwhile, it was Michael Thorbjornson who takes home the trophy out at Detroit Golf Club for the final Rocket Classic. It's his first win on the PGA tour. And he made a huge put, a 26-foot putt on a birdie. On his last hole to shoot, 7 under 63, 18 under was good enough to get it done out at Detroit Golf Club. And again, it's going to be a bittersweet day. It was a pretty good weekend of golf on the tour at Rocket Classic. And again, bittersweet because it's the last one. And they had a number of challenges that they had to navigate through the duration of this tournament. the longevity, the years of this tournament, the weather, COVID, and obviously it culminated with a pretty darn nice weekend out at Detroit Golf Club. And I actually thought it was pretty classy, you know, just the way that they handled this tournament. Because on the PGA tour, these guys are essentially independent contractors. Like they are allowed to play on the tour, but they pay their way. They pay their way. They pay for the travel. They pay for their food. They pay for lodging. All of that stuff comes out of their own pockets. And so it's why it's such a hard professional game to make it in because if you're on the bottom, if you're not Rory McElroy or Scotty Sheffler, the money isn't flowing in like it is for some of those top guys. So it's a tough spot, pretty cool weekend out at Rocket Classic. And then Ricky Fowler at the end of the tournament when he was done, grabbed the mic, thank Detroit for the hospitality. It was a wonderful. run here. He's obviously a Rocket sponsor and somebody that is very close with Rocket. So it was a wonderful weekend and Michael Thorbjornson takes home the final Rocket trophy. Meanwhile, the primary tomorrow here in the state of Michigan, primary voting day. Obviously, early voting has been underway or mail-in ballots have been sent in. at this point as well. And some of these races are going to be close blowouts. I mean, it's very hard to tell at this point. I mean, I was talking to, I talked to a number of people over the weekend on the political front. And one of the things that I heard, particularly in the Stevens-Abdul El-Sayed race, is very close. Don't know how this thing's going to go. And then even on the Republican side of things, Perry Johnson making a late push, spending millions, tens of millions of dollars to try to beat John James, who's been at this thing for a year and a half, Perry Johnson, less than a year, and he's throwing major money at it.

Going to be an unbelievable day tomorrow. Lloyd off today. He will be back tomorrow. We'll do the show tomorrow morning. And then we're coming back later, 8 to 11 for a special primary coverage. So make sure you listen in then as well. And Martha Reeves was tapped to sing the national anthem for the new pro women's baseball league. And unfortunately for Martha Reeves, Detroit's own Martha Reeves, there was some blowback because it sounded like this. Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming. All right, all right, all right. Okay. Martha Reeves is 85 years old. It's all okay. We'll give her a pass. It's a pass. It's a pass. We all have an off day. Everybody has a rough day. We'll just leave it at that. It's a pass. For the head, Vandella. That was a hard listen. Did you see the audience reaction? I did. By the way, I did cut away a little early. I did see the audience reaction. I saw some of the players reactions. Everybody was trying to be very respectful about it. Because it's Martha Reeves. Because it's Martha Reeves. I will say some have better poker faces than others. Some folks were really doing their best to hold. back their emotions that was trying to emanate out of them. I don't even feel right having this conversation, but it was a tough lesson. It was a thing. It was something. But Martha Reeves gets a pass. It's okay. She gets a pass and we'll leave it there. Coming up on the other side, primary day, Andrea Bightley joins me. It's the air morning.

All right, we're under 24 hours till the polls open here in Michigan. Primary day tomorrow. Lloyd and I will have a special primary broadcast 8 to 11 tomorrow. So make sure you tune in for that. And, you know, the thing is, is I'm so fascinated about this race. Obviously, there's been a ton of attention paid to Michigan, particularly because of the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Haley Stevens, Abdul El-Sayed, you know, Haley Stevens, more the moderate, more of what the status quo of Democrats are currently in Washington, D.C. And then you've got Abdul El-Sayed, who is... Part of this new wave, part of this new emerging wing of the Democratic Party. And it's something that has picked up steam and has happened in other states. More socialist candidates have won these primaries and will be up on the ballot in November. But what does that translate to here in Michigan? Because Michigan is not New York. Michigan is not Denver or Colorado. Michigan is not New Hampshire or Maine. And so how are we seeing what is happening across the country on the Democratic side? How will it translate in Michigan? One of the answers that we will learn tomorrow. And on the Republican side of things, Perry Johnson spending $30 million of his own money to go up against John James. who has the Donald Trump endorsement. Perry Johnson, a big supporter of Donald Trump, has people working for him that have been hugely impactful to Donald Trump's success in Michigan working on his campaign. Very interesting races across the board. Let's talk about it. Andrea Bightly is the founder and principal of Bightly Communications. Andrea, good morning. It's good to have you back. Good morning. Thanks for having me. What piques your interest the most across the board on these races that will play out tomorrow? It'll be over tomorrow. Yeah. We've all been through this torturous, you know, nearly two-year-long primary across the state that has really, really come to a head over the past few weeks. And we've got a couple candidates that are going to emerge a little bit bruised. You mentioned the Republican governor's race. And John James and Perry Johnson have really had a bruising primary. And before Mike Cox left the race, he also beat up on John James a little bit. So John James is going to emerge from that Republican primary. with a little bit of a bruise and maybe a little bit of a bloody lip because it has been ugly. Meanwhile, Jocelyn Benson has a $10 million war chest and is basically unscathed coming out of her Democratic primary.

Yeah, there hasn't been a lot of, I mean, you know, Chris Swanson in that race, obviously is a bit of the dark horse in that race. A lot of the momentum is behind Jocelyn Benson. But on the Republican side of things, Perry Johnson has spent tens of millions of dollars on this race. If he were to win, how does the fundraising change if he were going to be the candidate on the ballot come November? Johnson has very clearly indicated that he is a self-funded candidate. He doesn't want anyone else's money. I don't know how you win a general election without ours. And something tells me that the Republican National Committee and the Republican Governors Association would want to be very involved in this race. Because this is potentially Republicans first chance of occupying the governor's residence in nearly a decade. So I would assume that outside dollars would be involved should Perry Johnson win. But we'll see. First and foremost, if that's even possible. I honestly don't see a full on pathway for Johnson, but I've been surprised before. So I'm still guessing it's John James. Yeah. If you're calling that a bruising couple of campaigns leading up to a primary, how would you describe the Democratic Senate race? Ooh. It's the best way I can describe it. Abdul El-Sayed has really, really hurt Mallory McMorrow. I'm sorry, Haley Stevens. Haley is, at this point, unlikely to emerge from that primary as the winner. We've seen Abdul El-Sayed really, really dominate those polls at this point. Abdul will likely face Mike Rogers, who similar to Jocelyn Benson and the Democratic governor's side, will emerge completely unscathed from a primary because he did not have a primary. There was no one running against Mike Rogers, so he will emerge victorious. And he has been fundraising. He has not been that prolifically, but. I also add wins, which is my current prediction. I think a lot of money flooding in to Mike Rogers campaign. Well, and to your point, what we've seen a lot, and this is not unique to this cycle. Anytime you're running in a primary, you're trying to appeal to your base. You're trying to appeal to your voters to get that next vote to then get to the election against the opposition party. Mike Rogers has kind of been able to make the case to everybody. in Michigan, while Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens are kind of slugging it out. That's a huge benefit to him. It has been a huge benefit to him. And he is now more visible for a while. He was a little bit behind the scenes on some fundraising work. But now we are trying to see Mike Rogers emerge. And I think over the next couple of weeks, we're going to see a lot of Mike Rogers.

especially your listeners in Oakland County. They are going to be the center of the universe. So Oakland County, get ready. You're about to be bombarded with political advertising even more so than you are in the next few days, in the next 24 hours, I should say. We've got a bruising and a, oh, from Andrea Bightley today. That's pretty good for a Monday morning. Thank you. We'll talk soon. Thank you. Yeah, you got it. But yeah, it's fascinating. And again, many national eyes on Michigan, particularly on the Democratic Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens going toe to toe. Fascinating race, how this has developed over the course of the last couple of weeks. Abdul al-Siyadh, really finding some momentum there. And again, a lot of it is candidate strength. Abdul El-Sayed holding this lead over Haley Stevens, but falling 10 or so plus points behind Mike Rogers in the election come November, in the midterm election. Fascinating to look at. Coming up on the other side, goodbye, Terrick Scoobel. Hello, who? It's next. That's something that I'll never take for granted, you know, and the fan support of me and my family. Everywhere I go. I've always truly appreciated that. And it means a lot more than they probably get credit for. At this time, I'm excited to be a Dodger. You know, I'm excited to get down there and meet all those guys and, you know, chase three championships in a row. You know, it's hard to do. So I'm excited to be a part of that. But, yeah, it's a lot of different emotions. And there he was last night. dressed in his Dodger blue in the dugout. Terrick School Bowl dealt Saturday night to the Dodgers. And in return, the Tigers get Zaire Hope who's an outfielder and a couple of right handers, River Ryan and Brady Smith. And look, it's not a surprise that he was traded. They're four games below 500 at this point. They sweep the A's this weekend. But at the end of the day, It seemed like the Tigers were not going to resign Terrick Scoobel. They weren't going to resign him this year. They weren't going to resign him next year in the offseason, it seemed. And so the pragmatic move was to deal him and get something in return. You can't win the lottery unless you buy the ticket. And the Tigers are certainly hoping some of these prospects pay dividends. Let's talk about it. Chris Castellani is the host of Big Play Detroit. Chris, not necessarily surprised that he was dealt. What did you think of the hall in return? Yeah, you know, it's one of those things, man. I think we've been very scarred in the past with the return on some of these trades the Tigers have made over the last decade. You go back to the infamous Avila era rebuild. Look, I think that people need to understand that in this day and age, you trade contracts every bit as much as you trade players. And there's no one who is denying the importance of Terrick Scouble to a baseball team. But you also need to accept the reality. The Tigers didn't have a lot of leverage here. You know, they had two months left of a guy who at his peak is the best pitcher in baseball. That's, you know, whatever day, 10 starts, I understand it's of a ton of importance because he could pitch in October and he could make a difference and help the team win a World Series. But the surroundabout way of saying, considering the circumstances, I think the Tigers did a good job with the return.

This isn't me guaranteeing these guys are going to be superstars. I mean, that's what you do when you bring back prospects. I mean, that you put out there, you buy the lottery ticket. Considering the circumstances, I think you get a guy in Zaire Hope who is, you know, potentially an all-star caliber outfielder, hopefully in this game. And look, in terms of the pitching, I feel better about this right now than I would have. six years ago, let's say, because, I mean, look at what this organization's done with some of their young starters over the last several years. I mean, look at Cater Montero yesterday. I mean, I think the idea of taking two hard throwing right-handed starters. I'm not saying it's guaranteed to work out, but I think the resources are there for this hall to end up being a positive one for Detroit. How does the net dynamic change amongst the staff now that your dominant lefties gone? Well, look, I mean, it's definitely a much different universe. You know, you don't have your horse anymore. I think that this team, and I think we saw it in this series, has done a pretty good job of blocking a lot of the outside noise here. And the truth is, Terek is a loss. It's undeniable. Guy's incredible, and he's going to do great things in L.A. and beyond. But generally speaking, the first thing I do when I wake up is I look at the pitching matchup for today. And even without Tarek Scouble, I'm going to feel pretty good about who the Tigers are going to have on the mound every day the rest of the season. I mean, Cater's been excellent. Melton has looked fantastic. I think that you are very close to getting Jackson Joe back. Obviously, you're going to have to build him up a little bit, but the idea is to make him a starter once he returns. You know, Framer, much better in his most recent outing. So it's, you're going, you're not, you don't have that guaranteed. seven inning guy, like what you had with Terrick every fifth day, but there's still plenty from a starter standpoint for this organization to work with, not just this year, but going forward for the next several years. Okay, so then the next question is what, what is this? Are we dealing Terrick Scuba exclusively? Is this a fire sale? Could Casey Mize, who's on the bump today? He was pulled from his last start, but could he be dealt before six o'clock? He could, yes. And this is one of those things that I do not know where their mind is at. And it speaks to just how bipolar this team has been because I think the intention after that homestand and after blowing that seven run lead to Baltimore, I think the intention was fire sale. I think it was Terrick and any other dominoes that we could get to fall are going to fall. And that included Casey, that included Glaber Torres, that probably included any relievers that they had on expiring contracts, like Kenley Jansen. You know, you go out, you outscore the athletics 31 to 7 in a three-game set. You're two and a half back of a playoff spot. I think finally, for the first time in this situation, now that you've traded Terrick, the Tigers actually have a little bit of leverage. I think the asking price has probably gone up to a certain extent for Casey Meis and guys like Labor Torres because if Detroit doesn't trade them, there is a potential that they could make a move, try to get into the playoffs. So to answer your question, yes, it's very possible those guys get dealt. I don't know one way or the other. I think they're going to have a high asking price that they'll probably wait until the last second to pull the trigger on any of these moves. There's been some whispers about Casey Meis to the Braves, but I really don't know.

What does the addition of Max Clark to this roster signal to you? Does that mean, I mean, they are full on willing to go ahead and give this guy a real run here. Kevin McGonagall has obviously looked very well, made the All-Star team this year. If Glaber Torres gets dealt, I mean, if some of these hitters go, it feels like Max Clark is up here for the hall. He is. Yeah. And I think the way that he played in this three-game set is indicative of a guy who has no intention of going back down. And this is something I brought up in my post-game video yesterday is the fact that I think this offense, and it's easy to say this after you score 30 runs on three-game set. But I think the offense they had this week, or this weekend, I'm sorry. was the best they've had all season. And it's not to say they're going to score 10 runs every game, but over the last week, just whether it be because of injuries or other circumstances, DFA. You know, James Outman's playing time has gone way down. Matt Beirling and Jake Rogers are no longer here. Veerling on the I.L., Jake Rogers, DFA. So there's three guys who were, you know, hitting below 200. And you call up Max Clark, who right away hits the ground running. How do you leave taking big steps forward? I think ultimately what this last few months is going to signal for us is that this is finally Scott Harris offensively assembling the lineup of his guys. And I'm not saying every one of these guys is going to hit. But I think over the last several years, he's felt like he's had to play a lot with Avila's toys. And some of those have worked, right? Like Dylan Dingler's turned out to be a match, a wonderful player here. And some of those guys haven't. But I think the youth movement is going to be, you know, pushed heavily here over the last two months of the season. And if the last weekend is any indication, like it seems like things are looking up. Chris Castellani, good breakdown. We appreciate you, as always. Thanks for your time. We'll talk again soon. Appreciate Chris. Have a great rest of your morning. Yep. You do the same. We'll take a break more next on J.R. Morning. Well, 30s in Arizona are still looking for Nancy Guthrie. And this weekend, the Pima County Sheriff's Office released the ransom notes that were sent into KOLD, their news desk. And... The rationale for releasing them was so that the public can see the unusual way, the linguistics that somebody used to write these letters. And what's odd about them, yes, they're written well, and the information in them is interesting. But why in... August are these being released. Right. When these letters originally were written in February. In the days after she went missing. Right. 30 days later. So I, that to me is the confusing part. Is in the, I'll read you the first one. The first one says, hello Savannah.

We have your mother, Nancy. She is safe but scared. She will be held for ransom and once payment is received, she'll be released unharmed. We will be holding her for a maximum of seven days. You will need to send Bitcoin in the amount of $4 million USD before 5 p.m. on Thursday the 5th. If payment is not received, the ransom will be increased to 6 million USD, which will need to be paid by 5 p.m. on Monday the 9th. Once payment is received to the Bitcoin address below, she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop-off location back in Tucson. If payment is not received by the last deadline on Monday, the 9th at 5 p.m., she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands. It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible. You will not be able to contact me from here on out. There will be no negotiation. Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you. She had a white smart watch on the floor of the foot of her bed and the white floodlight in the backyard was destroyed. So that was the first one. The second one came in to KOLD to their news desk. Guthrie family. We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition. We never intended to hurt her. That was not our intention. She perished shortly after she was taken. We believed it was heart related. She is buried in nature now. Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. We want your family to know this and hope you can all find peace. We are truly sorry. A mea culpa. If you will. Yeah. What I don't understand was all along in all of their messages, whether it's the family or the authorities, they kept saying, come forward any information, no matter how insignificant you may think, maybe a lead, maybe. This is pretty significant information, especially when they're trying to figure out now by releasing this. Could someone know the way that they speak, their language, the way that they write? Could this help uncover? Why not release this sooner? I don't understand why they held on to this for months. I can understand that you may not want to release it while you're in the middle of that ransom period. Sure, but this. That makes sense. This is 30 days later. And if that other one says that she has passed. Correct. Why did we wait so long? Yeah, and that's, I think, the frustrating part for me here. The interesting things, some of the things that I find interesting on how they wrote this. They included in the initial ransom letter, it was Hello Savannah. In the second letter, it was Guthrie family, almost trying to soften the blow of what was about to come. Right. You know, including USDA is interesting to me as well. Not another currency. Right, because it was crypto. It was crypto. But they wanted $4 million USD deposit into a Bitcoin wallet. So are you thinking maybe two different people wrote this? I don't think two different people. I think it's interesting that they used USD because that's oddly specific. And strange that they included one deadline and then the other.

If you don't meet the $4 million deadline, then the next deadline will be a few days later and it's now $6 million. That's interesting to me. Also, the fact that they included some facts about the crime scene. Well, I think that's how they were trying to validate that this was real. So they know that this was a real, a real ransom letter as opposed to. somebody just trying to fish for money. And then, you know, she perished. She's buried in nature now. Like those are odd ways of saying she died. Yeah. So, you know, I think the frustrating thing for the Guthrie family, for people following this case is that there wasn't enough information earlier. And I could have led to something, a tip coming in. And now we're way into this investigation. And I wonder if we will get to know this person's writing or if this is even helpful. And I hate to say, but in a world of AI, did they plug in their thoughts? Totally. And this could have been written by AI? Absolutely. Absolutely. Which is awful. Absolutely. Sure, it could. That way you cover your tracks. You cover your tracks. Yeah. Yeah, this isn't the days of handwriting analysis or letters being cut out of a magazine. You know, things like that. This is going to be the new reality. Yeah, it is. Meanwhile, my new reality, I got to tell you, I don't know what happened to me. Where should we start? Something I can write. I need, Dr. Steve. Something happened to me. I feel like I'm slowly morphing into like my parents. Oh, no. I said yesterday, I'm like, I can't wait for school to start again. Well, to be fair, it is August. I don't think you're alone on that one. That's just a parent hits their mark at that point. We've hit the wall. Yeah. We've hit the wall at the house. These kids are out of their minds. And I, you know what I almost did? Here's what I thought. I didn't actually say it, but I did think it. You know, these kids are on the devices all the time now. Okay, these kids on these devices. These kids on these devices. But I'm like, yeah, this isn't good for you. It's going to rot your brain. It's going to rot you. That's what I was thinking. But also. That's what that's the, that's the spoonful of nonsense that I was fed by my mother. Right. And I'm like, oh, my God, here it comes, the metamorphosis. For us, my dad used to call the TV the idiot box. Oh, nice. I like that. So these are the new idiot boxes. Well, I'm excited for school to start again. Got to get these kids back in their rhythm. In their routine.

Got a lot less of that these days. All right, a big show tomorrow, obviously talking about the primary election. We'll get to it. Polls open in less than 24 hours from right now. Also tomorrow night, Lloyd Jackson and I will be hosting a special primary show 8 to 11, so make sure you tune in for that. That's going to do it for me today. Kevin Eatonaltok coming your way next here on WJR. Have yourself a wonderful Monday. We'll see you tomorrow.