All Talk with Kevin Dietz ~ July 27, 2026 ~ Full Show

Good morning and welcome to All Talk on this Monday morning. I'm Kevin Dietz bringing you the latest headlines and the stories everyone is talking about. They say good things happen when you go to church. Now, I'm not about to tell you I witnessed a miracle this weekend at church, but I did witness something that was really cool. I happen to be at the 5 o'clock Mass at St. Hugo of the Hills Saturday night with my parents. And during that mass, there was a celebration taking place. I didn't know what was happening. But I'm glad I chose that mass and had a chance to witness the celebration. My boss, Steve Finanitary and his family were there because his grandson, Aidan Marchello, was being baptized. Now, if you've never been to a Catholic baptism. It's a beautiful tradition. Baptism is the first sacrament in the Catholic Church. It's a family's way of welcoming a child into the faith, asking God's blessing on that child's life and surrounding them with a community that promises to help guide them as they grow. Little Lady Marcell, he looked terrific in his white baptism outfit. And let me tell you, the kid has a fabulous head of hair. But what really caught my attention wasn't the ceremony. It was Grandpa. I've known Stephen and Terry for years in a professional setting. He's my boss. He's the guy making decisions, solving problems, keeping the station moving. Like most of us, you tend to know people in just one role. Yesterday, I saw a completely different side of the boss. He was absolutely beaming, ear-to-ear smile, moving all around the church, trying to get just the right angle for family pictures. He's making sure everyone got together, laughing, celebrating. You could feel how proud he was. And honestly... It wasn't just Steve. The entire family had that same joy. There was this genuine sense of gratitude and excitement that filled the church. For a few minutes, nothing else really mattered except welcoming this little boy Marcello into the family and into the faith. It reminded me that sometimes we forget the people we work with, the people we see in meetings, the people whose names are on the office door. They all have lives outside of work. They're parents and grandparents and husbands and wives. They're people who love deeply. Don't get me wrong, I know Steve is still the boss. He still decides whether I work here or not. That hasn't changed. But after yesterday, I think I'll always have a fuller picture. of who my boss is. Sometimes seeing someone in one of life's biggest moments tells you more about them than years of sitting across a conference table. And whether you're Catholic, another faith, or not religious at all, I think we could all use a little baptism mojo in our lives, a little more hope, a little more joy, a little more gratitude, a reminder that life's biggest blessings are often the smallest people. So congratulations to Aidan Marcello and his grandpa, Steve Finnerty. May Saturday be just the beginning of a long, happy, healthy, and blessed life. All right, let's take a look at the news. The big story, obviously, is the opening of the bridge. The Gordy Howe Bridge officially welcomes its first public motorist at noon today.

making a new era in cross-border travel and trade between Detroit and Windsor. Marie Osborne is here with the story. Hey, Marie. Hi, and this is international news, of course, because it is this link between the United States and Canada at a very interesting time in our histories. So here are some of the specs. The bridge connects Detroit and Windsor, of course, with direct highway-to-highway access, including a dedicated interchange from I-75 between Springwell Street and Clark Avenue. If you're traveling... you will need to have proper identification, including a passport, passport card, enhanced driver's license, or a nexus card. You need to have one of those. Tolls for passenger vehicles are 575 U.S. one way, while vehicles with trailers pay 1150. Tolls are collected exclusively on the Canadian side for traffic, traveling in either direction. Drivers can pay with cash, credit, or debit cards. Digital wallets include Apple Pay and Google Pay. Frequent travelers, this is good news for you. You can sign up for the bridge's breakaway electronic toll program. That offers a discount of about 25% and automated RFID toll collection. The six-lane span fee... features three travel lanes in each direction along with full width emergency shoulders. A dedicated pedestrian and bike path will open August 5th at 8 a.m. Lots of people are interested in that. That's going to allow people to cross between Detroit and Windsor free of charge through border identification, though, requirements. Those still apply, so keep that in mind. And Kevin the bridge includes 24 inspection lanes in Canada. 36 here in the U.S. side, making it one of the largest and the most modern border crossings in North America. I'm really glad that we're here, and this thing is opening. After all the delays and all the politics and everything that's going on, they had a nice ceremony in Canada on Friday, and I saw some of that. And I'm really excited. We're going to talk with Sandy Bruja, President CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber coming up at 1018. He's going to talk about the importance of that cross-border business. It's a huge deal in these border communities. Many people depend on this border traffic, whether big businesses, but a lot of small. businesses do as well. So it would have been nice to have had a little celebration on our side, though, I have to tell you. But at least it's open. Noon today, it will be open. Knock on wood. All right, Marie Osborne, thank you so much. Thank you. President Donald Trump, he's heading back to Michigan today. And the location tells you everything you need to know about the message he wants to send. The White House says the president will speak at General Motors Milford Proving Ground in Oakland County, one of the auto industry's premier vehicle testing facilities. According to the administration, the focus will be on the economy, manufacturing, and what it calls the success of the President America First Agenda. The White House says Trump is returning to highlight promises he made to bring manufacturing back to America, rebuild the auto industry, and put Michigan workers back to work. The administration argues American automakers are investing, hiring, and expanding at levels not seen in decades. Now, politically, this visit is no accident. Michigan remains one of the nation's most...

important political battlegrounds, but it's also one of its manufacturing powerhouses. If you're going to talk about American jobs, tariffs, supply chains, and rebuilding domestic manufacturing, there's probably no better backdrop than General Motors testing facility in Metro Detroit. This also comes as the auto industry continues to navigate enormous changes. From electric vehicles and new technologies to global competition and trade policy, Michigan sits right at the center of all of those conversations. The event is scheduled to begin Monday afternoon with supporters already being encouraged to register and attend. This isn't just another presidential visit. This is an opportunity for President Trump to reinforce one of the central themes of his presidency that manufacturing matters, American workers matter, and Michigan remains critical to the nation's economic future. Whether you agree with his policies or not, when a president chooses Michigan and specifically an iconic General Motors facility to deliver an economic message, it underscores just how important this state. remains to the country's manufacturing base, political landscape, and future economic direction. And coming up at 918, we're going to talk with Mike Rogers about the president's visit and the Gordy Howe Bridge. He's running for Senate, and he's going to join us with a campaign update. President Trump is again raising questions about election integrity, this time pointing to Michigan as ground zero when it comes to voter fraud. The fourth set of documents reveals that even when significant evidence of fraud has been detected, it has been buried and covered up. Among the disclosures tonight are FBI files detailing evidence of alleged fraud by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan. In 2020, Michigan State Police raided a Democrat, get out the vote organization, corrupt group in Muskegon. And we're so concerned by what they found. They were just so concerned. They couldn't believe it, actually, that they contacted the FBI in Detroit. The documents state that some canvassers admitted to FBI agents that they signed voter registration forms and other people's names, submitted fraudulent registration for people who did not exist, and received gift cards tied to their number of applications that they produced. In other words, it was pay, play, and cheat.

Election security continues to be a major political issue in Michigan and across the country. Expect that debate to remain front and center as campaigns continue heading toward election day, which is only 99 days away. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Mike Rogers, then your calls. It's all talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's all talk on a Monday 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. 1-800-5-90 WJR. It has been an eventful few weeks around the world and here at home from the conflict with Iran and questions about America's role overseas to the long-awated opening of the Gordyhow International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor. There are plenty of issues shaping Michigan's future. Plus, the president is in town today talking manufacturing and the economy. Join us now is Mike Rogers, Army veteran, former FBI special agent, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, businessman and Republican candidate for the United States Senate. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Kevin. How are you, sir? I'm doing great. How's the campaign going? You know, very, very, very well. We've traveled across the state, and we're just getting just tremendous feedback. So people are ready for a change. I'm telling you, we've had, you know, for a better part of a quarter century, two Democrats representing Michigan and the Senate. And it's been pretty devastating. We've lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs in that quarter century. Our education is now below Mississippi. You can't buy a home now, or the average first-time home is almost 40 years old. And so we've got solutions and fixes for all of that, and we're going to get Michigan back up off her knees and building things again. And we're going to be the envy of the country. It just takes a change. And we're that change, I think, that Michigan's ready for. Yeah, it's good to get out there and talk with the people. It gives you a real sense of what the real issues they're hoping can get improved. Are you mostly hearing about the economy? Mostly economy, jobs, opportunity, housing. I mean, our kids are leaving our state, and the biggest part of it is they can't afford a home here. And so we've got a really, I think, creative plan to get people, those folks in opportunity to get into homes here. And we hear it a lot. And so it's that affordability issue on homes. I think the median wage now is, or median home now in the state, Kevin, is about $400,000. That's crazy. I mean, that is just way too high for any first-time home owner to get in. And so, you know, you think about the fact that their kids can't read when they're in the fourth grade, which huge opportunities. They hear a lot about that. And then to just general prices. You know, the Democrats in Lansing gave us the highest energy prices in the Midwest, and we're about 17% higher than the national average. So they get it. They understand who has been responsible for a heaping on these high costs across the state, and I think they're ready for that change. And it is about affordability. Let's get our energy rates down. Let's get better job opportunities back in the state. We get defense industrial-based work that over that quarter century of two Democrats in there, we've just lost. We used to build the main battle tank, gone, the components of the submarine.

fleet on the west side. That's gone. Shipbuilding, gone. So we've got a lot of work to do, but I'm energized and fired up for it, so we'll get better wages, lower prices, and better educated kids that can afford a house. We win. The president's going to be here this afternoon. Are you going to head out there? What do you expect them to say? I think he's going to talk about the economy. We have seen this reshoring renaissance in manufacturing across the United States. That's been really, really good. We need to do better here in Michigan. A lot of those big plants went to southern states. And so I think he's going to talk about all of that, that this thing can work if we give it time to work, and we cannot allow the Chinese to get their billed cars here in the United States. and supplant our U.S. auto owners. Remember, the Chinese don't really want to come here and compete with companies. They want to come here and undercut our companies. They always look for customers, never look for allies. And so we've got to be really careful. I think it's an existential threat. to our car industry to allow these Chinese cars. And I think he's going to come and talk about the kinds of things that are working in the economy. I mean, in this environment, you'll only hear about the worst, the bad, the ugly. I think he's going to try to highlight some of those positive things that are happening. I talked to a small factory the other day, Kevin, created a second shift for the first time in 25 years. And why? Reshoring of some of that manufacturing orders that are coming back. And so we see that across the state. I talked to cherry farmers up north who were telling me, you know, the tariffs to try to keep turkey from dumping cherries into Brazil and then Brazil dumping cherries here was very helpful for their business because they were just getting undercut. Because, again, they don't want to compete. They just wanted to put you out of business. And so there are some positive stories out there. And I'm certainly hoping that he shares some of those positive stories. What are your thoughts on where we are at? with Iran. The stated goals were no nukes, take out the long-range ballistic missile launchers, stop the money rolling into the proxies. It has not been a slam dunk at this point. The straight-up Ramuz is still a problem. There's been real, no regime change. We got rid of the Ayatollah, but now his son's in place. What are your thoughts of where we're at on Iran? You know, I think the setback for their nuclear program has been real and significant. And, you know, when I was the chairman a decade ago, I've been in the private sector for the last 10 years, but they had all three components that they needed for a nuclear weapon, and that was in 2014. So you know when they showed up at that first meeting and said, we've got enough enriched uranium for 10 nuclear bombs. They meant it, and they knew how to use it. And so that, to me, was absolutely clearly. You have got to not allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. Obviously, we want this thing put to bed, and the sooner that it's put to bed, the better, I think we are. And they can't control the Straits of Hermuz. And to me, when I see what they're doing, they're trying to make sure that they protect our ability to navigate the Straits of Hermuz. That's what that last round seems like to me.

It's caused all kinds of havoc with Canada and the delay of the opening of the Gordy Howe Bridge. That is going to open up at noon today. Will that settle things down between the two countries? The tariffs are still in place. Canadians are not buying American products. They are standing together, refusing to buy American-made products in Canada. On the Democratic side of things, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and former gubernatorial candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, they are battling each other with Haley Stevens just landing the endorsement of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which is a big deal. She remains very popular in the state. Abdul El-Sayed says he's not too worried about losing the Gretchen Whitmer endorsement. A lot of respect for Governor Gretchen Whitmer, obviously we ran against each other in 2018, and I think a lot of things that are admirable, a lot of things that we might disagree with and I might do a different way. What we've always kind of known about this race is that it was always going to be the money versus the many, the corporate establishment versus folks who want to build a politics that's inclusive and of the people by the people and for the people. So while I respect that decision, it's in keeping with what we've seen. Corporate establishment has picked their candidate, and I think it's time for the folks in Michigan to pick theirs. 1-800-859-057, 1-800-8-9-0-WJR. This Senate race is huge. They may spend more money on this Senate race than any other race in the entire country because we are a purple state and the Senate is razor-thin-close and both sides want this seat badly. So what are the issues that will determine it for you? Who are you leaning for so far? Let's start with Larry and Rochester Hills. Larry, welcome to all talk. Thank you. I was listening to Mr. Rogers, and I was hoping I'd get a ray of hope. But I think most Americans are concerned about these kitchen table issues, inflation, cost of groceries, prices of fuel, and health care, Kevin. I haven't heard a word about that from the Republicans. I listened to Sanadar the other day. You know, it's kind of, it makes you wish that Mike Duggan could have still been in the race. For governor, yeah. Mike Rogers just did it a little tap dance. And yeah, the economy's starting to cook, but I don't know. There's a have and there's a have not in this country. I don't know if they can bridge your gap, but thank you for listening to me. Yeah, appreciate it, Larry. Thanks for listening. Thanks for calling. Mike Rogers did talk about the housing crisis. He says people are moving out of this state because young people cannot afford houses. He did talk about gas prices, and he thinks they'll come down after the war. I don't think he talked about groceries, and he did not talk about health care. You're right. I think the Republicans need to get out in front and say what they're going to do about health care. Otherwise, I think the Democrats are going to just hammer them over the head. this thing in the general election. I think people are very concerned about the cost of health care, and I think Republicans got to remember to come out and talk about what solutions they have, if any. Let's go to Ken and Livonia. Ken, welcome to all talk. Yeah, I just wanted to mention an example where these tariffs are not working in our favor. There's a candy company that's located here in America.

that has been making their products in Canada. They don't make their candy in America because they have to pay the extremely high sugar tax on any imported sugar cane. But now because of Donald Trump, where are they going to be making their candy products? Turkey. And I will not buy any products that come from Turkey. One of the candies that this company manufactures is the old Swedish fish. And there's all kinds. I was looking at the candy section yesterday in the store, and there's all kinds of candies that you'll notice that all of a sudden are coming from Turkey. Thank you, Ken. I appreciate you listening. That's bringing up that issue. I hadn't looked into the candy issue. I do love Swedish fish. I hope they don't double in price. Yeah, the tariffs are a bit of a double-edged sword, and they're very controversial. I appreciate your thoughts on that. Let's go to Tom and Fenton. Tom, welcome to all talk. Good morning. Mike Rogers used to be my congressman years ago, and I had admired him because he was more independent, but my concern now is he's intimidated by Trump, and I'm afraid he's going to be yes man. And I want someone to look out from Michigan, look at the issues and do what's right for our state, not be all in with their party, and I don't think he's the one. Appreciate it, Tom. Thanks for listening. Thanks for calling. Yeah, he's not being challenged in the primary. So if Mike Rogers wanted to step out of the shadow of Donald Trump, he certainly could do it. He doesn't have to worry about winning the primary. He's going to win the primary. He could come out and be more independent if he wanted to be. He's a strong supporter of Donald Trump. And I think a vote for Mike Rogers is a vote for someone who's going to vote along with Donald Trump moving forward, most likely. Let's go to Mike in Detroit. Mike, welcome to all talk. Are you there, Mike? Hello? Yep, go ahead, Mike. You're on. Yeah, this is Bill from Detroit. Okay, Bill. Sorry about that. Go ahead, Bill. Yeah, listen. Yeah, listen, I also work in the Canadian field here. Hey, guys, they do have a loony left side as well here. The people I associate with all support Trump, I don't know where the information you're getting, but. No, this is necessary. Listen, the world is very unstable with Iran at some level of threat. People got to realize, and I think many of my friends do, that this is going to be ugly for everybody. We have to bear down and understand your dreams of criticizing Trump are just that. He's got a tough job ahead of him. We have the indulgence of making criticisms and comments. But we won't if Iran ends up in annihilating North America. And that's where it's headed. That's why it's very important. For everyone to understand, your armchair quarterbacking doesn't help. Support your government. Support your president. The loyalty is what's needed right now. And I know that's an ugly word in the U.S., but loyalty is needed. Stop attacking your own government. Other countries benefit from it. Stop doing that.

If you want to survive, that's the only thing I can tell you. Thank you. Thank you, Bill. I appreciate the call. Sorry for getting your name wrong. Yeah, no, most of the world is grateful that the United States stepped up and knocked out Iran's ability to use nuclear weapons. Most of the world is very concerned that Iran would use nuclear weapons if they were able to do it. And most of the world cheered and supported taking out the Ayatollah. I think... Many people were hoping that there would be a regime change, and that didn't happen. Now, the Ayatollahs gone, but his son is in, and he's angrier than probably his father was. And we have to deal with that moving forward. But you have to deal with what you have to deal with, and Donald Trump is working on that, whether you agree or not. That's where we're at. Let's go to Tommy and Auburn Hills. Tom, welcome to all talk. Hey, thanks, Kevin. How you doing? Great. Thanks for calling. Yeah, no problem. Yeah, I think. It's kind of scary what's happened to the Democratic Party these days. You know, they've, this socialist movement is like, it's just taken over their party. And you even got, you got people from the party like, you know, like Bill Maher. You got like people, you know, reestablishment Democrats are like, whoa, wait a minute, go down. You know, this is crazy. What's going on here? It's like these. This socialist movement, I call it communist socialist movement, is starting to take over the Democratic Party. And how would happen? I don't know, but you got all these radicals. And they want to just get rid of the Constitution. That's a fact. They want to change. They just, they don't love America. And it's very troubling to me. And I hope they, and I don't know how they keep swinging these stupid people to vote for them out there. It's like, what are these people thinking in America? Do you want to live like Russia or China or do you want to be like we used to be? You know, the great. country, United States of America, for God's sake. Thank you, Tommy. Appreciate you listening. Appreciate you calling. Yeah, we're going to find out in Michigan with Abdul El-Sayed. If he can beat Haley Stevens, that's going to say something about where the elector is at on the Democratic side. Then we'll have to see what happens in the general. But the whole country is watching what's happening in this Senate race in Michigan because of the progressive candidate. It's all talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's All Talk on a Monday morning. I'm Kevin Deeds coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. Great calls this morning. Keep them coming. 1-800-8-5-9-57, 1-800-8-5-0-WJR. You can text as well. We're going to keep the conversation going. Join us now is Perry Johnson, Michigan businessman, entrepreneur, author, and Republican candidate for governor. Perry says Michigan needs a stronger economy. lower taxes, less government regulation, and a renewed focus on making the state more competitive for families in business. Let's welcome them in. Good morning, sir. How are you? Well, good morning. Fantastic. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How is the campaign going? We're on fire right now. Good. So, yes.

We have been busy. In fact, in one day, I think we went to St. Clair Shores, then to Alpina, then Escanaba, and then Charlevoix. Wow, that's covering a lot of ground. Michigan's a big state. Are the concerns different in different parts of the state you're finding? Well, everybody is concerned about affordability. It doesn't matter where you go. And everybody is concerned. about the fact that the government is essentially throwing away our money. And people are tired of the fact that we have a system whereby the politicians are over there catering to special interest. I think we found some things particularly interesting. The data centers seem to be disliked. We went to a particular data center where the cacophony of that data center was running 24-7, and really, it was so loud that you couldn't even stand to live there. And we went up to the data center to look it over, and we actually had the security guy purposely run into one of our guys. He literally tried to run him over, and he did hit him. I mean, when I say it's an unbelievable environment, it's an unbelievable environment. But we know that the sound waves from the data centers do damage babies, and we know for a fact that we have no OSHA requirements. So they can just go out there and build it any which way. Now, the concern that we have is that we have 70 data centers right now. And I think it's time that we have a moratorium on these data centers so that we can at least investigate whether or not we need more, whether or not they are causing damage, and we can at least make them follow certain rules to minimize any potential damage we do have. Are they bringing money into the community? Are they bringing jobs into the community? And do we need to have them in Michigan in order to become an AI state? Or is it maybe okay to have them elsewhere? Well, you can have them elsewhere. There are all sorts of places that you might be able to have them. The major thing that I'm concerned about is that we at least do an investigation of the damage and we lay out conditions that we have prior to building these data centers. That's why I called for a moratorium on these data centers. We also know that with AI, there are other ways in which we are getting power. And we don't even know that these data centers are going to be required in four or five years. They might be obsolete. So those are the kinds of things that we have to look at. But it is a major topic where I go. The other issue is I think they're really kind of tired of the government just arbitrarily increasing our rates, our power rates. We understand that... politicians are given this money by DTE and consumers' power, and yet it's the states that's determining what kind of a rate increase they're going to get, which is why they donate money to these politicians, which is why I would not take money from them. I mean, I don't want to be beholding to these special interest groups. On the debate stage, you'll notice that they asked John James about this, and he had, I guess, $107,000 donated.

by the people building the data centers, 39,000, by the people powering the data centers. They asked, would he give it back? And, of course, he wouldn't. So you have that kind of situation going on. And when you have politicians getting money, so they incur special favors, it creates a problem. We wonder, look at our roads. I mean, she ran on fixed the damn roads, and are roads any better? We don't know. We know one thing. When you have a setup where the politicians spend all their money trying to get money so they can get re-elected and run ads. And their main job when they get elected seems to be to get more money so they can run the ads to get reelected. I mean, it's kind of a nutty system. I know I'm an outsider. I haven't accepted donations. I want to clean up the government. I spent my whole life bringing quality and efficiency to organizations, companies, Navy, DOD. I want to take that skill set and bring quality and efficiency to our state so we can eliminate the state income tax. and reform the property tax. I want to have $4,747 to every typical family in Michigan. And I think it's unfair that people turn 65 finally play off their home, and they can't afford to live there because the property taxes are so onerous due to the fact that the government is so inefficient with our money. Are people responding well to your tax plan or do they worry that there will be cuts to services because less money will coming in? Do they feel that you'll be able to find enough waste, fraud, and abuse to offset the income tax you're talking about getting rid of? Well. Obviously, at first people wonder, how is this done? But when I explain, that's what I do, that's what I do day in and day out. And the fact is, we started with a $56.5 billion budget. And if we had just increased at the rate of inflation, we'd already be at a point where we can pretty much eliminate the state income tax. Then people begin to see it. And then I point out all of the areas in which we're throwing away money. Some of it is bizarre. I mean... One of our major goals has to be to improve the quality of education. And that's the most important key that you have for our kids. So the kids are the greatest asset that we have. So we allocated a billion dollars a year to try to improve the quality of reading for fourth grade and under. A great objective. But what happened is we actually got worse. We went from 26th in the country to 44th in the country. And why is that? Because we didn't do a study. We never bothered to pay attention. We didn't do my mega audit to see what we needed to do to make it more effective. And we eliminated phonics. Well, heck, how do you learn to read? You have to know what the letter is sound like. You need vocabulary. And you have to start phonics very early on. I started my kids. I have two 17-year-olds, a 22-year-old. I started them at the age of one and two.

listening to the letter factory. Every letter makes a sound. The A says, ah, the V says Bob. We start early on. We can do that across the board in our state and start training our kids very, very early. But when we're going to throw money at something, let's at least investigate to see what is optimum. That's why we go after things that make sense. We allocated $1.8 billion that we spent trying to create jobs. And then we did a study to see whether or not we create jobs. and we just threw the money away because we created 602 jobs. That was it. Yeah, people are tired of throwing money at problems. They need solutions that actually work. What is the website? Perry Johnson.com. Go there and watch the debates. All right. Perry Johnson, Republican-Governor-Trial candidate. Thanks for checking in with us. Good luck with the rest of the run here, and we'll talk with you real soon. Sounds great. You have a great day. All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to come bring you the headlines. And we're going to talk with Steve Courtney about the Tigers update. What's going on with Terrick Scoobal? Stick with us. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. Good Monday morning. Welcome to All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz, bringing you the latest headlines and the stories everyone is talking about. More than 100,000 fans, including our own Laura Heson, packed Michigan Stadium to see country superstar Morgan Wallin this weekend. What's going on? My name is Morgan Christopher Waller. I appreciate y'all choosing to spend your Saturday night here at Mississippi with meeting night. It means a lot to me. And I used to, I used to walk out on stage and not really taking up time to... to look at what's going on, look at what God has done. It's really incredible to see all you guys here tonight. Thank you for the tattoos. What you think, Laura? Real review? Yeah. I've been to better. You've been to better? Just the audio, the sound, the music selection. Um... I let me put let's put this out there going to a concert at the big house I've never been to the big house before that at all for football or anything I've never been inside the game before or the stadium that was cool that like looking around taking that in I will give them that I've seen him before he's been better I've been to better concerts but I did have fun I'm glad I went he did some weird stuff where he just was like walking around in silence for a while and it seemed like a big waste of our time And he came out late, like a half hour late. Did you see him tripping hurt his ankle on the way out? No, that was at the end. And that was like in the tunnel. So I saw the video, but no, I did not see it live. Right. Yeah, I thought the, I mean, I didn't, I wasn't there. So I just watched it, you know, on social media. But I thought the, just that big house packed like that just looked so cool. Yes. And I thought that'd be a great place to just be the energy would be amazing. I just didn't know how the audio would be. Great. It was fine. No problem. No problems with the audio. Nope. No problem. In terms of that, no, I had no issues. And, you know, the, you know, they had a lot of fireworks. That was cool with, they had the American flag illuminated behind the stage, the moon. It was great weather. I was there on Friday. Saturday was a similar day. But it was great weather, beautiful night. That part of it.

Fantastic. Did you leave earlier? Did you stay for the whole thing? We stayed until the end. Oh, good. All right. We'll give it a review. Danielle, you didn't get to go, right. She bailed on you. Yep, that's exactly right. What a friend. She said, screw you. What a friend. And then she didn't even like the concert much. She would have loved it. Yeah, I would have had so much fun. Yeah, we should have taken her tickets. All right. Well, did they shut the record? Do we know? I don't believe so. No. Okay. I checked this morning. Okay. And I haven't seen official numbers, but they were saying that it, I don't think it would. Came that close? I saw 76 or 75, 76,000. Zach Bryan had 112. The night that I was there, Thomas Frett was the opener. And he said on stage there was 89,000. Whether or not that's true, I don't know. But that is... significantly off. Well, I think it's great that they're having concerts. I'd love to go see one at some point. I'd like to get out to that stadium. I agree, but they have some work to do. Football, great for concerts. What do they need to do? What's going on? It was cluster, just like congested. Oh, yeah. It always says. Yeah, and I mean, we know the alcohol sales and the stadium is new. Right. I didn't have a big, big issue. We waited in line to get drinks for some time. But when it came, like I heard other people that were stuck in a spot for like 30 minutes and couldn't move. Yeah. Inside. Correct. Just trying to get to their seats because it's narrow and congested. Right. So that element. It's a very old stadium. Yeah. And I mean, it's not, there's not a ton of space. And you've got more people in a way trying to. And it takes a couple hours to get out of there, too, depending on where you parked. You can get really jammed, jammed into downtown Ann Arbor. Here's my question. What's the difference between a football game and a concert? Like, is it congested during a football game like that? Yeah, but people love it. And they just hang out and they tailgate. So they tailgate early, they get there early and tailgate. Even inside the stadium? Like, is it a cluster in there? No, it's a little different movie because, you know, everyone's watching the game. And then at halftime, it gets to be a cluster. Everybody's, you know, trying to get a hot dog or a beer. or whatever. But that's just, you know, that's just Big Ten football. You know what that is because you've been doing it forever. Putting a concert in there is new. Different demographic. Probably a little different. Probably more drinking. Probably on a Friday night. Not as many in theory. We're getting as long. Younger, probably younger people. The Michigan football games are usually older people. It was diverse. I'll give them that. Yeah. But we went and parked downtown and walked. That's the best way to do it. Saved a lot of money. And, I mean, I heard of people not getting home. until like 2.30 and we were home just after one. Yeah. I usually park at the train station, which is a pretty good hike, but it's nice. I like walking around Ann Arbor. Of course, I usually go to a day game. This was at night, but I'm sure it's fun as well walking around at night. Again, we walked the campus. I'd never walked the campus. It was pretty from when we were going to the stadium, but. You've lived here all this time. You've never gone up to Ann Arbor and walked around the campus and gone to the stadium. That's like a normal weekend for me. Right? I mean, I've done state and stuff like that, and I had a couple friends that went to Ann Arbor and stuff, but they didn't clearly like me enough to. What did you think of the campus? Because it's right in the middle of downtown, the buildings are beautiful. It's very different than Michigan State, which is more of a campus. It absolutely. I mean, it's more of the, it's a bigger campus. It's got more of the, in my opinion, like the historic buildings and, you know, reminded me of what you see on TV of the old campuses. I enjoyed that.

All right. We like Michigan and the Ann Arbor. That part of it, I have no complaints. The concert was too crowded. And Morgan Wallet has done better. It was too late. He's got a little bit of an arrogance about him that I'm over. Okay. Tired mama. Tired mama, not happy that Morgan Wall is half an hour late. All right. Speaking of late, the Gordy Howe International Bridge opening is late, but it officially opens to vehicle traffic at noon today, creating a new international crossing. between Detroit and Windsor. Motorists can access the bridge directly from Interstate 75 in Detroit, while Canadian drivers connect through Highway 401. The U.S. Canada border crossing travelers must carry approved identifications such as a passport, passport card, enhanced driver's license, or nexus card. Tolls for passenger vehicles are $575 U.S. or $8 Canadian. That's expensive. Each way and are collected exclusively on the Canadian side with payment accepted by cash, credit, debit, and digital wallets. The bridge features three lanes of traffic in each direction, dedicated commercial vehicle lanes, and electronic tolling options that can provide discounts for frequent users. Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to use the bridge's free multi-use path beginning August 5th, adding another transportation option between the United States and Canada. Of course, the delay was all over tariffs. Donald Trump issuing tariffs on Canada. This was Prime Minister Mark Carney discussing that. Let's be clear about how Canada is responding. Yes, we are intensifying our negotiations with the United States in pursuit of a comprehensive agreement that addresses all tariff-related sectors. All right, let's talk some Tiger Baseball. Steve Courtney's here. Steve, are we going to keep Terrick? We're going to get rid of Terrick. We've been winning, but have we been winning enough? Well, you know what, Kev? Here's the deal, and it's the headline of the day, the Major League Baseball Trade deadline, exactly one week from today. Meanwhile, Michael Thomas Massie hit the go-ahead two-runs shot. With two outs in the eighth yesterday, the Royals would hang on for that 5-4 win over the Tigers yesterday. Reliever Drew Summers allowed two runs on two hits over an inning and a third. Tiger starter from Rvaldez continues to be problematic. Five innings of work, four hits. three runs, two of those earned. He walked three, he hit a batter, and he struck out four. Remember his previous start, not good on July 21st in Chicago against the Cubs. He went just two-thirds of an inning, giving up five hits and six runs. So here it is. At the end of the day, the Tigers, when you look at the American League Central there, Kev, the White Sox on top, the Guardians, two and a half games back, the twins three and a half out. The Tigers right now, six games back. Wild. card? Well, the Tigers are mere three and a half games out.

But here's the problem. There are four teams in front. Now, tonight, your Tigers will begin a three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles, Cater Montero, on the hill for the Tigers. 640, first pitch. Tigers right now, 50 and 56, Kev. The Orioles come in 51 and 55, fourth in the American League East. Remember, you've got the Orioles here, certainly beatable in this three-game series, and the Tigers, quite frankly, have got to get... getting and then they will see the lowly and i mean lowly a's uh for a weekend series upcoming let's get her done all right steve John Cornyn we appreciate it all right have a great day kev it's all talk i'm kevin deets It's All Talk on a Monday morning. I'm Kevin Deeds coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. The number is 1-800-8-557-1-8-55-0-W-JR. We're going to take your calls and read your text coming up at 1035, so pick up the phone and be a part of the show. So today marks a historic milestone decades in the making. We're talking about the Gordy Howe International Bridge. It officially opens at noon today, creating a new gateway between Detroit and Windsor and becoming one of the largest infrastructure. projects in North American history. Supporters say the bridge will strengthen trade, improve supply chains, create jobs, and reinforce Michigan's position as the automotive capital of the world. It's a project that's been talked about for years and years. And now finally, it is a reality. Join us this morning is Sandy Burrough, President's CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber. Good morning. How are you? I am well, Kevin. Good to be on the show. Yeah, this is a big deal. I guess we've been talking about the bridge opening so much. You sort of forget what a massive and impressive project this is. Yeah, isn't it beautiful? $6.5 billion, 20 plus years in the making, paid for by our friends in Canada. It is just, you know, we just can't wait for it to get it opened. And hopefully it does open today. And I'm 99% confident that today around noontime, it'll officially open for people like you and me. truckers and, you know, other industry to go back and forth. Yeah. So talk a little bit about the need for a second bridge or a new bridge. Yeah. So actually, you know, you know, let's face it. I mean, there's actually, it's more than a second bridge. You know, we obviously have the tunnel that goes underneath the Detroit River, which is great for passenger cars. unless you drive something really, really big, like a navigator or an escalator. That's fun. That's not fun navigating that tunnel in a car like that. We have the Blue Water Bridge, which is great for commercial traffic as well. We have the Historic Ambassador Bridge, which has served us very well for 90-plus years. But what we needed was a new, modern...

multi-lane, modern customs plazas on both sides, which provides a freeway to freeway connection to really allow just in time delivery for our agricultural community, our manufacturing community, our small businesses on both sides of the border. Yeah, so talk a little bit about how that's going to help improve with the truck traffic and that side of things, manufacturing and having something that's modern right here in Detroit. Yeah, so, you know, the existing Ambassador Bridge, and again, I mean, let's celebrate the Ambassador Bridge. Let's hope the Ambassador Bridge continues to exist, you know, for some time going into the future. But, you know, there were roughly 12 stoplights between the major freeway in Canada, the 401, 402. By the time you get to the bridge, the custom plazas on both sides are very small because they were built almost a century ago. So when you think about the truck idling time, when you think about the exhaust, the diesel exhaust on both sides of the border as trucks wait to clear customs, pay their tolls, get on the bridge, which is, you know, quite narrow, you know, and compare that to what we're going to be getting today with the Gordy Howe Bridge, which is much faster, much more efficient. I mean, I think it's like a four-x number of toll booths and customs booths that will be available on both sides. It's just going to make it so much easier, so much better for, you know, the great people who drive our trucks. It'll be so much better for manufacturers on both sides who really rely on that just-in-time delivery. So it really will have an impact on supply chain resilience and in manufacturing. This is the bridge they're going to want to come in on. Well, I mean, again, having options is good, right? You know, the Ambassador Bridge and the Blue Water Bridge are still very definitely going to get used, but the congestion on those bridges will be dramatically reduced because we now have this new, modern, efficient option. Talk a little bit about the...

It's almost tourism, but the people coming back and forth across in the cities and the impact that it has when these bridges are open and moving well and people are coming back and forth. Right now, Canada seems a little hesitant to come over, you know, still having this little riff with Donald Trump a little bit. How important is that back and forth to these local economies? So, Kevin, you're exactly right. It's a great question. I'll be honest. I kind of view the riff that is occurring between the United States and Canada as a little bit like, you know, a college boyfriend and girlfriend that broke up during the summer, but they're going to get back together in the fall. I mean, you know, we are so close. We are so culturally similar. We have had, you know, almost two centuries of the closest of close partnerships, friendships, economic ties. This will resolve itself. I mean, obviously no one likes where we are right now in the trade relationship and the kind of cultural tensions between the United States and Canada, but this two shall pass. Yeah, right? If you look out 10 years from now, we'll be in a different time, a different world, different things going on. But that bridge is going to be there doing what it was projected to do when it was first, you know, thought of. Right. When, you know, Governor Rick Snyder, obviously our former Republican governor here in Michigan, and then Prime Minister Harper from Canada negotiated this final deal, it was all about making our shared region, particularly our manufacturing and automotive region, more globally competitive. And that's what this bridge does. It makes us more globally competitive. So. You think that the bridge could help attract more business to southeast Michigan along with making travel easier and less congested? No doubt on both points. You nailed it. That's awesome. That's very, very cool. How much of our economy actually depends on trade with Canada? It's a pretty big number, right? Yeah, so the exact number I don't know, but I know this. Canada is our most... important and largest trading partner full stop. If, you know, the ability for our businesses to trade with Canada, our business's ability to import friendly parts, safe parts from Canada is completely, you know, is, I've got that wrong. It is absolutely critical to our economy here in Michigan and across the United States, but particularly in Michigan.

I am typically a tunnel person. I don't know why I just really enjoy the idea of driving underneath the Detroit River. It seems cool to me. But I'm really excited about this opportunity to walk or ride a bike across the Gordy Howe Bridge. I think that's going to be a pretty big deal. What do you think? Do you think a lot of people will do that? Oh, well, listen, I mean, especially with the great work of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and the Ralph Wilson Jr. Park, you know, that is, you know, that is absolutely spectacular. What Ford is doing with Michigan Central and the Greenway out to the water, it is going to be so great and, frankly, easy to be able to walk or ride your bike to the new bridge. The new bridge will allow people to walk. I think it's going to be free starting August 5th. Right. So just make sure you bring your enhanced driver's license or your passport. Yeah. And you'll be able to walk to Canada. In fact, our team's going to do that next, the first week that it's open, we're going to be one of the first. groups of people. I love that. And Windsor has a great riverfront too. So you can walk the riverfront, come across, walk ours. We can go back and forth and enjoy both of them. And boy, that riverfront project has just been a game changer for Detroit. Sandy Bruja, President Sealed, Detroit Regional Chamber. Thank you for your time. Really appreciate it. Appreciate being on the show, Kevin. Yeah, it's an exciting day. Forget about the politics. Just enjoy the bridge opening, which Sandy is 99% sure is going to happen at noon today. Let's hope so. It's all talk. I'm Kevin Deeds. And it's 10355. That means it is your turn to talk. 1-800-8-9-5-7, 1-800-9-5-7, 1-800-8-5-0. WJ. Give us a call. Give us a text. Be a part of the show. We have covered a lot already this morning. We talked to Mike Rogers, who's running for the U.S. Senate. We talked with Perry Johnson. who's making a run for governor here in the state of Michigan. The Gordyhow International Bridge officially opens up at noon today. That is a historic day for Detroit, Windsor and the future of North American trade. We're still fighting with Canada, though. President Trump continues to have those tariffs against Canada. It has Prime Minister Mark Carney in Canada a little upset. Let's be clear about how Canada is responding. Yes, we are intensifying our negotiations with the United States in pursuit of a comprehensive agreement that addresses all tariff-related sectors. In all circumstances, irrespective of the outcome of those negotiations, Canada will do whatever it takes to build our strength at home and to support Canadian families' workers, our farmers, our businesses. We're ready. We're ready. because we have been focusing on what we can control. And that's building our strength at home, buying Canadian, backing Canadian workers, building Canadians. That's the resolve of Canadians. That's the foundation on which we're building.

And they have been doing that. The Canadians are buying Canadian merchandise. They are not buying anything that comes from the USA. Stuff that comes from the USA is just sitting on store shelves. It is not being purchased. They have been pretty unified about that ever since Donald Trump's tariff increases on Canada. Do we like President Trump's tariff strategy? We talked to Mike Rogers about it. He believes that it's working. It's bringing in a ton of money. It is bringing in... billions and billions of dollars every single month into the U.S. Treasury. So it is bringing money back into the United States. Are you feeling it, though? Is it trickling down to you? Mike Rogers says it's also going to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, and that's a big deal, and that's why he supports it. Donald Trump, by the way, he's going to be in Michigan. this afternoon at General Motors Milford Proving Grounds. We're guessing he's going to talk about the economy, manufacturing, bringing jobs back to America. He may also talk about Iran in the situation there. How do you feel about what's going on in Iran? This back and forth, it's almost over. We're negotiating and then we're bombing them into oblivion. It doesn't feel like we're winning exactly over there. And I'm not sure what it is because the stated objective was to make sure they don't have nuclear weapons. And I think we've done that. We did that with Midnight Hammer and then we did it again with Epic Fury. And now Donald Trump is talking about an even more Epic Fury or an Epic Furrier. I don't know exactly what he's going to call it or how he's going to go about doing that. But... You know, the Straits of Hermuz seems to be a curveball that we should have seen coming. It seems like we should have known that they'd be able to shut down trade and that it would hurt the global economy. But we went in there and, you know, once they shut down the Straits of Hermuz, we put that blockade up, which hurt Iran. But it didn't exactly open up the strait of Hermuz. They were still able to hit ships with these drones. It's as if we didn't know this drone technology. was out there that they would be that good at using it. Did we miscalculate that? Or does it not even matter? Is Donald Trump the first strongest president willing to go in and take Iran on head on instead of just doing a quick fix band-aid to knock out their nuclear weapons for a few years? It's a lot. There's a lot going on. I'm interested to see what Donald Trump's going to say today. We'll have to see. Let's get things started with Gary and Gross Point. Gary, welcome to all talk. Well, good morning. Great interview with Sandy. I just wanted to add a couple things to that interview. Prior to Sandy arriving, there was an initiative called TransLink that was headed up by the Detroit Regional Chamber. And I headed that committee for about, I don't know, six or seven years. It was part of a multimodal strategy of roads, rail, air, and commuter transit in this area to bring 10,000 new jobs to the marketplace. And so there were things like Aerotropolis, which you may remember, Willow Run improvements, the queue line going up and down Woodward that was ultimately hopefully going to connect to the airport.

This bridge, Forty Howe Bridge, it was a result of some analysis we did with ocean shippers from around the world we had engaged with up in Halifax and Montreal. And they were avoiding shipping things through Detroit because we didn't have the capacity going across the bridge. And they were afraid that if there was a terrorist attack, because this is about 2003, 2004, and shortly after the 9-11 event, You know, all kinds of shipping in the supply chain would get shut down to the middle portion of the United States. So what they wanted was not another blue water bridge where you had two bridges side by side, but they wanted a second bridge south of the Ambassador Bridge far enough away so that terrorists couldn't take down both bridges at the same time. And then the double-stack rail tunnel was critically important because we were having to take. the upper containers off of a railroad car on the Windsor side, run it through, and then put them back up onto the second stack to get further through the United States. And so there was a huge amount of, I mean, billions and billions of dollars of commerce that was coming down to Canada going across the Blue Water Bridge and being trucked and trained all the way over to Chicago. unloaded and then shipped back to Detroit, which was ridiculous. And so we had supply chain experts and professors from Michigan State, Wayne State. We had the federal, state, local governments involved. Canada was a huge partner, big-time partners with regards to all of these initiatives. including the Port Authority downtown, by the way, which is part of that whole thing. So this master plan that was created back under the Dick Biles era, which then Sandy picked up on and continued after that, has taken over 20 some years to sort of come into fruition. But this, in my opinion, is kind of close to the last component of the piece of the puzzle. to this master strategy we called translinked back in the day. The only thing missing at this point is a real connection between the airport and Romulus in downtown Detroit. And if we had that, We'd have the whole strategy in place. And maybe Ann Arbor, too. Gary, great insight. Thank you for adding all of that to us. Yeah, what a master plan. And it has been coming together. And we have had the joy of watching Detroit just get better and better and better with each of these things that have taken place. And the Gordi Howe Bridge, really interesting that they wanted far enough out of fear of terrorist attacks. Also interesting that they needed a high... tech bridge to keep people transportation moving as quickly as possible. All the pieces coming together and we're benefiting from it. Thanks for that call. Great call. Let's go to August in Bloomfield Hills. He's going on to see Donald Trump today. Hey, August.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. And yeah, I'm excited. I'm on my way. I should be in know for about another 15 minutes and get myself situated and looking forward to a wonderful day and celebrating our freedom and how blessed we are and how lucky we are. What are you hoping to hear? Well, we're going to keep going in the right direction. We're going to do everything we can to keep America strong. We're going to help as many people as we can along the way. And I think good things are going to happen. I think there's going to be a great awakening. I really do. All right. I'm looking forward to it. All right. Report back to us tomorrow, August. Let us know how it went, okay? All right, my friend. I'll be sure to do so, and God bless everybody. All right. We're going to take a quick break. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's all talk on a Monday morning. I'm Kevin Deets coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. The number is 1-800-8-9-57, 1-800-8-5-0-WJR. Every child deserves to grow up safe, supported, surrounded by people who care about them. For more than a century, the Judson Center has been serving children, families, individuals across Southeast Michigan through foster care, adoption services, autism programs, behavior, health, disability services, and child abuse prevention. On August the 7th, the Judson Center is going to host its annual Child Safe Michigan Gala, raising awareness and support for the organization's mission to protect vulnerable children and strengthen families. Join us this morning is Lenora Hardy Foster, President's CEO of the Judson Center. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. How are you doing, Kevin? I'm doing great. I appreciate you coming on and giving us this opportunity to talk about the good work that you guys need and the need in this community. Talk to us a little bit about the Judson Center, the mission, the families you serve. Yes. So, you know, we've been in business now. We're so proud 102 years, and we're extremely proud that Child Safe Michigan, you know, is one of our subsidiaries that does great work in providing services to children, you know, that are in the foster care system, some of the children that have already been. completely put up for adoption as well as mentoring programs. But when I think about Judson Center as a whole, you know, we've been here making a difference in community. We have offices that are spread over six counties. The services that we provide, I think you did a great job identifying those services. You know, it started 100 years ago in foster care and adoption. And today we've expanded into behavior health, primary health care, autism, disabilities. you know, in doing everything that we can do to make a difference in community. That's what it's all about. It is what it's all about. And that's great that you guys are there doing that. Talk a little bit about what people go through who are dealing with things like behavior, health, disability, issues, autism.

Yes, so when we think about especially, you know, our children that are in the autism program, and we have five autism locations, you know, so when children are diagnosed in exactly where they are on the spectrum and how we can work with them, you know, through having board certified behavior analysts are the ones that have all of the clinical therapy training to work with children to help them improve. Because the child is diagnosed with autism doesn't mean that they cannot live a life of quality. You know, it's just the early prevention really helps a child be much more successful. So we're so proud of that program. We also think about our children and our adults that are receiving behavior health services. You know, once being diagnosed with the mental illness diagnosis, then we're there to provide treatment, you know, medication, management, to make sure that these two can live within their community and live a life of quality. That's what it's all about. The work you guys do with child abuse prevention is so critical, so important. What are some of the warning signs that a child or a family may be struggling? So when we think about especially in our foster care, you know, it's so sad when you think about here in the state of Michigan, there's still more than 10,000 children that are in the foster care system. And a lot of times is when we look at children that have been abused and neglected or they've been separated from their biological parents. So they're there in the system and we're working with them, you know, to first of all make sure that we can do everything to keep that child safe. to make sure that we can work with foster parents and be able to place a child in a loving home. Because a child is here through no fault of their own. So what can we do to make sure that that child, too, is going to get a life that they so deserve? So placing them in with foster parents so that we can work with them and provide treatment. When you think about a child that's been abused and been neglected, that's a lot that they've had to deal with. So how can we step in? We can intervene, get them placed in a loving home. And if it gets to a point where they're going to be put up for adoption, that we can work with adopted families to place that child in a forever home. How great is the need for foster families, foster parents? And what makes a good foster parent? If people are out there wondering if this is something for them? absolutely you know when you think about you know people that want to open up their home to help a child there are so many children and that's what that's what they need someone who's going to show them love someone who's going to give them stability in their life you know so that they too know that they have a home to go to and they're surrounded by people that's they're showering them with with love That is so important for our children. And what it takes is, you know, people that have that desire, you know, they have that mission driven about them that they want to do everything to help children be safe and be able to live a life of quality. There is a challenge.

We wish we had more foster parents, you know, that we're willing to step up and say, we want to be a part, we want to help a child. We struggle here in the state of Michigan where we don't have enough foster parents to address all of the needs of the children that are in the foster care system. Yeah, it's a wonderful opportunity and such a blessing when families do offer their services up and offer their love and attention for a child. The early intervention, it really makes a big difference, doesn't it, in strengthening families and children? Absolutely. Absolutely. And probably one of the greatest things, too, that happens is at times when a child is placed in a foster home, and let's say if that child eventually, if the rights of the biological parents is going to be terminated, then that child is going to be up for adoption. Sometimes we're very successful. The foster home that they're in also wants to adopt the child. Not in all cases, you know, but in a lot of cases they do. So that really helps us already having someone identified. that would want to become an adopted parent. Let's talk about the big gala coming up on August 7th. What can guests expect? Oh, we're so excited about that. Absolutely. So we're going to be at the Department at Hudson's in Detroit. We're so looking forward to it. That new location is absolutely gorgeous. The event will begin at 6 o'clock p.m. So from 6 p.m. into 10 p.m. on Friday, August the 7th. And, you know, we like to make sure that we can talk about the programs and what we're doing in child safe. Child Safe is a wonderful organization. You know, this is going to be a seated dinner with a program, and a part of that program, we love for people to hear from people that we serve. So we're going to have a couple of our foster parents there, or we're going to have a parent that's also receiving other services from our organization, and they're going to talk about, you know, the services that they receive from Child Safe. You know, in addition to that, you know, we love to end with a lot of fun. So it's going to be an event with live music and dancing that's going to start probably around 9 p.m. And we know that this benefit is for the proceeds that we receive will go to help support child safe, foster care, adoption, and mentoring program. Can people still get tickets? Yes, they can. Individual tickets are $250. A couple is $450, and we're always looking for sponsors of a table of eight, and that is going for $5,000. And what's the website or number for people who want to do that? Chalafatimiccan.org for it slash gala.

Okay. Lenora Hardy Foster, president and CEO of the Judson Center, they are holding their Child Safe Michigan Gala on August the 7th. One more time, give us that website. That website is childsafe Michigan.org. 4 slash gala. Yep, and the gala is going to help them raise money to provide all these services year-round that we've been talking about. Thank you for the wonderful work that you do. Lenora Harder Foster, appreciate the conversation. Good luck with the gala. Thank you so much, okay? All right. All right. If you're interested at all, go to that website. Give them a call. You can Google it to the Child Safe Michigan Gala on August the 7th. It's going to be great and it's for a great cause. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. And welcome into the 11 o'clock hour of All Talk. On a Monday morning, I'm Kevin Deets bringing you the latest headlines and the stories everyone is talking about. A person was killed and seven others injured in a shooting at a large party in Morgan Hill, California, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department. Deputies were initially dispatched around 10, 15 p.m. after reports of intoxicated people and someone throwing a bottle at a vehicle. By the time... Officers arrived. Hundreds of people were scattering the area, and deputies discovered multiple shooting victims. One person was pronounced dead at the scene while the injured were transported to local hospitals for treatment. Authorities have not announced any arrests, and investigators are working to determine what led to the gunfire. The shooting remains under active investigation as detectives searched for suspects and witnesses. Closer to home, the city of Detroit is taking legal action against former HGTV renovation star Nicole Curtis, claiming a long troubled historic home on East Grand Boulevard remains in disrepair despite years of enforcement efforts. Marie Osborne is following the story and joins us now. Hey, Ray. Hi there, Kevin. So this lawsuit was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court. It argued the property has continued to deteriorate even after a judge previously ordered it restored. City officials say inspectors have repeatedly documented code violations, issuing correction notices, and dozens of blight tickets over the last several years. The city wants the court to require all violations to be corrected at the owner's expense, collect unpaid fines and fees, and if necessary, appoint an outside receiver to oversee the repairs. Officials are also seeking to hold Curtis personally responsible for all of them. this alleging she had authority over the property's management and failed to bring it into compliance. As another option, the city is also asking the court to place a priority lien on the property or transfer the ownership back to the city. According to the filing, the state has accumulated thousands of dollars in outstanding penalties. It remains a threat to neighborhood health and safety, again, according to the filings. And Kevin, Curtis's representatives say they had not been

notified of any type of lawsuit and that was as of this weekend. Do you think this will end up in an episode on TV or is this all behind the scenes drama? Well, you know, she's had kind of a rough year because her show was abruptly canceled after some video came to light where she had used a racial slur. So that, you know, the show had been canceled. It's been a really tough year for her. And then now there's this. So, you know, we don't know what the next step is going to be here. So the only TV we'll see this on might be the news. Yeah, the news. exactly right. That TV. All right, Marie Osborne, thank you so much. Big Day, the Gordi Howe International Bridge officially opens to vehicle traffic at noon today, creating a new international crossing between Detroit and Windsor. Motorists can access the bridge directly from Interstate 75 in Detroit, while Canadian drivers connect through Highway 401. Like any U.S.-Canada border crossing, travelers must carry approved identification. So bring a passport, passport card, enhance driver's license, or a Nexus card. Tolls for passenger vehicles are $5.75 U.S. or $8 Canadian each way. and are collected exclusively on the Canadian side with payment accepted by cash, credit, debit, and digital wallets. The bridge features three lanes of traffic in each direction, dedicated commercial vehicle lanes and electronic tolling options that can provide discounts for frequent users. Now, this is cool. Pedestrians and cyclists are going to be able to use the bridge as well. There's going to be free multi-use path beginning August 5th, adding another transportation option between the U.S. and Canada. Trade and tariffs remain one of the biggest economic issues. facing the United States and Canada. Here's Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, discussing that relationship. Let's be clear about how Canada is responding. Yes, we are intensifying our negotiations with the United States in pursuit of a comprehensive agreement that addresses all tariff-related sectors. In all circumstances, irrespective of the outcome of those negotiations, Canada will do whatever it takes to build our strength at home and to support Canadian families, workers, our farmers, our businesses. We're ready. We're ready because we have been focusing on what we can control. And that's building our strength at home, buying Canadian, backing Canadian workers, building Canadians. That's the resolve of Canadians. That's the foundation on which we're building. President Donald Trump took aim at the White House correspondence over the weekend at the annual dinner. He got a few laughs. Just like my presidency, the second time, is always better. It's always better. And the third time will be better yet. I'm only kidding. I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very...

delicious beef tenderloins, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's right here, personally ran over the cow in his car. And he cut it up and he brought it here for you to eat tonight. So it's very fresh. But always I do have one question about what happened that time because he was there. How the hell did you not see that coming? He sees everything. He's talking about the mentalist, Oz. Michigan's U.S. Senate race took another turn with Governor Gretchen Whitmer endorsing Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary. Here's what Abdul El-Sayed had to say about his opponent receiving that endorsement. A lot of respect for Governor Gretchen Whitmer, obviously we ran against each other in 2018, and I think a lot of things that are admirable, a lot of things that we might disagree with and I might do a different way. What we've always kind of known about this race is that it was always going to be the money versus the many, the corporate establishment versus folks who want to build a politics that's inclusive and of the people by the people and for the people. So while I respect that decision, it's in keeping with what we've seen. The corporate establishment has picked their candidate, and I think it's time for the folks in Michigan to pick theirs. Donald Trump's going to be in Michigan this afternoon. Over the weekend, he was talking about voter fraud in Michigan. Will he bring that up today? We'll have to wait and see. He is raising some serious questions about election integrity saying Michigan, the state of Michigan, is ground zero. The fourth set of documents reveals that even when significant evidence of fraud has been detected, it has been buried and covered up. Among the disclosures tonight are FBI files detailing evidence of alleged fraud by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan. In 2020, Michigan State Police raided a Democrat, get out the vote organization, corrupt group in Muskegon. And we're so concerned by what they found. They were just so concerned. They couldn't believe it, actually, that they contacted the FBI in Detroit. The documents state that some canvassers admitted to FBI agents that they signed voter registration forms and other people's names. submitted fraudulent registration for people who did not exist, and received gift cards tied to their number of applications that they produced. In other words, it was pay, play, and cheat. The United States has paused its military strikes on Iran while diplomatic efforts continue, even as U.S. forces remain positioned in the region. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said President Trump is giving negotiations some space after nearly two weeks of escalating attacks.

Reports indicate military leaders recommended the pause after achieving key objectives near the Strait of Hamoos while Iran and Oman continue talks over the vital shipping lane. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Trump this week as the situation remains fluid. Despite the pause, both Washington and Tehran have suggested they are prepared to resume military action if diplomacy fails. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk with Bridget Brink, Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District. It's a campaign check-in. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's all talk on a Monday morning. I'm Kevin Deetz 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. Our next guest is making her case to voters in one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country. Bridget Brink, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is the Democratic candidate for Michigan's 7th Congressional District. She says her campaign is focused on lowering costs for families, strengthening the economy, protecting national security, and bringing experienced leadership to Washington. With Election Day drawing closer, she's traveling the district meeting with voters and outlining why she believes she's the right choice. She joins us now. Good morning. How are you? Hi, Kevin. Great to be here. Yeah, I'm glad you're here. What are the voters telling you when you're traveling through the district? What are they looking for? Well, here's what I say. This fight is about who will stand up to Trump and who will take on a broken Washington that works for corporate special interests while leaving mid-Michigan families behind. And the truth is, I'm the only one who has stood up to Trump and I will fight like hell to take on his chaos and corruption in Congress. And I'm in this fight because the only way to change Washington is to change who we send there. And it is a tough fight, but I'm no stranger to those. I've taken on Vladimir Putin in a war zone, fought breast cancer, and I've stood up to Trump. And in Congress, I'll fight like hell for mid-Michigan with my coalition of Governor's Granholm and Blanchard, Lansing Mayor, Andy Shore, State Senator Sam Singh. State Representative Jennifer Conlin, MEA, laborers, iron workers, Emily's List, and many, many more. But for me, this is all about the small business owner whose insurance premiums have doubled, the family who's paying hundreds more at the pump to fill up their cars with gas every single month, and all of our neighbors that Donald Trump and Tom Amy Coney Barrett are failing. We got to do this and we got to send the right people to Washington and not prepared to serve. What's it look like to fight like hell against Donald Trump? What will that look like if you're elected? If I'm elected, I'm going to work very hard to fight for lower costs. That means repealing the reckless tariffs. I know Trump's going to be in Detroit area later today. And those tariffs, especially on Canada, 50% on some goods, are costing us more and hurting our industry, our neighbors, and our farmers. I would also fight to stop this reckless war in Iran, which has already cost us $37 billion in the lives of 18 service members.

and the price of gas and fertilizer and hurting all of our industry. I also think we need to change the tax structure so that we're actually not just giving big tax giveaways to billionaires, but we're actually helping working families. I think it also means fighting for health care. I'm a breast cancer survivor. I know what it's like to have an unexpected health crisis and how much it costs. cancer surgery and I'm now cancer free but it costs $100,000 and I'm still fighting with insurance companies to get all the bills paid. We can't have our communities and our country facing this and we need to have a better solution. I support extending the Affordable Care Act. I support reversing the cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP in the Big Ugly Bill. And I support a public option so that everybody can afford health insurance. And finally, it's protecting our democracy. Our democracy is being eroded under Donald Trump and enabled by Tom Amy Coney Barrett. And that means making sure that we are cutting out corruption and and restoring faith in government. The first policy rollout that I made was a restore and reform agenda that would do things like end Citizens United, that would limit gifts to Congress people to $20, that would stop trading across government, not just members of Congress. and that would do everything to make sure there are guardrails put on pardoning power and also ethics regulations on the president and others holding public office. We need to restore this trust. That means we need to fight the corruption that's happening at the top levels of our government right now. Congratulations on being cancer free. That's wonderful. I'm really glad to hear that. What are people telling you when you're on their front porches about health care, about the costs of insurance, about trying to get in to see doctors. Oh, people, health care issue, I would say, is the number one issue that I hear on the doors and in meetings with voters and community members. And everyone has a health care nightmare story where either they've had a family catastrophe or they're, for example, a small business owner who's because the ACA subsidies have been stopped, who's paying now double for his family's insurance and can barely keep his business afloat. So for every person that I know, they face this issue, and it's something we need to address and we need to address it urgently in Congress. And I have a plan to be able to do that. And I would work with a coalition of Democratic Congress people and those who, on the Republican side, willing to move together to try to address these very serious issues with healthcare accessibility and affordability. Yeah, so you were the former ambassador to Ukraine.

Talk a little bit about your foreign policy experience and how that can help people here at home. You also mentioned that you took on Vladimir Putin. Well, I was a Foreign Service officer for 28 years. I left Michigan at 27 years old to join the U.S. Foreign Service and really proudly served on President Obama's National Security Council. And I became ambassador twice. I became the first ambassador, first female, to lead a mission in a war zone in Ukraine. President Biden asked me to serve in May of 2022. And I went there with a small group of diplomats. And for three years, we helped to keep Ukraine free. And I led the on the ground effort there. A thousand people I kept safe. But we also helped Ukraine take territory back, keep the energy grid alive, keep the economy alive. And when Trump came into office and decided that he was only going to appease Vladimir Putin, I had to make the choice to resign. And I could not. carry out that policy in good conscience. So I resigned, I spoke out, and I came home to run for office. Many people ask me, how does foreign policy relate to us here at home? And I would just say we can just look at the policies of the Trump administration to see how they relate exactly to the most critical policies here at home. And if you look at, for example, the Iran war, Trump's decision to go into this war of choice has meant that we have lost 18 service members. and that the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before he started this war, is now closed and there's no good way out of it. He went in without a strategy, without an end game. And what that is meant for us here at home is that prices at the pump have gone up by more than a dollar. We're at over $4 a gallon here in mid-Michigan, and that was about $289 right before the war. In addition to that, the cost of diesel, which means the cost of groceries and everything that's carried by truck, as well as the cost of fertilizer, which I have a heavily farming district here, has gone. up 40%. These are directly related to the war in Iran. In addition, if you look at the reckless tariffs and our economic policy, Trump has put now 50% tariff on some products from Canada. Canada is Michigan's biggest trading partner. It makes no sense why we are in a trade war with Canada. And it hurts Michigan even more than other countries in our nation. So this has a direct impact on us. Again, it's on our farmers. It's on our small businesses. It's on the goods that we buy every day in the store. And it needs to stop. So foreign policy is also domestic policy. And it's related to the soaring cost that our community is facing on groceries and on goods, on gas, and on housing. And this is one of the big issues that I hear about on every single door. There's a big block of voters who.

I think Congress needs to work harder to work across the aisle on as many issues as they can. Can you work across the aisle and fight Donald Trump at the same time? Absolutely. I think we need to try to do both. I think first and foremost, we have to stop this reckless agenda of the Trump administration. And I think if we're able to flip the house, which I believe we will, and Michigan 7th District is one of the key seats to be able to do that, we will change the political dynamic in Washington. And I also... Due to my experience, almost 30 years in foreign affairs and working at the highest levels of our government, I worked for five presidents. I worked under Republican and Democratic presidents. I worked in many Congresses. And over 100 members of Congress actually came to Ukraine. And I have personal relationships with people, both the Democratic and the Republican side. And I believe that policy is strongest, both foreign policy and domestic policy, if it's bipartisan. Do you have a website? We're out of time, but do you have a website where people can learn more? Yes, please. Bridget Brink.com. I would love your support in this campaign. It's one of the most important races for us to take back the House. And thank you. Bridget Brink, Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. We just finished talking about the seventh congressional seat. Well, the 10th district is another one of Michigan's competitive congressional seats. And Justin Kirk says he's running to bring a conservative voice to Washington focused on strengthening the economy, securing the border, supporting law enforcement, reducing government spending, and standing up for working families. Why is he the best choice to represent the 10th district in Congress? Let's find out. Justin Kirk joins us now. Good morning. How are you? Hey, Justin. Do we have Justin? Oh, there we are. We got you now. Hey, great. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Why do you want the job? Kit, you having me on. I'm sorry about the connection issues. Yeah, I want this job because I represent this community. I grew up in Clinton Township my whole life. I've been a lifetime resident of McComb County. And the people of this district are my friends, my neighbors, my family. It's everybody I know. And I think it's important that communities get representation from people who have a stake in the community, stake in its outcome, and have a connection to it and to the people. It's important to me. And I feel like I could...

I care about this country a lot. I love this country to death, and I want to make sure that we're steering it in the right direction. What do you see as the biggest issues facing the people of the 10th District? I think affordability is a big one. You know, we've knocked thousands of doors in Ocombe County in the 10th District, and affordability is when we hear a lot. I think protecting self-rich is very important. You know, it's 850, almost a billion-dollar economic impact in the state of Michigan. It's crucial to the district. There's thousands of jobs on site, about 30,000 statewide. We have to protect it and make sure it's relevant moving forward in the future. You know, I think we have to look at some fiscal conservatism, fiscal responsibility, I think. Our federal government spends a ton of money, waste a ton of our money, and I'd rather have that money be in our own pockets where I think it's better spent where we can direct it where we need as the public. We're seeing inflation cool off a little bit, but families, they still feel stretched. They really do. What would you do in Congress to help lower the cost of living? Well, yeah, I think the first thing to do is to attack government fraud, waste, and corruption, I think, and I think this is a bipartisan issue, or at least it should be. I think at least in the population it is, you know, Elon Musk, when he was with Doge, regardless of how you feel about Doge, if you're on the left or right, he looked at our budget. He had, you know, a look under the hood, and he said that he thinks that potentially 10% of the $7.2 trillion budget is fraudulent. That's, you know, $700 billion, almost a trillion dollars that has lost to fraud. The number I like the site is in 2024, Medicare and Medicaid admitted to making $85 billion in improper payments. That's just what they admitted to. You know, we've seen evidence of some other potential frauds in Minnesota and California, Ohio, state of Washington. So that $85 billion is more than the entire budget of the state of Michigan. I think the first thing we need to do is crack down on this fraud waste and corruption. It should be a bipartisan issue because that's stealing from all of us. And so that's something I would be heavily focused on. Gas prices are up over $4. The president's going to be in town today. If you had his ear, what would you tell him about gas prices? What would you tell him about the situation in Iran?

I think the president is working hard to resolve that to the benefit of the American people. I think it's difficult to judge President Trump's actions in the middle of, you know, a military conflict like this or if it's the discussions with Greenland. You know, Denmark at the time was thinking about Greenland sending troops there. They thought the U.S. would invade. I think Donald Trump's a master negotiator in the fact that he's very unpredictable. I think we have to wait till the end to see the result. I think he's working hard to resolve this as quick as possible. I think they've done a great job of degrading Iran's conventional military programs, conventional ballistic military programs, which have been there. That's been the key weapon they've used to attack on average. an American soldier on average once every three days over the past years, and they are the chief exporter of terrorism my entire life. I think they've done a great job degrading it. I think now it's just about wrapping up. I think President Trump is working to wrap that up quickly. I think sooner rather than later, this will be in the rearview mirror, and gas prices will settle fairly quickly. The President shut the border down immediately. Did a really nice job, but immigration continues to be a big issue nationally. What specific reforms would you advocate for in Congress? Yeah, I think that goes to show how important strong executive leadership is. The border issue is completely manufactured by the previous administration. We don't even know how many people came across the border. I think Border Patrol documented 10 million individual interactions during the four years of the Biden's term. Who knows how many others came over. I think we didn't know who is in this country. I think we need to vastly increase the number of asylum judges. We need to process these claims. We've seen that there's a lot of these claims that are weak. you know, that are not valid. We need to process these people. Understand who's in this country. I think that's a basic standard of sovereignty of a nation's understanding who lives there and vet the appropriate people. So that way we get the violent criminals off the streets, you know, by some estimates, the Trump administration has deported 40,000 to 50,000 violent illegal criminals. And I think that was just during this first year even, so it's probably higher than that. And those are criminals that are no longer in our communities, no longer on our roadways, no longer using emergency services, which makes all of us safer, freeze up, housing, freeze up, free stress up on our emergency services. So I think he's done a great job that way. I think we just need to further that, streamline the process and understand who's here and get the people who aren't supposed to be here out. The national debt is about to hit $40 trillion. What are your thoughts on the debt being as high as it is? Yeah, this is one of my issues. I was a fiscal conservative since day one. I don't like how high our government spending is. On the federal level, on the state level, I think there's a lot of money that gets lost to fraud, waste, and abuse. You know, our government, the federal agencies, they have one job, and that's to spend their budget. It's not to cure ills. I think their main priorities to spend their budget every year, and the government continues to grow. And by some essence, there's two million federal employees.

What I tell people when I'm door knocking is that Washington is thousands of miles away. What works for Michigan does not work for California. The federal government should not have such a strong hand on Michigan state economy, Michigan small businesses, Michigan taxpayers. We should localize as much as possible, state level, municipal level, find out a way to make Washington as irrelevant as possible. So that way small businesses can grow, the economy can grow, and the government steps out of the way. So that's my philosophy moving forward, and I agree that... And doing that and in tackling the fraud, waste, and abuse that's rampant throughout our government, we can help bring down that debt. What's the website where people can find out more about your campaign? Sure, it's Justin Kirk, 2026.com. You know, we're in the final stretch here. Eight or nine days left, we're pushing 100%. We've had a great response when we're door knocking, talking to voters. Now it's just about getting everybody out and getting them to vote. Justin Kirk, Republican candidate for the 10th Congressional District. Thank you for your time. Good luck with the campaign. Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate you having me on. All right. We'll talk again soon. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. It's All Talk. I'm Kevin Deetz. It's All Talk on a Monday morning. I'm Kevin Deets coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building. Every week on All Talk, we recognize someone who's making a real difference in the lives of people across Michigan. This week's All-Star is Katrina McCree, President and CEO of Thaw, the heat and warmth of fun. For nearly 40 years, Thaw has helped Michigan families facing energy insecurity. working to keep the lights on, the heat running, and family safe during times of financial hardship. But their mission goes beyond paying utility bills. They also connect people with resources that help them become more financially stable and energy secure for the long term. Join us now is Katrina McCree. This week's All Talk All Star. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for the work that you do in this community. For listeners who may not be familiar with Thaw, tell us a little bit about Thaw and the mission. Well, yes, absolutely. Thaw is, I want people to know, it's just more than a, you know, provide more than just utility assistance. It certainly is a bridge to stability and dignity. Our mission is to stabilize, empower Michigan families, keeping them, you know, warm, healthy, safe, and cool in the summer. And we envision a Michigan where every family has access to affordable utilities, energy-efficient homes, and viable job opportunities. What inspired you to dedicate your career to helping Michigan families facing these hardships? Well, you know, Kevin, I've been doing it really all my life, and I was presenting an opportunity to come on board as a CEO. And for me, it's a personal journey, right? Thaw was able to help my family in a time of crisis, and so be able to come back full circle and serve this amazing organization who's been doing the work since 1985. It was a blessing to be able to lift up families in the...

Michigan community. That's wonderful. Who are some of your mentors along the way? Oh, my God. I have many, right? You know, I certainly will start first with my mom, right? She's just been an inspiration to me personally. Certainly Sontail Jenkins, who's led this wonderful organization and have left it in a very financial sound position with some amazing board members that are involved, engage, and support the organization wholeheartedly. That's wonderful. Yeah. So talk a little bit about the people that you serve. What are the stories? What are the everyday stories where people find maybe thought something that can help them out? Absolutely. So we, you know, serve older adults. I mean, really the vulnerable, the most vulnerable in our communities, and that's our older adults, you know, household with young children, individuals that may have disabilities, our veterans, people with serious medical conditions are, and most likely, you know, our low-income work in families and those that are experiencing an energy. crisis or you know risks of utility shut off and so we have been able to again help 335,000 individuals since 1985 distributing more than 255 million and so we've been able to uplift families as I indicated provide them a bridge stability, you know, allow them to walk away with their dignity intact. Because many people, you know, don't always like to share the things that they're going through and crisis that they experience. And so it's not always easy to come to thaw. But we tell everybody, look, we're just a phone call away. We're here to help. So rely on us. Yeah, what I love about Thaw is that you're there in the crisis when people need to get those bills paid. But you also connect people with resources that help them become more financially stable over the long term. Walk us through the process of what that journey is like to go from being in such dire need to eventually becoming financially stable. Just like you indicated, we do get a number of people that come to us in the time of crisis where we're able to help with, you know, one-time payment assistance. And so we pair them with a case manager, right? We want to get to the root of the issue. We don't want to just, you know, pay your bill, have you walk away. But we want to know, you know, what is going to help you in your family to get on the right path to be able to be productive citizens in the community and not have to choose between food, medicine, your health care.

and other needs that your family may have. And so we try to figure out what is the problem, you know. And so whatever that, you know, situation is, whether it's, you know, hey, this is just a one-time crisis or someone lost a job in the family. And so we try to provide those wraparound services, those support. so that we can implement long-term solutions so that this doesn't happen again with that family or that individual. And so thought provides, you know, other services, you know, injured. energy budgeting, financial coaching, right? There may be times where we provide energy-efficient education, where we help the families understand how they can be more efficient at home. We provide kids, energy-efficient kids to help them save on their bills. But we are not just, hey, you come here, we pay your bill and send you on your way. But what is it the real need? What is the issue and how we can be of service? Yeah, we talk about affordability on this show every day. How big is the need right now? I imagine it's high. People are struggling with energy costs. Yeah, I mean, you know, as you know, it's not just, you know. in one area, right? This is across the country. It's across Michigan. We're a Michigan nonprofit, so we see it from all our 83 counties. Affordability, you know, rising food costs, rising gas costs. And, you know, most importantly, rising utility costs, right? And so as you indicated, we struggle with that every day, and it has a different meaning to different people. And so we just want to be able to be here in a time of crisis and provide that support. to those that need it the most. Yeah, what happens to a family when they lose heat or electricity? How quickly does it become a crisis, especially I'm thinking of these families with children? Yeah, it only takes one emergency to throw a family off because a lot of the individuals or a lot of the families don't already have the means to support their household. And so one setback could lead someone to being unhoused. Are you finding that businesses and community organizations are coming to help you and partner with you as you expand the effort? Absolutely. We would not be able to do this with partners, donors, friends, supporters. We're not in this work alone. And so we work together to leverage our resources to have the best outcome for those that we serve. And so we lean very hard, you know, and I think that our funding community want us to be able to partner together because we're all competing for some of the same resources. And so they want to see us working together. Yeah.

What are some of the things listeners can do to help out? Can they volunteer? Can they donate? What can they do? All of the above, absolutely. They can go to our website, wwwthoffund.org, donate. Even $5 makes a difference. We always take volunteers, especially for our radiosthor, a telethon, and for some of our signature events. And so the need is great. And so, again, they can visit our website, wwwthawfund.org, and provide some support. Well, that is absolutely fabulous. We really love the work that you're doing, the fact that you're helping people in the crisis, but also helping them become energy secure for the long term. Thaw just for 40 years doing great work in this community. Katrina McCree, CEO of the Heat and Warped Fund, Thaw. Thank you for your service. We appreciate you coming on today and talking about it, and we're happy to make you an All-Talk All-Star. Thanks so much. Thanks so much for having me. Have a great day. You too. Have a wonderful day. Yeah, if you have an opportunity to help out, this is an organization we've been working with for a long time. And there is nothing worse than that fear of losing electricity, you know, kids in the house. It's just a great program. All right, that is going to do it for all talk today. But you are in luck because the great Paul W. Smith and Focus is next. It's W.J.R.