Kruser And Krew 8-12-26

All right, it's a good day to drop the needle on your favorite album. Maybe you got an old 45. I heard one guy one time refer to music on a 45 big songs on a small record. Oh, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right. I stop, stop, stop, stop it. Stop it, stop and stop it. I got things on here. I don't need. All right. Let me make this little computer adjustment here. Sorry about that, Friends. Here's our phone number 859-253-559-59. That also is the number for the Stucart Motors text line. And the email address is Cruiser at WVLKAM.com. Okay, where was I? Vinyl record. Yeah, somebody said about 45s, big songs on a small record. You know, everything that was a big hit was always on that small little, small little 45. You know, so there's some truth to that. But did you buy albums? You remember the first album you ever bought? I think mine was the monkey's greatest hits. It was the first album I ever bought. I think I spent maybe $4 for it. Something like that. And you could get 45s for under a buck. I used to buy, before I started, buying albums usually stepped up. And you bought 40, back in the day, you'd buy, you know, some of you may not know what I'm talking about now, but you bought 45s. And then you might step up to start buying albums. 45s, of course, was just the one hit. You had an A side and a B side, and usually came from an album. And if you like the A side and a B side, you might have bought the album. Of course, the album would be more expensive. But now, of course, vinyl is everywhere. And I'd like to get a copy of the new Stones album. And I'm thinking about buying that on vinyl. I wonder what that would cost me. Because some of these vinyl records now can be $30 plus. And it's like, well, I don't know if I need to spend that much. But it would be kind of cool to have that on vinyl, I would think. I've thought about doing that. Because I kind of like what I've heard on that new Stones album that's out there. But anyway, it's vinyl record day. So celebrate by dropping the needle on something that snap, crackles, and pops like that music does on vinyl. Okay, sampling her two from the Stuttgart Motors text line, why not? The lady who said murderers don't belong in prison, send them all to live with her. Let's see how long she sticks to that philosophy. Yeah, that's right. She'll never be near in them. This is one of these socialists running for office. Yeah, we don't need prisons. We can rehabilitate these. You know, there's some people just can't be rehabilitated. I'm sorry, as best we might try. There's some people, it's just... They're not going to change. Joe writes, I love how drive-by attorneys are soliciting parents to sue the big tech companies because the parents ignored or enabled their own kids into an extreme situation. What the hell were you doing the entire time when your kids spent eight hours a day on social media? It's always somebody else's fault nowadays. These social media trials and Kentucky's in on this one that started today against Meta and a couple other companies. And this is the new tobacco financial lifeline, I think.

I'm glad school started back today because we needed the rain. Okay. I don't know what that means. Let's see. And one more here from Allen, rather. Did you say his name is Crowley? I wonder if he's related to Alistair Crowley. Crowley is the name. He's a black candidate. He was the one that squeaked out the win against Francesca Hong. Last night, I don't know much about his background. Yesterday and talking about Goodwill and the CEO resigning and all that and then the little Hoodwill story, which I thought was pretty neat out of Manhattan. I mentioned yesterday that Goodwill has 70 Kentucky stores. 70. Wow. I mean, that's a lot. And I got to thinking last night, I wonder how that compares to some of the big chains. and how many stores they have in Kentucky. So I did a little research, a little real report. You didn't start a business just to keep the lights on. You're here to sell more today than yesterday. You're here to win. Lucky for you, Shopify built the best converting checkout on the planet. Like the just one tapping, ridiculously fast acting, sky high sales stacking, championed checkouts. That's the good stuff right there. So if your business is in it to win it, win with Shopify. Start your free trial today at Shopify.com slash win. With the Amex gold card, you can earn four times points at U.S. supermarkets, because the best night's end start with the grocery run that makes it happen. And when meals come with four times points, moments around the table add up to even more. Apply today and find out your welcome offer, which could be as high as 100,000 points. Learn more at Americanexpress.com slash explore dash gold. Terms and points cap apply. Start your day with the morning jolt of Drake C. Toll. See, now it's on demand. My podcast is kind of a radio thing, I think, but also it's a bit of a TV show, and it's about whatever I want it to be. It's listening live as it happened, when it happened, with the instant reaction. You're home for talking sports. We go back, the Great Toll Show, Westwood One Sports Network, and there will be on demand on your radio. Anywhere in the country, I'll see you there. Westwood One Sports Talk, your home for Drake C. Toll. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Last night. Let's see. And it does kind of rival. Kentucky's got about 90 Walgreens stores. We've got anywhere from 87 to 110 Save a Lot discount grocery stores. Now, the footprint's going to change, obviously. There's adjustments in restructuring and sometimes stores shut down, maybe for a larger store or an underperforming store closes. I notice where, and I guess they had made this announcement some time ago, but Kroger is closing 60 unperforming stores, including one in Kentucky. Now, they've not disclosed the locations. They're closing a couple in California, five each in Virginia and Wisconsin.

Four locations in Illinois, three in Indiana, two in Colorado, and at least one location in Kentucky, along with Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. That according to some outfit called Advanced Local. The company's leadership says these closures are not a retreat, but a tactical consolidation. In fact, in some of these cases, again, they're closing stores to move people to the superstore, to the marketplace store. But speaking of Kroger, Kroger's got 109 grocery stores in the state. There's about 90 Walmart locations. Now that's super centers, discount stores, grocery stores. I mean, Walmart stores comes in various shapes and sizes. 153 dollar tree stores, but you know what? Nobody, at least in the retail, the chain retail business, can hold a candle to dollar general, 700, approximately 782 stores in the state. But Goodwill was 70. They're up there in the game with 70 retail outlets. And they are in the game. $782 general stores. I mentioned this to somebody earlier today. And they said, well, you know, in a lot of communities, Dollar General, I mean, that's the store. That's the store for everything. And they're right. Let's grab a phone call. This is Drew on 97.3 FM and 590A. MW. Okay. Hello, Drew. Hey, sir. How are you? Good, Drew. How are you doing, buddy? Good. Had a comment for you and wanted to see if you knew anything else about it. I heard from a reliable person that Meadowbrook golf course is being shut down. And I actually didn't know that the city doesn't own it. The school system does. I had no idea. I didn't know if you knew anything about that. I do. It has to do with the budget. Yeah, the city operates it, but yeah, the school system owns it. And they've been talking about closing that for years because it's a money loser. It's been a money loser for a long time. That's one of the – I don't know. I think the city overall, I don't know if they make money on the golf courses or not. If they do, it's not very much. I think they may make a little money at Lakeside. Lakeside gets a lot of traveling, maybe a Kearney, but I think they lose money on the other golf courses. They lose money on – Meadowbrook, the problem with Meadowbrook is you got a lot of older folks that play Meadowbrook because of the short distance, and those people like to vote, and you take their par three golf course away from them, and they might be upset. Yeah. I know, I don't know. This person also told me that some sort of deal was trying to be worked out. I don't know if that's between the city and the school system. I can't imagine you could sell it because it's a flooding plane. Yeah, I don't imagine. I could see where the school system might want to get rid of it. They need cash where everything can find it. But I don't know that the city necessarily wants to buy it. And again, this has been rumored. I've heard this rumor off and on for a long time. I, does your friend seem to think that there's, I've not heard anything recent that they're talking about closing it. This show, I went into Meadowbrook and asked if they were doing their annual league. I think it's called the MedX Cup. It kind of resembles the PGA tour. And this person who is affiliated with the course said, we're 100% shutting down if we can't get a deal done. But they didn't go any further than that. Okay. 100% shutting down if they don't get a deal done. So I guess the school system wants to unload it.

I would assume. Yep, he didn't give me any more information than that. All right, I'll look into that. I mean, it's a valuable course for the reason that it's a par three. And it is. It's a great place to go tune up a game. I've played there once already this year. There was a golf tournament out there benefiting the Lexington Humane Society they've had out there for the last couple of years. I don't know. And again, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a course that a lot of elderly folks like to play. And, uh, and there really isn't anything else as far as a short course here. There used to be a, a privately run par three course on Mason Healey years ago. Uh, there was not affiliated with the city, but I don't know. That would be a hard course to shut down. But, um, anyway, Drew will keep an eye on. Thanks, buddy, for the call. Keep an eye and see if there is anything to that because I have not, uh, not heard that. Well, I've heard it, but not recently. But that's the case. But then again, and I can see why the school system wants to get out from under it. I can't imagine it's worth a whole lot of money. All right. We've got some inflation news today. And this is really vital stuff because these three this month and the next two months. The government inflation data from those three months will determine the size of the official Social Security COLA for 2027. And new estimates show the Social Security cost of living adjustment may be 3.4% to 3.6%. Those projections based on the latest government inflation data, which shows consumer prices moderated last month. So that might mean a little smaller cost of living increase. Again, it's going to depend on the next two months. Two more months of government inflation data will dictate it. And then the Social Security Administration, where they typically announce their official COLA for the upcoming year in October. These new estimates just came out today from the government based on the new inflation data. The new estimate is still higher than the long-term average Social Security cost of living adjustment of around 2.6%. In the past decade, the COLA's average average inflation, like in 2022, the average benefit increased 5.9%. It was up 8.7% in 2023. The Senior Citizens League now estimates the 2027 Social Security Cola maybe 3.6%. They'd originally said 3.8. They calculate this by comparing the third quarter inflation data for the months of July, August, and September to the previous year's third quarter data. The percentage increase of the average CPI dash W for the third quarter from one year to the next determines the size of the COLA. So it may be, it's beginning to trend down a little bit because inflation. At least in this last report is trending down. Now, what will next month bring? Gas prices appear to be back up again. The national average, according to AAA, has crossed the $4 mark again. $4.3 a gallon as of today. Third time this year has crossed $4 and higher. So far this year, prices started at $2.98 nationally on February the 26 before rising due to supply disruptions and the Strait O'Hoor moves. Trump says we're controlling the straight now.

That's all good. All right. Well, we'll see. Did I see a 389 at a Kroger marketplace over on Newtown today? I haven't seen it that high anywhere else. Has it gone up elsewhere? AAA as of early this afternoon. The average around Kentucky, 357 a gallon in Fayette County, 360 a gallon. Can I be your bro? Can I be your bro? I need to be somebody's bro. Can we have a bro hug? Gee, thanks. That's a cruiser at 97.3 FM and 590 a.m. WVLK. And Doug's on the line. Hey, you doing, Doug? And good, cruiser. I don't know if you've noticed this. Last few months I've noticed this. Not all gas stations, but some gas stations on their board, you know, where they put the per gallon price, you know, by the road. Like I was driving down the street the other day, and it went from 369 to 359. I said, oh, my goodness, they just dropped it 10 cents a gallon. And then within five seconds, it went back up to 369. Well, I started noticing paying attention and stuff, they're giving you a discount if you're paying cash. Yeah, right. I've seen that. You pay in cash or if you're a member of their rewards club. Some of these, like Hex. Is that heck? Is it called Hex? There's a new gas station that just opened up. Maybe it's not Hex. I don't know. Hex was an old discount department store here years ago, wasn't it? It was. It's called Hex or Hacks or something. It's another gas station. I don't know what their magic food item is, but they'll show two prices, one for reward members and one for those who are not in the club. So, yeah, it can be kind of confusing because the price will flip back and forth. Yeah. Well, I thought I'll point that out to you and your listeners. Yep. Thanks, Doug. Yeah, you've got to pay attention because, yeah, you're right. Some of those gas prices on first glance may not be the price that you would be paying. And we got some calls off air. Yeah, Cruiser at 389, that seems to be the deal about everywhere. Right now. I saw the Kroger marketplace over on Newtown this morning, had it for $3.89. And I know Kroger's usually not an outlier on high gas prices like that normally. And let's see. Somebody else. Yeah, Alan Rice Cruz is the lowest. I've seen gas today is $369. Everybody else has got it $3.89. So we have gone up. And we have gone up around Lexington today. Lovely. Lovely, lovely. Well, Powerball's hit a billion dollars. That drawings tonight, isn't it? So that'll take care of all your gas price worries. First time Powerball's been at a billion dollars. Somebody won $1.8 billion from Arkansas on Christmas Eve. That one clown that bought from Kentucky that won a Powerball farthing, and that is his name, he's been arrested two or three times since he, can he be banned? If you've won a Powerball, I guess you can't be banned from buying tickets. You could win it again conceivably, couldn't you? He ought to be banned. He's bad for the game. He's bad for this area. But anyway, that might help you with your gas prices. I looked at this today, too, today being the first day of school. Now, it's not the first day of school for UK. That's coming a little later this month. But USA Today.

ranked the 16 Southeastern Conference schools based on tuition. Kentucky's is the fourth most expensive out of SEC schools. In-state tuition at UK. Have you heard these figures in a while? $38,344. That's in-state. Out of state, $60,838.38. Now, that's tuition. I mean, you guys, you have more, there are more charges, more money going out than just that. I mean, where is the kid going to live? What about meals? What about other expenses? Especially if you're forking them out of pocket. for your kid. I sometimes, when my kid was in school, the tuition and the books, I could kind of, I could kind of, I kind of knew what that was, was going to cost. It was the other stuff, rent and food and other things that, well, you just didn't know, cell phone, that kind of stuff. Vandy's number one, most expensive, but it's private, $99,994 a year to go to Vandy. Let's see, Texas was the second most expensive. $35,386 in-state, out-of-state $72,916. The cheapest of the SEC schools and tuition, LSU, $28,770 for in-state tuition, out-of-state tuition, $45,446. Now, I saw another graph today, and UK must be getting this out-of-state tuition. Because there's only one other school in the south. Now, these were not just SEC schools. Clemson was in here, and there were just colleges in the south. And this graph was demonstrating the percentage of first year students from outside of the south to attend those schools. And Kentucky had the second highest, about 27, 28%. But first year students are outside of the south. So I'm assuming they're from out of state. Paying that $60,838. Damn, give me a break. Only the University of Mississippi is higher with the highest number of out of the south of students outside of southern schools. Mark, hang on. We'll get to you next. Rebecca has a take on gas prices. Rebecca, hello. Yeah, I stopped. I just come from the doctor's office at Edinburgh, and I pulled in, it's cases, the shelf station out there. And I looked at me, wow, $359. I go in, and I pull in, and it's hard for me to get in Maldivacar with everything I'm dragging along. And I pulled up, and it said $369, and I called them. inside because i need a gas bat i had like 16 miles to go on my thing and so i thought so up there and i called him and he said oh he said that he said if you will read that that changed it's 369 for our good our platinum grade

$359 for the platinum, $369 for regular. And I said, well, you know something? I'm desperate. I need gas. I'm out. But I am driving off from you. And he says, if you look at that, it changes. Like I said, am I going to stand on Man and War and what the signs are doing? And so anyway, yeah, that's who they are. And Hux does it too, but they have programs. That's what it is. I thought it was Hax. It's Hux. Yeah. Yeah. And they do it to where if you're a platinum member or whatever grade of, you know, they make it sound like it's luxurious. You know, like there's some special back room where you're going to be wined and dined. But your platinum members, yeah, get 10 cents off or something. No, it's the platinum gas they have. Oh, the platinum gas? Well, get to that. Yeah, yeah. Hey, it's good talking to you. You too, Rebecca. Thanks. Appreciate it. Mark, how you doing, buddy? Hey, great cruiser. I'm sitting at a shell station on Plays Mill Road, and gas is $3.79 if you've got the card and it's $3.89 if you don't have the car. Yep, yeah. And it just keeps, you know, it just keeps rolling the back and forth. Yeah, back and forth. Yeah, yeah. So Doug's right. You got to take a second. You don't take the first price you see because that price may not be right when you observe it. And I don't see how people can outrun the cost of college. It just blows my mind. I mean, if somebody goes four years or more, How could you pay all that money back? Well, this is... What kind of job would you have to get to do it? Yeah, you'd have to get a significant job. I mean, that's a heck of a burden. And then, of course, you take on a bunch. I mean, that's why you got a bunch of adults, even adults that are technically senior citizens that in some cases still paying off student loan debt. I think this is what makes it. I mean, the community college system in Kentucky is one of the best in the United States. And you're going to be able to learn a trade or something you can apply to a job. Not every major in college is going to be that... that magic carpet to getting a good income. But you can get a good income from community colleges, and you might want to look at the price of those because they're going to be a lot more reasonable. I went to the U.K. in the 70s and didn't graduate, and I went back in the 90s to try to graduate. I only have one more semester, but I got hurt, I got hurt, and I got disability. And believe it or not, they wiped off what I owed them after I got the disability. I didn't have to pay. I still got one more semester to go to get my degree. But I thought that was.

different, you know. Yeah. Well, I hope about that. No, I just, I'm saying I hope you're able to get your degree. You're still going to try to pursue it, huh? Yeah, I am. I sure am. But the reason I called is I wanted your take on the win and loss of Kentucky's football this season. I saved the little money up, and I want to play on like, I think the over and under's 4.5. What do you think about that? Oh, you know, I don't want to give you any advice to play any of these numbers, Mark, because I'm not the guy to. to talk to on it, and I haven't really looked at it. You're talking about the over under on four wins this season? Yeah, right. On the right, the wins is a point pass number. Yeah, yeah, I, you know, I hate to duck you on this, Mark, but I would have to study it a little bit more, and I haven't really done that. I mean, I'm aware of the schedule. It's pretty tough. I think four wins. You get four or five wins. That's probably pretty accurate. I know that's what fans don't want to hear because it takes six to get into a bowl game. But even that Youngtown State game early in the season is no pushover. The first game of the season is not going to be an easy one. Exactly right. And, you know, I don't, they got 40 plus new guys on this team. Who knows? New coach. Mark, I don't know. I got a run, too. I'm up against a break, but I appreciate the call. I don't mean to whimp out on you here, but I'm just four or five wins sounds right, but I would have to look at it a little bit more and kind of give myself, make a more educated guess than I'm able to make right now. Back in the 80s, KU is $2,400 a semester. Uh, somebody, uh, texted me to, uh, I think it was back in the 1960s, uh, tuition was like $90 a semester or something at UK. Not anymore. Uh, yesterday, Bucky's gas was $3.25 a gallon. Yeah, here it is. When I was a freshman at UK in 1963, tuition was $90 per semester. Uh, this is Jill on 97.3 FM and 590 a.m. W. Okay. Thanks for waiting, Jill. Hello. Oh, yes, cruiser. I was just going to say the people that complain the most about gas seem to be the ones that drive the lease. And it's simple math. I mean, the cost of gas affects everyone no matter how much they drive because things have to be transported. Right. That's a cost. But... The gas station wants you to come into the store. That's where they make their money. That's what people do not get. If you sit at a gas station and watch the people that are coming out, the markup on the products that they're buying is insane. If you purchase one piece of caramel that they paid three cents for, you purchased it for 25, they already made the money of you walking from the car to the pump.

Yeah, you're right. They make the money inside. They don't make the money on the gas. They make the money inside. And I think that's why so many of these places have found it necessary to craft their own, I don't know, craft their own craft meal, their own, whether their specialty is hoagies or pizza slices or fried chicken or in the case of buckies, the jerky or the brisket sandwiches, something to get you in. If you pay cash, you have to go in to pay cash. Therefore, they're winning the war. And, oh, goodness, if you bring the kids with you, oh, well, you know you're going to buy something. And if you're a grandma or grandpa, you know you've got to buy that grandbaby something if you go in there. So you're going to at least buy a pack of gum or something. So it's just about getting you to come in. And that's when they... They win. That's when they win, right. They don't win on the gas. You're right. They're trying to get you into the store. And again, that's why I think they're trying to allure you with all that food. And, you know, there's always been a reason why stores sold candy there at the checkout. Yeah, it's obvious. The real way that I have found to save gas is to when Kroger has their four times of the point. Mm-hmm. You buy about 10 shell or BP cards. I keep those in my car. If Kroger isn't convenient, then I use my card. And then once a month I go to Kroger and I get a dollar off gas, a gallon of gas. I mean, it's... You know, it really works out. And then I get cracked up to all the people that think they're being scanned by the signs. If you sit and watch, what they're doing most of the time is going through the premium, the plus, and the super or the O-Edded. They're just going through the numbers. It's not one price. Yeah, no, it's various prices. And they have to display all those prices. So, you know, that's then why it's. They changed the cost. I mean, just while I was sitting there. Well, yeah. I don't. Well, it's somewhat new, this kind of thing with gas station signs. Sure. And then, I mean, I, as Super America, I guess, had a rewards program. Speedways had one for the longest time. But in terms of having it reflect in the actual price is something that's fairly new. Hey, Jill, thanks for the call. I enjoyed talking to you. Appreciate it. Let's go to Joel. He's got to take on UK tuition. Hey, Joel, how fat's your wallet, buddy? You don't have a guy going to school or a girl going to school here, do you? No, it's pretty slim, but they went to another state school. But no, I was just going to tell you about, I think about 10 or 15 years ago, UK subbed out all of their housing. So they've got a third party that does all of that. And I've got... Somebody in my family works at a school district in the state and the high school. And we have a talk all the time. But UK doesn't, they don't actually try to recruit in state students anymore. They recruit out of state because of the difference in the price. I can see why it doesn't take an economist. 60,000, 838 for an out-of-state tuition compared to 38,344. I just wonder when, and I know UK and mainly colleges in the South.

have had enrollment increases. That's not the case for a lot of schools across the country. I read where a lot of schools are having to use endowment money to pay bills, which honks off some of the donors because that's not what the endowment is for, but they're so hard up. You know, this shrinking birth rate's going to catch up with them, but yet we're putting up student housing like crazy. So where their projections come from for the future, I don't know, to keep seeing this crazy growth. And a lot of schools I read where quite a few are cutting majors, and I guess the majors that aren't producing. And it's starting to come to a head as far as these crazy majors that don't make any money. And I guess schools are having to reevaluate what they're offering. Yeah, they are. Well, because the parents and the students are evaluating more of what they're majoring in. Thanks for the call, Joel. I appreciate the input tonight. Well, today being the first day of school, and speaking of money as far as school is concerned, public schools across the country, since 2019, public school enrollment has dropped by almost 3%. That's roughly 1.4 million kids that aren't in school that used to be in school. Now, again, I'm not saying these kids are truant or anything like that. It's just there aren't as many kids. So. Public school enrollment falls by almost 3% yet, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the amount spent on public schools nationwide grew by 34% during the five-year period between 2019 and 2024.

Now, of course, back when Congress, they kicked in $190 billion to state local governments through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund in three separate batches during the COVID year. So that explains some of it. In 2026, American School District Panel Survey of Public School officials across the country, the research organization ran. found that 54% of district leaders were worried about a budget shortfall, even though educational spending is increased across all levels of government even after adjusting for inflation. They can't get in the money. On average, we're spending over $17,600 a student, according to the NCES, the National Center for Education Statistics. That's up 34% from 2019. Are we getting better outcomes? Nope. At each grade level across subject areas, there's a decline in current achievement when compared to student benchmarks from 2019. 2024, that's the year the most recent data is available. Only 60% of fourth graders and 67% of eighth graders were reading at or above a basic level. Doesn't get better with age, 68% of high school students reading at above or above a basic level. So we got middling levels of achievement. That's not new, but yet the spending continues to climb. Again, I think it's ending, but there's always been that kind of guilt trip that you don't support education. You must hate the kids. During COVID, districts nationwide implemented hold harmless budget provisions that guaranteed that schools would get as much funding as the previous year, regardless of how many kids were enrolled.

Charter schools, on the other hand, have seen enrollment increased by about 15% enrollment in independent schools kind of steady over the same period. Salaries, wages, and employee benefits account for 76.8% of elementary and secondary school budgets. And in order to continue to meet those higher costs, like Chicago laid off 760 teachers, 801 teacher aids. I think the next round of Fayette County School Board cuts are going to be getting into, we'll have to get into the classroom. And they're going to have to cut again because they got about a $21 or $22 million shortfall right now. So we keep spending more even though there are fewer students. And there's more spending is not resulting in greater. results. Charlie's got to take on college tuition. Charlie, welcome to the show. Hello. Hey, it's not necessarily tuition, but you were saying how are they getting forecasting their future when they're building these more dormitories and like how we actually have an increase in, you know, UK's tuition, I think, the last couple of years. Oh, yeah. Well, I have a close friend in the school system, and I'm real familiar with it anyway, too, in Jessum County. And something that may kind of give a little information to that, they're actually considering sending the ninth graders back to the seventh and eighth grade middle school buildings because they cannot build like high schools and schools fast enough and they have more room in their middle school buildings to put the ninth graders back then than they do. to keep them in high school or, you know, by the time they could build a third high school in that area, I don't know if May County schools would consider that or like the surrounding Central Kentucky, you know, school systems that are prone to, you know, enroll at U-Ks. But apparently there's still some... larger groups of students coming in on the back end. Yeah, they must be. And look, I'm not trying to say it's a bad idea for kids to go to college. But, I mean, again, when you look at the birth statistics and you look at more kids that you can afford college or parents and kids combined that don't think college is the value that it should be, that it's if you're going to pay this kind of money, my kid ought to be able to get out of college with a degree that gets to him or her a pretty good job. And that's... And that's not always guaranteed. Again, it depends on your major. And then, of course, I guess it depends on the kids' smarts and their aggressiveness, their ability. Some jobs are going to require some experience. You can't just walk in with a degree and go hire me. So, you know, I don't know. I just don't know where. I can understand UK building dorms because some of those dorms are old. And, yeah, you got to upgrade and whatnot. But. You know, all this student housing that's going up that's going to be premium priced. I mean, the rent on those things is going to be stupid. I don't know how kids are affording anything. Parents got to be paying for it. It's got to be the parents, I would think, in 99. No, I know. I, you know, or you're taking out loans to the, to, you know, until you choke on them. Charlie, thanks for the call. I don't know. I just wonder where all the growth is going to come from.

down the road. And then when you keep growing, if you have more students, why do you have to keep raising tuition so much every year? If you're getting more students that are paying in, I don't know. They keep raising. Because I thought about this. When I was looking at this story of ranking the SEC, the Southeastern Conference Schools on tuition, I thought the last time I looked at Kentucky's in-state tuition, it was around $27, $28,000. Now, this has been... several years ago, but not that much longer than that. And it's already up to close. It's getting close to $40,000. It's $100,000 to go to Vandy. And they're not the only school that's $100,000. I'm going to go to. The U.S. Soccer Podcast. These players are battered and exhausted, but you don't hurt like this if you don't care about this team, about this country, about this game. I think you can feel the intensity, the goals, the energy that, wow, look at us. Here in the U.S., I have got some news for you. There's so much more to come. My name is Megan Klingberg, and we're just getting started. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. More school stuff during the school year. Parents will spend 432 hours on meal prep. Three hours a week meal planning, three hours a week grocery shopping. Two hours a week packing school lunches, four hours a week cooking on average. That's 12 hours a week, spread across 36 weeks of the school year. When it comes to school lunches, the biggest turtles are finding foods their kids will eat, keeping lunches interesting, avoiding food waste, which, you know, we can translate that, avoid wasting money. Hardin County schools prohibiting glass and metal water bottles. Can't have them on campus during school hours or on the buses. Only plastic water bottles will be allowed for student use, says district spokesperson John Wright, because microplastics are the bomb. No, he didn't say that. He said the change was made to ensure a safe learning environment. Are they worried about somebody whacking some other kid across the side of the head with a glass or metal water bottle that it's somehow a weapon? John Wright, the district spokesperson in Hardin County, said the district and building administrators reached this decision after reviewing growing safety and operational concerns. Over the past few years, these metal containers have gotten larger and have caused frequent disruptions when dropped and more importantly post safety risks due to their weight metal construction and handles. In other words, it's a weapon. Some kid come in there and start swinging that thing around upside somebody's head. So they're getting rid of it. One other thing that's being eliminated from some classrooms, and some of this is at the behest of the students, and that's the tablets and the laptops.

Simon's Middle School in Fleming County announced plans last May to return to a greater use of paper and pencil learning. Fleming County schools recognized the need for that approach to be consistent across the district. We didn't want some schools going in one direction and others moving in another, said Superintendent Brian Creasman. A new school board policy approved in July, cutting back on screen time in schools, elementary schools limited to 45 minutes of screen time per day, middle school 60, high school students, 90. Those limits apply to the total amount of school-related screen time the children can have each day, both in classroom learning and homework. Cresden said this is not about eliminating technology from the classroom or returning to a time before digital learning. Technology remains an important instructional tool, but this is about being intentional about when, where, and why we use it. And students, we're asking for greater balance and reasonable limits on screen time. How about that? You know, we spent $30 billion to get rid of textbooks across the country to get rid of textbooks and replace them with laptops and tablets. And is this the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents? From the Stugart Motors text line, Meadowbrooks worth $2.7 million, nothing compared to Fayette County Public Schools' $22 million deficit. I just noticed 389 gas prices at Speedway when I was cutting near the U.K. campus. Everybody seems to have gone to 389. I got a long text here about movies. I don't know. I played a movie clip from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I was in and out of state audit in Indiana when that movie was out. It was a smaller town and I didn't have anything to do. And I believe it was the only movie playing in town. I didn't know anything else to do except sit in the hotel. So I went. The movie blew me away. It was so good. I don't know if I'd otherwise seen the movie. There are a handful of movies like that where I had no idea what it was about and it didn't look interesting. My Harold and Maude comes to mind. The first Dust Till Dawn with George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino is another one. A guy at a video store up at Kroger's back in the day when they had a video section told me I'd take a look at that movie. I did and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then he recommended a movie called True Romance, which was connected to Quentin Tarantino. This was also a fabulous movie that I would have passed by. Lastly, I mentioned Clerks, the movie which I passed over for 10 to 20 years. Maybe I just assumed it was a Gen X or Gen Y movie I'd have no relation to or understanding about, and it was fabulously funny. I don't know that I've seen Clerks, too. Clerks 1 is funny. It's a little crude, but it's, yeah, it's funny. I do, I do remember seeing that movie. Okay, I got people with Storm stuff, my war on students. Okay, whatever. Let's see. Couldn't you come up with anything better now? What about, well, I don't know, the multimillion dollar college athletes, that's not what, that's not contributing to the tuition increase, I don't think. Oh, well, maybe your fees may be a little bit higher, your activity fees, but I don't think NIL is impacting tuition. Severe thunderstorm watch until nine, flood watch until tomorrow morning at eight.

Shows and thunderstorms likely here this evening, and the party's already getting started downtown. Down to 70 tonight, upper 80s tomorrow with a stray storm possible. Chance was shower near 90 on Friday, 93. Hot with sun and clouds mixed on Saturday. Mike Drop, hosted by former Navy CEO, Mike Ridland. How would you characterize your prowess? I'd say my style is that I just kind of outwork everybody until I get there, because I'm not a quitter. It's just you, and that's yourself. Everything else is team-oriented. The motivation, it was a sort of anger at myself for being weak. That ends up being the driving factor. That anger, that pride, that ego, I think it's a muscle. It gets stronger. When you take that voice seriously, you start to change your life. Mike Drop, follow and listen on your favorite platform.