Mega Millions tops $300 million while Louisiana's budget eyes education

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Sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're just not big enough. So, here's a big reminder [music] from the California Lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 million. Play now. Please play [music] responsibly. Must be 18 years or older to purchase Player Fine. Sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're just not [music] big enough. So, here's a big reminder from the California Lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 million. Play now. Please play [music] responsibly. You must be 18 years older to purchase player blind [music] [music] 1017 FM 710 Kio Mike McCarti Lewis Abalone in for Aaron and on the Jack Spring electric newsmaker hotline taking time out of this very important day. Senator Thomas Presley joining us. Senator, good morning. Good morning, Blake. How are you doing? Well, thanks for jumping on with us. Uh, say hi to Lewis. [laughter] Hi, Louis. Hey, good morning, Senator. Final day of the legislative session, Thomas. Uh, you guys have already gotten a lot done. Uh, I think you've gotten the budget budget's been approved. Is that right? That's correct. The governor has it on his desk now. Uh so a 47 billion dollar budget which is a a little less than last year's budget actually. Um which is great. The the um state general fund was about 12 and a half billion of that. Um so that's the dollars that we have. The other dollars are draw down dollars from the federal government. Um so we're excited that it's a a standstill budget actually a little less than last year. Good fiscal reforms in place on that. spending onetime dollars for one-time needs. And I'm excited that um the legislature decided to move that way. When you say one-time dollars for one-time needs, what are some specifics there? Sure. So, there's um you know, whether it be roads, right, as opposed to something that that's a new salary. So, uh we put a lot of money towards roads and bridges again this year. uh put some money towards uh projects like uh the medical school program uh projects that they're trying to do at the uh Sears building. So uh can't talk too much on the specifics at this point because of the fact that the governor still has a line item veto on the budget. Uh so we're excited to to get that through uh and I hope to come back on in a couple weeks when the governor has signed the budget. Now, when you mentioned salaries, the governor has been hardline on wanting a teacher pay raise. And how does that fit into this budget? Yeah, that's exactly right. So, part of the um part of the budget, actually about uh 40% a little more than 40% of our budget goes to education spending. Um, and so one of the things that he was adamant about was making sure that our teachers are uh able to continue with getting the the $2,000 that we were able to give over the last couple of years via stipen. Of course, with the constitutional amendments going down, uh we were put in a little bit of a a challenging spot. That was in the last couple weeks of sessions. We were trying to figure out how to how to make that a reality and how to make that possible. Uh and the governor and the senate president and speaker of the house got together. Uh turns out there is a way that he can um change our formula for the MFP uh to allow for and require uh those dollars to go to teacher um teacher increases on their salary. So that was the the methodology that we we came up with as um as the legislative body and as the uh and working with the governor's office and so we were able to uh hopefully make that happen. All right. So Senator, what about the LA Gator program? you know, that that helps families, you know, access the school that best suits their child. And I mean, the governor wants to find a way so that that hard-earned money of parents follows their child to the education of their choice. Where is that legislation currently? And and is there going to be any additional funding for that program? So, there were no additional funds this year, but that project is continuing to be uh an issue that we are trying to figure out the way to to make the money work. Uh again, we're looking at 40, it's right at 44% of the state general fund that goes to education. Um about $4 billion, a little over $4 billion is going into the MFP. The um the role and responsibility of the legislature is to figure out how to use those dollars more efficiently. I think that's something that we have to look into and we're going to have a big study on the MFP uh and how to use more efficiently for school choice and I think we've got a great opportunity particularly in Kado Parish with school choice with our magnet programs uh as well. Um and I think we've got to make sure that we are to to your point making sure we're using those dollars so that families get to choose the best school for their children. All right. So shifting gears here to athletics and specifically how much institutions have to disclose with regards to what they are paying athletes. Uh there was legislation uh that would basically put up a wall between the public and the universities in terms of how much they're paying their athletes. Do you think first of all what is the status of that legislation and do you think that is a good idea? So, I uh kind of led the opposition on that legislation. I think that is important and we should uh in athletics have transparency as well. Um when a student worker in um a department of LSU has to disclose their, you know, their uh through that student work program. I think student athletes should have to do so as well. Um, and unfortunately I was unable to um to kill that bill. Um, and it is now headed to the governor's desk as well. And it actually may have been signed into into law. Um, but I was uh I look, I think transparency uh is important on that. Um, and and something that we should be uh advocating for more transparency and more accountability. I think that higher education uh has a challenge right now with the amount of money that's going towards uh going towards athletics. Um and we've got to figure out from a national level in my eyes how to regulate that more effectively. And a a lot of the funding that goes to the athletes of course talking about college athletics. It's not just taxpayer funding though. I mean, because the the the booster clubs and things, they all they raise money and and alumni funds uh go into paying the athletes, isn't that? So, it's not all just tax dollars, right? That's right. But this is also a shield for the the dollars that were being spent by the state and state tax dollars that were going towards it. And I think, look, it's important that we have high quality athletics. I think everybody is everybody is for a quality LSU football team every year. Uh but at the same time, we we need to make sure that we're prioritizing higher education uh and bringing the skill sets to uh the the population in mass uh to make sure that Louisiana has uh opportunities and jobs available in the future. And I think that that's a a priority um for this administration as well as for um this legislature and trying to figure out uh that balance and something that we've got to continue to work towards. We're talking with Senator Thomas Presley. Today's the final day of the Louisiana legislative session. Senator, can you hold with us through the break cuz I still want to talk to you about the congressional map. Um uh lawmaker payraises, inspection stickers. Wait, wait, wait. He's busy packing. It's the last day. He's packing up to come back home. Stay with you through the break. [laughter] I'm more excited to be at home, but I am happy to stay with you through the break. All right. Fantastic. Thank you, Thomas Presley. Uh Mike McCarti Louis Avalonian for Aaron 1017 FM710key keel.com back [music] with more of Mike and McCarti on 1017 FM and 710 Keel. Today the [music] final day of the Louisiana legislative session and our legislators getting ready to head back home on the Jack Spring Electric Newsmaker hotline. Senator Thomas Presley joining us. Uh let's talk about uh the new congressional map that is now law. The governor signed it on Friday. Isn't that correct? Uh I believe that's right. We we've passed it and I know that the governor signed it, but I'm not sure which day. Yeah, I think he signed it on Friday. So this uh when you look at the map, Thomas, it it it at least it looks like it makes more sense. there's not a a a big snaking district running through from one corner of the state to the other. I think it makes a lot more sense than the prior map. Uh and the Supreme Court ruled that that map was unconstitutional. We were told that we uh had to go in and and draw a map that was not racially gerrymandered. Um and that's exactly what we did. We drew a map based on u regionalities and based on uh political uh means. Um, and it's a it's a 51 Republican Democrat map. Um, and I think that that's the way that uh it should should be. I think it's a good quality map for Northwest Louisiana, making sure that Speaker Johnson's district is uh very uh strong. Um, and and we're excited for that [clears throat] map to be put in place for the fall. So, Senator, when you look at the constitutional amendments when all of them failed, you know, aside from the merits and and certainly we can discuss the merits of each of those constitutional amendments and the popularity of them, do you think there's some greater underlying theme here that the voters just don't trust the state government? No doubt about it. And I have to tell you, before I got elected to the state government, uh to the state house, um I actually was one of the people that voted no on every constitutional amendment. I think our constitution is too cumbersome. Um and we've got to do something on that that ground. The challenge that we have is you have two options on fixing our constitution. One is to do it through amendment, amendment by amendment, and the second one is to have a constitutional convention. The challenge with having a constitutional convention is that you have some some things that we don't want to touch and we don't want to allow uh the members of that con constitutional convention to uh go in and and affect um some things. And so there's just this this challenge of the lack of trust uh which is well-earned uh for for the record. Um, but I think that that is is part of the complex nature of how do we how do we explain to the voters what we're trying to do with our constitutional amendments, uh, which is really cleaning up a lot of the constitution. So, what what is next as far as the going back to the congressional map? What is that's obviously now law, so it takes effect for the next election. What how is this going to affect the next election? That's exactly right. So, it'll it'll be in effect for the fall. Um, there will be qualifying in August. Um, and the jungle primary system, which Louisiana has been used to, will be in effect for uh the congressional races because of the fact that we have a time uh a time limitation on that. We got the the Cala decision telling us that we had to change our maps uh at near the end of session. uh and we went in and and redrrew those maps uh effectively. Um but we had had to change the way that we did our um our elections from a closed primary uh to a jungle primary uh because of the late time that we got the the the change in those maps. And that that's just such an odd phrase, jungle primary, but I think a lot of people are are more used to it's obviously used to that way of uh of the the elections, anybody being able to vote in the election. That's exactly right. I think that that um that that has been the historical way of doing it in Louisiana. Um, we changed that when we came into office in 2024. Um, and that was a push by the legislature and by the governor. Um, and this this change for this election, uh, and it only applies to this this congressional election, um, will be a a jungle primary. Let's talk about inspection stickers. Are they finally are they finally gone? Has this been starting approved? It it has been uh it's gotten through the legislative process. I'm not sure the governor if the governor assigned it, but I know that he spoke about it during his his opening speech for session on on it being one of his priorities. Um so we are uh I guess waiting his signature or it has been signed that will go into effect January 1st of 2027. Okay. So, uh, we're going to go, what is the, uh, a QR code system, which a lot a lot of people, myself included, don't really understand the point of that if if all of this going to allow is the the vehicle V. But hey, if we don't have to go get an inspection every year or every two years, I'm fine. I I certainly understand uh your perplexed nature on that [laughter] one. I I think if we're getting rid of them, we should have just gotten rid of them. But um unfortunately, that wasn't the the option that we had this year. And I know I know the state police was getting uh a majority of that funding, the $10 fee that we were uh paying, and it's now going to a $6 fee. So, the state police is still going to be getting funding from that. So, and and I get that, but again, I don't really understand the QR code, but hey, well, I know Senator Seall was on uh last week or the week before and and he said, "Why don't we just raise the the cost of the registration, which I happen to completely agree with that u so I'm not I'm not sure the nature of the QR code, but uh but that's the way we are." And in our last in our last minute or so, lawmaker pay raises. Where are we on that? Yeah. So, we had um uh that bill come to the state senate uh last week. We took out the um pay raise and uh for the governor. Um we added an unvouchered housing allowance for our statewide officials uh of $1,000 so that we could have statewide officials that that live in other parts of the state. Um, we also alloc allocated a $500 um, expense allowance for statewide officials. Um, and then we allowed for legislators to have the option to take a perdem when we're not in session. So, when we're in session, we have the the um perdem allowance that that allows us to to be down here. Um, and when we're not in session right now, you're not able to to take any um additional dollars. your salary covers your your expenses. Um, and what we did is we allowed for the perbeam as well as mileage. You have to remember a lot of the Senate districts, mine's actually pretty compact. Um, but some of the Senate districts, Alan Seall is a prime example. I mean, he goes from Shri for to Alexandria. Um, and he wasn't able to get mileage for that. So, we did change that. So, there you're able to get the mileage. Senator, do we are we we got about 30 seconds. Today's the last day of the legislature, but the legislature I mean the legislators, they still go down to Baton Rouge for committee meetings pretty much throughout the year. Is that fair to say? That's correct. I'm down here uh probably two to three times a month, every month. Um, I sit on finance and and during the offseason we have the joint legislative committee on the budget uh where we're making sure that we're um that our agencies are using those dollars efficiently and effectively uh for the state taxpayers. Um so we are down here a a decent amount uh even during the offseason. But during this during the session, we're down here at least 4 days a week um for the 75 days of session and then during the offseason, I'm I'd say I'm down here three to four two to three to four days a month, depending on the month. Well, thank you for your service. I very honored to to represent the great people of Northwest Louisiana. Uh it's truly what gets me out of bed in the morning and I I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to fight for our region of the state and to try to do everything we can to give the people the great people of Northwest Louisiana Anna everything that they deserve and more. Senator Thomas Presley. Well, look, thanks. Look forward to you getting back home. I'm looking forward to that as well. Uh and I appreciate the opportunity to to come on this morning. Thanks so much. Thanks for the update. We'll talk to you soon. Mike McCarti, Lewis Avalon, and for Aaron 1017 FM7. [music] Sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're just not big enough. So, here's a big reminder from the California Lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is [music] over 300 million. Play now. Please play responsibly. Must be 18 years older to purchase player. Let's get back to the show with Mike and McCarti on 1017 FM and 710 Keel. [music] [music] [music] 1017 FM [music] 710 KE Mccardi Aaron on vacation. Thomas Avalone joining us this morning. It's the Avalon Brothers Week. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for coming out. Absolutely. It's always a real treat to be here with you folks. We uh we got a busy morning. We got Richard Llewelling uh coming up later. This it's a national or it's a hurricane season. Yeah. Started yesterday. We'll get a we'll get an update from him. Dr. Kate Brumley going to be joining us. Uh, also I'm always fun. Mike and Mark Mangum, Twin Blends Northwest Louisiana History Hunters. Oh, wow. They're always a blast. Uh, coming in in the 8:00 hour. They got a big big award. What's that from? Got a big Oh. Oh. Uh, it's a major award. Award. Major Award. Thank you. Major award. Uh, we'll we'll be talking to them uh in the 8:00 hour. Micah Mccardi with Thomas Avalonian for Aaron 1017 FM710.com. Now [music] more breaking news and trending talk with Mike and McCarti on [music] 1017 FM and 710 Keel. So wait, [music] what started that? We were talking about filming in Shreport. We had the film industry here. Oh yeah, for sure. For a for and and gosh, it was when it was going, it was going to when I when I first started working here, I was still doing some work with them over at Stage Works. I I did audition. I think you you were in um year one. Yes, I did. I did an audition for year one. Didn't get anything. I was uh I was actually they they hired me on to begin with on year one to be Jack Black's standin. Unfortunately, Jack Black lied about his height. [laughter] Uh oh. So, he was I'm 5'8. He's 5'5. He said he was 5'8 on his sheet. Wow. And that really makes a difference doing the lighting and stuff, I guess. Well, as far as setting up the cameras and everything goes. Yeah. That three in you had to hunch down a bit. No, I just they just they had to get somebody else. They strapped they strapped a fake beard on me and put me as an extra. Okay. [laughter] Yeah. I had a buddy that was an extra in that film as well and he was working I guess it was shot at night. It was being shot at at there were a lot of scenes shot at night. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It was it was it was wild. It was a wild experience. I did a I did an I was just telling you I did an audition for a film prize film. One of the girls that was here when they were filming Salem, right? Yeah. You remember the was it TNT? What was the network that that was on? Oh, g uh USA maybe. Was it USA? I think it was USA. Okay. And uh and she was producing a film and and I read with another girl that was sitting at the table kind of small. And then I kept going, God, you look familiar. You look familiar. And she and she spoke with the British accent, you know, and we we read the read and I nailed the audition. Didn't get the part, but that was another story. Uh and I asked another girl outside. And I said, "Who was that that I read with?" I said, "She looks so familiar." Oh, that was Lucy Lawless. [laughter] Wait a minute. That was Zena Warrior Princess. She's [laughter] very unassuming. First of all, she's tiny. Yeah. Yeah. They they make her look real tall in Zena. Even in Parks and Wreck, when she was Ron Swanson's wife, she looked normal size, right? I don't know how they do that. Well, but if they make Tom Cruz look normal, they can Yeah. Yeah. The guy who plays Ron Swanson isn't that tall. I guess not. No, not at all. Cuz his his wife is that lady from uh Oh, she's hilarious. Oh, well, what's Megan? Megan Melania. Yeah. And she's super tiny. She's really really small. Okay. The them in parks and wreck that that whole story line. [laughter] Sorry. Hilarious. But anyway, I read with Lucy Lawless and had no idea who it was. Wow. Wow. I think that might be an Australian accent. Maybe maybe New Zealand. Oh, was she? Okay. New Zealand. I think that that sounds right. Right. That sounds right. Well, that's why you didn't know who she was. She was Well, that was Yeah. Part of it. Yeah. I had no idea. And of course, when they're out of their element. Oh, yeah. When she doesn't have the long straight black hair and the uh the the I guess you would call it armor. I never watched Zena, but I knew her from Parks and Wreck. Right. Right. Uh, but I mean I'd seen Zenite I knew I knew of it. How could you miss it? But but talking about Out of their Element when when I worked at Channel 3, one of the guys that I worked with came back in and he sat down at his desk and he goes, "I'm at Books and uh uh Barnes & Noble. We used to go to Barnes & Noble and get coffee a lot." He goes, "And I'm I'm standing in one of the aisles and I look over and there's an older lady in there, a big floppy hat and kind of an old lady." And he goes, "Gosh, is that one of my teachers?" I know her. I wonder. And he goes, I could couldn't figure it out. And she kind of stood up and started walking towards me and went past. He goes, "Freaking Diane Keaton." Oh, wow. [laughter] Annie Hall right [laughter] there in our Barnes & Noble. He said no clue when he was standing there who she was. Well, at that time that was a pretty common occurrence. You were always hearing about someone running into somewhere. I saw Jack Black at the Duck Pond or uh you know Jimmy Fallon and and and his crew so many so many people have Jimmy Fallon stories from back in the day, right? Yeah. See, I didn't know he was here. He was around. Yeah, he was he was doing something. I'm I don't remember what. He was on Factory Girl. Oh, yeah. I some another friend of mine said they were at Outback. Uhhuh. And it was she and her daughter and in those booths, you know, and they had the high backs on those booths at Outback. And she go her daughter stopped and goes, "Mom, listen. It's Kevin Cosner in the booth behind her at the Outback." At Outback. Oh, wow. Why not? And and she goes, "I want to get a picture." And after he finished to get up, she stopped him and goes, "Oh, do you mind?" You know, he goes, "Not at all." He goes, "And thank you for letting me finish my meal." Oh, yeah. [laughter] Yeah. You know, they were so grateful. Anyway, uh Thomas Avalonian in for Aaron Mike McCarti 1017 FM 710 Keel. Sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're just not big enough. So, here's a big reminder [music] from the California Lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 million. Play now. Please [music] play responsibly. Must be 18 years or older to purchase player. Stories of the day with [music] Mike and McCarti on 1017 FM and 710 Q. [music] I feel like a horrible parent. I got to tell you, I feel like my my my wife is she's she's uh out of town. Okay. So, I'm taking care of the dogs and and and one of our dogs has a tick on the back of her ear. Yeah, I heard about this tick. [sighs] It's still there. Well, I thought you were going to get on that. I Well, I tried I I got this little tick extraction kit thing, but the but I'm by myself, right? And I picked up I even picked up a muzzle yesterday. Okay. To go, okay, let me let me try the muzzle and I'll try to hold her. The problem is she thrashes about like a great white. Well, sure. With a seal, right? She's a pit, right? Well, she's part Yeah, but that the problem is the tick on the ear is very very sore and tender. Right. Right. So, I can't even touch her ear when she yelps and and so my vet retired. I texted him last night and I said, "I need some help." [laughter] Right. And he says, "Oh," he goes, "I would come over and help you." He goes, "But I'm in West Virginia or something." So, I got to find a vet. I got to find somebody cuz this this now it's not it doesn't seem to bother her unless I touch it, right? I mean, she's eating and running around and hey, life's fine. Unless I try to touch it, right? Dug in. Dogs that size when when you try to hold them down to do something they don't want you to do, they turn into alligators. Exactly. That's it. They go into death rolls. They I had her on the bed and I'm like, "Okay, I've got to I'm kind of holding her, but now I got no hands to work on the ear." And so, you need backup. [laughter] Yeah. So, I I I guess I need to I need to find I need to find a vet. Sure. Well, I mean, are you're very involved at the um Humane Society. I got to call the girls, one of some of the girls over there, and go, "Hey, I need some help with with her." I'm sure they know someone. Even the even the muzzle didn't help cuz I just don't have enough hands. It's just going to alarm. And it did. And it's just making her right. Right. So even this morning when I'm feeding them, she was standing there and and and she kind of looked at me and I reached down and ped her on the head and reached over and she didn't like run. So I thought, "Let me try. Let me try while she's eating." Right. Nah. Didn't help. Didn't help. So yeah. Yeah. I one of the other shows I do, we had one of the guys from J&J exterminating on. He said fleas and ticks are bad this year. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Super super bad. Great. Yeah. Yeah. I guess cuz we have we gotten a lot of water. I don't think so. Not Not like any more than usual. Not Not that I I don't I don't know what makes them spring up more than usual or whatever, but I I didn't quite understand that point. But yeah, they they're apparently super bad this year. Okay. Well, we've got Richard Llewelling with the Weather Channel joining us after the news top of the hour. Uh, hurricane season started yesterday, first day of hurricane season. But I'm going to make a note. Let's ask him about fleas and ticks. I think you should. He might [laughter] have some experience in this. What will a meteorologist meteorologist know about fleas and ticks? But, but we'll find out. All right. Thomas Avalonian info Aaron Micah Mccardi 1017 FM 710 Keel and on that free Keel app sticky notes email alerts a string around your finger they're just not [music] big enough. So here's a big reminder from the California lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 million. Play now. Please play [music] responsibly. You must be 18 years or older to purchase player flying. [music] 1017 FM 710 Keel [music] Mike McCarti Aaron on vacation. Thomas Avalone in studio for Aaron. Richard Llewelling with the weather channel on the Jack Spring Electric Newsmaker hotline. Richard, good morning. Good morning. How are you this morning? Well, I'm doing very well. It's a beautiful morning. already getting hot. But uh yesterday, first day of hurricane season, what can we expect? I hear it's going to be what? A little below average. A little bit below average. We do have a strong El Nino that is uh kind of dictating the terms on exactly uh how this hurricane season's going to play out. But, you know, I was going back through the records and, you know, strong El Ninos are not good for Louisiana in regards to hurricane development. In fact, it looks like usually what we look at uh is more activity for the western Gulf in these strong El Nino years. Uh, so I think this is going to be one of these years that we're probably going to be talking quite a bit uh in regards to um, you know, dealing with storms down the road, especially as we get further along into the hurricane season. I was going back through, you know, through all the hurricane records all the way back to the 1950s and every time we've had a strong El Nino, there's been at least one major hit on the Louisiana coast. We've seen that in 1957 with Audrey with Andrew in 1992. We had impacts from Danny in 1997 and we also had Lily in 2002 that brought some uh impacts and damage down to south central and southwestern Louisiana. So, I think this is going to be a year where we're going to be looking at potential impacts for Louisiana in regards to hurricanes as we move further along into the season. Now we know El Nino means the Nino. What what ex what exactly is El Nino? What does it do? Well, that El Nino is the warming of the waters in the Pacific. Uh so you know in a strong El Nino that basically has a uh a reaction effect in the Atlantic. It kind of increases the shear and cools the water temperatures in the Atlantic. So it kind of cuts down the amount of hurricanes. I think the concern for the Gulf Coast is going to be, you know, close in tropical development. Stuff that comes down with a jetream like the system that we saw yesterday that basically went from Missouri all the way down into the Gulf and has made its way down into the Gulf waters this morning. And basically what you got to watch out for is development in those warm Gulf waters. And you know, water temperatures in the Gulf could support tropical development any time from here on until we get to November. So this is kind of one of these deals you kind of have to keep an eye on what happens in the western Caribbean and Gulf in regards to you know uh development and that's usually also a bad sign because of the fact that when you have close tropical development the time is much shorter for preparation. So you know that's one of the reasons that we're kind of telling folks they need to be prepared as we move on through this season. start preparing now for what may come down the road. And of course, us in northwest Louisiana, uh it's not as critical, but as we have seen uh in the not tooistant past, we can get impacted by by hurricanes as they make their way up from Houston. I'm thinking Rita and of course um uh Katrina. Yeah, we do get we do get effects up in up this far north. Yeah, we're you know shreport sits 200 miles from the Gulf. You know, even though you know we are that far inland, you know what we are dealing with is usually the inland impacts and they could be as worse uh than some of the impacts that they're going to have down on the coast. Usually it comes in the form of tornadoes and flooding that's always seemed to be the real concern for northwest Louisiana and East Texas. So that's one of the things that we have to keep our eyes on. Of course, yes, you know, depending on the speed and how fast the system is moving as it's moving inland could send, you know, hurricane impacts further inland. We saw that uh a couple of years ago with a system that rolled up through Florida into Georgia and the Carolas. It caused tremendous damage in the western Carolas. you know, you know, when you have a system moving, you know, 25, 30 miles per hour inland at a rapid rate, it can cause significant impacts and bring a lot of damage further inland. So, that's the other thing. You know, it's not just a coastal thing. This is something that inland locations hundreds of miles inland have to deal with. Now, yesterday was the very first day. What are what are you looking at? When could we start seeing activity? They say about 8 to 14 named storms. Yeah, I think that probably, you know, you know, if you go back through the the records, you know, especially that 1957 year, you know, with Audrey, you know, that happened in late June and that that became a category 4 hurricane in late June. So, you know, even in the next couple of weeks, we kind of have to keep our eyes on things that may develop close in. So, you know, anytime between now, you know, and the end of hurricane season, which happens to be at the end of November, we're going to have to keep our eyes out. Right now, that Noah gives it a 55% chance that we're going to have a below normal season, but only a 10% chance of above normal uh activity as we move along through the season. 8 to 14 name storms, 3 to six of those could be hurricanes, and one to three major hurricanes. And you know, to go back to 1992 with Hurricane Andrew, you know, there were only seven named storms that year, but Andrew was the top banana. It was a cat 5 when it hit South Florida, a cat 3 when it hit South Central Louisiana. It was the costliest storm up until we've had all these others in the 2000s, you know. So, you can't just say it's, you know, it's going to be a nonchalant season. It only takes one storm to cause all types of problems. Now, Richard, um, now Mike, forgive me. I know that you, Mike's dealing with a little bit of a problem at home, uh, that he wanted to bounce off you, Richard, if you would indulge us for a moment. He He's got a u he's got a a dog at home with a a real pesky tick. And so we were talking earlier off the air about fleas and ticks and and what what what role does the weather and humidity and moisture play as far as when fleas and ticks are more of a problem versus less of a problem? Well, you know, it's it's you know, we've had quite a bit of rain. There's been quite a bit of moisture. you know, that's that stirs up not only just fleas and ticks, but mosquitoes and all other things. Of course, everybody's seen the video of the termite swarms down in southern Louisiana, uh, that's that's been showing up here as of late, you know, so, you know, pests are definitely on the move and they are basically being impacted by weather right now. So, you know, there is all types of issues with that. you know, um, hire an extermin hire an exterminator and make sure that you spray and and make sure that your pets are being taken care of in these hot tropical, you know, times of the month that we're going to be dealing with coming up here because they will start to feel the impacts as well, you know. So, you know, weather does play a role in exactly how insects are being impacted by this. You know, now's the time to start thinking about that as we start moving into the heat of summer. Richard Lewelling with the Weather Channel. Thanks for the input, Richard. And we'll stay in touch. Thanks, guys. Talk to you soon. Micah McCarti, Aaron on vacation. Thomas Avalone in for Aaron. 1017fm 710.com. Sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're [music] just not big enough. So, here's a big reminder from the California Lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 [music] million. Play now. Please play responsibly. You must be 18 years or older to purchase Blair Flyer. Mike and McCarti on [music] 1017 FM N710 Keel Thomas Avalon [music] in for the vacationing Aaron McCarti. Mike Mccardi, you mentioned earlier during during one of the breaks we were talking [music] uh you just you served on a jury. I did. For a murder trial. For a murder trial. You got the big one. I know. you know, if you're going to go, go. Can you talk about it now? I mean, I guess it's already over. I guess I can talk about it. It uh I mean, it certainly was an educational experience for me as far as how the uh judicial system operates. And uh I got called in for a federal trial, but then I got a letter saying I don't need to report. I don't know. Something happened. You know, that has been my experience typically as well. you call the night before and they say, you know, something, you know, changed or was rescheduled. But that was not the case here. It was about a three or 4 day commitment, which of course that is a when the lawyers interview, you just look at them go until they're guilty by the look in their eyes. Well, you know, there was a lot of that. [laughter] Um, and I think a lot go, thank you. You're dismissed. Right. And I I suspect a lot of that was intentional as far as when they were interviewing [laughter] the jurors. You know, everyone had a variety of things to say about why they couldn't be there or why it was a big hassle. So, how long was your case? How long were you there? Were you sequestered? It was No, no, it was it was three I mean, it was uh uh if you It was three days counting the day where the jury was selected. So, it was just it was just about a two-day trial. Okay. And uh was it like the movies? You know, it it it's it's a lot more boring, isn't it? Yeah. And and you know, especially, you know, in the day and age of uh of uh so much video, I think it makes things a lot more cut and dry. Um but uh but it certainly uh you know it it showed and and just due to the nature of that of that case it it it kind of highlights uh perhaps this was a downtown shooting wasn't it? It was it was a it was revol it revolved around a shooting downtown and um you know just uh getting a glimpse of uh and like we were talking about off the air there there there was a time where I may have found myself downtown late at night. I think those days are long behind me. Uh but I think that there is a reason why, you know, uh I know that my my my parents used to tell me nothing good happens after midnight. That that seeing something like this really drives that really drives that home. And and to clarify, those days are behind you because you're married with what? Two kids and another one about to That's right. appear one on the way. Yes. Yeah. There's there's there's less time to be uh uh lolly gagging downtown. Uh but not that that can't be fun when handled responsibly and when you're not looking for trouble or to hurt anyone. And uh you know, but I think at the same time it it does and I know it's an unpopular thing to say. You know, downtown is often a touchy subject. I think that generally it's pretty safe, but I think that we might have a little bit of a problem there. Well, well, we got to do the news. Uh, but we'll we'll definitely go into that on another break. Dr. Kate Brumley, superintendent of education joining us after the news bottom of the hour. Mccardi, Thomas Avalon, and for Aaron, 1017 FM 710.com. Let's get back [music] to the show with Mike and McCarti on 1017 FM and 710 Keel. Well, Aaron's [music] taking a little time off. Thomas Avalon in studio for Aaron. Coming up after the break, Dr. Kate [music] Rumley, Louisiana Superintendent of Education joining us 1017 FM 710 Keel and on the free KE app. [music] Sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're just not big enough. So, here's a big [music] reminder from the California Lottery. Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 million. Play now. Please play responsibly. [music] Must be 18 years older to purchase player. Breaking news and trending talk with Mike McCarti on 1017 [music] FM and 710. Kearon [music] on vacation. Thomas Avalone in for air and on the Jack Spring electric news maker hotline superintendent of education Dr. Kate Brumley joining us. Dr. Brumley, good morning sir. Well, with with Aaron out, you guys will do. I guess you guys will do. How's it going? I know. Thank you so much for agreeing to stay on with us this morning. We appreciate it. Hey, let's talk about uh the governor really is pushing for pay raise for teachers across the state of Louisiana and I know they're looking at changes in MFP funding. What's tell can you tell us the latest on what's going on with all that? Well, I believe the governor is making an announcement uh in short order. Um and so we'll we'll all know more uh very soon. I do know that uh he's he's very committed to making sure that uh teachers uh are not losing any um uh pay this year. And so uh what I heard from his press conference last week was that he intended to make sure that teachers were provided that. Uh and then furthermore beyond today, working alongside legislative leadership to uh study the MFP a little more to see if there's some ways to shift funding around within that um stream so that more of that money can be directed towards teacher pay. Um so that that will be a study that takes place over the second half of the year as I appreciate that. Um and then as as I said, I think more information about a a stipen for teachers will be coming out very soon. That's what I understand that they may not be able to get it done this year, but uh they they are working on at at least continuing with the stipened for this year. That that is that is to the best of my understanding as of this morning. I I would also uh just reiterate the point I've made with you all before which is that for you know for local school systems the the most important uh investment that that they they make is in the teachers uh so that they can provide for the needs of the students. And so programs are good, initiatives in good are good, endeavors are good, but you know, at at the end of the day, absolutely the most important thing is is providing a teacher for every child. And sometimes, you know, we've talked about this before and and you know, our office has has been involved in Northwest Louisiana before in this, but making sure that systems are rightsized and making sure they're efficient uh so that they can properly pay their teachers. Uh Dr. Brumley, for those that may not be uh familiar, could you explain to us exactly what is M MFP and and how that works? Yeah. No, that's a a great question. So, um, through our constitution in Louisiana, uh, it sets forth that the board of elementary and secondary education, Bessie, um, will establish an MFP, a minimum funding, minimum foundation program, uh, that sets forth what is the minimum dollar that it takes to educate a a child in Louisiana. And so within that formula, uh there are are various weights for different things such as, you know, a student with a disability uh may prompt more weight to a local school system because there are additional things that might need to be provided or uh if you're referencing a student involved in career and technical education, there are additional things that might be involved to understand how to weld or or work on a car, those types of things. The other thing that it accounts for uh is local funding. So if a if a local community, a local parish has the ability to um fund itself more because of the local economy, then the state actually chips in less. Um and if the local economy doesn't have a tax base, then the state actually chips in more. Um and and so this is this has been in in place for decades, you know, and as state superintendent of education, I I don't consider myself the defender of the MFP. Um however, we implement it and um uh we we do the the the best that we can to help uh local systems uh think about ways in which to use their finances to be more efficient. You know, I I am um I am such a proponent of making sure that that local systems are right-sized uh and that they're using those tax dollars well and they're not bloated. And so we we want to always make sure that we're working with those systems to push them in that way. Uh and it and it and we seem to be making progress, but but obviously there's still room to do on the teacher pay front. Well, we know we're we're now into into summer. We're talking with Dr. Kade Brumley, Louisiana Superintendent of Education. Dr. Brumley, we know some uh some schools in Cattle Parish are are on the bubble with the failing grade. Where are we on on looking at those schools toward next year? Yeah. Well, a few things here. One, I just have to give a shout out to our our entire state, you know, whether it's it's teachers or parents or or policy leaders or community members. When the um education report card came out uh I mean the education scorecard came out from Harvard and Stanford uh a few weeks ago, Louisiana was number one in the nation for academic improvement from 2022 to 2026. We were we were number one in reading growth um and we were number two in math growth among all the states and we were number one overall. So, uh, we h we have never performed, uh, or ranked higher than we ranked right now on the nation's report card. We've moved from 49th to 32nd. So, a lot of good work. Now, specifically, you mentioned CAD. you you recall uh a couple or three years ago, we worked with the system through our RSD, the recovery school district, and and basically asked CAD to make some smart decisions to rightsize, to make some smart decisions to uh move kids into higher performing schools. And I think at that time our our intervention touched, you know, seven schools, I think, um including closure of a of a few schools. And so at that point after that work, we said we wanted to let that work settle for a while um and see if at a later point we need to go back and explore. And so uh once we get into the fall, uh we'll be looking at at those new numbers and seeing if if there would be additional intervention. But I I do want to to say that when when we at the state got involved with this situation about 3 years ago in Kado where there were too many kids in failing schools and and they weren't operating effect effectively um or efficiently. Uh the Kado school system did the right thing and so hopefully they can continue to do that. But we will be looking at those numbers again in the fall. So, I think we've got six schools um in in Cattle Parish with with failing grades. And when will you get the results? Will it be the fall before you get like testing results from this past year? Yeah. So, our our our testing results, the the raw data will be made available uh this summer, probably late July, early August. Okay. Uh and then that will that will turn into a letter grade score uh once all the calculations are done. That will turn into a letter grade score uh probably in October. And so that's that's really the point when we'll look at that and and we'll start making decisions for the spring. So for instance, uh we're just coming through a cycle where uh we've made some interventions in failing schools throughout the state in parish in other parishes, not not Kat um but but we have we have worked this spring um on school mergers and and closures and takeovers uh in a few areas where schools were historically failing kids and and so that's what we did in Kado a few years ago and we'll regroup again in the fall and and look at the that next set of work. But we are, you know, we are deeply committed as an agency to making sure that we are we are making sure that kids have access to higher quality uh schools. And so we we'll keep that work going. So then there's no plans on closing schools for the 20 2026 27 school year then? Not in Kado Parish from Parish Department of Education. right now there there are in in other parishes and we've we've worked through that already so that those schools would be closed or merged for next school year but again those are those are in other parishes and and that was a similar approach to what we used in Kado a few years ago Dr. Brumley we always appreciate your input thank you for talking with us yeah guys thanks have a great day yes sir we'll talk to you soon Dr. K Brumley, Louisiana Superintendent of Education, Donna Avalonian for Aaron Mike McCarti, 1017 FM, 710key.com. Back with McCarti [music] on 1017 FM and 710key. [music] Well, we were talking earlier about the [music] the film industry when it was here. It was good. I uh I spent a month on set for [music] the mist. I I remember the mist. Gosh, that was an awesome experience. Frank Darab, you know, the the the casting guy called me. I I'll never forget it cuz I was heading toward Dallas. I was in my car heading toward Dallas and uh he called and said, "Uh, hey, Mike. I I've I've got a project coming up that uh they're they're looking for extras and I had already had a few speaking roles so I didn't want to do extra work anymore. Not that I'm some [laughter] Kevin Coer or anything but Oh, Mike, don't say that. You're just you're talking crazy now. Yeah. Right. So, I [snorts] told him I said, "Uh, man, thanks, but uh I really I don't want to do extra work anymore." And he goes, "Well, the this is kind of different. The director really wants extras." who can act. Sure. Okay. And he he said, "It's it's the a lot of the action takes place in a grocery store." And he goes, "And uh the director is Frank Darabont." And I said, "Oh, when do I show up?" Right. [laughter] Of course. Oh my gosh. And for those that don't know, Frank Darabont directed Shaw Shank Redemption, The Green Mile. I mean, just legendary. And he The Walking Dead, he was and he went on to do Yeah. The Walking Dead. And and um so I was like, "Yeah." And and I was I was fortunate I wasn't one of the people in the grocery store that got killed off immediately. You got to hang around. I got to hang around for like a month, right? You know, the the Mist is criminally underrated as a movie. I I think so, too. I'd say it it it got for some reason when it was released it got a bad rap but now like because of the ending it you know [laughter] that is a real bummer that you not not to spoil it or anything but that that ending is a super bummer and and and Frank Darabont wrote that ending. Yeah really and Stephen King said I wish I would have come up with that. So it's a different ending from the book from the book. From the short story. Yeah. It's a It's based on a on a short a short story. Um it was like a series of short stories. Yes. King. Yeah. It was Yeah. And so um now where did they build that set? In u Stage Works. Stage Works. It was an entire grocery store. It was incredible. It was an awesome experience. Who was the lead in that? I can see Thomas Jane. Oh, that's right. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. The Punisher. Thomas Jane. And um the uh I know I forgot the little British actor's name. Oh, Toby. Toby. Uh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh he he he played uh [laughter] Yeah. Off the top of my head, but but I he was the store manager, right? And and and when he was in character, he was American. And then I remember the first time I heard him speak after he was talking to Frank and he was asking questions about I was like, "Dude, you [laughter] talk funny." We we call that getting housed. Yes. Yeah. Yes. You've been housed. Toby Jones. Toby Jones. Toby Jones. Bob Hoskins did that to me as a [laughter] kid. Oh yes. Yeah, cuz I saw B in Who Frame Roger Rabbit and a bunch of where he's talking like this and then all of a sudden he's in Hook and he's like, man, he does a really good British accent. [laughter] Oh, wait. Right. Uh, excited. Twin Blends twins going to be joining us after the news. Top of the hour. Always fun. Mccardi 101 7 FM 710 Keel. [music] [music] 1017 FM 710 Keel [music] Mike and McCarti Thomas Avalon in for the vacationing Aaron McCartney in studio. Uh two guy y'all y'all are more famous than us. No, whatever. In for Mike [laughter] in Mike and Mark Mangum, Twin Blends, Northwest Louisiana History Hunters. Uh, first of all, thanks for coming out. Thanks for asking us. Thanks for um, let's talk about this 2026 Spirit of Louisiana Community Awards. What is this and how did this come about? You want to tell them? Yes. Yes. We got a call from Christy close to that Christy D. Young uh works in Mike Johnson's office, a friend of ours, and she called us the other day and she said, "Are y'all both together?" Cuz uh and she told us, she said, "Y'all going to be honored among other people at uh Speaker Johnson's coming in town and y'all going to be honored with a a congressional commendation and it's the 2026 Spirit of Louisiana Community Award for our work in the community with Twin Blends." And we were blown away. We were so excited. And so they had it last Thursday, Thursday. Last Thursday. And we got there and we were got to go up on stage and receive the award accommodation and a little challenge coin. I say it's a ch it's a big challenge coin. It's really nice. Anyway, and we It's a big medallion. Yeah, it's a big medallion. So, the speaker of the house and and his logo and and we were able to get pictures and all that with there. And as soon as we went across the stage, he introduced us and he said, "These guys, this is Twin Blends Northwest Louisiana History Hunters. Everybody knows who they are. Matter of fact, their their post come up on my feed every morning and we were like first thing every morning. We were like blown away. We thought that was so awesome. So now the problem is those medallions, they just had some leftover ones with Nancy Pelosy's name on them. [laughter] That was why you're going to get us in trouble. Yeah, you are. You are. Did y'all each get one or do you We each got one and each got a certificate, too. The lady asked us which was which. So behind the stage, so we had to uh I had to tell her I'm Mark. I want mine. Not mine. Yeah, Mark almost didn't get in the place. Oh yeah, his name went. We went to the desk and they had Mike and my dad and my sister and Danny and my Dandy, younger friend, and they said, "We can't find Mark anywhere." And I thought I was going to have to leave, but no, they flipped the page and they found me in a little small way down way down low. And and Mike says, "That's how it should be, right?" That's right. That's right. They invited me, but they felt bad and so they [laughter] they said, "Well, we got to have Mark." You know, we got to have Mark. So wrong. You're older, though, right? I am three minutes older. Believe me. Three minutes of my life. Oh [laughter] my gosh. [cough] Now they could have just invited one of you and just taken two pictures. Well, yeah, they could, I guess. And now with AI, you don't need either one of you. Yeah. Just AI. Well, it was a great experience, man. We were so excited to be there. And so, a lot of other people were there getting awards, too. And so, just to be in that group, it was just awesome. So, and let's while we're talking about uh Speaker Mike Johnson, of course, from here. Um it's pretty cool. One of the one of his staff. Yes. [sighs and gasps] It's It's my dentist's son. That's right. Our dentist's son, too. Our cousin. Your cousin. I know. His family. Um he was when I first met uh um if you want to say his name, Ryan Walker, right? Yeah. Ryan Walker. Ryan Walker is our cousin. His son Jack is the one that works in Mike Johnson. We did Lay Miz years ago. And Jack was Gavro, which is the little boy in the show who who has a has a song and then who is killed on the on the barricade. Um and uh and he was phenomenal and I knew that that's a special kid. He then he went off to run Miss Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Mississippi State. Mississippi State. I know. Waiting for y'all to say something. Uh he basic I mean he was student council president there and then and then goes and he's working for the speaker of the house. That's got to be awesome for him. I know his grandparents, our cousin Ronnie and Jody Walker are so proud. And his his parents Ryan and Stephanie, they're Walker. They're proud too. Great family. Great family. great role models growing up. To y'all, uh we we were on the other side. Black sheep. I guess they weren't good enough role models. No, [laughter] no, they were they were awesome. They are awesome people. I just wanted to mention Jack and and his like you say wonderful family and I got to work with his uncle uh for years and and we're all still Yeah. Steven Walker. We're all still very Stephen and all them. They're just they're a fa Well, I shouldn't say go. [laughter] That's Anyway, they're great. Awesome people. So, we love them. Mike and Mark Mangum, Twin Blends, Northwest Louisiana History Hunters. Let's take a quick break because I want to get into some of the work that y'all are doing. Uh, and congratulations on this community spirit award. Honestly, no kidding. Um, very welld deserved. Thank you. It was a shock to us. You know, we're we're used to honoring people and when this came back around on us, we were we didn't know what to think. We were just amazed. I I of course I love Shreport history. uh miss Eric Brock still to this day and and um but you guys are keeping that going and gosh very welld deserved. So let's take a break. We'll be back with Mike and Mark Mangum. I'm sorry Mark and Mike Mangum. No, you had it right first. Twin Blends Northwest Louisiana History Hunters Thomas Avalonian for Aaron 1017 FM 710 Keel. Let's get back to the show with Mike and McCarti on 1017 FM and 710 Keel. [music] [music] Mike and Mark Mangum, Twin Blends, Northwest Louisiana History Hunters in studio. Mikey McCarti, Thomas Avalone in for the vacationing. Aaron McCarti. Um gosh, we were going to talk about you guys have gotten so much lined up. Are we doing the downtown walking tours? That's um eventually, but we got so much other stuff we have to get to first. And it's getting a little hot out there, too. So, Right. Right. Walking would be kind of hot. Yeah. Right. If we got enough interest. Yeah. So, tell us tell us what what what do we what do we have going on? Well, uh, this Wednesday we're speaking at the Oaks of Louisiana. Get close to that mic. Sorry. We're speaking at the Oaks of Louisiana. Uh, this this Wednesday at 5:00 pm. And then, uh, ne, uh, June 23rd, we're speaking at the desk and Derek having a presentation. Then July 23rd, we have First Baptist Church of Halton we're going to speak at. And then August 22nd, Mansfield Battle Park. We're going to do a Porter Fleet presentation. G, Dr. Gary Joiner will be there talking about that. And we're going to be up there. and we have a a presentation with and all of that's going to be AI video. We've got uh the steamboats that we've been pushing here recently. We've got AI video of the Red River raft and the steamboats coming up the Red River and it's neat because you actually see steamboats. You hear it and the steamboats coming up the river fleet some of we'll show some of that too and Bailey's Dam and all that. It's going to be fascinating. Now, when you speak at at certain and people can contact you and go, "Hey, we want you to speak at the ladies department club or whatever." Yeah. What what do you what do you talk on? Well, it depends on the topic. Like right now, the hot topic we're talking about is steamboats on the Red River. Everybody seems like they want to see that video. We just presented at the Glenn about two weeks ago and they absolutely loved it. And we had somebody else say they saw that and they wanted to do it at their presentation. Actually about two different people. They want to the groups. They want to see the steamboat presentation and hear us talking about the steamboats and stuff like that. And tell us about that. What is the steamboat presentation? Steamboat presentation. We debuted it, premiered it about uh 3 weeks to a month ago down at the Jay Bennett John Johnson Waterway uh visitors center. And what it is is we take uh pictures of the Red River raft, which people have seen over the years and black 1873. From 1873 Henry Miller that was 1830. This is when uh Lieutenant Eugene Woodruff cleared it the second time in 1873. Yeah. And so we have take those photos and also photos of steamboats that you've seen that along the Red River docked at Shreport. And we put that together and made it a moving picture video as you can see the steamboats actually steaming up the Red River. You can hear the people loading cotton and the steamboat whistles and the horses and we show pictures of downtown Streetport around that time. And and what's cool is like parts of the video it's like you're sitting on the bank watching an actual steamboat go by. You've seen the old photos, but you've never seen it come alive. People on steamboats are waving. There people going up and down with loading a cotton and you know then 1873 picture of Texas Street with wagons and people from actual pictures that we make move with a foot of Texas Street Bridge. There's a steamboat gym parked at the foot of Texas Street Bridge looking from the Boer side and you can see Commerce Street and it's dock there and people moving and the boat moving. It's so cool. Yeah. And I I've told this story about when I first met y'all. It was an art art walk. Art walk. And and I was just fascinated by the work that you did. And of course then it was I mean honestly it's not that long ago. It was Photoshop. That's right. You would take old pictures and blend them. Uhhuh. See what I did with with current That's right. current pictures. How has AI changed what you guys do now? Okay. First of all, we want to put a disclaimer out. We're not big fans of AI for the most part except when it comes to taking an old photo and making it move or colorizing it and then making it move for about 8 to 10 seconds so you can tell a story. Other than that, we're not big fans of it. But what's cool is when we started about 10 or 11 years ago, I mean, you'll go back and look some of our first stuff and to be honest with you, it wasn't that good. You know, [laughter] it years. But you've got to look at that. That was the time. Mike Mike does that. He's never had a course in computer. I don't know how he does this stuff. He just I watch him drag this stuff around, move the audio, this and that. And I said, "How do you learn how to do that?" He's just playing with the computer over the years for the last 10, well actually about 15 years. But anyway, what's cool is when we first started out, you can see how crude it is. And then it just develops as I was learning more and more. It just develops. And I told Mark, AI come along right at the peak, right when we were ready for it because it just transitions what we were doing into something even more because now we can colorize it. This would have taken me probably two days for one blend and colorizations whereas right now I can do it within probably two minutes each blending and it's it's it and it's so realistic and what we like is it's able to tell the story you we want to tell Shreport's history instead of just looking at the black and white picture you can be involved. I tell you a perfect example of that is I don't know if we mentioned that our one of our followers Rusty Bethley a songwriter wrote a wrote a song he wrote the lyrics and the song and he used his friend's voice and he put it to AI and he wrote a song Twin Blends and then when he sent it to us it was a fascinating song. So we made a music video out of it explains exactly what you do. So if you go to Twin Facebook search in Twin Blends music video and you'll see it. It explains what we do and it's just some pictures that you've seen for years. We colorize it and and make it move through video and have the great song with it and all the all the southern made all the stuff that you remember from back in the days on there. We we're able to honor like the photographers of the past in at the Grey Bills and stuff like that. We honor Eric Brock. Yeah, we dedicate to Eric Brock. So anyway, but if you want to know what Twin Blends is about, go to Facebook's type in Twin Blends music video and it shows us, you know, shows what we do. Now, when you were talking about um the uh the steamboat video, is that on your Facebook page? Right now, it's not. Well, we we're going to eventually we're saying that well, we're using it for presentations, you know, and it's, you know, it's, you know, it's helping us fund, you know, our pro, you know, our work. So, we have it in different presentations that we show, but people have asked that before, but right now, we're just showing it. And that's what people may not realize, especially when you first got started, you guys had full-time jobs. Yeah, we did. And and you did twin blends for free. Yeah. Just in your spare time. Yeah, we did speaking engagements. We did everything for free. And then, you know, so and then we learned, well, we've got to we've got to have, you know, better mind. And we got Yeah. And we do we have a Patreon account and we have u uh PayPal and people follow us and donate, you know, and they help us out. And then when we do speaking engagements, you know, for a fee, you know, it helps us. like we just ordered some better mics cuz microphones uh because we we did a video the other day and it just wasn't the sound quality wasn't good. So, we had luckily we had just gotten paid for a project and so we used that money uh you know to buy better mics and stuff. So, what'd you get? What'd you get? The they're the road mics, the square ones. They were a little pricey but you know we needed it because you know the projects we do got to hear us. People don't realize and you now understand. Yeah. Audio. That's my word. Audio audio is is you can have the best video in the world, but if you're doing a video and people can't hear you or it's or we we shot I ain't going to say where because we're working on a project, I'll tell you off mic. But [laughter] we were doing we were doing a project the other day and it come out great, but the audio was horrible and so we said we got to go back and shoot it. you know, we got to get back in there and shoot it and you know, cuz we'll have and we ordered mics and they came in yesterday. So nice. Well, I tell you what, can you guys hang because there's still some more questions and I want to talk with you some more. Always fun. Uh Mike and Mark Mangum, Twin Blends, Northwest Louisiana History Hunters, Thomas Avalone in for Aaron 1017 FM 710 Keel and on the free Keel app. Now more breaking [music] news and trending talk with Mike and McCarti on 1017 FM and 710 [music] Keel. Mike and Mark Mangum Twin Billions Northwest Louisiana History Hunters in studio. Thomas Avalon in for Aaron Mike and Mccardi. Now when I told my wife my wife's out of town, but when I told her y'all were going to be in, she said, "Ask them about the Mcadoo Hotel. Tell them Mark about the Macadoo." And I say, no, I I'll leave that at you. Mark doesn't know Mackando Hotel is on Texas Avenue right there by the municipal right around the corner from the municipal. Yeah, it's an old old hotel that has a lot of history to it. Yes. And it's And what is it today? Is it some halfway house? Yeah, I think it is. I think it is. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe because it's right next to the Hope House. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Then Okay. Yeah. But it but it was back in the day it was. And I I told her, I said, "Well, they would know." [laughter] I I've got this blank look on my face. Yeah, Mike knows all that. Because I remember asking y'all years ago. I said, "Uh, y'all ever heard about this cafe?" The old KCS cafe. What a stupid question. Cuz you looked at me like I had, you know, worms for hair. And go, "Yeah, we've got a post on it, of course." And like, "Yeah." And everything I wanted to know. So, I knew you'd know about but but uh it was it was a a prominent hotel back in the day. We have pictures of it from I think the 70s, I think. But it goes way back. I mean, there was a lot a lot of the big names stayed there. Big name people stayed there. I bet I bet people from the Hayide Hayide. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's right there by the auditori. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of history to that building, too. Okay. When we get back, we we got some more stuff. I I I want to uh hang with you for just a few more minutes if you would. Uh, Twin Blends, Northwest Louisiana History Hunters, Micah McCarti, 1017 FM, 710 Kel. Big [music] Stories of the Day with Mike and Mccarti on 1017 FM and [music] 710 K. Mike and Mark Mangum, twin blends, Northwest Louisiana History Hunters, Thomas Avalonian for Aaron. You you made a comment off mic a few minutes ago. You were talking about the Mudbug Madness Treasure. Yes. Yeah. And you said you got a call. The person that won. Tell us tell us what happened. The message. Emma, I forget what their name is. I'm so sorry. Yeah, we're going to make a post on it. But uh the two ladies that won u they looked through all the clues and she messaged us. Emma messaged us yesterday, I think it was, and said, "Thank y'all so much for your history clues." That's the hints. That's how we were able to solve the all the riddles. She said, "We learned so much about shreport history that we had no idea from from y'all's uh twin blends page and your history clues." And she said that helped us and we just want to say thank y'all so much for that. So [laughter] they spent the money with you. Yeah. No, that's what that's my next reply to her. Well, we do have a Patreon. That's right. That's right. There you go. We had a lot of people saying off the record, "Hey, can y'all help us out?" Like, "No, we're sworn a secret, so we can't tell you where these are." So, yeah. Jason Cra, our buddy, came up with the rinse, the hit, the riddles and the hints and everything, but he had to AI proof it because people were using AI and it was sol. He sent it to us and we couldn't figure out these places and then when he told us the answer, we're like, well, it makes perfect sense, but he had to do it beforehand. He had to make sure they were AI approved because Yeah. You know, that's funny because we we used to do on another morning show uh a five question quiz and we had five questions and it was all related to Shreport and and when when they would we'd get somebody on the air and they would we'd ask the questions and and go through all five and we wouldn't say yes that's right or no that's wrong. We'd let them answer all five and go you got two right. Yeah. And then we'd have to figure out and so it it was really a lot of fun. But we had to do questions that you couldn't Google. That's right. Yeah. Because it and now with AI, I tell you what, Jason Cra is a genius cuz he sent us all this stuff and it was so far over our head. Like Jason, we don't know this stuff, man. I mean, but but he the hints and all that that to provided when we found the answers when he gave us the answers, we're like, man, that makes perfect sense. But we weren't smart enough to figure it out with his clues and hints. So, but now what what got you and I know I've asked you before the very first time you said let's blend this photo with this. What got you started on that obviously years ago? Well, we like to do it. Mark wants to say he does like then and now. He wanted to go to the now place and I hated that idea because it's like a parking lot now a lot of places. I said let's go now and do it side by side then and now. And then [clears throat] so everybody loved that. So Mike wanted to see, you know, he wanted to superimpose the pictures together to see if I was really in the right spot because I'm OCD. I got to be in the exact same spot where this old picture was taken. And he superimposed a picture to see if I was He was really doing it to me going, "This ain't right." Well, it was right. And he said, "Man, you're not going." He called me, "You're not going to believe this. I superimposed this building here that's not there anymore with people walking around from the 50s along with, you know, cars of the day." He said, "Oh my gosh, it looks like it's still there. It just popped." So it was by accident really. So and we got in twin bins just to go look for pictures of Southern Hills summer grove area just to see if find a few pictures and then we got into thousands and thousands at Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS. Incredible. And that's how it started. Totally by accident. But then you've you've gone through some phenomenal for those of us that were born here and have lived here all of our lives. Um, and in the Veterans Park, the the Veterans Theater Amphitheater, Veterans Park Amphitheater. I mean, what great memories. Um, even Crystal Lake, I mean, Crystal Lake, South Park Mall, so many things that are gone. Yeah, it is. And what's cool is the LSUS archives have documented it through the years from Streetport Times collection, Thurman, I mean, the Jack Barm collection, and most recently the Thurman C Smith collection. photos that most people have never seen before and it brings you back to your childhood. Yeah. Look, Thomas, I'm Believe me. Jump in because I I'm just fascinated by all of this. I'm fascinated by all of it as well. Now, I mean, it sounds like you guys I mean, sounds like you have leaned pretty heavily into AI. What before AI when you first started way back when, what was typically your tool of choice? Microsoft Digital Image Pro. I started that probably in 1998 around that anymore. No, you can't. I have the program and I still use it a lot, but if it it ever crashes, I'm done as far as that. But Photoshop Photoshop's pretty complicated. So, I do a lot I do rely a lot on that Microsoft Digital Image Pro even to today. Now, AI, we use it to colorize and make stuff move. But as far as our regular everyday post, it's it's the basic old tool. Sometimes clean up pictures, too. Like we got a steamboat from just a newspaper article with it going under the the turnbridge downtown and we created a picture and a video from that and it look it looks real. It's like from a grainy newspaper article. Now when you show off this work to I don't want to say you know uh uh older folks older folks um and I say older folks I count myself among the myself there. Sometimes when I come across AI imagery, I have to take a minute and go what what what what am I looking at here? How how is this happening? How much explanation do you have? We always give like on the if you notice on the pictures, we'll say AI enhanced and and we'll explain that we took an old picture. And when we make a post, we'll show the original old picture so people can see, hey, that's actually a picture we derived it from. But we rarely say create a picture that this because we want it to be factually accurate. And when we tell the AI program, don't make don't have the camera view move because if it moves like steamboat going down the river, it starts creating buildings and stuff and bridges that are not there which totally ruins it. So yeah, so we wanted, you know, we try to keep everything accurate and let everybody know this is AI enhanced or we cleared it up through AI or colorized it. So, right off the bat, we just one of thousands that appreciate what y'all do because I on Marshall Street one time I was driving and there's a really cool building on Marshall Street. I stopped and went in. It's a construction company. And I asked the guy, I said, because I'm I'm I'm that guy. I'm going to go in go, "Hi." And he said, I said, "This is a an awesome building." I said, "I can tell you I've done some work, but you've maintained a lot of the historic." He says, "Yeah, this used to be the old Studebaker dealership in Shreport and took me back. The bays the the the bays are still back there." And I love that stuff. Yeah. People still contact us buildings and say, "Do y'all have uh pictures of my building back from the early 1900s cuz we want to get historical tax credits." I mean, Curtis Jackson, even 50 Cent contacted us. They needed some old pictures of downtown because of the buildings he bought. He wanted to get the historical tax credits. And that that's a good sign that you want to get the buildings back up to the way they used to look. So Oh, good. Yeah. But businesses contact us like that all the time. Talking about Marshall Street around there. We're fixing to do a thing on Silver Lake. As a matter of fact, we're getting with Brian Fowler. Oh, and we're going to be talking about Silver Lake, the ballroom and and where the Silver Lake itself. That's where the name Silver Lake. There used to be a lake there. We got so many stories that we've heard. Marshall Jones, a friend of ours has a map. He has a map of where Silver Lake and that's a map we've never seen before. So, we're going to incorporate that and all. So, it's cool. It's cool stuff. And the old uh the train station, the depot, Union Depot Union Station. Union Station. Yeah. I I wish that could be redone. Oh, yeah. That needs to be a museum. Central Station. Central is right there on on Marshall, I believe. Yep. That's right. That's right. And you know what we found out real quick is that Silver Lake, it actually creeped up to Texas Street and whenever flooded. You know where Jordan and Booth and the Slatterie building is right now? They used the buildings before that were built on peers because that when it would flood it would come up to Texas Street. That was before the Red River raft was cleared and everything would flood, you know. They even found a flatbo under the sty building whenever they dug down for the base building. So now that Silver Lake Ballroom, I heard that that's closed now. Didn't they just recently they were talking about But that's an historic building. It is. It is. It was an event center until they they just recently there's a lot of buildings downtown that are overundred years old, you know, and and also Yeah. Well, the Shreport Museum is the Spring Street Spring Street Museum. That's right. Isn't that the oldest building in downtown? The Spring Street Museum itself is the oldest building in downtown Tree. Yeah. We're working with Spar also on this 250 project to to give them old pictures of downtown where it where you know it it factors in. Of course it you know threeport is not 250 years old but you know we're giving them old pictures and they're doing stories on that and we're going to be part of that all year to spar. I we would have been at the red white and boom event but we had a a couple invite us to their house for uh for dinner that night and with a great group of friends. So but we're going to try to be they're going to allow us to be part of the red, white and boom event all year. with his stories and pictures and and like the cattle Indians 1835 ancestors that were here in 1835. We got pictures of them and floats and from 1935. It's just a lot. Hang tight. We're going to take a break. Mike and Mark Mangum in studio. Mike and McCarti 1017 FM 710 Keel from Mike and McCarti [music] on 1017 FM and 710 Keel. Mike [music] Mangum in studio. Thomas Avalone in for Aaron McCarti. [music] Micah Mccardi. Uh we've just got about a minute or two left. Uh Twin Blends Northwest Louisiana History Hunters is is Facebook. Do you have a Do you have a website as well? Right. Twlenshistory.com. Okay. Twinblendshistory.com. Now again, you guys started this. You had full-time jobs. Now this is basically your full-time job. That's right. You both retired. So, um, if people want to help, That's right. What do they need to do? We have a PayPal account, Vinmo account. People, uh, give us donations and stuff like that. It just helps, um, you know, alleviate some of the costs and stuff cuz when we do go out to sites and do video, even travel, you know, it takes gas money and it takes, you know, Yeah. because you're not getting rich doing this, but it helps getting camera equipment and mics and stuff like that to bring better content. So, and software. That's right. So they can contact us and find out if how they want to help, you know, that would be great. We do have people who follow us on Patreon that, you know, do our Patreon every month and all and then they send us check donations for stuff that really helps. So and you do speaking events events. That's right. We we do speak we charge people for speaking against which here lately it's like oh my gosh every day people are calling us which is good. We got our calendar full. We got business. We just we're working with the streetport airport all the murals that they put up old pictures they're renovating. We we helped him do that. So, they're putting those in now and it's stalling it. Big metal pictures with oak collage of old pictures downtown. Airport's looking good, isn't it? It is. Larry Blackwell Jr. is just really doing a great job. So, but very good guys. Thank you so much. Always always love. Anytime. Anytime. Always love it. Appreciate you coming out. Mike and Mark Mangum. It's Twin Blends Northwest Louisiana History Hunters. Thomas, thanks for coming out. Well, thank you so much for having the morning. I'll be here. Mike and Mark. Uh Mike and Mccardi. Wow. 102. [laughter] Mike and Mark. Mike. I know. Yeah. 1017 FM 710. Ke sticky notes, email alerts, a string around your finger. They're just not big enough. So, here's a big reminder from the California Lottery. [music] Tonight's Megaillions jackpot is over 300 million. Play now. Please play responsibly. must be [music] 18 years older to purchase player