Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 07-03-25_THURSDAY_6AM

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Morning news headlines and analysis, a talk with New York Times best selling author Howard Blum about his book on the Idaho college murders now in the news, open phones follow.

The Bill Meyer Show podcast is sponsored by Clauser Drilling. They've been leading the way in southern Oregon well drilling for over 50 years. Find out more about them at Clauser Drilling dot com. Here's Bill Meyer and you can call 770-5633 on conspiracy theory Thursday, heading into Independence Day and Independence Day weekend. Now, today's my final show of the week here. Chris DeGaul show will be filling in for me, which means that whoever's filling in for Chris DeGaul will be filling in for me also.

Probably Bob Prince from WHK in Cleveland. Good guy, actually. And also filling in for me on Monday, too. I'm just going to take one day of vacation and kind of make it a long holiday weekend. And then just go out and have a little bit of fun. Going to go to a July 4th event over in Joe County on Friday. Looking forward to that. Having mom over for the weekend. Other than that, sticking pretty much around home. All right. Wasn't too far from my house that they had a fire breakout in East Medford. And fortunately fortunately that ended up being put out mostly there was an off-duty RVTD employee

KOBI reporting on this one and we heard the sirens yesterday kind of wondering what happened and this is what happened. There was a backyard fire there and very hot, very dry at that point and Medford Fire responded out on Springbrook Road in Medford and the fire had already been put out. Off-duty RVTD employees saw what was going on, went in there. Good for this individual. Didn't want to be identified though, but still great to see something like that going on. People stepping up and helping out. Nobody hurt. So, could have been a bad story, ended up being a good story.

It's nice to be able to start off with something like that. As far as the big beautiful bill, we're into debate right now. High King Jeffreys at last watch is kind of holding it hostage at the moment, but the GOP has been rallying, they're holding together, and it does appear that the House will probably find at some point they'll go through all the various procedures, which I don't even begin to understand all of the various arcane rules in the House or the Senate. But, you know, they'll come up with a culture and the procedural vote, then we're going to do this and they're going to argue back and forth. And it does appear that we'll get passage of it in time for President Trump to sign

it for July 4th. Just appears this way. Does look like there's no way to just block it entirely. And Speaker Johnson wouldn't be coming up and working it so hard right now unless he thought he had the votes. So apparently he does have the votes. And then we'll see what happens after that. All right. Some other news. And this one has not received a lot of play. And it could be because it's a holiday week. You know, a lot of people sort of check out early for Independence Day. And by the way, I insist on calling it Independence Day. That's my deal. But Governor

Koteck did what the state legislature would not. And what do you think about this? She issued an executive order banning cell phone use in schools during school hours. Every Oregon school district will have to adopt a policy stopping student cell phone use by end of October. They have to submit that policy or adopt it. And all of the policies have to be in full effect by next year. By 2026, they have to do that. Now there was a House

Bill 2251 that would have required all the Oregon school districts to ban students from using cell phones bell to bell, meaning from the start of the school day to the end of the school day. A few exceptions such as for students with disabilities who use cell phones to access their education, but that was about it. And a co-tech said in the statement on yesterday's executive order, Oregon schools should be a place where students find belonging, support, and the joy of learning something new. And she says the research is clear. Cell phone use can create a trifecta of

consequences for our young people. Mental health issues, safety at school, distraction from learning. I would agree. Gosh, I got to tell you, you know, even dealing with the binging and the bonging of my cell phone right now for work kind of issues, I'm wondering, how would I have dealt with that in high school? I probably would have paid even less attention in class. It was bad enough that sometimes I would work too late at my school job and then come in and then, you know, what's my first class? Algebra. Great.

Algebra and calculus. 7.30 in the morning. Great. And then put a cell phone with it. Oh my gosh. Probably wouldn't have had any chance of making it through it. So I'm not blaming the kids. Let's face it, the cell phone, especially for a teenager,

well heck, that could adulterate that way too, it's a dopamine hit, right? A like, some attention, whatever it is, dopamine hit. You know, we're kinda like emus poking at a shiny object. Every time, and I get it. I get to the point these days where every time the cell phone bings it's like okay who the heck now what I've even done that it yelled out Linda says calm down honey yeah I think a real vacation if you're gonna really go on vacation you have to go someplace with no internet and and no cell phone completely unplugged nothing at all oh no you have starlink now you

can't even escape that it's up in the sky right elon musk's deal but what do you think about governor cotech doing this the school districts are not all necessarily on board on this one some of the opposing voices, school district leaders, they arguing that local schools should set their own limits on phone use, expressing concern that the bill would create a mandate they didn't have the resources to enforce. I guess they had these things called yonder pouches that some of the schools use and you put your phone in it and kind of lock it up, 25 to 30 bucks per student. And some parents also were concerned that they wouldn't be able to reach their children in the event of an emergency. I would be willing to bet you

that half the time the the parents are more upset about it than the kids. I have to be able to helicopter in at any time. What are you doing? Huh? What are you doing? Hehehehehe. You know, I'm my child's best friend, instead of being a parent. But anyway, they did this. You know, it's interesting though, the schools that have really broken down and busted this wide open have just gone full, full fledge on it.

And one example here, and where did this article, yeah, it came from OPB. Gustavo Barraza, graduating senior from Milwaukee High School, shared his experience, what happened when they moved to a completely phone-free school day. He said, we saw right away how much better things got. People were more focused, more connected, and a lot of issues at school start with the phones or they get worse because of them. Some of my closest friends came from being more present at school, or they became more present at school,

and we had better relationships after that. So I thought that's a pretty interesting thing. It hasn't gotten a lot of play, and I know that the bill had died in the state legislature, but Governor Kotech ended up doing what the legislature wouldn't do. I think it's a reasonably good deal. It's not very often I go out there and say, hey, hey, go Team Tina. But I have to say, all right. you know, but I have to say all right. Rogue Valley Times reporting, this was a weird one. Had a pretty serious deer injury. Well, actually not a deer injury, but a woman in Ashland that was

hurt by a deer. It had happened problems with that in Ashland to a lesser extent, I think Jacksonville for many, many years. They've been working on this one. Marilyn Hawkins was walking her dog rescue dog last week. A doe saw the pair, charged him, the dog ran home, the deer shoved her into the bushes and kicked her, but she has 17 staples now in her right thigh and four in her left and she got in the fetal position and She said she knew to do that from other things So she didn't get to her torso or face but still really got hurt and six or seven neighbors came out to help her Including a semi-retired emergency room doctor according to the road Valley Times story tended to her wounds and she to be okay, but man, she's just got really messed up about that.

And so there's talk that this deer may have to be dealt with. And gosh, this has been going on a long time. I saved this sound bite from years ago. And yeah, they were laughing about it back in the... Remember the Ashland Deer Summit? And the late Mayor Stromberg, Mayor Stromberg ended up opening up some emails and was reading letters about the Deer Summit. It's from a man named Mike Williamson, and it's directed to me, and it says, shoot the deer, you effin' PAMSy.

Thanks, Mike. Shoot the deer you effin' pansy. Thanks, Mike. That's Mike Williamson of sharppointythings.com. Yeah, they were laughing then. I don't know if they're laughing as much now. But, you know, this bambi-ization of the culture in which, oh, the deer is such a gentle creature. No, it's a wild animal. And unfortunately, where are the deer going to go to hang out where no one's ever going

to hunt them or cause some problems so the cities end up filling up? Will we get tough with the deer sometime? I don't know. We don't seem to be able to do much about the homeless either, with the homeless deer. 21 minutes after 6. 770-5633, if you want to join in and comment on something in your world, coming up at 6.30, I'm going to have a talk with an author, actually, Howard Bloom. I was going through his book. He actually put out a book last year about the Idaho student murders, that one. And of course, this story is just all over

the national news right now. And when the night comes falling, by the way, is the name of that book. And we're going to talk about this fact that Kohlberger ended up getting, well, not getting off really, but he's avoiding the death penalty. And they kind of shut the families out of this, the family upset. And he's interviewed all these people, has been plugged into the story deeply right from the beginning. I'll be curious to see what his take on that is, and we'll have it coming up. Also have Stephen Yonkis on the way after Mr. Outdoors with the outdoor report. Stephen Yonkis, area attorney, I think he's in Happy Valley where he lives normally, but he does a lot of civil rights work. And he's working a COVID era lawsuit. And he has an update. He's trying to go to the Supreme Court.

We're going to talk about the case that he's taking and seeing what would have to be done. I'm curious what the ask is. This is about people who were fired for not taking the jab, not wearing the mask, whatever it is, people who were protesting and going against it. And it's one of those cases and they're trying to kick it up to a higher court after not having such luck in the Oregon Supreme Court. It's going for the U.S. Supreme Court. We'll talk with Stephen about that too. Just over $45,000. 45 grand for a super duty, that's as good as it gets. Here's my third deal. At Butler Ford, buy a Badlands edition Ford Bronco,

and I'll combine all rebates and discounts to get you $10,000 savings off MSRP. Plus, 3.9% financing for 72 months. Oh, and one more thing. For all of our active duty or veterans who've served in the military, get an additional $1,000 of Ford bonus cash. Lastly, buy a new Ford off the lot today

at the employee low pricing, and I'll delay your first car payment for 90 days. Save today, start paying later. Butler Ford and Truck Center, for Thanks Jan, I'm out here on location looking at a roof that needs to be replaced. Here's your future weather forecast if you have a roof like this one. Brought to you by our new sponsor, Fontana Roofing. And they're right on time. Nice ladder. What? Eventually you can expect heavy showers causing leaks creating an interior water feature you neither anticipated or desired.

Nickel sized hail may develop causing severe damage to the granules. And high winds are also possible, sending shingles airborne, like throwing stars hurled by a dangerous ninja. Uh, what? Also expect relentless heat waves further deteriorating the roofing material. Protection from the elements starts by calling Fontana Roofing. Who is this guy?

I don't know, but I like him. Well, he needs to get off the roof. Maybe he can do play-by-play on our expert roof replacement. How about it? Yeah, sure. I'm better at sports. But first, a word from our sponsor, Fontana Roofing. Visit them at FontanaRoofingServices.com. Hi, I'm Lamont from Orleys, and I'm on 106.7 KMED.

625, appreciate you waking up here on Conspiracy Theory Thursday. Tom's in town. Hey Tom, how you doing this morning? Getting ready for Independence Day or Dependents Day, depending on where it is? I don't know what we're independent from, but we'll go out and blow off some fireworks anyway, I guess. How you doing? Well, my rule on the Fourth is to try to hide somewhere and get as quiet as possible. That's a whole different topic. Yeah well in my neighborhood the main deal is the booming and the banging goes on till till really late and you know you cannot calm a cat. There is no way you can sue the cat that is rattled by the fireworks. There's just no way. Can't do it. They're just gonna go hide and so you're gonna go're going to go hide like a cat then, right?

Yeah. Yeah, that's my goal. Okay, well good for you. Anyway, about banning cell phones in schools, is that under her job description? You know, I'm basically against, I believe, in separation of state and education. So, but... Well, you must be a very unhappy man then, if that's the case, because boy, there is no separation these days. Of course not.

No, that's the whole topic. But you know, if you can be upset with Brown imposing the tax on corporations, this CO2 business nonsense, Well then it seems like where do I mean she's supposed to run the executive branch and so forth where does she have the quote power because she can ban cell phones there's nothing to stop her from saying putting on a tax on if you're breathing or or anything else. I mean, where does her powers end that she can impose such a thing in school?

Well, I believe that where she ends up controlling the state agencies. Yeah. You know, and that's how it is through the executive power. It's much like President Trump then, as president, issuing an executive order. And the order quite often goes to an agency that he does technically run or holds supreme authority over that and say, you shall do this. So the executive order is not going to the school directly, but it is going through the Oregon Department of Education state agency. And of course, what is Department of Education, state agency. And of course, what is every local school district now but nothing more than a subsidiary of the bigger font of communism known as the

Oregon Department of Education. You know, you want the money, you're going to get this, and we set the curriculum, we tell you how many hours you're supposed to be in a session, you know, all those kind of things so yeah it would appear that the authority is there by being the executive much like President Trump it's not all that different really. I kind of wonder about that because that means basically one person the governor could completely the way it's set up with that is she could say, all right, we want every student to memorize Mao Zedong's Red Book and so forth. I mean, it sounds very dictatorial. Well, I think that... I think what you're talking about there, memorizing Mao's speech,

that is in the 2027 school year that's coming in. Oh, okay. Well, I can certainly believe that. I'm having fun with you though, you know. Yeah, I know that. So where does their executive authority end and begin in terms of education? It seems like this is an overreach on her part. I'd be curious. I mean, you're bringing up the point. Is this the law or isn't it the law? And that's the same question I'm asking. We might... Well, ever since we've kind of turned over so many functions over to the administrative

state, it's really about the power. I can't really necessarily point to a law that says she has the authority to ban cell phones, but she controls the Oregon Department of Education which more or less if the school districts are going to get their money and everything else they're going to dance to that tune. I think that's kind of how it goes Tom. Well yeah well that's to say it's a good question where's their authority in and begin. I don't know if we have time to talk about another topic, but you and Eric and Otto's were talking, you were talking yesterday about the fact that we really

don't own our houses. Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit later if you don't mind. Howard Blum's going to be calling me here in just a few minutes. I want to make sure and give him some time. That's about a 10 minute talk and then we can pick it up again if you call back I'll give you another bite okay all right okay all right along with everybody else too for that matter now the phones of course filling up this is the Bill Meyer show 629 Bob from father and son jewelry talks about how they buy more than just gold we do silver we do platinum and actually also some precious stones like diamonds too a lot of the other places

don't want to bother with it. What we try to do is recycle everything we can. We'll end up melting it down, casting into new things. We use it for repairs. We do repairs at the shop. Cash in on that treasure. Take it to Father and Son Jewelry. Father and Son Jewelry on Jackson between Riverside and Central, Medford. It's Bill Maier and here's another listener who saved at Sky Park Insurance. Meet Jason, Medford. most and many more, call Steve for a quote, 261-5444 or visit SkyparkINS.com. Hi, this is Steve from Skypark Insurance. At Skypark, we make insurance easy. Is your water well not producing like it used to?

Or perhaps it never produced? Do you and your family find yourself rationing or hauling water because there's just not enough? Clouser Drilling has been drilling water wells in southern Oregon for over 50 years and each year constructs the majority of the new wells in Josephine and Jackson Counties. Clouser Drilling has the expertise to help you make an informed decision on options for improving your water situation. Give the experts a call.

Visit www.clouserdrilling.com. You're hearing the Bill Meyers show on 106.3 KMED. Proud to have New York Times bestselling author Howard Blumon, American author and journalist in his book that he brought out last year, is When the Night Comes Falling. And this is about the Idaho murderers, and this is just all over the national news right now with Brian Kohlberger accepting a plea deal in that one. And Howard, it's great to have you on. Good morning, sir. Good to speak with you. Yeah, great job on that book. I was scanning the

book yesterday and I was amazed with how much about this case I didn't know as I was going through it. And as you say in this book, even though there were gags on everything, gags put on people, people talk, right? And that's essentially how you ended up putting this together in spite of all of that. Well, I spent a lot of time in Moscow and I was a New York Times reporter for a lot of years. And I went there pounding the streets, knocking on doors, trying to get the answers. And I think while there are a lot of unanswered questions in this case, I think I put together

enough of the pieces of the puzzle to give readers an interesting look into what really happened. Yeah, I really appreciate that too. Brian Kohlberger was given that plea. He took the plea and the plea deal, and a lot of people are upset about this. And with you having talked with so many people, some are saying, hey, the family got, you know, the family of the victims ended up really getting screwed out of the ability to weigh in. Would you agree with

that, or was this just kind of something where nobody wanted to go through the expense or the time of all the appeals? What happened? I think it was a mistake by the state of Idaho, by the prosecution, to make this plea deal. At this point, they had a very strong case against Coburger. The judge has just thrown out any discussions of any alternate perpetrators. The judge said Koberger's alibi was not an alibi. They could have moved forward.

They could have got a conviction. I think, though, the state just wanted this whole thing to go away, just the way the house where the murders took place was demolished by the university, thinking that people should just forget about it. I think the state said enough already. They lacked the will to go to trial. And I think it was a disservice to the families, to the people and the people and taxpayers of Idaho who were funding this two and a half year investigation. Do you think that it's

the cost of it that may have weighed in on that? Because I was thinking for smaller cities, this would just have to be a huge burden, not that I'm excusing it, but I'm just thinking if they would use that as a factor. I think the cost is an easy excuse. It costs so far $3.6 million. That's according to the Idaho statesman. That was a figure they came out with. And it would certainly cost much more. But I think the state was prepared. They allocated the money to do this. I think the prosecution just said, enough. We just want this to disappear. And they didn't care how it affected the families of the victims. They didn't care about the citizens of Idaho. They just had a very strong case. They had DNA on a knife

sheath that was left behind, was tied directly to Brian Koberger. They had him ordering the knife on Amazon. They had pictures of a white car just like his driving around the murder scene and escaping. They could have gotten a conviction. They could have gotten answers, but they decided not to. So you're no plea, no fan of the plea deal for sure here. Now, this is the part that got me out of this. He wasn't required to admit everything or talk about what was done or even talk about why a particular group was chosen. What all he has to do is say, yeah, I did it and that's it? What actually happened in this? It felt really thin.

It was thin. It was dangerously thin. It was a mistake. At the sentencing hearing, which takes place on July 23rd, the judge could demand some more details, but he will never get the full story. Someday, perhaps years from now, Coburger will be sitting in his prison cell and he'll decide to write a book. He'll have time on his hands for the next 50 or so years of his life. Maybe he'll give one version of what happened. But what we could have gotten at trial answers to so many of the mysteries of this case, why

he chose these women, why witnesses had waited eight hours before calling the police after the murders. We'll never learn that. Yeah, and that was one of the things that I was wondering. I know that some of the, well, the two survivors of this were kind of thrown under the bus, weren't they? Or they were kind of wondering. But I guess that evidence got thrown out or any kind of talk that there was an accomplice, that's gone, right?

That got thrown out by the judge? There's no talk of accomplice. I mean, but the two women who heard what was happening and did nothing for eight hours, my heart goes out to them. In many ways, they were victims of this too. The moment was just too large for them to process. But at the same time, it's hard to explain how they waited these eight hours.

During that time, it's been documented, they were on social media, they were on TikTok, they were on Instagram, they were calling friends, but they waited these eight hours before calling 911. Why? I would have liked to have had some discussion of that in the courtroom. Yeah, and I also really would have liked to have been able to force him, force this guy, say why these people were chosen because was it random or was it something? Well, he actually did plan this pretty well from the looks of it. He planned it to a bit.

I mean, I have a theory that I detail in my book that he chose only one of the young women, Maddie Mogen. She was a waitress at a restaurant that he frequented in downtown Moscow. Perhaps he was attracted by her exuberance or blonde good looks, or for some reason he felt her life was an insult to the sort of private life that he was living and that her life was something this full of parties and fun and friends that he could never be a part of. And because of his resentment to her, he targeted her.

But once he went into the house, went into her bedroom, he found that there was another young woman there. He had to kill her too. That's when he left the knife chief behind, and on leaving the house he killed two other young women, one young woman and a man. They were all collateral damage. Only Maddie was the target, I believe. Yeah, very sad. But again, we'll never get this answer because the judge didn't demand it. Yeah. Now, there's no way that Coburger or the family can make any money from any book he would choose to write in the future, right? That's a son of Sam Law, from what I recall,

right? Idaho has some version of that, but that's not to stop, say, he tells his story to his sister, to his parents, and they write a book, or they have someone write a book, or they sell their, quote, life rights, as it's known in Hollywood, to some author or to some production company. So, you know, his family can certainly profit from this crime. Yikes. All right, Howard, thanks for reporting on this one.

Great book, and thank you very much for doing this one and all this work with Talking With People. It's When the Night the night comes falling and it's Howard Bloom and thanks so much for having joined the show and telling us. No one's happy about the way this is ending up. Thank you. It's a expert to navigate the current HVAC rebates. Call Advanced Air to save big on equipment replacement. Advanced Air is currently offering an additional rebate on qualifying systems up to $1,000 on Bryant Mini Split and Crossover heat pumps. Some exclusions apply. Advanced Air and Bryant do whatever it takes to deliver intelligent heating and cooling solutions. Visit MyAdvancedAir.com for details. Your intelligent heating and

cooling solution. Visit MyAdvancedAir.com. details. Your intelligent heating and cooling solution. Visit MyAdvancedAir.com. From the KMED News Center, here's what's going on. Oregon Governor Tina Koteck asks the State Department of Education to help school districts determine the impact of federal cuts. Schools are supposed to get awards from the federal government July 1st, but the U.S. Department of Education has told states certain title awards are not going to be issued. COTEC says it hobbles districts as they prepare for the upcoming year and she says her office is assessing next steps. Following the failure of a state transportation funding package, Oregon's Department of Transportation is

announcing project cutbacks citing immediate staff layoffs and reduced capacity. ODOT said Wednesday it's canceling chip seal projects around the state scheduled to start Monday. ODOT managers have said six to seven hundred people will be laid off due to a lack of funding. Recalled baby food is believed to be responsible for at least two cases of lead poisoning in Oregon. More than 25,000 four ounce packages of Good and Gather baby pea, zucchini, kale and thyme vegetable puree was recalled in March it was sold at Target with a best buy date of December 2025 Bill London KMED. With SRN News I'm Rich Tomlinson in Washington. Talkathon being waged by House Democrat minority leader Hakeem Jeffries is

delaying a vote on President Trump's big spending and tax cut bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson says the votes are there to pass the measure. Now it's just a question of when the vote will actually take place that could still come later in the morning. The president's urging Republicans to stand together and pass the measure. He's been working the phones, talking with GOP holdouts. Democrats opposed the bill. It would, among other things, enact a big tax cut. According to supporters, that would trigger an economic boom. America's employers created 147,000 jobs last month.

A surprisingly strong employment report. The June unemployment rate came in at 4.1 percent. That was down a tenth of a point from the month before. More details at SRNNews.com. The Jackson County Fair is looking for contestants for the Big Ass Talent Show. This is for everybody. If you've got a talent that might steal the show on center stage, there's $1,000 in cash prizes for you to win.

Grab your phone, record a short video, and submit it at theexpo.com. If it makes folks cheer, laugh, or stare in amazement, come compete in the Big Axe Talent Show for $1,000 in cash prizes. Animal Axe welcome. Visit theexpo.com and click the Participate tab. Please submit your entry by Sunday, July 6th. This is News Talk 1063, KMED,

and you're waking up with the Bill Meyers Show. And I'm looking forward to being a judge at the talent show, the big talent show at the Jackson County Fair. Friday night, Friday night at the fair is when I'll be doing it. That'll be great. And by the way, this talent show, thousand dollar prizes, thousand dollar prize in cash prizes is, it's not just for kids it's not just for singing it's whatever kind of great talent that you have all right could be

everything from telling jokes doing an animal act whatever it doesn't have to be American Idol but you know gosh if you are a great singer you have a great band well take them out there too all right and just go to at the expo click the performance tab or participate tab rather and then you can enter. Do a little video, do a little video, make a little entry and maybe you can win the thousand dollars in cash prizes. Okay. It's 643. Brad, Brad we were talking with Tom just a few minutes ago. Tom from Talent was wondering how the governor ended up getting the power

to issue an executive order saying no cell phones in public schools. Now, I figured that it was just because of the executive in charge of the Oregon Department of Education, kind of like how President Trump is able to do an executive order and then boom, off we go. Kind of like how President Trump is able to do an executive order and then boom, you know, off we go. And he takes care, you know, his order goes down to the agency and then the agency ends up implementing the policy, that kind of thing. So it is that, but there was more to it. And what was that? Yeah, yeah, well, there's a lot more to it. So first of all, you got to rewind a little bit and remember that, you know, back in the day, back before education got consolidated under the state because of the federalization that started in 1979,

Oregon, every school district in Oregon was run by the school district itself. The taxes were collected locally, everything was run locally. And then what ended up happening though is that you had some rich school districts and you had poor school districts and then they ended up doing work to try to equalize that funding somewhat, right? That was the desire? Well, you know, Bill, that dog really doesn't hunt because back in the day Oregon was pretty wealthy pretty much all the way down.

Yeah, you can say it doesn't hunt, but I'm saying that was the reason, that was the reason given that we're going to take all the tax money in and then redistribute it out of the general fund. Right? That's what happened. No. The equalization part was a financial discussion that happened after the consolidation

of the administrative part. So what we're talking about is the administrative part. So the administrative part is up until 2012, there was an elected state superintendent of public education in the state of Oregon, which means just like in the general election about right every four years, you would elect that person. That person was responsible to the voters of the state of Oregon. And so the legislature eliminated that?

Correct, right. And so that happened during Kitzhaber's third term. So his third term was the first of his second. Remember, Kitzhaber was the only governor to his third term was the first of his second, remember, Kitzhaber was the only governor to serve four terms. He served two terms and there was a gap and then term then. And then his fourth term got vacated because he resigned and then Brown got appointed because she was Secretary of State and all the rest of it. So this happened during his third term, happened in 2012, and the legislature, and by the way, the legislature is dominated by one party, we know who that party is, and that party is very influenced by the Oregon Education Association. The OEA is the most powerful legislative lobbyist

in the state of Oregon. They're the 500-pound gorilla. Which also tells me that if the Oregon Education Association, the OEA, really wanted an improvement in the public schools, it could demand it if it really wanted to improve it. They could make it happen tomorrow. Yeah, nothing happens in the Oregon legislature without the okie-dokie of the OEA. Okay, but going back to this then, with the elimination of the state superintendent, and I forgot about that back in 2012, you have essentially the governor is the direct pipeline then from the executive right into that agency controlling it, right? Now was this the same time, 2012, was this the same time that the state legislature voted to make the state university system an agency, a government agency? Do you know? Is that

the same time or was that a different piece of legislation? Yeah, I don't recall that happening then. I have to look at it. My brain isn't telling me that those two things happened at the same time. But it was an intent then to centralize command and control of public education at least before we had the opportunity to pick a different state superintendent. But given the state of Oregon though, it was still probably a prog, I would imagine. Well yeah, but what you have is you have a huge change where you have the public, the Director of Public Education is elected by voters and now it's just, it's the governor,

right? So the legislature took, completely vacated that position and said, all right, we're just going to have the governor do it. Okay, in spite of the fact that we may not like the governor having this kind of power, and I don't, is the decision on the phones, actually a good or a bad thing though? Let's just talk about that. Because obviously we can't do anything about the fact that, yeah, Tina has the power. We know that now as the executive. There's nobody in between her. It's hers. Yeah. Well, I think the question you just asked is a great question, and I think along

with that you should also ask it back in 2020. It was a good idea that the governor vacated all educational goals and just said, if you're enrolled in Oregon school, you automatically graduate because that's what she did in 2020. Yeah, so there is maybe a good thing with the cell phone, but then saying, oh yeah, we're just going to pass you along. No graduating test for you, right? That kind of thing. Well, it essentially vacates the value of a high school diploma in the state of Oregon. If there are no graduation standards, what is that diploma worth? So on the conversation of the cell phones, I don't like the

precedent that it sets. I think ultimately, I think't like the precedent that it sets. I think ultimately, I think it's the parents. I think the school is welcome to set a policy, right? The school should set a policy, and I think the policy should be responsive to the parents of the kids. I don't like the precedent it sets where the governor, in her role as the head of public education, can just come out and say this stuff that has the impact of law all across the state. And the parents are kind of left out of the conversation.

I don't think that... Yeah, here's the thing, though. Here's the thing. As far as parents needing to get a hold of their child in the event of an emergency, it's not like there is no phone at the school. I get tired of hearing that kind of crap. It's like everybody within the sound of my voice grew up in a time in which you didn't have a surveillance device clipped to your belt or in your pocket all day, okay? And do you recall any time in which, you know, we had it we had emergencies and, oh

my goodness, what are parents going to do? I can't text message my child in the middle of their math class or whatever. There's a bit of a nonsensical attachment to this ability to reach out and touch at all times here, Brad. You have to agree with me on that much. Oh, I totally agree. We've been going to school an awful lot of years before we invented cell phones, didn't we? Yeah, and somehow we were doing a better job of it at that point. But thanks for explaining, though, how we got to the point. I forgot about the state superintendent that went away. It's like, you know, gosh,

Republicans weren't having much control of that anyway. But thanks for the call, Brad. All right. So that's how we did it Tom. That's how it happened. That's how we have Governor Tito Kotec with that kind of control over the education. And of course, you know that Governor Kotec has only the best love for all children and your grandchildren and your friends and relatives, children too, just has the best for it. Does not pay attention to the teacher's union, not at all. Are you buying or selling a house this year? Here's a tip from Grants Pass Water Lab. If you buy or sell a property with a well,

Oregon requires tests for bacteria, arsenic and nitrate. Don't let this slow you down. Get your well tested now. Grants Pass Water Lab offers next day results for bacteria tests and a speedy 3-5 days for the full reporting that meets all the state requirements. Online at gpwaterlab.com. Independent and serving the Rogue Valley for more than 40 years.

Oregon Truck and Auto Authority is your tonneau cover source. Tonneau covers are a great way to secure and protect the cargo in your bed from the elements. Styles from truck gear, back industries, undercover and more. Oregon Truck and Auto Authority, your one-stop accessory and protection shop. Need a new metal roof? Call or text today, get a quote tomorrow. It's that simple. Stephen Westfall Roofing, Inc. On-site custom cut metal roofing. Stephen Westfall Roofing gets it done. 941-3736. CCB number 250730. Three, two, one. Why pay full price for fireworks

when you can get twice the fun for half the price? Discount Fireworks Superstore has all your favorites at over 50% off. Shop over 26 by one, get one free options. Discount Fireworks Superstore has all your favorites and epic finale fountains like White House, Gator Revenge and Big Shock. And with six convenient locations in Southern Oregon,

they're right around the corner. Find them on South Pacific Highway near the Grange, West Main near Thunderbird, in Ashland across from Butler Fork, Central Point across from Byleth, White City at Wilson Equipment, Cave Junction on Redwood Highway, and Grants Pass has moved. It's the second tent on the left,

just east of Rivers Edge Restaurant on Rogue River Highway near Mount Baldy. And here's the best part. You can get free fireworks when you text DFS to 26786. That's right, free fireworks. Just text DFS to 26786 or log on to dfsfireworks.com

for free fireworks at Discount Fireworks Superstore. All proceeds to sales go toward funding summer camps for kids. This is News Talk 1063 KMED and you're waking up with the Bill Meyers Show. Speaking of Discount Fireworks, I have in my chubby little fist, we're going to give this away after the outdoor report, a $50 certificate for discount fireworks superstore. Now of course the thing is you've got to use it at any of the Seven Rogue Valley or Illinois Valley locations through tomorrow. So you'll have to come down here, scoot down to the radio station, come and pick you know assuming that you win this if you win this. So hang on we'll give this away

at the end of the outdoor report. And I think we're going to be giving away some some more passes here for the Medford Rogues too because they're gonna be on for about the next week or two with some home and then they're doing some away games and then I guess it's it's postseason play so we want to make sure it's gonna be a nice weekend and a great weekend for not only watching the fireworks tomorrow with you know the rogue, the Metroid Rogues and also going out and enjoying some baseball too and a beer and everything else that is about America and

not necessarily connected with the political process but I do want to keep you up on some of the other political news this morning this is an interesting story Alex Baumhart writing in the Capitol Chronicle, conservative who once backed Republican state representative Cyrus Javadi trying to get him recalled. This is interesting. Now Javadi is a Republican from Tillamook Javadi, rather, is a Republican from Tillamook. And being a Republican from Tillamook, he is, how do I put it, he's one of those squishy Republicans. And so they're going to try to recall him. In fact, this is a constituent who was really upset, Katrina Nelson of Westport,

ended up writing in a letter to the historian newspaper that she was voting, this was back in October of 2022, so she was voting for Cyrus back then, to represent her in the Oregon House because he's coming into this national battle for freedom with an open mind and an open heart. Well, three years later, this same woman, Nelson, leading the effort to yank him out, yesterday, or last week rather, Nelson filed a petition, Secretary of State Office, to recall Javadhi, citing her disagreement with his recent votes to pass Senate Bill 1098. Now that's protecting the access to the porno-style

books that that every school district seems to need to have in their school library right now. So he's upset. He voted for that. Javade was one of those. And also, Javade voted to pass House Resolution 3. That was the one that was celebrating black drag queens, the ones that were dancing and

prancing and performing on the state legislature floor. That was the one that, Oregon being being the laughing stock and we have a woman who tried to get him elected now trying to get him unelected. Oh, I guess he had an open heart. Yeah, he had an open heart and an empty brain from the looks of it and Katrina is trying to fix that. So we will see where that goes. Other political news, it's gotten some play, but the CBS CBS in Paramount will be paying President Trump a lot of money.

16 million upfront, probably settlement ultimately reaches north of 30 million to settle the president's election interference lawsuit against the network. And let me tell you, the journalists out there. Oh my gosh reporters without borders I was looking at a post in them yesterday. They are so Flipping angry at CBS about this kind of like, you know throwing in the towel And I have to admit I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't all that comfortable with President Trump's With President Trump's, you know lawsuit about this about election interference. And yeah, it was about CBS News

Deceptively editing that interview with Kamala Harris, all right trying to make it look better Now whether they were trying to do it, you know, intentionally to help Mamala or not, because the problem is that Kamala Harris was incoherent most of the time that she would go out and and speak and yeah and so was it deception? Of course I don't know, you know, to me the First Amendment and the reason I'm uncomfortable with this, not because I'm deceptively editing things or I plan on doing things like that, as much as I really disliked CBS for doing this, the First Amendment

also protects the lie. A lot of people don't realize this. First Amendment does does stand for your right to free speech. You have the right to speak. Now, you don't have a right to ignore the consequences of it if you defame someone, let's necessarily say, but what was going on with Kamala Harris was not about defaming President Trump, it was about blowing wind or trying to inflate Kamala Harris. And whether we like that or not, and I don't, I still believe that the First Amendment would hold sway over something like that. I honestly think that given what's going on with a very muscular President Trump now, no doubt CBS and Paramount is trying to get this behind them. Okay, let's pay off

the $30 million even in today's media world is kind of a rounding error rather over at Paramount+. Let's just make this happen. It's fallen our sword. Let's make it happen. But I didn't think it was a particularly strong case. That's my opinion Not that I was happy about how they were and you know, it's obvious but you see to me the reaction the proper reaction is just to not watch CBS and to criticize CBS as as much as possible and To to make sure that people know that what you have are a bunch of lying activists running CBS but the First Amendment does in my opinion protect lying activists running CBS. But the First Amendment does, in my opinion, protect lying activists too. But I know, now I'm done. Now my career is over. Just kidding, but I'm glad

you're here. Just giving you my opinion. If you have a different opinion, you're certainly welcome to do that, okay? Shade before seven o'clock, this is KMED, KMED HD1 Eagle Point Medford, KBXG Grants Pass. Another Trump news here. We'll get some more of that with town hall too. And we had more lawfare. Another day, another judge acting as president. By imposing severe restrictions, this is a judge nullifying Trump's border invasion declaration, by imposing the severe restrictions the proclamation allows immigration authorities to quickly deport people who say they are fleeing violence, persecution, or humanitarian strife, rather than processing their claims.

Trump and his allies say this was a necessary step to regain control of an overrun border, but Judge Moss said those limitations go far beyond what the law allows existing procedures in the immigration and nationality act, the judge says, provide the sole and exclusive means for the federal government to deport people who cross the border illegally, no matter how cumbersome or inadequate the administration views the process. Okay, so once again another judge that says, yeah, yeah, we know that Joe let several million in here and we don't really know where they are. But once again, due process. We've got to have due process.

They never belonged here in the first place, but yeah, you're going to have to give everyone a trial and a big hearing and then maybe diaper them and give them a nice cool drink before there's any talk about deportation. So I would imagine the Trump administration will appeal this too, but that is the latest in the lawfare loonies. Minute after 7, KMED, KMED, HD1, Eagle Point, Medford, KBXG, grants passed, the rest of the news coming up, and Mr. outdoors joins me after that.