The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - How Does War In Middle East Impact Virginia & CVille?; War Impact On Economy? Nationalism? Safety?

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

The I Love CVille Show headlines: How Does War In Middle East Impact Virginia & CVille? War Impact On Economy? Nationalism? Safety? New Job For Former CVille Mayor In School Busing Biz Maggie’s Midtown Pub Opening Soon (Blue Moon Diner) What Are Innovative Ideas For Restaurants In 2026? CVille Jewelry Store Opening 2nd Spot In Carytown, RVA Duke Destroys Virginia; Hoos Now Eyeing 2nd In ACC The Most Important 3 Minutes Of News Today (3/2/26) Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the I Love Sevo Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us. We are live in downtown Charlottesville in our studio just a couple of miles away from the John Paul Jones Arena, from the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's University and from folks the heartbeat of everything, Central Virginia. We're going to talk this war in the Middle East on the show today. I said this to start the program when we were kind of teasing you or tapping you on the shoulder, that we were about to go on air, the mission of this show is to take content of all capacities,

whether national or global, and try to localize that content to the Commonwealth of Virginia, to Charlottesville and Talmorrow County. We're going to talk about, I mean, we're at war. We're at war here and try to take it from a lens of Charlottesville's standpoint, and the commonwealth standpoint. Folks are wondering about the economy. Most importantly, folks are wondering about lost lives,

three Americans dead already, how many more will lose their lives. Folks are wondering, you know, my household certainly is, whether there'll be any kind of counterattack on American soil. Folks are wondering about gas prices. Folks are wondering how this will drive engagement

for elections, for midterms, for democratic momentum, for liberal momentum against conservatives and Republicans. It's clear that conservatives of all types, and there's many different types of conservatism, are being lumped or paintbrushed as Trumponian or Trumpsters. And I was watching Donald Trump today about 30 minutes ago on the national networks talk about his,

give a press conference on what's going on in the Middle East, some of his early remarks, first remarks after we all woke up this weekend and got out of bed and saw the national media, the global media talking about Israel and the United States attacking Iran. And there's no question that the dictatorship, the regime in Iran is one of nastiness and one that most in the globe, most of the world should be fearful of. Tens of thousands of people have been murdered at the hands of Iranian warlords and dictators. And it's, you know, know, just radical, radicalized government.

I'm like you. We have our problem. Maybe you're not like this, but I'm of the mindset. We have our own problems here in our country. Why are we picking a fight all the way across the world with a country that has not much to lose and is willing to use any means necessary to stamp its ideology and its beliefs on as much of the world as possible. I'm going to take, offer my commentary to you,

the viewer and listener, from a localized standpoint, however, I do not profess to be any kind of geopolitical warfare pundit. One thing I can pontificate about is Charlottesville, Almaro, Central Virginia, UVA, and this fine commonwealth that we live in. So that's the view we will take today. Gas prices are attacks on everyone. If we start seeing gas continue to escalate, and I've seen it jump in the city of Charlottesville alone,

more than 30 cents in just a few days. If it continues to go up, that, ladies and gentlemen, is clearly a headwind for Market Street, for Main Street, for Preston Avenue, for the downtown mall, for Barracks Road, for Route 29, for Pantops, for the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's University,

for Leesburg, for Lynchburg, for Northern Virginia, Williamsburg, Newport News, Virginia Beach, you name it. I want to talk about that today. As we segue from that topic into some other ones, I want to highlight that there's a new job for former mayor Mike Signer. He is now the in-house council for a company that is looking to privatize public school transportation with a focus on artificial intelligence. Mike Signer has had a number of jobs, including in-house counsel for Willow Tree, the mobile app development, company. He's been in-house counsel for Airbnb, and now he's taken a new job with a startup. That's looking to privatize transportation at educational at schools. We'll talk about that on today's

program as the former mayor is currently being roasted on Reddit as we speak. A new restaurant is opening in Midtown. We were the first to let you know about this months ago. Maggie's Midtown Pub is opening soon in the former Blue Moon diner. We'll talk about that on the program today. I'm going to ask you the viewer and listener this question. What are some innovative ideas for restaurants in 2026? We've covered them closely on this show. For example, kiosces and artificial intelligence,

counter service instead of table service. There's one restaurant in Richmond, however, that's brought a concept that is not innovative, but they're infusing it into their sit-down restaurant, and that's Mama J's enrichment, and Jackson Ward, which has introduced a market. So when you go to this restaurant, you can't get table service

or the waiting list is too long. You can't get the reservation you want. You can get to go food. That's pre-prepared by Mama Jays. When's a restaurant's locally in Charlottes going to be rocket and rolling with a pre-made food set up in refrigerated type concepts in a market type of concept

for restaurant tour, for restaurant goers that can't get the table or the reservation time they want. We'll talk about that today. I want to highlight on the program, ladies and gentlemen, the Virginia Shalacking, they got Shalak the Wahoos by the Duke men's basketball team on Saturday. It was not a close contest, and clearly there's a huge disparity between number one in the Atlantic Coast Conference, who just happens to be the top team in the nation, and Virginia basketball, who entered the contest ranked 11th overall. Virginia is still in a really good spot. They're eyeing that second spot, that two-seat in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. And if Virginia can secure the second-place spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season

and have a deep run in the ACC tournament, I think you can still see a four-seat for Virginia men's basketball come March in the Big Dance. We'll talk about that today. We'll highlight on the program the success of a local business, a jewelry store on the downtown mall that's opening a second location in Carytown, Richmond, and we'll return the three most important minutes of news for you today as I've gotten tremendous feedback on that piece of programming that we've birthed in 26 on the I Love Seville Network. There's a lot we're going to cover on the program today. I want to highlight one of the partners of the show, Jerry Rackliff.com, a friend of ours, Jerry Hooty-Rackliff. He's a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. His business model has changed,

and it's changed, I think, for the absolute best. Jerry Rackleff has 50 plus years of covering ACC basketball tournaments, and no one has covered the UVA Athletic Department in a closer capacity than Jerry Rackleff an award-winning writer. His business model is now won with a paywall, readers, viewers, and listeners for the most exclusive content, the best award-winning content will need to subscribe to Jerry Rackleff.com. This revenue through the subscriber model will drive even more innovative technology, more innovative content, more prolific content through Jerry Rackliff.com. We encourage you to support Jerry Rackleff and his business model as he has migrated to a payroll with his website, something that is for the absolute best.

Judah Wickhauer, if we can go to the studio camera, I'm going to welcome you to the program and ask you what are some of the most intriguing comments. storylines and ideas that you want to follow. There was a candidate running against John McGuire as a Republican, a real estate agent, a realtor from Louisiana County, who's jumped in the congressional race against the incumbent John McGuire, who is embattled. John McGuire has stiff competition against Tom Perrello, a one-term former congressman that served the 5th District.

Tom Perriello tried to go for two tries, the second term lost to, I think it was Bob Good years ago. I mean, it might have been Denver Wrigelman years ago. Regardless, he lost to a Republican. It is a Republican stranglehold, the 5th District, that is larger than the state of Rhode Island. But redistricting is going to reshape potentially congressional seats in the Commonwealth. Early voting is underway.

a TASWEL judge has ruled something, but voting may move forward regardless. I'm curious to think or curious to ask you which headline most intrigued you and why today, Judea Wickham. Well, I'm certainly interested in the Middle East War. I'm hoping that it's not an actual war. I'm hoping that the actions that are taken are done with, the express purpose of getting out of there as quickly as possible. I don't think anybody wants an extended war.

Certainly nobody wants another Iraq, you know, spending years in a war that we definitely do not need to be a part of. So I hope to, I hope that we find out soon that this is a, limited action and we're quickly going to end once the objectives have been achieved. Thank you to Jim Hingley, Alabama County Commonwealth's attorney who texts me during the program that Tom Perriello lost to Robert Hurt. Thank you, Jim Hingley, who is a close follower of all things politics. Robert Hurt beat Tom Perreello with Tom's second push for a second term in Congress. Thank you, Mr. Hingley. Ginny Who on Twitter, and we're getting photos on screen when you can,

Ginny Who on Twitter says, unfortunately, a fourth American has now lost their life with this war and I ran. I started the program, my monologue with this. I have, my wife and I have two sons. We have a seven-year-old. Our seven-year-old turns eight this month at the end of the month. we have a three-year-old. Our three-year-old is a little Tommy tornado.

We love our sons dearly. Like most parents, they drive you crazy and make you realize that parenthood is the best, hardest thing ever, and the longest, shortest thing ever. The days feel like years, and the years feel like days. and the older I've gotten as a parent, the longer we've done this and we're eight years into this, so we're far from experienced.

But the more I realize that parenthood is akin to our hearts walking outside our bodies. And I now see war in the Middle East as much about preserving lives and maintaining safety security across the globe, but perhaps even more so about the lives lost that are American and what the parents will go through. I think any parent's worst nightmare is outliving their son or daughter. No doubt. And four Americans have died so far. I am no expert on anything global, geopolitical, war-related. I know the basics. I know the basics. the United States and Israel want to terminate Iran, want to stabilize Iran, want to maybe bring democracy to Iran, are fearful of Iran's nuclear weapons, are fearful of its terroristic dictator, radical regime.

And because of that fear, we're now at war. my next segue is this. How does this impact Virginia, Central Virginia, Charlottesville, Almaro County, and our home? The most obvious is escalating gas prices. Depending on where you shop,

it looks like they've jumped 30 cents per gallon. 30 cents per gallon in just a handful of days. How high will the cost? they go? What do escalating gas prices meet for small businesses that rely on goods to be transported to their brick and borders?

Escalating gas prices are a tax on everyone regardless of socioeconomic status. Escalating gas prices means less disposable income for Charlottesville and Elmeral County in Central Virginians. Virginians.

Escalating gas prices may drive more people to midterm voting. Escalating gas prices and war in the Middle East may drive more democratic liberal support come midterms, may drive more of the anti-Trump movement. Donald Trump in his second term, one of his key platform points, and certainly something he highlighted in his state of the union this past Tuesday, was affordable gasoline. He talked about what gas was at when he took office in his second term. He highlighted $6 gas. I would imagine

he's referencing California. Definitely not here. Then he segued into gasoline that he'd seen in the Midwest recently that had gas prices in the low ones, $1 per gallon. Talked about that in the state of the union. Not even a week

later, we're seeing fuel costs escalate. I want to ask you, the viewer, and listener, what will this impact have on Charlottesville, Almaro, UVA, and the Commonwealth? Judea, go first. Viewers and listeners, we'll take your comments in the feed by putting them in there now. Judah, my friend, show is yours. I've been to the gas station today. I'm curious to watch how the price fluctuates. You know, with all of the talk of gas prices over the last year or so, and prices

going down or going up. I honestly haven't seen all that much of a change. I would have to say that in the last year, my purchases of gas have largely been in a pretty tight band, I'd say somewhere between like $270, $2.70, $2.80 to like $3, far closer than I would have thought, given everything that I've seen in the news.

So I'm a little leery that this is going to have a massive effect on our gas. We're in a very, very different place than we were the last time gas was a major issue. America is doing a lot more of its own gasoline creation. And so I think that's also going to help tamp down wild swing. is in price. But definitely remains to be seen. I had a conversation. I had a conversation today with a former mayor of Charlottesville.

He's an attorney. This is not Mike Signer, who I had a conversation with. I'm talking a former mayor of Charlottesville, an attorney that was one of a handful of people that helped make the downtown mall pedestrian. Frankly, I'll just cut to the chase. It was David Tiscono. Great conversation with David Tiscono,

albeit brief this morning. have a lot of respect for David Descano was always great to see him. Just outside of his office on the downtown mall, we chatted. Elliot Harding was there as well, another talented attorney. He was of the mindset this morning that a deal has been brokered by the Trump administration to source oil and its byproduct gasoline from somewhere else to make sure the price of a barrel of an oil or a gallon of, of gas doesn't get out of control.

He says he's under the impression that there's no way that a Trump administration were go to a war in the Middle East without a hedge of gas getting out of control or keeping it from getting it too expensive for Americans to manage. You talk about so many headwinds with the American economy so far in 2026, 2025. You got tariffs. You got the Supreme Court and their stance on tariffs. You got Ukraine and Russia still. You have now this war in the Middle East and still stock markets, stocks and equities are at all-time high.

You've got the battle with Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve on interest rates. All these are obvious, palpable and tangible headwinds on the American economy. Yeah, I don't think we're going to be seeing that rate cut. I wouldn't expect a rate cut, as the word inflation is certainly going to, creep back into the economic lexicon. But the American economy and his second administration, Trump's, as appeared to be almost as if they were the Teflon Don, protected and preserved and persevering.

Another headwind clearly is what's happening now. How does Charlottesville respond to that? How does this impact disposable income for us that so many of us are just trying to pay their bills, trying to pay their mortgage, try to pay their rent, still getting ramped and hammered and ravaged at the grocery store. And the pump.

How about the Dominion electrical bill? Electric bill. Utilities, education, daycare, babysitting. I read a story today sent to me by Conan Owen. and it was on the restaurant industry and how margins are the thinnest ever for the restaurant industry now than perhaps ever before, save the Great Depression.

Okay. Do we make an argument now that headwinds for restaurants today in 2026 are just as significant as the challenges they face at the onset of the pandemic? At the onset of the pandemic, the restaurant industry, was given PPP money and COVID loans and a life fest and a raft to float or try to navigate tumultuous waters.

That PPP money, that free money, that cheap money, that no interest or deferred loan payments, remember this, viewers and listeners? That's not existing now. This article I read that was sent to me by Conan Owen included the challenges that come with tip culture today. The expectation with restaurants is a 20% tip regardless of service now. The expectations with restaurants when you're picking food up for takeout is a 20% tip on the bill. Delivery, a 20% tip on the bill. And to add on to that, I recently saw a tip that included the $8 delivery fee

when you were doing the calculation on their... On their tip. Whatever, whatever program was that we were ordering from. Yeah, when you look at the rundown and then you... The receipt. You can click on how much of a tip you want to leave, and I'm going through and I'm like, okay, wait a minute, an $8 tip on a $30 meal seems a bit off. And, of course, I did the math myself, and I was like, oh, they're adding in the $8 delivery fee.

and and calculating the tip on top of that. I was like, that's not right. You get $100 worth of food in Charlottesville or $100 worth of food at a restaurant in Northern Virginia or Richmond or Southwestern Virginia. Let's just take Charlottesville because I know what the meals tax and the meals tax situation is with Charlottesville City.

Each jurisdiction has a different meals tax rate. Take Charlottesville, Virginia. You go out to dinner. $100 worth of food. your tax on that $100 worth of food is 12.3%. That takes your $100 worth of food to, what, $112.30. Then you're 20% minimum on top of that. You're $100 worth of food.

You're talking about some tip on the tax, some tip without the tax. If you're tipping without the tax, just for the sake of easy math, that's $20. That takes you to $132.50. That means $100 worth of food in Charlottesville. Your final bill is $132.50. And this tip culture article that Conan sent me clearly is showing with a restaurant owner doing the mechanics of her business model that a lot of times, wait staff is making more money than the owner.

Virginians, Californians, Americans, whoever you may are. Whoever you may be are pushing for this $20 to $25 an hour minimum for servers and staffers. The restaurant owner is saying you want $20 or $25 minimum for servers, for staff at our restaurant, then expect to have $18, $19, and $20 grilled cheese sandwiches. Which we already have in some places. So I ask you this question, gasoline prices potentially going up and who knows what's going to happen? I've seen them jump 30 cents from, Thursday, no, from Friday morning to today, they've jumped 30 cents per gallon.

What does less money in people's pockets mean to the communities that we love? You know what is an unfortunate circumstance is the charm and the nostalgia of Main Street being eroded away by geopolitical tension in the Middle East? The businesses that will gain more market share with consumers having less disposable income are the big box brands. We saw that during COVID. The pandemic, momentum for the Walmarts and the Amazons and the targets of the world. Huge momentum. Huge stalling or slowing for the small businesses we love to support. Comments are coming in quickly.

Jason Howard's watching the program. Philip Dow's watching the program. Philip Dow's photo on screen, we've dubbed him the mayor of Scottsville. What's scary, there are a lot of Iranian sleeper cells in the United States of America. Think of what the open borders did to cause this. I am absolutely concerned with strikes on American soil. You're seeing the counter strikes on U.S. military bases in the Middle East. I am absolutely concerned with counter strikes on American soil.

And not even just the Middle East, I believe there was one in India. Vanessa Parkhill is watching the program, her photo on screen. Some people are of the mindset that it's better to take the fight to the other side than to have it to come here. I understand the rationale. I just wish no one had to fight at all. I am old enough to remember when Iran took American hostages. Vanessa Parkhill, we value your opinion here. We embrace it.

We love to showcase it. You make the program better. And I guarantee you Vanessa Parkhill has thought about the four Americans who have died so far as in the lens of a mom of two wonderful children, including my son, I know, and Lee Parkhill, who's a fantastic human. Georgia Gilmer is a little bit of semantics here from Georgia Gilmer. I've yet to see that the U.S. has declared war on Iran. I have seen language that says major combat operations. So is it considered an official war or coordinated attack?

Ginny Who says only Congress can declare war. This is being done under the War Powers Act granted to the president by Congress. Georgia Gilmer. so no one should be using the torum war at this time. Respectfully, ladies, I push back, and I value both your opinion, Georgia Gilmer, and of course your opinion, Ginny Who. I don't think it is a time for semantics on a Monday

when every media outlet in the world is talking about deaths and war and fighter jets and drones and military bases facing attacks. four Americans are dead today that we're not dead on Friday and those Americans have parents and families my two cents Jason Howard

only one piece of the puzzle but higher prices and economic uncertainty will be great for Costco and Aldi and other value stores 100%. Jason Howard is a retail wizard does it professionally someone like a Costco that makes their money on their membership model and not on margin on the skews they sell, the retail units that they sell on shelves, huge tail wins for Costco.

How about Amazon? Gas gets expensive? I don't want to drive somewhere to buy stuff. Have it shipped to me. Target Walmart? That's why you have to support businesses like Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. Online at Charlottesfell Sanitary Supply.com. Sister Company, Charlestful Swimming Pool Company, online at Charlestful Swimming Pool Company.com.

The Vermilions who own this company are five generations strong in Almorel County, and they've owned and operated their business, Charlestful Sanitary Supply, for three family generations. They have an online website, Charlestful Sanitary Supply. Charlesfulanitary Supply.com, where you can buy goods and have them delivered to your doorstep for free, oftentimes the same day at price points that beat the big box brands. anything vacuum-related, anything vacuum repair, cleaning supplies, sanitary supplies, Bona, wood flooring, the bona product, anything swimming pool construction, above ground, in-ground, pool covers, pool robots, water testing and cleaning, it's John Vermillion and

Andrew Vermillion and only the Vermilions. Judah Wickhauer, comments continue to come in. What's on your mind, my friend? Well, I've got this handy This handy Wawa app And they've They've gone up about What looks like about 10 cents

Since the last time I Since the last time I Purchased gas there So It's Could be a lot worse We're still in the early stages If I had to put an over under

Of 50 cents increase By the end of the week Where would your bet be? I'd say under under 50 cents by close the business Friday? I don't think it's going to go up 50 cents in a week. Where are you at now? On your handy-dandy-danny Costco app?

My handy-d-aw-a app, I'm sorry? Wawa app says that unleaded is currently $3.9 where I usually get gas. And before the war, this war in Iran, it was $2.99? Something like that. It was between... See, I had $2.79. I looked at... I literally looked at, I have a similar app, and we were pumping on Friday at $2.79.79.

At the Tiger Fuel on Preston Avenue. 279 for us is what we pumped. That's really good. Can we use $2.79 as a barometer? Can you write that down on one of your notepads so we can track it over the course of a week? $2.79? Caitlin Mancini watching the program. I noticed the new Howard Hanna office on the downtown mall.

Caitlin Mancini. Looking forward to having you guys around the downtown mall, fantastic firm there as they wait to open an official location behind Barracks Road shopping center, an interim location in the old Seville weekly spot for Howard Hanna. Comments continue to come in and they're coming in quickly. John Blair's photo on screen. John Blair says, I think you've got to look at an interesting data point today. The S&P and NASDAQ are up right now. The Dow is only down by 100 points. I think that demonstrates something that wouldn't have even been true 30, 20, or 10 years ago. Investors do not panic when it comes to military conflict any longer. Obviously, as

things develop, that might change, but I think it's remarkable that investors do not panic over this situation. John Blair also says, on a side note, on another note in 1991, when Operation Desert Storm began, there were massive gas lines that day all over the country. and Virginia. I've seen zero indication of lines at gas stations today. Yeah. I haven't seen them either. John Blair, you make the program better. We appreciate you.

Well, we're certainly in a different place than we were back then. America is much better at keeping reserves. We're also doing our own gas production so that I think helps a lot. And

in terms of in terms of stocks, I think we've got a lot is being propped up by the big, what is it, the, what do they call it, the big seven? So I think there's far less volatility in the stock market, partially because of plunge production. The Magnificent Seven, a term coined by Bank of America, to describe a group of high-performing mega-cap U.S. technology and growth companies, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, meta platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, I'm sure holdings and many diversified portfolios of viewers and listeners watching this program. Certainly part of mine, certainly part of yours. The headwinds, I talked about this in the beginning of the show. I mean, he's months into a second term.

You have Ukraine, Russia. You have tariffs. You have a tariff war with China. where they were basically locking each other out, threatening tariffs with a bunch of other countries, including bordering Canada. You have Supreme Court fighting tariffs, ruling on tariffs, Trump going toe to toe with SCOTUS.

You got all this disgusting and gross and disheartening Epstein files, linking so many power players in our country and globally, to a pedophile, whether dead or alive. I mean, you got Israel, U.S. against Iran, and a war that's on the cost. I'm still using the term war. You got pallet inflation and interest rates that won't go away. Going to be very hard to cut rates with the...

And you're still at all-time highs. Yeah. And you're still knocking at the door of all-time highs. On the day, the first business day of... whatever we're calling this in Iran. I think that should give most people pause. I think it certainly gives the folks that are not deeply invested in stocks

and equities pause. Because the folks are not deeply invested in stocks and equities that are Americans are like, what's going on here? Because it's clear the rich are just getting richer. Well, the majority of Americans are not. Conan Owen is. watching the program. And lower thirds can be rotated on screen. I know we're hopping around as we do on the I Love Seville show. And Conan Owen has got some commentary that he would like

to offer on the restaurant industry. I asked the question, are restaurants in the first quarter of 2026, locally owned and operated restaurants, these mom and pop type of restaurants facing more challenges right now than restaurants did during COVID in the pandemic? And you're immediately going to be like, Cherry, what are you talking about? That was a generational. That was a once in a generation pandemic, once in an American history type of pandemic. How are you comparing and contrasting the headwinds with mom and pop restaurants during the onset of COVID to what's going on now? It wasn't that long ago.

We're talking six years ago in March. You know how we remember when the pandemic started was the pandemic canceled March Madness. Basketball. It happened right in March. March is a special month for my family. My sister-in-law's birthday first. My wife's birthday next. We love March Madness in the ACC tournament.

Love it dearly. Favorite sports time is the ACC tournament into March Madness. I'm married an Irish family. St. Patty's Day is a religion. It's a religious holiday for the Irish. St. Patty's Day. Then we close it down with. my son's birthday at the end of the month. He's turning eight, our oldest sons. March the best

month of the year for our family. I remember COVID because of the cancelization, the canceling of the NCAA tournament. And on the onset of the pandemic restaurants, we were all terrified. We thought it was on the bottom of our shoes. We thought it was where we were walking. We were forced to wear masks. We were forced to stay in our homes, but many restaurants survived because the government flushed them with dry powder, PPP, the COVID loans, all that free money that drove inflation. Now, a lot of restaurants took debt against assets like homes and are now that debt is coming due. I ask the question, is it more challenging now to be a mom and pop restaurant owner than in COVID, the start of the pandemic?

Conan Owen says, the restaurant industry is in a worse position now because consumer behavior has changed. Too many people rely on delivery apps which kill restaurant margins and COVID change people's attitudes towards employment. Too many of the people who were once in the food service industry now or now in the gig economy where you work when you have nothing better to do or need money for specific expense that aren't required to show up anywhere near 40 hours a week. Coden also says the U.S. is one of the few places that can process the heavy petroleum that comes across out of Venezuela. Plus, we're producing more energy than ever.

There's no reason why our gas prices should be affected by taking Iranian supply to China off the market. I'm knocking on wood here. Those are thoughts echoed in somewhat similar capacity by David Tiskano to me this morning. David, if you watch this program,

I very much encourage you to come on the show. we would love to have you, my friend, on the program. Now, there are other things that will be affected, considering the fact that the straits of Hormuz are closed, especially for Virginia, considering we've got a pretty major port in the port of Virginia. And what's it called? Norfolk.

I'd like to give some attention to 919 Druid Avenue. The team at 919, Druid Avenue now has an active listing. Katie Mullins is the realtor for this Belmont Cottage, which is absolutely a fantastic listing. Four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, 2,197 square feet. You can walk to anything downtown, anything downtown Belmont. And it's got an income-producing basement apartment that will help offset any overhead tied to the listing, tied to the home you buy.

919 Druid Avenue, $699,000 asking price. Now this is an $800,000 home in a couple of years. Mark it down. Katie Mullins and her team will join us on the I Love Seville Show. Is it Wednesday, Judah? I believe so. Wednesday for Katie, Ben and Chris. The Druent Avenue team.

We'll talk all things real estate. Chris Coiner, the owner of Decem Design Build, Ben Mullins, the owner of Blenham Builders, and Katie Mullins, the owner of Blenham Realty Group, will join us on set on Wednesday to talk all things economy and real estate. Judah Wickhauer, next headline. What shall we cover?

Next up, we could talk about former mayor, Signer. Mike Signer's got a new job. He's getting roasted on Reddit. Yep. This is the former mayor of Charlottesville that had the dubious distinction of being the mayor of Seville

during his darkest, most disturbed period, August 11th and August 12th, when the Ku Klux Klan was in Charlottesville, when Heather Heyer lost her life, when James Fields, who's in jail, rammed a Dodge Charger through a crowd of protesting people in downtown Seville. I call it domestic terrorism.

Judah cringes when I use that terminology. Regardless, Former Mayor Mike Signer, the former in-house counsel of Willow Tree Apps, very curious that the former in-house Council of Willow Tree Apps, Mike Signer, was in the room negotiating Willow Tree's move from downtown Charlottesville and the tax base that Willow Tree offered the city of Charlottesville, just over the city line into Almaro County, into where they are today, Woolen Mills. Willow Tree Apps was purchased by a Canadian convalued.

Gallomerant is no longer locally on and operated. He platformed from Willow Tree in-house counsel to council at Airbnb. And now he is platformed again to counsel at a startup, Judah. Ever driven, the nation's leader and alternative student transportation. Mike Signer, chief policy and legal officer, where do you want to begin with this story? I think we should begin by warning that given the way things are going with our, with our buses in town, we may be seeing bus drive shares coming to Charlottesville and Albemarle County. We have

talking about, talked about this for a while now. Have we talked about exactly like this? Go ahead, go ahead. So this is essentially, from what I've been reading, this is almost like this is almost like calling calling someone from like Uber or DoorDash to come drive your kids to school,

which seems pretty scary if you're a parent whose kids regularly ride the buses. A, you've got people that are not regulars. They're not your kids regular school driver, so they're less invested in your child. they are oftentimes cycled throughout the week so your kids are not seeing the same driver day after day. This is especially impactful for kids with learning disabilities

with autism who for them a regular face a face that they know is a very big part of like a normalized school day. Then you have a have the fact that some of these people might actually be delivering for something like DoorDash while they're dropping off your kids to school or picking them up and dropping them off in the neighborhood. So all of that, on top of the fact that there's less accountability

because these people are not working for the schools. They're working for whatever company is being paid for. There's decreased safety, decreased relationship building, and I've got to say that this does not look like something that I would want my school to be considering for my kids. I would rather have them, and oftentimes what's even worse is that oftentimes they end up spending even more on these ride shares than they would hiring good people to drive the school buses that the school owns.

Here's the challenge and why you're seeing the privatization of school transportation. As school systems, specifically public school systems, drop in enrollment, their funding is lowered. Enrollment determines funding. As school systems public specifically unionize, and utilize collective bargaining, teachers, support staff, janitorial, cafeteria workers, you name it, earn more money. And I'm all for teachers and support staff making more money. All for it.

As buildings, public school systems specifically continue to age, and boy oh boy, a lot of these buildings and public school systems are getting long in the tooth. that requires infrastructure updating. It costs money. As jurisdictions realize that school systems are their number one line item for their respective budgets every year and it's only going to become more significant, jurisdictions are looking at ways to potentially optimize budgets and allocations. So entrepreneurs, business owners, visionaries, risk takers realize that,

something like Charlottesville, jurisdiction like Al Morrow County is looking to potentially trim fat. Al Morrow County's proposed budget is now $724 million. Let's, for the sake of a talk show, utilize nearly three quarters of a billion

dollars, roughly. Roughly three quarters of a billion dollars is what it costs to run Al Morrow County. That's the proposed budget by county executive Jeff Richardson and schools are the number one, Lidine, and by far, what was it, 52, 53, 54% is tied to schools? That's the number. That's the number.

You start thinking about, as a supervisor, as a county executive, as a city councilor, as a city manager, what are ways to optimize our budgets, drive efficiencies, and AI and privatization of certain utilities starts entering into your vocabulary. I see nothing but downside with this. nothing but downside with the privatization of transportation. I see, as Judah eloquently pointed out, a loss of human connection, a loss of a familiar face, a loss of accountability. I see, as Judah pointed out, concern from parents.

I just was sent a message, I'm not going to say from whom. It's a screenshot of an email that was sent at 1 p.m. today, and this is disturbing and disgusting. This screenshot of an email sent to us today is from Woodbrook Elementary School and its administration, specifically Christy Isaiah. Dear Woodbrook families, I'll read the email verbatim. Earlier today, the Admiral County Police Department, see if you can find the release, the statement, the Almore County Police Department Facebook page, please. I'll read the email verbatim.

Dear Woodbrook families, earlier today, the Almore County Police Department announced the arrest of Nicholas Clark, a fifth grade teacher at Woodbrook Elementary School. He has been charged with felony offenses related to child pornography. We know this news is deeply concerning. The investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement. Mr. Clark will not return to Woodbrook. We are putting plans in place so students in his class can continue learning with as little disruption as possible.

School counselors and support staff are available to assist any student who may need support. If you have questions about the arrest or information that may be relevant to this investigation, please contact the Almore County Police Department. Criminal Investigation Division at 434-296-5807 are Crime Stoppers at 4344. 977,000. I'm now on the Almore County Police Department page. I see the release. I had a conversation with a friend of mine, two guys, two guys, me and two other fellows, business owners, just talking about life as parents, right? One of them, I'm not going to say who made this comment to me. It's resonated with me since Thursday. This is a father of a young son in

a young daughter. You know what he said to me and our other friend? He said, I'll just be straightforward. I don't trust other men with my kids. If he didn't say, I don't trust other adults with my kids.

He specifically said, this is someone I have respect for. I think he's watching the program right now. I don't trust other men with my kids. It's not surprising in this day and age. Sadly. We segue to this from the privatization of bus driving. There was a time where the school bus driver was a friendly face,

where parents, especially parents of young children, elementary-age children, Woodbrook-age children, would walk their kids to the bus stop. Their kids would have their little backpacks, their thermos in the sleeve of their backpack, and they'd wait for this big yellow submarine to pull up to a bus stop, to pull the lever for the red sign to come out,

to stop traffic on either side, as your heart that's walking outside of your body got on and off the bus. And there was a level of trust associated with this process because the person driving the yellow submarine was someone that you recognized and was consistently there to maintain safety. And this era of 2026, this ecosystem,

this community, this world where Americans are invading, Israelis are invading, Iran, where we're fearful of counterstrikes, where four Americans are dead. And this world we live in, where a Cro-Zé music teacher and babysitter is being linked to God knows how much awful stuff all over the Commonwealth with children. And now a Woodbrook fifth grade teacher, Having that trusted face behind the yellow submarine, someone that's consistently been there, been there for generations, is a level of trust that's hugely important.

No doubt. And that's the point you made, the shuffling of faces. Who's going to be the driver? Who's the accountability? And while I don't think Mike Signer should be roasted on Reddit, I think Mike Singer did some things wrong during A-11 and A-12. I think it was curious, maybe questionable,

that a Charlottesville City Councilor was negotiating the displacement or the moving of one of the city's largest employers to Elmore County. That really impacted downtown Charlestville. I don't think there's anything wrong with Mike Signer job hopping. I don't think there's anything wrong in a short period of time. What, less than 10 years?

He's gone from Willow Tree. to Airbnb to this company. Good for him. Props to him. We're entitled to do that. I do want to be cautious about privatizing public school

and private school and student busing, though. No doubt. But I'm also mindful that an entrepreneur sees an gap in the market because they realize that schooling has become so expensive

and eventually they're going to have to cut cost in ways. This is not necessarily a cut. and cost. Explain how this is any different, how this is any different, I'll throw this to you, how is this any different than a robotaxie,

than my parents getting into a taxi in Los Angeles or San Francisco when they visit my brother who lives in California and they want to get back to my brother's house and they get into a car that has no driver. How is it different?

Yeah. How is artificial intelligence, and technology with transportation, any different with school busing as it is taxiing people. We now trust driverless vehicles to drive families around Los Angeles gridlock. Are we not soon going to trust for the sake of a talk show and to play devil's advocate with what I think you're going to say, the same technology and artificial intelligence to buy lost children around Charlestville gridlock?

Well, A, no, and B, this is not cyberbussing. Yet? Yet. You don't think that's where this is going? You know that this is where it's going. The key line item of expense with any business that is looking to be replaced, some would say replace, substituted, maybe others would use the word cannibalize, is human labor

and the money associated with compensating people. The line item that is most expensive that can be managed and controlled with school bus transportation is can you replace the labor. The fuel is going to be the cost. It's always going to be the cost. The wear and tear in the vehicle is always going to be the cost. Warranty on the roads is always going to be the cost.

It's the labor. This is the first stage to robotax. school buses. Okay. You disagree? Not necessarily, but we're not there yet. Yeah. I mean, this is very much a different

proposition than robo-taxying kids around. And I don't know how trustworthy I would be of that whether or not your family is taking a robo-taxie in Los Angeles or wherever else. Just because it works

most of the time doesn't necessarily mean I would want that in a school bus anytime soon. Can't you say the same thing about human drivers? Certainly. It works most of the time. That's why a lot of people see this as a bad idea, because some gig economy driver who is picking up a job to drive your kids once every... This isn't a gig economy driver. How do you know?

Because the legal liability associated with having humans that are lacking a CDL driving around kids is a lawsuit. So the comment that Conan referenced that you're utilizing in this argument, a gig economy driver does not apply to school bus driving. Okay, well, I read about it in the article that I was reading about this. This scenario is secure the account, then optimize margins with the account, and optimizing margins with the account if you're ever driven. The nation's leader and alternative student transportation, ever driven, which delivers modern student-centered transportation that's safe, consistent,

and built it for those who needed, ever-driven, that utilizes artificial intelligence and technology to get kids, to and from school is one that will eventually replace humans. My two sons. I think deep down you think you agree that's where it's headed. Oh, I'm sure somebody will push for something like that sooner rather than later. How about the people that say, oh, good. We don't want humans with bad intentions around our kids.

I joked about a meme I saw last week. I think it was on Twitter. The meme that I saw last week was with artificial intelligence and technology and data centers and the concern we all have with these data centers and this artificial intelligence

is the where's the resources going to come from powering the data centers, right? We're losing our water. Where are these resources going to come from powering the data centers? And the meme that I saw that's resonated with me.

I'm talking about it for a second time in about a week on the I Love Seville show is all the humans that are going to lose their job because of artificial intelligence. And we're talking blue-collar and white-collar humans. Entry level, mid-level, you name it, that are going to lose their job, are going to reimagine themselves professionally as the hamster on the hamster wheel, but they're going to be riding a stationary bike in big rooms lined up in rows by the hundreds. And they're going to be riding this stationary bike as fast as possible to produce kinetic energy.

and that energy that the humans are going to produce from these stationary bikes are going to be used to power the data centers and the artificial intelligence that basically end the lives of humans professionally. My favorite take from that is that we'll all be swole. Oh, you're going to be in the best shape you've ever been in your life. And we'll all have purpose.

You're just going to do it with a chapped ass on a stationary bike for 50 hours a week, powering the data centers to drive the energy to equip the artificial intelligence to evolve and to become ubiquitous and prolific. A small prize to pay to power our AI overlords. But we will have six packs for sure. No doubt.

And our cores will be stronger than ever. Heck yeah. Comments coming in quicker than I can kick up. This is from handsome Hank Martin. As a parent of Albemar County Public School students from 1996 to 2015, I had to protect my sons from three male teachers. my warnings went unheeded until years later with someone else's children how much money goes to under the table sediments for nefarious teachers

Barbara becker tilly's photo on screen i did not trust many men with my kids that was 15 years ago i cannot imagine the era now imagine an era where millennials and younger what's the the millennial what's the generational do you have the generational graphic we can put on screen? Yep. There it is. The millennial is 1980 to start? Millennials is 81 to 96.

Let's call them millennials and younger. 1981 to when? 96. I'm talking about younger than millennials, then you're talking about Gen X. Okay, so it goes millennials, then the younger one is Gen X? Gen X is 65 to 80. No, that's older.

What's younger than millennials? Oh, you want really young. It goes millennials, then what, Judah? Generation Z. Then Gen Z, then Gen Alpha? Yeah. And Gen Alpha is when? Early 2010s to mid-2020s.

Okay. Imagine millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha. Growing up in a world where technology is so ubiquitous, so readily available, so free and so approachable, that they've immersed themselves in all sorts of pornography possible. at a fingertip accessible to pornography. At a fingertip accessible in the palm of your hands, the goggles you're wearing, the hologram you're watching, the 3D world you live in.

And it's so accessible and so approachable and so readily available that you're able to watch and experience it at any time you want, as long as you want, however many days you want. What kind of impact is that having on people? their psyche, their outlook, their dopamine, their brains, how they look at other people, how they look at other children, how they look at anybody in the world, the sexification of society. That's why I'm so fearful of anyone we don't know with our children,

especially men, especially men. Charlottesville police just did a phenomenal job of arresting, a human, a mentally unstable, was it second time this man was arrested for indecent liberties with children. Yeah, you asked if I would go to Facebook and here's the information release on him. Not a whole lot in here, but they arrested him in on Monday, March 2nd, today. This is the Woodbrook teacher. I'm talking last week the Charlottesville Police Department. Last week, the Charlottesville police arrested somebody for a second time for indecent liberties with a kid.

I've been seeing these all over the news. That's everywhere. It's disturbing. My wife and I were having this discussion yesterday. Murder and those kind of indecent liberties with children and where they stack up. I even said, I went as far as saying this, the, deviance that go really far with kids, it's worse in my book than murder. And she said, how's it worse in your book than murder?

And we had a 15-minute conversation about the really deviant stuff. And I'm of the stance that it's worse than murder. And she says, can't be worse than murder in my book, but it's right there with it. That's how I look at it. Not to go down this rabbit hole. I don't know if I could. Not to go down this rabbit hole. Scott Harris.

Is someone better or worse than the other? They're both terrible. Scott Harris watching the program. He says, and he's in transportation, Scott Harris. You're in the taxi business, right, Scott? Isn't Charlottesville schools using Kat for picking up students? I extended an arm of trust with my UVA students and parents, but here are many shady situations if it was ride share.

And he's the owner of reliable rides. And he says, Charlottesville schools are currently using Kat to pick up students. Charlottesville Outmore Transit. I mean, guys, you need to make this make sense, okay? You can't, Charlestful, the city of Charlottesville cannot pay bus drivers $50,000 or $60,000 a year to drive around buses that are completely empty. I don't, I don't buy that, especially with the... What do you not buy?

Especially with the information that we heard recently that, what was it, for every dollar spent on students, we're spending, what was it, $1.69 on administrators at schools. It seems like an incredible imbalance of where you're choosing to allocate your funds. And if you're spending that much money on more and more and more administrators rather than fixing your bus driver problem, It seems like a far larger issue with the schools than just not having enough bus drivers. Because come on.

How many of those administrators' salaries? How many bus drivers would those new administrator's salaries pay for? I don't see how the Charlottesville Area Transit model is sustainable for. much longer. Or do we just chalk it up to it being a utility and regardless of it being a losing endeavor, we're going to offer it? Yeah. Some people would argue that.

How's that any different than Charlottesville City Council allowing what's the homeless population? They've pegged, though, they've estimated the homeless population to be anywhere from 200 to 250 people. So, So Charlestville City has a homeless population, let's call it 200 people for the sake of a talk show. And those 200 people are being prioritized ahead of downtown mall, merchants and businesses, an eight block ecosystem that drives millions of locals and tourists and students alike.

200 people that are homeless are prioritized over eight blocks that drive millions of students, tourists, and locals alike. It's even less than that, sadly, because I would argue that it's doubtful those 200 are ever all in the downtown mall together, and I'm sure that there are some that never come to the downtown mall.

Yet policy is positioned, supportive of those roughly 200, over the businesses that are saying, you're killing us. How's that any different than funding, transportation systems that by all accounts are driving all over the city, the urban ring, empty tin cans that cost taxpayers an arm and a leg to fund.

Oh, it's just a utility. It's the right thing to do. That's not how you run businesses, but that's how we run jurisdictions. I mean, would you charge more for bus rides? You cut the routes down. you make them way more efficient less stops better amenities at each

stop less drivers less drivers paid more lower overhead like any business would you want to optimize cat cut the routes down cut the stops down

make the stops better with its amenities cut the drivers down make the drivers paid more less overhead drivers more appeal and more quality of life. But people don't want to have that conversation because it makes people uncomfortable.

Janice Boyce Trevillian. Baltimore City uses light rail. Kids downtown get a pass and travel to and from school in Baltimore City. Appreciate you, Janice Bois Trevillian. All right, it's 150. We've got some other things we've got to bang out today on the program. I'd like to give some attention to Stanley Martin Holmes.

Stanley Martin Holmes is a partner of the show. Stanley Martin folks is Bill. holding homes that you can trust. Stanley Martin is dedicated to building homes that cater to each person's unique needs and lifestyles. High quality single family homes, townhomes, and condominiums design and constructed with innovative techniques that ensure exceptional efficiency

and aesthetic appeal. Stanley Martin Holmes. Thank you for partnering the program. We'll get to the Charlottesville business that's expanded to Cary Town. that Charlottesville business that's expanded to Kerrytown is TILA accessories, which is located on the downtown mall. TILA accessories has expanded to Carytown. It's second location.

Owner Ayla Olson said she was drawn to Richmond as a second location because a lot of TILA accessories customers in downtown Charlottesville came from the Richmond area. Tila Accessories is spanishment. standing into the former Swartz Child Space and beloved Cary Town at 3144 West Carey Street. Congratulations to Ayla Olson, who's opening a second location. She's estimating costs to be $40,000 to $50,000 in renovations before the new location will open. All right, that's it for the show. We went 80 minutes straight today. We even talked about the basketball game.

UVA's lost to Duke. Still a great spot for UVA. Tomorrow, Jerry Rackleff is in the house and the Jerry and Jerry show at 10.15 a.m. We encourage you to watch that program and to support Jerry Rackleff and Jerry Rackleff.com through its new subscriber business model. News ain't free, and if you want to keep it coming,

it's going to be in a compensatory environment. That's the only way news is going to survive. Judah Wickhauer, Jerry Miller, the I Love Seval Show.