Friday, Sep 4: Reacting to the Police Press Conference

Surprise. Wait. Do I know you? You use your Discover Cashback card to earn 5% cashback on restaurants all quarter. Uh, yeah. Now, it's payback time. Whoa, whoa. Uh, hold on. Go ahead. Oh, you mean my Discover Cashback. I told you there'd be payback. You know, you have a weird way of delivering good news. I'm working on that. Activate and earn 5% cashback at different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. Terms apply. WBSM presents The Tim Weisberg Show. Streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508-996-0500. Send us app chat messages and open line voicemails using the WBSM app. The Tim Weisberg Show. Good morning. Happy Friday to you. Welcome into Fun Friday. A new day here on the program and starting off well here. Hope the same with you. It's going to be a nice day. We're going to have some fun because it is Fun Friday brought to you by Dee's Hot Dogs. We have some cool news about Dee's Hot Dogs coming your way a little bit later on in the program. And, uh, today I get to go check out King Richard's Fair. They're having their media day. So, I get to go see all the upgrades and things that they're doing that are different this year. And, you know, because they took over the Edeville space last year. And it was kind of a rush to get things ready. Everything kind of came together late. So, it was kind of a, you know, they found out late that they weren't going to be able to keep their previous site. And they were able to maneuver everything to get over to the Edeville site as a new permanent home. And the countdown was on before opening weekend. Now that they've had time to do even more, it should be bigger and better this year. So, I'm going to get a chance to go over there and see what those bigger and better plans are. And then share them with you. And a story we'll have at WBSM.com and on the WBSM app. That's also where you can find the story from yesterday about the press conference that the police held. Mayor Mitchell, Chief Thode speaking to the media yesterday about the results of the flock investigation. Which is still ongoing. They're still sifting through some stuff. According to what they were saying yesterday. There's still things that they're looking at. But they think that they've, you know, figured out what these misuses were. And so, they have, the chief has recommended firing two officers. Who have allegedly misused the flock technology. We knew about Officer Emily Pacheco. We knew about the allegations against her. But yesterday we also found out about Sergeant James Marinelli. If you're not familiar with what went on with Officer Pacheco. She had a former girlfriend that I guess they'd been kind of off and on. And they'd been having issues. And she was using the flock camera technology and other. And that was something that Chief Thode pointed out a number of times. It wasn't just the flock technology that Officer Pacheco was accused of utilizing for her personal use. For tracking this ex-girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend's new girlfriend. It wasn't just flock. It was other databases that they have access to. And as he said, you know, nobody's calling for us to cancel our contracts with those other services. With those other technologies. Nor would they. They're not going to not be part of the criminal database system. But the accusations against her go even beyond that. It also has to do with conduct unbecoming of an officer. From the way that she allegedly had talked to people. While in uniform and all these different things. So we actually have it at WBSM.com and on the WBSM app. When you read the story. We actually have the full report on each officer that the Internal Affairs Division did. The Office of Professional Standards or whatever its formal title is. But it's Internal Affairs. And the full reports are linked up in that story. So you can click on that. Obviously names are redacted of the other people that are involved that aren't the officers. But you can see everything. It's 110 pages. The report on Officer Pacheco's alleged misconduct. So you can dive into that if you want. I read the whole thing yesterday. And summarized it in the story. But then we also found out that a second officer. It was recommended a second officer would be fired. Sergeant James Marinelli. The charges against him. The allegations against him. Were that he used the flock technology to track a woman he was dating. As well as a man who was her ex-boyfriend. Who he believed they might have been having an affair. So he was using it to track the two of them. To see if his suspicions were correct. That these are the allegations against them. Now because they are union members. There's a process that's involved. The chief or the mayor can't just go ahead and fire them. Say you're terminated. We were able in this investigation to prove that you misused flock. When you signed a paper saying that you wouldn't. And that you did all these other things. That we would hold you accountable for. There has to be disciplinary hearings. All they've done so far was interview them. And in the interviews. Officer Pacheco answered some questions about her case. And that's when she told them about this story. About it was a criminal investigation into a drug dealer. And I don't think that they believe that. Based on the fact that they didn't have anything else that corroborated that. And then with Sergeant Marinelli. He asserted his fifth amendment rights. And didn't want to answer any questions. So that's all that they've gotten from information from for now. Now they'll have disciplinary hearings. The result of which could be their termination. And likely will be. And by the way. As there are officers leaving. If you've been following along with the police union. Posts on their Facebook page. They've been posting about another exodus of officers. Including officers who had only been in the New Bedford police department. One for I think was 11 months. Another was just a few months. So they're basically coming in. They're going through the police academy. They're getting trained. Thanks to New Bedford. And then going to another community. So they're losing officers. There's a hiring freeze to not replace. To not fill the numbers that they originally wanted to staff to. Because of the budget crunch. So there's a hiring freeze. And now they're going to fire two officers. Because of their conduct. Which again. If this proves to be true. If these things that they did are true. That that's the correct move. Which is saying. This is getting to be a critical situation for police staffing. It sounds like. 508-996-0500. So that was part of what the press conference was about. Was to announce the findings of these investigations. And the next steps. But the other part of it was that. Chief Thody is looking for public feedback. Into the possible continued use of flock. So what he has done. Is he has put. What the police department has done. Is they put up this survey. So you can fill out this online survey. And if you don't want to fill out the online survey. Which is quick. Then you can also send them an email. Oh, is it? Hold on. Think of that. Link doesn't work. Or maybe it's because. Oh, yeah. Because I already took the survey. Okay. I was like. I hope this doesn't just bring everybody to the survey monkey homepage. But I've already taken the survey. So the survey asks you for your email address. And then it asks you. I forget if it asks you first. If you're for or against the use of the cameras. Or if it presents you the proposed guidelines first. But I also figured. There's going to be people that don't want to just click right in. Don't want to sign up and get their email address. Just to find out what these guidelines are. Especially people who aren't from New Bedford. Because it asks you first and foremost. Are you a New Bedford resident? So rather than have a bunch of people from Dartmouth, Fairhaven. Fill this out. Because they wanted to see these guidelines that are proposed. I just put them in the story. So I'm going to just go through those with you very quickly. This, again, the cameras are still off. This would be if they turned them back on and continued utilizing them. These would be the steps that are in place. The guidelines that are in place to do that. It doesn't mean that they're definitely doing that. But they're definitely going to turn them back on. But these are the guidelines that they'd follow if they did. Now it sounds like, you know, Mayor Mitchell has made comments now. Both here on the show and at this press conference. It sounds like he's in favor of keeping them going. And ultimately it's going to be his decision. He's going to say that it's up to the Chief. But you know that ultimately it's the Mayor's decision. Unless there's a forced decision made by an ordinance. But we'll get into that later. So here's what's proposed as guidelines. Community and stakeholder working group vendor evaluation. They're going to establish a working group consisting of representatives from the police department. Elected officials and New Bedford residents and business owners. To discuss the conditions under which New Bedford can continue to use FLOC technology. The working group would consider FLOC safety alongside other ALPR vendors and technologies. To determine whether another system may better align with our public safety goals. Community expectations. Privacy standards. Data governance requirements and other objectives. I'm not going to read you everything word for word here. But I just wanted you to get an idea of what they would be looking at. So it's not just FLOC. It's about maybe we can switch to a different system. Another guideline would be data retention. They would reduce that holding of data that's collected by those cameras from 30 days to 14 days. And then the caveat remains they could hold it longer if it has evidentiary value in a specific investigation. Or when authorized by a warrant or a court order. Number three would be required minimum standard for searches. Currently there is no current requirement to conduct an ALPR search. That's why when you read what the reasons were that these officers put into the system to stalk people allegedly. They would put things like drug investigation, traffic infraction, wellness check. Like they could just put anything because it was filling out a box. It wasn't really like it would stop them from utilizing it. It was just filling out the box. It's like when you fill out an online form. It's like you can't skip phone number. You got to put your phone number in. There's going to be documentation of every search. So it says requiring officers to document the legitimate law enforcement purpose for a search and the facts supporting it. Creating a stronger audit trail. So there already is a current drop down menu for that. But they'd have to write a supplemental report documenting the reasonable suspicion required to conduct the search. Number five would be hot list management. A hot list is a list of vehicles or license plates associated with law enforcement alerts. Such as stolen vehicles, wanted persons, missing or endangered persons or other active law enforcement matters. So establishing clear requirements for how long locally entered hot list information remains active and who is responsible for keeping it current would be one of the steps. It would be reviewed and audited daily to make sure that it remains relevant and stale information is removed from the system. There would be mandatory audits. Regular monthly audits by the professional standards unit. And they would establish procedures for identifying and investigating unusual search patterns or other anomalies. So when somebody is doing something like these two officers are accused of doing, they would be alerted to it faster. There would be public audit and transparency reporting. Basically you would get periodic reports released to the public with the results of those audits. There would be mandatory training that officers would be required to complete before getting access to the system. And annual training in order to maintain their status as a user. Specific prohibited uses, including using ALPR information for civil immigration enforcement or tracking individuals based solely on constitutionally protected activity. Number ten, clear disciplinary consequences. Which, you know, we're seeing the end result of that now. Restrictions on outside agency access. So they would restrict all outside agency access to New Bedford ALPR data. Access could require affirmative approval and compliance with restrictions consistent with those imposed. So basically saying you're not going to just be able to access our cameras, you have to ask us. And vendor contractual safeguards. Ensuring contracts clearly establish who may access data collected in New Bedford. How the data may be used and secured. When it must be deleted and what the vendor may and may not do with it. So basically people that are concerned with them selling this data to third parties, that's what this would be part of. So those are the guidelines. Are those guidelines good enough for you to say let's try it? Or are you still adamant not to have them? 508-996-0500. App chat and open line voicemails in the WBSM app. Chief Thode will be on with Chris McCarthy this morning at 9 a.m. And he will be taking your calls on this topic. And I want to say this and I'll probably reiterate it a few more times during the course of the morning. I don't think everybody should be calling up and beating up on Chief Thode about this. Because he was not involved in bringing flock to New Bedford. Okay. So you can certainly say what you want to say about whether or not it's going to be continued. But I saw people blaming him for the system. I saw people saying, oh, well, he must have had a sweetheart deal with them to bring this in. He was not here in 2024 when these cameras were first put in. He's only been the chief for about a year now. He inherited this situation. So just keep that in mind when you're calling up to ask him questions. I mean, I don't even know that he can answer. Well, what did they tell you when they first, what did they tell the department when they first wanted to install them? Because, again, he wasn't here. All right. I'm going to get a break in here. We'll get the news on the other side. 508-996-0500. It is Fun Friday, though, so we will have a Fun Friday question coming up for you a little bit later on. Brought to you by Deez Hot Docs. We'll be back in a few moments. Surprise. Wait. Do I know you? You use your Discover Cashback card to earn 5% cashback on restaurants or quarter. Yeah. Now, it's payback time. Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Go ahead. Oh, you mean my Discover Cashback. I told you there'd be payback. You know, you have a weird way of delivering good news. I'm working on that. Activate and earn 5% cashback at different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. Terms apply. See discover.com slash 5 for details. Looking forward to celebrating Labor Day? Ford is, too. Right now, we've got amazing Cell-A-Thon deals that won't last long. It's time to find out and make it happen in a new Ford. Get the capable vehicle that fits your life. Ford F-150 can haul it. Bronco can get you there. Explorer fits everyone. And Mach-E brings the power. We're looking forward to celebrating Labor Day with you at Cell-A-Thon. Whatever you're looking forward to, make it happen with Ford. Hurry in for Cell-A-Thon this Labor Day at your California Ford dealers. It all ends September 7th. Starting your day the right way with the Tim Weisberg Show. Mornings on WBSM. President Trump wants some mail-in ballots withheld, a rare whale sighting off the coast of New York, and a new Super El Nino. From the Cottage Street Motors WBSM Newsroom, this is WBSM News. The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to withhold delivery of some mail ballots. The move escalates a legal fight just two months before the November midterm elections. It's an emergency appeal stemming from President Trump's executive order in March that gave federal agencies a larger role in running elections and mail-in voting. The Justice Department claims the new rules involve only modest envelope design and requirements regarding addressee information. Several voting rights groups and 23 Democratic-led states say the president and the Postal Service do not have the authority to decide which ballots should be delivered to voters. I'm Scott Carr. Iran says five civilians are dead after it claims the U.S. bombed a wedding party in a town near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian television broadcasting images of what it says are parts of the American missile responsible and of what Iranian media says are hospitalized wounded, including children. A U.S. official said that the military had been conducting strikes in the vicinity. That's Keir Simmons. He reports that the official also said the CENTCOM is investigating the claims. Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it responded with airstrikes on U.S. military bases in Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, and Bahrain. Two endangered whale sharks have been spotted in a rare sighting off the coast of New York City. 20-ton whale sharks that got up close and personal with a Brooklyn-based American princess ship. It was sailing 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean Monday in a cavern connected to the Hudson River. Video shows the gentle giants just inches away. No threat to anyone, but these whale sharks are threatened due to things like ship strikes and climate change. They rarely surface above the water. So whale watchers, well, they got a lot more than they paid for. I'm Sara Lee Kessler. This year's Super El Nino could be the strongest El Nino ever recorded. Dr. Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia Climate School says it's gaining continuously strength and could become the strongest El Nino in more than 75 years. It's expected to bring more rain to the Southern California area starting in October. The southeastern states have the highest likelihood, above 70%, of seeing more rain than normal. The weather pattern is likely to stick around into early 2027. California lawmakers are passing Leno's law. The bipartisan bill aims to relieve more classic car owners from California's emissions rules, which are the strictest in the nation. It's backed by comedian Jay Leno, who owns hundreds of classic cars and motorcycles stored at his garage in Burbank. The bill would exempt some cars made before the model year 1981 from the standard smog checks. The current rules generally require gas-powered vehicles from the model year 1976 and up to undergo a smog check every two years. Many classic car owners say that's overly restrictive. I'm Daniel Martindale. A new study shows alcohol may increase the risk of dying from cancer. Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center say annual alcohol attributable cancer deaths rose from just over 11,000 in 1990 to 23,000 in 2023. One study author says overall cancer deaths have declined, but the share linked to alcohol has doubled. The researcher also notes that alcohol-related cancer risk affects people across all groups. I'm Michael Kastner. With the 25th anniversary of September 11th approaching, the New York City Council is helping students learn about the terror attacks with free trips to the 9-11 Memorial Museum. Council President Julie Menon says the council is allocating $1 million from the fiscal 2027 budget to pay for field trips to the museum for New York City students. As an ever-increasing number of New Yorkers are too young to remember those stories firsthand, it is imperative that they know about them and that we make it as accessible as possible. Children will get to see artifacts, imagery, faces of victims, hear personal stories that officials say will have a bigger educational impact than reading about it in a classroom. An American institution for more than two centuries is changing with the times. The Saturday Evening Post, best known for its iconic illustrations by Norman Rockwell, will stop publication of its print edition in the new year. Founded in 1821, the magazine's January issue will be its final print edition, and future issues will be online only. The publisher cited rising production costs, declining advertising revenue, and shifting reader habits. Archives of the Post, including those Rockwell images, will be preserved online. I'm Rory O'Neill. A 91-year-old man has become the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail. Dale Greybeard Sanders finished the nearly 2,200-mile trail that runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Cadidan in Maine. Sanders hiked the trail in sections with breaks in between before finishing in Maine. He previously held the record at age 82 and reclaimed it after another hiker broke it in 2021. Red Sox over the Orioles 6-5 last night in Baltimore. Both teams back at it tonight at 7.05. And now, your WPRI 12 forecast. Brought to you by Family Heating and Cooling in Westport. Early morning clouds and fog. Otherwise, skies becoming mostly sunny, turning into a nice day. High temperatures in the afternoon, 80-85. The humidity falling by afternoon and evening sets up for comfortable weather tonight under mainly clear skies. Late-night temperature at 63. Mostly sunny Saturday morning, turning partly sunny by the afternoon. A bit cooler highs in the mid-70s. Sunshine both Sunday and Monday. Cooler on Sunday around 70. Nice Labor Day Monday with highs in the mid to upper 70s. For WBSM, I'm 12 News Chief Meteorologist Tony Petracca. I'm Mike Roberts, WBSM News. Stay up to date with New Bedford's News Talk Station, WBSM and get breaking news alerts and all of our content on the WBSM app. This WBSM News Update is brought to you by Stevie's Wine and Spirits. Look for the purple dot to try before you buy. Only at Stevie's Wine and Spirits in Fairhaven. And I'm already in trouble because I put up today's Fun Friday question already. Brought to you by Dee's Hot Dogs. And it is food-related. And I skipped dinner last night. I'm already hungry. And this conversation is only going to make me hungrier. I got to make a change already. Hold on. I made a comment and I got to change my comment because I just thought of something else. All right. So our Fun Friday question today. Because I think that this is something that, you know, food always seems to get a reaction out of people. It's also one of the things that I think people will actually trust me on and not argue with me too much about. Somebody said to me the other day, I thought all your Fun Friday questions would be about sandwiches. Because, you know, you're the sandwich guy. You say enjoy every sandwich at the end of every show and all that stuff. So I was like, we've had multiple questions about sandwiches. And then this person asked me, well, what's your favorite sandwich? And I had to think about it for a minute and I was like, I don't really have a favorite. I have different sandwiches I like for different reasons. And then this morning I was getting everything ready. And I saw a post that was something like, you know, name your Mount Rushmore of like new metal acts. I was like, you know what, I want to bring that to it. So I put, I have a grammatical error in this. I put give us your Mount Rushmore of sandwiches. So that's what we're looking for. What are your top four sandwiches? And I'll give you mine. North Shore beef. So not just a roast beef sandwich. It's got to be a North Shore beef with the James River barbecue sauce, the cheese, the mayonnaise. So North Shore beef, tuna, no celery, chicken salad, no celery and pastrami. Those are my, that's my Mount Rushmore of sandwiches. Those are my four sandwiches I'd put on Mount Rushmore. How about yourself? You can comment on our Facebook page. You can send an app chat message or an open line voicemail on the WBSM app. Or you can call in 508-996-0500. We will discuss serious things today like the police announcement regarding the flock cameras. We can discuss some of the other news of the day. I don't know if you saw, but the Lindsay Clancy jury is deadlocked because of one juror. They say, the jurors are telling the court that this one juror refuses to obey the law when it comes to reasonable doubt. So her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, made a motion to have this juror dismissed and replaced with an alternate. And the judge didn't want to do that. Which I can understand because in the judge's mind that's involving yourself in the jury process. But it may come to that because the judge is dead set on them coming out with a verdict and not having a mistrial. But they have put in that dynamite option. They have put in the final sending of them to reach a verdict or else the judge may have no choice but to declare a mistrial. So we'll see where it goes today. And then it'll be interesting to find out if any of the jurors speak afterwards what this whole doubt is all about. But there'll be more on that a little bit later when court opens I'm sure. 508-996-0500 When it comes to protecting your business or your home, don't settle for anything less than the best. You need to feel like your home is secure. And we're not talking about flock cameras that are going to read people's license plates. We're talking about just protecting your property. Whether it's a home system because you want to make sure that all of your entry points are secure. You want to make sure that you have surveillance of anybody that comes onto your property. You want to protect your family. From a business perspective, maybe you want to protect your product. Maybe you want to make sure your employees are being as safe as can be. Maybe you need to have that footage in case they're not being safe. And you can then point to that to say, hey look, it wasn't our fault. They weren't following the rules. There's lots of reasons to need security cameras. But there's so much more to security than just cameras. The doors that you use on your business are very important. Because those doors these days can be pretty much to the point where nobody can get into those doors unless you want them to. The access control that you have now is unlike anything we've had in the past. And the ways that you can control that system are unlike anything we've had in the past. I was talking with the folks here. We have little fobs that will let us into the building. That's why when you come here you have to ring a bell for somebody to let you in. Because we no longer just have an open door anymore. We have fobs. And inevitably somebody locks their keys in or comes down here but forgot their fob. And they're calling another employee. Well, if you're in that kind of situation, you can get a system where the boss can just open up an app on their phone and go ahead in. That's the way modern technology has benefited security. And nobody offers all of these complete security solutions like AllSecurityCo in New Bedford. Because others will need you to call this company to get the doors. This company to get the access control. This company to get the camera. And AllSecurityCo does it all. That's why it's in their name. Complete security solutions tailored to your business, your home. And they can even secure churches, which are becoming more and more of a concern for people. And private schools. Now, they could do public schools, but that's a little bit more of a process. But with private schools, there's usually a facilities manager that can make these decisions. Or at least be the conduit to getting these decisions approved. So it's a little bit easier. But if you're a public school building supervisor or you work in the school department and you're thinking you need security upgrades, don't hesitate to call AllSecurityCo. There might be a few more hoops to jump through, but they can still talk to you. But really, what have you got to lose just by having the conversation and getting the free estimate? Secure your future today with AllSecurityCo. You can see them at their shop on Kempton Street. You can call them at 508-993-4272, 508-993-4272. Or visit them online at AllSecurityUSA.com. AllSecurityCo, protecting what matters most. And make sure you tell them that you heard about it on WBSN. All right, we've got to get a break in here. We'll do that and be back in a few moments. Surprise. Wait, do I know you? You use your Discover Cashback card to earn 5% cashback on restaurants or quarters. Uh, yeah. Now, it's payback time. Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Go ahead. Oh, you mean my Discover Cashback. I told you there'd be payback. You know, you have a weird way of delivering good news. I'm working on that. Activate and earn 5% cashback at different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. Terms apply. See Discover.com slash 5 for details. Looking forward to celebrating Labor Day? For it is, too. Right now, we've got amazing sell-a-thon deals that won't last long. It's time to find out and make it happen in a new Ford. Get the capable vehicle that fits your life. Ford F-150 can haul it. Bronco can get you there. Explorer fits everyone. And Mach-E brings the power. We're looking forward to celebrating Labor Day with you at Sell-A-Thon. Whatever you're looking forward to, make it happen with Ford. Hurry in for Sell-A-Thon this Labor Day at your California Ford dealers. It all ends September 7th. Did you know VA home loans are a key to home ownership for those who served? The first moment I walked into my home, I could hear my footsteps echo off the back wall. The first thing I thought in my head was, man, furniture is going to be real expensive. The VA, not requiring any down payment prior to buying the home, allowed me to take that money I had budgeted to go out and buy furniture, food, cleaning supplies, pretty much everything I needed. Purchasing a home is scary, but ultimately, it's not impossible. And they make it so that anybody can do it. To learn more, visit va.gov forward slash home loans. The best words to hear at the TSA security checkpoint? You're good to go. So check before you jet. Avoid delays at TSA security checkpoints by making sure you have an acceptable form of ID. That means a real ID, passport, or other acceptable forms of identification. Visit tsa.gov slash ID to check the full list of acceptable IDs. Avoid travel delays by checking ID requirements. And you're good to go. Wake up weekday mornings with the Tim Weisberg Show, 1420 AM and 99.5 FM, WBSM. And welcome back in. And listen, it's okay if you get into a situation where your septic system backs up. It's all right. Nobody's going to blame you for not staying ahead of the game. It happens, especially if you're a new homeowner, especially if you've never had it happen to you before. You know, it's one of those things where sometimes it can get away from you. And you end up having a problem. Don't feel like you're going to get judged for it. It happens to everybody that has a septic system at some point. When you get into that situation, don't panic. Just call Bass Ready Reuter. For over 50 years, they've been the trusted name in drain cleaning and septic maintenance across New Bedford, Fall River, and Dartmouth. And they are the ones who can handle those emergency situations with same-day service. Same-day service to help you deal with the anxiety and the stress of having your septic system backed up. Having the big pools of water out near your cesspool. Having that smell. Having those bubbles coming up in your toilet when you try to flush it. It's like, where's it going? What's going on? They can take care of all of that for you. But if you don't want to get into a situation where you have an emergency, then what you can do is call them now and have them come and do some routine maintenance. They can give you an inspection, a camera inspection, to see how everything's going down there. And if it needs a cleaning, they can do some hydrojetting. They can take care of everything that you need. All you have to do is give them a call. Bass Ready Rooter's number is 508-995-8012. 508-995-8012. Or you can just go online at BassReady.com. B-A-S-S-R-E-D-D-Y. BassReady.com for Bass Ready Rooter. All right, my number here, 508-996-0500. AppChat and OpenLine voicemails on the WBSM app. I've got to give you a heads up here before we get into the next hour. When we have the Gen X files after the 7.30 news, it's going to sound a little different. I already told you I can't run the music clips anymore. That was starting to get flagged with the podcast. You know, before it was the bumper music. Then we were getting away with having a little bit of music in the Gen X files, just a couple seconds to, you know, set up what we were talking about. And so I took those music clips out. So I figured yesterday we're going to be fine, we're going to be good. And I got hit with a violation again, this time for the X files music. That's underneath me when I'm doing this. So rather than do the segment dry and have no music underneath me, I found some 90s era grunge style production music that should be okay to use. So we're going to try that out today and see how it sounds. If it's terrible, I'll try to find something else. Or, you know, I don't want to have to can the segment, but maybe we just will because they're making it too difficult. Or maybe I can find a way to continue the segment and not, I don't know, we'll figure something out. But I just want to let you know, it's going to be different music today. So if you tune in and you're like, hey, what's this going, what's going on? It'll be the same thing. It's just different music underneath. I should have figured they'd eventually come for that X files theme. But we can talk about more about the police situation. The two officers now that the chief has recommended be fired due to misuse of flock technology, alleged misuse of flock technology. They haven't had their disciplinary hearings yet. And then we can talk more. Very interesting situation that seems to be cooling off a little bit. But we talked about it. I kind of, so Chris McCarthy and I have been talking about it all week. Since Wednesday. And we kind of danced around it a little bit yesterday. I was kind of waiting for Chris to talk more about it before I brought it up because it was his thought that he brought to me first. But basically, we saw all kinds of signs that the Republican Party in Massachusetts did not want Sean Oliver. And so the question became, is there a way they could go forward without Sean Oliver being on the ticket? And the answer to that is yes. There is a procedure in place. In fact, the legislature just voted on this procedure last year and put it into effect specifically for this year's primary because of the tight time window between the primary and the general and because they wanted to make sure that there was time in case situations arose. So they passed a law at the end of last year at the end of last year's legislative session that went into effect this year. For this primary specifically. And basically what that says is Sean Oliver or any candidate that's on the ballot has until today to remove their names and for them to still be replaced on the ballot before they start printing them up and everything. And in order to do that, the candidate has to step down. And then the Republican State Committee or the Democrat State Committee, if it was a Democrat candidate that did this, then meets to determine who is going to be the new person that they want to put on the ballot. So the Republicans could have basically Kamala Harris, a new lieutenant governor candidate, but it hinges on Sean Oliver saying, OK, fine, I'll step down, which it doesn't seem like he's willing to do. And he said he's willing to work with Mike Manogan until yesterday. We hadn't even heard from the mass GOP about Sean Oliver, but they did send out an email yesterday congratulating all the candidates that won, including him, and they welcomed him to the new Republican Party in that statement. I'll read it to you a little bit later on. But I think this, you know, if we get past today, everybody will breathe a sigh of relief because who knows what kind of shenanigans they could be trying behind the scenes. All right. I got to get a break in here. We will be right back. All right. We have a very exciting new contest to talk about. This one, it's not a ticket giveaway. This one is for teachers in classrooms as kids are going back to surprise. Wait, do I know you? You use your discover cashback card to have five percent cashback on restaurants or quarter. Yeah. Now it's payback time. Whoa. Hold on. Oh, you mean my discover cashback. I told you there'd be payback. You know, you have a weird way of delivering good news. I'm working on that. Activate and earn five percent cashback at different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. Terms apply. See discover.com slash five for details. Looking forward to celebrating Labor Day? Ford is too. 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