Our reaction to Gavin Newsom signing California’s AB 2222, which creates refundable tax credits tied to journalist employment, and a broader discussion about the collapse of local reporting and corporate ownership of local newsro oms. We continue the local-news discussion by remembering beat reporters, independent stations and an era when individual reporters spent every day inside City Hall. Dawn recalls Gene Siskel telling younger journalists that they had missed an earlier era of the business, and we debate whether failing news companies should be supported by taxpayers or forced to survive without state assistance.
The conversation then turns toward technology and foreign influence before settling into a major argument over congressional stock trading. We discuss proposed restrictions on lawmakers, spouses and dependents buying individual stocks, the Senate fight over a trading bill and the crew’s broader frustration with elected officials participating in markets while having access to information unavailable to ordinary citizens. The debate expands to President Trump’s financial activity and whether any politician should receive a special exemption from rules imposed on everybody else.
The mood gets much lighter with a Virginia motorcyclist clocked at 72 mph in a 25 mph zone because he says he is trying to reach McDonald’s before breakfast ends. That launches talk about speeding, old fast-food prices, restaurant nostalgia and how much everything used to cost. We then get into McDonald’s machine-learning pricing system, differences between franchise locations and whether customers should ever pay a different price for the same Big Mac depending on location, demand or the hour of the day.
Oct 01, 2026
