robert lenhard the news director for knia and krls radio stations in knoxville, iowa. and steve dietz. gentlemen, welcome. robert you wrote an op-ed. some of the farmers are unwavering in support of the president. they vote republican even if mr. trump personally slapped the heck out of the preacher at the church potluck. others are recognizing how the economic impact of the tariffs is hitting them personally. what changes have you seen out there, robert? well, the tariffs have been generated a lot of discussion. it s no longer going to be just abstract talk about what trump is going to do for the economy. it s going to be real, on the ground, the tariffs are going to cause the smaller farmers, many of them, to lose their farms. when your neighbors start losing their farms because corn prices are low, we ve lost our markets.
never been better for the two to come together. they named an interim ceo as a permanent ceo. making big news in the clean tech space, billionaire investor bill gates announcing a $1 billion new climate fund, going to be investing in everything from clean energy products, transport, and everything having to do with combating climate control. we re seeing other big names involved in this investment, including amazon ceo jeff base zoes and alibaba chairman along with a linkedin chairman. bill gates will be discussing more on this clean tech fund in an exclusive interview on cnbc at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. he s concerned under trump administration, less is going to happen on the environment. nancy, good to see you, thanks very much. here comes a tear jerker of a story. yesterday a man that plays santa claus in knoxville, tennessee, told nbc affiliate wbir a heart wrenching christmas story about how he granted a 5-year-old little boy s dying wish of celebrating christmas one final
for something called gasgasohol. it then became known as ethanol and we renewed it. big oil tried to kill it and chuck grassley said i was the one person that saved ethanol from big oil. why do i believe in ethanol? pretty simple. if i have to choose between the next billion dollars going to saudi arabia or south dakota, i pick south dakota. if i have to pick between iran and iowa, i pick iowa. and the fact is, if we could make sure we retain the renewable fuel standards, go to e-15 as a blend and move towards flex vehicles and flex stations we re better off. brazilians have flex vehicles. auto companies say it s hard to do, every one of them do it in brazil. brazilians are independent of the middle east in their energy supplies. we can do this. we can get it done and it s important we do so. let me give you two quick examples of how totally wrong barack obama is on energy. as opposed to drilling offshore he put a moratorium in the gulf and he goes to brazil and he tells the
staying the same. another air traffic controller suspended along with his manager, this time because he was watching a movie on the job. it happened in cleveland, ohio, over the weekend. and right after the incident of sleeping controllers in washington, in knoxville, tennessee, seattle, reno, nevada and miami. the controller was watching the movie the cleaner starring samuel l. jackson but inadvertently left his mike on sending the movie s soundtrack over the radio for three minutes. the faa released the statement this comes as top faa officials are touring airport across the country observing control centers and discussing policies after several controllers were found asleep while on the clock. here what s transportation secretary lahood said to our candy crowley last night. this didn t just start.
controller was watching a movie on a dvd player on the job. the incident happened sunday in cleveland. it comes just one day after a miami controller was suspended for falling asleep at work. the white house this morning will announce new safety measures aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse in america. it s a problem that has become more and more prevalent among teens and young adults. and more protests in syria this morning. thousands of demonstrators have reportedly flooded a major city square and they say they will not leave until they bring the government down. today s gathering comes after reports that security forces killed as many as 19 protesters in the past two days. more problems for the faa and air traffic controller and his manager are suspended. instead of watching the skies they were watching a movie. this time it happened in cleveland, ohio, on the heels of incidents of sleeping controllers in washington, knoxville, it tennessee, seattle, reno, nevada, and m