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>> Thank you so much for joining us uh for this edition of Last Call where we get to the topics we couldn't get to in the first 30 or so minutes.

Wendy, we're going to kick things off with you.

Uh, US District Court Judge John Ross ruled that those gambling machines that are ending up in like uh garages or gas stations, restaurants and bars are illegal.

They're unregulated.

They're untaxed.

And uh he said basically they got to go out of business.

And with great speed and efficiency, Sam Page, the county executive said, "Hey, Department of Revenue is going to look at them.

Be careful about your liquor licenses, guys."

And then the next day, Katherryn Hanway, the attorney general, jumped on.

For a topic that I happen to feel hasn't been top of mind really for most people, were you surprised at the speed and urgency of these public officials in responding to this?

I really was because uh having worked with McGra Milhaven at the big 550 KTRS for a very long time.

This is one of his pet peeves and he has been a one-man band screaming about these video machines saying that they are they are gambling devices.

Why isn't anybody paying attention to this?

I think a lot of people h have been behaving very questionably when it comes to Jefferson City and these particular machines.

And I think it is a great relief that US District Judge Ross ruled the way he did.

I think at least now that the the machine is I mean the the the mechanism now is in in place for um why do I always draw a blank between TNT and >> Torch?

Torch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

They've had this, you know, this legal skirmish.

Um but Torch has clearly lined some pockets and made some very close friends and it it you know nobody else but McGra to my knowledge was saying that there's any story here.

>> Well and the thing was was that like if you asked me like what's the most corrupt thing going on in Missouri?

I said it's these machines because they're just totally illegal.

I mean you're in these little places and they got these machines and if you win you go up to the front they give you cash money.

But you had the treasurer, um, the attorney general was looking the other way at the time.

What was needed, and I don't blame Sam Page and any other municipality for now going after him, you just needed the force of the state government, >> really the attorney general's office to be behind you.

And then now you can actually prosecute these people.

So, I'm not surprised that they immediately jumped on this because it's like, Rico, now we finally got a way to keep this under control.

Not so much as a conver I mean not so much as a you know like a state of the union address that these these things have been pointed to not once.

>> Well but you were wasting your I'm sorry I didn't mean to but you were wasting your own like county prosecutor's time because it wasn't going any place like if you said now one day like all right St.

Louis County police let's not you know let's let's raid four or five places.

Ultimately nobody would have been charged and there probably wouldn't have been any fine because the power of the state was ignoring the >> federal government took it.

Yeah.

I think that there's like we're still kind of, you know, not doing anything.

I don't think this has any teeth.

I mean, if you look into this, you'll see that we have no idea where these are.

Um, they're the county is asking for tips from consumers and like that is not going to result in not very reliable.

>> I will say, I mean, John Ross doesn't mess around.

like this is a federal judge and you know the the private company that bought or brought this lawsuit to force this ruling.

They're not going to just stand down and see no enforcement.

They will get some sort of order where they'll have to turn over where all the names are and they will have to remove them.

There will be something that happens in in the next couple months on that.

I >> if they're not registered, how do you how can you possibly know the company?

>> They're not licensed.

Okay.

>> There's I'm sure there's a list someplace.

Oh, and by the way, offer me $10 to to fink on somebody.

I'd stop at every rest stop between here and Kansas City.

I mean, cuz they're everywhere.

>> Can the county executive remove a liquor license?

Those are granted by the county council.

I don't know if >> No, they could.

They could if you're It's like anything else.

If you are repetitively in violation of the law, then they could take your liquor license.

So, you get like two >> county council does that.

>> Well, but I'm just saying that two two busts on this and you're still doing it.

Well, I guess that county executive Paige and the county council have such a good >> Well, nobody has done Look, nobody has done anything about >> ask you this, Mr.

Holier than now.

>> Are you against office NCAA basketball pools which are clearly illegal?

>> They're clearly illegal.

Okay.

But at the same time, it's kind of like uninforcable also because there is no entity that is providing it.

The money that is generated is generated by the individuals that play.

Now, I'm not arguing with the legality of it.

I'm just saying there is no entity that's paying out.

It's all between, you know, individuals who are >> at Odyssey.

It used to be Guy Phillips who ran him and he had a >> he ran him at 552.

>> OH, DID HE RECALL?

We used to run a big one out of the post.

Yeah.

Actually, George Peach, I think, ran one out of the uh county prosecutor's office back no city prosecutor's office back in the day.

Okay, who's next?

Uh Sarah, there's a proposal, maybe two of them in Jeff City to eliminate car inspections.

Uh don't you think the cars should be inspected every other year as they are now so that they don't have bald tires and that the steering works and the indicator, you know, the turn signals also working?

>> I don't think I really don't think so.

I think this is just yet another tax on poor people.

It is so expensive to be poor.

I have vivid memories as a kid.

My parents had these beater cars because we had no money.

They had five kids and my dad taught for like this little Lutheran school um every year white knuckling it.

Could we pass the emissions test in the state of Ohio and if we weren't able to do that, how were we going to get to school?

How was my dad going to get to work?

This is a huge point of anxiety for people.

I imagine there's some people who are just not going through with these tests because they're afraid they're going to fail and they won't be able to drive on the road.

>> Said the woman who's against the prevailing wage over there.

>> No, against the selective said, "I'm messing with you because I too like, oh, there was, you know, back in the early days of the Reed family and it was growing."

Yeah.

We used to call it riding dirty and I would do it cuz if the brakes need to get fixed and you can't afford to get the brakes fixed, you just put it on hold until you could drive really slow >> and drive and check out who's around you in the back like, "Yeah, >> you just made the case for inspections."

>> Well, what what I'm saying is I I think that cars should be inspected.

In all honesty, I do take away.

Now, if you told me we're going to take away that you got to pay uh personal property tax on your car every year, but the but you have to get it inspected every two years, I'd make that trade a second.

>> I mean, I think that I'm, you know, I'm more on Sarah's side here.

Um, sorry, Alvin.

>> Sorry.

>> You know, I think that people aren't getting this done anyway.

Um, you actually don't have to do it until your car is 10 years old.

Um, and like it's if you have live in the city and you've seen a tag from 20 years ago, you know that person is not getting inspection and that's like half the cars here.

So, they might as well get rid of this cuz people aren't doing it anyway.

And like find a different way to get it done.

>> Is St.

Louis city a model of good government >> or or good citizens?

>> A very effective question.

And there, you know, cars really are the newer cars, which is not exactly that's not the conversation we're having, but they are safer today.

Yeah.

>> I mean, what's causing problems?

And we have a lot of people dying on our roadways, but it's not because, oh, the brakes don't work.

It's because people drive like maniacs.

Like, this is just one of these things where And what was that speed limit that you guessed up to?

Was it 90?

>> It was It was 75.

>> Does that fit anybody else's definition of maniacal?

Not me.

>> I don't think maniacal is right.

>> She just said maniac.

>> Just a little It's just a little faster.

Look, I I think the one thing is the tires.

I've always wondered like, oh, you need your tires didn't pass.

I said like, well, who said I always wondered about that?

>> I've had my tires blow out.

So, >> I have never had I've never had I think if you talk to a mechanic in the greater St.

Louis area, you'll find that there are some cars that are being brought in for inspection.

It should not be on the road.

>> I agree.

But they pass somehow.

>> Well, not not all of them.

Not till they fix them up.

My husband cares about my safety and he insists on changing my tires or rotating my tires every two million miles whether they need it or not.

>> Hey, I want to ask you about this.

Greater St.

Louis, Inc., the big civic organization, along with Explore St.

Louis, our tourism agency, are combining forces and they've hired an out ofstate PR firm.

It's called Berlin Rosen.

Do you think that a public relations firm can change the national, if not international, view of St.

Louis, >> it depends on the public relations firm.

I mean, there are a lot of terrific public relations firms and this is a local this Oh, this is a national.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Well, then let's give them a shot and see what we think.

>> Well, but no, a lot and I know it's not we all have different ideas on this, but this whole like, oh, we don't need nobody for out of state.

We don't have to have a out of state search for a superintendent or a police chief, but yet, you know, something as important to this.

It's someone who's from out of state, from out of St.

Louis.

Uh, I don't have a problem with that.

I just feel like this is kind of shotgun wedding between Explore St.

Louis and Greater St.

Louis, Inc.

It just doesn't feel comfortable to me.

>> Oh, Elvin, we're always talking about silos.

There are too many government entities.

You know, we need to get people to merge.

This is a great example of people deciding to work together.

You know, this was a point where Explore St.

Louis knew they wanted to change their PR firm, and it turned out they heard that Greater St.

Louis, Inc.

is going to for the first time get a national PR firm.

Why don't we work together?

Get the same agency of records so that messaging can all be together.

This seems like exactly the sort of thing we've been saying that we want more entities in town to be dealing with.

>> But but you're talking to people who don't understand where all of these entities came from.

They're like mushrooms.

They grow in the dark overnight.

I mean, it's honestly, we've got one blue ribbon panel after another.

>> But if we have them, shouldn't they at least work together?

Like, how does this help for them to have separate PR firms?

>> Well, if they maybe they have separate missions.

This one is to >> but the mission is St.

Louis.

>> The mission should be one tourism.

But but does tourism fall into economic development?

>> I think they're related.

>> They might be related, but I think you should have separate >> one.

You can sell people on the other, right?

It's all about the >> Oh, yeah.

Fighter Town USA >> and we could you could be the secret.

You could go to the ball game and build a data center.

Come on.

Yeah, you know, speaking about a towners, this panel had three native Clevelanders on it.

Jessica Rogan from Solen, Ohio, from Westlake, Ohio.

Sarah Fensky and from Fairby Park, Chucky.

>> Where'd you go to high school?

>> Where'd you go to high school?

>> S Bando went to Solen High.

>> All right.

Who's Sal Bando?

>> Played third base for the Oakland A's.

A couple other tapes.

Really good player.

>> Should have known that.

>> Very good.

My bad.

>> Thanks for joining us.

>> I should have brought