January 15, 2025 • 29 mins
Shelby Doyle VP of Nat School Choice Awareness talks about the choices parents now have in Alabama to select the school their child attends. Then Janeen Golightly talks about her new Book “Should I Go Back” to help couples make the decision to divorce or not. Finaly Sofia Hamilton with Americans for Prosperity and a Fellow at Young Voices talks about the safety of Vaping products.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every child deserves a quality education, and with many K
twelve school options available for families, school Choice Week is
the best time to explore some of those educational options. Hello,
I'm Job Mounts, and this week on Viewpoint Alabama on
the Alabama Radio Network, I'm speaking with Shelby Doyle. She's
the vice president of the National School Choice Awareness Foundation.
She's here to tell us more about the choices parents
(00:22):
have for their child's education.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome, Shelby, Thanks so much for having me. So let's
start at the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Because your kid goes to school and you might think, well,
I just got to put them in the school because
it's who I'm zoned for.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
But that's not the case. Explain what school choice is.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
School choice is the process of parents choosing the educational
environment as they think is going to make the best
difference in their kids' life. And that could mean choosing
a traditional public school, or could mean a public charter school,
a magnet, a private at online or homeschooling. And what
makes it school choice is just that parents are empowered
to choose from a variety of options for their kids.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Now, let's suppose your kid goes to a school and
you think they're doing okay, but you've never really compared them.
Is there a way I can comparison shop how my
school performs in certain key metrics or other areas that
they're able to be measured against other schools?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So every state has ways that you can look at
the public schools in that state's performance on an academic level,
and you can look at that on your state Department
of Education website. That'll tell you how students are progressing,
particularly in areas like reading, in maths, compared to the
state average and compared to other peer groups that look
like these students in your school. That's available for any
(01:37):
sector of public school that you have. But we also
recommend parents consider more than just that academic ranking. It's
also about whether your child is feeling engaged at school,
how they're feeling in terms of the social situation in
which they find themselves, and whether that school's logistically working
for your life.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And I imagine there's other things like extracurriculars that are available.
For example, some schools have why variety of vocational options
for students. Some schools have great academics. Some schools have
great athletics or even fine arts options. And there's all
those different things, both in the private and the public sector.
And I guess the bottom line is you not necessarily
(02:13):
stuck with the in the school district you live in
just because that's where your house is.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
That's exactly right, And that's really really true in the
last few years, particularly in a state like Alabama, that
has really changed the education options that families have in
the last decade. So a decade ago, there really weren't
public charter schools anywhere in the state. There has been
a public or excuse me, a private school choice scholarship
program in existence for a while, but this fall a
(02:40):
large new one is going into effect. And then of
course things like online schools, we're far from as popular
as they are now ten years ago. So if you
haven't looked at your options at a while, there's a
lot to consider in the state.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
How does this functionally work in terms of the way
money is routed? Like I live in my case, I
live in Hoover, Alabama, So I pay property tax to
the city of Hoover and it goes into Hoover public schools.
If my kid were to go to a different school,
would my money follow my child?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
It can in certain circumstances, and a lot of this
depends on particularly the school districts that you live in.
But yes, if you choose a different public school that
is available to you in limited cases under open enrollment
laws in Alabama, then that funding will follow you. And
part of the private school choice program that's been in
existence for a while at Alabama, the tax credit scholarship program,
(03:31):
is enabling kids particularly to choose others, not just private
but public schools and be able to pay that tuition
at a public school.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Of their choice.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
People don't really talk about that a lot, but especially
in a state like Alabama and a lot of other
states across the Southeast, you can be charged a difference
intuition if you want to choose a public school, but
it's not the one to which you're assigned. So a
lot of that comes down to state funding and whether
that money is able to follow your child through school
choice programs. In Alabama, the place that actually has a
lot of mechanisms for that to happen.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountson, speaking with Shelby Doyle, the vice
president of the National School Choice Awareness Foundation and Shelby.
Let's talk about steps. So I want to Obviously we're
in the middle of the school year right now, so
I wouldn't probably be looking at doing something now, but
maybe for next year, for in the fall, would be
(04:21):
a good time to pursue it. But you have to
kind of start the process now. Is there a way
that you can audition the schools? Can you go tour
the school? Maybe bring your kid with you to see
the classrooms as well.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, the school tour is I think the most important
part of the actual process of choosing a school. You
want to get really clear as a family on what
your goals are, what you're really looking for. I encourage
folks to write that down because as you consider your options,
especially if you're in an area with a lot of options,
it may get a little confusing. By the end of
the process, is all the information you've gathered, what exactly
(04:55):
you actually want to choose? So I recommend getting serious
about that. But then the biggest thing you can do
is make that list of schools you're interested in and
go see them in person. It can be a pain
to do, of course. You know, school day tours happened
during the school day, which is tough for all of
us who work, but there really is no substitute to
getting in that space, meeting the folks that your kid
(05:16):
is going to spend all day with and getting a
real feel for that place. It really matters.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I remember a long time ago and my daughter was
much younger and we were moving to a new area.
We were looking at a few different schools, and it was interesting.
We went on one of the school tours and they
showed us a classroom she was in kindergarten, and the
kindergarten teacher actually had her come in, sit down with
the other kids, and how to participate for a few
minutes with the other kids to kind of so she
could feel the environment. But you could also see how
she was interacting with the other kids and how well
(05:43):
she fit in or didn't fit into the classroom environment.
And I thought it was a great way to sort
of try before you buy.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I think more schools should do things like that. There
are a lot of schools who, yes, do invite kids
on school tours. Not every school is going to be
up for that, so check when you schedule it, but
especially in this day and age, I think any type
of school you're considering knows that parents have options and
so if there's going to be a piece of information
you need to make that decision, ask for what you
need in order to feel confident choosing that school.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Now, Shelby, the best schools only have a finite amount
of space, what all schools do, but the best schools
would be in high demand. So how does the school
make the determination of all right, we've got exactly one
hundred slots and we filled ninety eight, so we get two.
So how do they decide who they let in and
who they keep out?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yeah, so that's governed in really specific ways. If it's
a public school, because they're a public good funded by
taxpayer dollars, there are really specific rules around what they
can do in order to preference or not preference students.
They have to be opened to all and they have
to be fair. It can't be first come, first served. Now,
if you're doing private school or a church co op
that's doing homeschooling thing, is that their own admissions policies.
(06:51):
But if you're trying to choose a public sector school,
they really do have to follow very clear guidelines that
are very transparent and be fair to everybody who's applied, and.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Shelby you mentioned you just mentioned homeschools. I did want
to get to that because there are more and more
parents who are opting that for that possibility. How does
that work in terms of if you're going to do homeschooling,
you still have to adhere to a lot of the
same standards that the state requires in terms of test
performance and that sort of thing. And I understand there
are organizations that help with that sort of thing, but
(07:22):
how does that work with school choice these days?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So there's a lot that that does. The school choice
now much more than ever. So Number one, there's tons
of co ops and support organizations you can use to
support you at homeschooling. And the Choose Act that's going
into effect this fall creates a more modest but significant
two to four thousand dollars text credit education savings account
(07:47):
you can use as a homeschooling family to offset your
homeschooling costs in the state. That's a really an innovative
thing Alabama's doing. That's really exciting to see.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And another thing I've heard from parents who do the
homeschool thing is one of the concerns a lot of
people going into that as well. Homeschooling means they're not
going to get the social interaction. However, a lot of
homeschools have sort of a I don't know if you
call it a co op program or something where you
can actually socialize the kids and they can participate in
into extracurricular stuff, or maybe they get together for band
(08:15):
or something like that. Sometimes the homeschooling they actually they
bring two or three other kids from another homeschool over
to your house, or you go over to their house
and they bring in a math tutor for two days
a week or something like that to handle something that's
a little bit more complicated, a little over the head
of maybe a parent.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
That's actually what I did K twelve. I think it's
a great option for families, and I would encourage any
family who's interested in homeschooling and check it out. There's
a lot more to support you in doing that than
there used to be.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Shelby.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
These are all great considerations to keep in mind anytime
you're looking to possibly improve your child's education or otherwise
social interaction with other classmates. For more information about School
Choice Week, you can visit School choiceweek, dot com, forward
slash state sell abrations or I imagine you can probably
just put that into Google and it'll take me right there.
(09:04):
We've been speaking with Shelby Doyle, the vice president of
National School Choice Awareness Foundation. Thank you so much for
joining me on Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I'm John Bounce and this is the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
You're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
My name is John Bounce, and we've just started a
new year a couple of weeks ago, and something that
happens every new year. I don't know if this is
a new trend, but divorces are on the rise, both
in Alabama and nationwide. There's a concern should you are
people moving too fast? Joining me now? Is the author
of the book should I go back? Why giving your
(09:40):
marriage one last try could actually help you move on?
Is Jenine Golightly. Genine, Welcome to our show.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (09:47):
I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So it's an interesting title. It's a very long title,
but interesting title.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
The idea that maybe looking retrospectively at your relationship after
it has as ended might help you move on.
Speaker 7 (10:02):
So the title is very personal to me, and yes
it is a long title, but it does explain you'll
get it when I tell you. Sometimes people get divorced
and they just it's kind of knee jerk. Not always,
but you know, you get in that mindset. I want
a divorce, and you are going to get that divorced,
dang it right, no matter what. I'm just asking for
people to take a step back, take a deep breath,
(10:26):
think through things logically and more methodically, go through this
thirty day exercise and see if you might change your mind.
But for me personally, and I'm not telling people not
to get divorced, I think most people are still going
to get divorced. Maybe they can just feel a little
bit more at peace once they do it.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Well, that makes sense, That makes sense that you would you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Want to be because it is I mean truly is
not completely final. But I guess it's a big step
and you don't want to make it just flippantly and
you just got mad.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And so because I imagine there's one of two boats.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Either I've been in a relationship for a marriage for
a very long time, and these problems have really built up,
and finally it's last draw when you're going to and
you're absolutely going to pull the trigger, or something happened
like infidelity, something all of a sudden happened. Darn it,
it's infidelity, and I know what to do. We're getting divorced. Boom,
And maybe in that situation you might want to put
(11:19):
a pause on it. And you know a lot of
states have laws that say you can't immediately pull the trigger,
like there's like a weight or you know, a cooling
off period before you can even do it.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
What you said is exactly right. So in my case,
just briefly, I did find out my husband had been
cheating on and it's the stories in the book. I
won't give you the details, but I found out he'd
been cheating and I was I was done, and I
think people should be done when there's cheating. Sometimes you
can make it work again. But he begged me to stay,
and I ultimately said, Okay, I'll give you one last chance.
(11:52):
So I did and for five months, John, I swear
to you, I thought we were going to be able
to make that thing work. Was amazing, and I was like,
maybe I can forgive it. Maybe I can just move
on past this and we can be okay. And then
one day I came into my bedroom, into the closet
and caught him hiding his phone in the clothes in
(12:13):
the top of his closet, and in my gut, I knew.
And then a whole bunch of stuff came to light
and happened after that. You'll have to read about it.
But I was able to just kind of like flip
a switch and be like, yep, I gave you another chance.
I came back in and I did find out that
you are the person that I thought I was leaving,
(12:33):
and so I'm out, but I left with a lot
of peace.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So it's one of those things where like like they say,
you know, the first time, you know, shame on me.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
This is the first time, shame on you.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Second time, shame on me, kind of thing of you
probably shouldn't have given him that opportunity, but I guess
you felt you had to be sure.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Now in your case, did you have children?
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Not with him?
Speaker 7 (12:55):
No, I've actually been divorced three times, and that was
why I really wanted to fight, because I didn't want
another divorce. I didn't want to go through a third divorce.
But you know what, I'm glad I did that. I'm
glad I found out who he truly really was and
that he wasn't changing. He was continually telling me to lie.
But I think I had to know that in my gut.
(13:17):
And that's an extreme example, an extreme case, but I
think for a lot of marriages, just going through some
of these exercises that I have in this book, it's
a thirty day plan and just looking into some things
a little bit deeper, I think you'll either say, you
know what, maybe we do want to stay together, maybe
we want to make this work, or you'll say, you
(13:38):
know what, I know it's time to go. And then
I think it's a little bit healthier on all fronts.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
But I imagine these thirty steps they only work if
both partners are committed to really trying to make the
marriage work. If one partner's like, no, look, I'm going
to keep on cheating, it's one of those I just
want to keep on. I want to stay with you,
but also cheat. That's not going to work no matter how.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
Then that's your answer, right, that's your answer. Those are
the extreme cases, But yet there's a lot of that
going on. You know, there's there's also Yeah, you can't
make your partner sit down with you and have a
discussion if they don't want to. But there's also a
lot of exercises in here that have to do with
self reflection and yourself and talking to you know, getting
advice from other people. I'm not again, I'm not saying
(14:21):
you're going to do this and then magically you're going
to say, oh, we're going to stay together. You're probably
still going to get divorced, but you're going to feel
you're going to feel better about it, You're going to
be in a better place. I think we often hop
into marriages one after I mean, speaking from experience, we
get married again, we get married again this time. I've
been single ten years, and I really, I really think
(14:43):
that's because I really took a step back. I really
saw what was going on, and I just I don't know,
it's been it's been a real good journey for me.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And yeah, I guess you also had a chance to
experience what you are, find what you really wanted as
opposed to you felt like you had a connection, you
needed a person. It's almost like you were replacing the
role of the person and not really even the person
themselves with a new relationship.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Yes, yeah, that's so true. You know, that is so true.
And sometimes you know, the hormones get raging and we
kind of go, oh, I think I want this person
and then you're like that, I didn't really put a
lot of thought into that. You know, there's other things
that we need to be thinking about here. So yeah,
it's an all encompassing let's just get ourselves in better places.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So this book is really for somebody both who they
need to work through the thirty steps with thirty days
with their partner and maybe the marriage can be saved,
but also somebody who their partner's not into it, and
then they can you can kind of read over the
thirty steps and go ah, or a thirty days plan,
go ah, this is the reason why and this and
this and this or the reason why this relationship did not.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Work right, and this is why I really do need
to get a divorce and I feel really good about it.
I mean, imagine if there were a bunch of divorced
people out there in the world who who were in
a good you know, like a good mindset, who said
I know that I have to leave that marriage, and
now I'm good, you know, and I feel happy and
I feel joyful, and I feel fine, and my kids
(16:09):
are healthy and everything. The relationship is better than it
would have been had I just you know, gotten angry.
And you know, you've seen some nasty divorces and people
battle it out. That's kind of what I'm trying to
I guess end.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And that's because sometimes there's one or two things that
can happen in divorce. You know, you can part ways
and I never want to see you again. I never
want to see you either, and that's it. You never
see each other. Or you can be in a situation
where you have to see each other again, for example,
if you share children or something like that, or you
live in the same town or I don't know, you
work in the same building or something like that, you
might have to see each other again, and so you
(16:44):
have to kind of recalibrate your relationship because you still
have some sort of relationship with this person, but it's
not anything near what you have when you were married
to them.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
It's so true, and it's just easier if you can
get along. Right now, I'm gonna say, I mean, my
last husband is the one that was I have not spoken,
you know, I have not spoken to him since it's like,
you don't get to be in my life. But we
did not have kids together, so I don't have to
have him in my life. And and that's just that's
the best way for this one to be. But my
(17:13):
other two ex husbands, yes, I had children with them
and we have had good relationships. So it's just it's
just better that way. You know, who wants to fight
all the time.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's that's very true, especially you have kids. Who wants
to fight it all the time in front of the kids.
Speaker 7 (17:28):
I know, Yeah, so true. They're the ones that really suffer.
They're the ones that really get affected. But I would
never stay in a marriage for the children, either if
it's if it's really abusive or you know, my husband
were cheating or whatever. There are definitely reasons to get divorced.
So I just want you to feel better about it.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And and so these are all great things to consider.
And it's a pretty easy read. It's it's a fairly short,
easy to read book. It's only thirty days. It's a
thirty day plan, so it shouldn't take you more than
a month to read it. It's not warm peace, but
it's a good book, Janina.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Likely again in the name of the book is should
I Go back?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Why giving your marriage one last try could actually help
you move on?
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Or probably?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I bet you if you just look under should I
Go Back? Probably you'll find this. At least this will
be one of the few books you'll find with that title.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
Yeah, yellow cover, Yeah, you'll recognize.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So great, Janie.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
We'll thank you on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Get the book.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Thank you so much, Janine for being on the show today.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
You're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Many kinds of elephants are nearing extinction due to poaching
for their ivory tusks and habitat loss from development. But
what difference would it make if there was a way
to communicate with these endangered animals. We'll explore new insights
into elephant cognition in the US National Science Foundation's Discovery Files.
The blast of trumpeting elephants might be their most famous sound,
(18:50):
but they also make lowered pitch trumbling sounds that are
used in a wide variety of social situations. In a
new study, researchers at Colorado State University supported it art
by NSF found that wild elephants seem to use the
distinctive rumbling sounds to address each other, and that the
sounds may be individual names. Hundreds of calls recorded between
nineteen eighty six and twenty twenty two representing known African
(19:13):
savannah elephants were analyzed by a random forest AI model.
The researchers then played calls addressed to seventeen specific elephants
and found that they reacted faster to the calls known
to be directed to them compared to other kinds of calls,
even ones coming from the same source elephant. The results
show that the elephants create different kinds of calls for
different situations and can recognize the calls directed to them.
(19:36):
More research using larger data sets will be needed to
determine just what part of these calls are specifically names,
but these new insights into recognition and individual specific communication
expand our understanding of these majestic animals and strengthen the
case for elephant conservation. To hear more science and engineering news,
including the researchers making it. Subscribe to Aniset's Discovery Files
(19:58):
podcast and Welcome Back to Viewpoint. Allib I'm John Mounce
on the Alabama Radio Network. A growing trend over the
last decade or so has been the use of e
cigarettes or vapes. Originally, they were introduced as a harmless
and even healthy substitute for smoking. However, as time has progressed,
new health dangers have emerged on these devices. The Biden
administration's FDA has failed to address counterfeit vaping products, while
(20:20):
the Trump policies have begun to pay the way. What
will the next Trump presidency do to safeguard consumer health?
Joining me now is Sophia Hamilton. She is a policy
analyst at Americans for Prosperity and a social mobility fellow
at Young Voices and a writer on healthcare. Sophia, welcome
to Viewpoint.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Thanks so much for having me. John, I'm happy to
be here.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
You've recently written a I guess virtually penned and OpEd.
You're arguing that the regulatory missteps have harmed the American
consumers and empowered black markets with regard to vapes.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
How soo exactly so. In the past decade, the federal
government and state governments has really come hard against vapes
and other Tubaco products because they're seeing these new products
come out and they are still harming people's health, and
they're trying to have these paternalistic policies to prohibit these
(21:10):
substances from the market just because their idea is that
this would stop individuals from harming themselves. But by taking
off these less harmful products like bapes in place of
cigarettes from the market, individuals are still going and buying
these bapes because that's what they want to be using,
that's what they want to be consuming, and they're buying
(21:32):
a less safe products.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
If you think about it, there's a lot of things
that we do that are not great for our health.
I like Snickers bars. They're not good for my health.
But I would hate to see a government or a
regulation come out and say, you know what Snickers bars
about for your health, We're going to take those off
the market.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I might not go black market on that, but still
there is a problem I think when the government involves
itself in trying to trying to be a nanny state
and tell you what you can and can't have because
it's good for you or not, and sometimes, by the way,
what is good for you what they deem to be
good for you this year is.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Bad for you next year exactly. It's more of an
issue that should be focused on issue education and letting
consumers know what's good for them what's not, and that
science is always evolving, and that's the thing that people
are forgetting seemingly nowadays, that science is evolving, that we're
always learning new things. We're learning what is good for
(22:22):
our bodies and what's harming us. They used to say
that cigarettes were good for you, and then you could
smoke while you're pregnant. We know that that's not true.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Now.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
We know that there are harms from vapes, but they're
less harmful than cigarettes, and so taking those off the
market because they can harm you is just very silly
for the government to be doing, because people are still
going to smoke no matter what. We saw this with
alcohol prudis in the early nineteen hundreds across the United States,
(22:53):
the federal government tried to tell us, no, you cannot
buy alcohol, you cannot make alcohol, you can't drink alcohol,
and people still did all of those things. In the
black market grew and people were more sick because they
were buying low quality on regulated products. Because the government
thought they knew what was best for them, and that
was obviously overturned, and now we have a flourishing legal
(23:15):
alcohol market.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And Sophia, you bring up a good point because if
the products that these companies like jewel or those other
companies that make them, they are regulated carefully by the
Food and Drug Administration so that you kind of know
what you're getting in the product. If you're going to
get a second black market or a product that's made
by a less scrupulous company, a company that goes around
the normal safeguards and the normal rails that we create
(23:39):
with the infrastructure of our FDA, then you run the
risk of getting something that can be very dangerous. And
one of the things they're introducing is it's not just
nicotine they're putting in these things. It's a lot stronger drugs.
In drugs at levels that people might not be accustomed to,
you can cause far more damage than just what's going
to be damaged to the lungs with the juice.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Exactly because they're not regulated, you have no clue what
you're getting in these vapes. Most i would say, almost
every single consumer does not know that the FPA has
banned almost every single type of vate product from the market.
So when you go into any corner store and you're
buying those disposable vapes, those aren't regulated. Those are banned
(24:22):
from the market, and they're countersit products that are almost
exclusively coming from China, so you have no clue what's
in there. You're getting other additives like vitamin E oil,
you can get other drugs. There's been products in these
jobs that have been tested that has been laced with amphetamines,
so you have no clue what you're getting, and consumers
aren't aware of that. There was this really interesting study
(24:45):
that just came out several months ago that looked at
the disposed bat products in trash cans across the DC.
So these researchers were actually digging through these trash cans
to see what consumers were using, and they looked at
the bay products. In ninety nine percent of those products
they pulled over seven thousand used vapes were counterfeit products
(25:08):
and illegal and not regulated by the FDA, And so
consumers just widely are not aware of what they're buying,
and they're not aware because the FDA has pulled this
from the market, but they still want to buy them,
and they're still going to buy them.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So with the incoming presidential administration, With the Trump administration,
there's going to be a turnover of a lot of
these government agencies, and I imagine policies will change. What
are some of the policies we can expect to see
in the next say year or so once the Trump
administration gets fully in place.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
So Trump entro social came out pretty hard in favor
of vaping and tobacco policy. He said he saved flavored
vaping in twenty nineteen, and he'll save vaping again. You know,
that's he's going to argue if you really did save
vaping back in twenty nineteen, because that's when around the
time when jewel was pulled from the legal market. But
I think he has a better understanding of the negative
(26:01):
side of these prohibition policies. So I think we're going
to see a lot of rule back of these proposed
rules that the Biden administration tried to push food the AHDA.
The Biden administration was trying to get rid of all
flavored tobacco products nationwide, and that just would have been disastrous.
We've seen that happen in California, in Massachusetts, and individuals
(26:24):
are still smoking these flavored products. They're smoking at a
higher rate than they were originally because they're leasing the state,
going across state lines and buying these products in bulk
so they can have their own stashes, or they can
have their stashes that they can then sell to the
black market. So if we saw these rules go through,
we would definitely be seeing individuals going across the border
(26:47):
to Mexico to buy cigarettes and mass or be bringing
over these illegal counterfeit Chinese disposable bag products higher rates.
So thankfully, I don't foresee those rules going forward, and
I think the Trump administration is really going to be
(27:08):
protecting consumers rights on this issue.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Another unintended consequence of the black market is when it
is being marketed legally, you can have taxes, including taxes
that are you know what we call syntaxes on the
product that the government places and they are able to
pool in revenue. They claim it's to offset the cost
of on healthcare, but regardless, the government gets revenue, whereas
if it's black market, there are no taxes collected locally,
(27:32):
state or federal, so that so that money we're just
saying goodbye to that revenue source, which the government will
recoup somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Exactly, So all tax fairers, whether or not use smoke,
are being negatively affected by these bands. Because while I'm
not a proponent of syntaxes, the government is collecting money
on these legal sales, but when they go to the
black market, the government just loses out that revenue. And
that's not something that it seems like they're thinking through
(28:02):
when they're passing these policies. Sure, maybe in the outset
you might reduce some health costs, but if individuals are
going to the black market and getting more dangerous products,
the health costs are going to be even worse, and
they're going to have no taxes there to theoretically offset
those increased uses of public health services.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And another thing to consider is these are not that
this by and large is not being done by laws
passed by elected legislators. It's unelected bureaucracies that are coming
up with rules, and there's no accountability for these people
should their rules backfire or hurt us in other ways.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Exactly, at least when it's at the federal level, it's
all going through the FDA, and consumers have no ability
to show their voices. Besides leaving public comment, and the
Biden Harris administration came out really hard against these tobacco policies,
and they were really in favor of pushing them through,
but they started to roll them back and be less
(28:59):
aggressive because voters were showing that they were not in
favor of this. So the election really keen and handy
to stop these SDA rules from being implemented.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
This is all a fascinating conversation and it will be
interesting to see how things unfold. Sophia, for more information
or for any other the pieces that you've done, where
can people see more of your work?
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, I've listed all of my work on Twitter. My
handle is Sophie Hamilton Sofie, and you can see all
of my thoughts on tobacco policy and everything else health policy.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Sophia Hamilton a policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity and
a social.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Mobility fellow at Young Voices. Thank you so much for
joining us on Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
Thank you you've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public
affairs program from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed
on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff,
management or advertisers of this station,
Every child deserves a quality education, and with many K
twelve school options available for families, school Choice Week is
the best time to explore some of those educational options. Hello,
I'm Job Mounts, and this week on Viewpoint Alabama on
the Alabama Radio Network, I'm speaking with Shelby Doyle. She's
the vice president of the National School Choice Awareness Foundation.
She's here to tell us more about the choices parents
(00:22):
have for their child's education.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome, Shelby, Thanks so much for having me. So let's
start at the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Because your kid goes to school and you might think, well,
I just got to put them in the school because
it's who I'm zoned for.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
But that's not the case. Explain what school choice is.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
School choice is the process of parents choosing the educational
environment as they think is going to make the best
difference in their kids' life. And that could mean choosing
a traditional public school, or could mean a public charter school,
a magnet, a private at online or homeschooling. And what
makes it school choice is just that parents are empowered
to choose from a variety of options for their kids.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Now, let's suppose your kid goes to a school and
you think they're doing okay, but you've never really compared them.
Is there a way I can comparison shop how my
school performs in certain key metrics or other areas that
they're able to be measured against other schools?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So every state has ways that you can look at
the public schools in that state's performance on an academic level,
and you can look at that on your state Department
of Education website. That'll tell you how students are progressing,
particularly in areas like reading, in maths, compared to the
state average and compared to other peer groups that look
like these students in your school. That's available for any
(01:37):
sector of public school that you have. But we also
recommend parents consider more than just that academic ranking. It's
also about whether your child is feeling engaged at school,
how they're feeling in terms of the social situation in
which they find themselves, and whether that school's logistically working
for your life.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And I imagine there's other things like extracurriculars that are available.
For example, some schools have why variety of vocational options
for students. Some schools have great academics. Some schools have
great athletics or even fine arts options. And there's all
those different things, both in the private and the public sector.
And I guess the bottom line is you not necessarily
(02:13):
stuck with the in the school district you live in
just because that's where your house is.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
That's exactly right, And that's really really true in the
last few years, particularly in a state like Alabama, that
has really changed the education options that families have in
the last decade. So a decade ago, there really weren't
public charter schools anywhere in the state. There has been
a public or excuse me, a private school choice scholarship
program in existence for a while, but this fall a
(02:40):
large new one is going into effect. And then of
course things like online schools, we're far from as popular
as they are now ten years ago. So if you
haven't looked at your options at a while, there's a
lot to consider in the state.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
How does this functionally work in terms of the way
money is routed? Like I live in my case, I
live in Hoover, Alabama, So I pay property tax to
the city of Hoover and it goes into Hoover public schools.
If my kid were to go to a different school,
would my money follow my child?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
It can in certain circumstances, and a lot of this
depends on particularly the school districts that you live in.
But yes, if you choose a different public school that
is available to you in limited cases under open enrollment
laws in Alabama, then that funding will follow you. And
part of the private school choice program that's been in
existence for a while at Alabama, the tax credit scholarship program,
(03:31):
is enabling kids particularly to choose others, not just private
but public schools and be able to pay that tuition
at a public school.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Of their choice.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
People don't really talk about that a lot, but especially
in a state like Alabama and a lot of other
states across the Southeast, you can be charged a difference
intuition if you want to choose a public school, but
it's not the one to which you're assigned. So a
lot of that comes down to state funding and whether
that money is able to follow your child through school
choice programs. In Alabama, the place that actually has a
lot of mechanisms for that to happen.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountson, speaking with Shelby Doyle, the vice
president of the National School Choice Awareness Foundation and Shelby.
Let's talk about steps. So I want to Obviously we're
in the middle of the school year right now, so
I wouldn't probably be looking at doing something now, but
maybe for next year, for in the fall, would be
(04:21):
a good time to pursue it. But you have to
kind of start the process now. Is there a way
that you can audition the schools? Can you go tour
the school? Maybe bring your kid with you to see
the classrooms as well.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, the school tour is I think the most important
part of the actual process of choosing a school. You
want to get really clear as a family on what
your goals are, what you're really looking for. I encourage
folks to write that down because as you consider your options,
especially if you're in an area with a lot of options,
it may get a little confusing. By the end of
the process, is all the information you've gathered, what exactly
(04:55):
you actually want to choose? So I recommend getting serious
about that. But then the biggest thing you can do
is make that list of schools you're interested in and
go see them in person. It can be a pain
to do, of course. You know, school day tours happened
during the school day, which is tough for all of
us who work, but there really is no substitute to
getting in that space, meeting the folks that your kid
(05:16):
is going to spend all day with and getting a
real feel for that place. It really matters.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I remember a long time ago and my daughter was
much younger and we were moving to a new area.
We were looking at a few different schools, and it was interesting.
We went on one of the school tours and they
showed us a classroom she was in kindergarten, and the
kindergarten teacher actually had her come in, sit down with
the other kids, and how to participate for a few
minutes with the other kids to kind of so she
could feel the environment. But you could also see how
she was interacting with the other kids and how well
(05:43):
she fit in or didn't fit into the classroom environment.
And I thought it was a great way to sort
of try before you buy.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I think more schools should do things like that. There
are a lot of schools who, yes, do invite kids
on school tours. Not every school is going to be
up for that, so check when you schedule it, but
especially in this day and age, I think any type
of school you're considering knows that parents have options and
so if there's going to be a piece of information
you need to make that decision, ask for what you
need in order to feel confident choosing that school.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Now, Shelby, the best schools only have a finite amount
of space, what all schools do, but the best schools
would be in high demand. So how does the school
make the determination of all right, we've got exactly one
hundred slots and we filled ninety eight, so we get two.
So how do they decide who they let in and
who they keep out?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yeah, so that's governed in really specific ways. If it's
a public school, because they're a public good funded by
taxpayer dollars, there are really specific rules around what they
can do in order to preference or not preference students.
They have to be opened to all and they have
to be fair. It can't be first come, first served. Now,
if you're doing private school or a church co op
that's doing homeschooling thing, is that their own admissions policies.
(06:51):
But if you're trying to choose a public sector school,
they really do have to follow very clear guidelines that
are very transparent and be fair to everybody who's applied, and.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Shelby you mentioned you just mentioned homeschools. I did want
to get to that because there are more and more
parents who are opting that for that possibility. How does
that work in terms of if you're going to do homeschooling,
you still have to adhere to a lot of the
same standards that the state requires in terms of test
performance and that sort of thing. And I understand there
are organizations that help with that sort of thing, but
(07:22):
how does that work with school choice these days?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So there's a lot that that does. The school choice
now much more than ever. So Number one, there's tons
of co ops and support organizations you can use to
support you at homeschooling. And the Choose Act that's going
into effect this fall creates a more modest but significant
two to four thousand dollars text credit education savings account
(07:47):
you can use as a homeschooling family to offset your
homeschooling costs in the state. That's a really an innovative
thing Alabama's doing. That's really exciting to see.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And another thing I've heard from parents who do the
homeschool thing is one of the concerns a lot of
people going into that as well. Homeschooling means they're not
going to get the social interaction. However, a lot of
homeschools have sort of a I don't know if you
call it a co op program or something where you
can actually socialize the kids and they can participate in
into extracurricular stuff, or maybe they get together for band
(08:15):
or something like that. Sometimes the homeschooling they actually they
bring two or three other kids from another homeschool over
to your house, or you go over to their house
and they bring in a math tutor for two days
a week or something like that to handle something that's
a little bit more complicated, a little over the head
of maybe a parent.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
That's actually what I did K twelve. I think it's
a great option for families, and I would encourage any
family who's interested in homeschooling and check it out. There's
a lot more to support you in doing that than
there used to be.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Shelby.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
These are all great considerations to keep in mind anytime
you're looking to possibly improve your child's education or otherwise
social interaction with other classmates. For more information about School
Choice Week, you can visit School choiceweek, dot com, forward
slash state sell abrations or I imagine you can probably
just put that into Google and it'll take me right there.
(09:04):
We've been speaking with Shelby Doyle, the vice president of
National School Choice Awareness Foundation. Thank you so much for
joining me on Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I'm John Bounce and this is the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
You're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
My name is John Bounce, and we've just started a
new year a couple of weeks ago, and something that
happens every new year. I don't know if this is
a new trend, but divorces are on the rise, both
in Alabama and nationwide. There's a concern should you are
people moving too fast? Joining me now? Is the author
of the book should I go back? Why giving your
(09:40):
marriage one last try could actually help you move on?
Is Jenine Golightly. Genine, Welcome to our show.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (09:47):
I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So it's an interesting title. It's a very long title,
but interesting title.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
The idea that maybe looking retrospectively at your relationship after
it has as ended might help you move on.
Speaker 7 (10:02):
So the title is very personal to me, and yes
it is a long title, but it does explain you'll
get it when I tell you. Sometimes people get divorced
and they just it's kind of knee jerk. Not always,
but you know, you get in that mindset. I want
a divorce, and you are going to get that divorced,
dang it right, no matter what. I'm just asking for
people to take a step back, take a deep breath,
(10:26):
think through things logically and more methodically, go through this
thirty day exercise and see if you might change your mind.
But for me personally, and I'm not telling people not
to get divorced, I think most people are still going
to get divorced. Maybe they can just feel a little
bit more at peace once they do it.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Well, that makes sense, That makes sense that you would you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Want to be because it is I mean truly is
not completely final. But I guess it's a big step
and you don't want to make it just flippantly and
you just got mad.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And so because I imagine there's one of two boats.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Either I've been in a relationship for a marriage for
a very long time, and these problems have really built up,
and finally it's last draw when you're going to and
you're absolutely going to pull the trigger, or something happened
like infidelity, something all of a sudden happened. Darn it,
it's infidelity, and I know what to do. We're getting divorced. Boom,
And maybe in that situation you might want to put
(11:19):
a pause on it. And you know a lot of
states have laws that say you can't immediately pull the trigger,
like there's like a weight or you know, a cooling
off period before you can even do it.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
What you said is exactly right. So in my case,
just briefly, I did find out my husband had been
cheating on and it's the stories in the book. I
won't give you the details, but I found out he'd
been cheating and I was I was done, and I
think people should be done when there's cheating. Sometimes you
can make it work again. But he begged me to stay,
and I ultimately said, Okay, I'll give you one last chance.
(11:52):
So I did and for five months, John, I swear
to you, I thought we were going to be able
to make that thing work. Was amazing, and I was like,
maybe I can forgive it. Maybe I can just move
on past this and we can be okay. And then
one day I came into my bedroom, into the closet
and caught him hiding his phone in the clothes in
(12:13):
the top of his closet, and in my gut, I knew.
And then a whole bunch of stuff came to light
and happened after that. You'll have to read about it.
But I was able to just kind of like flip
a switch and be like, yep, I gave you another chance.
I came back in and I did find out that
you are the person that I thought I was leaving,
(12:33):
and so I'm out, but I left with a lot
of peace.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So it's one of those things where like like they say,
you know, the first time, you know, shame on me.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
This is the first time, shame on you.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Second time, shame on me, kind of thing of you
probably shouldn't have given him that opportunity, but I guess
you felt you had to be sure.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Now in your case, did you have children?
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Not with him?
Speaker 7 (12:55):
No, I've actually been divorced three times, and that was
why I really wanted to fight, because I didn't want
another divorce. I didn't want to go through a third divorce.
But you know what, I'm glad I did that. I'm
glad I found out who he truly really was and
that he wasn't changing. He was continually telling me to lie.
But I think I had to know that in my gut.
(13:17):
And that's an extreme example, an extreme case, but I
think for a lot of marriages, just going through some
of these exercises that I have in this book, it's
a thirty day plan and just looking into some things
a little bit deeper, I think you'll either say, you
know what, maybe we do want to stay together, maybe
we want to make this work, or you'll say, you
(13:38):
know what, I know it's time to go. And then
I think it's a little bit healthier on all fronts.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
But I imagine these thirty steps they only work if
both partners are committed to really trying to make the
marriage work. If one partner's like, no, look, I'm going
to keep on cheating, it's one of those I just
want to keep on. I want to stay with you,
but also cheat. That's not going to work no matter how.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
Then that's your answer, right, that's your answer. Those are
the extreme cases, But yet there's a lot of that
going on. You know, there's there's also Yeah, you can't
make your partner sit down with you and have a
discussion if they don't want to. But there's also a
lot of exercises in here that have to do with
self reflection and yourself and talking to you know, getting
advice from other people. I'm not again, I'm not saying
(14:21):
you're going to do this and then magically you're going
to say, oh, we're going to stay together. You're probably
still going to get divorced, but you're going to feel
you're going to feel better about it, You're going to
be in a better place. I think we often hop
into marriages one after I mean, speaking from experience, we
get married again, we get married again this time. I've
been single ten years, and I really, I really think
(14:43):
that's because I really took a step back. I really
saw what was going on, and I just I don't know,
it's been it's been a real good journey for me.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And yeah, I guess you also had a chance to
experience what you are, find what you really wanted as
opposed to you felt like you had a connection, you
needed a person. It's almost like you were replacing the
role of the person and not really even the person
themselves with a new relationship.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Yes, yeah, that's so true. You know, that is so true.
And sometimes you know, the hormones get raging and we
kind of go, oh, I think I want this person
and then you're like that, I didn't really put a
lot of thought into that. You know, there's other things
that we need to be thinking about here. So yeah,
it's an all encompassing let's just get ourselves in better places.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So this book is really for somebody both who they
need to work through the thirty steps with thirty days
with their partner and maybe the marriage can be saved,
but also somebody who their partner's not into it, and
then they can you can kind of read over the
thirty steps and go ah, or a thirty days plan,
go ah, this is the reason why and this and
this and this or the reason why this relationship did not.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Work right, and this is why I really do need
to get a divorce and I feel really good about it.
I mean, imagine if there were a bunch of divorced
people out there in the world who who were in
a good you know, like a good mindset, who said
I know that I have to leave that marriage, and
now I'm good, you know, and I feel happy and
I feel joyful, and I feel fine, and my kids
(16:09):
are healthy and everything. The relationship is better than it
would have been had I just you know, gotten angry.
And you know, you've seen some nasty divorces and people
battle it out. That's kind of what I'm trying to
I guess end.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And that's because sometimes there's one or two things that
can happen in divorce. You know, you can part ways
and I never want to see you again. I never
want to see you either, and that's it. You never
see each other. Or you can be in a situation
where you have to see each other again, for example,
if you share children or something like that, or you
live in the same town or I don't know, you
work in the same building or something like that, you
might have to see each other again, and so you
(16:44):
have to kind of recalibrate your relationship because you still
have some sort of relationship with this person, but it's
not anything near what you have when you were married
to them.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
It's so true, and it's just easier if you can
get along. Right now, I'm gonna say, I mean, my
last husband is the one that was I have not spoken,
you know, I have not spoken to him since it's like,
you don't get to be in my life. But we
did not have kids together, so I don't have to
have him in my life. And and that's just that's
the best way for this one to be. But my
(17:13):
other two ex husbands, yes, I had children with them
and we have had good relationships. So it's just it's
just better that way. You know, who wants to fight
all the time.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's that's very true, especially you have kids. Who wants
to fight it all the time in front of the kids.
Speaker 7 (17:28):
I know, Yeah, so true. They're the ones that really suffer.
They're the ones that really get affected. But I would
never stay in a marriage for the children, either if
it's if it's really abusive or you know, my husband
were cheating or whatever. There are definitely reasons to get divorced.
So I just want you to feel better about it.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And and so these are all great things to consider.
And it's a pretty easy read. It's it's a fairly short,
easy to read book. It's only thirty days. It's a
thirty day plan, so it shouldn't take you more than
a month to read it. It's not warm peace, but
it's a good book, Janina.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Likely again in the name of the book is should
I Go back?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Why giving your marriage one last try could actually help
you move on?
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Or probably?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I bet you if you just look under should I
Go Back? Probably you'll find this. At least this will
be one of the few books you'll find with that title.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
Yeah, yellow cover, Yeah, you'll recognize.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So great, Janie.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
We'll thank you on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Get the book.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Thank you so much, Janine for being on the show today.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
You're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from
the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Many kinds of elephants are nearing extinction due to poaching
for their ivory tusks and habitat loss from development. But
what difference would it make if there was a way
to communicate with these endangered animals. We'll explore new insights
into elephant cognition in the US National Science Foundation's Discovery Files.
The blast of trumpeting elephants might be their most famous sound,
(18:50):
but they also make lowered pitch trumbling sounds that are
used in a wide variety of social situations. In a
new study, researchers at Colorado State University supported it art
by NSF found that wild elephants seem to use the
distinctive rumbling sounds to address each other, and that the
sounds may be individual names. Hundreds of calls recorded between
nineteen eighty six and twenty twenty two representing known African
(19:13):
savannah elephants were analyzed by a random forest AI model.
The researchers then played calls addressed to seventeen specific elephants
and found that they reacted faster to the calls known
to be directed to them compared to other kinds of calls,
even ones coming from the same source elephant. The results
show that the elephants create different kinds of calls for
different situations and can recognize the calls directed to them.
(19:36):
More research using larger data sets will be needed to
determine just what part of these calls are specifically names,
but these new insights into recognition and individual specific communication
expand our understanding of these majestic animals and strengthen the
case for elephant conservation. To hear more science and engineering news,
including the researchers making it. Subscribe to Aniset's Discovery Files
(19:58):
podcast and Welcome Back to Viewpoint. Allib I'm John Mounce
on the Alabama Radio Network. A growing trend over the
last decade or so has been the use of e
cigarettes or vapes. Originally, they were introduced as a harmless
and even healthy substitute for smoking. However, as time has progressed,
new health dangers have emerged on these devices. The Biden
administration's FDA has failed to address counterfeit vaping products, while
(20:20):
the Trump policies have begun to pay the way. What
will the next Trump presidency do to safeguard consumer health?
Joining me now is Sophia Hamilton. She is a policy
analyst at Americans for Prosperity and a social mobility fellow
at Young Voices and a writer on healthcare. Sophia, welcome
to Viewpoint.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Thanks so much for having me. John, I'm happy to
be here.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
You've recently written a I guess virtually penned and OpEd.
You're arguing that the regulatory missteps have harmed the American
consumers and empowered black markets with regard to vapes.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
How soo exactly so. In the past decade, the federal
government and state governments has really come hard against vapes
and other Tubaco products because they're seeing these new products
come out and they are still harming people's health, and
they're trying to have these paternalistic policies to prohibit these
(21:10):
substances from the market just because their idea is that
this would stop individuals from harming themselves. But by taking
off these less harmful products like bapes in place of
cigarettes from the market, individuals are still going and buying
these bapes because that's what they want to be using,
that's what they want to be consuming, and they're buying
(21:32):
a less safe products.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
If you think about it, there's a lot of things
that we do that are not great for our health.
I like Snickers bars. They're not good for my health.
But I would hate to see a government or a
regulation come out and say, you know what Snickers bars
about for your health, We're going to take those off
the market.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I might not go black market on that, but still
there is a problem I think when the government involves
itself in trying to trying to be a nanny state
and tell you what you can and can't have because
it's good for you or not, and sometimes, by the way,
what is good for you what they deem to be
good for you this year is.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Bad for you next year exactly. It's more of an
issue that should be focused on issue education and letting
consumers know what's good for them what's not, and that
science is always evolving, and that's the thing that people
are forgetting seemingly nowadays, that science is evolving, that we're
always learning new things. We're learning what is good for
(22:22):
our bodies and what's harming us. They used to say
that cigarettes were good for you, and then you could
smoke while you're pregnant. We know that that's not true.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Now.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
We know that there are harms from vapes, but they're
less harmful than cigarettes, and so taking those off the
market because they can harm you is just very silly
for the government to be doing, because people are still
going to smoke no matter what. We saw this with
alcohol prudis in the early nineteen hundreds across the United States,
(22:53):
the federal government tried to tell us, no, you cannot
buy alcohol, you cannot make alcohol, you can't drink alcohol,
and people still did all of those things. In the
black market grew and people were more sick because they
were buying low quality on regulated products. Because the government
thought they knew what was best for them, and that
was obviously overturned, and now we have a flourishing legal
(23:15):
alcohol market.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And Sophia, you bring up a good point because if
the products that these companies like jewel or those other
companies that make them, they are regulated carefully by the
Food and Drug Administration so that you kind of know
what you're getting in the product. If you're going to
get a second black market or a product that's made
by a less scrupulous company, a company that goes around
the normal safeguards and the normal rails that we create
(23:39):
with the infrastructure of our FDA, then you run the
risk of getting something that can be very dangerous. And
one of the things they're introducing is it's not just
nicotine they're putting in these things. It's a lot stronger drugs.
In drugs at levels that people might not be accustomed to,
you can cause far more damage than just what's going
to be damaged to the lungs with the juice.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Exactly because they're not regulated, you have no clue what
you're getting in these vapes. Most i would say, almost
every single consumer does not know that the FPA has
banned almost every single type of vate product from the market.
So when you go into any corner store and you're
buying those disposable vapes, those aren't regulated. Those are banned
(24:22):
from the market, and they're countersit products that are almost
exclusively coming from China, so you have no clue what's
in there. You're getting other additives like vitamin E oil,
you can get other drugs. There's been products in these
jobs that have been tested that has been laced with amphetamines,
so you have no clue what you're getting, and consumers
aren't aware of that. There was this really interesting study
(24:45):
that just came out several months ago that looked at
the disposed bat products in trash cans across the DC.
So these researchers were actually digging through these trash cans
to see what consumers were using, and they looked at
the bay products. In ninety nine percent of those products
they pulled over seven thousand used vapes were counterfeit products
(25:08):
and illegal and not regulated by the FDA, And so
consumers just widely are not aware of what they're buying,
and they're not aware because the FDA has pulled this
from the market, but they still want to buy them,
and they're still going to buy them.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So with the incoming presidential administration, With the Trump administration,
there's going to be a turnover of a lot of
these government agencies, and I imagine policies will change. What
are some of the policies we can expect to see
in the next say year or so once the Trump
administration gets fully in place.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
So Trump entro social came out pretty hard in favor
of vaping and tobacco policy. He said he saved flavored
vaping in twenty nineteen, and he'll save vaping again. You know,
that's he's going to argue if you really did save
vaping back in twenty nineteen, because that's when around the
time when jewel was pulled from the legal market. But
I think he has a better understanding of the negative
(26:01):
side of these prohibition policies. So I think we're going
to see a lot of rule back of these proposed
rules that the Biden administration tried to push food the AHDA.
The Biden administration was trying to get rid of all
flavored tobacco products nationwide, and that just would have been disastrous.
We've seen that happen in California, in Massachusetts, and individuals
(26:24):
are still smoking these flavored products. They're smoking at a
higher rate than they were originally because they're leasing the state,
going across state lines and buying these products in bulk
so they can have their own stashes, or they can
have their stashes that they can then sell to the
black market. So if we saw these rules go through,
we would definitely be seeing individuals going across the border
(26:47):
to Mexico to buy cigarettes and mass or be bringing
over these illegal counterfeit Chinese disposable bag products higher rates.
So thankfully, I don't foresee those rules going forward, and
I think the Trump administration is really going to be
(27:08):
protecting consumers rights on this issue.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Another unintended consequence of the black market is when it
is being marketed legally, you can have taxes, including taxes
that are you know what we call syntaxes on the
product that the government places and they are able to
pool in revenue. They claim it's to offset the cost
of on healthcare, but regardless, the government gets revenue, whereas
if it's black market, there are no taxes collected locally,
(27:32):
state or federal, so that so that money we're just
saying goodbye to that revenue source, which the government will
recoup somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Exactly, So all tax fairers, whether or not use smoke,
are being negatively affected by these bands. Because while I'm
not a proponent of syntaxes, the government is collecting money
on these legal sales, but when they go to the
black market, the government just loses out that revenue. And
that's not something that it seems like they're thinking through
(28:02):
when they're passing these policies. Sure, maybe in the outset
you might reduce some health costs, but if individuals are
going to the black market and getting more dangerous products,
the health costs are going to be even worse, and
they're going to have no taxes there to theoretically offset
those increased uses of public health services.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And another thing to consider is these are not that
this by and large is not being done by laws
passed by elected legislators. It's unelected bureaucracies that are coming
up with rules, and there's no accountability for these people
should their rules backfire or hurt us in other ways.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Exactly, at least when it's at the federal level, it's
all going through the FDA, and consumers have no ability
to show their voices. Besides leaving public comment, and the
Biden Harris administration came out really hard against these tobacco policies,
and they were really in favor of pushing them through,
but they started to roll them back and be less
(28:59):
aggressive because voters were showing that they were not in
favor of this. So the election really keen and handy
to stop these SDA rules from being implemented.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
This is all a fascinating conversation and it will be
interesting to see how things unfold. Sophia, for more information
or for any other the pieces that you've done, where
can people see more of your work?
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, I've listed all of my work on Twitter. My
handle is Sophie Hamilton Sofie, and you can see all
of my thoughts on tobacco policy and everything else health policy.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Sophia Hamilton a policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity and
a social.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Mobility fellow at Young Voices. Thank you so much for
joining us on Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
Thank you you've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public
affairs program from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed
on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff,
management or advertisers of this station,
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