Explore a journey through family bonding in national parks and indulge in mouthwatering stories from state fairs. Plus, learn about groundbreaking exercise studies that have profound impacts on heart health. To round up the episode, USPS addresses dog bite safety with tips on making mail delivery secure for everyone involved. Don’t miss the conversation on water quality and how simple improvements can make a lasting impact on your health.
00:00:31 Introduction to The Good News with Angie Austin
00:00:39 Jim Stovall on Education, Information, and Inspiration
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SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hello there, friends. Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with The Good News. We are talking about his Winners of Wisdom column. And this time, it’s education, information, and inspiration. Hey, Jim.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, it’s easy for you to say, and it’s always great to be with you.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, so what are you teaching us this week?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s important to understand that… We get facts. We get stuff in different forms. We go to school for education. If you get a college degree and you’re there for four years, you walk across, they’ll hand you a diploma, and you are now educated. You know things. But you really know a broad base of things. For the most part… College graduates don’t know how to specifically go do something. This is to say, if you went and got a job, your first job out of college, they’re going to have to train you in what to do. That’s an education. And I’m a big fan of education. I’m not being critical at all. I have a scholarship, and then we have the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship at the university. So I am a big fan of education, but we need to understand what it is. Then you go beyond that to information. You see this a lot when people go to technical school. They’ll go and learn how to do heat and air or do auto repair. And then when they get a job, they pretty much know what to do. They have a lot of information that’s in one area. But whether you have education or information, you really can’t succeed until you get inspiration. Everyone that you ever see that is succeeding in whatever it is they do, they have inspiration. If I know what it is I want to do, and I’m inspired, committed, I am going to go do it, I can find people that are educated. I can find people that are informed. I can find people that know how to do it. I mean, you’re talking to me today at my company, the Narrative Television Network. Angie, there is not one person who works here that I could do their job. I don’t know how they do what they do. But they do. And so, you know, I just have the inspiration to do what we do. And I tell them what we want done. They tell me how are we going to do it. I have the inspiration. They have the education and the information. And it’s really, really important to understand what is it we’re getting. And the kids at the university, when I teach there, I often tell them, you know, I’m not here to give you the answers. I’m here to help you understand the questions. you’ll get the answers. And even if I had the answers for you right here in 2025, you know, by 2028 or 2030, it’s going to be obsolete. So you’re here to learn how to learn. You’re here to assess things and learn where and how to get information and then get inspired to apply that in ways that really make a difference.
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, I think about some of my friends who are really well educated and, you know, common sense isn’t always there or You know, for instance, one of the people that I know that has a master’s, and I wouldn’t even give too much info, was driving in Los Angeles. And she told me that she got in an accident. Someone had rear-ended her. And then her son said, well, would you like to hear the whole story? And she’s like, I don’t think that’s necessary. I go, no, I definitely would. And he said, well. She missed her turnoff on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles going down the Sepulveda Pass. They were going down a hill, a lot of people going 75 miles an hour, and she missed the turnoff. So she put her car in reverse on the freeway, and she got rear-ended. And she said, but just so you know, it was her fault because she rear-ended me. And I’m like, well, if they would have known you were reversing on the freeway, that might have been the one exception to the person rear-ending you being at fault. And so I was like, you have your master’s degree. There’s been so many incidents over the last 30 years or so that I’ve known her that I’m like – oh my gosh are you serious you did that you know and I sent her to you know like the store to get whipped cream or whipped topping or something so whatever it was she couldn’t figure out like what it was like is it that thing in the freezer that’s in the tub you know is it that I’m like oh my goodness how did you get through school and do so well but you’re right I mean an education is different than knowledge oh yeah I several years ago I was speaking in Houston for a business convention and
SPEAKER 03 :
And at the same resort property, NASA was having a convention. So I and my assistant go to the front desk to check in, and there’s a guy in front of us. And he’s telling the nice woman there at the counter, I can’t find my room. Can you tell me where my room is? And she said, just a minute, I’ll get the bellman. And she rings the deal and says, we have another rocket scientist here that can’t find his room. And she wasn’t being… critical of him but these are some highly educated people i mean these are people that can figure out how to put a guy on the moon and bring him back but they can’t find their room at the hotel and i just thought this is amazing so here comes the bellman who you know may have a high school education if that and he makes his living carrying bags for other people but he is leading the rocket scientist to his room because the guy can’t find his room. So one guy is highly educated and the other is informed. He knows how to do something. He knows where it is. So it’s really important that, you know, you get this. I mean, if I have a plumbing problem, I want a plumber that has the information how to do this. I really don’t care if they understand all the principles of aquatics and all the different things that go into it. Just fix the pipes here. Just do it. And those are the things we really need to understand. Do we want education? Do we want information? But regardless, you’ve got to have the inspiration. You’ve got to have the passion for what it is you’re doing. Or else you’ll be competing against people that do have the passion, and it’s hard to compete in something where they care and you don’t. You’re never going to win in those games.
SPEAKER 07 :
Whenever you do these columns, I know you have a whole list of them. When you get these ideas, where do you put them?
SPEAKER 03 :
They go on a pending list, and there’s probably on there, there’s probably 75 to 100 columns ahead. I mean, I just always hear about stuff. And, well, okay, yesterday I heard from one of the professors at the Stonewall Center, and he said, I’m getting ready to go on vacation two weeks, so let’s get this done, then I’ll talk to you in July. I said, great. And I said, where are you going? He said, well, my kid is doing this – national park thing. I said, what does that mean? Well, I didn’t know this. Every fourth grader or every 10-year-old in America can go free and take their family to any or all the national parks. It includes admission for you and your whole family, parking, the whole deal. And you’ve got to be in the fourth grade or ten years old. And it’s an amazing thing. But one of the things that impressed me so much about it, when I was studying it, it was signed into law in 2015 by Barack Obama as a temporary measure. And then in 2019, as it was coming up on five years, Trump said, that’s a great idea, and he signs it into law as a permanent thing. So, What a great idea. And, you know, and Trump and Obama that I’m not sure they ever agreed on anything, agree on this. And 90 percent of senators voted for it. And it’s just an amazing thing. And so as soon as I heard about that, you’ll see this in a column in the next three or four months, probably. And so I just always am looking for stuff.
SPEAKER 07 :
I love that. You know, my brother, first of all, that’s a great learning experience, a great way for family bonding. And my husband and I joked around about when we retire that we’ll get an RV and go to the national parks. But also, Jim, all of the major state fairs to try things like the pork chop on a stick, the fried pork. Twinkie the fried Oreo but every year they’ve had fried butter every year they come up with new things and you know I’m not a big unhealthy eater but you know a bite or two of those things just to see like what is this you know I’ll tell you though the pork chop on a stick was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had in my life and I remember my southern uncle was like a Jackie Ray’s a Jackie Ray Angie you want you want your pork chop on a stick and I’m like I don’t know Uncle Jack doesn’t sound very healthy Angie girl this is about how it is delicious
SPEAKER 06 :
hey mom mom get an angie one what jackie ray and i’m like oh my gosh i’m like okay uncle jackie ray i’ll try the pork chop on a stick and i’m like oh is it good i have a theory
SPEAKER 03 :
that you could go to your local landfill and find an old tennis shoe and fry it with ranch dressing. You chop it up, fry it with ranch dressing. Americans would buy it and eat it. It amazes me. But, yeah, I’m always intrigued with that stuff they do. And I’ve heard about the fried butter. I don’t know how they do that without it melting. Yeah, that amazes me.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I don’t know either, and the fried ice cream and all the interesting things they do, but there’s this lady, Steve Hartman, who does those really good news stories on CBS. He used to work across town from me, and I met him at the Emmys once, and I just said, I always admired your work. That’s a dream job for me to travel around the country and find the best stories, the most inspiring stories, and meet people all over, really, the world, he goes. Okay. Okay. So he does this story on this woman. It was a teacher trying to make some extra money in Minnesota at the state fair in the summer, and I may have told you this before because it blew me away. She makes these really delicious cookies, so she started selling chocolate chip cookies by the bucket, and it’s a bucket full of chocolate chip cookies, and they have a huge production now to do this. She makes, and I don’t remember how much over $100,000 it was or if it’s hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I knew it was over $100,000 for the summer or for the state fair. It’s not even a full summer. And during that time, they have such a production of cookie makers where they’re probably other teachers. Right. That she could make more money in that state fair week than she could her entire, you know, teaching year and help out other people as well. And it was I mean, and I heard there people would wait for an hour to get these cookies in line because they were so amazing. I mean, a bucket full of chocolate chip cookie. Who wouldn’t want that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I was at an event once, and the guy said, oh, you’ve got to try this. They have fried Oreos. Yes, I’ve had those. Okay, and I said, well, thank you, but no, I’ll pass this on to my colleague. He said, what, are you afraid you won’t like it? I said, no, I’m afraid I will. That’s the problem right there.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s hilarious. That is so funny.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, so when you – oh, my brother, I wanted to tell you that one. He was a teacher, and speaking of the national parks, tying back to that, he was at Raytheon, and he was making good money. He went to West Point Military Academy. He’d say, oh, four-star general so-and-so was coming through the building, and I waved at him, and he’s like, hey, Ted in the back, and all Ted’s coworkers or whatever were like, how do you know that guy? We went to school together. So he didn’t go the route of becoming the big mucky muck general. He was happy with his job at Raytheon, a big defense contractor, and made good money and had a nice career. But he felt he needed more of a challenge, and he also wanted to travel in the summer. So he quit and he became a teaching assistant for $17 an hour about two years ago. He’s never been happier. Well, this year he got a full-time position as an algebra teacher at But right now, he just came through here, and he is in his Mercedes camper van things. He’s going to Yosemite. He’s going to Crater Lake. He’s going to Yellowstone. And so it’s just him and his dog. And they’re traveling around.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s amazing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Because we’re having a big family reunion in Northern California, more like your small town, Northern California, kind of inland. And so he’s going to camp along the river and we’ve got great swimming holes. And yeah, he’s doesn’t. I mean, he’s making like nothing and he’s so happy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I would encourage anyone to go to the national parks. And I have a book that will be out next year about a young man and his dog going to a lot of places. But that’s a sequel to a Steinbeck novel. But I would recommend anybody do it. And before you go, or if you’re not going, at least… Get Ken Burns’ documentary on the national parks. It is an amazing experience because when you think of the foresight Teddy Roosevelt had 120 years ago, when we were still trying to populate two-thirds of the country, he said, hold it, we need to set aside millions of acres. Because someday it’ll be gone and we’ll never get it back. And we have these things because some amazing leaders with some forethought did that. So, you know, just great stuff. But, you know, there’s just a tremendous opportunity to go do that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you very much, JimStrobel.com.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
Eerie, thanks for tuning in to KLTT, the mighty 670.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hello there, friend. Angie Austin here with the good news. Well, I’ve got several good news, healthy stories coming up in a few interviews, but I wanted to share with you this really cool exercise study. They started this exercise study out for colon cancer, but then it ended up that two years of exercise reversed 20 years of aging in the heart. So seriously, two years of exercise. At the end, the exercise had reduced 20 years of aging in the heart. So they said someone 50 to 55 years old doing this two-year exercise program their heart age was reversed down to like a 30-year-old. So here they start the exercise study, and they think that they’re going to reduce the risk of colon cancer, and they want to see how exercise affects that. And then as they get further and further into the study, they’re realizing that the hearts are getting much healthier. Now, here’s one interesting note. If you’re over 65, you won’t get the full 20-year reduction in your heart age. But, you know, from under 65, and a lot of people were in their 50s, they used the example of a 55-year-old had a heart of about a 30-year-old when they were done. So that’s actually a 25-year reduction. So you’re probably wondering, well, what was the program of exercise that they did? Okay, so I’m going to break it down as simply as I can. Two years, approximately first year, you’re doing five to six hours of exercise, right? Now, two of those hours are interval training, you know, where you go fast, slow, fast, slow, like might do a minute sprint and then a walk, a minute sprint and then a minute walk. You could do treadmill high, treadmill low, and you just kind of go fast, slow, fast, slow. It could be jumping jacks, whatever exercise you want is Google interval training. And each of those interval training sessions are one hour each. And then you do four hours of like something more simply like a hike or a walk or an easy sport. So that is a total of approximately six hours a week, two hours of interval, four hours of moderate, you know, something more fun. Second year is more of a maintenance phase. And in the second year. You’re doing three to four hours of that moderate exercise where you’re on the treadmill or you’re hiking or you’re doing some pickleball or whatever. I mean, it can be more intense if you want it to be. It doesn’t have to be moderate. So first year, five to six hours with the two hours included of interval training. And then the second year, uh, three to four hours. Now keep in mind, that’s more than the government recommendation of two and a half hours of exercise a week. And the people involved with the study said, it’s important to note that you should think about exercise as like hygiene. And when you take a shower, brush your teeth, floss your teeth, it’s your haircut. Like exercise needs to be like a regular part of your routine. Hey, one other cool, uh, good news, a story that I came across was, uh, ice being used in some Manhattan high-rises to cool buildings. They’re literally like blowing the air over ice, and they’re creating the ice, and it can result in a 40% reduction in a cooling bill, which is a big deal with all those skyscrapers on the grid at the same time. So those are the two cool good news stories that came across today. All right, now in terms of health, you know, a lot of us – notice a difference in water when we’re traveling i notice that like if i’m an airbnb the flavor of the water sometimes tastes a little off or a little bit weird and then when people come to see me they say the same thing about my water so it’s no wonder that a lot of families are wondering what’s in their tap water because there can be a lot of contaminants if you google it there’s some surprising results about the number of areas that have found you know water to be unhealthy So we have an expert in the area joining us, Mike Sale. He is a water sommelier, and he is going to explain how to improve the water in our own home. Welcome, Mike.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good morning. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’re welcome. Isn’t it funny that we think our water is fine because I always drink tap water, but people will come to visit and be like, oh, your water tastes different. And so wherever I go, it almost always makes it taste different. So obviously there’s different things in the water. Am I right here?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, yes. As part of the training and being a water sommelier, we have a pretty deep knowledge of the complexity of water, the different inputs. And you’re right, there’s a huge number of things that can influence the taste. But also, it’s hard to find that perfect taste because what you live with now, what you grew up with, that’s going to influence what you think good water should taste like.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. And who knows if we’re even having good water in the first place. I’m always shocked when I hear these stories about different areas, different cities, and they find out, oh, my gosh, there were all these contaminants in the water, even in like the drinking fountains at the schools. Like, how does this even happen? So you obviously go through a lot of training to become a water sommelier, which you can tell us about that as well when you explain to us what is ideal water.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that’s the million dollar question. And from a taste standpoint, we can do lots of fun things where we add things or take things away and try to get to that ideal taste for an individual or even for cooking or a cup of coffee or tea. But from a True ideal water standpoint is exactly what you said. It’s making sure that there aren’t contaminants in the water that we don’t want for our long-term health, nitrates, lead, PFAS. And if those things have gotten into the supply or coming through our house, we want to remove those.
SPEAKER 07 :
One might too, a lot of us think like, oh, well, you know, all those good bottled water, I’ll be fine. But then we hear about all these microplastics and the plastic bottled water. So really, that isn’t really the answer either. We need to make sure that the water that we’re pouring out of our faucets at home is the best quality that we can have.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think you said it better than I can. And what I really like is there’s a system called reverse osmosis. This is a filtration system. It has an ultra-fine membrane that’s going to allow the water to move through but remove virtually all contaminants. And my passion or my mission would be that we bring this into people’s homes. This is what some of these commercial bottled water plants are using. And to your point, there’s potential things that could get introduced in the process. There’s a lot of plastic waste there. And we have systems that we can actually just take into our home and produce this quality of water right under our own sink.
SPEAKER 07 :
So how do we check the quality of our water, if we’re curious?
SPEAKER 05 :
If you’re on a well, you do need to do your own testing because that’s going to vary by area. The EPA is going to recommend that you retest every year to watch for moving water quality. But if you’re in a municipality where your water is going through a water treatment facility, you can actually use there’s a water quality report that your water treatment facility will publish annually. And they’ll talk about the source water. They’ll talk about their treatment methods and they’ll talk about the things that remain and are left in the water. And when you’ve kind of done that homework and understood a little more of, okay, this is what’s actually in the water, and this is or is not something I’m concerned about, that’s where you can look towards something like that reverse osmosis type system. There’s one called the Delta Clarify tankless reverse osmosis system. This is certified by a third party to remove over 90 contaminants in water. So it’s a strong solution for I have some things in there that I want out, or I’m concerned that things could slip through over time with emerging and new contaminants. And I just want to take preventative measures on the front line.
SPEAKER 07 :
I love that. All right. So if we want to do that, I’m going to look into this myself. I’ve already found your website to see how much it is because a couple of my girlfriends in the neighborhood have this. And I do notice the water does taste really good. And I’ve thought about it, but didn’t know much about it. So where do we go to get more info?
SPEAKER 05 :
If you go to deltafaucet.com forward slash clean water, you can learn more about the product. And then actually there you can enter your zip code. And we’ve got data from a couple different sources around what’s going on in your local water. So that can be a good place to start that journey, too, of just assessing, you know, are there things in here? We often look to sight and taste for, you know, is this good water? And unfortunately, the things that sometimes could be in the water that are harmful to our body, we’re just not going to detect that way.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I appreciate your expertise. I think it’s a good wake up call for a lot of us. We get real complacent and we don’t realize we may be putting things in our body and our children’s bodies for that matter, the whole family that is not leading to good health. So I appreciate you, Mike. I appreciate the time.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m glad we’re able to have the conversation. Me too. Thanks.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. Healthy body, now healthy water and now healthy postal worker. What? Well, we’re talking about USPS National Dog Bite Awareness Month. That is June. We do this interview every year, and you will be shocked at how many postal workers are bitten each year by dogs. I mean, the numbers are astounding. Joining us is Elizabeth Adams. Elizabeth is a USPS Occupational Safety and Health Safety Awareness Specialist. Welcome, Elizabeth.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hi, Andy. Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. So this is obviously really important. And a lot of people, you know, whenever I’m out and about and someone has their dog loose, you’re like, oh, don’t worry, Freddie won’t bite. Well, he might not bite you, but someone in a uniform or someone they’re not accustomed to, that might be a different story when it comes to the male men and women.
SPEAKER 09 :
For sure. Dog bites are actually a real and an ongoing safety issue for our male carriers out there. Dogs are animals and they act instinctively and they can bite for any number of reasons. All it takes is just one wrong interaction or movement from our carriers and And they could be injured. And, you know, we are out there every day delivering to every address.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, when it comes to this being a problem for postal workers, can you give us, you know, a little info on it? Because a lot of people think, oh, it’s just folklore. But it’s a real legit problem. Can you tell us a little bit about how big a problem it is for USPS?
SPEAKER 09 :
For sure. So in 2024, we had over 6,000 total dog bite dog incidents with our employees. And that averages to about 16 per day.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s unbelievable. I mean, I would have thought you were going to say hundreds. Okay, 6,000. Wow. My friend just got a dog bite yesterday. She posted it, and it wasn’t horrible like I’ve seen, but she just said she’s so tired of it. She takes care of animals, so she goes to different homes. She says she’s so tired of this neighbor always letting their dogs out, and she finally got bitten, even though she’s told them numerous times, like, hey, get a hold of this problem. So I understand there’s some technology that the Postal Service is using to protect its workers. I’m very curious about that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. So to help protect our employees, we have technology that supports carrier safety in two ways. First, we have our handheld scanners that are used by our carriers to confirm customer delivery, you know, and that includes scanners. They include a feature to indicate the presence of a dog at an address. So when they’re out making delivery, their scanner will alert them that there’s a dog at that location. So we’re giving that enhanced digital service to the customer while also promoting safe carrier operations when they’re out there on the street. Second, we have, it’s actually a customer technology that we have is USPS informed delivery. And that service allows customers to mail, pardon me, alerts customers to mail in packages coming to their homes. And what that will do for a dog owner is allow them time to plan for the carrier’s arrival because we really, we’re looking for that security for the dog to be secure so that we can safely come on the property. Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, now in terms of us, how can we help? Do you have any tips for us, especially as dog owners?
SPEAKER 09 :
Definitely. And we really do count on our customers in this effort. So because really, you know, a dog may just be perceiving us as an intruder. So the best way to keep safe is to recognize and promote that responsible pet ownership. You know, and what does that look like? You know, such as teach your dog appropriate behavior and commands. You know, also socialize your dog. But at the end of the day, you know, don’t allow your dog to roam freely. Make sure your dog is secure. Whether it be outside, you know, if we’re coming onto the property, if they’re outside, you know, have them on the leash. Or even inside, if a carrier delivers mail or packages to your door, you know, place your dog in a separate room or a secure area. Because we’ve seen dogs even push through screen doors. And we’ve had situations where they’ve even jumped through windows. And that situation can unfold very quickly. Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
I was just thinking that it’d be easy, because mine are little, they’re like Pomeranians, like six pounds, but they do slip out sometimes, and it’s not a bite issue, but it’s not just the postal carrier, it’s your dog’s safety too. They’re going to chase after the mailman, mailwoman, as they’re going back to their truck, and they make it into the street, et cetera. When I was younger, I did lose a dog getting hit, and you oftentimes see dogs that have escaped the house and are running around the neighborhood, and It’s a danger to the postal worker and to, you know, your own pet as well. So I think it’d be really easy to just peek through the glass or whatever or yell to the carrier like, hey, let me put my dog in the bedroom or, you know, let me secure my dog before I answer the door. I’m sure they would have no problem waiting an extra, you know, 30 seconds to assure that they don’t get a dog bite and that your dog doesn’t get loose.
SPEAKER 09 :
For sure, because it is that collaboration, you know, between our customers and our employees. It does take both of us for sure.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, so where should we go to get more info?
SPEAKER 09 :
The best place is USPS.com forward slash dog bite awareness. And we also have our postal blog about the campaign on our website and our social media platforms.
SPEAKER 07 :
Excellent. Thank you so much, Elizabeth.
SPEAKER 09 :
You’re welcome. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
