Teaching school can be a very rich life for a young woman. That is, if she happens to be a very rich young woman. Of course, I'm not rich, but I am rather young and rather a woman, too. Which brings us to Mr. Boynton.  But he'll come around. Even a studious biology teacher must sooner or later get a little biological. Meanwhile, I can dream, can't I? Honey Brooks can dream. It's a few minutes before seven in the morning, and Miss Brooks is fast asleep in the room she rents from Mrs. Margaret Davis. Fast asleep and dreaming. Oh, Mr. Darwell, this is too much. Miss Brooks, as principal of Madison High School, I insist you accept it. But a diamond-studded ruler. For what, Mr. Darwell? Because you have the nicest erasers in school. Why, Mr. Darwell, I didn't think you ever noticed my erasers. I'm also giving you Mr. Boynton, the biology teacher. Oh, Mr. Boynton. Kiss me, Miss Brooks. Kiss me again, Mr. Boynton. Miss Brooks, you have to go to school, dear. For this, I don't have to go to school. This one's naturally.  Oh, what time is it? Well, it's only 7.15, dear. But I know today's a big day for you. What with Mr. Darwell, the principal leaving Madison High? Oh, yes, today's the day Mr. Conklin takes over. Maybe he'll give me a chance to head the English department. As good, Conklin? Why, I've known him for years. We went to school together. All the other children used to call him stone-faced because he never laughed. Oh, fine. Well, I shouldn't say never. No, I did give him a laugh one time when we were out ice-skating. He was practically in hysterics. What happened? I broke my leg. Now, do hurry and get dressed, dear. I've got a lovely surprise for your breakfast.  All right, Mrs. Davis. What kind of juice is this, anyway? Pomegranate. Pomegranate? I was going to bake you a cumquat, but they were out of them at the deli. Now, here's the surprise. It is Armenian pancakes. They've been setting for five days. What else could they do? Goat's milk. It takes five days for it to get good and sour. Sour goat's milk?  Don't pay any attention to the smell, dear. Oh, but Mrs. Davis, I... Mrs. Davis, I'm too old to be hand-fed, especially Armenian pancakes. Now, tell me the truth. Aren't they delicious? Well, I don't want to hurt your feelings, Mrs. Davis, but if I were the goat responsible for this concoction, I would hang myself by my own beard. If you don't mind, I'll help myself to some cereal. Oh, Mrs. Brooks, it's a crime to throw out these pancakes. What's the crime? Carrying concealed weapons? Now, you've got to have something for breakfast. Today's a big day for you. Let me whip up a few Swiss clan fritters. Look, Mrs. Davis. Yes, dear. If it wouldn't upset you to see it at the breakfast table, could I have some corn flakes? Well, everyone to his own taste. Gee, it's funny, Walter isn't here yet. He knows I wanted to get to school a little early this morning. Oh, is Walter Denton picking you up again? Yes, my Chevy's still in the shop. I had a little accident Monday. I ran into a parked car. Oh, that's too bad. I hope you reported it to the police. I didn't have to. They were sitting in the car. That's good. Walter's a nice boy, although he's not too bright. You're right about that, Mrs. Davis. 16 years old and he gets his heart broken every other week by some jukebox, Cleopatra. Then I have to put the pieces together. You, Miss Brooks?  Oh, well, how does he respond to that, Miss Brooks? Before the last pluck has died away, he's back in the henhouse. Oh, well, I can't worry about Walter today. I've got to make a good impression on Mr. Conklin if I want that new job at school. That's Walter now. I can always tell him by the way he hunks. Me too. He sounds like a heartbroken goose. Well, here goes, Mrs. Davis. Wish me luck. Oh, I do, my dear. And don't you worry about a thing. I wonder what kind of a guy Mr. Conklin really is.  I've heard about the lack of discipline and I won't have it, you hear? No one is going to interfere with my making Madison High School a well-run school. No one. If anybody gets in my way, I'll crush them. Step on them like so many ants. Squash them. That's nice. Pass them on a late, dear. And help yourself to some more toast.  But I was saying, Martha, I'm sure that the faculty at Madison is totally inept. Oh, I don't know. I was good. I'm sure you'll find a few epped ones. Epped. Epped. Drink a little water, dear. It'll go away. No understanding, no cooperation.   Please, Osgood, can't you talk without barking? Honestly, sometimes I think Prince is the only one who can really understand you. Prince!  Look at him over there. Dead to the world. Well, it's getting late. Now where's my hat? Conklin, where's my hat? Dear, don't bark. I'm not barking, Martha. Once and for all, I don't bark. Now be sure to drive carefully on your way to school. Don't tell me how to drive. I'm not, dear. It's just that after all the work you put in, polishing it on Sunday, I'd hate to see the... Oh, stop worrying. I did the work, didn't I? Look at her out there. Nothing takes a wax polish like a black touring car. Well, Osgood, you'd better get started. You mustn't set a bad example for your new teachers. I'll show them a thing or two. I'll show them. I'll make them step. It's nice of you to pick me up like this, Walter. Well, that's all right, Miss Brooks. It's the least I can do. You've been so sweet to me. Besides, there's something I want to talk to you about. A girl? It usually is, isn't it? Yeah, it's a girl, Miss Brooks, but this one... this one's different. You mean she's stuck on you? Oh, not yet. That's what I want to talk to you about. I want you to help me get her stuck on me. Well, here we go again. Who is the girl, Walter? She's the baker's daughter, Penelope Miller. When I kissed her for the first time the other night, I knew she was different. But, Walter, you kissed a lot of girls. What's so different about Penelope Miller? She tastes like caraway seeds. She's probably built like a pumpernickel. Look, Walter, I've got a lot on my mind today. All I want you to do is help me write her a letter, Miss Brooks.  I can't understand it. And I figured, well, you being an English teacher, as well as a woman, well, you'd know how to make her think that I was brainy. You know, intelligent.  You know what I mean?  But don't blame yourself. Penelope just doesn't appreciate yet that a man is a thing to be treasured. When will she appreciate it? When she gets to be my age. Well, I couldn't wait that long, Miss Brooks. Walter, just how old do you think I am, anyway? Is 35. What? 40. Walter! 45? One more bid and I'll throw you out of this auction. I'm sorry, Miss Brooks. I guess I'm not very mental at that. But you will help me out, won't you? I'll come over to Mrs. Davis' tonight and we'll write a letter together. What do you say? Well, I could... Walter, look out! That car! What car? That big, black touring car! Big, black touring car? It's not quite as big as it was. Idiot! Why don't you watch where you're going? All my fenders. My shining fenders lying in the gutter. Walter, put the man's fenders back on. Well, gee, Mr. I didn't mean to... You didn't mean... Why didn't you look where you were going? Well, gosh, it takes true to make an accident. A brilliant observation. But it just happens that I was only going 15 miles an hour. You should have been going 30. We'd have missed you by a block. You red-haired joyrider? It was probably your fault. My fault? Yes. Why don't you learn how to drive that hopped-up purse of yours? Hopped-up purse?  Walter, I've got to run along. I'll leave you to straighten out barking boy. Barking boy? That's the second time today I've been accused of barking. Young woman, I'll have you know I do not bark. Who's your friend? The home prince. Thanks for the joy ride, Walter, if you'll pardon the expression. Oh, goodbye, Miss Brooks, and don't forget about tonight. Good riddance. That is one of the most offensive young women I've ever met. Now then, young man, let me see your driver's license. I haven't started yet. Let me see. Pick up my mail first and then... Oh, hello, Mr. Boynton. Hello, Miss Brooks. Isn't it a coincidence that we're in the same mailbox? Not an overwhelming coincidence. Your last name begins with the same letter mine does. Well, that's a start. You have such a quick mind, Mr. Boynton. Well, it is thorough. Personally, I think you tax it too much. Don't you think you need more recreation if you know what I mean? Oh, carrying on my biology experiments is recreation enough. You don't know what I mean. Of course, I also collect stamps. That gets pretty exciting sometimes. Oh, it must. There's no end to the possibilities. Have you ever tried your hand at beadwork? No, I don't believe I have. Is it fun? Fun.  And, of course, basket weaving can be exciting too. Really? Yes, if we're both in the same basket. All so much for the world of sports. Miss Brooks, if you don't mind my changing the subject, are you going to be busy tonight? Busy? Me? Why, Mr. Boynton, I couldn't be unbizzier. Well, I'd like to come over after dinner, that is, if we could be alone. Alone? We'll be absolutely isolated. I hope you don't think I'm too forward, Mr. Boynton, but I've anticipated this moment for quite a while. Remember the day about five years ago when I first came to Madison High, rounded a turn in the corridor and bumped smack into you? Oh, yes. I was teaching chemistry then. You put quite a dent in my Bunsen burner. The day that I first suspected that we'd be more to each other than just fellow faculty members. Oh, when were your suspicions confirmed, Miss Brooks? Oh, on our very next date, when you took me to lunch two years later. Dad, you were a fast worker. I don't blame you for kidding me, Miss Brooks. I guess I'm not much of a whirlwind romantically. Then most scientific people aren't. You see, the study of evolution alone tends to slow down in many of the more intemplate reflexes. You must realize what a tremendous period of time was involved before the single cell divided itself in the sea and adapted itself to the land and air. Countless centuries passed before lower forms of life assumed. They're new shapes. Generations before the mammal family produced the ape family, and before the ape family produced the human family. What have you been waiting for me to do? Slip back a notch? Miss Brooks, you do look very lovely this morning. Well, thank you, Mr. Boynton. Luckily, I come from one of the prettier ape families. Now, but what time do you think you'll be able to come over tonight? Oh, Mr. Boynton, Miss Brooks. Sorry to interrupt, but as you know, today is my last day as your principal, and my successor, Mr. Conklin, is due any minute. Oh, we'll be sorry to see you go, sir. Yes, you've been a wonderful principal, Mr. Darwell. I don't know why the board of education had you transferred. Ours not to reason why. Ours but to teach and die. If you'll pardon a mixed poetical reference. And if I may say so, it's been wonderful working with you here at Madison High, and I'm genuinely sorry to leave. However, we're teachers and teachers can't afford sentiment. We can't afford anything.  I'll be taking Mr. Conklin on a tour of inspection as soon as he arrives. Incidentally, Miss Brooks, your class will be one of the first ones visited. Also, it might interest you to know that I intend to recommend you as the head of the English department. Oh, thank you, Mr. Darwell. Believe me, I'm all set for Mr. Conklin. Good.  Let me have your attention now. As many of you know, our new principal, Mr. Osgood Conklin, takes over his duties today. So if he should drop in here at any time, there's no reason for any of us to be nervous, self-conscious, or head of the English department.  Now, to take up where we left off yesterday... Pardon me, Miss Brooks, but Mr. Conklin and I just happened to be passing by. Oh, I come right in, Mr. Darwell. This way, Mr. Conklin. Mr. Conklin, this is our Miss Brooks. How do you do, Miss Brooks? Glad to make you re... ...equate a minute. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. I'm glad to make your equate a minute, too. You two have met? Well, we sort of ran into each other this morning. Oh, so this is the young lady in the accident you told me about. Well, Mr. Conklin, I have an idea. Now, why don't we skip English and drop in on the... Mr. Darwell, now that I know just who Miss Brooks is, I'm particularly interested in watching her conduct her class.  We'll get to sit here at the back of the room and probably learn something. Oh, all right, Mr. Darwell.  I mean, that I'd like you to. Well, I want you to tell me who... I'd like the name of the author of the following stuff. So Conklin War... I mean, so Donklin's in war. Never was there a knight like Young Luck involved. Hands, please? No hands? Well, you've all got them, you know. Just look at the end of your sleeves.  Winona. I can always depend on Winona. Uh, who wrote those lines, Winona? I don't know. I just want to leave the room. Find the blindfold, Captain. Just give me a cigarette. Oh, Mr. Boyn. Where's Brooks? Come right in. Well, if you don't mind, I'll stand by the door. Biology labs make me nervous. I just dropped by to see what time you're coming over tonight. Tonight? Yes, one of my students is stopping by. I've promised to write an intellectual letter for him to a girlfriend he's trying to impress. Penelope Miller. Penelope Miller. Yeah, she tastes like caraway seeds. Anyway, if you'll just let me know what time you can make it off. Well, I'm not sure about tonight at all right now. I'm quite worried about violet. Violet? I'm using some of my mouse I use in some of my experiments. I know. Steady, Violet. Steady, dear. I'm just going to hold you for a minute. Mr. Boyn. You know, I don't like the feel of his stomach. Mr. Boyn. It's lumpy. Well, but Mr. Boyn, you told me at the office this morning. Well, thank you, Miss Brooks. At that time, I didn't know about Violet's condition. You understand. I have to... I know. You have to sit up with a lumpy mouse. Violet's been awfully cooperative. Obviously. But she's terribly peeked lately. I don't know what it is. I think I'd better have a look at her cage. Hold her a minute, will you please? Miss Brooks, you dropped Violet. She attacked me. Get off of her desk. I can't. I see her. She's under that table, Mr. Boyn. I'm kidding.  Get her. And this, Mr. Compton. This is our biology laboratory. And where are we? By Miss Brooks. What are you doing on that desk? And where's Mr. Boyn? He's under the table with Violet. So that's what goes on in the biology laboratory of Madison High. Oh, but Mr. Compton, I'm sure we can... So am I. Very sure. Come, Mr. Darwell. I'll be back when Violet is out from under the table. Oh, no. Yeah, I've got her, Miss Brooks. Oh, the poor thing was scared to death. Oh, look at her. Isn't she sweet? Isn't Violet a beauty? Ravishing. And may I tell you something else, Mr. Boyn? What's that? You make a lovely couple. Yes, this is the principal's office. Osgood Conklin speaking. Who's this? This is Davis. A Margaret Davis. Oh, the girl who used to go ice skating with me. How's your leg? You want me to come over tonight?  I might be able to... You say there's a teacher living here that you want me to meet? Miss Brooks? Miss Brooks! Now, look here, Margaret. I don't think I can... Yes, I know we're old friends, but... But I don't... But I can... But I... All right, seven o'clock. Goodbye. Her leg must have been in the cast for six weeks. School immediately. I am he. I am Matilda Denton. And I have reason to suspect that my boy, a pupil at this iniquitous institution, has fallen into the clutches of one of your female teachers. What? But, madam, what makes you... But over the half hour ago, on the phone, I heard my boy postponing a date with a girl his own age, a lovely little girl, Penelope Miller. Penelope Miller? Yes, he tastes like caraway seeds. There's a reason for the postponement. He said he had a date tonight with a red-headed teacher at her home. But how do you know she... Yeah, read this. It fell out of my son's notebook when he came home from school. Just read it. Very well. At last, I've got what I want. Red hair and what a tough, sturdy body. Good heavens. Where, Mr. Conklin? Have you any idea who this nefarious woman might be? Yes, I have, Mrs. Denton. And I hasten to assure you that I'll take steps to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. Just how quickly is that, Mr. Conklin? No later than tonight. This teacher doesn't know it, but we are having dinner together. You like your dinner? Very interesting, Mrs. Davis. I have never tasted the seal burger before. It's the goat's milk that does it. Uh-huh. Well, I'll take these dishes into the kitchen and see about the coffee. Oh, I make Bulgarian coffee, you know. It's strained through a grapefruit rind. Naturally. Yes. Now then, Miss Brooks, I realize that the events of the day were as unpleasant for you as they were for me. Yes, they were, Mr. Conklin, but that's all in the past. I'd like to think so, Miss Brooks. But unfortunately, a matter of the greatest concern has come up. Really? Really. What would you think of a teacher who would allow a student to become infatuated with her and then leave him on? Well, I think she was pretty terrible, Mr. Conklin. Who's the teacher? We haven't any positive proof, but the boy's name is Walter Denton. Well, I think they both ought to be arrested. Walter Denton? Yes, Miss Brooks, Walter Denton. His mother came to see me today and told me all about it. She has no idea who the teacher is, but, well, you can't deny the jewel in the car with young Denton this morning. Oh, but, Mr. Conklin, he was just giving me a lift until my car is fixed. I never see the boy at any other time. Are you sure about that, Miss Brooks? I'm positive. Must be my laundry. Your laundry at 8 p.m.? Well, I deal with the owl laundry. Only come out at night. Well, you excuse me, Mr. Conklin. I'll be back in a minute. Hi, Miss Brooks. I keep you waiting. Yes, but not long enough. Look, Walter, come back some other time. Come on. No, Walter, no. Let's get into the living room. I'm anxious to get that letter started. Not so loud, Walter. What's the matter, Miss Brooks?  I just had dinner with one. Mr. Conklin is still in the dining room. Oh, the new principal?  Gee, is that good? Good. Listen, Walter, if he finds you here tonight, we'll both be out in... Come on. It's good. We'll have our coffee in the living room. Oh. Bye, Margaret. Oh, quick, Walter. Get behind those curtains by the window. Oh, all right. Say they're very pretty. Get in back of them. What was it that rang, dear? Oh, it was just a wrong number, Mrs. Davis. On the doorbell? I mean the wrong house number. Why, Miss Brooks, you seem very nervous this evening, dear. You've pulled all the thread out of that tassel. Oh, they don't make them like they did before the war, do they? I remember some tassels you could pull on all day. You'll come and get some coffee, dear. It'll calm you down. You know, the Bulgarians drink it flat on their backs. They drink it flat on my back any minute, and I wish I was in Bulgaria.  Well, it's rather warm in here, don't you think? Yes. Oh, if it isn't too much travel-wise good, would you mind pulling back those curtains and opening the window? Oh, no, not the curtains. No trouble at all. I'll be only too happy to open the window. And I'll be only too happy to jump out of it. There. There we are. Well, where is he? What's become of him? What's become of whom? I'll be Breen. He used to send me. Come on over to the couch, dear. You're still overwrought. There, now you lie right down here, and I'll get you a pillow. You know, I keep pillows in the window seat just for emergencies like this. I always say you never know when you need them. Hello, Walter. Here you are, Miss Brooks. Just make yourself... Margaret, what is the matter? What a tension! A lot of my window seat. Uh-huh! Just as I thought. Miss Brooks, where are you going? I thought I'd run down to the Belgian Congo for the weekend. Down, Miss Brooks. Young man, what were you doing in that window? If you'll only give me a chance, Mr. Conathon, I can explain. Go ahead. What were you doing in there? Hiding. Walter, tell them just why you came here tonight. I came here to see Miss Brooks. I thought we'd be alone. Oh, ho! Well, she was only going to help me write a letter to my girlfriend. Oh, by that was very sweet of Miss Brooks. Don't you think so, Osgood? Extremely so, extremely. Now, let's hear you explain this, Miss Brooks. Here, read this page from Walter's diary. Mine? What is this? At last I've got what I want. Red hair and what a tough, sturdy body. Walter! I wish everybody would stop saying Walter. This isn't even my writing. Here, look at the other side. That's my biology notes from yesterday. I asked Mr. Boynton to loan me a piece of paper. Mr. Boynton wrote that? Oh, my! Miss Brooks, don't you get it? Get what? Red hair. It's you he's writing about. Me? Uh-huh. Just what he wanted? Tough and sturdy. Surely you're not pleased, Miss Brooks? I'm not? I mean I'm not. Good evening. The front door was open. Oh, hello, Mr. Boynton. I thought you said we were going to be along, Miss Brooks. You too! What's happening around here? Haven't you heard? I've been made queen for a day. Mr. Boynton, I'd like to know whether you wrote this or not. Let me see it, sir. Yes, sir. I wrote it. It was supposed to go into my diary. What's wrong with it anyway? She is strong and I did work hard to get her. Mr. Boynton, please not in front of everybody. It took 23 generations of crossbreeding to get a red-backed mouse like that. A mouse? A mouse? Oh, amazing. Well, Miss Brooks, I'm afraid I've done you a grave injustice. You most certainly have, Mr. Conklin. You've placed your own meaning on unfortunate incidents. But... You've accused me of misconduct with no proof whatsoever, and you've acted in general like a narrow, bigoted, unfair person. But, Miss... Mr. Conklin, I never want to see you or talk to you again as long as I live. Not even about that job as head of the English department? Mr. Conklin, I've done you a grave injustice. Let's sit down on the love seat and talk this thing over, shall we? Well, we'll take it up first thing in the morning, Miss Brooks. I've got to be getting home now. Come on, Walter, we'll take the bus together. Oh, we don't have to take the bus, Mr. Conklin. I've got my car outside. Your car? After our collision this morning? Oh, after I left you, I hit another car, and everything snapped back into place. That's good. Good night. Good night, Mr. Conklin. Well, now there's just the three of us, Mr. Boynton. Mrs. Davis, you and I. Gee, it's a beautiful night. Look at that moon streaming through the windows. If one would just take a hint, there'd just be two of us. Two of us and one sofa. I said if one of us would take a hint, well, here we are, just the two of us. That's right, Miss Brooks. Come on, Walter, let's join Mummy. Cut the deal. But I'd rather have lost to Mr. Boynton. He's certainly naive, my little biology boy. But though he's shy, he's glad of I, and I'm sure he'll soon realize that the greatest thing he'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Good night. Next week at the same time, Columbia will again present our Miss Brooks, Farry E. Boynton. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting District.


Abledon Air major sponsorship was given by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Also sponsorship was given by Washington County Mental Health Services, where hope and support come together, and Champlain Community Services of Vermont. Welcome to this edition of Abledon Air, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the different label. I've always been your host Lauren Seiler. Arlene is off today. Thank you to our sponsors, Green Mountain Support Services, Washington County Mental Health, and Champlain Community Services.  Would you like to introduce yourself? That sounds great. Thanks for inviting us. So I'm Barb Winters, and I'm with the Brain Injury Association of Vermont. We're a statewide nonprofit organization that is started about 20 years ago to work by a survivor to help individuals with brain injury to access community services and to educate themselves and to do support groups, and all of that. So being a nonprofit, we work, we often get confused with the state TBI program. We aren't part of state government at all, although we work with state government on a lot of different projects we aren't part of. Your name is? Eric Page, and I'm with Green Mountain Support Services and the intake coordinator there. We're what's called a specialized service agency, so we're a provider for people who are working through the state Medicaid program. Okay, now, what is brain injury, define it? Thank you. That'll be me. I'm kind of the education person for the Brain Injury Association. What a lot of people, when they think brain injury, say TBI. It's more than TBI. So acquired brain injury is the umbrella definition, and that is any brain injury that happens after birth that is not congenital or degenerative. Explain what you mean by those two words. Thank you. I will. I'm sorry, it's just going to be a lot of questions. Yeah, no, that's good. So what I mean by congenital is things like ALS, also known as Lou Gehrich's disease. That is congenital. Great baseball player. Right, and then a degenerative would be something like Alzheimer's disease or any of the dementias, as well as things like MS. Epilepsy? No, epilepsy is under the brain injury umbrella. The number one cause of epilepsy is brain injuries. Let's you know.  When you say traumatic brain injury, it is an external insult to the brain. So whether it's the football player's heads, the motor vehicle accident, the fall and the number one cause of brain injuries is falls. I'm going to interject for a minute. Yes. Stephen Hawkins, there was a movie based on him. The Theory of Everything. He had, he fell, had injury to his head. I remember the story. He had traumatic brain injury and ended up in a wheelchair. You know, great brain did a lot of things for science. Is it always like if somebody gets hit to the head, a sports injury, a boxer, for example, they were trying to outrule boxing. Is it always a traumatic thing that happens to cause TBI, traumatic brain injury? So for, let's say it stands Stephen Hawkins for a moment. I think that his fall was a part of another disease process, which is what he was suffering from, which ended up creating his disability. But he did have a brain injury. Falls are, you can get brain injuries from falls.  And that is mild, moderate, severe. So mild is where your concussions fall in. And that's 75% of brain injuries are that in that mild category. And then the moderate is, you know, like the TBI program that Eric works for only works with individuals who have moderate or severe brain injury.  It depends.  Every brain is unique. You and I could have the exact same accident. And it can affect people in a different way. Totally differently. Yeah. Yeah. So how long have you guys been in existence through Green Mountain Support Services or working with Green Mountain Support Services? Do you want to talk Green Mountain? Well, Green Mountain Support Services, I believe it's over 20 years. They started Sterling Area Services and became Green Mountain Support Services a few years ago. And the TBI program is one of several programs that we have. And then we work with the Brain Injury Association of Vermont and the state program to try to bring everything together. We all have different things that we can offer information. You know, our clients can contact the Brain Injury Association of Vermont. So tell me a little bit. I see you brought up not a cheat sheet type of thing, but it is a cheat sheet. Can you tell me some of the services that you guys provide? Well, they're different. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. They're very different. So that's the Brain Injury Association. So what we tend to provide is if someone has a severe brain injury and can't live on their home, we set up a shared living provider situation for them so they would be living in someone's home. And you're having them be independent at the same time? We're having them be dependent as they can be. Yeah. And the shared living provider, their job is to meet that person's needs. They get paid for that. It's actually a tax-free stipend that they get. And that's through the Medicaid program. Then for people with less severe injuries, sometimes we provide a life skills aid. So someone who comes in and helps them with maybe their finances, takes them grocery shopping, whatever sort of things they need. Help them like if they have to pay rent or they have to write a check. Right. Something of... And that varies greatly from person to person if they need that. Can people with brain injuries still... I know it might be difficult for them, but can they still have jobs and work and that type of thing? Or how difficult would that be with a brain injury? Yeah, and it depends on the extent of the brain injury. We actually have a supported employment program. So one of our clients, he can work, but he can't drive. So we have someone who drives him to his job. Or possibly would give him a medical ride to a doctor's appointment. Can you serve us? Just each program is tailored to the person? I don't drive because they don't give anyone with epilepsy. Because myself being having cerebral palsy, despite everything, you know, I'm independent. But they don't give... No DMV, as close as I know, gives a person with epilepsy a driver's license. It's not a safe thing. Right. Yeah, so I think that one of the things that the Brain Injury Association has is support groups. And I co-facilitate one of the support groups, the Burlington area one. And in our support group, there are individuals who are working.   They weren't really enjoying life. And after their brain injury, it forces them. So that's for some people, those people that look on the bright side. You don't want to force anybody to do something. No, but it's, no. The brain injury forces them to slow down. Not people.  If you can only work two hours, you only work two hours. Yeah, yeah. So for some people, it has been a blessing in disguise in a way. I mean, those are the people who take every negative thing and make it into a positive. But you can. There's an individual who comes to the support group sometimes who had to totally change her career. And in the process, found something she really loved doing and now is actually happier. What do you mean by that? Well, she was a high level IT person, so worked on computers, solving problems, and she couldn't work on computers anymore. What she, in the exploration after her brain injury, what she came to was, I love plants. She became an herbalist, and she loves being an herbalist. She has a great life now. She's a gardener, that type of. Yeah, yeah. Now, in terms of brain injuries, okay, so it slows the person's life down, but doesn't slow them, right? It doesn't slow, it depends on the situation. Does your program now, federal funds are sometimes being cut for certain things. Yeah. Sorry to make you, right? I know, sorry, I know. Is your program control, well, not control, but does Medicaid give money towards this type of program? We're funded through Medicaid, so the state, we're not part of the state, but the state distributes the money towards our organization, whereas the brain injury associations are private, non-profit, that's... Right. How is it knowing that the administration that we're in now, as far as the president, he wants to cut this program that program? What is one thing that you can tell the administration to say, hey, we need this, because we need more programs like this. You guys are doing a fantastic job helping folks. So, is it controlled, you guys get funding through Washington DC? Well, through Medicaid, yeah, the thing is, if you look at the state website, you'll find that since state of Vermont went to this shared living provider model, not just for TBI, but for folks with developmental disabilities or older Americans who can't live on their own anymore, it actually saves the state a ton of money, so it's a very cost-effective program. How so? Well, you're not running large institutions, you're putting people in individuals, you're giving them a better quality of life. In fact, the most recent report that they did found that people in the larger homes of six or so, they're fine, but actually the smaller homes with one or two are more cost-effective, and the people have a better quality of life, so. Can you explain about, since I have this... No, it's cheat sheet. Cheat sheet. Referrals and resources are extremely important. You take and we're fine. How does that work with your agency? We both do it in different ways. So, let's say somebody calls iStaff our helpline, which is a toll-free number, and one of the things somebody will call and they'll go, my brother has just had a brain injury, he's going to be coming back to Vermont from, let's say, Dartmouth, and what are his options? And at that point, it might be, I might call Gia, if he's from the area, whatever area he's from, I will try to find, what are the resources in that area that they want to relocate, because I'm a big believer in getting close to your support system. So, sending people out of state away from their families and their support system isn't a good quality of life. What do you mean by that exactly? If the family can't visit, then the person can become very lonely. And also, there isn't anybody... Sometimes it's really important for family to be around. Yeah, incredibly important, and also to be keeping an eye on the care, to be knowledgeable about what is working and not working, because they know that individual the best, so that they can say, oh, he keeps throwing his beans at you because he's always hated beans. Maybe it's a person who's non-verbal after their stroke, and the facility or the home is saying, oh, he's got a behavior problem, he's throwing beans at us, and the family can come in and say, well, he hates beans. I'm a huge advocate, right? Outreach and education is extremely important, especially now, because years ago, when they used to have the situation where people with special needs were institutionalized, and then taken out of institutions, how important is outreach, advocacy, and all of that within your organization? For the Brain Injury Association, it's probably the nut of what we do. So for the advocacy piece, we had staff that went down to Washington, D.C. to advocate with the state person, and a survivor to advocate for more funding for brain injury programs. There's a lot of organizations that are in D.C. who are advocating for federal funding, whether it's the National Brain Injury Association or it's the National Association of Head Injury Programs around the country. Nasha, there's a lot of different organizations that are doing the D.C. stuff, and once a year, we'll join them and just enforce from all around the country, we'll arrive in D.C., and we'll go, hey, you've got to pay attention, and the survivors are there to tell their stories, because that's the most compelling way.  And it's really important. And actually, one of our clients will be on that soon. Not one way that we're working together, though, is we're working with the state on a medical injury. The state legislature, because it says, whoa, you're doing the legislative advocacy too, right? Is that one of the same? Right, we, the Brain Injury Association does, and here's the thing, we can do stuff that the state government can't do because state government funding limits a lot of their, they can't testify, like, they can testify about budget in the state legislature, but we can testify about services and what is needed. So there really is, and they look to us for that, to do things that they can't do. That's definitely a symbiotic relationship. It is. Okay, so memory loss, I know I'm jumping around. Head injuries and memory loss. Explain a little bit about that particular. So some people, after their brain injury, usually there's a couple of types of memories. One is you lose the memory for a short time after the injury, maybe you're in a coma, whatever. So you don't have that memory. Some people lose retrospective. There's rare, but there are cases where people lose all of their memories. I met one person who, after she was hit by a car, lost all of her previous memories, but that's rare. So memory, so the brain trying to describe how the brain works to kind of encode things, if you can't pay attention, which is oftentimes that part of the brain is damaged. If you can't pay attention, it can't get passed. It can't be encoded in the brain. So this t-shirt actually says that this t-shirt was done by a survivor in my support group, and what it says is, can you read it?  So that was a very high-functioning brain injury survivor who just has, she has to write everything down, and it's tough for her to remember appointments and all of that, but she can do it with strategies. So she gets help remembering appointments and that type of thing? Well, she has strategies. She has, she writes. What type of strategies? She uses a phone. A lot of people these days, the smartphones are your biggest assistive technology that you have, so people, and usually one alarm isn't necessary, isn't enough. So I remember in one support group, an individual said, well, I said, I need to take my medication, right? So I set my alarm for my medication. It rings, and I think, oh yeah, gotta get up and get my meds. Well, I have to get up and eat breakfast. Yeah, and I forget, you know, the alarm rings, I remember it, I forget, and I'm still sitting there in my chair. And then he sets a second alarm five minutes later, and it rings, and I go, oh, that's right, I was supposed to get up and take my meds.  And then the third alarm rings, and by that time he's so annoyed he gets up and takes his meds. So that's one individual strategy, just setting multiple alarms. There's so many different strategies for memory. In terms of, now what if you can't help someone with a particular brain injury, what do you do then? Oh, so hard, and there are those cases. It's really, have you run into those cases? On the helpline, yes. And there are people who fall between the cracks. They earn too much money to get Medicaid, or services through state programs, yet they don't earn enough money to really live on. Maybe they've got SSDI, but maybe they've been rejected for SSDI. So what first thing we try to do is to help them get what services they can. But in a lot of cases it just isn't enough. They're losing, they've used up their savings to because some people think that if they... What do you mean by falling through the cracks? I'm sorry to interrupt. Yeah, that's okay, no. I've been there, sorry, what exactly? Yeah, falling through the cracks is that there is no services to help that individual at that time. And so, as hard as it is, you have to say that. You have to say, really, let me try this, let me try that, let's get you in touch with this person. But deep down, you know, there's nothing. Example, I came from New York, New York, we can't help you, you have a job, two college degrees, you're going for your third. We can't really help you. So I help people, you know, I'm not gonna complain. But there are those that fall through the cracks like you said. And that's the hardest, those calls are the hardest to take. And I keep, so that person I will try to keep like on my list of people to call back if I can figure out anything to help them. What exactly is your community brain injury consultant program? Ah, thank you. So what that is, is we've gone through several federal grants. And every time we get a federal grant, we have to change those services that are provided under the grant can't be provided anymore. The Brain Injury Association of Vermont has three part-time people, including me. So we can't provide a lot of services without grant funds. So the last grant fund when it ran out, the three year grant ran out, it meant we couldn't provide a service that was really needed. And that's where the community brain injury consultant came in, is what we can do, what we can afford to do through fundraising. And what that is, is that if an individual with a brain injury, if their team is willing to meet with me and the individual, I will not meet without the individual with a brain injury. That's just not my style. They have to, they're centered. There's a thing where they say, no meetings with us, without us. You got it. Nothing about us, without us. And that's really a core of my- And confidentiality is extremely important when it comes to medical stuff. It is. So let's say, for example, a team called, a person on a team called, and for an individual with a brain injury, and they said, what can you tell us? And I said, well, if you want to meet and kind of brainstorm ideas for this individual, let's meet. And so we did. We met with the psychologist, the case manager, the family, the individual with a brain injury, of course. And this person was just involved, so they're parole person. So we met and we kind of brainstormed what kind of services were out there for that individual. Beyond that, we can afford for me to go to one meeting. And then beyond that, it has to be on the phone. And I'm more than willing to answer questions on the phone and to try to problem-solve. Okay, so, you know, what events, you know, I understand that you guys have several, you're doing several events. What events are you guys doing to raise awareness? Whew, the walk and roll. Yeah, that's the thing. The walk and roll is one of them. Yeah, and the nice thing about the walk and roll is that the walk and roll will walk through, it'll start at the city hall park in here, and not the city hall park. The high school, green, let me see. Montpelier High School? Montpelier High School, walk up Believ onto state straight, take a group picture on the state house steps, and then walk back and have an ice cream social. The banners, the signs, walking on the street will raise awareness. People in bright colored t-shirts, so we'll raise awareness there, as well as individuals, you know, will talk with each other as they walk and roll. It's called walk and roll. So it's Saturday, May 18th, 2019. Yep. This might air a little bit after that, but that's okay. Okay. Because we can get, we'll be getting, I can go get footage of this event. Oh, good. Good. So for more information on the brain injury, is the Brain Injury Association walk and roll, you can register at give.classy.org, forward slash walk and roll 2019 Brain Injury Association of Vermont. That's great. And you can still donate after the event. Right. Yes. So that's a key thing. Our organization will be having a team in the event. So email support services will be there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We have, I think a team of about half a dozen. We're about halfway to our fundraising goal. Now, what are some of the other support groups that you guys are having, as well as the community brain injury? I mean, the, sorry, the annual Brain Injury Conference is also important. It is important. That is like the brain injury world of Vermont, all getting together in one place. And it's, there's sessions and I put together the program with the help of a wonderful committee. Thank you. That is Tuesday, October 8th at the Double Tree Conference Center in Burlington. Would like to be there? Good. Yeah. Yeah. Put it on your calendar. You can get some footage of that. That'd be wonderful. Keep us busy. Yeah. The other thing about that is that not only are there the sessions that people can learn from, but there's also the exhibitors, like GMSA will be an exhibitor there. And so you can go, individuals who are interested in services can go and talk to the providers, which is a wonderful thing. Yeah. Because without advocacy, without these conferences are important to get information without them people would be kind of lost. I know. I know. So long and short of it, why, okay. So do you give referrals to people, like if you can't help somebody, do you send them to another agency that can? Oh, in fact, 90% of the time we can't provide any services for them. So therefore we're sending them to someone. Because in my case, if someone doesn't qualify for services, I might send them to them saying, well, you don't qualify for our services, but they may know of a support group or some other, you know, at least we give them some. Just bouncing around. Well, we work together though. Right now there's a traumatic brain injury task group. Advisor. Advisor group, right. I'm on and we're working with the state and with the Brain Injury Association and kind of seeing what everybody's needs are. They recently did a survey where they did a needs assessment from providers, survivors, and friends of family of survivors. There are some other organizations that for a month like Pride, TBI. What's the difference between that organization and you guys? Good. Okay, well, the Pride and Choice are actually both focused a lot on brain injury. Brain injury is one part of the organization I work through. We're all specialized service agencies, which means we can serve throughout the state with the long-term Medicaid and you have to go first through a designated agency. And that's based on where you live. What do you mean by designated agencies? That's a state term, I guess. A specific agency. Yeah, same, yeah. If you live in this zip code, you have to go through here. Okay, is there anything, what are the future goals of Grimoire Support Services with the Brain Injury and your agency? Sure, well, we're actually looking to expand the program because there is a growing need. How so? More and more people getting injured and some of the data shows that once you have a brain injury, you're more likely to have another one. So someone who has a concussion in high school might be more at risk of having another brain injury down the road. And a lot of them go undiagnosed and that's one of the things we're finding out through this task force because it is not just organizations but a group of survivors as well, that a lot of them are misdiagnosed initially and they weren't given proper resources more told what to expect. I just know most of you. Future goals of your... Well, one of the things we have a lot of goals, we're working on with the correctional system as part of a federal grant that the state, the Department of Corrections... The Department of Prisons. Well, actually, the Department of Corrections is more than just prisons. JLN prisons are all together in Vermont. We're one of three states like that. And then, so we're working with them as part of the state, the state got a federal grant.  We want to figure out... In prison? Oh.  Many of them are diagnosed. That is something I did not know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's really... Fights, crime, and all that other stuck in cars. Or abuse as children.  No, they don't get the kind of help they need, and they go on and they fall into that system of crime. So, behaviors, you know, so that's one piece. The other piece is concussions. We have a great concussion task force that we've put together a toolkit that is going to... The new version will be on our tool, on our website soon, but we have an old version on our website. Now, here's a question that I'm going to just throw out there. If you have a brain injury and in prison... Yeah. Do you get... Do they give you medical... All the medical services more, or more medical services that you might need due to certain circumstances? How does that work? It's tough. They're grappling with that. The Department of Corrections is really trying to grapple with that. I'm sorry to ask you that question. They're trying. They really are trying, but currently I would say that in most cases, they are not getting services. So, it goes by state by state, right? Oh, yeah. So, if you're in... Riker's Island, for example, in New York, one of the toughest prisons, you might not get... Because there are people with specialties in prisons and wheelchairs and so on and so forth. So, how do we... As taxpayers, how do we go and say, okay, we need to help these folks who really need it? How do you... Justify it? Justify it. One of the ways to justify it is the... If you can decrease rescindivism. So the people... Which is... The open door, get out of jail, go back in jail.  Every time they go back, it's taxpayer dollars. So if we can, when they... One of the things that we're going to be working on with this is a three-year grant. So it's gonna take... Nothing's gonna happen fast. But one of the things is when they get out of either prison or jail... Or you fall through the cracks due to disability. Well, yeah, but that there's services there that get it that can help you so that you don't come... There's some people who they feel safer in jail. It's sad but true. It's hard to imagine. Eh, okay. Yeah, I heard an interview with somebody the other day on VPR that he was saying, I'm actually more comfortable in prison because I know the rules. So what we wanna do is help them to integrate into the community better. That's one of the goals. That's an eagle. But falling through the cracks, so how do we, like I said, similar to the question I just asked. Falling through the cracks is a difficult thing for a lot of people. So I know you're cringing and sighing. I know, I know. And it's kind of sad, but are there more fundraisers planned to get more money for this stuff or? Yeah. What we would like to do is, a lot of the work we're doing now is laying the grounds for developing the numbers so that we can, if we have the numbers, then we can go to the funders and say, listen, this is a problem. Here's our goals to work on this problem. And so therefore, so you have to lay the ground of first getting the data to be able to then go for the funding. Whether it be federal, state, or private. And that's part of what we've been doing with the surveys, finding out from people who've been through this, what did you receive, not receive? What help would have made a difference? Are you aware of these services, these organizations? And we're finding a lot of it, particularly with the doctors, they're not trained in this necessarily. So in terms of, for example, another thing about falling through the cracks is, one of the questions I ask usually of all my guests is, what are the misconceptions around people especially when you first meet them? Yeah, yeah. Well, that's, yeah, that's very good. Because a lot of times, if you say brain injury, people have this image of their head or something. Or you say development. Another thing I deal with cerebral palsy, there are different types of CP. So, get to know the person first. Right, right. And it's very similar with brain injury. Yeah. And you know, some people- Misconceptions. Like, oh, you have a brain, I'll give you an example. There was a gentleman that I met a long time ago. His name is Bill Porter. Very famous story. There was a movie made door to door. There was a movie done about it, despite his cerebral palsy. The Watkins Company didn't want to give him a job at that time in the 1950s because, oh, you have a brain, you have a problem. We can't hire you. Why not? So they gave him the worst route that he was able to be a salesman. And then became salesman of the year, someone and so forth. We need to start realizing that, despite challenges, people are as normal as they can be and want to be independent. And that's part of our primary mission, is to find out what the person's goals and dreams are and help them achieve them. Help them live the best life they possibly can. But the flip side of that is the fact that individuals with quote unquote mild brain injuries, which believe me, if you have a mild brain injury, it doesn't feel mild. I struggle sometimes too and I just deal with it.   The individuals with those mild brain injuries walk and talk and look just fine. Is that invisible brain injury? Or invisible challenge like deafness. You got it. It's an invisible challenge and the world doesn't give them a break lots of times to help them to, the woman that did these t-shirts is an incredible athlete.  I need to give her a break. I need to make sure that she writes down what I say so she'll remember it. You wouldn't think that, but. Or maybe, no, last question. Okay. Right, because we're running out of time. Americans with Disabilities Act. Yeah. It's vitally important and it's changing. On the job, for example, what are some of the accommodations that bosses are doing with people with traumatic brain injuries on the job? That's a good question. Actually, our support. Oh, it's not a bad question. Well, no, it is. That's a great question, but our support and employee person actually would be a better person to answer that, because I don't work directly with that. Do you have anything with, nope. Yeah, there's. Like I said, we can provide transportation, because some people, we actually do need someone by their side while they're working. Right. A good job coach. Yeah, we can do that as well. But they may need, so let's say the individual is somewhat brain injury, one of the key things that happens when the signature symptoms is fatigue. Your brain is working hard to work around the damaged areas, so you've got a lot of fatigue. Signature symptoms in terms of? In terms of the brain injury, just it's fatigue. So the individual may need to take a break. And. Or an extra coffee break. You got it. Or walk around the block or something. Yeah, they may need to just lay down for 15 minutes, just to kind of re-energize. So that's a piece of that an employer might be asked to do that as an accommodation. And that is one piece, and another piece might be a transportation. It might be that they need to have signs all over their workspace to remind them you're doing step one, step two, step three. There's a lot of different accommodations that you can do. And you might need an adaptive device if there's been a lot of damage. Right. Well, I would like to thank you for joining me on this edition of Abledon On Air. Thanks for the questions. We would like to thank our chief sponsor, Green Mountain Support Services as well as Washington County Mental Health and Champlain Community Services for sponsoring Abledon On Air. This puts an end to this edition of Abledon On Air. Arlene is off today, but thank you for joining me. I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time. Abledon On Air's major sponsorship was given by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering neighbors with disability to be home in the community. Also sponsorship was given by Washington County Mental Health Services where hope and support come together and Champlain Community Services of Vermont.


to you and thanks for joining us on the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa. We're very sorry that we're starting a little bit late. It was due to unforeseen circumstances. My name is Nyam Gul Aghaji. Today on the show we'll be looking at two hot topics. Hopefully we can treat them in time to get the message across. First of all, we're going to be looking at the fact that the federal government has suspended accreditation of degree certificates from Benet Republic and Togo as well. And then we have also a coalition, Lotz-Tinibus Renewed Clumpdown on corruption. We'll have some guests that will X-rays and agree or disagree with these stands. Okay, so we'll move a straight to top trending issues. Top trending issues will begin with Platter-State declass one week of morning over attacks. The Platter-State governor Keleb Muftuang has declared a one-week morning over the two separate attacks in the state in the last two weeks in the north-central state in which roughly 200 people were killed and scores wounded while declaring the one-week morning period. Governor Muftuang told residents of the state that flags will be flying at half-mast during the time. He urged all citizens to use the days of four intense prayers to seek the intervention of God in defending the territory against what he called wicked men that have risen against the state. The governor also called on religious leaders to offer special prayers for peace in the troubled state. He also pleaded with Muslim clerics to dedicate Friday, January 5th, 2024 and the Christian clergy to use Sunday, January 7th, 2024 as special prayer days for lasting peace to return to the plateau. The latest attacks in the north-central state have triggered an uppour of condemnations and calls for a probe into their souls. President Bola Tinibu has called for an investigation into the incidents while Vice President Kashim Shetema also visited the affected communities. North-west and central Nigeria have been long terrorized by bandits, militias operating from bases deep in the forest and raiding villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom. Competition for natural resources between nomadic headers and farmers intensified by rapid population growth and climate pressures has also exacerbated social tensions and sparked violence. And a lot of people have said that it is possible that it's because of the natural resources that are in the ground in those states in the north that's making people do what they're doing that this is being sponsored. The Chief of Defence staff also came out the other day and said it was a political thing. A lot of people have said this is beyond headers and farmers clashes. This is something really, really bad and more than just the headers and farmers clashes and everybody is involved. So we hope that the government and all the relevant authorities will look into this and make sure this kind of insecurity does not escalate to other states and it does not even continue in these states that are experiencing these things. We just pray that the people who lost their lives will find favour in God's eyes and the people who were left behind to mourn will have the strength to carry on. Okay, the second top trending issue is North Central Governors visit Platt to donate 100 million naira. That's just like a follow-up of the first story. Days after the deadly attacks that claimed over 200 lives in Platt to state governors of the North Central region on Tuesday visited Governor Caleb Mutwang. The governors that were physically present included High Centralia of Benwe, Abdullah Hissuli, Nassarawa, and Umaru Bagu of Naija. Governors Yahya Belu of Kogi and Abdul Rahman Abdul Razak of Quara were however absent with no reason given. During the visit to the Platt to state government house they donated 100 million naira on behalf of the region's governors. Platt to has been experiencing a series of attacks by non-state actors locally called bandits who kill people at will without being challenged by security agencies. While the state is yet to recover from the death of several people in the Christmas Eve attacks on Bokoz and Barkanladi local government areas of the state, Nassarawa struck again on December 31 killing two persons, the father and his son. The attacks prompted the visit of the service chiefs as well as the minister of state for defense Belu Matawale and his humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation counterpart Betayidu. Amnesty International criticized the government in their the week of attacks saying the Nigerian authorities have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Platt to state. That was on their post on X. Now North West and Central Nigeria have been terrorized by bandits as we said earlier. They operate from bases deep in the forest and raid villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom. Eji Hadis conflict has raged in North eastern Nigeria since 2009 killing tens of thousands of people and displaying around two million as Boko Haram battles for supremacy with rivals linked to the Islamic State group. While the chief of defense staff has said that no village will be occupied by bandits this year, no village or territory of Nigeria will be occupied by whether the Jihadis or the bandits or whoever is a non-state actor that is causing mayhem in the north, generally in the north, not only north central, not east is there, not west is there, not central is there and in pockets of the south also there are this kind of bandits and terrorists operating. We do hope that we can take the word for it, the chief of defense staff word for it and make sure that Nigeria is safe enough in 2024. Also Al-Hajji Muslu Akinsoya who is also known as MC Oluomo has stepped down as the chairman of the legacy chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW. MC Oluomo who is widely considered one of President Tino Buu's allies and loyalists whose association with the commander in chief of the armed forces has been questioned by members of the public was reportedly forced by the president to leave the position. While the legacy chapter of NURTW is said to be more financially attractive than its national leadership, it has been reported that President Tino Buu prevailed on MC Oluomo to step down and vie to become the national president of NURTW. In the meantime Mustafa Adekunli that is Seigo, the current treasurer of the union and the state will take over the reins at the legacy state secretariat of the Transport Workers Union. The reported ailment of the functional president of the NURTW, Tajuddin Agbede, opens the door for MC Oluomo to move to the national secretariat in Abuja. In October 2023 a functional NURTW president Al-Hajji Tajuddin Barua accused the minister of labor and employment Solomon Lalong of bias by taking sides with Agbede's faction backed by MC Oluomo in the ongoing reconciliation process. Now Barua accused the minister of working in cohorts with a former president of the union Al-Hajji Najim Usman Yasin to force on the union someone who forcefully took over the national secretariat of the union with thugs and hoodlums from leaguers. Barua disclosed this in a statement issued by the general secretary of the union Comrade Anthony Asogwa Chukudi in Abuja. He alleged that the minister held a meeting with the Agbede led group of the union on Wednesday October 18 2023 in this office where the minister allegedly asked the group to organize a fresh national quadrennial delegates conference in contravention of the provisions of the union's constitution particularly article 8 section 2 subsection 1. Now in September 2023 the legacy state government dissolved its park and garages committee to allow NURTW to manage activities and motor parks and garages in the state. The dissolution was made after the state government lifted the indefinite suspension placed on NURTW barely one year and a half earlier over internal leadership wranglings among members. It also came barely 24 hours after MC Oluomo publicly returned to the NURTW with thousands of his members in the state. Days earlier he led his parks management committee to Abuja where he also mobilized some thugs to be on standby in case the ruling of the presidential election tribunal did not favor president Chinabu. There has also been a crisis in the legacy chapter of the NURTW following MC Oluomo's recent re-election for a second term. It shows that the days ahead are going to be very interesting. Let's watch out and see but we do hope that there will not be chaos in any part of the country because of this. We do hope that the transition if there need to be a transition will be seamless and we will find days of peace in our country. He's moving to he's supposedly moving to the national scene. Legos is lucrative, Legos is very juicy but we hope that there will be no problem and NURTW will continue to exist as one united body giving services to Nigerians. We know the critical role to play in our the life of our country especially when it comes to elections. They are the ones that are contracted to carry the election materials to places that we need to take them to and all that. So they play a critical role in their own aspects and they help people travel. That's the word. Travel from place to place. So kudos to them but there should be peace while this transition is going on. So we'll just go ahead and take a few of the headlines if it's possible and then take a break after that and be joined by our our guests. Let's just take a break right now and when we return we'll be looking at the headlines and we'll be joined by someone else who will be helping us to x-ray what the headlines are. Just don't go away.


If we take a look at the S&Ps folks, what you have out here is that all the indices, what they have done is that they tested the highs of Friday, they rejected higher price and they're going to have tremendously lighter volume. In many's right now you hit the high of $29.59, you've done 955,000 contracts, that's anemic contract volume even when we went up 57 points in the S&P on Friday, it did 1.4 million contracts. So you get over the higher Friday which is $29.53, you went to $29.59, right now you're at $29.43, more than likely what we have set up here is a ABC structure on the way down. It doesn't matter what indices you bring up here, if we bring up the three Qs, what you're going to see inside the three Qs is that we got to the price point today of $189.74, the higher Friday out here was $189.08, you had done 32 million shares, we're at $14 million and the Qs are going into $63 million. Small caps, we take a look at the small caps, small caps have been the weakest indices in the market for quite some time and they did it again in spades out here today. What we did is that we got to the IWM, got to a price point of $150.07, the higher Friday was that $149.25, we had 18 million shares, they did 11.6 and that baby is going into a monster number, we're going into 38 million shares. Gold, gold contract out here today, right now we are trading down $14, you have 244,000 contracts traded, bottom line is that you're backing down, you got life volume on the back down, what gold did do last week, it got into $14.65, $14.65 was going into the breakout area from the February 5th area, that's where we had 535,000 contracts versus 450, bottom line, gold wants higher price. King dollar, what do we have with king dollar, now last week what happened is that king dollar got to a high, didn't hold price, bulls and bears are still fighting it out in spades. The benchmark on king dollar, keep your eye on folks, is $98.391, right now you're 600 ticks above that, you're at 98, 964 and what that does is that it brings it over the zone from August 1st, bottom line is that it still looks like it's building cause to try to get down into the lower range. Notes and bonds, bottom line is that they just refuse to back off, notes and bonds both want to go after this September highs. Stay right there folks, next 60 minutes of trading coming back and we have the Dow Industries right now trading down 54, Nasdaq of 13, S&P's off 8, we are coming right back.