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Tune in to KNOX every Saturday from 9 to 9.30 to listen to Dr. Chalaya with the Heart Institute of North Dakota. Call in or text us with your questions regarding your heart with Dr. Chalaya every Saturday from 9 to 9.30 on 1310 KNOX.  Save big money at Menards. Menards has everything you need for your projects from ceiling to floor. Designer's image vinyl tiles are perfect for updating your home. They feature self-adhesive backing for fast installation and come in several styles. Save big money on designer image vinyl tiles at Menards. America's number one home improvement retailer for customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power. For J.D. Power 2024 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Save big money at Menards.  Here's your News Talk 1310 KNOX forecast brought to you by AgCountry. Clear skies overnight with a low of 64. Winds out of the northwest at around 5 miles an hour. Friday, 87. Lows around 64. Friday night, slight chance of rain showers. Slight chance of thunderstorms. Saturday, high of 81. 77, partly cloudy. Sunday. I'm meteorologist Megan Mulford on News Talk 1310 KNOX. Right now, it's 68 degrees.  From Cuffus Media Networks, this is America's First News. This morning, with your host, Gordon Deal. A return home. Good morning, I'm Gordon Deal, along with Nicole Murray, on this Friday, August 2nd. Glad you could be with us. Here's what's up this hour. The U.S. and Russia have swapped prisoners. Among the freed Americans are a U.S. Marine and a Wall Street Journal reporter. Despite partisan support of the House, the Senate has failed to advance a major tax package. Here are the reasons why.  Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is moving away from liberal policies she embraced four years ago. We'll identify which ones. And the Summer Olympics, reducing our productivity at work. Really what happens here, and this does come up with other events, but people want to watch the games. And the games, you know, they're happening when we're working. I mean, they're in France or whatever. You know what the time difference is. So it just is a daily dilemma.  Charles Passi at MarketWatch on how employers should manage our Olympics enthusiasm on the job.  In the largest prisoner swap between the East and West since the Cold War, Russia set free wrongly convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and others in exchange for Russians held in the U.S. and Europe. Among others, Moscow also released another journalist who worked for Radio Free Europe, a British-Russian dissident and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.  Looking forward to seeing my family down here and just recuperating from five years, seven months, and five days of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government. The Americans landed at Joint Base Andrews at around 11.30 last night. They'll now be evaluated at an Army medical center near San Antonio, Texas. Russia had detained the 32-year-old Gershkovich, a New Jersey native, for more than a year.  On a false allegation of espionage, his trial was conducted in secret. Ultimately, the deal hinged on the release of a German prisoner, Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted of fatally shooting a Chechen dissident five years ago in a park in Berlin.  The U.S. government is recognizing Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of that country's recent presidential election. That discredits the official results announced by electoral authorities who declared President Nicolas Maduro the victor last Monday. We get more from this morning's Mike Gavin.  The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of Sunday's highly anticipated election, but the president's main challenger, Gonzalez, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado have said they've obtained more than two-thirds of the tally sheets that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed. They said the release of the data on those tallies would prove Maduro lost. There's pressure from the U.S., Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico to convince Maduro that he must show the vote tally sheets and allow impartial verification.  Gordon. Thank you, Mike. The election body, which is loyal to Maduro, has yet to release any results broken down by voting machine as it's done in past elections. It did, however, report that Maduro won by a count of roughly 5.1 million to 4.4 million votes. An opposition leader says Gonzalez won in a landslide by 6.2 million to 2.7 million.  It's a no-go in the Senate for a major tax package despite clearing the House of Representatives by wide partisan margins earlier this year. The legislation would expand the child tax credit to provide relief to lower-income families. The bill also included some revived tax cuts for businesses like research and development deductions.  The legislation failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The vast majority of Republicans blocked a hugely bipartisan package that would have helped families, would have helped businesses, would have helped housing, and helped communities hit by natural disasters. Senate Republicans expressed concerns about the cost of the bill while others proposed waiting until after the election.  John Cornyn of Texas claimed that Senate Democratic leadership sat on the bill intentionally for six months and waited until the final hour before a five-week recess to bring it to the floor, suggesting it's a show vote planned purely for use as a talking point on the campaign trail. It's 11 minutes now after the hour. On this morning, America's First News.  You're going to feel a puff of air. John's optometry has set their sights on staffing up. Try the next line. Hey, Kim, can you tell our 2 o'clock we're running 15 behind? Sorry, we're a bit backed up today. He needs an optometric technician to keep an eye on it all. Where are the dilation drops? Indeed can help him hire great people fast. I need Indeed. Indeed you do. You can schedule and conduct virtual interviews all from your employer dashboard. Visit Indeed.com slash credit and get $75 towards your first sponsored job. Terms and conditions apply.  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This is America's First News, preparing you for the day ahead with headlines and in-depth analysis. This morning with Gordon Deal. Quick programming note. On the podcast today, how disaffected Democrats skew polling about the Supreme Court. And at 4'8", could high-flying gymnast Simone Biles dunk a basketball? The podcast is available on the This Morning with Gordon Deal app, plus wherever you get your podcasts.  Former President Trump has been workshopping political attacks on his new Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. And one that he would like to see stick is, quote, radical left lunatic. But as other Republicans criticize her as a San Francisco liberal, more traditional political nomenclature, the strategy is clear. Caricature Harris for her past policy positions. It's a story by Naomi Lim, White House reporter at The Washington Examiner. Naomi, what did you look at?  So basically, Kamala Harris has this long record as being, quote unquote, a San Francisco liberal. She was a line prosecutor out of Oakland County before she moved to district attorney within sort of SF itself. And there she sort of really backed things like being a progressive prosecutor, you know, tried to tackle truancy and things like that eventually as she became sort of  California Attorney General. But what they're really kind of focusing on is the stuff that she sort of brought up in her 2020 Democratic primary campaign, which, you know, wasn't that long ago. But the positions that she came out with at the very beginning sort of fell by the wayside the longer the campaign went on.  As well as I think there was a lot of pressure on all the candidates at that time to sort of take out these really sort of left positions. An example, for example, something like Medicare for All. She was a co-sponsor of that when she was a California or a senator from California. And when she was asked whether she supported private health insurance, she said, no, let's roll it back, which is something that is in that legislation.  And then other things like the Green New Deal, for example, is another thing. And then obviously, you know, it was a Black Lives Matter at that time. And so she was also underscoring things that she did with cash bail and stuff like that when she was in California. And it's these things that Republicans want you to focus on because as part of the Biden administration, President Joe Biden's administration, she has become more centrist. And that's something that the campaign is really pushing on.  They want you to know that she has had this long career. She's not a DEI hire, as some Republicans like to say. But at the same time, she doesn't hold the positions that she had five years ago. Okay, so if you're pursuing independent voters, these types of positions won't resignate.  Well, that's the idea. They want to really use it as a wedge issue, because I think the idea, the reason that Biden won in 2020 was not only because he could bring together the people like Bernie Sanders after the primary, but also that he could reach out to the people that liked sort of Scranton Joe. You know, those white working class voters that are in the Rust Belt states, in the blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, which are must win states again this year.  And so for Harris, you know, obviously within the week that she's been the nominee, she's really ginned up the base in terms of those young voters, those voters of color. But the idea of her sort of reaching out to this other section of the coalition is something that they want to sort of stop. I also, what I thought was interesting is, um, sort of to that mind of these white voters, the idea of like disaffected Republicans that didn't particularly like Trump. And I was really curious about whether, you know, these attacks would also hurt Harris, um,  with that particular voting bloc. But the people that I spoke to sort of said, you know, if you were a never-Trumper, it's because of Trump himself. And even if, you know, some of those people actually didn't like Biden because of the age and mental acuity thing. So they were thinking about writing someone in. But having Harris on the ballot, they say, is sort of giving them a reason to vote for her rather than write in or stay at home.  We're speaking with Naomi Lim, White House reporter at The Washington Examiner. The piece is called The Liberal Record Kamala Harris Would Like to Forget in 2024. All right, so you referenced her embracing of Medicare for All, Black Lives Matter, the Green New Deal, immigration and guns, too, right? Touch on those.  Yeah, no. So this this idea of her immigration stance is obviously really timely because we're seeing Republicans really sort of amplify this idea of her beating Biden's border. I mean, that's something that the White House and the campaign will push back on because she was in charge of sort of or she is still in charge of the root causes of migration.  I think there's sort of, while it might not be sort of all encompassing on border security issues, she has had some wins in terms of private investment and stuff like that. And numbers at the border haven't been as bad as in the past. So that's something that they're trying to argue. Thanks, Naomi. Naomi Lim, White House reporter at The Washington Examiner.  We'll be right back.  are clinically shown to be nearly two times more effective at promoting normal blood pressure than just a healthy lifestyle. Get a free 30-day supply of Super Beats Heart Chews on all bundles and 15% off your first order by visiting GetSuperBeats.com and using the code Gordon. From Super Beats, the number one doctor, pharmacist, and cardiologist recommended beat brand for cardiovascular health support.  Get a free 30-day supply of Super Beats heart shoes on all bundles and 15% off your first order by going to GetSuperBeats.com and using code Gordon. That's GetSuperBeats.com. GetSuperBeats.com and the code Gordon. 20 minutes after the hour on this morning, here's Nicole Murray. And now, the three big things you need to know. Number one.  Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whalen have returned to the U.S. after the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. Whalen, after his arrival. I just say thank you to everybody. Thank you for all your prayers, your good wishes. Thanks for doing everything you did. It all helped. The White House said it negotiated the swap agreement with Russia, Germany, and three other countries, and it involved 24 prisoners total.  Number two. The U.S. government has recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of its presidential election. Electoral authorities have declared President Nicolas Maduro as the victor. The questioning of results comes after the opposition said the votes they had access to revealed Gonzalez won by a landslide.  Number three. A Colorado wildfire has burned dozens of homes and buildings, while a second fire crept within a quarter mile of evacuated homes near Denver. Director of Public Affairs Mark Techmeyer. This thing could go on forever.  Days? A week? Two weeks? We just don't know. Nearly 100 fires are raging across the West. The park fire has burned nearly 350,000 acres in California. A 20-year-old man has fallen 400 feet to his death while at a scenic overlook at the Grand Canyon. Authorities have not disclosed how the man managed to fall or why he got close to the edge.  The Biden administration has proposed a new rule that would make it illegal for airlines to charge families for booking adjacent seats on airplanes when traveling with children. The proposal would also mandate refunds or rebooking at no extra charge when adjacent seats are not available. Airlines would be fined if the rule is ignored.  You may want to watch what you say. Apple's newest update introduces a new AI feature. Users can record and transcribe phone calls. The calls recording and transcription are saved in the Notes app so it can be accessed at any time. Luckily, all callers will be notified once someone starts recording. Yeah, it's not good for husbands. I was going to say. Yeah, it's not good. Husbands are never going to win an argument again. No. You didn't win too many, but. I told you 6 o'clock for dinner on Saturday night.  23 minutes after the hour. Hi, welcome to Staples. 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Mark your calendar for September 19th and tee off with us at Valley Golf Course.  Tune in to KNOX every Saturday from 9 to 9.30 to listen to Dr. Chalaya with the Heart Institute of North Dakota. Call in or text us with your questions regarding your heart with Dr. Chalaya every Saturday from 9 to 9.30 on 1310 KNOX. Get all the latest weather announcements online anytime, including local closings and delays, and a live radar forecast at knoxradio.com. Brought to you by Rosten Collision and Repair.  Take the wheel and take control of your auto insurance premium with a Drive for Less program from NODAC Insurance. When you drive safe, all roads lead to a lower cost on your auto insurance. Simply track your driving habits with your NODAC Insurance mobile app, and you can save up to 30% on your premium just by driving safe. Talk about driving a bargain. Download, drive, save. Get the app today from NODAC Insurance Company. NODAC Insurance Company. Agents with answers.  Thank you.  Time now for a small business update, and it's brought to you by JPMorgan Chase. Go from here to possible with Chase Inc. credit cards from Chase for Business. Make more of what's yours. If you've been sneaking in some Olympics watching during your workday, join the club. But there's a price that companies could be paying for all that lost productivity. MarketWatch says it's a $2.6 billion hit. Here's reporter Charles Passy. Charles, what's up here?  Well, you know, everybody wants to watch Simone Biles while they're in the middle of their workday. And let's just say that may not be such great news for the American industry. I mean, really what happens here, and this does come up with other events, but people want to watch the games. And the games, you know, they're happening when we're working. I mean, they're in France or whatever. You know what the time difference is.  So it just is a daily dilemma. There was a company, UKG. It's a company that sort of looks at the labor market. They did a survey via the Harris Poll. It's a good survey that said 12.3 million Americans plan to watch the games during work hours. And they plan to spend at least six hours playing.  watching those games. So we kind of did the math. That equates to about 74 million hours of Olympic viewing. And given that the average hourly wage for Americans is $35, do the math, that's $2.6 billion in lost productivity.  Wow. All right, so I guess an argument could be made. Maybe because of the time difference, we're watching the Olympics from France during our lunch break, and maybe that shouldn't count against lost productivity. Well, I mean...  Let's just say the survey took into account watching without the boss's permission. So I'm going to say that's not lunchtime. But Gordon, it does actually get even worse for companies. You know, the survey, I mean, we kind of knew that this was a solid block of hours that we could say was kind of, you know, done behind the boss's back. The survey looked at some other factors. 7.6 million Americans say they plan to call in six days.  to watch the game. Oh, wow. And 4.7 million plan to skip work without notice to watch the game. That's not factored into the 2.6 billion. The problem is that we don't know what the hours are. Like, we don't kind of know. But let's just say that 2.6 billion is probably a lowball estimate. And, you know, given, you know, what we saw, for example, with March Madness,  where the figure was estimated to be a $9.6 billion productivity loss, I would guess that the Olympics hit is probably much greater than $2.6 billion. But, Gordon, it's very honorable of you to suggest that hardworking Americans are only doing this on their lunch break. I appreciate that. Something tells me that's not the case. And, Gordon, I won't ask you what you're doing on your day, but something tells me these Americans are sneaking in all sorts of Olympics viewing times.  So how should employers manage this? Well, you know, I talked to HR experts, and they said, let the employees have their day. I mean, basically, if you talk to enough HR experts about this, the general sense is ease up a little bit. Let people have some fun. You don't want to be remembered as the employer, as the boss who went around policing everybody saying, you're watching Simone Biles?  I don't like this or whatever. You know, you don't you don't want to be too, you know, heavy handed in your approach. Thanks, Charles. Charles Passy, reporter at Market Watch. 30 minutes now after the hour on this morning. America's first news.  Don't let an unexpected HVAC or plumbing replacement or repair throw a wrench in your financial planning. The team of highly skilled comfort specialists at Bears Home Solutions collaborates with you to identify the best products for your home and budget, providing free estimates throughout the process so you know exactly what to expect. 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