NBC News Faults Conservative News Outlets For Capitol Sex Video

NBC News came under fire on social media over a "ridiculous" headline that seemed to fault "conservative news outlets" for reporting that a Democrat Senate staffer filmed a gay sex video in a Capitol Hill hearing room. 

Fox News Digital reports the story came after the Daily Caller published an amateur pornographic video Friday that showed an alleged congressional staffer engaging in sex with another man in Hart Senate Office Building room 216. According to the Daily Caller, the video was leaked after being "shared in a private group for gay men in politics."

NBC’s framing of this is outrageous & belongs in the Media Bias Hall of Fame.

A Dem senator’s staffer videotaped himself having sex in a Senate committee room, shared it online with others, and got fired when it became public.

But NBC casts conservatives as the bad guys. https://t.co/AuT0ajhT3q

— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) December 17, 2023

Posts on social media claimed the alleged staffer worked for Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. Hours after the story broke, Cardin's office announced that a legislative aide had been dismissed but did not explicitly link the staffer or his dismissal to the sex tape. The identities of the men in the extremely graphic video have not been confirmed by Fox News. 

"Senate staffer alleged by conservative outlets to have had sex in a hearing room is no longer employed," the NBC headline read.

Right, those pesky “conservative news outlets” are the real problem here. https://t.co/wTVmvb26gD

— Rep. Ralph Norman (@RepRalphNorman) December 17, 2023

The headline’s emphasis on "conservative outlets" angered social media users for making the Daily Caller the center of the story.

"NBC’s framing of this is outrageous & belongs in the Media Bias Hall of Fame. A Dem senator’s staffer videotaped himself having sex in a Senate committee room, shared it online with others, and got fired when it became public. But NBC casts conservatives as the bad guys," Trump's 2020 campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said.

115M Americans Expected to Travel Over Christmas, New Year’s

AAA projects 115.2 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the 10-day year-end holiday travel period*. This year’s total number of domestic travelers is a 2.2% increase over last year and the second highest year-end travel forecast since 2000, when AAA began tracking holiday travel. 2019 remains the busiest Christmas and New Year’s travel period on record with 119 million travelers. 

“This year-end holiday forecast, with an additional 2.5 million travelers compared to last year, mirrors what AAA Travel has been observing throughout 2023,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel. “More Americans are investing in travel, despite the cost, to make memories with loved ones and experience new places.” 

AAA expects nearly 104 million people will drive to their holiday destinations, an increase of 1.8% compared to 2022. This year’s projected number of drivers is the second highest on record after 2019 when 108 million drivers hit the road for the holidays. As 2023 comes to a close, drivers can expect to pay about the same or less for a gallon of gas than they did last holiday season, when the national average on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day was $3.10 and $3.20 respectively. 

Audacy and CBS Stations Announce Content Distribution Partnership

Audacy and CBS Stations have announced a content distribution partnership that will significantly enhance the reach of CBS-owned television stations. Through this new partnership, audio simulcasts of the news streams from 14 CBS-owned stations in markets including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento and San Francisco will now be available on the Audacy app.

CBS Station streaming services deliver breaking news and information around the clock, super-serving the markets with targeted content that appeals to local viewers. CBS Local’s video streaming services are No. 1 overall in markets where they go head-to-head with other network competitors (Source: Comscore). And through October, CBS Local video streaming services have amassed more than 6.45 billion minutes of viewing, up +56% from the same period a year ago.

"We are thrilled to announce our strategic partnership with CBS Stations, expanding our commitment to delivering high-quality, locally relevant content to our listeners,” said Tim Clarke, Senior Vice President, Digital Audio Content, Audacy. This collaboration will give our listeners unparalleled access to timely and trusted news from major cities nationwide.”

“In 2018, CBS Stations were pioneers in local news streaming. And today, we are providing those channels on radio streaming in a first-of-its-kind venture with Audacy,” said Sahand Sepehrnia, Senior Vice President of Streaming, CBS Stations. “We continue to find innovative ways to serve our audiences, whether that’s on TV, streaming, or radio.

Audacy is the No. 1 local news audio platform in the country, operating over two dozen news stations across the U.S. Its award-winning news portfolio reaches over 16 million listeners monthly via broadcast, digital and connected devices and delivers the highest weekly reach of all-news listeners in 26 markets nationwide. Audacy’s news brands are honored yearly with major RTDNA and NAB awards.

Talker’s Magazine Founder Calls Out Ratty Words, Noisy News

One longtime talk-radio maven has become openly vexed at his media peers for upping the often manipulative and calculated “noise’ in their news coverage to gain public attention and ratings.

So says Michael Harrison, founder of Talkers Magazine, an industry publication that tracks both trends and ratings in talk radio as well as “talk media” such as podcasts, reports The Washington Times.

Michael Harrison

“We live in an increasingly noisy world. The accelerating advancement of media technology, with its accompanying ‘everybody is a star’ syndrome, combine to make it increasingly difficult to get attention. By that, I mean real attention — the kind of attention that those in the professional media (and related) industries describe as ‘traction.’ Public conversation, as conducted in today’s media, has fallen victim to the noisy cocktail party syndrome,” Mr. Harrison wrote in an editorial featured in the aforementioned publication, which is published online and in print.

“Have you noticed how headlines — even when used by the editors of generally reliable platforms — have taken hyperbole to new lows of dishonest clickbait in order to get attention? Beware of two such words that are being spewed through today’s media to cut through the noise only to create even more noise in the process. In the world of science, it’s ‘terrifying.’ In the world of politics, it’s a ‘bombshell.’ These ratty words have infested our media sewers and should be avoided unless actually used in an honest and accurate manner,” Harrison said.

12/18 WAKE-UP CALL: Biden Safe After Car Collides with Motorcade

A car barreled into a parked SUV protecting President Biden’s motorcade Sunday night as the commander in chief was leaving his campaign headquarters in Delaware. Biden was walking from the campaign office to his armored SUV when a silver sedan crashed into a US Secret Service vehicle that was used to close off the intersection near the headquarters for Biden’s departure.

🚨 BREAKING: Joe Biden was being asked about his tanking poll numbers as a car smashed into his motorcade outside of his campaign HQ in Delaware

How symbolic

pic.twitter.com/12YfEEl0ZN

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 18, 2023

The sedan, which sustained bumper damage, then tried to drive into a closed-off intersection before Secret Service agents swarmed the vehicle with weapons pulled and forced the driver to surrender.  Biden was taken into his car, where his wife, first lady Jill Biden, was already waiting before they were quickly driven home. It was not immediately clear Sunday night whether the driver, whose car had Delaware plates, acted intentionally or whether his actions were politically motivated.

Before the incident, Jill Biden first walked into the vehicle after leaving campaign offices in downtown Wilmington around 8:07 p.m. Then the president exited the campaign headquarters, and moments after he responded to a shouted question from the press, a loud bang went off, which seemed to surprise Biden, according to the White House press pool report. Biden and his wife visited campaign headquarters Sunday night where they ate pasta with tomato sauce with members of his election team.

➤FAMILY BURIES ISRAELI MAN MISTAKENLY KILLED BY IDF: The family of an Israeli man who fled Hamas captivity in Gaza only to be killed by confused Israeli troops buried their hero Sunday, his brothers blaming the government and military for his death. Alon Shamriz, 26, was one of three Israelis who waved white flags at Israeli troops Friday but were shot and killed. The military blamed the heat of battle for the tragedy. Shamriz was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7 by Hamas militants, one of more than 240 people kidnapped and rushed back to Gaza that day. More than half remain in captivity. Many families have accused the Israeli government of abandoning their loved ones by failing to negotiate their release.

The death of three Israeli hostages in Gaza shot and killed by Israel’s own military Friday in a case of mistaken identity has sparked fresh anger among the families of captives kidnapped by Hamas and renewed questions about the conduct of the war. That is translating into growing political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal to get back the hostages, scores of whom are believed to still be held by Hamas;

➤MASSIVE GAZA TUNNEL UNVEILED: New video reveals “the biggest Hamas tunnel” yet discovered by Israel — and includes eerie footage of the Palestinian terrorists building it. The building of the massive 2.5-mile-long labyrinth was overseen by Mohammad Sinwar, the brother of Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, Israeli officials said Sunday.

The Israel Defense Forces said the newly discovered massive tunnel under Gaza is wide enough to allow vehicles and heavy equipment to travel through it and equipped in sections with railroad-like tracks, electricity and ventilation systems.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uncovered the biggest Hamas tunnel in the Gaza so far.

Massive 4 kilometers Hamas tunnel pic.twitter.com/Xua6Q3QqBx

— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) December 18, 2023

“This tunnel system branches out and spans well over four kilometers (2.5 miles). Its entrance is located only 400 meters (1,310 feet) from the Erez Crossing—used by Gazans on a daily basis to enter Israel for work and medical treatment in Israeli hospitals,” the Israeli army wrote.

➤UKRAINE AID IFFY:  Ukraine aid remains up in the air as U.S. border talks go to the wire. Senate negotiators are working to strike an 11th-hour deal tightening immigration rules before a self-imposed deadline of Sunday evening in exchange for tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine. The aid package is seen by President Biden and much of Congress as crucial to keeping Russia from gaining a critical advantage almost two years into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Lawmakers have been at an impasse for months, after GOP lawmakers said that any efforts to help Ukraine must also include provisions to stop a historic level of illegal migration at the U.S. southern border.

➤DEM CAPITOL STAFFER FIRED OVER GAY SEXTAPE: A Capitol Hill staffer accused of filming himself having gay sex in a congressional hearing room has been separated from his job in Senator Ben Cardin’s office. “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate.  We will have no further comment on this personnel matter.” The pornographic video was posted online Friday, showing two men having sex on the dais of a Senate hearing room. 

Aidan Maese-Czeropski was revealed to be the staffer for Maryland @SenatorCardin (D) who made a sex tape in a historic room in the Capitol. He denies wrongdoing but recently deleted posts show he has a history of making graphic content. Read my new report:https://t.co/0OD4QrjOG1

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 17, 2023

According to The Daily Caller, which first reported the footage, a congressional staffer shot the act inside the Senate Judiciary Committee room located inside of the Hart Senate Office Building. Maese-Czeropski also has threatened to take legal action after he was identified on social media as the staffer in the video. The U.S. Capitol Police has opened an investigation into the matter.

🏡HOUSING EXPECTED TO DRAG INFLATION DOWN:  Despite record home prices, housing is about to drag inflation down. Consumer prices are cooling, raising optimism that some measures of inflation could return to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% early in 2024. The single most important factor standing in the way is shelter. Home prices rose 3.4% in October from a year earlier, hitting a record for that month, according to the National Association of Realtors. So it might seem strange that shelter inflation is expected to slow. Driving the dichotomy are the lagged effect of slowing rents and the mechanics of how inflation is calculated, Gabriel T. Rubin writes. Data from the Fed's favored measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures report, due out this week, will provide further clues on the state of the economy.

➤CBS NEWS POLL: HALEY GAINS ON TRUMP: In New Hampshire, Donald Trump maintains his lead, but Nikki Haley has emerged as the primary alternative among non-Trump voters. Haley receives favorable marks for being likable, reasonable, and prepared, positioning herself as a top contender against Trump. Despite Trump's double-digit lead, he falls behind Haley in likability and reasonability. Trump's strength lies in being perceived as a strong leader and as someone who could defeat Joe Biden.

MLB Nears Broadcast Deal with Bankrupt DSG

Major League Baseball and the bankrupt regional sports network operator Diamond Sports Group are nearing a deal for 2024 game broadcasts that will provide near-term certainty on a critical revenue stream for as many as 11 teams.

Front Office Sports reports the league had been pressing for months to get an answer on DSG’s plans, particularly which teams it intends to keep showing next season. But during a bankruptcy court hearing on Friday in Texas, lawyers for both sides said a settlement is in development that would answer that question. 

“We are in position to believe that we have a framework to move forward,” said James Bromley, an MLB lawyer. “We have a lot of conditions and issues that we still need to work through.”

It is not yet known what terms the potential settlement includes, or how many of the 11 teams would be involved. But DSG and its Bally Sports are currently under contract with the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers. The company’s term with the Minnesota Twins concluded with the end of the 2023 season.

The ongoing lack of clarity regarding DSG’s MLB plans for next year has impacted many of the involved teams, including their budgets and roster development for 2024. The negotiations between MLB and DSG are further complicated by the sometimes-differing goals and priorities among the involved teams, with some teams looking to reclaim their local rights as soon as possible and others preferring to keep the status quo with Bally Sports in place as long as possible.

The next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 10. Even if there is an agreement struck for 2024 MLB broadcasts, DSG still has longer-term concerns, and the company’s parent, Sinclair Inc., has said that the chances of a DSG liquidation next year are growing. The developing baseball deal is also entangled with a parallel one that DSG holds with the NBA, and another in development with the NHL.

Peoria Radio: Morning Host Randy Rundle To Retire From WSWT

A Peoria media legend announced his retirement early Friday morning.

Randy Rundle has been the morning host of  WSWT 106.9 The Mix for the last 36 years.

He started his career in radio during his sophomore year of high school and will have his final show on December 29th. Along with Rundle, and his co-host Shelli Dankoff.

Rundle said he’s had a great career in radio and plans to stay in the Peoria community.

” I just want to thank my family for their support and my wife for putting up with me. Secondly to my family and third of course, and certainly not last and not least, all of our great listeners over the years. Our listeners are why we get up and do what we do every morning. Our listeners are the ones that make it worthwhile to do our jobs every day,” said Rundle.

Indy Radio: Jim Denny Signs-Off At 95.5 WFMS

Jim Denny with Kevin & Deb

Friday marked the end of an era on radio airwaves across central Indiana. After 35 years, listeners have driven to work each weekday morning with Jim Dennny on Country 95.5 WFMS.

On this Friday, though, the long-established announcer team "Jim, Deb & Kevin" is fighting back tears during Denny's final morning drive.

As radio hosts go, Denny is pretty much an icon, WTHR-13 reports.

Inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2014, he and the team have earned countless honors over the years, including awards from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

And in an industry where announcers are often shuffled, contracts not renewed or jobs eliminated, Denny has managed to do what many only dream of.

"I don't think of it as I have anything special," Denny said. "I just ... God's given me a gift."

"I can't thank all these listeners enough for being a part of the family and the years that you've given me the time and the privilege of that time," he said.

FOX Business Network Scores Lead in Business News

FOX Business Network (FBN) closed out 2023 as the leader in business news, outpacing CNBC in Business Day viewers and Market Hours for the second straight year, according to Nielsen Media Research. Additionally, FBN dominated the business news ranker with Larry Kudlow’s Kudlow (weekdays, 4 PM/ET) and Stuart Varney’s Varney & Co. (weekdays, 9 AM-12 PM/ET) ranking as the top two programs in business news for the year. Additionally, pre-market program Mornings with Maria (weekdays, 6-9 AM/ET), helmed by Maria Bartiromo, marked a win over CNBC’s Squawk Box for the first time since 2018.

Notably on September 27th, FOX Business hosted the second Republican presidential primary debate with Stuart Varney and FOX News Channel’s Dana Perino as co-moderators, alongside Univision’s Ilia Calderón. The debate was the most-watched program in linear television, digital and streaming that day averaging nearly 10 million viewers, with FBN delivering 1,817,000 viewers and 411,000 in the 25-54 demo, marking its highest-rated telecast since 2016.

FBN’s key network dayparts continued to outpace CNBC. The network’s Business Day (9:30 AM-5 PM/ET) programming averaged 200,000 viewers, a 6% advantage with viewers. During Market Hours (9 AM-4 PM/ET) FBN saw gains over CNBC with total viewers (194,000 total viewers; up 1% over CNBC). Meanwhile, FBN’s primetime programming, from 8-11 PM/ET, garnered 44% year-over-year growth in total viewers, 100% year-over-year growth among the 25-54 demo and 58% growth with the A35-64 demo.

Chicago Radio: iHM Stations Raise $861K+ During Radiothon

iHeartMedia Chicago announced that “Lurie Children’s Radiothon” raised over $861,000 in support of the patients and families at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. 

Lurie Children’s is one of the top children's hospitals in the nation, providing pediatric care, cutting-edge treatments and advanced research. The “Lurie Children’s Radiothon” was broadcast live on Thursday, December 7 on 93.9 LITE FM, ROCK 95 FIVE, 107.5 WGCI, 103.5 KISS FM, V103 and Inspiration 1390 from 6 a.m. – 7 p.m.

“Since 2020, iHeartMedia Chicago, the Chicagoland community and advertising partners have raised over $2.6 million dollars for the ‘Lurie Children’s Radiothon’,” said Matt Scarano, President of iHeartMedia Chicago. 

“We have made a long-term commitment to support Lurie Children’s patients, parents and families in our local community through this annual radiothon.” “We love having the Radiothon as a way to share stories about some of our amazing patients as well as our care providers, who are so passionate about what they do,” said Dr. Tom Shanley, Lurie Children’s President & CEO. 

“We are very grateful to iHeartMedia Chicago and all their listeners for helping us create healthier futures for every child, not just in Chicago but far beyond the hospital’s wall.”

VA Radio: 97.3 The Eagle St. Jude Radiothon Raises $220K+

Last Thursday and Friday, 97.3 The Eagle hosted its 31st annual radiothon to benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

This year the Eagle staff raised an astounding $220,313.00 in just two days. Program Director and Operations Manager Mike “Moose” Smith remarked, “Participating in the 2023 St. Jude Radiothon is a heartwarming experience where every word we speak, every story we share, becomes a beacon of hope. It's a privilege to be a voice that helps light the way towards a brighter future for these incredible children and their families”.

Founded in 1962, the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a world-renowned 501(c)(3) that focuses solely on childhood catastrophic diseases, with a large focus on leukemia and various other cancers. Funds raised for St Jude guarantee that families never receive a bill from the hospital for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child.

“The response this year has been incredible. In my 25 years of participating with the Radiothon here at The Eagle, something felt different this year. The awareness and participation from listeners, clients and friends has been amazing. These are the things that make Radio worth it!”, said Keith Barton, Vice President and Market Manager for Max Media Hampton Roads.

Biggest Solar Flare In Years Disrupts Radio Signals on Earth

A NASA telescope has captured the biggest solar flare in years, which temporarily knocked out radio communication on Earth.

AP News reports the sun spit out the huge flare along with a massive radio burst on Thursday, causing two hours of radio interference in parts of the U.S. and other sunlit parts of the world. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was the biggest flare since 2017, and the radio burst was extensive, affecting even the higher frequencies.

Multiple pilots reported communication disruptions, with the impact felt across the country, according to the space weather forecasting center. Scientists are now monitoring this sunspot region and analyzing for a possible outburst of plasma from the sun, also known as a coronal mass ejection, that might be directed at Earth. This could result in a geomagnetic storm which in turn could disrupt high-frequency radio signals at the higher latitudes and trigger northern lights, or auroras, in the coming days.

The eruption occurred in the far northwest section of the sun. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the action in extreme ultraviolet light, recording the powerful surge of energy as a huge, bright flash. Launched in 2010, the spacecraft is in an extremely high orbit around Earth, where it constantly monitors the sun.

The sun is nearing the peak of its 11-year or so solar cycle. Maximum sunspot activity is predicted for 2025.

Detroit Radio: RIP..Don Swindell, Former WDFN Production Director

Don Swindell (1953-2023)

Don Swindell wasn't a radio star, at least not in the conventional sense.

But he sure made stations tick, none more than the upstart WDFN 1130-AM, which was more fraternity than corporate radio station when it launched in 1994. Swindell, the oddest of hires on the surface, was a perfect fit.

"Because WDFN was such a s---hole, the facility, I knew most production directors think they're God's gift to production, and most of them are. They're amazing people," said Art Regner, a longtime player in Metro Detroit's sports-talk radio scene. "For the most part, the production director is the lifeline of any major radio station. With these working conditions, we were not going to get one of those God's gifts to production.

"I'm not going to say I was desperate, but I knew I was gonna probably have to hire someone unconventional. This was not gonna be a conventional production job."

After a test run with a conventional candidate that, by Regner's estimate, lasted two hours, he called up Swindell, a local musician by trade, and offered him the job. Swindell, in his deep, cool and calm voice, said yes, and started a few days before the station launched on a Wednesday in 1994. He stayed for eight years, creating some of the most memorable content for Detroit's first all-sports radio station, as part of a career of 30-plus years in radio.

Swindell died Monday, at the age of 70, The Detroit News reports.

Radio History: December 18

➦In 1890...Edwin Howard Armstrong was born in New York City. He was an early radio pioneer and also the inventor of FM, Frequency Modulation. A motorcycle visit to the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, NJ, the world's first FM radio tower.

Rather than varying ("modulating") the amplitude of a radio wave to encode an audio signal, the new method varied the frequency FM enabled the transmission and reception of a wider range of audio frequencies, as well as audio free of "static", a common problem in AM radio. (Armstrong received a patent on wide-band FM on December 26, 1933.

Edwin H Armstrong

In 1934 Armstrong began working for RCA at the request of the president of RCA, David Sarnoff. Sarnoff and Armstrong first met at a boxing match involving Jack Dempsey in 1920. At the time Sarnoff was a young executive with an interest in new technologies, including radio broadcasting. In the early 1920s Armstrong drove off with Sarnoff's secretary, Marion MacInnes, in a French sports car. Armstrong and MacInnes were married in 1923. While Sarnoff was understandably impressed with Armstrong's FM system, he also understood that it was not compatible with his own AM empire. Sarnoff came to regard FM as a threat and refused to support it any further.

From May 1934 until October 1935, Armstrong conducted the first large scale field tests of his FM radio technology from a laboratory constructed by RCA on the 85th floor of the Empire State Building. An antenna attached to the spire of the building fired radio waves at receivers about 80 miles away.  However RCA had its eye on television broadcasting, and chose not to buy the patents for the FM technology.  A June 17, 1936, presentation at FCC headquarters made headlines nationwide. He played a jazz record over conventional AM radio, then switched to an FM broadcast. "[I]f the audience of 50 engineers had shut their eyes they would have believed the jazz band was in the same room. There were no extraneous sounds," noted one reporter. He added that several engineers described the invention "as one of the most important radio developments since the first earphone crystal sets were introduced."

In 1937, Armstrong financed construction of the first FM radio station, W2XMN, a 40 kilowatt broadcaster in Alpine, New Jersey. The signal (at 42.8 MHz) could be heard clearly 100 miles away, despite the use of less power than an AM radio station.

➦In 1920...broadcaster Willis Conover was born in Buffalo. He was known as the man who “fought the Cold War with cool music.”  For 40 years he presented American jazz heard round the world on The Voice of America.  He died May 17 1996 at age 75.

➦In 1956...Former shortstop Phil Rizzuto signed-on to be a New York Yankee radio-TV play-by-play announcer, a job he held for 40 years.

➦In 1967...Radio Personality Scott Muni started at WNEW 102.7 FM NYC.

Born Donald Allen Muñoz in Wichita, Kansas, Muni grew up in New Orleans. He joined the United States Marine Corps and began broadcasting there in 1950, reading "Dear John" letters over Radio Guam. After leaving the Corps and having considered acting as a career, he began working as a disc jockey; in 1953 he began working at WSMB in New Orleans. In 1955 he began broadcasting at station WAKR in Akron, Ohio, and after that worked in Kankakee, Illinois.