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morning, let's go. It's Wednesday, April

1:05

16th, 2025. How you doing? It's First

1:07

Thing with Kevin Mano. Real quick look

1:09

at all the headlines across the board

1:11

as you start your day. An efficient

1:13

way to get caught up on the

1:15

things happening in the world around you.

1:17

The show starts right now. And

1:22

we always start with the top story.

1:24

This one's everywhere right now. Harvard is

1:26

beefing with the president. Harvard

1:28

just rejected demands made by the

1:30

Trump administration. For example, they

1:32

want the university to limit activism.

1:34

They want them to rethink views

1:36

on diversity and change admissions policies.

1:39

Harvard said no. And in response,

1:41

the federal government is freezing more

1:43

than $2 .2 billion in grants and

1:45

$60 million in contracts to Harvard.

1:47

The university's president said they will

1:49

not bend to the government's demands.

1:52

And now the latest here, President Trump

1:54

is threatening to tax Harvard as

1:56

a political entity. He's threatening

1:58

to strip their tax -exempt status. We'll

2:00

have to see how this one plays out. Let's

2:03

go! All

2:06

right, okay, on to sports. Last night,

2:08

there were two play -in games in the

2:10

NBA. First, the Orlando Magic beat the Atlanta

2:12

Hawks. The Hawks are out, and the

2:14

Magic move on to the playoffs. They'll play

2:16

the Celtics on Sunday. Trey Young of

2:18

the Hawks got kicked out of that game

2:20

after throwing the ball at the ref

2:22

and kind of having a meltdown. And

2:25

then after that one, this game was

2:27

close. Steph Curry and the Warriors beat

2:29

the Memphis Grizzlies. Warriors are moving on.

2:31

They're going to face the Rockets in

2:33

the first round. Also

2:35

in the NBA, now that Luka Doncic

2:37

is killing it as a Laker, his

2:39

jerseys are selling like crazy. He has

2:41

the top -selling jersey, which is the

2:43

first time since the 2012 -2013 season that

2:46

it hasn't been LeBron or Steph Curry.

2:48

So over 10 years. He's also the

2:50

first international player to have the league's

2:52

highest -selling jersey. That's impressive. Lastly,

2:55

this is a cool one in baseball. In

2:57

case you missed this, I wanted to mention it.

2:59

Bryce Harper of the Phillies is going to

3:01

be a dad again. His wife Kayla is pregnant

3:03

with their fourth child, and he used his

3:05

first at bat on Monday night as a gender

3:07

reveal. He had a teammate hand him a

3:09

bat. He had two bats in there, a blue

3:11

one and a pink one. That teammate

3:13

knew if it was a boy or a

3:15

girl, and it was a boy. He handed him

3:17

the blue bat, so he found out in

3:20

that second before walking up to the plate that

3:22

his baby is a boy. And the

3:24

rest of his family found out while watching

3:26

the game. That's pretty cool. He did strike out

3:28

with that blue bat. You know, it's fine.

3:30

I'm sure that's I wouldn't take that as some

3:32

sort of omen. It's fine. On

3:36

to some entertainment headlines. First, a

3:38

passing legendary game show host Wink Martindale

3:40

just passed away. I love game

3:43

shows. I grew up watching Wink Martindale,

3:45

even though he was well before

3:47

my time. He was known for Tic

3:49

Tac Doe. High Rollers, Gambit, and

3:51

more. He also did one of the

3:53

first TV interviews with a young

3:55

Elvis. Wink died Tuesday

3:57

at his home in California. He

3:59

was 91 years old. In

4:02

other somber news, Gene Hackman and

4:04

his wife Betsy were just laid to

4:06

rest. It was a private funeral,

4:08

and again, they were discovered in their

4:10

Santa Fe home back on February

4:12

26th, sometime after they had passed. According

4:14

to TMZ, Hackman's three children, Christopher,

4:16

Elizabeth, and Leslie were all present for

4:19

the ceremony. An update

4:21

on Mickey Rourke and Big Brother

4:23

UK. It's reported now that he is

4:25

considering a lawsuit against the show.

4:27

His representative is claiming that the show

4:29

is withholding money from him, and

4:31

despite what they said, it wasn't a

4:33

mutual decision for him to leave

4:35

the show. So he might sue. There's

4:38

another beef brewing right now. We got

4:40

to go back to that space flight for

4:42

a second. A lot of people online

4:44

seem to be making jokes at Katy Perry's

4:46

expense after she went to the edge

4:49

of space on that 11 minute ride. Even

4:51

Wendy's, the fast food chain, they joined

4:53

in in response to a post that said,

4:55

Katy returned to Earth. They wrote, can

4:57

we send her back? That was Wendy's for

4:59

some reason. Then shortly thereafter, Kesha posted

5:01

a photo with a Wendy's cup. So people

5:04

think that was shade. toward Katie.

5:06

She's Team Wendy's. And it really, it

5:08

wouldn't be crazy to think that because

5:10

Kesha had a very public battle with

5:12

Dr. Luke, who Katy Perry later went

5:14

on to work with. So we'll see

5:16

if this beef ends there or what.

5:19

Lastly, congrats to Ice Cube. He just

5:21

did the handprint footprint in cement thing

5:23

out at the TCL Chinese Theater in

5:25

Los Angeles. He's an LA native proudly,

5:27

so I'm sure this meant a lot

5:29

to him. Moving

5:34

on to movie and TV news.

5:36

Jamie Lee Curtis is producing a

5:38

new horror film. This is cool

5:40

because she's so closely associated with

5:42

the Halloween movies. This is more

5:44

of a psychological horror film. It's

5:46

called Sender. Britt Lauer from

5:48

Severance is going to be in it.

5:50

It's coming eventually. I've got more

5:52

trailers in the Instagram stories this morning.

5:54

First, this movie is supposed to be like

5:56

the movie of the century. People are

5:58

really blowing it up. It's called The Life

6:00

of Chuck. It's based on a Stephen

6:02

King novel. Mike Flanagan made the movie. Tom

6:04

Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, they're all

6:06

in it. It's going to be out in

6:09

June, and that trailer is up in

6:11

the Instagram stories, at firstthingpod. On

6:13

to TV, we've got a trailer for

6:15

the four seasons. This is Tina Fey,

6:17

Will Forte, and Steve Carell, their new

6:19

series. It'll be on Netflix May

6:21

1st, and that trailer is up there.

6:23

Also, the trailer for season three of And

6:25

Just Like That. Carrie Bradshaw

6:27

is back. Season three premieres on

6:29

Max on May 29th. In

6:31

other TV news, remember the sitcom Martin

6:33

from the 90s? A character from

6:35

that show is getting a spinoff after

6:37

all these years. Comedian Tommy Davidson

6:39

will be back as his character Varnell

6:42

Hill in a new show called

6:44

Varnell Hill. It's going to be on

6:46

BET+. The word is Martin Lawrence

6:48

could pop up to reprise his role

6:50

as Martin at some point. In

6:52

Simpsons News, Nancy Cartwright, the longtime

6:54

voice of Bart, is starting

6:57

a podcast. It's called

6:59

First Thing with Nancy Cartwright? What the

7:01

hell? No, it's called Simpsons Declassified. I

7:03

guess they've been working on this for

7:05

years, so it sounds cool. It's coming

7:07

soon. A few things to watch today

7:09

and tonight. The fourth season finale of

7:11

Abbott Elementary is on ABC tonight. The

7:13

CW has a new detective show called

7:15

Sherlock and Daughter that premieres tonight. David

7:18

Letterman and Nikki Glaser are both

7:20

on a new episode of Everybody's

7:22

Live with John Mulaney on Netflix.

7:24

And now, let's enjoy an intermission.

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8:34

on to music. First, some new

8:36

music. Jin from BTS just announced

8:38

a new solo album. He

8:40

released like a mini album not long ago

8:42

and he's got more coming. It's called Echo.

8:44

It'll be out May 16th. Lorde

8:47

is continuing to tease her next chapter.

8:49

We still don't know what we're getting, a

8:51

song, an album, a tour, any of that.

8:53

But after showing up on stage at Coachella

8:55

with Charlie XCX, she shared a voice note

8:57

with fans on WhatsApp saying everything is about

8:59

to change and she's so ready. We're

9:02

getting a new track from Morgan Wallen and

9:04

Post Malone. Their song, I Had Some Help,

9:06

is still a monster on the charts. And

9:08

now they're going to try to have a

9:10

second consecutive summer hit. I Ain't Coming Back,

9:12

that's the name of it. It's going to

9:14

be on Morgan's upcoming album. People

9:16

think Morgan Wallen's upcoming collaboration with a

9:18

female singer is going to be Tate McRae.

9:20

That's the going theory right now. People

9:22

have been guessing who's it going to be

9:24

for a while. It'd be Tate. We'll

9:27

see. In other country news,

9:29

Thomas Rhett just broke his ankle. He popped

9:31

up on stage here in Nashville as a

9:33

surprise performer. He came out during Forrest Frank's

9:35

show, and as he made his way to

9:37

the stage, he missed a step and he

9:39

fell. He made it through the performance just

9:41

fine, but he had to leave the venue

9:43

in a wheelchair. Broken ankle. Lastly,

9:46

another country singer in the news, Eric

9:48

Church, has now officially broken ground on

9:50

a new housing community in North Carolina.

9:52

They're still trying to get back on

9:54

their feet there after Hurricane Helene. They

9:56

are working on 40 to 45 energy

9:58

efficient homes. I love it. Very cool

10:00

that he's doing this. Some

10:04

additional headlines here on this Wednesday

10:06

morning. An update on the trade war

10:08

this morning. Hong Kong just announced

10:10

that they are suspending mail service to

10:12

the U .S. Mail service by sea

10:14

has been suspended already and by

10:16

air will kick in on the 27th.

10:18

They said they're doing this due

10:20

to our, quote, bullying with

10:22

the tariffs. See where this one

10:24

goes. In other mail news, the United

10:27

States Postal Service just filed a

10:29

notice with the government that they will

10:31

be raising prices this summer. Prices

10:33

are rising. For example, first class forever

10:35

stamps going up five cents. This

10:37

is scheduled to kick in in July.

10:40

In space news, you might see a

10:42

bunch of pictures of the sky

10:44

on your social media feeds today. 18

10:46

states had the chance to see

10:48

the northern lights last night, the aurora

10:50

borealis. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction

10:52

Center issued a geomagnetic storm watch. So

10:54

Alaska, Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota, and

10:56

a bunch of Canada had the highest

10:58

chance to see something cool. In

11:01

food and beverage, new Starbucks baristas

11:03

are getting a uniform update starting May

11:05

12th. The baristas here in the

11:07

U .S. They'll have to wear solid

11:10

black tops under their green aprons. The

11:12

idea is for that iconic green

11:14

apron to really pop. I guess

11:16

sales have been down, Starbucks is underperforming,

11:18

and they're trying all these little things to

11:20

revive the brand. I could

11:22

go for some Starbucks right now. I can't

11:24

get enough of those green aprons. Lastly

11:27

here, I always end the show

11:29

with something positive. I love stuff like

11:31

this. An 80 -year -old woman named

11:33

Judy Benjamin is currently walking across the

11:35

country. Judy has Alzheimer's. And she's

11:37

doing this to raise awareness and to

11:39

get the message out there that

11:41

lifestyle changes can really make a difference.

11:43

She was diagnosed 13 years ago,

11:45

and she said she's doing better now

11:47

at age 80 than she was

11:49

at 67. And she says it's all

11:51

thanks to diet and exercise. Judy,

11:54

of course, has people helping her

11:56

along the way on this journey, but

11:58

she's confident that she can do

12:00

it. She's walking 3 ,000 miles coast

12:02

to coast. I wish her the absolute

12:04

best. I mean, that's no easy

12:06

feat. You can follow her journey. at

12:08

judywalks .com. Great job, Judy. And the

12:10

show is over now. The show

12:12

is over now. Thanks for being here.

12:14

Much love. Appreciate you so much,

12:16

as always. Get out there, make it

12:18

a great Wednesday, and let's do

12:20

this again tomorrow. Please tell your friends

12:22

about this show. Time

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to follow what feels right

12:37

in Fort Myers. Like making time

12:39

for each other in tropical

12:41

settings, kidding around on white sand

12:43

beaches, surrounded by nature. It

12:45

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12:47

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12:50

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