8 O'Clock Buzz

Koch Industries, and many other large corporations, are riding on the coat tails of a couple east-coast fishermen hoping that the U. S. Supreme Court will overturn a 40-year old practice — coined the Chevron Doctrine — which lets U.S. courts have given deference to agencies in interpreting laws relating to the environment, consumer protection, and the like. Philip Mattera, Research Director at Good Jobs First, breaks down a New York Times article which links Koch Industries with this and similar cases which appear to aid small businesses but actually benefit corporations a great deal more.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi, Cle Gray, CEO of Prodigal Building Systems joins to talk about his business, his story, from sobriety and re-entry to business owner and building others up through Prodigal Academy, and a whole lot more along the way!

More information on Cle and Prodigal Building Systems at https://prodigalsys.us/about/

To learn more about and sign up for the Prodigal Academy: https://prodigalsys.us/prodigalacademy/

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!

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In his 2024 State of the State speech, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers surprised both the legislature and Wisconsinites everywhere when he announced that the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy grant program would fund the state’s purchase of conservation easements on 55,000 acres of the Pelican River Forest in Oneida County. This represents the largest conversation purchase in state history and bypasses earlier opposition from legislative Republicans.

In separate interviews, The 8 O’Clock Buzz spoke to two key individuals in this process, Jim Lemke, Real Estate Section Chief for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource, and Charles Carlin, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Gathering Waters, a statewide alliance of land trusts that helped organize the campaign for the Pelican River Forest project.

Featured photo: Jim Lemke (L), Wisconsin DNR; and Charles Carlin, Gathering Waters. Images courtesy of Jim Lemke and Charles Carlin.

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Since the beginning of January, the Madison Circus Space has hosted an eclectic performing duo as their artists-in-residence, Avi Kritzman and Trevor Whittow.

Avi Kritzman describes himself as a foot juggler and wannabe contortionist.

Trevor Whittow is a clown, juggler and geek stuntman. He is also a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

They are wrapping up their residency with a performance at Madison Circus Space this Saturday, February 3rd. They paid a visit to our studio to tell us more, and for Avi to demonstrate his foot juggling skills on the radio.

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When Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declared 2024 “The Year of the Worker” he outlined ambitious plans for child care, paid family leave and worker education.  But what about immigration reform or organizing non-union workers?  Robert Christl, program director for Worker Justice Wisconsin, came on the 8 O’Clock Buzz to talk about his organization’s fight for health, dignity and organizational power for all workers. Worker Justice Wisconsin and its predecessors, the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice and the Workers Rights Center, have focused on these issues since 1997.

Photo: Robert Christl, courtesy of Robert Christl.

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Kristie Goforth, executive director of Bikes for Kids Wisconsin, joins the 8 O’Clock Buzz to discuss her organization’s attempts to make bicycling sustainable, equitable, and affordable as a means of everyday transportation for under-served communities in Dane County and beyond.  Started in 2017 the “bikes for kids” program in Madison was initially organized as a local chapter of a national organization with a four-month operations model providing free bikes.  However, the organization wanted to be a year-round operation of accepting, repairing and providing bicycles and they became their own independent 503c organization for 2024.  They accept bicycle donations at their warehouse and clean and refurbish thousands of bikes each year.  Information on donating a bike or volunteering opportunities can be found on the link to their website.

Photo by Jawhar ben Abdallah on Unsplash

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The goal of providing permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless in Madison will be taking a big hit if a proposed sale of the properties at Rethke Terrace and Tree Lane Apartments goes through as planned.  After opening in 2016, the Housing First Initiative projects have been plagued by mismanagement and have recently gone into receivership.  Attempts to find new management, which have not been transparent, have supposedly failed and now tenants at these properties will be evicted with the properties being closed and put up for sale.  Dean Loumos, a representative of Affordable Housing Action Alliance, joins the 8 O’Clock Buzz to stress the need for court action to protect the tenants from being displaced and homeless once again.

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

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Did you ever wake up at night and wonder why Trump is the favored son of the Evangelical right? After all, he has proven he barely knows the Bible. Professor and Chair of the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Andre Gagne, explains in his book entitled “Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times” how the New Apostolic Reformation is working on a movement featuring the Political Theology of Power, with a strategy for Christians should take dominion over every aspect of society — political, social, and cultural institutions.

 

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Thirty-eight years ago, in the middle of an armed conflict, Arcatao, El Salvador, became the first of many Madison Sister City Projects. Joan Laurion talks about their involvement in the national US-El Salvador Sister Cities, a grass-roots network of U.S. citizens and residents who have formed ongoing partnerships with rural communities in El Salvador, working for social change. Laurion also discusses their planned summer trip to Arcatao, and how you can get involved in their work.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and Antoine McNeail, joined by Lolo Lature and RR Moore, it’s a snow day show!  Everybody is staying home safe from the ice, talking about all the things going on around, showing up on time, boundaries and more!

Coming up this weekend: Gary Knowledge and the Madison Hip Hop Festival at the High Noon Saloon Saturday (1/27): https://www.high-noon.com/event/wisconsin-hip-hop-fest-2/ … And lots more in February!

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!

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