8 O'Clock Buzz

It's almost the New Year, a time for reflecting on the past year and looking forward to a fresh start in the next one. But after the political chaos of 2022, why dwell on the past? Join host Andy Moore and Madison School of Journalism professor Michael Wagner as they play through the pain and move into 2023 by gazing into the political crystal ball. They ask: what will 2023 hold for state and federal politics?

Michael Wagner is a political scientist and a professor in the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications. His expertise lies in media and elections, partisan powisconslarization, and fact checking and misinformation. He can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/prowag

Photo courtesy of Joshua Sukoff via Unsplash

The US Supreme Court is allowing the Trump-era border restrictions to remain in place while GOP led states’ legal challenges to the lifting of the law proceed. Christine Neumann-Ortiz from Voces de la Frontera (VDLF) joins the 8 O’clock Buzz and host Tony Castañeda to discuss the implications of this preliminary ruling and what the future may hold with regards to immigration across the southern US border. Expectation had been that these restrictions would be lifted by the Biden administration, but in a 5-4 preliminary decision the Court is allowing the restrictions to remain until an official ruling is made in June of 2023. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the three liberal justices in opposing the stay, observing that the law was implemented to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and that current immigration issues are not Covid related. Ms. Neumann-Ortiz noted that migrant encampments on the Mexican side of the border are subject to violence and abuse from drug cartel activities, and are increasingly at risk of worsening weather conditions. In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee office of VDLF is getting requests for immigration assistance and is considering adding a paralegal to assist in the increase in caseloads.

Photo courtesy of engin alyurt on Unsplash.

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Captain Cero of Hooterville and WORT’s own Eli Wilz join Thursday 8 O’Clock Buzz host Tony Castañeda to pontificate on the likelihood of an actual UFO gracing the night skies of our fair state earlier this month.

For these amateur UFOlogists, the recent reported appearance of unidentifiable aerial objects in the night sky over West Bend, Wisconsin, raises more questions than answers. See an observer’s YouTube video of the event, read more about it in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and listen to today’s highly scientific conversation to keep your finger on the pulse of this otherworldly topic.

Photo courtesy of Artem Kovalev on Unsplash.

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Dane County Extension Horticulture Outreach Specialist, Lisa Johnson, talks about the activities of the Dane County Extension, and their upcoming Winter Vegetable Series 2023, an on-line learning program for gardeners and wanna-be gardeners.

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Jason Davidson, Senior Food and Agriculture Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, talks about two riders the Omnibus Spending Bill in his latest article “Friends of the Earth Condemns Dirty Ag Riders in Omnibus Spending Bill”: 1) Carbon market offset schemes which allow polluters to continue business as usual in exchange for purchasing carbon credits from projects that are supposed to reduce an equivalent amount of carbon — but don’t, and 2)the SUSTAINS ACT, which would allow agriculture industry corporations to “donate” money to the USDA — with strings attached to farmers who choose to use the money.

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In an effort to keep the spotlight on those who participated in, sponsored, and supported the January 6th insurrection against the U.S. government, the Center for Media and Democracy has brought a new website on-line: InsurrectionExposed.org. Researcher Justin Glawe talks about how Insurrection Exposed provides a central resource for information about the key players behind these threats to the very survival of American democracy.

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Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Congress to continue their support in the war against Russian aggression. That was Zelenskyy’s first trip outside the United States since Russia invaded Ukraine. Ten months after the conflict started, where are we now?

On today’s show, guest host Yuri Rashkin continues his deep dives into the conflict in Russia and Ukraine. He’s joined by Russian music journalist Artemy Troitsky for a special focus on arts and culture in the region, along with insights into the nearly year-long conflict.

Yuri Rashkin is an educator and Rock County Board Supervisor. He is the producer and host of the Rashkin Report, a popular program examining foreign affairs from a Russian point of view.

Artemy Troitsky is a music journalist, author and frequent commentator. A prominent media contributor and educator at Moscow State University in the 90s and 00s, Troitsky left Russia in 2014 due to aesthetic and ideological incompatibility with Putin’s regime. Troitsky is the the author of several books of music criticism,  including Back in the USSR: The True Story of Rock in Russia (Faber and Gaber, 1988), Tusovka: Who’s Who in the New Soviet Rock Culture (Omnibus, 1990) and Subkultura: Stories of Youth and Resistance in Russia (New Social, 2017). He lives now in Estonia, where he hosts a vlog series and lectures at various universities.

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The winter holidays are the last stand for the ritual known as letter writing. When else do you put pen to paper, use stamps, and mail something? These days, why write a letter when you can send an email? Why mail a note when you can text and be done with it?

Friday 8 O'Clock Buzz guest Alan Crossley and host Andy Moore share a love of postcard writing. Last fall, on a bicycle trip with his wife Karen, Alan wrote and mailed nearly 450 postcards—admittedly many more than Andy. There’s a reason why the hobby is worthwhile, and Andy and Alan hope to help you catch the fever right now, just in time to make it your New Year's Resolution.

Alan Crossley is a retired DNR Biologist, a mechanic at Wheels for Winners and a dedicated postcard writer living in the Madison area.

Photo courtesy of regularguy.eth via Unsplash

A week ago tonight in Connecticut, Miss America 2023 was crowned: Wisconsin's own Grace Stenke. And although Stenke won the talent portion of the competition on her way to the crown, it's her current course of study at UW-Madison that really captured the headlines and drove her messaging. An undergraduate in the Nuclear Engineering Department, she plans to promote the benefits of nuclear energy as part of her year-long social impact mission. On this week's edition of the Friday 8 O'Clock Buzz, Miss America 2023 talks to host Andy Moore about her path to the crown, what the next year holds for her and her main mission: “Clean Energy, Cleaner Future.”

Grace Stenke is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She previously served as Miss Wisconsin 2022 before handing off the title to Kylene Spanbauer of Fond du Lac after being crowned Miss America.

Photo courtesy of the Miss America Organization

In the forward to his new memoir called “More,” Michael Massey writes, in effect, “I am not an author.” Well, he is now. The book is a gripping, detailed, hair raising ride through Massey’s alcohol addiction, his emergence and his sustained sobriety thereafter. Beyond being an author, Michael Massey is a lot of things: a father, a husband and a musician. He joins host Andy Moore to talk about how music making created the pathway for the gripping and redeeming story that is his memoir. 

Michael Massey is a Madison-area composer, singer, songwriter, pianist, performer and producer. He has released five solo albums and has written or collaborated on more than 350 songs. His new memoir, called “More,” was released in November of 2022.

Photo courtesy of Michael Massey