8 O'Clock Buzz

Last week, House Republicans passed the Trump administration’s budget bill, which includes over $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The fight is not over, according to Caring Across Generations’ Chief Program Officer, Nicole Jorwic, which put out a National Protect Medicaid 2025 Toolkit for activists; a series of fact sheets on Medicaid and how you can support it. Read her article on Accuracy.org, and check out their Toolkit.

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With reduction of Federal government oversight programs and relaxation of laws limiting corporate mischief, Project Director at Good Jobs First and author of “Dirt Diggers Digest”, Phil Mattara’s, article in Inequality.org “The Other Corporate Restraints“, is timely. In it, he discusses the role of state-level regulation and private litigation against unchecked corporate greed and misconduct, and urges the use the Violation Trackers database, which tracks banking, consumer protection, false claims, environmental, wage & hour, safety, discrimination, price-fixing, and other cases resolved by federal regulatory agencies and all parts of the Justice Department since 2000, with over 685,000 civil and criminal cases.

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With President Trump’s Proposed Rescissions Package and Budget Eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Funding, host Jan Miyasaki talks with WORT Business Development Director, Doug Holtz, and The Progressive Magazine’s Publisher, Norman Stockwell, about how these cuts could affect WORT and other public broadcasting in the U.S. Reminder, there is a 45 day public comment period, so show your support to your Congressional representatives!

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Today on the Pledge Drive Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and Kiki Pollard, it’s a pledge drive special, talking about the Greenwood Business District, known as Black Wall Street and scene of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, and more from their trip to the Black Wall Street Rally.  Plus a bonus trip through Tara and Kiki’s greatest fears, as represented by WORT pledge drive premiums.

More on Black Wall Street from the Tulsa Library: https://www.tulsalibrary.org/black-wall-street

More on the Tulsa Race Massacre from the Tulsa Historical Museum: https://www.tulsahistory.org/exhibit/1921-tulsa-race-massacre/

More Reparations for the Massage from the BBC:  https://bbc.com/news/articles/c9dqnz37v1wo 

More on the Black Wall Street Rally: https://blackwallstreetrally.com/ 

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

The post Subversive History From the Community Crib appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In the early twentieth century, in the wake of the Civil War and the failure of Reconstruction, thousands of African Americans fled the South and sought freedom from discrimination, jobs and opportunities in the rapidly industrializing cities of the North.  By the time they arrived in places like Chicago, Milwaukee and yes, Dane County communities as well, they found that fearful, nativist white residents had already slammed shut many of the doors of opportunity.  Inspired by federal mortgage guidelines, realtors, landowners, subdivision boards and neighborhood associations recorded documents on their property preventing the sale to blacks, Asians, Jews and others not perceived as “white.”  Although the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated such covenants in 1948, the records still exist to this day.  The Dane County Historical Society’s traveling “Unjust Deeds” exhibit and the Dane County Department of Planning and Development’s “Predjudice in Places” project work to identify those covenants and to help current landowners repudiate them.  Rick Bernstein is the Executive Director of the Dane County Historical Society and the Chair of the Dane County Heritage Preservation Commission.  Bridgit Van Belleghem, Senior Planner for Dane County Planning and Development.  They joined the Monday Buzz on June 2, 2025.

The post Finding and Repudiating Racial Covenants appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In this short-term summer lull between elections, Wisconsin voters get a rare moment to catch their breath. State and local election officials, however, are still hard at work making sure the voting infrastructure hums smoothly, despite whatever curveballs demographics, staffing shortages, budget cuts, conspiracy theorists, pandemics or the Wisconsin legislature throw at it. Votebeat Wisconsin reporter Alexander Shur follows the plight of the town, city and village clerks who must deal with all this.  Alex joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing in the WORT Studios on June 2, 2025.

Photo of “Vote” sign by Richelle Wilson for WORT News.

The post Small Towns Struggle to Keep up with State Election Mandates appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Robert Craig, Executive Director of Citizen Action Wisconsin, talks with Tony Castañeda of the 8 O’Clock Buzz about a collective protest against the Republican intransigence regarding the Wisconsin State budget, and the need for Governor Evers to stand and fight for what is right.  The question becomes does he have the “ganas” for the battle.  The Republican budget drastically underfunds education, childcare, and Medicaid expansion and previously the Governor has fallen back on allowing the previous budget to remain in effect without addressing the inadequacies in the current budget.  It’s time for the Governor to get creative with his power of the veto.

Photo by rc.xyz NFT gallery on Unsplash

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Rooting Toward Housing Justice is an event that will take place this Saturday, May 31, from 12:00 to 3:00 PM at the Communication Madison space at 2646 Milwaukee Street. Tony Castañeda speaks with Monte Moschave, one of the organizers of the event which will include reflecting through collaborative artworks, a film screening and open discussion, and an aid drive to help fund the various initiatives.  The goal is to build solidarity-based solutions against homelessness by bringing individuals and organizations together to plan effectively.

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

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In 1970, the Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant was awarded a 60-year license to operate; ten years ago the plant was determined to be to embrittled to function past 2017, and the owners, NextEra Energy, is pushing to extend the licensing an additional twenty years, to 2050. Wisconsin members of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Alfred Meyer, Amy Schulz, and Ann Behrman talk with Jan Miyasaki about PSR’s concerns over heath risks, climate change concerns, and potential disaster scenarios at this site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is taking public comments until June 2, and PSR urges citizens to make their voices heard, here.

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Seth Connolly, Co-founder of the grass-roots movement “Taxpayers Against Genocide” talks about their ongoing legal efforts to halt the U.S. from supporting Israel’s continued attacks on Palestinians, attacks which have gone from retribution to genocide with the contribution of over 90,000 tons of U.S. weapons sent to Israel.

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