Milfred and Hands take the pulse of Madison's most famous street with Downtown dynamo Susan Schmitz. The Madison City Council narrowly failed to advance the cause of turning State Street into a pedestrian mall without buses recently. But the long-held dream of creating a grand promenade without motorized vehicles all the way from the UW-Madison campus to the state Capitol lives on. Schmitz, who led a Downtown business group for nearly two decades and sold clothing at Hilldale Shopping Mall before that, says pedestrians are already taking over more of the street. Hands says State Street is in the worst shape he's seen in 15 years. Milfred touts the importance of the 2023 city elections in determining its fate. Both of our political podcasters pine for an IPA at Empire Brewery, a long ago State Street business run by Schmitz' great uncle.

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Milfred and Hands offer chilling commentary on the most frightening things about politics on the left and the right in Madison, across Wisconsin and in our nation's capital. Incivility -- including dead rats on a school board member's lawn -- terrifies Milfred. Hands' face turned pale when he saw the 9% increase in his Madison property tax bill. Our political podcasters worry that all the moderates and statesmen are being (politically) killed off. And Milfred tells a spooky story from a long, long time ago about U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman.

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Madison is growing fast. It's attracting lots of young talent. It's economy is poised to rebound quickly from the pandemic. That's not just good for the capital city, it benefits the entire state -- and Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, has the data to prove it. Yet politics keeps getting in the way of Madison and Wisconsin working more together and recognizing they're on the same team. On this week's podcast, Milfred and Hands play clips from and comment on the State Journal editorial board's recent meeting with Brandon. They asked him about his efforts to sell Madison to the rest of the state.

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Milfred and Hands urge school officials not to panic at the first outbreak of a COVID variant. Our political podcasters celebrate the return to five full days of classes a week in the Madison School District and elsewhere across most of Wisconsin this fall. Following a lost year of learning during the pandemic last year, schools should mask up -- as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends -- and require teachers to be vaccinated to help keep the schoolhouse doors open. After all, teachers are essential workers who are in close contact with the only population that isn't yet eligible for shots -- kids younger than 12. Though more contagious strains of COVID are concerning, none of Wisconsin's more than 7,600 deaths from COVID were younger than 10. And only three were younger than 20. So Madison shouldn't overreact -- something it's done in the past -- if cases rise in some school buildings. At the same time, rural schools with more conservative leaders shouldn't ignore responsible science-based precautions. "The areas that need the restrictions most aren't getting them, and vice versa," Milfred says. Hands predicts YouTube and Fortnite will be the biggest losers as school returns because kids will have to pay attention in class, rather than sitting on their phones at home.

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Milfred and Hands assess the crowded field of 11 Democrats hoping to win the party's nomination to take on U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, in next year's election. Wisconsin's Senate seat is one of three toss-up Senate races across the country. That means voters here could decide who controls the U.S. Senate. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is the front-runner in the Democratic primary, though he's hardly invincible, our political podcasters agree. They play audio clips from the top Democrats touting their bids, while assessing the broader political ramifications.

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Milfred and Hands tout the "likely" result, in the words of Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, of the lower half of State Street becoming a true pedestrian mall without any motorized vehicles, including city buses. Our political podcasters also tout the need to keep buses and imposing transit stations off the top half of State Street to keep exciting options open for the future. Milfred and Hands play audio clips from a city meeting last week on the topic. They also play a recording from a recent State Journal editorial board meeting of the mayor saying State Street businesses are "desperate." The mayor's office falsely claimed the State Journal editorial board had taken her out of context. 

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Milfred and Hands love Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway's commitment to improving public transit in Madison. A faster and modern bus system is long overdue. But those long, snazzy "bus rapid transit" vehicles that she's bringing to Madison -- with $80 million of help from the federal government -- don't need to rumble up and down State Street, the city's premier shopping and entertainment district. Instead, Madison's signature street should become a grand promenade for outdoor cafes, public art, trees and music. The buses can stop nearby and still get people where they need to go. On this week's episode of "Center Stage, with Milfred and Hands," our political podcasters discuss the State Journal editorial board's meeting with the mayor last week and play audio clips of Rhodes-Conway's objections to a true pedestrian mall on State Street, which Downtown businesses and advocates have sought.

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Milfred and Hands highlight Liz Cheney's and Elise Stefanik's connections to Wisconsin and its political leaders, including Cheney's birth in Madison and Stefanik's rise as a confidant of former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville. Ryan was a young Republican star who quickly became a party pariah during the celebrity-driven rise of Donald Trump. While Cheney is a traditional conservative whose father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, worked for Wisconsin's governor while in grad school at UW-Madison in the late '60s, Stefanik is a formerly moderate Republican who reinvented herself as a Trump apologist and sycophant. Unlike Cheney, Stefanik has lost her way in pursuit of political power that's based on a failed president's fragile ego and lies. 

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Liberals seem to prefer Aaron Rodgers, and conservatives lean toward Brett Favre, as the Green Bay Packers' greatest quarterback (not counting Bart Starr). Milfred and Hands highlight how politics shapes our views of Rodgers' controversial standoff and potential split with the Packers. And they delve into the not-so-subtle political opinions of Rodgers (who recently opposed the Dakota pipeline) and Favre (who endorsed Donald Trump for president). Increasingly, Americans root for their political party the same way -- and with just as much enthusiasm and hypocrisy -- as they cheer for their favorite sports team or athlete. Does politics infect or enrich pro sports? Milfred and Hands get to the bottom of that question.

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Milfred and Hands quiz Dr. Patrick Remington, a UW-Madison expert on the spread of infectious disease, a year after their first podcast with him about COVID-19. A lot has changed. Remington says "clearly the worst is behind us," yet continuing to vaccinate more people is key to avoiding more contagious variants. Remington advises the vaccinated -- including Milfred and Hands, who just got their second Pfizer shots -- to live their lives while still being reasonably careful. He even prescribes our podcasters to go out for beers. Remington also address online disinformation, the changing science, a flare-up in Michigan, and young people going back to school.

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