La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

We discuss the culture and politics of gambling and drinking in La Crosse with UW-L political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, and WIZM’s Brad Williams, and then feature another woman-owned business "for no reason whatsoever" Friday on the Rick Solem Show.

The "sin taxes and vices" conversation went in a bunch of different directions, including a look back at when La Crosse residents voted twice by referendum, in 1995 and 2000, on whether to allow a casino in the city—and discussing if that would pass today.

Another reason for the conversation stems from the La Crosse City Council recently denying liquor license renewals for two local establishments, plus whether Wisconsin’s sports gambling legalization gets fully implemented before Gov. Tony Evers leaves office.

After that, Chergosky breaks down the politics of the Wisconsin governor’s race. Now that there are seven Democrats and two Republicans on the ballot, less popular candidates face a dilemma: do they try to go viral to make a name for themselves — does that have to be negative — or is the responsible thing to do "for the party" to drop out?

Lastly, we talked to another women-owned business in the area “for no reason whatsoever," and we've compiled a list of over 500 in the area here.

Our seventh business featured is Scrappin’ on the Ranch, in Pickwick, Minn. — tucked in the bluffs between La Crosse and Winona. Jolene Danca joins to tell us about her bed and breakfast and beyond, that was created for scrapbookers to get away for a weekend — and she has everything there a scrapbooker would need — but has evolved to host everything from bachelorette and graduation parties to weddings and business retreats.

Check out Scrappin’ on the Ranch here.

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We look at farming issues in Wisconsin, a week after President Donald Trump visited a Chippewa Falls farm last week and, after that, we continue what could be a series, “Hyping women-owned businesses for no reason whatsoever.”

But first, Brian Reisinger, joined to talk about fuel and fertilizer prices because of the Iran war and ways to better help the small farms — whether that’s the government or consumers. Reisinger, who grew up on a farm his family still owns and now writes and talks about these issues, is the author of Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farm.

After that, Carly Green-Easterday took some time out of her day to hype up her Groovy coffee businesses “for no reason whatsoever.”

Perhaps this will be a continuing series, after opening with five businesses Wednesday for no reason whatsoever. Abe's Raves is compiling a list of women-owned businesses and it is HUGE.

Here are Carly's three Groovy businesses: 

• Groovy Grind Coffee Co. (Galesville)
• Groovy Sips (Onalaska)
• Groovy Grounds (La Crescent)

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Every election, politicians around Wisconsin gather signatures to get on the ballot. This can be an incredibly stressful time for politicians and the results give us interesting clues about the elections to come. From independent candidates to signature challenges in court to hints about what seats will be competitive in November, there is a lot to learn from the end results, if we just bother to look. And that's what we do here.

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Hyping up women-owned businesses for no reason whatsoever Wednesday on the Rick Solem Show. 

We were joined in studio by Abram Dyke of Abe’s Raves. Our local foodie helped track down a bunch of awesome local businesses that we got on the show, including:

• Sam Sveum, who owns Nom Sips & Eats
• Mia Davis of the Mia’s Kitchen food truck
• Maria Norberg, owner of Grounded Coffee
• Ka Lia Vang of Ka Lia’s Kitchen
• Megan Larson owner of Vintage Kitchen

We opened the show talking a bit about Abe’s Raves — some of the fun stuff he’s doing on that page and how we need to do the area’s best coffee next. 

Also, before he had to leave, we ended the show mentioning that Dyke won a huge award for his work as a nurse recently. 

Now, we weren’t able to, of course, get all the women-owned food and coffee joints in the area on. So, feel free to go to this post on Facebook and add your favorites to the comments.

Listen live weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Find the pod on Spotify, Apple Podcast or here. Tune in on the WIZM app or on air at 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska)

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An 18-month data center ban in La Crosse is on the docket for the county board. 

The moratorium legislation comes as a county study committee has its first meeting Wednesday.

Dillon Mader and Lia Manock stopped in studio to break down their reasonings for a moratorium, discuss the work the study committee will be doing, and why they feel a ban on data centers is necessary.

While there are multiple angles to consider when pausing data center development, Mader and Manock explain why they based their resolution's thresholds on energy usage (two megawatts) and storage (one petabyte).

They also discussed why an 18-month moratorium is necessary to give the study committee a full year to conduct its work, report back and possibly craft other legislation.

Manock is one of five county board members on the study committee, which also includes a representative from each of the 18 municipalities in La Crosse County.

The county board's executive committee will take up the moratorium resolution at 8 a.m. Thursday, before a full vote next week (agenda here).

We began the show on how this Thursday meeting is the only change the public has to address the issue during a board meeting. Otherwise, it will depend on contacting your county board rep or emailing the entire board here.

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Bringing down La Crosse’s Kmart, what ever happened to the green bubbler talk from last year and the potential selling of the north side library.

Those were some of the big topics we discussed with city council president Tamra Dickinson ahead of their monthly Thursday meeting.

We started with the north library, which is scheduled to close for good June 15. Dickinson walks us through the process of declaring it a surplus property and how they get proposals from different groups about what they’d want to do with the building.

After that, we hit on the Kmart proposal from Three-Sixty Real Estate Solutions. The council could approve Phase 1 of Three-Sixty’s plans Thursday, which might mean the Kmart comes down yet this year.

Dickinson is the chair of the Aviation Board, and we spent some time discussing the turnaround the airport has seen over the past year, adding flights, and what could happen next over there.

Lastly, those green bubblers. It was all the talk last summer, but that attention has significantly died down. Dickinson, though, says there are plans in motion.

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John Havlicek stopped in studio just days after saying adiós to the teaching profession after 31 years — 28 of those at Central High School.

So, of course, we had to tell a couple of retirement stories, but also got into some of the politics surrounding education and beyond with Havlicek, who is a political activist. 

Beyond education, we also discussed what he’d like to see as priorities in those running for statewide office — like governor and the Legislature.

That included a public option for healthcare, the ability for anyone to participate in the state run pension retirement plan and his idea of government working for the bottom 80%.

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Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle in studio discussing whether the state might get that $2 billion in budget surplus back to taxpayers before the election. We also discussed a data center moratorium, his opponent in November, one governor candidate being $30,000 in credit card debt and an update on rebuilding the Tank Creek Bridge.

Earlier in the day, a news release went out from Keith Purnell, who will be Doyle’s Republican opponent in the 94th Assembly District. We got Doyle’s early take on Purnell and whether there might be a debate.

In regards to the Tank Creek Bridget that sits along the Great River State Trail, and was burned by an arsonist last year, Doyle discussed when construction might happen and a potential grant coming from the federal government to cover what might be a couple million in cost.

Two stories about the governor’s race involved Francesca Hong over the past few days. One, that Capital One is suing her for $30,000 in credit card debt, presumably from her restaurant going out of business during COVID. The other was from a Democratic governor candidate forum where Hong was the only member to support a one-year moratorium on data centers.

Doyle also updated us on the La Crosse County Board creating a data center committee, which he will be a part of, and whether he’s heard from anyone that’s pro data center. Lastly, sticking with that topic, we talked quickly about recent comments from the Dairyland Power CEO  saying data centers are a “path to prosperity” in small communities.

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We honed in on a couple of President Donald Trump's pet projects and rehashed the state's failed budget surplus deal with Citizen Action of Wisconsin's Robert Kraig. 

It's hard to pick any one thing when it comes to the Trump administration, but we narrowed it down to these things:

• Trump's $1.778 billion (what we call) "slush fund"
• The $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for a ballroom 
• The MMA fight on the White House lawn
• The Iran war and prices

The second half of the show consisted of the failed deal between Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and the top two Republicans in the Legislature to spend the state's $2 billion budget surplus, and all the factors that have come since. That includes the flaws in a Marquette Law School poll showing 80% agreeing with the deal, the analysis since showing it would have put the state in a budget deficit and how Republican Robin Vos wants Evers to call another special session to get it done.

Roughly, the deal consisted of one year of special education funding and property tax relief, plus $300 checks and no taxes on tips/overtime.

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Will Kmart come down, an indoor pool go up and what’s the north side library worth?

Those are a few things we talked about with Mac Kiel in studio, helping preview committee week in La Crosse. 

The Copper Rocks project is again going before committees. That’s the plan to tear down the old Kmart and create both a business and residential area on that lot. Will Kmart come down this summer?

We also discuss selling the north side library process, where committees are looking at making the building a “surplus property” and accepting “RFPs” (requests for proposal). 

In between all that, we looked at the city survey for building a $33 million indoor aquatics center through referendum.

WIZM’s Brad Williams also joined to give us an update on the City Plan Commission, which had met just before the show.

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