La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Outdoor enthusiasts getting hyped to watch movies inside might seem like a bit of a contradiction, but the La Crosse Adventure Film Festival is leaning all the way into the irony for its fifth anniversary. 

Mike Crawford and Paige Manges with La Crosse Adventure Films, along with La Crosse SOUP’s Kyle Petrashek stopped in studio to lay out a packed lineup spanning four venues from Oct. 13–17.

We overview the four-day La Crosse Adventure Film Festival, what it represents, and how it brings the community together through family-oriented shorts, outdoor storytelling, local conservation spotlights, and a final cinema showdown at the Rivoli. 

And, as sort of the opening act, Petrashek is quizzed about SOUP at Myrick Park, where four local nonprofits make their pitch to the community to win what was raised that night. The four competing this quarter include Mount La Crosse Ski Patrol, Outdoor Recreation Alliance Trails, Horse Sense, and the Coulee Region Humane Society.

Conversation Highlights:

• LAF's Origin: How an excuse to gather friends, watch outdoor movies, and get pumped to go outside grew into a massive multi-day local festival.

• Why Not La Crosse TACOS? Pitching the idea of secretly serving tacos when people show up expecting soup—and Kyle confessing they actually pulled a similar trick with summer pop-up beer events.
• SOUP’s Gold Standard: Kyle explains how one legendary batch of Marge’s chicken dumpling soup completely ruined every future SOUP event for his kids.
• A Classic Car Show, LAF Style: Mike and Paige break down the adventure rig show-and-tell at Mount La Crosse—from converted minivans to massive Unimogs—before joking about racing them up the ski hill.
• Family-First Outdoors: Focusing on real-life stories of non-traditional families, kids, and four-legged companions getting outside together for the kickoff screening at the Pump House. 
• Wiscor Takes the Screen: Highlighting how local public lands and conservation efforts take center stage at Coulee Region Arts with a premiering short documentary.
• Playing Film Critic Over Pizza: How Saturday’s big-screen finale at the Rivoli turns the audience into judges, handing out votes (and eating pizza) to pick the festival winners.

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It’s the sixth-most expensive U.S. House race in the country — and the price tag keeps climbing.

Why is so much money pouring into the race between U.S. House Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) and Democratic candidate Rebecca Cooke, and what does it say about the fight for control of Congress?

UW-La Crosse political science professor Dr. Anthony Chergosky stops in studio to break down the spending and what it reveals about the race.

Chergosky also dissects whether negative ads actually work — a topic his students brought up this week as political advertising floods the airwaves. Why do attack ads stick with voters, and when can they backfire?

We also look at the Minnesota U.S. Senate race and Wisconsin’s governor’s race, including the challenges facing Democrats in Minnesota, where no Republican has won a statewide race since 2006.

We began the show quizzing WIZM's Brad Williams on his memories of La Crosse's Kmart and the ceremonial groundbreaking that happened this week — plus his coverage of House Speaker Mike Johnson campaigning in Sparta for Van Orden.

Conversation topics:

• Groundbreaking at La Crosse’s Kmart: We reminisce about the Kmart days with Williams, who covered the Copper Rocks groundbreaking.
• Van Orden-Cooke cash: Chergosky explains why a small number of competitive races can help determine control of the House.
• Do negative ads work? UW-L students wanted Chergosky’s insight on all the ads they’re seeing.
• Wisconsin's governor's race: The money behind Tom Tiffany vs. David Crowley and the role of national politics in a state-level campaign.
• House Speaker, others campaign in WI: WIZM’s Brad Williams recaps House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Sparta visit for Derrick Van Orden, former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester campaigning with Rebecca Cooke, and who could come next.
• The Minnesota Senate race: Peggy Flanagan vs. Michelle Tafoya, the impact of Minnesota's fraud scandal, and the challenges facing both parties.
• Trump and Obama on the campaign trail: Could appearances by the president or the former president help their parties' candidates in Wisconsin?

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He wants to swing the wrecking ball, but that might have to wait.

Fresh off a couple of groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings, La Crosse Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey stopped in studio to discuss the old Kmart development, before moving into deeper conversations about the state of the city — from the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old by another teen to homelessness to the budget challenges that often get ignored in Madison.

As the city gets closer to voting on the 2027 budget, we get into the City Council's vote this week against changing its expense reimbursement model to save money. We also discuss the state's shared revenue formula and how it puts municipalities in a bind.

Washington-Spivey also speaks about last week's shooting and homelessness — the impact both are having on the community and some of the ideas for addressing each.

Conversation highlights:

• Kmart's demolition — with a twist: After the ceremonial groundbreaking, could a public demolition event involving sledgehammers or a wrecking ball raise money for charity?

• Homelessness and the city's image: We get into the city's short- and long-term approaches to homelessness — and how concerns about public safety affect perceptions of La Crosse.

• Sharing responsibility for homelessness: The burden often falls on cities like La Crosse, but should other communities do more to help address the problem?

• City Council pay: Why Washington-Spivey wanted to change how council members are reimbursed for expenses — and what happened when the proposal came to a vote.

• Flock cameras: What Washington-Spivey learned from police about the city's license plate readers and how they're used.

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La Crosse School Board President Trevor Sprague in the WIZM studio for The Rick Solem Show discussing the district’s new brand and how they’re competing for students.

We get into the thinking behind the new ‘Grow here, go anywhere’ identity — and why Sprague sees the $100,000 rebranding effort as an investment in keeping students in the district.

We also discuss schools providing childcare, a lack of state funding, and Sprague details the latest meeting among La Crosse County area school board presidents on how one of their goals is to put the cost of school vouchers on property tax bills.

Lastly, Sprague shares two success stories: building a winning Harley-Davidson racing bike and Polytechnic being named an Apple Distinguished School for its innovative work, including with Apple Vision Pro.

Episode Highlights:

• The new brand: What the district is trying to accomplish with a new name, logo, colors and “Grow here, go anywhere” motto.
• The enrollment battle: La Crosse has gained more transfer students than it has lost — but the numbers tell a more complicated story.
• The child care equation: Could the public schools play a bigger role in helping families with young children?
• AI vs. story time: We joke about having AI read to your kids while you're doing the dishes — and get into why early literacy still starts at home.
• A Harley winner: Central students built and customized a motorcycle for a flat-track racing competition — and won.
• Apple Vision Pro: How Polytechnic is using the tech in a project that earned the school international recognition.
• Voucher transparency: La Crosse area school boards want taxpayers to see the cost of voucher programs on their property tax bills.

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No wrecking ball on the old Kmart in La Crosse yet, but Jeremy Novak from Three-Sixty Real Estate Solutions stopped in studio to talk about when that could finally happen, what's next for the $64 million Copper Rocks development and why the project has taken more than five years to get to this point.

Novak, Three-Sixty's vice president of development, also talks about the housing shortage in La Crosse, why the old Kmart site isn't being turned into single-family homes, and how a major state loan helped move the project forward.

And we have some fun brainstorming ways to take down the old Kmart, which closed in 2018.

Episode Highlights:

• Demolition timeline: Heavy equipment won't be on-site this week, but when could the building finally come down?

• $64M scope shift: What happened to the original plans for Copper Rocks — and what does the project look like now?

• La Crosse housing demand: How did the 2008 housing crash help create today's shortage — and why haven't we caught up?

• The single-family debate: Why isn't the old Kmart site being used for traditional houses — and what would those homes cost?

• State funding boost: How a major state loan helped move the project forward.

• Site layout & future tenants: What will the five-building development look like — and what kinds of businesses could end up there?

• The mystery tenant: Three-Sixty already has a signed commercial tenant. So who is it?

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A discussion about rural health care on The Rick Solem Show ahead of two days of health and public health programs hosted by UW-La Crosse this week.

Two educators joined, looking at different pieces of the rural health puzzle — Dr. Caitlin Carroll of the University of Minnesota and UW-La Crosse’s Dr. Gary Gilmore.

Carroll is a health economist, whose work focuses on rural hospitals, mergers and closures, while Gilmore is a UW-L public health professor and director of community health programs.

Carroll is also previewing her free virtual UW-L talk Tuesday on rural hospital consolidation — what’s driving the closures and mergers, and what happens to access, prices and quality of care when they do.The conversation also gets into rural OB care, prevention and whether there’s a better way to keep essential rural health services available.

Carroll’s UWL talk: Causes & Consequences of Consolidation in Rural Hospital Markets — 12:50–1:50 p.m. Tuesday. Free and virtual; registration is required. Register for the free UWL presentation.

Gilmore’s Wisconsin Education Network program: The 40th annual program runs 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Wednesday focusing on public health outreach and quality assurance. Both programs are virtual and open to participants beyond the La Crosse area.

Episode Highlights:

• Your bill could rise: A rural hospital closes — and the consequences can show up in your health care costs, even if you never went there.
• The OB crisis: Rural hospitals are staying open while shutting down obstetric units. Why is delivering babies becoming so difficult to sustain?
• Why rural clinics are merging: Fewer patients, lower reimbursement and financial pressure are pushing rural health care providers toward consolidation.
• The monopoly question: What happens to prices when one hospital disappears and there are fewer places left to go?
• More than a closure: When a rural hospital shuts down, you can lose doctors and primary care access along with it.
• A different model: What if keeping a rural hospital open didn’t depend entirely on how many patients walked through the door?
• Health beyond hospitals: Could sidewalks, bike paths and the way a community is built actually be part of the health care equation?

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Three Wisconsin billionaires have essentially bankrolled Tom Tiffany’s side of the governor’s race — nearly $24 million of the $26 million he raised in the latest reporting period.

And yet the latest Marquette poll has Tiffany and David Crowley separated by just three points, and 25% of voters still can't say whether they like or dislike Crowley.

UW-La Crosse political science professor Dr. Anthony Chergosky in studio breaks down how a candidate can be leading a statewide poll while a quarter of voters still aren't sure what to make of him.

Plus Chergosky gets into whether Tiffany's massive money advantage can actually decide a race this close — or does it do him more harm than good — and what happens when one campaign can afford to flood the state with ads.

We also throw Chergosky a wild theory: Maybe Crowley should drop out again.

Conversation Highlights:

• Drop out again? Crowley’s lack of name recognition worked once, so we throw Chergosky the slightly insane theory: Do it again.
• Follow the money: The three Wisconsin billionaires bankrolling Tiffany’s campaign lead to a bigger conversation about how much power big donors and political parties should have in a governor’s race. 
• Who likes Crowley? A 49%-46% lead is pretty good — unless a quarter of voters still can't say whether they even like the guy.
• Money overload: Tiffany has enough cash to flood Wisconsin with ads — but could seeing him everywhere actually work against him? 
• The weird numbers: Tiffany and Crowley are nearly identical on unfavorables, but Tiffany has an eight-point edge in favorability. So why is the race still this close? 
• Just vote R: Chergosky gets into why more voters are simply picking their party and calling it a day.
• Data center whiplash: Seventy-four percent say the costs outweigh the benefits, but only 36% say they've heard a lot about them — so what exactly are voters reacting to?

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A Volkswagen Beetle wrapped in fur, cruising down a central Wisconsin highway with eight giant spider legs dangling.

That was the scene in 1975 during the filming of what turned into a cult classic, The Giant Spider Invasion — a film based in central and northern Wisconsin that became one of Mystery Science Theater 3000’s most popular episodes.

Ahead of his visit to La Crosse on Friday, actor and UW-L grad Dan Davies — who plays newscaster Ted Tittman — joined to spill set secrets that coincidentally featured two distinct Wisconsin beers. One, feeding Old Styles to “The Skipper” from Gilligan’s Island, and the other, basically holding a screenwriter hostage with promises of PBR for pages, as they rewrote the movie while shooting.

Davies and 89-year-old director Bill Rebane will be at the Rivoli Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday night to party with moviegoers for the 50th-anniversary screening and do a Q&A.

Episode Highlights:

• Volkswagen Terror: How Wisconsin filmmakers slapped fur and giant legs onto a VW Beetle chassis to build a 50-foot spider—and sent it blindly driving toward terrified extras.
• Beer On Set: Why Hollywood stars like "The Skipper" from Gilligan's Island (Alan Hale) fell in love with northern Wisconsin culture and cold cans of Old Style.
• Writing for PBR: Dan breaks down the chaotic mid-shoot panic after Hollywood demanded a giant spider to rival Jaws—leaving producers no choice but to lock a writer in a room with a daily sandwich and a beer quota.
• MST3K Roasting: Dan breaks down how director Bill Rebane actually reacted when Mystery Science Theater 3000 poked fun at his film—and the surprise honor MST3K gave him years later.
• Ted Tittman's Debut: How the team created a new campy Rhinelander news anchor character to seamlessly stitch the reboot's plot holes together.
• UWL Nostalgia: Davies shares memories of his 40-plus family members attending UW-La Crosse and classic 1980s 3rd Street happy hours.

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Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Tara Johnson in studio breaking down the controversy over the 200-foot MariBell power lines and what a Democratic legislative majority would look like in Madison.

Johnson (D-Shelby) helps explain the environmental risks in the Driftless region over those power lines, how the state’s Public Service Commission works in deciding what happens, and where this all wraps into the AI data center conversation — one in which she believes an 18-month moratorium is needed. 

We also discuss the top priorities that Democrats are outlining if David Crowley wins the governorship and her party flips both the Assembly and Senate. Johnson pointed out that under current Republican control, only 19 of the 500 bills Democrats authored in the last session even got a committee hearing, and what her party’s priorities are if they win the trifecta.

Episode Highlights:

• MariBell Lines Backlash: Proposed towers threaten legacy farms and fragile karst aquifers across the Driftless region.
• Data Center Pause: Johnson advocates for an 18-month moratorium and a long-term plan around energy usage while studying the local impacts of massive data centers.
• Underground Priority: Johnson details legislation to force power companies onto existing rights-of-way and mandate underground lines over giant towers.
• How the PSC Works: A quick civics lesson on how the Public Service Commission operates and how local residents can actually influence their final rulings.
• Intervener Funding Stripped: GOP budget cuts on the Joint Finance Committee eliminated extra legal and expert assistance meant to help everyday property owners fight utility applications.
• Predatory Park Hikes: Mobile home residents face sudden double-digit lot fee increases and steep pet surcharges with no practical way to move their homes.
• Democratic Trifecta Hit List: What a unified Democratic government in Madison would prioritize on day one — and the massive legislative roadblock currently standing in their way.
• Brewers Magic but Not "The Big Mozzarella": We open with Milwaukee's historic 103-win season and a failed attempt at coining a pitching nickname for Jacob Misiorowski.

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A lot happening in the La Crosse art world this week and three people crashed the WIZM studio to break everything down. From the October First Friday Art Walk downtown, to multiple events at the Pump House and on to Viterbo University, we covered it all.

Joining The Rick Solem Show included Pump House Regional Arts Center director Allison Krzych along with Marlene De La Cruz-Guzman, vice president of the Thea Bowman Division of Cultural and Global Engagement at Viterbo, and Oscar Mireles, director of LOUD (Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development).

This Week's Event Lineup:

• Wednesday, Sept. 30 (5–7 PM): Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration at Viterbo (Featuring live music from Kumbia Kachaka)
• Friday, Oct. 2 (5–8 PM): First Friday Art Walk Downtown & Ekphrastic Poetry Reading with Marlene at the Pump House (5 PM)
• Now through Oct. 10: Oaxacan Street Art & Print Exhibit by Lapiztola at the Pump House

Conversation Highlights:

• Oaxacan Street Art in La Crosse: Hear how Mexican arts collective Lapiztola brought layered stencil work and political street art from Oaxaca to the Pump House walls.

• Viterbo Heritage Party: Preview Wednesday's campus celebration featuring traditional Colombian instruments and live music from Kumbia Kachaka.
• Ekphrastic Poetry: Learn how Marlene De La Cruz-Guzman turns striking visual artwork into hard-hitting verse during Friday’s gallery walk.
• Historic Literary First: Oscar Mireles and Marlene detail how they teamed up to produce En el cinturón del viento, the first Spanish poetry anthology in Wisconsin history.
• Creative Routines Exposed: We debate whether it's best to have routine or work on the fly when it comes to best practices in creative writing.

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