La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

City council members Mac Kiel and Tamara Dickinson in the WIZM studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM discussing different aspects of homelessness, replacing District 5 rep., moving the aviation board and the sale of the old Fire Station No. 4.

Kiel and Dickinson are on the Judiciary and Finance Committee, as we previewed some that upcoming Tuesday meeting, including how to replace Janesea Hameister (4:40), who resigned from the council a month ago. There’s two pieces of legislation on how to replace her, including the council appointing someone and holding an April special election.

After that (13:05) we talked about the River Point District, a day after a conversation with project manager Jason Gilman was on WIZM. Part of the discussion was on the idea that Costco had shown interest in building there, but also that the 28 acres of developable land is going to be 90 percent housing.

In the second half of the show (18:00), we hit on a couple different angles of the city’s homeless issue, including the special city council meeting last week putting a three-week deadline on coming up with short-term shelter solutions. Kiel also goes out about once a week with the Homeless Outreach Team, so she talked about the work they’re doing with the Pathways Home project to end homelessness. Part of the discussion also included how the short-term demand for solutions could end up cutting into the long-term project, where it could then perpetuate the city’s homeless situation.

Lastly, we talked about the Aviation Board moving to an advisory committee and literally moving. Dickinson is the chair of that board, which also saw the city’s new airport director, Jeff Trip, take over on June 17. And, we hit on the historic Fire Station No. 4 on Gillette Street being sold to the former assistant fire chief.

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Jason Gilman joins to discuss where La Crosse is at with the 65-acre, $300-million River Point District development, the impact it will have on the community and what giant box store was denied access. 

Gilman, who owns JBG Planning LLC, is in year two as project manager of the district he calls “The gateway to downtown.” 

Gilman discusses how much of the development is housing versus business, how much of that could be rentals versus owned, plus what some of the undeveloped space will look like.

River Point District was the old Mobil Oil site, located just north of downtown La Crosse, that had set idle for decades due to various challenges, including environmental cleanup. 

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Steven Campbell in studio on why he is running for Assembly in Wisconsin's 96th District, which now includes the southern portion of La Crosse.  The Viroqua native, who owns a shop on Main and an assisted living business, discusses healthcare related issues in regards to Medicaid and mental health. Campbell also talks about public education and the two-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade being overturned. Campbell is one of two Democrats in the race. He is facing Tara Johnson in the primary, where voting ends Aug. 13. The winner there faces Republican Loren Oldenburg in the fall election.

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A quick rundown of what we discussed with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, includes campaigns not talking about a lot of real issues (homelessness, kids using social media), Donald Trump’s proposal getting rid of taxes on tips and the upcoming Joe Biden-Trump debate.

A good part of the show dealt with why politicians aren’t campaigning on easy things like banning phones in school or giant, difficult problems like the housing crisis and homelessness.

We also dove into Trump’s proposal of not taxing tipped wages — a proposal US House Rep. Derrick Van Orden is in favor of, and the fact that the House could pass that bill right now.

Plus, how the Biden campaign could capitalize on that, or copy it, and what the current president has done along those same lines.

And, in terms of Biden-Trump, the debate is set for Thursday, so we discussed that a bit and whether it’s a good strategy to get the candidates on the air more or less. Some argue that got Trump elected in 2016, broadcasting his rallies — essentially free air time. 

Began the show talking about protesters spray painting Stonehenge orange and both how that doesn’t seem like a great way to protest and also, can you just walk right up to the stones?

La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

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La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds in the WIZM studio Thursday for La Crosse Talk PM, discussing the homeless situation, the city’s many broken pools and his work trip to Europe. 

Spent most of the show talking about the city’s homeless situation (12:00), a few days after the city council called a special meeting on what to do in the short-term with those unsheltered. 

Began the show discussing the city’s crumbling pools, as Erickson is closed this summer and North Side Community Pool could close for next summer — or for good, depending on what the community says.

After that (7:30), we hit on the mayor’s trip to some of La Crosse’s sister cities in Europe and what he learned there. We also touched on that again at the end of the show (36:40), before rattling off some things happening in La Crosse — Forest Hills tennis courts, building sidewalks, bringing in the Bucks G-League team.

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Shy Jackson and Mya Curtis, co-founders of Hope Restores, in the WIZM studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM previewing this weekend’s Juneteenth celebration at Riverside Park, talking about the origins of Hope Restores and what that group means for the community.

After that, WIZM’s Brad Williams recaps Day 1 of the Joe Gow hearing on his future with UW-La Crosse, after the Board of Regents discovered he is producing pornographic videos with his wife. 

With the Hope Restores crew, we start off breaking down what's happening Saturday at Riverside Park with the Juneteenth celebration — bringing the kids for all kinds of free food and games from noon-3 p.m., and the party continues after that until 7 p.m. 

We also discuss how Hope Restores got started back in 2020 and some of the things they focus on, plus how involved the group can be when it comes to being leaders within the community, including representation on committees, councils and boards.

As for the Gow hearing, Williams talks about why it's happening, how the current chancellor, Betsy Morgan, and Gow got into it a little bit, plus what happens Thursday when things wrap up. Gow retains a teaching position at UW-L but is forbidden from being on campus at this point, though he retains his $80,000 salary.

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Brian Renkas, a longtime Logan High School band director, joins La Crosse Talk PM on Tuesday to hype up the La Crosse Confluence, a 25-student rock band, that’s playing Moon Tunes on Thursday and Ashely for the Arts later this summer.

Renkas (7:00) talks how a 25-person rock band works, their favorite songs and where this got started.  The La Crosse Confluence has a full horn section, guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, percussionists and vocalists.

The Confluence is made up of students from both Central and Logan high schools. So, we of course, talk about breaking up the band to their respective high schools, then encouraging rival schools to start their own and have a Coulee Region Battle of the Bands — which is the subplot of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. 

Before Renkas joins, we talk about a couple stories happening in the area, including a microgrid that would power city and county buildings, as well as Western Tech, and the School District of La Crosse's referendum.

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Dr. Aaron Engel, the superintendent for the School District of La Crosse, joins to discuss the gigantic student band La Crosse Confluence playing big gigs in the area, the $53.5 million referendum, how school districts are struggling, and wrapping up his fourth year.

The first big topic (8:15) was this huge student band that rotates through graduating and it’s playing at Moon Tunes this week and also has a gig at Ashley for the Arts in Arcadia this summer.

After that (12:30), we talked about how graduating went. The seniors who graduated would have been freshmen when the pandemic hit, and what the district does for those students who don’t graduate. That also led into a conversation (14:45) about the years-long problem of chronic absenteeism in the district.

In the second half of the show (20:50), we discussed the Milwaukee Public School District’s “accounting error” that could cost $50 million, and whether the La Crosse School District would ever find itself in a similar situation and how a school board its into that equation.

Next we got into the $53.5 million referendum (23:50) that could go on the November ballot, but started the conversation on whether the La Crosse School District is struggling — and therefore needs to go to referendum — or if all districts in Wisconsin are struggling.

In regards to the referendum, we also discussed the upcoming public engagement sessions the district has had and the ones coming up — 6 p.m. Tuesday and another on July 17 — and what they’ve learned (31:30) from the community so far, plus what the backup plans and repercussions (32:45) are if the referendum fails.

Ended the interview (35:40) with Engel answering some texts about absenteeism and the referendum.

Began the show getting Engel's opinion on blowing stuff up. Engel is a Lt. Colonel for the National Guard serving at Fort McCoy and we asked him about a funny story from a past show, where Airfest’s Dave Larsen told a story about using 180 pounds of C4 to blow up a car, and if that would happen today. Before the first break, we also hit on (5:30) Juneteenth coming up and how students nowadays learn about that, but when we were students, that wasn’t a thing that was taught in the 1990s.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio discussing Donald Trump calling Milwaukee horrible right before the Republican convention there, politicians saying everything is taken out of context and the ketchup on your Kit-Kat TikTok challenge.

Began the show right away with the Trump-Milwaukee comments, and politicians using the excuse of what they said was taken out of context — whether true or not. We transitioned that to what “traditional” political rallies are, as Trump is headed to Racine, Wis., next week and Jill Biden is apparently holding rallies in Green Bay and Duluth — yes Jill, not Joe.

Then we talked quick (14:15) about the TikTok challenge of putting ketchup on your KitKat bar and, later (23:40) equated that to politics — how TikTok challenges go viral, though they probably shouldn’t and candidates like Marjorie Taylor Greene is popular and shouldn’t be but she says ridiculous things.

Second half of the show (17:10) started with the La Crosse Steam softball team having their first-ever game, and how co-owner Dan Kapanke almost rigged it to have a flyover from the Blue Angels, since Airfest is happening hours earlier. We also broke down the four team mascot names, because La Crosse’s is by far the best and maybe the only one that makes sense.

We also talked about whether the upcoming presidential debate (29:30) might be the most watched and, afterward, the most overrated.

Ended the show on the disaster the Milwaukee Public School District is going through right now and how school boards and school board elections are important — even as La Crosse failed to put up enough candidates on the ballot for open seats on the board.

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Jake Erickson joins to tell us what it's like for a civilian to take flight with the Blue Angels. Erickson, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse, was selected as an influential community member, to go up on jet No. 7 of the Navy's F-18 Super Hornets this week. After that, he talks a bit about what's happening with the B&G Clubs. 

Started the show about speaking with some of the Blue Angels pilots earlier in the day, then watching the F-22 Raptors come into the La Crosse airport and getting presentation on the jet's capabilities. 

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