La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

La Crosse County Sheriff, John Siegel, in the WIZM studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM on dashcams — being used or abused — his thoughts on the Citizen Review Board, plus some random things like being drunk on a bicycle or how peeved we get when a cop is hiding on the side of the road.

Began the show, first on traffic cams, as Minneapolis is about to install 42 of them to catch speeders and red light runners.

In the next segment (10:25), we moved to dashcams and how law enforcement can and cannot use citizens’ recordings.Plus, the idea that — as these become more prevalent — will people begin bombarding law enforcement with videos, catching people breaking the law and how that might get to be a nuisance, and, to a lesser degree, may already be a nuisance without the cams. 

In the second half of the show (20:40) we hit on a bunch of random topics, including the Sheriff’s Office getting new black SUVs, can you get a DUI riding a bicycle, being annoyed seeing cops hiding parked on the side of the road, ATV rules on some county roads, and law enforcement’s involvement with the Special Olympics — the La Crosse Torch Run is from 8 a.m.-noon on June 6.

Ended the show (34:25) with Siegel’s take on the Citizens Review Board or, perhaps better recognized in other areas as a police oversight board, though the county version doesn’t actually have any oversight powers.

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Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy at the Tax Foundation in La Crosse, in studio to discuss paying NCAA Division I athletes, Wisconsin dishing out $23 million for an EV charging network, and selling the Brewers Am-Fam Field for $1. 

The meat of the conversation (23:00) was about the NCAA recently settling a host of antitrust claims and beginning the framework of paying NCAA Division I athletes.

Hoffer, who taught sports economics at UW-La Crosse, has become a national expert in the developing story, having done research NCAA athletic departments. Everyone is trying to answer questions in how these departments work, where the money comes from and what it means for the future of the NCAA.

Before that (8:30), however, we talked a bit about the EV charging network the state of Wisconsin has started to set the table for, dishing out $23 million to businesses, including $8 million to Kwik Trip.

We also hit on (15:15) a recent La Crosse Talk PM conversation with Milwaukee Brewers president Rich Schlesinger, where we asked him if, instead of $500 million in public funding to renovate Am-Fam Field, what if the state just sold the Brewers the stadium for $1.

We began the show talking quick about real estate and what Hoffer does at the Tax Foundation — essentially, explaining what excise tax policy is, which we learned is taxes on things like marijuana, alcohol and sports gambling.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studion discussing people unknowingly getting sucked into the YouTube algorithm, getting the Bucks G-League team to the La Crosse Center and how the state messed up, awarding Kwik Trip $23 million for EV chargers.

We also hit on the absurdity that Congress gets to trade stocks, a US Supreme Court justice blaming his wife for flying, not one, but two right-wing-like flags outside his home and we emded with the midwest's most whacky foods.

Opened the show talking about a couple of odd and funny stories: A Tennessee GOP candidate using A.I. to completely makeover his face into basically another person, Wendy's selling 50-piece chicken nuggets and the new Minnesota tourism slogan, Anthony Edwards' "Bring ya ass," as the Timberwolves get eliminated from the NBA playoffs and traffic cams in Minneapolis.

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Jared Flick in studio, discussing the possibility of landing the Milwaukee Bucks G-League team or if the La Crosse Center could handle a WNBA franchise, plus the idea of bringing in bigger concerts and more stand-up comics to the city. 

Flick is the deputy director of recreation and the La Crosse Center. 

The idea of landing the Wisconsin Herd — the Bucks G-League team — could be out in Oshkosh after this season. When the Bucks initially were courting cities for their G-League franchise, La Crosse applied.
https://www.wizmnews.com/2016/06/11/milwaukee-bucks-eyeing-la-crosse-for-d-league-expansion/

The WNBA is also looking to expand, so we also discussed if that was a possibility. 

We also got into the old debate, ‘Why doesn’t the La Crosse Center bring in bigger concerts?’ Along those lines, we did hit on some of the bigger concerts and stand-up comics that have recently come through the Center, what’s on the radar, plus how the Center just hosted its biggest event — and you’d probably never guess what that is every year.

Other things we discussed, more on the “parks and rec.” side, included closing one city pool this summer and potentially another one next summer with hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs needed. 

We also talked about more pickleball, a big fastpitch softball tourney coming to town and a weird city rule that basically prevents the city from hosting sand volleyball tournaments at Pettibone Park. 

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Dan Kapanke stopped in the studio to talk about the upcoming seasons for the La Crosse Loggers baseball team, the newly created La Crosse Steam softball club and the PFAS “forever chemicals” situation in the town of Campbell. 

Kapanke is co-owner of both the Loggers and Steam, who will both play at Copeland Park this summer. He is also the board chair for the Town of Campbell, which has been on bottled water for over four years because of PFAS contamination in 90 percent of the private wells on the island.

Spent a good portion of the show talking about the inaugural season for the Steam, some history of the Loggers — including MLB all-stars Chris Sale and Max Scherzer — plus a little bit on how renovations at Copeland Park, which is owned by the city, compare to how stadium upgrades happened with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ended the show (32:20) discussing the PFAS situation, what Campbell’s options are and where the money to proceed with any of those options will come from.

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While Dave Larsen and Bruce Mathew stopped in studio to talk about the Deke Slayton Airfest and Freedom Honor Flight, we did get one story about blowing up a Mercury Zephyrs with C4 at Fort McCoy, and another story about nearly crashing a plane as a teen and possibly never telling mom. 

Larsen is the Airfest media director and spent 20 years in Wisconsin Army National Guard, retiring in 1999, while Mathew is the Airfest air operations coordinator and has been a pilot since he was 14 years old. 

We spent most of the show talking about Airfest, which is happening June 13-14 and will feature the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's brand new F-22 Raptors. But we learn Apache helicopters are now part of the attraction, as well as the Coast Guard's "Dolphin," MH-65 chopper.

We did take an interlude (11:30) to get an incredibly hilarious story from Larsen about blowing up his old winter beater at Fort McCoy that set the woods on fire. 

In the second half of the show (18:20), we got back into Airfest talk and some of the highlights of shows present and past. Airfest has been going on since 1998.

We discussed how the F22 Hornets show this year will compare to the Blue Angels and the brand new, trillion-dollar F-35 that was here back in 2021.

Then we got into a quick story from Mathew (31:20) about nearly crashing his plane as a teenage pilot, and apparently he never told his parents about it.

Lastly (34:30), we discussed the Freedom Honor Flight, that takes area veterans to Washington DC to see the memorials. The next one comes up Sept. 21. Any veteran can sign up. 

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Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Jill Billings in studio discussing last week’s political stunt by Republicans, what to do with the $4 billion budget surplus and her campaign priorities for getting reelected.

Began the show talking about how the Legislature hasn’t really been in session since mid-March, has the rest of the year off and what kind of things Billings does, outside of session.

That led to what Republicans did last week, in calling an extraordinary session to try and override some of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes. But, for whatever work the Senate did — and it wasn’t a lot because some reps. apparently had other plans and had to go, despite this being a full-time state Legislature — the Assembly, needing to pass what the Senate passed, instead gaveled in and immediately out of its session.

Could the Assembly had debated some of the bills the Senate passed, like $125 million in funding for PFAS pollution, which has forced the Town of Campbell on French Island to use bottled water for the past four years?

Started the second half of the show (19:40) with a topic we had fun with last week, which was what people flying into Wisconsin should get, like when you get a lei flying into Hawaii. 

That, oddly enough, led to an interesting talk (25:00) about what Billings thinks the state should do with its $4 billion in budget surplus that has been mostly unspent for over 2.5 years now.

We also discussed (27:45) Red Lobster in La Crosse closing, giving workers no notice whatsoever.

Lastly (31:50), we got into some of Billings priorities as she campaigns in a partially new district and what ideas she hears from potential voters she’s talking to.

Billings, a Democrat representing District 95, has one challenger on the other side of the aisle, Monroe County Board Chair Cedric Schnitzler. 

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Our political blowhard, Adam Murphy, joins to answer the toughest question: What should we hand to people landing in Wisconsin, like getting a lei off the jet in Hawaii? We also discussed the less-than-half effort from Republicans in the state Legislature to overturn vetoes, plus WIZM on Reddit.

Got some great answers from Murphy and callers to that question and spent a good part of the show discussing it. 

We also hit on Republicans in the state Legislature (17:30) calling themselves back into session — the Legislature has been off since mid-March and wasn’t coming back into session until next year, after the elections — to try and override 36 of Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes. You’ll be surprised at how big a failure that was.

Ended the show (33:00) talking about a post on Reddit about WIZM comments and whether or not they should be “moderated” or deleted. We did not get to the part where one commented said Rick leaned middle-left politically. 

Murphy has degrees in economics and political science from UW-Milwaukee. He’s also owns a small business, called Big Bang LLC in Milwaukee.

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If you wanted to know about electric vehicles, we hit on a vast amount of topics with Jeremiah Brockman, president of the Wisconsin chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association. 

Brockman was thrown a list of about 50 things having to deal with EVs — including how they hold up in winter, "gas mileage," environmental impacts and charging. Brockman was a great sport in answering as many as we could get through. 

Brockman is also putting together an August 9-10 fundraiser, driving across Wisconsin with other EV owners, making stops in multiple cities on the way — including Olson Solar in La Crosse. Part of the fundraiser to to provide scholarships for students who would like to become EV mechanics.

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One more public meeting for the city of La Crosse's Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is coming up. City associate planner Jenna Dinkel joins to go over some of the ins and outs of the plan, plus a look at the Wagon Wheel Trail and some upcoming public meetings from the Wisconsin DOT on Highways 35, 53 and 16. 

The city's bike-ped plan is a major revision from its 2012 counterpart, and we talk about some of the decade-old ideas that are now obsolete — like "sharrows."

The city will host a final public meeting on the master plan draft from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Monday in the auditorium at the La Crosse Main Street Library, with a presentation held at 5:30 p.m. There is also a quick survey online looking for feedback until June 3, as well.

We also dived into details on the Wagon Wheel Trail (26:35) and how La Crosse is catching up to La Crescent in completing that project. And, we hit on some Wisconsin DOT upcoming public meetings (29:00) on those three highways mentioned above.

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