La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Michael Quam, the development director for the Salvation Army of La Crosse County, joined to discuss homelessness in the area, how the shelter has changed over the past few years and where they fit in with the Pathways Home plan.

Didn’t take long to get into the homeless situation (3:50), including the Salvation Army being at capacity, how many people it has to turn away and how many success stories it has had.

We also discussed if a lack of housing or affordable housing is the No. 1 reason for homelessness a couple of different times, plus future plans for the Salvation Army with possible expansion and how they fit into the city-county’s Pathways Home plan to essentially end homelessness by 2029.

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Tina Tryggestad, the new La Crosse County Board chair, stopped in the WIZM studio Thursday for La Crosse Talk PM to discuss her new role, planning for the board’s five-year strategic plan and new Civilian Review Board.

Began the show about how and if the board's work could change as the American Rescue Plan Act funding is basically allocated and there isn't this $22 million from the feds to use.

We then got into her becoming the chair (5:30), before getting into the board's meeting Wednesday (7:50) on a five-year strategic plan and what that looks like.

In the second half of the show, began (20:20) talking about the makeup of the board and harkening back to something Tryggestad said when she was elected president, about doing away with an 'us vs. them' attitude on the board.

Then we got into where the county is at with creating a Civilian Review Board (23:20) to potentially look at police activity in the county.

Ended the show (31:00) taking a couple calls, including one on the landfill and another on plastic pollution.

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UW-L political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in the WIZM studio Friday for La Crosse Talk PM on the best summer movie, some politics — like the US House saga, a dead House rep. wins election and JFK Jr.’s brain worm — but also on sleeping in an airline’s overhead bin and what you’d do if you found $40,000.

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Covered a lot of ground with Milwaukee Brewers president, Rick Schlesinger, including whatever happened to Hank the Dog, details in the $500 million taxpayer funded stadium upgrades, are we getting a beer district and playing PlayStation on the scoreboard during games. 

Began the show (2:30) talking about Schlesinger's gigantic job description, before getting into the big mystery: Whatever happened to Hank the Dog (5:30)? 

After that, discussed food pricing at the stadium (8:30) and why there might not be $1 beer nights or a radial tire night, plus some of the promotions that are happening.

Next (12:15), we hit on the Brewers playing the Cubs and facing their old manager, Craig Counsell, who left for a big payday in Chicago. 
We also talked (14:00) about how the Philadelphia 76ers bought up 2,000 tickets, because NY Knicks fans flooded one of their home games, and if the Brewers would ever do that to keep Chicago fans coming.

To begin the second half of the show (16:45), asked Schlesinger how he got his start and into the role as Brewers president.

After that, I floated Schlesinger the first of my half-baked ideas, and that's to take all the front row seats for one game and give them to kids throughout the state — so the entire front row of a game is all children.

Then (20:20) we got into the $500 million taxpayer funded stadium upgrades deal made with the state Legislature, but in a different way. Before talking about how that deal came about, I asked Schlesinger my second half-baked idea: Instead of taxpayers funding the stadium, what if the state sold the Brewers Am-Fam Field for $1. 

After that (23:20), Schlesinger talked about the Brewers lobbying efforts to convince the state Legislature to agree to the $500 million deal, and if there was different strategies to convincing Republicans and Democrats to sign onto the plan since the state is so politically divided.

Next, (30:15) we got into whether the Brewers will have a "Beer District," much like the Milwaukee Bucks have the Deer District, outside and around their arena 

We wrapped up (31:30) with some more crowdsourced questions, including the Brewers should have their own brewery and the fermenting tanks should be in play for home run balls. Also, will MLB be going all in on electronic balls and strikes, since that cost Milwaukee one of the games against the Cubs. Lastly, the last half-baked idea: Can we get players that are off for the day, playing MLB the Show on PlayStation, during the actual game. 

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The $54 million question is coming to the November ballot for La Crosse School District voters and school board president, Dr. Juan Jimenez, joins to break down the plan. Jimenez is also the associate dean at Western Technical College in La Crosse, and we discuss some new changes to classes that just started.

And that’s where we started (6:45) the first big segment of the show, with changes to WTC class lengths which sounds like it will add more flexibility for students, as well as allow them to focus more on less subjects.

In the second half of the show (17:00), we get into the La Crosse School District’s referendum question headed to the November ballot, to consolidate four elementary schools, build a new school at the Hogan Administrative site and update State Road Elementary. 

And we discuss the makeup of community engagement sessions on those plans happening in person on May 22 and May 28 at 6 p.m (though no site has been selected) and virtually at noon May 21 and June 6.

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Covered a lot with La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds, including the smells from City Brewing, fighting the DOT on closing a road for Amtrak addition, down payment assistance for first-time home buyers and an update on the River Point District, north of downtown.

Began the show, however, with the La Crosse being one of 100 cities in the world to be part of the Youth Climate Action Fund, which came from Reynold’s trip to Dubai for COP 28. We talk about the youth fund in more detail later in the show (19:00).

After that (14:30), a bit on the building sale of the old south side library, where the city initially got five proposals and has narrowed that down to three. The building is said to be worth about $350,000. 

In the second half of the show, we discuss how the addition of another Amtrak route from Chicago to Milwaukee could affect La Crosse. In putting in a third track on the north side the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) apparently wants to permanently shut down streets. 

Then we got a bit of an update (28:00) on the River Point District development, with a celebration happening Tuesday, plus what else we might see in that area.

Ended the show (33:50) with the city’s first-time home buyer’s assistance program, using federal ARPA funding. 

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Adam Murphy joined La Crosse Talk PM on Friday, deep diving into the electrification of the nation. Before we got into that, however, we spent a bit of time on the confusing "economy," Donald Trump's immunity claim, and immigration.

Murphy, who has degrees in economics and political science from UW-Milwaukee, owns a small tech business, called Big Bang LLC, in Milwaukee.

The second half of the show (18:30) was a multi-layered discussion about electrification, from solar housing somehow producing too much energy to EV charging stations and how the government should be utilized to overhaul the nation into electric — like a nation of F-150 Lightnings. 

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William Garcia in the WIZM studio Thursday for La Crosse Talk PM discussing the upcoming US House candidate Democratic forum on Wednesday at UW-La Crosse, the peculiar timing of new policies passed by the Biden Administration and politicians useless campaign posts.

Garcia is the Democratic Party chair for both La Crosse County and the 3rd US House District here in Wisconsin.

Began the show discussing the first of four US House forums for the 3rd District between Rebecca Cooke, Katrina Shankland and Eric Wilson in Eau Claire and, later in the show (30:10) got into more of how those are conducted and how you can get involved (Email questions to Garcia here).

We then got into the timing of recently passed policies (7:50) by the Biden Administration on overtime pay for salary workers, doing away with noncompetes and airlines having to pay back customers immediately for cancellations, among other things.

That led to a discussion (13:45) on what the US House has done along the same regards of helping everyday people, though it has only passed 27 bills in 16 months — when a typical Congress passes 250-300 bills.

In the second half of the show (20:45) we discussed how politicians have no substance to what they’re doing on the campaign trail, positing pictures of themselves here or there, saying they’re talking about issues, but never relaying any of that information to voters who want to know either where they stand or what they’re doing to combat said issues. 

Next (22:50), we discussed Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to La Crosse and all the things she did during her that campaign stop.

We also talked about the optics and normality of the scope of her visit, that included a round-table discussion and an invite-only speech, vs., for example, a Donald Trump rally. 

In the last segment (34:40) we talk about Republican US Senate candidate Eric Hovde messing up the Pledge of Allegiance earlier this week and how stupid things our politicians do are funny, but we should be focusing on their policies more than their gaffs.  

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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Council members, Mackenzie Mindel and Mac Kiel, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk PM discussing city being 1 of 100 awarded youth climate grant funding, selling the south side library building and a homeless plan update.

Kiel and Mindel are on the Judiciary and Administration Committee, which meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday. We began the show reviewing one decision by the council last month on a state law dealing with supermajorities. 

Mindel also talked (10:45) about her experience meeting Vice President Kamala Harris, who came to La Crosse last Monday.

After that, Kiel gave a bit of a homeless update, as she goes out with the Homeless Outreach Team each week.

Began the second half of the show (20:20) with a J&A agenda item to rezone for an ethnic grocery store and apartments on the south side.

Then we spent a good amount of time (23:10) discussing the city receiving $50,000 to award to youth groups as part of the Youth Climate Action Fund.

Wrapped up the show (32:00) discussing the potential sale of the old south side library building and one hiccup in the plan in that it could get historic designation. 

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Rachel King and Dillon Constant in studio to talk about two different fields within La Crosse County government that are helping make the community more sustainable and healthy.

King is an epidemiologist with the county Health Department, while Constant is the county planner. On the show, we discuss the county’s two phases of its Climate Action Plan, parts of which include transitioning the fleet to EVs and zero emissions by 2050, plus how the community can get involved with upcoming listening sessions.

We also talk how the environment impacts people’s health — from warmer weather increasing the prevalence of disease carrying bugs to even distant wildfires keeping people indoors — and how actions the county is doing go hand-in-hand with the community’s well-being. 

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