La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds in studio, as we discussed homelessness in the area, whether he supports ranked-choice voting and reasoning behind a lack of candidates in upcoming local elections. Began the show talking a bit about the city's snow emergency and, of course, the Packers making the playoffs. After that, it was what he's learned over the last three years about homelessness. In the bottom half of the show, we hit on the state Legislature's dueling conversations over supporting or completely banning ranked-choice voting, and whether the Mayor would support that for city elections. That also led to conversations both about local government rights and upcoming school board elections, and how contentious those have become. Lastly, we talked a bit about the plan to demolish the old Macy's at the Valley View Mall for a car wash and "quick serve" restaurants, including not a Popeye's Chicken — which is an ongoing joke on the show with the mayor.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in the WIZM studio Friday for La Crosse Talk PM talking about the Republican strategy in the Iowa caucuses and why there might be a lack of candidates in local races.

We began the show wasting no time diving right into the race to become the Republican nominee for president, with the Iowa caucus just 10 days out. WIZM’s Brad Williams also joined in on that conversation.

We also discussed how important debates are from the presidential level on down to local elections.That led to a discussion about the lack of interest in local races — not just from a voters’ perspective but from candidates, themselves. 

The La Crosse School Board has three open sets — incumbents chose not to seek re-election — and only two candidates will be on the ballot. La Crosse County Board has 30 seats up for election and 10 of those will be uncontested.

No election on the spring ballot will have a primary.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wisconsin Democratic state Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle joined to talk about the potential for new voting maps next election, work the Legislature can do in 2024 and Joe Gow being fired as chancellor at UW-La Crosse.

Doyle represents District 94 in the Assembly, which is one of  the only contested districts in Wisconsin — something that might not be the case in the upcoming elections. It was part of the many facets of a conversation we had on the potential for new maps.

Before that, however, we began the show talking a bit about the A.I. committee he’s on, before getting into the Legislative calendar being done for the year by the end of March and how that isn’t very productive for a full-time Legislature.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A lot going on at the Universities of Wisconsin, and UW-La Crosse student Janasea Hameister joined to break it all down, from Joe Gow’s firing over online videos of him having sex with his wife, to DEI being stripped by the state Legislature, plus some things you probably haven’t heard.

Hameister is the managing editor at the UW-L’s Racquet Press and also a La Crosse city council member, representing District 5.

Lost in the Gow firing and the DEI “negotiation,” was a fight over D&I at UW-La Crosse, that Hameister helped explain.

Before that, however, we began the show chatting about a city council committee decision Tuesday to allow a real estate group to proceed with demolishing the old Macy’s at the Valley View Mall for three “quick serve” restaurants, a car wash and more parking. 

After that, we intertwined the three things going on within the Universities of Wisconsin, including Gow’s firing as chancellor — and his apparent fight for freedom of speech — the UW Board of Regents caving to GOP demands to strip DEI initiatives in a negotiation over already approved raises and building plans that already had bipartisan support and, lastly, Hameister’s story on the Student Association being stripped of its D&I bylaws by UW-L.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gundersen dietitian Laura Birkel joined La Crosse Talk PM on Tuesday to discuss the annoying “diet” no normal person can sustain, is “Ozempic” and “Wegovy” weight loss drugs too good to be true, dangerous supplements and making your New Year’s Resolutions stick.

Birkel is in her eighth year as a dietitian — four with Gundersen Health System in Onalaska.

We spent, again, quite a bit of time talking about Ozempic and Wegovy, drugs that change your brain chemistry.

Also, had Birkel describe the “Mediterranean” diet, before I ripped on it for being unsustainable with most people’s lifestyle. 

Then we hit on new trends. In the past five years, energy drinks may have been one of those, but Birkel has been getting a lot of questions on “protein drinks.” So, we discussed the positives and negatives of protein additives and the role of protein, in general.

Then we got into New Year’s resolutions, using tech to stick to your goals and we wrapped up talking about dangerous supplements out there and what to watch for.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Jill Billings in studio to talk about the potential for new legislative maps, the odd fight over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and 17-year-olds automatically tried as adults in the state. The last topic comes on the day a minor was arrested and in court for allegedly starting a fire at the Walmart in Sparta. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins to give us his Top 5 political stories out of Wisconsin, another Top 5 list of federal politics stories, most importantly, the Top 5 weirdest stories we've covered on this show in 2023. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spent the hour talking about the firing of UW-La Crosse chancellor, Dr. Joe Gow, essentially for posting videos of he and his wife having sex with adult film stars. Dr. Mike Ford, associate professor of public administration at UW-Oshkosh, joined to help dissect the multiple layers to the firing itself and the fight that Gow wants to have with the Universities of Wisconsin over what sounds like a free speech issue.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

La Crosse teachers’ union president, Jesse Martinez, joined to talk about the district’s building consolidation plan, upcoming elections, A.I. use and abuse in schools and the upcoming school board elections. Martinez is in his second year as La Crosse Education Association (the teachers’ union) president. He’s also a seventh grade science and math teacher at Logan Middle School. This is his ninth year teaching.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Common Cause Wisconsin executive director Jay Heck joins to help explain the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Friday news dump before a Christmas weekend of the biggest news in the state, that new voting maps must be drawn. We discuss why that decision was made. We also hit on the rhetoric from Republicans being both against the decision and trying to side step the entire process. Also, Heck argued in the Christmas spirit that this is a good thing for democracy, while accusing Solem of being Ebenezer Scrooge, saying the conservative-led US Supreme Court will wreak havoc on this all and nothing will get done.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.