La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Democratic US House candidate for Wisconsin’s 3rd District, Eric Wilson, stopped in the WIZM studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM, as we discussed mental health, healthcare, climate and took a bunch of calls.

Began the show talking about the half-marathon he just ran last weekend to help raise awareness for mental health.

Next, we hit on how little the US House has done in its first year (9:45), and why Wilson feels he’d be more representative of the district than what’s currently in there.

That led to how campaigning is going (15:30), and what folks that he’s talked to, going door to door, are most concerned about — which included healthcare, housing and climate.

From there we got into a conversation about healthcare (16:30), which Wilson has a vast amount of personal and family experience in, and took quite a few calls in relation to that.

And, that’s where we ended the show, talking a bit about climate change (34:30), protecting water, electric vehicle infrastructure. 

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La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke in studio, discussing tracing a gun used in shootings — like south side killing of 15-year-old — the La Crosse County police oversight committee, streamlining court system, contesting tickets and the hung jury in the West Salem triple-homicide. Of course, we began the show with a bit of nonsense — what cop shows Gruenke likes to watch and how TV shows can exaggerate details cases, including a recent La Crosse murder. After that, we got into the hung jury in that West Salem triple murder (9:00), which began with a conversation about streamlining the court system and the oddity that we get 12 jurors to agree most of the time on a guilty-not guilty verdict. In the second half of the show (18:45), we talked a bit about how criminals coming through the court system are fairly damaged and how difficult it is to rehabilitate them. Then we hit on the southside killing of 15-year-old (22:10) and the investigation around how these teenagers — and with shootings in general — got these guns, and is there a better way to track the weapons. Next, we talked about a unique scenario a friend had in getting a ticket (28:00), which they thought was unfair, and what a person's right is to fight that ticket in court. Lastly, (37:10) we talked about the ongoing discussing in creating a La Crosse County police oversight (my name for it) committee.

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We got Kwik Trip on to talk about its $151 million expansion but, more importantly, Ben Leibl from the company joins (18:00) to explain to us if these plans mean that they will be building more stores right next to each other. Leibl works public relations with Kwik Trip, where it was announced the company was awarded an additional $15 million in state tax credits if it hits expansion and hiring marks. We also threw Leibl some other half-baked ideas (25:55) we've hashed out in the past on the show that Kwik Trip should be doing in La Crosse. Before that, however, La Crosse County Board chair Monica Kruse joined (00:00) to discuss the upcoming elections, this week's monthly meeting and an interesting five-year plan they're working on.

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UW-La Crosse entomologist, Dr. Barrett Klein, stops in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk PM to have some fun discussions about bugs, from his childhood ant sandwich to how grumpy bees need a nap or they won’t twerk just right.

Klein, who has an infectious laugh that shows up often, has been at UW-L for 11 years in entomology — the study of insects.

We began the show just bouncing around on different ways people think about insects and insect things happening — like the cicadas about to hatch in the area.

Then talked a bit about bugs as food, which led to Klein’s ant sandwich story. Over the summer he was in New York studying, not just bees, but bees’ sleep, so we spent quite a bit of time on them. We also discussed eating bugs and what ones are tastier fresh vs. canned. 

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Small business owner, economist, and La Crosse Talk PM’s official political blowhard Adam Murphy joined, as we discussed ranked-choice voting in Wisconsin, and how Republicans want to ban it, state taxes and electric vehicles.

Began the show, however, ranting about how people continue to drive down, what’s called the bike track on Second Street, even though the road is literally green and painted with bicycles.

After that, Murphy joined (2:10) to discuss the Wisconsin Senate getting a committee hearing on ranked-choice voting, what that would mean for those who go to the polls and how Republicans are trying to ban it for some reason. 

After that (26:40), we got into a conversation about cutting income taxes in the state, as Wisconsin’s governor vetoed another GOP plan that greatly benefits the rich. 

And, we ended the show (30:00) discussing some issues with EVs that nobody seems to be talking about.

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Economist Adam Hoffer joined to talk about some big issues locally, including the La Crosse schools building plan, and the city council tackling short-term rentals, ADUs. But first, we talked about Wisconsin having billions in budget surplus for two years now, and how Shohei Ohtani gets a $700 million MLB contract while the state of Wisconsin pays $500 million to update the Milwaukee Brewers stadium. Hoffer is the director of excise tax policy at the nonprofit, Tax Foundation. He also talk sports economics at UW-La Crosse for a decade.

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Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff joins to discuss the fight between Republicans and UW over DEI, should the state have ranked-choice voting and a year in review, plus what still needs to be done.

Of course, we began the show talking about Taylor Swift? But in regards to whether the Time Person of the Year would be able to have a concert at the soon-to-be renovated Milwaukee Brewers stadium for half-a-billion dollars.

After that, we got into the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) fight that Republicans have taken with the University of Wisconsin System / Board of Regents. 

Pfaff gives his take on the negotiation and wonders why they’re even happening.

The negotiation, which is apparently over as of Tuesday, but Republicans wanted to:

• Cut DEI positions
• Create a “conservative thought” position(s)
• Create “student success” positions
• Drop an affirmative action hiring program
• Eliminate statements supporting diversity on student applications

Meanwhile, Democrats — as strange as it is to make this the partisan fight — want:

• Approved the UW-Madison engineering building
• Approve the raises to UW employees that were already promised in the GOP-created state budget that Gov. Tony Evers signed

Not part of the negotiation is the Phase II of the UW-La Crosse Prairie Spring Science Center, which has been on hold by Republicans for five years.

After that, we talked about some of the legislative wins that were accomplished in Wisconsin and Pfaff discussed what still needs to be done, also expressing his dissatisfaction that the Legislature only meets in session from January to mid-April in 2024, before calling it wraps and hitting the campaign trail. 

Part of those legislative wins included an alcohol bill and agricultural road improvement program. What Pfaff said still needs to get done is something on child care, as well as PFAFs.

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La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds joins to discuss his trip to Dubai for the UN climate summit, tearing down the old Macy’s at the mall, council decisions on “ADUs” and short-term rentals. 

Began the show, as we usually do, talking a bit about the Packers, before getting into Reynolds’ recent trip to COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where he was one of 30 mayors from the US to be invited. Reynolds was representing the  Mississippi Rivers, Cities and Towns Initiative, in which he’s the co-chair. 

After that, we talked about some city legislation, coming out of the “committee week” and heading into Thursday’s monthly council meeting. That discussion included some potential deregulation for what’s called “Accessory Dwelling Units” (ADUs), where residential properties could make unattached buildings living spaces. We also talked about the dueling legislation dealing with short-term rentals in the city. And, we wrapped up discussing the city’s role in a business group’s plan to tear down the old Macy’s at the Valley View Mall to add 100 parking spaces, fast food joints and a car wash.

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A look at the ridiculous list of Top 10 holiday movies by state, the punishment for throwing your burrito bowl at the Chipotle cashier, how confident are men in landing a passenger airline, plus some politics with Wisconsin’s the fake electors lawsuit and how campaign ads and the electoral college go together.

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Cherogksy, joins, as we finally start out light, with the top holiday movies by state, the Chipotle fiasco and a poll on landing a passenger airline — where one sex is extremely confident they can handle it.

After that, we get Chergosky’s take on if it was surprising that the civil lawsuit into the Wisconsin fake electors scheme was settled, and where that plot goes now.

Then we combined two not-so-related political topics, as Chergosky shows how dangerously related they are in the prediction that $16 billion in campaign ads will be spent for 2024 and how that relates to the electoral college.

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Katrina Shankland is running for the US House of Representatives in Wisconsin’s 3rd District. The Democrat stopped in the WIZM studio to talk about how her 11 years of experience as a Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. is what’s needed to represent the district. We went back and forth on why she’s running, as well as what’s going on in Wisconsin government — and how some of the issues she’s dealing with in the state are also things that matter across the country. Shankland is one of four Democrats running in the primary, along with Tara Johnson, Rebecca Cooke and Eric Wilson. The winner of the primary will likely face Republican Derrick Van Orden, unless he is overtaken by a GOP challenger in a primary.

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