La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

A three-subject show today, including a conversation about abortions with the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Also talked about the F-35 that went missing somewhere in South Carolina and the Wisconsin GOP plan to give the Brewers $614 million for stadium renovations. After a bit about the F-35, Tanya Atkinson, the aforementioned CEO, joined to discuss PP resuming abortion care after a judge ruled Wisconsin's 174-year-old abortion ban, essentially, isn't legit. We discussed why they made the decision and what women in the state have to go through in Wisconsin based on a harsh 1985 law that's taken effect. After that, talked more about this missing F-35 jet, which cost about $80 million. But that's a drop in the bucket compared to what Republicans want to give the near-billionaire owner of the Milwaukee Brewers to fix up the stadium.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky in studio to help try and break down some of headliners coming out of Madison, with the GOP trying to backpedal on impeaching a newly-elected justice. We also chatted about when your boss sends "that" email. Didn't waste a ton of time getting into Wisconsin Republicans' plans all surrounding the idea that they could lose some power by the 2024 elections. The GOP is simultaneously trying to impeach the newly-elected liberal state Supreme Court justice, create a system to redraw voting maps to subvert that impeachment and getting at least one bias opinion from a retired judge on how to move forward ridding Justice Janet Protasiewicz. In between that, we discussed the nerve-wracking email you'll get from your boss saying "we need to meet," and the etiquette in how that communication should happen. We also spoke briefly about Hunter Biden and US House member Derrick Van Orden's statements on impeaching Hunter's dad.

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Political science professor emeritus, Dr. Ed Miller, of UW-Stevens Point, an expert in Wisconsin's history of political maps and the state Supreme Court, joins, as Republicans on the Legislature vote to adopt a new system for drawing districts, while at the same time discussing impeaching a state Supreme Court justice that could rule and force the current maps to be redrawn. The unveiled system is touted as the "Iowa model." Miller explains the Iowa model — its advantages and flaws — and how this Wisconsin GOP plan is different. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos unveiled with a news conference Tuesday, calling for a recess in the middle of a voting sessions. He then gave the Legislature 48 hours to vote on it with no public input.

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Wisconsin state Rep. Jill Billings joins to discuss the childcare legislation Republicans will pass that isn’t going to help childcare centers, and we also talked how the Assembly leader threw a redistricting model at the Legislature with no notice, no public hearing and 48 hours to vote. Didn't waste much time getting into the childcare conversation, where the Assembly will vote on what I call "childcare factory farm" bills. Some deregulate the centers to allow 16 year olds to watch other children, while other bills just allot parents or centers to take out loans for money they don't have and can't get. After that, we talked about the Republican attempt to change the entire way Wisconsin's voting maps are drawn — thrown at the Assembly mid-session with no notice and no public hearings and 48 hours to vote — all because the conversation over the GOP impeaching a newly-elected state Supreme Court judge isn't going over so well.  

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Our, what I like to call, political blowhard, Adam Murphy, joined for the hour to dive into a couple of interesting topics, including high schools needing to be more political, YouTube rabbit holes, the Wisconsin GOP "tax cut" and new faces in politics. And that's where we began, with a "tax cut" plan that lumps people making between $18,000 and $400,000 into on group. Murphy pointed out how this will use up the $4 billion budget surplus but cost the state $2.5 billion in federal funding. We then talked about faces in politics, as a new GOP candidate from Trempealeau County is running against Democrat Tammy Baldwin in the US Senate. After that, the idea that schools need to be more political, but it's not what you're thinking and, along those lines, the YouTube rabbit hole conversation was incorporated in. Murphy is the owner of a small business in Wisconsin called Big Bang LLC. He also ran for US Senate in 2022 for the Democrats in Wisconsin, and holds degrees in economics and political science from UW-Milwaukee.

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Mayor Mitch Reynolds in studio, deep diving on whether La Crosse should have a city administrator and the city's future budgetary shortfall, as the 2024 budget is being cultivated. Began the show talking a bit about the past two weekends at Riverside Park, before delving into the budgetary situation in La Crosse. Also discussed, a bit, the potential for putting a mural on the La Crosse Center and if the city should sell out naming rights for the Civic Center. The last half of the show was spent on the pros and cons for La Crosse having a city administrator.

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We went off the cuff comparing action heroes and politicians with William Garcia, the Democratic Party chair of La Crosse County and the 3rd US House District. After ranting a bit about what Wisconsin Republicans are trying to pull off with impeaching a newly elected state Supreme Court justice, we dove into a real dilemma — where are the fresh faces in action heroes and politics? The conversation began after bringing up that 83-year-old Nancy Pelosi is running for re-election in the US House. And, while we seemingly have geriatric representation in our government, from the episodes of 81-year-old Mitch McConnell and 90-year-old Dianne Feinstein — not to mention who's running for president — we may have an even worse problem in the action hero department. Tom Cruise (61), Denzel Washington (68), Harrison Ford (81) — all three of these are or were starring in action movies in theaters in the last month.

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A pair of guests joined to talk about some past and upcoming events in the La Crosse area. First, Carey Hagge, Explore La Crosse's director of tourism and events, came on to talk about the city's first-ever, not two, but three "big boat" stops at Riverside Park over the weekend, including a one-of-a-kind floating Navy museum that stormed the beaches on D-Day. After that, Coulee Region Humane Society executive director Heather Drievold  joined to get the word out on the over 300 animals they're trying to get adopted, as well as some fundraisers coming up, including Rounds for Rescues. 

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La Crosse Center Board president Brent Smith joins to talk about a number of things, including the consideration of putting a War Eagle steamboat mural on the outside of the building. Smith has been on the board for over three decades. Along with the mural consideration, we talked about the changing identity of the Civic Center, a few years removed from a $42 million renovation/expansion. We also discussed the age-old question: Why aren’t there more concerts? One other thing we talked about was the decision by the board to continue having the Civic Center be run by Jay Odegaard, director of the La Crosse Parks, Recreation and Forestry department over having a private company handle day-to-day operations.

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La Crosse Education Association president Jesse Martinez joined for the hour to discuss a host of things, including a new grading system that's being implemented now at the high school level — standards-based grading — and the positive affects of voters recently passing the operational referendum. We also talked about the political battles that happen at the expense of public schools and a bit on the most recent budget passed in Madison. 

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