La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky in studio, to discuss the politics heating up in Wisconsin, as Republicans try to impeach the newly-elected state Supreme Court Justice before she's even heard a case. We spent most of the time discussing this fight, including the GOP using $2 million of taxpayer money to fight the lawsuit. We also hit on the 1990s concert Chergosky attended, featuring the Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray and, of course, we had to hit on the Minnesota state fair for just a minute.

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Two great guests Thursday on two totally unrelated topics. First, UW-La Crosse graduate Grace Koch joins to talk about a study she did on the toxic chemicals that children interact with on playgrounds that are made up of that tire "mulch." Koch's study helped lead the city to convert Crowley Park into wood chips, but many school parks remain with the rubber surface. After that, UW-La Crosse archivist Laura Godden is in studio to talk about the history of the War Eagle steamboat that remains sunk just north of Riverside Park in the Mississippi River. The La Crosse Center Board is considering a War Eagle mural on the side of the building. Is there a better option? 

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A couple of veterans — Rick's dad, Rod Solem and Ken Rupp — joined the show, as we preview the WWII-era LST-325 now docked at Riverside Park, about ready for tours through the weekend. Ken is an Air Force vet and tour director for the LST. Rod is a Vietnam vet that served on the Hancock Aircraft Carrier (CVA-19). Ken talks about the history of the ship and what visitors can expect. Rod tells a really interesting story about the Hancock leaving Vietnam. 

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Dan Kapanke, co-owner of the La Crosse Loggers, and Adam Hoffer, Tax Foundation director, joined to talk about the Milwaukee Brewers stadium funding situation. 

The Brewers, which lease the stadium essentially from the state, and the Wisconsin Legislature are negotiating stadium upgrades that are hovering between $290-$400 million. 

Kapanke is part of a coalition of business owners promoting keeping the Brewers in Milwaukee, while Hoffer taught sports business at UW-La Crosse for a decade.

We discuss whether this debate is political, if tax money to renovate the stadium is good economically — or should we let the rich owners renovate the stadium? — and how the Loggers and the city of La Crosse have worked out a similar deal.

The Brewers are also spending over $500,000 lobbying the Legislature to get a deal down, so we dissect what that might look like.

I also threw three half-baked ideas at the two, including selling the stadium to the Brewers for $1 and building a new stadium altogether because of its awkward current location and the price tag to renovate.

Wisconsin continues to sit on $4 billion in budget surplus going on 19 months. With that, one more half-baked idea I threw out there was how — with that surplus — the state missed out on buying the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks went through a similar fight back in 2015 to fund a new arena and won, but their situation is a bit different because the team owns the arena. The team just sold to the Cleveland Browns owners, who bought a 25% majority stake in the team, valued now at $3.5 billion. 

STORY LINKS
Politcaly motivated?
https://wktysports.com/2023/03/09/wisconsin-republican-says-brewers-stadium-funding-plan-dead/

Brewers lobbying state Legislature
https://wktysports.com/2023/08/08/brewers-spent-600k-in-2023-lobbying-for-hundreds-of-millions-in-public-funds-for-stadium-renovations/

Owner optimistic a deal can be reached
https://wktysports.com/2023/08/28/brewers-principal-owner-is-optimistic-about-stadium-negotiations-wants-to-keep-team-in-milwaukee/

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Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio to talk about a slew of things, including funding projects for both the Brewers and UW-La Crosse. We also talked his upcoming candidacy and the 90th anniversary of the Coon Creek Watershed Project. Began the show talking about how Republicans in the state haven't funded Phase II of the Prairie Springs Science Center at UW-La Crosse for the past five years. After that, Pfaff talks about the Coon Creek project, that has to do with soil erosion and washout in the area. Then we discussed the debate into funding the Brewers stadium. Another couple of topics discussed that the Legislature could take up dealt with continuing the Office of School Safety and helping childcare centers, as the state continues to sit on $4 billion in budget surplus for 19 months now. 

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A riot of a show with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio, breaking down GOP debate in terms of being in Milwaukee, what teens from one of La Crosse’s sister cities thinks of us and another round of state fair foods — Minnesota edition. That's sort of where we began the show, and debated on whether Wisconsin or Minnesota's state fair is better, what the highlight is of each and the new foods unveiled in MN this week. After that,we discussed Donald Trump's 215 pound weight in the best fashion, before getting into students from a La Crosse sister city visiting. Ended the show just rehashing the GOP presidential nominee debate in how Wisconsin was references, being it's so important to winning the presidency and it was, of course, in Milwaukee. 

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Dietitian Laura Birkel joined La Crosse Talk PM last week to break down dairy v. plant milk, what to eat before the big game, and the new weight loss drug, Ozempec, among other things. Birkel has been a dietitian for seven years, the last three of which at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse.  We spent quite a bit of time trying to decipher the news surrounding the diabetes drug, like Ozempic, that more and more people are taking simply to lose weight. Do the frightening headlines people see about the drug have any basis in reality or are they just headline porn? Also, with school starting and high school and college sports getting back into full swing, we discussed some of the things people should eat before the game — whether that’s the night before, hours before or right before playing. We also talked about dairy v. plant milk, if sparkling water is good for you and how bad is cheese, really?

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La Crosse School Superintendent Dr. Aaron Engel joined and we got right into it with school starting next week, teacher raises, truancy on the rise, selling Lincoln Middle School and consolidating elementaries. 

Began the show talking about truancy, as it was higher than it had ever been last year, and what the district planned over the summer to bring that number down. 

After that, we discussed the new state budget and how that affected the district. Part of the budget was an increase of $325 per student for the next 400 years, put in place through the governor’s veto pen. There was a lot of outrage over that funding but it sounds like it still isn’t enough.

We also talked quick about where the district is with school meal debt, before getting into some of the building situations its dealing with.

We talked about the process of elementary school consolidation through the Facilities Advisory Committee, which is a little over halfway done with its studies. We then discussed the sale process for Lincoln Middle School and how the district wasn’t happy about it getting a historic designation, just as it was being listed for sale.

SHOW LINKS:

Facilities Advisory Committee
https://www.lacrosseschools.org/facilities-advisory-committee/

Lincoln Middle School historic designation
https://www.wizmnews.com/2023/07/13/historic-status-for-lincoln-middle-school-upheld-appeal-by-la-crosse-school-district-denied/

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Marquette University political science professor, Dr. Philip Rocco, joined, as we deep dived into Wisconsin politics, including the governor controlling messaging and how that might be bad for the state and why things like childcare and mental health are divisive. Began the show on the broader range of politics Rocco studies, which includes demographics, the census and how population and politics relate. We ended the show kind of on the same note, as Wisconsin hosts the first GOP presidential debate, the Republican National Convention, and putting so much emphasis into a state that’s predetermined to be “swing” but why. In between that, we rehashed the state’s shared revenue deal, how that came to be and how it might be undone under certain aspects because its unconstitutional. And then got into the upcoming special session Gov. Tony Evers called, which Rocco says Republicans will ignore (again) and the reasoning behind that — justified or not — leading, again, into that whole "Who should control the messaging?" in Wisconsin politics.

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La Crosse County administrator Jane Klekamp joins to discuss the 2024 budget, as well as some recent county board actions, including child card grant funding just approved. Began the show, though, with a little civics lesson on just how something makes it to the La Crosse County agenda. After that, we discussed recent board actions, including the $500,000 child care grant funding, a pilot housing program called "Family Keys" for welfare-engaged families, as well as some added road use for ATVs and pulling weeds in Lake Onalaska. After that, we discussed the 2024 budget, which should be around $200 million and just how that process works. Ended the show talking about the recent broadband committee and where the DEI consultant is at with her county study. 

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