La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins. We toy around with how the state might now spend — or not spend — it's $3.5 billion budget surplus. We also talked about Gov. Tony Evers joining La Crosse Talk PM and using the phrase "When donkeys fly." Also, we had about four Ron Johnson stories this week, including the Republican US Senator diving into all the conspiracy theories during a YouTube interview.

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Adam Murphy, owner of the small business, Big Bang, LLC, joins and explains taxes for us a bit — in terms of the how we got a budget surplus, what to do with it and how a small businesses is affected by taxes. Before that, however, we talked about his showing in the World Series of Poker that just wrapped up in Las Vegas a few days ago. We also talked a bit about Wisconsin's US Senators, Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson, and what it takes now to run for those bigger political offices — and it's not just a ton of money, though news just came out that the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race cost over $54 million. 

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Rebecca Cooke joins. She's running for a US House seat in the 3rd District here. We talked about her new job, waitressing, as she also runs a campaign. That led to a conversation about minimum wage. We also found out her favorite spots when she’s in La Crosse and discussed lived experiences that make her a good person to represent the area. On top of the new job, Cooke runs a nonprofit that helps women start up business. She was also a small business owner in downtown Eau Claire and grew up on a farm. 

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers join to talk about child care funding in the state. In between that, we asked the governor if the La Crosse area is his favorite part of the state, as he's been to Western Wisconsin 30 times this year already. We also get him to define what it means when someone says they're going "Up north." After that, La Crosse city council member Dr. Mark Neumann joins to continue the conversation about childcare, as the council just passed $400,000 in ARPA funding to help there. We also asked Neumann about the legislation passed last week that better defines camping — or no camping — in the city, as there have been complaints about homeless people in parks.

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Viterbo economist, Dr. John Robinson joins, to discuss inflation, a national minimum wage vs. a local minimum wage and an all-time low unemployment rate. Spent quite a bit of time on the minimum wage in various ways, including Robinson's take that the US doesn't even really have a minimum wage right now. Also talked about inflation — or when that becomes deflation — as well as Wisconsin's recent income tax plan, that the governor partially vetoed. Robinson is the interim Associate Dean of the College of Business Leadership Ethics and Education at Viterbo. The Central High School graduate and got his doctorate in finance from Arizona State.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio to break down Barbenheimer, Burger King’s 20-slice meatless cheese(burger) and the number of people that will run against Derrick Van Orden.

Began the show, though talking about Waukesha’s school board firing a first-grade teacher over he outcries about the board banning the song Miley Cyrus-Dolly Parton song, Rainbowland. 

After that, had some fun talking about the phenomenon that people are going to see the new movie Barbie and Oppenheimer as a double feature. What kind of combo is that and how much popcorn can one person eat? 

That led to a discussion about original movies or sequels — and what movies are untouchable. One of the movies brought up, along the lines of Oppenheimer, is Dr. Strangelove, who actually came into the studio to tell the audience they can never remake that 1964 classic.

We then got into some other politics, with Rebecca Cooke announcing her candidacy to run as a Democrat in the 3rd US House District currently held by Van Orden — and how many people might run. A big factor there, money, which eventually led us into a discussion about the North Dakota governor — running for president — offering $20 gift cards for $1 donations so he can buy his way to the Milwaukee GOP presidential debate stage.

Lastly, we talked about this 20-slice Burger King monstrosity. 

SHOW LINKS:

20 cheese slice Burger King "burger":
https://people.com/burger-king-thailand-meatless-burger-with-20-slices-of-cheese-7559683

Barbenheimer:

https://www.wizmnews.com/2023/07/14/the-story-behind-barbenheimer-the-summers-most-online-movie-showdown/

Rebecca Cooke running against Van Orden: 

https://www.wizmnews.com/2023/07/10/rebecca-cooke-challenges-rep-van-orden-in-wisconsins-3rd-district-as-her-party-seeks-to-flip-house/

$20 gift cards for a $1 donation:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/11/politics/2024-fundraising-strategy-burgum/index.html

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Comedian Steve Hofstetter joins a week before his coming to La Crosse. A comic who dabbles in politics, we threw Hofstetter some of the headlines coming out of Wisconsin and let him work his comedic magic. Also joining in studio, former Riverfest board member Brad Pitel. Along with talking comedy, Pitel discussed bringing big acts to the fest, and how he big timed one country music star — which may or may not have led to his no longer being on the Riverfest board #Sarcasm. Some of the topics we threw at Hofstetter included Minnesota legalizing recreational marijuana and a first-grade teacher being banned over the Dolly Parton-Miley Cyrus song Rainbowland. Hofstetter also had some funny analogies on the Constitution, as well as some of his Canadian experiences, as he wraps up a tour there.

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Country Boom co-founder Jon Holthaus joins La Crosse Talk PM to talk about this weekend's event at the Maple Grove Venues in West Salem, Wis., featuring some of the biggest country stars today. We talk about the lineup, how they also like to feature local musicians, and a bit of the history of Country Boom — including booking some of the singers a year in advance, before they're really "big time," and by the time Boom rolls around, they've got a top hit on the charts. Holthaus also talked some of the history of the event, now in its fifth year, including his casually saying they had to move the entire stage that first year, because 19,000 people showed up.

LINEUP
Thursday July 13
The Pat Watters Band - 6–7 PM
Blue Collar 40 - 7:30–8:30 PM
Jo Dee Messina - 9–10:30 PM

Friday July 14
Anderson Daniels - 4:30–5:15 PM
Megan Moroney - 5:45–6:30 PM
Warren Zeiders - 7–8 PM
Dylan Scott - 8:30–9:45 PM
Kip Moore - 10–11:45 PM

Saturday July 15
Lauren Watkins - 4:30-5:15 PM
Jackson Dean - 5:45–6:30 PM
Larry Fleet - 7-8 PM
Chris Cagle - 8:30–9:45 PM
Dustin Lynch - 10:15–11:45 PM

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La Crosse City Planner Tim Acklin joined to talk about the debate over Lincoln Middle School getting historic designation, but before that, Country Boom co-founder Jon Holthaus talks about the huge event in West Salem this weekend. Some of the interesting things we talked with Holthaus included booking guests a year in advance, and by the time Boom arrives, they're gigantic stars. Also, he casually mentioned having the move the entire stage the first year, because 19,000 people showed up. After that, Acklin, who sort of manages the Heritage Preservation Commission, breaks down how a debate will happen before the city council decides if Lincoln Middle should retain historical status. We also talked about why Lincoln got that designation in the first place. After that, Acklin talked more about the commissions Top 10 most endangered buildings, we threw him some new ideas for ranked lists, and we got his Top 3 most untouchable buildings in La Crosse.

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William Garcia in studio to talk about movie sequels, how Gov. Evers took the power of funding public schools from the GOP in Wisconsin, the tax cut plan that wasn't and Rebecca Cooke's bid to unseat Derrick Van Orden in the US House. Garcia is the La Crosse County and 3rd US House District Democratic Party chair. We began the show talking about how there are multiple sequels in theaters right now — Mission Impossible, Spider-Man, Indiana Jones and whatever garbage the Transformers is putting out — and then got into whether you should watch a subbed or dubbed movie. After that, we talked about Cooke for Congress, details in how that race might turn out in the 3rd Congressional and Wisconsin's gerrymandered maps. We then dove into Gov. Evers' veto pen powers in funding public education for the next 402 years, cutting up the tax cut plan (mostly for the rich) and how the state could better spend its $7 billion budget surplus.

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