La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky joins. Broke down some middle-of-the-night votes by the Wisconsin state Legislature, ending childcare funding. Also discussed a couple conspiracy theories of Solem's on Gov. Tony Evers and the GOP Party convention, as well as the US Supreme Court. And we did have some fun with ways to get Chergosky's daughter to walk on her own, as well as a Reddit post about what purchases you shouldn't go cheap on. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chanin Kelly-Rae joined to talk about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), after she was hired by the La Crosse County Board as a consultant. Kelly-Rae is gathering DEI data and help the county government come up with a five-year strategic plan. We talked about some of her findings so far, as well as simply defining the terms diversity, equity and inclusion. Kelly-Rae also recently presented the county board an initial report from her findings, so far.

Kelly-Rae is the head of the aptly named Chanin Kelly-Rae Consulting.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Tom Schelsinger and Nick Nichols joined. They're from Climate Alliance for the Common Good out of La Crosse. We discussed some recent news about La Crosse County's landfill becoming a "land-full," and how that relates to the Xcel incinerator on French Island. We also talked recycling in Wisconsin We also talked recycling in Wisconsin. Schlesinger has a Ph.D. in Political Science specializing in health care policy, and a master’s in international environmental policy. Nichols is the former La Crosse County sustainability coordinator. In regards to the incinerator, Tony Gibart, the executive director with Midwest Environmental Advocates out of Madison, came on for a bit to add to that conversation, including a possible dilemma with PFAS waste. We also discussed with the Climate Alliance pair the difference with recycling in Wisconsin — where about 40% of cans/plastic bottles get recycled — and in Oregon, where 98% of those items are recycled. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds joins to talk about three huge topics affecting La Crosse — the recent shared revenue deal, the new homeless plan and the city about to charge for downtown parking. After some filibustering, Reynolds joined and first gave a "shout out" to the UW-La Crosse track and field team for winning the D3 National Championship and being invited to the White House. After that, we hit on the shared revenue deal — the state's way of funding local governments — and some of the good and bad there. After that, we discussed the city and county's new approach to helping the homeless, and Reynolds did some venting along those lines. Ended our talk with a new plan the city is hashing out to charge everyone to park in downtown La Crosse.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio, and Wisconsin state Rep. Steve Doyle live from his parent’s estate sale, where he’s hoarding all his childhood belongings. We also get both their takes on the shared revenue deal. Began the show, however, talking about 4,000 people showing up to Thursday's Moon Tunes concert, the challenges that come with that and some half-baked solution ideas. Then we get Doyle from his parent's estate sale (they have moved out of their old home) and some of the things he's found in their two-car garage that couldn't retain any cars. We also talked about the local government funding plan announced Thursday, as well as where the state Legislature is at with a two-year budget. Lastly, we got Chergosky's take on some of the shared revenue, and the oddity Wisconsin Republicans go after Milwaukee, but also have agreed to hold the GOP National Convention there, as well as hold the first presidential debate. That led into not one, but two conspiracy theories Solem had on the matter.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just a couple hours after Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced a deal with the state legislature on a shared revenue plan, Onalaska Mayor Kim Smith joined to talk about what that will mean for her city and other local governments around the state like it. Before that, however, WIZM's Brad Williams joined, back from Winona where police there held a news conference on the Madeline Kingsbury case, where it has now gone from a missing person to murder. Began the show just highlighting those two things, along with a bit of a rant on the idea of punishing homeless people for camping in parks.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brian Sampson with the city of La Crosse and Isaac Hoffman with the county join to talk about the area's homeless situation, a day after local leaders held a public meeting on the unsheltered. Hoffman is the La Crosse County supervisor of prevention and community programming. Sampson is the city’s Homeless Coordinator. We further discussed the first steps of what the county-city collaborative announced the previous night in bringing together a five-year plan. We also talked about not just the hardships that go into helping the unsheltered, but even discussing the multi-faceted situation.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

La Crosse Schools superintendent, Dr. Aaron Engel, joined, we discussed some of the ins and outs with the state budget and state funding for next school year, being an unknown, how truancy has increased to alarming rates and why Hamilton will no longer be year round. Started the show, though, talking about the school year ending and just throwing some ideas at Engel about teacher or class of the year. After that, we talked about Hamilton ending year-round school and why that happened. Mid-show, we discussed the state budget process and how Wisconsin schools have no idea what their funding will be for the upcoming year, and that led us to whether there will be pay raises in the district. We also changed gears a bit and got into Artificial Intelligence and the benefits and hindrances of that in schools for teachers, students and parents. Ended the show with some alarming figures on truancy in the district and why that might be happening.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party chair William Garcia in studio. We talked about a host things, including incumbents sacrificing their seat for more power, the new Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse and the upcoming state convention. In the midst of the conversation about incumbents, we discussed what Republicans would run against US Sen. Tammy Baldwin and the situation state Sen. Brad Pfaff could be in if he decides to run against Derrick Van Orden in the 3rd. We also discussed Pride month a bit, and corporations using it for profit, and ended the show on the all-caps tweet from Donald Trump basically pointing to his getting charged in the classified docs case.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Bizarro World with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, as Donald Trump takes the high road, Bernie Sanders and Ron Johnson vote together, and Wisconsin is a doughnut desert — not to be confused with dessert. Began the show talking about the debt limit deal passing the Senate but the oddity of Republicans and Democrats voting together no on the package. After that, we discussed how Wisconsin Republicans voted against funding Phase II of the Prairie Spring Science Center at UW-L. After that, we break down whether or not Wisconsin is a doughnut desert, depending on what you qualify as a place to get doughnuts — does Kwik Trip count? Also discussed a couple of things Donald Trump said this week on campaigning on being "anti-woke," as well as his new ability, apparently, to make fun of himself and how that could change the game in his candidacy. Ended the show quick about a ridiculous pair of stories where a guy drained a reservoir in India to get his phone, and a bear raided a bakery in Connecticut. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.