La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio to talk about some of what Republicans have stripped out of the budget, like childcare funding and marijuana legalization. Also talked about child labor vs. a workforce shortage vs. a pay shortage. We hit on the train derailment, as well, and spent quite a bit of time on the dueling income tax cuts being proposed by Republicans (a flat tax) and Gov. Tony Evers (10% tax cut for those making $100,000 or less).

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Saw a "get off my lawn" rant on Facebook about kids not playing hide-n-seek, which coincided nicely with some legislation proposed in Wisconsin by Republicans. The legislation would limit social media use for kids — essentially being the parents. Before we hit on that, though, WiZM's Brad Williams joined to talk about when he met Danny DeVito. Oh, and we also talked about some proposals going through La Crosse city committees right now — a duplex on Ward and a drive-thru coffee shop. After that, we discussed more GOP legislation that would allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol to solve what lawmakers like to call a "workforce shortage." Ended the show with a quick rant about how useless touch screens are in vehicles. 

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A wide array of topics with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, from how the GOP can appeal to young voters to McDonald's selling the Big Mac sauce. Began the show just running down the day's topics, before bringing up a Wisconsin GOP strategist saying the quiet thing out loud when it comes to college students voting. That led to a deep discussion in ways the GOP could handle young voters, and how voting should be handled in general — like mandatory voting. Another part of that conversation included who the GOP would run against Tammy Baldwin for Wisconsin's US Senate seat. In between all that, though, we had to rehash Five Guys opening in La Crosse, and now McDonald's selling Big Mac sauce and whether that's something people want. Ended the show with some oddball topics — a kid getting stuck in a claw machine, a flight attendant making a pregnant woman pick up popcorn her 5-year-old spilled and someone stealing 2 million dimes.

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Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC) Executive Director Carol Abrahamzon in studio to help navigate how Wisconsin lawmakers are breaking the law, when it comes to certain land projects. Before that, though, we got into the mission of the MVC. Then we dive into the rabbit hole of how Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is killing land conservancy projects that are applying for grant money with no transparency, breaking its own rules in how it should interact with the public. This misconduct has forced MVC to not apply for certain Knowles-Nelson Stewardship grants. A lot of this made news this week with the Pelican River Project in northern Wisconsin, that was denied by the JFC — a project that would have protected 56,000 acres from development, and allowed it to be utilized for outdoor recreation — anything from hiking to hunting to snowmobiling.

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Though we buried the lead to start the show, two guests joined — Dr. Tom Schlesinger and Nick Nichols — to talk about climate change, what we can do about it, what the state could do that would save $14 billion a year to the benefit of everything and everyone. Schlesinger is a political scientist that specializes in healthcare and also has a Master’s in international environmental policy, focusing on climate change. Nichols, now retired, was the La Crosse County Sustainability Coordinator, and works in climate protection across the region. They are both part of a group called the Climate Alliance for the Common Good. A bit part of the show focused on how Wisconsin could transition to electric power, without outsourcing that power, and the benefits the state would see economically, environmentally, fiscally. Part of that discussion included green energy sources, like wind, solar.  Began the show defining a bit climate change, the timeline for when society needs to transition away from the carbon-methane production that contributes to it, and how these topics shouldn’t be political — but are. We also discussed some aspects of electric vehicles, as well as what individuals and corporations can be doing 

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The River Point District, north of downtown La Crosse, has been decades in the making. Jason Gilman, project manager and owner of JBG Planning, LLC, joined to break down just what to expect and when to expect those acres along the Black and Mississippi rivers to be developed. 

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Kahya Fox, the executive director of Habitat For Humanity La Crosse Area, joins to talk about housing dilemmas in the area and possible solutions. The big problems here, with La Crosse being landlocked, is the number of homes available, but the incredibly skyrocketing prices of these homes that’s affecting not just low income people anymore, but middle class. Prices of homes, rising mortgage rates, number of rentals are some of the things we discussed. Habitat is also hosting a Neighbors Day this weekend, to help elderly and disabled people — read more and sign up here. 

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins to discuss Five Guys in Onalaska opening and how restaurants could really benefit customers, the Brewers needing more bank on beer sales, plus teaching politics. Began the show, though, talking a bit about US Sen. Tammy Baldwin announcing she's running for reelection and the differences in strategy between Baldwin and her counterpart, Sen. Ron Johnson. Then we got into teaching politics, as Chergosky is at a political science convention in Chicago. Ended the show talking about Five Guys opening, their strategy of throwing the fries in the bag. That led to a discussion about what's best: chips and salsa, free bread sticks or a pile of fries? And how more restaurants should be doing one of the three. And we ended with the Brewers, Twins and other teams extending beer sales because "the game isn't long enough." Yes, sure, that's the reason. Also discussed how politicians are flip-flopping on the idea of public funds to help the Brewers renovate American Family Field.

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John Havlicek joins to talk about details in the upcoming Wisconsin budget, including his public comments and medicaid expansion. Havlicek has been a Central High School teacher for 25 years and we like to use him on the show as one of our "political blowhard." He was at a Joint Finance Committee public budget hearing in the Dells, discussing education. We also talked about Wisconsin not accepting Medicaid expansion for the past dozen years and the ramifications from that. Ended the show quick talking about the La Crosse School District transitioning to standards-based grading.

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La Crosse County Democratic Party chair William Garcia in studio, talking about Tammy Baldwin's re-election, the hypothetical Ron Johnson v. Tammy Baldwin matchup, the potential impeaching political opponents in Wisconsin and guns in Wisconsin schools. Cover the Tammy Baldwin running for reelection news in a couple different ways, including what Republicans might go against her -- like Scott Walker -- but also the what if of Ron Johnson and her on the same ballot. Also hit on the Tennessee lawmakers being reinstated after getting expelled by Republicans for peacefully protesting gun violence in the wake of three students being killed in the state. Republicans in Wisconsin now have a Senate supermajority, and we discussed the possible expelling of Democrats in the state. Touched on the Democratic National Convention coming to Chicago a month after the RNC is in Milwaukee. Ended the show talking a bit about a GOP proposal to allow guns in Wisconsin schools. Oh, and we also hit on his daughter getting Taylor Swift tickets and why dad isn't invited.

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