The party’s over. We wrap things up with a preview from Mike Clemens of Saturday’s Packers-Bears matchup.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

We’ll have one more go-round with our Week In Review panel and ask them “what have we learned” in 2025 — and how can we take those lessons and apply them toward getting our country back on track in 2026. Given that the president just renamed a nationally cherished facility as the Trump Kennedy Center, we clearly have our work cut out for us.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

They say the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice… but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some injustices along the way. Donald Trump’s police state wins a round by securing a felony conviction for a judge who stood up for independent courts free from chaos, interference, and intimidation.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy for those who want government to fail: Slash what’s working, blame government itself for being dysfunctional, rinse, repeat. We’ll talk to Joe Zepecki about the latest moves that reduce customer service and increase cynicism about how things work in Madison.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

A new report by a nonpartisan research group needed more than 2,300 words to describe why this month’s property tax bills for 2025 are so much higher than last year. They really only needed a handful of words to connect the dots: A Republican Legislature passed the buck. Rather than contribute a fair share to local governments and the education of our children, GOP lawmakers once again forced municipalities and educators to look like the bad guys just to maintain current services. Also: Sean O’Malley has the latest view of a still-slumping job market.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

In Congress, a discharge petition is an extremely rare tool. A majority of members can sign it to force a full vote on a matter, even if the leadership wants to keep it bottled up. For the fourth time, House Speaker Mike Johnson has had his hand forced by members of his own party joining with Democrats. This time, it’s to allow an up-or-down vote on resurrecting the tax credits that helped keep health insurance affordable for 20 million Americans. It’s only the latest sign of economic dysfunction from GOP lawmakers and the president, as we’ll show with some end-of-the-year Wisconsin numbers. Also: Grumpy president screams at TV cameras in a not-at-all unhinged “speech” about the economy.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

One of our favorite long-running stories on this show got the nickname “Pigeon Quest” because Melissa Kaye, from our Civic Media station in Wisconsin Rapids, embarked on a detailed mission to adopt a rescue pigeon. So, yes, we learned that rescue pigeons are a thing. Before we sign off, we wanted to get a final update from Melissa and LeeLu, who had been slow to acclimate to its new surroundings. We’ll ask if LeeLu has finally taken flight… around the living room, anyway.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

We mark the final installment of Homeroom, our weekly segment about protecting public education in Wisconsin, with the two people most responsible for making it a prime focus of our show: Heather DuBois Bourenane, Chris Hambuch-Boyle and many more from the Wisconsin Public Education Network. We’ll explain the stakes of the 2026 election on property taxes and the future health of our community schools.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

There have been more unusual events in 2025 than we care to count — and one of the stranger ones took place Tuesday when Vanity Fair published the result of 11 (yes, eleven) interviews conducted with Trump’s chief of staff. Susie Wiles was extremely candid about the president and almost everyone in his inner circle — and none of it makes them look better. So what’s been the MAGA reaction? Attack the report and the writer, while not claiming that anything in the piece was factually wrong. Sure, Susie.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.

There is no bottom: Donald Trump will always find a way to sink even lower than the last time you thought he’d couldn’t be worse. This time, Trump is getting a fair amount of criticism from fellow Republicans for a social media post about murdered director Rob Reiner. Makes you wonder who the real “Meathead” is now.

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! Get more from Pat and UpNorthNews on their website and follow them on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast lineup. Follow the show on Facebook, X, and YouTube.