Route 51

This Thursday, February 18th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 welcomes Rick March, the author of Polka Heartland, Why the Midwest Loves to Polka; legendary dance host, Jerry Halkoski, who grew up in Wausau; and Neal Zunker, leader of the central Wisconsin polka band The Music Connection. Host Glen Moberg will ask March, Halkoski and Zunker about the continuing regional appeal of polka music, its history, and its cultural impact. March and Halkoski will appear together in Stevens Point with The Happy Notes this Saturday at a Wisconsin Historical Society Press Event, A Salute to Polka in the Heartland.

On Thursday, February 4th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 previews a public forum on working parents, and the things businesses can do to help and retain them. Host Glen Moberg will moderate a panel discussion with keynote speaker Rob Grunewald, Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; Kelly Borchardt, Executive Director of Childcaring, Inc; Jim McIntyre, President and CEO of the Greenheck Group; Laura Hunt, a young professional woman and parent; and Deanna Schuette, Community Impact Director of the United Way of Marathon County. The forum, entitled Baby Business: the Dollars and Sense of Investing in Working Parents, takes place the morning of February 10th at the UW Center for Civic Engagement on the UW-Marathon County campus in Wausau. It is sponsored by the Marathon County Early Years Coalition, the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, Wisconsin Public Radio, and the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce. More information and online registration is at http://www.unitedwaymc.org/babybusiness.htm

This Thursday, January 28th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 welcomes USA Today Network-Wisconsin Reporter Keith Uhlig to discuss Finding Private Clark , an ongoing research project that has produced a series of beautifully written, compelling stories that have appeared on-line, and in the Wausau Daily Herald. Host Glen Moberg will ask Uhlig about the mystery surrounding Pfc. Wayne Clark , a Marathon County man who was killed by a sniper's bullet in Germany during the last month of World War II, leaving behind a wife and four children, to be laid to rest at Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

This Thursday, January 21st at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 looks at the strengths and challenges of our central Wisconsin communities, as we examine Marathon County’s 10th Local Indicators for Excellence (LIFE) Report. Every two years, under the leadership of the United Way, Marathon County community leaders release a snapshot of our region and a call to action for improvement. In this 20th anniversary report, three major challenges were identified: mental health, substance abuse, and income. Host Glen Moberg will discuss these areas with three of the community leaders who worked on the LIFE Report: Laura Scudiere, Senior Executive - Human Service Operations at North Central Health Care; Melissa Dotter, Drug Free Communities Program Coordinator for the Marathon County Health Department; and Jeff Sargent, Executive Director of North Central Community Action Program and a member of the LIFE Report Steering Committee.

This Thursday, January 14th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 features a state legislative forum with Senator Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) and Representative Katrina Shankland (D- Stevens Point). Host Glen Moberg will ask Senator Tiffany and Representative Shankland about their top priorities for the remainder of the 2015 – 2016 legislative session, and their perspective on the bills that were passed last year.

This Thursday is New Year’s Eve, and at 10 am, WPR’s Route 51 host Glen Moberg will take a look back at the highlights of 2015. Moberg will be behind the microphone, sharing the most significant interviews, the most fascinating people, the most important political developments, the most inspiring feature stories, and the best live musical moments of WPR's Route 51 from this past year. The Year End Review Show has been a holiday tradition on Route 51 since 2005.

Eighty years ago, in the middle of the Great Depression, the U.S. government put Wisconsin writers and artists to work with an epic project, much of which has remained hidden in the Library of Congress for decades. Now John Zimm (shown above) has compiled many of these forgotten tales into a book entitled, Blue Men and River Monsters . Join host Glen Moberg this Thursday morning at 10 am as he talks with Zimm and Michael Edmonds , Deputy Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society's Library-Archives, about the mysterious creatures of the north - elves, ghosts, witches, wizards and the Hasgaardsreia (underground beings said to roam the forests on Christmas Eve) and the rich history behind the folklore.

This Thursday, December 10th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 looks at the Syrian refugee crisis from a local perspective with Katherine Graebel-Khandakani , a UW-Stevens Point student from Weston with a personal connection: her husband’s Syrian parents are seeking asylum in the United States, and she has been helping with the process. Two family members crossed the Aegean Sea to flee to Europe, while others still live in Syria. Host Glen Moberg will moderate a discussion with Graebel-Khandakani and John Viste, a Rhinelander man who spent 25 years in the Middle East working with non-profit organizations on humanitarian assistance and economic development.

This Thursday, December 3rd at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 looks at the impact of CAP Services of Stevens Point and its former President and CEO, the late Karl Pnazek. As leader of one of America’s most effective and influential Community Action Programs, Mr. Pnazek created and implemented innovative solutions to pressing problems, bettering the lives of many struggling people in Central Wisconsin and the cities, villages and towns they lived in. Host Glen Moberg will moderate a discussion with Mary Patoka, current President and CEO of CAP Services of Stevens Point; journalist and author Bill Berry, who worked with Mr. Pnazek on a number of his initiatives; and David Bradley, the Executive Director of the National Community Action Foundation in Washington DC. Community Action Programs were created by the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act as part of the U.S. Government’s War on Poverty.

This Thursday, November 19th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 features archaeologist Robert A. Birmingham, the author of a new book, Skunk Hill, A Native Ceremonial Community in Wisconsin, which examines the Native American history of Powers Bluff, a popular Wood County ski hill. The 300-foot bluff was the site of a large Potawatomi village, Tah-qua-kik, whose residents resisted America’s harsh Indian policy and helped preserve their culture. The program will be moderated by Route 51 host Glen Moberg, and will also feature Mike Hoffman, a Menominee linguist and historian from Stevens Point. Skunk Hill, A Native Ceremonial Community in Wisconsin is published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press.