A year into the job, UW-La Crosse chancellor, Dr. James Beeby, in studio discussing finally securing funding for the Prairie Springs Science Center, the loss of federal funding for the university’s Adapted Physical Education program, and the growing challenges students face with tuition and housing costs.

Beeby talks about his trips to Madison, working the Wisconsin state Legislature to get what ends up being $194 million for Phase 2 of Prairie Springs funded — after seven years of GOP delays that will ultimately cost taxpayers an extra $100 million.

He also spoke emotionally about the funding loss from the US Department of Education for the PE program, which has trained special education teachers for 40 years.

Lastly, we covered the Universities of Wisconsin getting $256 million in the new 2025-27 state budget, plus $840 million for campus building projects — including Prairie Springs — while tuition is still set to rise 4-5%, and housing costs continue to climb.

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UW-L political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio on the best late-night eats in La Crosse, an odd exchange between US House Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Mark Pocan and how the money shows us who’s running for office next year — from WI supreme court to the governor’s race.

Opened the show just highlighting some of that, before getting into campaign finance — where we also learned just exactly how much Elon Musk put into Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race last November, an election that broke a dollars record even without the billionaire’s involvement. 

We also discussed how the money might be an indicator on who is running for office in 2026 — Gov. Tony Evers and Justice Rebecca Bradley have peculiar dollar amounts that may indicate their intentions.

In between that, we played a video of an interaction between Pocan (D-Madison) and Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien), where they insult and accuse each other of some inflammatory things. 

Lastly, we talked about a recent Minnesota poll that shows a La Crosse business being the top choice for “late night eats,” while also discussing our favorite spots in the area, if we found ourselves hungry, wandering around at 2 a.m.

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La Crosse Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey stops in the WIZM studio on day 99 of his term, as we discuss some city council votes on housing homeless and park security, plus where we're at with the old Kmart development and hiring a city administrator.

We started the show just talking about his first few months in office and some of the more memorable moments, so far — pothole patrol with the governor and having the prince of India in his office. 

After that, we discussed two city council votes from last week, including using $115,000 in contingency funds for security in the parks and ramps, as well as the $100,000 Mayo donation to help house some people experiencing homelessness.

Next we discussed the city administrator role for a bit. Washington-Spivey campaigned on hiring this, as a council working group continues to study the idea, though the potential hiring of the position has been pushed off until February.

Lastly, we talked about the old Kmart lot, a few weeks after Three Sixty Real Estate's Jeremy Novak was in studio breaking down their new plan for that development, after some city rezoning and approved delays had expired.

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We might see it soon back on the La Crosse city council agenda, the old Kmart, but it’s not there yet, as Mac Kiel joined La Crosse Talk this week.

Other things we discussed included the council approving $115,000 in contingency funding for security at parks and ramps — but how this funding option needs to change — plus a project to house homeless people through $100,000 in funding from Mayo in La Crosse. 

Outside of La Crosse, we also discussed the Onalaska city council approving a $25-per-vehicle wheel tax for the next three years to help deal with a budget deficit. 

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New Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair, Devin Remiker, joins to talk about getting his start in La Crosse, the state budget and Derrick Van Orden, plus the upcoming governor race.

Remiker began his term as chair this month, succeeding Ben Wikler. A UW-La Crosse graduate, Remiker got his start in politics with state Rep. Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska), before joining former La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat’s campaign and later working for longtime U.S. House Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse).

He joined the show just hours before heading to La Crosse for a 6 p.m. Thursday town hall (sign up here), focused on the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Attendees will also be able to ask questions on broader topics involving government and politics.

During the interview, Remiker gives his opinion on what he wants Gov. Tony Evers to do about running for re-election. Evers has not yet announced his plans, though that could come even before Thursday’s event.

We also talk with Remiker about the recent passage of the Wisconsin state budget and how U.S. House Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) wanted to both take credit for securing over $1 billion in federal healthcare funding for Wisconsin, while voting less than 24 hours later to take that same future funding away.

Remiker is also asked about the state of the Democratic Party right now and what it can do, as Republicans hold the entire federal government.

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Some of the Once Upon A Mattress crew stopped in studio to help preview their La Crosse Community Theatre musical happening this weekend.

The King, Marcus Palm, Minstrel Cooper Koepke and Queen Juni Waller tell us what Once Upon A Mattress is all about, how we can make theatre cool again and how to get over stage fright.

Friday and Saturday’s shows happen at 7:30 p.m., while Sunday’s show gets started at 2 p.m. Tickets can be had at the box office or on the La Crosse Community Theatre website.

Also helping preview the show was La Crosse Community Theatre education director, Katelyn Klieve.

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Terry Bauer dropped in the WIZM studio to preview this week's Moon Tunes concert at Riverside Park.

The concerts run 5:30-8 p.m. Thursdays all summer, and this week is a pair of Noon/Moon Tunes original bands, with The Executives kicking things off, followed by Blind Baby Olin & the Workbenches. 

As always, there will be plenty of food and drink trucks at the park, but feel free to bring chairs, blankets and coolers. There is also free train rides for the kids and Smith's Bike Shop hosts a bike corral, which is basically valet parking for bicyclists. 

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School District of La Crosse superintendent Dr. Aaron Engel joins to talk about the next step in the $53.5 million referendum plan, plus the Wisconsin state budget passing and potential fallout from more federal funding freezes.

We began the show, though, talking quick about the upcoming musical, Once Upon A Mattress — the La Crosse Community Theatre's musical performed entirely by high school students.

After that, we discuss State Road Elementary School additions. This is the much quieter part of last November's referendum, which will also see a new elementary school built, upon tearing the Hogan Administration building down. State Road is set to get $11.5 million in updates and the district will soon take bids for those 10 new classrooms and new gymnasium.

Engel also discussed the impact of the Wisconsin state budget passing, where the district will get more in special education funding — eventually. Plus, there are some federal funding freezes that could impact La Crosse schools.

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A.J. Frels, the Executive Director of Explore La Crosse, was sharing information about how much money tourism generates for the La Crosse area Friday morning during La Crosse Talk. 

During the interview with guest host Vicki Markussen, Frels broke down what visitors bring when they come to the area. 

Overall, Frels said for 2024, the economic impact of tourism for La Crosse County was $519 million.  Direct visitor spending for the county was $319 million, or as Frels put it, money coming right out of the pockets of visitors.

Of the 72 counties that make up Wisconsin, La Crosse County ranks #9 in direct visitor spending. 

While people may think the money is mostly spent at hotels, restaurants, and gas stations, he pointed out that visitors also shop retail shops and businesses as well. 

Based on the data put together with apps used to track purchases and spending, Frels stated that nearly one-quarter of revenue for local restaurants comes from visitors to the La Crosse area. 

Besides hard numbers, there was also a discussion about what brings people to the Coulee Region in the first place. This included the many festivals and celebrations held in and around La Crosse. The natural beauty of the bluffs and river and the recreational and leisure activities they provide is a big draw for visitors. 

In the second half of his interview, Frels talked about a new event coming in September-the USA Cycling Gravel National Championships. The event is expected to bring in several thousand cyclists, support staff, fans, and family for the races around La Crescent on September 20. More information is coming next week on the races and the two-year commitment USA Cycling made to hold the championships here.

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While a story may be based on a book, there’s much more to storytelling than simply reading that story to an audience according to Terry Visger, one of the organizers of the La Crosse Storytelling Festival. 

“Storytellers look the audience in the eye. So even at the Pump House, we’re not like the theater. It’s not in a dark room. The lights are up about the same as when they came in because the storytellers will look them in the eye and make that connection,” she said.  

There are plenty of opportunities to make that connection when The La Crosse Storytelling Festival returns for its 22nd year on July 18-19 at the Pump House Regional Arts Center. 

People of all ages can enjoy storytelling or participate in one of the classes teaching the art of storytelling. While those events on Friday and Saturday do require purchasing a ticket, there’s one portion of the festival that’s free.  

“The children’s program is free because we know how important story is to kids’ development, to kids’ brains, it’s a literacy skill for children. So, we want to introduce it to them, and we do it free,” Visger said.  

It runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It includes songs and music from Hans Mayer and “Fantastic Stories” with Charlotte Blake Alston. She performed at the Kennedy Center and works with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra as its storyteller, narrator, and host.  

Other storytellers at this year’s event include Bil Lepp, who shares his stories plus running one of the workshops on adding humor to a tale. He’s a five-time champion of the West Virginia Liar’s Contest.  

Jim May also is an award-winning storyteller who also takes the stage and holds a workshop on Saturday about sharing personal stories.  

Tickets for the La Crosse Storytelling Festival can be purchased through the Pump House’s website.

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