One of the highlights of this weekend’s Big River Rally is an exclusive tour of the birthplace of S&S Cycle.

Howard Kelly, with S&S joined La Crosse Talk to preview the tour, which will feature six ultra-custom bikes that have only been shown at a handful of events this year — and a look at the manufacturing side of things at the Viola, Wis., plant.

S&S Cycle is a living chronicle of American V‑Twin performance engineering. Those on Saturday’s Big River Rally ride to Viola will step into a rural Wisconsin barn-turned-global brand. 

The S&S tour is just one of many events happening during Friday and Saturday’s Big River Rally. Another highlight is the Budweiser Clydesdales trotting through downtown and Riverside Park at 2 p.m. Saturday. There's also a motorcycle stunt show by Pat Smage. 

Concerts cap off both nights, including Texas Hippie Coalition headlining Friday and Drowning Pool on Saturday. Friday's ride and Saturday's rides are free. Tickets to the rest of the events can be had here.

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Milwaukee Brewers president Rick Schlesinger joined and seemed on board with a few nickname ideas we pitched for his rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski, who’s set to face off against the Pirates Paul Skenes on Wednesday — also La Crosse Area Day at AmFam Field.

Skenes is arguably the best pitcher in baseball right now, and Misiorowski is living up to the hype, beginning his career throwing 11 straight no-hit innings.

We ran a couple of nicknames by Schlesinger — The Big Mozzarella and The Miseralla Stick — for the 6-foot-7 flamethrower, who — like Skenes — regularly hits triple digits on the radar gun, a rarity for starting pitchers.

We also asked if a Misiorowski bobblehead is already in the works — and just how exciting it’s been watching the rookie so far.

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As Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski gears up to face MLB’s top pitcher, Paul Skenes, on La Crosse Area Day at AmFam Field, Brewers TV analyst Vinny Rottino joins to help try to land the right nickname: The Big Mizzarella? The Mizzarella Stick?

Rottino, a UW-La Crosse alum, also helps break down Wednesday’s hyped matchup — where 900 from La Crosse will bus in for the game — and he weighs in nickname attempts for the 6-foot-7 righty, who started his MLB career with 11 no-hit innings.

Rottino also talks about what might be running through Misiorowski’s mind as he prepares to face Skenes, and the former Brewer reflects on getting his own shot in the Majors, after a standout career at UW-L, where he hit .410 with 15 homers and was runner-up for Division III Player of the Year in 2002.

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Brad Quarberg stopped in the WIZM studio to talk about the interesting origins of La Crosse Area Day, where 900 people will hop into busses Wednesday to head to AmFam Field for Brewers-Pirates and the biggest pitching matchup of the season. La Crosse Area Day started in 1998 by La Crosse Mayor John Medinger but the reasoning behind it is not what you think. This interview followed a talk with Brad's son Nick Quarberg, who talked to us about what it's like being on the ground crew for the Pirates the past five years.

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La Crosse native Nick Quarberg joined from Pittsburgh, where he’s spent the past five years on the grounds crew for the Pirates.

He shared what that job’s like — including putting in 15 miles a day at PNC Park, and the time he made national TV trying (and failing) to catch a squirrel during a game. There's video.

In studio was Nick’s dad, Brad Quarberg, as the Brewers get set to host the Pirates this week — including La Crosse Area Day on Wednesday at American Family Field.

Nick talks about how he’s become the classic “get off my lawn” guy, thanks to all the backbreaking work it takes to keep the field in shape, as well as some perks to the job — like getting to watch Pirates ace Paul Skenes throw a bullpen session.

Skenes is scheduled to face off against Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday with 900 fans from the La Crosse area headed to the game by bus. Brad Quarberg tells an interesting story about that (listen here).

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We took a rollercoaster ride that is trying to save the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with Ingrid Lyons last week.

Lyons is the executive director of the nonprofit Save the Boundary Waters. The Boundary Waters is a million-acre expanse of lakes and forests along Minnesota’s Canadian border — one of the most remote and cherished wilderness areas in the U.S. It’s long been shielded from development, but now faces renewed threats from foreign-backed mining operations just upstream.

Lyons breaks down how a Chilean billionaire-owned company is pushing to mine near the area, why that poses a serious risk to the wilderness, and how protections for this fragile ecosystem have swung back and forth depending on who’s in the White House.

The latest move comes from the Trump administration, which has announced its intent to overturn a 20-year mining ban put in place by President Biden — citing the need to boost domestic mineral production. But Lyons points out that the mining would be done by a foreign company, with the minerals likely headed overseas to China.

We also discussed other foreign mining projects moving into Minnesota and Wisconsin to extract resources and ship them to other countries — while locals are left to deal with the environmental consequences.

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U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined WIZM’s La Crosse Talk earlier this week to discuss how insane it is to keep up with everything the Trump Administration is doing, but that her focus is on opposing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) talks about how the bill could kick 250,000 Wisconsin residents and add nearly $3 trillion to the national debt.

Baldwin also discussed showing up to different parts of the state. She was in Onalaska last month hearing from veterans their impact of potential federal funding cuts. Back in March, Baldwin was in La Crosse hearing from residents who rely on Medicaid.

This interview happened before Trump announced attacks on Iran on Saturday night.

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We look at ditching Wisconsin’s income tax — if only to make the Packers more competitive — with the Tax Foundation’s Dr. Adam Hoffer, plus how the state pays to fix roads and build roundabouts using gas taxes and EV fees.

We kicked things off by looking back at when Tyreek Hill signed with the Miami Dolphins, noting he chose Florida partly because it has no state income tax. That led to a breakdown of what Hill’s salary would have looked like had he signed with the Green Bay Packers or the Minnesota Vikings instead.

From there, we got into how Wisconsin could revamp its income tax system — with ideas ranging from a flat tax to eliminating it altogether — along with the challenges of making that transition and how the state might replace the lost revenue through sales or property taxes.

We opened the show with a look at road funding and La Crosse traffic — from roundabouts to summer construction — and wrapped up with the revenue differences between gas taxes and EV fees.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergoksy, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse discussing the history of Bridgeview Plaza, where Shopko once lived, the plan for tax cuts, and when Giannis get his, plus Bernie Sanders endorsing Derrick Van Orden’s opponent and a Wisconsin native who doesn’t believe in history — at all.

Began the show bringing in the Human Ask Jeeves himself, WIZM’s Brad Williams, to talk about this housing plan for Bridgeview Plaza and what that strip mall was like when it was built in the early 1970s.

From there we talked about A.I. quick, as ChatGPT argued recently with me that Joe Biden was still president.

After that, we went to the Republican plan for tax cuts in Wisconsin, plus how long before lawmakers will start carving out tax breaks for athletes — Giannis Antetokounmpo for starters — to keep him in the state, like they already do for billionaire owners of teams. We also discussed how a Florida team with no state income tax is at an advantage to a Canadian team with a lot of taxes — as was this year’s NHL Finals.

Other news included Sanders’ endorsement in Wisconsin’s 3rd US House District, where three Democrats are running against Van Orden, and how unusual it is to have all this activity with over a year to the primary.

Lastly, we did some quick hitters on security at the state capitol, after the Minnesota killer manhunt and hit list that included Wisconsin lawmakers, plus a lawsuit seeking to ban “Musk bucks,” after Elon Musk was paying $100 and $1 million to Wisconsin voters. 

Chergosky left for this one, but I ended the show ranting about Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro — a Milwaukee native — saying recently he doesn’t believe in any history before 1950. It’s wild. 

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La Crosse County Sheriff, John Siegel, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk discussing his office’s role in the manhunt for the Minnesota killer, which included welfare checks on at least one area state Legislator.

Siegel talked about how he got a phone call while at a wedding, and then things got real, as he learned someone had shot and killed a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, shot and wounded another couple and had a hit list that included prominent Wisconsin figures. 

Other things we discussed included was their getting two new deputies and giving them new roles, plus how crisis workers getting paired with law enforcement might benefit the Sheriff's Office.

We also talked quick about ATVs being legal to drive on West Salem roads, some security and outreach they’re doing.

A bit of a sidebar we hit on was Siegel’s assessment of, basically, cop TV. Let’s just say he’s not a big fan — though he does watch Reacher. 

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