After months of negotiations, Governor Evers and GOP legislative leaders have reached a deal on how to spend the state’s projected budget surplus. But their proposal still has to clear a vote in both chambers of the state Legislature – and not everyone is on board.

For a closer look, our News Producer Faye Parks sat down with Jessie Opoien, a state politics reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Image courtesy: Chali Pittman / WORT News.

Forecast from Monday, 5-11-26 by WORT 89.9FM Madison

Madison’s beloved Olbrich Botanical Gardens welcomed almost 400,000 visitors last year. However, it was designed to handle less than half of that amount. This year, the Gardens with the partnership of Madison’s Parks Division embarked on a master planning process to ensure the future of the Gardens including expanding its physical space as well as services. To talk about this process, Douglas Haynes hosts a roundtable discussion with Hilary Gerstein, Eric Knepp, and Tanya Zastrow.

Featured image of the Bolz Conservatory at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens via Wikimedia Commons.

The Past Isn’t Past recalls the the Million Mom March, May 14th, 2000 (Mother's Day that year), a protest against lax gun laws that endangered and still endanger children and adults alike. 750,000 attended the DC rally, plus thousands in over 77 communities across the country.

Image courtesy: David on Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/65193799@N00/35728102

Milwaukee based artist Susan Simensky Bietila has spent a lifetime in protest and activism. She’ll join us to talk about her new memoir.

The UW Space Place closes its doors, the victim of federal budget cuts. Director Jim Lattis joins us with a farewell.

It’s planting season! Pete and Bert take a look at the challenges that the American small farms are facing. Besides Mother Nature, economics and man-made events are making a mess of things during planting season. Many farmers are pledging all their assets to secure loans to buy what they need for this planting season.

Photo by Steven Weeks on Unsplash

This week on Mel & Floyd: The latest on “Don Snore-leone”; Problems with Canvas educational software; Mel is back on his bike!; Chief Justice Roberts laments correct public perception; War crimes prosecution as a growth industry; $850 Million tax dollars to cancel wind power projects; Cheetah poplation increases in Iran; And other random topics; Notice something missing? For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast! Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time.

Photo courtesy OGenius Aficionados on Unsplash

Though Operation Metro Surge has officially ended, the Trump administration continues to abduct people from the Twin Cities. Three people were also taken from Madison this week, and Salah Sarsour, the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, was detained on April 3 and remains in ICE detention. In response, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with two organizers with Workers’ Solidary Circle–Kip Hedges and Cal Robinette–about the lessons other communities can learn from ICE resistance in the Twin Cities.  

Featured image from an anti-ice protest from January 2026 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Queery - 30th Anniversary Show - LIVE REMOTE by WORT 89.9FM Madison