Center Stage, with Milfred and Hands

Milfred and Hands won't defend state Rep. Elijah Behnke, R-Oconto Falls, for saying on hidden video that his party needs to "cheat like the Democrats or bend the rules." When the rookie lawmaker joked about wanting to punch the governor, who is 30-plus years his senior, it smacked of elder abuse. This self-described "redneck from the North Woods" appears solidly in the Trump wing of Wisconsin's Re...

Milfred and Hands interview Dr. Patrick Remington, a UW-Madison expert on the spread of disease, for the third time since the pandemic began two years ago. Remington, who worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and who teaches the public health experts of the future, says science has learned a lot about COVID-19, including the omicron variant, which is spreading fast in Wisconsin...

Milfred and Hands sing political lyrics set to holiday songs, including "God Rest Ye, Merry Gableman," "Hark! It's time to diss Beijing" and "Good King Rodgers." For the "Hallelujah Chorus," our political podcasters sing "Gerrymander!" -- forever, and ever. Hands tries to convince a skeptical Santa Claus to get a vaccine. Who knew that Kris Kringle was an anti-vaxxer? Joining Milfred and Hands (to...

Milfred and Hands take the pulse of Madison's most famous street with Downtown dynamo Susan Schmitz. The Madison City Council narrowly failed to advance the cause of turning State Street into a pedestrian mall without buses recently. But the long-held dream of creating a grand promenade without motorized vehicles all the way from the UW-Madison campus to the state Capitol lives on. Schmitz, who le...

Milfred and Hands offer chilling commentary on the most frightening things about politics on the left and the right in Madison, across Wisconsin and in our nation's capital. Incivility -- including dead rats on a school board member's lawn -- terrifies Milfred. Hands' face turned pale when he saw the 9% increase in his Madison property tax bill. Our political podcasters worry that all the moderate...

Madison is growing fast. It's attracting lots of young talent. It's economy is poised to rebound quickly from the pandemic. That's not just good for the capital city, it benefits the entire state -- and Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, has the data to prove it. Yet politics keeps getting in the way of Madison and Wisconsin working more together and recognizing th...

Milfred and Hands urge school officials not to panic at the first outbreak of a COVID variant. Our political podcasters celebrate the return to five full days of classes a week in the Madison School District and elsewhere across most of Wisconsin this fall. Following a lost year of learning during the pandemic last year, schools should mask up -- as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention r...

Milfred and Hands assess the crowded field of 11 Democrats hoping to win the party's nomination to take on U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, in next year's election. Wisconsin's Senate seat is one of three toss-up Senate races across the country. That means voters here could decide who controls the U.S. Senate. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is the front-runner in the Democratic primary, though...

Milfred and Hands tout the "likely" result, in the words of Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, of the lower half of State Street becoming a true pedestrian mall without any motorized vehicles, including city buses. Our political podcasters also tout the need to keep buses and imposing transit stations off the top half of State Street to keep exciting options open for the future. Milfred and Hands...

Milfred and Hands love Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway's commitment to improving public transit in Madison. A faster and modern bus system is long overdue. But those long, snazzy "bus rapid transit" vehicles that she's bringing to Madison -- with $80 million of help from the federal government -- don't need to rumble up and down State Street, the city's premier shopping and entertainment district. Inste...

Milfred and Hands highlight Liz Cheney's and Elise Stefanik's connections to Wisconsin and its political leaders, including Cheney's birth in Madison and Stefanik's rise as a confidant of former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville. Ryan was a young Republican star who quickly became a party pariah during the celebrity-driven rise of Donald Trump. While Cheney is a traditional conservative whose...

Liberals seem to prefer Aaron Rodgers, and conservatives lean toward Brett Favre, as the Green Bay Packers' greatest quarterback (not counting Bart Starr). Milfred and Hands highlight how politics shapes our views of Rodgers' controversial standoff and potential split with the Packers. And they delve into the not-so-subtle political opinions of Rodgers (who recently opposed the Dakota pipeline) an...

Milfred and Hands quiz Dr. Patrick Remington, a UW-Madison expert on the spread of infectious disease, a year after their first podcast with him about COVID-19. A lot has changed. Remington says "clearly the worst is behind us," yet continuing to vaccinate more people is key to avoiding more contagious variants. Remington advises the vaccinated -- including Milfred and Hands, who just got their se...

Milfred and Hands analyze the results of Tuesday's voting, which included a big upset on the Madison City Council, two incumbents defeated, and an emphatic rejection of a full-time council. Republican state Sen.-elect John Jagler got a scare, while Jill Underly had an easier time becoming state superintendent of schools, as expected. The candidate with the most money at the statewide level won, bu...

Milfred and Hands play clips from the Wisconsin State Journal's recent endorsement meetings with 22 candidates in the April 6 election. This includes the two candidates for state superintendent of public instruction -- Deborah Kerr and Jill Underly -- responding to questions about Kerr's controversial tweet and who is better to improve learning for struggling students of color. Other big moments i...

Madison merchants "overwhelmingly support the campaign to turn State Street into a promenade," according to the city's longest serving and most popular alderman. "There absolutely is widespread support." Ald. Mike Verveer, who has represented Downtown Madison on the City Council for 26 years, tells Milfred and Hands on this week's episode of "Center Stage" that his Downtown constituents are excite...

"I believe that progressive, 21st century police departments should have body-worn cameras," Chief Shon Barnes tells our podcasters just a few weeks into his new job as Madison's top cop. Madison is one of the few cities of its size without cameras on patrol officers and one of only a third of police agencies in Wisconsin that haven't embraced the technology. Uniform cameras provide transparency a...

On the 10th anniversary of former Gov. Scott Walker's strict limits on public sector unions in Wisconsin, Milfred and Hands talk about Act 10 with the one Republican senator who voted against it a decade ago. Dale Schultz, of Richland Center, once the GOP’s majority leader in the Senate, still faults his political party for the deep division it created across the state. "I feel sad about nei...

Nearly half of State Street's 150 storefronts were boarded up in Downtown Madison last week. COVID-19 has ravaged the local economy and cost thousands of jobs, especially in the hospitality and retail industries. Looting and vandalism that followed local protests against police violence in Minneapolis, Kenosha and elsewhere caused further damage. What can the city do to bring back its signature sh...

Milfred and Hands break down last week's unusual State of the State speech. Because of COVID-19, Gov. Tony Evers delivered his annual address as a recorded video message, rather than in person. Yet Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and other Republican lawmakers showed up in the Assembly chambers at the state Capitol in Madison anyway. That's where Vos delivered the GOP rebuttal to Evers' speech from the...

Milfred and Hands tout Dr. Anthony Fauci's support for bringing back students to school buildings sooner than later. The health of our children is at stake if they don't get back into classes with teachers and peers. Milfred and Hands talk about the strong reaction to the State Journal's recent editorial on the controversial topic. Unlike many districts across Wisconsin, schools in Madison haven't...

This week's potcast goes up in smoke with Sen.-elect Melissa Agard, D-Madison, the unlikely face of efforts to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin. Agard is no pothead. She's the opposite of the "Cheech and Chong" stoner cliche. She's a single mom of four boys who tells Milfred and Hands she's never had the drug but is absolutely convinced that legalizing it will make Wisconsin safer.  See omnyst...

Did Madison and Dane County just cancel Thanksgiving? Our political podcasters talk turkey about the latest COVID-19 restrictions locally and across Wisconsin. Milfred won't invite Hands to his house for a holiday dinner if Dane County Executive Joe Parisi is going to be outside with binoculars trying to bust them for a public health violation. Hands proposes moving Thanksgiving and Christmas to t...

Milfred and Hands recap the 2020 election, higher turnout, the eroding suburbs and Dane County surge. President Donald Trump isn't conceding to President-elect Joe Biden just yet and might not ever. But if history is a guide, the president's pledge to recount Wisconsin's votes won't change much.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phil Hands threatens to switch his vote if the Democrats keep calling him at home. Scott Milfred wants the begging for campaign cash to finally end. He counts 15 requests for his money from myriad candidates over just 12 hours last week -- and he's never given a politician a dime. On this week’s political podcast, Milfred and Hands deliver their last licks on the 2020 election, with shots at...