La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

La Crosse City Council Representative Aron Newberry joined the show in studio to discuss the city's projected $8 million budget shortfall, the recent 18-month moratorium on AI data centers, and how La Crosse's public pools and libraries compare to other municipalities across Wisconsin. The $8 Million Budget Gap: The budget conversation came just a few days after a Budget Parameter Committee meetin...

La Crosse County Administrator Jane Klekamp in studio helping decide how much money it would take to get a radio show host to move here and become part of the tax base. Klekamp said it's something the county has looked into in the past — and is currently underway in Fond du Lac — as we discussed Wisconsin’s declining population and ways to get people to move h...

La Crosse’s household survival budget. The bare minimum it takes for a person, a family, to get by. It’s called the  ALICE report . It was just released by the Great Rivers United Way and executive director Mary Kay Wolf stopped in the WIZM studio for the Rick Solem Show to discuss it. ALICE stands for (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). It comes out every two years and...

How much would it take for you to move to Fond du Lac? That's one of the many topics discussed with Adam Murphy on Friday's The Rick Solem Show. Murphy is a small business owner, economist and — as we learn — handyman. Before we get into moving to Fond du Lac and the political landscape of Wisconsin's governor's race — and whether they should just run on an anti-AI data center pl...

Brad Pitel in studio helping us preview the four-day July 4 celebration at Riverside Park. Riverfest kicks off Thursday afternoon and ends with a firework show on the 4th of July. Pitel, who is on the Riverfest board, talks about the wide array of acts from national country star Mitchell Tenpenny to the RCCW pro wrestling events, where they bring a ring to Riverside. Pitel also talks about how Mis...

Why are we so obsessed with algae in a D.C. wading pool, or a U.S. Senate candidate’s scandals in Maine of all places over what’s happening in our own backyard? As we fixate on national sideshows like those, UW-Madison professor Dr. Mike Wagner joins to decipher why our focus shifts away from critical local decisions — like an  upcoming La Crosse city budget public hearing ....

If you've spent any time in local coffee shops or boutiques, you know that naming your business after "The Driftless" carries a certain amount of outdoorsy eco-prestige.  But, according to UW-Madison geologist Dr. Eric Carson, if that business is across the river in Minnesota or Iowa — they are living a lie. For the past 18 years, Dr. Carson has been mapping The Driftless. He joins ahea...

The city of La Crosse has a lot going on right now — from transforming the now-closed library and tearing down the Kmart, to rezoning for housing by the old Shopko at Bridgeview Plaza and establishing new TIDs on the causeway and by Black River Beach. To help explain all that, Mac Kiel joins, as we break down the process for what comes next with the old north library and recap her mayor dist...

La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Sam Scinta on his “Lord of the Rings”-length meeting with the mayor, the business climate in the community right now, and that port initiative announced last week. We began though with just a quick “What does the Chamber do?” as Scinta has been leading it now for the past nine months. Next, we talked about — what is more of a lon...

La Crosse County Democratic Party chair Wyatt Molling was in studio last week for the Rick Solem Show discussing the friction between the state and local party over reaching rural voters. We recapped the state convention and why everyday voters don't look like convention diehards, plus the split over Gov. Tony Evers' budget surplus deal. And, we closed with some rapid-fire over everything from dat...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio to help weave a discussion about the La Crosse pool poll, the Democratic convention governor straw poll and the Packers fighting with one Wisconsin US House member. We did start the show, though, talking quick about not being a sports fan but being excited about something like the World Cup — plus the Loggers having C...

Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio discussing A.I. data centers, the budget surplus deal and — with Alabama and Megadeath coming to La Crosse — ticket prices and third-party sellers. Pfaff also came in hyped that June is dairy month and will be hosting a dairy breakfast from 6-11 a.m. at Creamery Creek Farms in Bangor. When it comes to legislation, though, the state did nothing...

The logrolling champion of the world, seven years running, La Crosse’s own Livi Pappadopoulos, in studio to hype up Saturday’s La Crosse Open and give us the inside scoop on how she dominates the sport. Pappadopoulos owns Coulee Region Logrolling, and it’s hosting the 25th annual La Crosse Open, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Pettibone Lagoon. She tells us what to expect during the...

What happens next now that the north side library is officially closed? La Crosse Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey in studio Monday to break down the city's next steps, explaining the upcoming request for proposals (RFP) process and addressing the transparency questions surrounding the three groups that have already expressed interest in the building. Before that, though, we discussed the narrativ...

For the first time as the La Crosse School Board president, Trevor Sprague joins, and we take a look at the developments for a $33 million indoor aquatics center, technology in schools and the continuing plans of the district consolidation process. With the pool, we talk about the city and the district creating a committee to come up with a plan, the survey that received about 3,500 responses and...

We discuss the culture and politics of gambling and drinking in La Crosse with UW-L political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, and WIZM’s Brad Williams, and then feature another woman-owned business "for no reason whatsoever" Friday on the Rick Solem Show. The "sin taxes and vices" conversation went in a bunch of different directions, including a look back at when La Crosse resident...

We look at farming issues in Wisconsin, a week after President Donald Trump visited a Chippewa Falls farm last week and, after that, we continue what could be a series, “Hyping women-owned businesses for no reason whatsoever.” But first, Brian Reisinger, joined to talk about fuel and fertilizer prices because of the Iran war and ways to better help the small farms — whether that&...

Every election, politicians around Wisconsin gather signatures to get on the ballot. This can be an incredibly stressful time for politicians and the results give us interesting clues about the elections to come. From independent candidates to signature challenges in court to hints about what seats will be competitive in November, there is a lot to learn from the end results, if we just bother to...

Hyping up women-owned businesses for no reason whatsoever Wednesday on the Rick Solem Show.  We were joined in studio by Abram Dyke of  Abe’s Raves . Our local foodie helped track down a bunch of awesome local businesses that we got on the show, including: Sam Sveum, who owns  Nom Sips & Eats Mia Davis of the  Mia’s Kitchen  food truck Maria Norberg, owner...

An 18-month data center ban in La Crosse is on the docket for the county board.  The moratorium legislation comes as a county study committee has its first meeting Wednesday . Dillon Mader and Lia Manock stopped in studio to break down their reasonings for a moratorium, discuss the work the study committee will be doing, and why they feel a ban on data centers is necessary. While there are mu...

Bringing down La Crosse’s Kmart, what ever happened to the green bubbler talk from last year and the potential selling of the north side library. Those were some of the big topics we discussed with city council president Tamra Dickinson ahead of their monthly Thursday meeting. We started with the north library, which is scheduled to close for good June 15. Dickinson walks us through the proc...

John Havlicek stopped in studio just days after saying adiós to the teaching profession after 31 years — 28 of those at Central High School. So, of course, we had to tell a couple of retirement stories, but also got into some of the politics surrounding education and beyond with Havlicek, who is a political activist.  Beyond education, we also discussed what he’d like to se...

Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle in studio discussing whether the state might get that $2 billion in budget surplus back to taxpayers before the election. We also discussed a data center moratorium, his opponent in November, one governor candidate being $30,000 in credit card debt and an update on rebuilding the Tank Creek Bridge. Earlier in the day, a news release went out from Keith Pur...

We honed in on a couple of President Donald Trump's pet projects and rehashed the state's failed budget surplus deal with Citizen Action of Wisconsin's Robert Kraig.  It's hard to pick any one thing when it comes to the Trump administration, but we narrowed it down to these things: Trump's $1.778 billion (what we call) "slush fund" The $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for a ballroom  The M...

Will Kmart come down, an indoor pool go up and what’s the north side library worth? Those are a few things we talked about with Mac Kiel in studio, helping preview committee week in La Crosse.  The Copper Rocks project is again going before committees. That’s the plan to tear down the old Kmart and create both a business and residential area on that lot. Will Kmart come down this...