La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy at the Tax Foundation in La Crosse, joined to discuss the threat from the MLB commissioner that the Brewers could leave Milwaukee if they don't get some $500 million in stadium funding, while Green Bay Legislators want $2 million from taxpayers for hosting NFL draft. We dove into the continuing trend of billionaire owners wanting millions in taxpayer doll...

La Crosse Central High School Spanish teacher John Havlicek in studio talking about details within the Wisconsin state budget proposal on education, manufacturing and healthcare, as well as a rally educators held in Madison last weekend. Along with that, we got Havlicek's take on some of the more national talking points when it comes to education and teachers. See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio discussing stealing a $500 salad, MLB threatening Brewers leaving town, Ron DeSantis presidential run. Began the show talking about a couple of nonsense stories that we just don’t have enough details about and crave more. One out of Illinois, where a man stole a backhoe to get to the airport. The other was a Georgia woman b...

We threw a ton of food/drink questions at Gundersen dietitian Laura Birkel, in studio, including fake sugars like diet soda, fried foods contributing to depression, stupid serving sizes and the Top 5 worst things you can put in your body. Began the show on serving sizes, after seeing a loaf of bread's serving is one slice, and just how prevalent that is among things we eat. Also discussed a study...

La Crosse County Administrator Jane Klekamp in studio talking about some of the initiatives they're working on surrounding homelessness, road funding, skilled trades training and PFAS. We discussed some of the important things that happened at last week's monthly county board meeting, including $2 million in funding for youth skilled trades training, potential $3 million more for fixing roads, and...

Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio to discussing a lot of negotiations happening — federally with the debt ceiling, statewide with the shared revenue plan and locally with road funding. Began the show on the debt ceiling talks with Republicans in charge of the the US House and the Biden Administration. After that, we get Pfaff's point of view on the back and forth between Republicans in the...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in the WIZM studio Friday for La Crosse Talk PM discussing about the culture wars on school boards, as a teacher is fired over the song Rainbowland. We also talked about the conspiracy of banning TikTok, luring a 300-pound pig on the loose in Wisconsin and Americans smuggling Fruit Rollups. Began the show talking about a Waukesha tea...

La Crosse state Assembly Rep. Jill Billings joins, a day after Republicans released their amended shared revenue plan that has bipartisan opposition. We discuss that, as well as the homeless issue and what is being done at the state level. Billings represents District 95, which includes the city of La Crosse, Campbell and parts of Shelby. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Bikes for Little Tikes happens Saturday, and Puck from 95.7 the Rock joined to talk about its 27-year history and why they'll be riding for Emerson Smalls, a 9-year-old West Salem Elementary student. After that, County Board chair Monica Kruse joined to break down the monthly meeting, which includes the creating of a Broadband Committee, a diversity report from a consultant recently hired and...

Big news out of the Northwoods League, as co-founder Dick Radatz, Jr., joins the show with to break the news that they're working on a softball league. Before that, we talk some of the items on the La Crosse County Board's agenda Thursday, including another committee being formed and using $2.45 million for skilled trades training. We also discuss the Wisconsin GOP unveiling a dueling plan for pub...

Jason Stein, vice president and research director for Wisconsin Policy Forum joined to help dissect some bigger topics happening statewide, including school referendums, a local government funding plan and state's shrinking $6.9 billion budget surplus. We began talking about who and what Wisconsin Policy Forum is, before delving into these topics that are all sort of intertwined. The big news of t...

La Crosse Education Association president, Jesse Martinez joined to discuss education priorities in and out of the state budget so far. We also talked about a new grading system coming to the district next year. After that, WIZM’s Brad Williams breaks down the city council meeting a bit. Ended the show talking more about that new grading system — called Standards Based Grading — and how Republican...

William Garcia in studio, talking about his new role as the Democratic Party chair of the 3rd Congressional District, his main role there — unseating Republican Derrick Van Orden — and convention resolutions recently passed. We also talked about another US House representative, George Santos, being arrested and why he won’t be kicked out of Congress. That led to a discussion about Donald Trump hav...

Hunger Task Force La Crosse executive director Shelly Fortner joined. While people are struggling right now with rising costs, so is the Hunger Task Force with getting donations. We talked about what the HTF does, how its distributing food, needs volunteers, and has its biggest food drive of the year this Saturday. The Post Office Food Drive on Saturday simply asks people to put donations in a bag...

La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds in studio, talking about the state’s dueling plans to fund local governments, No Mow May, new business plans, and making the city more pedestrian friendly with traffic-slowing potholes. Spent a good portion of the show talking about the state's dueling plans — between the Republican Legislature and the Democratic governor — in how to fund local governments. Began the...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky joins, to break down a Wisconsin GOP local, state funding bill — one that has a traffic ticket and arrests quota — as well as legislators voting shirtless and what Scott Walker’s mad about. In regards to the  GOP local state funding bill , that has begun circulating this week, we discussed a couple of the stipulations in it, such as c...

UW-La Crosse outreach specialist Spencer Wilken in studio, on Star Wars day, talking space news and debunking moon landing conspiracies. We spent the entire second half of the show breaking down the moon landing "hoaxes," like the radiation belt, fake film, or why we haven't gone back. Before that, however, we did talk some space news, like a Barbie Black Hole and a real life lightsaber. Began the...

John Havlicek, our pseudo Wisconsin state budget proposal expert, and La Crosse Central Spanish teacher joins. We, of course, dive into some of the state budget proposals when it comes to education. That included how schools are funded, "per pupil" money and how voucher schools fit — or don't — into the public education system. Republicans, who recently stripped over 500 items out of Evers' versio...

Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio to talk about some of what Republicans have stripped out of the budget, like childcare funding and marijuana legalization. Also talked about child labor vs. a workforce shortage vs. a pay shortage. We hit on the train derailment, as well, and spent quite a bit of time on the dueling income tax cuts being proposed by Republicans (a flat tax) and Gov. Tony E...

Saw a "get off my lawn" rant on Facebook about kids not playing hide-n-seek, which coincided nicely with some legislation proposed in Wisconsin by Republicans. The legislation would limit social media use for kids — essentially being the parents. Before we hit on that, though, WiZM's Brad Williams joined to talk about when he met Danny DeVito. Oh, and we also talked about some proposals going thro...

A wide array of topics with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, from how the GOP can appeal to young voters to McDonald's selling the Big Mac sauce. Began the show just running down the day's topics, before bringing up a Wisconsin GOP strategist saying the quiet thing out loud when it comes to college students voting. That led to a deep discussion in ways the GOP could...

Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC) Executive Director Carol Abrahamzon in studio to help navigate how Wisconsin lawmakers are breaking the law, when it comes to certain land projects. Before that, though, we got into the mission of the MVC. Then we dive into the rabbit hole of how Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is killing land conservancy projects that are applying for grant money wit...

Though we buried the lead to start the show, two guests joined — Dr. Tom Schlesinger and Nick Nichols — to talk about climate change, what we can do about it, what the state could do that would save $14 billion a year to the benefit of everything and everyone. Schlesinger is a political scientist that specializes in healthcare and also has a Master’s in international environmental policy, focusing...

The River Point District, north of downtown La Crosse, has been decades in the making. Jason Gilman, project manager and owner of JBG Planning, LLC, joined to break down just what to expect and when to expect those acres along the Black and Mississippi rivers to be developed.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kahya Fox, the executive director of Habitat For Humanity La Crosse Area, joins to talk about housing dilemmas in the area and possible solutions. The big problems here, with La Crosse being landlocked, is the number of homes available, but the incredibly skyrocketing prices of these homes that’s affecting not just low income people anymore, but middle class. Prices of homes, rising mortgage rates...