La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Viterbo University biology chair and entomologist, Dr. Ted Wilson, joined to talk about the city of La Crosse's effort to help pollinators this spring with "No Mow May," where homeowners can volunteer not to mow their lawns. Wilson discusses whether that's a good thing or not. We also hit on some other bug topics like murder hornets, whether the mosquitoes, ticks and gnats will be bad and the bug...

Interim Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Schott joined the show to recap the downtown La Crosse fire that claimed one building and temporarily closed some businesses adjacent to it. Schott discusses the investigation that will continue, how the fire started and compares the Indian Curry House fire on April 28, 2022, to the Casino Bar fire in 2021.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

US Senate candidate here in Wisconsin, Adam Murphy, spent the hour talking about everything from culture wars in politics to inflation, gas prices, the minimum wage and electric vehicles. Murphy is one of about 10 candidates running in the Democratic primary for Senate. He also revealed he'll get one of those little cartons of milk -- like we got at school -- when he orders from the fast food join...

Wisconsin Common Cause executive director Jay Heck joined to help explain how the Wisconsin Supreme Court went back on its decision to accept one set of voting maps and then took, what most experts say, is an even worse — more politically skewed — set of maps.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the past 29 years, Russell Wilson has led the effort to cleaning up the Coulee Region's waterways. River Cleanup La Crosse takes place May 7. We talked with Wilson about how this got started and the trash we're pulling out of the area's waterways. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky joined, as we break down both the best and worst Easter candies, and get breaking news — the holiday weekend, Friday news dump that will have Republicans dancing in the streets, a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that affects the entire state. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the show Big Bang Theory an eye-roller for scientists? That was one of the things that came up in having Spencer Hulsey, the UW-La Crosse outreach specialist, in studio. She blows stuff up to help get kids interested in the field of science, where UW-L hosts a bunch of camps, most of which have scholarships. Along with the show Big Bang Theory discussion, we also talked comets and meteorit...

La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds joined. Gave the mayor some homework for next month’s show — to watch the show Reacher, where the mayor appointed himself police chief. We discussed groundbreakings on a $200 million hospital and a $5.5 million fire department this week, how the state legislature is done for the year, while a city council pounds away every month and how the La Crosse is h...

Jane Klekamp, La Crosse County's associate administrator, joined to talk about some of the projects they're trying to tackle, including bridge housing for the homeless and a childcare plan with the La Crosse School District. Before we embarked on those, however, we talked about the process of acclimating seven new members to the county board. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

La Crosse County Democratic Party chair William Garcia joined to preview Tuesday's 3rd Congressional District debate between the five candidates that's taking place at UW-La Crosse. We also discussed how Wisconsin's state Legislature is done for the year and how party politics is trickling into nonpartisan elections. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joined. Talked about how the La Crosse County political parties get their hands into local "nonpartisan" elections and whether that's right or not. Also discussed the Wisconsin GOP doing nothing with the $5 billion budget surplus and Wisconsin Republican's partisan "investigation" into the 2020 election. Hired "investigator" Michael...

La Crosse city planning administrator, Tim Acklin, joined to talk about a campaign that just launched called Forward La Crosse. The city is seeking the public's input into what La Crosse should be over the next 20 years. We also discussed the history of La Crosse, its historic downtown district, as Acklin oversees the Heritage Preservation Commission.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

La Crosse Fire Chief Ken Gilliam in studio for the last time, as he gets set to take over a fire department in Avondale, Ari., near Phoenix. We discussed how he doesn't golf, hates hot weather and isn't into the Phoenix Suns -- the best team in the NBA. We also talked, of course, on where he's leaving the La Crosse F.D. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff stopped in studio to talk about what could have been done in the Legislature, since it's adjourned for the rest of 2022 now. One of those items was tax reform, including personal property tax on businesses. After that, La Crosse County clerk Ginny Dankmeyer gave us her turnout prediction and some details on Tuesday's elections. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Rick didn't show up, as rumors spread of his whereabouts, but UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky took over hosting duties and brought in Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle to play co-host. The two discuss what or where Rick may be, took some calls as to what should happen to him. They also did dive into some Wisconsin politics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

Discussed the healthcare dilemma with the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair, Ben Wikler, as well as US House candidate, Dr. Mark Neumann. Got into the politics of why healthcare with Wilker, while Neumann, a retired pediatrician, got into the nuts and bolts of what is wrong with the system. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alexandra Zapruder joins to talk about her work studying the Holocaust and Holocaust survivors. She will be speaking at Viterbo March 31 at 7 p.m. We also discussed her grandfather, Abe Zapruder, who happened to film the JFK assassination. Before that, we discussed La Crosse backing out of purchasing the Maple Grove Motel, which was going to be used as bridge housing for the homeless. See omnystud...

La Crosse County Board chair Monica Kruse joined. We hit on a slew of topics the county is working on, including fixing the roads, a new childcare initiative, homelessness and how partisanship has crept into nonpartisan races. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Got some takes on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, including from WIZM's Brad Williams, who's an awards show aficionado. Also talked a bit about news last week that La Crosse County Sheriff Jeff Wolfe was not seeking re-election and just the notion that the sheriff's position is both partisan and an elected position. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We broke down the "unanimous consent" the US Senate needed to accidentally pass permanent Daylight Saving across the country with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky. Also hit on a N.D. pastor finding the K from Kmart in his front yard, how old your kid need to be to mow the lawn and the fight two Wisconsin state legislators almost had — literal fight, not politic...

Republican state legislators Robin Vos and Timothy Ranthum wanting to fight? La Crosse County Democratic Party chair William Garcia joined in studio. Talked first with WIZM's Brad Williams about a La Crosse history museum. Then hit on the state Democratic Party convention coming to La Crosse, before diving into Vos v. Ranthum talk. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Salvation Army of La Crosse's Krista Coey and Isaiah Thomas stopped in studio to discuss the homeless situation right now in the area. We touched on a little of everything, from what the Salvation Army does to the misconceptions of the homeless and how the city of La Crosse is handling the situation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Campbell town chair Joshua Johnson joined to talk about how French Island residents are handling the PFAS dilemma and what is being done to solve the issue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before and after we talked with Clark Draxler, clinical manager for Gundersen in La Crosse, about new legislation making it a felony to attack or threaten healthcare workers or their families, we discussed the city's handling of the homeless situation, as it was meeting in closed session to back out of a bridge housing deal in buying a local motel. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins. We discussed the very important topics like switching the clocks for Daylight Saving time at noon Friday, instead of 2 a.m. Sunday. Also, are there more doors in the world or wheels? We did discuss some politics, like the $1.5 trillion package that just past the Senate and the anniversary of Act 10 in Wisconsin. See omnystudio...