Mornings with Pat Kreitlow

The good news is that President Trump finally approved disaster relief for flash flood victims in southeast Wisconsin. The stupid news is that he had to wrap the announcement in The Big Lie. Yes, Trump is still being delusional or traitorous in lying about winning Wisconsin and the 2020 presidential election. We’ll also talk to Courier Newsroom’s Keya Vakil about the ongoing effort to tone down th...

Governor Tony Evers was the keynote speaker for the third night of the annual Cap Times Idea Fest and talked about his decision not to run for a third term and his legacy after eight years of playing defense to a hostile Legislature. We’ll talk to Joe Zepecki about that and the day’s other top stories. Sean O’Malley will visit to discuss your money and the markets. And Chad Holmes will tell us abo...

National politicians get most of the attention, but the people who are getting things done day by day in government are the ones who serve at a local level. It’s time to think about who’s serving on your town board, city council, county board, and in other posts — and if you think it’s a way you could help your community, there’s a group dedicated to training the next round of municipal leaders. W...

Conservative agitator Charlie Kirk was a lot of things, many of them antithetical to hopes for a safer America, but that does not excuse political violence – nor any kind of gun violence. If Wednesday was an average day in America, Kirk was one of 300 people who were shot yesterday, nearly half of them shot dead. And that includes a school shooting Wednesday in Colorado. The other victims won’t ge...

We’ll talk live with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the most recent candidate to announce in the 2026 race for Wisconsin governor, about his decision to run and what he wants voters to know about his experience and positions. Also, we’ll have a guest from Clean Wisconsin on how all of these massive new data centers are sucking up groundwater wherever they pop up, a development that’s go...

It might be one of the biggest billion-dollar surprises in Wisconsin, if you were to ask most taxpayers how much public money is going to the private school voucher scheme. It’s more than $700 million this year and getting close to a 10-digit annual payout. We’ll outline how one group is launching a transparency campaign to build public awareness before the program swallows up more of the state bu...

It’s already well-documented that Congressman Derrick Van Orden spends a lot of time scrolling and trolling through social media. But even by his standards it was weird that he put a new comment on a photo from two years ago. Even weirder: the photo he commented on shows him on the US Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021 — and his comment was, “Hell yes.” Van Orden claims he did not take part in the...

Is it possible to be an evil genius doing diabolical, well-planned things and be stupid as well? We’ll talk to Courier Newsroom’s Cam Stevenson live from Washington, DC about a Trump/conservative strategy that has gone both ways. It has meticulously given the country a US Supreme Court that on Monday delivered one of the most racist decisions since it upheld Japanese internment camps 80 years ago....

We’ll catch up with Jeff Rennicke from Friends of the Apostle Islands about how the president’s willful neglect of our National Parks is being seen in everything from overworked staff and fewer tours to piled up trash and lost revenue that could keep our parks healthy. We’ll also talk to Sheila Everhart from the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association and dairy farmer Hans Breitenmoser about th...

Once again local media provided coverage of Congressman Derrick Van Orden unencumbered by fact checks, clarifications, or context. We’ll review an event — not a town hall — to “celebrate” a new tax policy on tips and overtime. It is not nearly as generous or encompassing as you would think, to see how it’s being covered by many outlets. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it...

For all of the bluster some politicians offer about saluting the service of our veterans, they really show their stripes when it comes time to provide actual services of their own to the men and women who served our nation. We’ll talk to Sen. Jeff Smith about how important programs that help homeless veterans in two Wisconsin locations are on the verge of shutting down because Republican legislato...

The notion of fair elections has been taking it on the chin lately as Republicans in multiple states engage in corrupt cartography right out in public. We’ll talk to Iuscely Flores from the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition about a bipartisain effort to get rid of gerrymandering the maps for Congress and state legislatures. They’re taking part in a statewide campaign of public forums to remind people...

Even being on rehab from knee surgery wasn’t going to stop one enthusiastic Packers fan from attending the season opener at Lambeau Field. We’ll talk to Dr. Kristin Lyerly about a perfect day for football and a practically perfect performance by Green Bay to open the 2025 campaign. The Milwaukee Brewers also continue their latest winning streak. We’ll check other headlines from the weekend and get...

We’ll get set for Week 1 of the NFL season with Mike Clemens giving an update on the Green Bay Packers’ status heading into their opener at home against Detroit. And Dr. Kristin Lyerly will sum up the significance of the RFK, Jr. congressional hearing and the additional burden it puts on everyone who wants to get credible information about their health care. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered b...

We’ll talk to our Week In Review panel about this week’s events, including a congressional hearing featuring a US Health and Human Services Secretary still blocking or undermining the basic building blocks of public health. Plus: breaking news about job numbers. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday throug...

Cheese-infused, football-shaped chicken nuggets. Tater tots with brat slices and beer cheese. Maybe some summer sausage with your grilled cheese? With the Packers beginning their 2025 campaign this weekend, we review some of the concession cuisine being served this season at Lambeau Field. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media...

It’s the worst of both worlds: inflation remains an issue (which is why you might hike interest rates) but the job market is softening (which is why you might cut interest rates). In other words, Trump Stagflation, with a side order of political pressure on what’s supposed to be an independent Federal Reserve Board. We’ll discuss this dilemma with Sean O’Malley. And we’ll ask Joe Zepecki about the...

Congress is back in session, so we’ll ask Congressman Mark Pocan about the full range of déjá vu topics: the Epstein files, another government shutdown showdown, and more. And Todd Allbaugh previews this afternoon’s show on the Civic Media radio network. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday...

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley came up north to see one of the ways Wisconsin can address the ongoing problem of affordable housing. He also talked about when he’s likely to announce a run for governor. Plus: States are starting to go it alone when it comes to offering vaccine and other public health guidelines now that the US Department of Health and Human Services is working in complet...

The trick to writing good fiction — if you work in the Trump White House, anyway — is the ability to pick and choose which scientific facts match up well with your politics. In this week’s Climate Check, we’ll discuss the most interesting work of fiction in DC these days: a Trump administration report that calls the threat of climate change overblown. Dozens of scientists say it’s riddled with err...

Classes are back in session. So are lawmakers in Madison and Washington. We’ll talk to Peggy Wirtz-Olsen of WEAC about the bills they’re following that range from big picture revenue needs to micromanaging things like cursive writing and what kinds of flags can and can’t be displayed at school. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic M...

It’s been a little while since Powerball fever started spreading again, but Wednesday’s estimated jackpot of more than $1 billion has us thinking about one of life’s little luxuries: daydreaming. What would you do if you suddenly had $1 billion? Also, today’s History Lesson has a note about the world’s richest woman and just how many billions of dollars she’s already given away since divorcing the...

We’ll talk to Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area about the new school year and how a new state budget isn’t making life any easier for struggling school districts who will probably be setting another record for referendum requests to fill in the gaps from lazy legislators. And we’ll start a new weekly visit with Courier Newsroom’s Cam Stevenson, author of Below the Beltway, a daily newsletter...

Superior Mayor Jim Paine will recap Pride Weekend up in the Twin Ports and tell us why the event doesn’t take place in June like in many other communities. And we’ll recap Labor Day weekend, including the news for thousands upon thousands of American workers who’ve had their collective bargaining rights ripped away by an anti-union president who sees public sector workers as unworthy of jobsite pr...