Mornings with Pat Kreitlow

It’s time for baseball’s second-half kickoff. Wait, maybe that’s not the right analogy! Well, anyway, we’ll talk to Mike Clemens about the Milwaukee Brewers’ expectations as they end the All Star break and start a weekend series out west against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He’ll also fill us in on the upcoming start of Packers training camp. (We knew that kickoff analogy belonged somewhere else!) And...

We’ll talk to our Week In Review panel about a vote in Congress this week to gut federal funding for public radio and television—a relatively minor line in a budget, but a lifeline to many communities that aren’t otherwise served by for-profit media. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday fro...

The news was equally shocking and infuriating: CBS was pulling the plug on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” not negotiating a new contract with Colbert, not naming a new host, just ending the highest-rated franchise in late night TV. It appears to be only the latest corporate capitulation to Donald Trump—and it is stunning to see ongoing similarities to how Hungary went from a democracy to a...

It’s a sad saga that has already taken far too long for those who deserve justice. Unfortunately, the case of infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been caught up in politics for disgustingly partisan reasons. Donald Trump and his allies made a cottage industry out of using the case for political gain. Now the president is calling it all a hoax and his base is incensed. We’ll ask Joe Zepecki abou...

Corrine Hendrickson of New Glarus has been a leading advocate on behalf of other childcare providers, but now she says she’s standing at a crossroads because of the new state budget—what’s in it and, more importantly, what was not done for the people whose work makes the workforce possible. Also: State Sen. Jeff Smith talks about something else missing from the state budget: funding to support our...

In the latest example of the Trump administration being “Watergate on steroids,” the US Department of Justice is trying to meddle in state elections offices — including Wisconsin. We’ll review the efforts to intimidate officials and get access to your private data. Cherita Booker also reviews some of this weekend’s big fairs, festivals, and concerts. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNort...

The representative from Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District is hardly representative of public opinion, which is decidedly against taking away their healthcare and nutrition benefits to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, but some folks are going to try again tonight to get Derrick Van Orden to pay attention—if he can rip himself away from Twitter for a few moments. We’ll talk to the new ch...

In a world already overrun with angst and trepidation, it might put Wisconsin taxpayers over the edge to learn the state budget has a ticking time bomb that threatens to explode what they’ll have to pay for private school vouchers. It’s already approaching $1 billion a year—with a limit on how many students can use the taxpayer-funded voucher program. So what if that cap on enrollment goes away? T...

It was surprising enough that the new round of campaign donation reports showed a sitting state Supreme Court justice had raised no money yet this year. Now comes word that Bill Berrien, the businessman running for governor, raised $1.2 million — but $1 million of that came from members of one family: the Winklevoss twins, perhaps best known from a movie about the creation of Facebook. We’ll revie...

We’ll talk to Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area about this week’s political headlines. In one instance, an early candidate for governor in 2026 is making his first big TV ad buy—seriously. And in next year’s state Supreme Court race, the incumbent conservative justice reported raising absolutely no campaign contributions in the most recent reporting period. Is Rebecca Bradley thinking about n...

Jeff Rennicke, executive director of the Friends of the Apostle Islands shares some of the responses that the National Park Service has received from across the country about President Trump’s Executive Order ("Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" aka whitewashing history) that includes signs asking the public to report anyone who believes the history being told in our national parks is...

Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann stopped by the Civic Media booth at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair in Chippewa Falls last Friday to talk about his campaign for governor. We’ll hear the responses he gave to questions from Todd Allbaugh and Pat—and try to get a sense for what those answers tell us about what kind of candidate and what kind of governor he’d be. For one thing, saying Wis...

We’ll visit with state Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner about what legislators will be working on, now that the state budget has been completed. He and Dr. Kristin Lyerly discuss Elon Musk and his attempt to bribe voters in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election. We’ll also check in with John and Gordy from our Madison station. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on seve...

Some Wisconsin members of Congress get rightly criticized for taking shots at Canada while its forests are ablaze. The Republicans who complained about all the smoke don’t have their own stellar record when it comes to forest management. Also: Jimmie Kaska helps us wrap up a big weekend for the Brewers as they enter the All-Star break. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it a...

Monday marks our 600th morning show—and all those reps have paid off with an opportunity to talk to new listeners in the Fox Valley. Dr. Kristin Lyerly joins us, fresh off a meeting in Washington, DC with a focus on preserving options for rural healthcare. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Frid...

We’ll talk to Mike Clemens about the Milwaukee Brewers and a season that’s gone from potentially mediocre to unexpectedly exciting in just a few short weeks. Also: The Wisconsin Elections Commission releases results of its investigation into nearly 200 ballots that were lost for a time and left uncounted by the now-former city clerk in Madison—an investigation that underscores the importance of el...

Childcare providers and parents will be gathering at the state Capitol this morning to rally and outline the next steps needed to address the crisis of affordable childcare. They say what was passed in last week’s state budget is entirely inadequate to prevent continued closures, which will give parents fewer options and make the state’s labor shortage worse. Also: Our Week In Review panel wants h...

How is this still a thing? The court case drags on over President Trump’s attempt to declare that American children born in this country are not citizens if their parents aren’t citizens. The Constitution begs to differ, so a federal judge has made a move to circumvent the sympathy coming from Trump’s accomplices on the US Supreme Court. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it...

We’ll talk to Joe Zepecki about this week’s political news and Sean O’Malley talks about your money and the markets as President Trump’s hope for a big, beautiful series of trade agreements falls flat. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across the Civic Media radio network, Monday through Friday from 6-9 am. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not...

For a time, Congressman Mark Pocan had a fairly limited role, representing Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District around Madison. But lately he’s been filling the void of representation over in the 3rd District, and he continues to grow his influence among the congressional progressive caucus. We’ll also talk to Sondra Goldschein of the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy about the impact of th...

NASA has a new leader, though it’s not clear what former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy’s qualifications are to run the space agency, other than having a public argument with Elon Musk—though Duffy is no longer the only Wisconsin Republican to have had a change of heart on the world’s richest man. Also: Cherita Booker tells us about some big weekend events across the state. And the Brewers get o...

When the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state could move forward with a ban on so-called conversion therapy, it was actually ruling on a much broader topic: Republicans abusing the rules in order to allow the Legislature to interfere with state agencies. It’s not the only example of an abuse of power—remember those gerrymandered maps? But the liberal justices now in charge of the c...

There’s no subtle way to put this: Some of Gov. Tony Evers’ biggest supporters are outraged at how little was done in the new state budget for their high-priority issues like childcare and public education. We’ll talk to two leaders in advocacy who think more could have been done for a budget that would not have passed without help from Democratic legislators. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered...

Get in, nerds! We’re taking a deep dive into how a bill becomes a law and how a law comes to life through rules. The rulemaking process is usually boring and routine, but Republicans in the Legislature have rigged it in a way that interferes with how experts at state agencies make the law work for all of us. Our humble editor and host, a former state senator, gives an explanation of the legislatur...