Mornings with Pat Kreitlow

As a private citizen, a candidate, and president, it is fair to say Donald Trump has been all over the road when it comes to releasing information about sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein: juicing up speculation about what’s in the files, indicating he’d release them, then blasting it all as a hoax, pressuring Republicans in Congress not to demand their release, and now claiming he would sign such a...

Thanks to more than a decade of gerrymandering, we have a Legislature run by Republicans who don’t hesitate to take actions that are far beyond mainstream Wisconsin values. The latest example is the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program that protects some of our state’s most scenic and sensitive areas from being turned into strip malls, golf courses, and places that no longer allow snowmobiles and ot...

Let’s talk about your friends… and your politics. A new national survey prompts our Question of the Week: Do you have close friends whose politics are the opposite of yours? We’ve already received many heartfelt responses on both sides of the question. Some try to avoid politics in order to stay friends while others have seen friendships end. What about you? Also UpNorthNews reporter Salina Heller...

Sometimes it feels like the leaders of the MAGA movement are playing a game, trying to see how far they can go to make some Americans believe their wild excuses and accusations to justify all that they do. The latest example is the US treasury secretary saying beef prices are inflated not because of Trump administration policies, but because undocumented immigrants “brought some of their cattle wi...

It wasn’t a surprise that the New York Times editorial board blasted the attacks on women’s reproductive rights, but it was shocking to hear their proposed solution: an abortion “floor” that ensures some very basic rights. But make no mistake, that floor would become a national ban, as we discuss with Dr. Kristin Lyerly. Plus, Mike Clemens previews a busy Wisconsin sports weekend. Mornings with Pa...

Our Week in Review panel with former US Attorney Jim Santelle and veteran Chicago journalists Mark Jacob and Jennifer Schulze will walk us through this week’s happenings — including a letter signed by a lot of retired Chicago reporters that urges Americans to not normalize what’s happening when a president can send the military into the streets of our cities on a whim. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow i...

The government shutdown is over, but that doesn’t change the conditions that led to the ongoing dysfunction on Capitol Hill. We’ll talk to COURIER’s Keya Vakil about this week’s developments and whether there’s still a chance Congress can pass a new proposal to avoid huge spikes in health insurance costs. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations across...

We’ll ask political strategist Joe Zepecki about the pressure building on Republicans in Congress to stop the cover-up of the files about sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, as emails are released with Epstein writing in 2019 about how Donald Trump “knew about the girls.” We’ll also cover some of today’s headlines with Civic Media’s Todd Allbaugh and visit with Marathon County Democratic Party chair...

It’s one of the oldest cons out there: convince someone to pay a little less now and a lot more later. That’s the thinking behind the President of the United States proposing mortgages that stretch for 50 years. We’ll take you through the math to show just how much more money banks and billionaires would get if people allow con men like the sitting president to treat them as suckers in another saf...

Give Congressman Tom Tiffany credit for maybe being a little too honest when it comes to Republicans and health care. After blasting the Affordable Care Act in Milwaukee on Wednesday, the GOP candidate for governor was asked why his party still hasn’t put forward an alternative in the 15 years since the ACA passed. His answer showed how his colleagues don’t even have the “concepts of a plan” claim...

Hunting is a cherished tradition in Wisconsin, perhaps none more so than the annual nine-day gun season for deer. We’ll talk to one of our Civic Media friends in Park Falls, where the station’s Deer Hunters Roundup has celebrated trophies, stories, and humor for more than 50 seasons. We’ll also hear what’s coming up in Earl Ingram’s “What’s Going On” podcast and check in with Melissa Baldauff for...

What do you get when you combine two small problems and do nothing else? You get one bigger problem. That’s the mentality behind what GOP legislators are proposing in the Legislature for Wisconsin’s struggling school districts. Rather than meet their obligations to ensure every child has the opportunity to get a quality education, legislators are proposing ways to make it easier for school distric...

Even the most passionate motorcycle riders are smart enough to read a thermometer. That might explain why a congressman from western Wisconsin is getting national media attention for his latest stunt. Is US Rep. Derrick Van Orden showing himself to be the embodiment of hell on wheels, eager to take a vote to end the government shutdown? Is it a case of brain freeze, choosing to focus on performati...

Whatever lessons Democrats take away from last week’s elections, it should be clear that success starts at the state level, according to Wisconsin Examiner editor-in-chief Ruth Conniff. We’ll discuss how a focus on kitchen table issues within state borders can be more effective than simply calling attention to every terrible thing done by a president sitting 1,000 miles away. We’ll discuss the pro...

Between last week’s big election wins and this week’s move to end the government shutdown, Democrats find themselves in familiar territory: arguing amongst themselves about whether the party will have more success with voters if they move left as unabashedly progressive warriors or move toward the center to appeal to moderates who’ve been turned off by the Republicans’ embrace of extremism. We’ll...

Whatever happened to the party that loved talking about it stood for “law and order?” There hasn’t been a peep of protest from Republicans about President Trump issuing pardons to co-conspirators in his attempted coup in 2020. They include several figures who played a role in Wisconsin’s fake electors scheme. We’ll have reaction from a legal group that still wants to see justice done at the state...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the largest freighters on the Great Lakes, and the 29 souls on board. We’ll revisit our interview with Tom Nelson, the Outagamie County Executive, who’s written a book on the maritime disaster that also shows the ship as a fitting metaphor for the political and economic management of the late 20th century — putting share...

We’ll talk to the head of a state organization that coordinates the many Head Start programs around Wisconsin. The government shutdown forced on America by its president and Republicans in Congress has been especially hard on families that are struggling economically. The Trump-GOP shutdown is kicking families when they’re already down by forcing Head Start programs to close, removing a child care...

Cue up the Lucy and Charlie Brown memes. A small group of Democratic senators voted with Republicans Sunday night on a proposal to end the government shutdown, without winning anything that would protect Americans from a huge spike in health insurance costs — other than a promise to hold a vote on the subject, maybe. Did that handful of Democrats see a long-term win, now that voters see Republican...

We’ll talk to Matt Rothschild of Civic Media’s “Wisconsin Forward” podcast and ask him if this week’s election results give him any renewed confidence in our ability to move beyond Trumpism and get things accomplished for Americans once again. Plus: Mike Clemens will preview Monday night’s game between the Packers and Eagles. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on sev...

Mark Jacob has written a new column: “12 helpful terms to understand American chaos.” And UpNorthNews newsletter editor Ellie Bourdo has a new series called “Civic Check-in” explaining some of the terminology of the times. Brush up on your current events vocabulary as we review the headlines of the past week. Mornings with Pat Kreitlow is powered by UpNorthNews, and it airs on several stations acr...

It was a noteworthy feat that Wisconsin voters earlier this year stopped the world’s richest man from trying to buy a seat on our state Supreme Court. This week, Pennsylvania voters did something similar when an in-state billionaire tried to flip three state Supreme Court seats. A reporter from our sister outlet The Keystone will tell us how people mobilized to counter his big bucks — something we...

We don’t have the same access to government data as we did before the shutdown, but the figures we’re seeing make clear that in Trump’s America, the rich are quite comfortable and the job growth is only happening in bigger companies. We’ll review your money and the markets with Sean O’Malley. And we’ll check in with both Todd Allbaugh and Joe Zepecki to see if Tuesday’s election results are a shor...

We’ll visit with Assembly Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer about the ways Wisconsinites can help their neighbors while President Trump and Republicans try to starve them into caving and accepting skyrocketing healthcare costs. And we’ll talk to an economic support specialist who helps Wisconsin families when they first realize they need a lifeline in order to afford groceries and avoid eviction. M...