WIZM - La Crosse Talk Interviews

La Crosse MTU director Adam Lorentz may not have gotten the joke on whether or not he was driving to work Tuesday morning, but he did join to talk about the city taking part in " a week without driving. " The event is happening in multiple areas throughout the US, and groups across the area are helping promote it. With Lorentz, we began simply talking about his job, how the EV busses are working,...

Former US House Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin's 3rd District joins to help preview an election security town hall happening Thursday in La Crosse. We also talk about his old job, how the US House has fared this cycle and the upcoming elections. Kind was a US House Rep. for 26 years, before retiring in 2020. After talking about why a town hall on election security is now needed, we discussed about how...

School District of La Crosse superintendent, Dr. Aaron Engel, joins to discuss more on the $53.5 million referendum to build one elementary and update another, plus how nervous he was when fifth-graders had Wisconsin's governor in a precarious situation. Engel discusses how the weekly public sessions have been attended over the past month, with six more to go before the November election cycle is...

La Crosse County and Third Congressional District Democratic Party chair, William Garcia, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk on Sept. 30, 2024. La Crosse County and Third Congressional District Democratic Party chair, William Garcia, in the WIZM studio Monday for La Crosse Talk, discussing how local Republicans are ducking debating Democrats for Wisconsin state Assembly and US House, plus the s...

Mac Kiel, on La Crosse’s city council, joins WIZM’s La Crosse Talk and gives an update on the homeless situation, another update on when the Kmart is getting torn down, plus a committee preview where they could decide on adding a city administrator Kiel, who represents District 7, is on the Judiciary and Administration Committee, which meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, where there is legislation  to add a...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins to discuss how there is only one debate happening locally heading into the November election, plus the ongoing saga of new coffee joints popping up in the city. Spent the first half of the conversation on debates. Only Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff and his opponent Stacey Klein are debating. In the state Assembly locally, all...

Two rounds of the La Crosse Oktoberfest family stops by the studio, as they get set to kickoff a fest weekend, including the Festmaster and Frau, plus Mrs. and Miss Oktoberfest. First round included Miss Oktoberfest, Savannah Horstman of Onalaska, and her Grenadiers, Marie and Cody Zimmermann. We learn of a unique major and future profession that Horstman wants to get into, now that she's graduate...

La Crosse's Oktoberfest kicks off Thursday morning with the Senior Breakfast and doesn't stop until Sunday evening. Hannah Amundson, the Oktoberfest executive director, joined Ken Cooper on WIZM's La Crosse Talk to talk about it all, including what's new -- like buying beer with your wristband and Sunday's free admission -- plus what she loves about fest. This is Amundson's third year as executive...

Willie Bittner joins La Crosse Talk telling us how he helped find this year's Oktoberfest medallion, along with his friend Kerry Pischke and the kids.  It took seven clues to find it, which happened on Sunday. We talk about those clues and tried to pry some secrets out of Bittner on just how to decipher them, as this was the second time he's found the medallion — the first being back in 2013, atop...

Brad Quarberg and Brian Rude in the WIZM studio talking Oktoberfest past and present, including how the fest wasn't just started to sell beer, the popularity of the buttons, two women as parade marshals and members lost the past year. Quarberg was the 2016 Oktoberfest Parade Marshall and the Oktoberfest Board President back in 2001. He was also chief editor and one of the authors of the book, The...

School District of La Crosse superintendent, Dr. Aaron Engel, joins to talk about a new survey going out on possibly changing school start times, the $53.5 million referendum and how the vape detectors are doing in bathrooms. Engel said the survey to parents, faculty and staff in the district went out in email Monday with the idea of possibly changing start times for both elementary and middle/hig...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins to hit on an array of topics from those in his classroom, to Wisconsin's presidential election ballots to catching UW-L's mascot without its head and, finally, La Crosse gets a coffee drive-thru. We began with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., trying to get off Wisconsin's ballot and some of the ways the state might do that — including s...

Right after his talk with the AFL-CIO at the La Crosse Center, Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler dropped by the WIZM studio to talk about the US Senate race, workers' rights, public funding and more. This conversation, of course, came right before Wikler and  Julia Louis-Dreyfus announced they would be getting the Veep crew back together for a table read, hosted by Stephen Colbert. Wi...

Republican candidate Ryan Huebsch in studio discussing immigration, inflation, transgender athletes, spending on public education and roads, plus PFAS and campaign cash. Huebsch is running for the 95th Assembly District seat in Wisconsin. He's up against Democratic incumbent Steve Doyle. Ken Cooper was also in studio. The three of us also took some calls, read some texts and gave a shout out to WI...

La Crosse Education Association co-president, Jesse Martinez, joins to discuss when is the best time to start school in the morning, how teachers are taught A.I., union bargaining rights and banning cellphones. Martinez is the teachers union co-president and teachers math and social studies at Logan Middle School, which is headed into its second year of banning cellphones in school.  We also discu...

Dave Larsen with Freedom Honor Flight joins to help preview this Saturday's trip, where they will take about 100 veterans for free to see the war memorials in D.C. This is the 31st trip since 2008 the La Crosse hub has been doing the honor flights. Larsen notes one WWII veteran, William Chuchna of Winona, will be on the flight. He turns 99 later this month. We also talk about the second-most impor...

Robin Wieser and Justine Vanderzee in the WIZM studio to help preview this week's Applefest celebration in La Crescent. Things kick off with the Torchlight Parade on Thursday night, and the two sort of saved the best for last with what was described as a "Ninja Course." Check out the brochure here . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Aaron Engel, the School District of La Crosse superintendent, joins to further discuss the upcoming $53.5 million referendum question coming to voters in the fall election. While we again broke down the plan, we also talked about some of the things that need to happen if the referendum passes, including naming the new elementary school and what kind of things might be included in a new buildin...

The largest annual regional job fair is back Tuesday at the OmniCenter in Onalaska. Kevin Ruetten joins WIZM's La Crosse Talk to tell us about why the ninth-annual Coulee Career Fest — happening from 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Tuesday — is one of the best ways for job seekers and employers to find what they are looking for — even if it's not Ninja Warrior / American Gladiator themed (a joke you'll get up...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, joins to breakdown a bit of the newly released  Marquette Law School poll  that was conducted before the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump debate. Plus, we discuss the recent Reddit post asking “How do you respond when the cashier says, ‘See you next time.’?”  Began the conversation, though, quick talking about UW-L football coach Matt Janu...

Had some fun with UW-La Crosse football coach Matt Janus, the day before their home-opener. Asked him about that 18-hour road trip to New York and what it's like for others when they stop to eat and 100 Division III football players walk into a restaurant. We also talked a bit about his playing days at UW-Platteville, where he was a linebacker. That led to a conversation about his all-conference l...

Terry Bauer stops in the studio to preview tonight's final Moon Tunes concert of the season. The show starts early, with the Viking cruise ship docked at Riverside Park. Kit Mayer & the Pack start things off at 3:45 p.m., followed by an award-winning group out of Madison, the Peoples Brothers Band. Bauer also talked a bit about the history and future of Moon Tunes, including the possibility of...

William Garcia, the La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party chair in studio taking some calls a day after the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump debate. We also got Garcia's take on the debate went, plus how the visit from Gwen Walz, wife of Minnesota Gov. and VP candidate, Tim Walz, went during the watch party at the Concordia Ballroom.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy at the Tax Foundation in La Crosse, in studio for two very different topics — substituting a gas tax for a mileage one, plus the ridiculous costs paid to NFL, NBA for broadcast rights. Began the conversation talking sports economics, which is what Hoffer taught for over a decade at UW-La Crosse. The first half of the conversation was about NIL deals. Afte...

Terry Bauer, founder of Moon Tunes, in studio to preview tonight's show featuring a Neil Diamond tribute with Tom Conrad, and The Lavender Project opening the show. Bauer also discusses the previous night's Copeland Park concert, after some debate earlier in the show about carry-ins not being allowed — in which liquor license laws prevent that from being an option. See omnystudio.com/listener for...