News From The Northwoods That Affects Us All (Hour 2)

I used to think that this was my town.

What a stupid thing to think.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Civic Media Mid-Mornings.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your host, your buddy, your pal, and a guy who has a 516th socket piece in my pocket.

You want to find out why?

Stay tuned.

I'll tell you why later.

But you are listening to Civic Media Mid-Mornings here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

I am Greg.

I'm happy to have you here today.

kind of a all over the place.

Kind of Thursday, I must say it's Thursday.

I can't get my head around Thursdays.

I could never do that.

I got Calvin Butenhof on the board right now.

We should just start over.

Let's just do it.

Start over from, let's start all over Calvin.

How are you doing this morning?

I'm doing pretty good.

I'm glad it's

Thursday.

Yeah.

I'm really glad it's Thursday.

I just seriously, for some reason Thursday just kind of hits me.

Nowhere.

And I go, it's actually Thursday.

And then all these things happen.

And it's like, I can't tell time.

I can't look at a calendar correctly.

But you are here with us today.

I'm happy you are spending time with us.

I truly appreciate that.

If you want to be part of the conversation, call text.

The number is the same, no matter what you do.

It's 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

You can leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.

We still call Twitter.

We have a great show for you today.

It's going to be packed.

There's lots of great stuff.

We're going to start off with the news.

But then at 9 30, after the 9 30 news, you're going to hear, uh, we will be talking to Chelsea Chandler from clean Wisconsin and we'll be talking about data centers.

This conversation is going to keep on going.

We're talking about data centers.

We're talking about legislation that is being put forth through the Madison State House.

Regarding that matter, there was a Republican bill that is going through, and we've talked about that, AB 840.

And there was a press release from Clean Wisconsin about this, and Chelsea, who is the Climate Energy and Air Program Director for the group, will be here to discuss that.

Other pieces of legislation and how, you know,

How we can protect our communities and I will I will do me a culpa on this one, you know this this bill from the Republicans looks fairly I Don't know good I thought it was but I would like to talk to Chelsea about maybe what it's missing What what can make it better and why there needs to be less of a one versus the other?

and more of a bipartisan working together to try to get protections for our communities when it comes to data centers, because that is something that is not going away.

But I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on that.

I know a few of you already have those.

You've called in before, call or text 855-752-4842.

I'm sorry.

Yes, that she's going to be on at 930 after the 930 news.

And then after the 10 o'clock news in the second hour to kick it off, I'm talking to a colleague.

a reporter from the Wassa area.

Her name is Isabella Nieto.

And she will be talking to us about her story, what she does up in Wassa and the story she is working on right now, including great conversations with people who are running for governor, but that is coming up in the second hour.

And then JR Radcliffe with sports, we are going to be discussing Yanis rumors.

Apparently there are rumors about Yanis.

Calvin has said that he will not believe anything until he sees it.

Yeah, that's basketball talk.

So I'll let them handle that.

I'll just kind of tune out, look at my phone, read about tennis because I'm going to go see tennis later this year.

I'm very excited when it's very, very warm out, but we'll talk about that in the coming months.

And then a handy tip from Greg, we close out the show today with a handy tip from Greg.

Today I'm giving a piece of advice to a politician overseas who really should understand why

There's a difference between a political party and parties.

So that's all coming up on the show today.

We were talking earlier about, not talking earlier, I mentioned a moment ago about the governor's race up there in Wausau, Chad Holmes, host of the Chad Holmes show.

He will actually be coming onto the show, be talking to him.

It's great to talk to him.

Great to see him.

He is going to be here next week.

And if I'm not mistaken, I think it's good.

Yes, on Monday, February 2nd, he'll be here on the show.

And I want to talk to him about

what they're seeing up in Wausau stories that are breaking, but also his conversations with those governors candidates as they come through town and meet with the people.

But there is some governor's race gubernatorial race news that's been breaking in the past day.

And that is, uh, we, you know, Tom Tiffany, current U S congressman here in Wisconsin, he is now officially the endorsed candidate of the president of the United States.

America Donald Trump he has Donald Trump has thrown his endorsement to Tom Tiffany.

He did that via his truth social media platform and Quote he has his complete and total endorsement.

This is a story in WPR by Anya von Wagendonk who it says President Trump endorses Tom Tiffany for Wisconsin governor, which

doesn't really surprise me.

I don't know about you, Kelvin.

I don't know about any of you out there in radio land and or live stream land because it's been pretty much a given that this would be the way it goes.

Unless some, I mean, we had heard rumors about Tim Michaels.

We had heard rumors about Eric guy who tried to run for, what's his last name?

I'm blank.

I hate that you reminded me.

Eric Hovey, Mustache and all.

And there was even, you know, there were a couple of stories where Tommy Thompson was dipping his toe in and saying, you never know.

But this seems like it's pretty much locked it up that he is going to be the only real candidate for the GOP this fall.

Some of you might be saying, well, what about Josh Showman, the Washington County executive?

And I would say who?

Just kidding.

No, he has ended his campaign because of the endorsement.

Josh Shulman, I will say, had a very strong presence on social media, was very much out there, very much towing the line, trying to delineate himself from Tom Tiffany.

And I think, you know, doesn't take a political genius.

I am not a political genius.

I am politically

adept, but it doesn't take a genius to see that this is going to be the way that it was going to work out.

There was, I don't, there wasn't a scenario in my head, Calvin, where Tom Tiffany loses the endorsement of Donald Trump because I think for, you know, Tom Tiffany has been a staunch, mega supporter for a while.

He really, I mean, I will say this, he has come out of his shell in the past few years.

He's very quiet.

You did not hear a lot from Tom Tiffany.

You know, we had, you know, you're not here.

We're hearing more from Scott Fitzgerald and Brian style lately too, but

Yeah, Tom Tiffany was kind of a backbencher and that's not a, that's not a pejorative.

That's not an insult.

That's a term used in politics.

A backbencher is someone who sits back, does their thing, does the job and is reliable.

That was Tom Tiffany.

Now he has, of course, stepped out in the spotlight.

He is making himself more known.

He is on social media, making very wild claims.

If you ask me regarding the state of Wisconsin, both the physical, the actual thing as well as just the, the state of where we are.

we are at.

But he has secured the nomination of the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

And Josh Shulman came out yesterday to announce that he's ending his campaign.

This is the story in the Wisconsin Examiner by Baylor Spears.

He announced he's ending his campaign for governor.

The announcement came after President Trump endorsed Shulman's rival, Mr. Tiffany.

He said, I wish Tom great success in November.

If we focus on the people of Wisconsin rather than fighting with one another, we can make Wisconsin a place to be, not just be from, which that's a, I think that's a good line.

It's, we can make Wisconsin the place to be, not just be from.

I actually liked that, but I don't know about you, Calvin.

You know, we are, there's all, there's a great, there's a big age difference between us, but I just find it really funny during the primary season, when candidates of the same party are,

doing their best to, uh, you know, stand out the things they will say to, to each other, at each other, about each other.

And it really kind of seems like, Oh, these folks don't really like each other.

And the moment, you know, they, they end their campaign, it's, I, oh, it's great.

This is going to be wonderful to bang up guy, smash and do can't gain enough of him.

Uh,

And that's where we are.

And that's where I knew we were going to go.

I just find it very interesting now.

But I actually really liked that line.

We can make Wisconsin the place to be, not just be from.

Tiffany represents the seventh congressional district.

And he's been there since 2020.

And he's been the front runner since he entered the primaries, or entered the race last September.

He also outraised Mr. Shulman by $1.5 million.

Calvin, do you have any shock whatsoever on this?

Is there anything in here that makes you go, oh my goodness.

I'm not surprised at all, I suppose.

I... I think it's... I guess it shows where the Republicans are at in Wisconsin.

I think it's a missed opportunity because...

Trump is not polling well right now.

He's very unpopular, so it would have been interesting to have a Republican candidate present himself or themselves as unequivocally pro-second amendment, pro-free trade, like a bunch of things that Trump is provably not.

a Thomas Massey type figure.

This would kind of feel like the perfect opportunity for that kind of figure to emerge out of the Republican primary in Wisconsin.

And instead, everyone's falling in line to shut their

mouth.

Well, I think, and I think, you know, that is, that is something that I've seen from both.

Actually, I've seen from a lot of parties.

It can be third parties too, is that sometimes the path of least resistance where you have to do the least amount of work, you're like, Hey, that's the person.

I guess that's our, that's our, our, our candidate.

Let's just go with that.

It's just easier than.

a fight, it's easier than trying to whip into shape somebody who like, you know, if, if a Thomas Massey or a Tom Tilley or a Liz Cheney was in this state and saying like, well, you got to come more into the line.

If this is easy, he's towing the party line and you're right, Calvin.

Donald Trump is becoming wildly unpopular on many, many topics.

And I know that we're going to be talking to Dan Schaefer in the coming weeks and months ahead about this.

And I'd love to get his take on it because

The things that I'm seeing from Mr. Tiffany on social media is one, really showing a lack of understanding of certain details on policies that come out of the state.

And two, it doesn't really make himself look like he's any different.

And if Republicans in this state who are not on board with the mega train now, this could hurt him.

I remember something Dan said in a discussion we had with Jane back in the day that

former governor, Tommy Thompson said that he does not believe that Tom Tiffany is a good candidate.

Could that change?

Yes.

Absolutely.

We got plenty of months ahead.

We'll be talking about this endlessly by, by, I'm sure, September.

You guys will be texting going, Greg, just please don't talk about the election for 10 minutes.

I'd love to get your thoughts though.

Please let me know on this.

You know, what, what are your thoughts on top?

If you are Republican out there, if you are a mega supporter, are you happy about this?

Are you a Republican who is unhappy about this?

I want to hear from everyone.

I really would like to know more about this.

So, uh, let me know.

Call or text 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

Leave a comment on the live stream.

Again, this, this is an open question to all who are listening.

I want to have this discussion and let's talk about Tom Tiffany.

If you have your, uh, your pros and cons because he is the de facto nominee at this point.

They plan on having a midterm convention, the GOP, which says that we are going to have an election, which actually gives me some bright hope there and we'll talk more in the coming months on that.

But let me know your thoughts on Tom Tiffany as the GOP candidate for governor of Wisconsin pros and cons.

I want to hear from folks who.

think this is great as well.

And tell me why you think it's great.

So, 855-752-4842-855-756.

Still ahead, we're talking to Clean Wisconsin about data centers, legislation, and why we need better protections here in the state.

But don't go anywhere.

You're listening to Civic Media, mid-morning.

I am Greg Bach.

You are amazing.

Stay tuned.

Stay warm.

Stay close.

Welcome, welcome back to Civic Media, mid mornings here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your buddy, your pal.

And I'm currently in possession of a 516th socket attachment.

And I'll tell you why later in the show, but we are here talking to you.

Talking to everyone, you can part of the conversation 855-752-484-2855.

75 Civic is the number, whether you call or text, you can leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform that we still call Twitter.

Do not forget that you can also get in touch with us by downloading the Civic Media app.

Very simple.

Go to wherever you get your apps and you put it on your phone or your tablet and that way you can take us with you wherever you go.

You wanna listen to music?

Civic Media app.

You want to listen to shows like mine?

Civic Media app.

You want to call, text, or leave a voice message?

Civic Media app.

And if you want to get your news, customize it to where you live, find your favorite station, and market the Civic Media app.

Get it right now.

It is app, absolutely free.

So still ahead after the 930 news, we are going to be talking to Clean Wisconsin, Chelsea Chandler from Clean Wisconsin about data centers, their press release.

on the legislation going through Madison right now.

And we'll be talking about that.

And I want to hear from you as well.

But right now we are discussing the news, the news that is nowhere near surprising that Tom Tiffany seems to be the de facto nominee at this point.

for governor of Wisconsin on the side of the GOP.

He received the endorsement yesterday from President Donald Trump via Truth Social, the platform that they don't call Twitter.

And Mr. Josh Shulman, who is the Washington County executive, has dropped out, endorsed Mr. Tiffany.

And it seems like it is a one-person race on the GOP side, which honestly isn't surprising.

I think to anybody, I don't believe there was going to be much of a fight there because Tom Tiffany is a U.S.

Congressman.

He's got the media, he's got the ability, he's got the reach.

Josh Shulman made a good go for it on social media specifically, but this is kind of where we thought the path was going to lead.

And I want to know from you, do you think Tom Tiffany's the guy?

What do you like dislike about him?

Prose cons, are you a Republican who loves this?

Are you a Republican who is not happy about this?

Calvin was saying earlier that does the Republican party need a Tom Tillis or a Thomas Massey or a Liz Cheney or an Adam Kinzinger to come out and say, look, I'm here for these Republican values of days before, which is a discussion point in and of itself, but

It seems as if the GOP here in Wisconsin is going to go lockstep with mega and Tom Tiffany is their guy.

And I want to hear from you.

Leave a comment on the live stream.

Send me a text.

Always like to hear from you.

Jean from Eau Claire is on the line right now.

Jean, what say you about this?

Let me know your unvarnished yet very FCC compliant opinion.

Okay.

All right.

Going for

dramatics again today.

Hey, this is from Walkerism.

Walkerism was a step before we got Trumpism.

Yeah.

And this guy is all hands on deck for big money.

And this is now this is my opinion, my personal opinion.

You know, I mean, they started the whole beating or not beating on but

hurting people who are protesting when they handcuffed people singing at the Capitol who are older behind their backs and they could barely walk and watch to bet down the

stairs.

Let me interrupt you for a second just there, Jeanie.

I apologize for that.

And I want to just make something very clear that if you go on Scott Walker's Twitter profile, now he is on a big nostalgic kick and

He is talking about those days, Gene, and he is referring to them as, you know, his glory days and his victory days and the people in there who are getting handcuffed and singing and trying to fight for, you know, the rights of teachers and our schools.

He refers to them as like, you know, the problem.

And I think that, I think that, I think you're right, Gene.

I think that Tea Party beginnings led to where we are now.

And I think that this is the inevitable

the evolution of that party.

I'm sorry that you were saying something though, Jean.

No, no, thank you.

I like the clarification.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Cause everybody who hasn't seen this, I mean, I, I watched on YouTube over on my side of the state cause nobody even covered it.

And I cried.

I couldn't believe that this was happening in my state.

And then Tiffany, he.

He's involved in supporting what happened with trying to get rid of our votes the way Wisconsin voted.

And I remember Trump telling Walker he better fix the roads, which he never did.

We're so blessed to have our governor that we have right now.

We'd be up the creek without a paddle.

All of our voter information would be going to Trump.

Um, you've got people need to wake up because this ain't pretty and we need protection and he's not the guy to do it.

So thank you very much.

And you have a good day.

Keep up the great work.

Thank you very much, Jean.

I appreciate you calling.

I appreciate you getting in touch as always.

Katie on the live streams is no more Tiffany, no more MAGA.

I really want to hear.

I'm going to talk about this going forward and in, in, in days and months to come.

And I want to know from Republicans, are you happy about this?

Is this the representative representation that you would like, you know,

I think that a larger field for people to choose from is more indicative of a democracy is more more interesting for choice and allowing candidates to speak out and qualify themselves for a job that will seek an office for four years that controls the government not go controls but like you know you are our head of state you are our CEO in essence and so

I think that maybe the GOP is losing out on something by knowing this early that they only are going to have one person that is unless someone else steps in with more money, more influence.

And we're still many, many months away.

That is not an impossibility.

But again, if you are out there, GOP members, Republican members, tell me your thoughts on this.

We're going to be talking to Chelsea Chandler from clean Wisconsin.

She's the climate energy and air program director about data centers, legislation and their press release on this matter.

But you can always reach out about the governor's race anytime you want.

855-752-4842 855-75 civic.

This is civic media mid mornings.

My name is Greg box.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

Welcome, welcome back to civic media mid mornings here on the civic media radio network.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your buddy, your pal, your co-conspirator and all things staying warm.

Cause good Lord is still cold outside.

It's going to be cold for the next few days.

And then everybody, guess what?

Guess what?

Calvin, can I get a, can I get a hooray or applause?

A thing behind me really quick.

It's going to be 23 degrees this weekend.

Oh my God, we did it folks.

The long national.

Nightmare is over for now, but they'll get cold again.

But yeah, so stay warm.

Keep it locked here on civic media.

We'll get you all the weather updates.

You need to stay prepared, stay safe, stay bundled up.

But we got lots of great programming still ahead of for you today in the 10 o'clock hour.

We're going to be speaking to civic media reporter Isabella Nieto about her updates in Wausau where, you know, where she sees the community and what she's working on and talking to governor's candidates up there in that area.

But

It's going to be a great time.

Sports 10 35 with JR Radcliffe.

I'm sure we're going to be talking about the bucks and maybe even some nineties music.

And then finally wrapping up the show with a handy tip from Greg.

This time I'm giving a tip to.

English politician who doesn't understand the difference between a party and parties, but that's all still ahead.

So don't go anywhere.

But now I want to welcome our first guest this morning.

She is the Climate Energy and Air Program Director for Clean Wisconsin here to talk about data centers and legislation.

Welcome to the show, Chelsea Chandler.

How are you today?

Thank you so much.

I'm doing all right.

How are

you?

I'm doing well trying to, I mean, I know I'm, it's, it's.

Currently two degrees and I'm wearing a t-shirt, but luckily the heat's working and I'm happy about that so Welcome, we're very very happy to have you here.

I'm happy to have I'm excited to have this conversation because There's been you know, we've been talking about data centers regularly for the past I Mean say probably say the year or so now it's really hit the zeitgeist.

It's in the papers on the regular basis It's not going away and it's important to be informed and before we get into that I want to talk about

clean wisconsin and what you do as an organization specifically specifically what you do as the program director for climate energy and air

yeah so clean wisconsin is a statewide environmental nonprofit we've been around since 1970 since the first earth day um and as an organization we work to fight climate change and pollution and wisconsin's air water and land

Um, so my role in that is focusing on the climate and energy and air piece of things.

We also have folks working, you know, on water and in agriculture, uh, exclusively, um, and in kind of local resilient community work and green infrastructure.

Um, but what I'm focused on is really making sure that everyone has clean, affordable energy, um, that the built environment, like our buildings, transportation system, um, are working for everybody and are not causing.

Thank you.

pollution.

And I also do some work on regenerative agriculture, wearing another hat and also a farmer in the driftless area.

That's something to care about sort of from both lenses.

But these days, I am spending a lot of time also talking about data centers, largely because of the huge energy needs and, you know, water use and pollution and other impacts that they could bring to Wisconsin communities.

You mentioned Earth Day that you started on Earth Day.

Earth Day is right here tied in Wisconsin.

That's an

important thing.

We keep that message going that the environment, conservationism, conservation of the environment, that's very important here in Wisconsin.

And data centers aren't going away.

I know for some people, that's an unfortunate thing.

I feel like there's three camps when it comes to data centers.

There's people who are like, yes, build more, build one next door to me, build one in my basement, go for it.

There are people who are in the middle who say,

Okay, but let's have some transparency.

Let's have processes and as you talk about protections for the ratepayers the people of the community and then folks who are just like go away Don't want them at all and I feel like we're sort of in that middle ground where we have to focus on the protection of our communities and that's what You that's what clean, Wisconsin was talking about you put out a press release regarding AB 840 which you refer to as a partisan data center bill that passed

that passed in the assembly, which makes a, I'm going to quote this, makes a bad problem worse for Wisconsin families and communities.

Can you talk more about that?

And then I'm going to admit a little bit of naivete on this matter.

Go ahead.

Sure, yeah.

And you know, I want to mention Clean Wisconsin's working in partnership with a lot of other organizations.

We're part of the Clean Economy Coalition in Wisconsin.

So there's lots of, you know, environmental groups, folks focused on environmental justice on, you know, labor issues.

So protecting rate payers from high utility bills.

So there's a

really broad group of folks that are coming together and have some alignment around, you know, what we really need to do to adequately and kind of more comprehensively tackle this really big challenge that is data centers coming to Wisconsin.

So, you know, there have been various legislative proposals around data centers now.

You know, the one you're referencing is AB 840, which is a was a Republican sponsored bill that passed the assembly recently and moved really quickly.

basically that introduced how to hearing and then passed within a couple of weeks.

And there are some parts of it that are attempting to address transparency, have better reporting requirements.

But a big sticking point for a lot of people, including our coalition, is that the bill is attempting to say any renewable energy that is primarily serving a data center has to be located on site at the data center.

And just because of space constraints, that's

practically impossible.

So what that amounts to is the de facto ban of the cheapest, the cleanest energy resources for powering data centers.

And a lot of us are saying, you know, if data centers are coming to Wisconsin

we want to design them right so that we're reducing the environmental impact.

And that can be achieved through energy efficiency and other ways of reducing the huge energy demands.

And then what's left, we'd like to see powered with renewables.

So the problem with this bill is that it is, it's just perplexing why a bill that's trying to do something about affordability would be taking off the cheapest options for powering.

That huge load

and there's so We've I've I have been talking about this bill for since its introduction and on face value, you know on face value

it seemed like a good thing because it it because it was being proposed as protecting the communities and I know there was a bill that came from state senator Jody Habersonakin that went a little deeper as far as like protections renewable energies as well as hiring practices keeping it Wisconsin keeping it local keeping it union and that didn't go anywhere but one thing about this bill you're very right it came up fast it went through fast and from the stories that I read and talked about

It has its opponents on both sides, but what's funny to me is that Folks on the right who said they don't like this bill.

It's poorly put together.

It's too quick They voted for it.

Anyways, everyone voted for it except for one Republican and it still went through which is very baffling to me and on the matter of renewable energies Which to me sounds like a no-brainer, but I never claimed to be smart

The assembly speaker Robin Voss said that nobody wants to see a solar panel farm across the street from their house, and I felt like that was a very cheap shot to take at the fact that we have solar panel farms and arrays all over the state.

I have a bunch of them in Kenosha County, I see, and no one complains.

Yeah, I mean, people have different ideas about

Renewable energy right but there there are some people that don't like it and there are some people that like it and you know ultimately Renewable energy is what's helping it's the cheapest source of energy right now.

It's the cleanest source.

It's non polluting It's doesn't use water in generation.

That's another big issue with data centers because We're talking a lot about like just the closed loop systems and the water that's used on site But a lot of the conversation ignores the fact that

you know, 70% of water use in Wisconsin actually goes to energy generation.

And that's for thermal technologies like gas and coal and nuclear.

Renewable energy doesn't have that problem.

So there's a lot of benefits to renewable energy.

And unfortunately, I think like is the case in many instances, you hear opponents, you know, are louder and more vocal than supporters.

But there are a lot of folks, farmers who are getting a diverse, you know, diversified income from hosting solar panels or

turbines and really see the benefit for keeping those farms and their family and keeping farming on the land, which is, as I can attest, is a really tough profession.

Yeah.

If you're just joining us, we are speaking to Chelsea Chandler, who is the Climate Energy and Air Program Director for Clean Wisconsin.

We are talking about their press release on the matter of AB40, which is a bill that has been voted on and passed in the Wisconsin State House regarding data centers that

For me, when I read it pose itself as a protection of the community, but we're seeing more and more people who do not like what's in this bill or what's not in this bill.

And regarding a framework for, I guess the question for me is from me to you is, if you as Clean Wisconsin want to see legislation go through that is a true protection of the community and the people, what is the framework that you work off of to make sure that it happens as far as

putting certain protections language in place that makes that that really has the right idea that can be voted on in a bipartisan manner.

Yeah, I mean, what we've been saying is this is such a big problem that

this like piecemeal legislation that we're seeing isn't really meeting the moment and that's not doing enough.

You know, I heard when I was at the hearing on AB 840, one of the authors was talking about how, you know, we can't let perfectly the enemy of the good basically, but you know, there is a question of what is good enough.

And so I think that

Ultimately, what we've been saying is Clean Wisconsin, what the Clean Economy Coalition of Wisconsin has been saying is that we really need a comprehensive framework, a comprehensive plan for addressing data centers because otherwise we're going to fall short.

So that means better design of the data centers so that we can, as I was talking about, reduce some of the energy demands.

There's a lot of things that we can do with like demand response or saying like, you know, these data

a lot of times they want 24-7 reliability because they say they need to be functioning constantly.

But there are models in other states where they said, look, when the grid is strained, data centers are the first to have to shift their load, decrease their load.

So we don't have power outages for residents, for example.

We want to see better backup.

Again, because they want 24 seven, a lot of the data centers are coming in saying that they want having diesel generation as their backup and that's polluting locally.

So we'd want to see batteries or.

other clean technologies.

Critically, like I was talking about before, we want renewable energy to be powering the data centers that are coming in because otherwise we're building new fossil-based power like gas plants.

We've already seen a couple of gas plants being that were approved in Wisconsin to meet the load of the Microsoft data centers.

That's a burden on the community in terms of pollution.

We're worried about

the cost getting passed on to ratepayers, that's another really important issue is that the data centers are paying their own way and not burdening communities by this whole infrastructure build out.

So there's a lot that we think needs to be in place in terms of making sure that we've got good community benefit agreements, that local communities are maximizing any benefits that are coming with the data centers, bringing all of this investment and money into our state.

And really that we're using as little energy as possible, making sure that that energy is renewable and that we're also mindful of our water use too.

All right, I'm glad you brought up Microsoft.

I want to talk to you about that on the other side of the break, but we're going to go grab some snacks and grab some water.

We're talking to Chelsea Chandler from Clean Wisconsin.

She is the climate energy and air program director for Clean Wisconsin.

We are talking about data centers here in Wisconsin and going forward, creating protections for communities to make sure that we are our environment safe and our pocket books are not being taken to the cleaners, but more coming up after the break.

Don't go anywhere.

You listen to civic media mid mornings.

I am Greg Bach.

Stay tuned, stay informed and stay close.

Welcome.

Welcome back to civic media.

Mid mornings.

My name is Greg Bach.

You were listening to us on the civic media radio network, and you can be part of the conversation.

Call her text.

The number is the same 855-752-484-2855 75 civic.

Leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.

We still call Twitter still ahead after the 10 o'clock news.

We are talking to Isabella Nieto from.

from Wausau.

She is a civic media reporter.

She's going to be talking about stories she's working on, as well as just getting to know candidates for the 2026 gubernatorial race, which is now kicking into high gear.

They're talking to people coming through Wausau and she'll be discussing that more when we come back in the second hour.

And then of course sports with JR Radcliffe.

He is a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and then a handy tip from Greg.

rounding it all out, but we're happy that you're here this morning.

We are talking to Chelsea Chandler, who is the Climate Energy and Air Program Director for Clean Wisconsin, and we are discussing data centers.

We are talking about transparency and what we should seek from bills that, quote, want to have transparency and coverage for the communities.

And you brought up Microsoft earlier, and you mentioned the fact that, you know,

Non-renewable energy sources have to be built to power these centers now that are going to be built from Microsoft.

And that is going to be a burden on the communities, on our pocketbooks.

But also, the president of Microsoft comes out and says, it's on us.

We should pay for everything.

It should not be an unfair deal for the communities.

When you hear that as an expert in this field, how do you decode that so people can understand the truth?

Yeah, well, I mean we need to make sure that that that talk translates into

action and that that is actually what's happening on the ground.

So, you know, when they say that they are going to pay their fair their their way and not burden, you know, average Wisconsinites and their energy bills, what they're talking about is that they're negotiating a special rate with the local utility so that they are paying for, you know, all the energy that they are using in their data center.

There are a couple of tariff cases at the Public Service Commission right now that

you know, regulate energy use in our state.

And so what Klim Wisconsin and a lot of other advocates are trying to do is making sure that in those cases, they're actually saying like 100% of the costs are being covered and that they're not passing on a portion of that even to, you know, your average folks trying to pay their energy bills.

Cause it's a little bit tricky.

It's not just about the power that's being sold.

It's, there's a lot of infrastructure that's

being

built that would not have been built in the absence of these data centers coming.

So there's power plants, there's transmission lines.

There's also just kind of wear and tear on the existing infrastructure.

We wanna make sure that they're doing things to reduce energy demands and produce energy if they can, right on the data center.

So we're just reducing some of that strain.

So basically we just wanna make sure that like one, they mean what they say and two, that like we're truly talking about

everything and not paying like part of it and then part of that gets passed along because really the devil's in the details

and that's sort of you know it's we've seen a lot of individuals folks from communities stand up and say no we don't want this they're going to meetings they're speaking up they're speaking their mind we always talk to people and say you know go to the meetings where the the

the rules and laws will be made that affect you directly.

Check out those agenda notes, but it takes an understanding of this process, not just for the people, but also the lawmakers.

And that's, I'm talking like village, county board, city councils.

How do, is there any, are there discussions you have with those individuals say here, here is the, here is the, the short version of it.

So you know what's going on.

So when a big business comes in and says, Hey, we got a deal.

They don't just go, that sounds great.

Pass it.

And they have no idea what they're passing.

Well, and it's also problematic because there's a lot of pressure to sign NDAs

to not

be able to talk about it publicly.

there's a lot of pressure to move really quickly too and not be thoughtful.

And that's again, part of why we're asking for a pause and a comprehensive plan because we're saying, hey, these things are getting negotiated way too quickly.

People don't have the information that they need to make sound decisions for their communities.

And the communities don't hear about these data centers until it's very far along and oftentimes feel like they don't have a real chance to kind of share their opinion with their local decision makers with, you know,

know, their state-electeds.

And so this

is a local issue and that approvals of these data centers are local, but in many ways it's actually a statewide issue because the impacts really ripple across our state because of the huge energy use, the water impacts and so on.

So

that's why we really

need state leadership as well to help provide some of that guidance and some of those safeguards to make sure that if we are welcoming in data centers to Wisconsin that we're doing it in a way that we're increasing any benefit.

and mitigating the harms that could come to our communities otherwise.

And I think something you said earlier too, the comment of the, you know, it doesn't have to be perfect.

And I don't just agree with that.

It doesn't have to be perfect, but I think in order to get closer to perfect, people need to work together.

It can't just be one bill on one side.

Our leaders need to work together in a room.

And with folks like yourself who can advise on ways to make it better, and that's how we can get closer to perfect, not just passing a bill through really quickly, where even people in your own party are like, I don't like this, but whatever.

Before we get out of here really quick, you said something at the top of the show that piqued my interest.

You are a farmer.

What is your, what is your, no pun, I'm sorry, but what is your field?

I grow organic fruits and vegetables and nuts and have a lot of conservation on my farm as

well.

That's excellent.

I always love having farmers here.

I think that's a conversation that we like to keep going here, the health and wellbeing and the financial impact and investment of our farmers.

So I'm glad to see you're doing the work and you're doing all the work, whether you're farming your own land or you're taking care of the land here in Wisconsin.

We have been talking to Chelsea Chandler, who is the program director of climate energy and air at Clean Wisconsin, discussing the data centers as well as legislation to protect our communities.

All this information in our show notes today.

So if you want to check out

more about Clean Wisconsin.

If you want to check out ABA 40 and look at it, please do so.

Go to civicmedia.us slash shows.

Look for civic media mid mornings and find it there because we're going to keep talking about this for a while.

Chelsea, thank you so very much.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Stay warm, my friend.

Thank you.

You too.

All right.

When we come back, we're speaking with, we're speaking with Isabella Nieto from Wausau here at Civic Media about stories she's working on.

But don't go anywhere.

You're listening to Civic Media Mid-Morning.

Stay tuned, stay informed and stay close.

Welcome, welcome, welcome back to civic media mid mornings here on the civic media radio network.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your buddy, your pal, your confidant and co-conspirator, all things being awesome like you.

I'm happy you're here today sharing your time with us.

We are here until 11 o'clock and we got lots of great programming still ahead.

After the 1030 news, we'll be speaking with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports reporter, JR Radcliffe on the state of sports in Wisconsin, including

More Yanis rumors, I guess I feel like I don't subscribe to anything basketball Kelvin on my phone and I get more news about Yanis rumors all the time and as you said I'll believe it when I see it, but we'll talk more about that with JR Radcliffe after the 1030 news and then wrapping it all up with a handy tip from Greg today I'm speaking to a politician in England about the difference between parties and a political party, but don't go anywhere

We still have a great hour here for you today.

If you want to be part of the conversation, you can always call or text 855-752-4842-855-757.

You can leave a comment on that live stream.

And you can also get in touch with us via the Civic Media app.

It's absolutely free.

Put it on your phone or your tablet.

You can call, text, leave a voicemail note.

You can be a part of...

Text-to-Wing Contests, when we have them, there'll be another one coming down the road.

You can also customize it to your community so you can get the news.

You can find a favorite radio station, whether it's music or talk, but it's all right there on the Civic Media app, absolutely free.

Get it today and take us where you go all over the world, because that's possible as well.

Really quick, I wanted to read this text message from Mary listening on WXCO.

We were discussing earlier about Tom Tiffany being essentially the

presumptive nominee for the GOP when it comes to the governor's race here in Wisconsin for 2026.

He did get President Donald Trump's endorsement via true social and Mr. Josh Schuman from Washington County.

He is the Washington County executive, dropped out and endorsed Mr. Tiffany.

And I asked your thoughts, right, left, center, do you like this?

Don't you like this?

Why not?

What do you want out of a GOP candidate if you are a Republican?

And Mary said,

Tom Tiffany is my representative.

Whenever I contacted him, I always got a form email in response.

That was just the party position.

We need someone capable of having original thoughts as governor.

I don't disagree with that.

So we'll be talking about this through the weeks, months, and what we'll feel like years, but it's only going to be a few months in 2026 about the governor's race.

And we'll be talking more about candidates.

a little bit later with our next guest who is a civic media reporter up in the Wausau area.

Isabella Nieto is here this morning.

Isabella, good morning.

How are you today?

Are you staying warm?

That's the most important question.

Are you staying warm?

Doing my best.

I've got my big wool scarf on and it was about negative four this morning.

So it was an eventful.

Well,

I appreciate you being here and spending time with us this morning.

I really like getting to know my colleagues and workmates.

I mean, Pacific media is a big company, a big network over three states.

And I feel like I know maybe

3% of the employees here because we're all over the place, but it's always great to sit down and have a chat.

So Isabel, tell us first about yourself.

Tell us your story.

How did you come to, not how did you come to be?

I understand how people are born, but how, like what brought you to civic media, you know, as far as schooling or the interest in journalism?

Tell us a little bit about you.

Sure.

So I'm originally from Illinois.

I went to,

I went to my undergrad and graduate programs in Illinois.

My bachelor's is in journalism and my master's is in public affairs reporting.

And I had finished up my internship actually at the Illinois State House as an intern member of the press corps down there.

So I was covering the state legislature as a part of my grad program.

I finished that up and I was hired by Civic not too long after that.

And I moved up here in August of last year and I've been working for Civics since early September

now You are you were an intern in the state house Did that require you to be in Springfield or were you able to do it remotely because that's gonna lead me to my possible next question?

Sure, it was in person.

I was at the state house every day

But I was an intern for a WBEZ Chicago, the NPR affiliate.

So I was working for them technically virtually, but I was

you know, in person at the state house every day.

I was just going to say, because the, you know, when we talk about the state house, Illinois, you talk about Chicago, those, those, those are hustle and bustle.

And then, and this is nothing against Wausau.

I love Wausau.

I've been to Wausau many times, but it gets much quieter.

It's much smaller.

Was there a culture shock for you?

Or is this something like, I got this and I've, you know, was there an adjustment period for you?

There was definitely a little bit of an adjustment.

You know, I grew up pretty close to the Wisconsin border in Illinois.

So I wasn't super unfamiliar with what it was like to live in Wisconsin, but being up here in the Northwoods is definitely different from being in Springfield.

Springfield's a relatively quiet city.

Most of the hustle and bustles in the state house and downtown itself.

So it was a little bit of an adjustment period.

It's much quieter here.

Lots more stars too.

I love the Northwoods.

We were just there last summer with the...

some shows and it was really, really great time.

And so you are a reporter in Wausau and something that we really believe in here at Civic Media is the local reporting aspect, getting the local news to people and helping them understand what directly affects them.

And that is very important when you go to civicmedia.us slash news, you can find stories from all over the state.

You can also, you know, you can see Isabella's reporting, but

That is like a key figure of this network's mission is to to get the information to the people and What are you reporting on is like I want to talk about the referendum you discussed But like what what do you see yourself reporting on on a regular basis as an events?

Is it you know?

Council meetings things of that nature

Yeah, I'm doing a lot of council meetings They've they've always yielded a lot of content for me to kind of break down and be able to put into my newscast with the

Primary and spring election coming up.

I'm doing a lot of county board and city council candidate reporting I'm doing that pretty regularly since some incumbent members of the city council have filed for non candidacy So I'm covering those races as well since we've got some people coming in hoping to take those seats and And we have a local who is running for state treasurer So I was able to talk to him as well, but it's a lot of city and county government reporting as well

which I'm going to say until the cows come home, it's the most important thing.

I think folks should be, I mean, look, you can't, I can't go anywhere without seeing a federal or I'm sorry, a national news story, whether we're talking about the president, whether we're talking about, you know, all these things and that's accessible and that's great.

And you should be informed.

But when you need to know this information, this is where it becomes vital because you see those city council meetings, Isabella, and you see things happening.

And a lot of times people aren't there.

because they don't know when it is, what's about, or maybe they're like, eh, it's whatever.

It can't be that big of a deal, but you see things happening in those meetings that are like, people need to understand the gravity of their decisions, right?

Yes, definitely.

You know, here in Lhasa, we have a mayor who recently went through an ethics trial not too long ago because of his, you know, his, if you haven't heard about it, you know, his name is Mayor Doug Denney.

We got in trouble for

Moving a ballot box from city hall and there was I went to this long it was about seven hours of ethics trial and Getting through hearing his side of the story hearing everybody else that was involved in it Doing a lot of that recording.

That was a pretty big story in the area But also covering, you know, what's going to be on the ballot?

Who's going to be on the ballot and what issues are people?

You know hearing at the county level, you know, we have a couple of things that

the county is hoping to lobby for in favor of you know of our rural residents as well.

So it's a lot of different different things that I'm kind of hearing and trying to get out there so that people know what's going on.

in their communities.

If you're just joining us on Civic Media mid mornings, we are speaking to Civic Media reporter Isabella Nieto.

She reports in the Wausau area and talking about the ballot, the spring ballot, you said that there is a referendum aimed at saving some firefighter positions.

Can you speak more on that matter?

Yeah, so this has been kind of a long debated issue since the beginning of the year and before then.

We have 12 firefighter paramedic positions that are funded by FEMA safer grants and that money is running out at the end of this year.

So the city is facing a $1.4 million shortfall in trying to fill these positions and keep people in these positions.

So what the city has done is they've approved language for a referendum on the spring ballot and it's asking residents whether they

would support raising taxes in the next fiscal year to support these decisions, to support these positions and fill that gap that we're facing.

Have you seen, you know, it's a spring election, so it's not that far away.

What are you seeing as far as support versus non-support?

I know that when you put quote, raise taxes on a referendum, that automatically makes people go, no, thank you, but there is a, there are not

Not consequences.

I don't want to sound like a mob leader or anything, but there are definite, there are problems that arise if you don't have emergency service workers in your community.

What are you hearing as far as support versus non support from the voters or the politicians?

Yeah, I'm, I, the city council was really split on how to, you know, on how to approach this process in general, you know, they were aware that the shortfall is coming.

They heard a presentation from the fire department.

about how these positions play a part in providing these services to the community.

So it's been a little bit split.

You know, some people are in favor.

There is a lot of opposition to raising taxes.

I know, you know, the mayor in particular put out his own plan to the city council and he publicized that plan as well.

But that plan was ultimately not adopted.

It was, you know, discussed at city council meetings, but ultimately they kind of decided that the referendum would be the best choice to kind of, you know, address the issue.

What was Mayor Denny's plan then?

I'm wondering how he sought to fund this.

And were there any other, maybe not ideas put forth, but just ideas that floated around because when you're talking about funding and raising taxes is usually the boy where you go.

What were other ideas then?

Sure, it's been a little bit since I read the proposal that he had put out But basically through strategized cuts to other departments He would fire firing

people

Yeah, I proposed, you know cuts to a local, you know a downtown police officer position and stuff like that, you know The I forget the exact details.

So I don't want to you know, but

there were, you know, there were strategized cuts that he saw as, as a potential solution to the issue.

And that wasn't, you know, it wasn't officially considered as a solution to the problem, but they did discuss it.

Gotcha.

Okay.

I'm always interested to see how people find other.

When referendums go on, whether we're talking about school funding or whatnot, and they're talking about raising taxes, people automatically get, you know,

tense about it.

And I, you know, I would, I was interested to know what his ideas might be.

And the fact that, you know, again, you might not live in Wausau.

In fact, it's probably fair to say you don't live in Wausau if you're listening right now.

But these kinds of decisions are being made at your local level all the time.

And I always use down here in Sturtevin in Racine County, one day through a backroom deal, they just decided they were going to close down their police department and go with the sheriffs and

the police were the last to know, the people were the last to know.

So it's very important to make sure you check out those agendas that are available on your local websites and attend those meetings.

We're going to keep the conversation going with Isabella Nieto, who is a reporter for civic media up in the Wausau area in them Northwoods.

We're talking the governor's race after this and we're talking about.

The candidates are coming to you.

I'm seeing Mr. Chad Holmes talking to a lot of amazing people because they want to go out there and talk to the folks who are going to maybe give them a job in 2026, but more about who you're talking about, what you're hearing from the candidates at the radio station when we come back with Isabella Nieto here on Civic Media, mid mornings.

My name is Greg Bach.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay tuned and stay close.

Welcome, welcome back to civic media mid mornings on the civic media radio network.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your host, your buddy, your pal, your co-conspirator and all things staying warm and amazing.

You are listening to us.

We are very happy you are here spending your time with us.

After the 10 30 news, JR Radcliffe talks all things sports, including, I guess, a coach who's not going to get into a hall of fame, which I guess is just the end.

I'll be all of news.

That's important.

football.

Yay.

All right.

Cool.

He'll be here at 10 35 and we'll probably also talk, talk some nineties music.

And then a Tandy tip from Greg.

Today I'm talking to an English politician, politician who joined a party for all the wrong reasons, but we'll talk more about that in the time to come.

If you want to be part of the conversation, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five civic leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube.

and the platform that we still call Twitter.

I am speaking right now with my colleague and my co-worker Isabella Nieto.

She is a reporter up in the Wausau area in the Northwoods and working mainly at a WXCO with our friend Chad Holmes, who is on the air every day, 8 a.m.

to 9 a.m.

on air and then from 9 a.m.

and then from 8 a.m.

to 10

AM all the time on YouTube, correct?

The show is always on YouTube, but it's on the air from eight to nine and then you can catch the next, the second hour on YouTube.

So check that out.

That will be in the show notes.

And it's great to see Chad back on the air.

I, I love Chad for a couple of reasons.

One, I love how passionate he is about the area, whether it comes to politics, culture or sports, but I also love seeing the man get fired up at what seems like the drop of a hat.

There's just something that'll happen and he will just get fired up like that.

And I love it, but

You and Chad are doing some great work up there and you are hosting a lot of gubernatorial candidates coming through.

I have to imagine they want to make their presence known in the Northwoods to show people, hey, I'm not, I see you, I want to talk to you and I want to hear what you have to say, but they're stopping by and tell us about that.

I mean, it's going to be a busy office these next few months.

They're going to be coming by a lot.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

I think I'm ready.

You

know, in my time in the state legislature in Illinois, it was, you know, I learned how to speak to politicians,

how to

interview them.

So having these candidates come in that are, you know, some of them have the legislature and, you know, have either county executive or county government experience, or they come in and they're a new candidate.

You know, I love talking to them, hearing what they're all about and what they want people to know about them.

Yeah.

And so far, how many, I feel like you've had

How many candidates have you come through there?

And has there been anything, you know, what is the messages you're hearing from them as far as the, you know, they're there to have a conversation, but there is a bit of stump speech to what they're doing.

And is there anything that sticks out for you that says like, you know, these are good discussions we're having and what they're trying to get across to the people.

Yeah, you know, I've lost count by now.

We've had a lot of people come in just in the last week.

We had Francesca Hong on Monday.

She was a great interview.

She gave us a lot of her background, you know, what she's wanting to do, her plans for, you know, supporting education funding, supporting healthcare and things like that.

So that's really interesting.

Those are the big points as well for lots of candidates.

You know, we've only had Democratic candidates in so far.

We're working to get the Republican candidates in as well.

because we'd like to hear from them as well.

And education, healthcare, and affordability are the big points that a lot of these candidates are hitting when they're wanting people, in what they're wanting people to know about them and what they plan to do as governor.

And yeah, I think, I think that's important too.

You say like it's, I'm hoping that the, well, I'm hoping for all civic media, all the, all the shows that we will get, we'll get the democratic candidates.

I'm sure we've already had, you know, not, uh, we've had some governors here.

Uh, we talked to Chris Taylor yesterday who's running for Wisconsin state Supreme court, but I think it's important.

Yeah.

Especially now that Tom Tiffany seems to be the presumptive nominee, unless something else happens unless someone comes in with a whole boatload of money and

They're like, here, I'm the person.

I don't know.

We'll see.

But I think it's important to have those conversations because I'd like to hear what he has to say as well.

Is there anything else that you're working on up there that we should be on the lookout for?

I mean, for me, you know, it's local reporting, but these stories have an impact all over the state and all over our listenership.

Is there anything that you're working on or that you're talking about that we should be keeping our ear to the ground and paying attention to?

Yeah, something that really comes to mind is a mining project that's happening about an hour north of us But I'm going to be covering because it's in my coverage area I don't know if you know you had heard but there were copper and gold deposits found in a site outside of Medford Yeah, so there's a company that wants to come in and set up the first

mining site in Wisconsin, the first one in, I think, a decade, maybe more.

So I'm going to be working towards that, hearing what the community is thinking about it, thinking about this big company coming in and setting up this mine, what the national forest has to say about it, hearing what their plans are, and speaking to the company as well, hearing what their plans are, what they're wanting to find, what they're hoping to establish as their kind of

still rooting around for everything and, you know, kind of establishing that storyline as well, you know, seeing what the whole picture is looking like up there.

And that's definitely something I'd love for you to come back to the show and talk about because those, you know, it doesn't matter how north or south or east or west, it will have an impact, especially on.

possibly hopefully questions during the debates between candidates about what they would do in these situations and having an idea or a plan for the state and getting some opinions on that would be very, very helpful.

So yes, please come back and talk to us more about this as it develops.

Isabella Nieto is a reporter here at Civic Media in the Northwoods area, covering Wausau up at WXCO.

Catch the chat home show from eight.

until 10 on YouTube, but on air from eight until nine.

Great discussions, great content there.

Isabella, thank you so much for being here.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm, okay?

Thank you for having me.

No problem.

Wonderful to have you here.

Okay, when we come back, we're talking to JR Radcliffe from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about all things sports, whether we're talking

Yannis or Mr. Bill Belichick, it's all right here on Civic Media, mid mornings.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay tuned, stay informed, stay warm, and stay close.

Welcome, welcome back to civic media mid mornings here on the civic media radio network.

There we go.

Words.

Sorry.

I'm being taken by the intro.

Music is so rock and roll here on a Thursday.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your buddy, your pal.

Uh, I'm the, uh, the carrier of a five sixteenth socket.

It and the reason why I have that I told you I tell you why the reason why I have it is I put it in my pocket and I forgot it was there That's why I told you that haha That's a really disappointing tease that lasted on an hour and a half But you're here today.

I'm appreciating your time with us spending it with us throughout the morning We are here until 11 still to come we have a handy tip from Greg where I talked to an English politician about

the difference between a party and parties.

So don't go anywhere with that.

If you ever want to receive a handy tip from Greg, you can go ahead and email me at Greg.BachatCivicMedia.us, Greg.BachatCivicMedia.us.

And then after us, it doesn't just end with us.

We've got Tom Hartman from 11 to two.

We have got John and Gordy in the afternoon from two to five.

They talked to Tom Kirchner, who is a reporter with Wisconsin watch on his latest article.

detailing secretive practices in building AI data centers in our state and what we need to do about it and what can be done about it.

That is, again, the data center conversation will not end, but we want to make sure that it's not only happening, but it's also being done transparently and with our knowledge and into our benefit.

And they're also going to be talking to Jim Santel, host of Amicus and Mr. Rocker with his Max Inc Radio local music update.

And then Pete

Trouble with nightlight from five until eight talking to Adam Hess with his popcorn pick of the week and first contact author Becky fair here on civic media.

So don't go anywhere.

Keep it locked in here.

Put us on the app.

Put it on your phone.

The app is absolutely free.

You can listen to us anywhere in the world.

It's great.

But if you want to be part of the conversation, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, civic leave a comment on that live stream.

Now it's time to welcome our next guest.

because it's Thursday, which means we're talking sports with, with, uh, with Milwaukee journal Sentinel reporter, JR Radcliffe.

Good morning, JR.

How are you today?

I'm fantastic guys.

It's a, it's going to get a little warmer this weekend.

So that's where I'm at 25

degrees,

25 degrees.

I'm in small victory mode.

Oh, no,

I can get

whatever I can get.

Oh, I was telling a friend, uh, if it's, if it's like 25 degrees on Saturday, I'm opening the garage and doing a bunch of stuff.

I needed to do for weeks.

So, uh, yeah, I'll be wearing a YN shirt.

All right.

Well, JR, let's kick it off with the, the, the biggest rumor that's rumoring all over the rumor mill, because it seems to rumor every three to five days.

That is Yanis.

And should he stay or should he go?

The honest cycle is so exhausting.

It's so exhausting.

And I, you know, I, I don't think a whole lot has changed in the, in the most recent cycle, the news that, that came news and quotes, I'm afraid that came on Wednesday where Shams, uh, Trenia from ESPN said that he's ready to move on and that the team is listening to offers.

I doubt that that's brand new.

I feel like they've probably always been at

that

phase and it's a little hard to know ultimately what's going on behind the scenes.

Is there an honest open dialogue between them?

Are they, you know,

I don't, I don't know if I think Giannis knows what he wants.

You know, I do believe that he is waffling.

He's obviously, I'm sure he's very frustrated right now.

He's got an injury.

The

team

is playing as poorly as it has in a decade, literally.

And I don't think they know really what the future is with the coach or.

How they're going to rebuild this team if they do end up moving on with Yanis.

And I just, I imagine that it's tough for him to know what to do.

Does he want to resign, which he's eligible to do again in October, by the way.

Yeah.

Does he want to do that and be a buck for life and really sort of cement that aspect to his legacy?

Does he want to go get one more ring?

And, you know, not that ruling, I'm not ruling out completely that he can't do that in Milwaukee, but it probably at this point in his career, you could see why crossing into his 30s, he's like, it's going to be easier maybe to do that somewhere else.

So.

He's got to, you know, you want to do that before he gets into his mid 30s or late 30s and he becomes, uh, you know, just not, not the capable basketball player that he is right now.

So I understand behind the scenes, he's probably really frustrated.

I just, I don't know.

I think we haven't quite confronted like, will the bucks do it?

Will they trade him?

Like

if

he wants to be traded because he's under contract for next season, uh, at which point he is free to, free to go if he has not signed an extension.

I mean, he's their meal ticket.

Like I don't want to reduce it to that because he's obviously meant so much to Milwaukee, but he's their Jersey sales.

He's there

season ticket sales

and certainly any chance to compete for a championship still requires to be in the solar system.

So I don't know if this organization will just say, you know what?

You know what?

You're right.

We'll trade you.

Um, it could get ugly.

These, these divorces are, we've seen them before in Wisconsin sports.

We are not new to this.

Uh, going back to Kareem in the, in the seventies and certainly farve and Rogers, we've seen this before it's, it's going to get messy.

And sometimes I think, I think the player and everybody just has to acknowledge that it's

going to get

messy.

It's just the way it goes.

Um, I don't know if I would say though that I think it's imminent.

I don't think it's imminent that he's going anywhere.

first contract or nothing else.

I was going to say, I mean, just, just from my experience as a brewers fan, watching arbitrations come in between like, you know, one to $200,000 and you're like, really?

You guys couldn't pony up that amount to make them happy and keep them here.

But now they're not only are they gone, but they seem like they hate us.

It's, it's just, I mean, a million dollars here, a million dollars there.

The old saying is after a while it starts to seem like real money, but Calvin, let me get your thoughts on this.

Cause you are a big bucks fan and

You said something to me.

You've been saying, I feel like you've been saying this since the rumor mill has really taken effect even last season, which is a shrug of the shoulders ago.

I'll believe when I see it.

Well, here it comes folks.

I guess I'm frustrated by the situation.

I don't blame me on this.

It's just this trade culture that's kind of

of risen in the NBA in the last five or six years of where when players aren't happy, they demand trades.

Instead of, I'm going to sound like an old person here the way I'm going to frame this, but when I was a teenager and getting into the NBA.

Calvin, you're supposed to start that with back in my day.

Sorry.

I know.

I tried to avoid it, but the players that were criticized for team jumping and that kind of thing.

They did it the right way.

They played out their contract and they sought different offers and free agency I don't understand why that has gone away in the NBA Everyone wants to resign their super duper triple max contract and then demand a trade after they've resigned and it's frustrating and annoying I

think that you know, I'm not an expert in sports contract negotiation But what I am an expert in is watching trends happen and I think the trend is and tell me if I'm wrong that the

why it's happening is because people are doing it and the organizations accept it as eventually or they like if it happens once people like oh I can do that then they keep on doing it and there becomes the norm so that you know I think that's why they're doing it because no one's holding them to account or saying well you can't do that or or or invoking the well that's not a very professional thing that no one that that that doesn't factor in it's like more money and also I think the ability

as you put JR is to get another ring.

And so the question I'm going to ask the both of you, and I'll ask, you know, I'm asking the audience too, who has a stake in this or really knows basketball way better than me is, is there a version of this that the bucks can put together to keep Yanis here until he retires?

No, of course, there's no guarantee for a championship, but do you see a version of this that plays out where the bucks can create a contract that says we're going to make it so undeniably

Insane to go That here you go.

Here's the thing like we'll give you like here's here's 5% of the of the of the team You know what I mean?

Like is there a sweetheart deal that they can do to make him say?

Oh, I'm a buck for life hang them the the jersey in the rafter right now.

We're here.

Let's do this

So there's a lot of complications that come with a salary cab league

There is

only so much money that the Bucks can offer you on as a dedicated bow.

He can't they cannot

give can they give him more PTO days

More PTO days or, uh, you know, access to a private plane.

You know, I don't actually know all those particulars, but they can, what the good news is, they can give him more money than other teams.

That's the

way

what's called bird rights in the NBA.

It's called, say it again.

This is what?

Bird rights, BIRD, like Larry Bird, which is the genesis of the, it's very complicated, but.

The good news is the bucks can actually legally pay him more.

Okay, another

hand.

So if he's just leaving in free agency, he stands to make more if he stays with the Milwaukee bucks.

That's a structure put in place so that the league allows teams to keep their superstars.

Yeah.

So far it's worked.

Yannis assigned, you know, and Yannis has been happy enough to sign multiple contract extensions here.

So I think that in terms of like a deal, he can't refuse.

I mean, that's not really on the table, but also, you know, he does stand to make more if he stays.

Um, I do think

You know, just by virtue of the fact that he has done that, he'd be open to it.

And yes, is there a scenario where they just bounce back next year and are actually a playoff caliber, if not championship caliber team?

There is that scenario.

I know a lot of people kind of assume, myself kind of included that, oh, they've given up all their draft picks for the next two years.

There's actually a scenario where they could end up with a top 10 pick this year in 2026.

It requires the Bucks to be bad and the Pelicans to also be bad, but.

That's happening.

Like those are, those are bottom 10 teams right now.

So they have a chance to get a really high level young player that they can throw in the mix.

They

would have to make some serious changes.

And yeah, they, with Yanis here next year, they can still be a very competitive team.

There is a pathway to that.

I think pretty much everything that can't go wrong has gone wrong this year.

And I do think it can be considered an aberration.

There's also a risk that it's not, that it's not an aberration and that we have lost something.

And with respect to Yanis, like.

He's gotten a lot of injuries lately.

There's no guarantee that you have Giannis for a full season anymore, that we've just reached that point in his career where he's always going to be a little dinged up.