Saturday, March 28, 2026 (Hour 1)

From the rolling bluffs of the dripless region to the pristine shorelines of Superior in Michigan, from the Northwoods to the Kettle Moraine, Civic Media broadcasts across all of Wisconsin.

For all of Wisconsin, take a trip with us across the radio network to hear from communities throughout the state.

This is the Civic Media Spotlight.

Hello and welcome to the first hour of the Civic Media Spotlight.

We begin with Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

They talk to fishery specialist Titus Sealheimer from Wisconsin Sea Grant to talk about an evasive carp species and how it could negatively impact the Great Lakes.

He also tells us about the efforts to keep the species from entering the lakes.

Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.

Good morning and thank you so much for joining us this morning.

You are listening to the Civic Media Network.

If you're listening in Appleton and Oshkosh on WISS or Wausau and WXCO or even in Richland Center and WRCE, thank you so much for joining us.

Hey, Brian, we have to take some more qualifiers because we are still breaking into spring with this multi-state text to win word of the hour until eight o'clock on your Civic Media app.

you can text us the word WAKE.

W-A-K-E WAKE is your word until eight o'clock and that's going to qualify you for some really great stuff.

Yeah you can win $200 today and you can be qualified for the grand prize which is a Verlo Queen size mattress pack including not only the mattress set but

the mattress cover, some sheets, and two active dope pillows, so over $1,300 value.

So again, about 24 minutes for this word.

The word again is wake, as Jamie said, W-A-K-E, so get those in.

Now, President Trump has said he's working to save the Great Lakes from invasive carp, but his administration is holding up money for a billion-dollar project to keep them at bay.

He posted on True Social last week that he was working

with Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to quote, save the Great Lakes from the rather violent and destructive Asian carp.

He also said he was going to ask governors of Great Lakes states to join the fight.

Well, that all sounds great.

But the reality doesn't match the message.

So what is happening with funding and how big an issue are the Asian carp?

We're joined by Titus Seilheimer.

He is the fisheries outreach specialist at Wisconsin Sea Grant.

And we're going to find that out.

Titus, thanks for being here.

This is something I haven't heard about these Asian carp in a while.

For a while, there were big news all the time for people outside of your industry.

So for those who aren't familiar,

How big an issue are these invasive carp and why are they such a problem?

Yeah, great question.

They are one of the many invasive species that we're worried about getting into the Great Lakes and they've been in North America for about 50 years and they were brought in originally to

They were kind of used for aquaculture in the south on fish farms or kind of wastewater treatment, but then they escaped into the Mississippi River system.

And so they have been kind of slowly over that time moving north and approaching the Great Lakes.

So the Illinois River especially, and then through the Chicago area waterway system, the canals there that connect Lake Michigan to

the the Mississippi River system.

That's kind of this pinch point that we're mostly talking about.

So you're saying you said that they're approaching the Great Lakes and the system right now.

But how serious is this current threat that we're seeing from the invasive carp?

I mean, it is definitely, I think, you know, in two ways, like it's definitely a big threat.

Like anytime a new invasive species gets into the Great Lakes like that.

you know basically resets kind of what we know and I'm I'm actually in Michigan right now at a Great Lakes meeting you know hearing about Lake Michigan all day yesterday and all five Great Lakes and so you know like we know what we know right now but if you bring in these new species which are

you know, the big head carp, the silver carp especially, are these filter feeders.

So they could, you know, really change the food webs in the Great Lakes, you know, especially places like Green Bay, Saginaw Bay, Lake Erie, where it's, you know, there's a lot of nutrient loading, a lot of food for them.

But then even like the harbors and the rivers of the Great Lakes, like that could be a new species that really shifts things and means that we have to kind of figure out

you know, what is going on now?

Like how do things work?

So keeping them out is definitely, it is, you know, sort of the most effective way to, you know, protect the Great Lakes rather than try to deal with them later.

I'm sure a lot of fishermen are going to laugh at me for asking this, but define invasive species.

I know basically it means species that weren't in an environment and then are introduced, but what is the damage that invasive species really can cause to, like you said, if they get into the Great Lakes or these harbors where they haven't been before?

Yeah, so I mean and actually like invasive is like it's there's this continuum of Species so we have you know the the non-native species so you know that you came from somewhere else in the Great Lakes a lot of those like a lot of our top species that we worry about zebra mussels quagga mussels round gobies

They came into the Great Lakes in the ballast water tanks of ships, but then there's also, you know, so they came from Europe, kind of the Eurasian area in these ballast tanks when the St.

Lawrence Seaway opened up.

But, you know, they're, and they can, you know, so they're non-native.

We've got about 190 non-native species in the Great Lakes now.

Not all of them are what we would call invasive or have big noticeable impact.

So even then, you can have a species that's new, but if it doesn't, if you don't see the impacts, it's not always, you might not consider it invasive then.

It's just sort of a non-native species.

We're joined by Titus Seilheimer.

He is the fisheries outreach specialist at Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Now, Brian had mentioned that the federal government has paused funding, even though that money was already approved.

So what kind of impact is this going to have?

How is this going to delay things, I guess would be the question.

Yeah.

So the funding specifically is for what's called, it's the Brandon Road.

Lock and Dam project.

So

this is within the Illinois or the Chicago area waterway system.

And it's so there's this big, you know, this is part of a big plan.

I think the money we're talking about is like 200 some million out of like a three stage billion dollar project.

So it's a it's a big project.

But what they're going to do is upgrade this lock and dam.

So that these are where the the barges that can go from the Mississippi River into the Great Lakes.

that they use and they're going to put a lot of, uh, they're going to upgrade them.

So they have an electrical barrier.

They're going to have a bubble curtain.

They're going to have sound.

They're going to be able to flush out species, um, when the, the barges go through.

So it's, it is really kind of upgrading the system to prevent, uh, carp, but also other species from moving from, uh, the, the Mississippi river system into the Great Lakes.

So, uh, you know, it's, it's been, you know, this is kind of the main

the highest risk point for species moving into the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River.

So it's definitely, I think, an important step forward in preventing new species, you know, carp and other species in the future.

How do those barriers work?

And it seems like, like I said, this is a story that's been going on for well over 10 years.

It seems like they're moving kind of slow.

We hear that these carp are invasive.

they really seem to be taking their time.

How long, how long a process is it for them to make their way up to this choke point?

And then once they get to the choke point, what are they encountering?

Yeah, so, you know, I think in part of this, you know, maybe we haven't heard about it as much in the last, you know, in the recent years is because they have kind of slowed down.

So they, you know, it was kind of this, you know, this, I don't know, I don't want to use, you know,

I guess March, you know, it's this March North from where they started and I think Arkansas and they're, yeah, you know, moving upstream and, you know, coming up, you know, fairly quickly through the Illinois River system and really, you know, some of the impacts to the rivers are just that they're so abundant now and they kind of, you know, it's all carp in some of these areas, but they've actually kind of paused like they got to a certain point in the Illinois River.

system, which is actually downstream of this Brandon Road lock and dam.

And they've they've kind of, you know, haven't really moved upstream that much in advanced in, you know, it's something like 20 years now.

So it has kind of slowed, which I think is a good thing.

It gives us time to, you know, get this project in place.

And, you know, it's kind of nice.

They're cooperating with us.

And the, you know, the the

time it takes for some of these massive Army Corps of Engineers projects to finish.

But then just upstream of this Brandon Roadlock and dam is the electrical barrier, which you've heard about over the years, and that's been in place for quite a while.

you know, this electrical barrier that keeps the fish from swimming up towards the lake, they get stunned, and then they would just kind of float back downstream.

So it's not like we're totally on, you know, there aren't any defenses, but this would add another level to that.

Cytosileheimer is our guest.

He's the fisheries outreach specialist at Wisconsin Sea Grant.

If invasive carp do actually make it into the Great Lakes Titus, what does that essentially mean for Wisconsin fishing, the industry around it, and maybe even the economy?

Yeah, you know I think you know carp in the Great Lakes is a it's a big question like I think there's a lot of uncertainty there You know be if you're you know if you're following the other Great Lakes stories things like the the kind of decline of Lake Whitefish especially in the main part of Lake Michigan

you know that is being driven by other invasive species like the quagga mussels and You know kind of the interesting thing about these carp like they can get to a hundred pounds like they're fish

But they're

just they're just swimming along, you know filter feeding like they're eating the littlest stuff They're eating algae and plankton, but they can get really big and you know So in one sense some of their their easiest food isn't you know quite available because of the mussels, but you know, I think it's definitely the

You know, they they would be feeding and they would be growing and if they You know would probably you know go to places that have more food availability like Green Bay the Fox River Harbors rivers, you know on the Wisconsin side, especially like that's kind of where we have There's probably a lot more food for them.

So it could really change

I think how people enjoy rivers in the lakes, but can also shift some of the food web stuff and impact the desirable fish species that we want to see.

Titus, are they good for anything else?

Can they be harvested?

I remember one time having a carp sandwich, but I don't think it's a kind of fish that most food are going for.

Do they serve any other purpose?

Yeah, I mean like you know interest like in in Asia where they're you know They're actually farmed there.

They're a highly desirable food fish over there and kind of the backbone I guess if they're fish farming in some places and you know here I think you know for us like we hear carp and we're like oh You know, yeah, like I you know you hear carp you think common carp you think you know this bottom feeding fish that's full of contaminants and maybe you don't want to eat it but

You know, these are because their filter feeding they actually grow really fast.

They they have a much like they have low contaminants and I guess the you know as a food like I've had I think silver carp tacos one time and it was you know, you've seen the season the meat.

It's really good.

And you know, so people are you know, there is kind of an interest in marketing them as a food fish.

Kopi is the the new name COPI.

Yeah, if you see Kobe on the menu,

you're

eating one of these invasive carp, so.

Interesting, interesting.

Fighting the power, doing your bit to

save

ecology.

That's right.

We've got about a bit at left Titus.

For people who boat or maybe fish, is there anything that they should or shouldn't do to help maybe prevent the spread of the invasive carp?

Yeah, I mean, I think the basic steps that we all do as boaters and anglers, you know,

Don't move water from one place to another.

You know, drain your boat, clean your, you know, even your canoe or your kayak, clean it off because there could be stuff in there.

You know, don't dump your bait bucket because they've actually found, you know, some of these little carp in with bait.

So,

yeah.

All right, well Titus Seilheimer is Fisheries Outreach Specialist at Wisconsin Sea Grant.

SeaGrant.wisc.edu is the website.

You can go check it out.

Enjoy your conference Titus.

We enjoyed having you here.

Thanks very much.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

It's 748 right now.

You're listening to Daybreak.

We stay right here on the Civic Media Spotlight with Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

New data shows that voters are realigning where their priorities lay.

Is it property taxes or school funding?

As the property taxes continually increase and the economy puts more strain on homeowners, that priority is shifting.

Fairly solid, better than expected.

It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.

It is 822.

My name is Jamie Martinson.

And I'm Brian Noonan.

Tell us at 855-75-CIVIC-855-7524842.

What concerns you more?

property taxes in wisconsin or school funding and why uh the reason we ask you that is because according to a february poll by the marquette university law school wisconsin voters attitudes toward property taxes in public schools uh public school funding

are shifting with most saying they're more concerned about reducing their property tax bills than sending money to local schools when given the choice.

This concern is the highest recorded in more than a decade.

And it makes sense.

Because once you get to a certain point in your life, if you don't have kids in school anymore, or you've never had children, or whatever the reason,

but you see you have a home you're lucky enough to own your house and your taxes keep going up and up that's your main concern and it is not selfish for people to say hey I you know I'm all for kids getting an education but man my taxes are killing me

I mean, and we've pointed this out on the program too, it affects homeowners, obviously, but it also affects anybody who rents because somebody owns those properties and their property taxes are gonna go up and they're gonna have to offset that at some point.

So it's not just homeowners, it's also, if you're a renter, you're also gonna end up paying more, which is why we start seeing some of these astronomical rental prices throughout the state of Wisconsin, right?

But it's interesting because

because in the same poll, 57% of people said that they would be inclined to vote against a referendum to increase taxes for local schools.

43% said they would vote to pass a referendum.

This is gonna be interesting because coming up on this April 7th election, and by the way, early voting starts today if you wanna cast your vote for that April 7th election.

But there are...

Oh, there are, I believe, and I've gotta check my facts on this, but off the top of my head, I believe there are 70 schools this year in the state of Wisconsin and this election that are gonna have referendums on the ballot in some way, shape, or form so that they can have proper funding for whether it's their operational costs or whether it's for maintenance of the school or adding things that they need to the facility itself.

this concern over property tax levels comes at a time when people are being hammered right now, right?

I

mean, we're

talking inflation.

We've got the tariffs, the higher home values, now the rising gas prices, the uncertainty with all goods as they have to travel from parts of the country through a war-torn area and a strait that isn't opening no matter what the president says.

So, I mean, this comes, I think, at a very tumultuous time for a lot of people when

people are already being forced to really decide, is it worth even owning a home?

Can I even own a home?

Well,

it's not that it's worth it, but can they?

We talked about it the other day that the average home ownership has gone up from 30 years old for the first time buyer to 40 years old for a first time buyer.

So it's tougher and tougher to do that.

And while

In theory, everybody I think is for education being funded, the problem does become a very personal one.

And if I'm faced with the choice, you know, my daughter is not a school, she's grown.

And while we'd went to public school and we chose to live in a place that had very high property taxes so that she could go to good public schools, the minute she was done, we left.

we we left to move and move to a place that did not we didn't have to pay those exorbitant taxes and I would be I would be hard-pressed now to move back to a place where my taxes kept going up to fun schools not because I don't value it but because my bottom line has gone has changed so drastically and I think that's what a lot of people they come to that point and it's almost the lesser of two evils right well

am I going to am I going to not am I will I vote against this referendum and know that something is going to suffer at schools and I know we were just talking about Green Bay having to cut possibly some fine arts programs knowing that or saying well then I'd have to move because I can't afford my taxes here.

I mean and let's be realistic most people even if you live in a community even if you don't have as kids in the school district you want kids to have good schools right

that

you do but

Property taxes in Wisconsin are already among the highest in the country.

In fact, we're in the top 15 for how much we play in property taxes throughout the state.

So for a lot of families and for a lot of individuals, it's just not feasible.

And I think that's where those tough choices literally come in because we know that the schools have to rely heavily on those property taxes because of how the system's set up.

So when that state funding is falling short or isn't predictable,

the districts are forced to go to voters who just can't fathom doing this anymore or seeing those increases in their monthly bill.

And let's

also

be realistic, this legislature had the opportunity to do something before they gaveled out.

And I know the negotiations are still ongoing between the Republicans and the Democrats on how to use that surplus.

They had the opportunity to alleviate some of this and they chose to gavel out instead of making it easier for homeowners or giving them some sort of relief on their property tax bill.

And we talk about shrinking populations here in Wisconsin all the time.

You can't keep going back to the same well.

And sooner or later, people will start to leave.

Then the people who are here are going to have to bear even more of a burden.

There has to be a better way.

You mentioned it, the legislature is not doing what they're supposed to do.

We've got all of this extra money.

Some of it needs to go to tax relief because people are getting tired.

Once people get tired enough they decide they're gonna go somewhere else

where they're

not gonna be so so put upon tax wise I saw it when I lived in California people were fleeing California by the Millions to get to they would go to Nevada because there was no tag there the taxes are lower

that's going to happen in Wisconsin soon, and you're not going to like the results.

And by the way, in that same Marquette poll, voters picked property tax levels as their chief concern when given the choice since 2022.

And that number just keeps growing over time.

It tells you that we have a serious problem in this state.

And right now, I don't see anybody really doing much to alleviate it for anybody, either side of the aisle.

It's 829 right now.

You are listening to Daybreak.

My name is Jamie Martenson.

And I'm Brian Noon in some weird mailings.

Coming to Germantown, we'll tell you all about it on the Civic Media Network.

Next up on the Civic Media Spotlight, we have Nightlight with Pete and Greg.

Pete and Greg are joined by Frank Hermans of Let Me Be Frank Productions on his big upcoming show, which is SHOPCO.

Say hello to a goodbye.

Welcome back to Nightlight.

I'm Pete Schwabba.

Joining me as always is Greg Bach and Dom Lee holding down the fort in Madison, working the board, producing the show.

We've got a great one tonight, folks.

Martin Alvarado from the Madison Public Library will be here in hour two giving book recommendations.

We're going to read your texts for our question of the night, which is, who is the most annoying voice in sports?

Text line is ringing.

Does it ring?

I don't know.

Off the hook.

We'll read those after the top of the hour.

But right now, I'm very excited.

to welcome our first guest of the night.

He is a fan favorite and one of my favorites here at Nightlight.

And he joins us over the stream from Northeast Wisconsin, the legendary Mr. Frank Hermans.

Hey, buddy.

Oh, it's a Frank man and brilliant Wisconsin.

My whole internet, I believe is not as strong as it should be.

But thanks for having me, Pete.

Love doing your show and love to talk about new stuff coming up.

Buddy, I'm telling you, any Frank is better than no Frank.

And I love your website because I think I've told you this before.

I was looking at your upcoming shows and there's a moment where you run the cursor over some icon and it's your laugh going, ha ha.

You scared the living daylights out of me today.

I was not expecting that, but I love it.

Yeah, you just run it over my face.

It's kind of a funny story 15 years ago when I redid the website.

That's been a long time.

I need to do it.

But the young lady who was helping me from PMI goes, God, Frank, we need to put your laugh in there.

I go, OK, I recorded it on her phone one time.

And that was it.

If you're not expecting it though, and you have your computer turns up, it can make you go a couple feet in the air, it really freaked me out today.

It's great to have you, buddy.

So let's start, let's do an icebreaker.

Do you have a sports person or someone in that world, Frank, whose voice really annoys you, whether it's what they say or the way they say it or their actual voice?

Dick Vitale, that comes right to mind.

Wow.

I know, I gotta tell you, baby, I couldn't even say, could you hear it?

Oh, baby.

You know, the Villanova Wildcats are great.

I can't tell you that, but whoa, baby.

It's so accurate.

Man, if he was from Northeast Wisconsin, Frank, you'd have your next show there.

That was pretty good.

Yeah, thanks, man.

I tell you what.

You

could

just, you should just do that as an impression.

I

should.

Yeah.

It's almost like you're talking from, uh, there's another character who sounds just like this and I'm trying to think who it is.

Come on, Pete, help me.

It sounds like a Looney Tunes character.

Yeah.

Make sure you throw in plugs for a planet fitness Oberto beef and Hooters too while you're at it.

That's

right, Dick.

But I got to tell you when I, when that commercial came out, the first thing that came to mind was he's still alive.

Yeah.

Sorry.

He's cashing that check.

He's cashing that check, baby.

Baby,

he's

got that

one class sign that's always looking the other way.

He's a caricature of himself now.

So let's start off, Frank, with your new show.

I love the title.

You have such great... Well, I just want you to tell people about it because it's so funny.

And it's a little heartfelt, too, because I missed the institution you're writing about.

Tell us about Hello, Shopco.

Hello, Schopko.

Say hello to a goodbye.

Yeah, their tagline was, they had many taglines, but at the end it was say hello to a goodbye, but I spell it B-Y-E.

Hello to a goodbye.

Of course, Schopko stores, that was our local mall in Wisconsin, 139 stores at one time all the way out to Nebraska, 26 states.

They started business in 1961 and in 2019 they closed

139 stores due to bankruptcy they kept the shopco optical stores going but you know my memories are of the shopco lady in fact Karen McDermott did a couple shows with her at St.

Norbert College back in the day and we have a character in the show.

who is the shopco lady.

We don't necessarily say it's Karen, but they're called the shopco lady.

And one of the things I did with this show is it's about a true story that really happened at shopco store number four, Green Bay East on Main Street.

I'll divulge that story a little bit, but one thing that we did with this show is it's like a Seinfeld episode.

So I play Jerry and I talk like Jerry and then we got

We got, you know, we got Kramer's in the show, Elaine's in the show.

So we do all the funny bits from Steinfeld based around shop-toe store experience.

That's great.

Yeah.

It's funny Frank.

Did you bring that?

That the show is based on that because I watched a video the other day talking about the rise and fall.

Actually two of them.

One about the rise and fall of Kmart and the other about the rise and fall of Sears.

And it's weird because I can remember when shop go Kmart and Sears were everywhere.

And then one day they're just like, yeah, we're out of business now.

Goodbye everyone.

Pack it on up.

Everything's on sale.

Goodbye.

Done.

That's

it.

Well,

It's funny you say that because, you know, really the pandemic, you know, really screwed retail and shop closed its doors before the pandemic, which is ironic.

Yeah.

And everybody else, I just found this out, guys, there is one Kmart left and it's in Hawaii.

I just, hey, there is one Kmart left.

Wow.

All the stores court Montgomery Ward sears at Roebuck.

I mean the list goes on gimbals

Wow, and

we make fun of

make fun of that in the show.

And one of the things we do make fun of is, you know, in fact, it's an old joke.

Macy makes fun of people who shop at Target.

Target makes fun of people who shop at Shopco.

Shopco makes fun of people who work at Fleet Farm.

Fleet Farm makes fun of people who work, who shop at the dollar store.

Who does the dollar store make fun of?

Goodwill?

I remember in Marinette at the dollar store, like five years ago, I swear to God, I have this picture somewhere, stakes.

two dollars oh no i've been paying like three dollars for my stakes like a sucker for the last 10 years um frame um so was you know i love where you come up with your ideas they're they're so local and you really get people invested in the shows and i want to say this for those of you

who, first of all, if you've never been to the Meyer Theater in Green Bay, it is a very special place.

It's just this beautiful thing that this beautiful theater right in downtown Green Bay, that's where most of Frank's shows are.

And if you want a road trip, it's worth it because I went to Frank's Christmas show two years ago, brought the wife and kids, it was the perfect.

Frank, that was so magical because it was like the Meyer Theater is the perfect place to have a Christmas show.

It's a great theater.

The show is great.

I highly recommend, even if you know Schopko or just want a good laugh, it's worth a road trip to Green Bay.

Yeah, and you know, it's funny that you talked about the Meyer Theater built in 1930, opened up on Valentine's Day, and then, you know, in 1980, it became a triplex.

theater and then it closed down for 10 years and the pipes were bursting and and the Meyer Foundation came in put 12 million dollars in the place they ripped all the plaster off the walls they found out that it was an old Mediterranean style look and they kept that with the gold you know embossing everywhere and it was Fox theater built in 1930 isn't that crazy

wow my goodness oh that's uh that sounds like a gorgeous gorgeous place there's nothing like

old theaters like when you know when you're in Milwaukee you go to the Papst or the Riverside or the High Life Theater now it's called the High Life Theater but you just walk in you can feel the history and you're like I'm gonna go see this band tonight but who was playing it a hundred years ago because there was someone like vaudeville was playing here a hundred years ago it's beautiful it's like an old church

yeah exactly exactly it's funny you say that because on that stage at the Meyer Theater they they had Johnny Cash back in the day they had

It did vaudeville.

Yes, they did.

They had the troops coming through, but then, you know, the depression hit and it closed down again in 1933 and it had to reopen again from community, you know, Green Bay, you know, the community seems to come with money, you know, for the Packers or for a theater, you know, and they kept this thing alive.

We're one of the lucky ones.

We've been at the Meyer Theater now eight or no, 20 years.

Oh my goodness.

Wow.

We're the main tenant.

We do 80 shows a year there and we produce

and write five original comedy musicals, jukebox musicals.

Like this show, shop goes based in the 70s, early 80s.

So it's all great songs from David Bowie, from Diana Ross,

from nice.

So what's honey?

What's that song we do?

Tom sings.

What's that song called by McKinsey?

And anyway, my wife's in the room.

I'm trying to get some

information.

That's also the star of the show and a very talented Amy.

Yes, my wife Hurricane Smith.

In fact, I'm gonna ask her to maybe sing harmony with me on a song.

She's just giving me a look maybe not so we'll see

Honey I'm cooking up these two dollar stakes.

What do you want me to do right now?

Our guest is Frank Herman.

He is a Green Bay theater legend He writes original stuff and performs them at the Meyer Theater definitely worth checking out

Frank, you have another show coming up in May.

I wanted to ask you about because ever since I learned about the existence of this event that happened in the 60s, Sputnik, I've been fascinated by it.

Part of the Soviet space, whatever, crashed right outside an art museum in Manitowoc.

They have Sputnik Fest every year.

It's a blast.

Tell us about the Sputnik landing in Manitowoc and what you did with that.

Yeah, Sputnik, the musical, I call it.

And I actually wrote this show during COVID and we were supposed to premiere it in Manitowoc and got shut down.

So we did it to a sparse crowd at the Meyer Theater and thought I'd bring it back.

It's the true unabridged fictional story of Sputnik.

So in 1966, 13 pounds of the first satellite, Sputnik, fell on 8th Street in Manitowoc and two policemen noticed that

They noticed the small explosion and that the road was hot.

And they're like, what is this?

And there's actually a spot on the road they have marked on 8th Street.

This is where Sputnik fell.

Well, it was a huge, huge news story.

It was national headlines.

The Russians wanted it back, but it was just a pile of sludge.

the actual piece of Sputnik is in Chicago.

I believe that's an art museum and they made a recreation of it that's on display at the Roars Museum in Manitowoc.

So I wrote a fictional story and I got all the great characters.

JFK plays the mayor of Manitowoc.

He's not John of Kennedy, but he has that accent and then we have Marilyn Monroe as one of the characters and then the two police officers.

Remember that police show

Herman Munster was in the show Fred Gwynne

car 54.

Where are you

before?

So my two police characters are those guys and it just talks about the life and times and then Boris and Natasha Fatal The Bullwinkle are in the show and they they're coming They come to get this the Sputnik back because the secrets there's a secret in there that the Soviet the mother country wants back It's just a hilarious show with great music from the 50s and 60s.

That sounds amazing.

That's something so much fun.

Yeah, it's a hoot

Yeah.

Um, sorry, Greg.

Uh, okay.

So if you want to see the Sputnik show, Sputnik, the musical, Amanda Locke, that's May 14th, uh, shop, go say hello to a goodbye at the Meyer theater, April 9th through the 26th.

You've got those shows.

I have to ask you, Frank, we have to do a break.

And then we'll, I want to ask you about another show after a quick break, but right now I texted you this a couple of weeks ago.

Have you seen Epic yet?

The Elvis movie?

you know it's funny that you say that we were gonna go one day i was gonna go with my buddy paul who's a neil diamond impersonator and i didn't but i hear it's fantastic i guess i'm gonna have to wait for it to come out in prime

you see it i did and i i would say if you can if you can find a theater that still has it

And I told Greg this recently, I never understood.

Like, I know he's Elvis, he's iconic, and he's just this legendary guy.

And I love when you sing his songs.

And I like his songs a lot, but I never really understood why he was so great until I saw this movie.

Because it's just him performing with his band and his backup singers.

And you really see what a talented musician he is and what a performer he is.

The guy just does not stop moving.

I would love to talk to you after you see it, but we're gonna do a very short break.

Frank Kermans is here, folks.

His show, Say Hello to a Goodbye, about the closing of the shop-go store is kind of sad, but as Frank always does, it'll be hilarious and great music.

That's at the Meyer Theater, April 9th through the 26th.

We'll talk to Frank about a few more things coming up after this very short break.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach on the Civic Media Network.

Love it.

Well done, Tom.

Hey, welcome back to Nightlight.

I'm Pete Schwabba, sitting across the state.

For me is Greg Bach, who is... You're not playing the drums, Greg.

I always worry when you're not drumming that some things emit.

There we go.

Okay, he's good.

Always good in the world.

Frank Hermans is with us, folks.

He is the legendary Frank Hermans founder of Let Me Be Frank Productions.

and a very prolific playwright and performer and great singer.

He joins us periodically here on Nightlight.

If you listen, you know that he is with us via the stream from Northeast Wisconsin.

We were talking about his show that opens April 14th called Say Hello to a Good Buy.

It's from April 9th through the 26th at the Meyer.

It's going to be a great show.

Frankie told us during the break that that's based on a true story.

Yeah, back in 1982, my brother had a couple hoodlum friends and then those had just come out.

Nintendos were really hot.

And back then there was no cameras or security in the shopco store.

So what these kids did is they hid in the clothing racks.

And when the shopco locked up, they stole or.

They took all the Nintendo's, okay?

They took that night, they took all the Nintendo's from the store when they got there, they were all gone.

And the only reason why they got caught is they sold them to their friends for $75, because they were 150 bucks at the

time.

Yes, they were, yup.

Yup, and the kid, the mom comes in to his room and says, hey, we can't afford that, where'd you get that?

Well, he knocked the kid out and they got busted.

I'm not naming names, but this is a true story to happen at Green Bay East.

1982, they stole all the Nintendo's, but they were busted and did some juvie.

Whoa.

I remember when I was a kid, like, oh, he went to juvie.

Oh, wow.

What did he do?

Stole Nintendo's.

What is the statute of limitations on stealing video games?

You're probably, but if you already did the time, I guess, that's, I mean, yes.

I'm sure both are upstanding citizens to this

day.

Oh my goodness.

That sounds absolutely amazing.

They stayed in until, that is gutsy to me.

That's not just saying like on a Saturday night, let's do, that's planning.

That's a heist.

That's a heist.

Premeditated, yeah.

If you remember in SHOP, they had the circular racks with the clothes around and you could, actually my wife remembers hiding in between those racks.

and mine couldn't find her.

So it's a true that they did this and nobody noticed them and there was no, the only security system they had at SHOPCO was they would say, Mr. Roberts, that meant loss prevention, that something was feeling something.

There was no, you know, it was a prime time to steal back then.

I missed my window, dammit.

Man, I was such a good kid back then.

I was just hiding in those clothes, waiting for my mom to find me.

And then you heard those words, Willa Gregory Bach, please come to the front.

Your mother is waiting.

You're like, oh, I'm in trouble now.

I was trying to be whimsical.

Yes.

Frank, before we let you go, you've got another show.

I love when you do the Elvis Reba and you're kind of tribute to these famous great singers.

You did it in Marinette twice in the last year, which was fantastic.

You're performing, I love the name of this, Meets Opera House.

Where is that?

Okay, Meets Opera House is an old hall that was built in the 1920s for polka bands in a place called St.

Nazion, Wisconsin.

Oh, nice.

St.

Nazion was the home of JFK Prep and the most prolific basketball scorer in Wisconsin state history.

Steve Crowley played there in the 80s, close to 1982, but this hall is still there.

And I was just

dropping off a poster driv I thought, let's go through the owner is the season t said, she said you want to back there.

It fits about we should do a show here a two weeks ago and now we'r 8th.

I'm actually can along in George Jones a

All right, that's May 8th.

You got tons of chances to see Frank and his band of all stars May 8th at meets opera house in St.

How do you say that again?

Naysia's Okay, Naysia's and then

you got world, but it doesn't it doesn't spell that way or sound that way.

Yeah This spell the spelling of that town is off-putting at best.

Yeah Hello shop.

Go say goodbye to a good

to a goodbye is at the Meyer Theater, April 9th through the 26th.

And then you've got Sputnik the Musical, and you're performing that in Manitowoc, which is fun, on May 14th.

We're actually going to perform that at the Meyer Theater, but in the small backstage, it's dinner theater.

We're going back to our roots, how we started dinner theater back in 2000 at the sports corner in the SC Grand Festival.

intimate show.

We can only hit 150 folks tonight.

There's six shows.

It's Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, and then Sunday matinee.

Dinner, and a show, and Sputnik right in your face.

Oh my God, I love it.

Dude, you are the best.

Thank you so much for being with us on the stream tonight.

Now you can say whatever you want to, Amy, once you're off the air.

We hope things are well and good on the home front.

Did you hear her laugh?

She didn't, she heard you, but she did hear it.

Go ahead.

Sorry.

I said, we're on our way to rehearsal after this.

Oh, of course.

Yeah.

Well, say goodbye to, or say hello to every, I'm getting your titles mixed up.

Say hello to everyone in the family and with, uh, let me be Frank productions.

Always a blast, pal.

Uh, come back anytime.

Thanks guys.

Have a good one.

You too, man.

Take

it easy.

Have a great night.

Oh, that was far.

All right.

Well, before we get out of here, that was amazing.

He's got to come back and I want to, I want him to talk about his history because I feel like that, like that is an amazing lineup to so many shows.

And as you said, they just sell out.

Like people are just enjoying them so much.

Uh, well, yeah, I can't wait to have him back.

But before we get out of here, we're going to take a really quick moment to get some snacks, get some hydration, got the news coming up.

Don't forget this is your last chance.

Last moment to text in bird.

B I R D for the break into spring text to win multi-state contest, your chance to win $200 today and possibly win a Verlo mattress set.

But you got to text the word in right now via the civic media app.

Bird is the word.

B I R D. When we come back, we'll be talking about the question of the night and Dom has a story as well.

So don't go anywhere.

You're listening to Nightlight with Pete Schwab and Greg Bach here on Civic Media.

Stay tuned and stay

close.

From the rolling bluffs of the dripless region to the pristine shorelines of Superior in Michigan, from the Northwoods to the Kettle Moraine, Civic Media broadcasts across all of Wisconsin.

For all of Wisconsin, take a trip with us across the radio network to hear from communities throughout the state.

This is the Civic Media Spotlight.

Welcome to the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight.

We begin this hour with Robert Pilot at Native Roots Radio.

Robert is joined by Robert Lilligren of NACDI.

We must live in balance with the Earth.

And also

with recent happenings that wounded me.

I am awake.

Welcome to Native Roots Radio Presents I'm Awake and I'm your host Wakunjahade.

Hey, cutting you to all my friends and relatives in four directions.

You are listening to native roots radio presents.

I'm awake and I'm your host Robert pilot Hey, we discussed local national native news and events and as you know native issues are human issues and human issues are native issues Hey, we're gonna have our friend Robert Liligran on and just a little bit here But I wanted to talk a little bit about what's going on at the Minneapolis

American Indian Center on Friday and Saturday and this Friday March 27th and Saturday March 28th at 7 p.m.

At the Minneapolis American Indian Center a rotunda that's a 1530 East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis and this event is a Play and the play is called source field works 20

26 Native Joy Play Festival.

And the player's different plays, like one of the plays is Friends by the great Marcy Rendon, who is just a great author, native author out there, and people love her books.

And obviously, this is a play.

And then the next one is Auntie is a Verb by Lee Cataluna.

and that's another play and danced by Jezamin Rochelle, Goodspeed, and Slow Your Role by P.C.

Vernon.

And this is all directed by Ernest Briggs and it features Jelisa McKee, Roya Taylor, our friend Roya, and Nathaniel Two Bears, another Ho-Chunk.

So we got Jelisa McKee, my Hino, which is

means in Ho-Chunk, my first daughter and so she'll be in this in Shana, Sukati and again it's March 27th at 7 p.m.

and then also Saturday March 28th at 7 p.m.

at the

Minneapolis American Indian Center.

So please get out there and support Native Arts and it'd be great to see out there.

I'll try and make it out both days and and check it out.

A lot of other things happening at the

At the Minneapolis American Center on May 1st from 4 to 9, Save the Date Minneapolis American Indian Center, they're having an open house and it'll be the American Indian Month kickoff.

So that's going to be happening real soon and I'm going to put that on my calendar so I don't forget because we believe here at Native Ritz Radio every month is Native American History Month here.

Also, too, we have a homebuyer's network at the 2026 native first time homebuyer workshop at Minneapolis American Indian Center.

And that's April 4th, Saturday, 9 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

So first time buyer, home buyer, workshop network.

And so there's other things that are going on.

Go find out what's happening in Minneapolis at Minneapolis American Indian Center on Facebook and YouTube.

Before I get too far into this, let's bring our friend on Robert Lilligan.

We haven't seen Robert in a week or so.

And I miss you, Robert Peeney-Giggy.

Thank you so much for being on.

Yeah.

Bonjour, Robert.

Yeah.

Thanks for having me.

Sorry if I'm late.

I think I misunderstood your earlier communication.

So

no, I'm, I'm confusing because I thought I was going to have the theater people on the first segment, but they're practicing right now at the, at the American Indian Center.

So they were not able to make it on.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

So how did the

kids say that?

My bad.

a lot going on and geez Why don't we talk about first what's happening with the Native American Community Development Institute?

I know there's a lot happening and we got we got The the art galleries opening again.

So there's things that are they're happening and I was just talking about a few things that are happening on the avenue Do you have that in front of you by any chance what's happening with the with the?

with the art gallery?

Yeah, so we have our first show since the federal occupation here.

We'll be opening up on... I'm sorry, I'm grabbing it here.

I was a little unprepared.

No, that's okay.

The artist's name is...

Danielle Seawalker and it's, is the name of the show and it is starting on April 10th.

So it's coming up and as some folks know, you know, our gallery went dark during the ice surge year because our gallery was the headquarters for resources, the protectors.

And things and so we had to cancel a show and a lot of other activities and so now we're coming back back online and this show is just Incredible this artists work if you go to the all my relations arts website or Facebook page you can see a couple of examples and so it's about aunties right and the role that aunties play and Yeah, it should be really exciting and so

So that starts on April 10th.

There'll be an opening reception.

And then as we do with all of our shows, there'll be multiple community engagement opportunities, artists, talks, and things as well.

So if you just check out the All My Relations Arts website, you can get more information.

Yeah, and I also see too that the Native American Community Development Institute, we were talking about the play that's going on March 27th and 28th, but 11 to 3, there's a spring artist market happening at the...

And where is this happening at all my relations arts?

Yeah, it's happening there.

That's right.

Yeah, so that's at our gallery all my relations arts and our little yellow building on Franklin in 15th The address is 1414 East Franklin and after the As we reactivated the gallery and turned it back over from being a headquarters To to being a gallery again.

There was just a real strong feeling amongst

nifty staff and in the community that we do some community focused things kind of healing is our theme and one of the things was for a lot of the people the entrepreneurs the artists they lost their ability to to market their stuff during federal occupation here and so uh this week we're having on march 27 28th uh

a spring artist market and it's going to be artist kind of writ writ large but a lot of the community entrepreneurs a lot of our friends from our make voting a tradition project will participate but make voting a tradition and our all my relations arts are sponsoring it so we've been come by they can grab something to drink or from powell grounds coffee shops or the coffee shop

There'll be door prizes vendors.

So it's that all my relations arts gallery from 11 to 3 both days and They'll be beating sewing vendors from Little Earth of United tribes In just a lot a whole host of our Forces just farmers market vendors or other partners will be vending there.

So I would stop on down a good community event

And I'll tell you Robert, I've been saying this a lot.

I just had an opportunity this week to address a bunch of the commissioners, the heads of state agencies at what we call our Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness.

And these about a dozen of the state commissioners and our Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, who chairs this effort, wanted to hear more about what happened in the community, what the response

was in the Native community, how we supported our relatives living unhoused.

And so I had just a few minutes on their agenda, but I was able to really lift this up what the Native community did.

And I'll tell you this, Robert, and I've been saying this a lot in public, and I really feel that the Native communities approach that was peaceful, prayerful, people-based,

community-based really set the tone in a lot of ways and really contributed to the overall peaceful response to the federal occupation.

And I look back to the time after George Floyd was murdered here and parts of our city became very hot with a lot of illustrations.

I mean, hot literally.

Buildings were being burned and things.

And right there on the American Indian Cultural Corridor,

on Franklin Avenue.

We came together as a community and decided to use these data values, our peaceful prayerful approach.

We didn't board up our buildings like a lot of parts of the city did, rather

We organized our protectors.

So we have people from here at Little Worthy United Tribes and people from the community here.

A lot of people came into town from the reservations.

I think we had over 500 volunteers that participated in the protector movement during the George Floyd uprisings and

and we protected our community.

We protected our native relatives, our non-native relatives, our native assets, our non-native assets, and the full extent of damage along East Franklin Avenue, where the American Indian Cultural Corridor was one broken window in a storefront.

And this is while East Lake Street, which is less than a mile away and a very similar sort of community, was burning, right?

And so to me, that really showed, okay, if we

If we really value and express our Native ways, we can actually protect people.

I know that we've just gone through this region, Twin Cities region-wide occupation.

That kind of showed the same thing.

And I think Native people should really embrace our role and really talk about it.

It was not easy.

It was very grim here.

It still is kind of grim, but it's getting better, but we did it.

Yeah, and it just goes to show to all the things that have happened and you know, I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan and we got tickets to the concert and and really a big big Bruce Springsteen fan, especially what he did with the First Avenue concert and coming here and then putting making a song about how strong Minneapolis is and it's funny I had Benny Dion on yesterday and I saw that

And what's great is that, you know, what you were talking about, I really feel like everybody's kind of learned from standing rock to George Floyd about how to how to do this.

And really, really excited by, you know, our white allies showing up in a big way.

And because we're used to like protesting and looking behind us going, where's everybody else?

It's awesome that the Twin Cities has really picked it up.

I agree in in this presentation to the state commissioners yesterday there there was this whole body the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness and one of the really effective things that the Mitch it's called Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness and they employ

lived experience consultants, people who have experienced homelessness or are experiencing it to consult on the work and I will tell you their voices really impact what's going on.

Welcome to the second hour of the Civic Media Spotlight.

We begin this hour with Robert Pilot and Native Roots Radio.

Robert is joined by Robert Lilligren of NACDI.

After I gave my little presentation to the commissioners, then they asked if any of the consultants wanted to add anything.

And just what every one of them did, several of them are Native or Indigenous people.

And they said,

They said the exact same thing you just did.

Just how impressive and empowering it was to see so many non-native allies, white allies, stepping up and stepping out with the community.

And that was different.

It just said, yeah.

It felt like we were one community for a bit.

And it's actually, I think that is still, it still feels that way.

Yeah, Wendy's in New York and she's going to go into the city for their rallies.

And now I wish I was in both places because that sounds really exciting too.

It does.

It

does.

Actually, it does all, you know, yeah.

And I really think that the No Kings rally here is going to kind of lift up.

The whole country.

I mean, it's gonna be big all over but Yeah, and then I saw I'm sure you I didn't hear the show I saw that Benny Dian was on and folks who aren't here don't know He and his wife Rachel D on thunder are founders of the indigenous protector movement.

It's kind of aim 2.0 20% rain.

They work very closely with American Indian movement here, but it's a

culture, native ways, based, variety based, physical, spiritual, health initiative.

And some of their programs are Many Shield Society, which is a men's society, women's warrior society.

They were at the hub of organizing the resistance here.

to the ice surge.

And they appeared with a governor yesterday, Governor Walts.

I was here yesterday or day before.

Yesterday.

Yesterday.

And our governor, Tim Walts, is phoning a body to kind of document what happened here, the federal occupation.

And so, yeah, it's great to see then Vinnie and Rachel there, right in the thick of it.

Yeah, you know there was an organization to that gave the Twin Cities an award I can't think of it was last week.

Do you remember who that was that?

The Peace Prize the John F. Kennedy

Peace Prize, right?

Yeah, so

Yeah, I hope people like Benny and Rachel are invited to Washington Because of their their work, you know and more I don't know who they're gonna invite to pick up that award, but it'll be interesting to see

Sure.

So it's the Profile and Courage Award is what it is called.

And it's given to the people of Minneapolis for what we did.

And it is a big deal.

And yeah, I don't know how, I don't know what the logistics are and things.

I think it's, so in 2020 stags, it'll be given to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Paul and then also the people of many of the Twin Cities.

prevent our defense of immigrant communities.

I mean, that's a big deal.

And that's very, that's the establishment, right?

Recognizing what we did here.

And then when you have the Trump administration and his supporters trying to paint us as a bunch of wacky radicals or whatever, being in community with each other and with this political violence here.

And, you know, he became a horrific school shooting community and

And there's a lot of ways we could respond as neighbors, and that fact that we're responding with care for each other.

As you pointed out, how allies stepped in, white allies especially.

I was just talking to one of my board members today.

We had lunch.

A brilliant community development.

Mike Tamali is just named.

He's the founder of the Neighborhood Development Center.

And just kind of just talking about what this experience has been here and how how kind of influential we can be so yeah, so it's it's kind of our

our time and how I've had the opportunity to meet with organizational leadership from urban Indian country across the nation and with Congress people, they're all asking, how did you do this?

They want to be really practical, logistical, because they all fully expect this to happen in their communities.

Yeah, you know an amazing thing too that they try to mess with Minnesota and steering below zero weather and they didn't realize that That's kind of our jam at times not mine because I'm old but you know Well, you remember Standing Rock you could only go up on the hill and it was called the Facebook Mountain.

Do you remember

that?

Oh, yeah, yeah

to get service.

And the reason why is because they were blocking the service out of Standing Rock.

I mean, they were literally, it came out after Standing Rock that they had these machines and they were doing that.

And to me, that's the beginning of all this coverted stuff that's happening and with the technology and everything.

It was the beginning of that and it was for me, the beginning of how we go

to our path to go forward, right?

Oh, yeah.

Seven console players, Czechoslovak, Sequoian, that were moving the standing rock forward.

That was a council that hadn't been convened for 150 years.

Right.

It was the Battle of Greasy Grass, which they prevailed.

And so, you know, custers, I stand, and some people would know it.

But so that was kind of a starting point for me as well.

And, you know, we learned

Early here in the ice surge that This is a tracking device right your smartphone and so Tracking you and if you if you if they identified you in a cluster of other people they were Monitoring this that that they could apprehend you and that's happened though.

That's coming out in the mainstream media Just in the area with their phones,

you

know

Wow.

Robert, thanks again for being on.

Always great chatting with you and catching up.

Always a pleasure.

Me go out to gigaloblin.

I'll see you on the protest line or the celebration line.

Yeah, tomorrow Saturday.

I'll text you and tell you where I am.

If I got a good seat, I'll get you up there.

Ho-wa!

Hey, this is Native Rhetorator.

We'll be right back after the short break.

Please stay with us.

Ho-wa!

Up next on the Civic Media Spotlight, we have Rational Revolution with Mark Bepper.

Mark sits down and talks to Representative Francesca Hong.

What is up everybody?

Hello, hello, hello!

Welcome to the Rational Revolution.

I am your host, Mark Becker.

Sorry about last week, guys.

We had a guest and they canceled like last minute, literally last minute.

So we had a good rerun.

But you know what?

No rerun this week.

Let me tell you, and we've got a star studded show, not me, but we've got Rep Francesca.

Oh, he said first place, Francesca Hong.

Whoa, holy cow.

Three poles in a row.

What up?

Oh, you bet.

Nice to have a three Pete, but no complacency.

Yeah, I'm doing all right.

I think spring may be here and hopefully I didn't just jinx it.

But yeah, we're holding up.

We're holding up.

That sucked.

That snowstorm sucked.

It was not awesome.

That was not awesome.

But yeah, I think the last time that we talked, you were in studio on the show.

And I mean ever since like I've obviously follow you on all the socials But like you are everywhere you were making calls from a bathroom.

I Saw that You're at a restaurant calling people that left their phone number, but

we I

mean

We have to outhustle the field.

I need to meet as many people as possible and get that FaceTime, have a real conversation with a real person, and that helps me be relatable.

Yeah, right.

Well, I mean, you're relatable as it is, but how is that going for you?

I mean, obviously, the polls are showing that your message is connecting with folks.

It is, and so is our grassroots.

powered campaign.

I mean, none of this happens without the thousands of volunteers who have signed up to be on Team Hong.

And so when you have a campaign that works as hard as ours, and you've got all these amazing ambassadors talking about our campaign, it's been really, really amazing.

And I think my favorite parts are when I meet parents.

whose kids have sent them to our events to meet me and either haven't heard me or are kind of skeptical or just don't like want to be involved in politics at all.

And they get excited that their kid is.

And in Walsa, I remember a young person, he's 15, brought his mom to this really great cafe.

We were at Kin and Kind and they, yeah, she was just

I think she was excited that her kid was excited and I was just stoked to get to meet her.

That's cool.

Yeah, and like it is it's neat to see your message, you know, really connecting with people and it's got to feel good to to kind of see the validation in the polls and all of that.

I don't think I asked you when you were here last, but what was the moment when you knew you had to do this?

I think

A pivotal moment was when I had the conversation with my son, George is nine years old, and I had been thinking about it.

I've been making the calls to folks that I trust on whether or not this was the moment where a candidate like me needed to run, not just that I wanted to run.

And when George gave me the green light, because he was like, well, does this mean we might get, you know,

free lunches at our schools.

And I said, yeah, I think there are a lot of people in Wisconsin who want that too.

Well, that and when my family agreed was all systems go after that.

You're like, all right, baby, let's frickin' do this.

What do you think, what is driving the support that you're seeing right now?

I think it's that

I love alliteration.

It's chaos, crisis, and change.

A lot of times when folks are in this almost grieving time of uncertainty, we kind of knee-jerk is that I'm sure everyone just wants to figure out how to get stable.

But right now especially, people want change.

and they're fed up and there is this unifying, like we're uniting against the common villain, right?

And that's authoritarianism.

It's also the billionaires and everything that comes with authoritarianism, taking away people's freedoms and their ability to just live the life that they want.

And so when there's bipartisan opposition, there's actually a demand for change.

So I think meeting that demand, talking about permanent affordability, that we need a systems overhaul, folks are like, yeah, I think I could be done with that.

This, I was saying there's like little revolutions happening everywhere.

And I think it's going to lead to the big one.

And you know, plug the rational revolution, I think that's what folks want to.

Thanks.

Well, you know,

and like, I do, I think that

You know, this is a time where big things can happen you look at the the state Senate district that Mar-a-Lago is in and the the woman who won the state Senate district won on a message of affordability health care I mean it was like and and you know a fair taxes and all like it's There's a lot.

There's

a

huge wave.

That's coming.

I believe

Trump has a Democratic senator.

It's so funny.

Oh my god, that's amazing.

He's like, man, it's not because of me.

Now, we're talking about State Rep.

Francesca Hong was running for governor.

Sometimes leading early in the polls makes you a bigger target.

Does that change strategy?

Does that change the approach?

It doesn't change the way that we're campaigning.

It does, however,

require us to have some responses ready for the attacks.

But we have run a positive, almost joyful, exciting campaign that people see our vision and they see themselves in it.

And I think that's what's most important is that folks have to feel like they're a part of your vision and your plan.

And then they're down to learn

more.

when you're talking to voters all over, what are the things that they're saying?

Yes, cost arising.

Healthcare is inaccessible.

Folks are having to make choices around, do I pay my utility bill this month?

Or do I pay my phone bill?

Why is my water bill doubled?

And yeah, healthcare, public schools.

the big hot topic right now are AI data centers.

And I think there's like issues that have so much bipartisan opposition and then folk and then issues like healthcare, like grocery costs that folks are just feeling like they're trapped.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love that you're talking about education too.

Cause there's, I think there's 72 referendums.

right now, just this year about public school funding.

And like, I mean, I know where we are, it seems like the districts have to go to referendum almost every other year.

Because their budgets are getting siphoned off by these voucher schools.

What can be done about that?

Like, how does that change?

Well, first we have to remember that...

You know, property taxes are going up.

Schools are having to go to referenda because the Republicans in the legislature have abdicated their duty to fund our public schools.

It is in the Constitution.

It's why the state legislature is being sued right now.

And there's a lawsuit against the legislature because we have not upheld our constitutional responsibility to fund public schools.

I think that we have to look first at reimbursing special education and then have a plan for sunsetting vouchers.

We cannot afford to fund two different school

systems.

No, that's

ridiculous.

And public dollars belong in public schools.

There's little history.

The voucher program was actually born in Milwaukee.

Yes.

And it was born because we have underserved our black and brown students, our lower income students.

And it was meant to be an avenue for families and to have an alternative, right?

Another option.

But you ask Howard Fuller himself, like, this is not what he wanted was a privatization of our public school systems.

And it is what is being pushed

from the regime in addition to what the Republicans have pushed for for years.

Public education is one of our last remaining democratic institutions.

So you undermine public schools, you're undermining democracy.

And so changing the school funding formula and sunsetting vouchers has to be a long-term plan.

But in the immediate, we have to look at reimbursing special education and making sure that schools have

you know, two thirds funding from the state.

And that will give like what's so needed as well is to make sure that schools have like they can forecast their budgets, right?

Like that they're they know that there's you know, there's there's stable funding coming through and that can actually write their budgets because they know that there's predictable funding.

So it is

It's paramount that we change the school funding formula and sunset these voucher programs because it's a scam.

It is.

And it's so sad.

It's frustrating here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Like we have schools that are going to voucher are going to referendum.

Green Bay schools are having to make some really difficult decisions.

you know, between funding the arts or not giving teachers raises and all of that.

And meanwhile, we have a school that like looks like freaking Hogwarts, you know, it's like a castle and, you know, and they're like, it's, it's just, it's not okay.

It's not fair.

No.

And it's, when I look at the, I think it's over $7 billion that have gone into this program and it's costing us millions of dollars a year and

when folks see how much of their tax dollars are going to fund vouchers, when the students who are receiving these are already in private schools, it's not like they're moving from public schools to private

schools.

And that, when folks hear that they're shocked, when they see it on their property tax bills, they see it and they're pissed and they have a right to be pissed.

Yeah, and I got a shout out to

the Green Bay School District and the folks in Green Bay that put that line on property tax bills

to

show how much is actually being taken off.

Because when all these voucher that program was put in, I think it was polished.

This is a great thing.

School choice.

And now here we are 15 years later, we're like, boy, that was stupid.

Well, and these schools are choosing their students.

Yeah.

They can discriminate.

They can write and find print.

Okay, we can't tell you you can't come because you're queer or you're black.

But once you're in and we can kick you out.

Right.

And we're still in

line with our values.

No.

You know?

It's about fairness.

Honestly, at this point, it's about corruption too.

And it is hurting our kids.

Yeah, there's so much that that I think that is

a massive, massive topic that affects almost all communities in the state of Wisconsin.

We're sitting here with Rep Francesca Hong.

She's running for governor, first place Francesca, I should say.

We have so much more to talk about.

We're going to talk about electability and how do we get the message out to moderates.

We're going to do some quick hits and talk about

Francesca changing a tire at a dirt track coming up here in the night.

So stick around on The Rash Revolution.

I'm Mark Becker.

We'll be right

back.

play on the hips here on the rational revolution.

I'm just kidding.

I would love to be a DJ, you know?

Yeah.

You do have a little bit of that voice.

Yeah.

I

think that would be so much fun, you know, but then I would, I would say something political or stupid and I would get, I would lose my job, but you know, Hey, it's okay.

So you guys, guys got a dream,

right?

Are you all actually going to get fined if you're on the radio and you swear?

Uh, I don't know.

I mean, it depends.

It depends.

He's a producer.

Donald is like, yep, absolutely.

Yes.

It depends if Brendan Carr is listening or not.

I guess, uh, we got restaurant revolution.

We're talking with a state rep Francesca Hong, uh, who's running for governor.

She's in first place in like three polls in a row.

So this is a, this is a big, I think a big moment for your campaign, um, and a big moment for Wisconsin.

Cause there's so, um, politics is, is changing.

I think the winds of change are blowing, really.

I believe that very much.

And I think it's interesting how to get your message in front of people.