Transcript
Gas And Housing: Prices On The Rise (Hour 3)
Daybreak w/ Brian and Jamie · Fri Mar 13, 2026
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It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
And good morning.
You are listening to the Civic Media Network, some winter weather headed our way.
So if you are out and about today with those high winds or even if you have plans to travel this weekend, please take it easy.
My name is Jamie Martenson.
Remember to gas up the snow thrower because you will need it to come Sunday.
You won't be driving, which is good news, because if you have been in your car over the last couple weeks, it's impossible not to see how much prices have jumped.
Since the war in Iran started on average, drivers are paying 20% more than before the strikes began.
And according to AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas is $3.63 nationally, $3.32 here in Wisconsin, which as hard as it might be to believe is one of the 10 least expensive gasoline markets in the country.
So spring break travel time is here.
No end in sight for the war.
How bad are things going to get?
Nick Jarmus is the regional director of public affairs for AAA and he joins us now for an update.
Nick, thanks for being here this morning.
I know you guys don't make predictions, but based on the past and based on things you've seen in the AAA has tracked, is there a point no matter how long things go that
We'll be the tipping point for Gazzware.
We've never seen it go above X.
I mean, that is possible.
I wouldn't rule anything out.
Right now here in Wisconsin, we're sitting at about 332 as our statewide average.
And that's still a full $1.60 off of our all-time high of $4.92, which was set back.
in June of 2022.
So we've still got a lot of running room before we get to unprecedented prices.
The point we're at right now is pretty much where we were at this time back in 2024.
So nothing that anyone hasn't seen before, but unless something begins to change soon, we're probably going to continue to see that go up, how high it goes, and how steep that trajectory is depends a lot on
factors on the ground.
For states like Wisconsin where people do rely heavily on driving, I mean, we have some very rural areas, not a lot of public transportation.
You can't do the drive share in some of those areas.
What kind of financial impact do these higher prices have on Wisconsin travelers compared to states where they do have more public transportation, say?
You know, I don't know that I have any data to quantify that.
But public transportation tends to have more fixed prices.
It becomes a problem for those transit agencies because they're purchasing fuel as well.
And so if the prices are higher over an extended period of time, there's a greater chance they'll be adjusting their fares to accommodate for that.
But just based on what we see people in terms of changing their habits, we really don't see people changing their habits until prices get well above $4 a gallon.
And even then, back in 2022 when we saw the all-time record
high prices.
We still saw year over year increases in a number of people taking road trips and summer vacations.
People factor it in and they figure out a way to make it work.
Maybe they'll try and reduce some of their day to day driving by combining errands or just adjusting things.
There's also a number of different tips that we have for people to increase their fuel economy to help offset higher prices.
But it is a burden, but it's not something that necessarily changes people's habits until we get well above where we are right now.
And we know, we talked about this the other day, that this is the time of year when gas prices usually do go up incrementally.
What similarities are there to what was going on in spring of 2024?
And do you think part of the shock is that it's just the gas prices have jumped up so fast in such a short amount of time?
Yeah, I mean, when you take all other factors out and the global events and things like that, we typically see this sort of trend where prices begin to go up at this time of year.
They peak in the summer months when
They have the maximum number of people out there on the roads, both on a day-to-day basis as well as taking their summer vacations.
And then prices come down in the fall and kind of bottom out in the winter.
So we were already seeing prices begin to go up a little bit even before the conflict began two weeks ago.
But certainly that has exacerbated it and really spiked up the price as well beyond what they would have otherwise.
There's no way around that.
Even if the conflict were to somehow end tomorrow and the streets were reopened and things started getting back to normal, we may see the rate of increase go down.
We may even see prices come down a bit.
We probably won't see them come down to what they were before the conflict started just because there still is going to be that
that seasonal supply and demand, or demand side of the equation, that's going to push them up a little bit at this time of
We're talking with Nick Jarmus.
He is the Regional Director of Public Affairs for AAA Wisconsin.
As we're talking here this morning, you just mentioned that even if the conflict ended today, things would maybe come down.
How long does it usually take for those markets to balance out?
I mean, I know this conflict is fresh.
We don't know when there's an end site right now, but how long does it generally take for things to balance out once we'll say maybe normalize or stabilize, maybe a better word?
It's difficult to say in general because every situation is unique.
And it's important to remember, in this case, the increases in prices we're seeing domestically at the pump.
you know, are not a reflection of any shortage of gasoline that we're facing.
It's because of the global oil markets.
So, you know, that there are a number of different factors that go into what are the price, you know, what the price we pay at the pump and disruptions along any segment of the supply chain.
internationally or domestically at refineries or at pipeline distributions can impact things.
But the bulk of the price that we pay is a reflection, direct reflection of global oil prices.
And right now we're sitting around that $100 or a barrel mark.
And how quickly that comes down is going to be a reflection of not just how much change in the status quo there is, but how
confident the markets are that that change is durable and going to continue in the right direction and that it's not some sort of temporary blip or temporary reprieve.
Speaking of temporary reprieves, the administration announced they're going to release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Reserve over four months.
Is there any way that that amount then trickles down to the consumer where we might see
a few cents come off or is that such a drop in the bucket as to what we really need that it's not going to change anything for us?
You know, I think it depends.
What's probably more likely is that that will help kind of stand the tide and it'll slow if not maybe kind of stop the increases.
I don't think it really brings the prices down.
unless we see some sort of a quick resolution or quick change to the status quo.
I've seen some oil industry analysts put that at about a month that whatever impact this release has buys us about a month.
And if nothing has changed or gotten better in the supply chain by then, we're gonna be kind of right back to where we were and talking about whether there's a need for another release or some other solution.
Well, beyond the fuel, I guess, would be a question I would have, will we start seeing higher prices in other parts of travel?
Will it, will, obviously, airfare because of jet fuel?
I'm assuming that will go up at some point, but I'll let you, I'll defer to you, but I'm also thinking hotels, rental cars, because of these rising energy costs.
You know, it's possible.
As you said, you know, jet fuel is probably the biggest factor.
And so, you know, if you haven't already booked your airfare for, you know, summer plans or spring break plans that you're planning, I would go ahead and lock that in as quickly as possible.
You know, the chances that they're going to really significantly come down anytime soon are low.
So, you know, the sooner you get that book, probably the better deal that you'll get on that.
Other prices aren't as directly impacted.
um by by energy costing certainly hotels have to you know heat but i mean it's it's summertime so it's not um as big of an issue you know there there could be some impact on that but uh again we even when we saw prices higher you know it's not always a direct reflection of you know do do higher prices discourage people from taking trips people find a way to still take a trip and there's still a huge
what we'll see is people a travel plans to accommodate for maybe they'll drop a d trip as a way to save m know, alter destinations expensive, you know, a th instead of a four star o fast food along the way restaurants, things like
Especially if you're talking about road trips and automobile based travel, even at record high prices, fuel costs are still one of the smaller portions of your travel budget.
And so it is one of the things that you can adjust and absorb by making other changes in your travel plan.
I have an
Well, we are seeing average EV charging station cost going up, certainly not to the same degree that we've seen yet.
as go up, but, you know, electricity still largely is dependent upon fossil fuel generation in this country.
So, you know, there's sort of a, you know, indirect impact, you know, the amount of costs that go into generating that electricity is going up in a lot of places, you know, because remember the, the, um, stress of hormones, you know, there's not just oil that's flowing through there.
also natural gas that comes through there.
And it's not something that we consume domestically or import from there, but that is also a global market where disruptions and supply
We're losing your connection.
So unfortunately, we're going to have to let you go.
But we appreciate your time.
We appreciate the advice.
Nick Jarmus is the regional director of public affairs for AAA Wisconsin.
Nick, thanks very much for being here.
Have a great weekend.
It's probably the winds.
The winds are messing
with everybody's internet today and getting everything crazy.
it.
Thanks again, Nick.
Well, this is, you know, it isn't it isn't great news, but it's I forgot how
I forgot that we got up to almost five bucks.
Yeah, I know that was going to be the that was going to be the tipping point when that was happening.
As I as I think back, people were like five, I'm not paying $5.
I'm not paying $5.
And now we got close where it was getting close to $2.
So all of a sudden for it to jump,
But we do have to remember last year was about the same price.
This is the time of year where gas always goes up a little It doesn't make it any easier.
No, but it does It's it's just like I said, it's happening so fast.
It was the thing You know two weeks ago gas was
almost a dollar cheaper.
And Tiffany in River Falls chiming in this morning listening on 93.5 the tap out of Eau Claire.
She says in River Falls area, it's about $3.49 a gallon right now.
And I think the big question as Nick alluded to is when, where is the, where is the.
I don't want to say bottom because we're not going down.
Where is the top, right?
Depending on where this conflict, how long this conflict continues to play out, considering we don't know when it's going to stabilize, I think that's going to be the real question is will we actually max out where we did in the past or will there be some sort of resolution before then?
Those are the underlying questions.
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What a
over the
We love free stuff.
And also you're gonna wanna have that app Monday morning because you're gonna have a chance to qualify for some daily cash prizes and also a grand prize with our multi-state text-to-win contest.
It's gonna be a good time and I'm telling you, you're gonna want the app because that's the only way you can qualify for.
I'm gonna tease this even a little bit more, Brian.
$200 cash is what we're giving out daily.
Every day?
Every day.
somebody is going to win.
The app is free.
The $200 is a gift if you win the multi-state.
Multi-state, more than one.
Don't get upset.
There's going to be more than just you entering, but you can enter if you have the app.
That's right.
Wednesday on this very program, we are at the cutting edge of all things cultural and newsy.
We had a conversation about Assembly Bill 1034.
That sounds official.
That had moved on to the Senate for approval.
But the bill, what the bill would do is place policies in statute and provide funding to help the University of Wisconsin navigate changes in college sports, allowing student athletes to make money off
their name, image, and likeness, or NILs.
There's been a little bit of movement since Wednesday.
Here's what Tim Sheehy, the former president of Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, had to say when he joined us earlier in the
week.
If we don't modernize the law at handicapped UW Madison and other NCAA schools in Wisconsin from dealing with their student athletes,
You know, they want to require third party disclosure so they know what the student athletes are doing.
They want to bring the law in Wisconsin in line with what the NCAA was requiring.
But I think the most interesting and important piece of the legislation is it provides $15 million to UW Madison and then a couple hundred thousand to UWM and to UW Green Bay.
that they can use to support their student-athletes.
In other words, the money goes in to relieve debt service on athletic facilities, but it frees up money for the universities to deploy towards their student-athletes.
And everybody says, oh, this is about the football players.
Well, it is in part, but football revenue accounts at UW-Madison for about 80% of the athletic department revenue.
That revenue supports another 600 student-athletes.
on 12 women's teams and 11 men's teams.
So it covers a wide range of support for student athletes.
And then importantly, there's the economic impact that comes from that.
If you look at just UW-Madison, I think some 2 million visitors accounted for 750 million in economic impact.
So it's not only a competition issue for the university, but it's also an economic development issue for the state of Wisconsin.
definitely
But this is a fascinating bill.
And I'll say this, there is a lot of gray area, I think, for me personally with the NIL and through the NAACP.
But according to written testimony, a little background on what we're talking about here, starting in fiscal year 2020,
This settlement will add and expected $20.5 million in annual expense to the UW-Madison athletics budget to cover the cost of the revenue sharing requirements.
And that settlement allows the schools to then pay athletes up to an annual cap that starts at about $20.5 million per school in 2025 through 2026 and increases every year potentially reaching over $32 million by 2035.
which is, wow.
And I'm all for student athletes, right?
Because some of these programs are built on some of the top student athletes.
Some of these programs are built on the name recognition alone.
You would look at like the U.S.
women's hockey team who had many, many badgers
I'm sure their replica jerseys or sweaters, rather, are selling very well with those players' names on them and those players deserve a little taste.
An update on what's been happening, the Joint Finance Committee voted on Tuesday, eight to five, to concur in the bill.
No debate on the bill.
There were a number of senators voting against it, both Republican and Democratic senators that voted against it.
The Senate Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development Committee also voted three to two via paper ballot on Wednesday to approve the bill with Bradley and Senator Chris Campenga.
field in opposition.
For Republicans opposed it, the bill likely is going to need Democratic support to pass in the Senate.
So we will keep you updated on that because it will be a big boon to UW.
UW sports in general.
Jamie.
This is a civic media effort.
Back to more of Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
does
the
Obviously, watching a system come through that could dump a whole lot of snow on us.
I know John and Oshkosh chimed in on the text line this morning from ISS saying he was very disappointed that he'd already put the snowmobile away with, you know, potentially a foot of snow in some places.
But he does still have the snow blower out.
So that's good.
Herman Melville.
No, that's somebody else.
Anyway, I don't know why that came in.
But the point of the story is this was storm number one, and that's going to dissipate pretty soon.
Storm number two is the one that you're going to have to worry about.
And it's going to, it's going to bring not only a terrific amount of snow, but then low temperatures, low wind chills.
Yeah, maybe
ill-informed tweets from the president and his ill-going, whatever happened to the global warming.
That's a foot of snow there in m-m-what's his march.
I guess the globe ain't normal where you are.
Shut up.
Anyway, speaking of clowns, there's your segue into a Ron Johnson story, but the U.S.
Senate passed a major bipartisan housing bill by a vote of 89 to 10.
It's aimed at making housing more affordable because remember, Parker, you won't remember this, but people like in my parents' generation,
Owning a home was the American dream.
And if you worked hard and you didn't have to be rich to own a home, you could just have a good steady job and you could buy a house and you could live out that American dream.
You could have
Oh my gosh.
You might be able to have a car and your spouse could stay home.
Yes.
You could do all that with one income.
It was amazing.
Well, those days are gone.
Yeah.
But now affordability has been under fire, you know, that it's made up.
But this bill is called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act.
And lawmakers both from both parties say the bill is addressing a nationwide housing shortage where home prices and rents have risen faster than many people's incomes, which if you've tried to buy or rent something recently, you know is absolutely true.
Now, this particular bill that was actually a bipartisan introduction of Elizabeth Warren and, oddly enough, Tim Scott, which I've never seen those two pair up, so I find that fascinating, but it would also expand how federal housing funds can be used, allowing more money to go toward building affordable homes as well as rental units.
And what I actually particularly love about this bill is it gives
local governments more flexibility to address housing shortages in ways that fit their specific communities instead of applying the same rules everywhere.
Amazing how that works because what
works in
baby
get there.
And you know, they could barely agree on affordable housing.
You know, there's no way the Democrats and the Republicans are agreeing on a living wage anytime soon.
But another provision of this law would also allow banks to invest more in affordable housing projects, which supporters say could increase the supply of lower cost housing.
It would also remove limits on some public housing programs, allowing more units to receive private financing through section eight to help repair and also improve
proof aging housing.
You know, anytime we're talking about affordable housing for people, I'm always going to be on board.
I mean, we live in a time when, as you said, it has gotten to the point where there's a lot of people who literally have to choose between paying mortgages and paying bills or buying groceries or even medicines because it's just gotten that out of hand.
and have a regular job, you should be able to afford rent on an apartment.
It doesn't have to be the best apartment but it also shouldn't have to be in a crack house somewhere where you're worried about your safety every minute.
This is the part I like and it was the controversial section of this
bill
The bill targets large corporate investors that buy single family homes, which according to some lawmakers, drives up prices and makes it harder for families to buy houses.
It also makes it much harder to rent because these companies buy them, they have a monopoly,
they
it does artificially drive up those levels because instead of being just you and your realtor trying to sell your house and you go back and forth and you can negotiate you know how it all works well now these corporate entities own it and hey this is you want to buy it this is what it costs
is
is happening in that fraction of housing as well.
So, and I agree.
If we can get rid of some of the corporate money in even housing, I think that definitely helps.
Under this proposal, companies that own 350 or more single-family homes would actually face restrictions, and they might have to sell some of those homes to individual buyers after renting them out for a set number of years, because you should not have
monopoly on housing.
That is
are
And I mean this genuinely to supporters of Ron Johnson.
What makes this guy palatable?
8-5-5-7-5-CIVIC, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
And I don't mean that in a facetious way.
And I'm not going to bombard you with... I hear this, and I read this, and I live through this, and I go, why do people support him?
What has he done?
to better your life in Wisconsin as opposed to, well, in the last race, it was Mandela Barnes who ran against it.
So, you know, but leave Mandela out of it.
Just what has Ron Johnson done to make your life better?
That, I don't know, anybody's welcome to, if you have something by all means, let me know.
I mean, right now, as we talked earlier in this program, if you joined us, instead of voting on this and putting some time and some effort into figuring, to finding out more about this, finding out how this could, this is a bill, how it could help some, help actual families.
Again, the largest housing reform effort in a generation, he is spending time going on news networks yesterday talking about ending the filibuster, even though he doesn't, he knows that's not going to possibly happen.
Right.
Ron Johnson and the rest of the Republicans want to stay in power, where in the meantime home prices in Wisconsin have increased about almost 4% to nearly 8% over the last year.
Some regions in this state, including Southeast Wisconsin, have seen price increases around 10%.
A year and a half ago, I was looking at maybe
uh renting something in the Kenosha area.
Oh my god the prices were crazy and that and you know not no shade against Kenosha but I didn't think the prices were
or in line with what was there.
So what you're seeing is these landlords, these companies, sometimes they're private, but they're adjusting to make sure that they can compete.
And, you know, honestly, if you're a private landlord and you're watching what the companies are doing, you're kind of like, okay,
If they can do
It's a long time.
And here's the question.
I mean, I'm gonna go into, back in my day, but we bought our first house when we were in our early 20s, right?
And we, not a great house, but we bought our first house because you gotta start somewhere, it needed a lot of work.
Even then-
And even then, we'll be married 23 years this April, even then our interest rate was only at about 4%, right?
And now,
you look at if people go to try to buy a home now, I don't even know what the interest rate is because we currently rent, but I know that we have friends who are looking who are somewhere in the seven, six and a half
to 7%
all
Yeah, somebody.
And you know, those 10.
wrong side of history, but that doesn't stop those kind of votes from coming all the time around here.
All right, listen, when we come back, it is time to start wrapping things up.
We do it on Friday.
We leave you with some uplifting stories, some happy stories.
The Dairyland Diaries are coming, and it's a nice cross-section.
No theme this week, but a nice cross-section of happy stories from around Wisconsin.
At least...
We think they're happy stories.
They
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Last segment of the show.
Kick your weekend off with it.
If not a laugh, at least a little smile.
No stories about politicians betraying you.
No stories about legal conundrums.
Just stories that from around the state that make you feel good.
Like the first one, Milwaukee County Zoo welcomes a baby greater kudu.
I just like the way that said.
So the greater kudu family at the Milwaukee Zoo has grown.
In a blog post, the zoo announced that Bushetta, a male calf was born January 25
to mother Imani and father Hassani.
The calf's name means born on Sunday in the Yoruba language.
He weighed nearly 38 pounds at birth.
In addition to nursing on his mother's milk, Basadeh has begun to taste hay and alfalfa according to the zoo.
He is the first Kudu calf born at the Milwaukee County Zoo since his sister Chula was born there in August of 2023.
Now, you might be saying, Brian, this is all well and good, but I don't know what a Kudu is.
That's why we're here, native to Nigeria.
surrounding parts of Africa.
Greater Kudu are a species of large woodland antelope.
Males have spiral horns that are nearly four feet tall.
So congratulations to Amani and Hassani for the birth of Busetta.
And now it makes me want to take a trip to the zoo, obviously when the temperature is warm up and there's not a foot of snow on the ground.
But in other stories from across the state in Dairyland Diaries, the winner and two runner-ups of the
World Championship Cheese Contest, which was held in Madison from March 3rd through the 5th have officially been announced, Brian.
This is very exciting because we do love our cheese.
25 countries in 34 U.S.
states and territories were represented in the 2026 World Championship Cheese Contest with entries submitted from across 148 different classes.
Wisconsinites took home 45 first place awards followed by New York with eight
in Vermont with seven, I would be very disappointed if Wisconsin did not do that well at the World Championship Cheese Contest.
Now there are a few companies that place best of class in the following.
Open Class.
What is cheese curds?
Oh yeah, they've got the big wheels.
You get the big wheels in the window.
Yeah, okay, all right.
If that's not the name, it should be.
It should be definitely the name.
All right, let's go from cheese.
What goes well with cheese in Wisconsin besides beer and?
Brought worst, correct.
Dr. Pepper flavored sausages are coming to America's favorite sausage, Johnsonville.
And Dr. Pepper, they're linking up for a launch of a fizzy glizzy.
You heard me.
According to the Sheboygan Falls based national sausage brand in a press release, they said it is a culinary innovation or is it a sign of the apocalypse?
That debate is already underway.
But one thing is certain, people are talking and America is ready to take a bite.
You could quibble with that last part of the statement, but I don't know the sausage was inspired by dr. Pepper's originally original rather 23 flavor blend Johnsonville congl collaborated closely with dr. Pepper to translate the sodas one-of-a-kind flavor into its time honored sausage an idea inspired by the brand's long-standing role as a go-to ingredient for flavoring and marinating meats and probably a few bong rips in the idea room
That's it, man!
Dr. Pepper and his sausage!
Lizzy!
Fizzy, Lizzy, you heard me.
A Johnsonville rep said, quote, reaction to the idea of a soda-inspired sausage has been a little polarized, but we hope people hang out, give it a try, and let us know what they think.
Love them or hate them.
I will try it.
I was gonna say, it
I'm just saying, throwing that out there.
But if finally, this is such a great story as well, women's flag football is growing and there are a number of Wisconsin colleges and even some high schools, as we've learned, that are adding it as a varsity sport.
UW Oshkosh is one of at least 10 Wisconsin colleges that have added or even announced plans to add
women's flag football, at least according to Collegiate Flag Football, an online publication tracking the sports growth.
I didn't know there was a thing, but I learned
Other colleges sponsoring women's flag football include UW-Stout, Marion University, Ripon College, UW-Parkside, Mount Mary University, Lakeland University, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Beloit College, and Bryant and Stratton College.
Some of the schools are already competing.
Others plan to officially launch their teams in the next few years.
Women's Flag Football is also gaining momentum nationally, receiving the designation of being an emerging sport by the NCAA.
It also is slated to make its debut at the 2028 Winter Olympics in, Summer Olympics, I should say, in Los Angeles.
The Titans dropped their first contest, unfortunately, to Aurora.
to zero
okay.
They're out
We have completed
That's right.
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