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This is Where Wisconsin Wakes Up.
It's Daybreak with Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson.
Here are your hosts, Brian and Jamie.
over
same gas station.
over
Why not?
Here's some headlines coming out of that region.
Iranian attacks on Tel Aviv.
Tuesday left buildings damaged and vehicles burning as seen on video that was obtained by CNN.
Israeli authorities said Iran launched seven waves of missiles since midnight.
Meanwhile, Israel is also continuing to strike Iran.
President Donald Trump told CNN that there are, sorry, my laptop just decided to shut down, told CNN that there are 15 points of agreement between the U.S.
and Iran after talks this weekend.
He announced that he will hold off strikes against Iranian energy sites for five days after earlier threatening an attack if Tehran did not let the Strait of Hormuz fully reopen.
The goalposts on this keep moving, Brian, as far as the Strait of Hormuz.
long yesterday it was 48 hours and then by the time this show ended it was a week and then there were talks that Iran says never actually happened so I'm not sure really where to where the truth lies right now.
And as you mentioned, another headline Iran's foreign ministry said there was, quote, no dialogue between Tehran and Washington, that according to state-affiliated media, separately, the semi-official FAR's news agency, citing what it described as informed Iranian sources, said plans are being prepared for potential actions targeting Tel Aviv and some regional allies.
of the US and Israel.
So it doesn't sound, um, this sounds like another, I got a call from a former president.
I'm not at liberty to say which one.
And, uh, they said, sir, you're doing, I wish I had the courage to do what you did.
Uh, and then every living president went, no, we, no, that didn't, maybe he had a dream where he talked to, uh, perhaps Herbert Hoover, but, uh, we didn't talk to him.
last week that's that's what
we were told we were told that the US was definitely winning this war this does not feel like winning if you're watching this from afar if you're watching our news media if you're watching what's happening if you're listening or reading anything that's coming in from overseas as far as you know the
or even Al Jazeera, whatever your source is, this does not feel like something that the U.S.
is winning.
This feels a little bit like the U.S.
is in some sort of quagmire and there is really no end in sight, which is what the big fear going into this always was.
is alone.
We wanted isolationism and we've got it.
We don't have we don't have allies anymore because he has alienated them.
We don't have anybody helping here because he didn't talk to anybody before he did this.
And within within an hour, he'll he'll say the straits are open.
Then 30 minutes later, we need help to open the straits.
Iran has been decimated.
No, we have to keep going in there and destroy them.
There's no there's no consistency of message.
There's no fact based message.
It's whatever this old man decides pops into his head.
He he is for all intentions, a doddering grandfather who's just sitting there spouting off whatever pops into his head.
And unfortunately, this doddering grandfather has the most powerful position
in the
And so we are all at his mercy.
And it doesn't look like this is going to end anytime soon, because if you listen to what is being floated as the offer to Iran, it's what President Obama had already worked out with them.
It's the same deal.
But now, once you start bombing a place, they're a lot less likely to sit down and talk to you.
Unless you bomb them into submission, which
Iran doesn't seem submissive.
And I think that was the biggest miscalculation.
I mean, there were several miscalculations going into Iran.
Let's be clear.
But I think that was the biggest, especially from this administration, as you see the news roll out that they thought they were going to go in there.
They were going to bomb Iran.
They were going to take out the Ayatollah.
The leadership was going to be in chaos, which it wasn't.
They already had made plans seven regime deep.
order if something
happened to
And that's not what's happened at all.
In other headlines from Iran, oil prices dropped following the president's statement.
And Asia markets rallied early Tuesday this morning, looking over at breaking news this morning.
oil prices back over $100 a barrel as of right now within just the last few minutes as the overseas markets start to open, that is.
She says simply...
The man is nuts.
Well stated, Sydney.
Let's talk about some other stuff you need to know.
The Pentagon has announced it will relocate journalists from their longtime workspace inside the building to a separate annex on Pentagon grounds, citing security concerns.
Yeah, because the press has been the one that has caused all kinds of I could see that.
It couldn't be that we just don't want to see him around.
Right.
The move comes just days after a federal judge ruled that the Defense Department's media policy violates
press freedom and due process rights, the department says it will comply with the ruling but strongly disagrees and plans to appeal.
Under the changes, the historic correspondence corridor is closed and journalists will need escorts to enter most areas of the Pentagon outside scheduled briefings.
Many reporters and media organizations dispute the security justification, arguing the policy changes are intended to restrict access and punish journalists seeking information.
That seems about right.
are
all the steps you're gonna have to take in order to get your press credentials, which is why now in the Pentagon, we don't actually have any reputable news sources.
It's all very right-leaning, very conservative, maybe verging on propaganda type.
services that are in in the Pentagon right now because if you remember back to that memo that's when all of the the credible press and maybe the mainstream if you want to call it basically turned over their credentials and was like fine if we have to go through all of this just to get access to what should be public knowledge we're done
Boy, he does not want, he does not want anybody asking him questions.
Because here's the thing, when you know nothing and you're in over your head, the last thing you want is somebody asking you a question to reveal how much you are in over your head.
And, you know, yesterday the president actually turned on somebody, he did his usual thing.
A reporter asked him a question he didn't like.
Well, who are you with?
Oh, this time it was Newsmax though.
And for Pete Hakeseth, I think it's interesting that this is a man who is trying to avoid the press at all costs when we know how much he loves a camera.
I mean, it is fact that he has had makeup booths installed in most offices, but this is a man who loves the camera.
So the fact that he's trying to avoid the press so much tells you that he probably doesn't want to answer the questions that they're actually asking.
In other news that you need to know, immigration officer,
were deployed to 14 airports across the United States yesterday as part of that effort by the Trump administration to help alleviate long lines and severe delays caused by understaffing at security checkpoints.
By yesterday afternoon, it was unclear how much of an impact ICE's presence was having.
Wait times at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport reached four and a half hours over the course of the day as the airport closed all but two of its security checkpoints.
In Atlanta, where waits reported
stretched to as long as six hours over the weekend, airport management advised travelers to allow at least four extra hours to account for delays at security.
There has been little evidence of any progress towards a deal to end the standoff over reopening DHS.
Trump rejected a potential bipartisan compromise that would have allowed all non-immigration agencies within DHS, including the TSA, to resume normal operations.
In fact, there have been five.
five proposals put in front of the Republicans, which a lot of the Republicans have agreed to, to get people back to work to alleviate these delays.
It's actually the president who has said, no, do not make a deal with the Democrats.
And we know this because the Republicans are actually coming out now and saying the president does not want us to make a deal.
This is what they are saying at this point.
Oh, oh, Johnny, you're going to be, you're getting called to the woodshed brother.
Man, all right, real quick before we have to take a break, the Supreme Court's conservative majority appeared dubious of the state laws that allow the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive at election officers.
After Election Day, Justices heard oral arguments in a challenge to Mississippi's five-day grace period for mail ballots.
Justices raised an assortment of reasons why they saw those policies as problematic, seemingly embracing Republicans' arguments that state
laws run afoul of statutes passed by Congress establishing Election Day in November for federal offices.
So stay tuned, that is not a done deal just yet.
When we come back, Washington County is suing.
What are they suing over?
We'll find out
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Wisconsin Wakes Up Here.
Act to Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Listen, we've got a lot of texts coming in.
Roger wants to, and Steven's point wants to know if we're going to talk about the billion dollars not to build windmills.
It's on the list.
If we don't get to it today, we'll get to it tomorrow.
But yes, we are doing that.
Also, I would urge you, and I know everybody's morning schedule is different, but one day if you have time to stream and watch the show behind the show where
Why do I feel like this
is about me?
You know, at
the
Just
This is kind of odd.
An education foundation has sued Washington County over its plans to sell the former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Washington County campus to a private Christian school.
The Washington County Charitable Foundation sued March 6 asking a judge to block the county sale to Ozaki Christian School.
So for decades the foundation supported local
students studying at the Washington County campus including a one point one million dollar gift for the renovation and construction but there was a condition and that condition was the purpose had to be for public education and now they're saying
In fact, I did a little, uh, investigating into what the organization is that filed this complaint and, uh, literally, um, they give money to students who are trying to, uh, from lower income families.
Uh, they're very diversified.
They like to make sure that the money goes to students of all different backgrounds and it's really just to give them a leg up with, as you stated, with the public education.
And so, um, the complaint that they filed says that
that those funds donated by the foundation with the specific charitable purpose of benefiting public education dramatically increased the value of the property, the sale of which will result in an unjust windfall to the county and city.
Now, if you don't know, UW Milwaukee closed that Washington County campus back in June of 2024 because of declining numbers of Wisconsin high school students and also financial pressures.
So the two-year branch campus was jointly owned by Washington
County and the city of West Bend.
And so the closure, as you can imagine, left the government with this 80 acre property and 200,000 square foot building that costs at least $300,000 annually to maintain the city transferred the ownership interest to the county in February of this year, according to the complaint in terms of that transfer have not been publicly released as of yet.
Yeah, and there was there was they decided they were gonna sell it to the county was gonna sell it to Ozaki Christian school But then they were afraid they were gonna get three million bucks, but then people were criticizing it because they didn't do open bidding so And they say that the offer that they were going to take from the Christian school was well below the appraised value Which was at five million.
So yeah, that's a big difference
between three and five.
And it comes to millions.
And the state legislature actually passed a law that gives up to $2 million in grants to counties or cities with a closed UW campus so that they can aid in the redevelopment.
The money must be used to enhance the community's economy, though, in some way, like facilitating some job creation, more housing, improving public infrastructure, or contributing to workforce development.
Washington County had previously set aside money to repair the building's electric
system, which would have used that $2 million grant before they decided to sell it to Ozaki Christian, Brian.
I
look at it from kind of a basic common sense thing Well, this was the deal you don't it has to be used for public education You're selling you're trying to sell it to somebody else who is not in private education You're allegedly selling it at a price lower than it needs to be sold at just to get a quick cash grab
it
But I think what's interesting about this particular case that we're talking about, story, whatever you want to call it, there are multiple UW branch campuses that have closed across the state.
So what happens here, is this going to set a precedent for those other communities?
I mean, we came from Baraboo where that campus also closed.
They've got a beautiful facility sitting there, not being used in any sort of way.
So I think this is interesting.
for a lot of these communities, is this a decision that could influence how some of these similar properties are handled across the state?
Who's gonna get them?
How much are they gonna be sold for?
Whether it's gonna benefit the public or not, whether it's gonna be used for private education when it was essentially set up for public education, which also goes back to a conversation we had yesterday about the privatizing of education in this country and in this particular state as well.
And there has been a huge push, as a lot of us are aware.
of more of that private education voucher type education system where we're doing away with more public education, especially across the state of Wisconsin.
We've seen that play out time and time again.
And I think this is just another example of a growth and a push towards that.
they don't.
And every time we think they won't, they do.
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I can't get a handle on this Supreme Court.
Sometimes I think they're in the pocket of the administration, other times
they make rulings and
law and doing their thing.
Well they did their thing yesterday and it was a good news for the press.
The U.S.
Supreme Court declined to take up a case challenging a Texas law that make it a felony for journalists to request non-public information from government officials leaving lower court rulings in place.
Now Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
She argued the case threatens a core function of journalism asking government sources for information.
the arrest at the center of the case a clear first amendment violation so good for the supreme court yesterday this this case yeah and they're doing everything they can to try to shut down the press
And you know, it's weird because you're right.
The Supreme Court will do something that feels completely out of character for a Supreme Court.
And then all of a sudden they actually uphold the law of the land.
And sometimes you feel like you're being set up, though, don't you?
And I hate being like that, but we live in a time where you feel like you're being set up, where we're going to give you a couple of wins and then, ooh, nope, we're going to definitely
side with the administration.
I'm
Sometimes it feels like that, right?
This particular case, it was interesting because it involved a Texas journalist who was arrested back in 2017 after she published stories about a border agent's public suicide and a car crash.
She was arrested because she fact checked
her stories with information that was voluntarily provided by a police officer.
This law
Exactly.
A lower court initially ruled that the law was too vague and unconstitutional, and a federal appeals panel agreed that the journalists' rights were violated.
Now, the full Fifth Circuit later ruled that police and prosecutors
were protected by qualified immunity.
And let's be realistic for just a moment when we're talking about the Fifth Circuit, which covers taxes.
This is seen as the most conservative appeals court in the country.
It often issues decisions that push the law in a very right-leaning direction, especially on issues involving, here we go, government power and individual rights.
So it was not surprising that that was how the Fifth Circuit actually leaned in this particular case.
But the appeals court said officials could reasonably, reasonably, we'll get it out yet, believe that they were enforcing the law, even if it was unconstitutional, meaning that this journalist could not sue them.
By declining this particular case, the Supreme Court allows that decision to stand, raising concerns that journalists could face arrest for routine reporting practices if officials rely on unclear or untested laws.
Now, here's a question.
Is this just a Texas thing, or is this essentially what we're trying to do to journalists all across the
This Texas law is a test case for a bigger move.
We see it all the time and it is alarming.
People tend to be downplaying this, which surprises me because so many of us have been inundated with this lie of fake news that now the distrust for journalists across the board is very widespread.
I've never heard of something like this until
read this story and heard about this case that you can be you could be jailed with a felony Count mm-hmm for asking a question that wasn't public information Well, that's how all information and you pointed it out it bears repeating that that's how Reporters journalists get their stories.
There's all if you waited just for the public.
That's what
I'm jumping around a little, but that's what the administration
wants us to
Wait for them to give us the story and that's the news.
Whereas to get to the truth, you have to get somebody who is willing to talk to you
off the record or as an anonymous source or whatever it is to give you stuff that is not public because if you rely only on the message given to you by the government, you will never get the truth.
You will only get propaganda.
You'll get whitewash stories and you'll get things like they're trying to do now.
Why don't you and we've heard it.
But they're already, they're trying it everywhere.
So to answer your question, yes, this is the plan.
Silence any sort of
Descent whether it's from the people protesting whether it's from journalists trying to get to the truth whoever it is The story the truth comes from us.
And even in my current role, I have a lot of conversations that are off the record, where I'm curating stories and I'm looking at things for us to talk about here and give sources to our news department.
And so I think about that in this particular case.
It's frightening to know that those types of conversations by some people are essentially seen as shouldn't be happening, are illegal.
It is how you source information and you find out what's happening where you have to have a little bit of that inside edge or you have to be able to get your facts straight.
And sometimes that's exactly what it is.
Some of my conversations on a daily basis are with people who I can be like, this is what I've seen reported.
Is this accurate?
Is this the direction it's headed?
Is this what I'm thinking it is kind of thing?
And sometimes it's just, I just need a simple yes or no.
But according to what we're hearing here,
that would be illegal in the eyes of this particular law, which is
Well, journalists from the Voice of America are suing the federal government, claiming officials interfered with their newsroom, and violated laws meant to protect editorial independence.
The lawsuit alleges censorship of coverage, especially related to Iran.
Baby, oh, did they not report that everything was hunky-dory?
Probably not.
Oh boy.
Their claim some content was turned into pro-Trump propaganda rather than objective news.
Sound familiar?
Sound scary?
Both the answers should be yes to that question.
And this is because Kerry Lake, remember her?
She was trying to be the governor of Arizona.
Yeah,
So Carrie Lake eventually got placed into this role overseeing Voice of America just because I think the administration just didn't really want to deal with the tantrum that was about to ensue from her if she didn't get a place.
So they put her in charge and that's a sense
how she got there.
She was an anchor in Arizona for
quite
was
of these
And so with this, the judge ruled that VOA's parent agency was
being run unlawfully and ordered over a thousand employees back to work.
The journalists argue that the damage to credibility and independence has already been done.
Now, if you're not familiar with Voice of America, this was created to do exactly that.
This was created to deliver factual nonpartisan news and stand up to propaganda and to authoritarian countries.
for decades.
This has literally been a symbol of telling the
It's been the symbol of telling the truth where others couldn't.
And what's striking is that people working there probably never thought that they were going to have to fight for the same principles that they've been reporting on for years and years.
Now, some of their specific claims include political appointees influencing the coverage, banning certain topics or guests, and even punishing journalists who pushed back against that sort of censorship.
That's what the government wants.
That's not what the voice of American journalists want.
This should be a big deal to everybody.
It should.
And this is not alarmist.
But just look at history for a little bit.
Look at countries where the press became limited.
And I don't have to run down the list for you.
You can do it yourself.
A lot of you probably are drawing those parallels anyway.
But once you cannot expose the truth, you are in a lot of trouble.
And when the message only comes from one place, you're in a lot of trouble.
It goes all the way back to when we were kids and we read the story of the emperor with new has no clothes It's it's a basic message.
We all learned and Anybody who's gone into journalism You know and I'm not talking about you know Bloggers and content creators.
I'm talking old-school journalists
you
when you get to the truth it's not what you thought it was going to be when you started that story but it is the truth and the facts are out there and then the public gets a chance to judge because how can you make a decision if you don't have the facts if you're if you're looking anything in your home anything in your daily life before you make a big decision right you're comparing
this product to this product or this neighborhood to this neighborhood or a school district.
You do that in every other aspect of your life, but we're not afraid to give that up for the sake of the country.
It doesn't make sense to me.
As somebody who's been in journalism for a really long time, if journalists are not able to do their jobs freely, we don't get the full story.
And if that information is being filtered or it's being shaped by people in power,
That becomes harder to hold everybody accountable.
And that's essentially what it is.
Wow.
let you down?
We'll talk about it.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
civicmedia.us.
a really great
seats.
We're not here to investigate.
We're not here to disappoint, which is the question.
Have you ever admired somebody and they turned out to be a huge disappointment?
Maybe you had a run-in with an athlete or a celebrity that you really liked or you believed wholeheartedly in a politician and they completely let you down.
As a kid, I was...
Fixated and fascinated and loved Bill Cosby albums that Parker albums are black vinyl discs that you would play on a turntable.
Yes
Well, it depends if you have a giant console record player like my grandma did which was the size of a Buick Then yes, it's got legs on it.
It's it weighs about 700 pounds But yes records are how people
used to consume music and a lot of comedy.
And so I had all these Bill Cosby albums.
And I love them.
He was a great storyteller.
And that's kind of how I patterned my stand up.
I tell stories rather than jokes.
But yes, well, we all know what happened to Bill Cosby.
And now
A woman who accused Bill Cosby of sexually abusing her for more than five decades ago, rather, was awarded $19.2 million by a Southern California civil jury on Monday, an attorney for the plaintiff.
released that information.
Punitive damages are still pending in the 2023 lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica by Donna Motsiger, who accused him of sexual battery, alleging that he abused a server whom he met at a Northern California restaurant in 1972.
Now,
story of how this is all played out.
Cosby, who is now 88, has denied any of these allegations.
And in fact, in a statement, a former representative for him said that Cosby was deeply saddened by the verdict, which he said sets a dangerous precedent to, quote, allow decade old allegations presented without evidence or proof to stand.
You
We already know he's been convicted criminally of this.
So it's hard.
Here's a question for you, Jamie.
separate the art from the artist, because I think back, as I was preparing to talk about this, I was thinking back to having the bits and the stories and how much I love them.
And they'd still, like, I can't separate it now.
I can't
he's
who has been convicted of several separate cases.
And remember, he's had cases overturned as far back as 2021 after a state Supreme Court vacated sentences, finding that he was denied protection against self-incrimination.
So I think that's what he keeps falling back on is, well, there wasn't proof.
Well, yes, there was.
These women, multiple women, have said the same thing about you over and over.
And it makes you...
Not a great human.
Makes you actually pretty disgusting and abysmal, but you know, here we are.
But laugh it up.
It's 6.59 right now.
You are listening to Daybreak.
I'm Jamie Martinson.
City.
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