Transcript
TMZ: Trusted Political News Coverage (Hour 3)
Daybreak w/ Brian and Jamie · Tue Apr 14, 2026
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Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.
I'm Brian Noonan.
Glad you're with us.
Time to check headlines, starting with the war and the Persian Gulf.
Everything's happening over there.
Well now, Chinese President Xi Jinping floated a four-point proposal for promoting Middle East peace during a meeting today with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, that according to the Chinese official news agency,
Xi's proposal calls for upholding the principle of regional peaceful coexistence and respecting national sovereignty while underscoring the principles of coordinating development and security.
Quite a lot of double talk.
In other headlines from Iran, Vice President J.D.
Vance accused Iran of economic terrorism by essentially closing the Strait of Hormuz.
He defended the U.S.
blockade of Iranian ports as an equal response.
At least two sanctions ships have transited the Strait since the blockade began.
It's not going well.
He's wilting under the pressure.
In other headlines from around the US and Iran are still communicating, a US official told CNN.
After peace talks in Pakistan failed, US officials are discussing details for a potential second in-person meeting with the Iranians.
to a source, we'll see if it'll be the same folks going over.
I was just going to say, do you think
And finally, from Iran this morning, diplomats from Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin negotiations today under U.S.
supervision in Washington, D.C.
Lebanon's president hopes the meeting will result in a ceasefire even as Iran
militant group Hezbollah called on Beirut to reject the talks.
Everything's kind
And I know you're thinking, listen, Brian, Jamie, we understand that it's important that you talk about all the things that are happening overseas.
We are at war and all.
But isn't there stuff we need to know right here?
Well, yes, there is.
It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some shit you need to know.
Well, if you're walking out the door today, this is definitely the top piece of you need to know.
Southern Wisconsin is under an enhanced risk for severe storms today that could include tornadoes that according to forecasters at the National Weather Service on the National Weather Service is one to five scale.
Southern Wisconsin is under a three for today.
That means high confidence that several storms will contain damaging winds, severe hail and or tornadoes.
Western portion of southern Wisconsin on Wednesday will be under another slight risk.
No enhanced risks are anywhere else in the state for tomorrow.
But today we are under that that three that risk.
There's an expected one to three inches of rain through the rest of the week.
Flash flooding is going to be possible and
that again, according to the National Weather
Service,
Yeah, and also if you're in one of those flood prone areas, because there has been a lot of flooding along several riverfronts across the state, check with your county.
A lot of times they're doing sandbag fills and things like that to make sure that you're protecting your property.
because I know that's a major concern in several areas of the state right now.
So everybody just.
Stay weather aware over the next few days.
In other headlines this morning from stuff you need to know, we've got to zoom out just a little bit into the national world.
And Tony Gonzalez announced that he will retire from Congress with all of those mounting,
with all
Amazing what happens when they want to formally investigate you.
Now he has admitted to having an affair with a staff member which violates house rules due to the clear power and balance between
and an employee.
That staff member later died by suicide, adding serious emotional weight and public scrutiny to this particular situation.
The House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into possible sexual misconduct and whether Gonzalez gave preferential treatment or abused his position.
House rules are strict on issues like this because they protect staffers from coercion, favoritism, or retaliation in the workplace.
Republican leadership had already urged him to not
secret election in order to protect the party's chances in a very strongly Republican district.
Some lawmakers from both parties began openly calling for expulsion, signaling rare bipartisan agreement on enforcing ethics standards.
Now his retirement announcement came the same day Eric Swalwell said that he would resign over separate allegations in intensifying focus
There were discussions among lawmakers about holding both parties equally accountable, including potential back-to-back expulsion votes.
Gonzalez had previously said he would finish his term, but there's been some rising political and public pressure, and that appears to have forced an early exit.
His departure creates uncertainty in the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority and even one vacancy can
effect key votes in legislation.
Now, if you joined us earlier, we actually talked about the resignation of Eric Swalwell.
And if you want to hear past shows, this is where we'll give a shameless plug.
Go to civicmedia.us and you can hear back any of the shows that we've done here on Civic Media.
But I think that's the one thing that everybody has to keep in mind.
There's two things, obviously victims of both of these men.
And then second of all, the fact that the majority in the house is so
it's paramount right now because it is razor thin and it literally comes down to sometimes one or two votes.
And the House, the Republicans do not have a strong majority.
They are usually teetering right around three seats.
So when you start playing with numbers like this and you start having people leave, you know, there's a lot of votes that could go very different based on how those numbers look here very soon with these changes too.
to the house.
Yeah, you know, and for Republicans to this was, yeah, we had one on each side.
So it's, you know, every, the rules are for everybody or there for nobody.
Yeah, for a long time, it seemed like the rules were for nobody, but
It's good to see at least a couple guys having to take accountability for what they did.
If you've driven around Wisconsin, you might think, man, these roads are bad
and they are.
How bad
Well, Wisconsin ranks 14th worst in the country for overall road conditions.
According to a national analysis using federal data, that ranking puts Wisconsin behind all neighboring states, which I could not believe.
Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota.
Minnesota ranks among the best roads in the country.
Well that's Indiana is Indiana the same thing.
The ranking includes both road quality and traffic deaths not just potholes.
The state improved from eighth worst last year but still sits in the bottom tier nationally about 57% of urban roads and 15% of rural roads are in poor condition.
both worse than the national average.
So it might as well just walk like Jamie
was talking about
when you have a big
And then you get the winter all the all the freezing and all that comes in a lot of truck traffic and farm equipment adds to the wear and tear.
And you know,
You're driving over things, poor roads.
You're going to have to get your car damaged, higher repair costs.
So the bad roads are everywhere.
Stay home.
That's my get a job where you can work from home, have your have your food and everything delivered that way.
You don't have to drive.
Somebody else's car takes the beaten and you don't have to go anywhere.
The weather that we're having the next couple of days is certainly not going to help with the potholes or the deterioration of some of the road conditions.
I think it is interesting that Milwaukee is the one city trying
to improve things the most.
And mostly because they have a goal of zero traffic deaths by 2037.
So they're investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into all of these different projects.
But yeah, I don't know.
I'm kind of with you.
Stay home.
So yeah, we're just, we're a prime example of what not to do with roads in the state of Wisconsin, I guess.
Uh, in other headlines this morning, this was really sad.
This one was, now I'll be clear when we get into this, this was a little before my time, but I remember watching the, I remember watching the reruns of this when I was growing up on certain channels, but Sid Croft, who is a legendary TV.
creator and puppeteer has died at the age of 96.
Now, he worked closely with his brother, Marty Croft, forming one of the most influential duos in children's television history.
The Croft brothers created iconic shows in the late 60s and 70s, including, oh, HR Puffin Stuff, which Brian, you are familiar, it became a cult favorite.
I saw this and I the song the song immediately came back into my head.
Yeah, can't do a little because he can't do but he can't do enough.
It is for those who haven't seen HR Puffin stuff was all of the Sid and Marty Krop stuff.
Yeah, we're looking back.
Someone, I think, may have been doing some hallucinogenics when they created it.
Especially for Lidsville.
It was that time.
Talking Hats ruled the world, and there was a lot of hidden kind of marijuana references, just even in the title, Lidsville.
It was crazy.
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.
Land of the Lost with the Slee Stacks.
It's just there was so much from them, but yeah HR profit stuff
Only 17 episodes, Jamie, but you said you saw it in reruns, which is where a lot of people saw it.
I've only seen a couple of the episodes, but I remember it distinctly being on, and I don't even know what channel I would have been watching growing up, but I remember distinctly it being on.
I also remember my parents talking about it when I was growing up and then having a conversation once it came on our little TV in our living room, because obviously then they started reliving watching it as a kid too,
because this is he's a HR Puffin stuff is his and right there there's your name Puffin stuff so your Puffin stuff man and you see this giant monster and then Sigmund and the sea monsters the kid who played Jody on Family Affair but Johnny Whitaker was was in that show with these sea monsters that just wandered around it was
It was trippy.
But they also did the Donnie and Marie show.
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I'm Brian Noonan.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, about one in 11 people in Wisconsin are living with diabetes.
Once considered an adult disease, type 2 diabetes is being diagnosed more and more often in children and teens.
UW Health reports that a 10% increase in youth cases in diabetes since 2018.
The mission of the Wisconsin Lions Foundation is building a healthier Wisconsin through awareness, action, and support.
Here to tell us about some of the Lions Foundation's programs,
is Amanda Daley.
She's a health care supervisor for the Wisconsin Lions.
Amanda, thank you for being here.
We appreciate your time this morning.
Thank you so much for having me.
So I am the healthcare supervisor for the Wisconsin Lions Foundation, but I am mainly for the Wisconsin Lions Camp, which is a summer camp founded in 1956, serving youth and adults with disabilities.
So we offer our camp for free for people who are eligible for it.
Applications are open right now and are through May 15th, if anybody is interested.
Yes.
Well, and in that role, because I'm a registered nurse, I took over the coordination of our diabetes awareness project.
And diabetes awareness when we started the project in 1998 was not as prevalent as it is now.
It was kind of nobody really talked about having type two diabetes.
Nobody talked about any kind of diabetes.
So.
At that point we had some grants from the state and we created a robust library of reference documents to help spread the word through our local alliance clubs about diabetes and risk factors and living with diabetes and all of these things and it was wonderful.
But fast forward it is now 2026.
The word is out about type one and type two diabetes.
Everybody knows about it.
People can hear about it for much more credible sources than the Lyons Foundation.
So we decided to shift our focus working with our diabetes committee at the state level.
We wanted to use our time, our efforts in a more impactful way.
We wanted to be able to help more people on a day to day level.
Part of my background is before becoming entering this role, I was a school nurse.
I
was
a school nurse for about eight years.
In that role, I worked with a lot of students who had diabetes, type one and type two.
There
Absolutely.
Okay.
So type one diabetes is an autoimmune disease where your body decides it doesn't like your pancreas anymore and especially doesn't like the cells in that pancreas that create insulin.
And insulin is a hormone that you need to get sugar from your bloodstream into your body cells for them to function.
So in type one, your body doesn't make it anymore.
It's gone.
So the only way that you can get it is by supplementing it from the outside with either injections, continuous infusion pumps, those kinds of yet that kind of stuff.
And then you are constantly monitoring your blood sugar because it's going up and down and you're having to balance what you're eating with what insulin you're giving so that you're not getting too high or too low because both of those things can be dangerous.
with type 2 diabetes your body and your your pancreas they're still making insulin but due to genetic factors lots of things your body cells no longer the same amount of insulin doesn't work as effectively so you're having to still sometimes take insulin to take insulin to increase the efficacy of that insulin so it
They both require you to take insulin sometimes, but one is an autoimmune disease.
One is a, you know, like a gestate.
It's still a metabolic disease, but it's not something that can be, like, you can avoid type two diabetes with diet, exercise, medication.
Type one, you got it, you got it.
100%.
We have two weeks of diabetes camp and we can have up to 150 campers each week.
Our weeks this year are June 14th through 18th and June 21st through 25th.
She is the health care supervisor for the Wisconsin Lions.
You also, a little, a few minutes ago, mentioned grants.
You actually have grants that go out to the schools so they can help students with diabetes.
Can you tell us about that and how schools apply?
And is that open to any school in the Wisconsin school district?
Absolutely.
Yeah, it is.
So new this year, like I said, we want it to be more...
purposeful, impactful.
So we started the grant.
Schools who are monitoring students with diabetes through continuous glucose monitors, like I said, you have to monitor that blood glucose as it goes up and down.
Schools can monitor those blood sugars remotely from these devices.
So you can do that if you have devices that can do it.
When I was a school nurse, our school couldn't afford to buy me the tablet that we needed.
to monitor those things.
So it was kind of you're just having to rely on that student paying attention to those
things or
a parent has to do it from afar and they might be working or doing that thing.
So as a safety issue, it's the best thing that you can do is have access to those blood sugar numbers so that you can watch them as they're going up and down.
But like I said, some schools can't afford it.
So we are offering our grant to help schools, school nurses, school staff, everybody monitor.
students with diabetes.
So they can apply on our website that the way flashed above.
What's godsandlinesfoundation.org.
Schools can apply for up to $1,000 to help monitor their students with diabetes.
That can be tablets.
smartphones, that can be Wi-Fi upgrades, all those things that we need to really help with that student safety.
Any school in Wisconsin can do it.
You just have to apply for each school individually.
And the person who applies has to be from the school.
Parents can't apply, but parents can encourage
Tell your school to apply.
And if you think your child might want to go to the Lions Camp, Wisconsinlions.org, you can get all the information on the camp.
You can get the information for the grants.
You can get
all the information on the great work.
Amanda Daly, thank you for being with us this morning.
Congrats, you get your first interview
done.
How do you feel about politicians being covered like celebrities?
And who would you trust more for your information?
TMZ or CBS?
855-756-855-7524-842.
The reason we ask you that is TMZ.
You know TMZ.
They're all man.
They love to cover the celebrities TMZ standing for the 30 mile zone, which is a Hollywood term where outside of 30 the 30 mile radius of Hollywood you get paid more
if you work outside the TMZ.
So they started obviously in Hollywood in that zone.
And now they have opened an office.
It's basically a table.
They have a staff now in Washington.
And they are starting to cover politicians like they cover celebrities.
They famously put out
a call for people to send pictures of their representatives on vacation during this, you know, we're at war and all this other stuff is going no funding for different things.
But they were going on vacation.
So TMZ said, hey, you know, if we could do it to Johnny Depp and every other B-list celebrity, why don't we start doing it with politicians who have a much more important role in our lives.
So they've done stories like
Ted Cruz cruising in Fort Lauderdale amid a government shutdown.
Lindsey Graham, you failed to keep government open.
So what are you doing now?
I'm going to Disney World and they go after everybody.
Bernie Sanders goes wheels up as shutdown bill dies in the house.
So they are, they're going after everybody and I am 100% in on this.
Good.
I think this
This is officially what they're calling it.
And the founder of TMZ, Harvey Levin, said that this expansion into politics was a really spontaneous decision to bring their style of reporting to Washington.
And let's be clear, they've already tried to dip.
And you just went through some of those headlines, Brian.
They've already dipped into some.
political coverage, including interviews during government shutdowns.
They seek photos of lawmakers outside of work.
So the goal of TMZ DC is to capture more of the behind the scenes, personal and unscripted moments involving politicians.
Now I know that there's a lot of people who are going to be like, this is just more paparazzi, paparazzi, we don't need them.
You know what?
Our politicians need more accountability, and our legacy media is not giving it to them, is not making them stand up, they're covering stories, they're taking stories out of press when they get too much pressure, and here's what I'm gonna say, TMZ doesn't play that game
and a
Yeah, well, I'm okay with the two as long as they don't follow the orange man baby around because he gets more than enough
But when you look at the company's track record, besides diving in, tiptoeing into politics, they
We broke the news about Michael Jackson's death before anyone else.
Same thing with Kobe Bryant and that helicopter crash.
They exposed Donald Sterling with the recordings.
They released the Ray Rice video that forced the NFL to actually have to respond to the allegations.
They've been all over Britney Spears' conservative tour ship story for years.
Love them or hate them.
they get the story.
And most of the time, I would say, I don't even know what the percentage is, but very rarely are they wrong, nor do they have to redact anything that they've ever said because they have the video, they have the photos, they sometimes have letters, emails, they do the work to get
I'm taking TMZ's
in
If I'm looking for things on more of a national front, I'm going AP, I'm going Politico, I'm going Reuters.
I tend not to go into any of the network news, but those are the places that I'm going for more net...
national coverage on the local side, and when I say local, I mean statewide, we have several good newspapers
and
are.
They aren't sanitizing things.
They're not going to package it in some sort of way that's going to make it easier for somebody powerful to spin it and say that it's not true.
And
I think that's where it's going to be most interesting because in Washington, covering these politicians, politics is a performance art anyway.
I mean, let's be realistic
They're all sticking to their talking points.
They're all being handled by countless people.
What I like about TMZ is, yes, some of the stories might be a little salacious, so that's...
Who you voted for and don't you want to know if they're doing these things?
Don't you want to see that?
Is it our business that Lindsey Graham is you know in the buffet line at Disney World with a Princess wand?
No, I mean really it's not but he's a he's a public figure Why what makes what makes a politician more of above?
the scrutiny than a celebrity.
I would
A politician was voted for to work for you.
Right.
The celebrity doesn't work for us.
No, the politician does work for us.
So I do have a right to know everything they're doing.
And I don't care how what format it comes in what platform it's on, how it's presented.
We deserve to know the truth.
1-855-752-4842, 1-855-75 Civic.
The question we are asking you this morning, how do you feel about politicians being covered like celebrities?
Who do you trust more at this point, TMZ or CBS?
And what I love about TMZ being involved in this is this is going to go beyond...
the strongly worded letters.
This is going to go beyond those
press conferences.
It's
going to go beyond all of the statements that the politicians like to put out to get their spin on a story, to make sure that they get the words out there that they want people to hear.
This is going to be essentially, if TMZ covers Washington, DC, like they have celebrities for years, this is going to be more of a, what are you doing when the cameras
aren't on kind
of a
And I think that that's important because of how politics has evolved and changed and become such a showmanship versus actually what people are elected to do.
And that's what I'm most excited if these three young producers, because let's be real, they're young, because it takes a lot of energy to do what they do.
But I think that that's going to be
fascinating in Washington DC.
And there's already a lot of press in DC.
DC is one of the most covered places in America for obvious reasons, but not in the way TMZ is going to do it, according
No, TMZ is relentless.
And they're going to ask questions that no other mainstream, not a mainstream network, and not the loyalist networks.
Right.
They will never ask the questions that TMZ will get.
And this is the feeling that the public has about politicians now is I don't know if it's at an all-time low, but we don't hold them in high regard anymore.
No.
It doesn't matter what side of the aisle.
We all think politicians are crooked.
We don't approve of what they're doing.
So why not?
And when I say hunt them, I mean media-wise.
Yeah.
I mean, just follow them around and make them accountable and ask them the questions.
And if they get embarrassed or if they get angry, well, what are you embarrassed about?
What are you mad about?
Maybe this becomes more of a, whether or not TMZ belongs in politics, maybe that's not the question.
Maybe it's literally something to the effect of, is politics now built for more of what TMZ is perfectly adept at covering?
Is that where politics is gone in this country, where we're beyond the early days even of Barack Obama, which is I think when things started dramatically changing.
Maybe TMZ is exactly what we need in this moment in time.
because we're beyond what the legacy media is able to provide as far as what our politicians are giving us and the way politics is now
We've gone long past the age of civility when it comes to media coverage.
We've also gone past the age of cooperation between our politicians and our media where they would answer questions and they now and it started, it really started with
this president his first time around with fake news fake you never heard about fake news everybody everybody would admit that there were networks that had a slight slant but you would always go okay but they're still giving us facts right they're just you know and you knew where to go once fake news became a thing and the war against journalism started in earnest with this president that's when civility was gone and then we saw the election of
certain politicians who had zero civility, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Bulbert, I'm looking at you, Mark Wayne Mullen, I'm looking at you.
And so now the old paradigm of how journalists are supposed to act is gone.
So you need that new generation of journalists.
And that's what TMZ is going to do.
They're not going to stand on ceremony like they did.
And yeah, it's a tabloid way to do it.
But that's
He was
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It's 8.52
Well, this combines a whole lot of things that I love because the United States is turning 250 years old this year, right?
America 250 and the country's circus town is going to be celebrating circus world located in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Uh, their spring season starts on Monday and their summer performances start on May 15th.
This year's summer big top production theme is Jubilee 250, which will celebrate America semi Quinn Centennial.
birthday through September 8th.
Now, Attractions Director Scott O'Donnell, this is his first summer back in Baraboo.
He spent a year in Texas following 11 years at Circus World as their executive director.
So I got to tell you working with Scott O'Donnell for years in Baraboo.
We are all so excited that he is back in the great state of Wisconsin because he was made for this role at Circus
He did, he did.
Now, Baraboo's main attraction is debuting Masters of Murth this Spring.
This is an exhibit highlighting the roughly 200-year history of clowns in America's circus acts.
The Feld Visitor Center showcase inside the exhibit hall will celebrate the art of clowning as well as countless individuals who have provided laughter
for children of all ages at the circus.
Masters of Merth will also feature dozens of costume shoes, props, and trunks.
There's always so much history even at Circus World, so it's always a really good time.
Now, Circus World is also restoring three vintage circus vehicles, including two wagons for the summer season.
Cannot wait for these.
These have been going for a long time because they do so much.
They actually take old circus wagons.
These are not the only three that they have ever done.
And they redo these from top to bottom to make them look like the original when they would have went through the towns years ago.
So this is always exciting.
They've been working on these three for quite some time.
A 1903 float, a 1904 steak driver or vehicle that was used to drill stakes into the ground for circus tents.
Oh, OK.
Yeah.
And then they also have a 1934 socket.
sterling circus truck that they've been restoring.
This is all part of their continuing restoration projects that they do.
The cookhouse grill, which is their on-site restaurant, will have new food and drinks this year, and the gift shop has added some new apparel.
into
We
We'd watch the cranes come out, the actual cranes, not the birds.
And we'd watch them raise this amazing circus tent and we'd all celebrate and cheer.
And then at the end of the year, the skyline of Baraboo completely changes in September when they take that tent down because it goes
And when you get there, you'll walk through the main exhibit hall where you'll get to see what we were talking about just a few minutes ago, that new display this year about the Masters of Merth.
They also have several of their original circus buildings from the Ringling Brothers.
So you can go through those.
They have display set up.
They have some amazing photography over the years.
They have different shows that take place at different times on the grounds.
You can watch them restore some of those wagons through their shop windows.
have a carousel on the grounds.
It's a fun, magical place.
And Circus World over the years, of course Circus in general is back because Ringling announced that they are performing again, Sam's Animal.
I will say this because Baraboo got its share of people coming to protest the elephants.
We love the elephant girls in Baraboo.
They were the sweetest things.
We missed them incredibly.
They would get standing ovation.
every year at the parade, you would know that
they were coming
They have llamas.
And they're not doing anything.
But I do, I miss, I do like the big, the sphere of death, the big metal sphere where the guys ride the motorcycles inside and zip around.
I like all that stuff.
I still am amazed by Trapeze artists and the high wire people.
You can see it all.
a
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