You're listening to Civic Media.
You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.
Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime, anywhere.
Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.
Good morning.
Thank you so much for having us on today.
You are listening to the Civic Media Network, some sunshine in Madison.
Hopefully that means that there is some sunshine where you're at today because we need to dry some stuff out because it's a little soggy.
It's a little damp and there's a whole lot of flooding across portions of Wisconsin.
We're actually going to talk a little bit more this morning with Stu Waddles, our WAUK reporter.
He's going to join us at 830, Brian, because
We're going to talk about the situation that unfolded in Milwaukee last night.
Obviously, when the Brewers game ended, there was a lot of flooding.
There were people who were stranded.
There were rescues that had to happen.
So we're going to get the latest from Stu later this morning.
But first, we've got a whole lot of news, though, we have to get to this morning.
And let's look at the war.
We're entering the...
Seventh week of the war.
That'll be exciting.
Happy anniversary to the war.
Iranian officials in Pakistan's military chief will meet in Tehran today to discuss messages exchanged between Iran and the U.S.
Yesterday, the White House expressed optimism about reaching a deal, noting that a potential second round of talks would likely be held in Pakistan.
In other headlines, the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will also speak today for the first time in decades, according to an Israeli official and President Donald Trump.
Yesterday, Israel's security cabinet met to discuss a possible ceasefire, according to a source, as its military continued its bombardment targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah.
We don't get to do that very often.
He said the U.S.
is now willing to apply secondary sanctions on countries that buy Iranian oil to take Tehran's money, or take Tehran's money, I should say.
The department also announced sanctions on more than two dozen individuals.
Companies and vessels, it says, are involved in exporting Iranian oil and natural gas.
This
And I'm following trying to follow the timeline.
This should be two weeks.
We should be at two weeks.
But you know, yeah, whatever, you just listen, you shrug and you not much we can do, except we can share more stuff we need to know.
We could do that.
It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some sh** you need to know.
This was this I found very interesting up in Door County Because a number of boards had elections last week, you know on April 7th.
There were big elections Well, they didn't have candidates running so they had to count on right in right in votes The Southern Door County School District has two new board members and the Door County Board has a new supervisor for the district 19 seat that's been vacant for nine months
following the counting of write-in votes and the certification of vote totals from the April 7th election.
The district did not have a candidate who filed nomination papers by the January 6th deadline for the April 7th election.
This is the second straight county board election where no one signed up to run for the seat.
Wow.
Come on, board
You got to get on the ball.
Somebody up there has got to be involved.
Patrick Voight won the most write-in votes in the April 2024 election.
But he resigned in June, and the seat has been vacant ever since.
So Preston Pluff received 23 of the 64 right-in votes cast in the district.
This is Mayberry kind of stuff.
I can't believe Dorkelly nobody wanted to run.
We're good with the way things are going up here.
We have Pi and Beauty.
We don't really need to get involved in the nitpicky politics stuff.
But Preston Pluff got 23 of the 64 votes.
That district covers parts of the towns of Liberty Grove and Bailey's Harbor and the villages of Ephraim and Sister Bay.
County Clerk Jill Lau said Pluff accepted the seat.
Wow.
I have been written in, but I will not accept.
But President Pluff is there.
When no candidates filed nomination papers for a county board seat, it is offered to the person who wins the highest number of right in votes in the election.
If that person doesn't accept the seat, the board will ask people to submit letters of interest for the position and appoint someone to fill it.
That was the same for the District 19.
That's
else.
It's
to
You are
opening yourself up to all of these people who are going to second guess everything that you do and become an armchair, basically.
committee member, council member, whatever the position might be.
And for a lot of people, I think it's just not worth it anymore, right?
And Dorn County, let's be clear, is a very purple county if you're looking at how they vote.
It's very much
a
If you're just there trying to help your community and some group comes in and they're yelling at you about, you know, we don't like the curriculum in the school district.
We want this book banned, blah, blah, blah.
And they start hurling insults and stuff.
I'm not going to sit there and take that.
No.
I don't need this.
Nobody needs you.
I got a life.
I'm trying to help things and you're being a jerk and I gotta go.
So yeah.
I think the thing that we all need to remember though is when this type of stuff happens you get these empty seats and then you get decisions that are being made by fewer voices because when
people are afraid to step up or don't want the headaches potentially of stepping up.
That doesn't mean that decisions just stop getting made.
It just means
And the people that you don't want making the decisions, the ones who cause all the issues, they're the ones who are going, well, fine, I'll do it.
because I know the best way for everybody, so I'm going to take over.
And that's that.
So it's not just Door County, but we're using Door County as the example, because that's part of what we need to know today.
Come on, a little social engagement, or civic
Currently, if you're a fan of Wisconsin, if you want to watch every Packers, Brewers and Bucks game in a year, it's going to cost more than
than $1,500 annually to purchase the necessary streaming services and subscriptions, a cost that Baldwin says benefits the league and streaming service executives, as well as the billionaire owners of the sports teams at the expense of the fans.
She says this isn't just a Packers or a Wisconsin issue, this has become an American issue.
She also goes on to say, and this was at a press conference she held yesterday, what used to be grabbing the remote and hitting a button or two,
has literally turned into a maze, and she's not wrong, of streaming subscriptions, unexpected blackouts, or really high payments.
To top all of that off, she says there's no consistency, and it's all flat out confusing for fans.
Now, this is called the For the Fans Act, and it includes two major provisions that are meant to make it cheaper for all of us to watch our favorite teams.
The first would prohibit league-owned streaming services, such as MLBT,
or NBA League Pass from blacking out games that are played locally or on a third party streamer.
The second would require the league to provide a way for local fans to watch all games for teams based in the state in which they live.
The proposal comes after the Green Bay Packers versus Chicago Bears playoff game that was held in January.
It was only available on local TV in Wisconsin in the Milwaukee and Green Bay markets, meaning that in five of the state's TV
markets you had to subscribe to Amazon to actually watch that game It did apparently senator Baldwin to the point where she came up with this act
Yeah,
we're gonna fix that right now And one more thing I thought we would make it through stuff you need to know without mentioning a certain
in someone.
But alas, his omnipresent Republican leaders.
No, no, this is not this.
I'm looking at the wrong story.
That's the next story is crazy.
But this does have something to do with the president because he once again yesterday threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
If he does not step down from the central bank, he is renewing his attacks on a Fed chief.
He has long accused of keeping interest rates too high.
Yeah, that reflects badly on the president.
So he wants him gone.
Trump said, well, then I'll have to fire him.
OK.
That was while he was on Fox News talking about Powell's tenure as chairman, which ends May 15th if he's not leaving on time.
He also refused to distance himself from the Justice Department's criminal probe into the Fed's $2.5 billion office renovation, which prosecutors have used to ratchet up pressure on the Fed, even as the department's legal case has faced legal and political headwinds.
Trump declined to direct the Justice Department to stand down from the investigation, which a federal judge last month found to be part of a broader White House pressure campaign against the Fed.
The central bank has denied any wrongdoing in the renovation, and a federal judge last month quashed a pair of grand jury subpoenas, finding the prosecutors had no evidence of a crime.
Well, why would that stop the Justice Department then from issuing subpoenas?
Evidence, shm evidence, they said.
That's not part of the story, that's just me.
Trump's threat to fire Powell.
It'd be funny though, because basically that's what they're doing.
Evidence, shm evidence, we don't need it.
I feel like
He just, and this all goes back to when Jerome Powell
publicly corrected the president during a walkthrough of the construction site.
And oh man, he made Donald Trump look...
Less than informed is that a nice political way to say that is a very good way to say it.
Well, then that's what I'll say and And that he doesn't sit well with that.
He doesn't like to be corrected And so now he's been after Jerome Powell and also because high interest rates means the economy is rougher and people complain and then they don't think he is the you know Jesus which he likes to portray.
Well, he's a doctor not I'm sorry for mislabeling
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get
started.
I'm Brian Noonan.
If you'd like to weigh in, get involved, just shoot us a compliment, a criticism, whatever you want to do, 8557-5CIVIC, 8557-524-842.
And if you call in, remember, be nice to Parker because to get to us, you've got to get through him.
And he's a...
tough, tough critical brick wall.
And I want to talk to Brian and Jamie about this.
Say it with sweets.
All right, Jamie, there's a lot of times that the news is convoluted and stories get like this and I
I think this fits Alanis Morissette's irony because I've read this story about five times.
So here's a little background.
Republican leaders, like I said, they're going to be paying
Private lawyers up to $550 an hour in taxpayer money to represent the legislature in a lawsuit that challenges them over that very practice using taxpayer money to hire private attorneys.
Now, the lawsuit was filed by liberal law firm Law Forward in February.
It followed a 2025 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation that found the state legislature had spent about $26 million in taxpayer money on legal fees to private law firms.
since 2017.
The investigation found most of the spending came after Governor Evers and Attorney General Josh Call won the November 2018 election.
defeating Republican former Governor Scott Walker and Attorney General Brad Schimmel.
So the increase in spending also follow a law passed by Republican legislatures in a December 2018 lame duck session that authorized the Assembly Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader to hire private lawyers with taxpayer money.
So this all started in 2018.
Yes.
as crazy and weird and twisted as it is.
I just love that a majority of that spending traces back to the decision that the Republicans made on their own about the lame duck session because they had lost the governorship and the attorney general race and they were passing laws so that legislative leaders had the power to hire their own private
attorneys.
All because they wanted to take the power out of the Democratic governor
Right?
I mean, when I read this story, I don't really know the angle of this.
I see the Republicans making bad decisions that they then have to defend themselves against using taxpayer money because the decisions didn't make sense at the time and it's been tied up in courts.
And this just feels like the epitome of everything voters who have been paying attention have been screaming about with the particular leadership at the Capitol.
Wisconsin.
This
is Barker's and you should be that's the basis of this lawsuit and Jeff Mandela is the president general counsel of law forward so he had an email statement to the journal Sentinel and he said quote it's pretty ironic that the taxpayer will once again be on the hook for the legislature's inclination to spend spend spend on outside lawyers.
Wisconsin taxpayers are on the hook for a pretty hefty bill not just from the assembly but from the Senate as well.
End of that quote.
Yeah.
So just have fun with this today
as
But that's what we saw under Robin Voss and especially during Scott Walker before he left office in 2018, right?
Under Robin Voss.
this Republican Party has essentially, it's a cycle.
They've created authority, they've used that authority, that authority's gotten challenged, and then they've continued to spend our money to fight those challenges, which if you're a voter, you should be asking real questions of your Republican leadership based on what they have done in the years past.
And let me be clear, a lot of that leadership is now stepping down.
We have seen people on the Republican side say that they are not,
They are not going to go into a reelection
or a
this
on the Civic Begin.
Local news, community stories, and the conversations that matter most.
Now, more Daybreak with Brian and JB.
I'm Brian Noonan.
In the wake of a week of severe storms rolling through the area, major flooding is expected to cross several Wisconsin counties today.
Storms are going to continue.
to roll through.
More storms expected for tomorrow night.
Milwaukee County Racine, Kenosha, Ozaki, Sheboygan, Juno, Columbia Green, Rock Sock, all under flood warnings.
And to find out what's going on in the Milwaukee area, the Racine area, Kenosha, Stuart Waddles joins us.
He is Civic Media reporter at WAUK.
And Stuart, thanks for being here.
It's, you know, just from
watching the coverage and seeing footage coming out of that area.
It's been a rough couple days for you guys.
How are things sitting right now?
Still some standing water in some areas, but a lot of it has receded you might have seen those images last night coming out of the ballpark I mean those those images are kind of all over but the striking ones were Miller Parkway if you guys have been to the stadium all roads around there parking lots full of water people leaving the game just pulling their pants up like up to their knees and Kind of wade through this water.
So that was the striking part, but it kind of
went on from there again across the city the marquette campus brady street water street fun funnily enough um but yeah a lot of water but good for now but we're not out of the woods yet yes in a forecast yet
Before we went on the air, I said, hopefully the sunshine that we have in Madison filters your way pretty soon because the clouds are finally separating and breaking up here in Madison.
But you mentioned the drama that took place after the game last night.
There were water rescues that were taking place on the interstates.
What was actually happening
This was the second night of water rescues the night before there was over 50 So last night out of my imagine I don't think they put out a number yet, but probably even more and I'm I'm kind of torn on this one because they send these TV cameras out to where they know it's gonna flood and people are driving through so
that
Yeah, flooding is a big deal and there are people in Racine, parts of Racine County and parts of Waukesha County that for the past three nights.
three nights tornado warnings so sirens going off cell phones going off first night was overnight like in the middle of the night past two nights were right at the kids bedtime so so in my house it got a little tricky trying to well we just put you to bed now get up and come on down
The nine and 10 year old are all right.
The four year old kind of slept through it all.
That's nice.
That was beneficial.
But yeah, a lot of tornado warnings.
I think we've had four confirmed touchdowns so far.
And I think there was another report of an initial report of a twister in Elkhorn last night.
And I'm sure the National Weather Service folks are out there investigating that.
The Brewers just put out a statement recently about all roads to the ballpark are open.
They've got a 1240 start today.
Oh, wow.
It's a rubber match or a rubber ducky match, if you will.
They're playing Toronto.
But again, you can get in.
I'm sure the people who are more seasoned around the stadium that know that parking lot know where to not park.
I'm sure they've walked by before and say, I'm not parking over there ever again.
Or bring a raft.
I mean, I know Governor Evers declared that state of emergency in response to flooding around the state.
But are you hearing anything from county executives right now about anything that they're able to offer, whether it's the sandbagging, whether it's just aid for people right now, any communication from them?
Last night, I think it was a more of an immediate.
that message that they were putting out, County Executive Crawley, Mayor Johnson, both putting out statements about, if you see some standing water someplace, let us know about it.
And they were kind of sharing that information about this immediate problem.
And today, I'm sure they're gonna be out there surveying damage and putting it out.
Both communities, both municipalities, the county and city of Milwaukee, really good with their websites and keeping them updated and keeping them brief.
I think that's important for these government websites to keep things brief and like targeted.
So if you have a certain problem,
You're not going to this government website and trying to find out what's going on, like they have a specific meaning for this website.
So they've been really good at sharing that information.
I'm not sure if they got to Kenosha I know last night They confirmed the the beaver dam and waterford earlier in the day yesterday They confirmed to the the one near Sussex and again last night something near Alcorn Nothing confirmed though as far as those totals are coming out and I'm
sure we're
Well, Stuart, hopefully things quiet down, at least for today, because we do have another round of storms coming through tomorrow before we get some cooler temperatures.
But we appreciate you joining us, keeping us updated on what's happening in the Milwaukee area, or Racine, Kenosha, because I know you cover a big area.
But Brian, we have to bring in Connie Feldman as
well.
It's currently raining.
Again, I grew up on the Wolf River in Chano and never seen anything like this.
There are some areas that typically flood this time of year around the area that we all know about, but there's never been anything like this.
We still have evacuations in place.
Swamako is still evacuated today, parts of New London are still evacuated today, schools are closed, a lot of community services have canceled.
Just a lot of upheaval, trying to keep up with it all yesterday, you know, trying to get out newscast, let people know the latest evacuation notice, just trying to keep people in the loop about where to go to find a safe space.
But yeah, some have crested or are reaching crest stage right now.
I think the Wolf River in some areas is beyond crest.
This is, I think, more rain than we've had in April in a century.
Wow.
Yeah, you know that the neat thing to see though guys is I'm sure you've heard is the neighbors helping neighbors around here.
We've had a lot of calls out for people to come help fill sandbags and put them in place and people are just really coming together to try and help out while they get their own basement dried out.
There's a lot of information going out from the county about who to call, where to go if you need some help.
You know, always 511 as far as road closures.
But 211 in Brown County, call, let them know what you need.
We have several areas where they're putting together sandbags.
They're publishing road closures.
encouraging people, you know, it's great that you want to come out and help make sure you have a safe route to do that.
They don't want people trying to drive through flood waters to try and help somebody else out.
But yeah, they're just on social media is a good place to go with Brown County.
The city government website has a lot of information and resources available.
If you need some help or you need a safe place to go, you can go to those those spots.
Like I said, it's currently raining now.
So those rivers and waterways that have crested have not receded yet.
So we also have a lot of agriculture here in the Green Bay area.
Farmers have fields that are underwater right now and that doesn't bode well for things to come.
So we're kind of stuck in a holding pattern right now.
I heard Stuart talking about the Brewers.
We have a local Clintonville high school baseball team whose field is currently underwater.
So they've rescheduled their game to the...
Timber Rettler Stadium on Saturday.
So we're coping as best we can, but we're in the middle of it.
And as you said, there's more severe weather scheduled to come in Friday night.
So things are expected to get worse before they get better.
You mentioned that this is a lot of community helping community.
Are there any particular resources right now from specific organizations that you know of where people can go get immediate help if they need a place to stay?
Anything like that?
I'm trying to look at specific
and I'm sorry I don't have that at the top of my head but as far as specific shelter areas.
We already had three rescued from a flooded house in Suamiko.
That was two days ago.
So and I'm sorry I don't have those details right at the top of my head but
They have put out a warning here that if you see any drain or sewers that have blockage, anything like that, you're asked to try and help clean those out.
We have a local peaceful hiking area called Beards Creek in this area.
Beards Creek is overflowing.
It looks like a rushing waterfall.
But yeah, I mean, unprecedented.
I've just I've never seen anything like this and it's still raining and there's more to come.
Connie Feldman, reporter at WGBW in Green Bay.
Man, oh man, it's rough going in parts of the state and it's not going to get any better this weekend.
Hopefully by next week when things dry out a little, it will go.
But it's almost time for us to say goodbye.
But before we do, I must ask you, what is something that has made you feel out of touch?
There might be too
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.
to Lake Michigan.
This is Wisconsin's Morning Conversation, a break with Brian and Jamie.
But I don't think that would have violated community standards because it was published in a public figures book.
Yes.
So you're reporting on actual news and, man, we would have made it hilarious.
But anyway, that's neither here nor there because...
What is something that has made you feel out of touch?
I know now you're fearing FOMO because you didn't listen on the stream and I don't blame you.
You did miss out on something.
But what has made you feel out of touch?
855-75-CIVIC 855-75-24-842.
Today, I am feeling my age during this show because first, I did not grasp
or comprehend the importance of giving infants email addresses, which Jamie brought up last hour.
I didn't, I didn't understand why that was so important.
And now I am completely flummoxed by the fact that people are sheep and given to trends so, so greatly.
Are you Parker and Jamie?
Are you familiar with a bento box?
bento
And some people even were able to get
Some trinkets some swag some merch online, but that sold out immediately yesterday Wow one of these collectible bento boxes Was on eBay sold for $350 or that's the opening bid another was sold for $200 and one bento box sold for $1,000 according to the eBay listing now
I think to myself, I enjoy a nice Popeyes piece of chicken.
I like their spicy chicken is great.
I like their dirty rice.
I'm all about Popeyes.
I have no idea what this box is and I would say I pulled up the Popeyes to get a spicy chicken sandwich yesterday as is my want.
And I see all these people standing in line and thinking, man, the chicken sandwiches are good, but they've been out for a while.
We don't need to see these lines again.
And then somebody comes running out with their
Luffy bento box and I'm like do I even live in this country anymore?
Who am I?
and
This stuff is really
The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.
Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.
With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.
Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.