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From Lake Superior to Lake Michigan, this is Wisconsin's Morning Conversation.
Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Good morning.
It's 806.
I'm Brian Newton.
This is Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.
Glad you are with me.
Don't forget at 835, gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong will join me.
So stick around for that.
And if you can't, maybe you have to run into work or something.
Make sure you go to Spotify and subscribe to our podcast Daybreak with Brian and Jamie because then you can listen to anything you missed anytime you want.
Just like now, maybe you're getting ready to leave the car and you're like, oh, but I'm sure there is some stuff I need to know.
It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some sh** you need to know.
That's right.
You know the president is planning to build an arch.
Oh, it looks very nice.
Is it reminiscent of a Nazi arch?
I don't know.
I'll leave that up to you to decide.
But the Trump administration planned to start work at the site of the president's proposed triumphal arch by piggybacking it onto an existing unrelated contract for engineering services at the White House grounds more than a mile away, according to emails that were obtained by the Washington Post.
Now,
The move would allow the administration to bypass a potentially lengthy public bidding process.
An expert said it was unusual because the arch site is on national park service land across the Potomac River and is not part of the White House complex.
But if you think that's going to stop Donald Trump from doing some shady deal, you would be wrong.
Park Service Acting Director Jessica Ballron wrote to White House officials
month asking whether the agency could extend a contract between the White House and engineering firm ACOM services for an environmental assessment for the proposed 250-foot arch.
She acknowledged that the proposed arch isn't adjacent to the White House like Lafayette Square.
Another site ACOM has worked on under the same agreement, but she wrote that using the existing contract would allow work to quote, align with the administration's timeline.
Yeah, he wants this arch built before
July 4th, so I'm sure the quality would be there as you're just slapping up some giant gaudy arch that nobody asked for, nobody wants, nobody needs, except your ego is so fragile that you need to have everything, either with your name, your likeness, your love of all things gold-plated, and to remind everybody that you were here.
She went on to say,
I realize it's a little further afield than Lafayette Park, but given the engagement on this project from the White House, I thought I'd check.
In other words, he won't stop hounding me, so I had to ask.
An hour later, the White House gave NPS a green light.
Yes, of course, wrote Heather Martin, an official in the executive office of the president.
So what's not clear from the emails
is whether the Park Service ultimately followed through with the plan to use the White House contract.
Site testing was to begin this week, according to a timeline laid out by the administration in federal court last week.
Heavy machinery was at the site on Monday.
Boy, this sounds just like the East Wing.
We're going to do it and everybody else too bad.
I don't need any sort of or need any sort of okay.
I'm going to do what I want when I want.
So a spokesperson for the Department of Interior, which oversees the Park Service, responded to a detailed list of questions from the Washington Post about the proposed arrangement by saying the post assertion on contract sourcing is incorrect.
On Monday, an administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss contracting matters confirmed that NPS was likely to use the White House existing contracts.
Wow.
All right.
Well,
A little closer to home for this piece of you need to know.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson slammed the president in the wake of news.
The FBI is investigating Wisconsin's current election.
No, no, no, the 2020 election.
You remember, we brought this up the other day, but now the mayor has come out.
He said, let me say it clearly.
Donald Trump won the elections for president in Wisconsin for both 2016 and 2024.
He lost the election for president in 2020 in Wisconsin to Joe Biden.
That was the mayor's statement on May 14th, which was yesterday.
Deploying federal law enforcement to alter reality is outrageous.
He added Milwaukee's elections are conducted with the highest level of integrity and accuracy.
Multiple objective reviews of our elections confirm that.
How many times do we have to say it?
How many times do you have to hear it?
How many court cases and investigations?
Is there ever going to be enough?
No.
He will not let this go ever because, as I mentioned in the last story, his fragile ego just is incapable of
actually admitting that he lost even though he won again and nobody's dispute nobody disputes when he won even democrats don't dispute when he won but man he will not let this go
So Johnson's comments came the day after news broke that the FBI agents sought to question one of Milwaukee County's top election officials about the 2020 presidential election, that according to Milwaukee County Clerk George Christensen, he said agents visited the home of the county's election director and left her a business card.
There are no indications as the FBI has contacted any Milwaukee City officials, though.
The visit to the home brought a response from County Executive David Crowley, who said the action, quote, raises serious concerns of intimidation.
Yes.
So the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported this last week that the FBI was investigating Wisconsin's 2020 election and that an agent had spoken with the Wisconsin Election Commission's Deputy Administrator Robert Keough.
During the meeting, Keel reportedly debunked false claims, which have been done ad nauseam.
So the Wisconsin probe comes after federal officials in January seized hundreds of boxes of ballots related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia.
And after the FBI issued a grand jury subpoena.
in March for voting information in Maricopa County, Arizona.
So it will not stop.
I don't know.
Again, like the war in Iran, what is the end game?
What do you hope?
What do you hope to prove?
And I told you so.
And then that would then that would make this term moot because you couldn't be a president for three times.
What's what's the end game?
Just so you can say, oh, yeah, I won.
See, I told you, I'm big winner.
The system was rigged.
Sit down.
Oh, man.
You're muttering.
All right, more things we need to know.
Oh, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in an interview with House lawmakers backed away from a previous claim that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had blackmailed people.
Now, you remember this?
A while ago, he said he had only been there for lunch on the island, but now it's coming out.
maybe not so much.
So Lutnick agreed to sit down for an interview with the House Oversight Committee last week after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted his claims on a podcast last year that he had been determined to quote, never be in a room again with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein's home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.
Now the House Oversight Committee released the transcript of the interview Wednesday, as well as a transcript of an interview with
Ted Waite, a former boyfriend of Epstein confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Lutnik, who for years was neighbors with Epstein in New York City, had claimed in that podcast interview that Epstein engaged in blackmail.
But under scrutiny from lawmakers, Lutnik said he was only speculating.
Oh, I see.
Lutnick is the highest ranked current administration official besides President Trump to be named in the Epstein case files.
The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.
And as you know, the hopes that the Epstein files will be pushed aside have been buoyed by the DOJ's actions.
But I don't think we should let this go.
And I don't think if things change at the midterm, I don't think it will be let go.
And, you know, here's a little piece of, well, I'll save speculation when we're not doing stuff you need to know.
We have plenty of time to speculate on things.
But anyway, Lutnik repeatedly downplayed his previous interactions with Epstein.
He said that after Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting charges on sex trial on sex trafficking charges, showed him a massage table and made a sexual innuendo during a tour of his townhouse in 2005, Lutnik and his wife decided we would quote, just avoid him.
Yes.
Yet Lutnik
did exchange several emails with Epstein over the years.
They also both invested in the same business venture in 2013.
And Lutnik told lawmakers that he was unaware Epstein was also an investor until the case files were released a month ago.
So Howard Lutnik, believe it or not, that's up to you.
A little closer to home, a grant will help Madison College prepare rural residents to become teachers.
This seems like good news.
A new grant is aimed at getting rural Wisconsinites into teaching jobs as rural school districts face challenges getting trained educators into their classroom.
So just about a half of the students at Wisconsin's K-12 schools are in rural districts and getting teachers into those classrooms can be a challenge, especially in areas of aging or declining population.
But educators say the real challenge isn't the training, it's keeping teachers in their communities.
We hear that with a lot of different fields, but teaching in particular.
So Madison College created a plan to help reach rural folks who could become teachers.
It's called the Education Pre-Major University Transfer Program.
And the new $156,000 Wisconsin Technical College System Career Pathways Grant
Boy, these titles are long.
We'll help expand the program's reach.
So Penny Johnson runs the school's education department.
She says the program takes the.
makes the education pathway local and flexible.
It identifies open spaces for teachers in districts near where students already live and focuses on recruiting small town residents to work at rural schools.
She calls it an exciting change across Wisconsin.
In the past, teacher recruiting was focused on luring recent big city graduates to try rural living and that is a hard sell.
If you have never lived in a small community, it is an adjustment.
If you've always been a big city person,
Moving to a smaller town where everybody knows who you are and a lot of people are in your business and it's just it's just a slower pace Some people love that some people don't so getting people who are already in that community and already like that kind of lifestyle or finding people that Really want to live a more rural small town life
Those are the people you have to target.
So what's gonna the grant is gonna let students explore there It's gonna let them visit major universities to finish their degree and it's gonna support the people The the pipeline the teacher pipeline getting teachers to stay which again to me makes perfect sense Because we I've talked about this many times.
We're training in Wisconsin.
There's a lot of people graduating who were trained to be teachers the problem comes when
a lot of those graduates leave Wisconsin.
They're going to places and money is money is the biggest if or a big if not the biggest reason if you can go somewhere else and make a lot more money.
I don't blame anybody for taking a better paying job but we also have to start figuring out okay what the long-term problem is teacher retention and getting teachers into rural areas.
How are we going to do that?
Well we're going to do that
by Using a program like this to get small-town rural people trained to be teachers Sounds good to me when we come back.
I can't believe that this is actually possible but should people who are in jail have any access to their victims It seems like a simple answer right seems like we shouldn't even have to talk about it and yet we do because
Something horrible has happened in Milwaukee County, and we've got to get to the bottom of it.
At 835, Francesca Hong will be here.
If you, if before Francesca comes on, you have any questions?
You can always text those in to 855-755-CIVIC, 855-755-24842.
Don't worry, I have a bunch of questions too.
We're going to have a nice conversation with Francesca.
If you're leaving and you're like, I don't want to miss that, well, download the free Civic Media app, because then you can listen to my interview with Francesca wherever you are.
You can do that all the time.
Also go to Spotify, subscribe to Daybreak with Brian and Jamie so you can get our podcasts, and then go to Instagram and Facebook, look up Daybreak with Brian and Jamie and like those pages because why not?
It all happens on social media.
You know that.
So why not?
Right now it's happening here.
This is Daybreak on Brian Nooni on the Civic Media Network.
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Now back to more of Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Good morning.
Welcome back.
I'm laughing at a text from Tiffany in the show within the show.
We were talking about
Frank and I were talking about how we are love of breakfast burritos and I was saying after that conversation now I want one, but I'm trying to Trying to be a little healthier.
I'm recommitting to my health journey And so I said well I could I have enough stuff in the house I could make a non tortilla breakfast burrito and Tiffany in River Falls, Texas It isn't that just an omelet?
Yes, technically, but if I throw some sauce on it It's still just an omelet, but I can pretend it's a breakfast burrito
I don't have any hash browns though.
So anyway, that's neither here nor there.
If you're in jail, should you have any access to your victims?
Any access whatsoever?
I would say no.
What say you?
85575 Civic 8557524842.
The reason I'm asking you this is a Milwaukee County judge refused a prosecutor's request to restrict a jail prisoner's access to tablets and phones
After he was accused of calling the victim in his case more than 600 times and making death threats against her and the investigating police officer, that's according to court records.
Right there, after time number one, he should have been restricted.
After time number 600, he should never be anywhere near any sort of communication device, period.
If he wants to watch TV, he sits in the dayroom with all the other convicts and watches it.
I have
um very little patience for people who are in jail committing more crimes while they're in jail and this is this is unbelievable and the decision from circuit judge and barrio schroeder is abominable i can't i can't believe she made this this decision
It drew the ire not only of me, but of the fraternal order of police, Cream City Lodge 3.
That's a local police advocacy group, which issued a news release this week criticizing the judge.
In part, it said, ultimately there's two human beings who are being threatened.
We take this very seriously.
How can this be justified?
And how can a judge look at this and say, first of all,
You should have zero contact with the victim ever.
So if this person is calling the victim, no phone privileges, no text privileges, no WhatsApp, nothing.
Then on top of it, you're threatening the police who are investigating this case.
Why is this guy not completely locked down away from any access to the outside?
I don't know.
The judge told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she understood the concern.
she noted that she had made a full record in court May 7th.
After hearing arguments from the prosecutors in defense, she said she also admonished the defendant.
Oh well then.
That's much better.
If you admonished the defendant, if you gave him a stern tongue lashing, I'm sure he will go and sin no more.
I'm sure that's exactly what it takes.
For somebody who is willing to try to threaten not only his victim, but the police, I'm sure an admonishment from Judge Anna Berrio Schroeder in the circuit judge in Milwaukee is going to be enough to stop him.
What a load of hogwash.
So Murphy, the head of the police.
Fraternal Order of Police, Cream City Lodge, said the threatened officer had alerted him to the situation.
Now in the news release, his organization called for an immediate review of policies governing inmate communication privileges within the Milwaukee County Jail, particularly in cases with credible threats of violence and urged authorities to ensure the safety of the victim and officer in the case.
Why is that even a question?
Why should we have to remind a judge that that's how things should work?
I'm all worked up Parker.
I'm sorry.
This is just and not not not even in a joking way This is ridiculous after learning of the alleged behavior the Milwaukee County Jail staff move the man to a restricted housing unit and limited his access to communication devices to only be able to reach his attorney All right now that according to a spokesperson from the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office in an email That should there should be
If the attorney wants to talk to him or he needs to talk to an attorney, it should go through somebody at the jail.
He should not have any access to any communications devices.
That's it.
I agree he needs access to his attorney.
That's the way it goes.
If the attorney has to make more than a scheduled appointment, if there's something pops up, well, then you work through the third party of the jail and that's how you talk.
The officer who's being threatened is a member of the Milwaukee County High Risk Domestic Violence Team, which tries to stop domestic abuse cases from escalating to homicides.
The officer had been investigating 29-year-old Amir H. Jones Jr., who faces charges of felony stalking, illegal gun possession, recklessly endangering safety, attempting fleeing and intimidation.
So as I said before, I'm sure the stern admonishment
From the judge is going to be more than enough to stop this guy from doing what he's doing If you are a police officer in Milwaukee, this has to just Make you Crazy that you are not getting backed up by the court and if you are the victim in this case Where do you turn because nobody seems to have your back?
They're letting him make all these calls from jail
the courts aren't, the courts aren't backing you up.
So where, where does somebody get help?
I don't know.
It is, it's infuriating.
It's unbelievable.
And happy Friday, folks.
That's, that's how we, uh, that's how we just deal with the day.
All right.
Now, you know that in August, there is a primary for the governor.
of the state of Wisconsin.
Francesca Hong right now is the frontrunner on the Democratic side.
She's going to join me in just a minute and we are going to talk to her about her campaign.
We're going to talk to about her plans for the future and we'll get to know a little bit more about Francesca Hong if you don't know about her as it is.
So all of that and if you're leaving and if you think I'm going to miss this interview, Brian, I'm sure it's going to be great.
It is going to be great.
So
Go to Spotify, subscribe to Daybreak with Brian and Jamie, and you can hear it whenever you want.
Or if you're just jumping out and you have to run in somewhere, download the free Civic Media app, and you can listen to it there.
Francesca Hong is my guest.
She joins me after this on Daybreak
on the Civic Media Network.
Good morning.
Welcome back 835 on Daybreak here on the Civic Media Network.
I'm Brian Noonan.
Jamie will be back on Monday.
She has been out doing company business all week, so we'll hear all about her travels and find out what's going on when Jamie rejoins us on Monday.
It'll be good to have her back.
Now, this is what in radio is called TAPDancing.
because sometimes sometimes you're waiting for a guest to arrive and now they have arrived so I'm very excited because on August 11th voters will head to the polls for the primary election for governor.
We all know that it's a crowded field for the Democrats.
A recent market poll found that among independents 65% were still on an
undecided, so it's going to get even more imperative for candidates to make their case.
Right now Wisconsin representative from the 76th district, Francesca Hong, is the front runner thanks to a campaign that's generated a lot of buzz among an ardent group of supporters across the state.
Francesca Hong joins me now.
Francesca, thanks for being here.
Good to meet you.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
Very nice to meet you, Brian.
Apologies for being tardy today.
Oh, that's all right.
We won't hold it again.
Things happen.
Everybody's busy running around.
Okay, so glad to have you here.
You're very well known in Madison and Milwaukee, and your campaign is reaching across the state.
But for people who might not be familiar with you, give us the elevator pitch.
Who is Francesca Hong?
Well, I'm a very proud single mom of a great nine-year-old George, and I'm proud to be a service industry worker.
I owned a restaurant for seven years, and I'm still bartending today.
And for the last five years, I've been in the legislature representing the 76th District here in Madison, where I've championed legislation that is comprehensive and serves working class people.
from healthy school meals for all, ensuring that our schools and K-12 public, our kids and K-12 public schools have healthy breakfast and lunch, paid leave for all, ensuring that workers don't have to choose between making rent and taking care of an aging parent at home or a new board.
And there's been the fight for fair and cheaper health care, public option with an increase to basic health plans, as well as ways that we have to finance housing or help small businesses by ensuring that the state is working towards having a public bank.
So right now we are in a movement moment.
And as a community organizer, somebody who has both lived experiences of being a working class person and a small business owner, while also being a working class person right now, I think it's important that folks know that we're building a movement and ensuring that Wisconsin will be a place where everyone feels like the state belongs to them.
All right, you were on Capitol Hill this week or at the Capitol this week because the big story was this spending bill.
So what is your reaction to the defeat of that proposed spending bill?
And I know as a Democrat, we know all the Democrats in the Assembly voted against it.
So the Senate is where it went to die, but or it went through the Assembly, but everybody voted against it.
How do you react to the fact that it's gone?
And what was what were your objections to that bill?
Well, we did have members in the state assembly vote for the bill.
And yes, the Senate was a unanimous no with the Democrats.
I think the
largest concern was that we are currently in very uncertain economic times, whether it's because of the rising gas prices and tariffs and funds that are going to an illegal war in Iran to rising costs at the grocery store on utility bills.
And the state has a responsibility to ensure that working class people are able to get relief.
And unfortunately, the rebate checks, they're not a surplus and not everyone was eligible or
would they have gotten the 300 in full or the 600 for Mary joint filing.
And we have important programs that help people with health care and food share.
And due to the federal cuts that are looming for the beginning of 2027, there was too much at risk in terms of being able to fund those programs.
And then looking at a deficit for the 2829.
budget that would be over two billion dollars and so spending money that is projected I believe that's fiscally irresponsible those aren't funds that are in our state's coffers our state savings coffers right now and
You know, there are investments that we can make that will be sustainable, long lasting.
And again, those rebate checks being inequitable, a person making $300,000 would be receiving about the same amount as somebody making $60,000.
And if you're a millionaire, you're still getting that rebate check.
While if you're somebody who is working class, maybe making under $50,000, there is no guarantee that that money will be 300.
And then I think
about folks who have been investing into the state paying taxes and recently are on social security, they aren't eligible for that rebate check either.
And so there was a better way to ensure that we were providing relief.
And unfortunately, this was a bill crafted behind closed doors.
And the legislature was told about it on Monday morning and then taking a vote on Wednesday afternoon.
Alright, well Francesca Hong is my guest.
She's a Wisconsin State Rep.
As you know, and she is a candidate for Governor Francesca Hong.com is her website if you want to learn all about it.
More than we'll get here.
One of the major parts of the proposal was school funding.
And you've already mentioned your advocacy for school lunches, which I am all for and I am 100% for school funding.
If you're elected, how are you going to address the issue of school funding?
on the heels of so many districts, referendums not passing and and taxpayers really we all understand how important school funding is but we also look at our bank account and go man I can't keep paying higher property taxes so where do we where do we get the money to do these programs that are needed?
We have to tax the wealthiest and most privileges right the most privileged some billionaires to the highest tax bracket of Multi millionaires and then look at actually cutting corporate fat in our state budget now We're giving corporate subsidies to data centers that are exempt from sales and use tax Manufacturing agricultural tax credit large corporations that are getting tax credit even though there is very little transparency about these corporations actually
creating sustainable jobs that would have saved the state over 400 million dollars and so when it comes to funding special education it's very important that that funding is some sufficient so that when costs go up that that funding for special education is following index two inflation and unfortunately the special education funding in the spending surplus bill was not index two inflation and so folks would have
like there were going to be school districts that received less than that 50% that was noted.
And when we have public dollars that go to public schools, when taxpayers can see on their tax property tax bill, how much their money is going to unaccountable private schools, that will help us move ensuring that public dollars were responsibly putting an end to the voucher program while ensuring that, you know.
the investments like healthy school meals for all and increasing general aids and then moving towards a tax, a school funding system, a formula that is more equitable and doesn't pitch up schools that are in lower income neighborhoods versus the schools that are in more property rich neighborhoods because the funding formula should not be tied to property taxes.
I want to get your thoughts on the memo.
the memo that was leaked by the Tom Tiffany campaign.
Were you shocked by it?
Were you suspicious of it?
And were you were you at all surprised by your opponent's reactions to it too?
I am always cautious about you know what opponents are releasing about our campaign.
I think we want to stay focused on a strategy that meets folks
everywhere across the state and is ensuring that we're building this organizing apparatus of folks who are well engaged and organizing in their communities and other folks who are just getting into being involved in politics because they feel inspired by our campaign and we give the resources to do so.
I think that when it comes to the memo
I'm not concerned as to where it came from or which campaign to come from.
I think it's important, though, to note that voters are responding to our message and the hustle that we are doing on the campaign.
Well, I kind of want to piggyback on what you just said.
And Francesca Hong is my guest.
She's running for a Democratic.
She's a get Democratic gubernatorial candidate for governor here.
Francesca Hong dot com.
So as a as a progressive and as a Democratic socialist.
I talked about how many independents there are in rural voters.
So how do you translate your beliefs and your agenda to more rural voters or to independents who maybe just are unclear of what democratic socialist means and what your agenda is?
How do you make that connection?
Taxing the rich is wildly popular and I think that we've had, you know, a little bit of an elitism problem even within the Democratic Party and the left.
When I talked to folks, I was just in Wisconsin Rapids about taxing the rich, about ensuring that money from the state is going to help pay for the potholes and the roads and their local governments that desperately need more funding to be able to provide essential services to EMS and fire.
When we talk about government holding large corporations accountable, like the data centers that are being proposed in places like Wisconsin Rapids, and now even in poor
neighborhoods in North Milwaukee.
I think there is a genuine concern and people are tired of their government being for the wealthy and not for the working class people.
And the policies that are rooted in democratic socialism are ones that distribute wealth.
more equitably and ensure that we have a democratic process and democratic community control about how our money is being spent and ensuring that it's not going to tax breaks for the wealthiest that we pay for but instead we're seeing that money come back in public goods so that you know whether it's libraries, public pools, public parks, our cities and towns so that they can pay for a snow plow for the roads.
You know these are all policies that are rooted in
democratic socialism, but help all working class people.
Well, and that's I tax a rich is a great bumper sticker.
It is.
And it's something that needs to be done.
What are the real world challenges, though, if you're elected governor of getting that actually done?
Because you're going to have you're going to have another side of the aisle that is like, well, you know, we don't really want to go down that road.
So how do you how do you take a wonderful statement and a great sentiment and make it reality?
I remind them that...
Tax the rich is taxing the rich and the megacorporations that are gaining profits off of our work is popular in their communities and the constituencies that they represent.
Now, even with the Democratic trifecta, which all of the organizers and people that are joining our movement and even folks who may not quite be there yet know how important it is for to vote Democrats down and up the aisle, down and up the ballot if you want to legal what lies.
if we're going to invest in public schools, if we are going to tax the rich.
But again, this is a wildly popular policy.
I would hope that most legislators want to respond to their communities.
And if we continue with these corporate subsidies that I think are corporate welfare, we are going to see more of the wealth disparities.
And we're not going to see the material conditions improve in people's lives.
And we're seeing right now that folks need relief.
and we can make this tax bracket adjustment for the next budget.
We can even do it for by legislation when the Democrats have the majority in the beginning of 2027.
Talking to Francesca Hong.
Francesca Hong.com is the website if you want to find out more about her campaign.
Got about a minute left.
Oh no, we got about 30 seconds.
Real quick Francesca, you were a chef.
Food trend that you're tired of seeing at restaurants.
People messing with tater tots or, you know, trying to bougie up the classics, including ketchup.
You know, I don't want to see tomato jam on the menu.
I want to see Heinz.
Perfect.
High ketchup and leave the tots alone.
That's Francesca Hong.
You go to francescahong.com.
It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much for being here.
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.
Dairyland Diaries on Daybreak, where we wrap up the week with some uplifting stories from all over the state.
So let's not waste any more time setting it up.
Let's get right to it.
Three, three, three teachers from Wisconsin have been awarded with special education awards.
The first one is Leah Zhang.
She didn't know any English when she moved to the United States in seventh grade.
She eventually learned and mastered it.
Though and now is in English as a second language teacher at Jursted Argum K-8 school.
She has been an ESL educator for two decades.
She aims to help students who had similar experiences.
She was recently
named one of three Racine Unified School District teachers named Educators of the Year by the Wisconsin Association for Bilingual Education.
Congratulations to her.
Teachers needed to be nominated by an administrator for the award.
According to her nominator,
Expertise, leadership, and unwavering commitment to student growth have been key factors in helping our school better serve our students through improved instructional practices, rigorous goal setting, and high expectations.
She was thankful to receive the award and said the recognition felt extra special.
Now Betsy Wolff, an ESL teacher at Julian Thomas Elementary, and Stacy Caprolane,
also an ESL teacher.
She is at Starbucks International Baccalaureate K-8 school.
They were also recognized.
For those of you who may not be clear, English as a second language teachers are also referred to as teachers of multilingual learners.
Fancy.
Their goal is to have students become fully proficient in English and graduate from ESL programs by passing state tests.
Teachers have said the tests are not easy to pass.
Truly, it is an accomplishment according to Betsy Wolfe.
It is really something to celebrate.
ESL educators aim to help students learn English so they have equal access to classroom instruction materials.
So congratulations to those three ladies in the Racine.
school district and congratulations to the Racine school district for having these programs and teachers that do so well at them.
So not too shabby.
Okay, this is now this is very unique.
Milwaukee's Paul North.
doesn't remember a time when he wasn't drawing and reading cartoons.
Since the beginning, his own work has had a common thread, average characters, absurd situations, and over the course of his career, North has published over 400 cartoons in The New Yorker.
He was the 2025 winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Cartoon Art.
His first published collection of cartoons come out this fall.
And then right there, you'd say, wow, Brian, that's a really cool story about a local artist.
That's not all.
No.
Just this week, the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend is honoring him as its cartoonist laureate for Wisconsin.
Parker, I bet you didn't even know Wisconsin had a cartoonist laureate.
No, I didn't.
My aspirations
in life, if they change now.
Wow, the sarcasm drips off you thickly.
No, I like cartoons.
I love cartoons.
Political cartoons are hilarious.
Or any kind of cartoon.
I grew up reading the comics all the time.
So he is, Paul North is now the
Cartoonist Laureate for Wisconsin.
He's the very first to take on this role.
He'll act as an ambassador for the art form around the state and highlight Wisconsin's important role in the history of American comics.
He told WPR that he always loved cartoons.
He said, growing up in Milwaukee, there was a great comic section in the Milwaukee Journal.
It was called The Green Sheet.
It was literally printed on green paper.
That was my favorite part of the newspaper and my favorite part of the day.
My father worked there.
He was the movie critic and the feature editor in the Milwaukee Journal.
So he would bring home cartoon books that came across the feature desk for me too.
Noth said he never thought he would be drawing cartoons for a living.
He said he didn't think print journalism was ever going to be a thing for him, but that's just how it happened to work out.
So what does a cartoonist Laureate do?
He'll be teaching cartooning workshop for kids this summer.
And what advice would he give to young cartoonists like Parker?
North said,
I do this project with them that I call the bad idea notebook project.
That's based on the way I work.
I have a notebook that just says bad ideas on the front and that frees you up.
You're not trying to be good.
You're just trying to write down and draw as many bad ideas as you can, which is literally the actual way I work.
I just keep my pen or pencil going and write down thoughts and doodle pictures.
So congratulations to him, the very first cartoonist laureate in Wisconsin.
And how could we not wrap up
Dairyland Diaries and another week of broadcast without a lovely story about an animal.
This one happens to be about a bear, not a Chicago bear who will play the Packers on Christmas Day, but a bear cub, rescued by authorities May 7th, who is now doing well at a Rhinelander Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Early in the morning of May 7th, the Wasaw Police Department contacted the Marathon County Sheriff's about a bear cub found alive and alone near State 29 West of Wasaw.
A vehicle had hit the cub's mother and the mother had bears suffered fatal injuries, unfortunately.
Deputies with the help from Wasaw Police were able to take the cub into their possession and deputies then contacted Wild Instincts, a non-profit wildlife rehabilitation organization in Rhinelander.
Wild Instincts arrived and
took the bear with hopes that the organization could nurse the cubs and eventually release it.
Well, Wild Instincts has reported to the sheriff's office that the cub was doing well and already was able to spend time in an outdoor enclosure according to the news release.
Now, the sheriff's remind residents that they should not handle or approach any young wildlife even if they think there is no parent around.
Yeah, if you see a bear cub, stay away.
Wow, that is good.
The Bear Cub is doing well.
We end on an upbeat story.
I get to mention the Bears again in a non-threatening way to Parker because he knows we are talking about wild beasts and not the blue and orange.
And you know, but we'll do that.
Boy, leading up to Christmas, it's gonna be great.
And I know what I'm asking Santa for and I know what Frank is gonna ask Santa for.
But I also know what you're going to ask Santa for, so Santa is going to be put in a difficult situation.
All right, well, that's it for the week.
I'm done, as I like to say, and I want to thank you.
All for being with us all week.
Jamie will be back with us again on Monday.
If you're listening on the stream, thank you for always being there.
Thank you for getting involved.
So many ways to thank you.
You can thank us by subscribing to our social media pages, by downloading the podcast on Spotify, and by just being you.
Have a great weekend.
I'll talk to you again Monday morning.
I'm Brian Noon and this is Daybreak and this is the Civic Media Lab.
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