This is where Wisconsin wakes up.
It's Daybreak with Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson.
Here are your hosts, Brian and Jamie.
6-0-6 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.
No Brian Noonan today.
He is out, but instead I am joined by our wonderful senior producer, Frank Gargano.
How are you this morning?
I am good.
I am tired.
I'm not going
to lie.
Today is a
sleepy day for me.
It is a really sleepy day.
And I have to say, by the way, you're going to be joining me throughout the show today for anybody who's joining us.
It is rainy this morning in Madison.
It is like walking into a tropical, like,
spot-free rinse at the car wash.
That's what it's like walking outside this morning.
Because it's like- Oh my God, just
look at that.
I know, it's just gross.
It's gross.
It's super humid.
It's one of those mornings where when you walk outside in Wisconsin, Parker and I both wear glasses, they steam right up, and then you're hit by...
like this mist.
That's what it is.
It is really gross.
We're supposed to expect that type of weather throughout today and then some storms as the week progresses.
You know, because eventually we're supposed to lose the heat and humidity, but you have to have some thunderstorms mixed in there to do that.
Are we though?
Yes, I look at the
forecast.
Yes.
Frank, I was golfing in it last night.
Oh, no, you were.
Yes, I was.
Why?
I was
trying to gulf in it.
What's wrong with you?
Glutton for punishment.
How did the golf trip go in the gross, humid, rainy, misty type weather?
We played two holes, not very well, and then we went and stood under a shelter, and then we went home.
Oh.
Let me
ask
you something.
That's how that went.
Wow.
As somebody who also goes golfing, did you not look at what the weather was going to be?
We
were like, yeah.
We'll probably
get at
least, we were, we're trying to go every Monday with
something.
Who's we?
My dad, my uncle,
and
cousin, and other
uncles.
Oh, so this is becoming like a family event.
This is
becoming a family, yeah, and
we all
have already golfed.
Okay.
But yeah, we're trying to, and.
All right, I have a follow up.
Yes.
Are you paying for the round of golf?
Ah, see, advantageous to living with your parents, Frank.
Oh, he's
not.
Oh, no, he's not, no.
Well, that's just it.
There are certain parts of your life where it's okay to still use mom and dad's memberships and all of mom and dad's benefits, right?
There's no shade on that.
No.
But it
fully explains why you're like, sure.
Yeah.
Put my clubs in the back of the car.
Let's go.
Yeah.
All right.
We played two.
Let's go home.
If that were me and I'm paying
for
the round and I get two holes in because I didn't check the weather.
No.
They gave us
a rain
check.
Oh, they gave you a rain check.
That was nice of them.
That's
good.
And if they hadn't, well, we had a receipt that was dripping wet.
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
It's hard to disprove that.
Yeah.
Not the driest day ever.
Well, I mean, it's good that you made it work, you know, and found that shelter.
I mean, there is that.
I guess I would.
Pick a different day.
Like, look at the forecast next time.
Yeah, I'm going to a
softball game tonight.
Oh, oh, oh.
They're giving away rings.
They're giving away championship rings.
What kind of ring?
What softball game?
The nightmares, the mass nightmares.
OK.
We won the championship last year.
They're giving away the rings.
We're getting replica rings.
But they're going to be plastic.
It turned your finger green.
I know, but I don't care.
I need a ring, Jamie.
You know what I noticed about Parker yes, and I say this in the most endearing way Why don't
wait wait wait?
Why does it always start like that?
Why is there never?
Just a quick you know I love Parker
cuz I want you to know I love you
It's just you know that Parker
guy.
He's cool, but ah I Love you, but you are truly a sicko
Parker doesn't discriminate.
No, he does not it doesn't matter.
What are you wearing today?
What's on there?
I'm
wearing a shirt that's from the it's a rebrand that the Mallards did it's the muscolards There were different positions.
There was like a catching one a pitching one and a hitting
one There's
also this one the bench warmer.
All right.
It's a guy in a bench blowin bubblegum
Everybody's got to be a bench warmer at some point.
I could appreciate it.
I like Parker likes
all sports across all leagues,
right?
And if there's
a special promotion, he's
in and
that I respect
Do you have a shelf of memorabilia in your house of all of the things you've collected?
Oh,
no.
Oh, you should.
I might have pictures of my basement, though, because my dad kept old sports illustrators
from,
like, 70s
and 80s, probably 90s.
Was it the swimsuit model?
No.
Swimsuit edition?
Oh, okay.
Just wanted to know where we stood there for a second.
Not my father.
No.
I just want to know where we stood for a second.
Hey, speaking of sports, I think we would be really remissed if we didn't talk about the president at game three of the NBA finals between the Knicks and the Spurs.
Now, first of all, who I did not pay attention last night.
It was kind of a long night.
Who actually won the game?
Spurs won the game.
So they
took game three.
So the next lead two games to one.
It was a crazy atmosphere.
You had, I think, every celebrity and their grandmother in
attendance.
Sure.
It's New York, so that always
happens.
Yeah, you had your chalamets, your Ben Stillers, your Spike Lee.
Your president sleeping in his protective little bubble.
It was a
long wink, Janie.
He can't help it.
Well, here's what I'm gonna say.
She's up
all night.
This is true.
There's things happening.
Now, what I will say is that I watched some of the coverage of the president arriving at the game.
And obviously New Yorkers were not happy that he showed up at game three.
He was mercilessly booed.
as he was pulling up.
It was almost like New Yorkers didn't actually appreciate having the president there because they had to arrive hours early.
It forced everyone attending the game to go through tons of extra screenings.
They had to cancel all their free public viewing parties that they had planned for outside Madison Square Garden.
Specifically so, President Trump could be there a person even though over the years he has completely trashed talk the NBA and isn't an actual fan of the sport.
Now, when people, this is just a tip for anybody.
When people are lining the streets, booing you and waving to you with one finger, that is not some sort of new
friendly wave.
That that is something completely different.
What I also find interesting is this president claims that New York really, really loves him.
It did not last night.
They did not love him last night.
I
have
a quote pulled up.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
Tell me this when asked
by a reporter, okay, you said it was, I think mostly cheers.
It was loud and it was very enthusiastic.
It was very enthusiastic, but it was not mostly cheer.
Two of those
things were true.
Two of those things
were true.
I agree Parker.
Two of those things
were true.
having Having watched the game.
It was most definitely enthusiastic.
It was most definitely was loud.
They were not cheering
for you, sir.
They were not cheering for the president.
And I don't blame them.
It's not even Jamie.
This isn't
even a matter of politics.
I was just gonna say you completely disrupted the entire game and made life so much harder for these people who are just trying to attend a basketball game.
Imagine being a lifelong Knicks fan.
And you finally get to have this moment.
Right.
And it's true like it is the apex of tribalism where you all get to go in and watch the game.
The place was rocking.
Yes.
But.
And you know it's gonna be rocking and then the report comes out.
Please make sure you arrive at least two hours early,
right?
I
mean New York City was an absolute zoo.
I've seen tiktoks of people from out of town coming in walking past like people from London.
Oh,
yeah,
I think the cap the caption was like what is happening in New York and it's like
Honey, I don't think you could have come at a more crazy period of time because the Knicks could possibly win the championship and
the
whole city's gonna burn to the crown.
But also, everybody hold on, Donald Trump's coming in.
So let's shut everything down even more.
Right.
And here's the thing too, moving around New York, if you've ever had the pleasure of visiting, it is not an easy task as it is, right?
Like it's just not.
There's always traffic.
There's always lines.
I personally find it exhilarating.
I think it's a lot of fun.
I can get how it would be a whole lot of annoying if you did it every single day of your life and you just wanted to go enjoy a game.
it was absolutely impossible for people to move around last night and I mean people were already adjusting their lives just so they could be at this game right and potentially see the next take take the championship um and then to have to
say there were people that I was watching being interviewed on the news that actually took off work at like 11 a.m.
noon just so they could make sure they had enough time to get from where they needed to be to doubt to out to Madison Square Garden to be there so that they could get into the stadium and get to their seats because they knew how hectic and hard this was going to be for everybody involved.
Yeah,
if that were me I
would be messaging you and saying hey I'm out.
Right.
I'm taking the day off.
I'm not even going to bother.
I need to leave now.
But then you could even go to one of the viewing parties because all of those had to be shut down for security purposes, right?
I mean, that's just like when the bugs were the title.
Players were
being wanded when they
walked
into the building.
I mean, that would have been like when the Bucks won a few years back, right?
And they had all of those viewing parties outside FISERV.
And they had that huge screen up, and the area was packed.
It would have been like if you were there, having that completely canceled.
and not being able to attend because it's the same concept.
It was, I don't know, it was a little ridiculous.
I hope the president had a great night with all of his loudly adoring, cheering fans of New York.
Enthusiastic, Jamie.
Enthusiastic, okay.
Mostly cheers.
Mostly cheers.
All right, so even he acknowledges there was a boo or two in there.
Of course, and I think the thing is,
especially for somebody my age.
I have, I have heard his name and dealt with Donald Trump.
Yes.
For basically my entire adult life.
Yes.
And this is just another thing where, again, not political, where he's coming in, if I was a New Yorker and it's like, oh my God, can I have one thing without this man being mentioned about the event?
Right.
Right.
I mean, at some point, it's not always about you.
You know, and that's a good lesson for all of us to learn.
It's not always about us as much as we want it to be, but yeah, I don't know.
It looked even more chaotic than you would have thought that Madison Square Garden was going to be just based off of the events of the evening.
And the event itself, it was a big monumental, potentially monumental occasion for Nix fans.
And then it had to be overshadowed by crowds and wands and...
and screenings and all sorts of extra things.
I know we're gonna hit break here in just a moment, but I think we'd also be remissed if we didn't talk about another celebrity who decided they were gonna run for office and then turns out that-
Is
it?
Is it?
Is it Spencer Pratt?
It is.
It is.
If you haven't been keeping up, it turns out that it takes California because they have a lot of voters, a really long time to count their votes.
And Spencer Pratt, who was pretty sure he was going to be in the running for mayor of LA, turns out, well, he is not.
He is not at this moment in time now in the running to be mayor.
of Los Angeles,
California.
As of 10 hours ago, Nithya Raman was ahead by 22,000 votes, and she's going to advance with Karen Bass to the runoff election.
All right.
This is why you let everybody count their votes.
It's a good lesson in why you let the process play out.
Now, the president had actually endorsed him, but do you think this is a moment where Republicans are going to scream at us about unfair elections and voting and counting the votes?
I don't know.
Or are they going to let Spencer Pratt?
just be of memory.
Do you put that much energy into Spencer Pratt?
I don't know.
I hope not.
I hope not.
I hope that's not what they do.
Coming up here on Daybreak, have you received a tax assessment?
Are you worried about your property taxes going up?
We're going to take you to class with the civics lesson after this.
My name is Jamie Martinson.
And I'm Frank Gargano.
It's 619.
This is Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.
Take your seats, kids.
It's time for a civics lesson.
It's 622 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.
We are going to get to a civics lesson in just a moment.
But before we do that, I want to remind you that coming up after seven o'clock this morning, you're going to have a chance to win and qualify for some great prizes with our text to win multi-state contest.
It is called the Accelerate Your Summer Contest.
And remember, we're going to give you another word.
And all you have
to do is have your civic media app ready so that you can text and maybe win a hundred bucks for a daily prize and then qualify for the grand prize of $250 in gas and $250 in grocery.
than an hour now so right away this morning we're gonna come out strong but we I wanted to do a civics lesson this morning Frank and Frank is joining me Brian is out today Frank is gonna be the co-host my co-host for this morning but I wanted to do a civics lessons today today because I thought it was a little important and you and I chatted about this a couple of times over the last few weeks I've seen a lot of discussion in community Facebook group
and some of those Facebook chats about property tax assessments.
I know it's very exciting right away in the morning, but people were posting pictures of assessment notices, asking whether it meant their property taxes were about to go up.
And the question that was being posted in all of these community chats generated hundreds of comments, hundreds of comments on multiple threats.
And property taxes are already amazing.
for so many Wisconsin homeowners.
So we thought it would be helpful to clear up some of the confusion this morning.
If you have recently received an assessment notice in your mailbox, we're gonna right now explain what it means, how that's all calculated, and make sure that we ease your mind maybe just a little bit.
So every year,
Many Wisconsin homeowners receive this property tax assessment notice and it assumes, they automatically assume that that means a higher assessment or a higher tax bill.
The assessment is not your actual tax bill if you received one of these.
It is simply an estimate of what your property is worth.
Assessors look at factors like recent home sales, the size, the condition of your property and some of the improvements that maybe you've made and local housing market trends.
Property taxes are based on two things.
They are based on your property's assessed value and how much money local governments need to raise through our property taxes.
Local government, school districts, counties, and technical colleges first determine how much money they need to collect, and that is called your tax levy.
So if you're in your community, you hear your local officials throw this around, this is what a tax levy is.
It is divided among property owners based on each property share.
of the community's total value.
So if you think of it this way, this is the easiest way, because I'm not a math person.
I'm not a numbers person.
So you start throwing things at me.
I'm
following
you.
You start throwing things at me, and I've got to make it simple.
Your assessment basically determines your slice of the pie, and the tax levy essentially just determines how big that pie is.
So if that makes sense.
Now, that's why a higher assessment doesn't automatically mean you're just going to get a
higher tax bill.
If property values rise throughout the community at about the same rate, your share of your pie essentially may stay relatively unchanged.
Property taxes are more likely to increase if your home's value rises faster than similar properties if local governments increase spending, or if tax credits and exemptions change.
Now, property taxes help pay for services that a lot of us are using every day.
schools, police, fire protection, road maintenance, libraries, parks, all of the things that make our communities unique and special to us.
Now, if you believe that your property has been assessed incorrectly because you've got one of these letters in the mail and you're like, nope, I don't think this is correct.
You can actually review that information with your local assessor and you can actually go through an appeals process if you feel that that is necessary.
understanding how all of this works can actually help homeowners, you know, better understand their tax bill, participate in local budget discussions that affect their community.
But it is important to understand how this works and why if you see a value written on a piece of paper, that doesn't actually mean that your property taxes are going to go up.
And I understand in this state, it's always a big discussion because, well, here on Daybreak, we have talked about property taxes.
many, many, many times.
They are the bane of Wisconsin homeowners existence.
And I understand why people would see these letters come in the mail and they would be frightened that that means that their share of their taxes are going to go up.
But that does not necessarily mean what it is, what it's going to happen.
Again, I would stress, call your local.
municipalities and your local assessor if you have questions about your personal statement.
Now you are a renter as are we.
This is why it's fun because as a renter you don't have to worry about property taxes and levies except it does change your rent as well.
Right?
Because if your property owner's taxes go up, renters, you are not out of the clear.
That also means that, you know, your rent could go up.
So it's also important that we understand how these processes work, too.
And I feel like with rent, though, I will say this, it doesn't matter if
the
value goes up.
Your rent's going up, at least where
I
live.
And I live in the city of Chicago.
And it's my experience that, hey,
I got charged more fees, whether that be an HOA fee or this is going up, property tax is going up, so your rent's increasing.
Whether
that's true or not.
Who knows half the time
ours went up this year by about a hundred dollars.
So it wasn't the worst increase we've ever endured renting.
I've got to say, though, I'm at a point in my life where owning your home is awesome.
I also kind of like the freedom of being able to rent, right?
Like right now we have a clause in ours that if we find something different with 60 days, we can still get out.
And if we want, oh, yeah, that's a hell of
a lease.
I know it's a great lease.
And we have a landlord who's who.
basically lets us take care of the house just like it's our own.
So, which we do, and we've done a lot to the house since we moved in there.
Needed some major cleaning, let me tell you.
When we moved in.
Jamie's told
me multiple times.
It's okay, you're not gonna own a home.
No.
It's
actually pretty fun to rent.
It is, it is okay to rent.
Coming up, the question, are you optimistic about the future of America?
Is the United States still the greatest country in the world?
We wanna know what you think.
That is coming up next on Daybreak on the...
the Pacific Media Network.
from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan.
This is Wisconsin's morning conversation.
Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
635 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
We always appreciate it.
No, Brian Newton today.
He is out.
Instead, I am joined by our producer, Frank Gargano.
Good morning.
How are you today?
I am doing great.
We are now awake.
We are live.
You're
inspired.
And Jamie, we're coming out hitting with the hard hitting question today.
Do you think the United States is still the greatest country in the world?
Please explain why or why not.
855-752-CIVIC 855-752-4842.
Get in on the conversation, call in Texas.
Do you think the United States is still the greatest country in the world?
We're asking this for a specific reason this morning, right?
Because the United States is approaching its 250th anniversary.
And a new poll finds that Americans are taking a hard look at where the country currently stands today.
And a lot of people are currently saying that they're concerned about politics, democracy, and whether hard work still leads to success.
A lot of others remain optimistic about the future and proud of what America
represents.
So yes, where do you stand on this question?
So this is an AP poll that came out just over the weekend yesterday, within the last couple of days though.
And a lot of Americans in that poll said they are less likely to view the country as exceptional and are expressing concerns about the future of democracy and economic opportunity.
Chad is chiming in over on our YouTube chat this morning, Frank.
He says, no, we are not the best in a lot of categories.
He's not alone in this assessment when you look at this particular AP poll.
The poll also finds that a lot of Americans remain proud of their country, but are very concerned right now about the future.
at this current conjecture, when you look at what is happening in the country when you watch the news every day, I think that is a legitimate concern for a lot of people.
And I find this poll fascinating because, and we'll get into the results in a minute, but young people tend to be the ones who are most concerned right now.
And-
Wow,
I'm shocked.
Approved.
Yeah, as the young people, when you say young people, do you mean Gen Z?
like Parker's age
and thinking more
younger millennial.
It says younger adults as far as the survey.
They didn't break it down into categories, but they say younger adults.
So I'm going to say usually that is the 18, 19 to about the 29 to 30 year old category is usually how they break that down.
Well, we have one of those on the show
Parker.
Well, we have two of you, right?
I'm teetering.
You're teetering.
You guys are much younger than I am.
So Parker, are you worried about the future of the country?
No, no, not at all, not for one second.
The sun shines in rainbows, baby.
Peachy keen, peachy keen.
Yeah, it's a little worrying.
You kind of see what's going on in the political scape and everything is just so divisive.
Yeah.
It feels...
so hard.
It is.
No, you're right.
I mean, even for somebody my age who's 47, who remembers a time and worked in a time in politics when, you know, even if you were a Democrat, even if you were Republican, I remember being on the Hill, right?
Working in those offices.
And those individuals, those senators from both parties would go into these knockout drag out fights in the offices.
And you'd hear yelling and you'd hear the fists on the desk.
And then the door would swing open and they'd be patting each other on the back and they'd be like, all right, we still got some work to do.
Dinner tonight, are you bringing the wife?
I mean, that was the conversation.
It was very...
It wasn't divisive.
It was literally, we all have ideas.
We need to come together to make sure that all ideas are heard, so we're doing what's best.
Now, obviously, there was always, they always wanted to do what was best for their party, but there was much more compromise.
There was much more bipartisanship.
Now, you are not as young as Parker, not as old as I am.
You were in your early 30s.
What is your take?
You and your lovely wife, as we like to call around here, Mrs. Frank.
We won't let her hear us say that.
You know, it's funny that we, it's funny that we jump into this right after the property tax thing.
And the whole point during the civics lesson, I'm like, man, I, I really have no life experience in this realm with property
taxes.
So I'm not
a homeowner and I, I turned 32 today.
So I
still, Oh, I forgot to
tell you, happy birthday.
It's on the calendar.
This is a much bigger story.
There's stuff going
on to be fair.
It's also my dad's birthday, friend.
We've got a lot going on.
There is, but how?
OK, well, you're coming to town tomorrow, so we will have to celebrate on a belated.
OK.
We'll
celebrate.
We'll
do things.
All right, all right.
But as I'm sitting here, hearing about property taxes, I'm like, I have no.
I have no skin in the game, to be honest.
Sure, my rent may increase, but
I'm
not fully invested in it because I'm not a homeowner.
And if you said, I think when my parents were starting to get married in the 80s and it's like, wow, you don't own a home yet and you're 32 as a married couple, that'd be insane, I feel like, because there were starter homes.
There were ways to move up.
I mean, now, let me ask you this.
Is a country's great business model to sync
young people into debt if they want to go be educated?
Yes, I mean, because
I'm dealing with that too.
That seems to be, I mean, and I'll be honest, even at 47, I mean, it was no better for me going to college.
And I went to a small liberal arts school, right?
I had different choices, but this is the particular school I chose.
And I was
way into debt.
I had to forebear loans for years simply because I was a stay-at-home mom for a really long time.
We didn't have the income to pay back my $385 a month that they wanted from me.
Every time, you know, we came to the end of a forbearance.
The question this morning, based off a new poll, do you think the United States is still the greatest country in the world?
Why or why not?
We would love to hear from you.
1-855-752-4842.
That's 1-855-752-4842.
Now, as we're talking about this, the survey found that we are not alone, right, in our worries about this country.
Cost of living, housing affordability, economic opportunity, political division, trust in government, all some of the biggest concerns that...
crossed the age gaps and crossed the political parties.
In fact, a lot of people who participated in this AP poll think that it's actually at this moment time harder to get ahead financially than it was just as you were saying, Frank, for your parents or your grandparents.
Now, let me ask you another question.
When your parents bought their starter home, how long were they in that starter home?
That's the other question.
Do you know?
That's a really good question.
Because I
think until I was six.
So obviously starter homes were much different, right?
That's my point though, because there were a lot of people who bought those starter homes and they became their lifelong homes or they became like decades or more home and then eventually they moved on.
You don't see people being able to do that so much anymore.
And I think it's so funny because
my two boys, 22 and 19, you know, we'll talk to older relatives and they'll be like, well, when by the time I was your age at 22 to our oldest one, we had our first home.
Max is like, are you kidding?
I'm paying 750 in rent for 250 square feet.
Like what?
Right.
Congratulations.
What do you want me to say?
Right.
He's like, there's no way that I could.
You threw a realtor two nickels and we're able to get some property.
Right.
It, it's, it's not the same.
Now younger adults were especially likely to say buying a home, starting a family, building their savings and achieving financial stability are much more difficult than they feel like it probably was in the previous generations.
Now older Americans who participated in the survey were more likely to say that the American dream is still achievable through.
hard work and determination.
You know,
pick yourself up by your bootstraps.
Yes, pick yourself up by your bootstraps Parker.
But that's, that isn't, I don't think that's possible.
I think the
American dream has changed, you know, and it's a question.
I remember being in high school, doing like US history and all that stuff.
And I remember over the summer having to.
write an essay coming into the semester.
What is the American dream?
Right.
And everybody kind of had the same response.
And that was back in 2011.
And it was the white picket fence.
It was the yard.
It was all that good stuff.
And I don't think that's what the American dream is today.
I think it's drastically changed.
I mean, if I had to guess what the American, even for like our age group, for the American dream, is it so much to say that people just want to get by?
I mean, that sounds so sad when you say it out loud, but I think for a lot of us it is literally, I just want to be able to pay my bills.
I just want a place to live and I just want to make sure that I can have food on the table and maybe just maybe go out and do some things that make, let me enjoy life.
Is that what our dream is?
There's a term that was thrown around a lot in my adulthood, unprecedented times.
Do
you know what the American dream is to me?
I want less, I want more precedented times.
There's too many unprecedented things that happen.
I don't want to hear Aaron Parnass every day on my wife's phone say, we have breaking news.
The president did this or this was shut down.
Right.
Or they're moving to do this and the Supreme Court has blocked this.
Right.
And it's just constant.
And maybe I was just younger before and didn't pay much attention.
No.
I feel like more life changing events are happening.
nowadays.
At one point in time we used to just wake up every day and not think about the government.
We just knew that as we were going about our right We used to just know that waking up we went about our lives and the government was just working in the background We never had to worry about constitutional rights being stripped away just skirting the Constitution the Supreme Court rolling back rights We never had to worry about those things and I'm not gonna sit here and say that the world was perfect and we didn't have issues We always had issues, but you trusted that the government was just working in the
background to make sure that life was continuing the way we needed it to and I I don't know I mean we've gotten so far off of that over the last decade 10 to 12 years that it's really hard to imagine life before that right like it truly is now this
poll showed a huge divide between the younger and the older Americans.
In fact, younger adults were much more likely to say that other countries offer more opportunities and better opportunities and also a higher quality of life than we currently have here in the United States.
And we also remain divided over what defines
this country's identity, including the role of immigration, diversity, and shared values.
More than half of the people who responded say that welcoming people from different backgrounds remains an important part of being American.
We're a melting pot in this country.
While a similar number say shared values and culture are important to the nation's identity.
Now, despite the differences, Americans across the political spectrum, because let's be realistic, Democrats and independents think one way, Republicans think another way, Republicans think that the world is
much better now than it was even five years ago.
But despite all of the differences across political spectrums, the one thing that was shared in this particular poll was a commitment to freedom, democracy, and opportunity as important as important parts of the nation's identity, which still tells me that even through the political divides, our overall goals are still the same, even if we don't agree on how we get there.
Yes, I.
Here's my thing though with the overall question, are we still the greatest?
There are many countries that also feel that way nowadays.
2026 is a much different period of time.
Go and travel other places, go places in Europe and come back and be like, all right.
Maybe other places have it pretty well too.
That's my only argument here.
I think we can be the greatest.
I still wouldn't want to live anywhere
else.
Honestly,
we have a lot of
work
to do.
We have a lot of work to
do.
A lot of work.
Coming up, Major League Baseball team playing home games in one city while waiting for a stadium in another.
That's what the Brewers are doing this week.
We're going to talk about that next.
It's 648 right now.
Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.
Now back to more of Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.
If you're a Madison listening on WMDX or an Appleton and Oshkosh on WISS in the cross on WLCX, we are glad that you decided to join us.
My name is Jamie Martinson and you are not Brian Noonan.
He is
out today.
I am not.
He is out.
I'm filling in for Jasper today.
Jasper today.
Real quick.
Parker opened up the show talking about how he went golfing yesterday.
And that went out basically after two holes.
This guy just asks me over break, are you bringing your clubs tomorrow?
Sir,
we literally had Mace Michaels on yesterday to talk about the awful storms we're getting and you're asking me if I'm bringing my clubs up.
Did you learn nothing from yesterday?
Do you know how lightning works?
I don't know if you want to be in the middle of a field with
trees and a
metal club.
We're going to be out there and you're going to hear the sirens are going to be going off.
I'm going to be looking at him be like, did you check the weather needs to be like, well, I thought, you know, you're not up.
Many times I figured we'd play.
We're
running for shelter No,
no unless there's a donut involved or a piece of chocolate cake I'm not running
It's gonna lure me Yeah,
I'll
stick it on the
end
of my driver
Fatty
let's go play
Quick nine.
Come on in and out.
Come on.
Let's go
to par three right here.
Come on.
Let's
go.
The sirens are going off.
There's, you know,
there's cows lifting out of the
fields.
It'll be fine.
It'll be fine.
Uh, speaking of sports, uh, this is not golf related, but it is brewers related.
Um, I don't know if you've been paying attention, but they're, they're on the road right now.
They have a three game series against the, uh, athletics that they started yesterday in Las Vegas.
Yeah.
I saw Jacob Mizorowski.
almost killed a guy.
He did.
He did.
Absolutely.
Um, even though the athletics, this is interesting because even though that they're moving to Las Vegas permanently, their new stadium is still under construction.
It won't be ready until 2028 about the time the Hammond Bears are also playing.
You know what?
Here, I'm going to give you a hot take real quick as we're taking shots as the Chicago Bears, which I'm all in
on.
I'd much rather be the Bears than the athletics.
This is true.
This is
the athletics are truly the dumpster fire of all major sports.
They really, really are.
Now, the team has spent most of the season playing home games at a AAA ballpark located in Sacramento.
This week's series is a preview, though, of their future in loss.
Vegas.
The games are being played at Las Vegas ballpark.
This is home of the triple
A
Las Vegas aviators.
And yesterday's game will be was the first regular season major league baseball game played in Las Vegas since 1996.
The athletics will play six games in Vegas this season before returning to Sacramento for the rest of their home schedule.
The temporary arrangement means that the athletics are effectively split
home games between two cities more than 550 miles apart.
That's just an easy, easy travel schedule, just easy.
Like what's it like when you have to play a home game that feels like an away game, but further than an away game?
I don't understand.
It's funny, because I'm picturing like the University of Kansas, their football stadium has been getting renovated for the last couple of years of doing emphases.
And they've had to play games in a couple of different places.
Like they played where the Chiefs play.
That's at least close.
It's like within the same vicinity at least, you know, it's maybe a bus.
It's maybe a bus trip.
Yeah, that's not a whole 550
miles.
Yeah,
so
The team has this new stadium coming to the Las Vegas Strip.
It is going to cost $2 billion.
They plan to open it in a couple of years.
It will feature a retractable roof to help deal with the heat of Las Vegas.
For the
athletics?
Yes, for the desert.
And temperatures in Las Vegas this week, by the way, if you're worried about what's happening here.
think about the poor brewers 100 degrees during the day is what the temperature will be like.
So imagine having to do that regularly throughout a season.
If you're the athletics, that just seems miserable.
Even though the games are scheduled for the evening, we're still talking probably 90 to 95 when the first pitch, which it sounds really not fun to
me.
Gross.
The Brewers are coming off that series we know in Denver.
They're going to play six straight road games at higher elevations than normal because Vegas also sits at about 2,200 feet above sea level.
Not as extreme, obviously, as Denver, but obviously that's going to affect the pitcher.
So hopefully Pat Murphy.
he's doing what he needs to.
Yes, Parker, you're doing some research over
there.
Okay, so I went to bed last night in like the third inning, and it was already like-
Didn't that game go into like-
Seven to four.
It
went on for forever, right?
I got the final, it was at 120 is when I got that notification.
15 to 14, the Brewers won.
Wow.
Holy
buckets.
Good God.
The ball was flying.
I saw a couple of absolutely bombs for homers.
Well, heat, the elevation, you gotta
think that that is gonna be really hard.
Now, by the way, you mentioned the athletics, Frank.
They're hovering near the bottom of the standing, so all of this talk for the athletics, we're right around 500 and are still in the race, though, for the American League West, believe it or not.
And nobody's gonna be there to see it.
I
I'm sorry if I am talking about a team who has a hundred degree like games No, I don't care if the roof retracts or not.
No, that's just too much.
Well, and it's the athletics who's
Who's a fan of them anymore?
I remember going a couple years to the Brewers towards the end of their season when it was one of those 100 degree days.
Oh, that wasn't even fun.
And that was only once in Wisconsin, the dry heat, not the humidity
kind of thing.
We'll get into the old people discussion.
Miller Park sucks though when it's really hot and the roof is closed.
It is.
It's like a terrarium in there.
It's really hot in there.
Oh, it's awful.
Is that air conditioned?
No.
I mean, you get rained on when you're inside at Miller Park.
This is all so true.
That's true.
We won't talk about that, though.
Coming up, we are going to jump into all of the stuff you need to know, plus a dating app for unvaccinated singles getting some attention.
We're going to talk about that next.
You are listening to Daybreak.
I'm Jamie Martz, and he is Frank Gargano.
This is the Civic Media Network.
Wisconsin wakes up here.
Back to daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
706 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
My name is Jamie Martin said you are not Brian noon in this morning.
I am not, but I am going to do my best to fill in.
You can't do any of the sound effects, but I can.
Damn well try
that's right.
We are we are persevering here this morning Now in a moment, we're gonna get to all the stuff you need to know but before that It is time.
It is officially time if you don't have your civic media app ready This is your opportunity because it is your chance to qualify for cash and prizes with our Accelerator summer text to win multi-state contest your chance to win a hundred dollars
as a daily prize and a Wisconsin Dells prize package.
Plus, every time you enter, it puts you into the running for $250 in gas and another $250 in groceries.
But you have to enter using the Civic Media app.
And if you haven't gotten that already, I don't know what you're waiting for.
You have plenty of opportunity to do so.
We're going to give this word out in just a moment.
You have until eight o'clock to enter, and then you're going to have multiple chances to still enter today.
today, tomorrow, and Friday as well.
So without further ado, because everybody's like, shut up by now, I just want the word.
Just give me the word.
Come on, Lee.
Where's the word?
That's right,
that's right.
Light is your word today.
L-I-G-H-T.
Light is
your
word.
Did I give that yesterday?
Oh, there it is.
All right.
Never
mind.
Never
mind.
It is wheel.
I'm gonna say.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh my gosh.
You know, I usually, here, let me peel back the curtain.
I usually don't question Jamie very often.
I know.
Please do.
She's usually right.
I have it written.
right later in the hour, not on this particular one.
So, wheel is your word of the hour.
Good gravy.
W-H-E-E-L.
Wheel.
W-H-E-E-L is the word that you need to text us right now.
That is the correct and accurate word that will get you qualified for all of the cash and prizes.
Wheel is your word this hour.
W-H-E-E-L.
You know what this means?
It means we've been doing a lot of words for a very long
time.
We have.
But you guys are great, you are getting the word in.
The word is wheel, W-H-E-E-L, because we had some people who listened to me the first time around when I was wrong, and I want to make sure that you qualify correctly.
Wheel, again, is your word,
W-H-E-L.
We'll make sure we have plenty of mentions throughout the hour.
There
we go, there we go.
All right, with that taken care of, it is time for some stuff you need to know.
It's a wake up call in more ways than one.
Time for some shit you need to know.
At one point, I just wish we could say it.
Why not now?
Maybe, maybe.
Are you
ready
on the next one?
Why not?
Maybe, maybe, that's right.
All right.
I don't know if you've heard about this, but this is pretty cool.
There's a new bronze statue sculpture honoring Ho-Chunk healer Betsy Thunder that's been installed in Riverside Park in La Crosse.
Now, Thunder was known in the late 1800s for treating both Ho-Chunk residents and white settlers in the region.
This sculpture replaces the former Hiawatha statue, which was removed in 2020 after criticism that it inaccurately represented Native Americans and reinforced stereotypes.
Ho-Chunk leaders say the new statue provides a more accurate
of the tribe's history and presence in the lacrosse area.
This sculpture was created by Deborah Fabian using historical photographs and historically accurate clothing and details.
The new Ho-Chunk garden will feature native plants used for traditional medicine and is also intended to highlight themes of healing community and cultural understanding.
Organizers say this project is about more than honoring one individual.
They hope that it also recognizes the continuing presence and contributions of the Ho-Chunk people.
people in Western Wisconsin.
This garden is scheduled to be officially dedicated on July 30th.
And when I was looking at this story yesterday, I was looking at some of the photos, not only of the statue, but of the garden itself.
Beautiful, beautiful place.
So this is gonna be very exciting.
I'm actually, I love La Crosse.
La Crosse is one of my favorite areas to visit.
If you've never taken a drive down the interstate, there's this moment where when you come through one of the curves, it's all of the bluffs, all of the trees.
and it is one of the most picturesque places ever.
So I love, love being able to visit La Crosse.
So put that on your list if you're going to be in the area.
More headlines and stuff you need to know.
Milwaukee officials are going to hold a public hearing on June 24th to discuss the possibility of converting wheat energies from an investor owned utility to a publicly owned utility.
The hearing will include presentations on Wisconsin law governing utilities, information about public power systems and
opportunity for public comment.
Supporters say that public ownership could give local residents and elected officials more control over energy decisions and rates.
WeEnergies says that its current model provides reliable service, competitive rates, and resources that would be difficult for a city-run utility to match.
No decision is going to be made at this hearing.
It's expected to start a broader discussion, though, about whether public ownership is a viable option for Milwaukee.
And then without further
Are there a duel in stuff you need to know?
Amtrak is expected to release a final plan this month for expanding Hiawatha passenger rail service from Milwaukee to Madison with stops in Pewaukee and Watertown.
This proposal would extend two existing daily Hiawatha round trips that currently run between Chicago and Milwaukee.
Amtrak estimates the extension could attract about 260,000 additional riders each year and views it as one of the most promising passenger rail expansions.
in the country.
If funding and environmental approvals move forward, service could begin as early as 2029.
This project is expected to cost between $215 million and $275 million, with federal grants potentially covering up to 80% of those construction costs.
Supporters say that the line would improve travel options between Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago while creating jobs and generating an estimated $46 million in annual economic
proposed station locations include Piwaki, Watertown, and also a temporary station in downtown Madison.
The expansion would serve as the first step in a broader vision of extending passenger rail service farther west into Wisconsin in the future.
I mean, if you can't get excited about this, I don't know what you could get excited about because this opens up so many options to commuters.
If you want to come into the state just for a day, if
you... Oh man, this would be great for me.
Right?
You'd be able to come up here and...
And check out Madison for a couple of days from Chicago.
I think this is great.
I love that there's federal grants that are going to be an option for this as well.
So I am very excited to see the progress for this.
And we talked about travel briefly in one of our last segments.
And the one thing you notice when you go to other countries is how accessible everything is by public transportation.
Yeah.
which is why everybody gets to travel to different neighboring countries because you just hop on a train and get there within a few hours.
I wish I could hop on a train tomorrow morning and get to Madison.
Yes.
Easy peasy.
I mean, that's the one thing.
We do have Amtrak service in this state, but it's not the commuter type, right?
It's literally
you
have to be going on a trip.
It's a little bit more of an investment when you do an Amtrak trip right now in Wisconsin.
So I'm excited to see the progress on this.
I mean, really honestly, I know a lot of people think, oh, 2029, it's not that far away.
No, it really isn't.
It's coming up quick.
It is coming up.
It will be
here.
All right, so we have the big story of the hour though, and I
am
excited to talk about this one because, you know, dating apps, if you've ever been somebody who's used one of those, it can help people find others with shared interests.
I mean, there's really dating apps right now for anybody, music lovers, sports, religion, hobbies, pet lovers.
Parker, are you on the apps?
Don't worry about it.
I'm only asking so I could get your phone tomorrow and I can just play with them.
Just do power swipe.
Everybody and anybody.
You can match
him with some people.
You
can set him up.
It'll be great.
It'll be great.
I think we need a camera then to follow you on the first date, like inconspicuously.
It's fine.
We can set that up.
We can make that happen.
Give me the metaglasses.
All
right, we can make that happen.
Forget that.
I'll just put on a horrible fake mustache and a disguise and follow him around.
I
said cameras with you.
That's fine.
Thank you.
Well, we'll make sure it happens.
Oh,
good.
The question is, though, when it comes to dating apps, what happens when your view
on vaccines become one of the most important factors in fighting a new partner.
There is a growing number of niche dating apps that are connecting people based on their vaccination status and views on public health.
Organizers say it's about shared values and personal freedoms.
Now, an anti-vaccination dating app called Unjected, that's the name, which
you have to love.
It is, it's actually Unjected.
is hosting in-person meetups around the country, bringing together people who oppose COVID-19 vaccines and many other vaccines.
The events are part of this four city summer of love tour.
That's what they actually call it.
That's designed
to
help like-minded singles meet potential partners and, you know, build community.
Organizers describe this movement as being focused on personal choice, bodily autonomy and medical freedom rather than just opposition to vaccines.
Well, nobody wants to be around you if you're not taking, if you're not vaccinated because we don't want to catch something from you.
Well, anti-vaxxers.
do.
They want to be around other anti-vaxxers.
I find this really interesting because I feel like this is just a rational person will look at this and be like, okay, this is just a foot in the door.
We still have to talk about other things in life.
Right.
With the understanding that once we have a child, we're not going to take them to the doctor for their vaccines.
Right.
This is true.
I mean, because
If you've dated or you're young enough to remember dating, it feels like it was an eternity ago, you know that there's always that one, you have to have commonalities with people.
That's just it.
We've all been on really good dates.
We've all been on really bad dates.
And usually the worst dates were the ones where you had absolutely nothing in common with that person.
So I feel like this is just that one point where you're like, ooh, we'll latch on to this person because they have this one thing in common with us, right?
And I don't know.
It just feels weird though.
It feels like I would have to, I saw myself to like leave the room.
Real quick sidebar.
Parker.
When you're perusing?
Perusing.
Are you worried about commonalities?
See, girls will get it differently, right?
Parker's not
worried about
the commonalities right off the jump.
You're also young.
You probably
don't
want
somebody yet.
Hold on.
No, no, no.
I don't think women are fully... There has to be some sort of physical
attraction.
Of
course.
Of course.
Those apps are built for...
physical attraction.
Traction.
Right.
Those aren't built for...
See, I'm old
enough.
Unless you're going to anti-vaxx.
What about hinge?
Isn't hinge very prompt, base?
I'll get back to you.
Sure.
Here's the thing.
Don't act dumb.
We'll research that one.
I am also old
enough to remember that when your dating app was literally going to the bar and making sure you hadn't had too much to drink so that everybody looked like they actually looked the next day,
okay?
So that's how I
remember dating apps.
But...
For this particular dating app, Unjected.
Attendees have traveled long distances for the event, some flying from other states, others drive hundreds of miles to meet people who share these views.
Unjected launched in 2021, and it markets itself as a dating platform specifically for people who choose not to be vaccinated.
There are several other niche dating platforms that have emerged in recent years targeting unvaccinated individuals and those skeptical of the vaccine requirements.
A lot of experts say that political beliefs
public health views and personal values have become increasingly important factors in modern dating decisions.
And this particular app was briefly removed from major app stores in 2021 over concerns related to COVID-19 misinformation.
Later though, it returned to Apple and Google platforms.
So now it's okay.
You know, then it wasn't, but now it's fine that it spreads misinformation about vaccines.
It's fine.
Who doesn't at this point in time?
You know what?
I think Swiper State and the coming up next is just going to be all fake stories.
I think that's
perfect.
But they're real to me.
They are.
Because Parker, it's not a lie if you believe it.
It's not.
It's not.
If you truly, truly believe it is not.
And we are going to get into Swiper State in just a few moments.
Pop culture, celebrity news.
I mean, we got it all.
Right here.
Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.
Let's break out of the bubble and see what's happening out there in pop culture.
It's Swiper Stay on Daybreak.
722 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us today on the Civic Media Network.
It is time for Swiper Stay.
Hey, we don't have to reintroduce you because you've been with the show all morning.
I know.
Because Brian is out today.
Our senior producer, Frank, joining me as co-host today.
And of course now for Swiper Stay, where we dive into pop culture, we put politics aside for a few minutes, and we get into the headlines that really matter in our lives.
And real quick, I'm going to do everybody is solid.
OK.
The word of the hour is wheel.
Thank
you.
W-H-E-E-L.
You may have heard it was a different word, but it is actually wheel.
That's just because I'm an idiot.
W-H-E-E-L.
It was a different word because I'm an idiot and I forgot to look at my new chart.
No, no, we've got lots of
tabs and spreadsheets
open.
I do, I do.
And hey, by the way, before we jump into this, because I just found out about this this morning, I don't know how I missed it.
Happy birthday.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Of course.
Of course.
And happy birthday to Parker's dad.
Yeah.
Your dad's birthday today, too?
It's also my dad's birthday, yeah.
What are you doing to celebrate with your dad?
I'm going to a softball game without him.
To get a ring.
You're ditching him on his birthday?
Wait, are they going to a nice dinner without you?
I have no idea.
probably
I bought this I bought these tickets like months ago and
I
went oh
wait
a minute that's not good
no your your mom and dad looked at each other went Parker's gonna be out of the house
all right this steak house
let's go anyway we'll get back to that the birthday celebrations but swipers say here's how it's gonna work today
Parker, you're going to get an actual vote.
An actual vote.
All right.
I'm going to read some pop culture headlines.
Jamie and Parker will have to decide whether to stay and hear more or swipe on to the next one.
In the event of a tie, I'm just going to read the story to fill time.
All right.
So moving on to story number one, Nick Reiner makes demands from jail.
I'm going to swipe.
Oh, what
kind of such a horrific story.
It was.
But I'm also really wondering what demands the guy could have
as demands.
All right, stay.
We can stay.
Nick Reiner wants the money that he is owed from the trust his parents Rob and Michelle Reiner set up for him
As he
awaits the trials for their murders.
I'm laughing at the absurdity.
It's a horrific story But I cannot believe that yes Nick Reiner is now demanding
is inheritance, basically.
That is mind boggling.
Now,
I'm, Janie, I'm not a fancy schmancy lawyer.
Sure.
I'm not well versed in
law.
But I'm just gonna go
out on a limb and say that if you do, in fact, murder the people that are leaving you money, I don't think you should get the money.
Not to mention the fact that he's probably going to spend, I'm guessing, a few years in
Prison for said murders alleged.
I mean he's two years.
Yeah
What what is he gonna do with the money?
Why he's there?
I
Alleged he's looking to hire a new lawyer
With the money
with the money,
but
he wants to he wants his money
because the attorney told him that he doesn't have a
prayer of getting out, is that what that's the new authority?
Probably, would
you take this case?
Right, no, that's just it.
It feels, I mean, obviously it's gotta go through the court of laws, but it feels pretty much like we all know what the conclusion is most likely going to be, right?
It's pretty
open and
shut.
I mean,
maybe I
need somebody to plead a good insanity case,
but I
think that's your best bet.
Wow.
I
feel like asking for the money is
helpful
for the insanity
case.
It's
a bold move.
It is
insane.
Moving on, we have a controversial celebrity couple that has called it quits.
Oh,
okay.
I'll stay.
Yeah, a little
drama.
I like drama.
This is more Janie's wheelhouse.
It's not Mike Brable, is it?
It is not Mike Brable.
And we will talk
about that as soon as
there's more updates on that.
I hope
there are fingers crossed.
All right.
Sources close to the former couple.
Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande have called it quits allegedly a couple months ago.
The story just broke and it is confirmed that the two have split up but they remain friends and are very supportive of one another.
I've lost track of Ari's love life.
Was she married to this one?
She was not married to Ethan Slater.
Okay, but they'd been together for a while.
Was she
married or was she engaged?
I don't know.
I've lost track of her love life.
Ethan
Slater was married.
Okay, all right.
Ethan Slater was married and had a kid.
I
mean,
and then dumped her for Ariana Grande right as they were shooting Wicked.
How did she think this was going to end?
I mean, he doesn't have a great track record.
Her?
Right.
How did he he had a wife and kid?
How did he think this was
gonna end thing is I don't know I lost track of Ariana Grande's love life
I think she has to and that's nothing against
her if I'm
super rich famous and attractive and like that I'd play the field a lot to the point the fact of the matter is if I'm Ethan Slater
Buddy we all looked at this couple and I don't mean to say this to sound shallow, right?
But you didn't it just didn't make sense.
You didn't have a chance in hell
No
with this part.
Nobody gave it more than six months.
They lasted longer than everybody expected
for that I think
this was the conclusion everybody did expect
Wow.
Oh, yeah, I it's weird how in like in normal life people talk about these things celebrities You know go through significant others as quickly as Ariana Grande and everybody's like she's a celebrity.
It's fine
Well, yeah, look.
What
else are you going
to
do?
Yeah,
the world is your oyster.
I agree with Parker.
There you go.
There you go.
Why not?
The world is your oyster.
I love that.
Real quick, we've got time for one quick story.
We have the first movie of the year to reach $1 billion at the box office.
Oh, we'll stay.
I'll stay on this
one.
I like it.
Let me sign in real quick.
It just signed me
out.
Oh, gorgeous.
Literally at
this time.
Cool.
How
much time we got, Parker?
About 30 seconds.
It is the Super Mario Galaxy movie.
Oh, really?
It's the first
movie of the year to reach $1 billion at the box office, $428.5 million domestically, and $571.5 million internationally.
The first Mario Brothers movie also.
hit a billion dollars so universal is doing very well for themselves that swipers say i'm getting the wrap up signal
you are getting more
on daybreak coming up
Want to join in on the conversation?
Call or text 855-75-CIVIC.
Now back to Brian and Jamie.
735 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Civic Media Network.
My name is Jamie Martinson, and you in fact, Frank, are not Brian Noonan, but you
are,
Frank.
You probably
heard me on this show before.
I'm just filling in for the day.
That's right.
That's right.
And we're glad that you are here.
On the stream, we were talking about, you know, driving movies based off of Soap or Stay.
And I was telling you guys that I am the worst outdoor person in the summer because I
am,
I, bugs love me.
Bugs love me.
In fact, my husband calls me a human mosquito.
Tector it if I am sitting outside with anybody else you will not have one bug around you now one mosquito they will all Be around me.
I don't know what it is about me.
They love me and
I Jamie I think you and I need to sit at a campfire and have a who's who's more miserable
Are you the same way?
I'm
the same
way.
Oh, I hate
it once I and you know what I think it's very much like in my head
right
once I feel one
I
just feel them everywhere.
And then I get told to calm down and then I get more upset.
It's
a whole thing.
It is a whole thing.
And then we were talking, I am super allergic to the bites that mosquitoes leave even if they land on me.
All of a sudden I have this half dollar size welts and then it swells way up and then it gets hot to the touch.
It's there for forever.
I love to be outside.
I love to hike.
I am like the deep queen.
Like I am head to toe and I might as well use it as an aerosol just around me because it just makes me happy.
But yeah, if you have those issues in the summer, we can relate.
We can totally be friends, and we'll keep the bugs away from everybody else at the campfire.
That's
how to
go.
I should get you one of those chairs that's got the screen around
it.
Oh, that would be so neat.
That
would be lovely.
Like the bubble boy.
You could be a bubble boy.
Yeah.
like the bubble boy.
All right, so it is the accelerate your summer text to win multi-state contest, your chance to win $100 and a Wisconsin Dells prize package as part of the daily prizes.
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as well before we wrap up and give away those grand prizes.
All right, with that being said, we know that in this country, elections keep getting harder and harder, and the rules keep changing all the time.
And once again, the election rules are at the center of a national debate.
It turns out that the Trump administration is pushing new measures involving voter rolls and absentee ballots, while voting right groups are challenging those in court.
And then of course, there's a little bit of movement on the election front.
Wisconsin too, which we'll get to in just a moment.
But the Trump administration says states will be able to access federal citizenship data by the end of June to help identify potential non-citizens on voter rolls.
We are back to this discussion.
Here we go.
I mean, the discussion never left, right?
That's been the point of basically taking on the election process since the very beginning.
And let me be clear, I know I've pointed this out on the show before.
I'm going to do it again.
Multiple studies have found that voter fraud is extremely rare.
There was an analysis done just a year or two ago that says that the voter fraud ranges from anywhere from .003% to .0025%.
So less than a 1% chance of voter fraud.
In fact, the research concluded that somebody in the United States is more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit voter fraud at the polls.
That is the facts of bona
fide.
Wait, so are you saying that the election in 2020 may not have been rigged?
It may not have been rigged.
In fact, I believe that it was analyzed.
It was taken through the courts in numerous different states, including here at Wisconsin, and there was no rigging of the election whatsoever.
It has gone through the process of being...
basically being shown that it was a fair outcome to the election.
But here we are.
We continue to litigate it six years later.
Now, this effort is part of a March executive order that was aimed at tightening election procedures ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Homeland Security actually plans to give election officials access to citizenship information from federal databases, including records maintained by Immigration, Social Security, and State Department
Well, it turns out in this country we already have laws that prohibit anybody who is a non-citizen from actually casting a vote.
But, you know, if this is what Homeland Security is spending their time on...
Sure, we'll let them continue to do that.
The administration also says that the goal is to prevent non-citizen voting, which studies and election officials generally, as we just pointed out, find to be very, very rare.
The order also calls for increased monitoring of mail ballots.
And this is where I think most of us should take pause, because federal officials say they want to track absentee ballot data for signs of possible fraud or misuse.
There's been voting rights groups, including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP.
We've talked about some of these lawsuits here on the show that have filed these suits in court, arguing that this executive order exceeds presidential authority and could actually interfere with state-run elections.
There are critics out there who say that this particular plan could create confusion for voters and raise concerns about privacy, voter access, and the accuracy of federal citizenship databases.
There's also people who support what this administration is doing, say that these changes could improve election security and help states maintain accurate voter registration polls.
We talked earlier last week about the US Postal Service, how they've proposed all of these new requirements that would require states to provide voter information.
for mailing the ballots, they wanna get local police involved.
I mean, really at the end of the day, this is exactly what they've always wanted.
It's to so mistrust, it's to keep people from actually casting a vote and making it much harder to
vote.
I was gonna say, Sonny, I don't even know if it's so much the mistrust that's gonna get a lot of people, I think it's just gonna become too much of a hassle.
You know, especially when we look at people.
Parker's age, the Gen Zers, when you're first starting to get into voting and you see all of this news come out and, you know, everything's changing and the processes are, processes are different.
And all this stuff, if I'm young and I was at one point,
Coming straight out of college looking at that and be like hey are you voting me like no I don't want to deal with all that
Which I think is interesting though in an interesting way to look at it because in this past presidential election when you look at How young people Parker's age voted young females tended to skew more towards Kamala Harris But it was the young males who actually took a hard swing towards President Trump and cast their vote for President Trump So I think that it's fascinating
that many times this administration does things that actually spite their own agenda.
Or that's
what it
feels like.
I'm sure there's some underlying reason.
Obviously the citizenship is part of that underlying reason.
Immigration is part of that.
They believe, telling the world that non-citizens are voting, which is not happening.
But at the end of the day, it is essentially things that spite their own agenda, which I always find ironic, that you would...
try to dissuade people from voting when it's also Republicans who are an older demographic who tend to use mail-in voting, when it's rural voters who also
use
mail-in voting.
So the fact that they're trying to dissuade that is interesting to me.
And I'm not sure why you would want to dissuade your own voters from actually heading to the polls or casting a ballot.
And I think the answer is what you said earlier for the rest of the demographic is so distrust.
Yeah.
As
long as you're questioning everything, you never lose.
Right.
And obviously, here we are six years later still litigating the 2020 election.
Still talking about it.
Still talking about it.
Obviously, they're trying to implement these federal changes, which could affect our elections nationwide.
And obviously, keeping an eye on the 2026 midterms as we quickly approach those.
But here in Wisconsin, there are two separate election stories that are also putting the spotlight on voter confidence and how our elections are administered on a local level.
Now, these are both fascinating to me because we know that Milwaukee has come under...
the err of this particular president with the central count, how it operates in the state of Wisconsin.
And the city has now hired two outside legal groups to help respond to all of those election related issues as the FBI investigates aspects again of the 2020 election.
Again, litigated, found to be a completely fair election that was done within...
the rights of the state.
Yes.
How much money and time and energy are we wasting on?
A ton.
We have to be.
I mean, there is no dollar amount attached to this, but the fact that the city of Milwaukee now has these two legal groups who are helping rehash and relitigate something that happened six years ago.
I mean, this is all going to be at taxpayer expense just so this administration can feel good.
about the fact that the president lost the 2020 election because he lost the 2020 election.
He lost.
If anybody's in favor of still looking into the 2020 election, please let us know.
855-757.
I'm genuinely.
curious at this point what this does for anybody.
It's interesting because there's some polls that have come out within recent weeks and months that talk about how Republicans still, there's several Republican voters who still have distrust of the 2020 election, but they are also ready for this administration to move on.
So I don't know what this really gains them by continuing to question the results of something that happened almost a decade ago now.
Mark from Prairie to Sack chiming in saying that Wisconsin's very own Ron Johnson was part
of that.
Yeah, it was part of that fake elector ballot conversation in an effort to get them to, you know, get Mike Pence to, to basically not, not.
words escaping me right now, basically getting him to not confirm the election for-
To certify it.
Thank you,
thank you.
Words are hard this morning.
You're welcome.
You know, and-
The
word is
wheel.
Mark says, in my opinion, Ron Johnson knew the insurrection was coming to delay certification, enabling them to replace the real electoral votes.
Thank you for the text this morning.
But federal agents have actually in Milwaukee interviewed several current and former Milwaukee election official staff members.
and at least two Milwaukee police officers at this point.
Much of the questioning reportedly centers on Milwaukee's central vote counting operation on election night in 2020.
And in fact, investigators have asked about an incident involving a flash drive that was mistakenly left in a voting machine, but was later recovered and turned over to authorities.
City officials say that outside legal assistance will be provided at no cost to the taxpayers.
So that does
in fact answer
your question, Frank.
Now, there have been multiple recounts, court rulings.
audits and reviews that confirm in Milwaukee that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin.
And I know we're running out of time so quickly in Madison, a former Madison deputy clerk who took responsibility for 23 absentee ballots that arrived late on election night has been reassigned now to non election duties.
City officials have emphasized that the affected voters followed the rules and that the problems were caused by election administration errors, not the voters.
So that person will not be touching the
again.
So, yeah, I guess that's some good news.
Gotta take accountability even on the local level.
Yeah, for
sure.
A question this morning.
Could you ditch your house and live in an RV full time?
Frank, more Wisconsin residents are doing that.
We're going to explain the laws, the costs and the realities of RV living next on Daybreak.
It's 748 on the Civic Media Network.
Local Voices Statewide Impact.
It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
752 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us today on the Civic Media Network.
Look at Parker Olson in there.
He is a real pro.
Talking on the phone, timing
us out.
He missed the countdown
though.
He did, he
did.
There was no warning.
Where was the fu-
I couldn't get a fiver or nothing.
He's on the
phone, so I understand that.
So we'll give him a break on that one.
But a true pro.
We didn't miss the top of this segment.
Good work, Parker.
Very, very nicely done.
He's not listening to anything we're saying.
Look at us
complimenting him.
The Accelerate Your Summer Text to Win multi-state contest continues for about the next seven minutes.
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All right, Frank, we've actually talked about this.
So I think that this is interesting.
Have you ever, what is happening out there?
Was there a truck?
Oh, there was
a
truck.
Could you hear that?
I heard something.
I did.
There's a big truck going down State Street.
He apparently needed to get through.
We actually talked about doing
this at one point.
Have you ever wondered if you could sell your house, buy an RV and just hit the road full time?
More Wisconsin residents are actually starting to do that.
And the number of people living in RVs has more than doubled in recent years.
But of course, before you trade in the front door for a camper door, there's a few things that you need to know about how this actually works in the state of Wisconsin.
And I guess the big question and the question that we had to ask ourselves, is it
as affordable as it actually sounds.
Turns out that by the time you, if you have to buy a huge truck to pull a rig, right?
And you have to buy the rig, no.
It turns out that it is actually not cheaper if you're gonna do it that way, especially if you're figuring in like gas and then stops along the way and all of that.
Now we had actually contemplated doing this when our kids were really, really little.
because of the storm chasing, right?
We wanted to be able to be in a central location and then be able to go out and actually help in the cleanup process and volunteer in some of those areas that get hit really hard by tornadoes.
Then by the time we added it all up, figured it all out, it was not going to be cheap whatsoever, at least not the way that we intended on doing it.
But a lot of people in Wisconsin are choosing full-time RV living.
And the number of people living in RVs, or vehicles similar to that, has grown from about 1,100 back in 2019 to nearly 2,700 just a couple of years ago.
If you're doing the math this morning, that's 137% increase.
I did not do that on my own.
I had to calculate it.
You know what?
I wasn't going to.
I'm not even going to check your math.
I'm just going to let it
happen.
Now, Wisconsin does not have a statewide ban on full-time RV living.
Local governments actually set their own rules on this.
Milwaukee and Madison generally do not allow people to live full-time in RVs on residential property with only limited exceptions for temporary parking.
If you're outside some of the major cities or the urban areas, their rules are going to vary by community if this is something you want to do.
In fact, a lot of full-time RV residents stay in
campgrounds, RV parks, or a lot of other locations where long-term stays are permitted.
In fact, if you get into some of the national park areas, campers can stay up to 14 days without fees or permits if they follow federal camping rules.
And a lot of RV living can eliminate rent, the mortgage payments.
It still comes with the cost, though, as we quickly found out, including the purchase price, all of the financing, the insurance, the maintenance, the fuel, the capground fees.
Yeah.
Oh,
fuel?
Fuel's cheap right now.
What do you mean?
Just
simple.
And if you're keeping score, new RVs can range anywhere from about $15,000 to about $380,000, depending on the size and all the features.
Year-round RV sites in Wisconsin are about $190 per month, which is a lot of
is much less expensive than, you know, an apartment, which an average price for one bedroom is about 1100, depending on where you're at in the month.
So, I mean, there are benefits to the whole thing, I guess, if you really want to go that route.
We actually have friends who have a permanent spot and they actually leave their house in the summertime and then stay at their RV all summer long, and that's where they live and that's where their home base is in the summertime.
So that's kind
of a
good way to do it.
I think it takes a very special kind of person.
I think so.
I think like the storm chasing thing, yes, that is one of those special categories where it kind of makes sense.
But humans for the most part don't like change.
So a constant change of scenery, I think most people wouldn't actually be comfortable with.
I think it's very much a idealistic.
thing that you may be daydreaming about, be like, man, what if I could just keep moving
around?
The way we were going to
do it, the
way we had it figured out in our heads is that because we homeschooled, we had the freedom to do so.
Right.
And we were going to actually park somewhere and probably live for two, three, four months at a time before we moved on.
Because we really, when we get into communities, we really love to see what it's like to be part of that community, not
just
visit that community.
And then you think about things like, you know, especially in certain parts of the country, year-round farmers markets and all of those really
fun things.
But again, by the time you do all the financing for campers and RVs.
It's just not as cheap as everybody thinks.
And it becomes more, like there's way more variables and factors.
Not that home ownership is easy by any stretch of the imagination.
There's a lot of maintenance
to RVs.
Yeah, there's too much that can go wrong.
Sometimes it's like daily, sometimes it's like every other day because you know, their tanks were, you know, holding the poo and the things that happened in the shower aren't exactly
big, right?
Yeah,
nobody wants to deal with that.
Plus it takes a very special person because, well, they're tight spaces.
Nobody wants to be claustrophobic at home.
Coming up, we are going to talk about political standards.
Turns out that they don't really carry the same weight that they
once
did.
When you vote, what's more important?
A candidate's characters or their policy?
We'll talk about that next.
This is Daybreak.
You're listening to the Civic Media Network.
Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.
It's 8-06 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Parker, very nicely played, little Guns N' Roses.
Welcome to the jungle.
I love that.
It feels like a jungle.
Very nice.
And
is it time for kickoff?
We can
kickoff,
yeah.
Every
stadium ever.
That's
such a great song.
Welcome to the jungle, Guns N' Roses, before Axl Rose got old.
That's how I always.
I was going to say, or before he
got crazy, but that
was just always,
always.
I was going to say, always
other three stages of guns and roses.
Yes.
Before
he got old after he got
old after
he went crazy.
That's essentially what it is.
Absolutely.
I, my name is Jamie Martinson.
Frank Gargano, our senior producer joins me today sitting in for Brian Noonan.
Um, and of course, if you're listening in Wausau and WXCO, got to do a little shout out across the state in La Crosse on WLCX, Hayward on WBZ8.
in Wisconsin Rapids on WFHR.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Hey Parker, the sun is coming out now.
I don't know if you noticed this, but the sun is indeed trying to shine this morning in Madison.
I
told you, I'm going to a softball game.
I was looking at the forecast, some audit off showers throughout today, possible in large portions of the state, heat, humidity over the next couple of days, and then of course that's gonna give way to some possible severe weather tomorrow and potentially on Thursday.
So please stay weather aware over the next couple of days.
And if you have to be outside, I know it seems so stupid, but if you have to be outside with that humidity, even if the temperature doesn't seem super warm, it's gonna feel super warm.
So please, please take it easy if you are going to be outside.
That is my little PSA for the morning, folks.
We wanted to talk this morning about where we're at in this country, right?
Like, what is more important to you?
Candidates, characters.
candidates character or or their policies because it turns out that there's there's a lot of candidates right now who are running for office who have some questionable things in their backgrounds right and in 2026 it doesn't really seem to be a game changer for whether or not we still support these candidates like maybe even
to five to 10 years ago that it did.
Political scandal that once ended campaigns no longer guaranteed to derail a candidate's career.
Political scientists actually say that voters at this stage are more likely to stick with candidates from the preferred party even when those candidates face serious allegations or controversies.
Now, it's interesting because it was actually just late last year that we had a candidate running for Wisconsin State Governor, Republican Bill Barion.
He had to end his campaign, though.
Parker, you obviously remember this.
I'm looking at your face.
Yesterday, I was trying to remember who all the candidates were, and I was like, there were more Republicans,
but I knew
there was, I couldn't remember his name
because
of this.
So Bill Barion ended his 2026 campaign, just a little take.
you back in time moment, because there was controversy surrounding reports of his online activity that involved explicit social media accounts.
dropped out of the race.
He tried to stay in for a few days after those reports came to the light and then eventually it just became too much and then that's actually when we saw Tom Tiffany step into the race and become become the frontrunner for the Republican Party.
There's also been a lot of legislative leaders in the state of Wisconsin who've resigned over inappropriate comments, state officials that leave their positions following this conduct or investigations.
The question is though, does that matter to us in
in this current climate.
So again, the question this morning, what's more important to you?
A candidate's character or their policies?
1-855-752-4842-185575CIVIC.
Now, there's also a lot of people who claim that this increasing political polarization, stronger partisan identities, and declining trust in traditional media is a major reason why scandals have less impact than they once did.
In previous decades,
Scandals that involved affairs, JFK, hello, anybody?
Personal misconduct, ethics violations, or controversial behavior led politicians to resign or completely abandon campaigns.
I mean, should we talk about Gary Hart from like 2011?
For just a few minutes.
I mean.
I mean, you think about it.
Take
your pick.
I mean, even during Trump's first term, Al Franken is a great example of that.
When those photos that eventually we were found were not real photos, and he left office, now you kind of wonder.
Should he have wrote it out?
Were the Democrats at that point too persistent that he should leave his role and and leave office?
Would would it have mattered to most voters at
that time though?
But we play that's assuming that everybody plays by the same set of rules, right?
It's true.
I think that's really important
to look at.
I think at that point in time, it was probably the right thing to do, right?
Looking back on it, yeah, with the current political climate,
you
probably could have stayed, probably should have stayed.
But let's not pretend like a senator from Minnesota is held to the same standards as just spitball in here, maybe somebody that resides in the White House or is the speaker of the house.
We have very different rules.
Is it the parties, though, too?
Right?
Because we've talked about this.
Yeah, it's the
following.
It will.
The Republicans usually fall in line.
If that is their candidate, it doesn't usually matter what scandals persist with that particular candidate.
They will usually fall in line and still support that candidate unless it just becomes too egregious that they can't stand it anymore,
right?
Jamie, I think another thing.
Sorry to cut you
off, but I
think I think we and we've talked about this a lot too when it comes to the Democratic side is you need to have a very squeaky clean persona.
You need a squeaky clean backstory because it's it's I'll just say it.
It's impossible to unite the Democratic Party on everything.
Right.
Absolutely.
Even
when you may be the lesser of two evils, where the Republican side, you have to give them credit.
When they all agree, this is the person we're going for.
They kind of view it as almost like a sporting event
or a
game or a contest where it's like, this is our team and we want to win.
This is who we're supporting.
Where I think a lot of Democrats look at politics as the nuance thing that it is.
And go, well, you know what?
I don't agree with that person.
And maybe
it's too a fault where I don't agree with everything, therefore.
I'm not voting for that person or I'm just not voting at all.
Sometimes I wonder if it's not so much that we're more tolerant of these scandals or that the parties have completely different identities and different standards.
I
don't know if it's
so much as being, you know, just like, yes, we're okay voting for this person with a scandal or just the Democrats saying, no, you need to be the better person here.
We don't want these tied to the Democratic Party.
We're going to have this person step down.
So sometimes I wonder if it's more of a.
party thing than an actual candidate thing and our tolerance level is maybe different.
Candidates today are more likely to deny allegations, frame controversies as political attacks, and also continue campaigning rather than step aside.
And we're actually seeing this play out right now in the state of Maryland with Graham Plattner, right?
He has been embroiled in scandals involving women.
He has been embroiled in scandals involving tattoos when he first came onto the political scene.
He has one that is a swastika that was eventually covered.
He's had to explain that numerous times.
yet he still stays in the race.
And even with the latest scandals involving women, he has made it clear.
He is not stepping down.
He is not leaving the race.
He is going to let the voters decide.
And, you know, that is a very...
And let's be clear, he is not an establishment.
We'll put that near quotes a Democrat.
The Democrats actually put up an establishment candidate to run against him in Maryland.
That establishment candidate lost.
And Plantner is now your candidate in the state of Maryland.
So I wonder, though, if taking the playbook of more Republicans and saying, I'm going to just stay in this, even with all of this swirling around me.
I mean, it worked for President Trump, right?
selected just a week or two after the entertainment tonight video back in 2016.
That didn't seem to derail his campaign at all.
And you know, if you think about even 10 years prior to that, if that tape would have come out that close to an election, Hillary Clinton would have won in a landslide, right?
I mean.
But what changed, I guess.
Is it, is it the fear mongering of.
If you're looking at it from a Republican side, what is the democratic utopia look like?
Socialism, communism, and we're gonna vote for our guy or girl to combat that and anti-trans rhetoric.
I think there's a lot of social aspects that come into that decision where they do ignore what the
real issues are in terms of scandal because scandal doesn't really exist right now, especially when it comes to a presidential race.
And I want to point out and correct myself.
Tony, thank you so much in our chat.
It
is main.
Thank you very much.
I had that written down and then my brain went somewhere else.
But a lot of today's candidates really are following this denial.
of the allegations.
And analysts say that the modern media environment is also playing a bit of a role.
Now, obviously social media plays a role into that.
There's partisan news sources, there's constant information flows, scandals a lot of times are compete with dozens of other stories for our attention.
And you gotta wonder at some point in time, if it just gets lost or if we
start going, well, is that really real?
Because you don't know if everything that you see online is real.
And you have to wonder if that sometimes plays into the mindset of the voter.
Do we question the authenticity because what we see is not actually
real all the time.
And I don't know if that's what makes up the mind of voters, but if you're interested in chiming into this conversation this morning, we'd love to hear from you.
Do you think a candidate's character is more important or their policies?
We've got Jeanne on the phone this morning.
She's calling in from Eau Claire.
Jeanne, how are you this morning and what do you got for us?
Well, thank you so much for covering this subject.
Definitely policy matters to me, because what we have in the Oval Office right now, I'll tell you something, nothing compares.
And that guy's doing it in our face.
So I really believe that we need some very strong people fighting back.
and also their backgrounds.
Like Tiffany, we need to look at his background and what he did in the past, and what he's done all along, and all the people that have an R after their name.
And I've been independent my entire life, but I've been watching for years live what these people have been doing to our state and to our country.
So, definitely policy, but character too, and not...
So thank you very much, and you have a great day.
Thank
you very much.
Thanks, Jean.
We appreciate it.
Of course, you know, you've got to wonder too, if...
the current president is part of this shift, right?
He survived so many controversies.
He has said things in the past that would have taken any other candidate out of office.
He has actually used it to his advantage, right?
In a lot of ways to basically hinder himself, not only to the voting base, but also to new voters, because he doesn't, he isn't the typical politician.
Whether you agree with him or not, whether you agree
with his
policies, he has endeared himself to a certain subsect.
of voters that a lot of politicians haven't been able to over the years.
It's fascinating.
We'll continue to have this conversation on the stream.
But the debate over a proposed data center in Wisconsin Rapids is growing.
Community groups are organizing.
We're going to talk about that next and find out what's happening in Wisconsin Rapids on the Civic Media Network.
Local voices statewide impact.
It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
It's 822 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
We always appreciate it.
Hopefully you're having a great start to your day.
You're listening to the Civic Media Network.
I am Jamie Martinson.
Brian Noonan is not here today, but our senior producer, Frank Gargano, stepping in as co-host.
How's it going?
Are you enjoying your time as host?
You know what?
It's so different.
just constantly being on.
I check myself in the camera like when I'm taking sips of coffee and be like.
Oh, right.
Maybe don't eat while you're on camera.
Oh, no, I eat all the time while I'm on
camera.
We'd probably do much better on a stream if I wasn't always eating or moving around, but it's fine.
But we have a guest joining us today because we've got to have a conversation about data centers.
There is a proposed center that's become one of the most talked about issues in Wisconsin Rapids.
Community groups have formed, hundreds of residents have attended informational meetings, and city leaders have slowed the approval process so they can gather more information.
public input to help us understand where things currently stand, what's known about the project and what questions residents are still asking.
We are joined by Melissa K. She is the news director for WFHR and WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids.
Now, Melissa, you've been closely following this story from the beginning, so we are super glad that you are here this morning.
Thank you for joining us.
Good morning, Jamie and Frank.
Thank you for having me on.
I'm glad to be here.
Well, let's go ahead and jump right into this because for listeners who haven't been following this closely, bring us up to speed.
Why has this particular proposed data center generated so much attention in Wisconsin Rapids?
Well, part of it has to do with the location.
As many know, Wisconsin Rapids is a former paper mill city.
this city was grew up you know grew because of the paper mill that was here that was shut down quite a few years ago and then that site has just set empty but it's it's unique because it's right next to the river um the they've done clearing of the space so now there's acreage available for manufacturing opportunities but it's zoned manufacturing industrial
So it can't have housing, it can't have, you know, there's certain things that can't be built there.
And data center companies have been looking at that site.
In 2024, there was a data center company that was looking not exactly that site, but near that area.
And it was very quiet.
They came in with a contract, let the city know, hey, these two private entities are doing this thing.
But then a year later, they also let them know by press release that, hey, yep, we're not doing the thing.
But people were okay with it then because they didn't really know what was happening.
Now the city council realized that, hey, if we don't put an ordinance in place to have some protection against, have some involvement in this, we won't be able to.
It'll be just like before with a...
agreement between two private entities and we're not involved.
So that's kind of where things kicked off here with getting the public involved.
Sure.
Because they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?
Creating ordinances for data centers is like, well,
there's
more to it than that.
It's for protection purposes.
So now there's a company interested.
People are getting informed and involved and being activists in their community.
They're like, hey,
We're not sure if we want this.
Let's talk about it.
Let's slow it down Let's look at all of the different things look at what's happening across the nation right and in other parts of Wisconsin with data centers
So let's go to the Southwood County neighbors for responsible development This is a group that has formed formed just a few weeks ago.
Am I correct on that?
In April,
okay, so and they seem to be drawing large crowds and How did they come into this mix and and what is their role in in what's happening with the data center in Wisconsin Rapids?
Well, there was a public hearing announced for the conditional use permit that this company had submitted to the city
and the Southwood County Neighbors for Responsible Development.
To my understanding, they're just a group of people in the area, business owners, they're like, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's have an informational session.
So they invited people from the IT world, Farmers Union, and even Charlie Barons came to town.
They had an informational session at the middle school here.
They had about over 400 people attended, including the mayor and older persons.
they were there to gather information too.
And so that is really what kicked off the Southwood County Neighbors for Responsible Development Group, and they've been working ever since to educate.
Sure.
Melissa Kay, news director for WFHR and WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids joins us this morning.
So is the opposition to the data center in Wisconsin Rapids focused on the idea of the data center itself?
Or are residents more concerned about the location and some of those impacts to things like the environment, obviously their own utility bills?
What seems to
be their
argument right now?
That seems to be the big one people are worried about about energy bills their electricity and and our water our waterways here Yes, the mill did do some pollution obviously in eras gone by But they're worried now because some cleanup has been a lot of cleanup has been done The Riverway is much better than it was and they don't want to see it degrade it again
Absolutely.
Melissa, real quick.
Hold on, Jamie.
I feel like we always see the negative side of data centers, and we see a lot about the opposition to it.
Are there groups right now in the community that maybe support the data centers for any reason?
Are there any benefits to this?
Well, honestly, from what I've heard, the biggest benefit would be building out our electric infrastructure.
So the infrastructure would be improved over time.
because they want to start with 150 megawatt building and they want to expand to 150 megawatts of power that will be needed.
To be able to accommodate that amount of power, they have to build out the infrastructure that would involve, you know, the different utility companies.
And I think that the city council, or at least what they have said to me, is that they want, this is an opportunity, they need to figure out the way to do it the best that's going to protect the consumers.
while building out our infrastructure and then also make sure utility bills don't go up.
But it could be a benefit if the consumers can be protected.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Melissa K, News Director for WFHR and WIRI in the Wisconsin Rapids area.
We will continue to follow this story out of Wisconsin Rapids.
Melissa, thank you so much for
being here this
morning.
We appreciate
it.
Coming up summer camps and youth programs in high demand across Wisconsin.
A lot of families are running into long wait lists of rising costs.
We'll explain why that matters next here on Daybreak.
You're listening to the Civic Media Network.
Wisconsin wakes up here.
Back to Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Good morning.
Thank you so much for joining us today on the Civic Media Network.
It is 8.35 right now.
My name is Jamie Martinson.
Brian Noonan is out today, but I am joined by our fabulous senior producer, Frank Gargano.
How do you feel on the other side of the chair today?
Like this is a serious question because I've been in your seat, right?
Like I've been the producer and so it's very weird when you have to like join the show and all of a sudden you're there.
I've noticed I don't get to, because I do many things during the show when I'm not.
I'm looking at emails, I'm looking at stories, people to.
book, all that stuff.
And I get a lot done during the show.
Well, because I kind of get to just be a consumer.
Right.
Because that's the best way to judge a show is from a listener standpoint.
And if you're entertained, then that probably means that hopefully our listeners are entertained, right?
Correct.
Yes.
So
like it's so weird that I'm dialed in and then I look down and we were just saying during break, like, oh my God, it's 8.35.
It is.
It's gone really, really fast.
That's a little inside for.
all of you non-radio folks who just enjoy the show and listen on a daily basis.
It's fun.
I'm enjoying
it.
We're learning a lot.
Well, good.
Thank you for stepping in today.
Of course.
Now, you know, if you're the type of person who ended up as a kid going to summer camp, hopefully you have some really fond experiences that you've taken with you for...
you know, maybe a lifetime.
Sometimes it was day camp, sometimes it was a sports camp, might have even been scout camp or just a summer program that was your local school.
Those activities, though, gave kids a chance to learn, make friends, and stay active while school was out.
Today, a lot of Wisconsin families are discovering that those opportunities are becoming really difficult to find.
In fact, a new study shows that demand for summer programs is growing, but a lot of parents are also running into high costs, long wait lists, and limited availability.
And a lot of families are now struggling to access
these resources for their kids during the summer.
According to this study, about one in every two kids whose parents want them enrolled in a summer learning or enrichment program cannot get access to one in their local communities.
Now, let me ask you, were you a camp kid?
Did you have to go to any a camp or any of the enrichment activities?
You lost me at the word camp.
Let me tell you something.
I'm very much a city boy.
I
like sitting
inside in air conditioning, OK, doing city boy things.
I like video games.
I love going outside.
I loved going outside and playing baseball with the other neighborhood kids, football, whatever.
As far as camping goes, I'm not an outdoorsman by any stretch of the imagination.
Heights.
No
camping.
That's not so
much.
No, it's just not me.
You didn't do like football camp or anything.
Yeah, I did football camp and it's miserable
The
worst
I
don't think there's anything worse like we've now you now you've got me on oh Now you've got me going.
Let me tell you something There are many things I wish I could turn the turn back the clock on to go do playing football games in high school I'd love to play another game sure put the pads on
But if that meant going back to football camp,
I
wouldn't do it.
It would be a no every single time,
because
those were the worst days in the world.
Gord's camps aren't generally meant to be fun, right?
Like, they're generally not Parker camp for you.
You're not done?
OK, go.
What?
No, all the basketball players got to have fun.
They'd shoot around in the summer.
Oh, yeah, we did camp for a week.
We did shoot arounds and we did some drills.
a lot of fun.
The baseball players were
like,
this is our off season.
We get to enjoy our summer and people are sleeping in.
They're like, what are you doing?
We're like, what do you mean?
I have to wake up at five 30 tomorrow morning to go lift.
And then we have
to go run.
And then
I've got to go put on my pads and a hundred degrees summer weather and hit the guy in front of me for three hours straight.
And we're still going to lose most every game this coming.
fall.
That is what my summer looks like.
What kind of attitude is that?
My God.
That
was real.
I am realistic, if anything, Jamie.
And that
was the reality.
But no, I'm not a camp person.
But for
anybody that is, I think that's great for you.
I think
you
should have summer camps that are fun, that you enjoy doing.
But it's kind of interesting to see that camps, summer camps are turning into more of a luxury.
They are.
They are because it used to be a staple, right?
Like it was.
it was one of those things you sent your kids to, even your local school where there was enrichment, daily activities, right?
That was the thing.
I did several camps as I got older that were more tailored to the things I was interested in.
Now, I don't know if it would surprise the two of you to know, but I spent a glorious week at South Dakota State University, a journalism camp.
Wow,
I've been a counselor for a journalism
camp.
Did I see?
What?
You were about to make fun of me, I could feel it, and Parker won up to me on that one.
I was just an attendee.
Well, now I'm going to make
fun of both of you.
Hey, who wins this one?
We weren't hitting big guys across from us, lifting weights at 5.30.
We were sitting in an air conditioned room.
I was going to say, were
you in high school?
Yes, high school.
I was in high school.
Well,
while you were a nark parker,
you were
a counselor.
Yes,
I went to debate camp as well.
I don't know if that would surprise the two of you either.
Then you won up Parker again, and Jamie takes the crown back for nerdiest comment of the
day.
Hold on, Parker.
Thank you, thank you, Parker.
Yeah,
exactly.
Parker, going back to being a counselor at journalism camp, did any of the kids raise their hand and go, do you have a job in journalism?
And you're
like, don't
worry about that, shut up.
You don't
know
what you're talking about.
I worked at the student paper and it was the college that ran the camp.
It
was a
great experience because at South Dakota State we not only met the professors from South Dakota State but then they brought in a couple of nationally known journalists to do workshops with us.
So it was really an awesome experience.
Then we also the next year got access to our politicians who were serving in local government.
on the state level.
So that was also really, really cool to be able to go spend a day with them in turn and then get access to newsrooms across the state through that.
particular camp.
Look at how excited you're getting.
I know it was so it was so exciting.
But when it comes to camps right now in Wisconsin families are saying that cost is the biggest obstacle for kids to have some of these same experiences right along with transportation challenges and a lack of openings in their communities.
A hundred and seventy seven thousand Wisconsin families say that they cannot find a summer program that's even affordable close to home or accessible for their kids.
Now summer camps and youth
programs across the state fill up really quickly.
And a lot of organizations are reporting lengthy wait lists.
Wisconsin Youth Company increased enrollment by about 300 children this summer compared to last year, but still has another 300 children waiting for a spot.
And obviously when school lets out, there's a new whole new challenge for parents too, because there's no longer that year round place for your kids to go.
And if they're school aged, then you really
have to figure out where your kids are going to go.
And for some parents, there's also that the year round daycare also ends when the school year ends.
So parents really do become in a pinch because parents can't just take off work because their kids don't have anywhere to go.
And if we're talking about these types of wait lists, and I would be interested to know.
Why are there so many wait lists?
Is it just because of the need or because it's harder to find people to work in these programs all summer long or why are we seeing such wait lists?
I guess would be my next question for some of these programs because it seems like.
for anybody may be going into teaching.
And maybe the pay isn't that great, right?
If you're going to be a teacher, maybe you need something that pays a little bit more than what some of these programs can.
I don't, I don't, they don't offer any reasons as to why the waitlist exists right
now.
I mean, look at camp culture.
How,
how
much is that declined?
Sure.
Because it isn't, you know, we're, we're in the digital age now where.
Camp culture isn't really a thing.
I feel like
I don't
really see it or and I don't know many people that send their kids to summer camp.
Yeah.
Whereas like if you watch a movie from like the 80s and 90s
kids went to summer camp all the time.
That's more of
a thing.
Yeah.
That's what that's what I mean.
So I'm sure there's less and less of them out there.
Yeah.
Because I mean how it can't be if you're looking at it from a capitalism standpoint how successful of a business model is
running a
summer camp
and how
much.
Time and effort goes into
that.
I can't imagine that kids, even if it's a day camp type thing, really want to go and be away from the things that they know on a daily basis.
You would have to try.
I mean, I know a lot of middle schoolers and you have to try really hard to pull them away from from the devices and the things.
I mean, according to this particular survey, an average seventh grader is spending about nine and a half hours a day tethered to a screen.
Nine and a half.
That sounds about right.
That's I mean, but.
you look at what we do on a daily basis as adults for our jobs.
I mean, it's not just always being on a screen because you're, you're playing a game or you're watching something on social media.
Our entire lives revolve around a screen or doing something on a screen, whether it's our phone or whether it's looking something up, whether it's for us editing audio, editing video or any of that, we're always, we're always tethered to a screen.
So it's interesting that kids are already at seventh grade falling into that same trap.
Um, and I think.
too, when you talk about these camps, even if it's a sleepaway camp, if it's a day camp, there is opportunity to pull away from some of those things.
How many kids though are interested in doing that?
I feel like that would be the hardest task running one of those is trying to get the kids to like put those devices down to go and do those enrichment creative activity.
If they're allowed
to even have them
at the
camp, you know what I mean?
Which I don't think you should be if the whole goal is to disconnect.
I
mean,
if I was a kid and my mom was like, Hey, you're going to camp.
I'd be like, No, I'm not.
I'm keeping my phone.
I'm keeping my tablet.
I'm
still connecting with my friends.
I'd rather do that.
I don't want to go to camp, but that's just me.
And I'm sure a lot of kids feel the same way because you have a super computer in the palm of your hands, especially
if you have a
phone,
right?
Middle-aged school kids.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, they're going to want to do that much more than go play a game, right?
I mean, they just are.
There's a lot of program leaders who say that these summer camps, again, whether it's a day camp, something specific to a sport, whether it's a sleepaway camp, they actually help reduce some of that isolationism that kids face and provide an alternative to spending hours on their phones, their tablets, their computers, and on those video games.
No, it's absolutely the right thing
to
do.
Let's say I had a kid and I could afford to do this
I would
love to do that just because we are in such a digital
age
Gen Z so like you grow up
with
the technology there was a period in time where I didn't have
This
thing I had you know a flip phone and I couldn't do everything so
I think nowadays with social media and everything, I think having that time, they would look back on their childhood and be like, wow, I'm so glad I was able to do that because now as an adult, I can't get away from the screen because this is my job.
And I find Gen Z very, very fascinating because Gen Zers are the first generation that really had everything at their disposal, right?
I mean, Parker, you're 23.
You don't remember a world without Google.
You don't remember a world without smartphones.
Obviously, they
progressed over the years, but you don't remember a world without tablets or laptops, right?
There's just not a time.
We had an
iPad for most of my memory.
We've had at least an iPad in the house.
Sure.
I mean, and my kids are exactly the same, right?
Because it was just the generation they grew up on.
And I think that some of that interaction is so good for kids.
And I'll honestly say, yes, I'm as old as dirt at this point.
And I remember going to journalism camp and debate camp, but I also remember the people that I met there and the experiences and the things that I learned at those camps.
And yes, they were very specific to my taste and the things that I liked, but that's the point of some of these camps that they should be tailored to what.
our kids like and give them a new experience.
And the fact that our families can't even afford it or have access to this, this feels like a right of passage for a lot of kids, right?
In some way.
And it's another one of those things that I feel like is getting taken away.
Coming up, wrestlers body slamming opponents between bookshelves and then stopping to read a children's story.
This is real.
It's called Lucha Libro.
Kids are loving it.
We're going to talk about that next.
It's the Civic Media Network.
fairly solid and better than expected.
It's Daybreak with Brian and JV.
It's 8.52 right now.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
You are listening to the Civic Media Network.
Brian Nooded is not, is off today.
Frank Gargano, our senior producer, joins me as co-host.
Oh, that was great.
Thank you, Parker.
You're on par today with the music.
I can't see you, Parker.
Where is he?
I can't see you.
What better way to start a wrestling segment?
Come on.
That was fantastic.
So let me ask you guys, what happens when you combine a library, story time, and professional wrestling all in one?
A lawsuit, a paper cut, an in-school suspension.
What it actually is.
a new program called Lucha Libro and it is doing exactly that, bringing wrestling rings and children's books together so that kids get excited about reading and obviously very unusual, but families are loving this new program.
It is, this program combines live wrestling matches, story time and audience participation, creating an experience that is like a part library event and part wrestling event.
at the same time.
In fact, you'll love this.
Wrestlers perform in a full-sized ring set up among library bookshelves complete with entrance music costumes and theatrical storylines.
Between wrestling matches, performers then read children's books aloud and interact with the very young audience members.
One fan favorite goes by the stage name of Lama Jack.
He reads from the popular, oh Lama Lama book series before he jumps.
into back into the wrestling ring.
Now this program is designed to reach kids who might not be drawn to traditional reading programs.
I love this and shows that books and learning can be fun.
Now what I appreciate about this the most.
is it obviously is very unorthodox.
I had a very reluctant reader.
My Dexter, in fact, my husband did not think Dexter could read until he was about six years old, while in fact Dexter had been reading for almost
three years.
Dexter was very self-conscious because if he couldn't say his Rs really well when he was very little.
And so if he mispronounced something or if he got a word wrong, he was very self-conscious.
I get it.
So my mom and my husband did not like thought there was something seriously wrong with him that he could not read.
In fact, he read to his brother and me all the time.
And we heard all of the Llama Llama books and we heard all of the Pigeon books.
The Pigeon series, no?
If you
remember those, it's so
good.
I remember seeing it.
Pigeons are great.
So we would read all of those.
And then when he was about six, he finally ventured out to one day in his squeaky little tiny voice, read aloud to his dad.
And he was like, see, dad, I can read.
So I understand reluctant readers.
And I think that if there is a program that helps them,
That's why libraries also bring in reading dogs because it calms a kiddo's mind, helps them concentrate.
There's a confidence level that they don't normally have.
Whether it's reading dogs, whether it's something else, or it's people wrestling in a ring, getting kids excited about reading, I think that's awesome.
I think this
is cool.
I think it's awesome.
I'm going to play devil's advocate here.
Do you think this is going to have
the opposite effect where it's like, I'm picturing a crowd of kids watching this go down.
Like, aren't little kids more amped
up?
Yeah, I don't wanna read now.
I wanna go body slam somebody.
Me and this other kid, me and Tyler are gonna go wrestle now.
I'm not reading the
book.
love about this is I was watching some of the videos from some of these events and I was looking at some of the photos.
I mean, these characters will say go full out into this, but then they get done and they get done in the ring and they literally pull up like a stool or a chair and they're like, all right, let's read.
I mean, it is the craziest thing I've ever seen.
So you go from having these kids totally amped up, cheering and excited then to like this moment where they're like, oh, now my favorite wrestler who just put a guy through the ring
is now going
to read.
a book to me.
It's actually hilarious.
Lama Jack just threw some other dude into a table.
Now it's time to go read a paragraph or two.
I
don't know if it's like WWE style, but I think they keep it in the ring.
But at any rate, organizers say that the goal of this is to improve literacy, but also to help libraries attract new visitors and create positive experiences for families.
As you can imagine, the attendance at libraries in the modern age of 2026 with everything in our fingertips
in the fact that we can read on devices a little lower than it used to be.
The concept was created just a couple of years ago because organizers were invited to put on a wrestling themed event at a local library.
And since that time, this idea just started to expand.
More than 40 library events are planned across California, because right now it's only in California.
More
than 40 library events are planned just this year.
They are starting to expand to states outside of California.
large crowds, usually kids, parents, maybe even wrestling fans all at the same time.
Imagine though if you're a wrestling fan and all of a sudden you show up at your local library thinking there's gonna be a free event and then you learn that they're gonna read the Lama Lama book series to you in between.
That's gotta be a little disappointing.
How many?
No, I'm not gonna ask this question.
I feel like you should, maybe.
I'm genuinely asking, this is out of curiosity,
oh boy.
How many WWE fans are walking into the local library?
Just on a ho hum Tuesday.
Well, you never know.
And
I am somebody that does not walk into a local library ever.
So I'm going to put that out there and qualify it with that.
But it could happen.
I see where you're coming from.
Whatever, you know, with literacy being what it is in this country and.
You know getting kids to read whatever helps whatever gets them excited to maybe dive into a book Improve their reading skills.
I think it's great
I always love when we can when there's an unorthodox way of doing things that we never thought about and then people get excited about it I think that's always the beauty of programs like this because whoever thought about pairing wrestling with reading Nobody
whoever thought about pairing Broadway and acrobatics with baseball am I right?
Oh, man, it always comes back to the bananas Parker
does.
I'm free in your head.
Always back to bananas.
We made it.
We made it a show without Brian.
We did it.
Thank you so much for listening today.
You are listening to the Civic Media Network, Stephanie Miller coming up next.
And don't forget another chance for you to qualify in our multi state text to win contest also at nine o'clock.
Thanks for listening today break.
