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Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.
Absolutely.
My name is Jamie Martinson.
Frank Gargano, our senior producer, joins me today sitting in for Brian Noonan.
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 WBZH or in Wisconsin rap.
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
I was looking at the forecast of 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 going to 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 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 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.
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, you think about it.
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 have mattered to most
you
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.
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, I, you know what?
I, I don't agree with that person.
And maybe it's to 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.
don't know if it's
so much as being, uh, 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?
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.
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.
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 it, 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 background.
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.
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 them or not Whether you agree
with his
policies He's endeared himself to a certain subset 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.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get
started.
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 Martenson.
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?
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 and 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 Kaye.
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, part of it has to do with the location.
As many know, Wisconsin Rapids is a former paper mill city.
the 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.
The they've done clearing of the space.
So now there's acreage available for manufacturing opportunities.
But it's zone 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.
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 involvement in this, we won't be able to.
It'll be just like before with an 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 and in other parts of Wisconsin with data centers.
Okay.
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.
It 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.
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
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 a lot of cleanup has been done The Riverway is much better than it was and they don't want to see it degraded again
Absolutely.
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.
You're listening to the Civic Media Network.
Wisconsin wakes up here.
Back to Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
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
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.
Because I kind of get to just be a consumer, because that's the best way to judge a show is from a listener standpoint, not from a producer standpoint.
And if you're entertained, then that probably
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 list, 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?
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.
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
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
I think you
It was one of those things.
you sent your kids to, even your local school where there was enrichment, daily activities.
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.
It's a journalism camp.
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.
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.
177,000 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 maybe 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.
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 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.
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 such thing 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.
is opportunity to pull away from some of those things.
How
I'm
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
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.
world without smartphones.
Obviously they've progressed over the years, but you don't remember a world without tablets or laptops, right?
Like there's just not a time.
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 rite 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.
Wrestler's 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.
The Civic Media
Network.
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.
all 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 just
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 R's 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 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, it's why libraries also bring in, you know, like reading dogs because it calms a kiddo's mind, helps them like concentrate.
There's a confidence level that they don't normally have.
So, you know, whether it's reading dogs, whether it's something else or it's, you know, people wrestling in a ring, getting kids excited about reading, I think that's awesome.
I think this
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?
So they wrote a body slam?
Yeah, I don't want to read now.
I want to go body slam somebody.
Me and this other kid.
Me and Tyler are gonna go wrestle now.
I'm not reading the book.
What I 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
But
at any rate, organizers say that this goal, 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,
is 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
They are starting to expand to states outside of California.
The events draw large crowds, usually kids,
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.
Okay.
Oh boy.
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.
Look, 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
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 9 o'clock.
Thanks for listening today, Brad.
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