Once You Read The Thing… (Hour 1)

Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt and Air on Air.

Jane Matt and Air, Greg Bach and Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine.

Join us, call or text at 855-752-4842.

You can leave a comment as well if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.

Coming up after the 930 news, Charlie Pittman, Civic Media's news director will be here to recap what happened over the weekend and also give us an update on where we are today, at least as far as things like the Wisconsin budget, which we still do not

have.

We don't.

And also, we talked about this with Dan Schaeffer a little bit on Friday, the latest from the Marquette University Law School poll on Governor Evers, whether he should run and many other things.

Charlie Pittman joining us after the 9.30 news.

In hour number two, Alex Brosnan is the executive director of We Got This, which is an organization in Milwaukee.

And this was a listener who reached out to us on Jane Sez, by the way.

If you ever want to reach the show, J-A-N-E-S-A-Y-S, Jane says at civicmedia.us.

Listener sent us an email and said, you should talk to these people.

This is a good group.

Yeah.

So we reached out and Alex Brosnan, executive director of the We Got This Garden is going to be joining us after 1030 news around 1035.

Talk about what they're doing in Milwaukee's city and the opportunities that they're giving kids who might not normally be able to do this.

It's pretty cool.

And we'll wrap up the show as we always do with this shouldn't be a thing.

Today is the hush your mouth edition and for a good reason.

Yeah.

So stick around for that.

We didn't want to start off by acknowledging that the Milwaukee one of the Milwaukee police officers who were caught in an ambush.

Last week has now died of his injury.

Injuries rather Milwaukee police officer Kendall Corder died three days after shooting.

This from WPR, a six year veteran of the Milwaukee police department died three days after being shot in an alleyway while responding to reports of a man firing shots on Milwaukee's west side.

Officer Kendall Corder was only 32 years old.

So our condolences to his family and his friends.

The other officer who was involved in that shooting was also injured in that shooting, I believe, has been released.

But there was a large march yesterday as they took Officer Corder's body from Freydert to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's office.

And again, our condolences to his family and his friends and everyone in law enforcement as well.

Want to start off talking about the

big blob of a bill, which is still being kicked around in Washington.

Some interesting things have been pulled.

Now, there is so much stuff in this bill.

Yes, it's almost a thousand pages long.

I don't know if you notice this, but over the weekend, the Democrats actually read it aloud.

Because now they don't read these.

They don't read these reports.

They have people.

Yeah, they have people who read these.

And then I'm assuming they give them little synopsis.

Well, based on what we heard, based on what we have heard from some of the Republican congressmen, the representatives, it seems like even their people aren't reading these bills because.

Even someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene came right out and said, oh, I didn't read this.

I didn't know it

was in here.

She just

voted for it.

So, you know, I understand you are a congressperson.

You are a senator.

Your lives are very, very busy.

But that's why you have qualified people around you to go through these documents.

Make notes, brief you on the big things you should know about, things that might be controversial that you'll either have to defend or come out against.

But yeah, this is once, and this isn't even the 10th time this has happened where people who are like, we need to pass this.

You're like, well, what's in it?

I have no idea.

I haven't read it.

Nope.

I just trust them.

Lots of reading involved in that job.

Yes.

Maybe a reading comprehension test before they actually get sworn in would be one thought.

Here's something that they pulled out which I am delighted about because we talked about this when they snuck it in.

They wanted to exclude silencers.

Gun silencers.

During Florida debate in May, gun silencers were included in the National Firearms Act.

They were subject to a $200 tax that Representative Clyde said violated the Second Amendment.

According to Representative Clyde, under the law, silencers are firearms and therefore are protected by another law enacted in 1791.

Called the second amendment the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

They never mentioned silencers in there,

but The whole thing was to get rid of the tax correct the silencers are I for the longest time I was under the impression that silencers were illegal.

No, you can buy them so the Is it we're gonna take we're gonna take it on the long walk here

The silencers were available, but they were taxed his whole point was they shouldn't be taxed because the tax somehow infringes on the Second Amendment right does that mean and I'm asking this question because I am not a firearms owner Does that mean that all guns in this country are not taxed?

You don't pay any taxes on any guns you buy in this country.

I'm sure it may be a gun shows It's like this is $400 give me $400 cash and here's your gun, but if I go to

Walmart or Cabela,

I'm

paying sales tax.

So where is the outrage on the taxes that are actually on the firearms?

I'm very confused, Jane.

That's why I'm getting more and more worked up.

It's very confusing stuff

here.

Florida Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost spoke out against this provision regarding silencers during Florida bait, saying that during mass shootings, silencers make it harder to identify and respond to the source of the gunshots.

Earlier, I put forth an amendment to strip this tax cut for the gun lobby House Republicans wouldn't even let it come up for a vote during the during 2023 the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco firearms and explosives recovered over 400 silencers from violent crime scenes For this reason silencers have been highly regulated for about 100 years Yeah, and I cannot imagine that law enforcement wants more people to have silencers.

No

I would say law enforcement, I would say that if you ask law enforcement, and I know because I've asked some police in my time, they're not a huge fan of the people having unfettered access, or at the very least they're being next to know any

sort of restrictions.

But yes, once again though, this isn't about the acquisition of the silencer, this is a tax cut.

Don't paint it as the second amendment, because also, wasn't that didn't...

If I'm not mistaken, that representative who was the client, he owns a gun store.

He

owns a gun store.

So

if I'm a, if I'm an owner of a business, let's say I own a gun store and I sell silencers and there is a tax on them.

You know who pays for that tax?

My customer, not me.

So why are you trying to get a tax cut?

Because he wants to sell more silencers.

Yeah.

And then, but the thing is, is are you going to then cut the price of your, of your silencers?

Will, will this,

let's not get crazy.

Will any of these savings, Jane?

trickle down onto the American people.

Seems unlikely.

No, so yeah.

Seems unlikely.

Wow.

This example right here is why the use of the Second Amendment is such a flimsy excuse in the world of gun reform and those discussions, because anything, anything that comes up is just Second Amendment.

Second Amendment.

So yeah, good on the Congress, good on the Senate,

good on them.

For

pulling that out.

For getting rid of this.

The one,

Person who is being very, very vocal against this measure is Republican Tom Tillis.

Yes.

I did.

I was on Pat Kretler's show a little bit before we started and we talked about this just a little bit, but Tom Tillis from North Carolina essentially came out against the bill over the weekend and then Trump responded, well, we're going to primary you.

So yesterday, Tom Tillis announced he's not running for reelection.

So apparently you can vote your conscience as long as you're not gonna run for reelection Wow, what a what a

what a a bold act of cowardice bastion of strength Bastion of strength based in total cowardice

Calvin we have a clip from mr. Tillis.

Can we play that?

It's not very long play that clip, please

now Republicans are about to make a mistake on health care and betraying a promise

You supporting the Senate mark will hurt people who are eligible and qualified for Medicaid

We've talked about this a lot.

We've talked about this a lot and yet The Republicans continue on about waste fraud and abuse and there's so much waste fraud and abuse within Medicaid and we're gonna it's got to stop the waste fraud and abuse I saw another Democratic politician on one of the talkers over the weekend saying well, then let's identify

it

We've talked about this many times.

Fraud is a crime.

Fraud is a crime.

If fraud is occurring, then where are the people who are being brought up on charges of fraud?

Yeah, there haven't been.

Doge did nothing for that.

Doge has done nothing.

But also, that point speaks to a larger issue at hand, which is when lawmakers announced that they're not going to be in office anymore, all of a sudden, they

they attain the guts to speak out and they become more vocal when they're not subjected to knocking on doors and asking for money and being threatened with primaries from an absolute petulant child of a president.

So where are your guts when you are actually working for the people?

Well, there's something on the line.

Yeah.

When

there's something on the line, where are you?

Yeah, where are you on this?

Because the people need you.

You don't just get to say like, well, the president sucks.

Well, I'm going to take my box and go home now because guess what's going to happen in North Carolina where this man is a senator?

My guess is the Republicans are going to work real hard to make sure that that stays Republican, even though North Carolina.

is becoming increasingly more democratic in their leadership.

It is.

And that was part of what I saw yesterday also with Tillis announcing he's not going to run, that this could potentially be a pickup for Democrats.

That remains to be seen.

Don't forget, Republicans have got some great people in the back.

Herschel Walker is still available somewhere.

He

can

move to North Carolina.

Sure, why not?

Gene from Eau Claire is on the line.

Good morning, Gene.

Thank you for joining us.

What do you want to say about this?

Watching this.

Live all weekend, and it's like I personally think he did an outstanding job You know Trump is an abuser so is the whole gang.

He's not bowing down to him

Okay, then hey, but I'm sticking up for my constituents You can say what the W want and they're gonna know what's going on because you know how personally I feel he's an evil guy and abusive and so are the rest of those May guys that go after their fellow senators and voters and You know, they it's it's really bad.

It's like a clan.

It's like a mob and so hey

He's doing his last stand, and it's for his constituents.

And I cheer him on for that, because I'm really proud of him to at least say BS.

They're trying to pull in this BS bill.

Thanks, guys.

You do have a great day.

Thank

you.

Thank you for joining us.

You can join us as well at eight five five seven five two four eight four two That's eight five five Seven five civic Tom Tillis make it all last stand now that he has announced he is not going to

be

running for a reelection and again Jean I I appreciate what you said about him sticking up But he's sticking up with this foot up one foot out the door now

and also

I couldn't play the entire clip because it was a little bit longer.

He loves Donald Trump.

He does.

He was telling the Congress that they need to vote against this because Donald Trump's promise to Medicaid, which what?

And kind of implying that Trump is being bamboozled, which is not going to go over well.

We have a break coming up.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt Nair on air.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

We'll be right back.

Good morning.

Welcome.

Welcome to Metinair on Air.

Jane Metinair, Greg Bach, Dr. Slide on the board, coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

Join us.

Call her text at 855-752-4842.

You can leave a comment on the live stream as well on Facebook, YouTube.

and what used to be Twitter.

Coming up later on today, our friend and colleague Todd Alba, the Todd Alba show from two to four.

Today, guest hosts will be filling in for Todd Pat Crichtlow and Trig V. Olsen will have state and federal budget updates.

from over the weekend.

And then a little bit later on in the show, the Joint Finance Committee member, State Senator Calderoy's, will be joining them as well to give them an update on legislative talks here in Wisconsin.

Todd Olba's show today, two to four, join Pat Crichtlow and Trig V. Olson today when they fill in for Todd, I believe he is on the road.

After the time 30 news, Charlie Pittman, Civic Media's news director will be joining us.

for an update over the weekend.

But speaking of updates, they voted on the big blob of a bill in Washington DC that they are still meeting on today.

We mentioned that they did pull a measure that would have taken away a $200 tax on the sale of gun silencers.

So they pulled that out.

Because it's interesting, the more people learn about this budget bill, the more people don't like it.

Because of all the things that they have stuck into this what 940 pages and apparently no one reads

yeah, well, I don't even know if they Truly don't like some of the things they just look at the political Ramifications that come with it as far as like if we do this I'm gonna be in trouble with my constituency even though like the Medicaid the public the social safety net stuff isn't even like I Don't know it to me there should be

There should be politicians of all stripes just laying down on the track saying, if you pass this, we are done.

But at least they got rid of the silencers

provision.

Yeah, well, we have little victories here, little victories.

And we'll take this little victory too.

Mike Lee of Utah had included a provision in there basically requiring selling off our public lands to whoever.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

Buy the Grand Canyon.

put up your own private hotel, Jeff Bezos or whoever.

Yeah, once people got a little heads up about that, I think Mr. Lee heard from many, many, many, many constituents.

So they did actually pull that proposal to sell some public lands.

It was opposed even by other lawmakers out west.

Mike Lee says he pulled it because of the process used for the bill.

He couldn't get safeguards.

to ensure the land would be sold to American families.

What?

And not Chinese or foreign interests.

None about hedge funds or anything.

I'm sure that would have been fine.

American families?

American

families.

So what?

The Michaels down the street are going to try to buy the Grand Tetons?

What are?

I don't

know.

I'm just.

Their reasonings are

so

bad.

It's so dumb Wisconsin examiner.

Well, he had to say something because there were so much outcry about this that but again, I guess It is an indicator that public pressure does work to some extent

Well, and then then say that in a in a nuanced diplomatic way We heard from the people and the people said no Public lands are there for our preservation and for our enjoyment and we must make sure that they do not go to the highest bidder when really it's because they wanted to make sure that

It wasn't Chinese hedge funds that bought them.

It was American hedge funds that bought them.

Exactly.

Yes, exactly.

The other thing that they did do with this measure, as far as I can see, is they are pulling tax credits from green energy programs, and they're giving them to coal.

Clean coal, Jane.

Clean coal.

Okay.

The coal is much cleaner.

You know, it's my understanding, and again, I'm not an expert on this.

But it is my understanding that clean energy is kind of what most of the world is looking at.

Well, yes.

More sustainable energy

because

our energy needs continue

to increase.

Well, we're still digging.

We're digging for oil drilling.

That's what I want to say.

Drilling for oil.

We're still doing that stuff.

Oil and coal is not going anywhere.

But this the renewable.

the world of renewables is something that we need to invest in.

We know that even the oil companies know that.

And also, I don't know, has someone been talking about manufacturing jobs for the past what feels like forever?

I feel like renewable energy are

is something that we can build manufacturing here in America.

And have jobs?

Create great jobs that are great paying.

I mean, there's ways of doing it, but nope.

Nah, you want a solar panel?

Here's a lump of coal

in joy.

Well, and again, where is the long-term planning out of this?

If we do A, what are the potential B C and Ds?

They don't

do that.

Of course, that's not what you do when you have people behind you who put money in your pockets, who write the bills, who make sure you stay in your pretty little office making your tiny salary, even though you're making millions of dollars in the stock market or otherwise.

That's why they do it.

This doesn't require long-term planning.

This requires listening to your owners.

And the owners are the guys in the coal and oil industry.

They don't care about long-term planning.

They don't care

at all.

Speaking of oil and gas and those folks, we're going to reach out to Mr. Global, Matt Randolph, and have him back on in the next couple of weeks, because I saw a report yesterday that said that our rig countdown now is down five.

Five to six rigs, which means we're not drilling for oil.

We have news coming up next, and then when we return, Civic Media's news director, Charlie Pittman, will be joining us.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt Nair on air.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good, good morning.

Welcome.

Welcome to Matt and air on air.

Jane that near Greg Bach, Dr. Slide on the board coming you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can join us, call or text.

at 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75CIVIC.

Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.

She is Civic Media's news director and is gracious enough to carve out some time for us every Monday to do a little update.

Charlie Pittman is here.

Good morning, Charlie.

How you doing?

Good morning, Jane.

Good morning, Greg.

I'm good.

I feel somewhat rested.

Do

you?

How about you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, we're not, I don't have your job and you have, you have a big responsibility because Chally is the news director for all of Civic Media's news stations around the state.

There's a lot of us.

And so a lot of things I'm sure you were watching over this weekend.

Let's start with the Wisconsin state budget.

Today's the last day, isn't it?

Today, June 30th is the end of the fiscal year, so this is technically the deadline for a new budget to be passed, although it's not really.

Lawmakers don't pass a new budget today.

We continue with the current operating levels, and I think the legislature has waited until September before to pass a new budget.

But work in Madison is ongoing.

The Joint Finance Committee met again last Friday.

You know 12 hours after they said they would so I definitely went down to the Capitol a couple of times Expecting that they would meet and then they did it and you walk back to the civic media headquarters, which is just two blocks away,

right?

Okay, you are right down the street true

Yeah, it's nice.

It's nice to walk down and check out what's going on at the Capitol So last Friday the joint finance committee convened around 10 15 p.m After pushing those meeting times back about

12 times.

Some note items that were originally noticed were pulled from the agenda like UW System, but lawmakers did approve funding for more than half a dozen state agencies, departments.

And I don't know that you know this, Jolly, but I'm just curious.

What, did somebody have a nail appointment or something that they've delayed this for seven, eight times?

What are they doing?

You're surprised?

You're surprised this was on your plate today?

Well, they were negotiating, right?

I had some texts from some journalist friends who reportedly saw them huddling.

Somewhere in the capitol.

So while we were waiting in the media room, so they're definitely working and trying to hash out a deal.

You know, and that's probably why we also saw some things get pulled from the agenda because they didn't want to deal with it that day.

But they did approve funding for the elections commission, the DOJ DAPCAP, the DOA.

Tourism, Higher Education, AIDS Board, DOC, juveniles, DNR, and a very specific part of shared revenue for mill rates.

Breaking this morning, it appears that the Republican-controlled panel has another meeting for tomorrow morning.

That's according to the AP Scott Bauer.

I haven't seen it noticed yet in Wisconsin eyes, so I'm taking Scott on his word.

Yeah, it's hard to project what will happen in 24 hours, but that is the latest.

It's

where we are

now.

It's where we are now, which is all we can do.

I should also let you know that also on Friday, the state legislature, the Joint Finance Committee approved $10 million for literacy funding and

That's where the June 30th deadline really does matter today's deadline.

Because after today, that money would have lapsed back into the state's checking account rather than being earmarked for literacy initiatives that had been approved two years ago.

But that's been tied up in litigation.

It went before the state Supreme Court.

And last Wednesday, the state Supreme Court issued a decision siding with Republicans saying that Eva's partial veto

in how that lawmaking worked, wasn't correct.

But now the matter settled and the Joint Finance Committee took some action.

But they only gave 10 million out of the 50 million that had been appropriated.

So I guess where we are today is time is still ticking for the rest of that 40 million.

And this is just me reading after the decision came down.

I believe it was Senator Markline, but I think I'm probably incorrect.

Who said that now that the litigation is over, that they're going to release the money.

They said nothing about releasing, you know, a percentage of the money.

If you're just joining us, we are talking to Charlie Pittman, who is civic media's news director.

And we're just going over all the news that broke over the weekend stuff we may have missed.

Cause we always feel like here at Matt and Aaron air, we get off the air at 11 and 1102 something breaks.

And we're like, well, we can't talk about now.

But one of the things I noticed was we,

You spoke, Charlie, about if they don't approve the budget, it simply just lapses back to the current budget, and it will continue to do business.

Right.

I spoke about two different things lapsing.

Previous money from two years ago

for

literacy funding, that goes away at the end of today.

Also, the state budget will just continue under current operating budget.

the rest of the week and do the rest of the month if they don't pass a new budget.

But that does start to have implications for things that do end and for municipalities who are trying to write their own budgets.

So, you know, it's not ideal, but we do just continue.

And I know that on up front, that State Senator Chris Kappenga, I said it right this time, Chris Kappenga was fine with this.

And I was wondering, have you heard of any other lawmakers who are kind of coming onto this side of like, if we don't do anything, it's fine.

It's fine.

Or are people really trying to get the work done before the today deadline?

That's a good question.

I have also read some of what Kappenga says, and you know, his point is also that they're not risking a line item veto from Governor Evers by letting the current budget continue.

As to people's thoughts on the matter, that's up to you to decide.

I'm just here to tell you what's happening.

I'm curious, Jolly, you had mentioned that the Joint Finance Committee did release $10 million

of that 50 million that was set up for this literacy program, which is already in our schools and is a mandated program, correct?

It's for the office of something like school literacy, that's not the right title.

And it was approved in 2023 to set up this new office.

What this bill would do, do you remember the whole discussion over early

literacy education.

This was over a switch to phonics-based education over the so-called whole-language

reading philosophy.

Model, right.

Model, yes.

As for, and you can, yeah.

As for where they are in enacting that, I don't know.

That's a great question.

And I guess I'm just curious, so what are they hanging out of this 40 million for?

What are they, we don't know what they're waiting for.

We don't know.

I have no idea.

I

know that the ask was for 50 and they approve.

It's not quite 10 million.

It's like a few dollars under 10 million.

Gotcha.

Can't even round up.

Come on, you guys.

Just round it up.

It's not that hard.

Exactly.

We had some other, the state Supreme Court came down with some decisions last week on, what was it, the congressional districts.

Another unanimous decision from the state Supreme Court on this one.

Yep, the, the, well...

As for decision, the state Supreme Court said they wouldn't hear it.

They declined to basically hear these cases, right?

And it was a pair of lawsuits asking the court to redraw Wisconsin's congressional maps.

We had redistricting for state-level offices and Democratic groups wanted the court to take a look at congressional districts.

That was something that we heard a lot in the campaign this spring for state Supreme Court, for Supreme Court justice.

to be Susan Crawford.

But Democrats hold two of the eight congressional seats right now.

If the Supreme Court, which has a liberal majority had taken this, there was the potential for making at least two of those districts currently held by Republicans a little more friendly.

Yeah, you know, competitive.

So those would be for Derek Van Orden and Brian Stile.

But yeah, the state Supreme Court declined to hear it.

The reasoning why is complicated or speculation as to the reasoning why is complicated.

It has to do with least changes, approaches, and we don't have time to get into that.

But it's important to note that the court didn't actually say why.

This is just according to analysts.

Who knows?

Yeah.

Jolly Pittman is our guest Civic Media's news director talking about all things that happened over the weekend and where we are today on things.

Let's talk a little bit about the DNR.

Lawmakers did approve 87 million for DNR projects over two years.

So I guess that's a good thing.

Yeah absent the debate on the UW system or sorry universities of Wisconsin absent the debate over child care funding because those had been pulled off the Agenda the DNR funding for the DNR was probably the most controversial part of Friday's session So lawmakers did approve eighty seven million dollars for the DNR as you said But they didn't appropriate funding for the Knowles Nelson stewardship program and this is something that

Democratic lawmakers really seized on.

Governor Evers has proposed $1 billion over the next decade.

Democrats have requested a little less than that.

Republicans on that committee made the point that they are working on this, but they want to handle it separately outside of the budget process.

They want to pass separate bills.

And my speculation is because that would also mean it's

It avoids some of the veto powers of the governor.

That's my speculation, but but yeah, this is something that Democrats definitely charged after Republicans for and not not appropriating that you know, this very popular stewardship program for

folks at Charlie who don't know what this stewardship program is.

Can you just explain it real briefly?

Wisconsin is elite

It's

looking out for public lands, essentially.

Right.

I mean,

Wisconsin is a leader in conservation programs and environmental programs.

This is a very popular program that has been around since, I want to say the 80s, I could be wrong, but it invests in conservation in Wisconsin.

So some of your public parks and so on.

Parks are pretty bipartisan in Wisconsin.

And so this is something that Republicans alluded to hearing from their constituents about.

So this might actually be something on which we can agree.

Yeah.

Potentially.

Potentially agree.

Yeah, I feel

like

we say that a lot where it are things that, as you said, it seems bipartisan.

Someone can find a way to be like, no, I don't like it, but that's for another conversation.

Yeah, I hope so.

I really cause it.

Yeah.

Well, and as you pointed out, Charlie, I mean, Wisconsin has been at the forefront of conservation and, you know, land stewardship for probably long before just about anybody else.

You'd hate to see that go to the wayside.

And I think that is something on which a lot of Wisconsinites agree.

We love our outdoors.

We want to protect our outdoors.

We know what an asset it is.

Well, and also from another point of view, it's a very

very solid business plan as many of our up north businesses rely on our on our good lands to bring tourists from all over to have fun and do their things.

We're going to continue our update with Civic Media News Director Chaly Pittman on the other side.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt Nair on air.

We are the Civic Media Radio Network and we'll be right back.

Good morning.

Welcome.

Welcome to met and air on air chain met and air Greg box sweet Cal B coming to you live from our studio at radio park in Racine You can join us call her text at 855 7524842 Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter coming up at the very end of the show We wrap it up as we always do with this shouldn't be a thing today.

It's the hush your mouth edition literally

Stick around for that.

Right now, though, we are joined by Civic Media News Director Charlie Pittman is here to do a little recap of the weekend and where we are with all the things going on.

We wanted to talk a little bit, Charlie, about the Market University Law School poll that came out last week.

And there were some

kind of

some kind of surprising findings in this poll.

What really jumped out at you?

Yeah, so the Marquette University Law School poll really is a treasure and it is a bit like Christmas and unpacking it when it comes out.

So a new one came out last Wednesday.

And of course, I was on the road and had people calling me about it.

But one top line finding that our own political editor, Dan Schieffer, has also been writing about is about the governor and whether Evers should run again.

So first, let's start with approval, 48%.

that approved of Governor Evers job, 46 disapproved of his job, but the numbers are lower for him running again for a third term.

So 42% want him to run again and 55% of registered voters don't want him to do that.

It also asked about the governor's partial veto powers, which is something that governors in Wisconsin have enjoyed for a long, long time.

Wisconsin has the most expansive veto power.

Sorry, the Wisconsin governor has the most expansive veto power in the nation, less expansive than it used to be.

We no longer have the Vanna White veto, which was fun.

But 54% of registered voters say that the governor has too much power in his partial veto.

And as we just talked about,

This is something that is an active issue that he is actively using in dealing with the Wisconsin Republican-led legislature.

Yeah, that last one where he changed that year to cover education for the next 9,000 years or something like that.

That really sticks.

Next 4,000

years.

Or

400

years.

That's really stuck

with a couple of people there.

Yeah, that was interesting.

And it's really, it is kind of cool.

And it always reminds me, just on a purely technical level, it always reminds me of playing kind of a game of Mad Libs, or did you ever do blackout poetry with a newspaper where you black out the lines until you make a poem?

It's kind of exactly like that, the way the line on Vito works.

So the way that Governor Evers had tried to...

change revenue increases for Wisconsin schools for the next 400 years is by taking the line for the 2023-2024 school year.

and the 2024-2025 school year and he crossed out the 20s in the second part so that it took the 24 and the 25 into 24-25.

That's how the line item veto works.

So sorry for the over-explanation, but it's

interesting.

It was interesting.

I always feel like personally I need a six-month refresher on that story because we'll say, someone will say I'm like, but how did they

And that's a decision that was upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

to that for the educated was within his power to do so.

But and I say for now, because you never know.

But

well, I do find it interesting and I don't expect you to comment on this, Charlie, but I do find it interesting that the Republicans are they can't trust Governor Evers anymore because of these partial vetoes and what we can't trust him.

We can't trust him yet.

They're the ones when Scott Walker was running and never ran on Act 10, never talked about Act 10.

And then until he got elected and then

Act 10, but they can't trust the Democrats.

But anyway, that's just my little side comment on that.

Was there anything

else more about Marquette Law School polls?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Was there anything else in the in the law school poll that jumped out for you?

Well, while we're talking about the state Supreme Court, they also have numbers on their approval ratings.

49% of what Wisconsin voters approve of the job they're doing, that's the highest they've gotten in the last seven polls.

Wow.

Wow.

But voters also say, and this is interesting, that, you know,

Justices are elected in nonpartisan elections, spring elections, right?

Well, a majority of voters say that these elections are no longer nonpartisan.

They're a nonpartisan in name only, that there's no R or D after the names, but they are partisan.

And they say that court campaigns are, they might as well run with party labels because that is what we have transformed into.

That's what it's turned

into.

Yeah, without a doubt.

I feel like that's something we've discussed so many times with regard to, especially the campaigning.

the yard signs and well, not the yard side, but the door merch, the merch, but not merch.

Well, the door placards and stuff that they leave.

Yeah.

That's a very interesting thing.

And that we're sort of just an agreement that this is the worst kept secret in Wisconsin that, and I'm sure in other places too, that this is no longer not partisan.

So that's, that was interesting to see, but it's also great to see that, that they are getting praise for their performances.

So.

That's

two things yeah in the state budget that we should know before before I go UW system has been obviously funding for the UW system has been a major part of the budget negotiations 49% of voters say keep funding for the UW system the universities of Wisconsin the same and then 27% say increase funding 23 per se

percent, say, cut funding.

So that's interesting to have in your pocket as we're having these discussions.

And tax cuts.

Tax cuts are popular.

65% say half or more of the state's $4 billion surplus should go to tax cuts.

27% say all of it should go to tax cuts and 29% say half.

The one last thing I'll leave you with, the most popular thing in the Marquette Law School poll, banning phones in schools.

89.

percent support banning phone schools during class.

We can agree on a couple things.

Charlie Pittman is Civic Media's news director.

Thank you so much, Charlie.

Really appreciate you.

All you do.

And we will see you a week from today.

We got news coming up next.

Stay close.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good morning!

Welcome to Matt and Air on Air.

Jane Matt and Air.

Greg Mock and Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us.

Call text.

The number is the same.

855-7524842.

You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube,

And what used to be Twitter coming up later on this hour after the 1030 news, we're going to learn about the We Got This Garden in Milwaukee.

Alex Brosnan is the executive director of We Got This.

It's a chance to get kids involved in growing their own food.

Nice.

Which is a really great thing.

So we're going to talk to Alex all about We Got This.

And thank you to the listener who sent us this contact, by the way, said you should talk to these people.

And how can people, Jane, if they want to send us an idea for a guest, an idea for a segment, or maybe send us a, this shouldn't be a thing.

So how would they go about getting in touch?

The easiest way to contact this program, super easy.

Jane says, send an email to Jane says, J A N E S A Y S. Jane says at civicmedia.us.

Like Greg said, if you ever have a guest.

that you think we should talk to if there's something going on in your town, it might be Oshkosh, it could be Hayward, it could be anywhere.

Anywhere in Wisconsin.

Anywhere

in Wisconsin.

Absolutely, or maybe you have a business that you think should get highlighted on Beyond the Cheese, where we have a business on once a month outside of the dairy industry, just send all that stuff to janesays at civicmedia.us.

wanted to start off with this.

We've been talking a lot about the budget bill that is being debated as we speak in Washington right now and also the state budget bill, which today is the deadline.

They can't come to an agreement today.

Then we're just going to go back to previous spending limits.

This is from WPR, a program supporting Wisconsin kids for the last 20 years is now at risk of losing its dedicated federal funding.

Community Learning Centers serve 20,000 kids at over 160 sites across Wisconsin.

The federal program supports kids at high poverty schools through before and after programs offering academic and social programs and free meals for kids who need it.

Last year, the State Department of Public Instruction got about $19 million to fund it.

Donald Trump's budget will eliminate this grant.

That's the only federal funding stream dedicated to this after school and summer learning programs.

$19 million.

Which is a, it's a pittance.

It's not a, it's, it's a pittance.

It's, it is so many zeros after that decimal point when it comes to the totality of the, of the US budget.

which I think when we talked about it last week, we were talking about a $33 million cut to a $7.6 trillion budget spending plan,

$19 million.

$19 million.

And I guess what is astonishing to me as we talk about this more and more and more and we talk about these cuts, $12 million here, $19 million there, they're doing all these cuts and yet this bill is going to raise the deficit.

by like three trillion dollars.

And that is something that Republicans have said out loud.

This is not a Democratic talking point.

This is not liberal.

Tom Tillis said that out loud.

Tom Tillis, there have been plenty of Republicans.

The CBO has said this.

And I hate to belie the point again and again and again, but these cuts we hear about just are based in cruelty.

Like this is...

They just want to cut anything that helps people.

$19 million to help kids.

And you want to, again, we go over and over again about the long-term planning of it all.

The lack of the long-range goals.

The lack of foresight.

At least from a political standpoint.

From a political standpoint, say, hey, we kept this program as $19 million, we raised it to $22 million, because it's still nothing.

And we're going to take care of our kids.

But you said, you said it yourself in high poverty schools.

And the problem is Republicans, when they hear that, they think of Madison and Milwaukee immediately.

Cause you know, there's no poverty anywhere else.

Obviously not.

No, no, no.

Just like there's no

crime anywhere else in Wisconsin, except the two biggest population centers.

Yeah.

So they hear that.

And it's like, well, why would I cut that?

Why, why, why would I keep that?

Those kids, it's poverty schools.

It's Milan, it's in Milwaukee.

They don't vote for us anyway.

So.

All this comes to a point of these cuts just seem to be, I mean, Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, this poverty program, school for kids in poverty schools, this all is based on a level of cruelty that just seems exact and purposeful because they know that these individuals, these folks who take Medicaid, folks who takes Medicare, folks who are on SNAP, they don't have bargaining power.

They don't have lobbying money.

They don't have the ability to walk into an office and get a meeting immediately with the person at the top.

So why wouldn't they cut them?

They're nothing.

They don't matter to us.

That's why I feel about it.

President Trump's budget will eliminate this grant again for afterschool and summer learning programs.

This is part of 12 billion dollar cuts to the U.S.

Department of Education that would start August, October 1st.

This amounts to a 15% cut to the agency's budget.

This would fulfill Trump's commitments to maintain funding to school district, serving kids from low income families, but reflects an agency responsibly winding down.

And let's not forget Donald Trump campaign that he was going to eliminate the Department of Education.

That's why Linda McMahon from the world of pro wrestling

He's heading up our Department of Education.

Don't forget failed candidate for governor and senator.

That's right.

She did

Yeah, I mean and if you've watched the cavalcade of buffoonery that has been these these testify budget talks a budget of Conferences they've been having with the with the Congress whether it's RFK junior

Cash Patel, but in this manner, let's talk about Linda McMann.

She knows nothing about this.

This person is beyond not qualified, where she constantly has to look at the people around her for answers, get notes passed to her.

She gets note cards.

And when she's bereft of words,

which coming from the world of wrestling is hilarious to me.

But when she's bereft of words, she does the great thing of, I'll get back to you on that.

Well, they've all done that.

Yeah, just short of saying, can I get your answer in two weeks?

That is pretty much the administration response to everything.

Two weeks, everybody.

Everything's coming in two weeks.

Yeah.

Everything's going to be here in two weeks.

Trump said that over the weekend, this TikTok deal.

Two weeks.

Two weeks.

TikTok deal coming in two weeks.

We got to buy her for it.

I'll tell you who it is in two weeks.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's, it is, it is, it is not a, it is not even a lack of long range planning Jane.

It's just a matter.

It's not even a question for them.

It's not even, they don't, they're not gaming anything out other than just staying in office.

So, so, so there is no, there is, the, the, here's the long range planning for them.

It's staying in office.

It's not the health of the country.

It's not the people.

It's not, cause you know, when young children.

have the funding cut for their programs.

You know what they immediately do?

They reach down, and they grab them bootstraps, they pull on them real hard, and they all become millionaires because that is the way America does

it.

Well, get out in the fields, kids.

Come on.

Yeah.

I

mean, go start picking some stuff.

Make yourself useful.

In Wisconsin, more than 600,000 students have been served by community learning centers over the last 20 years.

School leaders say families are going to get hurt if the grant is cut.

and local funds can't make up the difference.

Layton Cooper, a rec coordinator with the Milwaukee Recreation Department, oversees these community learning centers.

He says when we talk about the proposed impact, this loss of money will have the numbers speak for themselves.

The rec department is part of Milwaukee Public Schools.

It serves more than 5,000 kids at over 30 centers across the city.

These cuts happen these students will no longer have access to meals recreation or academic achievement Do we want our kids to do better in school?

Mm-hmm.

I think so.

I mean I believe that's something once again Or is the only answer private schools the the only answer now is is privatization and send them send them to a get a voucher Send it private school.

Yeah

That's the only answer.

And as we know, Jane, that money just comes out of the sky.

That's just sky money that comes down and pays for school.

Oh, no, that's right.

It's our tax

money.

It is our tax money.

Yeah.

In Green Bay, Emmy Fish is the associate director of community partnerships for the Green Bay Area Public School District.

She says she doesn't want to alarm families, but there are more than 800 students enrolled at community centers across Green Bay.

They depend.

on about $600,000 in federal money, which Fish says cannot be replaced by local dollars.

And again, $600,000 in the grand scheme of things is not that much.

$600,000.

I mean, it's $19 million.

It's $19 million.

And before anyone says it, do not look to the state for help.

They won't even give you $50 million for reading.

That they already approved.

Yeah.

We spoke to Charlie Pittman earlier in the show.

in the last hour.

They've given out 10 million of it.

The other 40 they're still sitting on.

And it goes away as of today.

As of today.

So they can pat themselves on the back and say, we gave you some.

And Robin Vos can say, we gave you more money than ever.

Because you didn't give them any money in the first place.

So 10 million is great.

But that is one 20th of what's available.

The rest goes away.

I think I did that math right.

I had my head off the top of the dome.

It sounded good to me.

Do not look to the state for help.

They will not give it to you.

They don't want to pay for clean water or for education or hospitals They're not gonna get in the way they're not gonna start funding programs after school kids in poverty schools That's just not what's gonna happen.

This is gonna go away and people may lose their jobs too because if these programs Pay those adults to be there to execute the programming then they're gonna be without a job so again

I'm not even talking about long-term planning.

I'm just talking about like six months down the road.

This is,

it's cruel.

It's just cruel.

But again, Doge came in with the mission of just cut things.

So without looking at specifics, without going into the weeds about what does every agency do and who do they cover and what is covered and how does it work, they just went in again with an axe.

and started hacking at stuff.

And then two weeks later, the agency realized, oh my gosh, the guy who has the nuclear codes, we fired him two weeks ago.

Maybe we should bring him back.

And if this is enraging you at all, if this is making you very upset, if this is frustrating you, or at least asking the question, you can go to my vote.wi.gov.

Take advantage of it.

Take advantage of it.

Put your information in.

They're going to give you a list of all of your representatives from your common counsel all the way up to the president.

There are phone numbers provided.

You call those offices.

You tell them what's on your mind.

If this is something, if you are a parent, a person, or if you're a child listening to this right now and you are affected by this, call your reps.

Tell them how you're feeling.

If enough, I mean, if enough people call, they sometimes take action.

Well, and I really do think that that's one of the reasons why this Mike Lee from Utah provision to sell off our public lands.

I think there was so much pushback on it that they heard from so many constituents that they ended up pulling it out.

Yeah.

So sometimes if we make enough noise, it can actually make a difference.

If we all, if we all make a noise together, they can't make a

great noise.

That is it.

I will never say that sentence again.

When we return, we didn't ask for this, but they're going to do it anyway.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt Nair on air.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Don't go away.

Good morning.

Welcome back to Matt and air on air Jane Matt and air Greg Bach doctor slide on the board coming to you from our studio at radio park in Racine join us call or text at 855-752-4842 Leave a comment if you're watching in the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter another way you can contact us if you have the civic media app Not only can you call and text directly from the app, but now you can leave a voice note

a

what?

So you download the Civic Media app, which is absolutely free.

And along, once you pick your favorite station, which would be perhaps WAUK, where we broadcast, that's our signal that we broadcast on.

You pick WAUK and then you have three options that will come up and you can call or you can text or you can leave a voice note.

And you click that and then you speak into your phone and record your message and then you send it to us.

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I think it's another great way of getting in touch with us.

And a great way to take part in our wonderful contests.

Fridays now, free ticket Fridays are back.

So coming up this Friday, we will have a keyword for you from 9 to 11.

You use the app to text that in and you are in the running for a four pack of tickets to see the Milwaukee Brewers club level seats, baby.

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And there's something for to remember for this week, especially I want to start saying this now so everyone remembers.

This Friday is the fourth of July.

It is.

Jane Calvin and I will not be here, but not only will we have a highly curated best of episode for you, but there will be a keyword on that episode.

We're

still having free ticket Fridays

on Friday.

It's a new fresh word.

It will work in your phone.

So still.

Stay tuned.

Listen for that show and listen for that keyword.

And I just want to say that will be for the Friday, July 11th game against Washington.

So yes, free ticket Friday still happening, even though it's a holiday and even though Jane Calvin myself will not be here, keep it locked in always in civic media because it's going to be a great fun episode.

I hear.

That audio sorbet is something.

It's a

good.

It's a good

one.

It's one of our favorites.

Yeah, so join us coming up this Friday 4th of July.

We will be there to keep you company as you're having your

Cookouts

in the backyard and whatever it is.

It may be run a pontoon boat

that would Oh, where's my invite?

We need to be boated Jason.

That's yes as we mentioned before we're into the break Nobody asked for this, but they're gonna give it to us anyway, Greg Bach

Congressman says, nobody asked for the IRS to be American's tax preparer.

Applauds efforts to shut down the IRS indirect file program.

They had debuted this a couple of years ago.

Yeah.

You could file your taxes for free via the federal government.

It was kind of a pilot program.

Would I really love about that headline?

Cause that is the headline that is.

Uh, that is what he said.

Uh, I'm just trying to find the actual, yeah.

Yeah.

Nobody asked for the IRS to be America's tax repair.

I don't know if this congressman knows how the internet works because you file this, this message going out to representative Jason Smith, who's from Missouri.

Uh, you're not sending the information to a bunch of guys in a room who are writing things down.

You're just.

Putting a new website, you're filling out a form.

The form crunches the numbers and then it gets sent to the IRS and then it's at the IRS.

But here's the thing, Jane, is you're eliminating a middleman.

Oh, would

that be like, I don't know, tax preparing companies like H&R Block and other companies that we have to pay?

Turbo

tax?

Turbo tax to file our taxes.

Would they have?

perhaps been lobbying against this for a long time.

Big shocker there.

Yeah.

So I just love this idea.

Cause this, this just goes back to the notion of, of like the, the lawmaker a long time ago, he said, the internet's a series of tubes.

Like nobody asked for the IRS to be America's tax preparer.

We're not asking the IRS to be our tax preparer.

We're just saying.

Here's a website, put some numbers in, and there you go.

If your taxes are super complicated, you have a tax person.

Right, and you're not gonna be able to use this.

Yes.

But remember when Paul Ryan was still in office, and we talked

about the

tax and spend and all, we're gonna be able to fill out our taxes on a postcard, you guys.

Yep.

No, that still hasn't happened, and the direct file program was very, very popular, according to taxpayers and voters on all sides.

There was a poll conducted in April, 82% of likely voters supported expanding direct file to all Americans, but it's okay, you guys.

Mr. Smith, we didn't ask for it, so they're gonna take it away.

Even though it was really popular and a lot of us would have seen, like to have seen it expanded.

Nobody asked for it, maybe.

I know actually that's not true.

People have asked for it.

There have been advocate groups.

who have asked for a system like this.

So it has been asked for and it has been used and it has been liked by many, many people.

So Mr. Smith, I don't know who you're speaking to.

Either you are inept of the info or lying to our faces.

But again,

he's doing this for us, Greg.

Last year, 90% of surveyed users about this direct file rated their experience as excellent or above average.

So let's kill it.

Yep.

This is, this is another, this is more fraud,

Jane.

I'm

going to take care of my donors

by

my TurboTex people

and my H&R

block and all those.

Yeah, let's find out who Mr. Smith's donors are.

Yeah.

We'll check on

that while we go to the news.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt Nair on air on the vest, statewide, countrywide.

You can get us global if you have the app, Civic Media Radio Network.

Good good morning and welcome welcome to matinee on air Jane matinee and Greg Bach and Calvi on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine you can join us call or text the number is the same 855-752-4842 you can also leave a comment if you're watching the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter delighted to be joined by our next guest and thank you to Sue from Franklin who is the one who emailed us had Jane says

at civicmedia.us and said, you should talk to these people.

So Alex Bresnan is here.

He is the executive director of We Got This Milwaukee.

Alex, thank you so much for being here.

How are you doing this morning?

Real good.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Again, Sue had one of our listeners had reached out to us and said, you should talk to this organization.

They're fantastic.

So tell us a little bit about We Got This in Milwaukee.

And it's a gardening project, essentially, that you do, right?

Yeah, so we're located in the 5306 zip code.

5306

is the

poorest zip code in the state of Wisconsin.

And our zip code has over 800 vacant lots that the city owns.

And it's a ton of land.

a tremendous amount of land.

And anytime a piece of property isn't owned by an individual or an organization,

I

mean, it's taken care of, but it tends to be a liability more than an asset.

So we got this, we started about 15 years ago by a man named Andrele Alice, and we take vacant lots inside the city of Milwaukee, specifically right around our neighborhood, and we transform them into gardens.

And we do that by employing young people from the neighborhood

on Saturday mornings in the summer.

So last Saturday or yesterday we had about, or two days ago we had about 150 kids come out and they're slowly building out these garden spaces in the neighborhood.

That's really cool.

That's amazing.

That is cool.

This must be a first for some of these kids to be this active in gardening, I would imagine.

Gardening and work in general.

And, you know, I think as adults, we take for granted, you know, we go to work, we do things and we provide an income for ourselves and for our family.

But kids in my neighborhood, I live around the corner from the We Got This Card.

And, you know, kids in my neighborhood don't necessarily get that.

first opportunity.

When I was 12, I was mowing my neighbor's lawn and she gave me $10 after it and you learn, okay, I do work that has a value and that I'm paid for that work.

In our neighborhood, you don't have those opportunities.

So yes, for many of the kids, it's their very first work opportunity, which is great.

We love that because we get to teach them here is how you work.

There's a difference between work and play and work requires effort.

And we'll walk you through that process, but we do expect, you know, you to be working when you're at work.

Well, and it's as you said, though, Alex, it's just the basics of you have to show up on time.

You have people who.

Oh, yeah, I

have to tell you about that in a second.

Yeah.

But I mean, I knew someone who was a teacher at a high school and he was in charge of the theater department and they had a spring play every year.

And one year, the kid who was the lead actor in the play just didn't show up.

And he said, well, I had something else to do.

It's a commitment.

You have to stay with this.

And I'm really glad you brought up showing up on time.

So we have a capacity.

uh, and we got this.

So, you know, throughout the year we collect donations and, you know, the kids are paid through the donations to the organization.

We're a 501c3.

And so somewhere in the, in the late winter, early spring, we set our capacity based, you know, how much money we have divided by 12 weeks of the summer program.

That's how many kids can

show up.

Sure.

Our capacity is somewhere around between 125 and 150.

Um, and we have, uh, we've established a little bit of notoriety in the neighborhood to the point where kids are showing up earlier and earlier and earlier.

The first kid showed up on Saturday at six o'clock in the morning and we started eight.

So

just to get a

spot and we reached capacity at seven 40 and unfortunately we had to turn some kids away because.

only got so much money.

Right.

Um, but yeah, it's, uh, and we expect, you know, each week progressively throughout the rest of the summer that we'll reach capacity earlier and earlier, which has been what's happened historically.

So it's essentially though, once you reach your max, that's it.