Stop Trying to Make “Rigged” Happen (Hour 1)

Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matinair on air.

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

You can always join us.

Call or text the number is the same.

at 855-752-4842.

You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter, busy, busy Monday coming up for

you.

After the 9.30 news, Civic Media's news director, Shaly Pittman, is going to be joining us for a little recap of the many, many, many things that are going on.

The Voting Rights Act turned 60 this week.

We're going to talk about that and what appear to be some efforts to change the Voting Rights Act.

Also, we're going to talk about the cuts for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which announced last week that it will be shutting down now that the federal government has pulled funding and talk about some of the ramifications that's going to have, especially for people who live in rural areas.

Yes.

Yeah, it's this is going to be impactful.

Yes.

In our number two, we will lighten things up a little bit.

We're going to go beyond the cheese with a poppy bakery in Milwaukee.

Amy Gorski is the owner.

She started as a little pop up and then started doing some farmers markets.

And now she has this their own.

She's only on weekend open on weekends in Milwaukee, but it's killing.

It's killing it.

Is there a more Midwestern name than Amy Gorski?

Probably not.

Amy Gorski.

She owns the bakery down on Turtre Street and the best popovers in the game.

I just love them.

There's no comparison.

I love them.

We're going to wrap up the show as we always do with this.

It shouldn't be a thing.

Today it's your worst nightmare edition or your worst.

Nightmare edition, so stay tuned for that.

Did want to start off with this though.

The Department of Health and Human, Department of Health Services here in Wisconsin has confirmed our first cases of measles in 2025.

Nine cases of measles have been confirmed by the Department of Health Services and the Ocanto County Public Health

This is from wisn.com.

Sam Schmitz has the byline.

All of those impacted were exposed to a common source after they traveled out of state.

The DHS didn't say where they had traveled and they are not releasing any other information about those because of HIPAA laws, which I understand, but we're going to see more of this.

We're going to see more of childhood diseases that had essentially been eradicated.

But now there's so much vaccine hesitation being supported by our federal head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Bob Jr.

Definitely not a doctor.

No, definitely not a doctor.

And now we have some Republicans who apparently want to help this along so more of us can get measles.

This is from the Wisconsin examiner, Baylor Spears, amid falling vaccination rates.

GOP lawmakers now want Wisconsin to highlight exemptions.

That's essentially ways to get out of giving your child Vaccines because a lot of schools require them.

Yeah, so that all the kids don't get sick

That seems like a basic once again like Bob, Jr.

Not a doctor myself.

I would say that vaccinating children when you're around other children and adults Seems like a good idea.

Yeah kind

of

for the common good.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

You know, that that that weird word we don't use anymore.

That

old that old attitude we used to have.

Coauthors of the bill, Representative Lindy Brill, Republican from Sheboygan Falls and Senator Rachel Cabral-Govera from Appleton, also a Republican, say there's a lack of transparency around the exemptions that can create confusion and unnecessary barriers for parents.

and increase administrative burdens on schools when immunization documentation is incomplete or delayed.

Can't you just say they want to opt out of vaccines?

Let's let them.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

Wisconsin law does require kids in elementary, middle, junior, or senior high schools.

Childcare centers or nursery schools get vaccinated based on their grade or age.

The schedule covers all the stuff we had.

Growing up, mumps, measles, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus.

The stuff that a Republican god even just 10 years ago would have said, well, yeah, of course I'm going to get my kid vaccinated because that's just what you do.

This wasn't it.

It was a gift.

Yeah.

If you go back to the days of polio.

And they came out with a polio vaccine.

Parents couldn't wait to get their kids that shit.

I mean, there's Jane, there are so many feelings right here.

It's just like this profound sense of sadness, this profound, I mean, the arrogance too.

It's just the pure uncut arrogance of it all to say.

I know better than doctors.

And because I watched some person on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook.

Because those people are never wrong.

Influencers are

never

wrong.

Or got an email from a guy who talked to a guy who knows someone who's pretty sure that their kid got a vaccination and now they have mumps filled autism.

Well, that's it.

I'm not, my kids are, it's just the absolute arrogance.

And you know what?

You don't want to, you don't want to vaccinate your, I will, for one thing, I'm just really surprised that we still have a law.

I'm really surprised at this point.

We still have a law.

And if we don't have one in six months, don't blame me.

I'm just saying, I'm like, I'm really surprised.

We still have a law in the books that requires children.

And if you don't want your child to get vaccinated, then I feel bad because the consequences are in you.

But also, why don't you just homeschool them then?

But then

what if they go on a playground?

I mean are you

gonna

homeschool them and just confine them to your yard?

I guess

you

could we have children who died in New Mexico Whose parents did not get them vaccinated.

Yeah, and they died from measles Measles is a highly contagious disease

that can spread from person to person through the air and stay in the air for two hours after the infected person coughs or sneezes.

It is so contagious if one person gets measles, up to 90% of the people around them can also become infected if they're not vaccinated.

And the symptoms include runny nose, high fever, could be over 104.

That's not good.

Cough.

watery eyes, pink eye, a rash.

It can also cause serious health complications, including pneumonia, brain damage, deafness, and can also cause death.

On the live stream, cause Cassandra is, is one of our regular commentators and also a nurse.

She says, uh, Rachel, I think it's, is it Rachel or Rochelle?

I think it's Rachel, one of the.

Cabral Gravera, she is the Republican who co co co authored this bill.

She is a nurse practitioner She is a nurse practitioner and she is authoring this I Don't I Don't get it.

I don't honestly.

I'm at the point Jane where now when I hear these things I no longer even have any sort of like witty retort

or a bevy of information because it doesn't matter the information you had.

They just do not care.

They want to live their lives in the most illness-ridden freedoms they want.

Freedom.

It's all about freedom.

And that's, I guess, the point of the whole, like, homeschooling.

It's like, if you want to be unvaccinated, okay.

But then be away from other people then.

You have a responsibility not to be around people if you are unvaccinated because

You will get sick and you can make other people sick and it just it just doesn't make sense to me at all that none of this

But

they have the

freedom to infect others.

Yeah, Wisconsin does allow parents to get the requirement waived for vaccinations if they submit a written statement objecting including health religious or personal conviction

Well, that just covers everything then.

All you have to say then is like, I don't like it.

And you don't even have, if it's health or religious or personal conviction, that doesn't seem very... The claim of it's very vague.

There's a lot of problems with people trying to access.

No, it isn't.

It's either, I can't do it because I have A. I can't do this because of the Lord, or I can't do this because I just don't feel like it.

I know.

I don't want...

I don't want to be chipped.

I don't know how less vague you can get in this matter.

The bill would not change current requirements for vaccines.

The bill would require schools, childcare centers, and nursery schools to create a process to give a vaccine waiver form with every health related form it requires before a student can be enrolled.

So they just want to make sure that it's that much easier for parents to opt out of getting their kids vaccinated.

We talk about this a lot on this show and I think it's never been more important because especially at the state level, the local level, all politics are local.

But if you don't like this, if this bothers you, if this makes you uneasy, if you are, I don't care if you're a parent or not, this just, cause if you're, if we're out in the world, we're all together, it doesn't matter if you have kids or not, but go to my vote.wi.gov, put in your information, look, and they don't have to represent you by the way for you to call them, call the co-sponsors of this bill and tell them what you think.

And as

Cassandra also put it, and this really makes me nervous, she, Cabrera, is a primary care provider in the Fox Valley.

So is she just advising her patients not to get vaccinated?

I don't know.

I don't know.

So yeah, go to myvote.wi.gov and put in your information.

Find out who represents you and call them up as well because it's important for you to have your voice heard on these matters.

Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97% effective at preventing it.

See, Jane, it's about that 3%.

Oh, that's what it is.

That's that 3% that causes all that

junk.

would like to find out more about the measles vaccine.

The DHS does have a measles webpage.

We will include the articles that we're referencing in our show notes that you can find at civicmedia.usciviccivicmedia.us.

Again, now we have nine confirmed cases of measles in Wisconsin in 2025.

Are you happy?

Does that make you happy?

Is that what you wanted?

Heard immunity.

Oh,

yeah.

That's what we're shooting for.

When we return, I went grocery shopping over the weekend.

And the receipt I got was wrong.

It was miscalculated.

So I told her, sure, I want a new cashier.

You did?

Yeah.

All the details coming up.

I'm just finding us out right now.

It's because it's a joke.

Oh, stay with us.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air.

We are coming to you across the vast statewide global on the app.

Civic Media, you get it.

I just got it.

Radio Networks, stay with us.

He starts to cry.

Good morning.

Welcome.

Welcome to Matt and air on air.

Jane Matt and air Greg Bach.

Dr. Slide on the board coming you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

Join us.

Call or text at 855-752-4842.

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

And what used to be Twitter, Civic Media's news director, Charlie Pittman, joining us after the 9.30 news.

And want to give you a reminder, we got baseball later on today.

You're pretty happy, aren't you?

It was kind of a good weekend.

Fourth sweep in a month.

And boy, were they hot at the beds.

They're the best they're the best record in baseball again,

right?

That was something Brewers at the Braves tonight our broadcast starts at 540 You cannot listen on the stream, but you can listen on terrestrial radio.

So check it out on WRCE in Richland Center W ISS in Oshkosh W RJ N here in Racina Kenosha W CQM at Park Falls.

Hello Park Falls.

Hey Park Falls and our newest Milwaukee Brewers

WBZ H in Hayward.

The crew at the Braves tonight, our broadcast starts at 540.

I forgot

to mention this last week.

Last, uh, the Friday game, I believe was on Apple TV plus.

And if you get it, I believe in certain parts of Wisconsin, it's they still do blackouts if I'm not mistaken.

Probably.

So.

Civic media is a great alternate alternative for getting those brewers games.

listening to them, you know, if you, if you were within the range of one of those stations kicking back on the porch, listening to a game on the radio, there's really fewer things that are better.

But yeah, it's a great alternative.

If you can't get it on your TV, which I know is with all the access to baseball on TV, they still have blackout rules and it's still very, very infuriating.

Yeah.

It annoys numerous people.

Yeah.

Yes.

Uh, so this happened on Friday and it might have just, you know, might have missed it.

There's lots of things that happen.

Donald Trump on Friday fired the head of the BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erica McEnterfer, and almost the entire Senate supporting her to lead the agency in 2024.

The widely respected economist was confirmed on a bipartisan 86-8 vote in the Senate.

Well, that's where you lost me is widely respected economists.

That's where her first problem

is because she was widely respected and an economist.

Yeah.

While the revisions to the jobs numbers came out on Friday and Donald Trump said they're rigged and he didn't like them.

So he fired her.

This is what we do in North Korea.

When you don't like the news, you fire the messenger, kill the messenger.

Yeah.

Well, you make it eventually so you don't even report that news out of fear of being fired, jailed, deported.

No,

you adjust the

news

to show the administration what it wants.

This

was in project 2025 when they talked about science.

Here is the result we want.

You come up with how we get there.

Yes.

And that's what they're doing now with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jane, how easy is it for the director of the BLS?

to go in there and tinker with numbers and go and rig them.

Yeah, take a wax pencil and be like, here we go, there we go, take them and do all that stuff.

How easy is it?

Let's hear from the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bill Beach on CNN.

Calvin, play that clip, please.

Can you explain to us, the president said that the BLS commissioner rigged these numbers.

What do you think?

There's no way for that to happen.

The commissioner doesn't.

do anything to collect the numbers.

The commissioner doesn't see the numbers until Wednesday before they're published.

By the time the commissioner sees the numbers, they're all prepared.

They're locked into the computer system.

The only thing the commissioner does on Wednesday is to kind of do the edits on the text.

So there's no hands-on at all for the commissioner.

I was commissioner and I was sometimes locked out of the process of actually, you know, where the people were working in the building.

So there's no way for doing that.

What I think really upset the president on Friday were the revisions to May and June.

Big revisions.

But that's because like every time we publish on Friday... Happens.

There are revisions to the previous two months.

This is a

survey.

And a survey has sample returns.

You know, people have done surveys, you know, answer your phone.

It's

basically like a poll.

Yes, like a poll.

OK.

Not everybody in the country is asked the question, are you working or are you looking for work?

Just a handful in businesses, about 600,000 businesses.

Well, they don't all get their returns in on time.

I would like them all to come in on time.

But

they don't.

keeps the door open for two more months to get more information.

So what you saw on Friday was the effect of trying to do a better job, getting more information.

That is the former head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bill Beach, on CNN explaining how the head of the BLS, there's no way for her to rig numbers.

Sorry, President Trump, the numbers weren't good.

And

that's a fact and like every other president before you who's had these numbers be published you just have to deal with it and do better and

No, you fire her you fire her and you put in a loyalist who will give you the answers that you want That's why I said yes I went to the grocery store over the weekend and after I got my receipt and I looked at it and I told the cashier this is rigged I want you fired

And then they laughed at me and threw me out of the store.

But that's my life.

See, I wouldn't have thought it was real had you delivered that the first time.

When you did it before, I was like, what?

Wait a minute.

You didn't say anything about this.

Tell me more how this works because I have no idea.

I thought computers did this stuff.

But yeah, I'm going to throw, you're going to hear this from me a lot more going into the future is.

Mega supporters make this make sense.

Why is this a good thing?

Why does this make sense?

Why is this all rigged?

How does this make America better?

How does it make it great?

How is it rigged?

Show your work.

Show me the science.

I want to see it because right now if we're just firing people who disagree with your leader, then that's not democracy at all.

And you cannot redefine that because, sorry, that's not how words work.

It almost feels that some people really are.

fans of democracy.

We have news coming up next.

When we come back, Civic Media's news director, Shaly Pittman will be joining us.

Stay close.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air.

This is the Civic Media radio network.

Good morning and welcome to Matt and Air on Air.

Jane Matt and Air.

Greg Bach and Sweet Calbee coming to you live from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us.

Call our text at 855-752-4842.

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 an hour from now, a segment we call Audio Sorbet.

Where we lighten things up a little bit get away from the news take a break take a break rather We're gonna pivot To something that's happening and above my garage door.

I have a bird stuck in a birdhouse.

That's a hole So we're gonna talk about wildlife assistance For audio sorbet today if you have any tips on how I can get this stuck baby bird out of this birdhouse That would be great

We will talk about other animal rescues coming up after the 1030 news in Audio Sorbet.

Right now, though, we're going to talk about important things, like Shaly Pittman is Civic Media's news director, and she joins us now every Monday.

Good morning, Shaly.

How you doing?

Good morning.

Hey, wildlife rescue is important.

So I look forward to hearing

it.

It kept me awake until one o'clock this morning.

I couldn't stop thinking about that bird.

It's driving me nuts.

So that's coming up next hour.

But we want to talk about there are always things that happen on Fridays.

We get off the air at 11 o'clock and it's like everything breaks once we leave the air.

But something that kind of got skipped over among all the other late breaking Friday news was

Susan Crawford is now Justice Crawford.

Absolutely.

Well, this one we knew was coming.

This was

scheduled.

We like when that happens in the news business.

We can plan around it.

So Susan Crawford, after being elected in April, is now Supreme Court Justice.

She's taken her seat on the bench for a 10-year term, and she was sworn in at the Capitol Rotunda on Friday.

Radio listeners can't see us, but I have this program schedule right here.

I held on to it.

Very nice.

Yeah, it was a celebration, the very crowded rotunda.

You know, she was presented the robe by her family, which was very sweet, and she delivered an address, and you can find more about what she said, you know, on civicmedia.us, but it's a...

continuation of the the Supreme Court kind of liberal majority it further bolsters it and Six out of the seven Supreme Court justices in Wisconsin are women.

That's amazing.

It is amazing and for me personally It's a fun little family connection because I found out this weekend that now justice Susan Crawford was a partner an associate at Pines Bach, which is a law firm in Madison that my

I believe my cousin is a founding partner, if not a partner at.

So I just saw that, they wish they're well and good luck.

I'm like, oh my goodness, that's so, so cool.

It just makes sense that cool people hang out because the lawyer box and my family are amazing.

And then there's the radio box down here is just like, we don't talk about him.

It's a lesser

branch of the family, a lesser box of the family as it were.

This guy, it's interesting because this kind of goes along with new FEC filings regarding Elon Musk and Elon, of course, famously poured

millions and millions and millions of dollars into the Supreme Court race.

So what's up with this new filing?

Yeah, this came, I think, a day before or the same day as her investiture, as it's called.

But was was politics was on this, of course, and they found that Elon Musk's PAC spent more than $27 million on petition.

incentives this spring.

Now those filings don't say that PAC spent it in

Wisconsin on this race but the dates align with the Supreme Court race and our listeners will well remember Elon Musk coming to Wisconsin putting a cheesehead on in Green Bay and handing over these you know checks and and all the the things that had to change he initially announced something that didn't seem entirely legal so he had to change it to sign a petition against activist judges and that promised a hundred dollars to to

folks who promised to vote against that.

And then we had those sweepstakes.

So that brought legal challenges even at the time.

Attorney General Josh Call filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction with the Wisconsin Supreme Court who denied it and didn't say why.

But there is another

another lawsuit challenging that last year, earlier this year, that was filed by another progressive legal group, Greg, law forward, which filed that in Dane County Circuit Court.

And just to make your brain spin, right, Dane County Court was where Susan Crawford.

Served right

right.

I feel like now as you play the X file theme song it all connects man It

all connects it all connects and Greg.

That's that's you really are connected.

I had no idea.

Thanks for sharing that I also want to share that Susan Crawford was chief legal counsel Under Jim Doyle and he spoke and it's been a while since

he was done He kind of like he kind of when he was done he said goodbye.

I even thought while you said the name I

to be like, oh yeah, that governor.

He was out of the woodwork he spoke and he gave some of the main remarks so did retiring now retired I guess chief justice and former chief justice and Walsh Bradley She had a celebration in June In the exact same place in the capital rotunda and it I think they pulled up the same like screen that they used on Friday right in the back So that we also covered that and that was um

You know, she delivered a pretty long and lengthy speech just talking about the representation of women on the court and the role of judges and justices in a time of kind of deep political division, which is something that Susan Crawford also spoke to in her remarks

on

Friday.

I think former Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will have an interesting book coming out one day.

That's

just my

that's just my speculation I think she would have some interesting stories to tell about her time on the court

And this is a question in the moment I don't know if either if if someone can find this out Is there another state supreme court in America that has more of a representation of women on the bench than Wisconsin?

I think we might be the one

That's a great question.

Yeah, I apologize.

I should have I should have prompted everyone else But it just it popped in my head when you said that and I was just like, oh, I

That feels like that's pretty important that there are six of the seven justices are women.

I mean, that's I think that's cool.

Wow.

What a what a grand statement to make.

But yeah,

other states also have different selection criteria

for

their state Supreme Court justices.

So it gets complicated.

It all works differently.

I do find it interesting, though, that that these cases against Elon are still going on.

I have never understood how what he did was considered legal.

In any kind of business, if you have a raffle or a sweepstakes or anything, there are all kinds of things that govern how you do that in order to keep it legit.

And I just, that is remarkable to me that he's just, it's like, yeah, well, here's a million dollars.

It's all fine.

Go ahead.

And as I said, I always thought that it's,

He's Elon Musk.

He's probably got, you know, 40,000 attorneys on retainer.

And they probably went through all the things that, here's what you can do, cannot say, not say.

Here, try this.

So yeah.

All right.

Pacific Media's news director, Shaly Pittman is our guest.

And we're just doing a little recap of things going on in the news that we might all have missed.

The Voting Rights Act turned 60 this week, Shaly.

What was the goal of the Voting Rights Act?

What did it do?

Yeah, that's a great question.

It turns 60 on Wednesday, and it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, and the goal was to end racial discrimination in voting, especially in the South.

It banned things like literacy tests and voter suppression tactics, and it gave the federal government the power to come in to oversee elections in states when...

some things might be happening.

So, you know, I thought it was interesting when we're talking about voting and voting access that this law is 60 years old.

Now, it's taken a beating, right?

It has been...

renewed and amended along the way, but it was weakened by a 2013 Supreme Court decision that Shelby County Reholder.

And so as we're continuing to talk about things in 2025 related to voter access, voter ID, and how our elections are administrated and who benefits, I thought that was a little known.

I didn't know that.

I was looking at my planning calendar and I was like, oh wow, it turned 60.

Kudos to the League of Women Voters who will have a celebration at the state capitol this Wednesday for thinking ahead and planning that.

And by the way, a League of Women Voters is a great organization if you are ever thinking

What can I do?

I'm a blue dot or even a red dot because League of Women Voters is a bipartisan organization.

If you would like to get involved in some way, they'd be a good place to start, at least to talk to them.

And one thing that's great about the League of Women Voters is that they provide

great explanations, especially on ballot measures.

They have a toolkit on their website that shows you exactly what the language is, what it breaks down to.

And as you said, this is nonpartisan.

This is a group that just seeks to expand democracy and understanding.

So yeah, actually, I didn't know that, Charlie.

That's a great thing.

I think I'll reach out to Deb Cronmiller and see if she wants to come on to talk about that celebration, because I think it's important to celebrate.

What a wonderful thing to celebrate.

That's

totally in danger, in my opinion.

Well, and it is still under threat.

The Voting Rights Act is, they're still trying to chip away at it and say that, you know, we no longer need, we no longer need this, is the claim that everything in our system works just perfectly, so we don't need this anymore.

We're gonna continue this on the other side, Shali, but let's talk a little bit about the cuts for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Yes, this is might as something you missed last Friday the Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it's shutting down following a vote in Congress to defund it the Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds

1500 radio and TV stations across the country, which are mostly not, which are non-profits and non-commercial.

It's public radio.

It's community radio.

And I'll say this on the other side, but this is something I have a deep connection to.

sort of saw coming and the impacts are manifold.

Especially this is going to have a widespread impact and I think especially in some of Wisconsin's more rural communities and I don't think people appreciate just what is coming down the pike.

So we're going to continue this conversation with Civic Media's Shaly Pittman.

She is our news director and we will be right back.

So 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 Nair on Air.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, resident young person Calvin on the board coming to you live from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine, where you can always join a scholar text.

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Playing for a four pack of Milwaukee Brewers.

I understand the boys are doing somewhat well lately.

a four pack of Milwaukee Brewers club level seats.

Those are comfy.

Those are cushy.

They're cushy.

They're cushy.

They're comfy.

And they're hot right now.

Yes.

They

are the hottest team in baseball.

The best, the best, uh, best record in the league period.

Take that.

The Dodgers.

And yeah, it's very exciting.

It's always exciting to be a Brewer's fan, but sometimes it's more excitement, happy, other times it's anxiety.

That too.

But anyway, the whole point is download the Civic Media app so you are ready when we come to Friday for free ticket Fridays.

If you're just joining us, Shelly Pittman is our guest.

She's the news director here at Civic Media.

We're just doing a little recap of some of the news over the weekend you may have missed.

Before we went to break, we were talking about the end

of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, this is going to have a much wider impact, I think, Shallie, than people realize.

You worked in public radio for a long time.

Yes.

Well, I worked in community radio, which is sort of public radio, but also its own sort of animal thing.

Animal, right.

But non-commercial broadcasting.

And I worked at W-O-R-T, which does.

get funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

So this is one thing that I...

I'm not maybe objective on and it's also not something that civic media is objective on.

We put out a press release opposing these cuts.

You might have seen that or you might have not, but we said that we stand against funding cuts to public broadcasting.

So just those disclaimers out there.

But the CPB is the single greatest source of funding for not only national public radio, Wisconsin public radio, but also for independent broadcast

broadcasters, rural broadcasters, community radio, including those in Wisconsin.

So W-O-R-T, about 12% of their budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

I was listening to an interview with the station manager at W-O-J-B, the Lakuta Ray station in the Northwoods, and their station manager...

told WRT that they will need about $200,000 to stay on the air in the face of those cuts.

That's a lot of money when you're up in the Northwoods.

It

is.

When you're a non-commercial broadcaster, absolutely.

And that carries with it restrictions, by the way.

Non-commercial broadcasters cannot air ads for revenue.

They can air something different called underwriting.

There are many, many, many legal restrictions for what you can say in underwriting versus advertising.

But there are a lot of hoops to jump through when you're applying for a CPP grant.

You have to file grants.

reports on what you're doing, you have to do so many outreach activities you have to take, which is good, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training.

There are lots of requirements to obtaining CPB funding and that's going away.

Well, this brings me to a question and I posted something on social media about this and and someone came back at me and said that this has been this is this is the result of a bad business model that they did not adapt early platforms and that They they they could go to for profit instead of me.

I don't think he understands what corporation for public broadcasting actually means I think he thinks of it as a legit

traditional business model, when really it's something that the government set up as a way of funding these public stations.

And I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't saying like, well, you're wrong.

I feel like this is just a matter of, because people have broken down, it's pennies out of our pocket per person funding these stations.

And I just want to make sure that I am not incorrect in my assumption that this isn't about bad business.

This is about the fact that Donald Trump called it woke, liberal, radicalized, and

It would finally gave them the push they'd been trying to cut for years.

Well,

that evil Sesame Street, you know.

Well, if I can jump in, I hear where the listener is coming from, right?

And in many ways radio stations, community public radio stations have adapted.

However, there has been this narrative that they do not represent the full diversity of the ideological sphere.

And in my time in public and commercial or non-commercial radio, I have not found that to be true, right?

Everyone is invited on the airwaves, especially at community radio.

We are open.

ORT is open to everyone to volunteer.

It's also one of those things where it's responsible for those vital services like EAS that are the backbone for the rest of broadcasting.

So there's that.

This was also outlined in project 2025.

And we also knew that this was coming.

And if we had more time, we'd get into that section that says remove CPB funding and also revoke the non-commercial status of stations.

Charlie Pittman is Civic Media's news director.

Go to our website, civicmedia.us.

Click on news.

We have a great, great news department headquartered all over the state.

Shaly, thank you so much.

We will see you next Monday.

We have news coming up next.

Stay close.

You're listening to Met and Air on Air.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt Nair on air.

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

You can always join us.

Call or text the number is the same, 855-752-4842.

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

We try to do this once a month.

We're very excited to have our next guest here for a segment.

Calvin, we call...

Beyond the Cheese.

Joining us is the owner of Poppy Bakery in Milwaukee, pastry chef Amy Gorski is joining us.

Good morning,

Amy.

How

are you?

Good morning.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for being here.

It turns out that actually you have a nice profile today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Oh, I haven't seen it yet.

Yeah, Rachel, Rachel

Bernard,

Rachel Bernard in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today has a really nice review of Poppy Bakery in the dining section first bites.

Poppy Bakery is the Swedish tradition to Milwaukee's East side.

So you'll have

to

check that out.

We're going to include this article in our show notes after the show.

Yeah, it's fabulous.

So tell us a little bit about Poppy Bakery because you started as a pop up.

Yeah, so I started the bakery about two years ago and I was at the Brookfield Farmers Market, Okonomawak Farmers Market, and then the indoor walk-a-shot market at Chef Pam's Kitchen.

So last year, I kind of really made an imprint on the Brookfield Farmers Market, so I was a weekly vendor.

And it just kind of exploded.

And then, you know, I've been working towards this for the last

12 years of my career.

So it was it was time to pull the trigger and you know, just see how far I could take this.

And we found a spot and it all happened within like six months.

It was really fast.

Very fast.

Yeah, it was one of those where I saw the space.

My friend George Gaspar, he is an incredible realtor and we just were like, this is it.

This is

the spot.

Yeah.

I mean, to be perfectly honest, I signed on the dotted line and went, what did I just do?

I knew I couldn't pass it up and everything just felt right.

And there were so many little Godwinks along the way that was telling me this is the right thing.

And I just, I just had to do it.

So.

Yeah, it worked out.

Where is your space on Milwaukee's East Side?

Yeah, so it's on Ivanhoe.

It's right at the intersection of like North.

Ivanhoe and Prospect, I think.

Okay.

It's right by the Oriental Theater.

It's right by like Beans and Barley, the hospital, Whole Foods, like that kind of area.

It's kind of tucked away.

The Ivanhoe Plaza, they just redid it and it's beautiful.

And so they have this giant mural on the street and it closed it off.

So now it's just this big kind of open space for people to sit and hang out.

So it really worked out so that there's kind of more seating outside for people.

I know exactly where that was because I used to live in the apartment buildings that are on Summit and Ivanhoe.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

When Vintage used to be Vox and it was all just a couple of bars in a dream and the old tiny theater, the old Marcus Theater inside the Prospect Mall back in the day.

I remember that.

I'm really old.

But

yeah, I know that.

But you're only open on weekends, correct?

So we opened on Fridays a couple weeks ago and then probably within the next two weeks we're gonna open on Thursdays and I specifically and strategically did that because I I want to make sure that we can deliver consistent perfect pastry and hospitality and I just wanted to do it right and With the incredible staff that I have were able to execute Friday Saturday and Sunday

pretty much flawlessly and everyone still has a little bit of a work-life balance, you know, kind of self-influted.

But yeah, we're working towards a goal of Wednesday through Sunday, but we don't really have a rush.

I just want to make sure that we do this right.

Growing bigger, faster, I would think that's always a challenge that you have to look at, especially as a small business owner, right?

You want to make sure, as you said, you can continue to keep your customers happy while at

the

same, trying to grow a little bit.

I wanted to share this little review from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

I grabbed a savory brioche.

bacon, bun.

Oh, man.

Yeah.

Puffy.

Oh, wait.

Puffy and golden around the edges dotted with a blend of rich goat cheese, bechamel, asiago and Parmesan that crusts and crisps over the top of thick chopped bacon.

A scattering

of

fresh chives and parsley makes it picture perfect.

You sold me on that.

I'm there.

Wow.

You know, it's so funny.

So I never, when I started the business, I never set out to

have like a a pastry that I'm known for or like that's like the thing you have to get.

And the irony of the bacon brioche being one of our best sellers is I was vegan for like 15 years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And now my best seller is a cheese and bacon.

Oh,

yeah.

It's so funny to me.

And I was just like, Hey, whatever works, but

Yeah, no, that's, that's a farmer.

We, I haven't changed that.

I haven't changed any of that, like any of the components in like two years.

So that's kind of a cool one that it just seems to stand the test of time, hopefully.

If you're just joining us on matinee on air, we're speaking to Amy Gorski, who's the pastry chef and owner of poppies bakery in Milwaukee on the east side.

And is the story really Amy for you just, you were baking, you love baking, like it's, and then someone just said, or you said, I should do this.

Yeah, it

It kind of I was working in fine dining in Chicago, which is where

I

originally from.

And I loved it.

I loved fine dining, but I wanted something a little bit more sustainable for like the long run.

I feel like fine dining is more of a young person's game.

And I'm not a night owl.

I'm a morning person.

I'd rather start work at 2 a.m.

than get out of work at 2

a.m.

And I just like cookies.

I don't have this like romantic, like my grandma and I used to do this.

My mom and I baked pies.

I just like sugar.

There's no, that's it.

Like I just like cookies.

And the fun part about owning a bakery is I'll be doing like paperwork or I'll be like working on like costing.

And then I'm like, I just bake off like a singular cookie for myself.

It's like,

that's awesome.

I think that should be your slogan.

I just like cookies.

We'll just put it

on a t-shirt.

I just like, I

just like cookies.

And

honestly, I appreciate that attitude towards it because that description, that was, that was, what was that again?

The

bacon brioche bun.

The bacon.

So I appreciate the wonderful word fill description, but for me personally, when it comes to anything, whether it's local beers or local foods, for me, my thing is like, I like this.

This is, you should have this.

This is really

good.

We're not trying to reinvent the wheel.

We do some unique flavors.

So we put coriander with the blueberry scone, and we've got cardamom in our little cardamom chocolate nuts.

And at the end of the day, I just want to get people what they want to eat.

And sometimes it's just a really good chocolate chip cookie.

That's it.

I'm so

glad to hear you say that, though, because sometimes I think there is so much pressure on chefs

to come up with the latest Sporky.

Oh,

yeah.

Right?

You know, what's

the most outrageous?

Let's get a

cookie

with green

foam and

yes, and fennel or something.

It's like,

you know, and that's the thing where it's like, if I if I do something a little bit unique or like out of the box, it's intentional.

There's purpose behind it because, you know, for example, the the fruit brioche bun that we just did, it is a blackberry bun with a tarragon vanilla pastry cream.

Some people aren't super familiar with tarragon, but they like vanilla.

They like blackberries and they seem to like my bakery.

So they're more inclined to be like, all right, we'll take a little bit of a risk, but I'm not trying to be weird to be weird.

Like it just, it works well, you know.

So it complements, you know, everything we do is intentional.

So, you know, adding a little bit of this or that spice or herb, whatever, it's hopeful to, you know, enhance the experience of the pastry, not just.

to be weird.

But I think

so many places do that.

It's like weird

is always

better.

And

I don't know that that's necessarily true.

We took this breakfast sandwich and we put motor oil on it because you know, no one's done that before.

I can completely appreciate that.

I can appreciate the vision and I watch some of the I don't watch many of them but like

The recipes people come up with, I get it, and I respect that, but at the end of the day, I want to try something, I want to taste something that tastes good, and I don't want to feel guilty.

Because I feel like there's a sense of like, if you don't like it, your palate isn't good enough, therefore, you deserve something higher end and custom made to it.

And I have to imagine,

in that industry, because I used to work in the craft beer world, people are telling you what you should put in your creations.

You know what you should do.

Throw ghost peppers in here.

I don't want to.

I don't need to, but I'm sure you're always getting advice on how to do it better.

I know.

So it's just one of those things where you kind of take everything with a grain of salt.

And I do appreciate the feedback.

And I also think it's important to listen to your guests to see what each community wants.

And like Brookfield, they really, really love the savory pastries.

Great.

So we put some more savory on.

uh east side seems to be a little bit sweeter so all right we'll maybe focus our efforts on more sweet pastries or lighter pastries or you know like the east side really likes their butter so we'll just you know like I mean it's true we uh

I

know I know well it's funny because I'm I'm from Chicago and so it's it's been

kind of a unique shift where it's like, yeah, like we like butter and cheese in Chicago too.

But then I was like, Oh, not like here.

But again, it's important to listen to your guests because, you know, we're feeding, we're feeding the community.

I want to make our community happy.

So why not?

You know, like great.

You want happy customers to come back and tell that what a weird business.

Chicago's like a love of butter and cheese and drinking.

You're adorable.

You're

adorable.

You guys, you just, you're scared getting there.

Just keep up, keep

up a

little bit.

We're talking to Amy Gorski here on matinee, on air.

She has joined us for Beyond the Cheese, a segment where we like to highlight businesses outside of the dairy industry.

Amy has a relatively new bakery on Milwaukee's East Side called Poppy Bakery.

And we're going to continue our conversation.

I want to talk about all the local sourcing that you do and a lot of very seasonal things that you do.

Amy Gorski, our guest, right here.

Stay close.

You are listening to Matt and Air on Air on the vast statewide, countrywide, you can pick us up around the world on the app.

We are the Civic Media Radio Network.

We'll be right back.

Beyond the Cheese.

Good morning and welcome back to Matt and Air on Air, Jane Matt and Air, Greg Buck, resident young person Calvin on the board coming to you live from our studio.

At Radio Park in Racine, you can always join us, call or text the number is the same at 855-752-4842.

Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream.

Hello, live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter coming up a little bit later on Todd all by today from two to four.

He's back in Madison and he is joined by Janelle Mella.

She is with Wisconsin Watch.

They're going to talk about concerning trends in public health around Wisconsin.

We talked about, yeah, we have measles back in Wisconsin.

And the state has its first, yes, reported case of measles in the three o'clock hour on Todd show.

Another great edition of what's worse featuring your neighbors.

So join today from two to four.

Right now we're joined by the owner of Poppy Bakery.

Amy Gorski is here and Amy is a relatively new place on Milwaukee's east side.

And there is a great review of Poppy Bakery today in the Milwaukee Journal sentinel by Rachel Bernhard.

And she talks about your life changing.

salted chocolate chip cookies.

Wait, what?

Oh, that's very kind.

Yeah, like, I had no idea that article was even coming out today.

So this

a lot happening on

my one day off.

Yeah.

Well, that's a good day for you.

Let's talk about the local sourcing that you do and all the seasonal things that you like to do at Poppy Bakery.

Yeah, so I've been working with a farm out in Michigan, a McCloog farm my entire career.

They have just the best produce and they're just good people, good, honest people.

And specifically in Wisconsin, I worked with Meadowlark Organic Farm for some flowers.

I like to incorporate local flowers, alternative flowers.

We use spelt, we use rye.

In our sourdough loaves, we'll use metal or flower.

I don't know, I just, I like it for the nutrition aspect of it, but also so people in the community know that like you can get this local flower too.

But yeah, I really like to use a lot of seasonal produce as well.

It just tastes better.

Plus, it puts the money back into the farmer's pockets.

And that's

really important to me.

So yeah, that's kind of like the ethos of the brand and also like the way that I eat.

So yeah.

And you're going to be, you are going to be expanding and you're going to be going into catering as well.

Yeah, so we've had a lot of guests ask if they or if we could provide smaller pastries for break rooms and parties.

And so we're going to be launching that soon.

I just have to kind of figure out how to get that off on the website.

So like that's kind of a struggle of being a small business is like don't really have

the

funds to be.

Yeah, I was kind of one of those like I didn't realize how many hats that I have to wear Yeah, but yeah, we we're gonna do that.

We did that in July for kind of a test run We did mini cookies for fourth of July backyard barbecues and things like that and we had a lot of success with that so we'll be launching mini cookies and Like sweets and then we'll also do like breakfast platter So we have mini biscuits and mini scones and it's just fun to make small portions of you

Because we don't skimp on portions, as I've been told.

For me, our cookie is a normal-sized cookie, but to the average guest, it's a giant.

And I'm

like, oh, OK.

It's a Wisconsin proportion.

It's a Wisconsin proportion.

Exactly.

Yes, exactly.

I'm going to cook you the meal to me.

So why not?

Yeah, but we're going to be sending you to pick up our breakfast orders now from Poppy Bakery in Milwaukee just so you know.

We got to.

That's going to be an extra part of your job.

There you go.

I don't think that's I

think it's it's perfectly fine to put in the job description because now I'm very hungry and I want sweet stuff and I too love

butter.

I just like cookies.

Yeah, I just like

cookies.

That should actually be on a poppy bakery tote.

I just love cookies.

And it is so funny because I've had a lot of interviews and media and I think they were expecting this.

romantic story.

I was like, I was a food network kid.

Like, I just, I liked watching, you know, like how foods made and then

I was

like making myself.

Do

you watch the Great British

Baking Show?

I don't really watch much TV.

I've seen a couple clips of it.

It is kind of funny, those like TikTok little clips and things like that.

But I am aware and familiar with it, but I don't really like religiously watch it.

But

there's been some funny moments.

There's just like way too much engineering that goes on with the bakery that they're trying to make.

Seriously, you need an engineering degree to build.

Well,

they're trying to make a wedding cake in like 30 minutes.

And I'm like,

Because that takes, I mean, especially when you work with yeast, that stuff takes time.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, our cinnamon rolls, it's a three-day process.

So that's also why, you know, it's certain products, yeah, sure, we can always bake more.

And then there are certain products I'm like, I can't just bake

more.

Whip them out,

yeah.

And it's tricky because you're trying to, you know, figure out trends and figure out how much to make, not, and to...

not overbake but not underbake and so like every you know every service I'm just like well this is the right

amount.

Amy Gorski is the owner of Poppy Bakery on Milwaukee's East Side.

It's 2021 East Ivanhoe Place.

We'll put all of the information into our show notes and Amy because you were on Beyond the Cheese we have a special gift for you.

You'll be getting one of our Beyond the Cheese hats, knit hat,

provided to

us by Wisconsin Knitwear.

Knit hats, I'm

sorry.

Thank you once again, Steven Lorenzen, who made those as a surprise to us, but yet it's a nice hat to keep on your head when you were on the show.

And do we

want to give one away?

Let's give it one away right now.

If you would like a beyond the cheese hat, give us a call first person through 855-752-4842.

Highly sought after and much desired beyond the cheese hat.

855-752-4842.

Amy Gorski, it's been such a pleasure.

Best of luck.

We'll follow up with you in a couple months.

Thanks so much for having me.

Take care.

We have news coming up next.

When we return Audio Store Bay, I need help with a backyard wildlife issue.

Help me.

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

you

Good morning.

Welcome back to Matt Nair on air.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, Calvinator on the board, coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us.

Call or text.

The number is the same 855-7524842.

That's 855-75CIVIC.

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

We have baseball later on today.

Our broadcast starts at

540 the Brewers in Atlanta against the Braves.

You can catch the game on Terrestrial Radio on WRC and Richland Center, WISS in Oshkosh here in Racine and Kenosha on WRJN in Park Falls WCQM and in Hayward on WBZH the Brewers at the Braves.

Our broadcast starts at 540 this afternoon.

This is the portion of the show we call Audio Sorbet.

We like to lighten things up, get away from the news so we can all take a breath.

And I wasn't gonna talk about this because I feel so guilty.

I know.

That's a whole other show with a therapist.

But anyway, let's talk about wildlife backyard rescues.

Oh boy.

Bunnies, birds,

Yep.

Have you ever rescued any wildlife from your backyard?

We're looking for wildlife backyard rescues at 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic.

And this is because I have a baby bird stuck in a birdhouse.

I would like you to clarify the fact it's not just like oh it can't get out of the birdhouse its head is

it's head is stuck

like

yeah so we have a garage light on our side door on the garage and I put a little birdhouse up there to stop the Robbins from building a nest there because they're so aggressive once the babies hatch yeah I was coming out of the garage with an umbrella to keep him from dive bombing me

So after that summer and Birdie, Egg and Shelley all hatched and they went away.

So I put a birdhouse up there because I thought, well, then this way the Robins can't build up there and some other smaller bird can use the birdhouse.

It's a little a-shaped birdhouse.

It's got obviously the hole in the front where they go in and out.

But there's also the sides.

There's a gap of about this big on the sides.

About an inch and a half.

About an inch.

And that's where this little baby bird has his head stuck out on the side, up next to the garage.

He can't get out.

Everybody else is out.

I don't know what to do with him.

If I try to take the birdhouse out, I'm afraid I'm gonna break his little neck.

But I'm afraid if I leave him there, he's gonna strangle.

or

die of thirst

or something.

I think those are both very, very, you know, legitimate concerns.

I

mean, I was awake until one o'clock last night.

I understand this, you know.

Am I the only one who

agonizes over this

stuff?

I don't think so.

You think you're the only one who does things and you're not.

You're surrounded by friends who care and feel and feel feelings and think about things that are not themselves.

And I think, I think there are a lot of people out there who can identify with us.

We had something similar in the, in the backyard mode, the lawn one day.

And this is going to like get really sad, I guess.