Wisconsin Will Follow The Science (Hour 1)

Good morning, welcome, welcome to Matinair on air.

Jane Matinair, Greg Bach, Calvin Butenoff, coming to you live from our home here at Radio Park in Racine, where you can always join us.

Call or text, the number is the same, 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 show coming up for you today, our guest, James Vanderloo.

From the OEC group, Milwaukee is going to be joining us at hour number two.

They deal with importers and exporters.

And so we're going to be talking about supply chains and tariffs on today, not so much tomorrow.

Who knows next week?

Businesses just love

insecurity.

Yeah, they love uncertainty.

Yes, there's

nothing.

Businesses just love that.

So we'll be talking to James Vanderloo to talk about what he is hearing from his clients and what he expect to see with the supply chain going forward.

In the next half an hour after the 9 30 news, Bennett Goldstein is a reporter with the Wisconsin Watch and he is going to be joining us in words, be talking about food insecurity and addressing food insecurity in more rural parts of the state.

I think a lot of people always assume that.

food insecurity and people having trouble making ends meet only her happens in urban areas.

That is not the case.

Nope.

And it's the story is going to highlight how one county is coming together to meet the challenges met or meet the challenges created by federal cuts.

two food

programs.

Exactly.

So that will be happening in about a half an hour after the 9 30 news.

Last half an hour of the show, as we always do, we will lighten it up with a segment we call Audio Sorbet today.

Thank you, Calvin.

This generated from something we were kicking around in the office

before we

got on the air, a technology.

Are you the helper or are you the help?

Calvin's the helpee, at least for me.

He's the helper.

He's the helper, yes.

I

am wife, yes.

I am way the helpee.

I'm sorry.

Calvin,

yes.

I'm sorry, Gregbock,

you're both my helpers.

Wow.

I apologize.

Okay.

You can beat me up later.

Whoa, calm down, lady.

Are you the helper or are you the helpee?

And we would love to know more specifics about trying to help your parents.

send emails or whatever.

Or maybe your parents have to help you, you never know.

That's, that's, it could be.

That's very possible.

And then

at the very end, as we always do, we'll wrap it up with, this shouldn't be a thing.

Today, the fire fest, what could go wrong this time?

Addition,

this is

like volume four

or five.

This is volume four for us, yeah.

Yeah,

there's been

quite a few.

So stay tuned for that.

We do have baseball coming up later on today, 605.

Our broadcast starts as the Brewers

Host the Angels.

You can listen to the game.

Does have to be on terrestrial radio.

So catch it tonight starting 6 0 5 W R C E and Rich Lynn Center here in Racina Kenosha on W R J N W C Q M and Park Falls and our newest Milwaukee Brewers affiliate in Hayward W B Z H. So the Brewers and the Angels are broadcast starts 6 0 5

got

that

got that playoff spot.

We need that division where.

Still too close to close.

I know because the Cubs just won, right?

The Brewers won last night with still five games apart, which that's tight.

It's tight.

They can do it.

Why didn't that?

Why didn't that birth?

We'll

have more sports tomorrow.

That's right.

We

will.

It's Thursday.

It is Thursday.

So join us for that.

Some breaking news as we're coming on the air also this morning, Francesca Hong.

has officially entered the governor's race.

Francesca has been a guest on our show and she appeared with Pat quite low this morning shortly after making her announcement.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Francesca Han prefers wild card to underdog.

Yeah.

And

she's got a

new advert ad out announcing her candidacy pretty straight.

She's a straight talker.

Oh yeah.

There's no, there's no mincing words with representative Hong right there.

None whatsoever.

And that makes it five candidates thus far.

Officially, Sarah Rodriguez, David Crowley, Francesca Hong, Kelda Royce.

And I cannot remember his first name and Mr. Strand.

Calvin, do you remember?

Is it strand or strand?

Ryan Sternad.

Sternad.

Ryan Sternad, who is the, who is a vendor, a beer vendor at the ballpark in Milwaukee.

All five have officially launched their campaigns on the democratic side.

And it's going to be, I mean, this is, we got a long way to go.

And this isn't the end of people joining the race.

We still have, there's still thoughts, people, you know, I hear things about Josh, Josh call.

I hear,

Wisps about Cavalier Johnson, but I don't personally think he's going to I don't think with with No, no, I probably in the race.

Yeah, I agree.

I agree.

So it's it's just gonna We didn't we wanted 2025 off we really did it would have been nice to get like a vacation, but we're in it and 2026

Gonna be many many many things to come and we will keep up at that and obviously we will look to book Fran Hong on

the program and get her back

and of course as far as I know she's the only one who of the candidates who is an expert on tater tots It's an edge

Well, you got

my vote, I guess.

Well,

I'm just throwing that out there.

Again, we will effort to get to Fran Hong on the show in the next couple of weeks.

We wanted to start off with this, if you are wondering about getting a COVID vaccine.

Correct, yes.

There has been a lot of confusion, especially now with Bob Jr., the head of the health department.

and the CDC and they're changing vaccine requirements right and left.

And there has been confusion.

And I've also seen on various social media sites with folks who have tried to get a COVID shot and they can't.

Yeah.

So this from the Wisconsin Examiner.

Baylor Spears has the byline.

Governor Evers issues executive order aimed at protecting vaccine access.

Governor Evers says, quote, vaccine saved lives, spreading fear, distrust and disinformation.

about safe and effective vaccines isn't just reckless, it's dangerous.

RFK and the Trump administration are inserting partisan politics into health care and the science-based decisions of medical professionals are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process.

So according to the governor, his executive order directs the State Department of Health Services to take steps towards

protecting access.

This includes monitoring and reviewing immunization recommendations, giving guidance on the COVID shots, determining additional measures that may be needed.

to provide clarity and guidance on other routine vaccines.

We talked to Dr. Kristen Lyrely earlier this week.

Measles is spreading.

Yes, it is.

In Wisconsin.

Yes, it is.

We had

eradicated measles.

Yeah, we thought it was gone, and then it came back, and there are some folks out there who have an attitude towards it like, measles, wait, what's, because it's been gone for so long, and I think you mentioned this, that the sheer force of measles is clearly underestimated.

People just kind of equate it to like,

You know, like a flu or chicken pox or something like that.

Like, oh, just take a little medicine.

You'll be fine.

No, measles have lasting, lasting effect on people, especially kids.

So just get vaccinated.

Don't just get vaccinated.

I'm not I'm not I'm being paid by no one for this.

Okay.

No one's paying me to say this big

pharma

We're waiting for all those big checks to come mother glory my gosh all those I did give me a Culver's gift card to tell you to get vaccinated

No, that that hasn't happened up.

So again the governor of Wisconsin and state of Wisconsin health department taking some Steps so that people who want it can get it

At the Department of Health Services, Dr. Ryan Westergaard, Chief Medical Officer, State Epidemiologist for Communicable Diseases, has issued a standing medical order recommending the vaccine for all eligible Wisconsin residents this fall with the order no prescription is needed.

And also I saw in this article also from the Wisconsin examiner that says it will not require a patient co-payment.

Exactly, yeah.

They're doing all the work to make sure that it's as easy and as affordable, if not free for Wisconsinites to just get that vaccination.

And that is, you know, we were in 2025, you know, 10 years ago.

This really would not have been a thing.

It's just so interesting when I think about the anti-vax movement.

And originally, it seemed to me more of the stereotypical granola eating off-the-grid

living kind

of folks.

But you know what I'm saying?

It was

more of

a hippie-dippy thing.

Well, I mean, it was, but that's still kind of the wild thing now is that is the...

I would always equate that vert like the the my apologies to those who are hippie-dippy but like hippie-dippy you always would say like oh they're liberals they're gonna they believe in in in oneness and blah blah blah whatever else when I say but it's that that weird anti-vax culture that has worked its way into the eastern medicine world where not only are they I mean it was

There's no doubt there's a record and a history for them saying, hey, you don't need modern Western medicines.

You can take this, do this.

This

herbal treatment.

And I get that.

I totally understand.

But what has happened now is this disdain for the medical industry.

And rejection of.

Where they're putting on red hats and voting for Trump in a way that's as vitriolic as just the mega base as it is.

So it's coming from all ends.

I told you before that I fell into a rabbit hole on YouTube about debunking various conspiracy theories.

And the one thing that always grabs me with, with the vaccination movement is that there is no, while there's piles of proof to show that vaccines work, there is nowhere near enough proof to show that they cause any sort of lasting damage to the greater population that doesn't.

that doesn't include those who could legitimately become injured from the vaccine or have certain side effects or, you know, things happen.

That's just how it works with vaccines.

But what the thing that always gets me is there's no proof that there's scientists out there who are just bathing in money.

All these scientists

All these doctors through the years who have done the research the trials who have recommended who have said yes This this vaccination works.

I would like for your child.

They're not getting rich millionaire They're getting planes and pools and cars and boats.

So this This conspiracy of like well, it's big pharma, but big pharma is always big pharma regardless of the medicine but vaccines you think that this is some sort of

funnel of money for a certain subset of our society, which is the medical industry.

I know doctors who are not getting rich off of prescribing vaccinations, especially ones that are like for the measles, COVID, flu, whatnot.

Well, I just think when we're talking to kids about going into, you know, what do you want to do?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

There's not a lot of people.

Be an epidemiologist.

That's where the money is,

baby.

Oh my gosh.

That's the career path you want to take.

Because research is

So lucrative.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, yeah, it's not it's not no and I think of some of the doctors who are prevalent on social media Dr. Peter Hoates who has been involved in it for a long time look at the way they demonized that Dr. Anthony Fauci who had been in public service and public health for

decades our current health and human services that secretary wrote an entire book about Dr. Fauci and quote his lies

our current one.

Yes.

So yeah, that's the thing that will never make sense to me is one, like I don't understand why you can never make it make sense to me on any from the economic to the health reasons why you think vaccinations are.

a bad thing.

And don't come at me with, well, I'm a skeptic.

No, you're just a contrarian.

There's a difference.

So from Franklin texting and listing on WAUK, I saw something on the news this morning.

Insurance companies have agreed to pay for COVID vaccines.

So if you are, if you want to get one, don't get one.

Yes, please.

Absolutely.

If you were affected by the floods that we had seems just a month ago.

It

wasn't that long ago.

There's help.

We'll tell you how you can get it.

on the other side.

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 Matt and Air on Air.

Jane Matt and Air.

Greg Box.

Sweet Calbee on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can always join us.

You can call or text.

The number is the same.

You can do both.

855-752-4842.

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

After the 930 News, Bennett Goldstein is going to join us.

He's a reporter for Wisconsin Watch and we're going to talk about Juneau County specifically and their efforts to fight the growing number of people who need access to

food.

And this is not just an urban issue.

Food insecurity exists all across the state.

And so we're gonna talk to Bennett about some of his reporting for the Wisconsin Watch on this particular program in Juneau County that seems to be having some success.

Also just a little bit of a reminder to download the Civic Media app.

Because first and foremost, this Friday is the last day

The last free ticket Friday.

Yeah,

it's the last

Friday ever.

No, it is our final free ticket Friday Your last chance to pick up a four-pack of Milwaukee Brewers Club level tickets Brewers are doing pretty hot right now.

Could be hotter would like one or two more victories.

Okay.

Hey, I'm not Hey Hey

You can win a four-pack of Milwaukee Brewers Club level tickets this coming Friday for the final time

Starting at 6 a.m.

You cannot win.

Well, I know I can't win because you've told me that every week and it kind of hurts after a while But the point is is Jane when we say club level does that mean like?

Fancy it

means There's a special hallway to get there.

Oh, is it carpeted?

I believe it is carpeted because you and I were there last year and then there's a special entrance

Yeah,

and they have little special restaurants

and

you have access to bathrooms

That's a big thing for people of a certain age.

I would like to make it clear that in the entirety of American family Yes, there are

other bathrooms, but these are dedicated to the club level so let's there's less competitions I

Will all you you're forgetting one major bragging point of club level seats

Squishy chairs.

Squishy seats.

Squishy seats.

They're very comfy.

Oh my goodness.

Your, your tush and your back will not hurt after watching wonderful baseball.

So yeah, get the Civic Media app on your device.

When we give you the keyword, you're going to text that keyword in.

It must be spelled correctly and you can only participate on the app.

Has to be through there.

And then you'll be entered to win.

That four pack and you'll have five chances throughout the day on Friday

starting with Pat Crite low

from

six to nine then our show from nine to 11 Tom Hartman 11 to two Todd all but two to four and Maggie Dawn from four to six Also, there are rumors Greg buck Pete Schwabba and Pete Schwabba six to eight.

Yeah

What's that?

What's rumor

that once we have the final free ticket Friday this Friday?

Yeah,

there could be another multi-state text to win contest coming right around the corner

Are we crazy here?

So much.

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many prizes.

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much winning.

Download the Civic Media app.

It

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All

right.

As we promised, there is finally FEMA assistance available to people who were just devastated by the 1000 year flood that we had in parts of southeastern Wisconsin just about a month ago.

The only thing is there are a whole bunch of caveats in order to get this help.

So you can't get any other help, which means you can't get any of your damage covered by an insurance company or enters any similar kind of reimbursement programs.

You have to have been living in that property as your primary residence.

So if this was a secondary home, that's not going to apply.

You have to be an owner or a renter.

Your home has to be, has to have sustained

Disaster caused damage going back to this 1,000-year flood.

And you must be a US citizen, a non-citizen national, or a qualified alien.

So you can get this help through FEMA.

Again, talking about that disaster is flooding that we had just about a month ago in Southeastern Wisconsin.

You can do it online.

It's disasterassistance.gov.

You can also call the FEMA helpline.

We'll include all this stuff

in the show

notes.

We'll put the number in the show notes.

I would suggest...

it's probably going to be faster if you can do it online.

Correct.

Absolutely.

And, and especially like we were talking about the whole 211 reporting as well.

If you do the reporting, it's best to do it online.

That way you don't have to wait on the phone.

You don't have to worry about being transferred.

Overwhelming that system.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I didn't realize there were so many caveats, especially the one of you can't get insurance money and get fee.

That just to me seems, although

At this point, I feel like it could rely more on FEMA than insurance as far as what we're seeing coming through.

Yeah, exactly.

It really depends.

When you apply for FEMA assistance, you have to tell FEMA about any insurance coverage that you have that can help.

And again, if you do have insurance, you have to give FEMA proof of it, a settlement, or explaining that you got denied coverage.

So again, we will include all of this in our show notes.

You mentioned this earlier this week that I think is a really good idea as well.

Flood planes have been changing

as

more of this flooding has happened.

Correct.

Due to climate change

and the

warming climate.

There's two ways you can do it.

If you still have a mortgage, call your bank and they should have someone either your mortgage lender or your mortgage broker or someone on staff who has that information.

And if it changes, they will let you know.

That is what ours told us.

Or you can go right to your municipality and talk to somebody.

And I believe it would probably, and the name of the department is escaping me right now, but just go to your municipality, your town hall, city hall, ask who you would speak to about floodplain.

And whether or not your home is located in a floodplain.

Correct.

And that way you can be assured and possibly insured about it.

Again, we'll put it

all in the show notes.

You can find it at civicmedia.us.

Once the show is over, just click on shows, go to Matt and Air on Air, and there is about 100 archived programs there.

Greg does a great job with the show notes.

All the links will be in there.

We have news coming up next, and then we're talking about food assistance in Juneau County.

Bennett Goldstein with Wisconsin Watch is our guest.

Stay with us.

You're listening to Matt and Air on Air.

We are the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good morning and welcome back to Matt Nair on air.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, Dr. Slide on the board, coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine, where you can join us.

You can call or text at 855-752-4.

4842, leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter.

We are joined by Bennett Goldstein.

He is a reporter for Wisconsin Watch and we're gonna be talking about an article that he has been working on about combating hunger in Juneau County in particular.

Bennett, good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, yeah.

Hi.

Good morning.

Thank you for having me.

Glad to have you here.

First of all, I want to say how impressed I was when I looked at your website this morning and the whole about tab.

And you have a very extensive list on what are the responsibilities of journalists and what actual journalists do and what are the responsibilities of true journalism.

And I thought that was so impressive because

There's such a blurred line, it seems, these days into what actually goes into being a reporter.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, I think just one of the, you know, most important things is to really listen to the needs of local communities and try to connect them with information that they, you know, could benefit from and then also just, you know, more generally, you know, in particular, I enjoy trying to capture a slice of life.

stories that can really help people empathize with each other.

Well, tell us about this particular story that you worked on for the Wisconsin Watch about Juneau County in specific and what they're doing to combat food insecurity.

Sure, sure.

Yeah.

So Juno County is one of Wisconsin's most food insecure regions.

And when we say food insecure, we just mean people who have a hard time accessing not only accessing food, but also healthy and nutritious food.

And in Juno County in particular, about one in seven residents struggle with poverty and making ends meet.

Oftentimes they're elderly, living on fixed incomes.

And so

Last year, Juno County started a program where they were able to hand out food that was grown by local farmers.

And so when the money, which came from the USDA,

uh, was, uh, and then through Wisconsin, um, you know, it was canceled.

And so this year, count the county and donors kind of stepped in to run the program again.

Cause it, it was just so well received, uh, last year.

And, and this is something, you know, the, especially the LFPA program, which we've talked to, I believe Hans Brighton Moser and Darren Von Ruden and Pam Yankee about this was, this was sort of a.

This was abrupt that the funding was just stopped.

And it left communities like Juneau County in a spot to like, all right, what are we gonna do next?

And your story shows that this is what happens when communities can come together and take care of this because they have to because we're not gonna get help from the government on this one.

Therefore, they have to do it on their own.

And this is a great example of...

as you said, showing empathy and coming together and understanding we all need the same thing.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it really did come as a surprise because this program, as you said, the LFPA, Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, it was a great way of connecting farmers and fishermen to help feed their communities.

And the food went to pantries and food banks.

And so even though the money was gone, Juneau County was able to run a smaller program this year.

And they're really doing, especially the county staff and employees in some cases are volunteering their time and also getting community members to help fill in some of these gaps and doing the best that they can.

It's stuff, and I wonder too if...

Do you think that there's a misconception that hunger only happens in urban areas?

Because I looked at where Juneau County is.

And Juneau County is essentially northwest of Wisconsin-Dells and kind of includes Boston as the largest community.

I just think a lot of people would not associate hunger with that area necessarily.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, hunger in rural spaces is definitely, you know, just as real as you would think of in big cities.

I mean, Linden Station, for instance, where I visited for one of the food distributions, you know, it's only a village of 500 people and people, you know, were absolutely appreciative of being able to access some of these things because

You know, sometimes you have to drive, you know, more than 10 miles just to get to the nearest grocery store.

And in some of these, you know, rural places, you know, it takes money to get food to them.

And so you might see higher prices than in an urban environment where there would be more options to get food.

Right.

Well, good heavens, if you're in a rural community, the closest place to pick up stuff might be the local gas station.

and gas station

prices

and those mini-marts, while it's nice to have an option, those do tend to be more expensive than a big grocery store.

And don't have a great amount of selection

either.

Right, right.

And then if you don't have access to a car or you're older and you can't drive, then where are you going to get that food?

Well, and two, and you had mentioned that so many senior citizens who are lived on fixed incomes, they want to stay in their communities where they've lived all of their lives, right?

And in order for them to stay in those communities, they need a little extra help.

Yeah.

Right, right.

And I think what is so nice is you mentioned the idea of being able to get food options, some of the best

produce that you can get is, you know, comes fresh from the farm.

And in Juneau County, I mean, they're really well positioned to be able to grow a lot of these vegetables and get, you know, variety that you, yeah, you wouldn't normally see in a gas station or a dollar general.

If you're just joining us, we're speaking with Benedict Goldstein, who is a reporter for Wisconsin Watch, and he recently published an article on

Juno County and how they are combating food insecurity due to cuts by the federal government for the LFPA local, I always know the LFPA, so remind me again, Bennett.

Yeah, just the food program,

the local food program.

And one of the things when I read this article, Bennett, was not only, you know, the tenor of it all, the theme of all can seem very dour and not happy, but really what I see from this story is the joy that the community has

by coming together and helping.

And I want to point specifically to a young woman interview named Laura Mortimer, who said, feeding the community through Juno's LFPA program felt awesome.

And she felt like she made new friends and she just want to keep going.

And though we would love to have the funding back from the government and help an investment from

our leaders, it does bring a sense of deeper community.

And that's what I got from just from her words, let alone the entire story, is that in that darkness, you're going to find light.

Right.

And I think what was so amazing about this program, I mean, a lot of organizations, even when the federal government was funding it,

you had a lot of Wisconsin based organizations like Marble Seed and the Wisconsin Farmers Union and the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative really came together to kind of create this very well oiled machine and then local communities worked with them to kind of identify the needs that were unique to the residents in those areas.

And so

with all this groundwork laid, the only thing that was missing was just the money to pay farmers.

And so I think that's really...

test is testament to the success that they have seen and are still seeing.

And so now it's just, you know, you know, finding just a little bit of money to help, you know, keep paying the bills.

Well, and you do mention in your article, there is one glimmer of bipartisanship.

Oh, no, we might agree to do something together.

The Strengthening Local Food Security Act that was introduced in July by Senator Jim Justice, a Republican from West Virginia and Jack Reed, a Democrat of Rhode Island, which

would allocate $200 million a year for states to pay farmers and fishers to sell their goods to food providers and to schools.

And this is a program that farmers like.

And it's popular

with

the people.

Yeah, and you always think of agriculture as something that really isn't partisan.

And so I think that's part of why this was such a shock when the money went away.

But as the lawmakers have said, it's very much a win-win-win, because if we want to maintain strong communities, what better way is there to do that than through growing fresh food and getting it to food pantries and schools?

And I highly encourage folks to read this article, which you will include in the show notes that you can check out just a couple of minutes after the show is over.

You mentioned Dave Durth, who's 77.

He's been coming to almost every pop-up since the group started in Juneau County, and he heard about it through a local program, through dementia classes he goes to with his wife.

It's nice to get some fresh vegetables, just something to look forward to, see some people that you know, going back to the idea of forming some community and getting people out and getting people to know people.

We're

next door.

Absolutely.

It's really about the connections within your communities.

And I put Bennett's article in there, but I also put a little history on the LFPA as well.

And the thing that I find interesting is that the bipartisanship of it all, and if Republicans, Democrats are coming together, and that's great.

I love that.

Who doesn't love some compromise and some getting along?

We love that in this world.

It just begs the question for me.

Why did we cancel in the first place?

But that's a whole other conversation.

But I'm just happy that lawmakers are stepping up and leading because also, you know, as in this in this article, Bennett, you know, it's it's not just about the community.

It's about the economics.

We need to take care of our farmers.

And this is a program that will help them make some money and do what they need to do and and and really, you know, survive and be what

everyone calls them, which is the backbone of our country.

So this, I mean, for me personally, I thought this was a great story to show how you step up.

And the question I have for you really quick is, are you hearing from other counties trying to do the same thing?

Well, yeah, I mean, so there were, I want to say at least a dozen different programs, similar to Juno County's.

when last year and the year before when the government was funding it, a lot of nonprofit organizations and just citizens came together to really create these local networks that kind of tapped into local knowledge and expertise about how the best ways to get food to people who might otherwise struggle.

And you know some of the best things that people can do is really just you know pick up the phone and give your you know state or

federal lawmaker, a call and tell them how much, you know, this program, you know, either meant to you or someone, you know, or, or just, you know, through someone you've heard, um, that had an experience.

If I wanted to find, say my lawmakers, the person who represents me, Greg, if I wanted to find their phone number, where would I do

such a thing?

That'd be simple.

You just go to my vote.wi.gov type in your information.

It will give you all your representatives from your president down to your dog catcher.

If you still vote for them and you can call, you can email and.

you can write them a letter.

And we always encourage people to be respectful.

But in this situation, yes, go there.

If you are a recipient of these programs that help you get food, let your lawmakers know that this works for you because they may or may not know just because they're not hearing from everybody.

So that's an important point, Bennett.

Thank you very much.

Someone we always talk about is getting your voice heard because that is your, that's how we do it.

They do work for us.

Exactly.

Bennett Goldstein is a reporter for Wisconsin Watch Wheel.

include his great article in our show notes.

Thank you so much, Bennett.

We hope to have you back.

Let us know what you're working on next.

Thank you so much.

Stay with us.

You are listening to Matt Maier on air.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

We'll be right back.

Good morning and welcome back to Matt Nair on air, Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, resident young person Calvin on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.

You can join us, call or text at 855-752-4842.

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

Todd Alba show two to four PM.

Todd will be joined by,

Pack quite low and Lincoln projects, Trig V. Olson.

Also, they lighten it up.

I love this part of it.

I love Todd's show, but what's worse?

Yeah.

You never know where it's going to be.

Yeah.

It's always something good.

Yes.

What's worse at three o'clock, three o'clock hour today with Todd Alba.

Make sure you join Todd from two to four across the network.

This broke this morning.

Also, as we were coming on the air, Jerry.

Quits Ben and Jerry's ice cream saying its independence on social issues has been stifled.

Jerry Greenfield, one of the co-founders, is leaving the brand after 47 years.

They sold to Unilever.

Yes.

And he said that they were promised they would be able to have independence.

under the Unilever brand.

Now he says, quote, for more than 20 years, Ben and Jerry stood up and spoke out in support of peace, justice, and human rights.

That independence existed in no small part because of the unique merger agreement that we negotiated with Unilever.

It enshrined our social mission and value in the company's structure and perpetuity.

It is very disappointing to come to the conclusion that independence is gone.

Greenfield says this happens at a time when our country's current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community.

He says it's easy to stand up and speak out when there's nothing at risk.

The real test is when times are challenging and you have something to lose.

I don't disagree with that, especially if it's written in their contract.

If they have created a landscape where they get to talk about what they want, I will say that

For years, the right has targeted unilever, unilever of all companies.

Which is a massive

company.

Massive

company

of being liberal.

And maybe it's not because they're so liberal.

Maybe it's because they see the value in saying, Hey, we have a company that we want to buy and distribute or we want to distribute them.

Let's, if they're popular enough and then make enough money, let them do what they do because we're going to make money.

And let's not put our nose in that part of their business.

And

thinking about it now, maybe it's the assumption that Unilever is quote, liberal just because they own Ben and Jerry's or they distribute them.

I mean, I don't blame him.

They've always been outspoken on their causes

and

what they believe in.

And this is a matter of wait for, what's that two word?

What's those two words?

Free speech.

It's about free speech.

They're spinning off Unilever is spinning off its ice cream business including Ben and Jerry's into a standalone company called the Magnum ice cream company Sounds like something in a video game.

It sounds I have other things.

It sounds like which are worse Spokesperson for this Magnum ice cream company gross says it's forever great feel grateful to Greenfield for his contributions to Ben and Jerry

Thanked him for his service was not aligned with his viewpoint.

We disagree with this perspective.

We've sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben and Jerry's position in the world.

They're committed to carrying on the legacy of peace, love, and ice cream of this iconic much loved brand.

I am that is gross.

Magnum ice cream?

Well, no, I mean, it sounds like it's gonna be a huge company, but it just feels like also nobody, nobody, okay, fine.

What upon wasted on both of you?

I laughed, Greg.

Thank

you.

But that sounds, it sounds evil.

It sounds like evil.

It sounds like the Magnum ice cream company.

And we, we are, we don't align with their personal beliefs.

You don't believe in like helping and justice and democracy and free speech.

What?

Unilever acquired Ben and Jerry's in 2000 for $326 million.

At the time, Ben and Jerry's said the partnership would help their company expand its social mission, but that has been having many challenges in the years since.

They sued Unilever and federal court in New York in November, accusing them of silencing Ben and Jerry's.

It sounds like a breach of contract then

it actually does Yeah, although he has resigned from his role.

So apparently he's just gonna walk away The company by the way opened their first shop at a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont

this teeny tiny little company.

I can't think of Ben and Jerry without thinking about the ban fish.

They have the ice cream fish food, which is very, very good, but they're both Burlington natives.

The band is from Burlington, Ben and Jerry are from Burlington.

So when I think Ben and Jerry, I think of fish.

I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it because I love both things so much.

And there's a Ben and Jerry's location in Milwaukee and it's so tasty.

This brings up a big conversation that we actually had before the show too that we'll get into another time.

I'm sure is that, you know, especially under contract, they should be able to say what they want.

And when a company is coming in and saying, when you are distributed or your partner saying, you shouldn't be talking like that.

Here's my, here's my deal.

Remember, remember what we agreed to in my deal?

How is what I'm saying impacting the ice cream sales?

Because people who think we're woke have thought we were woke for 20 plus years.

I don't see anyone not going to Ben and Jerry's because all of a sudden they find out that, you know, they want to help the homeless or make sure that we have social justice in this.

It's just, it's absolute bunk to me.

And the Magnum Ice Cream Company, disgusting.

Let's write them.

disgusting

we'll send them a we'll send them a terse note yeah we'll write a terse note too

it'll be a salty

yet sweet that's exactly that's the perfect kind of note for the magnum ice cream company which again i have my went my brain went an entirely different bad way we have news coming up next and then when we return

supply chains and tariffs on off on off.

Yeah, whatever.

That's all coming up.

Stay with us.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air on the vast statewide, countrywide, pick us up around the world on the Civic Media radio network.

Good morning.

Welcome.

Welcome to Matt Nair on air.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, and Calvin Butenoff 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.

I've never heard you say it that slow.

We say

it's fast a lot.

Eight, five, five.

We need, you know what, from now on then we need to burp.

Pulsome dramatic music eight five five seven five two four eight Four

see that stands out.

Yeah, we're trying to set it apart a little bit or eight five five seven five civic that works, too And you can leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream We live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter he is has been our guest

numerous times in the past and we are delighted to have him back.

James Vanderloo is the head at OEC Group Milwaukee, which is a global freight forwarder and a leading company in Trans Pacific trade.

Good morning, James.

Thanks for joining us.

How you doing?

Hi.

Good morning, Jane, Greg and Calvin.

It's great to be with you guys.

Hey, I'm doing okay.

I'm not going to complain.

We're almost going to make it through the hump today.

So

well, that's good.

Yeah, it's Wednesday.

It's hump day.

Let's talk tariffs and global trade and supply chains.

Supply chains we learned a lot about, I want to say, during the COVID shutdown.

And that was the first time that I was made aware of just how complicated it is to get things from point A to point B and all the spots in between.

And now with the tariffs, because there is still a lot of certainty out there, is that accurate?

Yes, and that's sort of the biggest thing still is really the uncertainty.

I try to use this analogy.

It's not 100%, but it kind of makes sense for most people.

Just imagine you have to pay your taxes they're due today.

You know that you probably have to pay more than what you think, but you don't quite know exactly what that is.

And sort of the rules are changing day by day, but you're still expected to be submitting your tax payment to the government.

today so otherwise it's late and they'll come after you and tell you that you're you know you need to have more so it's it's that uncertainty is kind of you know i said i would say kind of been the predominating thing this year that's the issue that most people have i think that if you talk with most companies they'd rather just sort of have know what the game plan is going forward and then just

go by those rules versus just kind of having to reassess, you know, every other week or whenever there's an extension or, you know, do I ship now?

Do I wait?

So those have kind of been the issues that I've been seeing a lot of this year.

But I think that's a really good analogy that you made, James.

Because again, okay, today I know I'm gonna have to pay $500 more in my taxes, so I put that aside.

Well, and then three days later, it's only gonna be $250.

Well, now do I spend that $250 that I have extra, or do I keep it in case in another three days, it goes up to $1,000 I'm gonna owe on my taxes.

You cannot plan, we've talked about this so many times, about how businesses hate uncertainty.

Yeah, absolutely, and that's kind of been the that's you know, that's the issue that we speak to and again There's these businesses are resilient.

They are working very hard to work with companies like ours to figure out Okay, what's the best way I can do?

Can I use these provisions within free trade agreements?

Can I use these things with an agriculture to kind of mitigate a lot of the tariff impact?

And you know, we've had we've had to learn a lot in addition to our customers that being said they've had to focus on these things versus

Focusing on how to grow their business or ordering more things or focusing on selling their products So again, you know regardless of sort of whether you believe in the tariffs or not That's just something we've sort of seen sort of a day-to-day is just what the companies are having to prioritize and what they're needing to like divert their resources to During these tariff negotiations

and it's something for me It felt like you know as I'm not a person who I am a person

affected by the tariffs and as much as I am a consumer, but I don't work directly with them on either export or importing.

And I would just always in my head figure, Oh, well, James and the people in his industry, they know what's going on.

They'll get a sheet every day saying, this is what you do.

This is what you don't do.

But really, when it comes down to where all sort of in it, because I've, because we do this show, people will say to me, well, what's going on with the tariffs?

I'm like, I have no idea because that's just it.

Like one day we hear 50%.

Okay.

We know this country is getting 50%.

Three days later, that's on hold.

So it kind of feels like now we're all in this together, whether you're in the industry or outside of it and we just have to just wait for, to lack of better terms, wait for the whims of the government.

Yeah, and that's kind of the thing is, you know, everyone's like, you know, can you point to a demonstrable effect that the tariffs have had?

And it's kind of tough to say because

In our industry, things take just such a long time.

It

takes 30, 40 days to even transport something.

Before that, you have to put in your order with the supplier overseas, which can take, depending on the product, 30 to 60 days.

So all of these things take a really long time to play out.

I think you're now just starting to really see the beginning effects of how the tariffs have acted in the market.

It's sort of a tale of two cities.

You're gonna see some some numbers coming out of like Los Angeles saying wow We've we've never handled this amount of or this is you know, we're near record numbers in terms of volume The caveat to that is that a the National Retail Federation and a lot of a lot of industry industries are projecting, you know a very slow end of the

end of the year.

They're projecting that basically by December container volumes are going to be near what they were of lows in 2023.

I think we're just starting to see that beginning phase.

A lot of companies decided when there was that first round of pauses, well, I better bring in everything that I need for the

year.

I

don't know what's going to happen

right

after the fact.

You might have some people that held off, but traditionally there's a little bit of a rush at the end of the year for Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, which is in March.

in 2026.

So typically there's a rush.

We don't really know if we're going to be seeing that rush that there normally is during that time.

I would say that we're really starting to see that effect of where these tariffs are in terms of the ordering practices.

And we'll really kind of need to, unfortunately, wait a little bit longer to see how these tariffs are actually affecting the entire economy as a whole.

If you're just joining us, James Vanderloo is our guest.

He's the head of the OEC group.

Milwaukee, they do a lot of imports, exports, and things like that.

And we're talking about tariffs.

Is there a deadline coming up in November, James?

uh as far as tariffs correct so there's been there's a there's a few deadlines so

there's i know and it's they like you know a few months ago they said hey we've got something planned with china

It's been crickets ever since.

We're kind of still waiting for some direction on that.

You'll hear, I think yesterday, I've heard there was some type of breakthrough with involving TikTok and all of these things.

So again, we've really had to broaden our understandings of what these trade agreements are meant to sort of accomplish.

But yeah, so there's a deadline coming up in November, and those will be sort of the bigger ones.

I think when I came on here and basically told when you first started talking about this, you're starting to see some of these tariff agreements sort of work themselves out in some ways.

Um, and that's, I think that's been sort of the surprising thing that we learned from some of the people that work in Washington is like, you know, how many of these countries have actually been coming to try to get a deal made.

Um, and I think they're just kind of obviously this is taking a lot longer than I think some people may be anticipated.

Um, my, my thought was that this is obviously a very, uh, huge task and therefore it's probably gonna take a lot of time, but, um, we're starting to see, uh, you know, some of these deadlines come in the 10, the, the 10%

it's gonna affect businesses, but it might not affect their ordering behavior.

When you get up to that 20 to 25%, that's when it really starts affecting companies' bottom lines.

And then so of course, you're starting to see these tariff rates fall in that like 15 to 20%.

So it's gonna be hurting people, I think quite a bit, probably near the maximum of what their threshold would be.

And it's, I think these things will slowly kind of trickle in.

you know, the closer we get to November, but of course there could always be another extension or something that we just don't really know.

90 deals in 90 days.

I seem to recall that that was one of the big things that was touted right after the results of the election.

90 deals in 90 days.

Boom, boom, boom.

It's going to get done so fast.

Everybody can't wait.

We're waiting.

Yeah,

we're still waiting.

We're still

waiting.

Like I said, there's been a couple and then the most I would say the most surprising one that we saw was obviously the 50% one that got hit with that hit India.

Due to their purchasing of Russian oil that was one that kind of I think caught people a little bit more off guard than they were looking for because for a while India had sort of been a Sort of an alternative to using China for a lot of the goods which China obviously is the one that's penalized the most right now with the section 301 the section 232 steel and aluminum

tariffs and then the IEPA, which is the sound that most customs brokers make every day when they

see

the new publications coming from the government.

But that stands for the International Emergency and Economic Powers Act of 1977.

So that's where that all comes from.

So all of these things are stacking on top of each other.

There's some cases where a couple of the tariffs will apply.

There's some where all of them were applied and it's just you really have to dig deep deep and they just keep on kind of like broadening the scope of what's included in these

potential powers.

And then we obviously to make to make things even more confusing, talking about your deadline in November, you know, we even have we have a Supreme Court case coming up to determine whether these are even constitutional in the first place or

not.

Well, well, there's something that I want to and please tell me if this is incorrect.

But I found this on the internet, heard of it.

It's

a

website called trade compliance resource hub.com.

And it's basically a tariff tracker.

And you can go country by country and see

which country, what sort.

So reciprocal or additional, you can see it says threatened, implemented, exempt the percentages.

So you can actually kind of, I found this today on the internet.

Go look for it.

But I'll put it, I'll put that website

in

the show notes.

So you can cut, cause that's, that's the ultimately the problem.

James is that.

I don't know how many countries have, uh, uh, tariffs.

I don't know what, what's being threatened versus implemented versus exempt.

So this will give you a nice rundown on what's going on.

As far as I know, if, if James, if you have a better resource, please let me know.

But like that's really what I think one of the most important things is to, is to figure out because as, you know, the president will say 200% on Tuesday and then it'll be like 5%.

We're good.

And

I guess the question I have and you can answer this on the other side after we come back from our snack and water break is just the, you said that everything runs slower because of everything goes on in the industry.

So therefore it's hard to point to people who say, well, tell me how the tariffs are bad to begin with.

How do point to things?

that are tangible and say, here are the things you asked for them.

Here they are.

But also get people to understand that, yeah, we're not going to see everything right away.

It's going to take months and months

for this to show up.

So like pointing to those tangible effects and saying, right there, there's a thing.

Here's the start.

You know, how do we, is it possible to do that still or, or yet, or are we still just, as you said, waiting?

We're going

to continue our conversation with James Vanderloo.

I want to ask you about what your clients say when they hear Treasury Secretary Scott Bassett say that American consumers don't pay tariffs.

I want to hear about the numbers spit takes that you've heard over the phone talking to clients when they hear the head of our Treasury Department say that obvious falsehood because that's kind of what it is.

Just throwing it out there.

Also, we want to talk about there is a new report this morning that came out in Bloomberg about us Home starting our home starts are the lowest since they've been in months and what that's gonna mean as well going forward stay with us We're talking to James Vanderloo head of the OEC group Milwaukee.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air.

This is the civic media radio network.

We will be right

back

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

Jane Matt and Air, Greg Bach, and Calanator on the Board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine where you can join us.

Call our text at 855-752-8552.

4-8-4-2, leave a comment if you're watching on a live stream, on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.

Our guest is the head of the OEC Group in Milwaukee, James Vander Lewis here.

We are talking tariffs.

I just wanted to recap this a little bit from, again, our head of the Treasury Department, our Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, has claimed for months and months and months that tariffs

are not paid by American consumers.

Finally, in August, he was asked about this on MSNBC.

So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer.

Is that right?

After initially saying, well, there could be substitutions.

It could come from Argentina.

It could come from Brazil.

He was asked who writes the check to the treasury, quote,

Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock in the U.S.

So that means, James, if I understand words, the importer, the person who is receiving the goods from overseas, they are the ones who write the check to the government.

That is absolutely correct and I will even I'll even give the you know the devil is do and and say where that Idea comes from where other countries pay tariffs where that idea comes from is this idea that then once once the importer realizes that they have to pay a higher duty They then have to go to their supplier overseas

And have the and try to negotiate and that's happening a lot too.

So again, this idea of what are people spent?

What are the companies spending their time on now?

Well, they're spending their time on having to go back to China, India, all these other places where they've been had these relationships for, you know, certain many cases several years and renegotiate say, hey, we're paying a tens of thousands of dollars more for our products than we had in the past.

You guys need to provide some relief to it.

And there's a lot of cases where in especially in cases where China where margins are already quite

thin where they don't really have much room to be able to negotiate that but that's where that idea comes from but in practice it's absolutely not true and obviously the the importer pays

for the duty here and the X therefore pass it on.

Right.

And the exporter may lower the price of their goods, which is where their hit comes.

They may do that may, but ultimately it is paid by the importer and then that is passed on to the consumer.

Okay.

Thank you.

Correct.

Absolutely.

I could have told you that.

That was

terrible.

Class 101.

I just think it's important to keep explaining to folks because there has been a lot of misinformation out there.

from people who you would think would know better.

Absolutely.

I don't know any better.

So

this I mentioned before we went to the break that US housing seen its biggest decline in since May housing starts are down.

This is not good because housing continues to be a big problem in across the United States.

Yeah.

And we're you know you're seeing that obviously in the

the materials and everything like that that come over, you're starting to see that those aren't coming over in the same capacity that they have been in recent months, obviously, with the upstarts.

Yeah, everything from my perspective is there's still, you know, I think around a $4 million shortage in terms of what people are looking for prices.

Continue to be near the highest they've ever been.

I think you're seeing a little bit of a cooling off which is you know, really kind of interesting from a standpoint, but you're but if there if there are some You know, it's it's I think people are waiting maybe for the mortgage rates to decrease I think

we're

maybe looking for an interest rate cut here soon.

I don't know if that will you know spur the spur that up again But yeah, we're seeing it in even the orders of the building materials where you're not seeing those come

as much as in the past.

Well, we've got tariffs on lumber now coming in from Canada and all kinds of things related to the building industry.

So.

And my final question to you for today, because I don't know if we'll have you on beforehand, but you know, the holidays are right around the corner, whether we like it or not, they're months away, but they're, you know, shopping will begin soon, advertisements will begin soon.

What James, do you see will be affecting homes for the holidays as far as.

gift prices, travel, well, not travel prices, but how will these tariffs be affecting our prices for the things we need to consume as consumers?

Yeah, you're going to see some increases, marginal increases on most things that are coming in.

And just so you for your frame of reference, basically, most retailers need to have their goods and

either right now or very, very shortly after it, you know, when you get into October, it's Christmas season.

Yeah, you're getting a little too late at that point.

So right now is kind of the time where if you're not on the shelves, you're probably not going to be making it.

I've been looking at sort of conflicting numbers as to what I think obviously there's always a little bit of an optimism with holiday shopping, but kind of going back to your guys's point earlier is of like really determining like what is the effect of this.

It's really hard because all of these

All of these additional costs, whether it's the inputs or whether it's the transportation, everything like that, all of that adds up kind of behind the scenes where you can't really tie it to necessarily one tariff or another.

It just all of these costs continuously adding up creates problems for businesses.

And we'll see probably in the next few months whether the businesses are able to pay for all

of this.

Well, and Brandon on the live stream actually says, yeah, the housing industry is going to be in a world of hurt because a big part of their labor force has gone.

So

that's another thing to consider as well.

It's all costs going up for us, the American taxpayers.

So yeah, we always appreciate James, you coming by and sharing the information you have because it's great to break this down.

We are not import exporters.

We are not.

We are import exporter adjacent.

This is the time to get into it guys.

We were into imports exports for James before it

was

We've been talking tariffs for months

now.

That's right.

You guys probably know more than I do.

Oh

boy.

That's absolutely

not

true James Vanderloo is the head of OEC group in Milwaukee really appreciate your time James in helping us Navigate through these times and I know we will have you back very very soon.

Appreciate it.

Take care

Thanks a bunch guys.

We got news coming up next and then when we come back audio sorbet talking technology Are you the helper or the helpee?

That's me.

That's all coming up You're listening to Matt Nair on air on the civic media radio network

Good

morning, welcome back to Matt and Air on Air, Jane Matt and Air, Greg Bach, Calvinator 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 on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.

Coming up later on today, Maggie Dawn.

Maggie Dawn's show, four to six across the network.

In the five o'clock hour, she's going to talk about insurance premiums and what those could like, especially for people in the ACA.

Yes, when we talked about that last week and right now Senator Baldwin as well as a senator from New Hampshire whose name escapes him right now is trying to help those who are on the ACA.

Because

those premiums could go up.

Double

what ours will already go up.

Yeah.

If you have traditional access to health care, that is.

So again, join Maggie today.

She's going to talk to State Senator Kristen Dessler-Aufheim from the Fox Valley.

Later on today, four to six Maggie Dawn show across the Civic Media radio network.

This is the portion of the show where we try to get away from politics and the heavy things and just take a breath.

We call it Audio Sorbet, where we lighten your

What we clean your

oh Just let me do the line sorry audio Sorbet we clean your ears with fun.

We need an opener.

I think that yeah, I think so I think so oh yes audio Sorbet today eight five five seven five two four eight four two We would love to hear from you Technology are you the helper or are you the help he?

Seems to me there's usually one person in the household.

Can you help me get do this thing that I don't understand?

I can't sign into the thing.

What's our password?

How

do I do that thing?

Why do I have to update the- what's firmware?

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

That's 8-5-5-7-5 Civic.

Uh, we talk about this because I am the help.

I need help.

in so many ways.

The Taylor Swift song, hi, I'm the help, it's

me.

I

need the help, yes.

The call is coming from inside the house.

And you don't know how to answer that call, Jane.

Exactly,

I can't get to my voicemails, which was a thing that came up yesterday with Craig.

I go to get my voicemail

and

it says enter the passcode.

I don't have a passcode for my voicemail.

You don't have a passcode for your virtual voicemail.

Which I never...

Asked for you don't have a choice.

You just get it.

It's on your phone It's been around since the iPhone came out back like nearly 20 years ago.

I don't want it It's not a good or bad thing.

It's not something you pay for it's not like it's coming to take your it's confusing me Okay, all right, okay, just for the record Jane Matt and there is not a thousand years old either you you You make it seem like I don't understand technology.

You're not that

But in some areas, I feel helpless.

I do.

Maybe I am the only one who still thinks that I can break my computer.

So I went to a gaming platform.

Calvin can back me up on this because he knows I'm a legitimate gamer.

Right, Calvin?

Calvin, thank

you.

He is a gamer.

He is a gamer.

I am a gamer.

So I went to Steam.

Which is a gaming platform.

Yeah,

and it's kind of it's kind of like an app store.

Yeah,

and there is a Prototype of a game that's coming out in the 23rd.

I want that I wanted to play and I tried to download it yesterday and

I

I think I broke something

You didn't break anything