Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach is off and Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our home 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 coming up on this show.
Civic Media's news director, Shaly Pittman, is going to join us after the 9 30 news to give a little breakdown of the weekend news.
Some of that we're going to start off with, but Shaly will help us dig a little deeper into snap benefits.
They're on there off.
They're on there off the Senate deal that we're going to talk about in just a second.
In our number two, if you are on Medicare or you are signing up for Medicare, Ingrid Kundinger is going to join us.
She is the
The Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol Program Director, there is a big difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
And if you were like a friend of mine who is 87 and got 22 phone calls the other day, 22, for people trying to sell him different Medicare Advantage plans, you're going to want to stick around for Ingrid explaining what the differences are.
Medicare Advantage, they're not the same thing.
So we're going to break that down.
In hour number two, we'll wrap up the show as we always do with this.
Shouldn't be a thing.
Today it is the, you can check out, but you can never leave edition.
So stay tuned for that.
Joining us right off at the top, since Craig is out today, he is a political consultant and a friend of the show.
Joseph Hecke is here.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good morning Jane and congratulations.
I have not seen you since you announced your retirement.
Yes.
Well deserved.
Thank you.
How many days left?
Counting them down?
I am not counting them down.
I think it's about five weeks.
I think five weeks.
December 12th will be my last show.
But it's been an incredible run.
It's been... I've learned so much and I couldn't be happier with...
having civic media be the home that I'm gonna wrap things up at.
I really, I couldn't think of a better ending to 44
years.
more excited for you and your next chapter and just wanted to start by saying congratulations.
Well, thank you very much.
We hope to have you on in the last two weeks, in my last two weeks so we can just kick some things around.
I wanted to start off with you since you are a political consultant and this what we were in the longest government shutdown in history.
Still are.
Still are.
It's not over yet.
But now it looks like we're on the cliff of an agreement.
From your perspective, Joe, where are we on this government shutdown?
Yeah, it looks like this thing is going to be wrapped up this week.
Late last night, there was a breakthrough and eight Democrats.
There had been like between four and six in the Senate who had been voting to try to get things moving.
Last night, they finally got to eight, so there were 60 votes.
Today, the wreckage from that announcement is on full display.
It feels like kind of whiplash.
where last week there was an election.
We sometimes say, I think it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said we govern in prose, but we campaign in poetry.
Poetry time was done last week.
It was a
huge night for Democrats.
And now it's prose time.
Now it's sausage making time.
And so the outlines of this deal, as I understand it, are that the government will be fully funded
through January of next year.
So about two and a half months, USDA Veterans Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration, and Congress will be funded until the end of next year.
So that will include, SNAP will be operational throughout 2026.
We will undo all of the reductions in force.
that Russ vote the architect of project 2025.
And so all of the civil servants who the Trump administration laid off in the last 40 days.
We'll get their back pay and we'll come back to work.
So things like air traffic will once again get unstuck in time for people to head home for the holidays or to take that Christmas vacation.
All of those are good things.
The $64,000 question is what the heck just happened on the healthcare tax credits.
And that is why people are big mad this morning.
It sounds like John Thune, who is the Republican leader of the Senate, has guaranteed Democrats
Not just a vote, but control of the floor.
And that's a little, what the heck is that?
It's
a
little esoteric.
What that means is Democrats will decide what the legislative package to advance the Affordable Care Act tax credits looks like.
That is actually a big deal that Democrats get to say, here is the legislation.
So that's a good thing if John Thune keeps his word on the vote.
And on the ability for Democrats to control the floor Here's the problem.
Here's why I think people are very upset this morning Mike Johnson and the house weren't part of this deal
at all
and and Mike Johnson already this morning is saying We didn't make any deal.
I'm not guaranteeing a vote on extending these subsidies and so That's I think where the the conflict comes in and where a lot of people online are saying Democrats caved.
I don't think I'd go that far.
I think given
the harm to the 40 million Americans who are on SNAP, it's about one in eight, given what we're seeing in terms of air traffic and the risks going through the roof of people who want to go see grandma and grandpa for Thanksgiving.
This was the best deal that Democrats in the Senate were going to get after 40 days where they said, 30 of them, where they said,
If we don't extend these subsidies, if we don't make health care costs more affordable for families, no deal, then Democrats finally said, okay, you know what, we'll just extend them for one year.
Let's just push this past the midterms.
And Republicans from Donald Trump on down still said, no way, over our dead body, not gonna happen.
And so at that point, and I don't always love this analogy, but a lot of times people talk about hostage taking.
But if we use that metaphor,
Republicans have made clear they're prepared to shoot the hostages.
Oh, absolutely.
They don't care.
No, they don't care.
Health care costs are gonna go up 300%.
They don't care the kids
are going hungry.
Right.
And so, you know, it's a what I would call a mixed bag, but I'm sure you've been following this.
I'm curious what what your gut reaction is to this deal that eight Democrats voted for.
Well, I kind of feel that the same thing about John Thune has promised.
Oh, OK, great.
On the one hand, I understand.
I understand to some extent why Democrats agreed to this.
However.
It just seems we are back to the old kicking the can down the road.
This only funds things until the end of January.
We're going to be back here at the end of January.
And I guess the one good thing I see coming out of this, Joe, is that Republicans will have to go on the record on not wanting to do anything about health care.
But that isn't going to help people whose premiums are going up by 85, 95, 100 percent.
Yeah, listen the the play by Democrats here is this shutdown started before people were getting their renewal Notices before open enrollment for next year right start to happen And so it wasn't totally clear yet You know to a lot of consumers in the marketplace just how much those costs were gonna go up and so the other sort of Not wild about metaphor, but I can't think of a better one.
It's like The pin has been pulled on the grenade
Because now people are seeing how much their costs are going up and are trying to figure out how they're going to afford it.
And now Democrats have tossed the grenade with the pin pulled over to Republicans.
And I want to be really clear.
I'm only talking about it in a metaphorical sense.
There is no place for political violence.
Full stop.
But this is going to come to a head.
And the time is now.
to have everybody line up and say, this is what I'm for.
This is what I'm against.
There is one other part of this, and I'm not sure how much time we have until the break.
Go ahead.
We got time.
But there is another special election for Congress on December 7th.
Yes.
And what that election will do is change the math in the house.
for how many signatures you need on a discharge petition to force a file on the Epstein votes.
I'm not convinced that Senate Democrats didn't do us all a favor by forcing the action, by putting the ball in play so that the House of Representatives has to come back.
and they have to swear in the new Congresswoman from Arizona who has been denied her seat for more than 40 days after winning her election.
She is the 218th signature on the discharge petition to force the vote on the Epstein files.
And so that is about to happen.
And if you waited until after the December 7th election, if the Republicans win that, it's like a plus 20 Republican district,
That would take the math back to one short again.
And so I'm not, you know, there could be some three-dimensional chess here.
If you're just joining us, Joseph Peggy, political consultant is our guest.
Greg is off today and we're talking about the pending deal, it seems, among the Senate actually to reopen the government.
But you make a very good point, Joe, about...
It's all in the details.
And the one thing that's amazing me now, even this morning, is seeing Republicans go on about, we have pages of plans.
We have pages and pages of ideas and concepts of plans for healthcare.
They've had 15 years.
to look seriously at an overhaul.
Nobody says the ACA is perfect.
It's not perfect, but it's better than what we had before.
And I go back to we get collective amnesia about what things were like before the ACA, when people who had preexisting conditions like, I don't know, being a woman couldn't get coverage.
Where if you had asthma or you got sick one time,
your health insurance company could just go drop you okay you're not covered anymore
exactly
it was blatant discrimination and it made healthcare inaccessible for millions of americans so i'm with you the affordable care act is not perfect but i also think republicans kind of told on themselves and i i would not be surprised if some of the democratic thinking
among those eight senators, was like, how do you seriously negotiate with a president of the United States who came up with the most cockamamie idea you've ever heard on health insurance over the weekend, where he was like, instead of extending the subsidies, we're just gonna give every American money that they can turn around and pay for health care.
Isn't the point of government to act as that middleman, make things just a little bit easier,
And she says like, OK, how do you negotiate with that crazy person who has that crazy idea?
Well, and again, so if you send money directly to people, then they have to go to a health insurance company to get coverage.
Right.
They tried to make the insurance companies the boogeyman, which in some respects they are.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
Oh, yeah.
But as
opposed to say, like, as opposed to the government tax credits, you know, going to the health insurance companies to hold down costs for consumers.
We're going to give the money to the consumers, who are they going to turn around and give it to the big bad boogeymen at the insurance companies?
It just didn't make a lot of sense.
And then over the weekend, I was doing a little investigating into our elected officials and just who takes insurance money?
Gosh, a lot of our elected officials take money from the insurance companies.
That's why it was so surprised to hear all the, we hate them, they're evil, they're boogey boogey boogey, except when it comes to them writing checks.
Yep, that is a whole different thing.
We're going to continue our conversation with Joseph Hecke, political consultant when we return Corruption Palooza, baby.
Wow.
Sign up for Partons.
The booth is right over here.
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This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt Nair on Air, Jane Matt Nair and Sweet Galby coming to you live from our home at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always 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.
Greg is off today, political editor and friend of the show.
Joe Zopecki is here to just kick things around in the news.
Joe, I call it corruption, palooza, because it just never seems to end.
This from ABC News, Trump pardons Rulee Giuliani.
and other key figures allegedly involved in trying to overturn the 2020 election among these pardons include former WISC GOP Secretary Kelly Rue, former Dane County Judge Jim Trupas and WEC Commissioner Bob Spindel, also got Trump pardons for the fake elector scheme.
The state case, however, remains ongoing.
Are you surprised by this?
No, I wish I was, but Donald Trump is running a protection racket.
Absolutely.
And that means that he's got to take care of the people who took care of him.
A couple of names you missed.
Andrew Hitt, former Republican chair.
You know, Chesbro is on the list.
All of these clowns who tried to steal the 2020 election had to wait 10 months longer than the guys and gals who beat up cops.
Yeah.
on january 6th and so i'm not surprised but i'm infuriated i like i said this last week on a different program but we have to sometimes try to see the positive amid this madness and nothing has ever made the case for pardon reform in this country like donald j trump the founders screwed this one up and it's okay to say that it is the only power
vested in the executive where there is no check, there is no balance, they can do whatever the hell they want.
And it should boil the blood of every American that he can just wipe away the criminal liability for people who bloodied and battered law enforcement officers.
And this, as part of the same conspiracy,
to steal the 2020 election was again, I don't know what took so long.
The timing makes me wonder what is going on right now.
But I'm just mad as can possibly be.
Well, and I think this just.
continues to feed into the narrative I saw on social media over the weekend because the president was golfing over the weekend in case anyone wonders where he was he wasn't in Washington he was in Florida at Mar-a-Lago and apparently over the weekend they had a video running in the background about how he actually won the 2020 election this is going to continue now and with these pardons I think this is just going to make it worse that he is going to continue
that narrative that he won he won he won he won
yeah he didn't because he's a loser yes and he has also used the power of the you know the clemency to do things i mean like glane maxwell is next there's just no question
absolutely
he he's moved her over to club fed yep
The writing is on the wall.
They are trying to do everything they can to prevent the release of the Epstein files.
And I think the job for all of us who understand what's at stake here is to not take the bait and go all the way down the rabbit hole on these pardons because the reality is Republicans are forcing Americans to pay more for health care next year.
That is something that impacts millions of Americans.
And this, you know, I don't really love the like, oh, this is a distraction from that game.
But he's clearly like Republicans know they're losing on this.
And Donald Trump doesn't know how to talk about affordability.
He doesn't know how to lower costs for Americans, despite the fact that that's what he was elected to do.
And so he's just going to continue to feed his rage machine because it's the only thing they know how to do.
Well, and it works.
It works.
Anger and fear, they're very effective in getting people, you know, that's why when you go on social media and you watch certain things, the algorithm will continue to feed those things because it is effective.
And I agree with you.
I think we're just a couple of weeks away from Gillian Maxwell walking.
And I think his supporters, his hardcore supporters will be, well, he must know something that we don't.
Well, this has already cost him the Epstein controversy, the inability to release the list, the way that he has treated Maxwell.
He is seeing cracks in his coalition for the very first time.
The names we know are all the podcast bros who are like, wait a minute, man, you said you were going to release this stuff.
And whether it's that, whether it is people who voted for him who now can't sell their soybeans or find a way to move this year's crop, whether it is folks who are seeing their SNAP benefits expire or get complicated or their health care costs go up, or even people who wanted to crack down on immigration but didn't want masked thugs.
holding American citizens without due process, depriving them of their liberty.
There are people on the right who realize that like the jig is up.
Donald Trump is not who they thought they were voting for.
And that's part of why you saw such political success for Democrats last week.
And I think there's a lot more of that coming in the year ahead.
Well, let's hope that Rudy Giuliani and Chesborough and all those guys aren't looking at what they can do next to muck up.
next year's elections, because that's what we have to worry about next.
Also, one other win today, the Supreme Court is not going to overturn legal marriage equality.
Yes.
Thank
goodness.
We're celebrating.
One win.
Joseph Pecky is a political consultant and a friend of the show.
Thank you so very much for your time.
Really appreciate it, Joe.
We'll see
you in a couple.
Great to see you, Jane.
Talk
to you.
When news is next and then when we return, Civic Media News Director Shalie Pittman will be here.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt and Air on Air.
Jane Matt and Air, sweet Calbee coming to you live from our home at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call or text.
at 855-752-4842.
You can also leave a comment if you're watching the livestream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Greg is off today.
He will be back tomorrow.
And the Packers are in action tonight, hosting the Eagles.
Our broadcast will start at 5 p.m.
You can listen
Do the game on WRCO in Richland Center WCQM in Park Falls and here in Racina Kenosha on WRJN.
So catch the Packers hosting the Eagles.
Our broadcast will start tonight at 5 p.m.
Speaking of the beautiful Park Falls, Wisconsin, that's where we find Civic Media's news director, Shaly Pittman joining us on the phone.
Good morning, Shaly.
How are things in Park Falls this morning?
Good morning, Jane.
I saw that transition.
I respect it.
Things in Park Falls are a little snowy.
Yeah.
Just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
But probably, probably for you too.
Yeah, Racine got hit pretty well last night.
I was not expecting that as I was driving in this morning.
We're going to talk about that next hour at this time.
Actually, we're going to talk about winter driving for Audio Sorbet.
and pet peeves about winter driving coming up an hour from now.
But right now, we're going to do a little recap.
So much to talk about, Shali.
Snap
is on,
snap is off, snap is on, snap is off.
What is going on with the SNAP benefits as of 937 on Monday, November 10th?
I think what you just described is a quote to continual state of whiplash, which is
according to a filing today, how Governor Evers and a collection of other states are describing what's happened over the last three or four days.
I am attempting to make a timeline in my notes here, so I think I have it, but things are going to change as of later today, right?
Today, Governor Evers and others are in court, again, asking for a court's assistance to restrict the Trump administration from enforcing another letter.
But let's start at the beginning.
On Friday, there was a federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to fully fund benefits for this month, right?
We all, that's kind of where some folks maybe checked out for the weekend.
Food, food chairs back on.
Great.
Um, because the governor, I'm
sorry to interrupt you, but the governor loaded people's snap cards on Friday, right?
So that Saturday morning when they got up, their benefits were there.
Right.
Wisconsin was one of others, one of a few states that released the full aid.
And that's really important, Jane.
They released the full benefits.
to to folks so the way this actually works is kind of through a vendor system so the department of health services and Wisconsin submitted the full benefits to our vendor and those benefits were activated folks reported seeing their their cards full right for November so people have been buying food what happened though is that the US Treasury denied the transaction to authorize the payment of full benefits right.
because there had been a previous ruling about funding, you know, half funding or funding 35% of funding benefits, but the US Treasury denied the transaction to authorize the full benefits.
DHS had submitted, you know, the full request.
Then on Friday night, the Trump administration submitted a request to the Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court, which caused
that day's order from a federal judge saying that we'd like to put this on hold.
Now, they didn't say that they were going to do that in their guidance from the USDA earlier that day, and that was pointed out in yet another legal filing.
And on Saturday, I think it's Saturday, the Trump administration demanded that states quote, undo, unquote, the work that they had done saying that some states had released
But it was unauthorized.
They said it was unauthorized that instead of releasing the full funds, they should have refunded the third, you know,
35% or whatever.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Reduction, which by the way, I'm that doing that in the way that that would actually work for the vendor would cause a good amount of delay as well.
Just because this, this works through a vendor system that then reimburses, you know, the.
Folks giving out snap benefits rate the folks, you know selling the food, right?
So this just takes a while to sort out because it's new because it's a huge program so.
Yeah.
And then, you know, in that filing where the Trump administration demanded that states like Wisconsin undo their work, they said that if you don't, we could, the USDA could cancel the federal share of state administrative costs.
It would hold states liable for any quote over issuance that results from non-compliance, unquote.
So that means, hey, you're, you're responsible basically for this
35%.
And where we are today, also according to probably a different filing, there are, quote, insufficient SNAP funds to reimburse retailers for the provision sold to SNAP recipients.
So without immediate action, Wisconsin DHS will likely exceed its line of credit on Monday, November 10th.
Now, it gave out some numbers that as of
Friday, Wisconsin's balance was about $19.5 million.
people are using their, their, well, yes.
It's not like we talked about that with Joseph Pecky before you joined us.
By the way, if you're just joining us on matinee on air, civic media news director, Shaly Pittman is joining us on the phone as she does every Monday to do a little recap.
And we're talking about the back and forth about snap benefits over the weekend.
The one thing I do want to say is that.
So the court said on Friday, yes, the government has to pay for SNAP.
Governor Evers said, great.
So we filled up everybody's cards.
Court came back the next day after the Trump administration tried to stop it and said, now you have to claw it back.
And Governor Evers essentially came back with a one word response and said, no.
Right.
Right.
And that's vacant national headlines, right?
I mean, in the New York Times article, Wisconsin is the case example.
There's as Dan Schaefer, our political editor likes to say, there's always a Wisconsin connection.
Pretty much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, there were, there were the flurry of press releases from the governor's office.
And that's, that's where I think the quote actually came from.
No.
said Governor Evers pursuant to and consistent with an active court order Wisconsin legally loaded benefits to cards insuring nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites had access to basic food and groceries that's according to press release number two and earlier one had announced a coalition of states urging a court to reject the effort to quote yank benefits.
And so again, I think the watchword is confusion or again, I like the phrase the continual state of whip black.
Well,
I
don't understand how, so the government said you have to claw back this money.
How is that supposed to work?
Are people supposed to bring back the eggs that they scrambled and take them back to the store?
It doesn't work like that.
Your guess?
is as good as mine.
I am not an expert.
I tried to look up a little more on like how food share funding actually works and gets funded because it probably gets very, you know, administrative here very soon.
But I don't know.
Your guess is as good as mine.
We're kind of in unprecedented territory here.
I think in a press release today, the Evers administration pointed out that
In a span of less than a week, there have been multiple guidance documents from the USDA, the Department of Agriculture, which like administrates the funding, right, along with the Treasury.
And they say that each has been inconsistent with the prior one, right, which is what's caused that continual state of whiplash.
So that's, yeah, Calvin, I hope you choose that as the title for
today.
Just we'll call it whiplash.
It's just continual whiplash now with the Senate on the cliff of it looks like a deal to open up the government Does this mean that snap once this half because this is gonna take several days.
It's not like it's gonna happen today Is that gonna make all of this moot?
Yeah, I
I'm so bad at prognostication, right?
I don't know.
I think one thing that, I don't wanna say what could happen because I really don't know.
I mean, I wish, again, your guess is as good as mine.
The only thing I'm looking at is, like you said, how would you claw this back?
Clearly, folks are using the money.
The benefits are
there, yeah, they're spending
it.
probably pretty relieved.
So it's hard to know exactly what would happen if that vendor payment, the money in the fund basically runs dry.
But we're gonna find out more today because there's a court hearing, there's a legal filing, or they're requesting a court hearing.
I would assume that that probably happens today.
I don't know what time it is.
That's where we are.
Well, and I just want to remind folks, if you are in a position to be able to help a local food pantry or something, I would really encourage you to donate.
Even if you can only donate a couple jars of peanut butter, that would make a big difference.
And if you're not on social media, you might not have seen over the weekend the lines of outside of some food pantries around the country.
This is affecting a lot.
of people and these are probably people within your own neighborhoods that you don't realize are struggling so again if you can donate whatever you can donate people a lot of times will think shawley i i've only got an extra five dollars well you know what if a hundred people
donate $5 that adds up to something.
So every little bit counts, every little bit counts.
And if you can donate cash, I know at least as far as groups like Second Harvest and Feeding America, they can make those dollars go further because they can buy in bulk.
So if you're able to make a cash donation to a food pantry, that is fantastic.
Again, if you can only donate a couple jars of peanut butter, I know that they would be grateful for that as well.
College students, right?
Yes.
That was an article this
morning.
Yeah, exactly.
That students are, you know, struggling, right?
And they have a quote from a student who says, hey, this distracts me in the classroom.
I can't focus, right, if I'm hungry.
And the colleges survey their students about food insecurity.
And I think it was half of UW Milwaukee.
those surveyed last year, experience food insecurity, right?
Yeah, it affects a lot of people
that, yeah, it affects a lot of people that I think we just don't assume would be hurt by something like this.
We're gonna continue our discussion with Shaly Pittman, Civic Media News Director and data centers on the other side.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air, coming to you across the vast state-wide, country-wide, you can pick us up around the globe on this Civic Media
radio network.
Don't go away.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair and doctors slide 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 at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Greg is off today.
He will be back tomorrow coming up after the 10 o'clock news if you are of a certain age.
And you have questions about the difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
And there are a lot of differences.
Ingrid Kundinger is going to join us after the 10 o'clock news.
She's the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol Program Director.
And we're going to break down the differences between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
They are not the same thing.
by any stretch of the imagination.
So if you have questions or you have maybe someone in your life who is at that age where they're considering either Medicare or Medicare Advantage, I highly encourage you to stick around for that coming up after the 10 o'clock news.
She joins us every Monday at this time to recap all news from the weekend.
Civic Media's news director on the road in Park Falls, Shelly Pittman is joining us.
Shelly, we talked last week about data centers and they continue to be in the
news this week.
Where are we on that?
Hey, Jane, there's just so much happening with data centers in a short amount of time.
I left Friday, attempted to wrap it all up into one and I'm sure still missed a couple of things.
So, but you can kind of read this article on civicmedia.us.
It's called data centers become the watchword and, you know,
I was trying to write one thing about data centers, and then something else happened
on
Thursday evening, and then something else happened.
And so I just tried to put it all together.
So starting last week, last Wednesday, there was an informational hearing at the Capitol that lawmakers held, a committee held on, quote, demystifying data centers and AI.
or the radar, but it had representatives from all sorts, like dozens of groups, including Microsoft, Google, Vantage, and so on.
And I thought it was pretty interesting to watch.
I haven't, I need to go back over it, but, you know, I think they made the point, they tried to quote unquote demystify and made the point that, you know, some of these facilities are state of the art, right?
And that folks use,
data centers in their daily lives and can have profound effects on research, right?
Spokesperson from Microsoft spoke about cancer research, right?
Of
course, a very, you know, who could be against cancer research, but, you know, they made the point that these are part of our economy now.
And I thought that was interesting.
You can watch that.
Well, I again obviously in something like that It's gonna be all the good things the data centers bring right and this is such a plus and they're not going away and so yes, but there are still a lot of concerns people have Particularly when it comes to water usage and energy usage usage within their communities where these data centers want to be built Do they address any of that
stuff?
an environmental group spoke as well, right?
And I think key takeaway here is that not all data centers are the same, right?
Or that's at least what the spokes folks wanted to emphasize, right?
Which is you hear this, like there's an open water loop and then a closed water loop, right?
And so the closed water loop, right?
The idea is that the water never leaves the dang building and that, you know, it is not quote so much, right?
But
fewer millions of gallons.
Right.
And also, right, that still doesn't take away the fact that like there are, if it does create jobs, it's a massive campus.
And so just in the normal course of people working at a place, right, and using the restrooms and drinking water and all of that also can contribute.
They spoke about energy usage.
You know, many have pointed to creating their own grids and that consumers won't pay, saying that the consumers won't pay the cost.
um, of rising, um, utility prices, which is a hard, hard thing to prove empirically, right?
Um, you can build a renewable energy grid and yet like seems like prices are always going up for consumers.
And so how do you, how do you track that?
Something that I'm grappling with, but I want to.
point folks to that, if they were interested, that's on Wisconsin Eye.
And that happened last Wednesday, I believe it was the Committee on Science, Technology, and AI.
Then on Thursday, though, Thursday is when there was a lot happening.
So gubernatorial candidates at the first
forum of the 2026 election cycle were asked about data centers.
This is going to be, I think, a part of campaigns.
Sure.
You know, it made it in.
It was hosted by, oh, I forget exactly who, it's a technology group, the Wisconsin Technology Council.
And, you know, they, candidates, mostly Democrats, there's one Republican who showed up, Josh Showman.
They offered answers that were kind of tried to be in the middle and highlight the pros and cons of economic opportunity versus regulation.
So we can kind of get a sense of where the gubernatorial candidates can be headed for that.
I'm just looking at the time.
I'll speed up.
There was a state lawmaker on Thursday who also announced a bill for a regulatory framework after this informational hearing.
County leaders are announcing a resolution to create an advisory committee, and that's in response to a proposal to build one here in Dane County.
This stuff happening tonight at Jamesville.
Yeah, my notes, you can read it.
Shelly Pittman is Civic Media's news director.
She joins us every Monday for a recap.
Thank you much.
Shelly, we will see you next Monday.
news
coming up next.
When we return, we'll talk about the differences between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt Nair on air, Jane Matt Nair and Kelly 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 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter.
There is a difference.
between Medicare and Medicare Advantage and here to explain those differences.
She is Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol Program Director Ingrid Kundinger is here.
Good morning, Ingrid.
Thank you so much for joining us.
How are you?
Fine, thanks.
How are you this morning?
I am great.
Thank you.
Lots of confusion, Ingrid.
Everybody thanks.
And I mentioned this as we were...
talking about you joining us.
I have a friend who's 87 and I talked to him last over the weekend and he said he gets 22 calls a day on average for Medicare Advantage and again they are not the same thing so can you explain just basically the differences between Medicare
which everyone becomes eligible for when they hit 65 and Medicare Advantage.
Absolutely.
And the reason probably that your friend is getting so many phone calls right now is because it is the open enrollment period for Medicare.
So we'll talk a little bit about what that means as well.
But as it relates to Medicare, as you mentioned, Medicare is the health care program that is available for people
who are age 65 or older.
Sometimes people do qualify for Medicare at a younger age, depending on diagnosis.
But in general, that is the health insurance program that is available for people in the United States who are 65 years of age or older.
So you become eligible for that or you sign up for that.
There's a seven month window.
So three months before you turn 65, the month of your
your 65th birthday and then the three months after your 65th birthday is what's kind of your initial enrollment period for that.
So once you are eligible for and sign up for Medicare, there's some decisions that you need to make about what you want for your coverage to be.
So you have kind of two options.
One is to stick with the traditional or original Medicare.
which is the health insurance program that's provided by the federal government.
And that will pay 80% of most of your health insurance expenses.
And most people who choose to stick with original Medicare also then look for a supplemental or a Medigap policy.
To cover that
20%, right?
which is the additional insurance coverage that would exactly, you hit that exactly on the head, cover that additional 20% so that if there was something catastrophic that happened between original Medicare and your supplemental insurance plan, you should be at or close to 100% coverage.
Now with original Medicare, there are some things that are not covered or not included that sometimes are important to people.
First of all, original Medicare does not provide a prescription drug plan.
So if you need or would like to have a prescription drug plan, you would need to seek that separately.
So that's one thing.
The other things that original Medicare don't cover directly that are sometimes important to older adults are hearing tests and hearing aids.
vision insurance and dental insurance.
So all of those things can be quite expensive for people to cover.
And so it's important to kind of weigh your pros and cons as it relates to that.
Now you can choose to, once you are Medicare eligible, instead of going with original Medicare, you can choose to privatize your Medicare coverage, which means that you would then
purchase a Medicare Advantage plan.
So that means that you're going to find another insurance company to provide all of the benefits that Medicare would provide to you, plus some additional benefits.
And what those additional benefits sometimes include are vision.
dental hearing aids, and then some Medicare Advantage plans include a Part D prescription drug plan.
Others don't.
So there's a lot of options.
which is great.
It's always good to have options, especially when you're, this is something obviously that's really important to people is their healthcare coverage.
It can be a little bit confusing and complex.
And because of that, that's an opportunity for people who do not necessarily have your best interest in mind to take advantage of you in some situations.
they might try to sell seats.
In other words, they're gonna try and sell you something, potentially something that you don't need or that is not necessarily going to serve you well down the line.
If you're just joining us, Ingrid Kundinger is our guest.
She's with the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources and we're talking about the difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.
I understand too, Ingrid, that
There can be some things that Medicare Advantage plans may not necessarily cover that folks might not be aware of until they end up needing it.
That can be true, especially sometimes people will see there's a lot of
television commercials on right now for different advantage plans because it is the open enrollment period.
And so that's when there's all these extra benefits and people may be thinking, well, gosh, I would love to have transportation or an extra medication or extra money to spend at the pharmacy or
whatever that benefit may be advertised as.
However, there's fine print at the bottom of all of those advertisements, none of which we pay attention to.
No one reads
that stuff.
No one reads that stuff.
does outline exactly what you said.
You may or may not be eligible for that.
There may be different financial eligibility requirements that you need to meet in order to do that.
They're probably not going to take the time to explain that to you.
There might be certain provider networks that are in or out of that Medicare Advantage plan.
Oftentimes we hear from people who get caught up with
all these additional things and they sound like it's great and they can't live without it and they sign up and then when they go to the doctor for the first time in the new year, they find out that their provider is not any longer in that.
coverage period and that were in that coverage and that was something that was important to them they really wanted to stay within that health care stay with that health care provider within that network and now they're left to you know start from scratch with the new network or they didn't understand what medications were covered in this new plans formulary which is kind of the
booklet of all the different drugs that are covered and what the costs are.
And so when they go to the pharmacy for the first time in the new coverage year, they're suddenly leaving with a bill that they weren't anticipating because important medications that they are prescribed are no longer covered in that plan or under the same payment structure as they were expecting.
So, you know, in that case, people are kind of left to now, what do I do?
And scrambling to either reestablish the coverage they had in the past or to figure out
the best way forward with the new plan that they have.
We're talking to Ingrid Kundinger about the difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
The open enrollment period is going on right now.
And if you are of a certain age, you're probably getting 10, 15, 17 calls a day about the Medicare Advantage plans that you can buy.
Ingrid, what happens to folks say, I am 65.
And I decide I'm not going to go with traditional Medicare.
I'm going to go with a Medicare Advantage plan.
And I do that for a year.
And I decide I don't like this coverage.
I want to go back on regular government funded Medicare.
Can I do that?
You can do that.
And that's something that you can do during the open enrollment period, which is every year between October 15th and December 7th.
That's kind of the magic timeframe where people who are on Medicare can make changes.
So they can change from original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan.
They can switch Medicare Advantage plans or in your scenario, they can switch from a Medicare Advantage plan to original Medicare.
And so those are times that's the time that you can do those things is right now.
Are there any penalties if I decide to do that?
Will I get penalized somehow if I don't take my Medicare when I'm when I'm eligible for it?
As long as you you won't be penalized as long as you have a Medicare Advantage plan.
So you need to show that you have creditable coverage if you reach the age of 65.
Sometimes people are still working and so they
enroll in Medicare but opt to continue on their employer's insurance and maybe Medicare becomes the secondary payer.
or there's other things in place.
And so you just need to be able to demonstrate to Medicare that while you deferred your enrollment in that you did have other coverage.
If you didn't have other coverage, then you could be subject to a penalty based on the amount of time that you didn't have what they call creditable coverage.
is also part of a Part D prescription drug plan.
So a lot of times people say, I don't need a prescription drug plan.
I don't take any medications.
You might need them.
You know, a year later, you suddenly need to have medications for whatever reason.
And then you would carry a penalty because you didn't sign up for a medical or a Part D prescription plan at the beginning.
Well, and I just from personal experience, I had a family member who developed a very serious heart condition completely out of nowhere.
The medications were like $16,000 a month.
It was staggering.
It was just staggering.
And so again, a lot of times you're not, you don't think you're gonna need it, but something like that comes up and then unfortunately you're out of luck.
But we only have a couple minutes before we have to go to break and then we'll continue.
But is there an average that people can expect to pay Ingrid if they are on Medicare?
Because this comes out of your social check, doesn't it?
Your social
security yes, and I don't I it does come out of your social security Payment on a monthly basis.
So oftentimes you don't even see what those premiums are I'm not certain what the premiums for next year are but it's a sizable amount of money and you know, that's something that you either pay that
directly to Medicare or if you know you pay some of that to Medicare and then if you choose a Medicare Advantage plan there are also premiums and you know that sort of thing involved in that as well.
So you know as you're nearing the age of 65 it is important to start thinking about that and what those costs are going to be regardless of which path you choose as it relates to your health care because that does require some planning or just budgeting to make sure that you've taken those costs into consideration as you move to Medicare.
PJ on the live stream says my payment is about $180 off the top.
of my social security checks.
So they're, yeah, they're going to take it off from your social if you are on Medicare.
If you have questions for Ingrid, now is the time to send them in at 855-752-4842.
She is with the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources.
We're going to continue our conversation with Ingrid Kundinger.
On the other side, stay with us.
You are listening to Matt Nair on Air.
This is the Civic Media Radio
Network.
You don't mean nothing.
Good morning and welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair and Cali Teeny on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine where you can join us at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter.
Our guest is Ingrid Kundinger.
She is the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol Program Director and we are talking about Medicare versus Medicare Advantage.
is the open enrollment.
The time to sign up is right now.
Ingrid, we did get a couple of questions come in on the text line.
I just turned 65 last week.
How do I sign up for Medicare from Jill in New Berlin?
Well, happy belated birthday to Jill in New Berlin and welcome to Medicare, I guess I would say the Social Security Administration is actually the governmental agency that helps you get signed up for Medicare And so you would want to reach out either online or call your local Social Security Administration office to get that process started and you know, you can certainly connect with your local aging and disability resource
center or call Medicare directly if you have questions about what your options are before you get ready to sign up for Medicare.
I would pack some patients as well, Jim, from Appleton just texted in listening in Oshkosh and WISS.
I'll be 64 in early, I'm 64 in early January, I turn 65.
I'm having a tough time signing up for Medicare.
What with the budget cuts and the government shutdown, any guidance is appreciated.
I would expect long wait times if you call Social Security.
Absolutely.
Unfortunately, that has been impacted.
They have staffing issues that they are working through.
So kudos to you who are not yet 65, but are already planning and getting things in order prior to your 65th birthday.
But if you do need to reach out to the Social Security Administration, to 1-800-MEDICARE, like Jane, like you said, pack your patients because it may take a while for you to get through.
I don't know about the Social Security Administration, toll-free number, but I do know that Medicare...
answers the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
So you might not have to pack as much patience when you're connecting with Medicare as you might with the Social Security Administration.
Yeah, even when the government reopens, let's not forget, Doge came in and blasted out a whole bunch of people from the Social Security Administration.
So be very, very patient if you're going to call.
John from West Bend, listening on WAUK says, buyer beware with advantage.
plans.
My doctor told me not to go on an Advantage plan.
My wife's friend went on Advantage three years ago and is now stuck.
If you sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan and you want to switch to regular Medicare, you can only do it after one year.
After that, you are stuck with Medicare Advantage for life.
Is that accurate?
I'm not certain that you would be stuck with that for life.
There may be, depending on how long it's been that you've been on a Medicare Advantage plan, to switch to original Medicare, you may be subject to underwriting, which may disqualify some folks, or the pricing structure might be such that you are not in a position to make those payments.
However,
If you are in a Medicare Advantage plan that you don't like, you don't have to be stuck in that Medicare Advantage plan.
So I would encourage people to really get more information about other plans that might be available to them and then to make that decision to.
to switch that plan.
Ingrid Kundiger is our guest.
She's with the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources, and we're talking about the difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
Greg and Rich Lynn Center listening on WRCE says, please spend a little more time on what Medicare doesn't cover and talk about how outrageously expensive Medigap coverage can be.
So as far as, I mean, I don't know all the ins and outs of what Medicare does and doesn't cover, but you know, some of the big things that were mentioned earlier were the vision insurance, dental insurance, hearing aids and that sort of thing, which seems to be pretty significant in terms of what older people or people on Medicare might be looking for.
Yes.
supplemental plans can be expensive as well.
And I think that that is just part of the research that people need to do ahead of time to look at what original Medicare is going to cost on a monthly basis versus a supplemental plan versus your Part D prescription drug plan, and then compare those costs to the Medicare Advantage plan costs and structure.
And you will just have to then decide what's best.
for your pocketbook or what's best for your lifestyle or what networks are most important to their, you know, like I said, it's unfortunately it's not easy.
There are a lot of it's really complicated.
Yeah, it is very complicated.
And so we just really encourage people to be extra careful when that phone rings and it's someone that's offering you or Jane as your friend mentioned the 22 or 23 phone calls a day.
If you don't have to answer those phone calls, my suggestion would be not to because the more you pick them up, the more they're going to keep trying to reach you and talk to you about things like that.
My suggestion is to not answer them at all or to hang up as soon as you realize that there's someone that you've never talked to before trying to sell you things that are
really important and that you really want to take the time to do research on and to seek out a local insurance agent or broker that you feel comfortable with that you've done business with and other aspects of your insurance life or
to reach out to the unbiased team at the Aging and Disability Resource Center in your area.
They can help you walk through all of the enrollment things and questions to answer.
Think about without pushing you and selling you one plan over the
other.
We will include that link in our show notes.
Ingrid Kundiger is with the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources.
Really important.
Thank you so very much, Ingrid.
Really appreciate your time.
Thanks for having me
news is coming up next when we return will lighten it up with little audio Sorbet and winter driving peeves.
That is all coming up.
Stay close.
You're listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Don't go away.
Good morning and welcome back to Matt Nair on Air.
Jane Matt Nair, our one, our only Calzone 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 at 855-752-4842.
You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream.
Good morning, live stream.
On Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Thanks again to Indra Ingrid Kundinger.
who joined us before we went to the bottom of the hour news.
We had a whole bunch of questions, Calvin, come in on the text line that we did not have time to get to.
So hopefully we'll have a chance to get Ingrid back on before open enrollment in Medicare ends next month.
If you have questions, send them in and we will compile them and then hopefully get Ingrid back on to talk more about Medicare, the differences rather between Medicare.
and Medicare Advantage.
This is the time of the show that we call Audio Sorbet, where we get away from the news, talking about other things.
So we can laugh and take a breath.
And as Greg would say, he's off today, we clean your ears with fun.
That's the goal.
So our question today for Audio Sorbet are winter driving pet peeves.
This after overnight lake effect snow,
Dropped nine and a half inches of snow.
Yes.
In parts of eastern Racine and Kenosha counties here where radio park is located.
What do you think, Kevin?
We have a good five, six inches at least.
Yeah, it definitely took me by surprise in Walkshot County.
We had a dusting yesterday.
That's
pretty much already melted.
And then, yeah, I got here and there.
There's several inches.
I'm not a good estimate of that kind of thing.
But yes, there is more than a little.
Yeah, I was, I mean, again, I drive from the northwest side of Milwaukee down to Racine every day.
And there was not, I mean, I could see the front, this big dark front hanging over the lake shore.
And there was nothing in Milwaukee County up until I got to Highway 32 here in Racine.
And then we went from two lanes to one lane.
Really quickly because the plows hadn't had a chance to get out there yet.
What is your biggest winter driving pet peeve?
Since we are now underway with winter driving 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 your biggest pet peeve for winter driving 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 that is our audio sorbet question for today for Sharon
Our receptionist here at Radio Park, Sharon's from Jamaica.
And that poor thing was, I talked to her this morning when she came in, she said, I just, I can't do this.
I don't know how you people do this.
But I told her, I said, Sharon, even though people have been driving in snow all of their lives, they're Wisconsinites and they, they still don't, we still don't know how to drive in snow.
We don't.
Yeah.
especially the first few times it snows for the year, I will say people in Racine were, and granted, it wasn't actively snowing anymore by the time
it was coming
in, but people were driving reasonably well for the condition of the roads.
I will say that.
I'm happy to hear that.
I didn't see any egregious misbehavior this morning, but again, it was the first time.
I will say this and
Bring on the hate if you want to dump on me It's you pick up truck drivers That drive me crazy Because for some reason if you're in an F 150 you seem to think that the laws of physics do not apply to you when it comes to I don't know sliding You're gonna slide if the physics affects all of us just because you're in a big fancy truck Doesn't mean you have different
laws of physics and acceleration and deceleration and all those things.
What is your biggest pet peeve about winter driving 855-752-4842-855-75 Civic?
Ben from West Bend joining us on the line.
Good morning, Ben.
What do you want to say about
this?
Well, it's all about allowing yourself extra time being aware of your surrounding, but people who sudden stop and make a turn.
You cannot, you know, please, you know, make sure you know you're paying attention and be off your phone.
It's, you know, you know, make sure your tires are good and you gotta allow yourself a little extra time, slow down, all that stuff.
It's just not a, well, I can drive.
55 and 40 because it's, you know, whatever.
Right.
You know, it's all that stuff.
I mean, you got to be on your toes.
It's not so bad when it first starts though.
But once it starts piling up, the slush freezes.
It's just a mess.
It is.
It's, you know, the whole thing is, you know, like with me, it's timing, you know, I'm buying new tires soon.
So that will help.
But, you know, I get with people with
Don't have all-wheel drive or forward or whatever Put some sand in your back.
Yep, you know, you know put two bags of sand or whatever it does allow yourself extra time be aware of everything
That's a great great those are all great suggestions been really appreciated and it is more than just one thing But again, if you know the roads are gonna be bad, thank you Ben really appreciate it If you know the roads are gonna be bad you leave 10 minutes early, so then you're not racing
And I thought he made a real good point, too, about I had somebody pull in front of me this morning that should not have done that.
Again, when roads are slushy and roads are slippery, you wanna time things.
You gotta be careful about timing and merging and things like that.
Winter driving pet peeves at 855-752-4842.
855-75 Civic, what drives you crazy about the way other people drive because we all drive perfectly?
Right, Calvin?
Yeah, exactly.
There's no
flaws.
Everyone's driving is based on our own driving.
Exactly.
If everyone just drove like me, then there would be
everything would be perfect.
855-752-4842.
Is it the speeding?
Is it the passing?
Is it the stopping and starting?
Is it pulling out in front of you that makes you crazy?
Winter driving pet peeves is our audio sorbet conversation for today.
Richard from Waukesha joining us on the phone.
Good morning, Richard.
What do you want to say about this?
Well, about my years, I believe, and I had a relative too.
I think it's SUVs that are heavier than they look and too much speed.
Driving too fast, right?
Driving too fast for conditions.
Driving too fast for the weight of the vehicle.
Again, this is where the laws of physics apply equally to all of us, no matter how big your vehicle is, no matter how small your vehicle is, you're going to slide just like the rest of us do, no matter how big.
Your vehicle may be 855-752-4842.
Winter driving pet peeves is our audio sorbet topic for today.
Calvin, what makes you crazy?
I guess my isn't so much about other people's driving.
And I guess it's also an example of why local politics and governments matter.
So Walkshaw County does a fantastic job cleaning its roads up.
Jefferson County on the other hand not so
much not
so much when I was in high school This my school district straddled the walk shot Jefferson County line and Actually, I went to school in Jefferson County, and then I also commuted to UW Whitewater for two of the five years I was there
so
and It's very clear even if the sign wasn't posted on the walk shot Jefferson County line
you just
tell you can just tell it's like
nice and clean, clear road on the Waukesha side.
And then boom, it's like they just rolled it smooth with the plows on the Jefferson County side.
They have one plow truck in Jefferson County.
They just can't get around to it.
They either, they have less plow trucks.
They don't have as much salt in the budget.
I'm not sure, but Jefferson County.
does not do a very great job.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
Winter driving peeves is our audio survey subject for today, this after overnight lake effects snow dropped almost nine and a half inches in parts of eastern Racine and Kenosha counties.
And by the way, right across the street from us here at Radio Park, I want to give credit to the roofers.
who are out on the roof.
They're roofing somebody's house right now.
They just waited for the stuff to melt off the roof and they got to it.
You gotta give those guys a lot of credit.
That's a really hard job.
What are your winter driving pet peeves?
855-752-4842.
Mary and Eau Claire texting in, my winter driving pet peeve is winter driving.
Yeah, it's a drag.
It's a pain.
Especially if you're on the freeway and it is still snowing and then you're either behind a truck or you're stuck in the middle of two trucks and all of that road spray comes up, it's blinding.
It's just blinding.
Along with what Bennett said about making sure you have good snow tires or good tires on your car, make sure you have good wipers.
because vision is an important thing when driving.
I just spent 26 bucks per wiper, which I thought Calvin seemed a little expensive.
You know, Jane, I don't know how much windshield
wipers cost.
It's not something I buy with any regularity.
Yeah, I mean, not only make sure you have good wipers, I don't know how common of an issue this is, but also make sure your defrost works.
Make sure you're...
blowing hot air on your windshield.
Always a good idea.
Always a good idea.
We're talking about winter driving pet peeves, John from West Bend, listening on WAUK, not cleaning the snow off your windows and your lights.
That reminds me last year, Calvin, when we were still in Waukesha at our station in Waukesha and we had gotten a late spring dump.
And as I was heading to the station in Waukesha, I could see a guy behind me who had a good two feet of snow on the top of his SUV.
And it was warm enough so it was a little melty.
And he got up to the stop sign and when he stopped, all of that snow from the roof of his vehicle landed on his windshield.
He stopped traffic because it was so heavy he couldn't use his wipers to get it off.
And he couldn't get out of the car because he couldn't see what was on either side of him So he blinded himself pretty effectively by not wiping the snow off of his vehicle So that's one of those things that yes, you do want to do and besides it can drop off on the people driving behind you too, right?
Yeah, obviously that it's clean your cars off.
Um, luckily
My dad's truck is too big to fit in the garage.
So I pulled a seniority card and I get to park in the garage
So, I don't really have to clean my car off anymore, which is really
nice.
That is the biggest drag in the world, if you have to park outside.
That is our audio sorbet for today.
If you ever have a suggestion, by the way, for an audio sorbet, or even if this shouldn't be a thing, we would love to hear from you.
You can always contact the show at janesaysatcivicmedia.us, J-A-N-E-S-A-Y-S.
at civicmedia.us.
When we return, we'll wrap up the show as we always do with This Shouldn't Be a Thing.
You can check out, but you can never leave edition.
Stay with us.
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.
And resident young person Kelvin coming to you live from our home 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 on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter.
Greg has the day off today.
He will be back tomorrow.
Also coming up tomorrow, Todd Alba, our friend and colleague.
Most of the Todd Alba show
I will be joining Todd this afternoon at 2.30.
He will be here tomorrow after 9.30 and in hour number two Kelvin tomorrow we're going to talk her to Representative Francesca Hong who has thrown her hat in the ring to run for governor of Wisconsin.
So Representative Hong joining us in hour number two tomorrow find out what she thinks.
Are her strong points going into the gubernatorial race?
That's all on the way tomorrow.
Right now, it is heading towards 1054 Kelvin, and that means it's time for... This shouldn't be a thing!
If you ever find a thing you think this should not be, send it in to Greg and me at janesaysatcivicmedia.us J-A-N-E-S-A-Y-S, Jane says...
at civicmedia.us.
Calvin, you found this one, this from valleynewslive.com.
Let's see who has the byline on here.
No one wants to take responsibility for this.
Headline reads Fargo Hotel under investigation after workers seen soaking bed sheets in guest hot tub.
The health division at Fargo casts public health.
Investigating a local hotel after an employee was seen soaking bed sheets in a guest room hot tub.
A family who was staying at Expressway Suites in Fargo said they watched a worker dump sheets into the hot tub and then mix them around with a broom.
They recorded the whole incident and then posted it to social media.
Guest Alex Ken Mill said, quote, at first,
I thought maybe the hub tub, the hot tub was down, the drain was broken, they were trying to soak up the water.
But then he started adding more sheets in there and I was like, what's going on?
The family said they were disgusted by what those they saw.
Are we sleeping on these sheets?
It's disgusting.
With concerns, Alex and family contacted Hotel Management for answers about this.
In a recorded phone call with hotel staff, a worker said the sheets weren't dirty.
They'd been washed beforehand.
The worker also said the sheets were put into the hot tub to remove stains.
This just gets worse and worse.
The sheets are put into the hot tub and it gets out tiny little stains.
Then the hot tub is drained.
It is really heavily cleaned by a huge
deep cleaner according to that employee.
Hotel management, however, declined to go on camera.
They said in a face-to-face conversation, this is a last resort practice.
For stained sheets, they're planning to throw out.
Well, if you're gonna throw them out, Calvin, why would you go through all the work of putting them into a hot tub to wash them?
Yeah, I...
Not totally understanding the rationale at all.
They should have stopped talking early on.
Yeah.
Like, how is this better than a washing machine?
I'm not
sure.
They say this practice is typically done after the pool is closed.
The employee in the video was talked about doing this in front of guests.
Well, yeah, because if you're washing hotel sheets in the hot tub,
Maybe you don't want the guests who are staying there to watch that.
When asked if this is a city approved practice, management said they're going to check with the health department.
You may want to ask about that.
An official with Fargo Cast Public Health confirmed their health division is looking into the matter.
Hot tubs while heavily chlorinated.
But because of the high presence of bodily fluids can create a breeding ground for bacteria.
Just sitting in a hot tub will your skin will literally come off like your shedding says guest Amy Vandal.
The family says they've contacted the city health department and will contact the state health department next.
Maybe Calvin now on from now on when we go to hotels we should just bring our own sheets.
Yeah, I Hope I would like go down to the pool and make sure there's
no sheet That wraps up today's episode of
This shouldn't be a thing.
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