New Year, Same Mission: Community (Hour 1)

Good, good morning.

Welcome to the mid-morning here on Civic Media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your buddy, your pal.

We're very, very excited to have you here today.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Hope you had a great New Year's celebration.

We were gone for a few days last week, enjoying, relaxing.

Me and my good buddy, Calvin Butenhof, on the boards, doing the ones and twos.

Calvin, good morning.

How are you today?

How are you feeling?

Last week you were...

quite under the weather.

And I want to just check and see how you're doing now.

I have recovered.

Breaking news, folks.

Calvin Butanov has recovered.

All right.

You're feeling better.

That's good.

Good.

Yep.

I'm feeling a lot

better.

Excellent.

Well, I'm happy to hear that.

I hope you I hope you had a well, you know what?

Actually, let's let's hold that.

for later on.

We'll talk about that later on.

As far as like, what did we do for New Year's?

What did we do to celebrate?

We're going to talk about New Year's resolutions in the second hour because we got a great show ahead.

We got lots to talk about at 9 30 after the 9 30 news.

My friend colleague award winning civic media.

Luminary, Melissa Kay will be on the show to talk about her new program as well as stories she has been working on.

It's going to be great to discuss with her what's happening in her neck of the woods in civic media because we are all over, you know, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

And you can always be part of that conversation.

If you're listening to us right now, you can always get in touch by calling or texting.

The number is 855-752-4842, 855-75 civic.

You can also leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently live streaming on Facebook, YouTube, and the platform in this house that we still call Twitter.

Always get that Civic Media app in your life as well.

Download it right now.

You can listen to the shows.

You can listen to our music stations all over the world, anywhere you'd like.

You can also call through that app.

text through the app, you can leave a voice note through that app, and hey, you can leave a voice note even if you don't like me.

So that's all right there for you on the Civic Media app.

But Melissa K will be here.

at 935 really looking forward to that discussion.

And then 1006 after the top of the hour news break in hour number two, we'll be speaking to John England, who is the executive director of the Menominee East and South YMCA.

And we're going to be starting something here, uh, basically transfer.

It's a transformation Mondays.

We're going to be talking about how we're making transformations in our life.

And today we're going to talk about what they do at the YMCA.

and how it's not just about health and fitness as we know, but just helping to make changes in people's lives and being there for programs, for those seeking to try new avenues.

I mean, the Y is a wonderful place.

I'm a member of the Y in Kenosha.

I absolutely love it.

But we'll be talking to John England in the second hour.

And then at 1035, I want to hear from you.

I want to hear from you.

You know, I know you can make it, say New Year's resolutions and that's fine.

And sometimes people will maybe,

Roll our eyes or thing.

I'm not doing that.

But I want to know for 2026, maybe we don't call it New Year's resolutions.

Are there moments of transformation for yourself you're seeking to achieve?

Is it about getting on a health journey?

Is it about taking part in dry January, which we'll be discussing later in the month as well?

What are you seeking to do for yourself in 2026?

Moving forward those baby steps of transformation because that's how you got to do it And you can always send it to us via the text line You can always call it in but we'll be talking more about that at 1035 and then of course this shouldn't be a thing rounding out the show very very much looking forward to having you here today folks and We're gonna have a really great time.

So thank you for sharing your your morning with us and I want to start with a little bit of breaking news out of Minnesota current governor

Tim Walls, a former candidate for vice president last year has announced that he will not be seeking reelection as governor of the state of Minnesota.

He is going to be stepping down from his term.

And basically, you know, I'm not surprised.

I didn't feel like he said he was, there was a bid going and then he is, he said he's going to end it would been a third term as governor, uh, getting this reporting out of the AP and he, he.

Let me rephrase that.

I was surprised he was running again.

I thought that he was going to be done moving on to the next thing, but he was going for his third bid and he decided to step down.

And he says the quote that I cannot give a political campaign my all.

And it's been an extraordinarily difficult year for his state.

And part of it is cited as being the state's childcare program scandal that has been in the news in the past couple of weeks.

Calvin, what do you think about this?

What are your thoughts on Tim Wall stepping down for his reelection bid?

I'm not, I don't know.

I'm flip-flack.

Like part of me is not surprised and part of me is a little surprised.

Cause I feel like as a Wisconsinite, the perception is that he's well liked in Minnesota.

And I hadn't heard

any rumbling side, he wasn't going to run again.

But then on the other hand, there, yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a lot in the last year.

So I'm not surprised.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's when, I mean, he said it best.

He's like, you know, if he can't give it, you're all in a political campaign for governor of a state.

And I think there is a sense of, you know, when we know, when we know governors from other states,

And we only hear like what we believe is the, are the good things we think, Oh my gosh, they're amazing.

They must be loved.

But I mean, I'm sure you can find people in Wisconsin or like, well, you know, y'all like Tony Evers.

I can tell you why I don't like him or in Pennsylvania or in New York or wherever.

But I, because there's always so much going on in the news, I had momentarily forgot that he had actually launched a reelection campaign for a third term.

And so he is stepping down and we'll see where that takes us.

But

The reason why I'm bringing it up one because it is news that just came out, but also because of the mention of the childcare scandal and by the way also really quick too by the way not Lost on us here at the show that major happenings this past Saturday in Venezuela guarding the regarding the bombing of the state of Caracas and the capture some say kidnapping of the president and his wife Nicola Madura Nicholas Madura

brought here to, uh, to New York to stand trial.

There's a lot going on.

There's a lot of moving pieces.

I am not an international news expert.

So I want you to do two things for me, folks.

One, I want you to go to civicmedia.us slash shows, find amicus, a law review with Jim Santel.

He's a fantastic, fantastic attorney, former US attorney.

He spent most of Saturday show.

discussing this matter, its implications on international law, on U.S.

law, on where do we go from here as the president did announce we're running Venezuela apparently.

But that's what I want you to do first.

First thing, go download the latest episode of Amicus a Law Review by going to civicmedia.us slash shows.

And then the second thing I'd love for you to do is, Thursday, we will be having Jim Santel on the show to discuss this.

He is going to be bringing his legal opinion to the show to talk about what does it mean for in an administration to do the action that they did on Saturday, capturing the current president, where it leaves the country and how involved we as, as America can be to quote, run it.

So Jim will be here on Thursday in the first hour.

to talk more about the Venezuelan bombings.

And I would ask you to come back for that as well, because he is a great, he will talk extensively on this, especially what it has to do as far as how it affects you and me and the law in this country.

But going back to Minnesota and Tim Wall is not running for a third term.

This is course in the, in the story from the AP very, very short, but it does bring up the state's childhood childcare programs and the quote scandal that was brought to light in the past.

in the news in the last week, week and a half, but started gaining some traction in December.

And I'm not going to give you a huge overview on it.

If you already know, I'm just going to basically say this in 2018, more than a half of $18 billion seems to be most likely stolen fraud, actual fraud.

This is not a new story.

In fact, it has been under investigation for many years with the news covering it since 2018, both local and national news covering it since 2018.

92 people have already been actually more than 92 people have been charged for involvement in this, for this fraud.

And the investigations from the state stem back to 2014.

And the reason why I want to give you that just really quick overview.

And I'm going to post a video in our show notes that gives a really in depth look at what was going on.

The reason why I kept it so brief is because this is not new news.

The video is news.

The reaction from the White House is news, but this story from Minnesota has been around for quite a long time.

And I wanted to give a brief overview for it because it's something that, you know,

Because of the video from that YouTube content creator, it hit the Twitter account of the vice president and it became, that became the story.

I don't feel like the video itself is the real news.

I think it's the actual investigation and the actual, you know, what has Minnesota done to mitigate these problems which they've been aware of?

And I think that's what I want people to know is that, you know, it didn't just pop up last month.

Don't let people try to treat it like this is well, this is just happening.

No, it's not this is something that is over a decade old in Minnesota They're they're trying to handle it and if that is part of the reason why Tim walls is stepping down that's part of the reason why But I want to talk about it because the this story of the video of the White House posting about it Has implications on Wisconsin now because The president said that Minnesota will no longer

Be getting federal funding for child care For daycare for early education child care development.

They are going to be freezing that money But now what they have done is they have decided and this is coming from an article from the Wisconsin from Wisconsin public radio and

Anya, Anya van Wagon donk has the byline on it saying Wisconsin childcare providers await federal fund freezing that could cause closure and I Feel like that they are using this as a distraction another distraction to keep us from talking about things like the Epstein files as well as the big billionaire budget but this

story out of Minnesota now has implications on Wisconsin because the already struggling childcare funding that's taking place here is possibly going to be frozen as well because of these measures from the federal government.

In this article from the Wisconsin public radio, because they've extended to all 50 states, we are waiting more information on what will be taking place, what they will seek.

to freeze on our childcare providers, what the childcare providers will do in the face of this.

And they said that they said in the article that what they want to do, this is from a representative of the Department of Health and Human Services, they would freeze funding until states could prove they use them quote legitimately.

What does legitimately mean?

Hold on.

They don't know what that means because they have been given very little information and no guidance from the federal government on how to actually prove whether or not they are using the funds quote legitimately for child care here in Wisconsin or any other state for that matter.

But this story coming at this.

I guess, yeah, it's a story.

The story coming out of Minnesota regarding the video, regarding the freezing of childcare for Minnesota, regarding the scandal, now has knock-on effects here in Wisconsin.

We're going to talk further about that.

I'll talk more about this story from Wisconsin Public Radio.

And if you are affected by this, if you've been affected by childcare, as you're tuition gone up, has your childcare center closed down?

I want to hear from you.

855-752-4842, 855-757, don't go anywhere.

It's the mid mornings.

Here at Civic Media, my name is Greg Bach.

Stay tuned, stay close.

Good, good morning.

Welcome to the mid-morning on Civic Media, the Civic Media Radio Network.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your buddy, your pal, and we are happy that you are here with us.

If you want to get in touch with us, call or text the phone number is the same, no matter what you're doing.

It's 855-752-484-2855, 75 Civic.

You can always, always leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube, and the platform that we still call Twitter.

Lots of shows still ahead, including a discussion coming up in a few minutes with John England, who is the executive director of the Menominee South and East YMCA, talking about transformations.

We're beginning a new thing here, Transformation Mondays, talking about how we're making our lives better, what we're doing to create goals, to create...

growth in our lives.

And we'll be starting right there.

It's the new year.

So a lot of people have plans to get on that health journey.

So we'll be talking to John England in a little bit.

And then of course, in the second hour, we'll be talking to actually take that back.

I'm sorry.

I've got that wrong.

John England's at 1006.

Melissa K comes on in a few minutes after the 930 news.

Melissa K from right here at Civic Media talking about her new show, what she does for the company, the story she's working on.

But Melissa K at 935.

I was looking at

the wrong rundown.

My apologies.

Well, before we went to the commercial, we were talking about childcare struggles here in Wisconsin, as well as the development in Minnesota regarding a fraud case that has been under investigation for quite a long time, both from the state and has been covered by the news for a very long time.

How that now has effects on Wisconsin because

Last week, the president decided to freeze funding for Minnesota, and now it has gone to all 50 states, and it's done that with no sort of guidance, no sort of guidelines, and states seem to be scrambling to await information, and it hits Wisconsin like it will all the other states.

In the story from the Wisconsin, from Wisconsin Public Radio written by Anya Van Wagon-Donk, Ruth Schmidt.

who is the executive director of Wisconsin Early Childhood Association said that while this is something that will be, it will be something that needs to be navigated, Wisconsin is actually, this is good news, is set up to really report on what we do to use our funds, quote, legitimately, as though they have not defined what legitimately means yet, because Wisconsin in 2010 went through their own childcare scandal.

I can't get into that right now.

We don't have enough time, but it was enough that what happened was after that

News broke the state put into place processes that made reporting much more detailed and much stricter and much We have the capabilities here to show how we use our money So there are mechanisms in place that will maybe make it easier for Wisconsin if guidelines do come down So that's good

The problem I have and I'm worried about this and I wonder about you out there who do take part in you know early education child care This can be used to weaponize an already very struggling part of our state something that people talk about a lot We talk about education for children.

We talk about access.

We talk about you know assistance because tuition prices are not going down

Places are closing and I know that for a fact because Karine Hendrickson, who is one of our friends here on the show, she has been on many times.

She last year decided after many years to close her childcare center because she was not going to be able to get the funding.

Even though last year there was a budget that was passed, the 2025, 2027 by Enium Wisconsin budget, there was money put into the budget for childcare funding.

And I really want to call it early education childcare because that's actually what it is.

I think the other big, you know, misnomer is that if you, you hear childcare, maybe just thinking babysitting, this is not, this is like, this is early education.

These kids are learning, they're having lessons, they're interacting, they're understanding, you know, basics of maybe math and,

just that great start to an education from anywhere from two to five to older, because these, this funding affects actually not just kids under five, it actually affects quote unquote older little kids, if you will, over, over the age of five.

And in the biennium budget, $330 million was put into it, even though 480 million was asked with 110 of that, a third of that going directly to the childcare.

providers, which was not enough.

I know 110 sounds like a lot of money, but it was not enough.

And we know that because people like Corrine had to close her center.

And in statements from both the governor and the legislature, they said things of, we are going to make it so that tuition is going to go down.

Well, it's not going down.

So options are disappearing.

Tuition is not going down.

And because of the American Rescue Plan Act funding drying up, there is going to be a steep lack of funding coming from the federal government, especially if they're freezing it from the federal level as well.

I bring all this up because it comes down to the fact that we have people in Madison who have the ability to fund this properly and they choose not to, whether we're talking about the joint finance committee or we're talking about just the lawmakers in general.

And I don't see the joint finance committee funding anything for childcare as a lot of them begrudgingly voted for this budget and they didn't want to fund childcare in the first place.

We have a $4.2 or $4.3 billion surplus in Wisconsin and they're not using that for anything right now.

Really when it comes down to it, it's about being involved in these conversations finding out who is running our who's running your Your state what are they finding the best?

What are they?

What are they putting the most interest in because as we've heard time and time again people?

We're talking about healthcare access.

We're talking about education.

We're talking about general cost of living childcare funding is important and Everything going on from the federal level and from the budget affects

The businesses affects the parents and we cannot allow these wonderful individuals who are providing a great education, a great service to our parents and our kids to be maligned any more than they were.

We need the funding and it's important for us to voice that to the people who want to lead this state.

So when we come back, we're going to go get some, we're going to go right now, get some news.

We're going to get a snack.

We're going to get some

Hydration, come back.

We'll talk to Melissa Kay, my friend here at Civic Media.

She'll be talking about her new show, what she does here at the network, and stories she's working on.

But don't go anywhere.

It's mid mornings.

It's mid morning.

You're here with me.

Greg, I'm your host.

Stay close.

Stay tuned on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good, good morning.

Welcome to the mid morning on civic media radio network.

My name is Greg.

I'm your pal, your buddy, your host, and we are here this morning having a great time.

Joined, of course, by Kelvin Butenhoff on the ones and two, SweetKelby, and all of that, all of the nicknames they're in.

If you want to be a part of the conversation, you can always get in touch by calling or texting 855-752-4842-855-75 Civic.

You can also reach out on the live stream scene comments coming through.

We'll read those later on the show.

We're on Facebook, YouTube and the platform that we still call Twitter in the 10 o'clock hour.

We'll be speaking to John England from the YMCA of Menominee South and East.

talking about transformations, talking about health journeys, also talking about what services your Y provides to help you maybe make a change, learn something new, or just build community in your community.

So don't go anywhere.

Lots of shows still ahead.

And then 1035, what did you do for New Year's?

What are you doing for the new year?

Do you have a resolution?

Do you have a little goal?

I want you to share that with me and with Calvin.

We'll talk more about that.

And then Tisbat.

This shouldn't be a thing.

Closing up the show as always.

This shouldn't be a thing.

Always is how we get, we get, we get a skedaddling at 1052.

Today it is the cop and the frog edition.

So don't go anywhere.

We're going to have a lot more fun.

And I'm so excited because the fun doesn't stop because I am joined.

from by Melissa K, my colleague award-winning journalist.

You can hear her on WFHR 97.5 or 105.5 WIRI.

You can find those on the Civic Media app, by the way.

That's called a plug.

Download the Civic Media app and you can actually hear those stations through the Civic Media app.

But Melissa, hello friend.

Welcome.

I've missed you.

Hello, I've missed you too, Greg.

It's so good to see you.

It's great to see you too.

How was your New Year's?

How was bringing in 2026 for you?

How was my New Year's?

I have to think.

That's how good it was.

No, I think I was home.

I didn't really do much.

I actually worked on my script because we had a show

opening shortly after that.

We'll be talking more about your theater endeavors a little bit later.

But really quick, I think it's very interesting because every Saturday my wife and I, we go grab a Bloody Mary at a local.

bar in Kenosha same one because we love the people love the Bloody Mary and we asked some of the younger people the young folk behind the bar what they did and not a single one of them said they went out they all stayed home stayed home with family celebrated in and really none of them had an interest of going out and partying and I'm just that was very interesting to me because when I was that age it was about making the New Year's night last as long as possible and

when you couldn't remember it, you're like,

I,

yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, it's a whatever.

Um, but yeah.

So I'm glad that you had a quiet New Year's.

Now you so chill.

Yeah.

Very chill.

Now tell us what you do at civic media.

What is it?

I mean, cause you're, I mean, I hear you doing the news.

I hear you doing shows, but what is, who is most decay in the civic media universe?

Well,

So that has changed in this last six months or so.

I am now fully in the news department.

I do news.

So I'm the news director for WFHRI, in my one person newsroom, which is what most of our newsrooms are

across

the state.

And my focus is just on bringing...

attention to local happenings, local events, what's happening with our local government, and helping people to engage with the newsmakers in our community.

And can you speak to a wider sense on that goal for civic media?

That is really what we want to focus on here as well.

I mean, it is absolutely easy to talk about Washington.

We can talk about the big stories coming out of the big cities, world events, and those are important.

And we don't want to

discount them.

But the goal of civic media is to get down to those local meetings, county board, and all those others where the decisions are made that affect us directly.

So can you speak more about the mission of civic media to bring that local news to us?

Well, it's exactly what you said, Greg.

To get involved in the local happenings and your local government school boards, that affects your daily life day to day.

far more than anything happening in Washington, anything happening in another state.

And I think that the goal of civic media is to get people engaged in their communities, because when people care about what's happening at their local board, when they invest time to understand why the things are happening the way they are, local government is complex.

It's there's a lot to it.

And there's a lot more than just

you know, being elected and showing up for meetings.

There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

There's a lot of communication that local officials are wanting from their constituents that they're just not getting because people are disengaged.

And I think that is the goal of Civic, in part, is to get people engaged in their communities to make the positive changes to tell their representatives what they want as constituents.

in their area.

And the more we build up local communities, the stronger we are as a state and as a nation.

And you bring up something very important there, and that is the communication between the constituent, the voter, the community member, and their elected leaders.

And I remember when I

moved into the house we live in in Kenosha.

I just reached out to my older man and said, Hey, I'm just letting you know, we moved in looking forward to being here.

Hopefully, you know, we can meet someday.

And he sent me an email back within the day going, I don't get emails like this.

I don't get email.

Like I never get emails like this.

I never say hello.

Thank you.

And, you know, it's so they, you know, they want to hear from you.

If you have a concern, you need to tell them.

I cannot remember the guests who told us and it may have been Will Westmoreland who said there are

leaders out there who don't know what their constituents are thinking.

And when they don't know what the constituents are thinking, then they might just think, well, I'm doing a great job, or they may do something.

So it's about getting involved.

And that's what civic media does is help people know what's going on in their communities and understand it and be a part of it.

I mean, we saw, you know, from local reporting, we saw people go to Caledonia and say, we don't want a data center.

That's

People getting involved in their local community standing up as a community and saying this is what we want This is what we want you to do for us, and I think that's ties into everything we do here at civic media and The reporting that y'all do is absolutely fantastic because it's you know, it's it's vital, but you have a new show called perspective

I want you to tell me more about that.

And by the way, if you're just joining us, Melissa K, my colleague, news reporter, award-winning luminary here at Civic Media and Axel as well.

We'll talk more about that in a little while, but Melissa is here talking about her role at Civic Media, the news as a, as we do it here at the network.

And then your new show, tell me more about that.

So perspective is actually a very historical show.

Oh, okay.

The WFHR, the name perspective, the news director on WFHR is 85 years old this year.

And the news director always had a new show called Perspective.

And they talk with, you know, it was a, I think it was a daily news show.

Well, it went away for a number of years.

And in some of the conversation about

what we do going forward this year.

One of them was, well, what if we brought that show back?

Because I have taken over interviewing and having conversations with all of our local newsmakers, you could say, the mayor, the sheriff, all our school district officials.

And we thought, well, what if we...

Turn that into an interview news show and get it back on the radio for people.

So we're excited to launch that here this month We're bringing back the old theme music, which is just

oh, is it like how like what is it?

It's it's a I think a six or an eight minute song Greg

I know if you listen to the whole thing, it turns into such cheesy jazz elevator music, but the beginning and the ending is perfect.

That's just so good.

Well, if you want to hear it, then you have to tune into perspective here at Civic Media.

And, and, and, you know, engaging with those local leaders.

I mean, I think as he speaks again to the mission, it's very important.

You know, are they willing to, I mean, those, those local leaders.

sitting down having real conversations and being real.

And they're

happy to do it.

They're grateful to be able to have another platform because, I mean, you know, we're in news deserts almost in any rural area here.

We've lost our newspapers.

Or if they still are here, there's not as much local reporting.

The reporter may not even live here.

Or they may be writing articles for 10 different newspapers.

Yeah.

I mean, it's just the local focus hasn't been there.

So we're trying to bring that

back.

And I think that's great because we say all the time here on this show as well as on other shows, if you can find that local paper.

support them, subscribe to them because they are going to be giving you the information you need.

We're talking to Melissa Cave, a wonderful colleague here at Civic Media.

Before we go, run and take a break.

I know you wrote a story.

I'm just pulling it up right now here regarding data centers and

That has become a conversation piece of the past year, year and a half.

It is one of the big topics we hear about in the state of Wisconsin.

And you posted an article on the New Year about this.

Yeah, I spoke with Senator Patrick Teston, who is our representative here in Senate District 24.

And one of the things that him and our Assemblyman, Representative Scott Krueger working on, is a community solar bill.

And this would allow

smaller scale solar projects within, you know, municipal communities.

And the goal behind that in part is to help offset the potential for future energy increases.

Because if these data centers, which they're coming from everything that we've that that officials are saying, and those in the know are saying these data centers are coming.

So the demand.

for energy is going to increase.

And with supply and demand, we know what happens, right?

They demand more.

Well, we need the price is going to go

up.

So

they want to be able to offset that behind the meter with these community solar projects.

I think that's fantastic as well, because we've had many people just in the past few weeks discussing this.

How to offset it is a conversation that we need to be discussing but also the other thing too is the legislation that provides transparency for these big companies coming in

and safeguards These this is small-scale.

So government has a state people have a say they get to come it and and ask questions and talk about it and let their representatives know how they feel about it

Yeah, and I thank you for that.

I thank you for the story and that story will be on the show notes.

You can go

to civicmedia.us slash shows.

And we're still, by the way, I'll address this in a little while, but we're still going to be using the matinee on air website.

But we are the, you know, it's a new, you know, we are here.

I am here.

Jane matinee did retire last year.

We miss her deeply and we

miss her dearly.

Thank you, Jane, for all your service.

Exactly.

But you can go to civicmedia.us, look for matinee on air and the show notes will still be there.

You can still download them, but we'll posting that story.

And yeah, again,

I'm sorry, data centers are not going anywhere and that's understood, but it's about the community standing up saying, Hey, we need transparency and we need ways to make sure that it doesn't explode our energy costs or divert our water to the point where it's unusable.

So we're going to be talking more to Melissa K from civic media.

And as we come back on the other side, we'll be talking about, you know, maybe some endeavors in the theater.

She is

an

actor in the community.

And, and I guess, I guess I've been told by one of our listeners, Jenny, uh, I need to talk about pigeons.

So more about that.

Oh, Melissa got very excited right there.

But I guess you'll be excited too.

It's, it's a, it's a mid mornings on civic media with Greg.

I'm Greg Bach.

I'm your host.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay close.

Stay tuned.

Good, good morning.

It is mid mornings on civic media, the civic media radio network, as you know, cause you're listening to and watching right now.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your host, your buddy, your pal along with Kelvin Butenoff who's on the ones and twos.

We are here today for a, for a little while, a little more than an hour.

We got great show still ahead at 10, 1006.

We welcome John England, who is the executive director of Menominee East and South YMCA talking about what they're doing for folks in the community.

Making a transformation because that's what Mondays are about now.

Transformation Mondays talking about how we're making changes in our life.

We're looking forward to our discussion with John at 1006.

And then we got 1035.

What are you doing for your transformation?

What are you doing to take those small steps towards the goal you need to reach?

How was your new year?

Are you doing good 2026?

Are you full of hope?

I kind of am.

I know it sounds naive, but I am.

And then this shouldn't be a thing.

Rounding out the show as usual.

Today's the cop and the frog edition.

So don't go anywhere.

I am here with my good buddy, Melissa K from WFHR and WIRI right here in Wisconsin.

And you can listen to those stations by getting the free civic media app.

You can stream that wherever you're at.

You can stream those.

stations.

You can listen to the news coverage because Melissa is in our news department.

And I want to post this really quick from miss R D T who said, I like everything Melissa K does, but especially the hourly newscast because of her clear, understandable voice, making it so easy to understand more Melissa.

I told you the other day, I was listening to you do the news and like, it's like ASMR news.

You're like, welcome to the news.

We're talking about all of the news coming out of the local area.

So yeah, you're now

On top of that, you wanted to discuss some changes for WFHR.

What is happening on that station?

Well, we did switch over to what is called a full service station now.

So we have our wonderful civic network programs in the morning, including Greg Bach.

And then we switch over to music throughout for the main part of the midday after the morning shows.

And then we come back to Peach Waba.

for the evening entertainment and then it flips back over to music again and we have timeless hits.

I believe is what it's- Local news and timeless hits.

Yes, that's it.

But it's something that a station playing music that we haven't had in this area for a very long time.

I've heard from multiple people in the area who are like, you know, I just can't find my music anywhere on the radio dial.

I'm like, wow, well, now you will.

Cause here we are.

Exactly.

Well, that's, uh, it's great to hear.

And, and I mean, I know some folks don't always get down with the apps, but that, I mean, if you want to hear that, that's the great thing about civic media is that we also have a wonderful music stations, uh, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

So there's always a style you can listen to.

But WFHR now has the timeless hits along with the local news, which includes Melissa K reading that news, every, but at the bottom of the hour.

Which is great.

Yeah.

Top and bottom.

Yeah.

Top and the bottom of the hour.

Really quick as we're talking about changes, I wanted to address something from Sydney here on the live stream as well.

Sydney says, is there going to be a content change happening in the show with Matt and Aaron gone?

Will you still have the same drive covering politics and bigger issues?

Yes.

So Jane may be gone.

She's retired.

Preservedly after 45 years in the industry, but we're taking the mission of Matt and Aaron and we're moving it into something that reflects what we did for the past few years, which is covering those stories.

that we feel need to be in people's orbits.

And I can't always guarantee it's going to be the splashiest one, because it might have nothing to do with Wisconsin.

We always want to cover stories that have a tie-in or direct effect on Wisconsin and its people, because as I talked about earlier this morning,

what's happening in Minnesota with the childcare scandal has knock on effects for Wisconsin, which has knock on effects for parents, which has knock on effects for teachers, which have knock on effects for children.

So we will be covering those political issues, especially in 2026 being an election year.

So don't worry, that's where we're taking it for right now.

I mean, I'm at the helm, so we're good to go for the time being, but I thank you for being here.

And if you have stories that you want to get in touch with us,

Jane says at civicmedia.us is still available.

You can still email us and let us know about stories, guests, topics, those types of ideas.

If there's someone in your life that you feel like we should be talking to, tell us.

Let us know.

Jane says at civicmedia.us.

Okay.

Before we get out of here, make it really quick.

You are an actor.

You are a writer and a director and you're not just like, what's my motivation?

You tell people what to do too.

Tell us more about your acting career.

Well, most recently here, we just did a small show called Morning Sun.

Okay.

And it was just three generations of women and a grandmother, a mother and a daughter.

The story is about the mother.

And so the grandmother and the daughter play all of the different characters throughout this mother's life.

It goes from birth to death.

Gotcha.

And it's a, it's a visceral show.

Like the emotion, the

a lot of it was raw.

We had a couple of audience members that were like, what did I walk into?

Like, I'm not really okay with this.

It made me uncomfortable.

But that's

theater.

That's theater.

Unless

she

was like, I know guys and dolls.

But if

you don't know the play,

I mean, you should, well, first of all, read up on it first, find out what

it's about.

Well, and it did come with warnings.

It's adult content, adult language.

We did swear a lot.

But I got to play multiple different characters, a couple different guys, several different women.

and the grandmother, which was just, it was a lot of fun.

Is the show over or people can still

check?

It is.

We only had two nights.

We had Friday and Saturday night.

It was good.

What's the name of the theater company that you're with or that you work with?

Wisconsin

Rapids, Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater.

Wonderful.

If you want to check out more, go to find them on what's called, quote, the internet.

So

I'm doing costumes for the next show called Four Old Broads.

It'll be a good comedy.

There you go.

You're going to laugh.

You're gonna laugh.

Before we go, we got about one minute left.

Pigeons.

What?

My pet pigeon.

Oh,

that's

right.

I forgot you have a pet.

Yes.

Melissa has a pet pigeon.

This was a this was a thing for a while.

It was pigeon quest.

It was a whole thing.

Dun dun dun.

Oh, how was Leloo?

How's Leloo?

You know what?

They're recovering.

We had a small mishap with the pigeon pants yesterday and their wings stuck and a sudden plummet off of the shelf back there.

But I think they're okay.

I feel like this could be a play.

Pigeon pants play.

It can be.

It can be.

Melissa K, the host of Perspectives, the award-winning journalist, our fabulous friend in the news department here at Civic Media.

You can catch her.

You can listen to her on the Civic Media Radio app.

Melissa, thank you so much for being here.

I really appreciate your time.

Thank you, Greg.

All right.

When we come back, we're talking to John England from the Menominee East and South YMCA about transformations.

You're listening to MidMornings on Civic Media Radio Network.

My name is Greg Box.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

Good, good morning.

Welcome to the mid-morning on the Civic Media Radio Network.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host and we welcome you here and we're happy you're spending time with us.

If you want to be part of that conversation, you can always call our texts 855-752-484-2855-75 Civic.

lots of great programming ahead, not to mention after the 1030 break, we're going to be talking about how you are doing your transformations.

What are you doing in the new year?

How are you going to make a new plan?

We can talk about resolutions.

I feel like there's a lot of eye rolling when it comes to that, but when you want to start off something new, it's nice to kick it off maybe in January.

And that's what we're doing here with transformation January.

We're going to be talking to people in and around the community who are helping folks make changes.

And we want to hear from you on that.

You can call or you can text again, 855-752-4842.

You can also leave a comment on the live stream.

We are currently live streaming on Facebook, YouTube, and the platform in this house.

We still call Twitter.

And we're going to be closing out the show today.

Well, of course, with this shouldn't be a thing, the cop and the frog edition.

So don't go anywhere.

We got lots and lots of great programming still.

ahead.

Yes, it is January.

It is January the fifth.

And when we talk about making changes, a lot of folks utilize the beginning of the year as a way to do that, to reach their goal.

And I think in the, in the, in the discussion of transformation, January's, what better way to talk, what better way to start than with what a lot of people discuss, which is maybe a health journey, whether it's physical or mental.

And we brought on a great guest.

to talk about that.

He is the executive director of the Menominee East and South YMCA.

John England is our guest right now.

John, good morning.

Welcome to the show.

How are you today?

How has your New Year's been so far?

How's your 2026?

Good morning.

Thanks for having me.

2026 is kicked off with a bang.

Personally, I've been able to take some time off and get out on the ski hills with snowboard, but that's one of my loves and my passions that

I share

with my daughters.

How long have you been snowboarding and when did you get your daughter?

You said daughter or daughters?

Daughters, all three of

them

actually snowboard.

How old were they when they started?

Because little kids on snowboards are adorable.

Yeah, we were just trying to come up with that the other day.

I believe

All three of them started around six or seven.

And I know there's kids out on the hill that are younger than that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Good way to get out during the winter when everybody else is all cooped

up, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Honestly, there were moments during my, I took a vacation last week and I was just like, I need to go, I need to just step outside.

I don't have to go do something.

I just need to feel non-house air on my face.

And that's what I did.

I ran around with the dog in the back.

Well, she ran around.

I just sort of.

watched her run around, but still I got outside.

All right.

Counts.

But,

uh, you know, we're talking transformation January.

We're talking to people who are helping those get new, you know, new goals in their lives.

And I really think one of the most, one of the best examples of that is the YMCA.

And you are the executive director of the Menominee East South YMCA.

What do you what does that mean as far as executive director and what do you do in your job at the Y?

Yeah, so best way to explain the executive director.

It's the owner of the locations right and actually prior to the

us selling to the Y in April of this last year in 2025, I was.

I owned what was Menominee Health and Fitness.

So ultimately anything you can think of that an owner would do, that's ultimately what the executive director is responsible for.

So anything facility-wise, management of staff.

being networked within the community, that kind of thing, all the way down to like day-to-day membership, signing people up and member service and that kind of thing too.

So

you said that before it was the why it was called what again, please?

Menominee

health and fitness.

And was that something that you were always aware, did you, you know, it sounds like you've had a career then in the fitness industry?

Yeah, for the last six years, it's something I've always been involved with sports

and

fitness, going all the way back to like really young.

We talked about my daughter starting snowboarding at six.

I remember playing baseball and basketball and all that stuff when I was six.

So really just kind of grew a passion for the fitness industry.

41 now.

Been in this world for quite some time, but had always wanted to own a gym and be able to share my passion of fitness and nutrition and wellness with others.

June of 2019 is when we bought our first location.

Got up to three, sold one off in January of 24.

And then recently the last two locations here in Menominee, April of 25 to the YMCA.

So.

And I mean, the YMCA is a synonymous term.

It's a, you know, when you talk about the gym, I think you can think about all these.

branded names, but it always comes back to the why.

And I think the reason why, no pun intended, I'm sorry for that one.

I think the reason is because it's about community as well.

You can go to a place, you can hit your key fob and you can go work out at three o'clock in the morning and you get your work on, you go home and that's fine.

And that's fine if that's what you want to do.

But I feel like the why has so much more of a hub-like nature of where people come for community.

And we'll talk about

exercising fitness and gold in a moment, but I want to talk about the services that your why provides that people don't know about because they maybe not explored in a while, you know, and how the why has changed over the decades.

Yeah, so for Menominee, because we're so new, we're working towards offering some

of

those additional services.

We, as Menominee Health and Fitness, we're just basically another fitness facility with a different culture and a different environment.

You speak to the community.

That's something that we were big on as Menominee Health and Fitness, and obviously as the Y, that was kind of a

a common ground for us.

It was an easy transition because that's who we were already.

And so really just creating a

third place is what we've called it for people.

So you've got your work, you've got your house, and then what's your third place?

How are you connecting with others?

And so really that's the difference between the why and other facilities.

Like I said, we've got a lot of the similar equipment and that kind of thing, but really just finding a community of people who are

headed in the same direction.

And community in and of itself, just conversation and socialization with others is really a lot of what we gear ourselves around, whether it's a group fitness class or you're working out with a friend, having coffee in the lobby with others, just again, a place to connect with people, a third place that people can feel like they belong kind of thing.

So.

And I think that component is a very

important part of a transformation, too, because, I mean, again, you can go work out at the gym.

I mean, when I work out, I know, I know, I do.

Don't look at me like that, people.

When I do, I very much put the earbuds in, get my workout and go home.

But for so many more people, it's about connection.

And I think that's an important part of the conversation to reach out to people, especially people who might be, we're in a, we're in a world where the loneliness is a problem.

And I think the, I think the gym and I think the Y are great places to go and then, and then be part of your transformation.

And because you've been part of that industry, you've owned, you've owned facilities before that.

Let's start there.

Someone walks through the door and just says, I want to make a change.

What do you, as John, but also as the,

the facility, what do you do to help foster that beginning?

Because for some people, that first step is the hardest step because it's, you know, daunting to make changes.

What is your advice to someone who just says, I need to make a change?

Yeah, I mean, start small.

We it's always been, you know, people want to jump in, we talked a little bit about news resolutions.

kind of become a catchphrase, right?

Like people restart every year, which is great.

The key for a lot of people is not going in and just jumping both feet, right?

Start slow.

Do slow sustained changes over time, which are going to yield results.

We live in a world where it's instant gratification.

That's not the way fitness works.

If somebody hasn't worked up for a long time or has never worked up for that matter beyond

walking and daily life, your body has to get acclimated to challenging it in different ways.

And so really just starting out small and that could even be five to 10 minutes on a treadmill, right?

And do a little bit more the next day and a little bit more the next day and just make sure.

you don't overdo it.

Even as somebody that's been in the gym for a long time, I like pushing myself.

I'm an athlete.

I push myself to the brim and a little bit further.

I got to a point where I was outworking my body's ability to recover from those workouts.

And so I started having different issues.

Well, then it's a physical therapist, a personal trainer.

And so I really had to

reset my mind, um, in terms of how I'm approaching my workouts.

And so I've actually pulled that quite a bit, um, and yielded similar or better results, you know, better than that.

I'm not dealing with some of the issues I was.

So

yeah.

If you're just joining us on the show, we are talking to John England, who is the executive director of Menominee East and South YMCA talking about transformations, talking about new year resolutions, talking about how you make those changes.

And you know,

John, I think one of the big problems and you, you said it perfectly right there, which was instant gratification.

And because of television, because of social media, we see people out there who have the ability, who I shouldn't say ability, people who have access to making transformations.

What we see is very quick, but they're not very quick and also not sustainable because of, you know, someone goes on a TV show and they say, we'll make you lose 150 pounds.

Well, yeah, because they have

hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, experts, food, power behind them.

And then, you know, you don't read the story about how these folks end up gaining the weight back because they don't have the access.

And I think what you just said there is the instant gratification.

And it's about the small steps, starting with that first step, whether it's going for a five minute walk, because that's what you can handle versus going to the gym and trying to do an hour and a half because you want to lose 80 pounds in six months because there's a reunion.

But how do you pull people back from that?

I mean, it's one thing to come and say, I don't know where to start.

And then you have to have people who say, oh, I'm going to do this stuff.

And you have to say, hold on, cowboy.

Let's be reasonable.

Right.

Yeah.

There's a lot of noise out there, too.

And everybody, if you're on social media and that kind of thing, you would do that a little bit.

We actually tell people, then stay away from that stuff.

Because not everybody.

on social media is credentialed to be able to be giving the advice that they're giving.

And so you gotta take everything with a grain of salt and spend some time researching.

One thing that will help negate that or allow you to...

kind of drown out the noise is getting a personal trainer.

If you're getting a personal trainer, they're certified to be able to give you the advice that they're giving you,

and they're

going to be able to customize the programming for you and not allow you to get going too fast.

So that's the ideal situation.

Getting somebody you know, you can meet with in person, there's the accountability, there's the knowledge through the certification, and some of a lot of them will end up doing further education and credential.

So that's obviously the best case scenario.

That's

not affordable for some people.

That's not realistic in terms of a schedule.

And so if that's the case where that's not a realistic expectation for somebody, literally it's getting out and taking that first step.

That's always the hardest step, I should say, is taking that first step, going to get the membership.

taking a walk around the block, you know, just doing it and having the discipline to get going.

So

we're going to keep the conversation going with John England, who is the executive director of Menominee East and South YMCA's.

If you have any questions, any comments, please get in touch a 557524842 a 5575 civic comment on the live stream.

It's mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

Good, good morning.

Welcome back.

It's mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach and I am your host along with sweet kelby on the ones and twos and you can always get in touch with us by calling or texting 855-752-484-2855-755.

So they can leave a comment on that live stream.

We are on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.

We still call Twitter still show ahead for you.

Still lots of show ahead for you, including a discussion on your routine, your transformation.

Cause this is transformation Monday.

talking health and fitness in the new year.

We want to know about your journey.

Where is it taking you right now?

What are you doing to make better decisions in your life?

And then we want to hear those discussions and any New Year's resolutions you may have for 2026.

And then this shouldn't be a thing.

After that, to close the show out today, it's the cop and the frog edition.

So don't go anywhere.

Happy to have you a part of the day.

Happy you're spending your time with us.

We are talking to John England, who is the executive director of Menominee East and South YMCA.

And we're talking about transformations.

We're talking about how we introduce goals into our lives, how we achieve them and the services that are wise.

I am a member of the Y in Kenosha and what you can get out of that, not just health and fitness, but also a sense of community.

John.

Talking earlier, you are in the industry.

You're about fitness, nutrition, you're about good lifestyle.

And also in our discussion, you're about reality, not shows, reality.

The fact that none of us are on reality shows, right?

We are on a live stream right now, but no one's helping me lose weight because of it.

But we are exposed to a lot of information, social media, TV, all that.

I'll say stuff to be diplomatic.

What are the myths that people need to also stay away from?

As far as like people might be thinking, maybe something we've been brought up to believe as far as health and fitness or something, maybe there's a trend on social media you're seeing right now that's saying, just don't do that at all.

Don't do that at all.

Just talk to a personal trainer.

Talk to an attritionalist.

Talk to your doctor.

That sort of thing.

Yeah, I would say the biggest myth is the scale.

right?

Yeah, everybody, everybody wants to lose the weight and they've got a number in mind.

That's one thing I've told it can be a great tool for the right person.

For many, they just want to get down to that number.

It doesn't matter how much muscle tone they have or fat percentage or whatever.

The scale is a liar is what I always say, you know, it can be a great tool if you're using it in the right way.

Yeah.

You know, weigh yourself a day after you've eaten something.

You're like, oh, my body reacted and I retain more water or whatever.

A lot of people don't know how to use the scale in that way.

And so I always tell people just to stay away.

If you like the way you look in the mirror and your clothes are fitting better and you're feeling better in terms of your daily living, you're walking upstairs without pain or without being exhausted.

who cares what the scale says, right?

So I think that, and that's been for years.

And of course, now they have more intuitive scales that tell you body fat percentage and can give you more feedback, which can be useful.

But I always just tell people to stay away from it.

That's one of the things that can get people to be inconsistent or lose discipline with what they're doing to get physically fit is being discouraged by what the scale says,

right?

I think that, you know, I'll be, I'll make, I'll, I'll give my story very quickly.

I am someone who I'm 48 and I have struggled with weight loss my entire life.

I've lost count, but I would, if I had to put money on it, I probably lost and gained a total of probably about eight to 900 pounds from that.

I lost 20 pounds too.

I lost a hundred pounds, but then I gained it back, back and forth and back and forth.

And you're right.

There are so many things that we were raised to think, okay, the scale is your friend.

You, you, you, you track yourself, you keep yourself accountable, but

That's not how that works.

And also those things that are there to help us can be the things that hinder us.

And if you gain two pounds all of a sudden, instead of just coming in with a mindset of I gained two pounds, all right, I'll just, you know, I've got to make changes or it's two pounds.

I'll lose it and whatever.

We allow it to then say to ourselves, well, that's it.

I'm never going to do this.

We take it as such an affront to ourselves and we see ourselves as failures when it's a longer, it's a lifetime journey.

It's not about trying to lose 50 pounds in six months.

It's about trying to, as you said, be in shape for how we are comfortable, being in shape as far as like, you know, making sure our set of stairs don't hurt us.

And I think that's something we need to give ourselves more grace.

We need to be, I totally agree with the scale.

Get rid of the scale.

I don't use a scale.

I don't want to scale.

I know what my clothes feel like.

I know how my body feels.

And I think you got to trust that.

And of course, always, and I want to consult with your doctor too, because that's the thing.

As you said, someone could come in with a very, very, very aggressive goal and you could do some damage to yourself trying to lose a lot of weight.

Too fast.

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, I'm not going to lead into the whole diet.

Diet is another myth.

Like, if you stick to any diet out there, they will work.

They'll help you lose weight.

But are they?

teaching you healthy habits they're not like the none of them are sustainable and I'll date myself a little bit with the diet the names of the diets but south beach atkins um you know any of the the ones uh there's one real popular one now um geo and then uh

Well, basically it's cutting carbs, right?

That's accurate.

They'll all work.

They'll help you

lose

weight, but they're not a sustainable long term.

You lose the weight.

And then when you stop and you go back to old eating habits, you're going to gain everything back plus interest because your body is then in survival mode.

They're like, I don't know when I'm going to get my next meal.

I'm just going back to caveman times where...

you literally had to hunt for your food.

Your body is doing the same thing nowadays.

We don't have to hunt for it.

But if you're on a diet and you're depriving your body of certain things that it's used to having, it's going to hold on to that then when you go back to all the eating habits.

And so that's why people end up, they call it yo-yo diet, right?

So as soon as you get off that diet, your body is going to gain everything you lost, plus a little bit more to make sure that it can survive.

And people not knowing about their bodies like that think, well, I've just failed because I ate nachos last week.

John, thank you so much for being here today.

John England is the executive director of Menominee East and South YMC.

I'd love to have to back to talk more about this because I think that transformation, those goals, be a great thing to do.

So please stay in touch.

We'd love to have you back, my friend.

Yeah, you bet.

I love it.

Thank you for the invite.

Good luck with your

goals.

Thank you very much.

We're going to talk more about my goals, your goals, everybody's goals.

Get in touch with us.

You are listening to us, us.

It's mid mornings on Civic Media.

My name is Greg Buck.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

Good, good morning.

It's the mid morning.

You're on civic media.

I'm on civic media.

I'm your host.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm here for you today.

Happy Monday.

Happy new year.

2026 has arrived and boy, Calvin, it's been boring 2026 so far.

Nothing going on.

Calvin, by the way, is our producer here.

He's on the ones and twos.

Good morning, Calvin.

How are you today?

I'm doing good, Greg.

That's good.

I'm glad to hear 2026 has been pretty good so far.

Has been everything you hope for.

Yeah.

I mean, I haven't

Didn't really hope for much, I guess.

Is that because you're, you're, uh, uh, no, I'm, uh, Jen Zier.

Um, sure.

We'll chalk it up to that.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Well, uh, we really, really, well, thank you for being here right now.

We really thank you for being part of the show.

Thank you for giving us your time.

You can always be part of the conversation.

855-752-4842, 855-75 civic.

If you want to leave a comment on the live stream, we are on Facebook, YouTube and the platform that we.

and this house still call Twitter.

Very, very, very grateful to have our guests on today earlier in the program.

We had Melissa Kay, who is a reporter, who is an actor, a pigeon parent, if you will, talking about all the great stuff happening up at WFFHR.

and WIRI.

You can find more about that if you get the Civic Media app.

You can listen to those stations directly.

By downloading the Civic Media app, get it on your device, and then you can stream WFHR, WIRI, and all the other great programming stations here on Civic Media.

And also, thank you to John England from the Menominee of South and East YMCA talking about transformations.

That's what we're doing today, Transformation Monday here in January, talking about how we're making goals for ourselves, what we're doing to achieve those goals and how we are keeping ourselves accountable in 2026.

I know we can roll our eyes at New Year's resolutions.

It's so basic, but it's what people do.

And that's what I want to know from you, everyone.

I want to know...

Is there a goal for you in 2026?

What do you want to do in 2026?

That's different.

How are you going to keep yourself accountable?

How are you going to keep those goals realistic?

And do you have community out there, family and friends who can help you out if you need it?

That's what I'd love to know.

855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

And again, the live stream has been very, very, very popular today.

It's going to kind of give you an overview of what we're discussing today.

Earlier in the show, at the beginning of the show, we kicked it off with the news out of Minnesota that current governor, Tim Walls will not seek reelection for a third term.

He did launch a reelection bid.

a few months ago, but has stepped down from it saying he cannot give his personal all to a political campaign.

Jenny on the live stream says, Tim Walls is a rare breed of politics.

He embodies everything people say they value in leadership.

And his decision to step away from the reelection campaign speaks to what may many despise about modern politics, hyper partisan, hyper partisanship and political violence.

His message today.

alludes to remaining involved in the fight against anti-authoritarianism, which I absolutely think that Tim Walls will do.

And I hope this isn't the last we see of him.

I totally agree with that as well.

My cousin Debbie on the live stream says, have a blessed new year.

You as well, cousin Debbie, miss you very much.

Love you very much.

Hello to South Dakota.

And then Alicia on the live stream talking about, oh, this is this in con with our conversation with Melissa about staying in.

Tune with local politics.

Alicia says our local government has been making some seriously powerful Has been making a seriously powerless against what their constituents have expressed people need to be more involved in their local elections and We need we totally need that we need local government coverage and that's what we do here at civic media whether you're listening to us on the radio or reading our stories on civic media dot US news you're gonna find great

local coverage.

You're going to find stories that directly affect you, and you're going to hear stories coming from the international and national level that come right down here to Wisconsin or to where your community is, because that's where it hits us all is in the communities.

And then finally, our friend, Lisa Schiller, friend of the show from the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin says, Happy New Year, Greg.

Happy New Year to you, Lisa.

love hearing from you, love having you on the show.

I just saw a story about scams and phone scams for elderly folks.

Maybe we will have you back on the show soon because she comes to the show, talks about the scams that are out there that we need to be on the lookout for.

And it's not just for older folks, it's everyone can be a victim of these scams.

So Lisa Scheller, thank you so much for reaching out.

And Calvin.

What did you do for New Year's?

Was it was it a big party at the Butenhof Res?

I'm imagining I'm imagining fireworks pony rides.

I'm imagining a great Gatsby-esque attire and a champagne toast of no less than 2,000 people Am

I am I am I am I right?

No, you are Unfortunately incorrect.

Well, I don't know about unfortunate.

I was gonna

say really good cuz that's what you wanted.

Yeah, my

My dad's a bit of a drama queen, so he was still sick.

Is that

a drama queen or is he just

sick?

I mean, I still didn't feel amazing, so he definitely probably was a little under the weather, but he really likes to play it up.

So me, my mom, my brother and his girlfriend played a board game.

Which one?

It's called WinkSpan.

It's what I got.

brother and his girlfriend for Christmas.

Wink span.

Wingspan.

Wingspan.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

It's

called birds.