You're listening to Civic Media.
You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.
Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime, anywhere.
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Two mid mornings on Civic Media.
My name is Greg Bock.
I am your host, your buddy, your pal, your believer.
in you.
And I hope you are having a fantastic day today.
I hope you are keeping warm.
If you're listening to this in a very cold temperature here in Wisconsin right now, we are going to go to the mid mornings on civic media weather balloon that has been purchased very lovingly by all of those around me for Christmas.
It's two degrees outside right now here at radio park in Racine.
And I imagine if you were listening to me anywhere else in the state, it's
pretty much going to be the same.
So as always, I just implore upon you to dress warm to wear those gloves, wear them scarves, wear that hat, wear a second hat if you need to get the hand, feet, skull warmers.
I don't just stay warm, stay safe.
I'm going to, I'm being very
Insistent about this today because Calvin, Calvin Butenhof, by the way, he is the man on the ones and twos.
He's behind the board right now, making sure all of the stuff is rocking and rolling here.
Good morning, Calvin.
How are you today?
I'm doing pretty good, Greg.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
First, let me say this real quick.
Got a great show for you today.
Gonna be talking about the news this morning.
for the first hour.
And then in the second hour, we'll be talking to Professor Jean Theo Harris, who is an author of over a dozen books, her latest one, King of the North, Martin Luther King's Martin Luther King Jr.'
's life of struggle outside of the South, talking about that book, talking about the, the context of Dr. King's work outside of the world of Dixie, the, the, you know,
I believe the, the Southern nice version of Dr. King.
He, he spoke and worked and struggled all over this country.
And we're going to be talking more about that with Professor Theo Harris after the 10 o'clock news.
And then today for audio sorbet, I feel like Cal for today, I need, I need, I need the harps today.
Can I get the harps real quick?
Cause yeah.
Yeah.
There we go.
I like that.
Thank you very much.
Audio sorbet.
We take them home and we step back and I want to know,
What is what is your best place to get away from?
Technology we're always talking about screen time.
We're talking about getting away from screens being intentional with maybe putting the phone down turning it off I turned to flip it over because it goes into do not disturb mode and What are you doing for you to get away from the screens especially in the world?
We're living in right now where we at we need
10 to 15, 20, 30 minutes away.
So I want to know about that.
How are you getting away?
What are you finding for yourself?
Is it a space?
Is it a room?
Is it a book?
Is it just closing your eyes for a little bit?
Is it meditating?
I want to know more about that.
How are you getting away from the world?
How are you finding your calm and peace in 2026, even though we are 20 days into it?
And then we're going to wrap the show up with this shouldn't be a thing.
I'll have fries with that addition.
It's a very tasty version.
I must say today, but Calvin, going back to the whole weather thing before we get into the news, the reason why I'm saying this again, it's two degrees outside right now.
According to the mid mornings on civic media with Greg Bach, weather balloon feels like it's 14 below.
I'm looking at that right now.
But, uh, Cal, um, this morning I was driving in and I saw someone pass me.
on the road.
And he wasn't wearing a jacket.
He wasn't even wearing a long sleeve shirt.
He wasn't even wearing a sweater.
He was wearing like a polo short sleeve.
And I cannot understand why I know everyone's got their stories.
Maybe he's got a condition cow that makes maybe he's just like just a 24 seven radiator.
But I just don't understand why you would not wear a jacket in two degree weather that feels like 14 below.
Any, any thoughts on this?
I mean, I mean, when I was young, I didn't want to put a jacket on.
I didn't want to put a hat on and all that stuff.
But I'm an adult.
He was an adult.
He probably still is an adult right now, but I just didn't make any sense to me.
Yeah.
I now that I'm grown, I
But like, I'm cold.
I wear sweatshirts and pants and stuff.
I don't know if I've ever seen you out of a hoodie, actually.
Like I said,
I get cold now.
But
when I was in high school, even after I got my driver's license,
like
all four years of high school, I wore shorts every single day, no matter the weather.
You were that guy.
There's
always that guy.
That's the thing though, is almost...
Every single person like on my basketball team was that guy so I wasn't really like I went out but my thought process was I'm walking from my heated home to my pre-warmed car
into a heated school.
I'm only outside for like two and a half
minutes.
And see that's okay.
So that's the thing I'm talking about there is like, you know, maybe he's a guy who drives his car right into a garage and in that garage is heated and it's wonderful.
I just don't understand.
Like, like if it's 20 degrees, I get that.
I know, I understand.
I've taken the trash out in my shorts and a hoodie.
I've done that.
But I just don't, to me, it's dangerous to be dressing like that.
Even like just put a cursory jacket on.
Just, I can't get that image out of my head.
Cindy from Ableton is on the phone right now.
Cindy, let's say you are a bus driver.
I have to imagine, Cindy, that you are constantly saying, where's your jacket?
Where's your hat?
Oh yeah, these kids dress like it's summer all year round.
But the point of the matter is that getting one of those big crates going like this morning, mine was kind of hesitant to want to go, but it takes them forever to warm up.
And I just don't know how those kids can stand in that bus.
But when I'm traveling though, and my car is like 90 degrees, I will do like that guy.
I will take off my jacket, but I keep them with me.
It's not like I'm traveling somewhere without jackets.
I mean, I can understand what he's doing, but if he's traveling someplace and doesn't even have backup clothing in the car, that would be just.
looking stupid because you never know
what's going to happen.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Like if I'm taking a long, if I'm taking a long trip, if I'm driving many hours and it's in the winter, I'll take the jacket off because I know that, you know, I don't need it for, I won't be getting out of the car for at least two to three hours.
But yeah, it just, it, I mean, that is simply, I've lived here my entire life.
I've dressed in all sorts of manner in the, in the, in the cold.
But to me, that was just, I feel talking about it right now just makes my whole body
cold.
Thank you so much for calling Cindy.
Really appreciate that.
Yeah, I don't know.
It just, I just want people to be safe.
I just want people to be healthy.
That's all that's all I ask for.
Is that too much to ask for Kelvin?
Is that too much to ask for?
I ask maybe a little.
Okay.
All right.
Well, you've understood.
All right.
So let's let's move on to the news and to start off the news today.
We got to go take a step back into time a few months ago where we
saw and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I want you to contact him.
And this is for real to ask for help and to, um, assistance to ask for assistance.
So in December of last year, Congressman Derek Van Orton, who is the Congressman of the third district was, it was very happy because in the big bill for billionaires and non-tax payers, also known as billionaires, um, there was
$50 billion set up to be paid over the next five years to hospitals across the country.
There was a lot gutted in that bill regarding Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits.
We're not going to get into that point.
I've talked about that at Osium.
I'm sure we'll bring that up in the future.
One of the things that did come out of that, that he was very excited about was the fact that $50 billion would be split up across the country over the next five years to make up for all of the losses that will be incurred by hospitals because of the big bill for billionaires.
200 million of that is to come to Wisconsin and he was very happy about it.
I understand.
He voted for the big bill for billionaires because he felt like that was the right way to go, even though, as I said, it will, it has not yet, it's going to gut Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP.
That will be taking place after, conveniently, the midterm elections this year, and it'll all take place in 2027, but Wisconsin was set to get $200 million.
The reason why I bring that up,
is because in a story that was released on the Wisconsin Examiner website, Baylor Spears has the byline.
This is entitled, Wisconsin Hospital Funding Uncertain.
Dem lawmakers call on US Rep Derek Van Orton to help.
So that's why I bring up Derek Van Orton because Derek Van Orton made it very clear that he was happy about this $200 million that it was important to fund these hospitals.
It was important to make sure that we could make sure that that
Wisconsinites, specifically rural Wisconsinites, didn't lose out on health care access, which is up for debate because of the votes for the big bill for billionaires and because of the fact that we are closing, we are closing rural hospitals and there is no sort of funding or sort of
help coming their way.
But this $200 million made Derek Van Oorten very happy.
And also just as a side note too, he made it very clear in the interview he did with WEAU13 news back in December that
The Congressman says this funding will make a difference, but has a contingency feature payments will only be given if it is used appropriately.
He goes on to say, quote, if they are squandering this money and not spending it exactly as they are supposed to be spending it, then it will be shut down, shut off.
So unlike what's happening in Minnesota, this is not the daycare situation.
Disappearantly, I guess, I guess Minnesota, according to him is mismanaging their hospital funds.
like Minnesota right now, which is just shocking, shocking.
That's not going to happen with the money in the state of Wisconsin because it, it's going to be, there's going to be a very vigorous oversight on how these monies are expended.
He just says, okay, so that's the $200 million.
So going back to the story from Baylor Spears in the Wisconsin examiner, nearly eight
$100 million in funding for Wisconsin hospitals is in question due to potential rule changes under consideration by the Trump administration.
It says, quote, preliminary federal guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS has created some uncertainty about the allowability of changes to Wisconsin's hospital assessments.
I'm going to talk more about the hospital assessments on the other side.
When we grab some snacks, we grab some water.
But as a reminder, you are listening to Mid Mornings on Civic Media here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
If you want to get in contact with us at all during the show, like Cindy just did to talk about the cold weather, you can call.
You can text the number is the same 855-752-4842-855-75CIVIC.
You can also leave a comment on the live stream.
We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube, and the platform that we still call Twitter here on the show.
You can also go ahead while you're at it, if you don't already, and I don't know why you wouldn't, but you can get that free Civic Media app on your device.
Go ahead and download that to your phone or to your tablet and you can listen to the shows.
You can listen to music stations.
You can text us.
You can call us through that.
You can send a voice message.
You don't have to like me even to send a voice message, but you can do all that by getting the Civic Media app.
You can also get your news there.
You can customize it to your location, what you want to hear, what you want to read.
It's all very, very helpful to keep that civic media experience in your life by downloading the Civic Media app and putting it on your device right now.
When we come back, I'm going to be talking more.
about the assessments here in Wisconsin that was going to allow us to draw on more funding from the federal government, but that is now all in question because of new rules from the CMS, also known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but call.
you can access health care.
If you are in the rural areas, how have you already been affected?
855-752-484-2855 75 civic.
We are civic media mid mornings.
I am Greg Bach.
That is Calvin Butenhoff.
Don't go anywhere.
Stay tuned and stay informed and stay close.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on Civic Media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I am your buddy, your pal, your advocate in warmth and health here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
If you want to be part of the conversation, call 855-752-4842-855-75CIVIC.
Also, you can leave a comment on the live stream.
We are currently Facebooking and YouTubeing and Twittering because we still call it Twitter.
You can also get a hold of the Civic Media app and send us a message.
Call or text her there as well.
We'd love to hear from you.
Remember, after the 10 o'clock news, we're going to be speaking to Gene Theoharis, Professor Gene Theoharis about her book, King of the North.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Struggle
outside, life of struggle outside the South, talking about the legacy of Dr. King outside the South, his work to bring the light and call out police brutality and how his work here in the North was not any easier than it was in anywhere below the Mason Dixon lines.
We're talking to Professor Theo Harris after the 10 o'clock news, stick around for that.
But we were talking about news out of the
Wisconsin examiner discussing possible loss of $800 million or nearly $800 million of funding for Wisconsin called into question because of possible rule changes because of the Trump administration.
I want to talk about the impetus of that as far as our
assessments that we did here, specifically to get more funding to help offset the cuts that we will be seeing because of the big bill for billionaires.
Before we do that, Jean from Alcleris on the line.
Jean, good morning.
What say you?
How are you today?
Well, first of all, thank you for your advocacy for our health and wellness.
Of course.
Right.
Yeah.
So in addition to this, you know what?
You can't trust a word that's coming out of anybody.
I'm sorry, I've been independent my entire life, but you know what?
Not anymore.
I will not vote for anybody with an R after their name.
I've seen the damage they did to Wisconsin.
They had Scotty Walker in.
I watched as bills were paid.
I watched as older people were handcuffed for singing in our Capitol.
we can't have that happen again, and we gotta fight to protect our rights by getting your butt out and voting.
Help your neighbors find out if they can find out information.
Got a lot of old people like me who don't know how to get some of the internet type stuff.
Help everybody you can.
Teach everybody you can.
Help everybody you can understand what's going on.
Watch and share this channel with everybody.
A lot of people don't know about this
channel.
and i think you guys do an outstanding job in addition to that don't trust a word that comes out of van orden's mouth i've been on his case a lot and try to be polite because you got really nice people working in their office but that guy does not tell the truth hate to tell you this don't mean to be rude but god darn it start checking the facts out guys because they're handing you a line of you know what into cost chaos in wisconsin too any place that did not vote for
Donald Trump or that was on the line for it or maybe you know the last time when he claims elections were stolen It's going after people.
He's after revenge.
He's chaotic.
He's I'm sorry.
This is my personal opinion.
He's not saying
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you very much for calling Jeannie always appreciate hearing from you.
I mean When it comes to the issues of Derek Van Norton, if you've listened to this show, you know my position on the man and what he has done to
this state, not for this state, but in this situation, this is where I'm going to ask you to go and call his office.
I'm going to ask you to contact him, to ask him.
to help secure this money.
So what happened for the 2025, 2027 state budget?
There was a provision in that budget to increase our Medicaid hospital assessment from 1.8% to 6% as a way of supplementing our state's Medicare resources with matching contributions from the federal government.
This is coming from the article from Baylor Spears in the Wisconsin Examiner.
And what that was going to do was help
bring back a lot more money.
It was estimated that this assessment was going to help bring back over a billion dollars in additional revenue for Wisconsin hospitals.
It's great.
Wonderful.
We need it.
Our hospitals are closing.
Rural hospitals are closing.
Clinics are closing too.
That's another thing we don't talk about.
We talk about the hospital's closing, which is absolutely shameful, but we are also losing
dozens of clinics around the state, which also provides vital health care options for our community, for our citizens here in the state.
But because of a preliminary federal guidance,
preliminary federal guidance from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, that has created uncertainty about whether the availability is going to come.
And that means that we would lose a lot.
The analysis said that if the increase is disallowed, then it would lead to a general purpose revenue shortfall of $396 million annually.
or $792 million for the 2025 2027 by any of them.
So that assessment we did is might not be valid.
And because of that, Wisconsin could lose out in.
$800 million in matching funds from the federal government to help sustain our hospitals here in the state, to give people from all over, specifically the rural areas, a place to access health care.
And this is where I call upon you to reach out to Derek Van Arden's office.
You can go to myvote.wi.gov to get that information.
We'll get that information for you in a moment too.
But call that office.
Tell him he is an advocate for Wisconsin hospitals getting money, getting funding from the federal government.
He is a congressman.
Call the congressman and women in your district.
Call them and tell them that you want this money so we can fund our hospitals properly because our hospitals have been kicked to the curb for too long.
And the people in the rural areas specifically are getting the brunt of it all the time.
So call them.
Tell them what you need.
Tell them what we as Wisconsin's need, Wisconsinites need and
get that money because it's very, very important.
When we come back talking more about the news, including, uh, the inability to access, uh, our lawmakers making decisions and farmers waiting for the bailout money.
Will it be enough?
I'm going to let you take a guess on that one, but more coming up on mid mornings on civic media right here on the civic media radio network.
My name is Greg Bach.
Don't go anywhere.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
Welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I am your host, buddy, your pal, your friend in warmth clothing technology because it's cold outside and I would love for you to be safe.
Wear them jackets, wear them hoodies, wear them hats, wear them gloves, wear them scarves, keep warm because
If I'm not mistaken, Calvin, we sent a message out to these mid mornings on civic media weather balloon that Calvin so graciously purchased for the show.
And as far as I know, still two degrees outside feels like 14 below, possibly in the twenties tomorrow, but a low of 13.
It's just going to be cold and what feels like forever, but that's how it works in mid to late January into February.
But yeah, just, um,
Stay warm.
Still lots of great, lots of great shows, still ahead.
Gene, Professor Gene Theoharis is our guest at the top of the 10 o'clock hour after the 10 o'clock news to talk about her book, King of the North, Martin Luther King Jr.'
's life of struggle outside the South, discussing his work outside of what we generally relate to Dr. King's work to, which is, you know, Alabama.
Georgia places like that, the South and what he did when he was here in the North, in the West and how he still faced some of those same struggles, if not more, and how he talked about them in the mainstream press.
PJ on the live stream says it's three below in the Fox Valley.
So yeah, put on jackets, put on, I'm going to be, I'm going to be your, I'm going to be your radio dad today and just say put on them jackets, bread on the.
He says, I'm in my car all day and my fan doesn't blow the heat.
So I'm bundled up like Ralph's little brother in the Christmas story.
I can't put my arms down.
Well, I, I wish you nothing but warmth then.
And I hope, Brad, I hope we can make you so happy and laugh so much and learn so much today that it keeps your brain powering all the warmth through your body.
So it's nice and nice and, uh,
hot for the day.
So you're not getting too, too cold.
Uh, in the, earlier in the show, we were talking about, uh, hospital funding, possible hospital funding, uh, in Wisconsin is on the line.
It might not be as much as we would like it to be over a billion dollars was what we were looking for from the federal government and are in, in, in total with matching funds due to some rule changes.
We might be losing about 800 million of that and Democratic lawmakers are calling on Derek Van Orton specifically of the third district to do something about this because he's a huge advocate for rural hospitals.
He believes he is and he was very happy about the $200 million in the big beautiful bill for billionaires.
I wanted to give you some phone numbers, 202-225-5506.
That is his Washington office, 202-225-5506.
5506 his office in the lacrosse area 608-782-2558 and then finally Eau Claire is 715-8319214 if you want to get a hold of him tell him that you would like to see our hospital funded and to try to work to maybe keep the
Medicare and Medicaid services department from reworking their rules so we can actually get the money we need to run our hospitals here in specifically the rural areas, which affects Derek Van Oren, but also affects a lot of Wisconsinites here.
So moving on to something else, we're going to stick in the rural area about this.
This is coming out of Wisconsin public radio.
Rachel Kramer has the byline.
Farmers are in line for billions of bailout money.
Will it be enough to offset losses?
So we also have been talking about this for a while.
The Trump administration had proposed, I've heard 11 billion.
I've heard 12 billion in this story.
They reference $11 billion.
It's called the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program.
And that would basically help farmers here in the country who were impacted by the tariffs.
That in and of itself is a whole of the conversation we've talked about as well.
We will continue to talk about, but the high production costs and low crop prices, because of all of that, our farmers here in Wisconsin and across the country have suffered a lot.
So the Trump administration had proposed a farmers bridge assistance program, which would get them some money to help offset that.
President Trump is quoted as saying, this is from secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rawlins, quote, President Trump committed to increase certainty in the farm economy.
And farmers can count on these payment rate calculations when going back to the bank as they plan for the spring planting season.
Farmers who qualify for the FBA program can expect payments in their bank accounts by February 28th.
Details have not been...
released on the additional $1 billion allocated for specialty crops and sugar, but they hope that the bridge payment will get to them and help offset these payments.
Now, this is all well and good.
And according to DG Jones, who is a risk management economist for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in the Amarillo District, basically they're saying it's an assistance that will provide some relief.
Anything is good, but this will not cover everything.
And also remember that this isn't being given out to every single farmer in America.
This is only being given to farmers in the area who grow crops that were affected by the tariffs.
And that is not something that will help every single farmer.
Also, this will only help settle debts.
This is not going to be, one of the things that I saw on social media, and I'm sorry to say this, but coming from a lot of people who identify themselves as liberal was getting on the backs of farmers who may or may not have voted for Trump.
We don't know who all of them voted for.
May or may not have voted for Trump getting this money and somehow rolling in the riches, which is laughable on its face, but
These farmers are going to try to get this relief to help offset offset already spent money debts that have been incurred to bring them closer to square and Then they move forward from here and it's only if they grow certain crops certain commodities farm certain things will they be eligible for this program They're not gonna be buying themselves a brand new car or getting a swimming pool.
They're simply just gonna be using the money for
to try to make themselves a little more whole.
But this is all because of the tariffs.
Again, we're walking into the first term again, history repeating itself again, where tariffs have been imposed, have affected you and I, all of us.
Tariffs don't care who you voted for, by the way.
I don't know if you know that.
Calvin, that's science right there.
That's your science lesson for today.
Tariffs don't care who you voted for.
They're affecting us all our prices are going up.
And so these farmers are going to take part in this program this bridge this bridge program if they qualify and so That is I guess I Don't want to say it's good because again, we didn't learn our lesson the first time and we're going through this again and we're taking 12 billion dollars and passing it along to farmers and where is that money coming from?
They say the tariffs, I would say it wouldn't have to happen if the tariffs didn't exist in the first place But the point is there's a lot of consternation on this matter as far as and and and
We've talked to many farmers on this show.
They don't want they don't they don't bailouts They want markets.
They want to be able to sell their goods and and and the things they work so hard on Especially these farms that have been around for three four five generations.
So Jack from Merrimack is on the line right now.
Good morning, Jack I hope you are staying warm What say you about this topic regarding the bridge the the assistance bridge program here in the coming out of the Trump administration
Yeah, well, it's a bridge too far.
No, that's a bad joke.
Um, seriously, uh, two things, uh, first of all, you, uh, I think you stated something like, uh, this is designed to pay off loans and things like that.
Sounds more like it's a bank bailout than it is a, uh, farmers bailout because if the farmers can't pay their loans, the bank's going to take a loss on that.
So it's going to be, uh,
That's the first thing.
But the second thing is this.
You've heard of robbing Peter to pay Paul?
Yes.
In terms of the sheriff, this is robbing Peter to pay Peter.
I mean, the farmers are paying more for fertilizers.
They're paying more for their equipment because of some of a lot of it is coming from foreign countries.
They're paying more for replacement parts for their equipment.
You know, so what you're doing is you're taking money that the farmers are paying in tariffs and you're paying the farmers back for the care.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's socialism, which you got along.
Yeah.
Yeah, Jack.
I mean, it's, it's, it's robbing Peter to pay Paul to Rob to Peter to pay Paul over.
I mean, it's a lesson.
Well, I mean, it's a lesson that I feel like we had learned.
all of us outside of the administration, but they think that throwing money at the situation will fix it.
And I mean, that comes also down to the, what I mentioned as far as the, when we see the word bailout, I think you're right.
A lot of people can think oh like the bank bailout like the auto bailout Why don't I get a bailout because I'm not a farmer and and they voted for Trump anyways And it causes all of this right what can happen where then people get angry about who people voted for and who gets the money when you look at the program itself Jack it is one that has very specific guidelines on it and also isn't making these farmers
Hand over fist rich.
I mean, I mean you're out in Merrimack I'm sure you've met a farmer or five in your day You know, none of them are rolling in in Rolls Royces or have a big mansion on their property They're struggling to get by every single year and as you mentioned with rising cost in sub in in in in equipment in Feed and all of those things that makes that they have to happen to make the farm move Everything's going up
They just want the markets opened up so they can sell instead of being, you know, held down by these tariffs.
And then we're right back where we started to six, seven years later.
Am I right?
Am I, I don't know.
Am I crazy, Jack?
That's the main thing is that every farmer that I've ever met.
their whole purpose is they love what they do.
It's like you going to work every morning, you love what you do.
Well, so do they, but what they do is they produce crops for food, for animal feed.
They produce milk from their cows and it goes on and on and on.
And that's what they love to do.
And it's not like, well,
I don't care.
I just want the money.
Yeah, no You're not they're not writing out in in Cadillac brand combine.
Yeah
Yeah, exactly.
Thank you so much for calling Jack.
Appreciate the, appreciate it always goes like, love hearing from you.
And that, it just brings me to a very, what could be perceived, I guess, as a naive point, but really this would all probably be eliminated.
If, if our federal government on the whole, both sides got together and created policies and plans that actually benefited and made long-term investments on farming.
and maybe passed a farm bill that should have been passed two years ago, nearly two and a half years ago, and quit using them as a platform for speeches instead actually helping them with real, real things that will help with real...
goals that will get them what they need to survive and to thrive because they're only growing our food here in this country.
But when we come back, we'll talk more about this.
If you have thoughts, your thoughts on the bailout, your thoughts on, on, on, you know, what you've heard so far in the news right here on civic media, mid mornings.
Don't forget after the 10 o'clock news, we're talking to Professor Jean Theo Harris about her new book regarding Dr. King's life here in the, in the North on mid, mid mornings on civic media.
My name is Greg box.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Welcome, welcome back to Civic Media, mid mornings, mid mornings on Civic Media.
No matter how you cut it, it's 9 a.m.
to 11 a.m.
You are here with me.
My name is Greg Bach.
I'm your host, your buddy, your pal.
You're fighting force for democracy here in the state and in the country.
If you want to be part of the conversation,
Call the number 855-752-484-2855-756.
Leave a comment on that live stream.
Where are we live streaming, Calvin?
I'm glad you asked, Calvin.
We are live streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.
We still call Twitter.
We still have wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, more program ahead of us in the second hour, the top of the second hour.
After the 10 o'clock news, we'll be speaking with Professor Jean Theoharis about her book.
Dr. Oh, it's here.
I want to I was one make sure I say correctly King of the North Martin Luther King Jr.
Struggle Outside of the South here on the show talking about that and really discussing the legacy of Dr. King and I want to get into the recontextualization That's a nice word of Dr. King's legacy in America in 2026 as well But we'll be talking to Professor Theo Harris about the book in the second hour and then in audio Sorbet this one
I wouldn't be lying.
I was a little stressed this morning.
Little, I don't know, tone happy this morning.
Not proud of it.
That's how we get sometimes.
Got to make sure you get to tell people, Hey, this isn't for you.
If I'm, if I'm feeling, if I'm feeling Tony, Tony, Tony today, I apologize.
It's not for you.
I love it.
I appreciate you all.
But when you get like that,
And we're coupled into a stressful time in 2026, 2025, 2024.
Pick your year.
It's always stressful.
How do you get away?
What are you doing to put down the phone, the screen, everything around you?
Do you have a place?
Do you have a he said, a he shed, a she shed, a man cave, a lady cave, a them cave, a place where you just get away, put the phone down, close your eyes.
Do you meditate, read a book, go for a walk?
And I'm asking not just for you to tell us, but I'm also, you know, hey, if there are people out there looking for ways to let go and to breathe out, give us some options.
You can always do that by calling or texting 855-752-484-2855, 75 civically, but comment on the live stream again and just let us know.
get the civic media at civic media app.
You can text your call from there too.
We're talking about the news this morning, including hospital funding here in Wisconsin, talking about, uh, the farmer's bailout that is set to take effect next month.
You know, it's not just about will it help the farmers?
It will.
Everything does help, but
What next for them?
The perception of this bailout on the general public, because, you know, I see a lot of misgivings and a lot of misinformation from the liberal side on what this means for farmers.
And I see a lot of people on the conservative side who think this is just a fix and we're good to go and the tariffs rule and without the tariffs, it's a bigger conversation.
But I want to know what your thoughts are on that.
And before we get into our last news topic for the hour, I want to talk to Richard here.
He's been very patient on the phone.
Richard, good morning.
What say you on the topics we've been talking about today?
Thanks for taking my call.
Yes, sir.
I've been listening and I'm not trying to say I'm an expert on it, but location, location, location.
Why do they even mention the farmer for sugar in Florida?
That's it for American sugar growing.
Yeah,
that's like helping the farmer
Well, I mean that if you if we're talking about that I mean the terror that you're talking about Why are we helping the the farmers with sugar or what do you mean by that?
Well, they can only farm sugar in Florida with the weather.
Okay,
so that's basically all of the farming
for sugar in the whole country unless you go to Cuba.
Yeah.
Or you purchase it from Mexico.
Okay.
So you think that we should be doing more for the farmers in Florida?
Or is it a matter of the bailout money that is affecting them?
Or what does that mean?
It sounds like Florida politics.
Gotcha.
I see.
Okay.
Well, thank you very much for the call, Richard.
I appreciate you always reaching out.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a question of, you know, the bailout will do something as far as helping and helping, helping has air quotes doing a lot of work around that right now.
But really what we always talk about here on this show is what is going to be the longterm plan and investment in various.
policies.
And when we talk about farming, that is a very important one.
We don't have a farm bill passed yet.
It's way overdue.
This book report was due like back in 2024.
No, 2023, my apologies.
And the fact that we don't have that says,
a great deal to me about how we treat our farmers.
And it's been like this for decades.
And we've talked to farmers on this show of all stripes from all over the country.
And it always comes down to, we just need a partnership with this nation in what we want to do, which is feeding this country, but also selling their goods to people in their state, outside the state, outside the country.
And also not to mention programs which help people get food, like farmers, farmers growth programs where farmers get paid to grow food and then give it to food banks.
Like the conversation is so much bigger than the bailout and the misapprehensions and the misinformation about the bailout itself is something we could talk about for hours with experts, but with bailouts,
It's something we saw years ago.
It's a lesson We should have learned when we found out that tariffs don't do what we were told they were going to do But that is for another conversation.
We are going to have in the future I promised you but for right now I want you all grab some water grab some snacks when we come back We'll be speaking with Professor Jean Theoharis about her book King of the North Martin Luther King Jr.'
's life of struggle outside the South
Here on the show, please don't go anywhere.
I'd love for you to be here for this conversation.
If you have any questions, comments, call or text 855-752-484-2855.
75 Civic is the number.
This is mid mornings on Civic Media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I'm so happy you're here today, spending time with us.
Don't go anywhere.
Stay tuned, stay informed, stay close.
The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.
Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.
With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.
Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.
