
All across Wisconsin from Civic Media, this is Up North News Radio.
Now, live from our Lake Visota studio, here's the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Breitlo.
Good morning.
It is 6.06 on this Wednesday morning, March 12th, 2025, and it's another beautiful day to have you here up north.
Live from Lake Visota from wherever you're listening across the Civic Media radio network or on the app, listening by podcast, watching us on social media,
We are very thankful that you're starting your day right here.
Here's my question for you.
Will you tune in tonight?
Will you tune in tonight for the first ever Up North News live event?
How do we build this thing?
Let's go with this.
One night, two hours, three moderators for a live event in Madison tonight about the state Supreme Court race.
12 panelists and who knows how many people in a live studio audience, but we are very much looking forward to what's coming up this evening and you can listen to it all across the civic media radio network.
Our news talk stations are carrying it live from five to seven o'clock.
Three different panel discussions with all sorts of experts and lawmakers talking about what's really at stake in the state Supreme Court race.
And in fact, in our second hour,
Usually in our homeroom segment, we're talking with experts in education.
We're just going to dwell for a bit about the education section of tonight's Supreme Court panel discussion, the ways that the election could impact the voucher program and its cost to taxpayers, Act 10.
There will also be panel discussions on the economy and of course on reproductive health care rights.
So all of that coming up at the Overture Center in Madison across the
media radio network.
Greg Bach is in Racine and how do you call this a conversation that is nascent at the capital adjacent?
I like it.
That is what's happening
Exactly.
That's that's really about it.
Yeah.
So in Racine right now it's 36 degrees.
It's 35 in Milwaukee up here on Lake Wissota.
It's 34 paywords at 35 very consistent temperatures across the state this morning.
32 in Amory 31 in Wausau 30 in Rapids lacrosse is at 32 so is Green Bay.
Milwaukee's at 28 degrees.
Brittany Merlot says the roller coaster ride of temperatures
will continue this week as we climb back up to a little bit of warmth, but even as those spring-like temperatures tease us, we're following a big storm that's headed our way this weekend, she writes.
Well, that's great.
Thanks, Brittany.
We just didn't need that, but we don't get a vote.
I checked.
Let me see if I've got the details on her state forecast here for today.
Here it is, it's Wednesday.
Mostly sunny and mild statewide.
Highs in the north and the upper 40s in the south to the mid 50s today with a south wind at 5 to 10.
Tonight, it'll get frosty temperatures, a few clouds, upper 20s for lows in the north, low 30s in the south, and a south wind at five miles an hour.
And like I said, we will have the full details of her forecast coming up from her directly in just a little bit here on Up North News Radio along the way.
If you'd like to join the show, 855-75 Civic, again, 855-752-4842.
Do feel free to send us a text message at that number as well or use that aforementioned civic media app to listen to the show or call us or text us or put something in the comment section as well.
If I sound a little bit tuckered, Mr. Bach, it is because I went through the ordeal last night that all of us have to do at some point and that is replace your phone.
And hear the whole spiel on phones and plans and options and accessories.
And as if that wasn't already starting to wear on you, once you make the decision, then comes the transfer of information, photos, files, everything.
I seem to recall a time and maybe I'm romanticizing the past, but it seemed to me when you bought a new phone,
Mm-hmm.
They'd put your old phone on the desk.
They'd put the new phone there.
They'd hook them up to like, you know, jumper cables or something and like and that was it.
Your new phone was ready.
Yeah.
And at this point to to borrow an old Ron White joke, the data transfer was moving at the speed of smell and we had nothing to do.
We were hostage.
We just had to make small talk with the poor clerk at the store as we're just watching the little bar.
move, actually not moving, move.
And of course, it's never, it doesn't mean anything.
You know, when they say the transfer is 30% complete or you're downloading a file and it says 30% and then it's 33.
And that's 30.
Oh, wait, now it's 85.
Now it's now it's 99.
Still 99.
Still 99.
Still 99.
It was torture.
I mean, it was it was
Oh, my gosh.
We had to do this because one of our phones had just reached the end.
And we thought, oh, we'll just zip down to old Claire.
We'll zip down.
We'll get this done.
We'll grab a leisurely dinner.
No, there was nothing.
It was, we could not.
Does this Best Buy have a food court?
We could now, I was just saying, I won't, it wasn't best buy, but, and I won't, I don't want to out the poor store or the clerk.
They, they were doing their best, but clearly whether it was their wifi or just the internet speed overall, uh, and you can't do anything at that point.
You're committed.
You, you need this phone.
So you're there.
I'm, I'm actually surprised.
My big idea, my entrepreneurial, uh, uh, ingenuity here, these stores from now on, if, if phone transfers are going to take this long,
Set up a little room with Cots or recliners Put put your favorite shows on that you want you want because they tried to sell you on get our Netflix and our Hulu package and Disney Plus fine put us in some easy chairs You know run your commercials bring us some snacks and let us know when the phone is ready because then we had we had this discussion about EVs that at some point when we all have to go to these charging stations instead of gas
You know, filling the gas tank takes, what, three, four minutes, but an EV may take longer.
So a quick trip is going to have to put in some recliners anyway.
See, I don't have this is not to brag, but and I know you're Apple guy.
So this is not also going to change you either.
But like, I have a Google Pixel.
And when I want to get a new phone, I go to the website, I order it.
They deliver it within the week.
I put my old phone next to my new phone.
They transfer.
I'm done.
It takes
We've done that at home, but we.
But just did did not have any idea it was gonna take that long doing it at the store yesterday Oh, let me address this text from Tom and Jackson because we did have a scheduling change Tom writes will you be interviewing Brittany Kinzer this morning?
No, not this morning.
We did advertise Wednesday.
They had agreed to Wednesday and then on Friday of last week They they said oh, we've got a schedule problem.
Can we move it to Friday and we agreed so yes, Brittany Kinzer we will be talking to her
not today, but Friday at 730.
So our fabulous weekend review panel will start a little bit earlier.
We'll start at 705 Friday, 705 to 730.
And then Brittany Kinzer from 730 onward.
We'll be talking to her about the state superintendent race.
So thank you, Tom, for reminding me to mention that.
Did you see Billy Joel had to cancel his his concert tour, including American Family Field?
Mm hmm.
for, I believe, a still undisclosed surgery and apparently physical therapy, whatever it all involves.
So no new dates have been set.
He's basically canceled the next four months.
So anybody that had tickets for April 26th to see Billy Joel and Sting at American Family Field, they do say they're going to make it up, but it's going to be a while before they know the next dates.
So we wish Mr. Joel a full recovery from there.
I covered the announcement yesterday from Rebecca Cook running for Congress in Third District.
She's running Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge is indicated that she's likely to announce after April 1st.
But Becca Cook was doing hers on a farm, not far from here.
So I went over to cover it.
I'm gonna we're gonna play some sound from from Becca Cook coming up in our next segment here.
But I bring it up just to say that I saw some old friends out there.
I saw Bob Bolls old who's been at wax radio for about 75 years and Bob Gallagher who's been a TV 13 for what feels like 50 years We we both started there a long long time ago.
We both had very dark hair We were both much thinner than we are now and I go in and he looks at me and he looks up at the top of me and he goes, huh?
I have darker hair than you now.
And I'm like, no, you don't.
You liar.
We're both just graying right along.
And then we look over at Bob Bolesol and we're like, well, at least Misery loves company.
So we're just all watching the snow on the mountaintop and covering this press event.
But always nice to see some old friends, even if they do remind you that we're not getting any younger.
Exactly.
Oh
Hey, it's Women's History Month.
The Up North News Daily newsletter includes another story of a trailblazer in Wisconsin.
This one, more of a modern day trailblazer, Kimberly Hall, the Milwaukee woman who has appeared on at least a half a dozen different food competition shows.
It all started in 2010 when she won the Hometown Showdown Cake Decorating Contest.
She has since appeared on Cupcake Wars, Sugar Dome,
The Macy's Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular, Holiday Wars, and Halloween Wars.
And you can find out what she's up to these days and how you can get hold of her trademarked, lifelike 3D cakes.
Sign up for our newsletter at upnorthnewswi.com.
And Greg, when Christina put in there her lifelike 3D cakes, I'm like, well, all cakes are 3D.
I mean, what's the deal?
But then I then I looked and I saw what she means.
I mean, it's have you seen the show?
Is it cake?
OK, we're talking those kind of things where you swear it's some other kind of object.
It looks so real.
But then you, you know, put a knife to it and there's cake inside.
What's what is her her name?
Kimberly Hall.
Kimberly Hall.
Yeah, so you take a look at that and tell me what you think.
And in the meantime, I will tell folks before we take a little break here that there's also more to see over at couriernewsroom.com.
Up North News is part of Courier Newsroom, a pro-democracy news network.
And you can include our newsletter from Mark Jacob called Stop the Presses this week when the media takes mega liars at their word.
And then there's also an article from Courier Newsroom correspondent Michael Jones on how House Democrats recruited an army of influence
to document Donald Trump's wild 100 minute speech last week.
So again, look for all of that at couriernewsroom.com.
All right, we'll talk about Rebecca Cook's announcement and more that's coming up on Up North News Radio, live from Lake Wissota on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Part of today's history lesson coming up 30 minutes from now.
And at the risk of annoying both you and Greg, I'm going to start the song over in just a second here to say, is there a better acoustic guitar first few notes of a song?
We talk about guitar riffs, you know, starting off rock songs, but from a from an acoustic guitar standpoint, I mean, when you hear these first few notes, is there is there anything comparable to that?
Can you play the start of the song?
I love that.
I just love that.
So remember, when we get on one of these things about the greatest, you know, guitar riffs to start off rock songs, we've got to look at acoustic ones as well.
But anyway.
Okay, so that was guitar talk with Greg and Pat for this Wednesday morning, March 12th.
Let's see, I try sometimes during commercial breaks to come up with an order in my head.
I'm like, okay, what are we gonna talk about this time?
And today, this section's lineup is Badgers, Bucks, Bridgeman, Becca.
Yes, that's it.
So let's see Badgers first.
So let me pull up that note because the Wisconsin Badgers are in the Big Ten Conference Tournament tomorrow.
They will be playing a coverage beginning at 12.30 tomorrow on Civic Media stations in Amory, Wisconsin Rapids Richland Center.
And I would imagine the Civic Media app as well, though don't give me a stack of Bibles and have me swear on it.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost last night.
I guess in a crazy fashion last play of the game the Pacers were down by three Somehow managed to inbound it score get fouled and score four points overall and Go on to beat the Bucks last night on Thursday.
They will host the LA Lakers The Bucks and the Bucks family suffered a big loss junior Bridgeman a basketball standout who led Louisville to a final four
then starred for the Bucks and then launched an even more successful career as a self-made billionaire with stakes in restaurants publishing and the Bucks franchise itself died yesterday at the age of 71.
Bridgeman was a popular fixture in Louisville after his playing days and Mayor Craig Greenberg announced his death saying the city had quote lost a kind generous and groundbreaking legend
According to media reports, Bridgeman suffered a medical emergency at a Louisville hotel during a fundraising event on Tuesday.
Bridgeman was involved in one of the biggest trades in NBA history at the start of his professional career.
After the LA Lakers selected Bridgeman with the eighth pick in the 1975 draft, they sent him to Milwaukee as part of the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out of Milwaukee and to the West Coast.
Bridgman played 711 games for the Bucks.
That's third in franchise history behind Yanis and Chris Middleton.
His number two jersey was retired by the Bucks in 1988.
After his playing career, Bridgman was a long time franchisee for Wendy's and for Chili's.
At one time he operated more than 450 restaurants in 20 states.
He became a bottler for Coca-Cola.
He bought Ebony Magazine and Jet Magazine.
Last year he bought a 10% stake in the Milwaukee.
bucks.
Junior Bridgeman was 71 years old.
626 now, just about, and as I mentioned in the last segment here, Rebecca Cook is now running for Congress.
Yesterday we mentioned that she was on the verge of making an announcement and that Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge is also seriously considering a run, either one of them hoping to challenge Republican Derek Van Orden.
Becca Cook has gone ahead and made that decision to run and so let me play just the beginning of her announcement here.
It's about two minutes long and that way you can hear some of her story and why she's decided to run.
This is speaking on a farm near Chippewa Falls yesterday morning.
Our family has had a farm in this district for 150 years and so when we had to sell our cows
Because of the price of milk, it wasn't just losing a business, but part of our traditions and our heritage and our way of life, frankly.
And I think that that way of life really remains under attack for family farms like mine and Tony Bowie's.
Far right fractions of the Republican Party, including Derek Van Orden, would rather play political football with the farm bill than to get it passed.
So we think changes to USAID have cut off export markets many farmers have relied on and cuts to the USDA are ripping apart programs that have kept smaller farms afloat.
We need to continue to expand export markets and agriculture and not start trade wars with our nation's allies.
Now is not a time to cower as big drug companies jack up our medicine prices and our local hospitals here in Eau Claire remain closed.
We must stand up to out a touch elites who are blocking our pathway to home ownership to good paying jobs and to achieving the American dream.
They don't care about the price of milk or gas, but we do.
Whether it's starting our own business, owning our first homes or keeping our farms in the family.
Wisconsinites really deserve a fair shot.
So today, I'm announcing my campaign for U.S.
Congress.
Last November, we won the trust and support from an unprecedented amount of Democratic, independent, and Republican voters.
And we nearly sent a farm kid from Western Wisconsin, from here in Chippewa County to Congress.
We built a movement, but we ran out of time.
And now with your help, we're going to win in 2026.
And the truth is, we need more working class voices like ours in Washington who have lived fail policy and will fight like hell to build back the middle class.
People with small business backgrounds like mine who know how to balance a budget and spend within their means.
We really need one of us.
Resilience is about not giving up against the odds.
And it reminds me of something that my brother, who was in the Navy, used to say and what he learned in the Navy.
but you don't stop when you're tired.
You stop when it's done.
So let's get to work.
north.
It's not the the usual music that introduces climate check I have made an executive decision that since Since Trump's energy secretary is sounding more like a bond villain than a cabinet officer I figured some James Bond music would work out perfectly here Melissa Bald off is with us as well.
Melissa.
How are you?
I'm fine.
I mean we got to put our tongue-in-cheek on this It's it's the only way we get through stuff like this
The New York Times headline, US Energy Secretary pledges to reverse focus on climate change to applause from oil and gas executives.
Chris Wright said natural gas was preferable to renewable energy and climate change was, quote, a side effect of building the modern world.
Bond villain stuff.
There's just no other way to go about it.
I mean, I guess, you know, I will say one thing.
On the one hand, it's honest, right?
He's in contrast to some of these guys out there denying climate change.
He is not denying that climate change exists.
He's not denying that the planet is warming and getting hotter.
He in fact referred to himself as, quote, a climate realist.
But yeah, then he's just saying, but too bad so sad.
I don't care about how much this is going to hurt a whole bunch of people who's gonna make them maybe a whole lot wealthier and make their friends a whole lot wealthier.
So we'll let other people deal with the, deal with the pain down the road.
Chris Wright is a former
fracking executive.
So there's no surprise.
He is who he's always been and has always promised a quote 180 degree pivot and wants to dismantle pretty much every federal policy aimed at curbing global warming.
Now, when I say 180 degrees,
I mean it, because one year ago, speaking to a similar conference of energy industry executives, the energy secretary during the Biden administration, former Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, told that group that the transition to lower carbon forms of energy like wind, solar and batteries was unstoppable.
She said, even as we are the largest producer of oil and gas in the world, the expansion of America's energy dominance to clean energy is striking.
And this is what this Trump team is doing is a speed bump.
We're not going back to, you know, doing more to put carbon into the atmosphere.
This is on pause during the Trump
administration however long it lasts but I mean nobody really thinks that this is a full-time turn right?
It's just really wild because other countries you know have been doing what we you know had pivoted to doing still having you know kind of a mix of energy solutions but investing more heavily in
renewable energy and making that a higher priority.
So, you know, to see now this, you know, hostility from right and from the Trump administration to see this, you know, 180 degree pivot, you know, 180 degrees, you know, which it seems to be what they would like that.
the temperature of our planet to be one day with their policies is just really out of step with what we've been working towards and out of step with the rest of the world, quite frankly, that we're just going to be out of
completely out of step with what the rest of the world has been transitioning to.
But
the the New York Times said he he argued that there is a moral case for fossil fuels saying that they are crucial to alleviating global poverty and that moving too quickly to cutting mission risks driving up energy prices around the world.
He denounced efforts by countries that want to stop adding greenhouse gas to the atmosphere by 2050 calling it quote
a sinister goal.
I mean, this is through the looking glass stuff here.
If anybody, this is editorializing on my part.
If anybody thinks that Secretary Wright is actually caring about alleviating global poverty, making a moral case for fossil fuels, and not looking at profit margins and stock portfolios, you are kidding yourself.
I mean, especially for someone who, you know, as it was reported, you know, in this address did not mention any of the, you know, downsides of climate change.
You know, he talked about, you know, you know, quote unquote, you know, one of something he said was everything in life involves trade offs.
You know, he didn't talk about the
heatwaves, drought, floods, extreme weather conditions that come with climate change, how that can lead to the disruption of food production, which leads to impacting our water, all of the things that really can devastate
countries that are already suffering with these resources, with feeding and providing clean drinking water to their citizens.
So to suggest that switching to more fossil fuels and putting more of these harmful pollutants in the air is somehow going to help lift anyone out of poverty or address
um poor conditions in impoverished countries is just um not only lackable I mean it's just incredibly offensive especially when you um couple that with an administration who is you know taken the position of eliminating USAID and discontinuing our support of
foreign nations that have long relied on assistance from the U.S.
government to address some of these serious concerns.
It's really quite stunning.
And I would also point out, extremely, just out of touch with reality in terms of, you know, the, you know,
popularity with some of the oil and gas producers and how this will act would actually take place.
When you think about the fact that the Trump tariffs are going to be actually raising costs on the oil industry.
When you think about the cost of steel and aluminum going up because guess what is used to line oil and gas wells.
Well that's steel pipes and the cost of steel going up.
by, we were told 25% and now we're hearing, oh no, it's gonna be 50% on Canada.
Well, it's gonna get even
I would also add that the Times says that Mr. Wright mostly sidestepped questions on the tariffs, saying that it was still very early on.
There is also the potential, we've sometimes talked about the unintended consequences, the positive kind here, that with Ontario hiking its energy costs even further, or maybe even cutting off energy supplies to Minnesota, Michigan, and New York State,
that might actually accelerate other energy options for consumers in those states who say, well, maybe this is the time to, to look at, you know, solar or wind or things like that.
So who knows that that's, that's always possible.
And it transitions us into the other story we wanted to talk about today, which again is going to sound a little on the fairy tale side, but maybe in a good way where the headline in Politico says house Republican support grows.
for keeping clean energy tax breaks.
Lawmakers are expected to start the difficult task this week of determining which of the credits are on the shopping block to help pay for the Republican budget bill, meaning, you know, tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
And Melissa, this just sounds like
classic Trumpism here where there are all of these tax credits available for clean energy.
Are they are they going to pick winners and losers based on the technology or are they going to base it on you know who makes the most persuasive case shall we say through campaign donations or where certain donors happen to be located in which congressional district.
color me cynical, but I don't know that they're being altruistic about it in this, in this particular instance of wanting to protect some of the clean energy tax credits.
Well, I, I'm going to take a slightly rosy view here and I am going to say that there is, there is some good news and there is something that people should take, people should take some, something positive away here.
And I'm going to say this, that advocacy works, storytelling works, and putting the pressure on these members of Congress is effective.
When they are hearing about the real impacts of what reversing these tax credits would do to
workers and businesses and industries and families in their districts.
It is really making them think twice about their votes and about their actions.
And they've got to have, it's got to be large scale action.
It can't just be, I heard it from one or two people.
That's why it takes these coordinated efforts to get the message to these folks about what the harm would be.
if these credits go away.
And there has been a very coordinated effort from a number of different organizations, from Democratic members across the board, to from labor unions, from so many partners to have folks tell their stories.
And that is across the board could be from, you know, workers, you know, in the operating engineers union, carpenters, electrical workers talking about how, you know, they're out there installing solar panels and they are bringing on more apprentices than ever before to work in these really good paying jobs and that they've got years worth of work planned out down the road.
And that's all going to go away if these tax credits go away.
That could be about those same workers talking about how they're able to buy their first house.
They are able to pay off their car early.
They're able to afford child care that they didn't think they were able to afford.
Those kinds of things really matter.
And if those tax credits go away, the jobs go away.
um those businesses can't expand and those members need to hear about it because that if they're if they're responsible for that economic growth drying up in their district their jobs are going to be on the line and they know it
hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits and other incentives largely into Republican controlled districts.
And so these House Republicans are saying you need to keep these because these particular credits help meet the president's goal of becoming energy dominant and help
America create energy at home.
Yeah, it's not fossil fuel energy, but it is still jobs and economic development.
So yes, I will definitely look at this with a much more positive attitude than I was a couple of minutes ago, because you, again, like Mr. Zipecki, you guys sometimes can just put me right on the right path, tell me how to see these things.
Sometimes I picture you two together in the evening with your beverage of whatever going
You know, we're really good at this because you guys are really good at this.
And I always appreciate your insight for it.
Melissa Baldoff has our climate check.
No matter how much I tried to turn this into a Bond villain segment, she knows that in all those films, the good guys always win in the end.
Melissa, thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
Son of Milwaukee, born this day in 1940, passed away in 2017, and we will hear more from Algiro coming up.
Later on Up North News Radio, on this Wednesday morning, where we welcome to the program as we do every Wednesday at this time, Melissa Kay from 97.5 WFHR and 105.5 WIRI.
Melissa, good morning.
How are you?
Are you hearing us okay?
We're having some technical gremlins before.
Might be one of the classic acoustic guitar intros.
And then there's fire and rain.
Now we're going to go through the whole James Taylor catalog.
There's probably a few in there.
You've got a friend and more.
Boston native James Taylor is 77 today.
Speaking of Massachusetts-tonians with birthdays, Mitt Romney is 78 years old today.
Later became a Utah senator.
A TV series theme.
You know, you know, back, back in the olden days, TV themes were kind of long, not these really short, clippy things, and you'd hear them on the radio as singles.
This theme from a TV series peaked on the record charts at number 17 this day in 1966.
And if you don't know what the TV series is, now you do.
The old Campy 60s series with Adam West.
Leo
Oh, well, hey, there you go.
On this day in 1971, the Almond Brothers played the first of two shows recorded for what would become their landmark album live at the Fillmore East.
Here's how it began.
On this day in 2007, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Patty Smith, R.E.M., the Ronettes and Van Halen were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
And then on this day in 1988, there were two different things that were going on.
1988 was when Sherry was pregnant with our first child.
We'd have a daughter.
And I was just, I was so enamored.
with this now so enamored with sherry for you know wanting to go through this with a pregnancy start a family with me and everything and i just remember turning to her and saying sherry i'm never going to give you up and that is how i just rick rolled my own segment because also on this day in 1988 rick astley had this as the number one song
Watch the video, you'll thank me.
It is
It doesn't go well at all.
This is also along with Girl Scouts Day equal payday and Working Mom's Day.
Working Moms Day started with Susanna Lago of Wauwatosa, who wanted to connect with other working moms in the Milwaukee area.
So she created Working Moms of Milwaukee.
She made a Working Moms of Milwaukee Facebook page.
It led to more working mom sites all over the country and eventually led to Working Moms Day.
So congrats to all the working moms out there and all the hardworking women like Melissa Kay directing her own show now.
This is so awesome.
Radio personality
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