Perplexing Priorities (Hour 1)

Live across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.

Now from our Lake Wissota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.

Well, hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It is 6 0 6 on this Thursday morning, April 24th, 2025.

Another beautiful morning to have you here up north live from Lake Wissota.

from wherever you're spending your mornings, listening across the Civic Media Radio network or on the app, watching us on Facebook or YouTube, listening later by podcast.

We are very glad to have you here to get this Thursday underway.

I got a question for you.

Is it feeling a little drafty in here?

See what I did there.

It's, it's, it's NFL draft.

And it's thank you.

Thank you.

I'll be here.

I'll be here for three hours.

Greg, they said three hours.

They gave us three again.

What did what did we do wrong yesterday?

They said you will do three hours again and again the next day.

So I guess good job out of you.

Well, I mean, hey, man, the show is called Mornings with Pat Crichtlow.

So it's three hours of Pat.

I got you.

I got you, babe.

You're coming along for the ride

until eight.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

And then you get set for Matt and Aaron air, which is about nine to 11.

How did that work out on day one?

It was really fun.

You know, we, uh, we had a good time.

We had a great show and great discussions.

I mean,

Um, spoke to Rick Reed, who's an economics professor.

Really?

I mean, we looked at it as like econ one on one, like, Hey, let's all do a basic lesson in economics so we can all get on the same page.

And,

uh,

yeah,

good talk.

basic economics.

That's great.

There's no room for that here.

Alicia says it's hectic here in Green Bay.

It's also

hectic in here in Gregg Baugh.

There we are.

Yes, but there's no draft in there.

Well, maybe a little bit.

The NFL draft is tonight.

I can't promise that I'll be watching it, but I know it's a big deal for a lot of folks all the time.

It's a huge deal for the city.

It'll be it'll be nice.

The one thing we haven't talked about actually with the NFL drafting Green Bay is who's Green Bay gonna draft?

I have no idea.

I don't I don't I don't follow it well enough to know a

football player

Yes, though the one the one thing I know is that one of the players one of the top picks is this guy who plays both offense and defense And he insists he wants to be a two-way player in the NFL as well

So whatever team drafts him, will they let him do that?

Be both, what is it, a wide receiver and a cornerback or something like that.

And, you know, you want to reward him for his athleticism, but you also don't want him to like, you know, crack his fibula in the preseason game or something.

Yeah,

I just

feel like when you do that, you're also like whatever timeline you have in the.

in the game, in the sport, you're drastically shortening it by playing both sides, or both ways.

Yes.

And that's sports talk for today.

Hope you all enjoyed that.

Coming up on the program otherwise, back to the thing we do know, and that's news.

Once again, recent events offer us a study in contrast.

On one side,

Public officials, Democrats, and the legislature are introducing a bill to give women back the reproductive rights that have been taken from them over the past couple of years.

While on the other side, we have Republicans pretending to investigate the UW system for embracing diversity.

There's a Wisconsin military commander being disciplined.

She was the commander when someone

turned around a photo of President Trump on the wall.

And so she's getting disciplined for it.

We have in a president, one who has destroyed so much of his own government that the FDA says it can no longer do regular safety inspections of milk.

I'm going to read that again.

The FDA can no longer do regular safety inspections of milk because they've had to fire so many people at the Food and Drug Administration.

We'll also talk about Ben Wickler's departure as chair of the State Democratic Party because it means not only a change at the top, but throughout the Wisconsin Democratic Party organization.

And we're going to talk to Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godluski.

about the role that she would like to play as a new chapter of leadership opens up for Wisconsin Democrats.

We're gonna get an update from Chad Holmes on the efforts by the mayor of Warsaw to replace members of the local ethics board with political friends amidst the board looking into his conduct for removing an absentee ballot drop box against legal advice.

In our eight o'clock hour, we will get reaction to the incendiary comments made about people with autism by Robert Kennedy Jr., the United States Health and Human Services Secretary.

I know I still can't get used to saying that either.

It might actually be easier to catalog what he hasn't gotten wrong in his remarks about autism and the neurodivergent community.

Joseph Peckie will be along to help us review the week's political headlines and give us an update on his run for state Democratic Party chair.

Speaking of which, we talked to William Garcia yesterday, one of the candidates for chair, and I've put that interview up on the Up North News YouTube channel.

And tomorrow we will talk to the third candidate so far in the race, Devin Remaker.

Devin Remaker is the current executive director of the Wisconsin Democratic Party and now he would like to be party chair.

So we've got all three current candidates for state chair of the Democratic Party coming up this week and then we'll follow that for the next well almost two months before the Democratic Convention in Wisconsin Dells in mid-June.

Along the way, of course, you can always join the show a couple of different ways.

You can give us a phone call at 855-75-CIVIC.

855-752-4842.

You can also do that through the Civic Media app where you can listen to this fine program.

You can call in, you can text as well.

And if you're watching on Facebook or YouTube, you can put something in the comment section there.

Let's see, Adam says, heading up to Green Bay later this morning, staying in Appleton and taking the Fox Valley charter bus to the draft.

And yes, that is a reminder that all again, they're saying at least 200,000 people will be around.

You know, not all spectators, obviously people working the draft, people from all the teams and everything, but a whole bunch of spectators and fans who are going to be staying all over the place and coming into Green Bay for what appears to be a rainy night.

Q. Eddie Rabbit.

A lot of folks will not love a rainy night tonight, but that's how it works.

Brittany Merlot says another low pressure is on our back doorstep, ready to soak us tonight.

Hanging on to a little warmth today and we do dry out over the weekend.

The state forecast for today, mostly cloudy with some spotty showers in the morning, hides around 60 up north, 70 in southern Wisconsin, northeast winds becoming easterly at five to 10 miles an hour.

And then for tonight,

Rain becoming widespread, lows in the low to mid 40s, a northeast wind at about 10 miles an hour.

Alicia says, we've got some early morning activity at some of my customers today as they get ready to head for the draft as well.

And let me say this much about the rain from what I saw the last time I saw a weather map.

This is a big old system.

So I mean,

It looks like maybe a dozen different NFL cities are all getting rain today.

So it's not like this.

It's not like a little black rain cloud and, you know, Green Bay just has a bad case of luck.

Almost any place this draft would have been tonight is going to get rain in some way, shape, or form from this big system that's sitting over basically the eastern two thirds of the country right now.

So it's, you know, it's just bad timing.

My apologies if it glitched on you.

But speaking of fun, Greg Bach has some news about fun.

You went all robotic right there.

Oh

boy.

There you go.

You tell us all about the laughing tap young man.

Okay.

All right.

You got glitchy again there.

Sorry.

Sorry.

So last night we made the announcement that are open minded posted it all over our social medias.

If you want to follow us on social media, you can do that by going to Facebook, Instagram.

We're not on Twitter anymore because blue sky laughing tap.

That's all that's the same handle or go to our website laughing tap.com.

We are going to be at the end of I'm sorry in the mid of June.

June 13th and 14th will be our last week in shows.

We are going to close that location down because we are going to be looking for a new home to expand and become bigger.

Even though if you've been at the laughing tap, you know, it's a giant building.

It's untenable as far as building out.

So in order to grow, we have to find something smaller to get bigger.

So more news to come.

We're currently looking at a few locations.

We're hoping for a fall

reopening grand reopening and I will give more information as I know.

But for right now that is if if you live in the area or if you're like hey I want to get down the laughing tap.

You've got a few more weeks about six or seven more weeks we're gonna have great shows coming up and then one final big hurrah weekend the 13th and 14th of June Friday and Saturday where it's going to be a very special dedication to like why we open the place in the in the first go around.

Somewhere out there is an HDTV camera crew looking for their next assignment.

And if you don't have something happening with house hunters,

yeah,

let's do let's do a twist on this comedy club hunters with Greg Bach as Greg and his partners go from place to place and talk about the pluses and minuses of this as a comedy club.

You'll see them.

They'll see them do little practice improv bits on little makeshift stages and buildings all throughout Milwaukee.

just to find the right home for them and then

pick it, and then we come back six months later and you get the, everything is so great.

Can you tell I've watched House Hunters?

I can tell, man.

Oh

my goodness.

Executive produced and funded by Mr.

Packwright, though.

No, but then somebody, somebody has to be, whenever they have these couples, there's always like, one of them is kind of the good one going, oh, I love this and I love that.

And the other's like, I don't know about this.

I don't think this is going to work.

You know, they're like, I want for a house, I want 4,000 square feet and my budget

is $85,000.

Yeah,

right.

Cool.

We found this shack.

Yep.

I'd let you live there but a bear is hibernating right now.

Yeah.

San Francisco beat the Milwaukee Brewers last night four to two.

Freddie Peralta pitched five good innings but the Giants broke through in the sixth and the Brewers can only muster two runs in the ninth before falling short again four to two.

The final they wrap up that four game series this afternoon a little west coast matinee.

which means that coverage across the Civic Media Radio Network will start at 2.10 this afternoon.

On stations in Richland Center, Oshkosh, Rossin Kenosha, Park Falls, and Hayward.

Then the team heads right from San Francisco to St.

Louis for a three game series that will get started right away tomorrow night.

As you already know, the Milwaukee Bucks, they are down 0-2 in their playoff series against the Indiana Pacers.

Game three will be in Milwaukee tomorrow and that game will be on NBA TV.

Hey, the NFL Draft is certainly mentioned in today's daily newsletter from Up North News.

So be sure to check that out.

And also, where did I put my little note here on it?

I don't have the newsletter note in front of me, so I will tell you that on our website is an Earth Day op-ed Earth Day earlier this week from Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, who recognizes not only that it's Earth Day this week, but the year of the kid as declared by Governor Tony Evers, and so she makes note that you take care of kids.

You take care of the next generation when you take care of our environment.

Also, in honor of Draft Day, the sprucing up of Green Bay includes a brand new mural on Lombardi Avenue.

So you get a look at that as well.

All right, let's pause here from the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissota.

Thanks for making this a place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Critello.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Live across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.

Now, from our Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.

Uh, joined on this Thursday morning at 7 0 6, like it will be every Thursday, by meteorologist Brittany Merleau.

Chad Holmes from 98 9 WXO in Madison, Greg Bach at Radio Park.

Nice to have you all along.

On this Thursday morning,

Coming up yet this hour, we will be talking to...

Sarah Godluschi, the Wisconsin Secretary of State, who is going to be making a run for a leadership position in the Wisconsin Democratic Party, part of a whole generational change of leadership happening there with Ben Wickler stepping down.

Then in our next hour, we have a guest who wants to talk about Robert Kennedy's offensive comments about autism and people with autism, and we'll also be getting an update from Joseph Peckie on his run for state Democratic Party Chair.

We had William Garcia on yesterday, one of the other candidates, and Devin Remaker, the other candidate for state party chair, will be on at 8.30 tomorrow morning.

Temperatures around the state right now at seven o'clock, not much different than in our last hour.

It is 48 here on Lake Wissota, still 29 in Hayward, 42 in Amory, 47 in Wausau where Chad is, 51 in Rapids, La Crosse 54, Green Bay 52, Madison 55, Milwaukee 58.

Before we get to Chad and Wausau, about...

things that are happening there.

Let's find out from Brittany first.

Not only the NFL draft weather for tonight in Green Bay, but what's up with Hayward being at 29?

I know.

Gotta get my 20s.

Defend yourself.

Yeah.

Come on, Hayward.

Lift yourself up, you know?

Seriously.

Well, you know what?

70s have spread so far north yesterday.

I was pretty happy to see them all the way up to the UP and stuff.

So they got some warmth yesterday, but of course they did fall a little cold tonight.

We've got a huge spread of temperatures, not only this morning from the upper 20s to the upper 50s, but today up north is going to be into those 40s.

And we're going to potentially see some low 80s down south today.

So a big spread of temperatures across the state.

We're also looking at a low pressure system trying to hurry up and get its way to the draft.

Go figure is the worst timing possible.

Mother Nature's first round pick is to bring some scattered showers and rain to the draft.

Now what we're looking at is as a system moves in, we are looking at some more scattered showers starting to spark up this afternoon.

They could be anywhere in the state, but a lot of the heavy, steady rain rolls into the northwestern parts of the state.

Pretty much this evening, it spreads into the northern half.

for the evening and then overnight, it's gonna start to fill into some of the southern areas and into the Fox Valley.

So that rain is going to start into Green Bay and Titletown pretty much tomorrow morning through about noon is when it wants to wind down.

And I'm looking at the heaviest rain kind of falling between 7 a.m.

and 10 a.m.

tomorrow morning.

And it's also going to be just a raw, blustery, kind of crummy, dreary day there.

We're looking at rain, you know, going on in the morning.

Windy conditions all throughout the day gusts out of the north up to 30 miles per hour, keeping our high temperatures tomorrow to about 50 degrees.

So you put wind chills on top of that.

People out there towards Lambo are going to be feeling more like.

the forties.

So it's going to be cold tomorrow in terms of what we've been used to yesterday, of course.

Then we start to warm things up and clear things out by night.

Tomorrow night, we'll start to see clearer skies, tons of sunshine on Saturday, high temperatures at about 60 degrees and then Sunday, a little bit warmer into the mid sixties with that sunshine hanging on.

But it's a wet system.

We're looking at a good quarter of an inch wide spread of rain and maybe an inch all the way from Minneapolis to the U.P.

And so ends any affiliation between Brittany Merleau and the Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, based on the weather tonight.

According to her shirt, she's a big fan of Ian Bay.

I don't know what that

is.

Oh, never mind.

It's great.

Oh, sorry.

Green Bay.

Yep, she is ready for the conditions here.

Chad, how about you?

Do you pay much attention on NFL Draft Night?

Yes and no, but I know a couple of folks that are going over there.

In fact,

The person I'm going to have coming up here in just a few minutes on my segment will be heading over there.

Going to get some little intel on that.

And I got a good friend that's heading over as well.

But I'll watch for the, you know, for the draft information.

But I really was not somebody that has a great interest in heading on over there and standing in the rain and enjoying that.

In fact, in fact, for many years, I haven't people tried to say, come on over.

I got a ticket.

We go to see the game.

I'd rather stay home.

That's all right.

I mean look, there are only a couple hundred thousand people that want to do differently and that's okay.

Rob says good morning from Tigerton.

It's cloudy, 47 degrees.

We got a tenth of an inch of rain.

Many farmers were busy doing field work.

The grass is greening out nicely.

We're about a week or so away from mowing.

While I was in the Wittenberg area looking at mowing jobs, there was definitely higher traffic along 29 heading toward Green Bay for the NFL Draft Festivities and we were talking about Georgia having its own state song from

Charles in our last segment and Rob says if Wisconsin had an official state song you would have to be a polka since Wisconsin has the official state dance with polka Tony asks on YouTube yeah where is Wisconsin's classic song Georgia has one West Virginia those aren't even cool states so again I guess we have to find it that'll work yes wipe out

The polka version.

This

is

Harry Kosick and the Red River boys playing Wipe Out from Milwaukee.

They're from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It has to be Roll Off the Barrel.

Let

me come on.

You know what, Chad?

Hey, Chad, just roll with it.

All right, would you?

Roll with it.

I like that.

Thank you, Steve Winwood.

Yes, exactly.

So Chad will continue to be covering some of the stories happening around Wausau, as will Brittany.

And we mentioned yesterday that as part of the new show here, some of our stations will cut away a couple times an hour so that they can have some of their local news and stories as well.

Chad, I have to think that one of the things you're continuing to talk about would be how Wausau Mayor Doug Ditty, who is being looked at by their local ethics board for moving that absentee ballot drop box, is now

wanting to make new appointments to the ethics board, putting some Republican buddies on there, just as they're taking a look at him.

And I don't think that's gonna fly, right?

No, but it's still

a power play.

And

I think

one of the aspects that has to be looked at as well, not just the idea that he has put out these four names to move on to the board.

And of course, to be honest with you, two of the names I am not familiar with, I have no idea whether they're left, right or center.

But two of them are well known for many years.

I mean, decades in this community, Deb Hadley and Kevin Hermione, and both very far right in terms of their political needs.

That doesn't mean, I mean, it's not on itself disqualifying.

But at the same time, I think the timing of it with another meeting coming up next week in terms of the ethics committee,

and the process continuing.

I've talked to folks around here and there's a sense that the people that are actually signed their names to the complaint because it starts with citizens who say, hey, this was not right.

They're nervous about going forward.

It's much like what we see nationally, that there are people that don't want to put their neck out on the line in order to

have this mayor who is not afraid to throw a few elbows and show that he feels as though he's got the power within this community.

It's, I think, beyond anything, it's a bit of a power

play.

Do you remember when people were saying, oh, you know, Katie Rosenberg is too progressive.

We need somebody that can appeal to everybody, can be more of a, you know, uniter, not a divider.

And have we not just

taken the divisiveness and ramped it up to a whole new level with the, you know, the partisanship that's been injected into this mayor's office at this point.

I mean, it has brought so much attention to Warsaw that it frankly doesn't deserve.

And now you have these ethics board members whose terms are expiring, what, at the end of this month, right?

They get to stay on until the city council appoints their successors, whether it's the mayor's, you know, wishes or not.

And

You'd think Republicans would be good at that since they were good with Fred Prenn staying on the State Natural Resources Board after his term expired, right?

I found it so ironic that when I started my program in Pacific Media, I started here in Wausau and I came out of the air.

One of the first big stories was Fred Prain, Wausau dentist, gun shop owner at one time as well, refusing to leave.

That was the right thing to do then.

Now it's not quite the right thing to do.

And you're exactly right.

I mean, it's hard to believe the terms for Doug Denny just began a year ago.

Again, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that.

He talked about, you know, Mayor Rosenberg, stay in your lane.

That was one of the things that he talked about, stay in your lane.

He was just going to be coming to do the job.

You know instead

of

being out there talking about some of these other issues that they feel like you shouldn't be talking about because You know, that's not the way that the mayor should be running the office and it's become this where they put their finger in everything and and again it just comes across as He doesn't feel like there's any any guardrails there.

He's laying it as wide as it wants to

be

and

it's

very interesting to see how rhetoric

at one point changes once you actually get behind the desk.

It's do whatever you want.

I've noticed an uptick in again continued public activity calling out their members of Congress for essentially just

rolling over and letting Donald Trump do whatever he wants.

There was a demonstration, I believe in Warsaw yesterday.

I saw some photos on Facebook from people basically saying Tom Tiffany is missing in action.

There is a there's one tonight in South Milwaukee called Where's Brian Style?

And so State Senator Chris Larson and Representative Chris and Nikki will be in South Milwaukee this evening at the City Hall starting at 5 30.

Yes, Mr. Bob.

We actually had Sean Feta place from Main Street Alliance on yesterday.

And they said the two days before they had a rally where they invited Derek Van Orton up in the third.

It was, it was in La Crosse and there was over 300 people there.

Mark Pokan showed up, talked to the people.

Bernie Sanders called into the, to the event and they were on with him, but uh, Derek Van Orton nowhere to be found.

Really?

Yeah.

He was too busy yelling at youngsters about the capriciousness of youth.

And yelling at me for

eating too much.

But you had Nancy Stencil, Marathon County Democratic Party Chair on recently too.

And again, those folks are staying active.

And I think they're finding more people who are looking at that story from yesterday, for example, that the FDA has had to lay off so many people, they can't do safety inspections of milk, of milk, safety inspections of milk, Chad.

And again, I mean,

And I would encourage folks to check out my blog posting on representative Tiffany from yesterday because well yesterday those folks wanted to talk to him They had their event here in Wausau at that Tom Tiffany's Wausau office at the very same time of the during the day later in the day Tom Tiffany did have time to go over to the Wausau Chamber of Commerce office, which is just down the road here

and answer questions from the, from those who have the political and financial might within this community, had time to answer their questions, but don't have time to answer the questions of average constituents.

And there's another seventh district town hall with an empty chair coming up tonight here in Warsaw, where they've invited Tom Tiffany to come and speak and answer questions.

But again, he is.

unavailable.

There are three groups of people that a congressman can or a legislator can decide if they want to see or not and and congressman Tiffany's chosen two out of three the ones with connections

and cash if you can pay for a ticket to go to a county Republican Party dinner and then constituents.

It's connections, cash, and constituents and we see where folks are falling down on that.

In sports, the Brewers lost in San Francisco four to two.

They will wrap up that series this afternoon.

210 is when the pregame gets started on stations across the Civic Media radio network.

Head over to the Civic Media website to learn more.

Chad Brittany, thank you so much for the updates from

Northern and Central Wisconsin.

Appreciate that very much.

When we still ahead in the program today is what he meant to say.

We will be talking to Wisconsin Secretary of State, Sarah Godluschi.

And in our eight o'clock hour, we'll talk about Robert Kennedy Jr.'

's insane comments on autism and get a visit from Joseph Echene.

From the heart of America's Up North Live from Lake Wissota, thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

Live across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.

Now from our Lake Wissota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.

Hey, good morning.

Welcome back.

It's 8 0 6.

Nice to have you here up north on this Thursday morning, April 24th.

2025.

Coming up, our guest Sarah Driever is going to talk to us about the recent comments by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.

about autism, what he has to say about what he thinks causes it and what it does to people's lives.

And as I said earlier, it might be easier to catalog

what he got right rather than all the many things that he got wrong.

We'll have that discussion coming up in just a couple of moments.

We also have Joseph Pecky joining us at the bottom of the hour to talk about this week's Wisconsin political news, not the least of which is his own run for state Democratic Party chair.

He's not the only one running.

We talked to William Garcia yesterday in our eight o'clock hour and tomorrow in our eight o'clock hour, we will talk to Devin Remaker, the current executive director.

of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

They are the three candidates currently.

There may or may not be others between now and the state convention in mid-June, but we want to give you every opportunity to hear what they have to say about what they would do to lead Wisconsin progressives after Ben Wickler steps aside.

So all that yet to come in this third hour of our newly expanded morning show, which for us also includes another crack at getting a forecast from meteorologist Brittany Merleau for the state

hoping that in the hour since we talked to her last that the forecast has changed.

And for the NFL draft and Green Bay tonight, there will be sunshine and temperatures in the, in the mid seventies and not a drop of rain.

And the look on Brittany's face is telling me the forecast has not changed that much in the

past.

I wish it did.

Oh, I wish it did.

Well, let's look at the, again, let's look at the positive side because there are people who are going to be there.

They've traveled a long ways.

Yeah, there will be a couple of gloomy gusses, you know, they're scowling under their poncho.

Others are gonna make the most of it.

Some of it might be fueled by fermented malt beverages, but they are gonna have a good time regardless of what the weather's gonna be.

So let's tell them what the weather's gonna be.

All right, yes.

There's too many events and activities going on and smiles going around that I don't think the weather is going to dampen anything.

And of course, it is holding off as long as it possibly can.

It actually fills in rain through the entire state holding off on the Fox Valley to the last possible minute.

So that is actually good news for you guys.

But throughout the state right now, it is pretty crisp and chilly.

It's still below freezing in Hayward, Wisconsin right now at 30 degrees and it is 57 until Milwaukee.

So the state temperature wise is going to see a huge spread.

We're looking at near 80 degrees south down by the state line today, mostly sixties central.

It'll be 60 degrees into Green Bay and fifties north.

And we're looking at that heat just continuing through the day today.

And then we lose it tomorrow as a slow pressure system moves in.

So what we're looking at is a few spotty showers popping up later on this evening and becoming more steady into the northwestern parts of the state later tonight.

Now it'll spread up into the north overnight and this will start to move into the Fox Valley then in Titletown and then some scattered showers start to pop up down south overnight as well.

So by tomorrow morning.

Yes, rain is going to be widespread.

It will be heavier pretty much from Minneapolis to the U.P.

And it'll be lighter elsewhere.

We're looking at about a quarter of an inch to fall into the Green Bay area.

That should end around noon or so.

And for the rest of the state, that, of course, will clear out of here in the morning hours.

So...

You know, the clouds are gonna be gone by Friday.

We are gonna be battling some breezy winds out there.

So temperatures will only hit highs of about 50 degrees and it's gonna feel much colder because winds are gonna be gusting around 30.

So if you're going to the draft, pack a poncho, wear layers, get ready for the winds.

Saturday is gonna be a little, I mean, Friday is gonna be a little brutal, but Saturday is gonna be gorgeous with a ton of sunshine out there for Brad Paisley's concert.

Temperatures will be into the 60s again.

So honestly, it's really just Friday morning and a little bit of Friday afternoon is a little brutal.

And we're still facing a shortfall of precipitation in many areas.

And so this is actually needed rain that we're getting poorly timed, but needed just the same.

So it was like

Mother Nature's first round draft pick was to dampen the Anibal

draft.

Yes, but you know, sometimes it's those late round picks that are ones that really shine.

And I mean, I mean that literally might, might be shining later on.

Thank you, Brittany, very much.

as always.

All right meteorologist Brittany Merleau giving us an update on the statewide forecast and she'll have local forecasts of course throughout the day here across the Civic Media Radio Network.

A little later on we're going to check the mailbag.

Several folks sending in comments or questions about some of the topics that we covered already.

One asking about the emoluments clause and why isn't the Trump family being prosecuted for that.

There's one about

what can be done now that voter ID has been put into the Wisconsin Constitution, if anything, and more.

So a quick reminder that you can send in your questions or comments a couple of different ways.

If you are watching on Facebook or YouTube, just put something in the comment section.

We'll see it.

maybe pop it up on screen.

You can also use the Civic Media app to text or call us at 855-756-855-752-4842 or you can email us radio at upnorthnewswi.com.

And you can also email us your thoughts on our question of the week that we put in our Sunday morning Wisconsin Politics newsletter, which this time around is what do you think Wisconsin should do with the governor's

almost limitless partial veto powers, because as you may have heard last week, the state Supreme Court upheld a partial veto that allowed the governor to extend increases in school aid annually for 400 years.

And that's not unconstitutional.

It's a little funny.

Maybe it needs to be adjusted.

but maybe it doesn't.

Maybe maybe you think the partial veto needs to stay as is so that bills can be modified rather than vetoed forcing the legislature to start all over.

So what are your thoughts on what Wisconsin should have for a partial veto or not radio at upnorthnewswi.com or the comment sections of the Facebook pages for Up North News or Civic Media or the YouTube pages of Up North News and Civic Media.

All right, let's talk for a bit about comments that were made last week by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy.

And yeah, I still have trouble saying that out loud as well, but he is the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

And when talking about a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the rates of autism among children in the U.S., he spread a lot of falsehoods.

He offended a lot of people, not the least of which was this quote, and I'm not gonna play the tape, I don't need to give him extra publicity, but here are the words he used.

These are kids who will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date, many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.

That's all garbage, and people are rightly calling it out as such, some in very strong terms, and we happen to notice online the comments of Sarah Drever, who joins us now as well, a mother of two who can tell us much more about family life with autism, and what it means to have a Health and Human Services Secretary talking like this.

Sarah Drever, good morning, how are you?

Hi, good morning, Pat.

I'm doing well.

Okay, let me just leave it very open-ended for you because obviously when you heard Secretary Kennedy's comments, you went online and really called him to task.

So tell us a bit more about what you said and why.

Yeah, I know that your team found me by seeing my comments on Facebook, but I

Most of my response was actually directly to the quote that you already read specifically calling out things that Autistic individuals will never be able to do And I brought up my kiddos as an example as you said I'm a mother of two so I have twin boys they're five years old and They are both on the spectrum.

They both have autism spectrum disorder.

So

When I heard that quote, obviously, I kind of went into mama bear mode and thought about my children and the fact that they are absolutely capable of all of those things.

In fact, they're already capable of reciting poetry.

They will likely do a lot of the other things that he mentioned as well.

My kiddos speak three languages.

So I would argue that they can communicate better than a lot of neurotypical people and neurotypical children at age five.

So they're incredibly impressive.

And I also identify as a neurodiverse individual for being on the spectrum.

I would argue all of us are on the spectrum.

because it is a spectrum, but I have ADHD and I also took it very personally when he says things like these folks will never pay taxes or hold a job.

I have a doctorate.

I have a job.

I'm a contributing member of society.

I volunteer often.

I consider myself a good neighbor and community member and I show up.

I think it's really scary and I think a lot of parents and advocates were rightly scared because the language that he was using also lifts up and brings about messages of eradication, you know, ending here instead of using language like better understand or accommodate or advocate.

So now with mention of.

Robert Kennedy Jr.'

's idea of wanting to have an autism registry, obviously a lot of us are scared.

And we're thinking about other things that he said, like autism destroys families.

I'm here to say that autism is very much a part of my family, and it makes my family better, incredible.

It's really something that we're talking about these comments on the fifth anniversary of President Trump making comments about, you know, injecting disinfectant into the body to cure COVID or shining a light into it because it would seem like this would be the perfect time for a president to say, no, this, my health and human secretary, health and human services secretary got it wrong.

This is not where I stand.

But clearly based on Trump's previous comments,

there may be more than a little bit of support for what Robert Kennedy Jr.

had to say.

And this whole notion now that in his quest to find a, quote, cause and cure for autism, he wants to begin collecting Americans' private health records is more than a little disturbing, Sarah.

Very disturbing.

And as I mentioned, I think that's why a lot of the response from especially parents, caregivers, family members is fear.

I'm also confused.

I think a lot of the leadership currently and the executive orders that have been passed are a lot of them that have to do with halting federal funding and slowing down or ceasing medical research.

Those seem directly contradictory to a lot of the things that RFK Jr.

is saying he wants to do.

Yeah.

It's hard to say you're looking for a cure for something while you're also cutting cancer research and so many other things.

Sarah Driever is an advocate for the neurodiverse community and talking about Robert Kennedy Jr.'

's comments on autism.

Still ahead this hour, we'll be talking to Joe's Pecky from the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissota.

Thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

Oh, before I forget.

Milwaukee Brewers lost yesterday 4-2 in San Francisco, and they will wrap up that four-game series coming up this afternoon, 2-10 on stations across the Civic Media Radio Network.

Just a reminder, you can follow UpNorth News on social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok.

All the stories that we do throughout the day are posted there on our website.

There is an op-ed from Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez that we put up for Earth Day, where she mentions the intersection of Earth Day and the year of the kid.

And if you want to take care of our kids, take care of our environment as well.

Also there, a story on the most affordable cities to live in in Wisconsin.

They measured cities 50,000 or more.

So that's about a dozen cities not you should boy again You fell just short.

But anyway cities of 50,000 or more with a median home sale price Cheaper than the state average, which is about 311 thousand dollars so a little bit about housing affordability there and of course, it's also a draft day and so you'll see on social media the sprucing up of Green Bay, which includes a new mural on Lombardi Avenue

And in our newsletter, the best Packers draft picks of the modern era since 1967.

So all that and more over at our website, UpNorthNewsWI.com and search for UpNorth News WI on social media.

Sarah Driever is back with us and we are talking about autism, the neurodiverse community, Robert Kennedy Jr.'

's offensive and wrong-headed comments.

And Sarah, if you don't mind, I just want to read a little bit of...

a social media post that your friends from Western Wisconsin, you're an Eau Claire native, noted and brought to our attention.

Let's get real, you're right.

To write that RFK Junior's recent statements about autistic folks have been upsetting is an understatement.

I say this as a neurodiverse mom with twin five-year-olds.

My five-year-olds already disprove these allegations.

So many folks in my family exist on the autism spectrum.

We have jobs, we pay a lot of taxes, families, volunteers, support our neighbors and communities, date, marry, and have friends.

And you've talked about your five-year-olds already, the things that they do, and that other folks do, that put Kennedy's comments, put the lie to them.

I know you probably have a couple of more examples that would, again, if Robert Kennedy had met some of these folks, he wouldn't be saying the things that he said.

Absolutely.

And I appreciate being able to bring up those examples to kind of refute the things that he said.

One example I would think of is people on the spectrum find really amazing ways to communicate that aren't always typical.

For example, one of my sons is less verbal than I would say average kiddos his age.

And he oftentimes struggles to find the word for things.

And so instead he will take someone by the hand and show them something that he is trying to communicate or he will actually hold your face and direct your gaze.

so that you're looking at something in a certain angle that he wants to direct you to to see how something works because he's really fascinated at looking at things and trying to figure out how they work which just highlights also the unique way that he sees the world but a lot of these uniquenesses also present in ways that at least my children process information and I think that leads them to have a more holistic understanding

of concepts than their peers.

And an example of that is my other son.

We lost a family member recently and it took several days for my other son, Archer, to process what happened and try and conceptualize death and dying and how to communicate that experience to others.

And after this family member passed and it had been about three days.

My son said to me, mom, I'm not sure heaven is a real place, but it makes people feel better.

So I tell them she's in heaven.

And I'm like, you're five.

That's such an amazing explanation.

That's such an advanced concept.

And the fact that he took the time to process that, realized all those things, connected all those dots, and then told me that was just amazing.

My kids are both medically complex, and I think that means they will face a world that will not always be accommodating.

So I think their ASD, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, will help them find new and better ways of participating, communicating, thinking, perceiving.

And that's, again, provided that we continue to improve.

the, the environment that's out there, the, the attitudinal environment that's out there, which unfortunately, uh, Robert Kennedy Jr.

espouses the, you know, the opposite of that.

He took a report that noted that autism prevalence in the U S has increased from one in 36 children five years ago to one in 31 children in 2022 and use that to say autism was an epidemic.

And he vowed to find a quote unquote environmental toxin

when Sarah, he's being rightly criticized for noting that the change in numbers is probably due more to more comprehensive screening across a broader population.

Absolutely.

That is true.

And something that's commendable if we're better diagnosing.

I think there's also a lot, we've come a long way in understanding, right?

So when we're looking back at, you know, our great aunt,

Edna and her quirky collections and we use terms to describe her like quirky or now we look back and we say that person was probably on the spectrum.

I think it's just a change in evolution in our learning and understanding.

And that's what we're hoping to see continued is an evolution of understanding and not bringing back some old tropes and stereotypes and frankly causing much more harm than good.

And so I'm so thankful that folks like you are willing to speak out.

Sarah Drever, Eau Claire Native, joining us from Minnesota.

Thank you very much for your visit, for your words, for your advocacy.

Take good care.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Coming up next, Joe's Pecky and a reminder to sign up for our newsletters.

Plurl.

We have our weekday one.

We have our Sunday morning politics one and a monthly one dealing with sports.

Live from Lake Wissota, I'm Pat Krightlum.

All right, joined now by Joseph Peckie, who along with giving us his usual weekly analysis of Wisconsin political happenings.

is one of the Wisconsin political happenings as he's running for chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

And again, I hasten to add with all the candidates, we're talking to all of them, William Garcia on Wednesday, and then Devin Rimmiker at 8 30 on Friday morning.

Joseph Pecky, how are you?

Well, I believe I was the only one to announce it.

and make my first public appearance on your very show.

You

most certainly will.

And we're and we are very appreciative of that.

So you are a whole week in the books of campaigning.

How's it going?

I can't tell if it's felt more like a month or more like 24 hours, but somewhere in there.

It's going really, really well.

We're picking up a lot of support.

People are reacting very positively to the calls for change with how we communicate as a party, to how we fine tune year round organizing, and on the flip side of the coin, how we make sure we continue to raise the resources necessary to compete and win as a Democratic party.

I've got hundreds of miles down already and about another 1,100 to go between now and Sunday.

I'm looking forward to it.

Yeah.

I mean, we've got, uh, this is the season for ahead of the state party conventions.

This is both Democrats and Republicans.

There are the convent, uh, congressional district level conventions.

And, uh, you've got, you've got to make that big run between the seventh congressional district convention this weekend and then the third congressional district convention that run from Hayward to La Crosse.

I have done that multiple times, and you're doing that this weekend, but you got to go where the people are.

I'm sure it's a beautiful drive.

I'm glad I'll be doing it in daylight and not in the dead of night.

Yes, because I've done that both

ways, too.

One is most definitely preferable to the other.

And along with all of that, you know, we talked to Sarah Godlowski.

a very short time ago, who is now running for first vice chair of the party as well, talking about all the road trips that include town halls, where Republican members of Congress are invited to show up, but have not really been big on meeting with their constituents of late.

No, where is the Wisconsin Republican Party?

I mean, they're nowhere.

I was out in the cross the other night.

Mark Pokan did a empty chair town hall in the district of Derek Van Orden.

Mr. Van Orden doesn't want to take questions from his constituents unless he gets to pre-screen them.

And I want to point this part out.

This was an open to the event, open to the public event that Pokan was doing outside of his own district.

There was no screening in terms of who was in the room.

And so you had a couple of college Republicans wearing Derek Van Orden t-shirts and MAGA hats.

You know what Mark Pocan did?

He took their question.

It wasn't a very nice question, but he took it and he answered it respectfully.

There was a megaverse streamer who, you know, that we're talking like the Newsmax or further to the right, who had a ridiculous, disrespectful question.

And I don't mean disrespectful that he asked the question.

I mean, the tone of voice and the way he asked Pocan the question about trans athletes.

You know what Mark did?

He answered the question.

And that is the job.

If you hold a position of public trust,

that the people elected you to is to go out and face hard questions.

Derek Van Orden is apparently not interested in that.

Ron Johnson is apparently not interested in that.

Tom Tiffany does not appear to be interested in that.

And, you know, it really gives away the game.

They know that what they're doing is not popular.

They know that they are complicit in an administration that is taking a blowtorch to the Constitution, that is

creating economic upheaval for no reason, right?

There are sometimes there's an economic crisis because something happens like a terrorist attack or a natural disaster or a pandemic.

Donald Trump inherited a healthy economy, not a perfect economy, but the most healthy economy in the world.

And this is all self-inflicted by Donald Trump and mega Republicans who have just stood back and said, OK, boss,

You do what you want to do.

We're willing to sacrifice and cede our constitutional authority.

So are they too embarrassed to go before their constituents?

They should be, but it still kind of gives away the game.

Yeah, I mean, who knows how much of it is embarrassment because they know better how much of it is complicity.

And you mentioned, you know,

when times aren't good, and I would again invoke personal privilege here to say that, you know, during my time in the legislature, the housing bubble had burst, the markets tanked, there was the great recession that was upon us, and tough decisions had to be made.

You know what we still did?

We still held our town halls.

I held 100 of them during my four years as a state senator.

Russ Feingold went to 72 counties every single time.

I watched as those crowds got increasingly hostile as more Republicans felt the need to come in and, again, act disrespectful in the way that you did.

Did Russ Feingold stop?

No.

It's part of the job is to talk to people, even the ones who want to be rude to you.

And, you know, so good on you and Mark Pokan and others who are still trying to follow through with this because people deserve to know their concerns are being heard.

Sure do.

Let's ask you about stories that were in the news this past week here.

I believe it was after our discussion last week that the Wisconsin Supreme Court put out a decision, four to three, that upheld a partial veto that allowed an increase in school aid to go on for 400 years because of the way the partial veto is structured.

awkward, it's a little unpleasant, even the progressive justices said as much, but it's not unconstitutional.

I asked in our weekend newsletter what people think.

Should we keep this as is as a necessary check on a renegade legislature or is this a little too far and we need to rein it in?

Do we just have a straight up or down veto, up or down veto on the whole bill?

No partial vetoes.

What were your thoughts after the state supreme court decision last week?

I think this is

Not one that anybody should get their dander up about the you know, Wisconsin's governor has extraordinary line item veto power and always has the the van a white veto the most famous of which was Tommy Thompson taking Pages and pages of a budget to cross out

Most of words or whole words to create new words to build a new highway that the legislature have not Authored you may know this story better than iPad, but like this is Taylor's oldest time the Wisconsin governor has a mighty veto pen and they wield it and

You know, that was the Vanna White veto that Tommy used.

This approach is something that the Tony Evers had done, which was in question before the court is very similar to something that Scott Walker had done, where Scott Walker locked something in for a thousand years.

It was a thousand year veto.

You know, Tony Evers was only doing a 400 year line item veto.

This is the way it goes.

I'm curious what we're going to end up calling the vetoes that lock something in for a long time in the future.

Our friend Bill McCoshan, Republican strategist, suggested the Jetsons veto because it's for so far into the future.

That's not bad.

I think we might be able to do better, but that's usually the case when Bill's talking.

That's right.

So we'll continue to see how that's wielded, especially with this next state budget that is still being formed.

It should be the thing the legislature controlled by Republicans is working on most often and most frequently.

And instead, we're getting, as we did yesterday, these side shows.

And in this case, I'm speaking specifically about a press release from Senator Eric Wimberger from Ocanto, talking all about the legislature's audit committee that held up a public hearing

into the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on governor Evers unconstitutional orders about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

And it just seems if you're spending your time fighting diversity and holding hearings on what used to be a really bipartisan committee, Joe, the audit committee used to rise above all of those and simply looked into genuine abuse or waste of taxpayer dollars.

these folks have really taken even that bipartisan committee around the bend.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, your father and your grandfather's Republican Party is gone.

Don't take my word for it.

Take, you know, Todd Alba and Trivig Eulson, who I was talking with yesterday on air, his word for it.

There's only one serious political party left.

The Republican Party is not a serious political governing party anymore.

It just isn't.

And, you know, those are their choices.

and they do not see the hypocrisy in attacking, you know, reasonable, effective, proven-out diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, because we now live in the Trump era of meritocracy, where Peter Hegseth, the least qualified person in the Fox Green Room to run the Pentagon, the world's largest bureaucracy,

Clearly is the most worthy person of that role and it's why his leadership at the Pentagon is falling apart and his inner circle is crumbling like it They don't believe in meritocracy and they don't believe in diversity equity and inclusion They believe it might makes right and if they can make a buck Corrupt or otherwise That is what they will do.

They are centralizing power

like authoritarian regimes have done before, and it doesn't matter that Hexeth isn't qualified.

It matters that he's loyal, and that should scare all of us.

And so when you see state Republicans chirping about, you know, nonsensical, non-existent waste, fraud, and abuse, we should just call it out for what it is, which is hypocritical nonsense.

And I want to be really clear.

There is, sometimes.

waste, fraud, and abuse in government, and it should always be identified and rooted out, and there should be accountability.

But that's not what the Republicans are talking about, right?

Republicans are doing things like firing inspectors general.

in Washington.

They're not actually serious about it.

They just want to use it to distract you from the fact that they are further fixing the economy for those at the very top so they can do another tax cut to their big donors and big corporations and we have to get wise to that and make sure people understand that's what they're doing.

And what a study in contrast to find that instead on the Democratic side you had legislators yesterday introducing a bill that would restore

women's reproductive health rights and remove many of the abortion care restrictions that have no business being in a doctor's exam room.

Now look, the legislature is controlled by Republicans.

It's not going to pass.

Why is it still important for democratic lawmakers to introduce bills like this and to talk about them?

So the people know where we stand.

And I want to applaud the assembly Democrats for doing that.

I also want to applaud assembly and Senate or excuse me, Senate Democrats for

pushing once again to pass the extension of maternal Medicaid.

There are 48 states that have done this to protect new moms and babies from the first year of a baby's life.

Wisconsin and Arkansas are the only two states that haven't done so.

And the reason is one person, Robin Voss.

Yesterday, State Senate took it up, passed it 32 to one.

overwhelmingly bipartisan support, 32 to 1.

And now we need to put the pressure on Robin Voss to bring that to a vote.

It has more than 50 assembly cosponsors, which means if it comes to the floor, it will pass and we will be able to better support new moms and babies.

Let's get this done.

Joe's Pecky is running for State Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Here's what we've got tomorrow morning on the program, our Week in Review panel of Jennifer Schulze, Jim Santel, Mark Jacob.

We've got Keev Akeel from Courier Newsroom, Dan Schumacher talking sports in the NFL Draft, and Kristen Lierly.

I'm Pat Krightlow reminding you to never settle for anyone who wants to take this nation short on his full promise, liberty, and justice for all.

Coming up next here across the Civic Media Radio Network, Matt and Air on Air, Jane Matt and Air, Greg Bach.

Guests today include Jim Santel, host of Amicus, a law review and part of our Week in Review panel tomorrow morning.

Also, State Representative Lisa Nodgrass will talk about her election interference bill to ban billionaire bribery.

of future state Supreme Court elections and Paul Newton sports reporter for Acme packing company will be in to talk about the NFL draft which tonight starts tonight and what promises to be a rainy Lambo field but then hopefully conditions approve improve in short order and folks heading out to Green Bay enjoy themselves uh Joseph Peckie continuing with us now as well are you a draft watcher or what are your thoughts on the draft being in in Green Bay this year

I cannot blame the fact that I won't get to see much of the draft on running for party chair It's never really been my most famous part or most favorite most famous most favorite part of being a football fan But I am gonna be paying attention to one thing as you know and some of the most of the listeners know For the last seven years.

I've been coaching football at my old high school

And one of our former players, Nate Valkarcell, who went on to play safety at the University of Northern Illinois, you know, had a big game against Notre Dame when they upset them last year.

He is draft eligible.

He is on a lot of boards as a sleeper pick to go in the later rounds.

And we wish Nate from Greenfield all the best.

He's an incredible kid, an incredible athlete.

He works his tail off and he deserves an opportunity to compete against the best in the world.

And my hope is that by

Saturday, somebody will have taken a chance on him and given him that opportunity.

Good luck, Nate.

All right.

While we're talking sports, what is happening with your Milwaukee Bucks 0 and 2 against the Pacers?

Why do they have their number?

What

do they say?

Five to the last

six.

Gosh.

A playoff series in the NBA doesn't start until the home team loses a game.

The Pacers held serve.

You know, and lace them up and we're going to go again and Milwaukee was really good at home this year.

I'm not counting them out just yet.

Okay.

All right.

We talked earlier in the hour here with a mom who was one of many upset about the comments Robert Kennedy Jr.

made about autism.

And we also played earlier the clip from five years ago today, Donald Trump talking about injecting disinfectant and putting light into the body and things like that.

And it just, Joe, it gets to the whole notion of

public service, governing versus ruling, and the respect that one side has for science.

And I just have to agree with what you said before.

This is not your father's or your grandfather's Republican party where you could disagree on things like the tax code and some other big issues, not basic science.

We've never had a split like this before in this country with basic science.

And such a lack of basic compassion.

and such a lack of intellectual curiosity.

You know, it is possible for people in this crazy world to not have all of the information all of the time and to start out afraid of that which they don't understand or unsure about how it makes them feel.

That is OK.

What is not OK is people with all of the privilege and resources

and responsibility in the world, from Donald Trump to Bob Kay, who has forever tarnished the Kennedy name, to not show compassion, to not have the intellectual curiosity to understand the full lives that people across the autism spectrum have, and to be so dismissive and insulting of literally like thousands, tens of thousands of Wisconsin families,

who have someone they love who is on the autism spectrum.

It's just disgusting.

I wish I didn't have to be that personal about it because I don't like it when our politics is that personal.

But I don't know how else to meet that kind of lack of curiosity, lack of compassion.

You know, we lost Pope Francis on Easter Monday and you talk about someone who modeled compassion.

who modeled the New Testament that I was raised on and not the Old Testament fire and brimstone.

Someone who washed the feet of prisoners when he was in Latin America as a bishop, or excuse me, as a cardinal.

And like, I don't know what happened to that part of the Republican Party, but I'd like to think we can get it back.

and we need to show compassion for one another.

We are all, you know, we are all trying to figure it out in this crazy thing called life, but the approach of so many Republican elected officials, not Republican like voters, Republican elected officials to demonize, villainize, ship to cartels.

I mean, the Bible I read tells me that if Jesus comes back, he will be a refugee once again.

and that he will seek asylum.

And when you look at how we treat people who are seeking temporary protected status, trying to make a better life in this country, there's a real disconnect there from the party that is supposed to be about, you know, Christian faith is what they often talk about.

It should be about all faiths, but yeah.

Crazy times

will live in it.

You know what what the antidote for that is is it's one thing to love somebody in campaign mode but IRL has a way of kicking in in real life and watching Trump's numbers on inflation and how he's handling the economy might be one way to break the spell.

Joe, where do people go to learn more about your race for chair?

joesofpecky.com.

Congratulations Donald Trump on having the lowest approval rating at this point in his presidency of the 21st century.

You did it, Donnie.

Great job.

He's very competitive.

Well, it's like golf.

Golf, you're looking for a low score.

Maybe he's confused that way.

I don't know.

Joe, thank you so much.

Have a great day.

Talk to you

soon.

All right, again, we've got Brewer's Baseball coming up this afternoon across the Civic Media Radio Network, the final game of four against the San Francisco Giants, coverage starts at 2.10 p.m.

Thanks to today's guests, Chad Holmes, Sara Godluschi, Sara Driever, Joseph Peckie, and to you for being here this morning, I'm Pat Crightlow, founding editor of Up North News, the Wisconsin Home for Courier, a pro-democracy news network.

building a more informed, engaged, and representative America.

Follow us on social media.

Sign up for our newsletter at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

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See you tomorrow.

You're Up North.

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Hey, if across Wisconsin on civic media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.

Now, from our Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.

Hey, good morning.

Welcome back.

It's 806.

Nice to have you here up north on this Thursday morning, April 24th, 2025.

Coming up, our guest, Sarah Driever, is going to talk to us about the recent comments by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.

about autism, what he has to say about what he thinks causes it and what it does to people's lives.

And as I said earlier, it might be easier to catalog

what he got right rather than all the many things that he got wrong.

We'll have that discussion coming up in just a couple of moments.

We also have Joseph Pecky joining us at the bottom of the hour to talk about this week's Wisconsin political news, not the least of which is his own run for state Democratic Party chair.

He's not the only one running.

We talked to William Garcia yesterday in our eight o'clock hour and tomorrow in our eight o'clock hour, we will talk to Devon Remaker, the current executive director.

of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

They are the three candidates currently.

There may or may not be others between now and the state convention in mid-June, but we want to give you every opportunity to hear what they have to say about what they would do to lead Wisconsin progressives after Ben Wickler steps aside.

So all that yet to come in this third hour of our newly expanded morning show, which for us also includes another crack at getting a forecast from meteorologist Brittany Merleau for the state

hoping that in the hour since we talked to her last that the forecast has changed.

And for the NFL draft and Green Bay tonight, there will be sunshine and temperatures in the, in the mid seventies and not a drop of rain.

And the look on Brittany's face is telling me the forecast has not changed that much in the

past.

I wish it did.

Oh, I wish it did.

Well, let's look at the, again, let's look at the positive side because there are people who are going to be there.

They've traveled a long ways.

Yeah, there will be a couple of gloomy gusses, you know, they're scowling under their poncho.

Others are going to make the most of it.

Some of it might be fueled by fermented malt beverages, but they are going to have a good time regardless of what the weather is going to be.

So

let's tell them what the weather is going to be.

All right, yes.

There's too many events and activities going on and smiles going around that I don't think the weather is going to dampen anything.

And of course, it is holding off as long as it possibly can.

It actually fills in rain through the entire state holding off on the Fox Valley to the last possible minute.

So that is actually good news for you guys.

But throughout the state right now, it is pretty crisp and chilly.

It's still below freezing in Hayward, Wisconsin right now at 30 degrees and it is 57 until Milwaukee.

So the state temperature wise is going to see a huge spread.

We're looking at near 80 degrees south down by the state line today, mostly sixties central.

It'll be 60 degrees into Green Bay and fifties north.

And we're looking at that heat just continuing through the day today.

And then we lose it tomorrow as a slow pressure system moves in.

So what we're looking at is a few spotty showers popping up later on this evening and becoming more steady into the northwestern parts of the state later tonight.

Now it'll spread up into the north overnight and this will start to move into the Fox Valley then in Titletown and then some scattered showers start to pop up down south overnight as well.

So by tomorrow morning.

Yes, rain is going to be widespread.

It will be heavier pretty much from Minneapolis to the U.P.

And it'll be lighter elsewhere.

We're looking at about a quarter of an inch to fall into the Green Bay area.

That should end around noon or so.

And for the rest of the state, that of course will clear it out of here in the morning hours.

So...

You know, the clouds are gonna be gone by Friday.

We are gonna be battling some breezy winds out there.

So temperatures will only hit highs of about 50 degrees and it's gonna feel much colder because winds are gonna be gusting around 30.

So if you're going to the draft, pack a poncho, wear layers, get ready for the winds.

Saturday is gonna be a little, I mean, Friday is gonna be a little brutal, but Saturday is gonna be gorgeous with a ton of sunshine out there for Brad Paisley's concert.

Temperatures will be into the 60s again.

So honestly, it's really just Friday morning and a little bit of Friday afternoon is a little brutal.

And we're still facing a shortfall of precipitation in many areas.

And so this is actually needed rain that we're getting poorly timed, but needed just the same.

So it

was like Mother Nature's first round draft pick was to dampen the Anival

draft.

Yes.

But, you know, sometimes it's those late round picks that are ones that really shine.

And I mean, I mean that literally might, might be shining later on.

Thank you, Brittany, very much.

As always, all right meteorologist Brittany Merleau giving us an update on the statewide forecast and she'll have local forecasts of course throughout the day here across the Civic Media Radio Network.

A little later on we're going to check the mailbag.

Several folks sending in comments or questions about some of the topics that we covered already.

One asking about the emoluments clause and why isn't the Trump family being prosecuted for that.

There's one about

What can be done now that voter ID has been put into the Wisconsin Constitution if anything?

And more so a quick reminder that you can send in your questions or comments a couple of different ways If you are watching on Facebook or YouTube just put something in the comment section.

We'll see it

maybe pop it up on screen.

You can also use the Civic Media app to text or call us at 855-756-855-752-4842 or you can email us radio at upnorthnewswi.com.

And you can also email us your thoughts on our question of the week that we put in our Sunday morning Wisconsin Politics newsletter, which this time around is what do you think Wisconsin should do with the governor's

almost limitless partial veto powers, because as you may have heard last week, the state Supreme Court upheld a partial veto that allowed the governor to extend increases in school aid annually for 400 years.

And that's not unconstitutional.

It's a little funny.

Maybe it needs to be adjusted.

But maybe it doesn't.

Maybe maybe you think the partial veto needs to stay as is so that bills could be modified rather than vetoed forcing the legislature to start all over.

So what are your thoughts on what Wisconsin should have for a partial veto or not radio at upnorthnewswi.com or the comment sections of the Facebook pages for Up North News or Civic Media or the YouTube pages of Up North News and Civic Media.

All right, let's talk for a bit about comments that were made last week by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy.

And yeah, I still have trouble saying that out loud as well, but he is the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

And when talking about a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the rates of autism among children in the U.S., he spread a lot of falsehoods.

He offended a lot of people, not the least of which was this quote, and I'm not gonna play the tape, I don't need to give him extra publicity, but here are the words he used.

These are kids who will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date, many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.

That's all garbage, and people are rightly calling it out as such, some in very strong terms, and we happen to notice online the comments of Sarah Driever, who joins us now as well, a mother of two who can tell us much more about family life with autism, and what it means to have a Health and Human Services Secretary talking like this.

Sarah Driever, good morning, how are you?

Hi, good morning, Pat.

I'm doing well.

Okay, let me just leave it very open-ended for you because obviously when you heard Secretary Kennedy's comments you went online and Really called him to task.

So tell us a bit more about what you said and why

I Know that your team found me by seeing my comments on Facebook, but I

Most of my response was actually directly to the quote that you already read specifically calling out things that Autistic individuals will never be able to do And I brought up my kiddos as an example as you said I'm a mother of two so I have twin boys they're five years old and They are both on the spectrum.

They both have autism spectrum disorder.

So

When I heard that quote, obviously, I kind of went into mama bear mode and thought about my children and the fact that they are absolutely capable of all of those things.

In fact, they're already capable of reciting poetry.

They will likely do a lot of the other things that he mentioned as well.

My kiddos speak three languages.

So I would argue that they can communicate better than a lot of neurotypical people and neurotypical children at age five.

So they're incredibly impressive.

And I also identify as a neurodiverse individual for being on the spectrum.

I would argue all of us are on the spectrum.

because it is a spectrum, but I have ADHD and I also took it very personally when he says things like these folks will never pay taxes or hold a job.

I have a doctorate.

I have a job.

I'm a contributing member of society.

I volunteer often.

I consider myself a good neighbor and community member and I show up.

I think it's really scary and I think a lot of parents and advocates were rightly scared because the language that he was using also lifts up and brings about messages of eradication, you know, ending here instead of using language like better understand or accommodate or advocate.

So now with mention of.

Robert Kennedy Jr.'

's idea of wanting to have an autism registry, obviously a lot of us are scared.

And we're thinking about other things that he said, like autism destroys families.

I'm here to say that autism is very much a part of my family, and it makes my family better, incredible.

It's really something that we're talking about these comments on the fifth anniversary of President Trump making comments about, you know, injecting disinfectant into the body to cure COVID or shining a light into it because it would seem like this would be the perfect time for a president to say, no, this, my health and human secretary, health and human services secretary got it wrong.

This is not where I stand.

But clearly based on Trump's previous comments,

there may be more than a little bit of support for what Robert Kennedy Jr.

had to say.

And this whole notion now that in his quest to find a, quote, cause and cure for autism, he wants to begin collecting Americans' private health records is more than a little disturbing, Sarah.

Very disturbing.

And as I mentioned, I think that's why a lot of the response

from especially parents, caregivers, family members is fear.

I'm also confused.

I think a lot of the leadership currently and the executive orders that have been passed are a lot of them that have to do with halting federal funding and slowing down or ceasing medical research.

those seem directly contradictory to a lot of the things that RFK Jr is saying he wants to do.

Yeah.

It's hard to say you're looking for a cure for something while you're also cutting cancer research and so many other things.

Sarah Drever is an advocate for the neurodiverse community and talking about Robert Kennedy Jr.'

's comments on autism.

Still ahead this hour, we'll be talking to Joe's Pecky from the Heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissota.

Thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

Oh, before I forget.

Milwaukee Brewers lost yesterday 4-2 in San Francisco and they will wrap up that four game series coming up this afternoon.

2-10 on stations across the Civic Media Radio Network.

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started.

All the stories that we do throughout the day are posted there on our website.

There is an op-ed from Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez that we put up for Earth Day, where she mentions the intersection of Earth Day and the year of the kid.

And if you want to take care of our kids, take care of our environment as well.

Also there, a story on the most affordable cities to live in in Wisconsin.

They measured cities fifty thousand or more.

So that's about a dozen cities not you should boy again You fell just short.

But anyway cities of fifty thousand or more with a median home sale price Cheaper than the state average, which is about three hundred eleven thousand dollars so a little bit about housing affordability there and of course, it's also Draft day and so you'll see on social media the sprucing up of Green Bay, which includes a new mural on Lombardi Avenue

And in our newsletter, the best Packers draft picks of the modern era since 1967.

So all that and more over at our website, upnorthnewswi.com and search for Up North News WI on social media.

Sarah Driever is back with us and we are talking about autism, the neurodiverse community, Robert Kennedy Jr.'