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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Cricklow powered by Up North News.
Now, for my Lake Minnesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Cricklow.
Hey, good morning.
It is 7 0 6.
Nice to have you here up north on this Wednesday morning, June 4th, 2025, across the Civic Media Radio Network, Parker Olson standing by in Madison as well.
Coming up in this hour, we will talk a bit about the gig economy.
making sure that it works for everybody, not just for employers who might be looking to shirk their responsibilities to the people who do the work for them by referring to them as independent contractors.
There's a bill that was considered in the legislature yesterday by a committee and we'll look at whether it's something that can help the situation with access to benefits or if it simply perpetuates the ongoing
unfairness for some workers in this system.
That's coming up.
Brittany Merleau is out today.
I can tell you that it's still smoky, still hazy around here, a little foggy, much more much more sunshine than we've had over the past few days here, but still humid.
We're going to get to the mid to upper 70s in parts of Wisconsin today.
couple of nice days ahead before another chance of showers and thunderstorms moves in to help kick off the start of the weekend, but not rain for the whole weekend, so we should be okay there.
Time to do our Scani summer text-to-win contest.
You should be familiar with this by now.
You should have that Civic Media app downloaded, and if you don't, head over to your Apple Store, your Google Store, wherever you get your apps.
Get the Civic Media app.
On the app, you can call up
any Civic Media station and listen to it.
You know, unless there's some kind of a licensed thing like you can't listen to Package Games, you know, over the app, but so many other things on our music stations and on our news and talk stations.
Pick a station, listen, find something new and fun and we're glad some of you have found us through the Civic Media app.
And on these text-to-win contests, when you call up any station, there's a button you can use to call that show, that station.
there's a button to leave a voice note and there's a button to send a text and that's what we want you to use is hit that text button and then text in the hours keyword spelled correctly and just the word nothing else and that is your entry into our contest.
Each hour four times a day at 7 a.m.
11 a.m.
2 p.m.
and 4 p.m.
there will be different keywords for you to text in and you can win that hours prize
But then every entry puts you in the drawing for one of the grand prizes a lovely stay in the Wisconsin Dells area or in Door County and little gas money to get you there head over to the civic media website civicmedia.us To learn more that said let's get to this hour's keyword today's keyword for the 7 a.m.
Hour only for a pair of Milwaukee Brewer's tickets is grill
Grill, G-R-I-L-L.
Grill, text that using the Civic Media app to us.
You'll be entered for that pair of Brewer's tickets for this hour and you'll be entered for the grand prize drawings at the end of the contest as well.
Now there's a limit.
You've got only till the end of this hour to text the keyword and then we clear the slates and we get set for your next chance to win at 11 a.m.
So again, you have about 50 minutes.
a little less than that, to get on the phone, get that app downloaded and text grill, G-R-I-L-L, as part of the Scotty Summer Text to Win Contest.
All right, well, with Brittany out, let me see if I can bring up what Rob is sharing with us from Tigerton.
Good morning from Tigerton, he writes, it's partly sunny and 55 degrees.
We got an inch and a quarter of rain.
Many farmers call it a million dollar rain.
It was really dry.
It's been three weeks since the last good soaking.
Rob says I got four yards mode yesterday morning before the rain and the storms came in around two o'clock in the Tigerton area.
Grass will really be growing after this rain.
And he says today is birthday Eve for me.
So Rob, I hope you're going to be treating yourself really good with a cake or something along those lines.
We had to make a birthday call last evening to my in-laws Sherry's parents yesterday turned to 80 and 85 and Of course our long since retired from their work on the dairy farm there.
We were talking with Hans Brighton Moser yesterday about the Changes in dairy farming over the years this being June dairy month.
There are a lot of dairy farm tours that are out there a lot of dairy farm breakfasts and All of these automated
almost robotic milking parlors now that are more efficient, cleaner.
Such a different time from when Sherry was growing up.
Sherry was the oldest of six.
And the kids would get up at 5 a.m.
and they would, you know, milk 72 cows, clean the barn and everything, and then get on the school bus.
And when they got off the school bus, they'd do their homework and then they'd milk 72 cows again, you know, in the stanchions and if the power went out.
which didn't happen often but if the power went out you know it was a stool in a bucket and it's a lot different now in just these few years and so again a happy birthday to Billy and Betty and thanks for all you've done both as dairy farmers and as wonderful parents and in-laws appreciate it so very much and again for the rest of you for June Dairy Month
Get out to one of these farm visits.
Get out to a farm, a dairy breakfast if you can.
Tony on YouTube, have you heard the song Blame Canada?
That's what I think when I see all this smoke.
Yes, although I don't know that we can play it on the radio, but yes, I understand the song Blame Canada.
And I understand the sentiment, but I also know there are plenty of folks in Canada that wish it weren't happening to them either.
I mean, we talk about the Northwoods here.
They have serious north woods up there.
It goes for a long long ways before you hit the before you hit the tundra and unfortunately so much of it is again on fire some would say the climate seems to be Changing or something that you get these longer dry spells that lead to bigger fires We'll save that for another time.
Maybe we'll talk about that with Melissa Baldoff in our next hour when we do our weekly climate check
A reminder that you can sign up for our daily newsletter.
Head over to upnorthnewswi.com.
Three different newsletters now.
If you heard me talking to Christina Laurie yesterday, we had been talking about her new newsletter about some of the good feature stories behind Wisconsin sports, and it had been a monthly newsletter.
So while received, it's now becoming a weekly sports newsletter.
So she'll have that on Saturdays.
I'll have my weekly newsletter on Sundays with the creative name Sunday mornings with Pat Crightlow, all about the week in Wisconsin politics.
And of course, Christina puts together our Monday through Friday newsletter as well.
And you can sign up for all those at our homepage up North News W I dot com.
I want to talk just a little bit about the gig economy.
And it's because of some work that was done in a committee of the State Assembly yesterday.
I'm sorry, State Senate yesterday.
The Senate committee took up a bill that would create portable benefit accounts for contract employees of companies like DoorDash and Uber, other couriers, drivers, and people who make up that particular part of the gig economy.
Now the gig economy is being sold to us as freedom and flexibility.
And that is true to a degree, but along with that freedom and flexibility should come some responsibility.
And that's where I have my concern.
So I'll start by reading a bit from the folks at WISPolitics who put this together saying that the committee yesterday split along party lines over legislation that would create these portable benefit accounts.
Under the bill, workers could access benefits such as retirement accounts and insurance.
It would allow the companies to contribute up to 4% of a driver's quarterly earnings and the contract employee could also put money into the account.
The bill also makes clear, however, that contract workers are not employees of the delivery network companies.
for the purposes of workers' compensation insurance, minimum wage laws, and unemployment insurance.
The bill is sponsored by Franklin Republican Senator Julian Bradley, who was also the committee chair, and he said that
Thousands of people in the state have chosen to be contract employees and they want access to these benefits.
He says drivers for these industries played important roles during the pandemic.
We need these drivers, he said.
We depend on them and now we're trying to help the people who helped us during a difficult time.
Democratic State Senator Melissa Ratcliffe of Cottage Grove said in so many words, and this is me paraphrasing, not her, said something along the lines of, oh please.
Saying we don't need a bill that states that companies can provide benefits to workers if they want or that they can provide insurance if they want They can do that already Without putting it into law But that does get to the tricky part of the situation here and that would be Who is a contract worker and who is an employee?
because if you're a contract worker, if you're a contractor, independent freelancer, whatever you want to call it, you're doing work for a company, but you're not, for example, covered under that company's policy if there's an accident.
For example, you're using your own vehicle because you don't get a company car or a company truck.
You might have bought your own liability insurance, you might not.
There's all these other costs that
A lot of folks don't think about when they're thinking only of the quote freedom and flexibility and putting cash in their pockets free and clear and other things like that.
There's a whole reason why we have employment law.
Employment law isn't designed to stick it to employers, you know, whatever big business groups will tell you.
It is designed to guard against predatory employers.
And our history, not just Wisconsin history, not just American history, but human history shows us that, sadly, there are bosses who would treat their workers as chattel if they could.
You get hurt.
You get sick.
You got somebody sick in the family.
You're making poverty wages after all the employer's deductions.
Well, all of that must have been your fault.
You know, buyer beware, as opposed to an employer.
who takes care of the people who take care of them.
Because there are no earnings.
There is no profit margin without the workers who actually get things done.
There's a lot to be said for management.
There's a lot to be said for stockholders.
But if you rely on labor to get something done, then those laborers deserve a fair shake.
And this isn't to say there isn't a place for independent contractors or contract employees, but one thing I know dating back to my time in the Senate 15 years ago and long before that, it's been clear that for a long time, our country suffers from worker classification abuse as a way to avoid paying fair wages, extending benefits, ensuring worker safety,
and much more, which takes us back to this particular bill where I do understand the sentiment behind it, that if there is a way for these so-called gig employees to finally have access to retirement accounts, insurance, and other benefits, that sounds like it would be a positive thing.
But I also know from experience a lot of young gig workers, the last thing they're thinking about,
is their retirement.
And they're also thinking they're young and bulletproof and they don't need health insurance.
They don't need all these other benefits.
They just want freedom, flexibility and cash in their pockets, which brings us back to employment law.
Maybe the employee isn't thinking about the need for these things, but we know how much they can cost when things go wrong, or when employers abuse their workers.
And yes, they are workers.
Even if they're contractors, if they're doing work for you, they're a worker.
and they deserve a certain level of treatment, whether they appreciate it or not.
Live from the heart of America's up north on Lake Wissota, I'm Pat Crightlow.
You're listening to the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
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Parker, once again, I'm sorry to engage in age discrimination here, but I don't believe that the children's TV show Romper Room was a thing in your youth.
But it was, I love this puzzled look he gets
Room.
Romper Room.
Yes, Romper Room.
Which...
I know it sounds kind of dirty, doesn't it?
Sounds like something you have behind the bar in Vegas or something.
But no, no, no.
This was a little kids program where kids were, they'd romp around and play games.
And anyway, the reason I bring this up is near the end, the teacher, Miss Sally or whoever the host was, would look into this magic mirror.
and say romper, bumper, stopper, boo.
Tell me, tell me, tell me, do magic mirror.
Tell me today.
Did all my friends have fun at play?
Oh my God, I remembered that.
Wow.
Good job.
Anyway, the point is she holds it up to the to the camera and she says, you know, I can see Steve and I can see Lisa.
Oh, and I see Mark over there.
And of course, back then the list of first names.
pretty limited, you know?
And so it was very easy for her to say, and I see Patrick and for little Patrick go, oh, she saw me through the TV.
Wow.
Wow.
How'd she do that?
I say all that just because I'm now going to play the role of Miss Sally here.
as I look at all the people who are texting keywords to us.
And the keyword this hour is grill in the Scani summer text to win content.
This is an impressive list here.
I was trying to get to the top to try to single some folks out.
There's Jude in East Troy, there's Tim in Waukesha, Fred in Cottage Grove, Alice in Katahe, there's Don in Waukesha.
Let's see, there's Chuck in East Troy and Cy in Casanovia.
So there and every one of them went, can he see me through the radio?
No, I'm just reading this off the screen here off the text line.
So thanks to everybody who's sending, sending that in, sending in those keywords, which this hour is grill as part of the Scotty summer text to win contest.
I was not expecting the Milwaukee Brewers to necessarily go on and extend that winning streak.
And how do I know this?
Because are you familiar with the George Webb promotion for the Brewers
12 in a row?
So there's a burger chain in the Milwaukee area called George Webb and, you know, a local burger joint.
I forget how many locations they have now, but part of their connection to their hometown has been the offer of a giveaway where George says the brewers are going to win 12 in a row.
And if the brewers win 12 games in a row, everybody gets free burgers.
And that's a good deal.
It was a good deal back in 1987 when that happened for
the
first time I mean the the excitement was palpable as people lined up to get their free George Webb burger and Then it happened again a couple of years back at the end of the regular season and into the playoffs I think it was the last eight games of the regular season the first four games of the playoffs for 12 in a row and So the reason I
didn't think that they were going to hit 12 games this time is because yesterday the newspapers were running stories about George Webb and you know what if it happens and like
know um yeah i'm not i'm not i'm not gonna say i'm the world's most supernatural person but i'm like yeah you jinxed it that's it and it takes us to last night's game where jake bowers was at the plate had a chance to uh tie the game up and he hit that ball hard and he hit it far into center field
In the ninth inning and T.J.
Friedl of the Reds made a leaping catch for the final out, robbing Bowers of a tying home run.
The Reds hang on to beat the Brewers 4-2 and snap that eight game winning streak last night.
Kenosha native Gavin Lux drove in the go-ahead run for Cincinnati with a sack fly in the seventh inning.
And so that series will wrap up this morning here with the pregame starting at 11-05.
on civic media stations in Richland Center, Oshkosh, Racine, Park Falls, and in Hayward.
Tomorrow is an off day.
The Brewers come home for a 10 game home stand, I believe, kicking off with a series against San Diego on Friday.
It was bad enough that it was the loss of the eight game win streak.
Did you see the Brandon Woodruff news?
Yeah.
So not only did the brewers lose, but Brandon Woodruff, who has not pitched in a Major League game since September of 2023 because he was out with a, you know, a shoulder injury that required surgery.
So he didn't pitch it all last year.
He's been doing rehab assignments pitching for Nashville and others.
And he was, they thought he was just about ready.
And he was making an appearance with AAA Nashville yesterday when he took a line drive to his throwing elbow.
Ouch.
So manager Pat Murphy says the X-rays appear to be negative.
Woodruff will undergo a CT scan on Wednesday, but it could cause one more delay.
in Woodruff's return.
Can you imagine
Well, yeah, because he was looking to return last month when he got tendonitis in his right ankle.
Yeah.
I mean, I have to admit, we've made our share of jokes, you know, about Christian Yelich being made of glass,
especially in his back.
But the back surgery appears to be working now.
And now here's Brandon Woodruff and the surgery appears to be fine on the shoulder.
But first it's the ankle and now the elbow.
And I'm sure the guy's thinking, I can't win here.
A break cannot be caught.
No
So he's, he's got, like I said, the CT scan to deal with today.
And then the postseason for the other season, the postseason for the other sports get going tonight in the National Hockey League with the Florida Panthers traveling all the way up to Edmonton, Alberta.
Uh, maybe they can toast some marshmallows on the fires that are up there.
But that is, that is the biggest, one of the biggest commutes in sports is going from Miami to Edmonton.
That's your Stanley Cup final, kids.
And so the Edmonton Oilers, uh, this is a re, a repeat of last year's Stanley Cup finals when Florida won.
So obviously we're hoping Edmonton can pull it off this time.
And then the NBA playoffs, uh, the, the finals begin tomorrow.
The Indiana Pacers at Oklahoma city.
Do you have a favorite or are you making a prediction there?
No, I admit I don't either.
Obviously, Terese Halliburton from Oshkosh is a reason people are cheering for Indiana.
Although Oklahoma City, I guess, is the far away favorite there for the finals that will get started tomorrow.
Thanks for joining us here live from Lake Wissota across the Civic Media Radio Network, more after the Midwest Farm Report.
Next.
Scotty Summer text-to-win contest is underway and this hour's keyword is grill for a pair of Brewer's tickets.
If you'd like to be in the running for a pair of Brewer's tickets and the grand prize drawings, which are some lovely stays in the Wisconsin Dells area and or county, then use that Civic Media app and send us the keyword grill before the end of this hour.
As I was slurping yet again during the commercial break through my coffee cup, it occurred to me that I never see young Parker Olson here.
imbibing in coffee.
But it also occurs to me that he works at an actual radio station, unlike the Lake Wasuda Studios here next to my kitchen coffee maker.
And they probably have rules against, you know, beverages and fluids near a million dollar audio board.
Or are you not a coffee drinker during the course of the show?
I mean, I thought you were gonna say like Mountain Dew or
else that your morning beverage.
I don't know.
I got my water bottle here.
A water bottle?
Yeah.
healthy.
I'm so shocked.
Anyway.
Well, not you personally, a man of your age.
Young men,
look, I'm the guy who...
would, you know, when I first started college and saw all the young men were drinking Mountain Dew and so I started drinking Mountain Dew and in my dorm room there was a shelf, you know, above the, above the bunks or above the beds.
Sure.
And I'd put each empty can there and there had to be a couple hundred cans that were all stacked up, you know, like a wall.
Basically, I was building that big, beautiful wall.
Sure.
But out of Mountain Dew cans.
And eventually took them all to what was called back at the time
the golden goat and you'd feed all these cans in and you'd get money back and it was kind of depressing.
But anyway, it was it was Mountain Dew.
Then it was Diet Pepsi when I met Sherry because she was a Diet Pepsi drinker.
Sure.
Then while I was in the legislature, we were studying taxes and who pays taxes and who don't, who doesn't, and realized that Coca-Cola pays its share of Wisconsin
corporate income taxes, Pepsi didn't.
So I was like, well, I'm done with Pepsi.
So then we were Diet Coke drinkers for the longest time.
By the way, since that time, Republicans have basically gotten rid of the corporate income tax.
So I mean, you have to pay everything now instead of, you know, multi-billion dollar corporations paying anything for the privilege of doing business in Wisconsin.
Anyway, so there we were Diet Coke drinkers for the longest time until we were like 45 years old or so.
And this was during our three year stint, you know, living in the Caribbean.
And on an island, everything is way more expensive.
Groceries, especially soda.
And that's when we were like, hmm, maybe we should be grownups now and have this coffee thing.
And it turns out we actually like it.
It just, it wasn't until we were in our late forties that we were coffee drinkers.
So long as we can put enough, you know, flavored creamers in there, as long as it doesn't taste like, you know, coffee.
Cup coffee.
Yes.
Yeah, I mean that and you know, whatever else Todd all but puts in that cup that he's enjoying as we call him up now a little bit early across the civic media radio network.
Todd affectionately known by Tony on YouTube as the Todd father.
So I like it.
Todd father welcome and
What about you?
Well, you, you have talked about, and by the way, say good morning, because I'm not sure if you're muted or not.
Are you there?
No, I'm not hearing you at all.
So I'm gonna, nope, not hearing, not hearing a peep out of you.
You are as quiet as it gets.
So you, you work on that because I'm still not hearing a word out of you.
So you just keep praddling on while you look at your settings.
Todd is actually,
I don't know.
Todd
has actually
worked in the coffee industry.
He's worked with big coffee.
as it has it might
be.
Well, yeah, I guess for one.
But first, my first job in coffee was Starbucks out of default.
I needed a job and they were hiring.
They actually had a pretty good training program, to be honest.
But then I learned about all the nuances of coffee and the fact that coffee, like wine, has about 160 different
profile flavors.
If you have really good coffee, you can kind of be nuanced.
I don't have the talent of a Q grade cup or as they say, but I have been able to get like strawberry or brown sugar or something like that.
But most people don't know this because most coffee is low grade quality and they over roast it or burn it to cover up the bad flavors of coffee, the low grade quality stuff.
And then people say, oh, coffee is just bitter and burnt.
That's because most of it is.
So here's the quick secret.
Don't buy coffee that's like all dark and shiny.
And it says it's going to raise your hair and, you know, because that's just all marketing.
And usually I'm very susceptible to marketing.
But in coffee, I am learned.
I'm going to start calling you Liz Rosenberg because we're doing coffee talk just like
the Saturday Night Live
skit.
Yeah.
From Mike
Myers.
Welcome
to coffee talk.
This is amazing.
I'm filling in for Paul Baldwin.
He's got to go into the shooting.
He didn't palm beach, resting comfortably.
Thank you very much.
This,
this was literally just a little throwaway thing before I got into the main topic here, but now I realize I have so much to learn from you.
You're like my, you're my new coffee sherpa.
Well, thank you.
I, I, and I have the honor of sharing a studio on Friday when we were filling in for you with Parker and he is remarkably.
Awake and up and on it for only drinking water.
And I heard earlier.
Yes.
He is remarkably healthy.
I wish I could be like
that.
I know.
Tony, Tony saying you to wait water.
How do you do that?
You know, I think he's much more red bull vodka guy myself.
I could be wrong.
But it works.
So.
There there's our coffee talk for today.
Hey, this is when we would normally do our homeroom segment where we talk about education in Wisconsin.
And I asked Todd to come on a bit early and there was one education matter that I wanted to get his thoughts on.
Now we just had State Representative Christian Phelps from Eau Claire on the program was it last week or the week before talking about being on the Assembly Education Committee.
Since that time, he has introduced a bill about voucher schools.
And the enrollment caps because right now there is an enrollment cap so that you know only so much state money can go to school vouchers But what a lot of folks don't know and we've we've we've mentioned it in passing a couple of times in this segment But we haven't really focused on it is that those caps are set to go away Republicans have set it up that these caps will go away and there would be no limit
on taxpayer dollars that would move away from other services into voucher schools.
And so Representative Christian Phelps has introduced a bill to maintain the existing enrollment caps on the voucher program.
The bill was introduced along with representatives Deb Andraka of Whitefish Bay, Senator Kelder Roy of Madison, and Chris Larson of Milwaukee.
Senator Larson will join us next Monday, by the way.
And Senate democratically Diane Hesselbein will join us next Thursday as we start booking guests for next week's show.
But Todd, I do think that this is something that folks really underappreciated was the fiscal ticking time bomb that Republicans had left in the education budget for our state.
Yeah, I agree.
And I'm glad the folks that you listed are pretty poor legislation to try to address it.
Hopefully, maybe some Republicans will listen to this, although I'm kind of doubtful of my former party because I know what their agenda is.
But I really hope that people listening to your show and others really look at this and understand it because, as you said, if there's no cops, then you start getting the real outside interest, the national interest, who really do have, in my opinion,
a war and attack on public schools.
And unfortunately, it has gotten even worse in the 10, 11 years since I worked in the building, as they say, in the capital.
And that is these natural interests are now being merged with Christian socialists or Christian social ideas.
Thank you.
And so they really feel that religious doctrine should be taught in
schools and I just thought the test way the country was set up I don't think that's healthy look if if the local Lutheran Church or local Catholic Church wants to have their own school a parochial school That's great.
I got nothing against that a lot of friends that went to Catholic parochial school K through K through 8 but to have these these huge Basically it to suggest that
a high school the size of one of Eau Claire's public high schools would certainly would suddenly become under this and the enrollment could go way up and then you have your local school board really doesn't have much of any control over what is taught there.
Suddenly now you have kids being taught religious doctrine that might not believe in that at all.
So I think Representative Phelps is right.
I think he's being fair in that he's not saying we're going to get away going.
do away with these schools is just saying, hey, there's a cap.
Let's keep it there.
I think that's a good balance between public and private.
Absolutely.
And, you know, the thing is from a fiscal responsibility standpoint, that you are now seeing in some states where Republicans are saying, ooh, maybe this thing's growing a little too much because it's pulling money away from, you know, roads and health care and everything else out there.
Now look, there are others who are happy to do that.
They want to see an end to public education overall.
But the fiscal irresponsibility of it, to me, really seems to stand out because of what we're seeing in Washington DC right now with a Trump budget bill that would blow another $3 trillion hole in the deficit.
Essentially, between that at the federal level and
even considering getting rid of enrollment caps at the state level, I feel like it gives up the game that your former party, which people did see as fiscally responsible once upon a time, is anything but these
days.
It was Jane saying, I can't believe I'm finding myself agreeing with Rand Paul of all people more often.
And, you know, you do have a couple of folks like Rand Paul, maybe not all for the right reasons, but they bring up this point exactly what you said.
Look, there's nothing conservative, traditionally conservative politically about some of these things in this reconciliation bill amongst them, of course, as you said, education.
And you say it, you do such a great job on this show.
highlighting public education.
I think this is just another call for everyone listening this morning.
If you care about your local public school, call your state representative, call your state senator.
And, you know, you know, this pattern is a former legislator.
I'm keenly aware as a former legislator.
You know, when you get a call from half a state away from outside your district, if you're not busy, you'll probably take the call and be polite about it.
But that call is not going to your boss.
Your boss doesn't really care about that call.
It's the people that they represent.
So call your local, whoever your state representative is, whoever your state senator.
Say, well, I care about public schools.
I'm on board this bill being authored by Representative Phelps.
And I think we should keep them balance.
And that does matter.
It does matter.
And it really is just a sense of calling up your legislator.
and saying to the staff person and saying it very nicely that you're sick of these referendums and that you now understand the reason that there's endless referendums is that Republican legislators have been underfunding schools compared to the rate of inflation for 16 years.
So what are you doing lifting the caps and sending even more money to private religious schools?
when you're underfunding the public schools and forcing endless referendums.
It's it's that it's that concise.
It's that easy to understand if you're sick of the referendums, then you have to understand the underfunding and how it would be made much worse if even more money is shifted to voucher schools.
And that's why Representative Phelps has introduced this bill.
And I'm sure we will be talking about that with him in the near future.
Along with Senator Larson, like I said, who's going to be joining us next
Monday.
Hey, a quick reminder here that you can follow what my team is doing over at UpNorth News.
Just head to upnorthnewswi.com.
You can follow us on our newsletters through social media, through our website, and of course, mornings right here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Pat Crightlum.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Well, Todd, Alba does the Vogue dance over in the upper right corner of our screens here.
I can tell you that there's Brewer's baseball this morning.
In Cincinnati, coverage begins at 11.05 on several civic media stations.
Head over to civicmedia.us to learn more.
Later today, across the Civic Media Radio Network, let's see on the Maggie Dawn Show.
We have got Dr. Charles Nicholson from UW-Madison, implications of the proposed policies for Wisconsin agriculture, specifically dairy.
Nightlight with Pete Schwabba has comedian Brian Hicks joining the show at about 6.30 tonight.
Matt Naraner follows this program and at 9.35, Darren Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, along with Nathan Deming, talking about film credits for Wisconsin movie makers.
And then there's Todd Alba of the Todd Alba show weekdays from 2 to 4 p.m.
And his exciting slate later today is Pat Krightlow and Trig Vilsen.
So... What more do you want?
Tune in for that if you dare.
So... What more do you want?
Trig Vilsen.
Let's be serious about Trig Vilsen for a moment.
He has started a new substack.
I mean, who doesn't have a sub-stack by now, right?
It feels like.
But he has taken his whole life's work about fighting autocracy, dictatorships and all of that.
and he has seen what's happening in this country now, and he is turning it into a series of essays that I think ought to be required reading, especially for folks who, not for folks who don't follow politics at all.
You may not get much out of it, but for folks who follow it a little bit, and they're kind of inclined to go, ah, you know that Trump, he means what he says, and I think he's got to clean things up, and like we hear that from a lot of Trump supporters, I think reading Trig V's writings would be good for them.
I can agree more, and very kind of you to say that.
Yeah, on the Wednesday show, if you haven't listened before, we have a lot of fun.
And Trigby picks on Pat because he's insanely jealous that Pat still has hair at our age.
And Trigby does not, and mine is growing short.
And we joke around a lot, but yes, you're absolutely right that...
Triggy spent a lot of time he worked for John McCain for a number of years and then went on to Work for offshoot McCain working on democracy initiatives particularly Eastern Europe and at least the only person that I know who is actually banned from Russia by Putin himself And so he knows something about he's seen this in other countries and it's a if the unique perspective It could kind of be a stark and slap-of-the-face perspective, but I think it is absolutely needed.
So yeah
He says this about himself.
So I'm not talking about his back one of his good friends who he's known for quite a while He met through kind of politics.
He said, you know, the thing about you trigger me is at first We can't get you to talk and then once we get to know you you don't shut up But he has a lot to say so check out the substack and and I do really think it's cool that you know Pat growing up and coming through the Democratic Party and
Republican, uh, the preview nine now for Republicans, there's a little different perspective.
So it's always a lot of fun.
So don't say yourself short, Patrick.
It's always great to have you there.
No, and it is, it is always nice when we, we mix it up now and then to remind people that there are still genuine, sometimes more subtle left versus right differences rather than, you know, should we have a democracy or not?
And, you know, the segment that we had previously, um, in our last half hour,
where I talked about a bill that's being considered in the legislature right now about gig workers.
I think that's a classic example of that of where you can have genuine debate about whether independent contractors or gig employees or whatever you want to call them, you know, should they have
benefits, what is the employer responsibility?
Well, I guess I shouldn't say employer because they don't want to be considered the employer, but there is something to be said for, well, these are people who choose to be free agents and they will supply their own insurance and all of that.
And so, you know, where the state law fit in with protecting employees, you know, and making sure that the few bad employers out there don't take advantage of them.
And I say all this not to get into the weeds on it, but to say these are the kind of in the weeds debates that I genuinely miss with people like trig v and you and others when you're writing a bill and saying, okay, where can we find some agreement on what's good for Wisconsin workers and Wisconsin business?
And those are the discussions I wish we were having more of.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
And unfortunately, we're in time where we're
Often times we don't because we're focused on this big question.
Can we preserve democracy and and yes To Tony's point some people like to say oh, you know, it's a republic.
Okay, Democratic Republic Yeah, but the the the large issue of democracy small D in this country and and it is good to know that we can come together of those things and and I think the more that we travel around the state the more we talk to people we had a Curious save on our show not too long ago
Say look, it's just a matter of fact that we we've stopped talking to our neighbors We stopped listening to one another because we get caught up in influence by all this outside stuff and in the end of the day a lot of these people in Washington They don't give a rip about our neighborhoods in Wisconsin.
It's all these nationalized issues that make us turn against one another exactly
So you'll go over to the Mallard, share a drink with your buddy at Lake Minnesota, and you'll find out that life is good.
I certainly did.
See, you enjoyed
that, didn't you?
There's no
coffee over there.
No, there's no coffee at the Mallard.
Whether you're heading up by boat or by Jeep, there are some lovely beverages there where, I mean, you did not waste any time.
You were working that room like you were running for governor, talking to people on their various bar stools.
And everybody's looking at me like, who?
Who's the pistol?
Who'd you bring here?
It's Totties.
He's on the radio.
It's okay.
This is why Pat got elected to the state legislature and I did
not.
Because he's a really good talker.
No, because I just sit there on my bar stool and I mind my own business.
No.
Yeah, I'm such an extrovert.
Todd, thank you very much for coming in a little
bit earlier.
By the way, I'm gonna be on Schwab's show tonight taking a Wisconsin quiz.
So that's gonna be very interesting.
Yes, 720.
I'm looking forward to nervous anticipation.
I'm
interested in that.
Very much so.
All right.
Thank you, sir.
We'll talk to
you a little later.
You guys have a great day.
All right.
Hey, tomorrow, we're going to have Congressman Mark Pokan joining the show.
You'll want to join us for that.
And coming up in our eight o'clock hour yet, we'll talk to Earl Ingram.
We'll talk to Melissa Baldo for their climate check.
We've got James Kelly checking in from the Civic Media Newsroom here in Chippewa Falls.
And remember, you can follow what I'm doing with my team over at UpNorthNewsWI.com.
And of course, right here, mornings on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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