Juneteenth Kicks Off Celebratory Weekend (Hour 2)

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Now, for my Lake Basota studio, here is the founding editor of UpMorth News, Pat Craiglow.

Oh, Lake Basota is looking good today.

Good morning, 7 0 6.

It's nice to have you back here on a Thursday morning.

It's June 19th, 2025.

Parker Olson standing by in Madison Studio A2.

Brittany Merleau standing by to tell you the forecast.

We will be talking a bit about holidays and festivals this weekend.

We'll be talking about today's holiday, the Juneteenth holiday, a little historical background on it.

We'll get into Summerfest, which starts today in Milwaukee.

The big gig is here and other things going on, including the big Cranberry Blossom Festival in Wisconsin Rapids.

We'll talk to somebody from there about what all you can do if you want to take a road trip out to the central part of the state coming up this weekend.

A reminder, as always, you can reach us.

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There is the voice note feature on the Civic Media app.

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one Parker Olson will take a look at it and decide if you make the cut or not.

Parker has decided that once again, Brittany Merleau passed the audition and is welcome here to give us a forecast which is alternately rainy and sultry.

Or is it steamy?

Or is it sticky?

Who?

Can you use any of those words?

Or gross?

It's all gross.

Let's go with gross.

Here are the gross details on the weekend from Brittany Merleau.

Uh, yes, here we go.

All right.

So we've got fog out there in places this morning.

That's going to clear very, very shortly.

We've got spots of sun.

We've also got a few clouds and a few showers and thunderstorms rolling in towards Spooner rice lake area right now.

Otherwise temperature starting in the mid fifties to mid sixties statewide.

And today we are gonna reach those upper 70s to low 80s everywhere today.

Dew point's kind of comfortable in the 50s.

So it's gonna be a nice, beautiful, bright day today.

We do have that front though, still sitting over northern parts of the state.

So this is why a few scattered showers and small, brief storms are still possible here.

So that'll be the case through this morning.

Then by tonight, we are looking at chances for more storms starting to spark up, especially north, probably after eight o'clock or so, and then rolling their way through portions of the state, kind of like they did yesterday.

Very widely scattered.

It's going to hit or miss.

Who's going to get them?

That'll be the case again tonight.

And some of those could be stronger, potentially severe, maybe some gusty winds and hail.

We are in a marginal risk statewide for them to turn severe.

And then as we go through tomorrow morning, expect widespread rain, probably some heavy rain, thunderstorms.

Again, some of them could be strong to severe as this front lifts north.

So after that, after tomorrow afternoon, we are going to go into an excessive heat.

We have a watch out right now for northern and western parts of the state where temperatures are gonna be rising statewide to about 90 to 95 degrees.

And then the dew points are going to be in the mid-70s.

I told you today they're in the 50s.

Yesterday they were in the 60s.

We haven't felt those mid to upper 72 points just yet paired with the 90s.

It is going to be feeling like the triple digits.

Heat index values will feel like anywhere from 100 to 105 degrees.

This is both Saturday, Sunday, and pushing into Monday too.

So very, very hot as we bring in summer and have all of these events, but at least it'll be dry.

We just have to hydrate.

So people are like, well, why do you say gross?

She told you right there, do points in the 70s.

That is the meteorological definition of gross.

It

absolutely is.

It doesn't get much worse than that.

Oh, you definitely feel it.

Good morning from Tigerton, writes Rob.

It's partly cloudy and 60.

Last night we had a thunderstorm around 11 p.m.

and picked up four tenths of an inch of rain, had two yards to mow.

Yesterday I had three to mow now, one of them.

I need to get that done before Central Wisconsin Electric Co-op buries power lines in that area this afternoon.

Good thing the ground is moist before the hot weather this weekend and the crops will grow real fast, which we need.

The hot, humid weather.

and the moisture in the ground for the crops to, to the grow.

And as far as the voice note feature goes, Alicia writes, Pat, do you really want me to speak my mind?

I'm not saying they, they're not all gonna air necessarily.

I'm the gatekeeper here guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then from Roger and Steven's point on Facebook, we were talking about heart in our last segment because Ann Wilson is 75 today.

He says, Dreamboat Annie, the album came out when I was 10 years old and now that album is 49 years old.

We've been listening to Heart for a good long time.

So, Brittany, next hour I want to talk to you about, you have a story up about Small Moth Bass.

And,

you know, we

can go there.

But what I wanted to ask you about this time around was these, these early sunrises.

And to

ask now this, I know this isn't quite weather related, but it's about sunrise and sunset.

And I noticed something, and I think Roger noticed it as well over at the time and date website.

When you look at, you know, how early the sun comes up.

And you notice how it always gets light beforehand.

Right.

I didn't realize how I was looking at that website.

There are actually three different types.

of twilight that they describe.

There's astronomical twilight, there's nautical twilight, and there's civil twilight.

Had you ever heard of these

before?

I have not.

No.

What's the astronomical?

I'm curious.

Well, see, now they say it's all about how far the sun is below the horizon yet.

So the sun hasn't risen,

but you're

still getting some of the sun's rays are still, you know,

bounced around in the atmosphere and we can see a little bit of light and so the the definitions he said trying to pull up the right screen on his phone here to best describe them is the astronomical one is the darkest one okay it's where there's just barely any light you can still see a lot of the stars it's actually more useful

at the opposite end of the scale that's the you know the last of the light before it gets completely dark and the sun is is 18 degrees below the horizon it says here and then there's nautical twilight and that's the one where you know again name for sailing where you can you can see enough to get a feel for where you're going and then the last one civil twilight is where you really don't need any any lighting to help you the sun's not up yet

But

you can

see enough.

So there's, you know, the astronomical one is 18 degrees below the horizon, nautical is 12 degrees below the horizon, and then civil dawn is six degrees, the sun is still below the horizon, it hasn't yet risen.

And it just really jumped out at me that, you know, in Wisconsin, that first one, that astronomical twilight, you know, we have sunrise at 518.

But astronomical twilight, that first bit of, you know, a little bit of light out there where the sky isn't pitch black at this time of year, 246 in the morning.

Okay.

Two forty six is when you get the first little hints of something out there where it's not totally dark and then at this part of the year nautical twilight is at three fifty one a.m.

and that's the one that I kind of noticed when I first get going up and about it's like

and

then civil twilight is now at four forty one in the morning and that one where it's like yeah sun's not up yet but you you could go for a walk or something like that and I bring up all this

for people who say we shouldn't have daylight savings time.

If we didn't have daylight savings time, bring all that back an hour.

Astronomical twilight would start at 1.46 in the morning, nautical at 2.51 in the morning, civil twilight at 3.41 and sunrise at 4.18.

Who wants sunrise at 4.18 in the morning?

Nobody.

Nobody.

So when you're talking about I don't want daylight savings time, you're half right.

You want daylight savings time.

We just want it all year round.

Right.

We don't need noon to be when the sun is straight up.

None of, I guess was, I was just talking about my Apple watch.

Do you see a sundial on this thing?

There

is no

Sunday.

We don't use sundials anymore.

So we can have noon be whenever we want.

So we want our noon at one o'clock from now on.

I like it.

I like, yeah.

I feel really strong about this.

You do.

This

really

threw

me off.

That's

how I feel about it too.

I'm like, who really wants that sun that early in summer?

Nobody.

And that late.

I mean, Rob is pointing out right now.

I noticed sunset there is light in the sky at 10 p.m.

in June.

And he's absolutely right.

I mean, I was just looking at that end of it.

At sunset now is at 855, which means a civil twilight goes until 932.

That sounds about right.

Nautical twilight goes until 1022.

You still have enough that you could say there's some twilight out there at 1022.

And it doesn't get pitch black out there nowadays until 1128 at night.

And it's

all because of

that thing we talked about yesterday the earth on it's you know spinning on its axis axis And how it got

a little summer the longest day of the year tomorrow.

Yep Well everybody that was fun nerd

chat

and the curvature of the earth and axis and everything else and Once again, Brittany Merleau pointing out why she is the most patient person in civic media Brittany.

Thank you so much

Thank

you guys.

See you next hour.

And we're going to talk a little fishing at that point as well.

Got a few things to tell you about in terms of Up North News and Civic Media and our parent company, Courier Newsroom for Civic Media.

Besides having a newsroom with statewide reach, just like us at Up North News, our friends at Civic Media have you covered with local news updates from each individual station.

You can go to CivicMedia.com and find your local Civic Media station.

And somewhere up near the top of the station's home page, you're going to see something called the Daily News Roundup that you can listen to.

Just click on there and you'll hear the latest.

You can also get email versions of their Daily Update while you're there as well.

So again, go to Civic Media.

Did I say civicmedia.com?

I meant to say civicmedia.us, civicmedia.us and go find your local station there and give a listen to those local updates that are there.

Meanwhile, for purposes of our show,

wanted to tell you about tomorrow because we're not going to have our usual lineup of guests.

We've got folks who are traveling, have the day off, things like that.

So in place of Keva Keel tomorrow morning at 6.30, we will have somebody from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation because they just put out a new study all about how much Wisconsin hospitals would lose if the current version of the Trump big bloated boondoggle of a budget bill were to pass.

We're talking about

three to four billion dollars in reductions over the next decade.

A whole lot of that coming from uncompensated care if Medicaid gets slashed.

And a lot of hospitals are on thin enough margins that they'll close up and we've seen how many small hospitals have already closed in Wisconsin.

So we'll find out more about that in our 6 a.m.

hour tomorrow.

And then in our 7 a.m.

hour.

We will not be able to meet up with Jim Santel.

He's got a court hearing.

Mark Jacob and Jennifer Schulze are both out traveling, but I was able to find one woman who could replace them all, and that would be Chicago Broadcasting legend, Joan Esposito.

She'll be joining me throughout the 7 a.m.

hour tomorrow, and then in the 8 a.m.

hour, things get back to normal with Dr. Kristen Lierly showing up here at 8.05, and then Mike Clemens has a preview of sports.

That'll be coming up.

at 8 30.

And speaking of sports, we'd love to tell you about how the, uh, the burgers did against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, but Wrigley Field hasn't figured out how to put on a dome yet.

And so the game was rained out.

So were the White Sox.

Both Chicago games were rained out.

Detroit was rained out.

Cincinnati was a near-rain out.

Anyway, the Brewers Cubs game will be made up as part of a day-night double header on Monday, August 18th.

The teams are scheduled to wrap up their series this afternoon.

You can catch the pregame starting at 12.45 on several Civic Media stations.

Brewers rookie pitcher Jacob Mizorowski was supposed to start last night.

It's not clear if he's going to be starting this afternoon's game.

We're going to talk about the Juneteenth holiday next.

For some of you, there will be a local update live from Lake WSOTA.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

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We have a new Saturday sports newsletter.

We've got Sunday mornings with Pat Krightlow, our politics newsletter on Sunday mornings, believe it or not.

And then of course, Christina Laurie has our Monday through Friday edition, where here's some of what she had to say about the holiday today.

She notes these days, we have access to news exactly as it's happening.

But in the mid 1800s, things were a little different.

It took 899 days, nearly two and a half years for word of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to reach the country's last enslaved people down in Galveston, Texas.

And it was on this date back then in 1865 that

a group of US Army troops and a general there were able to inform this last group of enslaved people that the Emancipation Proclamation had come out two and a half years earlier and legally freed three and a half million Americans and they were the last of them to get the official word.

And so that's why today is the celebration of freedom that is known as Juneteenth and has earned its rightful place on the National Calendar of Holidays.

It became a federal holiday thanks to President Joe Biden in 2021.

Not that there isn't still work to be done and there's been work to be done ever since.

The national stain of slavery in our DNA is with us to this day in that

in the way that it harbors biases and discrimination and violence and worse.

It's why, through a calendar coincidence also on this day, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by Congress.

It didn't happen quickly because they had tried to pass civil rights legislation for decades and it was blocked.

And in this case, 1964, there was an 83-day filibuster in the Senate that finally ended and that bill could be passed.

But again, still the work goes on.

Witness what is happening today with efforts from some of our own government leaders to wish away

parts of American history to insist that they not be taught and to penalize institutions that attempt to give a full comprehensive and truthful telling of our history.

If you do that nowadays, people like Assembly Speaker Robin Voss will find ways to punish you.

You'll recall that last time around when we were talking about state budget funds, he was denying funding for the UW system, holding up funding until positions that related to diversity, equity and inclusion were cut.

That hasn't been good enough because yesterday Robin Voss confirmed some of the rumors that were first reported by our Todd Alba on civic media that Republican legislators were not only considering

Not going along with Governor Tony Evers request for more than eight hundred million dollars for the UW system an increase in funding Hundreds of business leaders have been asking for the same thing.

They understand the role of the UW as an economic engine in our state But not only would Republicans not consider that not only would they not consider a smaller increase in state support to the UW They would actually cut funding to the UW

by, you know, a relatively smaller amount.

But again, it means a university system that cannot keep up with inflation and current expenses.

It cannot grow.

It cannot modernize.

They cannot do the things that would make it a world-class institution.

And it's all because Robin Voss and other Republicans say there's too much political correctness, whatever the hell that is in their mind.

If you can't win a free exchange of ideas, there's little you can do other than try to put your thumb on the scale, which is what Robin Voss is doing.

Essentially, he's calling for thought police on campus when he says, there needs to be more room for conservative thought.

Well, Speaker Voss, go to campus then, hold debates, set up a card table and a folding chair, and try to convince a few folks to think more like you.

Because in a fair fight,

without gerrymandered maps.

It's tougher for you to win that fight.

We've seen how state elections turn out here.

They're close and that's how they should be.

They're spirited.

There's good debate, but trying to, you know, weigh the debate to your side by withholding funding to our university system, there's nothing about that that's going to help you win a debate with anybody except people who already think like you.

So when you go after things like teaching American history and addressing systemic racism in our judicial system or in our healthcare, you only point out why the struggle that began in the 1860s and continued through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is work that still has to be done today.

And that work will go on.

Up North News is part of Courier Newsroom, a pro-democracy news network.

And over at Courier Newsroom, several podcasts and newsletters, other ways that you can find ways to be informed about the issues of the day.

For example, there's a new production with Akilah Hughes, a video series called How Is This Better?

covering everything from politics to entertainment to tech to late stage capitalism.

And this week's episode is entitled Dear Canada.

We're sorry.

Well, it's Canada, so I gotta say sorry.

Dear Canada, we're sorry.

America's relationship with Canada has always been close, like cousins who share a border, celebrities, culture, a leftover maple syrup.

But lately, the relationship has gone south.

And in the latest episode, Akilah explores how Donald Trump has soured the relationship with our once closest ally by continually referring to Canada as the 51st state.

Akilah Hughes talks to Noor Azrae, a host and producer of the podcast Canada Land, and Silke Lapsen, Akilah's friend who fled North after Trump took office the first time.

You can watch How Is This Better on YouTube, or you can watch or listen on Spotify, you can listen on Apple, or you can watch it right from the Courier website, couriernewsroom.com.

Take a break and when we come back Sherida Booker, our social media manager will be here talking to us about Summer Fest Kidding Underway and some of the other festivals that you could attend around Wisconsin.

She's going to mention the Blossom Fest, the Cranberry Blossom Fest in Wisconsin Rapids, but then we're going to hear directly from the source.

We're going to have a guest from Wisconsin Rapids coming up next.

I'm Pat Critewell.

You're up north.

news.

Sharita, how are you?

Good, Pat.

How are you doing?

I'm good.

I am so ready for a weekend and it's going to be a festival weekend in several places.

We talked to Earl Lindgren for a bit yesterday about summer fest.

And he talked about being at the first Summer Fest and we both swore it was 1970.

We were wrong.

It was 1968.

The headliner was George Gessel.

In 1969, the headliner was Dolly Parton.

In 1970, it was Sly and the Family Stone.

So I don't know which one if you went to all of them or what, but those are just some of the early examples of who played at Summer Fest.

What do you want to tell us about this year's edition?

So yeah, the world's largest music festival is kicking off in Milwaukee today and will run through the 21st.

And some of those headliners for this weekend include Def Lepper, the Isley Brothers, Natasha Bedingfield,

Gigi Perez and James Taylor.

There will also be almost 100 vendors selling clothing, jewelry, artwork, decor, and more.

And of course, there will be tons of local food ranging from Ian's Pizza to John's Avila Sazas and Pete's Pops and a whole lot more.

General admission tickets are about 30 bucks this year, but check out their website at summerfest.com for admission promotions.

And like I said yesterday, if you still haven't gone down to Milwaukee to take in Summerfest, I mean, do yourself a favor and just do this.

And I was looking at the lineups as well.

So like you said, tonight, Def Lepper, the Isley Brothers, Natasha Benningfield, Gary Clark Jr.

And then I'm looking at Friday.

Friday is Hozier, George Thoreau Good, the Head and Heart, Cranfunk Railroad, Rick Springfield.

And keep that in mind because we're going to mention him again in just a couple of minutes here.

Sharita, what can you tell us about your years going to Summerfest?

The one I remember most is when I went to see Wiz Khalifa.

This had to be like maybe 15 years ago, but it was so

packed that day like jam packed and I ran into a couple of friends.

So it was such a good time was like my favorite one yet.

But then last year also went to go see SZA.

So that was fun too.

She

almost

got rained out too.

Like it was a thunderstorm and they almost canceled it.

But thank God it kept going.

Wow.

As I was looking at the history of Summerfest acts funny that you say that raining out the 1978 headliner was rained out.

So the Grateful Dead was supposed to play Summerfest but never dead.

Let's carry on to other places.

that are having festivals this weekend.

Let's come out here to the Chippewa Valley.

We've got something new to talk about it at the festival grounds in Eau Claire.

Yep.

So Summer Jam will hit Eau Claire on Friday and Saturday.

And some of those headliners include Leonard Skinner, the black crows, Rick Springfield again.

There he is.

Yeah.

Gavin DeGraw and more.

There will also be an interactive zone for games and other fun activities in addition to food courts and local food vendors or local vendors where you can shop and grab some Summer Jam merch.

They also have on camping or on site camping right next to the festival.

So you can pitch a tent or bring an RV.

General admission tickets are $110 or you can get a two day.

pass for $149.

So you can get more information on your tickets at summerjamwi.com.

Last but not least,

let's touch on something happening in Wisconsin Rapids.

Cranberry Blossom Festival is running through today through Sunday, and that four-day annual festival will include live music, a parade, arts and crafts, a carnival, and lots of treats featuring you-guested Cranberries.

You can get more information about that event at BlossomFest.com.

I got just the person to talk about that out of Wisconsin Rapids.

So let me make that transition, Sharita, by thanking you so much for that quick pre-

of things to do around Wisconsin this weekend, and we'll talk to you later.

Bye, Pat.

And as promised, here's, here's our person.

It's Maggie Muleski, president of the Cherry Blossom Festival, the group that helps organize the big doings in Wisconsin Rapids.

Maggie, hello, how are you?

I am very good.

How are you?

Very good.

Like we were just discussing, a lot of big things happening around Wisconsin this weekend, certainly in Wisconsin Rapids as well.

You've got the Blossom Festival there.

Do you know much about the genesis of it?

How it came to be a cranberry blossom festival that was chosen?

Well, I believe the story behind it is because Wisconsin Rapids area is pretty much cranberries.

We have a lot of cranberry growers around us.

And we're celebrating the starting of the season where the berries are coming into blossom.

And going into the fall, then, you know, when they, when they pick the berries, but this is the time of the year when it's, when it's very beautiful.

All right.

Well, why don't you take us through some of what's going to be happening this weekend?

I know there's a lot going on.

So I'll let you pick a few select highlights that you'd like to have the folks know about.

Sure.

This year we have 17 individual events.

Some of those events, like the Blasenfest Carnival, are going to run for four days.

The ice cream social at the Historical Society on Saturday afternoon, only a couple hours, but get over there.

Some great Wisconsin ice cream with cranberry syrup on the top.

Can't beat it.

There's lunch down by the river and later there's the aqua skiers water ski show.

This

lunch by the river is their signature start of the Cranberry Blossom Festival.

The Chamber is very involved with us doing a couple different events during the weekend.

So there's also Chalk It Up, the Boys and Girls Club, are running an event down right in front of their building by the YMCA called Chalk It Up where you can

pick up some chalk and make a nice picture on the sidewalk.

So that's a great event for the family and the kids to do.

The carnival opens at six and runs till 10 on Thursday night.

We also have one that's been going with us for a long, long time.

It's called Cinema Under the Stars.

It's been downtown on the streets since the inception of it.

This year they're showing the Wizard of Oz.

Should be a very fun time.

And the other newer one is the McMillan concert series is hosting the Daddy O'Jazz Band.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing

that.

From the water activities to the Chalk Fest to music in the evening, I mean, you're starting with a very full slate.

Yes, we do.

We start with a very full Thursday.

So do as I do, pick up a brochure.

circles the things you want to do and

and make a plan because there is a lot to do.

Oh my goodness, and that's barely scratching the surface because you've also got on Friday the Dairy Berry Pancake Breakfast over at the Lincoln High School cafeteria.

There's going to be the Material Girls Quilt Show going on and then a downtown on tap event on Friday from five to nine p.m.

Some of these things, there's a kids learn to fish that goes on there.

I get the impression then uh Maggie that I mean this isn't any one group these these are many community groups that are all coming together and doing some things individually and and some things together to make this all happen.

Yes they are yes um and each group is is doing it um in conjunction with Cranberry Blossom Fest but um the money that they make or even if they do charge some do not charge for their events thus the ice cream

Social is a no charge.

There is some charge for some of the events.

All that money goes back to their organization.

So to help their organizations continue to do the things that they do, which we find to be a double blessing for us.

It has made the Cranberry Blossom Festival a nice full weekend, family weekend.

And it's helped these organizations continue to do the good things that they do.

So yes, there's a kid's learned to fish by the Grand Rapids Lions.

That's out at the Lions Club in their little pond out there.

But there's also another one on Sunday morning that is run by the Rapids Police Department.

That's another one been going with us since the beginning.

And you can just go down there.

They'll have poles and rods and reels and, you know, all the things necessary to catch a fish.

Then it goes into the Cranberry Blossom Festival Parade.

It will start at the Boys and Girls Club on the west side of town and cross the river, come over to the top of the hill on the east side.

Lots of things going on on that, live music, even put a marching band together this year, which are very difficult to find these days.

But the Chamber has worked with Lincoln High School.

and one other high school to make sure that there's a marching band there.

And then after the parade, last but not least, you got to have yourself a duck derby, and the Rapid Fire Department is putting that on, right?

Yes, yes, this is another thing.

They started this maybe about five, six years ago.

The money is going towards their charitable foundation.

You can buy a duck.

The duck is numbered.

Once they dump the ducks into the river,

first one to cross the line wins and the fire department takes care of picking up all those ducks and and getting them out of the river then but lots of fun to watch.

It just, it sounds great and it's going to be a very, very warm weekend so hopefully folks stay hydrated and to learn more about them, head over to BlossomFest.com and you can learn more as described here by Maggie Molesky from the Wisconsin Rapids Cranberry Blossom Festival.

She's the festival president.

Maggie, thank you so much for such a great description of what we can expect this weekend.

Thank you, Maggie.

Have a wonderful day.

You also, Pat.

Thank you.

is 745 now on this Thursday morning.

It's June 19th and earlier we talked about the voice note feature of the new Civic Media app.

It's a new feature where you can either text, you can call, you can now leave this voice note.

And what happens is it comes in on the same screen that our texts come in with a transcript of what's on the tape that somebody put on their voice note.

Except Parker, you and I would agree

The technology still needs some tweaking.

It might need a little tweaking.

It might also need to tell us who's talking would be nice.

It might because we were seeing things like I like listening to my daddy.

I love listening to Pat quite low and something that says there's a part of the board.

And as you'll hear, we're going to play the voice notes.

None of that is correct whatsoever.

It's way better than that.

So let's play the first one.

I don't like listening to my daddy.

You're supposed to say, I love listening to Pat Critlow in the morning.

Well, that didn't work.

So we had to leave another voice note.

And here's how that one sounded.

There's a pad in the morning.

One more time.

I wish there's a pad in the morning.

I love listening to Pat in the morning.

That'll work.

That will work.

That'll work.

That'll be a

promo.

Get on that text line and let us know who that adorable new announcer is because I think there might be some new showliners coming up real soon using the voice note feature.

You know what?

You know what?

We could actually do that.

Look, Don Rue and I have been friends going back to my very first radio job in Rice Lake back in 1986.

And Don is the voice you hear at the top of every hour here.

And I don't think Don will mind one bit if some other folks take a turn.

So if you want to use that voice note feature.

and come up with your own intro to the show or something.

You know, just give it the usual, you know, from Civic Media.

It's Mornings with Pat Critello.

Here from Up North News is Pat Critello.

We would use those.

That'd be a lot of fun.

I mean, don't swear or anything like that.

But yeah, that would be fun.

I do sense that I had a feeling as to who the kids might belong to.

I do.

It's Tony.

He puts two different kids.

The second one is three-year-old Reese and Sidney, age five, has the sass.

So there you go.

It's Reese and Sidney who are following in their father's footsteps of stalking us through the YouTube page and we couldn't be happier about that.

Also coming up across the Civic Media Radio Network today, we've got, of course, Matt Nair on air is coming up at 9 o'clock from 9 to 11.

Jim Santel is slated to be on at 9.30 this morning at 10.30.

Sports with Paul Noonan from the Acme Packing Company and of course at 10.50.

This shouldn't be a thing.

Maggie Dawn has a full slate of guests for a special Juneteenth edition.

Pete Schwabba's Nightlight has the popcorn pick of the week at 6.30.

And of course, Todd Alba will have updates on the possible budget cuts to the UW system.

In fact, he's here coming up next for some of you.

Others will have a local update and we'll see you in our next hour with Sean O'Malley and more here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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.

All right, let's get Orwellian once again here with Todd Alba from the

conveniently named Todd all the show weekdays two to four p.m.

across the Civic Media Radio Network and the man who first broke the news later confirmed by other news sources in the state that Republicans in the legislature were not only not considering Governor Evers request to beef up funding for the UW system or a smaller boost in funding for the UW system but would actually cut

state funding to the UW system.

Also, that Robin Voss's thought police can somehow come in and assure that there will be more conservatives on campus or something.

I mean, Todd, first off, good morning and welcome, but what exactly does Robin Voss want?

Because it doesn't seem like he can identify the thing

that he wants other than micromanaging you like you can only put these conservative speakers on campus or something so to me it almost seems more performative like i know you guys can't actually you know do what i want you to do so we're going to cut your funding because it makes me look powerful

i actually i don't think that's too far off pat uh i

uh

I had a little gay.

I usually don't engage people, uh, uh, major Garrett from CBS news.

And by the way, I'm no major Garrett,

but

major Garrett has a thing on his Twitter page or X page or whatever the headline that says this is a, uh, this is a broadcaster, not a receiver.

So he never,

he never, he never replies or never gets involved.

Like he doesn't engage.

Which I mean, just fact

check,

fact check, you're no major Garrett, but you are a minor in your own way.

So

thank you very much.

Um,

But I decided last night, because somebody asked the question to end shape for a political editor from the reconpopulation area, as well as so kind as to amplify.

Now, there is a guy who's approached a major Garrett territory, and he amplified this last night.

And somebody said, well, would you really want to, do you really think that all the two years and four year colleges, universities should stay open?

Shouldn't they be more cost effective and look at efficiencies and so on?

And I said, hey, thanks for the question.

Hey, all things being equal and kosher?

No, I don't think they should, but it says so often in the UW system and now the University of Wisconsin case, things are not equal and everything is not kosher in the deli as the saying goes.

And later on, to your point, Pat.

I said, I remember when, you know, I just started out in the legislature.

There was a guy named Scott Jensen.

Well, some people remember.

He was called Scooter for a while.

He was one of Tommy Thompson's first chiefs of staff, went on to become a member of the legislature, one of the youngest and not the youngest speaker ever.

And he always used to tell their caucus in every successful political campaign, you must have a hero and you must have a villain.

And Robin Voss was a young pup back in that time.

I think he's taken this to heart and he has decided and his caucus and the Republican Party writ large in Wisconsin have decided to make the University of Wisconsin and a higher public education the villain.

And I think this is because remember I was trivia trivia also reminded us in our show yesterday.

Robin Voss was the very first student regent appointed by Tommy Thompson.

So he knows the university system.

They went through it.

They're graduates.

And yet they do this stuff.

And I'm convinced, Pat, that you're not too far off.

I think it's for spite political gain and for their for their MAGA

base.

Yeah, because they're

there isn't a tangible way.

And if there were, like you said, he has been part of a majority for 14 years.

And he goes way back to whitewater and being a student regent.

So if there are things that aren't working well, a lot of that is on his watch.

So it seems like, like I said, it's more performative.

And again, the

The parallels to 1984 are striking you've got essentially he wants thought police on there to make sure there's enough conservative thought You've got the Ministry of Truth to rewrite historical records.

Well, that's Voss right in a nutshell with trying to erase black history Native Americans LGBTQ because of this attack on so-called DEI Things and while this isn't happening at the state level you do have at the federal level you have unpersons people who

disappear if they fall out of favor with the government as secret police take them away.

And if Trump isn't big brother, I don't know what is and now he's getting into cryptocurrency.

We're going to talk about that in our next hour with with Sean O'Malley.

They're

including

Tom

Hartman and he's a big

crypto guy.

You know, I'm just I'm not I'm I'm

neither am I skeptical would be putting it mildly to

but but you remind me pat what you just said there the other guy left out was scott walker a former governor who decimated the uw system as well and he likes to call the uw system quote a woke den of indoctrination unquote and yet he sends christmas cards again out to our friend trigby uh in a wisconsin badger t-shirt or sweatshirt

praising and being very proud, as he should be, as a father, that his own son is a graduate of UW-Madison.

You're a graduate of Eau Claire.

We've taken the show, I would say, to half of the campuses across the state.

They are diverse.

A lot of conservative students, particularly in places like Eau Claire, or Rice Lake, or Wasaw, or Green Bay, or La Crosse, even Madison.

And in your right path, this is just, I mean, what they really want is a monolith to their base exactly.

And they're playing to this base.

Here's Alicia saying, I was a Tea Party student on the UW campus back in the day.

And I felt more than welcome.

Voss is full of poopy, as she says in her grammatically correct post there.

And we appreciate that very much.

And it just reminds me, I haven't heard Scott Jensen's name for a long time.

But the way that he and Scott Walker were so slippery when it came to evading justice.

Scott Jensen never did the jail time that

Oh, who am I?

Who am I feeding here?

Chuck Kuala did for the caucus scandal.

He found a way to work the court system and there was never justice for his part in the caucus candle and Republicans got rid of the government accountability board back in the day because it was getting too close to what Scott Walker's campaign was doing.

Well remember they forced poor David Prosser who didn't want to run for the Supreme Court to run again to ensure a conservative majority to keep Scott Walker out of trouble and most likely out of jail looking up as a big long article in The Guardian.

Just

slippery folks.

Todd Alba, I hear I'm two to four today.

Thank you, sir.

Very much.

Appreciate it.

Always a pleasure.

Have a great day.

Have a great weekend, Pat.

Say it.

Hydrate or Dydrate.

Hydrate or Dydrate.

We'll have Chad Holmes, Sean O'Malley, Joseph Pecky, and more next year up north.

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