Cows Going Solar (Hour 3)

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

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

Well, hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It is 606.

It's a Wednesday morning, July 2nd, 2025.

It's 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 watching us or listening to us and all the other platforms, the app, social media, and much more.

We appreciate you being here for the middle of the week.

I got a question for you.

Can we just bottle this?

because I don't ski or snowmobile or ice fish or whatever.

So you get the sun coming up really nice and early, pleasant temperatures, the dew point hasn't started rising yet for the day.

If we could just lock this in, wouldn't that be nice?

Yes, I know I could wish in one hand and I can't say the rest because we're on the radio.

So let me just get to what's in the show for today.

We're going to review the new state budget deal.

Perhaps best summed up as something for everybody to like and something for everybody to hate.

The Joint Finance Committee passed it on Tuesday, so both the Senate and the Assembly will be in session today to consider it and it is going to draw a mixed bag of votes.

In other words, it's going to be a truly bipartisan effort and nobody gets everything that they want, so that's great, right?

Well, not if you talk to the people who want to vote no on it.

Anyway, we'll review the latest coming up in just a bit.

Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the Senate, somewhat surprisingly, although I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that all the Republicans fell in line, they figured out, you know, who could be the three no votes and everybody else had to fold, like Ron Johnson, you know, going spelunking again, because the guy just loves caving.

And so the US Senate,

past what would become the largest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the upper class and ending of health care coverage in American history.

So it's over in the U.S.

House.

Does that mean it's automatically going to pass out of the house and head to President Trump's desk for a signature?

Not quite yet.

Again, will enough Republicans fall into line?

Quite possibly.

There are no more John McCain's in Washington, D.C., but we'll see.

In our next hour, we'll talk to State Representative Angela Stroud from Up North to give us the full picture of a two-part deal that will lead to the removal of more lead water lines in Superior.

It required more than the single bill that was in the legislature that didn't do enough for private homeowners, and so it took Representative Stroud and some local officials to work with a private utility and she'll give us details on the progress being made to get rid of the lead water lines in Spooner.

We'll also talk to a retired pediatric nurse and school board member about the letter she sent to the WIAA, critical of their new restrictions on transgender sports participation in schools.

Melissa Baldoff will be along with this week's climate check, including a lighter story about climate adaptation.

You see, the knock on solar farms has been that all those panels would restrict crop growth or grazing.

Well,

This being America and all, it didn't take long for folks to get creative in ways that make the solar panels mobile and even provide shade for the cows.

as they graze underneath.

We'll have details about that.

Remember some of you might have known we heard about it from our friends John and Gordy the other day.

We'll also get updates from our Civic Media friends Earl Ingram in Southeast Wisconsin, James Kelly in Northwest Wisconsin, and Jimmy Koska in Southwest Wisconsin, and of course along the way you can certainly use that Civic Media app to send us your text messages or you can jump in the comment sections on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email us radio at upnorthnewswi.com where you can also answer our question of the week from our Sunday morning newsletter where we ask who will be the Republican gubernatorial nominee next year.

Now the budget's almost done so we're about to hear from Governor Tony Evers on whether he will run next year for reelection to a third term or if he's going to retire.

He has not given any hint one way or the other but regardless

What do you think the Republicans are going to run?

So you can see that in our Sunday morning newsletter and also send in your responses.

Just put it in the comment section here.

So many ways to join the show.

You know who else is ready to join the show?

That would be Parker Olson, who's standing by in Madison.

He's there.

And like I said, we have civic media friends Earl Ingram coming in, James Kelly, Jimmy Koska.

Brittany Merleau is off today and sadly Melissa Kay is not unable to join us as well I'm so and I know we're bummed.

I mean this is ruined my day This is if there's one thing we we wanted if there's one thing we needed It was pigeon

quest it was pigeon cost it was without a doubt pigeon pigeon quest pat

brings me so much joy

It turns out that it has brought joy to others as well to the point where as Parker and I put together the fourth of July show so that we can sleep in on Friday.

So we'll have a best of show.

We had enough there.

There's an entire segment dedicated to Pigeon Quest.

It's glorious.

And whether Melissa Kay will get her pigeon or not.

And I thought we would learn today, but we will not.

I'm very concerned.

I have faith that paint bucket will

make it to the coop.

I hope so.

I'm hoping that paintbucket didn't have an accident involving the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices or something like that.

So yeah, he'll get you like that.

Here is hoping.

Let's see.

So the holiday weekend's coming up.

Gonna have time to sit and relax for a little bit.

It might rain at times, so there might be some indoor activities like streaming going on.

And I was gonna ask if you have anything new that you're streaming out there because Sherry and I finished one series on Netflix and we're almost done with the other.

The one that we just finished was Four Seasons.

the Tina Tina Fey vehicle about three couples and all the phases of life that a relationship can go through and Very nice, you know for for me and my peers.

I don't know if the young ins would get much out of it But I don't know maybe maybe if you're not a white married Yeah, maybe if you're newly married or you know in contemplating a long-term relationship, maybe you should watch it and get a feel for the whole long-range view of what's out there

Because you say for better for worse for a reason and you dang well better stick to it and then the other one was the residents Which I know a couple of folks on the show have told me about that I really needed to watch and so we started it and Really like it.

It's the the one from Shonda Rhimes and it is about the residents in the White House and a murder mystery

that

goes on there

And it's quirky.

We've got six of the eight episodes done.

We got two more to go here.

And so I thought that was kind of nice.

Are you streaming anything yourself these days?

I just finished a newsroom the other

day.

Oh, that's right.

You were, you were going retro on the newsroom.

Yeah.

So I got to find something new.

I don't, I haven't found a show to watch yet, which would be ideal because, you know, you can space out a show over one, more than one sitting.

However, I do have a list of movies that has been growing.

The wonderful and talented Luke Mathers has suggested a number of movies to me so that I understand his references.

Yes,

he does love it.

He's like the Dennis Miller of Civic Media, the way he's dropping those pop culture references to us.

So got a couple of those, got a couple from my radio advisor at Whitewater, which I had written down and never got around to.

So might be watching once upon a time in Hollywood pretty quick here.

Oh, yeah, sure.

OK, Tony up in Ashland on YouTube.

My wife and I watched four seasons, really liked it.

We're in our 30s.

We're not that old.

Yeah, but you're not that young anymore either.

So I think you were, you were right in the target audience.

You were fine.

Uh, he also says, has pet watch the water boy yet?

No,

I think I don't remember that.

I'll add that to the, to the list.

And he notes that he's going to be streaming.

How is this better?

Well, how convenient Tony for you to lead into this fine promotion for.

my bosses at Courier Newsroom, the owners of Up North News, who also have several national podcasts and newsletters, including How Is This Better?

a courier production with Akilah Hughes covering everything from politics to entertainment to tech to late stage capitalism.

How Is This Better?

challenges the grifters who are controlling our government, our attention, and so much of our daily lives.

And in one of her more recent episodes, Akilah Hughes steps into the ring with the Progressive Liberal.

Yes, that is his real wrestling name.

Author Josie Reisman and journalist and former WWE writer Dave Schilling, and they all explore why politics today feels more like WWE than C-Span.

Akilah and her guests dive into the personas, the crowd work, the heels, the faces, and how both wrestling and politics rely on performance.

polarization and pandering to win over the crowd.

And if you've ever wondered why politics feels more like a reality show than real life, this is the episode for you.

You can watch How Is This Better on YouTube.

You can also watch or listen to it on Spotify.

You can also listen to it on Apple as well.

Or you can watch right from the Courier website that's at Courier Newsroom.

.com and at couriernewsroom.com again all kinds of newsletters, podcasts, video series and more and how is this better with Akilah Hughes should be on your list of things to check out.

Let's see and Tony notes here as well.

Dan Schaefer wrote about the wrestlingification of politics sometime back.

Time is a flat circle.

Now it's something that I've been saying for some time as well, especially since that

groundbreaking moment when you watch the movie Idiocracy and Parker you have or haven't seen Idiocracy yet.

I have not I am currently adding it to the

list.

Get it get that on that little piece of paper there as well.

And when you

not even long before you're done with idiocracy, but certainly afterwards you, well, first off, you're clinically depressed about the state of American politics.

And, you know, you wonder how much longer it'll be until we have a president named Nacho Supreme or, or, you know, I just shudder at the thought if you haven't watched idiocracy yet, you have to and then watch how is this better with Achille Hughes.

Then when you're done being depressed, you will understand why

I keep waking up early every day to do this and why other people get out of bed to do what they do for as literally stupid as some things are in politics.

There are also some things worth fighting for.

And I'm not going to butter you up and say, do it for your kids, do it for your grandkids.

I love my kids.

I love my grandkids.

I'm doing it for me.

I don't, this is not the adulthood I signed up for.

And I think we all deserve better than what we've got from the likes of, you know, Ron Johnson, Mike Johnson, Derek Van Borden and Chady Vance and Donald Trump.

Again, it's been eight years and I'm still saying Donald Trump got elected president.

But yeah, so.

watch the series, watch the movie, and then rededicate yourself to reaching out to your friends and neighbors.

Because here's the thing, with that vote yesterday, that huge transfer of wealth that's going to close hospitals and nursing homes and it's going to hurt so much in our economy, what were the big cable news networks talking about?

The Diddy Trial.

Yeah, so if we're going to get

any better messaging out to voters, we're going to need more outlets like Civic Media and like Up North News and all the rest from Courier Newsroom.

And we're going to have to urge people to listen to our shows and to read our newsletters and to catch us on Spotify and things like that because it's only through us getting off our duffs and talking to other people.

I mean, we are the heroes we've been waiting for.

We just have to get out there and do it.

I know it's tiring, but we get up and we do it for the hopes of something a little bit better than what some other people have left for us.

Brewers were rained out last night, so two games today.

We'll talk about that coming up in just a sec.

First, from the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissoda, thank you for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Krightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

So as I mentioned, the Milwaukee Brewers got rained out in New York for game one of their series against the New York Mets and they're gonna do the makeup game today.

So there's gonna be a split doubleheader, a day-night doubleheader today from New York.

So you've got two opportunities to hear the Brewers on several Civic Media radio stations.

Game one, the pregame coverage begins at 11.35 this morning.

and then for game two, come on back at 5.35 this evening for the first two games of the series with the Mets and then they'll play again tomorrow pregame again at 5.35 with the Brewers Mets before they head to Miami for the holiday weekend.

By the way, the pitchers today, despite the rainout, Freddie Peralta will start game one and then Jacob Mizorovsky will be pitching tonight's game.

So if you have not seen

Do I have to say this?

I guess I will.

The Miz.

If you want to see The Miz, I'd like Mizorowski.

You know, I mean, I'm Polish too.

I just don't want to emphasize the ski.

The Mizorowski will be there.

Yep, the ski will be there.

Are you familiar with Bobby Bonilla Day?

Oh, I was so upset.

I didn't realize it was Bobby Bonilla Day yesterday.

I know I realized we missed it too but plenty of other folks put out stories about it that reminded me to bring it up today.

For folks who don't know who don't follow sports closely, Bobby Bonilla was a former New York Met and in the most weirdly negotiated contract in sports history, he agreed to defer a bunch of his salary if it was stretched out over a period of years.

And the Mets at the time, and this was way back over a decade ago, rather than pay them $6 million, they said, how about if we pay you $1.2 million every year from 2011 to 2035?

So instead of $6 million one time, it's $25 million payments every July 1st.

And so every July 1st, Bobby Bonilla, who's been retired for years, gets a check for $1.2 million

million dollars.

I love baseball contracts specifically because of this.

It's been getting

1.2

mil for 15

years.

That was the first.

Now you've got Shohei Otani whose contract is going to be paid on a deferred basis until the year 2043.

But the brewers are not immune from this either.

Up until Christian Yelich's $215 million contract extension five years ago, the richest brewer was Ryan Braun.

And back in 2011, he extended his contract through the 2020 season.

And as a result of deferrals, Bobby Bonilla Day is also Ryan Braun Day.

He gets $1.8 million every July 1st until 2031.

And Lorenzo Cain.

I know you probably forgotten Lorenzo Cain, but he's owed about a million dollars a year this year, next year, and the following year for playing with the Brewers and he's gone by now.

Boy, he was not a guy who I thought that the Brewers would be okay with doing that for.

Well, I mean, at the time, when you're hot, you're hot, I guess.

And at the time, he was just hot

enough.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was.

So again, happy Bobby Bonilla day to all who celebrate.

And by all who celebrate, I mean the payroll offices of several places in Major League Baseball.

All right.

Well, I wanted to share, if I still have it here somewhere, some of the writings of JD Vance.

And you say, why?

Why?

Why would you do that?

because JD Vance cast the tie breaking vote to allow the Senate to pass that big bloated boondoggle of a budget bill.

And on it goes with all of the massive cuts to Medicaid.

And of course, because the internet is forever, some folks have dug out what JD Vance said eight years ago.

The last time there was a Trump tax bill that threatened cuts with Medicaid.

And back then, Vance was sharply critical.

of Medicaid cuts, which he cast as a betrayal of Trump voters.

Vance said Trump had been elected precisely because he refrained from saying, I'm going to take away your Social Security and Medicaid.

In a 2017 op-ed in the New York Times, Vance argued the Republican bill would shift large numbers of people from Medicaid to the private market without ensuring they can meaningfully purchase care in the market.

In other words, they'd lose coverage.

And Vance suggested that Republicans must stand for some baseline provision of care to working class voters because otherwise, you know, cuts to Medicaid would betray that principle.

That was then, you know, how often do we see this?

as Tony puts Mr. Hillbilly elegy, taking Medicaid away from the people he wrote about.

Yes.

And again, this too is why people are so cynical on politics.

Why they have soured on it is because of people like J.D.

Vance.

People like Lindsey Graham, who said, you know, back in the day, if we vote for Donald Trump to be president, you know, we will suffer and we will deserve it.

Do you know where Lindsey Graham was last weekend?

Well, do you remember, maybe you saw it in the news in St.

Paul last weekend, lying in state in the Capitol was the former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, after being shot dead by a political terrorist.

And of course, he also wounded another legislator.

And then there was the funeral.

Former President Joe Biden attended the funeral.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris attended the funeral, as did many other dignitaries.

The president of the United States did not attend, did not send his regards.

I don't even believe he sent a representative and of course he insulted Minnesota's governor along the way.

So you had over the weekend the split scene of this funeral going on with real leaders and you had Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump playing golf at the time, playing golf during the funeral.

I think that

pretty much says it all.

Let's pause here and then in our next segment, again, occasionally we'll bring back things from our 830 segment in case you missed it and you had to go to work or whatever.

And actually, this is a three-parter.

We talked to Kareen Hendrickson.

about her reaction to the state budget deal and how it impacts childcare.

We talked to Dan Schaeffer a bit for his analysis and State Senator Jeff Smith.

We talked to him right before the end of the show about the budget deal and the trustworthiness of Republicans.

We'll have all that after the Midwest Farm Report here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Today's history lesson is coming up in just a little bit and actually we'll get started later this segment with a serious note from the history books about Wisconsin's role in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Tomorrow on the program Chad Holmes, Todd Alba, Joseph Pecky, and maybe some birthday cake flavored coffee creamer because I want to.

Maybe maybe we'll find a reason to do that.

That's all ahead.

Now, as promised, yesterday we were greeted at the very top of the show by news of a new state budget agreement between Governor Evers and legislative Republicans.

We've been getting reactions since that time and wanted to play back a little bit of it in case you missed it from yesterday.

So first we talked to Kareen Hendrickson about childcare.

And just to set this up, affordable childcare has been an issue for a long time.

During the pandemic, Governor Evers took some of that pandemic federal relief and put it into a program called Child Care Counts, which was direct payments to support child care providers so they wouldn't close their doors so that, you know, workers wouldn't have to leave their jobs.

But legislative Republicans did not want to put any money into child care counts.

They reached a compromise and you'll hear from Karine the pluses and minuses of it.

That's followed by a little bit of analysis from Dan Schaefer from

the recombobulation area, and that's followed by some comments from Eau Claire Democratic State Senator Jeff Smith, but first we start with Kareen Hendrickson with reaction to the budget.

Let's check in with Karine Hendrickson from Nuglaris, a child care provider, a leading voice on making sure that state and federal funds don't run dry to support child care providers.

The pandemic relief funding is running out and folks were looking for state support.

Republicans didn't want to give it, but Karine, it's in there.

$110 million broken up in a few different ways.

And I know that you've only just seen

parts of this budget deal, but thanks for joining us.

And what are your very first impressions until you learn more?

So I am happy we got $110 million.

That is huge.

However, the fact that it's only for the first year is decimating because it's going to be a huge problem next year.

And the reason for that is it continues the status quo.

So we still are not going to be able to hire your teachers, we're not going to be able to raise wages, we're not going to be able to make the improvements that we need it.

And that's why we asked for more.

And secondly, this money will run out then in June of 2026.

The way our legislative calendar runs is that next March, they gavel out to go campaign, which means there is a zero chance of us getting any dollars until they come back in January.

And it will be facing the exact same thing we are right now, only we'll be more tired.

So

The few chats I've had this morning with some people is many of them were thinking about retiring for family childcare and we're going to hold on for like two, three more years if we got the funding.

However, now that it's only one year, they will be done next year.

I talked to people who have young children of their own in family childcare and they were going to try and stick it out.

It would have stayed once their youngest went to school.

They will now be done next summer.

So all we're doing is pushing it down the road a year.

I wonder if, and I have no information that tells me one way or the other, but I wonder if in doing this...

Like you noted, they will gavel out probably in March of 2026 and go campaign.

But they're going to have to campaign on the issue of childcare funding that just ran out.

And I wonder if that actually doesn't increase the pressure that somewhere between next January and next March, they throw another supplemental amount in there.

Again, it's not nearly the stability of putting the budget in.

But it does seem like an interesting opportunity to pressure some of these lawmakers early next year as well.

Yeah, it would be an interesting opportunity.

However, it's been five years of this and we're all really, really tired.

I don't know how many of us are just going to decide between now and then we're done because we can't keep going at this rate.

Especially if, you know, we work really hard to get people into office that said that they would do these things for us and that they would fight for this and then to have it be so short-sighted that it ends.

like with no choice chance.

So the next ask now is to have that saddle legislation passed to get the rest of the money in.

And some of the other things that I saw in the press release, some good things, they're increasing the subsidy so that

It's up to the legal requirement right now based off of this year's rates.

However, when our rates go up, we'll be back in compliance.

So they didn't add enough to actually make it go forward to get into compliance and remain in compliance.

They did it in order to backfill to then say we're in compliance right now.

Another really good thing I saw was that they're going to be adding, in addition to the Young Star bonus for children on subsidy, if you are higher rated, there will also be a separate bonus for children that are

infants and toddlers so that we would get a little bit more for them and that's a good thing because we can't charge enough for those infants and toddlers and that might help with some of that infant toddler squeaks that we're feeling.

So those are some good things I saw.

I have a couple questions about the 4k school readiness piece.

If it's at the .6 full-time equivalent that the schools have, we can't compete with that.

If free all-day school, .6 for us.

parents aren't going to be able to pay us the difference, especially since we're not getting up stabilization funding that we need in order to reduce our tuition.

So that's really not probably going to do what's intended to do.

I have some major concerns about the ratios changing pilot programs and the devils and the details I have asked.

I got a little bit of clarification from the Department of Children and Families, but they know about what we do.

They haven't seen the language, so they don't actually know.

Same thing, 16 year olds counting as a teacher.

in a classroom is also very, very, very concerning.

Kareen Hendrickson with a first look at reaction to the budget deal that was reached yesterday, obviously more to learn and then more to react to.

But Kareen, thanks for a first pass at it.

We really appreciate your time.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for having me.

Let's get right into it from the recombobulation area one Dan Schaefer.

Here we are ready for a day like

today.

How are you?

I'm doing well a little discombobulated this morning, but we're piecing things back together and always wonderful to join you here on morning.

So pack right low.

Always nice to have you here as well for the time that you've had to look at it.

What's your own 30,000 foot view of what they have created here and will it be a case of good enough or will it be a case of

Perfect is the enemy of the very good.

Well, you're right.

It's there's a lot of information to parse here.

And I think one of the my big takeaways from this is that I think they are going to require Democratic votes in the state Senate to pass the budget for the first time in, I don't know, more than 15 years now, right?

And and so.

With that, with as I reported last week in civic media with state Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein being brought into negotiations, I think that

changed the dynamic of the deal being struck in some pretty significant ways.

We're seeing increases for special education reimbursement.

We're seeing increases to the UW system, a number of other areas that are being addressed in the budget.

And I don't know how much of that would have happened had they not reached a certain level of impasse and that.

the Republicans needed some Democratic votes in order to pass the budget in the state Senate.

So I do think that is one of the big takeaways here is that the smaller Republican margins in the state Senate that were achieved in part through the fair maps, in part through a number of tough

electoral victories, one last fall by people like Jody Habers-Sinneken, who won in a really close race, a number of other state senators, Jamie Wall, Chris Alfheim, and go down the list there to kind of shrink the gap and make this a bill that had input from Senate Democrats, from Tony Evers, and then from legislative Republican leadership as well, and Robin Voss, and Devin Lemahue.

So we'll still, I'm sure there will be plenty of questions that are always are on anything this big, but I think one of my initial big

takeaways is that fair maps, tough elections, leading to a bipartisan compromise in the state Senate.

And I think that's a pretty big deal.

All right.

Well, let's bring in Senator Jeff Smith now from the Eau Claire County town of Brunswick, joining us here from what appears to be your Capitol office, Senator.

That's right.

And you know, Dan, thanks for saying that.

The good ideas are coming from Democrats.

We take a lot of beating these days that we're not fighting back, but considering we aren't in control, the best thing we can do is keep reminding them of what the public really wants.

All right.

Well, let's get the three-minute version of what you think.

When did you find out most of the points and what's your general view of the whole smear?

Well, we've been getting breadcrumbs, tidbits.

through the last weekend and through yesterday.

And we're gonna find out, we haven't yet to see the whole budget.

So to tell you the truth, after all these years of lack of trust, we have to, I have to see the whole budget to know what's real and what's not.

There have been concessions made or should say compromises made, you know, and there will be votes coming from Democrats to bail out the Republicans and get this done because after all we've got

We've got to make sure that we get that hospital funding, that it's being held over our head by the feds.

This has to get done in a timely fashion.

Unfortunately, that timely fashion has really passed, and the Republicans have really manipulated this whole system to put us in a bad spot where we have 24 hours to look at a 900-page document and then vote on it.

It's a very good point and then on top of that you've got the state supreme court ruling on light on him vetoes last week that as I explained last week as me concerned that the joint finance committee the Republicans there can just Just put immense amounts of cash in their so-called supplemental fund and then micro manage the dollars as they see fit but

Until you see the whole bill, you have no idea if there's going to be that funding for Chippewa Valley Health Care to make up for the hospitals.

That is still to be seen one way or the other?

Thanks for bringing that up.

And that's supplemental funding.

We're supposed to trust them at this point that they will release monies for these important pieces like that.

I don't trust them anymore.

They've proven themselves to not care.

and not be willing to release funding when it's needed.

So this is a bad way of governing.

They obviously can't govern, don't know how to govern, and I'm just telling them get out of the way because some of us do know and do care.

And then just a couple of seconds here, Dan Schaefer mentioned it.

I just want your quick affirmation on this.

Fair maps is what got us a more fair budget.

Not a great budget, but a fair budget because of fair maps.

Yes or no?

It's

competitive maps, and yes, it did.

Okay, Senator Jeff Smith from the Eau Claire County Town of Brunswick.

Thank you my friend.

Good to see you.

Thank you

So there you go.

There's a summary of some of the reaction to the state budget bill, which again passed out of the Joint Finance Committee yesterday with only one no vote.

That was from Senator Latanya Johnson of Milwaukee.

It got a yes vote from Senator Keldoroy's of Madison in joint finance, but she is not fully committing to voting yes on the bill yet.

And I believe you will see a mix of Democrats and Republicans on both sides of that bill.

All right, I want to note that we are in the middle of the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War of 1863, one of the bloodiest battle in American military history, and that when tens of thousands of Confederate troops crossed the Potomac into Pennsylvania, they were met by 80,000 Union soldiers, including Wisconsin's Iron Brigade.

They were in the thick of battle on the first day.

The Second Infantry lost about a third of its men.

right from the start, including Colonel Lucius Fairchild.

He would later recover from his injuries and the loss of his left arm and be elected governor of Wisconsin right after the war.

The village of Fairchild in Eau Claire County is named for him.

The 26th Wisconsin Infantry composed almost entirely of immigrants from Germany fought throughout the day and lost more than 200 men.

The first US sharpshooters originally organized to camp Randall were instrumental in repulsing Confederate attacks, including Pickett's charge on the third day.

All told, the state of Wisconsin provided just over 90,000 men for service in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Between Battle Dead and other causes, 12,301 men from Wisconsin died defending this nation.

And that would explain why anytime I see a Confederate flag anywhere in this state, I would love to tell them how they can take their flag and their BS about heritage and cram it up someplace I can't talk about on radio.

So in this anniversary of Wisconsin's sacrifice in the Civil War, we wanted to say that some of us remember.

Today's history lesson is next as we always do mornings here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

see now

that's probably the Frank Sinatra voice you're used to a few days ago we played like his debut with the Harry James Orchestra he sounded a lot younger back then but this is his Strangers of the Night which was the number one song this day in 1966

and it would later win the Oscar for best song in a movie, again, 59 years ago today.

I talked about Gettysburg before, but this is also a big anniversary for the American Revolution.

It was on this day that the Continental Congress adopted a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence was not adopted until July 4th.

Sounds very typical of government.

We adopt the framework

one day

and we'll work out the details.

It might take a day or two.

Get this bill done by July 4th.

Dang it.

Yes.

I don't think the demand was the same back then, but it could be.

On this day in 1962, Jimi Hendrix was honorably discharged from the U.S.

Army after serving only about a year of his three-year commitment.

The reason for his discharge was unsuitability.

as his superiors agreed that he will never be a good soldier in part because he was more interested in his guitar than his rifle.

I guess that paid off.

It's good to be bad at your job sometimes, I guess.

That's exactly a winning by losing, you know?

Let's see, the number one song this day in 1988 was by Michael Jackson.

This dirty diamond made him the first artist to score five number one singles from the same album This was the fifth number one single from the album bad Born this day in 1908 Thurgood Marshall

the 32nd Solicitor General of the United States, who then became a former associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

First Black Justice Trailblazer passed away in 1993.

On this day in 1964, as part of the Civil Rights Movement, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit segregation in public places.

On this day in 1980, Sheena Easton was featured on a BBC show called The Big Time.

She had a big hit two months later.

So the show she was on The Big Time followed regular people trying to achieve their dreams with visions of stardom as a singer.

You see her in the show auditioning for EMI.

And they were impressed by your voice.

And this is the record that came two months later.

I did not know when I saw nine to five in our notes here.

I was thinking, um, yeah, I was thinking that and then I heard this and I only know this song from that episode of Seinfeld.

Do you really?

Of course you

do.

Of course you do.

Let's see.

On this day in 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean attempting to make the first equatorial around the world flight.

They were also searching for that Malaysian air flight 357.

because that's just how it operates.

It's in some weird devil's triangle space.

The first Walmart store open for business in Rogers, Arkansas on this day in 1962.

So happy 63rd birthday to Walmart.

Michelle Branch has a birthday today.

You know, that nice young singer who had everywhere.

That song was a while ago.

She's 42 years old

today.

More birthdays and see we've got actress Margot Robbie is 35 years old today Lindsay Lohan is 39 years old today and Larry David is 78 years old today and now here's here's something that will only surprise people I just never got into Kirby enthusiasm and Larry David.

I've never seen Kirby enthusiasm.

That should be what I watch

Get that on your list get that list of how big

is

this list

now?

It's probably at, like, about 10 movies or so.

OK, all right.

Today is National, look at this list, National Lint Awareness Day.

I'm aware of lint every time I open the drawer.

I don't need a day for this.

I need details.

I need to know why that's a thing.

This is World Sports Journalism Day.

And perhaps most notably, and we don't have any tunage for it, but in New Zealand, today is National Disco Day.

a salute to all things music, dancing, and the culture of the 1970s.

I still love New Zealand anyway.

That's fine.

And Luke Mathers is on the text line.

He has flabbergasted that I did not get into curb your enthusiasm.

How do I put this?

For the same reason, I didn't get deep into Seinfeld.

Sometimes, I mean, you can be funny, but sometimes they're just mean.

They're just not very nice people.

I like

nice people who are funny, you know?

Fair enough, I suppose, yeah.

I give

you that.

I'm just saying, that's my own quirk.

That's my own problem.

I own it, you know?

So here's Tony on YouTube having fun with the Michelle Branch song.

Lint is everywhere to me.

When I open my dryer, it looks at me.

And then there's a CT-8325 on YouTube saying disco rules.

And Tony is with me on this.

He says, I tried at least three times.

Couldn't do curb your enthusiasm.

So these are all acquired tastes.

Tony is also like me.

He didn't get big into Seinfeld either.

It doesn't

mean when I pop in, I get the things that are funny.

I

mean,

Seinfeld, for example, the one with the bet, that's hilarious.

Oh, Alicia, asking, isn't this Lasagna Awareness Month?

Oh my goodness, could it be?

Interesting.

Oh shoot, let's see how much...

I like that one.

Yeah.

You know what day today is, Pat?

What?

It's National I

Forgot Day.

Oh, and you're going, oh, did you forget Pigeon Quest?

It's Wednesday.

No, Melissa K is under the weather, so... No!

I know, so we'll have to wait one more week to get an update on Pigeon Quest.

Yes, July is Lasagna Awareness Month.

We'll mark more about that next week.

Time for the news next.

here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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

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

Hey, good morning.

It is 706.

Nice to have you here up north on this Wednesday morning, July 2nd.

2025, Parker Olsen's down in Madison and Studio A2.

We'll chat with him again in just a little bit.

And we have a guest state representative, Angela Stroud, who will be joining us shortly as well.

Brittany Merlot is off today.

So keep listening to your favorite civic media radio station throughout the day for updates on your local forecast.

But let me tell you who else is coming up along the network today.

Coming up after this fine program is a finer program, Matt Nair on air with Jane Matt Nair and Greg Bach.

Dan Schaefer

will be appearing there at 9.30 this morning to talk about the state budget agreement.

A little after 10 a.m.

they will be joined by Darren Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union.

Do you remember the Oprah Winfrey joke?

It was a Dave Letterman that told it when he was hosting the Oscars and talking about Uma Thurman, Oprah, Uma, Oprah.

That's kind of me with Darren Von Ruden and Derek Van Orden.

You don't want to get those two confused.

They could not be more opposite in their

One is...

actually dedicated to farmers and improving the rural economy of Wisconsin.

The other is a member of Congress.

On the Todd Alba Show, I will join Todd at two o'clock along with Trig Vielsen from the Lincoln Project.

And then the Maggie Dawn Show, a special edition at four o'clock today called Freedom Under Attack, including guests David Volcker, a UW Green Bay Professor of Humanities and History, Howard Schweber, a UW Professor of American Politics and Political Theory, and at 5.06

Kathy Kramer, UW Professor and Chair of Letters and Science in American Politics.

And then finally, Night Light with Pete Schwabba from 6 to 8 tonight includes a visit with Milwaukee film critic Matt Mueller and director Wendy Schneider.

All of that ahead across the civic media radio network.

Brewers were rained out yesterday, so there is a double header today.

Two games with the New York Mets and it's a

split double header.

So tune in at 11.35 this morning for pregame, for the make-up game, game one of the series with the Mets, and then 5.35 tonight for game two when Jacob Mizorovsky will be pitching.

Freddy Baralta is doing the opening game again pregame at 11.35.

When we originally booked state representative Angela Stroud from the Ashland area, it was because she had to vote no on a bill that was purportedly going to help with the removal of lead water service lines in the superior area, but there were strings attached.

Since that time, since we booked her as a guest, there have been some very positive developments in that area and so we're very happy to welcome Angela to the program now to tell us what's the latest and superior.

We'll talk about the whole range of the problem and the different ways you could address it and hopefully a way that works out best for all parties concerned.

Angela Stroud, how are you?

Good morning.

And well, thanks.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, you bet.

So that's kind of, you know, the setup was, was there was this bill and you weren't thoroughly happy with it.

But what is what has happened, you know, since the bill was being considered in the legislature?

Yeah, so this bill would change state law to give the last private water utility superior water, light and power access to public money to replace lead service lines.

And the way that the Republicans who introduced the legislation seem to think about it is let's just change state law and no big deal.

For me, it's a really big deal when we change state law, especially giving a for-profit private company access to public dollars.

So my thinking the whole time was, well, what's in it for the customers of Superior?

How do we get the best deal possible for them?

And I had some concerns.

So one of my biggest concerns was the cost of replacement.

The company was citing an average cost replacement that was twice the statewide average.

And even though they would get access to public money, customers would still be left with 25% of that cost.

So when you have what seemed to be an inflated cost.

then the remainder is passed on to customers and we're giving public money to a private company.

It just wasn't good enough.

We needed something in return, a better deal.

And so for the last few months, I've been working really hard to try to figure out a deal between the company and the city of Superior.

And we didn't have a deal when the bill went to the floor.

So I was in no vote.

And until we got a deal, I was going to stay in no.

And I was going to encourage the governor to veto it.

But on one of the last possible days, we got a deal.

Yes, you did and did not.

just accept what was given to you in the form of a bill, because I'm sure you're aware, voting no on a bill that purports to help your own constituents, whether we like it or not, that's something that people from the opposing party would try to use as a club and beat you over the head with it.

She voted no against removing lead water lines in her own district, but you were looking for a better deal.

And so you feel now that this agreement that goes along with it, how...

I guess when I say, how did that go?

Did you find a willing participants?

Was it a smooth process?

Who all deserves credit for making this happen?

Yeah, so on the first point, it's clear that there were political dynamics at play about trying to target me.

And so we can dig into that if you want.

to the good news, what really happened was, you know, the city and the utility, they have a long history, a long history, way before any of us were born, but the current leadership, you know, they've had some things happen where there's not, there wasn't a whole lot of trust.

And so there was an interest in getting the bill from the utility and the city, as I engaged more and more with the city, they started to sort of come around to the idea that there could be a benefit for the city as well.

So my job really was to try to get these two entities who weren't really on great terms to build trust and get to a place where they could both see the win-win.

And so I spent a lot of time with both parties, really kind of talking through how I saw the issue, how I saw the benefits.

listening to them, trying to address some of their concerns.

And, you know, that took time.

But now I think trust has been built and a relationship has formed and a partnership has formed.

And really who wins are the people in the city of Superior who now don't have an average out of pocket cost of $2,500 each.

So for me, that's a huge win.

And we turned a real potential sort of liability into something that is a massive benefit for the city.

Were the Republicans who were behind the bill that was eventually passed and signed, would they count among the willing partners in negotiating a better deal for homeowners or were they just hoping the law would be signed and that would be it?

I honestly don't think they had any idea about any of it.

I don't think they knew.

what the implications were for the public.

I don't think they knew, for example, that the city has an interest in acquiring the utility.

I don't know if they knew that the city council voted down a proposal of support for the bill.

Like there's just so much that goes into a change like this, but to be a good representative, you have to be on the ground.

asking questions and most importantly listening and it was just very clear to me they weren't aware of any of the dynamics.

They just thought well this is simple let's change this law and give the company access to money.

I don't think you know we should ever act that way when we're changing state law and especially when we're talking about giving public money to a for-profit company.

Yeah, I mean, there is a real difference in whether your representative or state senator is is on the ground in that particular area.

We're talking to State Representative Angela Stroud from the 73rd Assembly District in that area where you and and all all matter of other legislators will be looking at this new state budget agreement.

And I want to ask you about that.

But actually, before I forget.

I did want to come back and ask about the history of all of this because I know Earl Ingram in Milwaukee reminds us of about this all the time when we talk about lead water service lines so many people think of it as some kind of Milwaukee only problem and this whole episode really serves to remind us that there are places all over the state where this is an issue.

I had no idea it was this big of an issue in Superior until this came

up.

Yeah I mean one of the

the great things about the new maps and more diverse representation around the state is we need to realize that in a lot of ways my district has more in common with Milwaukee than with other parts of the state and certainly more in common with Milwaukee than suburban areas because I really think the distinction isn't urban versus rural.

I think it's urban and rural versus the suburbs because the suburbs are new construction which

not no surprise, our entire shared revenue formula is about new construction.

They get tons of resources, tons of advantages, but these older cities, and that's really what this is about, older cities with old infrastructure, and in some cases shrinking populations, another thing that Milwaukee and in my district have in common, we have different challenges.

So, you know, Ashland and Superior, these are really, really old cities.

And as a result, we need

infusions of dollars to replace infrastructure of all kinds, including bloodlines.

And this brings me up another point, though, taking money from this public pool, you know, that's serious business because we're taking from cities like Milwaukee or other cities.

And so that's just another reason to tread carefully in a decision like this and not to treat it like it's just something simplistic.

That's right.

Alicia writes on YouTube.

Sorry, let's get this one here.

We've got the lead water service lines in Kimberley as well.

And again, you've got In Superior in Milwaukee.

You've got these ports on Great Lakes with the infrastructure that is tied into that to a degree in past history.

And it's good to be mindful of the whole range of the problem before you just immediately accept what is given to you by, say, the private sector.

So again, getting back to my next question of

you having to meet with the full assembly and consider the state budget deal.

And I've been going over all the details of it.

It is most definitely gonna get a wide array of Democrats foreign against and Republicans foreign against probably gonna be the most bipartisan, the raw bipartisan vote on a budget we've seen in a long time.

How are you feeling about it right now?

I'm still digging in.

I mean, unfortunately, this process has been totally rushed.

This isn't how we should do good government.

The party of chaos continues to be the party of chaos forcing really just bad governance practices.

So I'm up early in part, not just for this, but because I'm still digging into the budget.

I have super big concerns about public school funding in particular.

I mean, by not raising general aid, what we're doing is putting more pressure on property taxes yet again.

So it's kind of crazy to me that we would be touting that this budget has tax cuts.

At the same time that by refusing to raise general aid for schools, local school districts are going to have to raise property taxes to meet their levies.

So a tax cut in one pocket and then raising taxes in the other pocket, really we have to ask what is the net benefit and to whom.

And for working in middle class people, it's not actually going to net out to a tax cut or to a benefit.

And meanwhile, schools are the ones who are going to be blamed for having to raise their revenues through property taxes.

So yet again, the state legislature is failing to meet the needs of public schools.

And it's just super disappointing that we're having this conversation yet again.

So you think that the conversations will continue for folks who think that this budget just didn't go far enough to urge Governor Evers to just veto the whole thing, even though he worked out the deal.

But there are people that would still like to just

Scrap this and try again.

I mean, that would be my position.

That is my position that we shouldn't do that.

We shouldn't sign a bill into law that actually harms communities.

I mean, it's really hard to undo 15 years of neglect of public schools and one budget.

I understand that.

But by refusing to increase general aid, we're just contributing to the problem yet again.

So yeah, there is a small increase in special ed.

That's huge.

That's helpful.

You have to think about public school budgets as multifaceted.

It's not just one thing.

And when you have a big problem, it takes big solutions, not just fixing one part of the problem.

We are talking to State Representative Angela Stroud from the Ashland Area, 73rd Assembly District about things that are happening up there.

A local update is coming up next for some of you, and then when we're all back together in 15 minutes, we will be talking to a retired pediatric nurse and school board member about her letter to the WIAA, critical of their new restrictions on transgender sports participation.

So stick around for that.

And then in our next hour, we will be talking to Earl Ingram and Melissa Baldock.

with our climate check.

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.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

All right, Brittany Merleau is off today, but Robin Tigerton, he does not take a day off.

Good morning from Tigerton, he writes on YouTube.

It's sunny and 65 degrees yesterday.

I mowed seven yards in Tigerton.

One of my customers gave me a sub sandwich and a bottle of Gatorade.

Today I have mowing jobs in Wittenberg.

I'm scheduled to be doing tomorrow, so I don't have to mow on the 4th of July.

It is going to be a hot one on the 4th of July.

He said yesterday he was going to have lasagna, but one of his customers gave me a sub sandwich, which was better on a warm day.

It is, in fact, lasagna awareness month, and we'll probably talk about that tomorrow.

And he mentions a day night double header is something you don't often see in

Major League Baseball nowadays.

There was a time when they played a lot of double headers, especially on Sundays.

Yeah, I remember those very well.

I loved bonus baseball that way.

But instead, the bonus baseball comes accidentally.

Like it does today, Brewers and Mets after last night's game was rained out.

11.35 this morning for the pregame on game one.

Freddie Peralta will be pitching for the Brewers versus the Mets.

And then come on back at 5.35 this evening.

For game two and that will be Jacob Mizorowski pitching for the Brewers against the Mets all here on stations belonging to the Civic Media radio network Let's continue now with State Representative Angela Stroud from the Ashland area who so that leads me I'm gonna ask about you know the Northland College closing in a moment here, but it also notes in your

bio that you have described as a very anti-social rescue border collie named May, the cutest dog of all time.

What's the update since the election and all the campaigning?

Any less anti-social?

No, she still will destroy anyone who tries to come up our driveway.

But she's so sweet.

Once she knows you and feels comfortable that you're not an intruder, then she's great.

So yeah, you know, the one thing is every time I pack a suitcase, she knows what's happening

and she's not

happy about it.

So that's been hard.

Being away from the dog has been a hard part of this job.

And you and you make the big drive from Ashland down to Madison for this.

Who was I was serving with Gary Sherman from Port Wing for all those years, talking about, you know, those drives and they are they are no not easy.

Wouldn't it be great if we had to train?

system in the state.

But God,

I'd love

it.

That's a whole different thing.

So with the closing of Northland College up there and you and all the other educators up there who have been part of the community, I don't have any happy way to ask this just to ask how the community has been in the weeks since the closure.

You know, when a college closes for summer, it feels kind of like normal.

But the difference is the grass is getting a little taller, and we all know that people aren't coming back for the first time in 132 years.

So it's challenging.

It's difficult.

We have a core group of people who are trying to figure out uses for the campus.

There's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about that idea.

you know, that continues to be a bit unclear what the board is thinking in terms of how they're going to move forward with the campus.

So there's a lot of uncertainty, but there's a lot of potential still.

And, you know, one of the things I've been trying to do is help figure out how to how to transform this into an opportunity that could be great for the community.

There's a theme that you sounded and that was sounded yesterday as well when it came to the budget deal that

folks will be voting on today.

And that is that this whole notion of fair maps led us to a fair budget, not a great budget, maybe not even a very good budget, but, you know, a fair budget which would not have happened without fair maps.

And I mean, you can truly testify to that in an area where the last set of rigged maps meant that in a heavily democratic area along the south shore of Lake Superior there, there was no

democratic district, no democratic representation there.

You've been in office now for six months or so.

How different does it feel for your constituents up there to have a voice again?

They're, they're so happy.

They're so

happy.

I mean, if you look at, you know, national elections, you look at the last presidential going back decades, you'll see Douglas County, Bayfield County, Ashton County, they always go blue.

And in some, back in Bayfield County, it's not even close.

So the idea that there wasn't a single state representative north of Eau Claire prior to these new maps just shows the degree of gerrymandering.

And, you know, there's some spiteful Republicans who say this map is gerrymandered.

Depending on how you carve it up, you know, we could have more than one Democrat up here.

And that would be considered fair, depending on how you drew the boundaries.

I happen to love the shape of my district, south shore of Lake Superior.

There's a real logic to that.

We have a lot in common when you think about the Lakeshore.

So I hope the shape of my district never changes.

I love the city of Superior all the way to the Battle River Reservation.

But I understand if it were to change to make sure that democratic representation reflects the actual distribution of the population.

That's not a crazy concept.

That's exactly what we should have in a democracy.

But my constituency, you should

I should show you some emails I get.

They are just so pleased to have someone who's really representing them and who's spending a lot of time in the district trying to understand their perspective and then fight in Madison for what they need.

Oh, I know, and not to reminisce too much.

But I mean, when, you know, my first year career was at a radio station in Rice Lake, and the brand new legislators in that area were Bob Jouk and Mary Hubler.

And I started this talk show in Rice Lake, and they were among my most frequent guests, because they were brand new legislators themselves and wanted to, you know, have a voice all over the district that would serve.

And of course, you can, as I mentioned, Gary Sherman and Janet Buley and all kinds of folks who shall we say

quite fairly represented, you know, the wide range of the areas there and did so fairly and with a true sense of service.

So budget will probably wrap up this week.

What's your first order of business when it's all done?

getting on the boat and being on Lake Superior.

Fourth of July, that's what I plan to do.

That is the correct answer.

Yes, you are really good at this.

You have simply got to unplug now and then, especially after what you managed to do to help out the homeowners in Superior, removing their lead water service lines.

State Representative Angela Stroud, thank you so much for the visit.

We really appreciate it.

Thanks for all you do.

Anytime.

Thanks so much.

All right, thank you.

And when we come back, we will talk about the WIAA and its transgender policy and sports participation in Wisconsin high schools and then have much more in our eight o'clock hour, including our climate check with Melissa Baloff.

A reminder, you can sign up for our newsletters at Up North News.

Just head over to upnorthnewswi.com and click on subscribe up in the top banner of the homepage.

We'd love to have you as a subscriber there.

More coming up right after this break and the Midwest Farm Report, you're up north.

Thank you.

735 now on these mornings powered by up north news on the civic media radio network on the text line Tom and Hartford another great guest Pat it's uplifting to hear an intelligent caring representative ain't it though it's just nice and refreshing when you get that compared to some of the things that you see out there in the in the news cycle

This is going to be a big day in Madison, not just because the legislature's meeting on the budget.

But the Wisconsin Supreme Court has announced that today it will release its decision on its interpretation of an 1849 statute that some had purported to be an abortion ban.

Others interpreted it as doing something else about protecting pregnant women.

The law has been on hold since a Dane County judge ruled, I believe in the fall of 2023, that the law did not apply to consensual abortions.

It was appealed to the

State Supreme Court and the State Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case last November.

and is now ready to issue its ruling.

And so that will come sometime today.

So keep it tuned to your favorite shows across the Civic Media Radio Network to learn more.

Let's turn now to a matter in our schools about participation in sports and other activities, and especially as it relates to members of the transgender community that

We're going to meet with a guest from the Baraboo area who is a retired pediatric nurse, sits on the school board, but is going to join us in a private capacity and wrote a letter to the WIAA expressing concerns about a policy that restricts transgender student athletes to participate only in the sports categories corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.

So let's learn more about that and what perhaps might be a

better way forward with Carolyn Bonanno who joins us now from Baraboo.

Carolyn, good morning.

Thank you for being here.

How are you?

I'm good.

Frustrated, but good.

It does sound frustrating.

You note in your letter to the members of the board of the Wisconsin Inner Scholastic Activities Association that their policy fails to account for current scientific understanding and may not serve the best interests of all student athletes.

And you say this as a retired registered pediatric nurse and somebody who has certainly followed school matters carefully on school boards.

So can you talk a bit more about, you know, what prompted the letter?

And then, you know, basically your, your overview of the policies that prompted the letter.

When I, because I am on a board and I, I learned about this and I had been hearing rumblings and I always heard that, well, this isn't true, that they shouldn't, it's not scientifically sound.

And so I decided to do some of my own research because facts seem to be able

to speak louder than feelings and I think it's important.

So I looked it up and I tried to find things that said that transgender women had an ability over other female athletes and there was very little evidence to that at all.

And as my brother said to me the other day, this whole thing, it just seems to be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

And I think that it puts our most vulnerable students at higher risk.

And so I just felt it was so wrong.

And it's kind of like the first steps to dictatorship.

And this happened immediately after Trump wrote his letter, his executive order banning transgender females.

And this only, and WIA's policy only refers to transgender females.

It doesn't look at anything else.

I don't think they did any research whatsoever.

They just followed along.

They were in lockstep.

Yeah, it does have very much the sense of just a bit of political backlash, if you will, to things like legalizing same-sex marriage.

Then there's another, let's find a new category of people to bash.

You write that current research indicates that athletic performance differences are more complex

than a simple binary categorization of assigned sex at birth and that athletic performance varies enormously among individuals within any gender category.

And that really gets to one of the things that has really stuck with me is this ridiculous sense that somebody, a minor or an adult, would go through what you need to go through just to win a race.

I mean I thought it was silly on its face but I mean like you said you had to look into the fact based of it to say between individual variations and simple binary categorization there's a lot more to this than the surface talking points.

Yes and it kind of boggles the mind as to why people would think

that this is true.

I mean, one of my first experiences as a school board member, I've only been on for about a year, little over a year, was sitting down on a summer learning symposium at a table with a gentleman who was trying to push his facts through and saying things, we can't have these big guys competing against women.

And I just looked at him and said, I don't think that's true.

And I ended up leaving the table and it was

And at WASB, the Wisconsin Association of School Board has always, I mean, this person has been trying to put through policies to change it on a school board level and WASB has.

declined, and we as school board members have declined this.

So it boggles my mind that WIAA can have this much power.

It bothers me.

I don't get it.

I don't understand it.

I mean, there's still a lot to learn about these kind of things.

And at best, it should be an individual categorization, I mean.

Right.

And they are not the only body.

that is working with this issue.

And you note that the International Olympic Committee and other sports bodies have recognized that it's not about transition per se, but the timing of it, particularly where it occurs, you know, in terms of puberty.

And certainly, we were talking about things like testosterone levels, not simply the fact that there's been a transition or treatment, but again,

time, testosterone, a whole lot of other factors that the International Olympic Committee is trying to be cognizant of.

And you're concerned that the WIAA is being a little too simplistic about this, I think.

It vary.

And their policy was just very simplistic.

There was no

wise or wherefores about it.

It was just a very simple statement saying this is the way it is.

And I don't think they gave it any thought whatsoever.

And it just seems punitive to me and dictatorial.

Um, so I, like I said, I did the research.

The timing is important.

And the thing is, is we don't know what's going on in anybody's mind or head or physical things.

And it is something that you need to consider personally.

It's, I think they are pandering toward the fears of other people who don't have an understanding of what's going on.

And frankly, why do we care?

I mean, it's really small numbers.

And it,

It's

important.

Really

small.

really

small.

And it just again, it provides opportunity for talking points.

But also as you note, privacy violations, the current policy you write forces families to engage in legal proceedings to secure their children's right to participate, which inherently compromises student privacy.

It exposes personal medical information and gender identity status in public legal proceedings, violating the fundamental privacy that all students deserve, or to put it a

bit more crassly, but it certainly has been, so I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before.

The fact that some people want to do this is going to mean that a whole lot of other kids are going to be traumatized by either a coach, a school official, a lawyer, somebody that's kind of...

They're going to want to look down at kids pants.

What the heck is this?

And actually, when I was meeting with some legislators, and Aide said that to me, that somebody, a representative said that, well, just check them.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh.

I mean, and as my daughter says to me, she says, mom, it's weird that these people care so much about children's

privates.

Yes.

It's weird.

It is weird and it hasn't been said nearly enough.

But it just is.

So let's try to look forward on this.

And we're talking to Carolyn Bonanno from Baraboo about this letter she wrote to the WIAA.

And you ask the board to consider several things.

You write, for example, developing individualized assessment protocols that consider factors such as hormone therapy duration, individual athletic metrics, consulting with medical professionals, sports scientists, LGBTQ plus advocacy groups, and review policies from other states and organizations.

that have developed more nuanced approaches.

I think that's the key word there is nuanced or individualized or consulting.

All of these things sound like best practices moving forward.

Yeah, exactly and that's what the world of medicine is best practices It is evidence-based and that should be how everything is if things should be based on evidence on what is least destructive or hurtful to other people and If it's even a necessary thing you have to look at these things.

You don't just willy-nilly This is how dictatorships happen people just fall in line and nobody

says anything.

So I felt it was important to say something.

So you urged them to refocus the WIAA's mission on supporting and including all student athletes rather than operating as a restrictive enforcement body, return to the core educational mission of fostering student development through athletics, rather than creating barriers that force families to choose between their children's privacy and their right to participate in school activities.

So that was the note the letter was dated May 22nd.

Has there been any

response or reaction since then?

No.

Nothing?

Nothing.

I emailed the members individually and I sent this letter and I have not heard a thing back.

And there's it sounds like there's no current plans to reconsider or do anything else on the issue?

No.

On the comment sections here from CT, the ban on transgendered student athletes buys into the notion that women are inherently weaker than men, which is ridiculous.

And Alicia notes that policies like this do way more harm than good.

And I mean, none of this strikes me as so unwieldy that you can't consider a better path forward.

Exactly, but I think that

because of the current political-ish system, we have somebody who thinks that he can just tell people what to do without any backlash and whether you have it or not.

He will just do what he wants and it seems like the WIA just fell online and it's a bothersome to me.

I'm sorry bothersome to me because I thought that the school boards.

We're supposed to give guidance to the WIA, and it doesn't seem to be that way.

It seems to be the other way around.

Well, it doesn't.

When you talk about one individual, it certainly is about more than just say, you know, who is president.

You have, you know, Assembly Speaker Robin Voss, who has held up millions and millions of dollars in UW funding to attack diversity, equity and inclusion.

And I think

Again, I'm projecting, but I wouldn't be surprised if WIA board members were mindful of that and didn't want the Speaker of the Assembly threatening to cut off funds for high school sports and, you know, being focused on state budgets and school district budgets instead of the welfare of our kids is a hell of a way to run the state.

Exactly.

And it seems to be backwards in my

estimation, but.

Well, it certainly does and that's why I really appreciate your willingness to come on and talk about the note that you sent.

I hope you keep us updated, Carolyn Bonanno, as far as whether you get any kind of a response and any possible path forward.

Carolyn, thank you so much for your time.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

A local update is coming up next for some of you.

And then in our next hour, we will be talking to Earl Ingram about things happening in the Milwaukee area.

We will also have Jimmy Koska coming up next for some of you talking about what he's seen from Southwest Wisconsin.

And then an hour later, James Kelly from Northwest Wisconsin doing the same thing as we do here.

Mornings powered by up north news across the civic media radio network.

If you know anything about baseball, you know the concept of a utility player who can play a whole bunch of different positions at ease and is not just capable but comprehensive in those positions.

That brings up Jimmy Cusco who joins us now because we are going to talk about all over the board in this particular segment.

Jimmy, good morning.

Good morning.

I honestly thought you were talking about Anthony Sigler.

We are going to get to the Milwaukee Bucks.

We are going to get to the state budget.

But because of the work that you do with sports as well, as you've been on the school board, you've been a coach, you're very aware of what the WIAA is doing.

So I wanted to give you any opportunity on our last discussion there on the transgender participation policy from the WIAA to give your own insights as to what you've seen being discussed and what the state of things is right now.

Well, I could say that, you know, as someone who follows high school sports that this was actually brought up during the open session of this April's annual meeting, MMSD, Madison Athletic Director Jeremy Schlitz actually had nearly five minute statement on trying to reverse the policy.

And I mean, he hit on all the things that you talked about in the last segment about, you know, what this is doing and targeting certain student athletes and just just how quickly the policy came about without a whole lot of discussion, things like that.

It's terrific.

if you could watch it for free on the NFHS website through the WIAA.

If you watch the annual meeting, we've covered it here at Civic Media, of course, as well.

But it was a really fascinating statement.

From a school board perspective, anytime there's any change to things like Title IX, things like that, just in the vein of not wanting to risk losing that bit of federal funding that schools get, it's not a big part of the budget, but in the age of school funding being what it is, any loss in funding would be pretty huge.

That's why when the Department of Education talks about eliminating things like title funding, it's huge because that's positions, that services for students.

When we get things like a Title IX update, it's mostly a check the box, you know, board vote to go along with whatever it says, right?

So as a school board member, you know, there's not a whole lot of discussion you have on it.

There's not a lot of local control on a thing like that.

I really do appreciate having that discussion because those sorts of policies that seemingly target just a handful of individuals, those are pretty important.

Yeah, worthy of ongoing discussion here.

Let's turn to the state budget where the agreement does include $194 million for UW La Crosse to construct the Prairie Springs Science Center and demolish

Crawley Hall, which this is alarming, lacks fire suppression, something Earl Ingram and I have talked about in the past with, you know, apartment buildings, but this is a dorm.

Failing mechanical systems and so forth.

The expansion will support STEM education and workforce development.

These are always political footballs in terms of you can only say yes to so many things in any given budget, but this is a pretty nice win for you, WL.

Yeah, last budget cycle was UW-Madison and UW-Whitewater getting some capital projects, right?

This time it happens to be UW La Crosse and a handful of other projects around the state where you have these, you know, multi-million dollar capital projects, these building projects.

Eau Claire had one.

These are part of the budget process because they are big price tags to take to do these things.

So yeah, for La Crosse, you know, UW La Crosse, this is just the latest in the line of these products that have been kicked, the cans have been kicked down the road.

wrote enough times that it just has to be addressed.

And you talk about lack of fire suppression, the crumbling infrastructure of some of these buildings, I guarantee if you take a closer look, there's many more examples of things like this in the UWE system.

Hey, Pat, you muted yourself.

No,

I

didn't I did I didn't do what happens when you do when you

take I was trying to read lips, but it was slurp

You take that slurp of coffee and you just try to be polite and then boom I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself by muting myself that we'll try to get to a couple of news notes if time allows but I do want to get to all of these changes on the Milwaukee Bucks roster because I I don't follow them closely I just know that from the championship team there's Yanis and Bobby

And what I'm seeing is that's pretty much it, that there's been quite the turnover.

What can you tell us about all of yesterday's moves?

So everything has really been done in just kind of an all-in effort to update the roster to contend this year.

There's some talk about, you know, hanging on with Damian Lillard waiting to see what happens after his injury and taking what essentially would be a gap year where the Bucks just let Yanis run wild and

Hope for the best this year.

Well, that's not been the M. O. John Horace of the Bucks front office.

They have made a lot of creative moves and a lot of what some people are calling desperation moves to stay in contention.

But when you look at the end result of everything that happened yesterday, the Bucks got a lot younger and they put themselves in a position to begin to work to content right now.

There's probably still a move or two away from being a true title contender.

But if you look at the Eastern Conference, the representative of the NBA Finals, they don't have Tyrese held.

Burton, the Oshkosh, North Native, Torez Achilles.

So he's not going to be available for most of the year.

And one of their other top pieces, Miles Turner, well, he's now a Milwaukee Bucks.

So the Eastern Conference still has some good teams.

But, you know, you look at it, it's not like there's some juggernaut that you have to overcome.

So for the Bucks, it was a matter of making moves to be in a better position to contend right away without completely mortgaging the future.

When you have Yanasatana Kunpo, you have a shot, right?

So you got to build around him and give yourself a shot to win that.

That's what everything that happened yesterday was all about.

So are Indiana Pacers fans kind of pulling their hair out at losing a player like Miles Turner to the Bucks?

He wanted to stay there with Indiana, but he got lowballed.

So the Bucks swooped in, and they pick up a great center to pair with Yanis going forward.

All right.

And let's get back to one other news note.

The Blackhawk Bridge, you say here is going to stay open all summer.

What's the background on that?

So this is a 94 year old bridge that connects Crawford County, Wisconsin, near DeSoto to Lansing, Iowa.

There's a bridge that's replacing it being constructed alongside of it.

And in the last year, that 94 year old bridge has been closed twice for emergency repairs.

So this bridge was slated to be closed later this year, after July 4th.

And the Iowa DOT yesterday said, now they're going to hold off till the end of the summer.

It has frustrated people on both sides of the river, business owners, especially because, you know, at a certain date.

the future of what it will affect them, but it is good news.

If you're summer is now you don't have to across or south to prairie.

I told you, Jimi player for civic media an again.

Jimmy, thank you

You too, man.

Take care.

All right.

Coming up in our eight o'clock hour, Earl Ingram and Melissa Baldoff.

And remember, you can follow my team from Up North News all day long through our newsletters, social media, website, and of course, hear mornings on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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

Now, for my Lake Mesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglo.

And good morning 806 on this Wednesday morning, July 2nd, 2025.

Nice to have you here up north.

Parker Olson over in Madison Studio A2.

Earl Ingram is standing by.

We'll have Melissa Baldoff a little later this hour with climate check.

All about keeping the cows comfy and cool while still having solar farms going up around Wisconsin.

tell you how they can actually accomplish both things.

Brittany Merleau is off today so keep an eye or keep an ear I guess I should say on your local Civic Media station for your local forecast as we head through the end of the week.

We will have a regular show tomorrow and then on Friday we'll have a Best of show and we didn't get to hear from Melissa Kaye today but if you have not caught up with Pigeon Quest with Melissa Kaye you're going to want to listen to Friday's show as we recap what has brought us to the point of her

almost having possession of a rescue pigeon that she wants to adopt.

From the text line, Jim in Brookfield, another good guest, Pat, referring to our conversation on the transgender policy for the WIAA.

Jim writes, it's always amazing what can be learned when people actually do some research and learn the facts as opposed to making blind assumptions based on a knee jerk executive order.

Conversely, on the text line, Tom from Hartford.

Says sadly the longer the left hangs on to this the longer the left will lose close elections Regular people will never warm up to this.

Please see reality Tom I love that you're a listener, but here's your lecture you please see reality and stop referring to yourself as a regular person There are plenty of regular people out here that don't look like you don't love the same people as you and

also don't get on their high horse about who's regular and who's not.

Some people are willing to lose elections to stand up for what's right.

The Pledge of Allegiance ends with liberty and justice for all, not just for the regular people.

All right, let's bring in Earl Ingram and we're going to start, unfortunately, on a bit of a down note on things happening in the Milwaukee area with the shooting death of a Milwaukee police officer and

just the below that that deals to a community anytime.

But this officer in these circumstances as well.

Earl, good morning.

How are you doing?

I'm doing fine.

How are you?

I'm fine.

But again, we we have not had a chance to talk about this case yet.

I'm glad you're here for this so that we can properly convey, you know, what happened in this case and

Sadly, this is something that has become all too familiar as we, you know, continue to allow guns to run rampant on our streets.

Can you give folks around the stage just kind of an overview of what happened the other day?

Well, you know, a much beloved officer, Mr. Kendall, Officer Kendall Corder, and Christopher McCree.

two young officers who have dedicated their lives to service in the city of Milwaukee and very well loved and known in the community.

A young man who grew up in the city of Milwaukee and then made the decision to join the force and do great work.

A lot of great work in building bridges.

And so when I say much beloved officers, they were every bit of that.

And so they worked with a lot of young children.