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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.
Now, from our Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.
Well, hey there, Wisconsin.
Good morning.
It is 6.06.
It's a Wednesday morning, July 9th, 2025.
And it is another beautiful morning to have you here up north, live from Lake WSOTA.
From wherever you're spending your mornings, listening across the Civic Media Radio Network, or listening on up
podcast or watching us on social media.
We thank you so much for getting your midweek started right here.
I got a question for you.
Do I sound a little different?
Do I sound better rested?
Do I sound like I'm going to get a big fat I told you so from Greg Bach when we talked to him on Friday?
Because I did not know that that this morning was going to go like this.
I thought it was going to go completely the opposite.
As I finished my first night with a CPAP machine.
Yes.
You recall it well.
There's Parker and all the kids in the peanut gallery.
So happy.
Like, is he going to be a little less grouchy today?
Yes, perhaps so.
Perhaps so.
The brain fog of recent weeks has lifted and I did not feel like I was being squeezed to death by a robot or anything like that.
Yeah, I really thought this could go sideways.
That I'd be up all night, that I'd be struggling, claustrophobic, whatever the case may be, and instead, it went as well as could be expected.
So, Tony, right away up on YouTube, it's night and day of the difference.
You clearly are very well rested.
I feel very well rested.
I feel great.
Let's tell you what's coming up on the program today.
And first off, you've got a former state legislator here who was reading through a state Supreme Court decision all about a particular legislative committee.
So I have to give you the following warning.
Get in nerds.
We are taking a deep dive into how a bill becomes a law and how a law comes to life.
through rules.
The rulemaking process is boring and routine.
At least until Republicans in the legislature figured out a way to rig it.
Rig the process in a way that interferes with how the experts at state agencies make the law work for all of us.
We will explain the legislature, the committee with the longest name, the joint committee for the review of administrative rules.
You know, JCRAR for short.
and how the state supreme court yesterday called out GOP lawmakers for misusing it.
And so between that and some other recent decisions, remember gerrymandered maps and the governor's partial veto powers, it appears the liberal justices now in charge of the court seem to be making it harder for politicians of all stripes to push the envelope on rules.
And that is overall a good thing, even if you disagree with some of the decisions.
And I do, but in terms of what it is they seem to be looking to accomplish, so far they're setting the tone.
And we will talk to State Senator Keldoroy in our eight o'clock hour about that.
In our seven o'clock hour, there is no subtle way to put this.
Some of Governor Tony Evers biggest supporters are outraged.
They are...
furious about how little was done in the new state budget for their priority, high priority issues like childcare and public education.
Two of the biggest leaders in advocacy out there, Karine Hendrickson for childcare, Heather Dubois-Bornan for public education, believed that more could have and should have been done for a budget that would not have passed without help from Democratic legislators.
So why wasn't there more in there for more Democrats to say yes to?
We'll talk to Karina and Heather about that.
We'll have climate check with Melissa Baldoff, it being Wednesday and all.
We'll check on Western Wisconsin News with James Kelly, as well as with Jimmy Cuskett.
Earl Ingram is launching his Civic Media podcast, so we will talk to him as well, and Melissa Kay, hopefully with a pigeon on her shoulder.
We'll see.
And a reminder that tomorrow at 7 30, we'll talk to Congressman Mark Bocan.
All right, along the way, of course, we'd love to have your texts and your comments to do that.
All you've got to do is head over to Facebook or YouTube and put some comments in the sections there, the up North news or the civic media, Facebook and YouTube pages.
And you can also text us through the civic media app.
and we may share those along the way as well.
Well, we could if I had it up on screen.
Let me let me go get that right now because who knows, somebody might have said something already.
There you go.
And of course, that's also where we will see any voice notes that you send us through the Civic Media app as well.
Tony tells us that if paint bucket isn't here today, I may lose it paint bucket being the name of the rescue pigeon that Melissa Kay is hopefully got by now and is looking to
Probably give a new name Parker Olson.
No Parker Olson's not the name Parker Olson is standing by in Madison studio a2.
How are you doing?
I don't know.
That makes you the pigeon daddy.
And that's just biologically something I don't want to go there.
I guess that's a
ready for it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's probably better that way.
Did you catch any of the Brewers Dodgers last night?
you can't, you can't join the game late.
Shohei Otani is the leadoff hitter for the Dodgers and you're thinking, Jacob Mizorovsky, okay, this is going to be great.
He gets strike one, he gets strike two.
Here comes the O2 pitch from Mizorovsky and Shohei says, yeah, let me welcome you to the big leagues with this monster home run.
Dodgers go up one to nothing and then that.
That was pretty much it.
I mean, you wrote, you know, Clay Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers, you know, he's not as young as he used to be.
He's he's kind of on the mortal side.
And I mean, he's still very good.
Oh, he was still very I'm just saying he was not, you know, again, this is not 2018 Clay Clayton Kershaw.
Yes.
Is what I'm saying.
So the Brewers beat the slumping Dodgers three to one.
The Dodgers have now lost five in a row.
But that first home run by Otadi 431 feet over the center field wall.
I'm just watching this thing going.
Yep.
Welcome to the Biggs, Jacob.
So that's all right.
You know what he did after that, after the home run?
He struck out the next five batters, yielding only four hits and one walk.
And then, get this, after Mizorowski left the game, in comes Jared Kenig and then Abner Uribe and then Trevor McGill to close things out.
None of them allowed a base runner over the last three innings.
And this is again, one of those weird baseball stats, you know, who tracks these things?
Somebody's got to track them.
But between those four Brewer pitchers, their average fastball was clocked at 99.3 miles an hour.
That is the highest average fastball speed in any single game by the pitchers on a team since they started tracking pitch speed.
Which I know hasn't been that long, but I also guarantee you Babe Ruth didn't throw it 100 miles an hour.
Yeah, no,
think yeah, so it is
Oh, without a doubt.
And again, that that is nothing against, you know, sandy cofax and all the others.
It's just that they did not throw for velocity so consistently the way the pitchers do now.
Now, of course, their arms fall off after about an hour and a half of a career.
But now they rebuild them, you know, like Steve Austin.
It's like the bionic pitcher.
So brewers were winners and looking good.
And now you get a chance to do it again because they wrap up the series this afternoon.
that Brewers put up left-hander Jose Quintana for an afternoon game with the pregame that starts at 12.35 on stations across the Civic Media radio network.
Will you be at that one too?
I know you're at the last Wednesday afternoon game, so.
I'm not in any way saying, why wouldn't you go?
But that is usually when we have our weekly show meetings.
So you got to miss the last one.
You know what it did.
Why don't you go to the ball game this afternoon?
Yes, why don't you?
I'm out of here.
I'll see you later.
I mean, look, baseball is all about superstition.
If it works, it works, you know, so yeah.
All right, let's look at Brittany Merleau's forecast for the state today.
She notes that the the cold front that sparked up some showers and storms has moved on and high pressure is building in for a couple of days and that could then be followed by some heavy rain potential for Friday for some spots.
But for today, partly sunny, less humid.
Seriously, less humid.
I opened up every window in the house this morning and it is glorious in here.
Highs today in the upper 70s up north, low 80s south with a light north wind at 5 to 10 miles an hour for tonight.
Mostly clear and comfortably cool.
Areas of fog are possible.
50s for most across the state near 60 down close to the Illinois border with calm winds and Brittany will be here.
With all the forecast details coming up in just under an hour But it was one of those days where it is by and large beautiful But there are those puffy clouds and if you ever look at like a radar You don't see like the line of rain.
You see like little dots here and there Here's a little you know, just a little pop-up rain.
call
Scattered that would be scattered.
There's scattered clouds and every so often you'd look at a cloud and go
Well, that one looks like it's swelling up like, you know, a zit you're about to pop and it's going to rain on you.
Sorry about the analogy there.
That's a visual.
But I say that as somebody who is noticing those clouds while driving in my Jeep, running errands down to Eau Claire.
Top down.
And I'd just be looking at individual clouds that I was about to go under going, is this the one that's going to open up and rain on my open Jeep?
It was nerve wracking.
At the same time, it was beautiful.
But again,
I'm, I'm one of those people who, one of those, again, when you see a thunderstorm just pop up on the radar, that actually happened to me once and I ended up with two, three inches of water in the Jeep.
So I am, you know, which cleans up fine.
It's a Jeep, you know, but still it's, it's a, it's a little extra work and, and, uh, it's, it, you know.
It's a little embarrassing.
So no, I was a little nervous about it, but it was it was just a lovely day and I love that it is.
um you know less human that's that's the nice part from the text line jim and brookfield good morning pat you look and sound well rested my wife has been using c-pap for a few months now and all has gone well i'm surprised i'm surprised how quiet it is that is exactly what sherry said when we woke up she's like i couldn't believe how quiet it was of course she meant my snoring but which was non-existent but also the hey he's not breathing
which was also not an issue.
Your good night's sleep, Pat, is just in time to appreciate the fact that the subcommittee Joker has now been reigned in and the actions of a few will no longer be able to block laws for the common good.
Yes, Joker is another is an acronym for another one of those weird little legislative committees.
And so we're going to talk more about that at 630.
So look for that.
But thank you, Jim.
And yes, it was extremely quiet.
It was a little fidgety.
But, you know, we still managed to, you know, get a good night's sleep in.
Stay here.
I'll be right
I don't have the whole thing.
It's like a headgear.
Okay.
And then it's almost not quite a scuba mask, but I brought the just the little piece that goes on.
Okay, yeah.
So, you know, it's not it's not a pig snout.
It's like an
see on like the sideline of a football game.
Yeah, it's not the biggest one that you get then on the very front is where you would attach, you know, a little hose to the machine and the machine is just
crazy quiet, you know, and it's it's a it's a difference maker, you know, it's a whole new ball
It's a whole new world.
It really is.
So it's yeah, you're gonna you're gonna have to get used to Pat with a little more pep here.
Peppy Pat.
Here we go.
Peppy Pat, it could be, it could be a good thing for everybody, right?
We can't have curmudgeonly Pat all the time.
Hey, from the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissoda, thank you for putting up with all this and making this the place to spend part of your mornings.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Hey, don't you forget that at Up North News, we have a daily newsletter, sign up for it, UpNorthNewsWI.com.
There's also a Sunday morning politics newsletter that we'd love to have you on board with.
In this week's issue, back on this past Sunday, I talked about the state budget and the federal budget plan being passed, being rushed through about
Congressman Derek Van Orden trying to have it both ways on liking the bill and yet warning Governor Evers about something terrible that was in the bill.
And we also had a question of the week and wanting to know, will this be a typical midterm cycle in 2026 where the party and power of the White House, Republicans in this case, will have a setback?
Or will they actually build on their majorities for whatever reason?
Either people like their ideas or they run, you know, the most fear mongering ads, whatever gets the job done for them.
What will 2026 be like?
Now, keep in mind that we don't know a few things about 2026 yet, like, you know, will Governor Tony Evers announced that he's running for a third term?
We do know, thanks to Molly Beck at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that there is now officially
a second candidate, Republican candidate, in the race for governor for next year.
So stating the obvious, the Republicans were never going to anoint one candidate and avoid a primary.
There was always going to be a primary, which will be in August of next year.
And we know that Josh Shulman, the Washington County executive, was the first Republican to officially declare.
And now Bill Barion, a businessman or retired Navy SEAL, has officially entered the primary as well.
Earlier he had announced he was forming an exploratory committee, but now he, according to Molly Beck's story, has launched the campaign.
It says here, comparing himself to President Donald Trump as a political outsider.
Yeah, Donald Trump is an outsider.
Uh, Baryon is the CEO of Pindle Global Precision and Liberty Precision in New Berlin.
And let's see, in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal, Sentinel Baryon said, bureaucrats and politicians like Tony Evers have failed Wisconsin.
They sold our land to China, encouraged illegal immigration in our communities, welcomed boys into our daughters, sports and locker rooms.
The time for change is now.
A Navy SEAL is never out of the fight.
We've seen that fighting spirit from President Trump.
Notice he's not mentioning Derek Van Orden.
It takes the same fight to run a Wisconsin manufacturing business, Barron says in the new ad.
In the 2024 race for president, Barron spent more than $30,000 to support UN Ambassador Nikki Haley against Donald Trump.
But of course, like every other Republican politician, they fold and take a knee and bow down to Donald Trump.
And I mean, look, you're gonna say Tony Evers has failed Wisconsin when Wisconsin had one of the best state recoveries of the 50 states post pandemic because of his stewardship of what he did with federal pandemic relief.
Congress went home, or not Congress, the legislature went home for nine months at a time with a paid vacation.
Sold our land to China.
hardly a top issue here in Wisconsin.
Encouraged illegal immigration.
No, we've encouraged immigration reform, but don't hear you talking about that.
And then if you're, if you're jumping right into, you know, welcoming boys into our daughter's locker rooms, I mean, honestly, that says it all.
Maybe you'll be campaigning next to Jimmy Swagger.
Oh wait, he died last week, you know, but I'm sure you'll find some other way to
Make this all about social issues when the people in Wisconsin want you to fight for them Okay, they want you focused on creating jobs They don't want you chasing jobs away because you don't like brown people Donald Trump So you got to round them all up and Bill Marion's over here saying yep, I'm with this guy all the way
If you want to be somebody that serves Wisconsin as a Republican in this day and age, take some free advice, yes, from a former Democratic legislator, but how about you finally stand on the side of the people?
of all the people and the things that they want instead of just fear mongering about the trans community or about Hispanics or about people on Medicaid being lazy which takes me to the next topic because we'll quickly move on from Bill Barion and that is the Agriculture Secretary for the United States Brooke Rollins.
Somebody with little to no agricultural policy experience before Trump plucked her into the job.
And she indicated yesterday that she is all good with the ongoing mass deportations of migrant farm workers, knowing full well that President Trump has been trying to have it both ways on there.
But Secretary Rollins said she's not worried that the mass deportation of migrant farm workers will disrupt the U.S.
food supply.
She said there will be no amnesty for agricultural workers.
She said, we're gonna
We're going to instead use automation and 100% American participation, which she said could be provided by what she called the 34 million people able-bodied adults on Medicaid.
Good.
I'm glad you went there, Secretary Rollins.
I'm glad you went there.
You want to make it your policy as Trump's Agriculture Secretary to say,
I'm going to replace these people who actually want to work, who want to live in America, who want to earn a paycheck.
And I'm going to replace them with Lloyd and with Esther.
Because, you know, Lloyd's getting his, his Medicaid, but he's not completely disabled.
So yeah, he should be out there in the fields.
And Esther, she's watching her adult children's kids, her grandkids, so that her kid and her husband can stay in the labor force.
Because we haven't done, you haven't done enough about childcare expenses.
But now you want Esther to jump out there and start milking the cows.
And I know you think that what you're actually going after is Yolanda and Dude Gamer69, who's on his couch, you know, surfing the internet and playing video games all day.
Here's the thing, Secretary Rollins and Derek Van Orden.
If those people are out there, it's time for you to name and shame.
And I don't mean one or two folks.
I mean, you better name and shame the 34 million bums that you say are out there.
Or otherwise, as usual, you're just making stuff up to afford a policy that is going to crash the American economy.
More after the Midwest Farm Report.
You're up north.
There is a lot still ahead on this morning's program.
State Senator Calderois will be along, Melissa Baldoff with Climate Check, Melissa Kay with Pigeon Quest, Jimmy Koska and James Kelly with Western Wisconsin News Updates.
Earl Ingram talks about his new podcast.
And one hour from now, we'll talk to Heather Dubois-Bornan from the Wisconsin Public Education Network.
And Karine Hendrickson from We Can, one of the childcare provider groups about their unhappiness with what is in the new state budget agreement.
They believe much more could have been done.
All right, there is the new edition of the Up North News Daily newsletter.
It includes an article about Brots.
And what it is about Wisconsin that makes them so unique to, uh, to brought, why do you find them here more than anyplace else?
And also Selena Heller's story about the state Supreme Court ruling that upholds abortion care access in Wisconsin.
So all of that in the newsletter, let's make sure that you get signed up for that over at UpNorthNewsWI.com.
All right.
Here comes that nerd alert again.
I warned you.
It's coming.
It's, it's time.
Yep,
there
it is.
We need to explain some stuff from a state Supreme Court decision yesterday.
But most of the news reports will tell you that the story was about so-called conversion therapy, which is, you know, quackery disguised as torture for mostly young people.
who are having questions about their sexual identity and trying to, you know, essentially convince them that, you know, they are straight.
Sure.
So you may have heard the news story that the state Supreme Court made a ruling yesterday that said the Evers administration can go ahead with a ban on so-called conversion therapy.
Let me tell you the politics behind this case as a former member of the legislative committee that was involved.
It's got a long name.
It's called the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules, or JCRER.
That's fine.
So JCRER, all about administrative rules.
So what are these rules?
Well, here's the thing.
When legislators or members of Congress, but we'll stick with legislators, when you write a bill and that bill is going to become law, you can't possibly include in the bill everything that could come up.
when the new law is being implemented and put into effect.
There could be things like workplace safety rules, professional licensing in a way that doesn't get outdated, rules on how to register to vote, how to determine who will get these grants for new tourism centers, on and on and on and on.
So that's what executive branch agencies do.
So let me back up a bit.
The legislative branch passes a bill.
The governor
over in the executive branch, signs it into law, and the executive branch agencies, the Department of Natural Resources, the State Elections Commission, whatever, they write rules that help put that law into force and have it take effect.
So you may ask, okay, once the legislature sends a bill to the governor and he or she signs it into law, does the legislature have no more say into how it's interpreted through the rules process?
I mean, what if a legislator said, whoa, whoa, wait, that is not what I meant for that law to do?
Well, legislators have a process and it's that committee called JCRAR to review these administrative rules that are written by these agencies.
Now,
This has been around for a while, so what's different?
Why did the state supreme court feel the need to weigh in on this?
Well, to bring it back to, you know, Grand Patel and stories here, when I was in the legislature 15 years ago and served on JCRAR, that committee was a backstop, part of a system of checks and balances so that if, say, the DNR wrote up a rule that sounded way out of line with the law that we'd passed,
we could use JCRAR to temporarily, important word here, hold up the rule and maybe even ask the full legislature to weigh in on whether this rule is right or not.
But to do all that between the executive branch and the legislative branch and this rules committee, you had to have one thing.
You had to have trust.
This is a collaborative process.
writing these rules.
It has to be built on trust.
And sadly, that is not the era that we live in now.
In the 14 years that Republicans have controlled the Wisconsin legislature, a lot of things built on trust have been abused.
Exhibit A, gerrymandered maps.
Yes, I know Democrats in other states have committed gerrymandering as well.
Doesn't make it right.
Here in Wisconsin, it was Republicans who did it in such a diabolical fashion in 2011 that it destroyed trust between the parties for a generation.
But there's also beyond the maps, there's the confirmation process that has been misused and has led to a lack of trust.
I mean, are you aware the state Senate is still sitting on well over 100 nominations from Governor Tony Evers for various agencies, boards, and departments?
Those are supposed to be done right away.
But of course, there's no rule that says it has to be done right away.
So that process is being abused.
What Republican legislators are doing is instead of confirming these nominees, they say, well, you go ahead and start your work.
And if we don't like the work you're doing, then we will schedule a vote on whether to confirm you.
And if we reject your confirmation, you're essentially fired.
That is not how the process is supposed to work, but Republicans found a way to abuse it, to use a loophole, however you want to put it, and that needs to be fixed.
Then there's the budget.
We talked about this one recently.
The legislature approves the funding.
The governor signs the bill and yet
The GOP sometimes uses the JFC, the Joint Finance Committee, to put a hold on funding some things that they don't like, even though the full legislature already proved it.
It's a weird form of double dipping.
And the state Supreme Court a little over a week ago said, no, that process is being abused.
You can't do it that way.
And now yesterday, they said the same thing about the rulemaking process, because it's one thing to put a hold
on a rule in order to review it.
It's another thing to claim that this committee can sit on the rule indefinitely, essentially blocking its implementation.
That's a legislative veto that the Wisconsin Constitution does not allow.
So look, if legislators want conversion therapy to continue torturing our young people, don't hide behind this obscure but powerful rulemaking committee.
Just come out and say it.
Say where you really stand but don't abuse the separation of powers.
The people of Wisconsin elected a governor statewide and there are things a governor and the executive branch get to do on their own.
There are other things where it needs the legislative branch in order to pass laws or review rules but don't misuse the process and blow up trust in the process.
And that, I believe, takes us back to this new liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, what I see them doing.
Here's the big picture.
They are slowly modernizing the rules of state government that reflect the times, including the way Republicans have been abusing this process.
But the thing is, again, they're being reform-minded, and that means they're making some decisions that the governor doesn't like either.
And that I didn't like.
Taking back to last week, I did not like that state Supreme Court decision that limited one particular way that Governor Evers was using his partial veto.
But if I'm going to give the liberal justices credit, it's that they are looking past one episode and they're looking at the partial veto overall.
What they're doing is, again,
modernizing rules that reflect the times that make it tougher for a politician of any political stripe to push the envelope on what you can do with a partial veto, what you can do with budget numbers and joint finance, what you can do with rules in JCRER.
Slowly but surely, we have reformists in Madison, finally, and they're on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
And even though, like I said, I don't necessarily agree with a particular decision.
When you look at the long range impact and they seem to be, this appears to be the reform that we're looking for and a majority that ought to be protected.
So the result of all this is going to be less political mischief and that's great.
But.
I would also let folks know there is a faster way to get the job done on reform faster than waiting for cases to come up before the state Supreme Court.
And that is to take a good look at your own state senator or state assembly rep and see if maybe they're part of the problem when it comes to abusing things like map drawing and budgeting and rulemaking and that maybe
Maybe it's finally time to have a legislature that is more focused on service than on power trips.
And that's something that has to be decided every other November in our voting booths.
I mentioned earlier that there is a new entry into the governor's race and that would be Bill Barion.
His story was in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this morning.
Barion is 56 years old.
and does not again know if Evers will be running or not, but Bering already has an add out and targets Governor Tony Evers in it.
Bering joins the race after having raised $1.2 million since April through a pack that he launched earlier this year, a political action committee that he says is aimed at boosting Republican candidates in tough election cycles.
Now,
Baryon will not be the last Republican to get involved here.
It will not just be Josh Shoman versus Bill Baryon.
There is the potential that you will have heard of neither one of them by the time August of next year rolls around because there are also other folks who are considering bids.
There's Congressman Tom Tiffany, there's Tim Michaels, there's Eric Hovde, the state senate president, Maryfels Kowski from the Tomahawk area.
She is certainly sounding like somebody who wants to run for governor.
I saw another press release from state senator Eric Wimberger in the Green Bay area and maybe I'm just being too complimentary to him and his press team, but those press releases always look like somebody who's about to announce a run for governor.
He certainly put out one ripping into the University of Wisconsin system again yesterday that makes it sound like he could be positioning for a run.
And so Republicans are going to face a primary for sure.
And Democrats might if Governor Evers decides not to run for a third term, it's the field is going to get real crowded real quick.
And.
In all cases, I guess to Republicans right now and to Democrats later, if Governor Evers chooses not to run, I will give the same sage advice that I gave even when my hair wasn't getting this gray.
And that's to keep your powder dry unless you are absolutely certain this is your ride or die.
This is the candidate that you want.
And sometimes you want that in a race.
How do I know that?
because in the state Supreme Court race for next year, appeals court Judge Chris Taylor, likely taking on incumbent conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, has just picked up a key endorsement, Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Now, Senator Baldwin is not the first high-profile endorsement for Judge Chris Taylor.
She has four other key endorsements,
the four justices, while the three justices and one justice-elect, because Susan Crawford will take the position in a couple of weeks here.
But she's already got some pretty high-profile endorsements.
It's not the same as a gubernatorial primary, and Chris Taylor appears to be the person that progressives are putting their hopes in for a state supreme court that continues to be as reform-minded as the current court is making itself out to be.
Today's history lesson is coming up next as we do mornings here powered by UpNorth News 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.
One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock.
Five, six, seven o'clock, head o'clock, rock.
Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, rock.
We're gonna rock.
Around.
Welcome to today's history lesson.
Bill Haley and his comments with Rock Around the Clock became on this day in 1955, 70 years ago today, the first rock song to hit number one on the Billboard pop chart where it would stay for eight weeks.
So you could very well make the case that today is the 70th birthday of Rock and Roll.
Thanks to Bill Haley.
That was 1955.
The next day, 1956, the kids were really listening to their rock and roll and that included a little show in Philadelphia called Bandstand, which was hosted by Bob Horn.
Yeah, Bob Horn.
But on this day in 1956, he was replaced by a guy named Dick Clark.
This was this day in 1956.
The show went national and Dick Clark hosted it until 1989.
All happened, again, 59 years ago today.
I'm sorry, 69 years ago today.
Lots of happy birthdays today.
Jack White from the White Stripes is 50 years old today.
Mark Allman, lead vocalist for Soft Cell, is 68 today.
so 80s that I've got to bring in one of my favorite people to talk 80s music with.
Melissa K joins us as well from WFH Art in Wisconsin Rapids.
How are you?
Good
morning.
I'm good.
How are
you?
I'm good.
And you can just, you can tell the listeners out there are just like, what are you doing?
Get to the point.
Why?
You know why Melissa's here.
You know what?
Well, but I want to give enough time for that.
So we're actually kind of racing through today's history lesson here.
If you don't mind.
Let's fight.
It's like the big reveal is coming.
So happy birthday to Jim Kerr.
He is 65 years old.
No, 66 years old today.
He is the lead singer of Simple Minds.
I feel like we're going with all 80s here.
Simple minds big hit, of course, from the breakfast club.
Don't forget about me.
The late O.J.
Simpson born this day in 1947.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is 70 today.
Tom Hanks is 69.
This one's going to make you feel old.
Fred Savage from the Wonder Years.
That cute little kid.
He's 49 years old today.
Let's give you one more.
Two things that happened this day in 1977.
First, here's Alan O'Day, who hit number one in 1977.
And maybe it was because this song was on the radio, but on the same day in 1977, Elvis Costello quit his job at a cosmetics factory to pursue a music career.
I'd like to think he heard this song and said, I can do this.
And I never heard his
The, uh, the L and O day or Elvis Costello Elvis Presley.
The 14th Amendment guaranteeing due process.
Hey, remember that thing was ratified this day in 1868.
And, uh, let's see.
It's a national.
Don't put all your eggs in one omelet day and national sugar cookie day.
But none of that matters because for these, for these,
for these next four minutes.
two.
Oh, absolutely.
We're jumping right into here's Melissa K and.
I mean, we put so much into that jingle.
I had to use it one more time.
When last we left Melissa K two weeks ago, she was on the verge of.
collecting a rescue pigeon by the name of Paint Bucket.
It is time to turn to Melissa now who on her camera looks to be in a different room in her house.
I guess what HGTV calls the big reveal.
Melissa, what do you got in the house over there?
Well, if you if you'll follow me as I turn my
camera
pan over.
Look at that.
Is that a kennel?
It's a dog kennel.
Yeah,
it's a dog kennel that's been converted.
Into a home
for a pigeon pigeon
palace and who is in the pigeon palace?
Well, I did bring home paint bucket, but now they have a longer name is it is Leonardo Louise in an honor of some famous artists and So Lelu for short
Lelu
Lelu.
Yep.
How do you spell that?
L E capital L O you L
E capital L O you
Okay, got it.
Just wanted to want to make sure I got the banner up on the screen just right there.
So all right, there we go.
Yes, we lose hiding right now because they're very shy.
And they're still getting used to their surroundings and their space and
Oh, yeah, suddenly got to get used to all this, you know, you know,
banter that's going on here on a Wednesday morning is going, what the heck is this?
And the noises are different and the space is different.
So how was the pickup?
How was the journey?
It was very
smooth.
I mean, a side of like really weird rain that I had to drive through all the way down and back, but they were quiet.
They had like an open-sided carrier.
I met a volunteer in Janesville.
And this gave me
the
the carrier and I drove back
and then came again then came the handoff and when you by the way when you hear her say they it's it's because we We haven't really unlike, you know, the Republican obsession with locker rooms.
We don't really know Leeloo's gender yet.
No, because you can't tell unless they lay an egg
the only way.
That's a punch line I can use in other ways down the road.
I'm just going to keep that one in mind.
So have you been happy so far?
So far we've done well.
Yes.
So they suggested I put a yoga mat in the bottom.
It's very easy to clean.
And it gives them traction because they're a little wobbly on their feet.
a
yoga mat.
Yes,
I like it.
You can you can hose it down and yet they can get traction.
I feel like this really would have come in handy for a relative of mine back in the day, who drank a lot.
But it's I digress.
So
you can tell that right now I've got a little low dig in there.
It's it's bath time.
So if
they want to come out and bathe they can.
But then yeah, they are shy.
Okay,
and the
most I've heard them coo a couple times twice.
usually do it in the air or like late afternoon But then if I get too close they grunt at me.
Yes
See look at the stuff we're learning here.
We are gonna learn so much
every Wednesday.
By next Wednesday, Leela is going to be doing tricks.
It's going to be great.
I'm going to have
a little
tiny hula hoop going around those pigeon pants.
For more, catch Melissa K at 97.5 WFHR1055 WIRI.
Melissa, thank you.
You're the best.
Always good to see you.
Talk to you later.
Have much more coming up after the 7 o'clock news here on this Wednesday morning, powered by Up North News, live on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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