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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by UpNorth News.
Now, for my Lake Minnesota studio, here is the founding editor of UpNorth News, Pat Craiglow.
Hey, good morning.
It is 7.06.
Nice to have you here up north on this Thursday morning, July 10th, 2025.
Coming up in just a bit, we're going to talk to Sandra Goldstein from the campaign for a family-friendly economy, some Wisconsin stories about the people who will be directly impacted.
by the the big bloated boondoggle that president trump got passed through congress last week and the real harm that it's going to be inflicting and then coming up at the bottom of the hour congressman mark pokehan will join us for one of his monthly visits no doubt has some strong things to say about the outcome of that bill in that debate in congress and the
shall we say misleading things that some people have been saying about it and the impact that would be felt here in Wisconsin.
In our next hour we'll talk to Joseph Pecky, we'll talk to Sean O'Malley about your money and the markets, but before we get to all of that we're going to turn to meteorologist Brittany Merleau.
We've also got Parker Olson standing by in Madison studio A2 and Brittany.
Definitely a little bit more humid here, but still very pleasant ahead of what is one wave and then another wave.
It's like, what are we getting next?
It's a warm front.
It's a cold front.
Which wave
are we on
now exactly?
Well, we're about to start wave one.
The warm front is first.
Gotcha.
So yes, it's going to be a wild next few days in terms of rainfall.
It's going to be on and off heavy at times.
And we are looking at a flooding potential.
The Weather Prediction Center has put us in a slight risk for the potential for flash flooding somewhere within
25 miles from you, there's a 15% chance of that.
So that's what that means with the slight risk.
What we're gonna do is this warm front is slowly creeping in off towards the western part of the state this morning.
This could start to spark some showers by late morning, maybe around 11 noon or so.
Then as it continues in towards central Wisconsin, we are gonna start to all start to feel that mugginess, the heat starts to build.
We're all climbed to the low to mid 80s today.
It will feel muggy.
and thunderstorms do want to start probably right around four o'clock and continuing into our evening and again throughout tomorrow, Saturday morning and even into Sunday afternoon for Portion South in the state.
So we've got a next wet few days.
If you didn't get the grass cut already, you're probably going to have to wait until Sunday because the breaks in between and with the amount of rain that we're expected to get, I don't think the grass is going to be very dry.
So with that said,
We are looking at a good one to two inches that could fall in some of these storms because they're just going to be sitting on the front, barely moving, hitting the same area over and over again.
So we could see some flash flooding.
So please be careful out there as we go through the next few days, but it will be warm and it will be muggy.
That is exactly why my to-do list is a little bigger today, my work stuff, because I looked yesterday and I thought, yep, this is, this is, I got to mow the grass today.
And, and of course my neighbor whose long since been retired, I heard him and he's, he's like a weather barometer.
You know, it's like, if Don's mowing, you better get out there and mow because, you know, his, his left knee is telling us that some rain is coming.
So
we were out, we
were out to never underestimate the power of having a retired neighbor.
as
a weather
indicator.
Exactly.
They are unique and special.
They mow you mow from Rob and Tigerton.
Good morning.
He says cloudy and 59 in Tigerton.
It has gotten foggy in the last hour.
Yesterday I had six yards to mow in Tigerton, a doctor's appointment in Shawno.
a spaghetti and meatball lunch at the shadow cafe on highway 29 in shadow county.
They're using aerial enforcement.
So I had my seatbelt on and was watching the speed limit.
Well, as you should be every day, Rob, of course, when the
Grass dries, I've got three yards to mow.
And I do have a farmer's suntan, like the ones I always got working on the dairy farm when I was growing up.
So Rob doesn't just send us notes.
He listens as well.
head that quintessential farmer's tan.
And now we know the answer.
Brittany, thanks so much.
We'll get an update next hour.
I'm good.
All right.
Before we get to our next guest, a reminder that if you ever miss an episode and want to listen back and want to make sure that you don't miss an episode, that you can hear it on demand, well, you ought to pod this program.
You can listen anytime by being a subscriber, head over to Spotify or Apple.
as well as civicmedia.us, the Civic Media website.
You can listen back to past episodes, but it would be great to have you along as a subscriber as well.
Of course, you can always sign up for our newsletters over at upnorthnewswi.com, where that includes our new Sunday morning politics newsletter.
We're this week, the question of the week.
also asks what you think will happen in the midterm elections whether everything that's happened in Congress recently means that Republicans are going to have a setback in 2026 or will they find a way to actually build on their majorities.
A lot of that is going to come from the messaging that's done between now and November of next year about the impact of what Congress did last week.
And there's all kinds of politicians that can claim one thing or claim another thing.
They can use a broad brush to say that they're getting rid of so-called waste, fraud, and abuse.
And as I've said before, many times on this program, there's the good chance that when they're talking about waste, fraud, and abuse, that you're the waste that they want to get rid of.
You don't think of yourself as waste, but
they do if you're getting in the way of some big, beautiful tax breaks to billionaires.
There's some other folks that are working on the real life impact of bills like the one that passed last week.
They include our friends at the campaign for a family friendly economy and executive director, Sandra Goldstein joins us now.
Once again, to talk more about that.
Sandra, good morning.
How are you?
Good morning, Pat.
I'm good.
I'm good.
I love the retired
neighbor.
good into care.
Well, the funny thing is, I mean, he's that to us, because he's like 20 years older than me.
And I one day we finally did the math and a nice young couple moved in on the other side of us.
And
we did the math like, Oh, my gosh, we're there down and back.
You know, they've come, you know, they they look at us as the old wise ones.
And I, I reject that entirely.
I do not want to be I want neither to be old nor wise at this point in my life.
But
I guess I just have to accept what it is.
And part of it is the wisdom to have seen these things that are going on, Sandra, and to know that you've got you've got to trust certain people who are not just speaking in political platitudes, but actually talk to real life folks.
And
that is the most recent project that your group has been working on has essentially been a storybook
about
the impact on Wisconsin families.
Yeah, so at the campaign for a family-friendly economy, we build grassroots support for policies that really try to lower the cost of living.
And in particular, we pay a lot of attention to the ones that address the high costs of caregiving, whether it's paid family and medical leave or affordable child care and home care, the cost of health care of prescription drugs.
And if there's one thing people should have walked away from the last election, it was that
voters were looking for concrete solutions to lower cost.
And that's certainly what we heard from Republicans.
That's certainly what we heard from Donald Trump.
And that's what we continue to hear from them in their rhetoric.
But we know the difference in terms of their actions.
And as you just said, this quote unquote, you know, like one big beautiful bill is.
is cutting off vital services that so many Wisconsinites and folks across the country need in order to be able to take care of themselves and their loved ones.
And that impact is going to be devastating.
And we don't need to listen to policy experts to tell us that.
People who have been following what's happening in DC, the people that we've been talking to to explain what's been happening in DC, are really worried about the impacts on their families and their community.
Yeah, and even for me this week,
I learned that in my extended family, there's somebody where the Medicaid cuts are going to be particularly painful if they come through in the way that they are projected to.
And you looked in the storybook that you're putting together, and it included seven different examples from folks in Wisconsin.
Can you tell us about one or two of them?
Yeah, I would love to, and it's really an honor to speak on behalf of these folks, many of whom are not politically motivated.
who don't generally step forward to share their story publicly, but feel that this bill is immoral and will impact them in such a profound way.
So the first one I wanna talk about is a woman named Julia, who's from Eau Claire.
She shares that Medicaid saved her life.
She has been hospitalized in the past several times as she struggled with her own mental health.
And it was Medicaid that
allowed her to afford the treatment to get her on a path where she has opened her own business.
She is an in-home childcare provider.
And she gets the connection of what her representative, Derek Van Orden, who voted for this bill, what's important to him, which as you said, are lining the pockets of billionaires as opposed to protecting people and families like her own.
So there's one example, and I know in terms of Medicaid, that's needed for people who need care for their disabled children.
There's SNAP nutrition benefits.
I mean, the story is a bound of...
everything but the couch surfing video game players of which apparently Derek Van Orden and the Secretary of Agriculture think there are some 34 million of them.
It just seems like they could learn more from these stories that you're collecting from Wisconsin families.
Oh, absolutely.
Clearly, this is a Congress that does not feel right now accountable to their constituents.
And as you said, in 2026, that is the time where people are going to be able to truly bring accountability.
But in the meantime, what we're doing is really trying to share the stories directly with the folks that voted against this bill, like Senator
Baldwin and who you're going to speak to in a minute, you know, Representative Poe Kahn, and also to get these stories front and center for folks like Derek Van Orden and Brian Stile, who seem to be unaware about or just disregard the impact that this is going to have on their constituents.
You know, I think it even goes beyond the one big beautiful, quote unquote, one big beautiful bill.
We've watched the Trump administration and Republicans
go after other services and programs that Wisconsinites rely on like Head Start.
In the storybook, you can read about Brenda, who lives in Arcadia, who works as a family advocate for Western Dairyland Head Start.
And, you know, Trump froze federal funding at the beginning of the year for Head Start programs.
And, you know, Brenda was terrified.
With one swipe of his pen, he put her livelihood
at risk.
And she tells us that it is, she fears for her own family's financial security.
She worries about how all of the children in the community and their parents who rely on Head Start to work and contribute to the economy are going to get by.
So it's these
these programs that support families' ability to care for themselves, to contribute to the economy that Trump and Republicans in Washington DC just seem to have absolutely no regard for, and they really miscalculated.
The reaction that we've seen from folks is really unprecedented.
People aren't always as plugged in and reading day to day what's happening in Washington DC, but this has really broken through.
This is healthcare.
Well, especially when you consider Head Start serves more than 16,000 children, employs more than 4,000 Wisconsinites, which would make it one of the top 100 employers in the state that
that's
being decimated.
Sandra Goldstein is telling us about it from the campaign for a family-friendly economy.
We will continue that conversation.
For some of you, others will be getting a local update.
And then when we're all back together, 15 minutes from now, we will be talking to Congressman Mark Pocan about that bill and where Congress goes.
from here.
The Brewers swept the Dodgers, winning yesterday three to two.
They are off today and begin a series with the Washington Nationals coming up on Friday at American Family Field.
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.
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.
Coming up later today on Civic Media, let's start with Matt and Aaron Ayer, which follows this program from 9 to 11.
Coming up at 9.30, writer Andrew Watkins will be their guest.
And of course, at 10.50, this shouldn't be a thing.
The Todd Alba Show this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon will be live from just down the road here at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair in Chippewa Falls.
I'll be joining Todd for both of his shows today and tomorrow.
So come on by.
Maybe we'll buy you a little refreshing beverage at the beer garden when it's all said and done.
or somebody can buy me one.
Whoever gets to the ticket booth first, I guess, right?
Rusty Volk, the outgoing fair director, is going to be our guest off the top of things right after the two o'clock news.
And Todd will also be talking to Eric Anderson, the director of the U.S.
CUBE Championship and editor of CUBE Nation Magazine.
If you're not familiar with the game CUBE, then tune in to Todd's show this afternoon at 3.30.
And on the Maggie Dawn show representative Duke Tucker will talk about a bill that proposes term limits Maggie Dawn show four to six this afternoon across the civic media radio network We are continuing our conversation now with Sandra Goldstein from the campaign for a family family friendly economy and they have put together a storybook of The ways that the Trump agenda is going to impact families including seven examples from Wisconsin So we're going to talk about one or two more of those examples and we're going to talk about
bus tour that recently went through the state and what you can do going forward.
So, Sandra, let's start first with maybe sharing another story that helps illustrate the far-reaching impacts of this bill.
Yeah, thank you for that opportunity again to share on behalf of these brave people who are who are stepping forward to share really personal details about their own lives and how they're going to be affected by the actions that are coming out of Washington DC by Republicans and of course led by President Trump.
So one of the women whose story is whose story I'd like to share is is a woman named Jessica who lives in Milwaukee who has a child
that really relies on Medicaid.
Her son was...
born with a brain malformation and a genetic condition that has evolved into very complex medical needs.
And Jessica and her husband really rely on Medicaid to be able to provide that comprehensive care that their son requires.
And Jessica listed off the enormous influx of medical bills and expenses, hundreds of dollars in medical premiums a month, thousands of dollars.
you know, towards an out-of-pocket maximum, you know, the fact that she is able to receive respite care, you know, for the caregiving that she provides.
And, you know, this is an example when, you know, thinking about, like, what you can do, you know, Jessica is represented by Gwen Moore.
And it's really important.
It's not just the Republicans who have been voting for all these cuts to make them aware of what
but of the impact that it's going to have on their constituents' lives.
But it's also getting behind and thanking Representative Moore, Senator Baldwin for their staunch support of working families.
Jessica has been sharing this story around her community and with these members of Congress.
And that is just important to show that this is not something that families are going to stand
for.
Look, you've outlined some of the downstream effects of this is that there's the big increase in monthly health care premiums.
There's more to be shelled out for out-of-pocket care if you can even access that respite care at all.
And of course, if you don't have
head start.
A lot of those kids won't have childcare.
That means more families are going to become single income households.
That's going to exacerbate the worker shortage in this
state.
I mean, it's just it cascades the ripple effects of how very bad this is.
And again, it's not as if the taxpayers are saving this money.
This is our money.
But instead of going to head start, it's now going to tax cuts for the very wealthy, even though
We've all paid into it.
None of us knowing when we might need something.
Like Medicaid, BadgerCare, Head Start, Snap, whatever the case may be, but it's there in case times get hard.
Now there was just a bus tour that went through the state.
Our friend Kristen Kroll from Fair Share America was a part of it.
Basically, the bill's passed.
It's all said and done, but...
the last thing we need to be doing right now is just, you know, brushing the dirt off our hands and saying, well, what can you do?
Let's carry on.
No, the carrying on means continuing to share these stories with members of Congress and with each other, right?
Right.
I mean, it's what's really interesting is, you know, two of the representatives who are in really, you know, had very
Tight wins in the last election are basically intentionally dodging their constituents at this time, right?
Like Brian Stiles, Derek Van Orden, refusing to hold public events in their districts to talk and answer questions about what is happening in DC.
They know they did something really unpopular.
They know they said they were going to do one thing.
And in fact, right, like they did another.
And so it's really important right now, whether it's through the bus tour that stopped in various places across Wisconsin where we got to hear from, you know, folks like the storytellers that I just mentioned and many others about the impacts on their lives, whether it's a direct call to those offices and email, it's really sending that message that their constituents are watching them.
right, that they are aware of what happens and they are unhappy about
it.
And maybe, maybe thank the good ones as well, the ones
who
supported.
You mentioned Gwen Moore and then there's Congressman Mark Pocan who will be on this program right after our next commercial break.
Yeah, and I think that I think that Derek Van Orden and Brian Stiles should take a page out of the book of Representative Mark Pocan, right, who represents the neighboring district to Representative Van Orden.
He has held numerous town halls in Van Orden's own district to talk to people about what's in the Republican budget bill.
He's really shown up for working families in Wisconsin.
And if you want to read more of what the campaign for a family-friendly economy has put forth, read it over on their website, familyfriendlyeconomy.org.
Sandra Goldstein, thank you so much for joining us today.
Pat, thank you so much for having me and for this program.
It's fantastic.
Happy to be here.
Thank you very much.
And the aforementioned Congressman Mark Pocan is coming up in just a couple of moments here and still ahead Joseph Pecky and Sean O'Malley all on these mornings powered by UpNorth News on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Pat Crichtlow, back right after the Midwest Farm Report.
Alright, my job now in this segment is to help lift some of the brain fog of recent events.
And as you know, I've been talking a lot about brain fog lately, having finally gotten that CPAP machine and feeling a lot better.
It doesn't mean the bad stuff around our day goes away, but at least I feel a little more clearheaded about it.
In much the same way, we're about to talk to Congressman Mark Polkhan.
And it's not going to make the bad things go away, but in dealing with the
the brain fog that is the rhetoric coming from the president and his acolytes, we're at least for the next 15 minutes going to deal in reality.
And Congressman Mark Polkan is here to help us do that.
Congressman, how are you?
I'm doing well.
Thanks for having me, Pat.
You're nice to have you back here.
What a couple of weeks it was there in Washington.
And I guess I will start.
I shouldn't be surprised, but I guess I will start saying I was a little surprised.
It really felt like for once there were going to be just enough senators and or just enough representatives on the Republican side to say, this is craziness.
Let's not go there.
But they did fall in line.
And I have to admit, shame on me, but I was a little surprised that it actually did get done in the end.
I'm guessing you're a little less surprised.
Yeah, there just aren't there weren't just enough vertebrae on the backs of the world's Republicans.
And, you know, Donald Trump, like he's done on everything, you know, convinces by convincing forces, Republican legislators to do things against their own goodwill.
I mean,
This is a bill that, as you know from being in politics, it's the type of bill that changes majorities, right?
It's something wildly unpopular, lopsided by 20 or 30 points, depending on the poll you look at.
It's going to hurt 17 million people from getting their health insurance.
Many, many more millions will be paying more for health insurance.
In fact, we'll all pay more because the way this is going to work, everyone's going to have to pay for where these gaps are at.
You're going to see a lot of rural hospitals and nursing homes close.
You're going to see food assistance cut for millions of people, education funding cut.
We've just made the school voucher program nationwide, essentially through this bill.
We cut a half a trillion dollars from Medicare in this bill.
We added four trillion dollars to the debt.
That's something we all get to pay for in the future.
And at the end of the day, they added about 5% of the bill.
was new added for working people, which was the no tax on tips and overtime and the senior tax deduction and on auto loan interest.
But they have a bunch of astrexes who can get those.
So it's really not what they seem to be.
And the only beneficiaries are people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and anyone who could afford to belong to Mar-a-Lago.
So it's a pretty big price to pay to make your Republican donors happy.
Yeah, you're going to have campaign funds, but you're going to have a lot of pissed off constituents.
And here's the thing.
When you talked about it changing majorities, when it happened to me and others in 2010 on the heels of the Affordable Care Act passing, again,
the making of the sausage is not pretty.
But in the end, after a lot of us lost our jobs because they didn't like the way we were making the sausage, they eventually saw the sausage, the Affordable Care Act was like, Hey, this is good.
This is something good for us.
What's happening here is again, they're seeing how bad the process was.
And they're learning bit by bit, far too slowly for my tastes, that this particular sausage is made of garbage and is harmful to them.
Yeah, you know they actually showed us you know some of the The other way to look at this is realized like you know, you don't take away people's Medicaid health insurance and long-term care until after the next election So they know it's bad enough that they waited till to make it implement after that But they also made the tax cuts for working people those that little 5% I talked about and
at the end of the Trump presidency, but the tax cuts for the wealthy are made permanent.
Just like last time, the corporate tax cuts were made permanent.
So they're taking care of themselves.
They're never taking care of us.
And I think people are going to figure that out, especially around the Affordable Care Act.
But these subsidies gone.
That's what makes the Affordable Care Act affordable.
They showed me some data.
A couple that's 60 years old in my district, making 85,000 on the Affordable Care Act, could see their premiums increase.
$16,000 a year.
That means they can't afford very likely a health insurance.
And that's part of the extra ripple effects you're going to see that come out of this.
So there's a lot yet to be found.
But what people know already of it, they really don't like.
I was, I guess not surprised, but I did note that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins finally went there.
She connected the dots that I didn't think they would connect publicly.
And it was to say, yeah, we're going to get rid of all these, you know, undocumented immigrants working on our farms here in Wisconsin.
But they're going to be replaced with all these couch surfing, lazy, Medicaid recipients, you know, and, and I don't know how
She plans to make that happen, but clearly that is some kind of far right fever dream is that you're somehow, if you make people suffer enough, if you bring the economy down enough, you can get rid of the brown people and you can make the poor white people do the things that they otherwise wouldn't do.
It's downright dystopian.
and then
So their whole premise is beyond comprehension.
But we knew that.
Arkansas did much of these reforms, so to speak, previously.
And of the many people that lost access to health insurance, 70% were found to still be eligible.
But the paperwork requirements and all the extra things you have to do to get it were so cumbersome.
It's not even that people, that they're even admitting that people deserve to have access to Medicaid.
It's just that they're going to make it harder for people to get it, which means at the end of the day, you have people going to hospitals and other medical institutions without money.
And of course, that's going to be paid by who but us.
Let me ask you about how we, you know,
see the messaging of this unfold from now through next November.
There's a reason I asked in our Sunday morning politics newsletter how the midterms are going to go because typically the party in the White House, you know, loses power in the midterm.
That's just the way political momentum works.
It doesn't always happen that way though.
George W. Bush actually
built a majority in 2004 because of the war, still continuing the fervor about a war that turned out to be based on false information.
Similarly, it's quite clear Republicans will throw whatever they can in terms of messaging to make enough people believe that somehow this bill is going to be good.
So here's the challenge to Democrats.
While many people understand what's actually in the bill,
Clearly, many Americans still don't.
What's the biggest challenge for your party between now and November of next year so that all that Republican messaging doesn't break through?
Really, it's fighting that disinformation, not misinformation, disinformation about what the bill is.
I mean, right now, Derek Van Orden is taking credit for what the state budget did.
He's taking credit for what the Senate added to the bill.
I personally, I think he's just stupid and doesn't know any better.
But I think he also is lying now that it's been explained to him because he doesn't want to admit he made a mistake.
But they're going to go out and lie and lie and lie about this bill.
So that's why I've been doing town halls in Republican districts.
I mean, to me, the simplest message, Pat, it's Wisconsin common sense.
If this bill is so good.
you would want to get on the rooftop and scream about it you have town hall so you can tell your constituents what you went to washington and did for them instead all the republicans are hiding from their constituents because they know that the bill helps their republican donors but no one else and that alone it doesn't pass the smell test so.
The Progressive Caucus got 50 of its members to agree this summer we're going into Republican districts to do just that, to talk about the big ugly bill and what it means for people and we're going to go across the country and do that.
Don't forget you also have Bernie Sanders and AOC doing that and some other folks going around the country doing it but you know this is what we need to do is get into their face in a real strong way.
You know, it's New York City seems a million miles away, but you've tapped into something here, especially about the New York City mayoral primary or Zoran Mamdani.
One, in part by talking to people who voted for AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Donald Trump, and really tapped into the whole affordability thing.
So now Mamdani, like AOC, like Bernie Sanders, like others, you know, that term Democratic Socialist is being
you know, they're Republicans are trying to weaponize it.
And yet you've got this group of people who the reason for their success is, you know, they're just being real.
They're just saying, look, we get it.
It's affordability.
It's everything else.
So how do you take that kind of real talk from people in these faraway places?
How do you Wisconsinize that so that in districts like Derek Van Orden's and Brian Styles?
I mean, let me put it bluntly.
And AOC
probably can't win in one of those districts, but somebody from Wisconsin can if they do what, Congressman?
I mean look the special interests are doing the very best to have the system rigged against us It's at the state level.
It's at the federal level It's what you know money to interest try to do and that's why we need to fight back and you know when you look at this taking away health care and Taking away food assistance the number one program that helps keep kids out of poverty and taking away assistance for education Pell grants and then adding to the debt to do it and then providing us crumbs and a tax break
If we explain it just that simply, you know, and show it that simply, people are gonna realize, yeah, this is another time that the deck is being stacked against us and we gotta fight against those people.
who are stuck in the deck.
And you just gotta say it so plainly and simply and sincerely and get into Republican areas.
When I went to Brokwa, Wisconsin, you know, in a rural part of the third congressional district, the town only has 4,500 people.
We had 4,500 people show up at the town hall because people are frustrated about losing many of these benefits that they paid into all their lives and they want to make sure that they have access.
And that's what your tax dollars are for.
So be authentic.
and talk about the issues that most people talk about.
They don't talk about politics.
They talk about can they afford their mortgage or rent?
Do they have health insurance for their family?
Can they take a family vacation?
And maybe that luxury of a camper, a snowmobile, or a boat.
Talk about it like real people talk about their budgets and you'll relate.
We talked in our last segment with Sandra Goldstein from the Campaign for a Family-Friendly Economy and I said, you know, the bill's passed, where are you going from here?
And she said, we're still collecting the stories and we still want people to talk to their members of Congress and share those stories.
And I don't know if you feel like that will be productive, but...
I know what will be productive is keep collecting those stories and share them with each other, share them with friends and neighbors, but obviously you're all still out there and you need to be accessible to people.
I'm sure they're going to share those stories with you.
Share them on your social media so that other people hear it from someone they know and trust, but also share it with your elected officials because I guarantee even though they're going to have the Medicaid and other cuts happen after the next election, but
what's not going to are the ACA cuts and those premium subsidies.
And that's going to affect people in a big way.
And you're going to have stories of people losing their health insurance, unfortunately.
And you're going to have stories about rural hospitals being squeezed and rural nursing homes being squeezed.
And then we point the finger appropriately at what happened.
It was this big ugly bill that caused those things.
So, you know, those stories are how people can understand this better than the he said, she said, Dems versus Republicans.
Look, it's just common sense when you can see
with that next hospital closes, that next nursing home closes, we'll really have something to show people why we warn people about this bill.
Yeah.
And by the way, these are going to be stories of real people.
These are going to, you know, as I said yesterday, if Derek Van Orden thinks that there's 34 million people, you know, committing waste fraud and abuse with Medicaid, well, put up or shut up, you know, let's start, let's start naming names.
Let's have Doge.
bring criminal charges against people defrauding the government, they can't because those aren't the real stories compared to the ones that your team is collecting and that others are as well.
Congressman Mark Pokan, as always, we really appreciate the update.
Hope you enjoy a little break here after all of that.
And we'll look forward to updating whatever comes up next in Washington.
Have a great day.
Yeah, thank you, Pat.
Take care.
Appreciate it very much.
Still ahead, we're going to be talking to Joseph Pecky.
We'll be talking to Sean O'Malley about your money and the markets.
A local update is next for some of you.
Others who stick around for a Western Wisconsin update, we'll visit with Todd Alba because he's on his way to Western Wisconsin to the Northern Wisconsin State Fair where I will be appearing with him later this afternoon and again tomorrow afternoon.
Again, all part of our mornings, powered by Up North News.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is 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 hour from now, James Kelly will be joining us from the Civic Media Chippewa Valley Newsroom to tell us about stories that he's following.
But in much bigger news for the Chippewa Valley,
The invasion has begun.
Actually, the invasion has been completed.
Todd Alba is here in the Chippewa Valley and getting set to join us at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair later today.
He must have loved it so much last year.
He came back for more.
Todd, good morning.
Welcome back.
Good morning, Patrick.
Good morning, Parker.
Good morning, everybody.
Glad to be technically up north.
Here in beautiful Eau Claire, the Chippewa Valley, got in, I don't know, around 10.30 last night.
No, 9.30 or so last night.
And here in Eau Claire, stayed at my sister and brother-in-law and niece.
And so beautiful, beautiful accommodate.
Mom's along because we're going over to the Twin Cities to see a show on Saturday.
So she's going to be at the fair.
We got into, I guess it was about 10.30.
We got into Eau Claire.
last night and mom says, you think Culver's is open?
I said, you want Culver's at 1030 at night?
And she said, well, I haven't anything to eat.
The poor woman, I picked her up at Richland Center like at seven o'clock and she didn't say a word.
I said, why didn't you say something?
We couldn't stop.
Well, I wanted to get up here before you fell asleep.
She had no confidence in my driving abilities.
And so we got her something to eat and then we got some Culver's here.
They're open to 11 o'clock now.
Pat no clear.
So it's fantastic
till a lot.
Now, I would have not.
I would not have guessed that.
So for those those.
If you got the late night munchies, Pat Parker knows that means you could have some golfers.
my.
Harvey's fry as well.
I prefer culverts.
Well,
All
right.
I'll just
sometimes you're going to hankering.
All right.
Well, you got the culvers out of the way, so now you can move toward fair food.
And do you have a favorite when you're at state fairs and things like that?
Well, I
can't remember.
Was there a particular taco that we had last year?
There was.
There was.
There was a particular, it was a booth I hadn't seen previously.
But yeah, they were, and they kind of, they
sliced up the meat, you know, uh, and then put it in this flour tortilla and then they deep fried the flour tortilla with the meat in it.
That's it.
Yes.
That was really good.
It was quite good and we'll see if that's one of the options here coming up.
I know every year there's.
Thanks to
you.
It's real
good.
I was gonna say every year my wife likes to get there's a euro place that does euros and she only sends a photo to one of our daughters because I mean our daughters, they, you know, they've been in other states for a long time now.
They love coming back here for the fair when
when they can.
And this year, they can't.
So of course, my wife's going to torture them sending pictures of the euros and the other fair food and saying, well, you should visit your parents more often.
You know, we're here.
The odd that you have to play, you pay for a euro and dollars.
I believe there's a
spelling thing that might be involved in this.
Hey, you are, you managed to get the outgoing fair director.
Rusty Volk is going to be joining you right off the top of the show at two
o'clock.
Only because of you, you gave me the number for the fair office and got his name.
And so, yes, Rusty Volk, his last year, he's an institution up here, Pat, as you well
know,
he was on our program last year.
He's informative, he's a great guy, and he's also just really entertaining.
So
he's going to start off and talk about the Northern Wisconsin State Fair, the history, what people can expect.
If you haven't been here all seriousness, even if you don't live in the Chippewa Valley area, it's a great weekend to get in the car.
It's a family affair, drive on up to the Chippewa Valley,
and spend a day or even a couple of days here because it's really, really an undertold story.
And we're happy to be here and help do that.
Yeah.
And so he is going to be retiring.
And then on January 1st, he will hand the reins over to Brian Mackie, who's well known for sponsoring events and administrating other things involved in media.
So I mean, it's going to be a smooth transition here, but we'll definitely miss Rusty's presence, although
I have a feeling he will still be attending fairs in the future.
Just not have the responsibility of running them,
you know?
Right.
I guess if you're right, you're just, he's actually going to enjoy a fair for once.
And then, uh, we also have, uh, uh, Eric Anderson, I believe his last name is, he is the, uh, the direct, the national director of the USA national championship.
Coob tournament is held at Eau Claire.
It was started here in the United States part of it.
And so it's a big, big deal for the Eau Claire Chippewa Valley area.
So we're going to talk a little coob, a little fair food and, uh, we'll try to get a live animal on with, uh, with Pat and I as well, other than myself.
When I see fair.
food I become
a live animal.
Like I said, I don't over promise this.
I want to make sure they're going to allow live animals in one of the buildings where we're doing the show from.
But
if need
be, we'll sneak a rabbit in.
And then we'll head over to the taco booth.
No.
Kidding.
Holy kidding.
It's Hassan Pfeffer.
Yes, Hassan Pfeffer taco.
I wonder if...
I wonder if they'll have all the racing pigs and some of the other things.
They'll have the two beer gardens.
I know that.
That's always a nice feature.
Dave, when you were running for office and in the state legislature, did you ever get roped into like one of those, you know, grease pig contests because people love to make fun of their legislators?
When I was either running or I think after I was in the legislature, I was invited to be part of the Chippewa Valley Dairy Breakfast Milk Drinking Contest.
Drinking, not actually milky, but drinking.
Yeah, but then, and this was the twist, they hand us all those calf bottles that look like baby bottles with the nipple, but they're giant.
So you have to suck on this big bottle with this giant three inch nipple.
That's
fantastic.
boy contest they might have done very well at but anyway
it was
sounds like a lot of good
time had
by all
yes and then there was there was uh supposed to be a milking contest right
My poor wife.
I mean, she grew up on a dairy farm, but, you know, they were smart enough not to let some city boy, you know, help out.
I was just going to impede the progress.
So when
I was
invited to this milking contest, you know, she was trying to, you know, tell me how to get this all.
Thankfully, that contest was canceled for some reason right before I had to compete.
So I did not embarrass myself in that one.
But if you'd like to embarrass yourself.
at the fair later on.
Hairball is tonight at the fair.
Flow Ride at tomorrow.
Foreigner on Saturday.
And Todd Alba dancing in the beer garden today and maybe again tomorrow after a show from two to four.
Catch it at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair.
I mean, that's worth the price of the ticket right there, folks.
Building
C. Stop by.
I see Patrick and myself.
WCFW, a great music station.
Folks, they're going to be there as well, so it's going
to be a
good time.
Have my all.
We'll see you at the fair.
Joe Specky, Sean O'Malley and more coming up after the news right here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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