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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Kratlow powered by Up North News.
Now, for my Lake Mesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Kratlow.
Hey, it's 7-0-6.
Nice to have you back here up north on this Monday morning.
It is July 21st, 2025, and let's see what we've got.
Dr. Kristen Lierly here.
We've got Parker Olson producing this shindig in Madison Studio A2.
Up North News reporter Selena Heller joins us from Eau Claire and
Lord willing and a fair wind blowing to carry the signal.
We have meteorologist Brittany Merleau at the EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh where she once again is camping as naturally as possible, sleeping bag in a swamp.
She's crawled out of it to join us here
and
tell us what's happened.
Look at that.
That is a broadcast quality microphone right there.
You can fly that thing into Air Venture.
Brittany, how are you?
I am doing pretty good.
It's been an event so far, just trying to set up camp.
You know, last night got a little chilly.
There was definitely dew out there.
I was freezing for a minute or two, but we've got power.
We've got signal.
We've got internet.
So we've got a weather forecast for you today.
It is exciting.
The gates just opened here at EAA.
People are coming in for the first time this year.
planes are already taking off.
I mean, about 10,000 planes come to this air show about 700.
and there's about 40,000 people camping alongside with me right now.
The campsite is packed and we are all excited and the weather couldn't be any better.
The sun is shining right now.
The wind is blowing.
It is a bit breezy, so it's a crisp morning highs right or temperatures outside across the state 48 to about 66 degrees.
Nice and refreshing.
We're going to stay cool and crisp today with no humidity really seeping in low 70s to low 80s for our high temperatures and then we are looking.
at some light rain possible far northwest in the state this afternoon, maybe a thunderstorm or two, but very small.
None are going to be severe.
And then as we go through tomorrow, that's when the active weather starts to surge in a little bit more.
This whole week looks a little wet for a lot of us by tomorrow afternoon.
We're looking at some storms up north and then mid to upper 80s.
Yeah, it's going to be muggy, hot and humid as we go through the next rest of this week.
So this is the most refreshing, sweat-free, I think I'll be.
It's going to get down and down and down from here, so I apologize for that, you guys.
No, no, we're very excited for you.
You've got a great setup there.
You're right outside one of the gate entrances there.
I noticed you're on the far side of the gate, so they haven't kicked you out yet if you haven't officially walked in.
So
this is a good thing.
Are you looking forward to seeing something in particular today as things get opened up?
Ooh, good question.
I think the first day for me is more like get the feel of the grounds.
What is here?
Where is everything at?
Because it's massive.
You do a lot of walking, so make sure you got the right shoes.
Check things out.
I want to find the blimps, but I don't think they're here just yet.
And definitely all the military airplanes and different homemade aircraft.
I am actually camping next to a guy who built his own airplane.
So I kind of want to go see that.
It's inside there as well.
Oh, built his own airplane.
Isn't that the dream?
I'd love to do that.
No, no, it's the nightmare, Brittany.
If
somebody says something, hey, I built
this.
I built this.
You want to go up in it?
No,
I do
not, but.
You have more you have a lot more faith that way and that's what that's what's you and 700,000 friends Are all you know better and more trustworthy for it.
So but I did see as I look through there There's I mean there's little seminars or demonstrations on like everything like building your own plane and what kind of fabric to you know goes best around you know the The body and the wings and things like that.
There's the military demonstrations like you said I mean it doesn't matter if you're just the the the rankest amateur
or the most seasoned professional, there is something for you to see and learn something about there.
There really is.
Like I started off not knowing anything, and now my knowledge has just grown specifically from this event.
So it is really cool.
They're even having some YouTube, Facebook, how to be a star on that.
I mean, they're giving talks about everything.
It's not just aviation, it's anything related to it.
And NOAA is here, the National Weather Service is here, so.
Lots of meteorology nerds as well.
If I can ask as well from like an infrastructure standpoint, I get
that all
these people are going to be here to see all of that.
But again, you got to take care of all these folks.
How much like a fair is it in the sense of like concessions?
And I mean, are there more than six porta potties?
Because I'm sure this thing has grown over the years and they've had to learn the hard way that you actually have to feed these folks and give them things to do.
How are the facilities?
Oh, they are really, really good up until about.
I'm not gonna lie, Saturday night.
Saturday night, I'm sorry guys, it's gonna be a little rough out there by the end of the week, but they take, these are the best porta-potties I have ever seen.
Oh,
why?
I know, it's the weirdest thing to say, but they are the cleanest.
They clean them every single day, multiple times a day.
The food, there's plenty of vendors inside, there's even nice restaurants.
Updoor rooftop bars, things like that.
It is, they've got it all here.
And then plus for the campers, we also have stores on site.
So we have places to go get ice and food and things to cook and wood and salad or something.
But if you're inside the gate, you're going to pay those inside gate prices, of course.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Celina, does this compare at all with the the air show you were doing for the Chippewa Valley?
What, two, three weeks ago?
Yeah, I was just thinking about that I know and and from your standpoint Brittany I know we have to have a like emergency preparedness kind of plan in place and we
go
through that I mean we have a whole specific team just for that and we all know what we need to do if something happens and that actually went through a storm went through one of the years not too long ago a few shows ago and it just poured and the wind blew the wind blew the porta-potties over and oh
things right away.
So I know you probably have a plan like that in place there too.
Yes, we absolutely do.
We have warnings sirens and stuff like that.
So the National Weather Service and the meteorologists here will come on and let everybody know that a storm is incoming.
They try to give us at least 45 to 30 minutes warning so we can move and get out of here because again, it's a lot of walking to get to safety.
But we've got the EAA museum as our shelter and we'll see how it goes.
But it's going to be an active week as we move into later in this week for sure here in Oshkosh.
I gotta think for all the stuff that they need, Kristen, that somebody would have at some point asked you if you wanted to be one of the volunteer docs there.
I'm sure they've got medical staff on call around that area.
They've got everything.
They are so well equipped because they've been doing this, I mean, how many years?
It's been, what, 40 years?
More than that.
Yeah, more
than 50 something
now at this point.
Yeah.
So yeah, they have everything.
Please go.
It sounds intimidating.
700,000 people.
They know how to handle the crowds and the things that you see and the things that you'll learn are incredible.
All right.
Absolutely.
Good morning from Tigerton says Rob.
Hazy sunshine in 58 because yeah, we've got that Canadian wildfire smoke moving back in the area.
Don't we hear?
I do.
Okay.
I worked on my lawn tractors getting them ready for more mowing jobs today in Wittenberg.
There was storm damage.
from Saturday morning in Northeastern Marathon in Northwestern Seanal counties from high winds and hail.
He says, I heard the planes over my house yesterday headed toward Oshkosh.
They also had a plane fly out in Wausau heading toward the EAA.
We were talking about it being National Junk Food Day.
He says, I have a bad habit of eating Hershey bars with with nuts in a bowl of ice cream and loads of chocolate toppings.
Mm hmm.
Okay.
Let's see.
And he he too remembered the Captain and Tennille variety show back in the 1970s.
He loved hearing Kristen sing along during the
commercial break to the captain and to Neil and said she should be singing every day.
Brittany is a shining star of the EAA.
He says it's like farm progress days for the agricultural community.
And then Alicia was chiming in as well, saying, woohoo, she's going to be searching for Brittany when she gets down there.
And she says home builds are awesome.
meaning home-built airplanes.
Compared to, she says, again, as a veteran, our military aircraft are held together with duct tape and hopes and dreams.
And Tony, asking on YouTube, I thought, no, I got fired by the government.
Well, I'm sure that'll be a discussion point out there as
well.
Yes, oh, it
will.
There will be a lot to talk about there.
All right.
Will we see you in an hour, Brittany?
Or will you already be on a blimp or something by then?
No, I'm gonna hang out with you guys.
Oh, bless your heart.
All right, good.
We'll see you in a little while.
Thank
you.
All right.
Hey, remember, you can sign up at UpNorth News for our daily newsletter, UpNorthNewsWI.com.
And remember today, it's about the EAA.
So you can learn a bit more about that.
And not just what's at the show, but what goes into putting on AirVenture, which includes a whole lot of volunteers, the people from the Oshkosh community who truly make this thing happen.
So you can sign up again on our website.
You can also sign up for our Sunday morning news.
letter.
That one has much more of a political bent to it.
And we ask about candidate for governor Bill Barion running ads already for governor more than a year before the primary.
But of course, nobody knows who Bill Barion is.
You know, he's a guy that runs a business and he wants to be governor.
So in the newsletter on Sunday morning, I asked, what is your impression?
of a candidate running ads this early.
Is it, you know, I hate it, and if I see ads that early, I'm immediately gonna dislike this person and never vote for them.
Or is your answer, I get it, I don't like it, but if you gotta build name ID, it's what you gotta do.
Or is it option C, you actually like that.
You like when somebody is advertising early, it shows that they're, you know, they've got a lot of initiative and that they are worthy of your attention.
Well, needless to say, gang, a lot of people pick an A. They do not like the political ads a year in advance, but it's far from unanimous.
There are enough people saying B, they get it, they understand it, and there are a couple of folks already saying that they admire that somebody wants to jump in.
I think that might be more...
politics driven that maybe they're not Tony Evers fans and they're just happy that somebody is running ads for governor right now.
But you know, Kristen, you know, along with me from being a candidate, there's a whole different strategy on when you start advertising because once you do, I mean, you're burning money now instead of raising it.
Yeah.
think here in Wisconsin we have so many elections and we as a swing state are so targeted so there are so many ads and also unlimited money so I think based on conversations that I've had with friends and neighbors that people just are tired of it like people want to enjoy the summer and they want to go to EAA and they don't want to be thinking about politics because politics is always looming over us right now.
Yeah people love to have a little break like even Selena you're a country jam this weekend and there was no chance.
This time around that there'd be any candidates, you know on the outside of the ground shaking hands or anything like that It was everybody got the full escape this time as you were out there.
I would assume
Yeah.
Are you going to tell me that up on the jumbotron between acts?
There was a Bill Berry and governor commercial or something like that.
I didn't see any.
No, I didn't see any.
We did have some fun there.
The artist did with the whole Coldplay incident and put the camera on some people and they did the whole ducking and covering really
quickly.
tapped into some cultural things that are happening right now, didn't it?
Oh, did it ever?
My goodness.
Um, and I can, I don't remember if we asked on air or off air who you, you were, you saw somebody, uh, one group that you were particularly impressed with.
Well,
Bailey, Bailey Zimmerman, that's what it was.
Yeah.
Okay.
I had no idea.
And then so
come to find out he's a great performer.
Oh my goodness.
Very high energy.
War Packers gear coming out of the gate and then he takes it off and he throws it or signs it takes throws it into the crowd and then puts on something else.
A lot of a lot of changes of his outfits and then he came out again with a love jersey on.
So
he really
haters the crowd but very great performer.
Yeah,
I think he's Tony's distant cousin.
No, I don't.
I don't think so.
But, you know, never know.
Roger and Steven's Point puts on Facebook, we played Durand-Duran last segment saying a view to the kill is the only James Bond theme to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
That's a
true fact.
And Tony responds with, that's what this show was made for, Durand-Duran history.
I want to keep
doing it.
That would make you so happy.
When we come back, Selena Heller had a chance to talk to Karine Hendrickson, who is having to close up her child care business and is also contemplating a run for office as well.
That and so much more ahead on these mornings, powered by UpNorth News.
I'm Pat Crightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
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Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Somebody break up the Milwaukee Brewers.
No, don't.
It's going really well.
But boy, the rest of the baseball, you can almost hear it here.
Ten wins in a row for the Brewers after beating the Dodgers again yesterday, six to five.
They are now in a 10 game winning streak and six of those 10 wins coming against the Dodgers.
Six and 0 for the season series against them.
Since May 25th, the Brewers are 34 and 12.
Best in the majors, they now move on up the coast to Seattle.
And let's see, what time does that pregame start?
8.05, there it is.
Coverage begins on several Civic Media stations for the games in Seattle tonight, tomorrow night, Wednesday afternoon.
Then the Brewers are off Thursday coming home for a weekend series against Florida and then a week from today
their homestand continues taking on three games with the Chicago Cubs.
Those are going to be some big time games.
And again, you can catch them on some civic media radio stations.
Selena Heller with us now along with Kristen Lyrely and Parker Olson, who produces this little shindigan.
Let's go back to Selena to find out more about talking to Karine Hendrickson, who is a childcare provider in New Glaris, but you did not go to New Glaris to be clear.
Karine Hendrickson was coming up to the Chippewa Valley.
She did, along with a few other people who were in town.
When Christian Phelps spoke at this rally, it was a Keep Wisconsin working rally, a rally for childcare.
So they were talking about, you know, what happened in the budget this year, or just recently with childcare.
And that is, well, the state really never has included funding for childcare, one of six states that hasn't.
And now it has, but really it's not a whole lot.
So that's what they were talking about.
And then kind of bringing attention to that because it's just not enough to support providers and make sure teachers get paid a living wage.
So they surmise that about 25% of providers may close.
So they're kind of bringing attention to that matter.
And so this is Karine.
I talked to Karine.
I talked to other just parents who said we did everything right.
And we have jobs.
We have full time jobs.
but we just can't even afford child care.
So it's a big problem.
And Kareen talks about what's happening.
Child care, we received $110 million through the interest from the Federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
And it is only for 11 more months.
The ask was $480 million.
So we got less than 25%.
And it is about a 20% per month cut in funds that we were receiving that.
offset the cost of parents tuition.
And so for myself, I sat down and did the math due to the ages of the children, increased costs for food and insurance and all the other things that go along with running a small business, and the cut for 20%, my rates were going to have to go up about $60 a week for me not to take a pay cut.
And I don't make enough the way it is to take a pay cut, let alone.
So I made the difficult decision to close my business in order to make sure that the children that I have in my program right now will have a place to
go in September.
So she mentioned that on our show last week as well.
And that, you know, she was somebody who earlier in the year was pointing toward a state commission survey showing just how many childcare providers were faced with going out of business if the state budget did not, you know, renew the childcare accounts program.
And now she's become one of them.
And she is very frustrated.
Yeah, she said I just can't justify putting my family into bankruptcy.
So I can't raise the money for these families that I have.
And it's just kind of this big conundrum.
So it's just a problem that all these providers, in-home providers are having and even not in-home providers.
So it's just across the board.
And to be clear, there are plenty of folks who
point at the Republican majority and the legislature as, you know, the primary culprit.
But Karine Hendrickson is also saying, well, they're not the only culprit in her book.
There are a lot of people like Karine that say folks from both parties could have done a lot more.
Let's hear what else Karine Hendrickson had to say to Selena.
I'm very sad, but also exhausted, exasperated, frustrated and just
demeaned by the people who supposedly care about us.
We have elected reps on both sides of the aisle that campaigned on families and working families and hardworking families and making sure that children and families are supported and stabilized, but yet refuse to do the one thing that we know it will take, which is investment.
And that's what all the other countries are doing.
That's what almost every state is doing that touches us.
All the states around us are investing.
We're losing our young people to those states because why would you stay here?
And that also is frustrating because our rural communities.
especially where I live, they're being hollowed out.
And so not only are we losing our children and families, but we're losing our volunteers.
We're losing our firefighters.
We're losing our EMTs.
We're losing all of the things that make a community strong.
We're losing our public school teachers.
And so I'm watching the population of most of the communities around me go down.
and watching people frustrated because they want their communities to thrive and they like worked hard to do that and they come together as community members but community members can only do so much and that's where that therein lies the problem.
Our government is supposed to make sure that everyone has equal opportunities and not pit each other against each other and not choose the wealthy and well connected over the general population and right now that's who we have an office in our state and federal government.
And Kristen, rather, in hearing that from Karine, it just reminds me that last hour we were talking about Tony Weed, who also could be working on things that would help families and instead is touting a bill introduced last week to make it easier for mass shooters to shoot more rounds at once, remove any limits on gun magazines.
And so Kristen is a candidate.
You too have heard all this frustration of we feel like we're doing everything right, but we're not getting the support we need from the people we vote for.
Karine says it so beautifully and I really appreciate how she uses her perspective as a childcare provider to also highlight all of the other pieces that are connected here and how this is just the beginning of the domino stream.
So if you can't get childcare, you can't go to work.
If you can't go to work, you can't afford your housing and your food.
It is just that community glue that we all need to pitch in if we are all going to be healthy, living
meaningful, forward focused lives.
So yeah, we, our politicians need to reflect the needs of the people and that is absolutely not happening right now.
So look for that story from Selena Heller over at Up North News on our website and on social media as well.
Selena, thank you for bringing that to us.
Have a great start to the week.
Thank you.
You too.
All right.
When we come back, the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission has some thoughts about primaries, whether they're good or bad or necessary.
That's coming up right after this.
You're up north.
735 welcome back nice to have you here live from Lake Wissota and from the Green Bay area as well where Dr. Kristen Lyrely is hanging around with us in what a green long sleeve something that at first I thought was just a you know just another pack of jersey but no it is that from the is that from Wellstone action by chance
no this is from the DFL
oh from the Minnesota Democratic Party the DFL Democratic Farmer Labor Party a Paul Wellstone shirt in honor of the anniversary of his birth today
Yes, and Corrine's statement and the fact that the purpose of government is to serve the people.
And that's not what's happening right now, but that is exactly what Paul Wellstone stood for.
So,
in
solidarity.
That was nice.
We don't often get a lot of costume changes here on the radio.
Appreciate you going from Bay Beach to Paul Wellstone.
So that's great.
So we've both been candidates.
We've both been in races that either looked at having potential primaries or a lot of discussions about, well, who should run?
And you've talked about people running for assembly or Senate or Congress and which race is right for them.
And the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, who's also a Democrat, the chairmanship flips between Democrat and Republican chairs.
Anyway, put up a post about primaries because there's been a little bit of, if not controversy, then discussion in a couple of different legislative districts about to what degree either the state party or others are influencing whether there will be a primary or not.
And for me, this began when Karine Hendrickson mentioned that she was thinking of running in the 17th State Senate District down there near Southwest Wisconsin.
because I knew that recently state representative Jenna Jacobson had announced that she was running for the race.
And when I hear that a state legislator is going to be running like state rep was going to run for state Senate, you know, I have to admit, I assume like, okay, well, the decks have been cleared.
And that's what's going to be the case.
And we had Robin Vining announced, you know, that she's going to be running against Senator Rob Hutton of Brookfield.
And you find out that that's not necessarily so, that there are other people interested in running.
So to what degree is a primary good or bad?
And down in the 17th Senate district there, there was a long Facebook post.
Brick Cider is the Facebook account and somebody talking about their desire to explore a run for state Senate.
And they felt like they were talked out of or maybe intimidated out of running.
by a group called the SSDC, the State Senate Democratic Committee.
Now, the SSDC is not exactly the same thing as the state party.
This is the political caucus for the Democratic members of the state Senate.
So there's the SSDC, the State Senate Democratic Committee, and the ADCC, the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee.
And they obviously get involved in recruiting candidates, just as at the congressional level, Kristen and I were both, you know,
not recruited, hounded by the DCCC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
And in all cases, Kristen, well-meaning folks, but that does not necessarily make them, you know, the be-all and end-all experts on local races.
I have so many thoughts on this.
First of all, to make it very clear, the SSDC's job is to recruit people to run for state senate, and the ADCC's job is to recruit people to run for assembly.
And the D-trips is...
to get people to run for Congress all over the country.
So there are bodies that do that work.
And there are seats that they focus on that really
can make a difference where they look at the numbers and they think this is a seat that we can win.
So they want to make sure that that's a great competitive district.
So they tend to put a lot of time and energy and effort into these districts.
And the 17th Senate District here in Wisconsin, which goes from South Central Wisconsin all the way over to Southwestern Wisconsin, is one of those districts.
They want that candidate to be the shiniest, best supported, greatest fundraiser, all of those things.
And when they find somebody who they think is that person, they elevate that person.
person.
But when there are other people who are on the outside and don't have the same connections and maybe the same background, it's harder to break through.
And it can be a challenge.
But I would say, as somebody who actually helps to recruit and support candidates in Northeast Wisconsin, a primary is not a bad thing.
A primary is an opportunity to talk about what you care about and to get your voice out there.
If it's done well and in a positive way, and that's what people want to see, they really, really want to see good people talking about the things that they care about, it could be a really great thing for our democracy as a whole.
And I'm saying for the sake of argument, not to disagree, but to give the other side of the argument on this is that primaries take up resources that could be used against, in this case, the Republican incumbent, Howard Markline in Senate District 17, Rob Hutton, over in the Milwaukee suburbs.
And so there are groups that very much try to dissuade people from announcing if they think that there's a candidate.
So Ann Jacobs, who's an attorney and the Democratic chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission,
has seen all this and I wanted to share her thoughts on this that she posted over the weekend.
It's four points.
Number one, primaries are neither inherently good nor bad.
For example, good
create awareness of the race, strengthen the candidate message bad, siphon dollars needed for the race and damage the eventual candidate.
Especially if it's a negative primary.
We've definitely seen that.
Number two, the job of the SSDC and similar funding orgs is not to hand out participation trophies to everyone who indicates they're interested in running.
Their stated goal is to fund the candidate they think most likely to succeed.
That is a political decision.
Three, running for office takes more
More than, I think I'm very smart and have good ideas.
Maybe you are smart and have great ideas.
You also need to have a plan on how to run, how to convince people to vote for you, how to find resources to fund you.
Running for office is hard.
That's why there are various training groups to help you learn to do it, like the aforementioned Wellstone Action.
If you're not willing to do or have not done the work on these logistics, people will not consider you a serious candidate.
And four, if you really want to run all you need are nomination paper signatures on some documents.
If what is stopping you is that people aren't supporting your effort, then perhaps it is time for some introspection on why that is.
I mean, that was amazingly blunt and says it all, makes the case right there for, you know,
Don't be whining if SSDC ADCC or DCCC goes with somebody else because, you know, they're, they've got a job to do.
Well, I'll say ultimately it comes down to do the people support you.
So if you are not coming into this race with support of the people and you can't garner that kind of support, then maybe you're not the right person.
Maybe you are a support person for the person who's going to be the candidate.
And, you know, I'll use an example when I ran for Congress in the last cycle.
There were three of us who stepped up.
There were three of us who wanted to run for that same seat.
And what we decided to do was put our heads together before any of us filed, we started
to get media attention, we started talking to people, and we tried to figure out where we all fit into this process.
And we knew we all had a role there, but we didn't know what our individual's roles would be.
And as time played out, and as we had more conversations with people, it became very clear where we all belonged.
So there's a way to do that, working collectively together.
I think one of the tricks with candidates, though, is that in order to be a candidate, you have to have some like a little, like maybe a little touch of narcissism, maybe.
What?
Us?
Everybody thinks like I'm the right person and you have to be able to set that aside and be there for the people.
There was a quite a response on that post from Anne Jacobs by State Senator Kelder Royce and it was responding to somebody who wanted to know more about what is the SSDC and the ADCC.
And so Senator Kelder Royce put up, the State Senate Democratic Committee is made up of the Democratic senators in Wisconsin and our only job is to win the majority.
We have limited resources and
time and so we work our butts off to recruit and support our Democratic candidates in every seat.
We have been incredibly successful protecting all of our incumbents and flipping all four even slightly competitive seats in the last cycle where we face national headwinds.
Now, we have the possibility of a Democratic trifecta for the first time in 15 years.
I personally will again raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for these candidates.
The idea that Democratic senators who are doing this work should never get involved in supporting candidates in must-win seats until after the primary, especially in cases where there is a very strong standout candidate, is crazy.
We need to be smart with our resources and time.
anybody gets to run for anything.
It's not hard to get on the ballot, but to earn my support personally, someone has to share my core values and show that they are capable of doing the work to win.
It is really hard to get elected, especially in these critical seats where the races now cost millions of dollars.
And you have to oust a powerful, well-funded, well-known Republican incumbent.
Why would anyone who shares our values want us to sit on the sidelines for a year when doing so has
cost of seats in previous cycles.
So again, a very full-throated defense of how the SSDC and the ADCC run things, but I will be the first to tell you it's not going to sit well with other folks who feel like they're being, you know, excluded from
tapping into resources simply because there is, here's that word, an anointed candidate.
People in Democratic circles, probably Republican too, hate the impression that one candidate is being anointed to run.
So, Kristen, what you just explained, I watched you guys in this process last year, multiple people, you know, looking at where they fit in with the right race.
From my distance over here looked like a textbook case of how to find the strongest candidates in the strongest seats and give yourselves every opportunity to win.
Because we have a common goal.
which is to win so that we can do the work for the people.
And I think another really important point here, Pat, is our primary is late.
Our
primary isn't until August, and the general is in early November.
So if we have competitive primaries, we don't have a lot of time to line up behind that one candidate between August and November.
It seems like a lot of time, but it actually isn't an election cycle.
So that's why we really have to do a lot of that work in advance.
of the primary, and that's why the work of the SSDC and the ADCC is so important.
Having said that, if you are thinking about running, start having conversations with people.
Talk to the people in your community.
Talk to the leaders.
Talk to the electeds.
That is ultimately government as people working together for the good of the people.
So start working together now.
It's not too late.
No, it's not.
And again, every district is going to be different.
Every candidate is different.
And that takes us to, you know, the third congressional district where there are three democratics running already, three women all from the Chippewa Valley interested in running.
One ran last year and was very competitive with Derek Van Orden.
And there are definitely people who feel like the decks should be cleared for Becca Cook to run and be the nominee again.
But
Part of the part of the reason there are already two other candidates is this feeling of, well, she had her turn or she gave it her best and now we want to give it a try.
The, you know, obviously a lot of powers that be say, no, no, this was our nominee.
They're in the strongest position.
I don't envy any of them.
And I frankly feel, I don't know, blessed is the right word, but I get to provide a forum here for everybody.
All three of those candidates know they can come here, make their best case.
They know where I stand as a former elected official is everybody come here, make your case, but then come the day after the primary.
If you are not fully full with a full-throated endorsement of your nominee, you're the bad guy.
in this case and I'm not going to lie there's some people very close to me who were the bad guys last year when you know there was a nominee and uh you know the least amount was done possible for the nominee in some of these races we all you know who who are invested in November have to come together after the primary go this is the way forward as difficult as it is
Right?
This isn't a time to hold grudges.
This
is a
time to work together to make the change that we all want to see.
And just briefly, I'll tell you, we've got four people who are looking at running in Northeast Wisconsin.
And I believe in Glenn Grossman's district, there are four people who have already filed.
So enthusiasm is high.
Get involved.
Even if it feels impossible, get involved in some sort of a meaningful way.
There is a place for you at the table.
So there you go.
You've heard the pluses, the minuses of primaries and support behind them.
And in all cases, there is room for you to increase your civic engagement.
A local update is coming up next for some of you.
And then for the rest who are sticking around here, Jimmy Cusco will be out along and we'll talk about how about those brewers, ten in a row.
Yeah, that's a pretty fun thing to talk about.
I think we'll do that after this.
You're up north.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
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Parker Olson produces from down in Madison Studio A2.
Kristen Lyrely is here as is Jimmy Koska to talk about sports from over the weekend.
The All-Star break, but also is there's a different All-Star.
Is there a high school football All-Star game, Jimmy?
Yeah, there was a high school football.
There were three of them, in fact, because they do it all in one shot in Oshkosh.
So the weekend before EAA, if you're in Oshkosh, you get to take in three high school football all-star games.
And this all-star game was in its 49th year.
It used to be just one game with all the kids in the state.
Now they've broken it out to eight player, small school, and large school.
For the first time in 77 years, basketball
um had someone represented in a high school football all-star game in wisconsin so i got to go watch one of my guys play in it which was pretty awesome it's a wonderful experience it was so much fun it was hot but it was so much fun um but the uh the game has always raised money for a cause and since 2008 the wisconsin football coaches association which puts on this game raises money for children's wisconsin and they raised 350 000 dollars this year so um the players and coaches go out and they raise money for children's wisconsin um it's a
It's a really cool thing that they do to tie it in with giving back to communities and think, but also showcasing high school football talent in Wisconsin.
It's a great event.
I love it.
And I saw on WEAU here in Eau Claire this morning that there was a training camp in the area featuring Gilbert Brown.
Gilbert, of course, had been, you know, working with Earl Ingram on a camp for kids down in the Milwaukee area.
So I mean, I love the stories this time of year about, you know, the athletes who give back the people whose donations make these things possible, including these all star games and, you know, everything that you need to do so that a guy like you can still get a
and do football practice at 5 AM.
Yeah,
I've been in football mode since 4 o'clock this morning, which you know, here's the thing.
The first high school football games in Wisconsin kick off exactly one month from today.
So it is football time.
Let's go.
The
person up here living in the shadow of Lambeau Field could not be happier to be hearing all of this.
I
love high school football.
It is like it's where your communities come together on Friday night and cheer for the common cause.
That is like, yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Look, the whole reason we've, we, we needed something other than baseball because we could gush about the Brewers for three hours and that just does not make for the, the, the best three hour show.
But we're going to gush for the next couple of minutes here because I'm telling you 10 in a, 10 in a row, six against the Dodgers, two, three game sweeps.
That was pretty cool this weekend, Jimmy.
That was
fun to watch.
Yeah.
For a minute, they had the best record in baseball too, right?
They're only a half game out of that.
I
Here's the thing, early in the year, they started out a little slow out of the gate and people were starting, they already four games in people like, well, this is because they don't spend money and, you know, all this, you know, but, and now even now people are unhappy with this winning streak because the, you know, the brewers still need a bad or they still need this or that.
There's some sports fans you just can't please, right?
You just accept that they're going to be unhappy even if you win the championship.
So looking past that.
I'm a very excited fan because a 10 game winning streak this point in the season, you know, when there's nothing else really going on in Wisconsin Sports Packers training camps opening, right?
But that's still practice, right?
We're in game mode with the Brewers.
Getting this level of excitement, it's just going to juice the crowds the rest of the year.
The Brewers Cubs games down the stretch.
Oh, they're going to be amazing.
You know, I mean, these are going to be playoff atmospheres at Ampham Field.
And I'm all for it.
I am all for it.
Oh, because, I mean, look, when that Brewers Cubs series begins a week from today,
at American Family Field.
You know, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday series against the Cubs, once upon a time would have been, you know, an OK affair, would have been a reason for a bunch of Cubs fans to come up here.
But now, with these kinds of, you know, division, you know, stakes, there are going to be so many people now who do not sell their tickets and who not just make sure that a Cubs fan is in the seats, but there will actually be more Brewers fans in the seats than there would be in a typical Brewers Cubs series.
Yeah, these are great games.
go standing room only to, um, you know, you don't need a seat to go to a brewers game.
You can get standing room only tickets and just wander.
That's what I did when I was in college for four bucks.
I'd go and stand above the bullpen and explain parts of their game that maybe I didn't agree with, you know, calmly,
just pick somebody out of a crowd and stand next to him.
Like,
yeah, that's, you know, that's not
exactly what the rule book says, you know, right?
What did you think in the all star game of using the automated balls and strikes?
You know, I, I,
I talked about this last week a little bit.
I still really enjoy the human element, especially at the youth levels, college levels, things like that.
For me, I think that it's just a way for people to be involved in games.
Umpiring, officiating is really, really difficult.
I think, though, for professional sports, it is.
probably a way we need to go because with so many cameras and technology on our side, you can't afford to get it wrong.
You got to get it right.
And we've seen for years just how much replay has evolved and developed to the point that replay is now part of even high school sports in limited cases, state championships in Wisconsin only.
But I do think that at some point for professional leagues, they're just going to have to tackle this thing head on.
And it just embraced the fact that technology is here.
And we should use it to make the game better.
Tackle it.
I see what you did there.
Oh, that was good.
20 ball season.
Let's go.
In the
2025 season, the league is going to begin using Sony's Hawkeye system for first down measurements, replacing the traditional chain gang.
which is fine, but again, much like the strike zone, you gotta make sure you understand the definitions.
What is the first down?
Is it where the chalk line begins?
Is it a very finite point?
Is it the tip of the football?
The strike zone, we talked about that last week.
Is it a cube?
Is it a rectangle?
So as long as you got your definitions down, we can do this, but.
Otherwise, there's going to be more of those types of discussions you just talked about having with Cubs fans.
Well, there's definitely variables in anything you do in sports, right?
There's always going to be things you've got to account for.
And I think that's why we haven't just seen technology completely take over.
But field dimensions are pretty much explained.
They're written down, things like that.
Some things are easier to explain.
A first down is 10 yards.
As you said, you'll find
whatever that definition is, and they'll make it work.
Those things don't change.
Things that do change, obviously, are human element things, things that are subjective in nature.
But I think technology can, for at least the parts that are clearly defined, can eliminate some of the guesswork.
Are we going to say, Kristen, clearly?
But guys, what are we going to have to complain about when we get a bad call?
That's all part of it, right?
$17 beers.
And what our own coaches have called, the plays that they called.
We can yell at ourselves because we do a good job.
Can't believe
they pulled that
pitcher already.
Yeah, that too.
Jimmy Koska, thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
See you on Wednesday.
See you.
All right.
Dr. Lyle is going to hang around here for a bit while we say hi to John and Gordy.
And then also next hour, talking about toxic masculinity.
and Maha Feminism and the dangers of that as well, all coming up on these mornings powered by Up on Earth News on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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