GOP 2.0: Stop Trying to Rig Elections (Hour 1)

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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Kratlow powered by UpNorth News.

Now, from our Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of UpNorth News, Pat Kratlow.

Hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It is 6.06 on this Monday morning, July 28th, 2025.

It is another beautiful morning to have you here up north.

feels good to be back up north live from Lake Wissota from wherever you're spending your mornings listening across the civic media radio network or listening listening to or watching us on all of those other platforms out there Facebook and YouTube and podcast and so much more thank you for starting your day and your week right here I got a question for you this this this all here this this is still better than 20 below zero right I mean

just trying to put in perspective the fact that it's going to be another hot day.

And look, I would love 70s, you know, or low 80s, 90 gets a little rough sometimes, but

I hate below zero.

I hate below zero so much that I I'm very good with putting up with another day like this before we get a bit of a cool down and Brittany Merlot hopefully back from EAA Air Venture will tell us more about it an hour from now.

I know somebody else who's ready to be out of the sun for a while.

That would be Parker Olson, producer of this fine radio program who's down in Madison studio A2 where

I'm no longer pestering him in person.

Parker, how are you?

How was your weekend?

I'm doing pretty good, Pat.

I've got to be honest with you.

On Friday, you know, I get up early for the show, believe it or not, since it's

early morning show.

It's a job requirement, yes.

It is,

yes.

So I get up early, you know, do the whole thing.

And I didn't have time because of the stuff I had to do at home.

I didn't have time for a nap before I had to go.

to work what I thought.

I

thought I was working a softball game.

Uh-oh.

Turns out I was working a baseball game, which is longer than the softball game.

Yes.

So I was not thrilled when I got to the ballpark on Friday night, but

I

was

very

thrilled that the Mallards walked off the game in the ninth inning and did not require extra innings.

Because I was very worried I was going to have to be there for significantly longer.

than I want it to be, which was already longer than I want it to be.

But you

were you were there longer Saturday and Sunday.

I was doubleheader both days.

I

for watching on the live stream, you can see a bit of a line there.

I

see now Parker's camera down in Madison A2 is a little washed out.

We haven't really we haven't color balanced it or whatever we have to do.

So Parker looks a little washed out so you can you can even then see the tan line.

That's that's pronounced as I think on a regular camera that would look downright painful.

I

don't know if

it's red red.

I have a pretty good farmer stand in general, but yeah, no, it ain't pretty.

No, so there was a lot of working going

on there for

you.

How was your weekend though?

I know you were kind of bouncing around.

Well, of course, Friday morning was all busy up in Oshkosh with the news that Governor Evers would not be running for a third term.

And so yeah, we had a great time in Oshkosh, but then.

Bailed out right at the end of the show to head down to American Family Field and take in the Brewers game.

It was a Friday afternoon game against Miami.

Met up with one of my daughters and her family, the three-year-old and the six-year-old, and had a great time.

Bye and large, I mean, you know.

You're bringing two little kids to a baseball game.

So what was your first question to me when I mentioned I was at the burger game, you asked how I liked, you know, the event afterwards, right?

Yeah, that was the day of the home run derby.

The alumni home run derby.

Yeah, no idea.

By the time we got to the end of the game, we were desperate for a playground to take them to and there had been a children's playground out in the right field corner.

where we also saw there was some construction going on like they're doing they're adding like another I don't know what that's going to be a little restaurant or something up there but we get up there behind that area and of course there is no playground because there's construction going on behind the scenes as well so then we had to look all over the stadium we finally found the playground and at that point the game was wrapping up and we thought well let's you know some folks are going to be heading home others are going to stick around for the Derby let's go

So we did because the kids were ready to go they they know nothing about a home run Derby they never would have sat still through all of that and we headed up to Sheboygan where we stayed Friday and Saturday nights and got to Sheboygan just in time to see the end of the home run Derby hey the very notion of trying to keep two little kids in line for that long Was just too much to bear, but we did get to see all of the

25 different Brewers players from the 25 different years of Miller Park slash American Family Field.

And, you know, all kinds of ovations as people came out, you know, and got, you know, your Ryan bronze, your Corey hearts, things like

that.

Can I ask, what was the reception to Ryan Braun?

Cause

within

my household, he's kind of a figure.

Oh.

No, no, no.

It was good.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You know, some were a bit louder and more heartfelt.

And I think some of it was the personal connection you make.

You know, when T when T plush came out, we didn't.

Nigel Morgan did not play for the Brewers that long, but there was that connection there.

And so there was a big cheer there and for some of the other players.

It didn't win that game.

Didn't win the game Saturday.

We're starting to get a little concerned that we were building a losing streak going on here, but the Brewers managed to salvage it.

yesterday and avoid the sweep with a walk-off style in the bottom of the ninth.

It was very exciting.

I'd listen to that the whole way home because we had a thing in Manitowoc as well over the weekend.

And so the whole drive home yesterday from Manitowoc featured listening to the Brewers on the radio the way it was meant to be, of course.

And a very exciting game, very close game all the way through.

So a good

family gathering, a good baseball game, a good road trip with the show in Madison and Oshkosh.

But I'll tell you, there is nothing tastes as good as that first cup of home brewed coffee or whatever it is that your favorite creature comfort is when you get home, since you're not a coffee drinker, but the home coffee tastes absolutely fabulous this

morning.

No place like home.

There's

no place like home.

No, no, no.

We talked about this the other day, the hotel coffee, it's just not going to cut it.

You know, uh, let's see.

Cassandra puts on YouTube.

We also struggle in our house with Brawny.

I will say he's higher on the list than Aaron Rodgers these

days.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yep.

Noted Cassandra.

Uh, she says a hundred degrees in the shade.

You'll find me hiding in my house with my struggling AC and Alicia says, yes, this is way better than below zero.

I am absolutely not a winter person.

So we're definitely putting things in perspective here.

So that's a good thing.

And Alicia notes that she got some absolute

beautiful photos from EAA over the last week, she says.

So there you

go.

I will say that on the Up North News social media feed, hit over to Facebook or wherever you follow us, you will see that we've put up

Uh, somebody's video, um, yes, we have permission to use it, uh, of the, of the fireworks and the drone show that was put on a couple of different nights in Oshkosh.

It is just spectacular viewing.

So head over to Up North News on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and go looking for that.

Coming up on the program this morning, we'll talk in a bit about how one way Republicans could start winning more elections.

statewide in Wisconsin would be to stop trying to rig them.

It's process that began back in 2015 when they dismantled the nationally acclaimed government accountability board for getting a little too close to learning about what Scott Walker was doing during the recall race.

And so they scrapped it and replaced it with a commission intentionally designed for gridlock.

And now one of the Republican candidates for governor wants to get rid of even the commission.

as well as continue spreading some false talking points about how elections are run right now in Wisconsin.

We'll talk about that in just a few minutes here.

With so much that divides the parties in Washington, Senator Tammy Baldwin has a bipartisan proposal that any rational member of Congress should feel comfortable supporting better testing for contaminated drinking water in rural communities.

Up North News, Selena Heller.

Up North News reporter Selena Heller will tell us about stories she's working on, including one more reminder of how total reproductive care saves lives.

And we'll talk to Dr. Kristen Lierly about that this morning as well.

Author Laura Bird is coming around to have some book recommendations that celebrate and promote a connection to nature.

covering different genres and ages through books that are written by Wisconsinites and other Midwesterners on this World Nature Conservation Day.

We will also check in with civic media friends Jimmy Cusca, John and Gordy, and Jane McNair.

That's a lot to do over a three hour period and attendance is not mandatory.

You don't have to sit still next to your radio for the next two hours and 45 minutes.

So if you have to miss some of this, here's the thing that you do.

subscribe to this show as a podcast as well.

Head over to Spotify or Apple or wherever you get your podcasts and get a subscription to the show.

It's free.

Just follow it and then say, you know, pick your episodes to listen to, pick your episodes to download.

I typically do three episodes that I listen to or maybe five and that way they're there.

And if you miss something, you'll want to come back and you want to listen to Laura Bird or Dr. Lyrely or whatever the case may be.

It's right there.

So head to Spotify or Apple, wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show that way.

Oh, we will be talking in a bit about something that.

candidate Josh Schoeman had to say about elections in Wisconsin.

So I wanted to tease that again because it was the thing that stuck out at me most as I was looking at some of the headlines over the weekend.

I mean granted a lot of it was about Governor Evers not running and we certainly have reaction to that on our website upnorthnewswi.com.

But it is going to be time to look ahead here.

Time to look at the candidates that are declared and the ones who may be running soon.

but it is some of what is already being said that is already getting attention as far as showing the difference between those who want to serve the voters and those who simply want to win elections and gain power.

So we'll have more to say about that in just a bit.

Now back to that brewer game here at 617 right now on this Monday morning, it was Blake Perkins who singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the brewers rallied to beat Miami three to two on Sunday.

Milwaukee headman down two to one, but scored in each of the final two innings to avoid the sweep.

The Brewers have been swept just once this season, and that was that opening series of the season at Yankee Stadium.

Jackson Shurio doubled twice.

He now has a 20 game hitting streak going on.

There are some other 20 game hitting streaks in Brewers history.

There was Davey May in 1973.

There was Ryan Braun in 2011.

There was Cecil Cooper in 1980.

And there was Corey Hart who had two 20 game hitting streaks.

One in 2007 and one in 2010.

And of course the record for the Brewers is that Paul Molleter, 39 game hitting streak back in 1987.

Those of us

of a certain age, remember just how much excitement was building as he went past 30, into the 30s, was so close to 40, you know, was chasing Pete Rose, was chasing Joe DiMaggio, and again, still has that franchise record, 39 game hitting streak.

So with the win, the Brewers remain tied for first in the National League Central with the Chicago Cubs, and it is the Cubs who come to town starting this evening.

605 is the pregame this evening and tomorrow evening on stations in Richland Center and Oshkosh we're seeing Kenosha Park Falls and Hayward 605 this evening 605 tomorrow evening and then Wednesday is a day game with the pregame on Wednesday starting at 1235 so a

Big three game series is ahead with the Chicago Cubs for control of the National League Central Division.

You are not going to want to miss that.

Coming up, we will be talking to Dr. Kristen Lyrely, and we will be setting up some of what they say versus what they mean when it comes to candidates running for governor in 2026.

From the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissoda, thanks for making this the place to spend a 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.

Hey, if you are watching us on Facebook or YouTube, of course, you know the comment section is right there for a comment or a question or a suggestion about the show or a thank you.

As we get from Jim and Brookfield, who says, good morning, Pat and Parker.

My weekend started out great Friday evening when I learned we had won the free ticket Friday contest.

My wife and I are static and will be going to the Cubs game with the Brewers Wednesday and two other diehard baseball fans.

Thank you, Civic Media.

from Jim and Brookfield.

Well, you're very welcome, Jim.

Oh, it's good to hear.

Thank you.

I love getting that.

It's nice to have these free ticket Fridays.

They work.

That's true.

People win the free tickets.

They do.

Yeah.

And then they go to the game.

It's going to be a lot of fun.

So we're glad that we could bring a bring a little joy to one of our morning show listeners.

That feels really good.

Hey, we also have a weekend newsletter.

It includes our question of the week and you can sign up for it at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

And this week we're asking, well, remember how we talked on the morning show the other day to State Senator Keldoroy's and Representative Ryan Spouty about cryptocurrency and making sure that the ATMs in Wisconsin that deal with crypto abide by a certain set of rules.

And it led to this question, what do you think of crypto overall?

And I give you four answers.

A, I'm good with it.

I believe it's part of the future of money and we can put proper safeguards in place.

B, I'm a maybe.

I've learned a little about it, but I can't say it's a good or bad thing till I learn more.

C is, I don't know at all.

Count me among those who know almost nothing about it.

And then finally, D, I don't like it.

Either because I'm convinced it's a scam or I'm just skeptical enough.

I don't think our government and our dollars should be tied in any way to crypto because even consumer guardrails can be undone.

So those four choices were given to our Sunday morning newsletter readers.

Again, sign up at UpNorthNewsWI.com and let us know more about what you think.

Okay, let's let's get over to something that was noticed over the weekend about a comment made by Washington County Executive Josh Schoeman, who's running for governor.

He said in a story that Jesse O'Poyne put up in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he said, quote,

I think seriously looking at whether the Wisconsin Elections Commission model or former government accountability board model should be in existence at all is a conversation we need to have.

Showman also said the state should, quote, look at the timing and process of purging the voter roll lists and whether or not we should be hand counting ballots at the end of the night, end quote.

Any study would like to see more equity and access to voting across municipalities.

Okay, we've only got a short time, but let's break down as much of that as we can.

The oversight, purging voter rolls, late night ballot counting, and equity in access.

All four of these points provide noteworthy illustrations of how Republicans have approached elections since the Walker era and into the Trump era.

An approach summed up best as, you don't have to win on ideas if you cheat on running elections.

Number one, oversight.

For that, we have to go way back to 2001 and what's known as the caucus scandal in Wisconsin.

It's when we learn the extent to which there was abuse of the system by both parties.

And yes, this one is actually a both side scandal.

It's the aftermath of how it was handled that shows the differences today.

In the caucus scandal, you know, the caucuses are the assembly Democrats, the Senate Democrats, the Senate Republicans, the assembly Republicans.

Each of those caucuses

They do their political work outside of the building, outside of the state capital.

But it was learned that these caucuses were doing their work on the taxpayer dime inside the capital.

And so it was time to do something about it.

And that's what led to the creation of the government accountability board or GAB.

And I was one of the legislators who voted for its creation after taking office.

Instead of oversight by politicians or bureaucrats, the GAB was made up of retired judges.

It was independent.

It was working.

It was working too well for Scott Walker.

Fast forward to the early 2010s when the GAB was looking into reports that the Walker campaign, as it was fending off a 2012 recall election, violated campaign rules about coordinating with outside supposedly independent political groups.

Well, Republican legislators responded by abolishing the GAB in 2015, saying it has been biased against Republicans.

In much the same ways, that's like saying police are biased against criminals.

If you don't want to be investigated for potential campaign law violations, stop breaking the law or engaging in conduct that appears like you may be breaking the law.

But in this case, Republicans got rid of the GAB.

and the Republicans who were then Supreme Court justices got rid of the laws they were accused of skirting.

So when you ask why campaigns have become so expensive, it's not just the Citizens United decision by right-wing justices on the US Supreme Court that got us here, so did conservatives who controlled the Wisconsin legislature, the Supreme Court, and the governor's office.

So what did they create to take the place of the GAB?

Well, that would be the current Wisconsin Elections Commission made up of six members, three Republicans, three Democratic members.

Gridlock often followed, just as designed when you create something with three and three.

The commission also hired an administrator and current administrator, Megan Wolfe, is a nationally acclaimed manager.

So needless to say, when Donald Trump started lying about the 2020 election being rigged, Republicans did their damnness to try to get Wolfe fired and so far have failed.

Now along comes Josh Shulman saying maybe neither the current commission nor the old GAB needs to exist at all, which makes you wonder who would be in charge of elections.

On purging voter files, well, we've seen how a few years back a conservative legal group started asking judges and the state Supreme Court to purge voter rolls based on information that was far from ironclad reliable.

And fortunately, that has failed by and large.

Late night ballot counting, well that's not Josh Shulman's first shot at the city of Milwaukee and we've explained repeatedly why there is late night ballot counting and how Republicans in the legislature stood in the way of a solution to it.

And when he says equity in access of voting, I'd like to know more of what he means because it sounds to me like he means there should be one drop box in every municipality.

One drop box in a small town, one drop box.

for the entire city of Milwaukee.

That's what I read into it and I'd love to hear his thoughts on it coming up a little later.

Dr. Kristen Lierly, not that far away, first the Midwest Farm Report here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

We've got a busy program for tomorrow lined up for you already.

We'll talk to Dairy Farmer Hans Breitenmoser from up in Lincoln County, along with Sheila Everhart from the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association.

We'll talk to Dan Schaefer from the recombobulation area.

We'll talk to Dan Hagen from NewsWatch 12 up in Rhinelander.

We'll talk to Chad Holmes.

We will have our Way Up North segment as well.

All that plus much more.

That's Tuesday's show here on these mornings powered by Up North News on the Civic Media Radio Network.

But right now, the thing that powers us is Straight Up Sunshine from Dr. Kristin Lierly, who's had a good weekend, wasn't it?

So as I saw you, you were sitting in a field of lavender.

It was a delightful weekend.

We went up to Washington Island.

Have you been to Washington Island?

No, I have not.

Oh, Pat, it is such a great little excursion right here in Wisconsin.

It's like a little piece of paradise and it was peak lavender season.

There's a beautiful lavender farm up there.

There's a wonderful beach.

There's it is like it's a throwback.

It's like going back in time and people are relaxed and happy.

It's delightful.

But you can take a car up there, right?

You can.

There's a ferry.

Okay.

The reason I ask is it.

It kind of sounds like you're describing Mackinaw Island.

And that has been a bone of contention in our family when it comes to vacations because three members of our family love Mackinaw Island.

And one member of the family who is not a big horse fan is less enamored with Mackinaw Island.

And for some reason, I guess I have not been invited back.

Sherry

and the girls will go.

But apparently I...

I had too much to say about why why we even have horses anymore.

So it

is not like Mackinac.

It is not the horses like you can take your car.

We rented bikes.

It is

just the pace is different.

I think you'd like it, Pat.

I think I would too.

And it's one of those things that Sherry will say.

And we all have something like this.

There's something in your backyard that you just haven't done.

And for Sherry, it's Door County.

I mean, she's from Manitowoc County and just.

hasn't gotten up there much at all.

And we keep saying one of these days, one of these weekends, that's going to be one of our getaways is just an entire Door County getaway and Washington Island is going to be a nice part of it at some

point.

I grew up in Cagana and I hadn't been to Door County until I was an adult.

I

mean, how wild is that?

Well, I think, you know, as you're growing up, you hear about it being a touristy area.

And so you assume it's not for you, but

We can be tourists in our own state.

We can.

And we are.

We

are.

And it was delightful.

Oh, that's great.

Yes.

And so while you were away on Friday, we had state representative Lee Snodgrass in from Appleton on Friday morning.

And she's always delightful to talk to about some of the issues that are happening there.

So I'm glad that we can, the weekend got a good start for everybody.

So that was

nice.

But it was hot.

It was

hot.

Oh my goodness, it really, we had a family gathering in Manitowoc County on Saturday afternoon and it was nice.

You know, at one point we all just kind of have lawn chairs in a circle, you know, on one side of the house and then invariably after we've had, you know, the burgers and brats or whatever, we go, all right, let's move this and everybody grabs their chairs and we go to the other side of the house where there's a big old tree and the shade is finally hitting the lawn just right.

And I gotta say, it probably looks

maybe not Norman Rockwellian but right up there with you know here on this farm in this front lawn under this great big shade tree and here's you know two dozen people with their lawn chairs in a circle just talking to one another and maybe one of the kids will be in the center of it like one of them was chasing a little puppy all

around.

Yeah.

And you get to meet the new people that come in, like a niece and a nephew who each brought in their new significant others.

And meanwhile, the older ones, we're talking about our aches and pains.

Are you waving at cars as they're driving by?

Of

course we are.

Of

course we are.

And at one point, I was so embarrassed.

Look, I've been married into a farm family for a long time here, almost 40 years.

And one point is I'm noticing tanker after tanker after tanker go by on Highway 10.

I finally turned to Sherry's brother who took over the farm and I'm like, what's in all those tankers?

You don't want to

know.

He

just goes,

poop.

That's a new thing, though.

That wasn't a thing when we were younger.

It wasn't.

It wasn't hauled away in tankers.

It was loaded on a truck, and you spread it on the nearby field, but now you got to truck it miles and miles away to find enough land to spread it all on, because these farms are now so huge in terms of cows.

Yeah, and it presents a whole other host of challenges.

It's

not

great for the roads.

There's a lot

of spillage that really tears up the roads.

It's, if you don't spread it at the right time, this liquid manure, it runs off and gets into our waterways.

So it's a whole different thing than when Grandpa would, you know, spread manure from his 40 cows in the barn.

Yes.

And at that point, when it would happen, you know, if you passed by a field where they had just spread and you'd go, yeah, what is, what does that smell?

And somebody invariably would say, what, that's the smell of money.

Same thing they say about the paper mills held by you, I'm sure.

Yeah, liquid manure smells different than old-fashioned

manure.

Yeah, honestly.

Are we really having this

conversation right

now?

Yeah, manure versus paper mills?

Yes.

Parker's like, what?

Oh, God, guys.

Guys, reel it

in.

This is Wisconsin.

Just go with it.

Yeah.

This is what you got here.

Thank you.

Okay.

This is a pack of training camp is underway as well.

So I'm sure you sense the excitement.

I doubt that you've biked down to Lambo recently just because it's been hot and everything.

I'm going to when we're done today.

Oh,

that's my plan.

On another hot, hot day, you're going to bike to Lambo

today.

Well, they have morning practice today, so I'm going to do it before it gets too hot.

OK,

it's

wonderful.

Today is also National Water Park Day, just giving away some of today's history lesson.

And we were at a water park.

What are you doing this afternoon?

Let's go to a water park.

Water park.

Let's do it.

I'll meet at Lambeau.

Yes.

No, we were at one in Sheboygan for the weekend here, again, for the little kids to run around and everything.

Do you have, well, your boys are older now.

Did they have a favorite water park escape back in the day?

We loved the Great Wolf Lodge in the Dells because they had not just the water park stuff, but they also had this game called Magic Quest, where, yes, where they had little booths all over the place and you could play this.

thing and you could get these points and they would run from booth to booth.

That's how my kids roll.

See, the three-year-old and the six-year-old are not quite to that point yet.

I thought one of the most adorable moments being at the Brewer's Game Friday is the three-year-old, she comes running out of the team store and she's got the Italian stuffed animal for the sausage races.

She's got the little Italian guy and she'd already named it Woody.

I don't know why, but we were hearing about what he was doing, all kinds of things.

Yes, but, but she's also three years old and we were, you know, there was Doritos and there was ice cream and there was donuts with frosting.

That poor Woody looked like he just finished a color run.

I hope that I hope he washes well in the laundry because he he had a good first weekend.

I tell you.

So anyway, that was our water park and stadium tour for the week.

I wanted to ask you about a story that's new on our website over at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

The headline on it says meet Milwaukee's new abortion clinic.

It's determined medical director and For safety purposes, I would say We don't list her her full name on here.

She's simply listed as dr. A and even then I'm I'm saying

Dr. A and the writer of the story says it's a woman.

She's proud that people will never be turned away for lack of funds and talks much more about the things that are going to be happening there.

And we're going to be hearing from Selina Heller later about a woman for whom, again, abortion care is reproductive care, quite literally saved her life.

And Kristen, it definitely feels like we have turned a corner.

I'm not saying that the work is done as far from done, but we have turned a corner from where we were, you know, say two years ago, thinking that there were no, no, uh, Planned Parenthood was not performing any, uh, you know, full complete slate of reproductive health services, including abortion care.

There was talk that an 1849 law was going to rule us in the 21st century.

And

it did

for a while.

And it did for a while.

And it, it definitely feels like.

Patients are being treated more like patients now and less like political pawns.

This is how it should be.

Yeah,

isn't it?

I mean, you should be able to, regardless of who you are, you should be able to go to your doctor, tell them what your problem is, get a full exam and evaluation, have a conversation about all of your options and choose.

with the expertise of your health care provider, what the next best step is for you.

That

sounds radical.

That sounds so radical.

No, it should not ever sound radical.

And then you and your health care provider, who hopefully you trust, should be able to take that journey together so that you can make sure, so that I as a health care provider can make sure that my patient is getting the care that they need, not just now at the point of care, but

For the long term, that is what health care is.

But what we have done by taking abortion care out of obstetrics and gynecology is we have isolated it and we have made it so that people have to go to certain places to get certain types of care.

This clinic does a beautiful job of providing as comprehensive care as they can at that point of contact.

And I am frankly really excited about the work that they're doing.

Yeah, it's called the Care for All Community Clinic.

And it will provide surgical and medication abortion care as well as miscarriage care.

to anyone with a uterus it says here regardless of their ability to pay regardless of their immigration status in the coming months they will offer STI testing, emergency contraception, pap smears to test for cervical cancer, contraceptive counseling, gender affirming care will also be available as well.

Dr. A has been practicing OBGYN for nearly five years and

again says that she's happy that people will be cared for whatever their financial situation which again should not be a radical notion and it's not a radical notion in almost any other country in the world except here.

We all need care.

I think that health care is the equalizer across society because we all need it.

And when I think about how divided we are politically, I think the one thing that could bring us together is finding common ground around health care.

I mean, when was the last time you talked to somebody who was satisfied with what they pay and the services that they receive?

I

don't know.

Really?

Right.

Yeah, it used to be that public servants were more satisfied.

But even now, I mean, my partner is a police officer, and he's timing the things that he needs to do for his health care in order to be able to afford it because the deductible is so expensive.

You pay so much for your premium, but then what you have to pay on top of that, it's unaffordable for most people.

And by the way, for everybody, for everybody.

kept the very, very super rich.

It's going to get worse.

It's about to get worse.

A lot worse.

And you were like, oh, that's just the people on Medicaid.

No, no, no.

As they lose services, there's going to be more uncompensated care, which is going to jack up prices.

Rural hospitals are going to close.

It's going to reduce health care options.

And again, I'm sorry to be Mr. Doom and Gloom on here.

But I just want to make sure folks understand that what happened in Washington, even if they don't think they were specifically listed in the bill, they're going to feel this.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And just to double down on what you just said, when somebody doesn't have access to care when they don't have insurance and they show up at a hospital, they still get care.

We still are obligated to provide that care, but the hospital ends up eating that cost.

And guess who ends up paying for it?

all of us.

Every one of us, that's right.

Still ahead, we will talk more about the topic of abortion and reproductive health care with Up North News reporter Selena Heller.

And then later, Senator Tammy Baldwin will be along to talk about her bipartisan proposal to test to make sure rural drinking water stays clean.

But first, today's history lesson is next.

As we always do, mornings up north and live 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.

I know

this is really throwing people off like, wait, he's not starting with like Peggy Lee from 1957 or something like that.

It just seemed like a nice morning to start with the plain white teas and Hayther Delilah, which was the number one song this week in 2007.

That song is 18 years old already.

It took two years.

Oh, good morning, whiskers.

Selena Heller's here.

And her cat, who could not get much closer to the screen here, but wants to apparently as a plain white tease fan.

Anyway, the song hit number one this week in 2007, two years after it was released, and Delilah was a real person, or is a real person.

Delilah DeCrescenzo, a runner who lead singer Tom Higginson said he was trying to impress with a song at the time.

Was she impressed?

Does not say here.

There's no follow up song.

There's no follow up like.

Let's get divorced, Delilah.

No, I have no idea.

I would love to know the backstory of this actually now.

Delilah suddenly creeped out, like you did what?

On this day in 1854, the USS Constellation, the last all-sale warship built by the Navy, was commissioned.

It is now a museum ship in Baltimore Harbor.

Mary J. Blige released her debut album, What's the 411, this day, 1992.

Singles like this one real love you remind me and more Took the top spot on the R&B hip-hop album chart It went to number six on the Billboard 200 albums chart her unique blend of hip-hop and soul earned her the nickname Queen of hip-hop soul Again 33 years ago, and I still love that song and a lot of what Mary J Blash puts out happy birthday to the city of Miami incorporated this day in 1896

Okay, so Mary J. Blige debut album came out this day in 1992 There was a release of another debut album this day in 1992 by a group called the bear naked ladies

The

debut studio album was named Gordon and it had that single on there

On this day in 1979, an Aerosmith show finished up in Cleveland.

Joe Perry got into a screaming match with Steven Tyler and quit the group and Joe Perry would leave Aerosmith for five years and then rejoin the band in 1984.

Let's see, this is the anniversary of the birth of guitarist songwriter George Cummings.

He founded the group Doctor Hook and the Medicine Show.

He wasn't the lead singer, but you do hear him on the second verse of one of their biggest hits.

I used

to get them confused with the Doctor or whatever and Janice on the Muppet Show.

Dr. teeth in the electric mayhem.

Yes.

And then there was Dr. Remember Dr. John who had sexy eyes was their big hit as well.

So George Cummings who passed away last December at the age of 86.

He was born this day in 18 or I'm sorry 1938.

UFC founder Dana White is 56 years old today.

Soldier Boy is 45 years old today.

Folk singer Jonathan Edwards was born in Aitken, Minnesota, 79 years ago today.

Here was his big 1971 hit.

Yeah,

Jonathan Edwards, 79 years old today.

What is it about folk singers in northern Minnesota?

That guy,

Bob Dylan.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not much else to do there.

Except maybe sing about the folks.

I don't know.

Let's see.

The Summer Olympics opened in Los Angeles this day in 1984.

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day.

That's a good day.

Everybody's a fan.

Is Whiskers.

Whiskers strikes me as somebody who has been.

coated by a small child eating chocolate.

Oh, I'm sure Whiskers is coated in a lot of things.

Because I'm already manhandling him.

This is National Water Park Day, as I mentioned earlier.

Today is World Hepatitis Day, and today is World Nature Conservation Day.

Poor Kristin gets picked on every time there's a national medical day of some sort.

So, Kristin.

I'm the spot.

What would you like to say about World Hepatitis Day?

I am against hepatitis.

Wow.

What a stance.

It's a bold take.

Hey, here's something that everybody should know.

If you're my age, old people like us,

it

should be tested for hepatitis C once in our lifetime.

There you go.

See?

Everything comes with a public service announcement around here.

That's right.

And I mentioned that this is World Nature Conservation Day and author Laura Bird had that in mind when she put together the segment that we'll be hearing a little later this morning.

Some book recommendations that celebrate and promote a connection to nature, covering different genres and ages through books that were written by Wisconsinites and other Midwesterners.

which I have not looked at the list and I'm thinking, do I have, have I ever read a book that somehow has a, promotes a connection to nature?

And you know, I, like I, I read a little bit of a Sand County Almanac from back in the day, although Leopold, but.

I don't know that I've got one there and I don't know if anybody else want to offer up one.

That's just kind of a back to nature book.

To me, it's like just reading any book is what gets me back to nature because I can just

sit

there quietly and escape and read.

Yes, Selena, you got your

hand

raised.

You can just go ahead and speak up.

We know a person who wrote a book about nature.

Steve Bechkel was our old photographer at WEAU and he loves birds.

He's a birder and my name is in this book because he would he would go out while we were on stories.

he would listen, we would have to sit by the side of the road and listen to birds.

And he would know all of the birds by what their call is.

So that's what his book is about, about all these bird calls and listening.

And I was like, always sitting there like, what, how do you know?

By

sitting there while the rest of us were, yeah, doing, doing our thing.

Two more hours on this Monday morning, powered by Up North News.

I'm Pat quite low.

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