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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.
Now, for my Lake Minnesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.
Good morning.
It is 7.06 now on this Monday morning, August 4th, 2025.
Nice to have you along here.
Parker Olsen has the day off, but Greg Bach is joining us here.
And so is Dr. Kristen Lierly.
And so is Up North News reporter Selena Heller.
And so...
is meteorologist Brittany Merleau.
Brittany, how are you?
Good.
How are you?
Good.
It was, you know, a weekend where the smoke, again, depends on where you are in the state, but it had dissipated just enough yesterday that you could do some of the things you want to do outdoors.
It wasn't like as bad as Thursday Friday was, but it is still, it's definitely still something that's lingering around here.
It's going to be.
I mean, kind of one of the weather stories of the summer, I suppose, here.
Yeah, it
sure is.
Here, Robin Tigerton puts it this way.
Mike the farmer who leases my family farm has told me that crops are doing well, busy bailing hay, but the smoke blocking the sunshine has made it rough with the morning dew.
We noticed that as well.
You can't get out and mow the lawn as early as you normally would because, again, that sun is just not burning through as much as you'd like it to.
No, it's not.
We've got patchy fog to all over the place.
Definitely down towards basketball, Camp Douglas this morning, a lot of southwestern areas and northeastern spots of the state.
We've got this high pressure system, right?
It moved in from Canada.
It's been sitting over us all weekend.
And it is still going to stay here today.
It's kind of slid over to Michigan a little bit, but another one builds in behind it.
And long story short, it's going to be a dry day and another smoke filled day.
So of course we have that air quality alert that expires at noon.
But it could get extended one more day.
I think by tomorrow we should for sure be in the clear from this wildfire smoke.
The winds start to pick up out of the south about 15 miles per hour.
That should be enough to kick it on out of here.
And then of course, as we go to later in the week, that whole jet stream shifts and active weather moves back in.
We've got the pattern just kind of shifting out of the south and bringing in more storms, more heat and more humidity too.
So right now it is still crisp, it is still comfortable.
temperatures are at about 48 degrees in Tomahawk, 72 degrees into Waukesha and highs today will climb to the upper 70s to low 80s all across the state.
It is still going to be comfortable dew points.
But by Wednesday, it starts to turn muggy and by Thursday, we're getting hot and humid.
Now rain holds off until tomorrow.
We could see a few isolated showers possibly far north.
And that's about it as we go into later in the week.
We'll see more storms.
Okay, from Tiger 10, from Rob, good morning, fair and hazy, 55 degrees.
Today I have Mowing Jobs in Wittenberg.
Whenever I hear Greg's voice, I can hear him saying, drink my water.
It's almost like you could hear him saying it right now.
Drink your water, Rob.
There we go.
Drunk, yore, water.
As I mowed Saturday and Rill Tigerton got stung by a bee and rolled up around his elbow, had to ice it down.
Let's see, he's got another note or two here from us.
Oh, he had a cat at my house who had kittens in the garage where I keep my truck and lawnmowers.
I now have an army of cats outside that stay in the barn.
We talked about Mike who leases his family farm.
Mike told me to say hi to Kristen.
He supports Kristen and her fight.
So there you
go.
Thanks, Rob.
Hi, Mike.
I know.
Oh, and Rob also noted, I love Brittany's videos on social media from the EAA Air Venture.
I was going
to mention
that too, Brittany.
Did you do more than one?
I saw one on social media over the weekend.
Yeah, I've been slowly putting them all together, so they're more and more coming out.
But yeah, got a couple of
them.
OK, well, great.
So again, look for Brittany there on social media if you want to see what all she was talking about with the camping and the rain and the exhibitions.
The
camping and the rain and the planes.
Good Lloyd.
So
much.
Brittany, thanks.
We'll talk to you next hour.
Sounds good.
Hey a reminder that if you miss an episode of our show at any point there's a great way to make sure that you can go back and listen and that would be to pod this program head over to Spotify or Apple wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show that way you can also do it over at the Civic Media website civicmedia.us uh all right so Selena the Combined Demolition Derby I know we've we've talked about this at least
once before maybe maybe a couple of times because I don't know that they necessarily invented it at the Jackson County Fair but they sure have perfected it.
Oh, you're on mute.
Yes.
No, it's it's been around.
And, you know, we got to thinking about it.
And they've been doing it for quite a while, a lot of years.
And but it's in other county fairs.
It's in a few other states, as I was kind of looking at it a couple of years ago, where they've done combine demolition derbies.
But like a couple of years ago, they had 17 combines at the Jackson County fair.
So that was a pretty big deal.
That was that's a lot of combines.
Yes, it is.
And you talk to a couple of folks who tell us kind of more of the basics about it all.
Yeah, so Mark Emerson, he's 66.
He's all these farmers kind of and Sam McNulty, their buddies, and they kind of get together and and do this every year.
There's there's a lot of farmers and and their kids now are in it and nephews and things like that.
So they're kind of all egg related.
If they're not farmers, they have businesses that are egg related or something like that.
So it's just a fun time for them.
And it's at the Jackson County Fair and there's a demolition derby, a regular derby with
and trucks and gosh, back in the day, my brothers did it.
So I got to paint the cars and then there's a powder puff.
So with girls driving too.
So my brothers always thought I should drive, but I never did.
Nice to know you have boundary someplace.
You're
not gonna
drive the demolition derby.
Well, and it was the year and my friends wanted me to, I was on the Miss Jackson County Court and they're like, you have to drive in the demolition derby.
You have to do it.
I'm like,
Oh boy.
I
don't know.
Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Did not know you were on the court.
I was back in the day,
yes.
What about you, Kristen?
Were you in the running for Ms.
Kakana or anything like that at some point?
I'm just trying to clear this picture of Selena driving a Combine, or maybe Whisker is driving in a very ToonSys kind of way.
ToonSys, the Combine driving cat.
It always ends
poorly.
While we play with those visuals, let's hear from Mark Emerson, who tells us more about the Combine demolition derby at the Jackson County Fair.
When we get a bunch of guys together, we take combine, we beef them up some, we got to take the windows out, the glass all out and stuff, and we got to just beef the heads up so the heads stay on, and we go out there and smash into everybody just to see how much damage we can do.
The last one standing is the winner usually, but we'll have heats today so they'll take the top two out of five or six or whatever we have in each glass and run in the final, then there'll be six in the final, then the last
this one standing as a winner.
This is a big spectacle.
Yeah, yeah.
And we make a lot of noise, a lot of crunching and stuff, banging and stuff.
The one that Sam Clingey's been tipped over twice now.
He got tipped over in Marshfield and he got tipped over in Galesville two weeks ago.
but didn't get hurt or anything, so that's a good thing.
And he's back
here now
again, so he's going again with the same one.
Yeah, we've been taking some of these same ones for many years.
I think this one, I think I started 20 years ago with this, and then it sat for like five, we didn't have any demos, and then we started Black Aver and, you know, so we've been here for at least 15, 16 or more.
And these are pricey machines, but these aren't ones that are in, like, functioning.
No, they
were out before we buy them.
And like a lot of them, like his, you'll fix them up and then take the engine out after they're done and sell the engine and get their money back out of it and stuff.
So you actually don't really have much in at all invested in them.
So we have a little fun and we all get together.
We all get along really good.
Until we're out on the track.
Yeah, when we're on the track, we're competition.
But when we're done or before we help each other out and we're done, we'll help each other out.
But yeah, when we're out there, we're all, we're all out
for ourselves.
I'm assuming that was Sam that we heard in the background there.
Is that Sam
McNulty?
Yes, I talk to them every year.
They're the best.
I love them.
I love talking with them.
And Bill McNulty was actually the winner this year, Sam's brother.
So, and Bill is 66 also.
So, it's fun.
Sam gets, they get tipped over, but they don't get injured.
You're getting tipped over in a combine.
This isn't like mythical cow tipping.
This is actual combine tipping and they're not getting hurt.
Yeah, they have to beef up the cages around them.
Safety is the priority.
They move the gas tanks inside.
So, you know, man, they're also
made of different stuff than us, Pat.
They're just made differently.
Yeah, they are.
Let's give a listen to Sam McNulty talk about it.
It's just a rush.
We're
all
farmers.
It's one way to let off a lot of steam.
Like Mark said, we're the best of friends, but when it's out there, it's only for one.
But yeah, they're all war-of-combines that we find laying at auctions or sitting in somebody's boneyard, and it's just fun.
And I think, I mean, I shouldn't say this, but the crowd loves the combines a lot better than the cars.
Oh, shots fired right there at the
cars.
I think the demolition derby still does well.
Now, is it still the case?
I know a year or two ago, you told me that the ticket sales for the Combine demolition derby do so well.
It practically subsidizes the rest of the Jackson County Fair.
It is typically the biggest day of the fair, so in terms of admission.
I sell tickets into the grandstand events.
That's my job at the fair.
It has been since like high school.
So I'm at the demolition derby.
I have been at that event probably every year since high school.
And that's my job.
So the line is long.
And yes, the fair does well on that day because it's such a popular event.
People love, love, love it.
After all of these years, it hasn't.
You know, waned in entertainment value or interest.
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
Do they have anything remotely like that by either one of you guys, Greg or Kristen?
I mean, I mean, it is a breed unto itself, basically.
I mean, I think that if I look, I mean, I'm sure we're seeing if I, because we're seeing County Fair, everything is coming up soon and Kenosha County Fair.
I'm sure there's something, but a combine races, a combine demolition derby.
I don't think so.
No, this this is and we mentioned Myla music earlier Selena and you said you've you've been to Myla music.
Did you you were there for a work
thing?
Yeah, can you imagine?
I got to go there and stay there and watch music for work when I worked in economic development for the city.
A team of us from Altoona, they were developing their new park here.
And so they wanted ideas.
I went there for ideas and visit Eau Claire, our kind of tourist organization went there for ideas.
So we got to go there and stay for work to learn as an example what Appleton did with Myla music.
So it was really cool.
Which by the way, paid off because Eau Claire is, I mean, it's music festivals.
are just blossoming around the whole area.
Oh, yes, we're kind of known for, you know, our music events over here.
And now all of the parks here have, and probably everywhere now in Wisconsin is really picking up on this music in the park night.
And here around here, you can go to a Sunday in Chippewa, a Monday in El Tuna, and a Tuesday in Eau Claire, and then a Wednesday.
And I mean, every night you can go to something around here.
It's pretty cool.
There's
something really cool about how the music is tied to the university there as well.
So in Appleton,
And it's obviously Laurence and Eau Claire at UWEC and the great music program there.
Stephen's point has something similar.
So just to see the music faculty and the students have a place where they can go and just like do their thing is so neat.
Do their thing in the community.
I'm glad you mentioned the universities because over the weekend, Sharon, I went to finally had our belated anniversary dinner.
We always go to Mona Lisa on Water Street, Eau Claire.
And then we go to around the campus where we met back in 1983.
And Selena, I had not.
seen the progress on the new science building up there.
That thing is massive.
I've been seeing pictures.
It's at the bottom of the university hill there.
They tore apart, took down two dormitories from way back in the day to put up this new science building.
And it's just looking so nice, but they're also tearing down Zorn Arena, where they did basketball and all the other shows and things.
But they were like halfway done.
So exposed to the elements is like the bleachers.
and an Eau Claire logo above it.
It's just really interesting just to see all the changes around campus.
Oh, everybody's nostalgic about losing Zorn.
Oh,
yeah.
But it's a, you know, there's some nice modernization going on there.
And these universities, like Kristen said, will bring you community festivals as well.
This is up.
No, this is not.
This is mornings with Paco.
Sorry, that's my fault news.
It's such a Monday thing.
We'll be back after this.
You're up north.
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Back on this Monday morning at Kratlow-Gregg-Bach, Kristen Lyrely, Selena Heller all here.
The Brewers, I mean, it was just, it was a lot of fun to watch, not if you're a Washington Nationals fan.
The scores over the weekend, in case you missed them, the Brewers won all three games, 16 to nine on Friday, eight to two on Saturday, 14 to three yesterday.
That's 38 runs scored on 56 hits, the most ever in a three game series in club history for the Brewers.
And so they're still far and away.
Record best record in baseball right now and they head to Atlanta on this road trip.
They're done in DC Down to Atlanta they go and the pregame will begin tonight at 540 on several civic media stations 540 tonight tomorrow and Wednesday Then the Brewers are off on Thursday coming home for a weekend series against the New York Mets and if I'm not
mistaken.
It's their fourth sweep in a month
Yes, these I mean and again
Who are these guys?
They're our brewers.
I know, they're doing great.
Kristen, I hadn't asked yet who you had on the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show over the weekend or what you're prepping for for next weekend.
Oh, over the weekend, I had Selena Darrow on the show.
She is the executive director of Rooted In and she's got this beautiful nonprofit that reduces food waste.
It takes all that food.
We throw away like 40% of our food.
So she's found this way to take food and repurpose it and give it to people who need it because we know that hunger is widespread even in our own backyards.
So that was a really fascinating conversation.
And then this week, I haven't decided yet.
I've got a couple options.
I'm thinking maybe Tom Nelson.
He just wrote a cool book about the Edmund Fitzgerald,
which is
fascinating.
Yes, I have that open on my desktop here someplace because it came out on August 1st.
It was published.
And yes, I had an advanced comp.
of it here and I wanted to get through that and get Tom on to talk about the the connection between the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and basically the you know the economy.
Yeah.
American economy.
It's
so many connections.
I'll let him know because I'm talking to him this afternoon.
Okay.
I'll put you in touch.
Oh, he he knows how to get in touch with me.
He's he's he's not shy that way.
What else we got?
Selena, you got National Night Out.
I know that's always a big annual event for you.
Yes, I volunteer there every year.
So in your communities across the state and really across the country, it's a countrywide thing.
So National Night Out, it's the first Tuesday of August every year.
So you might see those things advertised.
It's where law enforcement and residents get together because I know they get familiar with each other to make neighborhoods safer.
So it's kind of to get to know your law enforcement people and firefighters and things like that.
So Claire is at Carson Park 530-8 and there is
going to a mascot dance off.
That's one of my favorite.
What is there?
Yeah.
Where?
How?
When?
All right.
All right.
All right.
Okay.
All
right.
What did we say when mascots are mentioned, Dr. Lyra?
We take, we take a breath and we start over.
Okay.
What did you want to say to Selena?
Can I have some more information, please?
Five thirty.
to eight o'clock tomorrow at Carson Park in Eau Claire.
The costume?
Whatever mascot you would like.
Okay.
Oh my goodness.
Somebody's just canceled their plans and is racing to the Chippewa Valley for this.
Can
you not have a baby for one more day?
Don't push.
Just keep breathing.
I'll be back
in a little bit.
Go on my mascot outfit.
We've got this.
Oh,
my goodness.
Uh, let's see.
Also from the, uh, from the comment sections YouTube, uh, Tony noting that with the Tom Nelson, that's the fourth Nelson mentioned by Dr. Lierley today.
Oh, we're having a big Nelson day.
Uh,
I, I, I met, I met a celebrity over the weekend.
Oh, well, and I can't say who because it's but it's a it's a large market.
It's a large market TV personality.
And as you know, you know,
We, we large market TV personalities.
We're, we're, you know, we're
kind
of a neighbor of ours calls and says, Hey, we got the, you know, my, my nephew always comes up to Lake Wasota, you know, once a year and has brought some friends, come on over and meet them.
And I'm, I'm meeting these three couples and Sherri and I are having a wonderful time and we're all talking and everything.
I mean, they were on the boat.
So I mean, they're just, you know, they couldn't
escape
swimsuit, ball cap, whatever.
They couldn't escape.
And then finally at the end, one of the, one of the guys says, um, and you're, you're, you're the guy does up north news, right?
I was like, yeah, yeah.
He's goes, Oh yeah, I, I do that all the time.
I, you know, I'm a reporter, blah, blah, blah.
And he, and then I do a double take and I go, you're so and so.
And he's like, yeah, and he gets all shy and everything.
I'm like, this is
guy,
I,
this guy
can
reveal this person's name.
I
don't want to.
They were on vacation.
You know, that's, that's, that's their story to tell.
But I,
It was fun that after all these years, Selena, you know this, how many people are like, oh, it's Selena Haller from TV 13.
It was so funny to have me doing that now for like some political reporter.
I was fanboyed all over.
There's only so many of us political reporters around, you know.
It was
Walter Cronkite.
Edward R.
Murrow and
Espito.
Walter
Winshill, what are you doing my pontoon
boat?
It was a good weekend for that, for boating, for celebrity sightings for all of that.
But I also made one grilling error.
I know I've already confessed to one error over the weekend here, the AirPods in the pocket as it goes through the laundry.
But one more that I offer up as a public service.
It was otherwise a wonderful weekend, like I said, celebrity sightings and everything.
I'm so used to we've got a charcoal grill.
I love charcoal grilling.
And usually we've got friends, kids, grandkids, whatever.
So I always, there's also, there's a lot of charcoal in there because you're making a whole lot of stuff.
And I was making dinner last night just for me and Sherry.
And for some reason thought, well, I don't need as much.
And I don't know if anybody else has had that.
I'm sure some listeners have where the charcoal kind of like
Fizzles out yeah before you can before the food is done having to turn to sharing go Can you start a pot of boiling water so I can finish this corn on the cob?
And being an OBGYN I mean she started pots of boiling water all All the things that you got to do, right?
So standard enough charcoal Kristen Selena.
Thank you as always always nice to have you on the Mondays great start to the week.
All
right.
I'm Pat Crightlow.
This is the Civic Media radio
network.
We are back on this Monday, August 4th, 735 the time and
off air, we're just busy yelling at Parker because it's his day off and yet there he is throwing comments on YouTube.
Parker, go back to bed.
Greg says, Parker says, Greg, it can't count as work if I'm laying in bed.
It's just like my senior year of high school.
OK,
first of all, thank you.
Second of all, he's 22.
He's supposed to be sleeping until like 11 o'clock in the morning and stuff like
that.
I'm the one who wakes up.
40 minutes before my alarm.
That's my job as an old man.
Thank you
very much.
Yes, it's what it's what we do.
Let's see from Jim and Brookfield on the text line.
Hi Pat, try microwaving your corn when you're caught short on the grill.
Put the corn in a Pyrex container, add a little water, cover with saran wrap and you are good to go.
Much better than boiling in water.
appreciate the tip on that one.
We definitely definitely needed something.
And then for the stuffed chicken breast, again, when the charcoal was running low, and I know all these people going to see that's why you have gas.
No, I like charcoal.
That's how we're doing this.
But sometimes mistakes are made air fryer.
The chicken breasts were at like 125.
I had to get them to 165.
Starting them on the grill and then finishing in the air fryer, such a good thing.
Kristen's got her hand raised.
Kristen doesn't cook.
Kristen and air fryer is a countertop appliance.
Anyway, what was your question?
We actually got into a little bit of a domestic dispute over air fryer.
I was offered an air fryer for Christmas or a Lululemon sweatshirt, and I went with a Lululemon sweatshirt.
But that was not my question.
And there's our winner for the most Christian thing that's going to be said this morning.
Yes, Greg.
You had a question, Dr. Lyle.
My question was, when you grill corn on the cob, do you soak it in the husk and grill it in the husk?
Or do you husk it and then grill it naked?
I do not grill it naked.
No, just because, again, I've done the husking.
I like the husking.
I like the heart wants what the heart wants.
There it goes.
Greg, what was your
going to say?
Two things.
One, corn.
Try once, just once.
Go with me here.
No butter, no salt, lime juice.
change your life.
Second, what I'm about to say, I want to make sure I'm saying this with all due respect to you, Dr. Lyleigh.
This is not based on you as a woman or as a mother.
It surprises me that you do not like to cook because to me, you seem like the type of individual who doesn't just like to cook.
You love to cook and you would make dishes that people would be like, I want to take pictures of this.
Yeah, that is absolutely not who I am.
Do you know who is like that, though?
All of my children.
Good.
All of my
son.
Excellent.
They had you or they'd starve.
Mom's giving us spaghetti-os
again.
Hey, I put hot dogs in there.
I made it international.
I'm like a cut up an apple and eat some peanut butter kind of gal.
I like to keep it real simple.
I'm the same kind of lady.
I do the same thing.
I like peanut butters and apples.
Apples.
Yeah, just surprising to me.
But that's good.
And you said you taught your boys how to do laundry.
I think that's very important.
I think that's all the good things.
My job is not to coddle them and to prevent them from learning.
My job is to put them out there and teach them how to survive in the world.
And I think I've done a pretty good job.
Yes, ma'am.
And they don't
seem too, you know, too affected.
No, that's fantastic.
Now, we mentioned it was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.
Do you make chocolate chip cookies?
I do bake.
I like to bake.
All right.
And anything special about your chocolate chip cookies?
I have to give props to my dear friend Anne Weiland of Oregon, Wisconsin, who taught me to put Crisco, half butter flavored Crisco, half butter.
It makes your cookies rise and they are delightful.
That's a great idea.
Yeah.
No cookies.
I gotta go add to the shopping list.
Mine is just a variation on the, remember Mrs. Fields?
Cookies.
Oh,
yes.
Mrs. Fields with the cookie recipe there calls for along with the flour, but also some finely chopped oatmeal.
So it's not a little cookie, but some finely chopped oatmeal.
And along with the chocolate chips, a little bit of finely chopped chocolate chips.
going into the batter.
So wait, there's
oatmeal and chocolate chips on top of the chocolate chips.
Not on top mixed in with the batter.
Interesting.
Yeah, just gives it a whole different texture and a little bit more of a chocolate taste.
So there you go.
I really love the cookies.
I really love our monster cookies because it reminds me of my grandmother and I have her recipe, which is for like one gazillion monster cookies because she was a farmwife, so she had to make a ton at a time.
So
yes, so I love to make my.
What are monster cookies?
Oh, it's like peanut butter and oatmeal.
Say more
chocolate chips
and yeah, they're pleasing.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'll make you
some.
Yes.
Okay,
let's see.
I want to get to something Kristen has been working on through the American College of Obstetricians, gynecologists.
But before we get to that political news, let me get one state headline in from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, roughly 192,000 Wisconsin voter registrations are deactivated during routine maintenance.
The story from Mia Thurow from the Journal Sentinel, who noted that this is part of a legally required four year maintenance
process where these 192,369 individuals they were sent mailings regarding their registration status.
You know some people responded it was a pretty small number here I want to say here it is 9,500 voters responded saying yeah I'm still here but the other you know 190 plus thousand didn't and hadn't voted for four years and so they were deactivated.
Boys and girls that's how it's supposed to work.
is routine maintenance and every so often you do the routine maintenance.
What doesn't work is if you're politically motivated and you run to the courts and say we demand you strike all these people from the voter rolls because we say so.
Wisconsin elections commission's doing a great job.
Let them do their job.
We have the best run elections in the country and let's say we try to keep it that way, shall we?
There's my public service announcement for today.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, ACOG, was in the news last week for taking a particular stance when it comes to national politics.
Yeah, they sure were.
I'm really excited about this move.
So ACOG is obviously an organization of OBGYN doctors and our job is to take care of women and in an environment where the president of the United States has issued executive orders that have really made it impossible for us to fulfill our mission specifically to take care of women and to offer comprehensive
obstetrical and gynecological care, ACOG took the unprecedented step of saying, we're not going to take federal funds to do the work that we've been doing together, which is research and public health infrastructure work and work on preventive care.
ACOG said, no, we need to take care of our patients in an objective way that we know is science and evidence based.
So they said, no.
And I'm really proud of them for doing it.
So they can do that.
And how are they, I mean, how are they backfilling, I guess, is one way to put it.
You know, they have a foundation.
We have members who pay dues.
So for the time being, that's where those funds will be coming from day by day.
we'll see what happens next year.
In the past it has been we've received millions of dollars from the federal government you know throughout COVID there were times where we partnered and there have been extensive partnerships with the federal government.
There have been a number of different initiatives that we've worked on together and those initiatives are still there.
It's just the funding piece that's gotten very tricky when you're working with the Trump administration.
Well and I'm sure this is a little bit of apples and oranges but when you look at what's happening with colleges
and universities and their research funding.
And this is research funding.
There's nothing political about the research that can, you know, save lives, develop new products for the economy and all of that.
But in the, you know, the the MAGA war on education, and really, that's all it is.
Don't tell me it's about indoctrination or socialism or whatever.
It's a war on higher education.
And in doing so,
They're putting an end to the funding that puts an end to all kinds of federal research.
They are endangering the visas of foreign students.
Congressman Tom Tiffany was in the headlines recently for, you know, seconding that thought of targeting all these people with student visas and running them out of the country, you know, on behalf of what?
You know, some xenophobia.
But these are colleges and universities that have foundations and
That can't replace all of the federal funding.
But it is still a little puzzling to me that so many of these colleges and universities are acquiescing, shall we say, to what the Trump administration is demanding.
And that groups like ACOG can say, no, we just don't need your money anymore.
We really, it would have been a huge hit to who we are and the work that we do if we had continued to take that federal money.
But you know, I'll tell you, I just spoke with a friend of mine who is a specialist in St.
Louis and she is a researcher and they have moved their lab to China because they can't get the federal funding here in the United States anymore.
And in order for them to continue doing the important work that they do in preventing the spread of infectious disease.
They've got to go somewhere else.
So this is millions of dollars in research leaving the United States now going to China.
which doesn't feel good given, you know, the relationship that we have with China and the Chinese government, but, you know, they don't have alternatives.
And we're seeing this happen all over the country.
Yeah.
The Trump administration, of course, is trying to take this all as some kind of a victory.
And HHS spokesperson says, this is great news for the American taxpayer.
ACOG taking itself off the federal payroll might be the most responsible budging decision that they've made.
Whatever, dude.
There's a reason why.
governments, responsible governments would invest in public health and research and things like that.
And again, it's not like you're saving the taxpayer any money.
Spokesperson dude, you're just giving that money to the wealthy through tax cuts.
So stand down.
Yes, and let's remember that women's health in this country is not in a good place.
I mean, we've got the highest maternal mortality rate.
More women die as a result of their pregnancy in this country than in any other developed country.
Not by a little, by a lot.
So we've got a lot of work to do, but with the loss of this federal funding, with so much of the dismantling that the Trump administration has done in our healthcare system, we can anticipate that our outcomes...
will be worse and it's going to take months to years to be able to see the effects.
As noted by Axios, ACOG is one of the few medical associations—I'm sorry, let me say that correctly—ACOG is one of a few medical associations vocally pushing back against Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'
's health policy.
Health care during pregnancy has become a flashpoint.
Kennedy has removed the recommendation that pregnant people get COVID-19 vaccines, and a recent advisory panel to the FDA cast doubt on the safety of antidepressants during
pregnancy.
ACOG said the composition of that panel was quote alarmingly unbalanced and there's robust evidence showing the medications are safe during pregnancy.
The group boycotted a June meeting of Kennedy's handpicked vaccine advisory committee saying that a purge in June of the panel's 17 advisors compromised its credibility.
Yes.
Yes,
just all of it to do doing the right thing.
Yeah, I mean the American College of Pediatricians is actually suing the Trump administration over their vaccine recommendations because it's hurting kids and the pediatricians are the least political.
They don't even have a political action committee, but they know that it is making it harder for them to take care of their patients.
We know that when ACIP does not recommend vaccines that insurance companies won't pay for vaccines and that means that these life-saving
literally life-saving vaccines for children will not be covered by insurance.
So we are having to take drastic measures.
These are really, really uncomfortable times.
Yeah.
And look, it's easy to classify this as heroic, but it really is just standing up for what's right, which we need more of at this critical time more than ever.
Dr. Leighly, so great to talk to you again.
See you on Friday, we hope.
Sounds good.
See you then.
All right.
Have a great start to the week.
Coming up, a local update is next for some of you.
For others, we're going to talk to Jimmy Kuska a bit and then in our next hour, John and Gordy from our Civic Media Station in Madison and then Sean Fetaplace from Main Street Alliance on giving small businesses a voice the way they're being hurt by Trumponomics.
That's all ahead.
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.
Welcome back.
It's a Monday morning and Jimmy Koska, Civic Media Sports Director is with us.
How was your weekend there, Jimmy?
I spent my weekend in downtown Madison taking in soccer.
So my kid is big, big in the soccer, which is awesome.
He spends a lot of time working on getting better at it.
But the forward Madison FC had a seven on seven tournament this weekend.
So we had a couple of teams come over from basketball to go hang out, took in a forward Madison match on Saturday.
you know, going full mango.
So it was pretty fun, except for the air quality being just awful.
So yeah, that would not be fun.
All that running around or even just being outside as a spectator.
But yeah, you got a little sun in the process.
Yeah, a little bit.
It's good prep for what I got to deal with now with high school football season starting officially at midnight tonight.
So midnight.
So here's the funny thing about high school football, because the WIAA doesn't start until Tuesday.
There are teams that actually do midnight practices on this first night.
We're not one of them.
But you'll see if you go on social media tonight at 12.01, you're going to see a bunch of high school football programs, a few dozen around the state.
They're going to have their lights on.
They're going to be practicing at 12.01.
uh overnight here uh just to get just because it's the first time you could actually be on the field together officially for practice
you know the midnight madness thing when I first it was college basketball is where it first you know started with ncAA teams would do a practice at midnight because that was what the guideline was they were marketing that that's all fine and good but I don't know high school football practice at midnight just because the rules say
I mean, you're just begging for them to change the rule to noon or something like that.
But I guess, I guess if you, if that's how you want to get attention is, you know, bending the rule a little bit or something.
Trying to
see if my old high school does that.
I'm like, Oh God, they
try to give me the view that do it.
It's, it's, I mean, it's kind of a fun novelty away, but I know for me, I don't want to be coaching football at 12, oh one.
I just don't
know.
No, I'd rather be bright-eyed and bushy tailed first thing Tuesday morning and have at it.
So I'm, I'm guessing years will be five AM tomorrow.
So we are actually an afternoon practice team because of the way our schedules work out.
Most of the coaches aren't actually school employees.
They have day jobs like myself.
So we do ours in the afternoon, but it is so much fun with high school sports arriving this week with practices starting for football around the state.
Believe it or not, our first fall sports high school.
competitions, not football, but just at any sport, swimming and diving, which is already next week, we already have fall high school sports competitions next week in Wisconsin.
Okay, fall seasons are coming.
So I mean, as we'll just transition over to Packers family night after that and whether it's something that you watch and can we glean anything from the practice that always strikes me as just more of a fun little scrimmage.
But you know, maybe, maybe somebody shows a flash of something that
gets everybody excited for the regular season?
What are your impressions?
I mean, that's pretty much it.
It's a fan-driven event.
It's a practice, above all else.
And you're not to go too out, Iverson, on you, but it's practice.
You're not going to remember anything that happens
at this.
Practice.
We're talking about practice.
Not a game.
But what can happen in these injuries, and the Packers did spend most of their time addressing just a couple of the people who went down with a non-contact injury, run into somebody, things like that.
That's the risk of anything in a contact sport is somebody gets hurt.
That's really the only thing.
If nobody gets a serious injury in this, that's your win, right?
That's your W on the calendar.
It doesn't sound like there are any serious injuries, just some usual ding.
intense from a normal practice.
So that's that's probably the best news for Packers fans.
The other best news for Packers fans obviously too is, hey, this Saturday it preseason starts.
We are in the football season.
We have
preseason football this Saturday.
Are we playing at home?
Do you know?
Yeah, so the Packers will play and you'll hear this on on our airways They are hosting the New York Jets this
week.
They're playing basketball high school
Speaking
of practice then batting practice that is essentially what the Brewers were doing this weekend in games against the Washington Nationals, but the Nationals again, you know, they won the World Series just six years ago and then
it just immediately sank and they're just a doormat now and the Brewers hit a record 56 hits over the weekend scored what 38 runs with the winds of 16 to 9 8 to 2 and then yesterday 14 to 3 Bryce Drang had two two run homers on Sunday
It wasn't a fair fight, Jimmy, but it was fun to watch.
It's funny in baseball.
I mean, it's a sport where there's, you know, no salary cap, right?
It's just what teams can afford.
And we see that impact with a team like the Minnesota Twins who had a fire sale ahead of the trade deadline.
Everybody, it felt like left Minnesota Twins last week, right?
And that's, that's, that was, that was so weird to see because that's another Midwestern team.
But here are the brewers.
And in the last decade plus.
they have been extremely competitive, having one of the best records in all of baseball in the last, you know, 10, 15 years.
It is remarkable what they've been able to do and feel the competitive team after a competitive team.
A stat I saw just randomly on social media over the weekend was that if you remember back the first four games of the season, the Brewers had something like a minus 34 run differential, something crazy like that, which was like a record for worst if or like four games of the year, right?
Well, the pictures I gave up most of those runs,
They were like six of them that gave up most of those runs.
None of them are with the Brewers anymore.
They
remade their whole pitching staff on the fly this year to the point where they've called up Jacob Izarowski, who was out for 15 days as it turns out with a Brewers shin.
But it's amazing how they've remade themselves and become extremely competitive now in first place, obviously, in the NL.
So the best record in the NL.
Best run differential as well.
It's now plus 119.
Yeah.
And that's amazing for that start of minus 34.
I mean, it is incredible where we're at with this.
I think the most important thing we learned though from the Brewers this weekend is that their manager randomly just has food in his pocket.
I love this.
I love the fact that the Apple TV reporter, because the game was on Apple TV Friday night, Trisha Whitaker asks about his snacking and he pulls a pancake out of his pocket and shares with her.
which props to her for sharing somebody's pocket pancake.
That is so awesome.
I love it
so much.
Pat Murphy is, I don't know, Matt, he's my spirit animal.
I love it.
Oh, he is such a symbol for the whole weekend here.
Quinn Priester is pitching tonight.
Pre game starts at 540 tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday evenings.
Jimmy Koska, thank you for the check in.
We appreciate it.
I think
you guys take
care.
All right.
Coming up in our next hour, we're going to talk to Sean Fett of Place from Main Street Alliance.
That's the group of small business owners looking out for what small business wants in public policy, not big business and the small business places actually want to take care of their workers.
We'll have that and much more.
John and Gordy and another check of the forecast with Brittany Merleau.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
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