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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.
At 8.06 on this Monday morning, August 25th.
Nice to have you here, coming up later this hour.
State Representative Francesca Hong from Madison, and we're going to talk about her odometer.
which definitely indicates she's been places other than Madison and talking to people about the 2026 election and the qualities to look for in candidates.
Maybe anything she'd like to be doing differently in 2026.
We'll talk to her in just a bit along with John and Gordy from our Madison Station WMDX in moments.
But first, Brittany Merleau has got a forecast for us.
Brittany, good morning.
Well, John and Gordy are here too.
And John and Gordy, we're comparing notes and clearly
Y'all had a different weather weekend than me.
And I don't know if there was like one little black rain cloud hovering over the Chippewa Valley or what, but there was like wind chills and squalls and all that.
What do you guys looking so happy about?
It
was beautiful here.
Yeah.
Great weather both days.
It's gorgeous again today.
That
was
really nice.
Brittany, where did I go wrong?
Is there a
following?
No, you're right.
You're right.
We did have those blasts of showers, crazy winds with them to a lot of overcast cloudy skies up north
throughout the
weekend.
So I get why you're complaining.
I, however, didn't mind it.
It was like hiking weather.
Get outside and enjoy it.
Go mountain biking.
Do some stuff and not sweat.
That's what I liked.
But now we're all rocking the flannels out here this morning.
37 degrees in Hayward still right now.
It is the coldest spot in the state.
The rest of us are in the upper 40s to mid 50s.
It's bright.
It's beautiful.
It's blue skies out there.
No wildfire smoke.
Still got a Northwest breeze making it very comfortable.
Heist today hitting about the mid sixties.
That's about in the 15 degrees below where we should be right now.
So a little blast of fall like weather here.
We are going to be going a little bit warmer tomorrow, just a few degrees into those upper sixties to low seventies and then a little bit warmer into Wednesday, maybe some low to mid seventies.
But by Wednesday night, we're looking at cold front moving through again, which is going to spark some more rain chances.
So what weather Wednesday night cools us down a little bit into Thursday and Friday back to hovering around 70 or so.
And then as we go into the weekend, Labor Day weekend, we are going to warm things up mid 70s to upper 70s and we are going to hit the 80s by next week.
So summer weather isn't gone.
We've just got a little break from it.
open those windows, get that reason.
Oh my gosh, it's so nice.
I'm loving it.
So I had to close my windows because it was getting so cold in this place
over the
weekend.
Yeah.
Tony's over here saying Pat needs to do more mountain biking.
Pat's perfectly happy where he is right here.
And just
gets paid to complain about the weather.
So that that totally works for me.
Although I like your attitude rock in the flannel.
Not I had to put on a long sleeve shirt this morning.
It was rocking the flannel.
I like Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, thank you, Brittany.
Appreciate
it
so much.
Talk to you tomorrow.
John and Gordy are here from our Madison station.
WMDX catch them six to eight if you're in the Madison area, or on the civic media app, guys.
So clearly, you had you had a better
better weather weekend down there.
And the forecast looks fantastic.
Go out and buy some more brats and get ready for some more great, beautiful, sunny, cool days.
This is my
favorite time of the year.
Absolutely.
I've been very
blessed that both my daughters as they became adults and left the nest and now they're in different states and everything but there's always been at least one period every summer for these past what 12 years whatever it's been that we've been empty nesters that wonder both of them come and they if they come differently they still overlap so at some point we've had everybody here under one roof and it was looking like that might not happen this year but it actually is going to happen this week.
coming up for Labor Day weekend, which is nice.
But I bring that up to say, maybe part of my grousing about the weather is, you know, obviously, we're going to be doing pontoon rides and things like that, which is a lot easier in the 80s than say the upper 60s,
where you have,
hey, this is really refreshing, isn't it, kids like Jacques Cousteau on the Arctic Ocean, you know, doing some exploring.
But we will, we will try to make
the best.
Well, congratulations, Pat, because you're one of the very first boaters that actually considers that about the people and passengers they have on their boats, because some, some go out there and the bitter cold is, Hey, let's go on that boat and have some fun sitting there suffering and freezing to death, you know, with water splashing on me.
And you're at least.
You're at least, I guess, considered of the people on that pontoon boat of yours.
Well, definitely because if you hit the wave the wrong way and you end up, you know, splashing everybody, you never hear the end of it.
So, you know, try to try to be a good boat around there.
But of course, purposely, though, I used to back in the day when we had more of a like a deckboat and we'd pull the girls and their friends went on the inner tubes, you know, behind the boat.
And I look back now.
in horror, the kind of dad that I was, the one where as you're pulling them on the tube and you're thinking, oh, this is fun, this is very nice, and you look back at them, and they're yawning at you.
They're yawning, they're like goading you, like, come on,
dad.
So of course, okay, I'll show you what dad can do.
They whip it a few times, throw them so far off the tube that Child Protective Services really should have shown up at that
point.
Yeah,
and yet they still, they laugh about it because, you know,
If you didn't break a limb, you had a good time, I guess, you know?
Well, you know, yeah, I'd go by their advice, you know, kids are always, uh, so good with judgment, judgmental things like that, you know, yes.
You can't
do it on the
road.
So I guess maybe I was more dangerous.
Oh, that would make everybody scream.
That's
true.
What do you guys do for fun and excitement over the weekend?
Well, let's see, our weekend really began with the Madison Night Market on Thursday night.
And that was, it was great.
That was cool and
breezy.
Again, weather was wonderful.
It couldn't have been better.
And we had a big crowd here in downtown Madison walking up and down State Street visiting all the booths.
And our booth was well attended.
And
we have a lot
of street musicians down here, too.
We saw our old friend Art Paul Schlosser, who's sort of a Madison institution.
He's been a busker, you know, street musician for, well, since the 70s, I
think,
at least.
And so he's always out there.
And he wrote, he wrote us a song.
just for our for us, just
for John
and Gordy.
Yeah,
right on
the spot.
Could
you pull that up?
You know, my hearing just just a piece of it, you
know, now he's kind of eccentric.
He's
a little
different.
And so do we have that time?
He's looking for
it.
Okay.
Now he's got it
right here.
Let's
listen just a
little bit.
He's a little different.
You get an idea.
Okay.
Is this a threat or is this a warning?
Dan and Gordy in the morning.
Who will be their guest?
What will they be performing?
Dan and Gordy in the morning.
Are they funny or are they boring?
There you go.
So,
you
know,
wow,
it's all
kind
of
air.
He's very much in the moment.
I wouldn't say that he stuck the landing on that one.
Are they funny or boring?
If
he's going to do this, he's going to end it with a flourish.
Because most people don't understand when you're singing the national anthem, it actually ends with a question.
Can you imagine if we all sang it?
as if it were a question at the end.
You know, oh, say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave over the land of three in the home of the brave?
That's
interesting.
You gotta stick that thing.
So I'm sure it's, it's, it's being workshopped.
There will be many more, many more songs will be.
You know, he's written so many songs.
He's actually been featured.
Was it on Jimmy Kimmel?
I think it was.
Yeah, they had some sort of contest and he said,
some stuff and they featured him on the show.
You guys literally are living the phrase minstrels will sing songs of you.
Yeah, it's funny
because Gordy went across the street, held his phone up, recorded him and he did that song Adlib.
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
see I love that with the the ones that can like on whose line is it in any way or any improv stuff when they can do a song like that because you're not only you know looking for the rhymes and matching the music but by the way you should be funny in the process you know Wayne Brady was always famous for that.
on
Who's
Wine.
And I have a feeling with that comedy club downstairs there at the building that you're in at the top of State Street, you've probably heard a few people that can improv music with the best of them.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, they come through quite often, but
back to Art Paul.
He's a prolific songwriter.
Let's put it that way.
He's written lots and lots of things.
But Madison being a music town, some of the musicians here have picked out some of the songs that he's written and produced them in a real recording studio.
And it's actually a really good CD with some of the best of Madison musicians taking some of his kind of odd lyrics and putting them to really good music and made a great CD.
That's right.
You can
see and hear that on Spotify.
It's
got a
whole bunch of
stuff
there.
See, the closest we get to that is, you know, after several drinks, somebody will play touch tunes on their phone.
and we'll all drunkenly yell out the lyrics to American Pie, you know, for 12
minutes.
Well, whatever works for you.
Whatever
talent we can get here.
Talking to John and Gordy from Down in Madison.
I've been I've been meaning to ask you about a story that was in the Ismus newspaper down there.
A couple of weeks back, and just about the headline is Epic Employees.
Epic is the big medical records company down there.
And I don't know how many people work for Epic, but Epic Employees flood Madison's dating scene.
And the chances that if you swipe right, you're going to land on someone who is a coworker.
And how tough that is when you've got a great big company town, which maybe people don't think of Madison as a company town, but when it comes to Epic, I mean, you guys can't shake a stick without hitting an Epic employee, I would imagine.
That's right.
Most of these high rises, the new high rises are occupied by Epic employees.
It's true.
They're all over it.
They're not just in Verona where Epic is located, but they're they're really in every part of our city, especially downtown.
I even don't think they
even have shuttles that go out to Epic.
Yeah,
they're
everywhere.
And I again, I can't imagine because I don't know that there's a company policy on it.
But, you know, dating co workers, that's fraught with peril wherever you go.
And, you know, there's a
way to meet somebody, though, I think.
I'm sorry.
I like to break the rules.
You
know, you got to find a friend somewhere.
Right.
Exactly.
Well, plus it also says Epic's campus headquarters.
It's 1100 acres.
And I've got to think that, you know,
It's not like you're you're dating the person in the cubicle right next to you, right?
I mean, if you've got that many employees, it's fine Unlike it's a
fantasy
land out
there Pat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I
mean They have castles out there.
They have barns where they have offices in barns that they built specifically for epic.
I mean, it is gorgeous place.
It's like Disneyland.
Yeah, I think
you
can take tours tours down there.
Yeah, the thing about epic too is the thing that I've learned in the last couple of
is these Epic employees, they come in, they pay them a lot of money.
I mean,
they
get paid very, very well for what they do.
And a lot of it's software, medical software kind
of
thing.
But the
thing is, they don't last that long.
They get
burned
out very quickly.
So they have a high turnover rate.
They might stay a year and a half, two years, and then they're on to some other high paying, high tech job.
So
there's a lot of turnover.
Well, in that way, I mean, the dating scene is like, oh, oh, gee, I got to go.
I got transferred.
So sorry.
Look what time it is.
My plane is leaving.
I guess it'll work for them.
We're talking to John and Gordy from our Civic Media Station in Madison, WMDX.
And coming up in 15 minutes, we're going to be talking to State Representative Francesca Hong about the 2026 campaign and what's a legislator from Madison doing traveling all across the state?
We'll be talking to her about that in just a little bit.
First, a reminder that the Brewer's lost to the San Francisco Giants.
Four to three, Trevor McGill with another blown save, but hopefully we'll get a chance to turn things around in this Arizona.
series, Arizona coming to t starting this evening at
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We're catching up with John and Gordy down in Madison.
And we'll talk a bit about one of the common themes this morning everywhere across the state was the celebration of life for Mr. Baseball, Bob Uker.
And guys, I mean, I knew it was appointment viewing for me.
I really enjoyed watching that ahead of the game.
Was it something you guys got a peek at as well?
Oh, yeah,
definitely.
Yeah, so saw some of the highlights.
I couldn't watch it while it was happening.
But I did see some of the things that they had with Bob Uker or Bob Costas talking with
Robin Yacht, that was really,
really good thing.
You gotta think too, a couple of days ago in Ringley Field, they had Bob Uker doing the seventh inning stretch.
Yeah, they had video of that.
It was a tribute to that.
That was a wonderful moment.
And now, of course, the Brewers put out on X a post that read, we dedicate today to a larger-than-life legend, a baseball icon, the voice of Brewers baseball forever, Bob Uker.
And I have audio from that.
You want to listen to it?
Yeah, let's give
a listen.
All
right.
To me, Bob Euker just symbolizes the joy of summer sitting on our front porch and bringing up a little transistor radio and dialing up the old AM station.
83 beautiful degrees at game time.
strike cold and we are underway.
Cooking out Broxson hamburgers with family and friends just always on in the background and became a familiar part of the family.
Swing of the line here, face shut, come off the
marionels!
Summers, fishing and there's my dad and there's Bob on the radio calling the game.
His old side stories that he would go on.
That's where the magic was.
If you
didn't enjoy baseball, then you didn't like sliced bread either.
Roars head for Arizona on their up and coming trip.
Out there you can hold a hot dog out your car when doing cooking.
Can't hit a curve ball with four baseball bats and a tennis racket too.
All you got to do is turn the die on.
Hugh Kerr was always there.
Through the radio, I felt that I was literally there.
Through the emotion, the passion, excitement and the cold.
We're going to smash up the middle.
Thanks for listening, everybody.
Thanks for being Brewer fans.
And we'll get together again.
There it is.
Wow.
I mean, again, the man was just the soundtrack of summer.
And again, even if the team wasn't doing well, and there were many years where the team was not doing well, but you just
want to
bomb.
You wanted to hear, you wanted to hear Bob, you wanted to hear the stories.
You still liked baseball as a soundtrack.
But I know Bob would also tell you it's a lot better when they're winning.
That's true.
Well, there was a great combination of Bob Uker and I'm not sure who the other announcer was at the time, but they had great stories, great conversations, even when the Brewers were doing horribly or the game was kind of in a lull.
They had great stories.
Oh, yeah.
Fantastic.
Bob Euker was teamed with Pat Hughes for a long time before Pat Hughes became the voice of the Cubs.
So it was
always great when the Brewers and the Cubs played because they would go into each other's booths and visit with each other and they both had terrific stories.
It's
always fun
to listen to.
Corey Provost was another partner who now is a voice of the twins.
And again, has had some emotional stories that he told, remembering Bob.
One of the things I learned in the tribute was he was the only person with the Brewers in any way, shape, or form who parked inside the stadium.
He had a spot inside for his Corvette.
Yeah, everybody else kind of had to walk in from the lot, but he was right there and then he'd had right into the locker room because he had a locker.
That was at his insistence.
He had a locker room right there by the door.
So first, first locker was, was for Yook.
So that's great.
He could talk to the players.
Well, you know,
Bernie was talking about the fact that you could check out Bob Yooker anytime with Johnny Carson.
Oh
my God.
There's
hilarious.
Like, of course, I watched a lot of Johnny Carson growing up and I always loved when he to me was just because I was I didn't grow up in Wisconsin proper.
So he was just this funny guy whenever he was a regular.
You always look forward to this guy because this and it wasn't yes, they were stories, but it was more the almost Jack Benny like deadpan.
Yes, retorts to what Johnny was saying that was so good.
Self-afraising humor.
Yes.
And we're very fortunate that we can we can look those up on YouTube now.
Didn't didn't he have like plaid jackets?
Oh, he had all the
wild sports coats.
Yeah.
You know what?
And that reminds me I really want to tip my cap to the folks at at FanDuel Sports Network, because first I noticed it on Sophia Minert, who is just an amazing reporter.
And she had this dent sleeveless denim dress on.
And you could tell while it was denim, it had like this blue plaid in it to
kind of like be a nod to Euker's suits.
Well, then they they show the guys up in the booth, you know, BA and rock, and they too are in these kind of so you can tell they were there.
I don't know who designed them or what but they also had these blue suits with just a subtle plaid to it.
You know that it was obviously a one time only thing but you know, I noticed it and I'm sure other people did too.
That was a great little tribute for a guy who you know, a little bit of the 70s will always live with us through Bobby.
wardrobe, you know, well,
great Miller light commercials to that.
You know, it's just treasure those, you know, look back at him.
Yeah.
And I remember one of the stories that got told yesterday was he was very nervous.
He did not want to do that because the team at the time had a contract with Papst and with Schlitz for advertising.
We sometimes forget Miller was like number three in Milwaukee.
You
know
for back in the days when Schlitz and Papster were the the kings Not not the king of beers.
That's that's somebody else and
we're not
gonna worry about that Johnny Gordy and catch them on our Madison station WMDX Weekdays from six to eight guys always appreciate the Monday visits.
Hope you have a great start to the week
Yeah, we're filling in tonight on nightlight for tomorrow night.
So if you want to listen to us to
six o'clock, tune on in.
All right.
Thanks guys.
Appreciate it.
When we come back, we're going to talk to State Representative Francesca Hong about next year and the direction that she hopes Wisconsin voters take our state in.
That's coming up.
I'm back right low.
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Remember, you can sign up for our unabashedly Wisconsin news through our newsletters, a weekday version and a Sunday morning version that I put out on political matters, mostly Wisconsin, but some national as well.
Sign up over at upnorthnewswi.com.
The question of the week in our Sunday morning newsletter this time around, should Wisconsin keep or get rid of mail-in voting?
And I just wanted to get a feel for how many folks agree with President Donald Trump.
who said that Vladimir Putin told him that with mail-in voting, you can't have a fair election.
And so Trump wants to get rid of it, I guess.
And how do you feel about it?
Now, there are a couple of folks that are not big fans of early in-person voting or of drop boxes.
But what about mail-in voting?
Is it too...
Is it too open?
You know in the olden days you had to have like a doctor's note to be able to vote by mail.
Where are you on it these days?
We're getting a lot of responses in and want yours as well.
Radio at upnorthnewswi.com is the email address but you'll get that question first off the bat if you sign up for our Sunday morning newsletter where we talk about
What's happening in the political world?
What's happening with your legislator?
What's happening with our elections?
And to help us continue that conversation on this movement Monday, we've got State Representative Francesca Hong here from Madison.
Fran, good morning.
How are you?
Good morning, Pat.
I'm doing all right.
How are you?
I'm great.
Thank you so much.
I started off the show by saying,
You can sometimes gauge what a candidate is up to by their social media feed.
But if you really want to know what they're up to, check their odometer.
And it's clear that you've put some miles on since the state budget was passed and we're in a lull between sessions here right now.
And as I've told you from my time as a legislator, we're going back 15 years here now.
But there were definitely legislators that did not leave their zip code by and large.
but it's been refreshing to see how many legislators are willing to go across the state to try to help win back seats that they don't currently hold or just to talk to other events as well.
So it certainly looks like you have had a very busy summer that way.
Yes, I think it's really important for legislators across the state, regardless of zip code, to be talking to Wisconsinites that aren't in their district.
And I think what I found and other legislators will tell you the same is that we're hearing a lot about the same issues, especially when it comes to public education.
I was in Adams a couple of weeks ago and met a special education educator.
who was just really disappointed about this budget process and talked to me about special education reimbursement.
The same thing when I was up in Eau Claire a couple weeks ago as well.
So regardless of zip code, public education is on folks mind.
And I know that it is an issue that unites communities.
And we know when public education is strong, I definitely know in my heart that the community is strong.
Along with those travels, of course, we've got campaign related events that are going on as well.
We saw Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was in Wisconsin over the weekend campaigning for Becca Cook, one of three Democrats running in the third congressional district.
You have Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez, who's announced for the governor's race.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crawley says he's going to announce at some point we have two Republicans in the race so far.
I rather thought that we might
actually see kind of a wave of candidates for governor early on.
And I don't think that's materialized yet.
And now I'm starting to wonder, will the field be as large as it was in 2018 or not?
And again, it's just complete speculation on my part.
But with a wide open governor's race, how do you think that the Democratic field is going to look and what do you want to see in that field?
Well, I think primaries and crowded primaries are very democratic I'm hoping that there will be a candidate who will be bold who regardless of zip code is Exciting a crowd but also deeply understanding of the issues and is presenting solutions making sure folks understand how important it is to reimagine that we have to have a sense of
reclaiming what was rightfully ours in terms of progressive values where that started here championing conservation.
And so I'm hoping that there will be a candidate who not only is progressive in terms of legislation, but understands how important it is to unite communities around the state on issues that they care about, like public education.
I know legalizing marijuana is always top of mind for some folks.
And I think it's
really important to talk about how people can save money and have the state take on some of the costs when it comes to school meals.
I know that universal school meals as well is one thing that we're really going to have to keep an eye on and push for as we're seeing this Trump regime gut snap and other programs that keep our children healthy as well as takes care of our elders.
Fran Hong is a state representative from the Madison area, and you're also a co-signer of the letter that was put out that we talked to just last hour with John Shelton, the president of AFT Wisconsin, and state Senator Chris Larson as well, which really called for
the next Democratic nominee for governor to have a real focus on workers and especially union labor as a part of the workforce.
Do you want to say other things about why you chose to co-sign that statement and what it says about those qualities we want to see in a governor next year?
One of the goals that I have and something that I hope more and more Wisconsinites understand is that government can be a force of good.
And I'm excited when we have the Democratic trifecta in the legislature to just show how bold, progressive and transformative legislation can be to deliver and change people's lives quickly.
And so in terms of ensuring that we're reducing the prison population
regulation, closing Green Bay Correctional Institute, ensuring that our public schools are adequately funded, that we expand the rights and salaries of educators and make sure all students have their needs met.
I think it's incredibly important that folks understand that it is the state government that can really make a difference in their lives much more for the better.
better is possible.
And I think that letter, the reason it was important for me to support it, is because it allows folks to really take into heart and think about what is possible and what can government do to actually strengthen our communities, give us more opportunities, and really give us the opportunity to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.
You know when you get to these issues that we you mentioned already the disconnect that there is in the current Republican legislative majority and last week we had Matt Rothschild and Marisa Strano on from New America talking about the
the push for more citizen led ballot initiatives, something that we can't do in Wisconsin right now.
And when New America looked at all the states and said which ones would be of the 26 states or so that don't have ballot initiatives, you know, which one would be most ripe to adopt that, they pointed to Wisconsin because of not just the partisan divide, but also the divide between
who's running the legislature versus the public's issues.
I feel like in every market poll, we see public support for all these issues, and yet it's a Republican legislature that is essentially ignoring the will of the voters.
I'm sure that that's lots of fodder for what Democrats are going to be talking about next year.
I think we have had a majority party Republicans who are more interested in serving their billionaire donors Maintaining and I would say hoarding power and they've ignored the will of the people and oftentimes the law of the land and so it's I think one
The ballot initiatives are a way to maintain democracy and ensure that we are protecting everyone's freedom, especially their economic security.
Because when you have lawmakers who are prioritizing the issues and what their billionaire donors are telling them, especially when it comes to tax fairness and economic security and how folks are taking care of themselves, it really is a
a detriment to Democrat democracy.
It's a detriment in democracy and a lot of folks, especially those in smaller communities, their voices get smaller and smaller.
And we know that we especially need the folks in smaller communities to be louder about the issues they face, especially when they're so similar to the ones that suburban and urban communities are facing as well.
State Representative Francesca Hong is our guest here, Democrat from Madison.
And now that we've talked all about, you know, the potential out there for, you know, what we look for in candidates in the coming year.
Tony puts a comment up on YouTube, and I think he's getting frustrated with me here.
He says, What's happening with Fran?
I was just setting the table here, Tony, don't worry, I'm going to get to it.
Fran, what are your plans for next year?
Right now, I am laser focused on ensuring that we have a democratic trifecta, a bold, progressive and exciting democratic governor and a legislature that has a Senate and Democrat, Senate and Assembly trifecta, I'm sorry, the Senate and Assembly.
have majority Democrats.
And again, this is about ensuring that we are delivering for Wisconsinites.
And so I hope that other folks are ensuring that the assembly in particular has strong candidates and that we are investing in those candidates to make sure that we can take back the five seats that we need for a majority in the assembly.
Could you conceivably see yourself as one of those candidates for governor or for one of these other posts that appear to be opening up as other people jump into various races?
I think right now it's about ensuring folks know what the legislature and government is, that's the ability to do in our state, whether it's those ballot initiatives or ensuring that.
folks across different communities have their needs met, especially when it comes to long-term care and elder care, as well as care for those with disabilities.
The care economy is something that all candidates and should be talking about.
And I think it's important that, especially what's going on with privatization of nursing homes, what's going on with our disinvestments in childcare and K-12 public education.
that we work towards a more caring Wisconsin and let folks know that better is possible when we have a legislature that is bold, progressive and willing to ensure that folks, regardless of zip code, have the ability to care for themselves and their loved ones.
And so you're quite certain going to still be on the road.
You've been at several events already.
And it's a theme that we hit, again, last hour with John Shelton, of what can people do right now?
And that certainly would include either attending or organizing events where a legislator like yourself might hit the road to show up.
I'm so glad you talked about you mentioned organizing Pat community organizing right now, especially when it comes to developing groups that are going to commit to mutual aid, making sure folks have strong neighborhood associations where people understand what some of their neighbors needs are.
I think, you know, gatherings and making sure folks have a.
you know, are thinking about how important block parties are right now.
All of this is resistance, and community organizing is one of the ways, especially at a hyper-local level, that we can continue to grow power and push back against the fascist regime that is coming down from Washington, as well as the hoarding of power and harming of our communities that's been done by Robin Voss and a Republican-led legislature.
State Representative Francesca Hong from Madison spending some time with us.
Fran, it's always so great to catch up.
And I know you've got other events coming up.
You're being a guest chef at places.
And so thanks for making a little time at home to visit with us today.
Pat, always love spending time with y'all here at Up North News.
Thanks so much for having me.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Have a wonderful day.
And on this movement Monday, we should also tell you that there are things on the calendar that you can choose to be a part of.
AFT Wisconsin, for example, has a fighting back event with Randy Weingarten, president of AFT.
The national president is going to be an Eau Claire at the public library coming up this Wednesday afternoon.
We'll visit with Jane Mattener coming up and a few final news and notes items from Lake Wissota after this 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.
Jane McNair coming up in just a sec.
First, tomorrow's guests include Dan Schaefer, political editor for Civic Media, founder of the Reconbobulation Area.
We'll talk to Hans Breitenmoser and Sheila Everhart of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, Dan Hagen from NewsWatch 12, WJFWTV in Rhinelander, and much more tomorrow here on these mornings with Pat Crightlow.
powered by UpNorth News on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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One of the stories today talks about Wisconsin Dells being known as the water park capital of the world.
But there's a different attraction making waves.
See what we did there.
It's a five acre lake that uses rocks.
and plants and fish and bacteria to clean itself naturally, totally free of chemicals.
A very unusual water attraction at Wisconsin Dells.
You can read more about it in our newsletter there.
All right, let's touch base with Jane McNair, who hosts the lovely program after this.
I mean, we're like the thorn that gives way to the rose at nine o'clock from nine to 11 with the ever fragrant Greg Bach joining Jane as well.
Jane, good morning.
How are you?
I am great, Mr. Crite Low, Monday.
And I heard, yeah, because I always listen to you when I'm driving in the morning.
And it was chilly in Lake Wissota this morning.
Oh my, it's still,
it's still, I mean, well, no, actually, it's, it's 54 now.
Okay, so we're not, we're not in the upper 30s anymore, like Hayward and other places were.
But, and then of course, it's, it's Monday, like you said, the brain wasn't fully engaged.
And poor Parker was so confused as I kept talking about this polar express when I meant to say polar vortex.
This guy, I think he was testing me.
I
don't know.
Just to see if you're paying attention, Parker.
You know, make sure you're not wandering off somewhere.
Ken, there's only so
much coffee on board at that point.
So I knew what I was talking about.
All that big cold air from Canada that sneaks down here every so often.
Come across the border.
We need a wall.
This is this is my weather.
Today is going to be such a beautiful day.
Again, we're in southeastern Wisconsin tour.
We're probably 20 degrees warmer
than you
are.
But even this morning, when I was coming in, I was only 62.
So if it's just nice to open up the windows and get some fresh air through the house again, I
get it.
I get it.
I just I don't want it to be I don't want summer to end just yet.
It's not it's we're gonna have there's 80 degree
temperatures in our future, we can have beautiful September is beautiful October.
Yeah.
So we can.
And
again, it just makes me appreciate seasons when I spent those three years living on Grand Cayman,
you know,
you think, Oh, life's a beach, you go to the beach every day, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, it's got it's, it's got its pluses.
Don't get me wrong.
But
you do miss seasons and you come back here.
And I recall one of my first visits back, we'd been on Grand Cayman for about four months or so.
And we came back and it was, you know, October.
And it was one of the mornings just like this.
And when you've been in triple digit heat indexes, you know, for weeks at a time.
Yes.
Oh my goodness, does this feel glorious?
And just
amazing.
Yeah, just the colors of Fred and I are planning to go to Prairie Duchenne at the beginning of October.
And we're going to do a little trip up the Mississippi River.
And yeah, just the colors we have in Wisconsin, Wisconsin, so beautiful.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, you've got the Great River Road going up up and down the Mississippi.
So many lovely attractions to see there as well.
If you go out, if you get out, some some people stay home all weekend and do things like, you know, weeding.
with the exciting life that you lead, Jane.
I mean, couldn't you get a goat to do that?
I'm afraid it would kill the goat.
There were so many and maybe I don't know if I'm the only one, but things show up in my garden.
It's like, how did you get here?
I know I didn't plant you.
I know, you know, squirrels will move things and seeds fly through the air and all this stuff.
But I weeded along our alley path over the weekend and we had this form of nightshade show up out of nowhere.
Pat, that stuff was four and a half feet tall.
Oh, I
needed, I needed a shield and a sword and a flamethrower and a sickle to attack that.
It's, it was, it took me at least two hours.
And then I was in pain through yesterday.
Is it, I mean, are we just talking like digging, digging them up or are we
digging them up?
Okay.
We're not like,
sporting them with, with things that are going to make your, make you glow in the
dark.
They were this big.
Okay.
You can't score those.
You can't score those.
It's just going to look at you and laugh.
Okay.
Which again, takes me, takes me back to the goat.
So I mean, it is
not
or can you pay a kid a quarter or something like that?
We talked about this a little bit on the show and a gentleman shared that they make weed flame throwers.
We'd
flame
through.
Oh, that doesn't sound
even a little dangerous.
I know what could go wrong with the weed flame thrower and the wooden
fence burning
your house down.
Things like that.
As tempting as that is, I think I may have to keep myself away from the flame thrower.
Okay.
What have you got coming up on the show today?
We are going to talk to you.
Civic media news director Shelly Pittman is going to join us.
THC in Wisconsin is everywhere and yet
How much is it regulated?
So that's an ongoing discussion.
We'll talk to Shaly coming up after the 9 30 news in hour number two, the Wisconsin policy forum looked at apprenticeships in Wisconsin, which are on the rise and growing.
So we're going to learn about that audio sorbet today.
We were kicking this around before we went on the air.
Today's audio sorbet is going to be a food gripe.
And this is cracker edition.
We got into an argument about the best cracker pet.
Oh, actually, yes,
I could, I could see that happening.
So yeah.
Triscuits, Ritz crackers, very passionate opinions who knew about crackers.
So our audio survey after the 1030 news.
Crackers to cleanse the palate.
Crackers, crackers, cracker edition is
coming up.
Yes.
Thank you, Jane.
Have
a great day.
Appreciate it.
Good to see you,
Pat.
Good to see you as well.
Bye Parker.
And yeah, Parker.
Bye.
Bye.
Thanks to Parker and to Brittany Merlot and to John Shelton and to Francesca Hong, Kristen Lyrely, Selena Heller, Jimmy Koska, John and Gordie.
goodness, we had a busy one today.
And we're just going to do it all over again tomorrow and hope that you come along for the ride.
I'm Pat Crightlow, founding editor of Up North News.
Up North News is the digital outlet for courier, a pro democracy news network, building a more informed, engaged and representative America.
Follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletters head to the website, UpNorthNewsWI.com.
Enjoy your Monday.
We'll see you back here tomorrow morning, 6am, bright and early here up north.
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