Pushing Back Against a Big Oil & Coal President (Hour 2)

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You are listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglo powered by Up North News.

Now, for my Lake Minnesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglo.

Hey, good morning.

It is 7 0 6.

Nice to have you back here up north on this Monday morning, September 15th, 2025.

Joined as always on Mondays by Dr. Kristen Lierly and by Up North News reporter, Selena Heller.

Selena will tell us in just a couple of minutes about

and unusual, more colorful, not your typical protest that took place

in

the Chippewa Valley last week.

That's on the way.

Brittany should be back tomorrow to give us all the weather news, but you of course can catch the forecast throughout the day on your local civic media station.

But in the meantime, Rob doesn't take a day off out in Tigerton where he says good morning.

It's fair and 54 degrees.

It was really a very beautiful weekend.

Saturday had a mowing job and went to the Tigerton Lions Club steak fry.

It was excellent with great steak.

Sunday watched some football then took around the countryside seeing the changing colors of the leaves and took some pictures from my social media and for my friends.

We are definitely getting to that time of year with the the leaves are like

right there, just about to pop, depending on what part of the state you're in.

I posted one of Rob's pictures.

They are absolutely beautiful.

And Rob also sent me an article about some disability benefits that are in danger right now because of the Trump administration.

So I'll be making a little TikTok video about that later today.

Thank

you.

You have been a TikTok machine recently.

Well, there's a

lot of information that people need to know, and it's great to be able to put it into a bite size.

you know, clump and let people have a conversation about it.

I wouldn't call your videos a clump.

Yeah, very nice.

Rob also notes last night I saw the Northern Lights.

I was going to say that.

Yeah, Northern Lights were out last night.

A lot

of

Wisconsin it seems.

I saw one picture I'm sure by now social media is full of them but very early this morning somebody put one up and I was like, wow, is that what they looked like last night?

So that's great.

Some people got

Got a very nice view.

I'll be looking at that.

In the history section I neglected to mention today is National Google Day because that's when they claimed the domain this day in 1997.

It is World Engineers Day and it's Double Cheeseburger Day and it is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.

And if people go, well, wait, it's the middle of the month.

Well, yeah, Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15th to October 15th because several countries today mark September 15th as their independence day, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, all declaring independence from Spain on this particular day.

So yes, again, happy.

Hispanic Heritage Month, folks.

And, yeah, double cheeseburger, I don't know, might be a bit much for me.

I'm more of a sliders guy, you

know.

Oh, I do love a good double cheeseburger.

Maxi Burger from Dick's Drive-in in Cacana any day.

We did, after we did the Fall Festival, we headed up to Amber Inn, up at the top of the hill there in Eau Claire, above the Old Uniro factory.

It's just some of the best burgers.

ever, you know, on a griddle that I'm convinced dates back to the Warren Harding administration.

And shall we say

maybe it hasn't.

Yeah, right.

It's properly seasoned.

So yeah, shall we say

that's

where

it gets its special flavor.

That's right.

So while we're talking about things actually before Selena, we get to the Eau Claire story.

I do want to mention the other news from this morning.

State Senator Kelda Roy's announcing that she is jumping into the governor's race, making her candidacy official today.

So I'm sure we'll be talking to her a lot in the coming 11 months between now and the primary election.

And Kristen, you saw Kelda recently.

Yeah, I got to spend some time with Kelda.

Actually, she gave me and the president of ACOG, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the chair of the OBGYN department down at UW Madison and a bunch of students and residents, a little tour of the Capitol during our big meeting over the weekend.

You know, Senator Rice has been a huge champion for women's health and abortion rights for a very long time.

So I'm really excited to see what she brings to the table as a candidate for governor.

Yes, she gets in a race that also includes Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez with Sarah Rodriguez running for governor.

That opens up that spot.

And so you've got Sarah Godluschi, the current Secretary of State now running for Lieutenant Governor.

which means there's an opening for Secretary of State.

And in that post, you have Milwaukee Common Council member and former legislator, Jocasta Zamiripa, running for Wisconsin Secretary of State.

And Jocasta Zamiripa will be our guest here live just over an hour from now.

So a lot to cover just today alone on the things that are going on.

Selena, you were covering a recent protest in Eau Claire about budget cuts.

And it wasn't your typical, you know, just carry some signs and, you know, chance some some things which is fine.

I mean, everybody should be able to protest something they feel strongly about.

But if you can add a little splash of color or character, especially the characters, well, that's what you find in Eau Claire last week, right?

Yep, Wizard of Oz themed it was because they called it, Toto.

We're not in America anymore.

It definitely feels that way to some folks.

And so people got into the theme, didn't they?

Well, yes, they were wearing lion costumes, dorthies and witches and even houses.

Like, I mean, they had to spend a lot of time on these

costumes.

Oh, these were very creative.

My favorite was that my fear was somebody put their little dog in a basket, you know, like Toto, and the sign around the basket said, nobody's coming to eat me.

They're eating the dogs.

Yes, I did see one person dressed as a house.

They basically built a house costume around themselves.

Is that who you talked to?

That is who I talked to.

Amy Holden, she's from Chippewa Falls and she

talked about kind of why she was there and and they they have this these rallies triple valley indivisible uh host these rallies every every week so they marked the sixth anniversary six month anniversary of having these rallies and that's why they kind of did something a little bit different and more colorful so this is Amy Holzen Holzen of triple falls talking about why she was there

I'm here because I strongly believe in preserving our democracy and I'm just astounded at what has happened to our country in the last six months.

So I'm here to show support and get others to rally as well and I'm hoping for a blue wave in 2026.

What

are the things that affect you the most or that you're the most surprised about?

Oh boy.

So rule of law is really important to me.

My father was a police officer and I'm just appalled at the pardons that Trump has given to criminals and what he's doing to immigrants that are not criminals.

So, you know, I just feel strongly in the rule of law that's what makes our country.

great, you know, it's what provides stability and makes people trust our country.

And without it, you know, I think, I think we're in tough shape.

Well,

that's Amy Holzen of Chippewa Falls.

And I like that she emphasized something beyond just the budget cuts.

And believe me, the budget cuts are plenty of the protest people's health care, people's nutrition benefits.

But here in her case, she's actually looking out

for others, for law and order, for the criminals being let loose and the immigrants who are being treated as criminals.

And I'm, I'm sure you saw that kind of selflessness in other folks in the crowd as well.

So we're always told, Oh, democracy is not the number one issue.

People are worried about their wallets and everything.

You know, it's still kind of important.

Well, and that was the thing too, because

along with the Wizard of Oz theme, it was, you know, the words of Glinda the Good Witch still hold true today.

And that was kind of the sentiment that because Glinda said, and it was, you know, the rally is talking about coming together to fight for each other.

And so Glinda says, you've always had the power, you've had it all along, my dear.

And so that was kind of the theme of helping each other out and banding together to kind of come together to fight all of these things.

Krista is our representative of Glenda.

You can concur with those remarks.

You talk to people who it's about the budget cuts for some people, but it's about taking care of each other for other people.

I think that for most people...

They are tired of politics.

They are tired of the rhetoric.

They just want to live their lives.

And that's why they're worried about the cost of goods and services, because that is real for them.

And the whole democracy thing seems very tied up with politics.

But the truth is, all of that political stuff is what makes prices higher, is what makes it harder to find a job, is what makes it more challenging to get an education.

So it is important to engage in whatever way you can.

And it's delightful to see things like this happening, where people don't have to be

They can be creative and fun, but still acknowledge, hey, this isn't what we have, what we want to see for the future of our country.

Well, especially when you consider that people look at others who protest and think, oh, they're just always angry about something and that anger is the fuel for protests and demonstrations.

And that's not necessarily so, that these are friends and neighbors who still have a sense of humor about things, but want to express a particular point of view.

This isn't the only example of that.

There's also the example in, was it Superior?

Was it Superior or Wausau?

Gosh, I lost track now for Congressman Tom Tiffany's office, where they tend to turn the lawn sprinklers at the office building for Tom Tiffany's office just coincidentally seem to come on when there are protesters.

Outside of Tiffany's office and so one day they showed up in in when the sprinklers came on they they took off their top layer and they're there they were in swimsuits and and Flippers and snorkels and things like that and turned it into a beach party because you gotta have a sense of humor

Yeah, they played huge beach music had umbrellas and they were ready and they were dancing

around Yeah, art and joy and music will save us trust me lean into it.

Yeah

along with compassion and empathy, we were reminded many times in the past few days that somebody referred to empathy as like some kind of a new age made up term.

And I think that that really didn't set well with people who are looking at the reactions of the past few days since the Charlie Kirk assassination and saying, you know, actually it's right that we have empathy for one another.

And that includes being against political violence, even against somebody that you didn't agree with.

There's there's a lot that could be learned if if empathy was a bit more of a quality of the people who are in power right now.

And it's right that we talk about it.

I think a lot of us are feeling very afraid to say anything because we're afraid to say the wrong things.

But the truth is we have to have these conversations and they have to be from the heart and we have to listen to each other or we will not come to a place where there is a shared understanding.

That's right.

Well,

I was going to say, you know,

that that word I remember putting I think on last year's sheet on the the Meet the Teacher Day we like what do you want to make sure Emery you know learns this year or whatever and one of those things that I put on there was empathy and you know to to look out for others and think about other people and and and I hope that's what they're kind of kind of relating in school also

hope they do as well yeah it's in it's in shorter supply than it needs to be in this country these days that's for sure let's take

look at sports here at 718 you had the Brewers playing the St.

Louis Cardinals over the weekend and they did clinch a place in the playoffs so there will be postseason baseball for the Brewers but there's still plenty to play for.

because if they, they're currently, you know, best record in baseball, the top two records get a buy in the first round.

And as we know, the Brewers have not done well in the first round of the playoffs.

So if they could skip that wild card series and get right to the divisional series, that would be a good thing.

So the magic number still stands at eight to clinch the central division, but the Brewers are in the playoffs.

They fell short yesterday, three to two against the Cardinals, but they did win on Friday and Saturday.

But as for yesterday, a couple of solo home runs by Caleb Dur...

and Danny Janssen were all that they could muster.

The Brewers are off today, and they will be hosting the Los Angeles Angels coming up on Tuesday.

Coverage begins tomorrow at 6.05 on several civic media stations.

Head over to the website to learn more.

Of course, the Packers were off yesterday because they'd won on Thursday.

Their next game is next Sunday, September 21st at noon at Cleveland.

And the Badgers were, well, they were wallowed by Alabama 38 to 14, and they will next open the Big Tense.

season this coming saturday, hosting Maryland.

You'll hear that on several civic media stations as well.

I'm pac right.

Well, this is the civic media radio network.

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Welcome back just about 723 right now.

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And this morning's edition of story about how the Wisconsin beef council in partnership with gather Wisconsin is excited to announce the prime rib trail.

a statewide guide to restaurants serving up perfectly prepared prime rib.

I

saw that.

I shared that to my friends.

Well, there you go.

Official carnivore of the show, Selena Heller will tell us more.

That's true.

I had

prime rib over the weekend.

Well, you know, you could do that with fish fries.

People have certainly done it with cheese and wine and breweries.

And so, yeah, all of it makes perfect sense.

Why wouldn't you have that?

Yes, that is what I say.

There's yeah, it goes throughout the state There's you know in every kind of region

So

stop I'm there are plenty more stops to be had but it mentions few

I will definitely on a Friday.

I'll be thinking okay.

It's Friday.

It's fish fry Where do I want to go for fish fry and a lot of places they'll have a fish fry?

on that day, and then they'll have a prime rib special on Saturday.

Thursday and

Saturday is prime rib.

Thursday and Saturday.

Yeah, as well.

And I have to admit that off the top of my head, there's not a place where I'd be like, Oh, yeah, because I don't think that I'm going out for prime rib tonight.

It's I'm out for dinner.

And I see it on the menu.

And I either do or don't want it that particular night.

But maybe other people use a little bit more forethought in their prime rib.

Kristen, is that a dining priority for you?

I am not at all a prime rib person, so I cannot speak to that, but...

I can speak to the supper club book that I know you have spoken with the

author and I

cannot think of his name off the top of my head.

But we actually have that book and we will choose a supper club based on that and then we'll bring it and show it to them and have them like write a little note in it.

And it's adorable because so many of these supper clubs are, you know, they're family owned and they're proud of it and it creates a conversation and it becomes a really nice fun experience.

And if you go to Plover and I cannot think of the name of the supper club in

over but I will.

You can actually buy a little cone that looks like a hazard cone in the road and a little orange cone

and

you pay for like $4 for it.

and you put it on your table so people know that you are a supper club enthusiast, so they'll stop by your table and have a conversation with you about supper clubs that you've gone to.

It's so cute.

So it's

kind of in the same vein as the prime rib thing.

You know, it's something to bring people together and have an experience and have a conversation.

Ron Feola.

Yeah,

that's all the separate club books.

Yes.

Yes.

And the it's been a while since I've talked to him and he was working on like a fourth edition or something like that.

So we really should find out the latest on that.

These things change all the time.

Go ahead, Selena.

I have a plug for a prime rib buffet.

Yeah,

Essel Hill Supper Club in Maryland, kind of back home in my neck of the woods.

And it is coming up because they have special ones throughout the year.

Like one is during Cranberry Festival for those people going to Warrens and staying around the area and deer hunting time.

Prime rib buffet.

What?

That's amazing.

I'm in.

I'm sold.

Me too.

It's around my birthday.

So I couple it with my birthday and it's the

Sporn's cranberry festival one, so

which by the way is coming up September 26 27 28 Yeah, I mean if you are if you're a lot of people driving the interstate and they're they're you know Just what is that just north of Black River fault or just north of Tomah?

Yeah between Black River and Tomah and in the middle of nowhere suddenly traffic has stopped and you realize it's all the traffic on 994

getting set to get off in Warrens to take part in this massive festival in this teeny tiny town.

And by the way, the same thing happens a little further to the north up in Stone Lake for their cranberry festival as well.

Yeah.

I have an important goal every year to Warrens.

I have an important update on the coffee and donuts claim that I made earlier.

Yeah,

I

did text Craig and he said now he needs to stop a quick trip to get a donut.

See, like just the mention of it just sets him off.

I love that he just leans right into it.

He doesn't fight the stereotype.

He's like, oh, no, no, no, I eat only healthy foods.

No.

My favorite thing is El Tuna police department.

They're one of their therapy dogs is named doughnut.

They actually do a fundraiser in Green Bay that's called Cop on a Rooftop and it's at Dunkin Donuts.

And they put a cop on top of Dunkin Donuts rooftop and they raise a bunch of money for some charity.

It's cute.

Yes.

Oh, that's awesome.

Stone Lake Cranberry Festival, by the way, is the following weekend, October 4th, just the one day only Saturday, October 4th up there in Stone Lake.

So we're getting to that season now where we don't have the, there are no more county fairs.

County fair season is done.

And now we're just getting into the

that fall festival where you either have like the perfect weather or the oh my god is it winter already you know with the sleet coming sideways and hopefully it's it's the first and not the second uh Rob quick on the here to remind us Tigerton Apple Fest is on September 27th and Alicia noting they do cop on the roof in Darboy as well

A lot of towns here in Eau Claire too, just on the road.

And Tony reminding us who doesn't lean into donuts.

Exactly.

I'm getting angry myself.

I was gonna say at the at the fall festival was one of one of the food trucks was their specialty was flavored mini donuts.

So you get a basket of like eight different mini donuts, each one is made up with different types of frosting, you know, your apple cinnamon and your sprinkles and your butters, you know, butterscotch candies and things like that.

So

How

am I doing for build a better breakfast month, Parker?

Oh,

you're doing awesome.

Hey, it did not say build a healthy breakfast.

No, it said build a better breakfast.

And it

didn't say how it's supposed to be better.

So

that's a great, great point.

You got to find better.

And so as somebody who built a better breakfast this morning with just apple crisp.

I am not going to, you know, rain on anybody's parade if donuts is the way you want to go.

Catch the Dr. Kristen Lierley show again this weekend, head over to Civic Media or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe.

Selena Heller continues to have all kinds of coverage through us at upnorthnewswi.com and on socials.

Kristen and Selena, thank you very much.

Have a great start to the week.

Right back at you brother.

All right thanks so much for helping us kick things off as always and when we come back we're going to talk to Robert Craig from Citizen Action about climate issues and more right after this on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Welcome back on this Monday morning, September 15th.

Nice to have you here across the Civic Media Radio Network.

We were mentioning earlier the Prime Rib Trail story about that in this morning's newsletter.

You can be sure to check that one out.

There's also a story in there on how to apply

for FEMA flood relief if you're in Southeast Wisconsin now that that disaster aid has been released and a reminder that tomorrow is National Voter Registration Day.

So it is a good reminder to maybe go check your own status at myvote.wi.gov.

There's no election anytime soon, which means now you've got the time to get registered without all the pressure.

double check your registration because sometimes voter files, you know, get cleaned up or modified.

So Voter Registration Day is tomorrow.

That reminder coming from our newsletter at upnorthnewswi.com.

One group that is especially good at reminding you to get registered to vote and get up on the issues is Citizen Action and Robert Craig is the Executive Director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

CitizenActionwi.org.

Robert Craig, good morning.

How are you?

I'm good under the circumstances.

Always great to be with you, Pat.

I was going to say, that's kind of the evergreen answer since January.

We completely understand that.

And we, as part of our movement Mondays, where we try to get in touch with all kinds of groups that are working to defend and enhance democracy and focus on all kinds of issues.

I mean, exhibit A has to be citizen action in terms of choosing those high priority issues and educating voters about them.

There is, let's start with climate, because you actually have an event

coming up that's related to the climate, which to me seems quite appropriate given that if there's been one, well, there have been many themes from the current administration, but one of them is certainly dealing with not just denying that we have a changing climate, but being hostile to it and doing everything possible to kill the March toward

a new generation of jobs and clean energy and instead go back to as much, you know, coal and oil and fossil fuels as possible.

And citizen action is among the groups saying, you know, on behalf of a majority of Americans, not so fast.

So what's going on?

Well, their mobilizations all over the country actually, some are calling it Sunday.

So you're absolutely right.

The science doesn't change and this is a super majority position.

Most people think that there is a climate crisis and believe we should do something and take the action directed.

Though the small group that is very loud, climate deniers and then you have a government currently at the federal level which is completely captive to the fossil fuel interests and seems to think somehow that

making America great again means going to a dirty, more expensive fossil fuel economy that is increasingly outmoded.

There's not only the question of we need to reduce emissions in order to create a world that is livable for our children and where the beautiful environment we love in Wisconsin is preserved.

But frankly, solar energy in particular has become so inexpensive and is exploding so much all over the world.

what this administration is actually doing is doing something more expensive, also causes a lot of pollution that causes a lot of health problems, lung cancer and asthma, and will increasingly increase people's utility bills that are increasingly unaffordable.

That's why you saw Excel Energy in the western part of the state asking for a 19% increase from the Public Service Commission.

And so the Wisconsin Climate March

is on September 30th.

We're part of a large coalition of environmental groups.

They're pushing it's not only sits in action as initiatives.

So this is very much a joint project in Madison and SIFN action members around the state are going to be joining many others who care about this issue.

And where we are, Pat, is we can't stop.

this administration for the next few years doing what it's going to do, but it doesn't change the science.

It doesn't change the fact that we prevent runaway climate change.

You need to cut emissions in half by 2030.

That's five years from now.

It simply puts the onus on state government and local government.

As we go into this last legislative session of before a big elections that could change that could and elections that will determine who the governor is and who controls the legislature.

It's critical to make this a key agenda item for a new legislature because it doesn't the science doesn't change and the fact that the federal government's doing the reverse of what it should be doing cannot stop us from addressing this situation.

We're talking to Robert Craig from Citizen Action and one of the measures you're talking about there is called the Climate Accountability Act.

It would require the legislature to pass a concrete and enforceable plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and maximize the economic benefits for all Wisconsin residents.

And Citizen Action puts it to its members quite clearly.

Does your state legislators support it?

Go ahead and call and ask.

Ask your state senator.

Ask your state assembly rep if they support something this concrete, this tangible, to get us off of fossil fuels and into a new direction, which really comes to the heart of what citizen action is about, is asking questions and sharing information.

Sometimes it's through deep canvassing at the doors.

But sometimes it's just asking pointed questions of your legislators instead of just waiting for the speeches and the press releases to say, hey, where do you come down on this?

It's a very direct method that citizen action has when it comes to information and education, right?

Yeah, you're absolutely, you put it very well, Pat.

We're trying to create clear issues for people.

So you can understand what is taking serious action on the climate crisis and what isn't because

Frankly, that gets muddled and muddied in legislative politics and by both parties, quite frankly.

And so there was actually a lot of resistance, even among Democrats and some progressives, introducing the Climate Accountability Act as we worked on it with our members across the state and our organizing cooperatives and with allied legislators.

But once it was released earlier this year, Pat,

It quickly drew 33 cosponsors, including a lot of moderates.

And all it does is it requires the state to do what is scientifically minimally necessary to prevent runaway climate change, which is have a plan to cut emissions in half.

Divisions tend to come once you talk about what the plan is.

And what we wanted to do is get out of that and say, look, if we agree, we have to achieve the outcome, then we have to get serious in a legislative session.

And so this says,

by the end of next legislative session there will be an accountable enforceable plan and the legislature has to figure it out and the governor has to figure it out and so we're continuing to roll this out across the state in different regions and try to build support beyond 33 but what we've learned is that quite that if

If, let's say the legislature changes hands, that'll be a big fight in 2026.

Let's say you have a Democratic quote unquote trifecta, that is Democratic State Assembly, State Senate and governorship.

It's our experience, and this is what happened when the two years Democrats had full control in the 21st century, a decade and a half ago.

If the agenda isn't already set, the legislature won't.

actually reach agreement, even if it's democratic legislation.

So this is trying to set a bold agenda that will actually address our major problems, climate crisis being one of the major ones.

But of course, there are others like our funding and education like the health care crisis.

Or like the one I was going to bring up next, the Hospital Accountability Act, because again, hospital monopolies can

actually threaten a community's health.

And so once again, citizen action has a hospital accountability act and asking, does your state legislator support that?

What is it that people should know about hospital monopolies and the way that they impact Wisconsin healthcare?

Well, we need to understand that, speaking of the science, the research is overwhelming that the primary driving reason for healthcare inflation, which is

I mean, healthcare is so unafforable people that most people with over half of people with insurance are skipping care.

They have insurance, but they don't think they can afford the co-pays deductibles and all the surprise medical bills because you never know what the bill is going to be after any significant medical interaction.

That makes them sicker and they don't get the care and preventive care they need.

Wisconsin in the 1980s, you regulated the hospitals, the hospital association, their trade association said, the market will take care of it.

We used to regulate how much they can charge just like utilities.

Energy utilities have to get their rates approved.

Often we think the government commission, the PSC, approves rate increases they shouldn't, but at least there's an approval process not true with hospitals.

And then the other thing is that they used to be able to have to get approval to build new expensive things, new hospitals, new facilities to make sure that it was actually needed and wouldn't increase prices.

We got rid of both those regulations.

They've consolidated and become even bigger and bigger monopolies, and they dramatically increased prices so much that in Wisconsin we have the highest hospital cost in the Midwest and the fifth highest in the country.

And they're more than triple what is charged to Medicare, which is a sufficient rate in our wonderful Medicare system.

And so we've been working with Senator Jeff Smith, a good friend of yours from the western part of the state, Eau Claire and a lot of the rural areas south and west of Eau Claire.

And I hope to introduce that this fall, but it would restore regulation of what the price is.

And it would also restore state approval to build expensive new facilities.

And it would therefore approve them if you're building facilities in underserved areas like rural areas that have no lack of hospitals, lack of birthing centers, et cetera, and urban areas like in Central City, Milwaukee.

And you would not be able to build duplicative stuff just to get more market share and make more profit.

and then raise all of our prices.

So we hope to be introducing that soon.

We hope that they'll be just like with the Climate Accountability Act, a lot of support for that.

By the way, by doing that, you could also free up a lot of money to put into the Medicaid system path that would actually help mitigate the horrible cuts that are coming down the road because of Donald Trump's big, ugly bill.

And also there's one about utility costs and a note that says,

that legislators should consider a 2% income cap on utilities.

In other words, no one should be paying more than 2% of their income for utilities.

Ask your state legislators if they support that as well.

And that too, in a way, comes back to, again, market control, monopolies.

Are you working for the shareholders?

Or are you working for your customers?

Again, a common theme from Citizen Action.

Yeah, I was just talking about the hospital monopolies.

utility monopolies they have a legalized monopoly they can they're the only ones that can provide power within a service region and they've used it to block uh renewable energy people can control like rooftop solar unless you have the money to get a loan yourself and that and that's middle and upper middle flash people who think to do it and figure it out um and energy conservation measures that would reduce the amount of energy we use

We have a vast amount of energy conservation we could do with commercial and residential buildings that hasn't been done.

We're just wasting energy because utilities make profit, Pat, by selling more of it and building huge, large plants, especially fossil fuel plants, that they can securitize through Wall Street and other financial arrangement in order to make a massive capital investment profit over a 40-year period.

with their building far more of this capacity, which is expensive and raises all our rates than we need.

It also is hard to climb it.

And it also causes pollution that harms people.

And so this changes the incentives.

And it is being granted as well.

It says that you are going to pay more if people are paying far too high a rate for the utilities.

And 2% is a reasonable amount that people can afford at any income level.

middle upper middle class people pay around that now low-income people pay much more 15 20% and they can't afford that then they can't pay rent

So that I mean and there's so many more options that we didn't even get into there's the badger care public option There's a $20 minimum wage all that more citizen action will be working on in the fall legislative session So Robert, I hope you just come back and we can talk about more of that in the future Robert Craig from citizen action of Wisconsin.

Thank you sir.

Good to talk to you as always

Great.

Always a pleasure, Pat.

You're a real pro.

Always great to see you, Robert.

Thank you.

I appreciate it very much.

Joe Casasamaripa, candidate for Wisconsin Secretary of State is coming up in our eight o'clock hour.

I'm Pat Crightlow and 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.

752 the time here now live from Chippewa Falls and Madison studio A2 where Parker Olson is producing this final shin dig and and Bosco Bell Wisconsin as well where Jimmy Cusco joins us to talk about the weekend in sports which It was nice that the Packers got that win in their backpockets on Thursday night because it freed up a gorgeous Sunday to get some stuff done Unless you were what a Bears fan and you had to watch your team

How many points were scored on the Bears by the Lions?

52 points?

I think

they just scored again, actually, Pat.

I just flipped over.

Oh, no, no fun.

Jimmy, how are you doing?

I'm doing great.

What's great about September is that even if I have a day where I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to get done today.

I don't know what to look forward to.

Chances are there's a football game on somewhere.

Yes,

that's

true.

This summer year, I could just flip that on.

And on the other hand, too, the other thing I can look forward to is the Brewers who clinched a playoff spot over the weekend in an impressive game coming down from down big to rally and win, which they've done a few times this year.

I tell you, we thought.

maybe earlier this summer that the Brewers might have peaked or something and that they're winning too many games in a row in like July.

But here we are in September and they're still winning games.

They're they're way out in front.

You know, now they have a clinched playoff spot.

They're playing for the number one seed.

I tell you, it's a good time to be a baseball fan as well.

It's not just football season.

The Brewers are certainly stealing the hearts of many right now in Wisconsin.

Yeah, I mentioned at the top of the show that that Saturday night comeback was amazing for the people who weren't me.

uh who didn't give up on the team and went to bed and said well okay this one's this one's a loss no it wasn't it was one of the best comebacks i think their 11th walkoff of the season and this team is is now going to the playoffs just a matter of whether they get that first round by or not

And manager Pat Murphy also over the weekend read a letter to the team that was said to be from Bob Uker to be read once they were clenched to a playoff spot.

Why don't we give a listen to that?

It's just just a little over a minute and a half of Pat Murphy reading this Uker letter.

I got a letter today from Uke.

And before we toast, I want to read it next time.

I thought it was fitting in the last time that we celebrated.

You was with us.

Howdy boys.

Never a doubt you would get this invitation.

You did it by believing.

Really miss you guys and I wish I was there.

Things are good.

The God Almighty picked me to be on his team up here.

I'll be it on the third catcher.

It's a great league.

No day games after night games.

No shadows.

But you got all the sticky you need to have up here.

Told the big guy about you guys.

You play hard every night.

You're not afraid to play for each other.

He's obviously very interested in the group with this uncommon goodness.

The fact that you have the best record in baseball, the best road record in baseball is caught his attention.

You don't really need me.

I know you guys really don't need me, but I've got to tell you, I'll be on the headset every night watching.

And don't forget to take it all in, enjoy it, keep it light, and believe in each other.

Bob Uker.

So let's toast to him and to our team what we've achieved so far.

Hey, hey.

That was a very nice moment there where the team, again, just kind of invokes the Bob Euker spirit and reminds each other that that's how they're doing this.

They're not doing this with massive superstar contracts.

This is just a team that knows how to play well with each other.

Yeah, and I think even more impressively is just how dominant it's been, right?

I mean, you expect

the brewers you know uh you know going in every year that you know they could be competitive they might play for a wild card whatever you don't expect them to go and you know have own the tiebreaker against the Dodgers and the Phillies and all these teams that have got you know bazillion dollar payrolls and I think that's what's really been impressive about it and that and the fact that it just seems like every week there's a new

you know, viral moment with this team where, you know, uh, some, somebody who they just picked up in a trade like two days ago or, or signed, you know, signed up, you know, uh, promoted or whatever within the organization, uh, within the last couple of weeks, all of a sudden they're out there contributing to all of this.

It hasn't been just one guy that's been raking or one pitcher that's been just blowing people away.

It's been everybody.

And that's been the most exciting part of it is that you don't go into the postseason having to rely on one or two guys.

It's, it's, it's.

it's all 26.

And that's, I think that that's just a testament to just how well the viewers have developed how, how, you know, they've managed not having the payroll of other teams.

That's what makes it exciting.

It makes them an incredibly easy team to root for.

Well, and I'd come back to the coaching as well, because the Cincinnati Reds, I mean, the number of outfielder collisions that they had over the weekend was, I mean, just, just embarrassing.

And that

You know, you can blame some of that on the players, but there's definitely an element of coaching involved in that as well.

Brewers are off today.

They continue the homestand tomorrow against the Los Angeles Angels.

Coverage begins tomorrow at 6.05 on several civic media stations.

The Badgers played Alabama over the weekend while the Badgers were in Alabama.

They were on the field.

They weren't

the only team in right having a tough weekend from the state of Wisconsin.

Still, 38-14 and it really wasn't that close.

You have Danny O'Neill subbing for injured starting quarterback Billy Edwards who did go 11 of 17, 117 yards.

He had a 41 yard touchdown pass to Jaden Ballard.

There was Vinnie Anthony who returned to kick off 95 yards for a score.

Now the Badgers open the Big Ten part of their schedule next Saturday, hosting Maryland.

You'll be able to hear that game on several civic media stations.

But Parker's already made a bold guess on how many wins the Badger football team is going to rack up this year.

Parker, what's that big old number?

I see

no more

than like three.

Three.

Not really going out on a limb because if, as I tell people, just look at the October schedule and

tell

me where you think the Badgers are going to pull one off because, whew.

It's going to be, it's going to be a tough one.

Well, there you go.

It's, it's coming from Civic Media Sports Director, Jimmy Cuskas.

So, you're in good company there.

Jimmy, thank you so much.

Have a great start to the week.

We'll talk to you on Wednesday.

Talk to you Wednesday, guys.

All right.

We've got a busy morning here.

We had this morning's announcement of State Senator Kelder Royce running for Wisconsin Governor.

And we also have Joe Castez-Emeripo from the Milwaukee Common Council running for Wisconsin Secretary of State.

And we're going to be talking to her in the next hour, right after the news here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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