State of Education (Hour 2)

Live, across Wisconsin on Civic Media.

We're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.

Now, from our Lake Mesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.

Well, hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It is 606 now on a Wednesday morning, September 24, 2025.

It's another beautiful morning to have you here up north live from Lake Rosota from wherever you're spending your mornings listening across the civic media radio network or catching us on all the many ways that you can listen to us live from 69 a.m.

weekdays or on demand all through the rest of the day.

We appreciate you starting your day right here.

I got a question for you.

Do you think Donald Trump watched

Jimmy Kimmel last night?

I mean, he couldn't resist, right?

I mean, what what what narcissist?

What would you be?

What would a narcissist be if you can't help yourself and have to turn on the guy who show you thought you had canceled, but due to popular uprising from not just liberals, not just moderates, but from a lot of conservatives who appreciate the First Amendment, having that

full range of people demanding that Jimmy Kimmel be returned to the air and he did.

So we will play a couple of clips about that.

Coming up, oh, about 15 minutes or so.

So stick around for that.

Of course, did you watch?

Did you have any impressions on what Jimmy Kimmel said about his return or anything else that you have for questions or comments along the way here?

Just a reminder, you can you can get into the comment sections of

Facebook and YouTube for up North news or civic media.

Best of all use the civic media app to text us and I believe the phones are working again.

So we're going to really start plugging the phones next week because tomorrow and Friday the show will be on the road.

But when things when things get back normal here next week is going to be a lot of fun.

Tony says on YouTube I tried to watch Kimmel but it's on so late.

Yeah, same.

Same goes for the Brewers when they're on the West Coast.

Again, I missed nothing.

They lost seven to nothing.

However, their magic number is two to get the best record throughout and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Coming up this morning, we're going to be talking to State Superintendent to Public Education Jill Underly.

That's at about 735.

Late last week she delivered her annual state of education address in the state capitol rotunda and Jill underly having especially having been freshly reelected earlier this year to a new four-year term does not have to hold back and You know, we'll tell you what she really thinks especially of efforts to you know shovel more of your tax dollars into private school vouchers And so we'll talk to her about that and many other things along the way

Of course, you know, part of the real meat and potatoes of having this show is not for, you know, Pat Kraitlota, yeah, but to talk up up North News, and especially the many products that we have here, including a newsletter that you can sign up for.

Head over to UpNorthNewsWI.com, click subscribe in the banner on top of our homepage, and get to be a subscriber.

Today, for example, I got to bring in Parker Olson, who's producing this little party down in Madison Studio A2.

How are you this morning?

Doing pretty good, Pat.

How are you doing?

I'm doing good.

I'm doing better.

After I saw the newsletter this morning, Ellie is our new newsletter editor.

You know, because of my advanced age, Ellie appears to be 11 years old.

But I know that she's older than that.

Because I mean, you you appear to be 13.

But I know that they wouldn't let you have this job as a 13 year

old.

Wait, that means that she's younger than me.

Oh, God, how can she be younger than me at that?

You'll see.

You'll see.

Next week, she's going to start making regular appearances.

And here's why here's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to it.

So I opened up this morning's newsletter.

And she writes, this summer, my boyfriend and I went to see sticks, the Kevin Cronin band of REO Speedwagon fame, and Don Felder of the Eagles.

I also saw the doobie brothers with my mom and my grandma, three generations who enjoy the same music.

This fall, the Eagles and the doobie brothers have been two main bands in my music rotation.

Well, either she likes the old guy music or she's working a little too hard to, you know,

it in good stead with the radio show host here.

And I don't think it's that because, you know, I'm not her boss.

So she doesn't have to do that.

But I just think that she's already demonstrating great taste in music.

So there

you go.

That's good.

had to write.

She also reminds us that the there's a special fall edition of the newsletter coming out on Friday, all about fall festivals around Wisconsin, October fests, spooky sights as we get closer to Halloween and more.

So if you want to see that in your inbox on Friday, get over to up north news wi.com and sign up for that.

So did you try to stay up and watch the brewers again out in San Diego?

No, I actually fell asleep at about eight 30 or nine o'clock.

which is very early for me.

So that was not even an effort at trying

to stay up.

Good.

Good.

Yeah, like I said, it appears you missed nothing, seven, nothing, the brewer's lost.

But again, these are in football, you refer to this as garbage time.

Yeah,

there's the you don't want to get hurt.

And you don't want to get in such a funk, you know, that you

you know, hobbling to the postseason.

You don't I

would like I have not looked at the lineup and actually gonna do that right now.

Because I I

feel there was another another new pitcher for the Brewers yesterday and I spent the whole first part of the season learning new pitchers names.

Yeah, I'm not going to get to know these names because they're not going to be on the playoff roster.

And so the Brewers they wrap up the series in San Diego with a day game and

Of course, out here for us, that's mid-afternoon by the time they get started out in Southern California.

So the pregame will begin at 2.35 this afternoon on stations in Richland Center, Oshkosh, Racine, Park Falls, and Hayward.

Then the Brewers are off tomorrow and then begin that final home stand of the series against the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field.

By the way, Quinn Priester is pitching

in this afternoon's tilt against the Padres.

So an actual picture that we actually use.

Yes.

Yeah.

Now Bruce Zimmerman.

Don't know not Bruce Zimmerman, which I thought was a made up name.

Is that a pseudonym of some sort?

It could be.

But yeah, he gave up a grand slam in the first inning.

Oh, did he?

Nice.

So yeah, so again, don't don't get used to him.

Excellent.

I

I have neglected to mention we've been so busy with the Packers season started and the Brewers and Badger football and I've lost sight and I will not make that mistake going forward that the UW Badgers women's volleyball team is ranked seventh in the country and they beat 15th ranked Florida over the weekend in front of 12,000 people at the Cole Center.

The Badgers are seven and one on the season and they will open the Big Ten season this Friday at the Field House against Rutgers.

So again, a good solid start for Badger volleyball.

Badger volleyball is the only Badger sport that I think is like must see viewing.

Yes, clearly 12,000 people at the Cole Center thought so over the weekend too.

And I just expect a really great year out of them once again.

Tony on YouTube.

I only had the youth and energy of Parker.

He says, see, Tony's got a connection to Cleveland.

So he said he did stay up to watch the Cleveland Guardians complete their amazing streak to take the division lead over Detroit after being 15 games back.

Not that long ago.

Oh,

the tiger dude.

This is quite a collapse by Detroit.

That's happening right now.

We haven't talked about it at all.

But every so often I look out the corner of my head, I'm like, Detroit had this thing sewn up.

Yeah,

they were

doing better than we were for a minute, I

think.

Yeah.

And now they're they're in a real fight for these last few days.

Oh, and by the way, we mentioned Tony all the time, but to your point about what was the pitcher's name, Bruce Zimmerman.

Bruce Zimmerman.

Yes.

Yeah, he says.

He says can't trust those Zimmerman says Tony Zimmerman on there.

Roger pops up on Facebook right now to say if there is a team going to garbage, it's the Detroit Tigers.

The Guardians have tied the Tigers and the Guardians hold the tiebreaker.

Whoa.

So yeah, we've got we've got something fun to watch for the final weekend of the season here.

So there you go.

All right, so we'll get back to Jimmy Kimmel's return to ABC coming up after, well, in about seven minutes or so.

But let me start by mentioning here closer to home that there is this governor's race here with Tony Evers not running for a third term.

And on the Republican side, there is finally somebody with some widespread name ID as Congressman Tom Tiffany.

gives the Republicans somebody with some recognition.

Now again, it's not huge recognition, but the seventh congressional district that Tom Tiffany represents, I mean, that is basically the northern third of Wisconsin.

And he was in the legislature for about seven years prior to being in Congress.

Tiffany made his announcement on a right wing radio show.

And he said, I give us the best chance to win in 2026.

He says, I will not allow our state to be dragged down that woke and broke road.

And that that really is Tom Tiffany stock and trade has been going back to his days in the legislature is just, you know, the the the cliches of of Republican right wing conservative talk radio.

So you're going to hear about, you know, going woke, and all kinds of things that have nothing to do with the actual issues that affect your daily lives and mine.

and that's really reflected in his record.

I mean, he is not exactly putting together a record that's going to win over moderate voters.

Tiffany has won in solidly Republican districts, and he's been able to do that with positions that are against women's reproductive health care rights in favor of potentially allowing open pit mining in northern Wisconsin, hostile to workers' rights,

opposed to affordable health care, dismissive of gun safety proposals.

And to me, I mean, the thing that was a real deal breaker was his vote against accepting some state's electoral votes back on January 6, 2021, going along with Donald Trump's plans to steal an American election.

But he also is in favor of what Donald Trump is doing right now with all these tariffs and the way they're hiking consumers bills.

Well, in fact, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin gave us the first look at an ad that's going to start running today.

Let's give a listen to the State Democratic Party welcoming Tom Tiffany into the race.

Tariff lover Tom Tiffney is raising your cost of living.

Tariffs that are being done are a really good thing.

In Congress, he voted to protect the tariffs that are forcing you to pay more for nearly everything you buy.

Tariff Tom raised grocery prices.

Higher tariffs.

Prescription drugs and tools.

Higher tariffs.

He raised school supply costs.

Higher tariffs.

It even costs more

now to wipe your a**.

Higher tariffs.

Tariff Tom Tiffney raising costs, flashing your money away.

there you see one part of what's going to be a multifaceted approach to tackle Tom Tiffany.

Because at this point, you know, he will be the Republican front runner.

The one thing that he does not have coming into the race, which was a bit surprising, is an endorsement from Donald Trump.

And what I mean by that is, look, last year in the eighth congressional district in Northeast Wisconsin, Tony Weed got Donald Trump's endorsement right away.

So right away that we were like,

Who's Tony Weed?

He hadn't even announced yet.

And Trump had endorsed him, which was, you know, great communication by those two.

But again, Tony Weed started the race, a guy who was an unknown with Trump's endorsement.

Tom Tiffany and Donald Trump are indistinguishable.

And yet, when Tiffany approached Trump to say he was going to be running, he did not come out of that conversation with Trump's endorsement.

Now, I'm quite confident he will get it.

But

It's it's a little bit unusual that somebody who is such a I Guess will will be kind and say a loyalist to Donald Trump is still lacking that endorsement But there he is with the endorsement for governor on the Republican side and then four or five other candidates running on the Democratic side The primary will be next August for the general election next November to be Wisconsin's next governor

We will talk about the return of Jimmy Kimmel to the airways next, first from the heart of America's up north, live from Lake Wissota.

Thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Crichtlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Also coming up on the program today, we'll be talking at 835 to Kathy Hampstead.

She's a national health policy expert with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

She'll be talking about the impact of Congress and the president killing tax credits that have made health insurance more affordable to Americans over the past four years.

Restoring those credits to make health insurance affordable is truly at the heart of the fight in Washington.

that could result in a government shutdown next week.

And that's actually the focus of our question of the week, which folks are getting on Sunday mornings by signing up for our weekend politics newsletter Sunday mornings with Pat Crichtlow over at upnorthnewswi.com.

The question of the week is who's to blame if there's another government shutdown?

Is it Republicans who have the majority in the House and the Senate and they hold the White House and yet they can't agree among themselves on a new federal budget?

Is it Democrats who are to blame because most Republicans know what they want but they need a handful of Democratic votes and so the Democrats just go along?

Or does most of the fault lie with President Trump, you know, Mr. Art of the Deal, who can't seem to cobble a deal that would, you know,

be good for most Americans.

So again, that's our question of the week.

Sign up in our newsletter, UpNorthNewsWI.com.

Civic Media has a new daily newsletter as well, filled with all kinds of links, show highlights, little news blurbs and more.

You'll find it through Substack.

So to get Civic Media's new daily newsletter, here's the address.

Go to CivicMediaToday.Substack.com.

Again, Civic Media Today.

one more thing that's coming up in our next hour.

It's the it's day three of our go for the green and gold text to win contest.

We'll give you a keyword just after the seven o'clock news.

You'll have until eight o'clock to use the civic media app to text us that keyword to be in the running for a daily prize.

and then also a grand prize, which is tickets to a Minnesota versus Green Bay game in Green Bay in November to watch a little football action.

So stick around for that keyword in the next hour.

All right.

Well, again, Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late night show.

This is the most I've ever talked about Jimmy Kimmel, probably more than I've actually watched it.

Probably more of a Stephen Colbert guy, though I haven't seen late night TV in forever with this early radio show.

I have nothing against Jimmy Kimmel, but it's surprising that we're all talking about him right now, but it was his show and it was a very flimsy context that was put over some of his words.

that led disney abc to say last week that they were suspending him indefinitely because of the way that he reacted to the charlie kirk murder when of course anybody could look closely at the words and see that they were positively tame by comparison uh and did not justify being removed indefinitely and of course that indefinitely only lasted about six days before a whole lot of people spoke up

Yeah, including people who don't normally agree with Jimmy Kimmel on the issues, but did stick up for our First Amendment rights to free speech and expression without undue government coercion.

And so here are a few clips from Jimmy Kimmel from last night here.

There is, for example, I want to see if I can introduce these right now.

And in fact, let's just here he is talking about being back on air and really what President Trump tried to do to push him off air.

I am a tiny part of the Disney Corporation.

They welcomed me back on the air, and I thank them for that.

And I think unjustly, this puts them at risk.

The President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs.

Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can't take a joke.

He was... I mean, that's really what it comes down to.

He can't take a joke, right?

And so, one thing you didn't hear in there...

was an apology.

Jim from Brookfield on our text line summed it up well saying, good morning, Pat.

My wife and I stayed up to watch Jimmy Kimmel and thought he did a very good job spot on.

We noticed he never said he was sorry, but his message was remorseful to anyone who may have been offended.

We feel his emotions were sincere.

Here's a little bit more of Jimmy Kimmel talking about that.

He's gunning for our journalists, too.

He's suing them.

He's bullying them over the weekend.

His Foxy friend Pete Hegseth announced a new policy that requires journalists with Pentagon press credentials to sign a pledge, promising not to report information that hasn't been explicitly authorized for release.

That includes unclassified information.

They want to pick and choose what the news is.

I know that's not as interesting as muzzling a comedian, but it's so important to have a f...

and it is nuts that we aren't paying more attention to it.

Walter Cronkite must be spinning in his grave right now.

He's dead, right?

Yes, yes.

And yes, would be spinning in his grave at this.

And so, again, I'm so much...

I'm so happy to hear that Kimmel was much more on offense and defending free speech and in no way appeared to be cow-towed.

Here's one more clip to show that he's making the corner and turning back into comedy at the president, which is fair game in this country.

He tried his best to cancel me.

Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show.

That backfired bigly.

He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this now.

So there we go.

Again, to the degree that it may have been just a big old distraction is a possibility.

And Trump, of course, couldn't help himself.

He had to comment on this.

So he took to his tiny social media feed, and he basically provided a confession.

that he, the president of the United States, had tried to remove Jimmy Kimmel and have the show canceled.

Lots of insults in his tweet.

He says, I think we're going to test ABC out on this.

Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million.

This one sounds even more lucrative.

Again, this is the president of the United States saying he's going to be going after networks and owners to do whatever it is that he says, including canceling comedians who tell jokes about him.

That in itself is a joke and the joke we need to keep telling because we have the freedom to do that in America.

Today's history lesson is next.

You're up north.

They're staying as part of today's history lesson for the September 24th, 2025, releasing his sixth solo album, Brand New Day, on this day in 1999.

Way back in the history books here on this day in 1789, the first United States Congress passed the Judiciary Act, which creates the office of Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, including the formation of a Supreme Court.

So a free independent court system dates back to this date in 1789.

This is the anniversary of the birth in 1942 of the late Jerry Marsden.

He's the front man and the namesake of Jerry and the

pacemakers.

Now

I had considered from jerry and the pacemakers playing their other one of their other big hits you'll never walk alone, which of course is still the song used by the Liverpool football club.

But I don't know the extent to which Parker pays attention to Premier League soccer and would have known that connection of Liverpool and their song.

No, I had nothing there.

I'm not a soccer guy.

OK, all right.

The needless to say, the liver pudleons out there in the audience are very disappointed in you and in me for not playing that song.

Liver puddleons?

Liver puddleons are what they are called.

Yes.

You're serious?

That's what it is.

It

got to the point.

Yes, it got to the point when we lived in a British territory.

We lived on Grand Cayman for those three years.

And when we first got there, it's like we were the ones with the funny accent.

because

there aren't that

many.

Everybody thought we were Canadian

because

our accident, we're close enough to Canada, but we don't say sorry.

We don't say a boot, you know.

But by the time it was done, not only could I tell the difference in accents between Caymanian, Jamaican, and Trini, but

I

could get to, I could tell which folks were from Liverpool versus London.

And, of course, cities up to the north and Scotland.

Scotland, you could tell because

you

couldn't understand a damn thing they were saying.

You know, rocks in their mouth.

Scars, I was like, you don't know.

Yes.

But yeah, Liverpool has its own distinct accent.

While we're speaking of things British, it was on this day in 1954 that the iconic London double decker bus was introduced.

The AEC Route Master was the name of it.

just I didn't know it had an actual name.

I just thought it was a double double

beat.

Yeah, yeah, some kind of a make and model of something.

So yeah, the EC route master.

There was one of them in Eau Claire for the longest time.

There's a mall that's not there anymore, London Square mall.

Okay.

And they had one of these double decker buses as their shuttle bus.

It would come around the college campus and other parts of town.

And you could just hop on and get a free ride to to the mall.

I like it.

And I, I don't, I don't know, frankly, why more places don't do that.

Yeah.

And say, you know, it doesn't have to be a double decker bus, but something unique and say, Hey, you, you want to come on here for your ride?

Cause we know you're

going to spend money.

I would do free rides in the Wienermobile.

I think that's a great idea.

I don't think there's a lot of passenger capacity, but yeah, I could see something like that working out.

Let's see.

So that was 1954 in 1966.

The number one song was cherished by the Association in 1979.

The Eagles released their sixth album, The Long Run.

with the lead single being Heartache Tonight, a song written, co-written by Bob Seeger.

Then we move up to 1983.

The number one hit was by Billy Joel.

Telk

thought it was a song inspired by his future ex-wife, Christy Brinkley.

It was the first of seven singles that would come off the Innocent Man album.

There was also Uptown Girl, The Longest Time, Leave a Tender Moment Alone, Keeping the Faith, among others.

It was just a juggernaut of an album.

Tony says, not a bad thing to be mistaken for a Canadian in today's world.

Yes, absolutely true.

On this day in 1988, here was the new number one song.

It was the first ever acapella song to hit number

one.

First knock a fellow song it kind of surprised me that that it took till 1988 for that to happen

Yeah, I would have thought that there depends something like in the 50s or 60s

and and again Time does what it does to vary a song some age well some don't I'm sure a lot of people hear this now, and they think that it's very cliche and I just Like to remind people that when this song was fresh and first out it was so different and unique and novel and most importantly happy

Lord we we needed happy days back then in 1988 just as we do now and and it was

you know I associate this song with like

my fourth grade math class for some reason.

Well, sure.

Why not?

You know, it's it's easy.

It's an easy one for the kids.

You know, you don't have to do any sensory or anything like that.

Let's move up to 1991 with Nirvana's breakthrough album Never Mind being released on this day 34 years

ago.

On that very same day in 1991, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released Blood Sugar Sex Magic containing the hits Under the Bridge and Give It Away.

That album would sell over 10 million copies worldwide.

Up to 1996 and this is the title track to a musical film that was directed by and starring Tom Hanks.

That

thing you do is one of those, I think, underappreciated pieces.

I'm going to bet, Parker, you have not seen that thing you do.

I have not, no.

It was a bit of a takeoff on, say, the Beatles, again, back in that era, trying to create boy bands.

Sure.

And put a group together.

Now, this one wasn't all random guys.

They knew each other.

And it talks about how hard they worked.

But then you get a little bit of fame.

Fame does what fame does to some people.

You

end up like Kratlow with a pontoon boat on the lake.

If a pontoon don't need you just live, you know, you just never leave your house.

You're just an absolute shut-in.

That track, by the way, written by Adam Schlesinger, it's like Trump saying to see the menophen.

A bass player for Fountains of Wayne.

This is also the anniversary of the date of Richard Bond.

And now, again, because of the name bong, you know, a lot of people like a lot of jokes when they see the bong bridge or the bong memorial or all the other things.

Parker's trying.

Parker's not even trying

to stifle his laugh.

I'm only laughing because you made a point of it.

I thought we were just going to blow by

it.

Oh, no, no, no.

Because I like, again, Richard bong was born this day in 1920.

and he's a Medal of Honor recipient from Northern Wisconsin.

And so I just wanted to share that story real quick.

Richard Bong was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and our country's top flying ace in the war.

He's credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft with his Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

He grew up on a farm in Poplar where he became interested in aircraft.

while watching planes flying over the farm that were carrying the daily mail for President Calvin Coolidge, whose summer White House was in superior.

You might not have known that little historical nugget, either, that Calvin Coolidge's summer White House was in superior.

And so Richard Bong became, again, a decorated fighter pilot.

He died in 1945 at the age of 24 in California while testing a new jet fighter, the Lockheed P-80, shortly after the war ended.

But Richard Bong, a Medal of Honor recipient from Wisconsin, was born this day in 1920.

One more birthday to pass along again the late great puppeteer Muppeteer Jim Henson But did you know that Jim Henson and the Muppets actually had two songs that charted on the billboard hot 100?

There was I'm sure a lot of you your first gas would be rainbow connection by Kermit the Frog And yes, it hit number 25 in 1979 on the charts, but before that the Muppets actually hit the charts

in 1970 with this little nugget from Ernie.

Oh, rubber

ducky, you're the one.

You make bath time lots of fun.

Rubber ducky, I'm awfully fond of you.

And then

we

can get into

the whole, you know, pert and Ernie living together thing and rubber duckies and everything else.

But let's just keep it for what it is, the sweetness of a man.

loving his rubber ducky.

Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, nothing wrong with that at all.

Today is Women's Health and Fitness Day.

It is National Punctuation Day.

Sorry, no, National Punctuation Day.

I had the wrong one on there.

Let's see, birthdays include F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Oh, and this is National Cherry's Jubilee Day.

I believe Cherry's Jubilee is at the one you pour some brandy on and you set it on fire.

Oh, is that what that is?

Oh.

I believe it is, and I have had that once in a restaurant, and you never forget it, in part because your eyebrows get a little singed, but it was one of the best desserts ever.

So get out there and set fire to some cherries today, kids,

and

celebrate Cherries Jubilee Day.

All right, yes.

I would like to point out, today is Ben Platt's birthday, who if he was, he's the star.

Should I know that name?

You should probably know.

How into theater are you?

I don't know.

Tell grandpa about Ben Platt.

Okay, Ben Platt, he was Evan Hansen and Dear Evan Hansen.

He, and I only bring this up because we had Billy Joel earlier.

Billy Joel looks like the child of Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Platt.

Okay, well, now I gotta run to Google after the show and check that one out.

Just add a drop in.

birthday tube done flat.

All right.

What else you got for entertainment

news this morning?

Entertainment news.

Um, I would say that this is news more for my generation, maybe a little bit before my generation as well.

Um, Bill Nye, the science guy, he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I'm very excited about

that.

Wait.

So Bill Nye did not like predate you that much.

You actually know Bill Nye.

Oh yeah.

Well, okay.

I don't know Bill Nye from watching him on TV.

I know Bill Nye.

from watching him in classes because we would use his videos a ton in classes.

I was going to say, yes, probably as classroom videos rather than being a new TV show.

But when when his show when he was first doing the show, it was very much a again, it was novel, it was unique.

Somebody was using, you know, quick cuts and camera shots and animation and everything else to make science cool.

And so now he gets a

star in the walk of fame.

So that's

cool.

I didn't think of like the editing of that show being

What made it really interesting?

Oh, it was a little

edgy for its time.

Again, for talking about science.

So, um, yeah.

What's, what's the, the, the new rules here for the voice that you've got?

The voice has, they're introducing a new, it's called the Carson callback card.

And I'm not familiar with this show.

Apparently the host of the show, Carson daily.

Yeah.

He is going to have a card that if someone, if a no coaches turned their chair, he can make them get a second audition.

Um,

which is specified as being blind, which I thought was the point of the show was that it was the point

of the show.

But I don't know.

I just thought that would

pique some

interest.

All right.

I'm more interested in what happened to the to the friend of Joe Exotic.

Joe Exotic had a friend who, uh, yeah, he was killed by a tiger.

Very.

As you probably could have guessed during an animal show.

It's

a terrible tragedy But you want to see my shock face it that one of Joe exotic's buddies was killed by a tiger.

All right There's today's history lesson.

We're talking to state superintendent Jill under Lee in the next hour.

I'm pack right low.

This is the civic media radio

network

6.52, welcome back on this Wednesday morning.

Coming up later today on the Maggie Dawn Show, an interesting pair of guests.

There's Judge John Daniel Tinder, formerly of the U.S.

District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, a Reagan and Bush appointee, and Judge Diane Wood, formerly of the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

The judges are appearing with Megidon as part of the Keep Our Republics Article III coalition.

In other words, they will be discussing a letter signed for the recent Constitution Day holiday by more than 40 retired judges representing both political parties.

The judges will reflect on the vital role of the judiciary in light of rising attacks on judges and also the

disinformation that's out there, the erosion of public trust and more.

So again, a couple of retired US Court of Appeals judges appearing with Maggie Dawn to talk about the attacks on a free and independent judiciary and the necessity to pay attention to that and to stand up against it.

Stop me if you're noticing a familiar theme here where we're standing up for the freedom of our courts.

We're standing up for freedom of speech and things like that.

So again, Maggie Dawn has that and more coming up this afternoon.

Looking at some headlines from Western Wisconsin, I took note the other day that we've been talking about data centers a lot.

There's a big data center being proposed for Port Washington.

There's a big one going up in Beaver Dam.

There's certainly big plans by Microsoft in Southeast Wisconsin.

There had also been plans for a data center in the Menominee area.

about a $1.6 billion project is what they were told.

But during the Menominee City Council meeting earlier this week, the mayor there said he's drafting a memo.

to the company behind the proposed data center saying that the city is no longer interested in pursuing the project.

That came after a whole lot of people in Menominee and parts around Dunn County said they just don't know enough.

There hasn't been enough transparency about what this company is, what the data center would do, and what would the impact be?

of a data center.

Now the the main impact from what we've been led to understand for these data centers is water use.

That when you're putting that many computer servers in a building you could air condition them which would cost a lot more money than it would to simply run water through pipes get it out of the ground or a nearby body of water where it's cool and then it'll cool off the building and could potentially be recycled as well.

But how much water would be needed?

And what would the electric use be like in there?

We had a guest on from Clean Wisconsin.

You'll recall about a week ago talking about enough electricity is needed to power all these servers to power just thousands upon thousands of homes.

So these things don't exist in a vacuum.

They don't exist in a cloud.

They are very quiet beasts.

that just sit there, but they don't just sit there, they take up resources.

And it's not to say that they're that these shouldn't exist.

Maybe there are probably the right places for these plate for these things to be.

They're probably wrong places for these things to be in terms of access to affordable electricity, and access to water that does not say drain the water table for nearby residents and things like that.

So in every one of these cases, you want as much

transparency, want as much homework to be done as possible.

People around Menominee did not think that that due diligence had been done yet.

So for now, at least, the city is saying that they are no longer interested in that proposed data center.

I'm seeing details here from mildstationweau.com if you want to learn more.

And while I was there, I took note of a story from yesterday that says the Lady Smith City Administrator

and his sibling are accused of trying to record the closed session of the county board.

According to the Russ County Sheriff's Office, 37-year-old Alan Christensen and 34-year-old Stephanie Christensen were arrested on suspicion of intentionally using, attempting to use or procure any people to use and attempt to use.

Wow, that's a big mouthful.

Electronical, mechanical or other devices do intercept oral communications.

basically trying to secretly record a closed session of the county board back in August at some point.

Now it's not clear because it was a closed session what it was about but these closed sessions usually have to do with some kind of personnel information so it could be that somebody was in trouble according to the criminal complaint.

The sheriff's office said there was a woman in the law enforcement lobby that had used her cell phone to record a closed session meeting.

The

woman was identified as Stephanie Christensen.

Video footage showed that a closed session place card was on the door of the county boardroom.

Video footage shows Stephanie placing her phone up to the door to hear.

Video footage also shows her putting her ear close to the door and typing on her cell phone.

In the criminal complaint Stephanie said she sat through the whole closed session and was trying to hear but it was hard to hear because of a nearby soda machine so she was using her phone to enhance the audio.

the Russ County government website lists Alan Christensen as City of Lady Smith Administrator, and so the incident is under investigation.

Again, more questions and answers on that, but again, if you're having a closed session, because I did see some comments online about this, and well, why are they even having a closed session in the first place?

That that sounded suspicious.

Closed sessions in and of themselves are not suspicious.

There are times when you need to discuss sensitive matters or personal matters.

Close sessions can be abused.

Don't get me wrong.

But by and large, if they're about fairly routine matters, then...

they should not be recorded.

And if that is the case for whatever intentions, it could be that the Lady Smith City Administrator and a sibling may be in some trouble there.

Now again, coming up a little bit later, we're going to talk to Dr. Jill Underly, the state superintendent of public instruction.

That will be at 7.35 and then at 8.35.

We are going to be talking to Kathy Hempstead, a national health policy expert with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about the health care tax credits.

that Congress and the president have killed that Democrats want to restore and how that could lead to a government shutdown fight as early as the middle of next week.

Plus our new keyword in the go for the green and gold text to win contest.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Live, across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglo powered by Up North News.

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

Hey, good morning.

It's 706.

Welcome back.

Nice to have you here up north on a Wednesday morning, September 24th, 2025.

Parker Olson producing things down in Madison and meteorologist Brittany Merlot standing by as well.

Coming up.

we will have the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jill Underly joining us for our weekly homeroom segment.

She recently gave her annual State of Education address at the State Capitol, and we'll be talking to us more about that in our next half hour.

And we have Brittany's forecast coming as well.

But as you know, this week we've brought back

One of our text to win contests.

It is time for today's first round of the go for the green and gold text to win contest.

Yes, green and gold, you'll get cash and jewelry for the prize of the day.

Of course, you need the civic media app.

Look up a station, use the text button for the 7am hour here.

Once I gave you the word, you will have until 8am to text it.

There will be seven chances throughout the day, each with different keywords, so seven chances to enter each day of all of the day's entries in this multi-state, multi-station game.

One lucky winner is going to get $200 cash and a gold-plated chain, and then one really lucky winner for the whole enchilada will get the grand prize, two club-level indoor seats.

To see Green Bay versus Minnesota play some football, it's a Green Bay home game on November 23rd.

There's a gas card to get you to the game as well.

Total value of the grand prize package is more than $1,500.

Now, the first time you enter, you are likely going to get a return message giving you a way to earn another entry linked to a specific activity like signing up for a newsletter.

Winners will be contacted by Civic Media within five business days first by text message.

Full contest rules at the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

All right, if you got all that, then I can give you the new keyword for this hour until eight o'clock.

The word is morning, like morning of the day, M-O-R-N-I-N-G.

Morning, M-O-R-N-I-N-G.

You get till eight o'clock to text that, and then you've got another chance in the nine a.m.

hour with Jane and Greg for Matt and Nair on air, and then throughout the day for the go for the green and gold text to win contest.

Again, the keyword is morning.

All right, Brittany's here now, and we have another...

foggy morning here on Lake Wissota.

A lot of what the advisories were just basically the northwestern portion of Wisconsin, right, Brittany?

Yeah, pretty much goes from Winona Eau Claire all the way up towards Hurley and then everything north and west of that line.

You're in the dense fog advisory, but there's still fog creeping into places northeast as well.

So Monaco, Eagle River, you're still seeing that.

But it is pretty thick, especially north and west, huh, Pat?

Yeah, it is.

I mean, I can't take the pontoon out right now.

I just couldn't

see

where I'd end up on the golf course across the way.

So

that would be eerie.

Yeah, we need a little sunshine or something.

Now, what you got in store for us?

I've got a little bit as we go later on throughout the day.

More and more will peak out further south in the state though.

You're going to have to wait maybe until tomorrow to see more sunshine.

You do have a chance for some spotty sprinkles on occasion, but no heavy rain or anything like that.

It would just be a sprinkle here or there.

So less clouds later in the day.

We're looking at breezy winds out of the north today.

Beach hazard statement two from Milwaukee through Racine and Kenosha.

Those waves are building up about three to six feet out there.

So not a good beach day and temperatures right now about 55 or so to 60 degrees for a majority of us.

It is mostly cloudy and we will make it today to the mid sixties to about 70 degrees.

So slightly cooler today than the past few days.

Then we start our warm up tomorrow.

Slow at first, but it really bumps up as we go into the weekend and next week.

So tomorrow, a few mid to upper 70s scattered throughout the state.

Friday, all of us hitting the upper 70s and then nearing 80 by Saturday.

And then places south will be hitting 80 all throughout the weekend and into next week.

A lot of places north flirting with that as well.

And it's going to be dry and sunny.

And you won't even need me for a little while because it's just going to be gorgeous.

out there.

Well, we'll need you.

We'll take it.

Just

to remind

you, keep reminding us how beautiful it is.

Rob

says good morning from Tigerton, cloudy and 54.

I have mowing jobs in Wittenberg today.

One of the places where I mow in Wittenberg, Rachel's Roadside Bar and Grill, made it on YouTube's best American restaurants.

I couldn't make it to the broadcast because I had to work.

I mowed two huge yards in the rural areas of Tigerton with no cell coverage.

Yesterday it was a very beautiful day till the

came out in the late afternoon.

No fog right now in Tigerton, just cloudy, but Brittany always brings sunshine anyway, regardless.

Oh, thanks, Rob.

And Tony, of course, being up in Ashland, talking about the green and gold contest.

Forget the pack idea.

Forget the tickets to the football game.

It's the gas card.

He's like, you're going to pay for my gas too.

That's like getting another ticket.

True.

Yeah.

Which is, which is true with the, what they're charging for gas to get from Ashland to Green Bay.

So yeah.

Um, I don't know if Tony can win, but all of his neighbors in the Ashland area, they could.

I

want to call.

I want to

go.

I want gas.

I don't even have to watch the game.

You're giving me, you're giving me a gas card.

Somebody

else can have the

tickets.

Yes.

That's true.

Yeah, Tony then can give him a ways in his own way.

But anyway, Brittany, thank you so much for the update.

Appreciate it.

You're

welcome.

Talk to

you next hour.

All right.

Hey, remember sign up for our newsletter up north news wi.com.

At that point, you can see Ellie talking all about music.

Turns out Ellie's a fan of some of the older music here.

And we some of us appreciate that very much.

In fact, I

I like it so much.

I think that starting next week in this time slot, we're going to bring Ellie on to talk more in person about what's in the newsletter.

I think we've given her enough of a grace period.

And we now need to subject her to this radio show.

And so look for that starting next week.

But she's busy working on not just, you know, getting used to the new digs and everything, but she's working on a special fall edition of the newsletter that'll come out this Friday.

It's all about fall festivals and October Fests and get ready for some spooky sights as we get closer to Halloween.

So I mean if you're looking for

ideas for weekend road trips or things right in your community, go get signed up for the newsletter up north news wi.com, click subscribe up in the banner at the top of the homepage.

And while you're doing that, sign up for civic media's new daily newsletter.

For that, you got to take your browser over to substack specifically civic media today dot substack.com and get the best of all the shows.

Of course, you could also take the shows with you and to do that.

Well,

go over to Spotify while you're doing all the surfing just get it all done but get over to Spotify follow this show and all of your other favorite civic media shows and that way uh you're never going to miss anything from what we do throughout the course of the day here on Civic Media and at Up North News.

Speaking of Up North News and over on our Facebook page we were looking at you know some of the posts and you know monitoring some of the comments because

Every so often you get a troll in the comment section and we got we got somebody in the comment section.

I I don't know that He would consider himself a troll but he does a lot of trolling out there That'd be Derek van Orden.

That's right.

The congressman jumped into our comment section about a story that we did late last week about all of the

threats that he's making to people's employment and threats to cut federal funding to like entire cities like Eau Claire like the entire Mayo Clinic system because he doesn't like what some people said about the Charlie Kirk murder and he wants to equate it to domestic terrorism and I wish I was kidding, but I'm not and so when we noted in our article, you know the ways that

What Derek Van Orden is doing runs counter to the First Amendment.

He got in our comment section and he said the following.

Not all speech is protected speech.

18 US code subsection 2331.

Look it up.

We will not be sending money to organizations or municipalities that keep people on their payroll who advocate for domestic terrorism.

For people who advocate for domestic terrorism.

That's what he thinks when people put up posts that indicate that they were not fans of Charlie Kirk.

So as for that citation that he made, we just put up a post.

You can find it on our social media sites where we basically we correct the record.

We note that in the US Code, Chapter 18, Section 2331, paragraph five, does indeed outline domestic terrorism.

It covers activities that are dangerous to human life or try to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.

We read it.

We read it again.

Did not see anything in there about social media posts that make a congressman angry as somehow defining domestic terrorism.

In fact,

That law that Van Orden cites does not designate domestic terrorism as a crime.

It defines domestic terrorism so that people can be charged with other crimes like murder and hate crimes and weapons violations.

But by Derek Van Orden's logic, countless free speech posts seem to him to quote, advocate for domestic terrorism and could be punished.

by the government.

And so we ask people to get in the comment section and tell us, do you agree with him that when people were criticizing Charlie Kurt or simply echoing his words back?

Is that not protected speech?

Because Derek Van Orden said, not all speech is protected speech.

And he's right about that part of it.

There is hate speech.

There's the, you know, yelling fire in a crowded theater type of speech as well.

but posting on social media that he didn't like Charlie Kirk and it leads to I mean, perhaps a thousand posts by now from Derek Van Orden.

In fact, the Washington Post took note of it.

They have a new article this morning, co-written in part by Patrick Marley, who was at the Journal Sentinel for a long time.

And the Washington Post article focuses on a teacher in Ellsworth, Chris Lisecki, who

was looking at the coverage about Charlie Kirk and grew exasperated because not enough was being made of the horribly racist and hateful things that he said.

She tapped out a Facebook post about it and it was where we actually first saw Derek Van Orden threatening to cut all funding to the city of Ellsworth unless this teacher was fired.

Well she has been suspended with pay and she's waiting to find out if she will be fired or otherwise disciplined and she told The Washington Post

People are upset that people wanted to silence Charlie Kirk, but they're not upset that I'm being silenced.

I may not be proud of what I said, but it was my right to say it.

And that is really what it comes down to.

And it's the point Jimmy Kimmel was making yesterday as well, when he came back on air, was that the First Amendment works best, works to its utmost when it protects speech that you don't like, that you don't agree with.

That doesn't make it domestic terrorism.

That doesn't even make it hate speech.

It's simply something that you didn't like might make you outraged.

But as long as you don't instigate violence or government threats as a result of it, then the First Amendment is doing what it's supposed to do.

So Derek Van Orden can get as snooty as he wants with reporters as he has.

He can get as confrontational in comment sections.

He can use all the cuss words that he wants.

And he does.

And he can cite a specific chapter, section and paragraph of the U.S.

Code about domestic terrorism.

But he said, read it.

Well, we did.

It doesn't cover social media posts that make a congressman get his fee fees all hurt.

Still to come, we'll be talking to the state superintendent of public construction, Jill Underly.

I'm Pat Krightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

We've got afternoon baseball on some of the stations of the civic media radio network now not Not when you're normally used to it like you know like a one o'clock game or something like that because the Brewers are on the west coast They're playing San Diego so the game isn't until the three o'clock hour pregame begins at 235 on several civic media stations head over to the website to learn much more Let's see also wanted to note from a courier newsroom standpoint that

Mark Jacob has a new Stop the Presses newsletter out.

It's his weekly newsletter about right-wing extremism, exploiting the weaknesses in American journalism.

And this week's issue is called Can Comedy Help Conquer Fascism?

Loudly mocking Trump now may help us avoid whisper jokes later on.

So again, that's from Mark Jacob.

Head over to stopthepresses.news or couriernewsroom.com to learn more.

Now, I mentioned that at 835, we're going to be talking to a healthcare policy expert about tax credits for affordable care act plans.

And so we'll get into the details of the tax credits coming up and why Congress is looking at a potential government shutdown about it.

But I wanted to kind of set this up by giving some background and do it by way of one of my favorite activities.

which is taking issue with something that the New York Times is framing.

Here's the headline from the New York Times.

Why Obamacare bills may double next year?

Why Obamacare bills may double next year?

When you hear that, whose fault do you think it is?

Well, first off, they don't tell you, but there's only one name mentioned in there.

So apparently there must be something wrong with Obamacare, right?

It's something about Obama and the Democrats, right?

No.

And why ask a question?

Why say why Obamacare bills may double next year?

When you know the answer, when a more correct headline would have been Republicans set it up for Obamacare bills to double next year or for health insurance bills to double next year.

Anyway, terrible framing, but they do get to the point later in the article.

They note that under the Affordable Care Act,

which covers hundreds of thousands of people in Wisconsin and millions throughout the country.

The vast majority of people enrolled under the Affordable Care Act, the ACA, or Obamacare, get additional federal tax credits to make those health insurance policies more affordable.

They were expanded by President Biden and a Democratic Congress in 2021.

They are set to expire at the end of this year, and Republicans are refusing to renew that, which is their right

But again, give a little listen later for when they want Democratic votes for something, because Democratic leaders are demanding an extension of the assistance in health care costs in exchange for their support for a government spending bill that must pass by the middle of next week to avoid a government shutdown.

Here's another thing the New York Times says, Republican leaders have cited the high cost of the subsidies estimated at about $350 billion over 10 years and potential fraud and enrollments for the program.

Again, why are you just buying into the Republican talking point of saying potential fraud and enrollments?

Do you have any proof of this after a decade?

If not, then

Maybe the better framing would have been Republican leaders have made baseless claims about fraud for the enrollment.

And in terms of the cost, yeah, $350 billion over 10 years is a lot.

Now, compared to the cost of having tens of millions of more Americans without health insurance coverage.

But back to the article, it says many individual Republican lawmakers have expressed a willingness to extend the funding in some form, acknowledging that if it goes away, it's going to hurt their constituents before the midterm elections.

And if a deal is not struck, more than 20 million Americans will face higher insurance premiums next year.

Americans' share of premiums could increase by an average of more than 75%

and about 2 million people are expected to lose their coverage next year if the extra funding expires according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Other recent Trump administration actions could erode signups among younger, healthier people.

Health officials recently embraced less comprehensive forms of insurance.

that were not as expensive.

They've also initiated rules that make it more complicated to enroll in Obamacare plans and harder to renew at the end of the year.

Now, Republicans are also hiding behind this point.

They're saying that these expanded tax credits are helping wealthier Americans who don't need the assistance.

Some House Republicans described the effort to make the expanded credits permanent as, quote, massive taxpayer-funded handouts to the wealthy and large health insurance companies.

That's really something.

It's nice to know that there's one time that they can say, oh, let's not help the wealthy with something.

That's a very convenient talking point when you're making healthcare more expensive or cutting healthcare for millions of the non-wealthy, shall we say.

Obamacare has become a critical insurance option for those who do not have access to health insurance at work.

About half the people now enrolled either work for small businesses that don't offer health insurance coverage or they are self-employed.

That's according to KFF, a non-partisan health research group that we used to call the Kaiser Family Foundation.

So here's the short version.

Republicans want to take away your affordable health insurance and make you pay more to their buddies whose profits and wallets get fatter if you have to pay whatever it is they demand for premiums.

And they want to give them more power to go back to rejecting you for necessary coverage.

Even if you've been paying your premiums for years, they will find ways to say, nope, that's not covered.

The Affordable Care Act made that tougher on insurance companies to do, to treat their customers that way.

And it helped make health insurance more affordable.

And President Biden and the Democratic Congress made things a little bit more affordable.

Again, it costs money, but a lot less than having tens of millions of Americans go without health insurance coverage.

Republicans want that to go away, but they can't pass a budget without some Democratic votes.

Democrats are saying, fine.

put back some of these health care cuts.

Republicans are saying no.

They're hoping that enough Americans are hurt by a government shutdown next week that Democrats will cave.

Democrats should not cave.

Our homeroom segment is next.

I'm Pat Krightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Welcome back, a reminder that our goal for the green and gold text to win contest is going on this hour.

And the key word for this hour is morning.

M O R N I N G like the morning part of the day.

Text morning using the Civic Media app before 8 AM.

And you will be in the running for a daily prize, which is $200 and a gold play to change, see green and gold.

And also in the running, every entry is in the running for the grand prize, which includes tickets to a Green Bay versus Minnesota game in Green Bay, playing a little football in the month of November and a gas card to get you there.

Again, details at the Civic Media website, Civic Media.

But morning is the keyword to text before eight o'clock, and then your next chance to win.

There are seven chances every day.

Your next chance to win an AML or on matinee on air with Jane Matinee.

Time for our weekly homeroom segment where we talk about public education, opportunities, and threats.

And the threats are out there, but there are people who are willing to lead.

And one of those folks is the state superintendent of public construction, Jill Underly, who joins us this morning in the wake of her annual state of education address delivered last week.

Well, Jill Underly, good morning.

How are

you?

And well, good morning to you too, Pat.

How are you?

Very good.

Thank you.

It's so nice to have you here today.

I mean, you've seen the headlines in the coverage of your remarks.

And so we're going to start there.

I mean, there are definitely issues that are internal to education in Wisconsin.

But there's some real external pressure.

And it's reflected in headlines that had you taking note that the biggest schoolyard bully

that Wisconsin schools face right now is our own federal government is the Trump administration.

It's a, you know, it's a very assertive thing to say.

Tell folks why that was a central part of your remarks.

Yeah, well, so the overall message from the state of education address is that

Wisconsin Public Education is a living story.

It's written daily by students, educators, and communities.

The themes in the state of education were about belonging, love, community, pride in our communities.

And what we're seeing right now is that the federal government is really trying to destroy that, right?

They're taking away funding for teachers.

they're taking away funding for special education students.

The one that was in the headlines was students who are deafblind.

They have threatened funding for school nutrition, you know, programs in our schools.

And so it's just really, they are the ones that are really causing a lot of chaos, I think, and uncertainty in our schools.

Schools are wondering, are they going to get this money?

And at the Department of Public Instruction, we're left to navigate that and stand up for our school districts, which is what we'll do anyway.

But the federal government is really inserting themselves into the everyday operations of our schools and really threatening the good work that our schools are doing.

especially for a group that says that all the time that they're looking to give education back to the states, they see sure seem to find ways to continue to to micromanage or to interfere.

And you touched on one of them that really got my attention yesterday, as up north news reporter Selena Heller was working on this story about how under Trump, the US Department of Education is canceling funding that would go toward the Wisconsin deafblind technical assistance program.

And why is it being endangered like this?

Because it falls under Donald Trump's definition of DEI, that you're singling out a group for help.

In this case, children who are deaf and blind, talk more about the program and its value, as well as the assertion that there's something divisive apparently about this.

Well, that's just it.

It's just so arbitrary.

I think, you know, when they were going through...

these programs they're just doing a find and search you know in the grants for anything that mentioned diversity or inclusion or equity and the deafblind community I mean it's a very specific population very vulnerable population very specialized when it comes to instruction and when you look at special needs or you look at

the deafblind community, you know, as an example.

I mean, what we do in public education is we try to ensure that every human has an opportunity to be included and belong in their communities.

And so we provide specialized training.

We provide, you know, this grant money provides specialized instruction, but also training for the teachers, materials, I mean, Braille.

Um, you know, so it's really just, um, it's really just disheartening and rather it's just cruel to be honest, um, that they're just kind of that they're doing this to our communities.

I mean, they're just ripping things apart that we have spent time building and investing in over the years.

Well, we we've had politicians doing that at the state level for some time as well.

We're talking to Jill Underly, Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction.

And you focused on that about pulling resources away from our public schools in order to fund the you know, the private voucher scheme that that's going on and is taking up, you know, it's getting mighty close to a $1 billion price tag that I still think plenty of taxpayers around Wisconsin don't know about.

What they know is that there are these referendums.

all the time, these referendums.

And you have some politicians that are painting the school districts as being greedy and having to raise taxes.

And it feels like you're the one connecting the dots saying there's there's a reason for these referendums.

And it's not any kind of selfishness on the part of your local school board.

Yeah, I think people are starting to put it together.

I mean, because the the money is, you know, the money that the legislature puts in every year.

You know, it is pie.

I mean, if you want to think about it that way, it's just that the piece of the pie that goes to privatization just keeps getting larger.

So therefore, even though the money might appear that.

you know, the legislature is putting more money in every year.

It's just that the portion that goes to our public school districts is getting smaller.

And I do feel people are putting it together.

I'm seeing a lot of signs of hope, you know, like, for example, like in the Green Bay area, they were able to put it on their tax bills, you know, how much money was going to private schools from their tax, from their property tax.

So I mean, I know people want this information on there.

And my hope is that, you know, in, you know, in the next few

years if the legislature is able to you know get more gains with more public school advocates in the legislature that this will be on everybody's tax bill.

It's just transparency is so important in government and I do see some signs of hope there.

As we talk about moving from the you know the 30,000 foot level of federal funds and state funds into the classroom itself, current practices,

you know, technology, teaching methods, everything else.

When you look at that part of the state of education in Wisconsin, are there are there things there that need particular investment that need more of a focus that than they've been getting these days that where Wisconsin kids might risk falling behind if we're not funding, you know,

something to its proper level or not keeping our teachers trained or anything like that.

Where were those opportunities?

Yeah, I think it's all of the above.

So as you're probably aware, but maybe you're your listeners or not, we did undergo a strategic planning process over the past couple years, and we listened to people throughout Wisconsin about what they want in their public schools.

And so we came up with four different pillars and

The one that I'll talk about right now, I mean, is the innovative education.

We really need to start preparing kids for their future and not our past.

I mean, when you think about how school is done in many ways, it's still done the same way as it was 50 to 100 years ago.

And so we really need to start looking at innovation.

We need to look at how we're able to meet students where they are and where they're going to go.

I mean, technology is moving.

so fast right now.

And we need to expand personalized learning and competency-based learning in our schools.

We need to use career pathways to our advantage.

We need to improve access to learning opportunities and library resources.

And our goal is to prepare kids for their future.

We're also looking at educator recruitment and retention.

We know that the number one indicator of a child's success in school

and when they're in the school is the quality of their teacher.

And when we have this turnover with our teachers, when we are struggling to fill high need areas like math and science and global languages and special education, that's hurting kids.

And that's hurting our future, not just our economy, but I mean, just these humans, their future.

So we have to really look at

and agree that strong schools need strong educators.

And we know that we need to expand access to grow your own programs.

We need to improve teacher compensation, mentorship, professional development.

But going back to the federal aspect, this is an area that they are really leaning in on cutting funding for is our educator workforce.

It also sounds like people in the legislature, certain folks have wanted to stress standardized tests and the method of scoring and tracking that.

There's been some back and forth in the legislature about that.

How would you describe the current standardization test and grading process?

Are there still changes that need to be made compared to where we are right now?

Yeah, I think that was that was the interesting criticism I think about my state of education.

You know, it's just that the speech was about, you know, belonging and community pride and the things that we need to do to make our schools stronger and in the opposition or the people who criticize it really are like, well, you know, she's just lowering, lowering standards.

The thing is, it's like the test is just a one point in time and.

it's always undergoing review.

When you look at our standards, our standards are updated every seven years.

And it's not the same ones every year.

So it's like, you know, math has done one year, literacy is another year, science is another year.

And so it's like the test is constantly undergoing changes.

And so you do have to update the metrics.

And so it's

you know that that's one piece of it but then the other piece of it is our school report card our school and district report cards which were put into place 15 years ago and they're in state statute as far as what you know is measured and so

We did look at that for the first time in 15 years and just to make sure that things are on track.

It's kind of like when your computer undergoes an update, it always seems like, oh, it's at the worst time or your phone has to download an update.

But that's what we did with the state and district report cards.

It was due to get an update and just make sure everything was aligned.

But again, it's just one.

piece of information.

We've got lots of other indicators of the health, I suppose, of our public schools.

And finally, you were recently elected to a second four-year term.

There's going to be a change in the governor's office one way or another, a brand new governor.

We won't know the makeup of the legislature, but with you being freshly elected, you're certainly positioned to be the most

I guess fearless advocate is the right way.

You've got the job security, essentially.

How do you see your role over the next four years, the public facing part of your role?

Look, I have never shied away from saying what I need to say or what needs to be said when it comes to public schools.

I mean, that's always been my, you know, I guess just one of my characteristics, right?

And so what I'm going to continue to do is just continue to advocate for public schools.

I'm going to continue to advocate for the things that I know work, you know, when we look at

child development and we look at success academically.

I mean, I talked about teachers and them being the number one indicator for academic success, but there's a lot more that goes into it.

School nutrition, making sure kids have access to mental health, but also.

health, medical health as well, and dental health too.

And we also need to just continue to modernize our public education system.

So I'm going to continue to speak out in favor of all of those.

Dr. Jill Underly, we've run out of time, but it was so nice to hear all about the state of education.

Thanks for joining us today.

Thanks so much, Pat.

All right.

Much more in the eight o'clock hour ahead of mornings with Pat Krightlow, powered by UpNorth News on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You have got a little over six minutes to get on that Civic Media app and text us the keyword morning and make that the only word in the text or the first word in the text, M-O-R-N-I-N-G, morning before eight o'clock.

That is today's first round of seven rounds that we do every day this week and next as part of the go for the green and gold text to win contest.

where there will be one daily prize of cash and jewelry in this multi-station, multi-state game, and then every entry gets you in the running for the grand prize.

Tickets to see Green Bay versus Minnesota in Green Bay play a little football, great indoor seats for the game as well.

So morning over the next few minutes.

Civic Media Sports Director Jimmy Cuskett joins us now from beautiful Boscobel where we are

Well, he's doing a little football coach.

You can't know Jimmy.

Oh,