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Hey, good morning.
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Nice to have you along.
Back here Up North on this Tuesday morning, September 30th, 2025.
We've got a guest standing by from Main Street Alliance talking about what some of these potential cuts and a government shutdown could do.
in the real world.
here in Wisconsin to daycare providers, parents and others.
That's coming up in just a little bit.
We'll also be talking to State Representative Angela Stroud in our way up north segment.
She's a representative from the Ashland area, and we'll be talking about what she's working on through the Wisconsin legislature.
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All right, let's talk a bit about what happens if there's a government shutdown, not to mention all the budget cuts that are already taking place.
And we've been
talking at length with our friends at Main Street Alliance representing small businesses around Wisconsin and not just the the business owners but you know their their employees and their customers and all the people who don't have a lobby as big as say the big business lobbies do in Washington DC.
Well now
Because of the potential for a government shutdown, Main Street Alliance has some of their members going to Capitol Hill, meaning with people like Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
There will be a roundtable today in one case and a rally to protect health care on the steps of the Capitol as well.
And one of the folks who's there.
is Cara Pitt DeAndrea, executive director of a nonprofit daycare center in Milwaukee, and is joining us now to talk more about the activities and some of the stakes that are involved happening in Washington DC.
Cara, good morning.
How are you?
Oh, Cara, I'm having a tough time hearing you here.
I don't know if you're on mute or not.
Let's try that again.
Can you hear me all right?
Oh, no, I'm not able to hear you here.
So I'll let you I'll let you work on your settings for a sec here and you just keep talking.
And if I hear you, I'll pop you back up here in just a sec.
But again, some of the things that they're going to be talking about here are how basically when you have a government shutdown, and this is going to impact childcare, this is going to impact single parents.
It is a
a profession that is already chronically underfunded and without certain government funding that's in there, it's going to be a lot tougher for parents and childcare providers to be able to do their work.
And a lot of folks are not going to be able to do their work or at least not get paid to do their work.
Folks in the military.
folks in the TSA.
You know, some of us who are traveling in the coming days are bracing ourselves for potential delays as a result, because if people are expected to work and not get paid, and then they're asked to take extra shifts, they're not necessarily likely to do that.
So this is just some of the many ways that a shutdown could impact us.
Carol, let me try you again.
Are you able to speak to us now?
Let's see.
No.
Oh gosh, you're still not.
I'm still not getting your voice there.
So I'll let you work on that here while I continue on to talk about some of the other news and we'll bring Kara back in in just a little bit here.
I did want to mention in other headlines that there has been some test drilling going on in northern Wisconsin.
And some of the results of that test drilling are now coming in that have signified the discovery of
gold and copper deposits.
And according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Laura Schulte, this could conceivably be a next step for having Wisconsin see it is first
could see its first mine in decades.
It's a company called Green Light Metals, which has been doing the drilling outside of Medford, drilling six very deep holes to access a rocky layer that is home to the minerals.
And then there will be some more drilling that is going to get done.
And it is the first of many steps that would be needed before there'd be anything resembling mining.
But before we even get into the trouble with the mining, we have to keep in mind just the drilling of the holes themselves.
The test boring is also something that can be an issue because of all of the sediment that it brings up, the possibility of contaminants getting in.
This is all something that should be tightly regulated.
And I know some people think that regulation is this dirty word and they're always trying to cut regulations.
I'm kind of a fan of having tough regulations on the environment and making sure that if you're going to do anything that you do it safely.
This isn't about, say, not having a mine, for example, but maybe having a mine that you can prove operates safely and does not contaminate, not only when it's operating, but after it has been capped or otherwise closed down safely.
There was a law on the books in Wisconsin for many years that said exactly that, said for you to get permission to operate a mine in Wisconsin that could harm the environment, you have to show that you have operated a mine somewhere else for a number of years and have operated it safely.
And that for years afterwards, it has not polluted the environment.
Clearly you know what you're doing.
and you're more likely to get a permit to operate a mine here in Wisconsin.
One of the leaders of killing that kind of protection was a then state senator by the name of Tom Tiffany, who is now the congressman for Northern Wisconsin and who is now a candidate for Wisconsin governor.
And he loves to talk about the jobs that mining would bring.
To him, this is all about the money and the jobs that would come in and that environmental concerns are overblown.
and that they they would be addressed.
Well, if they would be addressed, then why would you be against a rule that says you got to prove you can operate that mine safely?
But that's not where Tom Tiffany and others stood.
So Wisconsin becomes more vulnerable to a mine that could contaminate, you know, our water and also do damage to wetlands at the surface and much more.
We've been hearing about the potential for drilling in northern Wisconsin for many, many years now.
It's not really a surprise that there are things like gold, copper, zinc, and other metals there.
The geology of the region tells us that, yes, over the millennia that these deposits have been formed.
But again, it's because of the geology of the area that the area
especially sensitive and that's why you haven't seen mining.
Either it's because the minerals are at extreme depths or again because of the way that the layers of the earth are laid out in this part of the area between you know the glaciers carving us out and everything else.
This is just not your typical area where you just you're digging a hole and you're finding some gold and some zinc and some other things.
there would be a lot that would need to happen and a lot that would need to happen safely.
And right now we don't have any real assurance that that's exactly what's going to happen.
So that's why even the test drilling to look for these minerals was concerning because again, there is that potential for contamination and for other damage to be done.
Parker, dude, do we have Kara on the phone now for us?
Good morning.
Oh, hey, Kara.
Good morning.
I apologize for whatever our technical staff was.
Yeah,
I'm
sorry about that.
Thanks for getting me in.
No, I appreciate you being here and telling us more about why you're in Washington DC with Main Street Alliance and talking about, you know, the things that a government shutdown could do.
So for the time that we've got left here, do you mind telling us just a little bit about what you do and why you decided to speak out in Washington DC?
Absolutely.
So I am responsible for 22 employees who have a very
small to mid-sized business in Milwaukee.
We serve 93 children, you know, dozens of families
over
the years, hundreds.
And I purchased personally, I purchased my insurance through the marketplace.
I'm very grateful to the Affordable Care Act.
We, unfortunately, at the business, it is just so expensive for major medical.
We help our staff navigate the marketplace.
Badger care, which of course is funded by Medicaid.
And for us, it helps bridge the gap that we are, is just so fiscally prohibitive for us.
We, as a daycare, help bridge the gap for families who need slightly longer hours.
Highly supervised care.
We follow licensing.
We are there for the families who others center.
It doesn't get weightless.
It doesn't fit.
We have...
our own weight list that we try to work with families to get them
in
to support them so they can do their jobs.
For me personally and professionally, a government shutdown and a non-renewal of the Affordable Care Act risks teachers having to make choices between staying in early childhood education or stepping out of the field.
I have been able to stay in the industry and serve our community in Milwaukee.
Because I have been able to, I've been able to, you know, bridge the gap of my own health insurance.
I'm a single mom.
I don't have, you know, a corporate health insurance.
And this was a massive step and assistance for me to serve the community.
So, you know, creating a fractured system, more fractured system really puts a jeopardy.
My staff, my ability to continue the.
quality care and the serve our community and my ability potentially to stay in the public sector and serve our community directly.
This is Cara Pitt DeAndre.
She's a child care provider.
She's in Washington DC talking about the impact of a government shutdown and frankly the impact of things that have already been done within the government through the Trump Republican mega bill with its cuts to Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits.
and then looming cuts to Medicaid and other things as well.
Kara, are you able to hang on past the break so we can chat just a little bit more?
Do you have to run off?
I would love
to.
No, we're
good so far.
Yeah, I would
love to.
Thanks,
Pat.
Sounds good.
Okay, Kara, you stand by will be you'll be joining us along with Dan Hagan from WJFW News Watch 12 and Rhinelander on the way.
And then when we're all back together at 735, we will be talking to State Representative Angela Stroud from up in the Ashland area as well.
And along the way, of course, you can give us comments and questions over at the Up North News Facebook and YouTube pages or the Civic Media Facebook and YouTube pages.
And again, our keyword in our green go for the green and gold text to
and contest is win.
WIN.
I'm Pat Bratlow, the Pacific Media Radio Network.
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Nice to have you back on this last day of September.
It's a Tuesday morning.
And as always, we're joined by Dan Hagen from NewsWatch12, WJFW and Rhinelander.
Mr. Hagen, how are you this morning?
I'm doing so well at an awesome weekend in the porcupine mountains of the Upper Peninsula.
So I saw
some fall colors and some nature time.
So yeah, it's all good.
What does one do in the porcupine mountains?
Were you hiking or just?
hanging out fishing yeah
we were we were backpacking so we had two different campsites in the porcupine mountains saw lake of the clouds camped at mirror lake and then camped in lakes appear and even went swimming for a little bit and i'm proud to say i was in the lake the longest of all my friends
so least least likely to be susceptible to hypothermia is what you're saying
Maybe, or dumbest,
you know, one or the other, whatever works for you.
Well, thanks for hanging around with us and joining Cara Pitt DeAndrea.
She's a child care provider from the Milwaukee area who's joining us on the phone as part of a Main Street Alliance visit to Capitol Hill to talk to members of Congress about the potential impact of a government shutdown.
And Cara, where we left off, you were talking about how your work is affected
not just by a shutdown, but the things that have already been done that threaten things like Affordable Care Act, you know, tax subsidies to make health insurance more affordable.
And of course, the looming cuts to Medicaid, which is badger care here in Wisconsin.
So, I mean, you have well-rounded impacts in terms of how it would hit providers, how it would hit parents, basically how it would impact our children.
And so there you are in Washington, D.C.
What have your conversations been like?
Are you planning conversations with members of Congress today?
Yeah, Main Street Alliance has set up some phenomenal agendas for us today.
We are going to meet with Akeem Jeffries.
We're going to meet with House Dems.
to listen more to our stories of, you know, just the people, you know, boots on the ground, not on Capitol Hill.
They're doing their work.
We do our work every day and to help support our local communities and the greater, you know, the greater America.
We've met with Senator Tammy Baldwin.
She was phenomenal in listening to us, trying to get our stories out there.
You know, the
the cuts to subsidies are, you know, we talk about them in dollars and we talk about them as part of bills, but at the, you know, inside Milwaukee in Bayview out in Rhinelander, these are humans whose lives are potentially, you know, dramatically impacted by cuts that we can do better on.
You know, we don't have to make these cuts and we can come together.
I'm confident that
the people up on Capitol Hill, if they are dedicated and committed to supporting the country, supporting all of us who just help make the machine work every day, they can do it.
They can do it.
And that's my hope.
So the agenda is tapped today.
I'm grateful and excited to be here with you all and on the Hill.
And yeah, we're just going to keep talking as long as they'll listen to us.
So Cara, I'm wondering if you've
Spoken to any Republicans and if you won't today, I'm wondering what you would want to say to them to try to convince them that this is the best path forward
You know, that's a great question.
We have not had audience.
We've not been connected with any Republicans I would love to sit down and talk one-on-one You know mother-to-mother parents of parents business, you know running a business to people from businesses I really would just like to get the message out that
We are not asking for massive cuts, massive addictions.
We're not asking for huge subsidies.
We're really asking to re-stabilize our health care.
You know, when November 1st hit, myself and millions of Americans will be invited and asked to pick our health care.
For some of us, that means, you know, are we able to afford, you know, certain bills and how are we able to navigate our budget?
So,
And then, you know, are we making life, you know, plans long term?
If I sign up for a health insurance plan, November, December, and the Republicans don't come with reasonable rates, and, you know, it's like asking me to sign a mortgage that I don't know the rates to.
No Republican, no, no, a responsible adult would recommend anyone in their family or themselves do that.
And that's what they're asking us to do.
That's what they're asking me to do.
if they don't come to table with genuine responsible compromise.
And that's all we're asking for.
Stabilize our health care.
And it's not a lot to ask because, again, Democrats say we need to talk about this right now.
What Republican leaders have said is, nope, we just want to talk about, you know, keeping the government open.
And then we promise to talk about Affordable Care Act premium supports.
later on down the line.
But like you just said, the open enrollment period is coming up.
This is the time to make those decisions.
And Carrie, you probably know as well as anybody else that when you have, for example, either employees or parents who because of price hikes decide to go without health care, I mean, you're taking a real gamble in some places, some people get burned.
Yeah, and you know, I there was a gap between I have life changes that came up as an adult as a parent and
And I did not, for a brief period of time, it was not covered.
And I tell you, like the stress that weighs on us, right?
Like I would go hiking with my kids or bike riding with my kids and helping a neighbor climb on a ladder to fix something.
And it was in my mind all the time, you know, what if, what if this?
And that is a terrible way to live.
And it's the constant added stress, the stress that that adds on top of wanting to be a good.
neighbor and wanting to be a great parent and to get out there and to be a part of the community but to know like oh you know this if my if I fall and my arm breaks if I you know get sick and fortunately I was able to lose back in and very grateful for the coverage I do have.
It is not too much to ask to be a part of a community that does not try to make life harder.
And that's what we're
asking
for.
Is a child care provider in the Milwaukee area who's doing some lobbying in Washington, DC, trying to help find some kind of a middle ground and avoid a government shutdown.
Kara, thank you very much for visiting with us.
We appreciate
it.
Thank you so much, gentlemen.
You have a great
day.
Thank you very much.
And Dan, thank you for letting us take a little of your time today.
Glad you had a good time in the Porcupine Mountains.
I did indeed.
Yeah, sounds
good.
I'll see you next
week.
Yeah, we'll share some more stories next week.
So I appreciate that very much.
Coming up along the way yet, we're going to be talking to State Representative Angela Stroud.
And then in our next hour, we'll be talking to Dan Schaefer from the reconbobulation area about new candidates and even some now ex candidates for 2026.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back on this Tuesday morning, September 30th and we have a keyword for this hour for the go for the green and gold text to win contest.
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We were jumping right into talking with Kara out there in Washington DC and so I did not get a chance to pass along a good morning from Robin Tigerton who said it's partly cloudy 53 degrees It's gonna feel more like September 1st instead of October 1st.
I have launch to mow in the Wittenberg area Love being outdoors working yesterday.
I was mowing outside There was a lot of morning dew and there are areas of grass that are still growing
Yeah, I know we had to do that yesterday as well.
And from Ardeth noting the the new book out by Chuck Collins burned by billionaires says Chuck Collins would be a terrific guest his ads for patriotic millionaires are so good.
So yes, that is definitely something that will be pursuing.
Around this time every Tuesday we do a segment called Way Up North where we talk to some of our friends up in the Ashland, Bayfield, Superior areas up along the south shore of Lake Superior and that includes occasional visits with the state representative for the 73rd district.
That would be Representative Angela Stroud from the Ashland area.
Angela, good morning to you.
How are you?
Good morning.
I'm all things.
How are you?
Very good.
Very good.
We've got the legislature kind of doing some of its fall work right now, but a lot of focus is of course on the federal government and the potential for a shutdown out there.
It's something I would imagine you're going to start hearing more about, especially once it's likely to hit at midnight, people talking about the impact of what a federal shutdown means.
It's not something any of us are really immune from when you think about it.
Yeah, and especially up here, we have so many federal agencies up here.
from outdoor things like forestry and USGS.
And there are so many, many federal intersections in this region.
And so first time in this position where I've been a state representative and threw a shutdown.
So we'll see what it'll be like.
I have no idea what to expect, but that's been the theme for the last eight months.
So more of the same, I guess.
It really has been.
And I was looking at a series that Spectrum News is doing, getting to know all of the
legislators and they recently put one up from an interview they did with you.
And one of the things that really stuck with me was you saying that the job is actually a little bit more basic than people think.
You hear about all the conspiracies and all the rumors and I recall that as well, going from working in a newsroom to being a state senator and that everybody wants this job to be more
Glamorous and they want it to be more clandestine and conspiratorial.
It's really not if you strip away the the baloney
Totally I make $60,000 a year to try to help to figure out how to fund schools and Make our roads better like it's it's public service.
I mean, it's really really basic and so many of the things that we deal with just how to have a functional society and I think sometimes it would be helpful for people to just do like
do some creative thinking and say like okay let's imagine you have a bunch of people living together who are trying to figure out how do we live together functionally and what do we need and how do we get services and provisions that's what we're doing that's actually what we're doing this is what government is um and so yeah we deal with really basic things sometimes the things we deal with are more complex or controversial but the the core of what we do is just you know we need to collect revenues
And then we need to distribute those to make sure that people have good lives and really basic things.
And so that's the core of government.
And I think we need some civic education around those ideas.
We truly do.
Because again, it should be the idea of public service.
And you can disagree with how to do it.
But at its heart is still public service and solving problems.
And somewhere along the way,
That other mindset took hold of we're not here for public service.
We're here to win.
We're here to win or lose We're not so much here to govern as we are to rule and to do that We need complete dominance and power so we need to raise all kind of money to do that and You know somewhere along the line we lost, you know sight of what we are at our most basic is that notion of public service
Is that now too naive of a view that we could ask for more legislators who actually embrace that kind of mindset?
No, I think we I think it's what the public is thirsty for I think most people just want people who are in it for the right reasons and the vast majority of elected officials I believe are in it for the right reasons but the problem I think is that in recent years
we've seen a really perverse incentive dynamic develop where the more outrageous you are, the more controversial, the more just kind of ridiculous, frankly, you are, the more attention you get.
And with the decline of local newspapers and the fracturing of media, attention is the most important currency.
And so, unfortunately, we have this reality where if you can get the most attention possible,
you have the highest likelihood of success in politics.
And so it's not about are you reasonable?
Are you committed to good governance?
Do you really want to try to figure out results?
Do you have the capacity to get people to pay attention to you?
You're talking like a sociologist over here.
And from what I saw in the spectrum interview, that's apparently something in your background.
Yeah, I was a sociology professor before doing this and you know a lot of people don't know what sociology is But it's the systematic study of society.
So my whole adult life will basically starting from when I was 18 I have been committed to trying to figure out why the world works the way that it does and It's very helpful in this job.
I have to say
Without a doubt and yet we also learned not just the serious sociology side of things, but I mean
I was not prepared for your answer to favorite movie.
Okay,
so it's baseballs.
The reality is I don't watch movies over and over again like many people do and the one movie that I have seen.
dozens of times, maybe.
It's face balls.
And a lot of that has to do with the fact that my best friend, when I was little, we watched it religiously.
We would divide up the roles.
We would repeat the lines.
So it's a movie that I know better than any other movie.
And, you know, it is my favorite, I have to say.
I like absurd comedies.
like, like anything Mel Brooks, I mean, I'm in.
But there was when you're doing stories like this, you think, okay, these are pretty run of the mill, we just asked the state representative some questions.
And then there's this moment where off camera, somebody says
you know they're making a spaceball sequel and the the look on your face is just like surprise and joy all together that you know a few weeks back which says something about how busy you're working that you missed the announcement that that Rick Moranis and others are working on spaceballs too.
I mean there's not often lately where there's just news you weren't expecting that's really shocking and it's
Pure joy so it's baseballs to being announced in that moment.
Yeah, that was pure joy.
That's what you saw my
face So Rick Moran is Bill Pullman Daphne Zaniga all all confirmed for this 1987 film that's gonna have a remake which I really really hope is good because that you know, you know the thing with remakes, you know for every godfather to You know, there's an anchorman to which is you know, it's okay It's nice to see the gang back together, but it's never gonna be
quite the same.
Yeah, unfortunately, this feels a bit like the movie industry grasping for something that'll make some money in a time when they can't figure out how to make money.
You know, the world has changed so much.
And we're seeing all of these sort of fits and starts of people trying to figure it out.
And so I fear it'll be that, but all I could do is hope for the best.
Oh, you have to.
Yeah, I mean, I always don't want to hear some kind of a sequel like that, like, I'm in, I'm going, you know, we had the one
Oh gosh, I went to one just a couple of months back and it wasn't oh police squad the naked gun Uh, you know, it's good to see everybody together.
It's not going to be the same but I'm still glad you went, you know, it's like a like a family reunion They're not all going to be you know, the the best family reunion ever We're talking to state representative Angela Stroud from Ashland about some matters way up north and I was talking about one of them in our last half hour that
involves the drilling for precious metals like you know gold and zinc and other things in northern wisconsin and we talked about how then state senator now congressman and gubernatorial candidate tom tiffani had been one of the leading voices to scrap the precautions that are in place before any kind of a new mine could begin operating in northern wisconsin
Well, that's you know, that's literally your neck of the woods.
And so when you learned about, you know, the test drilling that's going on, obviously any mining would still be years away.
But that's that's years of casting a wary eye on, you know, just what kind of an operation would be involved in all of this, Angela?
I just think, you know, it's 2025.
Have we have we not learned the lessons of the past?
You know, we have one planet.
We have one watershed in this region and I know we need resources and precious minerals and all of that.
I acknowledge that and I am realistic about that.
But you just identified it.
It's not do we mine or do we not mine.
It's if we are going to mine, it must be with the highest standard of precaution and protection of our environment.
And so for people to simultaneously promote extraction at the same time that they're watering down or trying to strip away environmental protection, that is...
a thousand red flags, a billion red flags.
And it's just another example of why, you know, Tom Tiffidy is not fit to be governor.
We have to be thinking about the big picture, not the small picture of whatever industry is backing your campaign or candidacy or a worldview that says that extract, extract, extract is the highest order of value.
There are bigger picture values and one watershed, the most important water in the world in my opinion, and it's our job to protect it.
So I think that we can't have narrow thinking on these issues.
We have to have broad thinking and really thinking about ecosystem, mind views, and not just what's going to make money for some company.
And frankly, it does put another issue in front of voters for 2026 is over those next, you know, two, four years.
Who do you want in the governor's mansion?
Who do you want in the legislature when it comes to either, you know, again, looking out for your long term health or just like you said, that that short term extraction and it kind of takes us to, you know, ending where we began and this whole notion of service and service goes beyond the next election day.
If we could just get people looking beyond the next election day, whether it politically benefits them or not, we'd probably be in a lot better place.
And I again, hope that we're getting there in the coming election cycle.
But I just hope voters are keeping that in mind as they look at the parade of candidates already coming into the 2026 race.
I know.
And on that point, thinking about things like economic development.
You have to have the capacity to think about economic development and the future.
So it's not jobs just today, but will there be jobs here five, seven years from now?
Or are you going to ruin the environment so much that you're going to collapse the economy?
And so that sort of way of thinking is I just don't see it with someone like Tom Tiffany.
I mean, he's just
It's you're right.
I mean, he tries to follow the Trump playbook, you know, it's me now and it's it's culture wars and it's getting attention in these really toxic ways.
And, you know, it's just he's not fit for the job.
I
mean, just not fit for the job.
We need someone who's a true public servant and he is certainly not one of them.
Well, and, you know, the the other part of that, then, is that we will
be getting a new congressional representative for the 7th district and I think we're going to hear some news about that if not today then tomorrow and obviously we'll want to get your reaction to developments in the 7th congressional district as we move into 2026 as well.
State Representative Angela Stroud from Ashland, great to visit with you as always Angela, thank you for your time.
Thanks Pat.
All right, have a wonderful day.
Still ahead, we're going to be talking to Camp Stevenson from Courier Newsroom.
He's going to join us live from the nation's capital to talk about the potential for a government shutdown.
And then for more on Wisconsin political news, we'll talk to Dan Schaefer from the Reconbobulation Area and Civic Media's political editor.
I'm Pat Critelaw.
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.
eight minutes ahead of eight o'clock right now.
Nice to have you along here live from Lake Wissota.
You can follow Up North News on social media.
Head over to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, from Blue Sky, the Dumpster Fire, formerly known as Twitter, all there posting all the time.
So look for Up North News on your social media feeds.
I'm looking at some of the comment sections here and then we're going to bring in James Kelly for some of the news that he's following here.
And there's
Comments along the lines of well a government shutdown is not going to affect me and let them all you know, let them all burn it down Which is exactly what they want you to think I head over to the website up north news wi.com The headline of the article I put in there is so you think you're immune to a government shutdown think again and all of the many ways that Everyday life is going to be impacted by Americans because of a government shutdown.
This isn't just some
Distant you know conceptual thing out there in Washington DC a thousand miles away.
This is something that's going to hurt a whole bunch of people and unnecessarily so This is this does not have to be inevitable But this is the case of a president and congressional leadership that wants to basically take the American people hostage They always shoot the hostage.
They want to harm the hostage and that's what they're threatening to do unless enough people put pressure on them
to not do the thing that's not necessary and to actually, you know, make sure that we can have affordable healthcare, things like that.
So again, head over to the website and look up my article about ways the government shutdown is going to affect all Americans if you want to learn more.
All right, let's see what some of our civic media family of reporters is covering for us.
James Kelly joins us from the Chippewa Falls newsroom to talk about things being covered in the Chippewa Valley.
James, how are you?
I'm good.
How you doing?
I'm doing good thanks.
I'm especially happy to hear that a project in downtown Eau Claire is finally, finally, finally done.
The old bus transfer center in downtown Eau Claire was basically a concrete strip with a little bus shelter on it to get out of the rain.
It's a lot more than that now, the new facility, and it's great, but it has taken a long time to go up and it is finally ready.
Yeah, and I'm not sure I would call the entire project totally finished yet.
They're still working on the housing units above the transfer center.
That project is still going to be going on through the fall.
So that long running single lane closure on North Farwell Street right in the downtown area will continue for at least a few more weeks.
But this project started construction in 2021.
The concepts of it were all the way back to 2013.
So long before I was even in Wisconsin, there were a lot of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after that increased
construction costs just with inflation.
But on Monday the first bus finally rolled out of the transfer center.
It's got space for 10 buses.
There's obviously shelter for pedestrians better than what there was before.
And also the transit offices now have a location there so they can talk to their riders.
That's perfect.
And again, it yes, it's an updated facility.
It does have housing units above it.
That seems to be how everything is built nowadays.
You put some retail or something business below, then you put some housing up on top.
And yeah, it's a project that has been talked about for a long time.
So at least to get the bus transfer part of it done is a very nice development.
We loved mixed use development and public transit.
Yeah, we do.
Let's head up to Bayfield County.
Tell us about this children's savings account program.
Yeah,
so this universal children's savings program.
It's interesting.
It's apparently the first local government in the state to offer such a program.
Basically, the way it works is if you have a child before their second birthday, if you deposit $100 in an EdVest 529 account, it's basically a college savings account.
You'll get $100 back, a match.
And if you're a WIC family, you'll get $200.
There's currently funding for it through 2027.
But just kind of a way to make sure that we're investing early in higher education because higher education is very, very expensive and often prohibitive for a lot of families who either have to take out a lot of student loans or have to decide maybe college just isn't something we can afford to do.
And I'm sorry, who's putting the matching $100 in?
This is...
It's the programs run through Bayfield County.
The money was donated by Northern State Bank
and the
funding for the two-year pilot program runs through June of 2027.
Oh, okay.
See, that's great.
You know, the 529 accounts, that was great for one of our daughters who went to college.
So that years in advance, we were putting some, you know, a little bit into it, not that much, but it grows, you know, and it was just a nice handy thing to have there.
And I'm always telling people, if you've got even just a little bit to squirrel away in a retirement account, an education account, a health savings account, you will thank yourself down the road for doing that.
And especially if either an employer is
your contributions or in this case you know another entity is doing that for a 529 so that is really nice news to hear.
Finally let's head over to Menominee for a new Substance Abuse Treatment Center that is getting opened up.
Yeah, so this is an addition onto the current Arbor Place building.
It's a women and children's unit, which is the goal is to kind of have women who are dealing with mental health or substance abuse be able to also have their children with them to help with the treatment process.
It's the first facility of its kind in this region.
There are other ones across the state that have shown.
Good success and just kind of having a higher success rate in helping people recover because their children are there.
It makes a big difference.
It's a $5 million space.
They have 10 new bedrooms.
Most of it was funded by opioid settlement money that came in over the past few years, and they should be able to begin accepting people in about a month.
Excellent.
So there you go.
That's just some of the stories that James Kelly is following for us out of our Civic Media Chippewa Falls newsroom.
Of course, you got the whole team following stuff throughout the course of the day, and you can get local news updates again at all the various stations of the Civic Media Radio Network.
James is busy recording some for Western and Northern Wisconsin all the time, keeping you busy.
And then finally,
What's with the Yankees hat, dude?
Oh, you know, last week I wore the brewer's hat, but not every team has the luxury of getting that first round by.
Some of them have to play in the wild card round, and it's Yankees Red Sox.
I just had to do it.
It
is Yankees Red Sox in the first round.
That will be fun.
I will never miss a Yankees Red Sox series.
No,
no, definitely not in playoffs either.
Clearly, I needed to have my Red Sox cap on.
James, when you
Oh, yeah.
Is this guy from
How you doing?
Yes.
All right.
James, thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
Have a good one, guys.
All right.
Again, we'll have another chance at the text-to-win contest, unless you can get a win texted to us in the next 15 seconds.
But tune in during the 9 o'clock hour for Matt and Aaron Eyre for your next chance to win.
Dan Schaefer, after the news, followed by Cam Stevenson from Washington, DC.
I'm Pat Critello, this is the Civic Media Radio
Network.
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