Transcript
Troubling Climate for Hurricane Coverage (Hour 3)
Mornings with Pat Kreitlow · Wed Oct 29, 2025
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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.
Now, for my Lake Rosota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.
On a Wednesday morning, welcome back.
Nice to have you here up north on this October 29th, 2025.
We will be talking to Earl Ingram in a bit.
Melissa Baldoff coming up with our climate check as well.
And we'd love to have your input at 855-75-CIVIC-855-7524842.
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where you can call us from the app, you can send us a text message from the app, or you can record a voicemail, a voice note message on the app and send it to us as well.
From Rob, good morning from Tigerton.
It's partly cloudy and 38.
Today I have a doctor's appointment in Shawno and some errands to do.
He goes on to say on YouTube that yesterday I went to the local library to look up information on their computer and download information from my notes for my Highway 29 scrapbooks.
And he says, I'm one of the victims that is getting my snap benefits cut.
And I've been working with Dr. Kristen Lyrely, helping on snap program cut downs to try to understand them.
We all we all are.
Rob, we all are because those of us who have actually
been there and still hold on to a shred of our humanity decency and in some cases Christian compassion understand what the issue really is here and it is about politicians that are looking to
essentially starve Democrats into submission so that they can jack up health care costs for everybody and protect health insurance companies.
One of the people that frustrates me most is Congressman Derek Van Orden, who loves to talk about being raised by a single mom, being on food stamps, having to eat government cheese as he puts it, and that he then made something of himself by going into the Navy and being a seal.
And that's great for him.
But he's now what I call a ladder pusher.
He was able to climb the ladder that he did thanks to support from things like food stamps, food stamps, now known as snap.
And he's pushing that ladder away.
I grew up with a single mom and on food stamps.
And it wasn't her choice to be poor and to be a single mom and to have my little brother have health issues that she needed to stay home and take care of him full time until he passed away at the age of nine.
But there are people that would just sneer at her to go get a job.
And eventually she did.
Third shift, overnights, at a truck stop, waiting tables while I watched my younger siblings.
And then she got the next job and the next job after that and eventually got off food stamps.
But it was a long, hard process to get there.
And it wouldn't have been helped with politicians like Donald Trump, Derek Van Orden and others pushing away what little bit of ladder that we had.
That's my view on it.
I'm betting Earl Ingram has a similar view.
And he joins us now to talk about this issue and more.
You can also catch him on the What's Going On podcast.
Get that through civicmedia.us.
Forgive the personal rant there.
Earl, good morning.
No, good morning to you, Pat.
It's right on time.
I like you.
I mean, I'm from the family of 13.
And there was certainly a time in my life that we received some assistance.
I think that if you look in the background of
maybe 50% of the American people at some given point in time in their lives that they've lived as long as you and I, they had some assistance.
There's a reason why those things were put in place.
And what I don't understand the most, you know, Pat is the difference between those people of today and those people of yesterday who understood that there's
You know, there but by the grace of God goes I. And, you know, you can't talk about being a nation founded under the Judeo-Christian ethic if you don't live up to that.
And so I don't understand, you know, when looking at children and the elderly who are on food share,
who are going to be struggling to eat Pat in the wealthiest nation on earth.
How can that, how can people sleep knowing that at the root at the end of this, whatever their differences are, that, you know, we're going to starve out the American people.
It doesn't matter.
I mean, if you're on the lower rung, aren't you still Americans?
Yes, and that's that's the thing that again makes it tough for me to understand But I will I will try the closest that I can say is you know on the one hand They're just sneering there.
There's what some people call the wars on the pores But if I'm if I'm gonna try to be fair I'm gonna try to say well some folks see it as tough love and if if you're if your safety net is is cut out from underneath you well then
then you're going to stop being dependent on government assistance and you're going to go get something that's out there.
And yet I'd be the first to say, well, given that something like 70% of SNAP recipients are working and the rest are either elderly or disabled or children, maybe the bigger problem is that we live in a country where people work full time and still
qualify for near-poverty wages that deserve SNAP benefits?
You know, you just pointed out a conundrum.
And that conundrum is, as you just stated, it's only going to get broader and wider because AI is going to claim many people who are in the workforce.
If our nation doesn't figure this out, and it should be figured out,
people should have value.
The lives of human beings should have value.
And I'm not the person who said that.
He who created the heavens and the earth and the fullness thereof made that clear.
But we continue to struggle with this and I will tell you that seeing my community and I'm sure communities all over this nation mobilize and come together and say, you know, we can't allow
human beings to starve in the wealthiest nation on earth and makes no sense.
No, and by the way, never mind, you know, the people who've been on food assistance for, you know, for a longer term.
Okay, that that is a very genuine issue there.
But let's look at some recent layoff announcements when you mentioned AI.
UPS is laying off something like 48,000 people.
Amazon is laying off up to 30,000 people.
Intel, 24,000.
Nestle, 16,000.
Ford, 11,000.
Microsoft, 7,000.
Paramount, 2,000.
Target, 1,800 people.
These are tens of thousands of people not to mention all the federal government workers who are either going without a paycheck or being fired entirely.
What do they think these tens of thousands of people are going to do other than notice who's cutting off their ability to afford food?
You know Pat, that's a beginning of a long list of people who are going to be impacted and affected by AI.
And so we must ask the question.
What are those, as you just stated, what are those people going to do?
I'll tell you what many of them are going to do.
They've been law abiding citizens, but the first law of nature is self preservation.
If they think people are going to sit back and starve in the wealthiest nation on earth, they're sadly mistaken.
If their children are hungry, even the most, you know, law abiding person.
isn't going to sit back and watch the families go hungry or homeless.
They're going to do some things that just aren't right.
And so they've got to, you know, they got to take that into consideration right now than not, Pat.
No, and that's just the food end of things.
Then there's the health care end of things where again, with the open enrollment period starting Saturday and prices for just basic coverage under the Affordable Care Act going up.
by tens of thousands of dollars for many households, they're going to choose to go without health insurance because they can't afford it.
And then something's going to happen and they can't pay the medical bills.
Again, we are just setting the stage for rampant disaster here, but I don't want to get too far afield because you talked about the loss of the SNAP benefits.
The community is in fact organizing.
We are all looking for ways to help others.
Yeah, you know, it is disgraceful.
uh that were at this point in time and and maybe there's there is some good uh from the perspective that i see it in a community mobilizing um and something i haven't seen in a long time and i'm sure that mobilization is happening all over this nation uh and and sending a message to people uh that the the american people do matter
And so elected officials who are in the positions that they're in, you can't be so cold and so disconnected that you just turn your back on what is happening.
Yeah.
So what kinds of things are people going to be doing then to provide that support?
I know I hear about food drives that are going on.
We've got an article on our website about ways that you can help as well.
So we are about to see some of the better angels of our nature.
Yes, you know, donating money and money going to places where people can go and get food, the food kitchens are going to listen.
So what it really is, Pat, is really kind of recreating soup lines.
In essence, that's kind of what it is, right?
I mean, they're not giving us soup, but there'll be people lined up, Pat, around corners.
in 2025 looking for sustenance.
I mean, come
on man.
It's amazing how far we have fallen from the strongest recovery.
after COVID of any developed nation to what this country's turned into in just nine months here We're talking to Earl Ingram from the what's going on with Earl Ingram podcast get it at civicmedia.us click on shows And then you also had some thoughts about you know, you know generational change here.
I for one have looked at you know
a lot of people who waited way too long to retire.
There's still people in congress in their mid 80s and I'm more than happy to start to make way for the next generation that's coming up but in other ways sometimes this generation feels like it's being pushed off the stage and we're kind of resisting that.
Well that's exactly it Pat and I've talked about this for a long time only I'm
I'm attempting to try to create some dialogue.
It's been going on for far too long.
And Generation Xers are saying to you and I and Baby Boomers, you've had your turn, literally.
It's time for you to get out of the way.
And I've heard these words, get out of the way and let us lead.
And I've said to many of them, we're not in your way.
We're not stopping you.
from leading.
It is your time now is clearly that, but I think it's foolhardy to totally dismiss people who've been at this and who've lived life and our experience.
You know, you don't want to hear anything that we have to say.
It's foolhardy.
I think that you and I certainly listen to our elders and elders have some value.
I think, Pat, we've been here.
We've kind of gone through the rough roads and we can help.
We don't have to be in the lead.
And I look in my city, the mayor is a young man, the county executive.
These guys are in their 30s, young man, the chief of police.
All these people are all young people.
And so they're leading.
The politicians are all young people.
So I don't know what it is they're talking about.
No,
I think we're already seen people step up and leaving room for mentorship and coaching.
And that's what we're looking to do.
Yes.
And, you know, for those of us that want to play that role, but for those who want to lead, it is time to step up.
We are ready for that.
Earl Ingram has this and more on is what's going on podcast at civicmedia.us.
Earl, thank you so much.
Have a great day out
there.
You as well.
All right.
Melissa Baldoff is coming up with our climate check.
I'm Pat Kratlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
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Just about a 23 now.
Nice to have you back on these mornings with Matt right low powered by up north news here on the civic media radio network.
On this Wednesday morning, just absolutely heartbreaking images coming in from Jamaica, where we're seeing the the first reports from the massive flooding, the landslides and of course the wind damage from Hurricane Melissa, which like so many other hurricanes recently went from zero to 60 or in this case zero to category five in
practically no time at all because of a changing climate that has led to conditions much more favorable for these storms and yet at a time when we need people better than ever before to help collect data and help out with the forecasting for things like hurricanes you've got an administration that is
firing probationary employees and massive early retirements through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, the parent agency of the National Weather Service.
Not exactly great time, but we'll, uh, great timing, but we'll cover that more with Melissa Baldoff in our climate check this week.
Melissa, how are you?
Thanks.
I like you though.
Um, just absolutely, uh, heartbroken by what we're seeing the devastation from
uh hurricane melissa and just uh seeing that storm you know intensify so rapidly it doubled it with the wind speeds doubled in less than a day um and like you said that's just all the more reason that we need to have those um experienced scientists and staff members at NOAA uh supporting supporting the work and making sure that we're
learning as much as we can and doing everything we can to have that accurate data and to help folks.
And then knowing on the back end now that there are fewer resources for people when they are devastated by a storm like this.
Obviously, this one's not hitting the continental US, but
you know, we know that if a similar storm were to hit us and, you know, the end of this season or sometime next year, we'd have fewer resources for people recovering.
And by the way, fewer resources.
by choice.
Okay, it was Donald Trump choice to deny FEMA relief for public infrastructure in southeast Wisconsin, after the August flash flooding.
It was a choice to make those cuts of people and of budgets and of relief.
And I just want people to keep that in mind when they say, Well, it's weather, what are you going to do?
There are things you actually can do, both in forecasting at the front end, and recovery on the back end, that these politicians are deciding that, you know, most ordinary
Americans are not worth the trouble and not worth the expense and that's a choice that people make by the way
Yes.
Yeah, and you know one that for some reason they are
they are proud of and should not be.
Let's look, let's look for some good news where we can get it.
And there's a headline in the Guardian, global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for the first time record solar expansion and steady wind growth, driving a world shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, according to a new report by the climate think tank ember.
Melissa, thank you.
I needed some good news and that that definitely qualifies
Yes, this is really wonderful news, you know, the the one caveat I will say is that You know, we are we are not the drivers of this in the US China and India are largely responsible for that increase in renewables because the US and Europe are still relying on
fossil fuels, but this is a really important shift globally and one that is going to continue.
It's going to be unfortunate that for the next couple of years, the US will not be helping to drive that in the same kind of way because the federal government hasn't supported us anymore.
They've taken away that support for folks.
However, we're still seeing the market.
drive that even here.
You know, these are people are interested in putting solar panels on their roofs.
You know, businesses and churches are they, you know, they're looking at ground source heat pumps.
Our schools are doing this.
So we're still seeing that that shift because people know it's the right thing to do and they know it's going to save them money.
So, you know, we're going to continue to see this growth and these surges really by people who are choosing.
To use clean energy,
right?
Yeah in in the the numbers renewable energy contributed to 34% of all global electricity generated while coal fell to 33% So again still too much but moving in the right direction I wish electric bills were moving in the right direction But apparently power bills are surging in the country utilities are still seeking higher rates anyway, Melissa
This is something that people, because of the decisions that we have seen from Donald Trump and his administration and the MAGA Republicans in Congress who support that agenda, we're seeing all kinds of prices go up.
We know food costs are higher, so people are paying more on the grocery bills.
You name it, the healthcare premiums are about to go up for folks.
really they're increasing cost across the board.
And also in utility bills, residential rates have risen really fast across the U.S.
more than 30% on average since 2020 and about double the rate of inflation in the past year.
And that's an impact on everybody.
That's tough for anybody to stomach that big of a...
of an increase um that's really difficult on a budget and um you know we know that this is something that has a direct uh direct direct relationship to the choices that are happening in Washington DC that you're you know we're moving in the wrong direction um you know the cheapest
and cleanest sources of energy are renewables.
That's
Taking us back.
Melissa Baldoff with this week's climate check.
Melissa, thank you very much for a little good news.
I appreciate
right.
Take it where you can get it.
Exactly.
We'll come back with more after this.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
835.
Welcome back.
Pat Krightlow here.
Parker Olsen down in Madison Studio A2.
And without a guest for this segment, the phone lines are available at 855-75-CIVIC-855-7524842.
So many subjects that we've covered if somebody wanted to weigh in on any one of them they could, or perhaps best candy, worst candy for Halloween.
What what do you really want to get or what do you like to get?
And what have you really hated to receive now?
I have to take the worst one off the list because we've already mentioned popcorn balls.
They're so dumb.
I
Maybe they've maybe they've made them better with like flavor or something like that or that's not just biting into an old styrofoam ball, you know.
All right, well, maybe so.
What would be the worst thing that you could get in the candy, you know, Halloween treats thing?
I'm not talking like a, you know, a live rat or something like that.
Oh, okay.
Licorice.
There we go
Tony on YouTube popcorn balls are gross.
Thank you.
Yes He also says in in lieu of a guest.
I want a monologue about Derek van Orton.
What's he been up to recently?
I feel like I haven't heard much about him Trust me.
I can do that.
I'm capable of that.
He also says candy corn is the worst
and I and I have and I had to I think it was yesterday had to acknowledge I've I've come off of my hey all all total
hatred of candy corn once I realized that you know you take a couple of candy corns and a handful of peanuts and you've got basically a salted nut roll or a payday bar and That's that's actually pretty good.
So Tony give that a try.
Let me know what you think So best candy worst candy or other thing to give out at Halloween the best in our neighborhood
was a one of the docs in the neighborhood.
He and his wife gave out full size candy bars and a can of Mountain Dew.
Every kid that came to the door.
Probably did.
But you know, I think he also gave a
can of beer to the parents that came in too.
So I, I think, to win them over.
Tony asks, how dare you grow and evolve as a person, Pat?
I know, I thought I would hate candy corn forever, but wouldn't you know, just one little thing takes, takes care of it.
Uh, so yeah, we, we'd love to get your thoughts on best candy, worst candy, because there's still time for you to stock up.
There's still time for me to finish off this bag of KitKats and have to get something else that's out there.
We, we will see, especially since now with, with the new coffee pot.
If you missed it earlier, I had a new coffee pot shipped same day, got it late last night so that I would still have my coffee this morning.
And as I said before, the best thing to have at the end of the show here is with an empty coffee cup, but you still got the aroma of the coffee in there.
You put a little splash of milk in there and you have your KitKat bar.
And you understand why earlier in the show, Parker and I were talking about maybe we need a workout routine after the show.
Maybe we should actually exercise.
Instead of sitting around drinking having having candy bars at nine o'clock in the morning.
I don't know.
I can probably do
I don't know about wonders,
now look at this.
Tony saying baby roots are the best.
Well, Tony, Tony, I got news for you.
Take take the candy corn that you hate so much.
Take some peanuts and now put a couple of chocolate chips in there as well.
Oh, you got a baby Ruth.
You got a baby Ruth, Tony.
You got to try this.
You got to try it.
I haven't had a baby for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So many greats.
Look how exercise worked out for Dr. Lirely.
She needs new knees now.
That is a very fair point.
you know, and that's what I'm doing now.
It's self preservation.
I don't want to wear my knees out, you know, or I could actually, you know, go downstairs to the, to the, to the treadmill, you know, when the show is done,
daily walks or,
let's hit the curls.
anything, honestly, anything at this point would be an improvement on what we got going on.
Coming up later today on Matt Nair on air, Amy Barrelu, Barrelu from Clean Wisconsin, Berio, I keep getting her pronunciation wrong.
I apologize.
From Clean Wisconsin, not at 935.
And then at 1006 this morning, after the 10 o'clock news, Emily Cephos, chair of the Out of Game County Democratic Party.
and a candidate for legislature will be joining Jane Matinair and Greg Bach.
And then later this afternoon on the Maggie Dawn Show at 4.35, State Senator Sarah Kieske will be appearing.
And as you might have heard Pete Schwabusay earlier during one of the commercial breaks, he will have Door County trolley spooky storyteller, Carl Soraki, joining the show.
So all that and more still ahead across the Civic Media radio network.
All right, I was mentioning the cuts to Snap, and earlier we had Ellie Bordeaux on talking about the newsletter and how you can help out with the Snap cuts and support those whose food relief is about to be cut.
And what can you do?
You can contribute to food banks, and that would be extremely welcome.
especially given what I told you about yesterday, the article from ProPublica, that investigated and found out the tens of millions of pounds of food that was supposed to be delivered to food banks since May, but the Trump administration cut $500 million from a program that would have shipped surplus food and groceries to food banks.
So all that food is just going to
go to waste, and it won't go into the food pantries that are helping people who are not only losing their SNAP benefits, but as we talked earlier, they're losing their jobs.
Tens of thousands of jobs are being cut by corporate America.
In many cases, they're saying it's because of AI.
It sounds like a very convenient excuse, rather than acknowledge that the economy
is not doing well.
You're looking at the Federal Reserve probably going to lower interest rates again today.
Donald Trump has been bullying the Fed to lower interest rates saying that it's going to, you know, stimulate investment in the economy.
Well, yeah, remember why they cut interest rates when the economy is weak.
That's the problem.
It's an acknowledgement by the President of the United States that he was handed the best economic recovery post COVID of anywhere else in the world.
And he blew it.
He squandered it all the way with austerity measures and budget cuts and now cutting off, you know, SNAP benefits and jacking up everybody's health insurance costs.
Anyway, earlier on the website, UpNorthNewsWI.com, I had an article about that, about essentially weaponizing red tape, whether you're talking for Medicaid or...
for SNAP benefits, all of these things that Republicans who love to tell you that they're against red tape, they have found a way to weaponize that red tape and force more families to go hungry.
So you've got that article on the website, but then again, Ellie's new article on how to support people.
There is, for example, the Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee.
There's Feeding America.
There's the Hunger Relief Federation of Wisconsin.
That is a statewide association of independent food banks and pantries.
There's the Second Harvest Food Bank.
There's the Channel One Regional Food Bank in La Crosse and throughout Western Wisconsin.
The Feed My People Food Bank, which helps out in Northern Wisconsin, and I've helped out the Feed My People Food Bank a few different times.
And again, it is really something
to, in our case, in our church parking lot, to see once a month the line of cars.
It is an extremely long line of cars of people who need help.
These are people who have jobs but have low incomes at their jobs, which is indicative of a larger economic and societal problem that we don't have time to get into right now.
But for folks that are thinking, oh, it's just a bunch of lazy bums, I would urge you to come join me.
at one of these food distributions one of these times and talk to these folks for yourself rather than just the fairy tales that you're hearing on right wing radio and TV.
There's the St.
Croix Valley Food Bank.
There's Second Harvest, Northland.
And then finally, you can also dial 211 or text your zip code.
It's a free and anonymous service that connects residents with local food programs and services.
You can donate money.
You can donate food.
You can volunteer.
The money is especially helpful.
I mean, it's one thing to grab some old stuff out of your cupboard and go, yeah, see, I'm doing my part.
It'd be another if you could actually write a check or make an online Contribution to any of these places and in Ellie's article on the website all of those organizations that I just listed Those are in there as links you can click on any one of them Click on the link.
It'll take you right to each of their individual sites so that you can learn the details on how to give Because frankly it to maintain full funding of the program of snap benefits
would require about $114 million per month according to the Department of Health Services Secretary, Kirsten Johnson.
Right now, SNAP affects about 700,000 people in Wisconsin.
Jim and Appleton on the text line points out, you keep talking about the tragedy of people losing their SNAP benefits, and it is tragic.
Let's not forget about all the farmers.
and distribution centers that rely on the income Snap provides them.
Jim, that is a perfect point.
And yes, I should have gotten to that earlier.
We have already seen cuts in the programs that helped farmers by providing them with a local market.
I mean, not everything has to go to, you know, Kraft or one of the other great big corporate conglomerates.
It'd be great if more of Wisconsin's farmers had local Wisconsin markets for their product.
And we've created programs that did that.
And now the Trump administration is cutting them.
There were, as you said, all the distribution centers, the grocery stores snap for every dollar that is invested in it returns more than a dollar in economic benefits.
Because again, as I, I just can't believe this has to be explained so often.
When you give a dollar to a billionaire,
and not even a billionaire, okay?
Let's just say it's somebody who's making $300,000 a year in Wisconsin.
There's a pretty good chance that's not getting rolled back into the economy anytime soon.
It's being put into savings.
It's being spent on, you know, vacations and other things.
You give a dollar to a struggling family, that dollar is going to be spent in the grocery store or in a local business.
And then that local business is going to
spend that dollar somewhere else locally, perhaps.
And there is this multiplier effect.
We have had no shortage of time to explain over and over and over again.
Trickle down economics does not work.
It is a fairytale.
And yet there are still people who believe, including every Republican member of Congress who voted for the big bloated boondoggle, that if we just give
$4 trillion or more in tax breaks to corporations and the very wealthy, that that will create prosperity.
It's gonna happen.
It's never happened.
It's never worked.
It never will.
It would be far better to not worry about the supply side of economics and work on the demand side and stimulate demand.
And by the way, even Donald Trump has talked about that, talking about, you know, these stimulus checks that would go out, you know, as dividends from all of his budget cutting.
You notice you haven't heard anything about that lately?
Because they buy into the fairy tale of trickle down economics.
Whereas what you really want to do is invest in the middle class.
You want to raise up struggling families so that they can become self-sufficient.
They don't become self-sufficient by kicking them off.
their snap benefits.
All you do then is you make them hungry, and desperate, and more poor, and in need of more help.
And we as a country, we can do so much better than that.
Some final news and notes from Lake WSOTA, including a little ex-loater Shoe and Tell.
Coming up after this, I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Hey, have you caught the new Raising Wisconsin video series yet?
Check out UpNorth News, social media, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
And you will see more from Dr. Kelly Snook, a pediatrician in her Raising Wisconsin video series.
Her next chapter coming up is all about measles and how to spot the signs of measles in kids, the early symptoms to watch for, and when to call your health care provider.
And honestly, every time we do a story like this, my wife and I would just absolutely just shake our heads and cannot believe that we are living in an age where measles could be making a comeback.
And how much longer will it be until we start to see more polio cases in this state?
And on we go.
So Dr. Kelly Snooks will tell us more about what to look out for in her video series.
Check it out on the Up North News social media sites, Up North News, WI.
Search for that on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
Again, 855-75-CIVIC, the phone number for texts or for calls, or you can use the comment section as well.
Got somebody in the comment section, you know, asking or claiming that no Republican has ever proposed trickle-down economics.
What because they didn't say the words trickle down economics?
It's exactly what they're proposing the big bloated boondoggle is trickle down economics on steroids and it didn't work in the 2017 bill and it is not going to work in this bill.
It is simply a massive transfer of wealth upward.
And perhaps, perhaps, enough people have finally touched the stove and gotten burned to realize next year, maybe that's not the direction we should go in.
All right time to play a little show and tell here with Parker because mr. Olson's been plain wounded here.
He's sick He's under the weather.
I thought I would entertain him here with a few things that I've gathered from the basement.
that don't worry I Would debate that but anyway, I had to go look for something in the basement and realize that there are There are boxes down there that really need to be opened looked at Emptied and thrown away for good
And that included a box marked more Senate stuff, which is like, this is the leftovers of things from my time in the state Senate.
It turns out I was a very award-winning state
plenty of things like the Wisconsin Talents Association, hereby recognized as State Senator Pat Critello as a 2010 friend of the Talents for his outstanding leadership and support in the 2009-2010 legislative session.
And it says all that on a very traditional plaque.
Wow, it's
Very shiny, very traditional plaque.
I've got a few of these that, you know, hung up on the wall at some point.
Other places have figured out
We can't we can't just do a plaque.
We got we got to do more than that.
What's better?
So here is a clear acrylic shape of Wisconsin with a cob of corn encased in the middle of it.
That's
A golden ear of corn.
Inside a clear acrylic trophy of the state of Wisconsin from the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association 2008 Leadership Award to Senator Pat Crichtwell.
So again, they're like, hey, we don't need
a plaque.
That's kind of unique.
So then of course, the Wisconsin Builders Association had to go one better.
And what is this thing called a T square?
I think I think to write right angles on things.
So it's a tool.
It's basically something I could use in in the garage.
I've got a T square already.
And it doesn't get used enough.
But this one has a little tiny plaque along the ruler.
It's like a metal ruler built into a little tiny level.
And it says 2010 friend of the housing industry Senator Pat quite low Wisconsin Builders Association.
So
I've got all these, all these trinkets that I, I suppose I could put up, you know, somewhere or put in the bookshelf behind me.
But
I
mean, what's a golden year of corn and a, and a, and a large protractor, basically, from, you know, 16 years ago.
What's that?
What's that going to get me?
What's that doing for you today?
Yeah, you know, they look good.
I will say there is one that I actually did put to use.
And it's a shovel from a groundbreaking.
Ah, yes.
It was from UW Stout.
And I do not recall what the building was anymore.
But as a member of the State Building Commission, I was out there for the groundbreaking.
And it's just your standard, you know, little shovel, spade type.
And it was painted a very bright blue, the shovel and the handle.
And then
using a wood burner or whatever, etched into the handle was something about the Stout logo and the groundbreaking and everything else.
And for a time, that too was on display.
Like, hey, look at this, I got this shovel for helping make sure that the Stout campus is growing and can be healthy and everything else.
And then my time in the legislature was over.
And at one point,
I have a shovel exactly that size and it was older and it broke or it got really rusty or something.
And I finally looked over at this other one.
What else?
What else am I going to do with this?
I mean, this I could this is like in the category news you can use.
There you go.
These are these are awards that work.
And so
It's it's been used ever since it's still over by the fire pit and I am still very thankful for the folks at UW stout for coming up with useful awards Yeah, I'm gonna say the other I appreciate all the other ones I'm just saying that was that was kind of genius on their part.
So you always
a little utility to it Are we talking about
Okay, I thought we were merging into like second marriages here or something.
No, not that kind of trophy.
No, sorry.
Anyway, listen back, you'll know it's funny when you hear the tape.
Anyway, tomorrow on the program, we will be talking to Ingrid Cunninger.
She is with the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources.
And we will be talking all about Medicare Advantage plans, which if you watch John Oliver this past Sunday night on HBO, went off on Medicare Advantage plans.
They need to take the word Medicare out of there.
because there's nothing Medicare about Medicare advantage in the ways that they take, you know, money and then basically rip off seniors who worked, paid taxes all their life and thought they'd have the security of Medicare.
But they don't when they choose these plans from private insurance companies.
So we will talk all about that.
Mr. Olson, thank you.
Have a wonderful day.
Thank you.
Right nearly tomorrow at 6am.
We will do the same for all of you as well.
catch what we're doing at up north news wi.com.
And again, sign up for those newsletters there.
I pack right low.
Have a great rest of your Wednesday.
We'll see it right nearly 6am here up
north.
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