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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Crichtlow powered by Up North News.
Now, from our Lake Minnesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Crichtlow.
Hey, good morning.
It's 7 0 6.
Nice to have you back on a Monday morning.
Guess what?
It's November.
Here we are, November 3rd.
2025.
Nice to have you along, Parker Olson, producing things down there in Madison Studio A2.
Dr. Kristen Lierly joins us as does Up North News Selena Heller, Up North News reporter Selena Heller, as always happens on Mondays at this time.
And coming up later this hour, we'll talk to Sean Fetaplace from Main Street Alliance.
about the government shutdown and other issues that are impacting small businesses.
And also, of course, you can reach out to us at 855-75 Civic, 855-752-4842.
And let's see a couple of notes on the text line that I wanted to share here.
One is, oh, actually, it's from Jim and Brookfield.
Good morning, Pat.
My physical therapist, Alex, who is helping with my knee replacement, is a former Whitewater football player with Whitewater losing so badly this past weekend.
I may be in for a rough session later this morning.
Yes,
Parker is in mourning this morning over Whitewater getting shellacked over the weekend.
Probably will not keep that number nine national ranking after this.
No, they're
14 now.
Yes, but
I guess you do you claim to know the physical therapist that Jim and Brookfield is talking about?
I have a slight guess that it's Alex Pete, but I don't know.
I just wonder if there's still time for you to reach out and urge him not to take out his frustrations on all of his clients today.
He's a trained professional.
Let's get it down.
All right.
Well, in that case, never mind it.
It is, uh, the, the cold spot in the state right now, 32 degrees at Fort McCoy.
It's 43 here in the Chippewa Valley and in Oshkosh.
La Crosse is at 45 Wausau 41 Wisconsin Rapids 41 as well in Tigerton.
Rob says, good morning.
It's sunny and 41 degrees.
Got a 10th of an inch of rain overnight.
had a great weekend and had a great weekend.
Saturday was invited to the Tigerton Main Street Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and got a certificate for his service for donating nearly $1,000 in labor and machine use for Tigerton Main Street.
Way to go, Rob.
Can we talk about a little bit right after I tell you that
he closed with be careful outside today because much of north central Wisconsin has a high outdoor fire risk.
And yes, it was it was so crazy windy yesterday.
Still windy.
It's been very dry.
This would not be the day where you go.
I think I'm going to burn that brush pile today after raking all those leaves.
No, no, no, no, no.
Do not do that because Kristen Rob knows these things.
Yes, that would be a bad idea.
But here's what I want to talk about Rob.
is a wonderful human being.
I mean, as you saw, he received a volunteer appreciation award from Tigerton Main Street.
He donates a ton of time.
He's always helping people.
He's pitching in in the food pantries that his mom started.
He has a legacy that his family has been involved in in the Tigerton area.
Rob gave me permission over the weekend to post about his snap benefits and how he feels knowing that he is losing these benefits that he relies on and how he also recognizes that there are people around him who are suffering even more.
So he's giving, he himself is giving and he's worried and I just wanted to elevate that because
Rob is such a loyal listener to the show, but he's also such a great example of the fabric of our community and how we have to step up and help each other out, especially in these hyper-partisan times when we've got political parties trying to turn us against each other.
We just need to look at our neighbors and say, hey.
How can I help you?
Yeah, or at least a political party turning us against each other here.
And Selena, you've had similar conversations with folks, you know, as has Kristen.
By the way, you can hear Kristen's show, the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show Saturdays at noon across the civic media radio network and wherever you get your podcasts.
But Selena, you too have been talking to folks, state legislators, members of food banks and food pantries who are looking at this again, unnecessary, probably illegal.
shut off of SNAP benefits and reacting rather strongly to it.
Yes, so I talked to quite a few people last week.
Isrush, he's on SNAP benefits and he has a disability and family members and he's the caretaker and so he's been brought up on the benefits because his father was also had a disability and so I mean these
And they're working people.
That's what he talked about a lot.
But also talked with Senator Jeff Smith and Representative Jody Emerson.
They're from this area in Western Wisconsin.
And they talked about the options.
Helping neighbors is one of them also, but how the state isn't probably in a position or so others say the state isn't in a position to help.
And here's them talking about that.
It isn't we don't want to dip into the reserves.
We have a $4 billion surplus still sitting there in Madison.
And
a rainy day fund.
Yes, and a rainy day fund.
And yet, Senator Mary Felskowski was quoted as saying something to the effect that, well, that's a lot of money.
It would cost $110 million, I think, is what the estimate is if we were to use state funds to cover this.
That's a lot of money, she said, and I don't think we can do it.
That's who is in charge.
They are in the majority.
It's the majority party who has been running this state for three decades, and this is the ideology that we've had to deal with that has put us in this place in the first place.
And a perfect example of that quote is what there, because she's a leader, she's president of the Senate, that's what we're up against.
So we're trying to figure out if it's worth.
even introducing a bill that's going to be dead on arrival.
And so that's kind of why we decided to do this today and talk about the issue and encourage people to do different pop-up donations and volunteer, things like that, as we can still work behind the scenes to maybe move Mary and others off of that decision because it doesn't do us as the minority party any good to introduce a bill that's going to be dead on arrival.
And yet, sadly, that's where we are in this in this legislature and that this is not Donald Trump is simply doing what a lot of other conservative politicians have talked about doing for decades.
But nobody thought you could actually get away with, you know, making families go hungry.
Donald Trump does not have a problem with that.
And that's causing some real headaches for groups like the Community Table, which is a, you know,
Was it a food pantry?
How do we best describe community?
I had to look at a
nonprofit that serves free meals every day to those who need them so everybody can go get a free meal every day and that's what a lot of people do in Eau Claire.
It's the community table and Dan Jagir is on the board of directors at the community table and he talks about more people coming there just to eat a meal.
The need for snap in the community is a definite must.
Here at the community table, we've had increased numbers already, and we don't know what to expect here in the future.
I just hope that we'll be able to support those that lose their SNAP benefits.
If you have any donations, whether it be a can of corn, green beans, do I make a cash donation?
With the uptick now, and I don't even know what to expect.
when these benefits go away.
Unfortunately, those in Washington on the big level, I don't think can relate to us here.
I really don't.
No, it doesn't appear they can.
And Selena, before we hear from one of the advocates that you spoke to, Kristen, you in Northeast Wisconsin, you have food banks, pantries, shelters, other community advocacy organizations, all of which could.
Talk to anybody and there's sadly too many of them that love to post in the comment section.
Oh, they should just go get a job It's that that's not how this works and Where's your heart by the way?
Hey, that's some of it, but I'm seeing so much hyperpartisan Like it's you're a stupid lib.
I mean it's such
It's just ugliness.
And it's almost like people don't know how to deal with this moment in time.
But I think they're starting to recognize that the Trump administration is literally starving Americans intentionally for political power.
I mean, there's no better way to say it.
Republicans are starving Americans.
But we don't have the emotional capacity to deal with it because it's so illogical.
We saw it in the comment section this morning, $200 billion going to feed illegals.
Illegals.
Just tell us the earth is flat.
Why don't you Selena?
Who else are we hearing from about a community advocate?
Yeah, her name is Simone.
And one thing to remember is 270,000 of these SNAP recipients are kids and 108,000 are senior citizens.
Kids and senior citizens, those bombs.
All right, let's hear from community advocate Simone.
I invite you to see SNAP not as an expense, but as an investment.
Because when we fail to do so.
We risk missing its profound role in shaping the strength and resilience of our community.
The impact of losing SNAP isn't limited to low-income families.
It ripples throughout our community.
It affects the local businesses that depend on the under-employed, the workers who show up every day but still can't earn enough to cover the basics.
They are our retail workers.
our coffee baristas, the people cleaning our hotel rooms.
It affects landlords whose tenants' stability protects their investments.
It affects our healthcare systems, our schools, and ultimately our economy.
And most of all, it's the long-term cost.
that will cost us financially in the end, the emotional and economic toll of trauma that will need to be healed in the years to come.
When we support programs like SNAP, we're not just feeding families, we're strengthening the entire community.
Every child who goes to bed with a full stomach, every parent who can focus on work instead of hunger, every landlord who can count on rent being paid,
all if that adds up to a healthier, more resilient community.
Because in the end, food security is not charity, it's community.
Thank you.
And you can read much more about what Selina had to say about that in her article that's on her website now, upnorthnewswi.com.
A lot of folks, you couldn't even fit in there, I daresay, Selina.
There
were a
lot of head thoughts and important messages.
And let me get this one other point in here where people go, well, you know, there's still your, yeah, there's some people that need it, but other other people are milking the system.
That's what enforcement is for.
And I will come back to what I said about doge.
Remember about, you know, people that waste fraud and abuse, waste fraud and abuse has always been illegal.
So let's see it.
Why don't you just do the perp walk?
for somebody who is illegally using SNAP benefits and make an example out of that person, why are you almost literally throwing the baby out with the rest of the dinner table, you know, so that you can make some kind of a political point.
It's never been about waste, fraud, and abuse, Kristen.
I mean, it's been such a part of it.
It really has been more of a class matter or just a matter of cruelty.
It's all about the haves and the have-nots, and the haves just will never ever have enough.
You know, as a kid who grew up on Snap, because my mom had to escape an abusive relationship and didn't have resources to do it, I don't know that I would be where I am without a hand up at that moment in my life and my sister's life.
So I get it on a really fundamental level and so do so many other people.
We're talking about one in eight Americans.
Half of them are children.
Many of them are elderly or living with a disability.
These are some of our most vulnerable neighbors and we can't turn our backs on them, but we also can't fix this by donating to food banks.
That is an inefficient way to do it.
Snap is almost 10 times more efficient.
So the Trump administration just needs to do the right thing and they...
and fund this program.
And I would close by pointing folks to my editorial that talks about SNAP, Medicaid, and Pell Grants.
When people say, lift yourself by your bootstraps, those are the bootstraps of a functioning American society to make sure that people have a chance to grow, thrive, and succeed in this country.
We still believe in that, don't we?
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Next Monday, a week from today, we'll mark the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
And so next Monday, we will replay the interview we did over the summer with Tom Nelson, the out of gaming county executive and former legislator who has a new book out about the Edmund Fitzgerald, including some details about the ship's construction and maintenance.
but he also draws parallels to the economic management of the 1970s.
It's not, of course, there will be so many commemorations of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and they're already underway.
There is, looking at this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, there are plenty of museums and other groups that will honor the anniversary.
There's an exhibit at the Dora County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay.
Sturgeon Bay was home to two of the men who died on the ship.
Milwaukee has the Groman Museum at the Milwaukee School of Engineering with an exhibit of Edmund Fitzgerald paintings and photographs and a scale model of the ship on display.
The Milwaukee Central Library also has a model of the ship, one given to Edmund Fitzgerald himself.
He was running Northwestern Mutual Life at the time, which was the owner that commissioned the creation of that carrier for all that iron ore that went back and forth across the Great Lakes.
So we'll be listening for all of that.
Tom Nelson was also interviewed by one, Kristen Lyrely, as part of the Kristen Lyrely show.
And you can hear that weekends at noon across the Civic Media Radio Network.
Nair, nair, nair, nair, nair, nair, nair, nair, nair.
Everybody's thinking it right now.
You said
Edmund Fitzgerald and it's the earworm.
I was just deciding whether I wanted the Edmund Fitzgerald, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald to be the earworm that stayed with people or baby shark from our last hour.
Pick
your earworm.
You get to choose.
Yes.
Or your brain will choose for you.
Do you know what you got coming up next weekend yet?
Oh, it's going to be so good.
We, you know, I know Pat McBride, the former dean of students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
He is a twin brother by the name of Dennis McBride, who happens to be the mayor of Wauwatosa.
And Dennis McBride also just wrote a book about what happened when he took over the reins in his mayor ship of his hometown in early 2020.
If you'll remember back, things were a little crazy back then.
And there was this pandemic, there was the George Floyd thing, Wauwatosa had the Joseph Mensa stuff, so there were riots.
It was a crazy time.
And Dennis's book really is less about Wauwatosa and more about how Wauwatosa is a microcosm of what was happening across the country.
It's a great interview.
All right, so listen for that this weekend, noon on the Civic Media Radio Network or wherever you get your podcasts, like Spotify and Apple and things like that.
Uh, the airworms, Wreck of the Admin Fitzgerald, or Baby Shark, and Tony puts up on YouTube.
Don't you dare!
I don't know, Tony.
I feel
like... Parker gave in!
Parker?
At
our Halloween dance at school, the DJ made a big deal and played Baby Shark.
Well, of course.
You got to know your audience.
That's how it rolls.
All the parents, their eyes rolled.
So
how was when you took Emory around, how was this year's Candy Hall compared to years past?
We had so many full-size candy bars.
Yes.
Hey, there we go.
That's what we like to hear.
We like to see that
generosity.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Whoa.
Time out.
Time out.
Time out.
Yeah.
Ramen
noodles.
That's the big thing.
All the kids scream and come back like like that's the
big deal.
Wait, I feel like I've wanted to do another dimension here.
What do you what do you mean?
Ramen
noodles that may come in a package.
I
get that.
That's a Halloween treat.
That's on par with candy.
Yeah, it is.
It's the
excitement.
I don't know anything anymore.
Have you heard about 6-7?
Oh,
no.
Parker, resident young person for the show here, has just put his hand in his hands.
We need to like, we need
to know it
for 6-7, I don't know.
6-7 is like totally infiltrated all of the middle schoolers and it's exhausting, but I feel like we need like a get pad up to speed session.
What do you mean me me?
Well, you didn't
know that ramen
ramen
noodles
trick or
treat me me questioning ramen noodles in a trick or treat bag is not the biggest sign that I'm fall I've fallen out of touch.
Although
it is right up there if this is true.
Let's find some other
science.
The six seven thing is just what I've learned is it's just stupid.
It's just it has no it has no meaning and they revel in the fact that people are trying to
decode what six seven is, which
even in the dictionary, you know,
but
honestly,
but honestly, that's, oh, I forgot.
The song of Louis Louis.
Remember, you wouldn't remember, but in the 60s, Louis Louis, you can't make sense of the song because it's kind of nonsense.
The FBI actually investigated to try to find out the actual lyrics because, you know, it was poisoning the minds of our children and maybe it was something pornographic.
And six seven is just kind of the same thing.
Like,
It's
not, yeah.
It's meaningless and adorable.
Just go with it.
Give them what they want.
Give the kids what they want.
Not even adorable.
We talk about, you know, getting Parker's perspective, but no, Selena as the parent of a youngin, that's the perspective we need right now.
True.
Dumb because although she says all the boys say that and I don't know why My
son is a middle school music teacher and that is all he hears.
He's he's like done with it, but they think it's the greatest
Oh my goodness.
So
he likes to count things out for them.
He'll be like, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
And he like pushes it back in their face.
That's cute.
In the Packer game, the score was seven to six, you know?
Oh,
yeah.
It
switched around.
Mommy would be six, seven.
And then she told
her friends on the phone, the Packer score is six, seven.
This seems like a perfectly good place to hit the exit ramp.
Yeah, it does.
That's Kristen Lyrely.
You can hear on the weekends and Friday here on this find.
program.
Selina Heller over at UpNorthNewsWI.com.
Kristen, Selina, thank you both very much.
Thank you, friends.
Have a great week.
Have a great day.
All right.
See you later.
When we come back, we'll talk to Sean Fetaplace from Main Street Alliance about some of the things that are happening in the news and their impact on the economy through a small business lens.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
No!
Nice to have you back on this Monday morning, November 3rd, 7.35 right now.
I'm Pat Critewell here in Chippewa Falls across the Civic Media Radio Network, where we have new social media accounts for you to follow.
still have our regular Facebook page.
Just look for mornings with Pat Crichtlow.
But also now on Blue Sky, which was the alternative to Twitter, X, whatever it is.
And we've gone ahead and put an account on there as well.
So if you're looking for short snappy posts from this show hosted by Pat Crichtlow, look for PK Radio Show again, PK Radio Show on Blue Sky and Twitter.
And you can follow us there.
There's also our Sunday morning newsletter.
conveniently named Sunday mornings with Pat Kratlow.
We yesterday put out our regular issue and showed you the breakdown of people who
answered our question of the week about nuclear power plants.
And it turned out in this case, a slight majority believed that there should be a new nuclear power plant built as a carbon free way to generate electricity in Wisconsin despite some of the risks.
This week we asked about the economy.
We did this back in March and I wanted to see how things have changed.
And so what do you think about the economy a year from now?
Will it be in a better place?
Will we be slogging right along?
Or are things going to be worse over the next 12 months?
That's our question of the week.
You're the first to see it.
If you sign up for our newsletter over at UpNorthNewsWI.com, click subscribe up in the banner at the top of the homepage.
You know, who else is following this economic stuff would be Main Street Alliance, a group of small businesses across the country who understand that the things that the big business lobby
deals with in Madison and Washington is not necessarily on the same level as what small businesses need.
And some of the things happening now are a real burden to small business owners, to their employees, to their customers, to the economy and more.
And our friend Sean Fetaplace joins us from Main Street Alliance to talk more about what the group is doing about it.
Sean, good morning.
How are you?
Good.
How you doing?
I'm good.
Thanks.
Nice to have you here.
Let's start with the
Cut off of snap benefits, which again two judges on Friday told Trump you can't do that This whole thing is is unnecessary and unnecessarily cruel and Main Street Alliance is a plaintiff in one of these cases Sean tell us more
That's right.
There's two cases.
One is of nonprofits or organizations that care about make sure people are fed and we care about it, both from a humanitarian standpoint, but also because many of our members are grocery stores, local coops that actually accept SNAP benefits.
And so this being cut off impacts them.
So there's that case and then there's the case that was brought by attorneys general and governors.
Governor Evers, actually, our state was a part of that as well.
And thankfully, both judges ruled in our favor on Friday.
There's going to be more clarity on that today.
And even if the administration, if it's clarified that they have to pay out the benefits, it's likely to be delayed by between one and two weeks before people actually see that.
in their other cards when they go to the grocery store.
And so I'm really proud that the organization joined up on that and is continuing to fight back.
But there's more work to do to make sure that folks are able to get the help they need.
Yeah, there are a couple of
things to focus on here.
There's the court fight, the political fight about this.
And then there are the real life ramifications and how people are reacting and ways that they can be helpful in that area as well.
And Sean, it definitely feels like since this became close to real and then real, that there are more people, but especially more small business owners who understand that maybe they don't normally think about politics, but
this is one of those examples of an issue that really does affect them more than they might have initially thought.
Yeah we have about there's about five billion dollars left in the fund that would get us through most of this month and yeah it impacts them.
there was a statistic that I heard that nearly half of American adults, by the time they're seniors, at some point in their life may benefit from SNAP, either themselves or their kids.
And I'll just say this, as somebody who did experience food insecurity at a point in my life, I know how important it is to make sure that is the case.
And the thing I would say too is that
Many folks are stepping up right now, which is commendable.
A lot of food pantries and restaurants and other folks who are making sure that folks are getting fed.
I know Chef Dave Heidi here locally is helping to do a pay what you can right now.
However, if you look at the amount of dollars snap, if you take $10, one of those is from food pantries.
Nine of those is from snap.
So there's just no way to be able to replace that amount.
And so that's why it's so important that Speaker Johnson and the president and John Thune
come to the table and negotiate to make sure we can end the shutdown
Sean Fetaplace from Main Street Alliances joining us here at 740 on a Monday.
And it's the kind of thing I wrote about in an editorial on our website as well, UpNorthNewsWI.com talking about as a kid, you know, being raised by a single mom standing in that line when the little food stamp coupon books were handed out.
And, you know, so for people to say that it's some kind of a life of luxury, I mean, give me a break.
I for one will never drink powdered milk again, because that was the
only way we are going to get milk back in that day that's you know the food stamps had to be stretched as far as they could then they still add up to a whopping six dollars a day Sean we're talking about six dollars a day which is hardly a life of luxury for struggling families and yet you combine all that together and that's a real jolt to the economy that isn't going to be there right now while this legal fight drags on.
Absolutely.
And, you know, Secretary Rollins and the president are lying about this.
They can pay out the benefits.
It shouldn't have required a court order to be able to do so.
And, you know, if you think about the shutdown at the moment, I mean, you have snap being impacted, but over the weekend on Saturday, you know, we're
dubbing at Sticker Shock Saturday because people's rates for their affordable care coverage has gone up by so much.
And I think for your listeners, it's really important to understand it's bad for younger people, middle-income people, folks who are middle-aged.
It is absolutely catastrophic for people who are close to retirement age because, first off, due to the age, the ability of the marketplace to charge older adults more.
But also the subsidy cutoff is at 400% of poverty.
And because of the changes, if you go $1 over that, you have no help at all.
And Governor Evers put out, and I actually had to double check it.
I even called the insurance commissioner here, because I knew it was bad.
But when the actual numbers came out last week, it showed that a married couple, 60, making 80K a year sets 40K each, which is below the national average at that age.
Their premiums will go up by $32,000 a year.
in Eau Claire, which is in your backyard basically there.
And clearly that people won't be able to afford that, so they're going to drop coverage.
At that age, they're going to experience age discrimination if they try to find a job that provides benefits.
And it's important to understand that if this happens, it's going to also impact employer-based health care, because fewer young, healthy people have insurance, and that'll make it more expensive for everyone.
So this is all about cost of living.
And the president and congressional Republicans, including Representative Van Orden, are just making it worse.
Yeah, Sean fed places are guests from Main Street Alliance.
So so we moved from snap into, you know, the real crux of the shutdown, which is a fight over preventing these huge spikes in health insurance premiums.
And then of course, there's that other matter that is hitting all small businesses and all businesses and that would be tariffs.
And this is a big week for the legal challenge of what the Trump administration is doing in tariffs.
What's the role of Main Street Alliance in this?
Yeah, so we're not plaintiffs in the case because there were already a lot of folks early on the process who joined who were harmed by the tariffs But it's an issue.
We've been organizing around very heavily since you know, so-called liberation day Back in April.
In fact, we recently did an analysis and our member stories of the impact has actually been seen over 50 million times in the United States because
It's so deep, and we're working very closely with Senate Democrats, including Senator Ed Markey, who's the ranking member.
So he's the head Democrat on the Senate Small Business Committee.
There's going to be a press conference outside of oral arguments that are happening this Wednesday.
The Supreme Court case for the emergency tariffs is kicking off this Wednesday.
at 10 o'clock Eastern time.
And we're hopeful that both from a legal standpoint, you know, there's a strong case to be made that what the president has done has been illegal, but continuing to make the political case as well.
Just last week, there were three separate bills that were passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis to overturn the tariffs, including, you know, when you have centers like Elizabeth Warren and Rand Paul.
agreeing on something sure says something about the topic and so I really worry about the as we enter the holiday season what this is going to do for costs and I think if we don't get resolution I mean I what I've heard what I understand from the Supreme Court case is that they do expect an expedited ruling so we should hopefully know one way or the other by the end of the year but clearly this president is just really abusing his power and this is just one other example of him doing so.
We're talking to Sean Fetaplace from Main Street Alliance, and in talking about not just what the president is doing, but also a compliant Congress.
And that's where, again, we've mentioned Congressman Derek Van Orden, but the same goes for Tom Tiffany, for Tony Weed, for Brian Stile, for all of them.
These are not folks who are shrinking violets.
normally, and it is Republicans in the past, you know, maybe not to the same degree as Democrats, but Republicans would occasionally, you know, challenge their own president.
I recall when George W. Bush was talking about wanting to privatize, you know, Social Security or Medicare and people were just like, even among fellow Republicans going, that might be a bridge too far.
And yet, I keep hearing people like Derek Van Orden say that, well, we should find a way not to, you know, hurt folks.
But they could do it.
They could actually rein in what the president is doing on tariffs.
And I feel like part of your group's messaging as well hasn't just been in court, but to actually say to these members of Congress, hey, you actually can play a role in lessening the pain that Americans and small businesses are feeling.
Absolutely.
And I do think this recent example of the Argentina beef issue is really beginning to break through because there are farmers in Western Wisconsin who have been paying, either they aren't able to sell their crops or it's been tariffed and it's increasing their fixed costs.
And then there's this talk about doing a bailout.
Where's that money coming from?
It's from the money that was tariffed or the reduced impact in the first place.
So it's just absolutely ridiculous.
And I'll just say this, tariffs have a role with national security reasons.
China has been a bad actor in many different ways, including intellectual property theft.
And so like a targeted, purposeful trade policy is really important.
This is not that.
This is just a bull in a China shop just absolutely destroying everything.
And so I think that ultimately it is up to people like
Representative Van Orden, Representative Tom Tiffany, to stand up, and I'll be honest with you, I think they don't agree with these tariffs.
I think that they're just too scared to speak out because they think that they're going to experience political consequences for doing so.
And in the case of Derek Van Orden, I'll just point out, he was outraced by $200,000 by Becker Cook in the most recent filings.
And if you look at why he outraced her in total, it's because he got support from Speaker Mike Johnson to be able to make up the difference.
And so the question is,
Who is Derek Van Orden really working for?
Is he working for the Farmers in Western Wisconsin?
Or is he working for Speaker Johnson?
Sean Fennett Place, this was great to learn more.
You want to give folks the website?
Yep.
If you want to find out more
and join us, go to MainStreetAlliance.org.
MainStreetAlliance.org for this, for these issues and so many other issues that your group is following.
And in there, you will see stories from small business owners, just regular folks all over the state.
all over the country.
This is where the real work is happening on Main Street and therefore the real lobbying work that needs to keep taking place for officials in Madison and Washington.
Sean, thank you so much.
It's always good to catch up with you.
All right, thank you and have a good
day.
All right, thanks.
You have a great day as well.
Still ahead in our next hour, we're going to be talking about an upcoming event in Stevens Point, a senior empowerment summit that is going to be all about talking about these issues and more.
And from the standpoint of Wisconsin's senior citizens, what are the key issues that they believe politicians, candidates and office holders should be hearing over and over again throughout the 2026 election cycle?
I'm Pat Gritlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio
Network.
7.52 now on this Monday.
Still can't believe it's November, but you know, it's football season.
It's fall.
The leaves are blowing all over the place.
It's chilly.
Football playoffs are well underway, and we're griping about the Packers.
So it must be November.
Here's Jimmy Cusco, Civic Media's sports director.
The question of the day I asked at the top of the program was, in recent memory, is this the most restless time to be a football fan in Wisconsin?
I mean, not just the Badgers stinking up the joint, but the Packers
have not been this uninspiring for a while.
And I know, I know it wasn't Carolina Panthers fans, Jimmy, that I heard coming through my TV yesterday watching the football game.
I definitely know I heard Boo Birds out of Lambeau Field.
It is a frustrating time right now.
It's amazing how in the NFL, I think people underestimate how much of a week to week league the NFL is because every single week, I feel like we live in this
cycle of of every every single game Based on our expectations mattering probably way more than any single game should be and I try to remind people to pace themselves There are 17 of these before we get to the playoffs, but it is football.
This is this is what we get excited about right for better or worse Make no mistake about it.
The Packers game yesterday was
was one of those games that the Packers absolutely should have won.
The fact that they lost this game and the way they lost it, I think the frustration is warranted, to be honest, because this is a team that they should have had this much trouble with and are even lost to.
No,
because they weren't that bad on so many of the plays, especially in the first half, those first few drives, they were really kind of clicking and then they
Peter out they couldn't get it done they'd missed the field goal or there was the fumble or something something would happen but it wasn't like every play was bad you see the potential in these guys and yet the way Parker put it you know there's there's not an identity it says okay when we're in this situation this is what we do and it's almost always foolproof and they don't know what they're supposed to do in any given situation.
I think the hardest thing for people to accept about football, especially, is that when you feel like you've left points in the field or you feel like that you've had the opportunities to succeed and you don't, you feel like you should be better than what you are.
And when you get to the gap between what the Packers have done in terms of moving the ball and scoring points and what they probably should have been, like you talked about the missed field goals, the missed opportunities that they've had, trying to work the ball down the field.
not as much maybe as maybe they could.
They seem to be very, very content with settling for some of those short routes and a whole lot of run plays that go for two yards.
I think that's where fans and then in any observer really can get frustrated with the team that they feel like should be better is that you feel like there's more to be had and that they're leaving a lot of that potential out there on the field.
Green Bay entered the day with just three turnovers all season matching Philadelphia their opponent next week for the lowest total in the league
But Savion Williams had a red zone fumble, joined in love through an interception that led to a Carolina touchdown.
As you said, McManus missed a 43 yarder.
So he's not had, so we say, a stellar kicking record since coming back from injury.
You had Kishan Nixon being called for pass interference on a third and goal in completion.
And on and on, it goes.
And they were unable to stop Rico Doudal, who rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
leading to Carolina beating Green Bay 16 to 13.
And they've got a week to get it all together because next week is a Monday night game.
Well, the Packers have gotten up for their top opponents, you know, on their schedule.
But I will say this about what the Packers are able to do turnover wise.
When you have a game like this, the mistakes are certainly amplified quite a bit.
But I think people remember a lot of the Aaron Rodgers years where turnovers weren't really an issue.
He was really.
you know, he didn't really throw a lot of interceptions at all.
I mean, he was historic at it.
And the fact that Jordan, he's only thrown three interceptions this year in eight games.
I think, I think that part of it I'm not quite as concerned with.
I think.
I think in a game like this, you're going to look at every mistake and you're going to amplify it a little a little more maybe because again, we're talking about those missed opportunities.
But I do think that for the Packers to to kind of grow and learn from this in the middle of the season, they're going to have to gamble a bit.
They're going to have to be a little more aggressive.
They've got athletes everywhere.
And I think honestly, one of the biggest losses for them beyond just losing to a team they should have absolutely beaten by multiple scores is what they're going to do without Tucker Kraft at tight end because he gave them a dimension that
that just doesn't exist for any, any, most other NFL teams at tight end.
Dr. Kraft, losing him to injury, I think is going to be much more important than actually losing the game to the Panthers.
We were, I was bemoaning that, uh, you know, earlier in the program because he had quickly become my, my favorite.
I thought he was the go-to guy.
And the only thing that takes a little bit off of it is the, the notion that Luke Musgraves, the other tight end,
might now be so fully recovered from injury, he may be ready to step up.
We don't know that he will, but I got to hang my hat on something at this point, Jimmy.
We're looking for silver linings in this.
And I think if you want to take anything from it, it's this.
We have a long, long ways to go this season.
A lot can still happen.
And they have a great game coming up Monday night with the Eagles a week
from tonight.
Absolutely.
They do.
Looking at some of the other sports here, we got the Badger Men's basketball team.
They opened their season up tonight versus Campbell.
You can catch that.
game, pregame starting at 630 tonight on stations in Wisconsin Rapids, Amory, Richland Center and Ironwood, Michigan.
You had the 14th ranked Badger men's hockey team beating the 18th ranked Minnesota Gophers twice over the weekend.
You had the Badger women's hockey team top ranked in the country getting their first loss of the season Friday, but then bouncing back Saturday against Minnesota.
And then you had the Bucks lost on Saturday to Sacramento 135 to 133.
They play the Indiana Pacers coming up later
tonight.
So let's go where we started Badger Man's basketball season opener tonight.
Are you looking forward to the season?
Yeah, I think so.
I think people are ready for Badgers, a main Badgers sport to have some success.
We talked a lot of football.
Badgers football, of course, has been struggling quite a bit.
And they have another tough opponent this week.
Yeah, they play Washington
this weekend, Saturday.
Washington this weekend, then Indiana next week.
Yeah, coverage begins there.
The Badger football team Saturday at 9 AM on several civic media stations.
So between either, well.
No, the football and the volleyball team split over the weekend here.
So we're putting our eggs in the men's basketball team and the men's and women's hockey team to lift our spirits.
Here we go.
Let's go badgers.
And Jimmy Koska does it for as well.
Every Monday here as we wrap up some of the weekend in sports.
Jimmy, thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right.
Talk to you later when we come back after the news.
We'll talk to our friends.
John and Gordy from our Civic Media Station in Madison and then later we'll talk about the forthcoming senior summit in Stevens Point this week.
I'm Pat Gritlow, this is the Civic Media
Radio Network.
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