Defying Gravity (Hour 2)

Across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Gritlow, powered by Up North News.

Now, from our Lake Wissota studio, here's the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Gritlow.

Well, hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It is 6 0 6 on a Monday morning.

It's December 1st.

I know a lot of times we'd be like, wow, December?

How did that sneak up on us?

Well, first off, it can't.

It's on the calendar.

It comes at the same time every year.

But it really didn't sneak up on us because of what all happened over the weekend.

We just got swamped by snow across many parts of Wisconsin, which makes it another beautiful morning to have you here up north.

Live from Lake Wissota from wherever you're spending your mornings, listening across the Civic Media radio network or catching us on social media.

podcast all all the ways.

Thank you for getting your work week.

Thank you for getting your month of December started right here.

I got a question for you.

This is a Cyber Monday.

Is that still a thing for you?

Are you someone who gets your holiday shopping done very early?

Are you more last minute?

I know a lot of folks, you know, fall somewhere in the middle, but we would love to hear from you if you're one of those folks who's basically already done

How do you do it?

Or maybe you appreciate...

the rush that comes with last minute shopping.

Maybe you're able to snag some kind of a discount from a shop that's trying to move stuff off the shelves in the last last days.

So whether you are an extra early or an extra late shopper of Christmas gifts and holiday trinkets, we'd like to hear from you on this Cyber Monday.

Is that still a thing?

855-75 Civic 855-7524842.

Also, be sure to use that Civic Media app to either call or text the program.

We'd love to hear from you that way as well.

Let's see.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend, a good holiday.

Hope you had a good meal.

and that everyone behaved around the dinner table.

If you were out hunting, maybe you got that big buck before the gun and deer season ended.

Mine was a little more unusual with work commitments and things.

So neither Sherry nor I got the traditional, you know, turkey dinner.

type of thing, but we'll be okay.

There are plenty of other ways to spend the weekend and we'd love to hear some of your highlights if you'd like to share those.

as well.

Many guests today, we are guest loaded today.

I'll tell you all about them in just a little bit, but I can also promise you some surprises are on the way as well.

So you're going to want to stick around for guests I can't even tell you about yet.

That is all coming up.

Let's see, Tony's up in Ashland.

He says, I made the best New York strip steak of my life on Thanksgiving.

Wow, on Thanksgiving New York strip steak.

And it was the best.

I now I want to know how you did it because my my stakes have always been lately.

I finally got my stakes to where I want them.

I do the the reverse sear thing you know in a low oven 250 degrees for like 30 to 60 minutes and then the last five minutes on a on a you know piping hot cast iron griddle to get the temperature just right oh so I wanted I want to know your secret Tony.

Tony also says I often spend Christmas Eve frantically wrapping presents.

Yeah, I've been there too, and I'm curious as to whether that is still something that people like to do.

They like the rush or not.

Let's see, in Ashland right now it's 14 degrees, Hayward's at 12, it's 16 here in the Chippewa Valley, but it is four below zero.

in Watoma.

There are single digits all over the place.

Ritzland Center, you have run out of degrees.

It's zero right now.

It's nine in Wisconsin Rapids, 16 in La Crosse.

Oshkosh is at 10.

Wasaw is at 12 degrees right now.

Producing this whole shindig is one Parker Olsen, who is standing by at Studio A2 down in Madison at Civic Media's headquarters.

Mr. Olsen, good morning.

How was your weekend?

Good morning, Pat.

Pretty good weekend.

Not too bad on the life side, on the sports side, not a great weekend.

Not a great week?

Oh, no.

Yeah.

This would be Whitewater?

This would be Whitewater, Pat.

Oh,

no.

What happened?

For the third consecutive trip to the playoffs, Whitewater has been knocked out of the playoffs by throwing an interception on a would-be game-winning drive.

They've done this three years in a row Three of the last four years all three of our last playoff trips We've thrown in an interception while making a drive to in an effort to win the game.

Oh No I'm so sorry.

I'm very I am very sad.

I was inconsolable after the Badgers got beat in the axe game

You were inconsolable over the Badgers over the kind of year they had.

Well, that's because that was immediately following the whitewater loss.

So I, and I hate Minnesota.

So

totally understandable.

The, yeah, the Badgers fell at Minnesota quite the snow globe game they

had

going on there.

17 to seven.

This is how fortunes change in college football.

It was not that long ago.

Wisconsin had a 14 game winning streak over the Gophers, but now Minnesota has won five of the last eight.

The Badgers have now missed the bowls for a second straight season after making 22 in a row.

22 years in a row of going to a bowl game.

Snapped that last year.

We're not going back this year.

We, they, whatever.

The Badgers have finished four and eight.

The most number of losses since 1990 when they went one in 10.

I hope that's not the direction this team is going in.

But she had to feel good about the Packers on Thanksgiving.

They beat Detroit 31-24.

That's

true.

I did feel a lot better about the Packers.

Did not to get to watch that live, but we did record it and watch it after.

I had mentioned before that our local pub here.

opened up had the game on and I couldn't wait to see you know it's just how how many of us losers would show up you know people who had no like family Thanksgiving thing to go to and it was me and a buddy and there was like two other groups of four that came in briefly for a little bit

And that was it.

It was almost like they opened the bar just for us, which is not the compliment.

It's not the flex you might think it is, but I had a good time.

I, you know, had my chicken wings, you know, Sherry worked and, you know, uh, Tony also wants to say, Hey Parker, at least Ohio State whooped Michigan.

So there is that.

I mean, I don't,

I

think

he also

says a great few days to cheer against the state of Michigan.

This is

true.

I mean, you know,

He's way up in Ashland, so that that makes sense.

Uh, Roger, Roger and Steven's point.

I had the worst nightmare.

I woke up in the Bears were the number one seed in the NFC.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah.

I don't care though.

Here's the thing.

The Bears, if this is, if this is the greatest thing that they achieve is being the one seed for like a week and a half, good for them.

Cause I think this will probably be the greatest thing they achieve all

year.

I mean.

Again, the people thought at the start of the season, the Vikings were like all hot and everything.

And wow, has that become a dumpster fire?

I mean, and the key of just, you know, one quarterback getting hurt, you know, is like the dominoes just started falling.

I knew nothing about this rookie quarterback.

I've just seen that replay a few times of doing exactly what I would have done.

I would have run around like a turkey with its head cut off, with the defense chasing me until I'm like, you know, 10, 15, almost 20 yards behind the line of scribbage.

Heaves something in desperation and right into the hands of an opposing player and Seattle runs it back for a pick six.

And again, that's something I would do.

Yeah,

Pat.

Or a rookie

quarterback as the Vikings were forced to use.

A rookie quarterback who I've never heard of, but apparently PJ Fleck did a great job developing him at Minnesota, so I'm really excited about him.

Oh no, he was a gopher?

Yeah, he was a gopher.

He was an undrafted free agent, and he became, got the history books yesterday, the Vikings did.

The Vikings are the first team since the 1950s to have a rookie quarterback, or a quarterback getting the first start.

throw a pick six on their first career start.

Oh, hey, congratulations.

Two of them in one year.

You got that going for you, which is nice.

All right, so we've got that to comfort us.

And meanwhile, as

for the Bears, I mean, we get a chance to knock them down next weekend when the Packers host the Bears.

Keep in mind, your little fridge magnet schedule is wrong.

It lists it as a noon game.

It has already been flexed to 325.

So Packers Bears is a 325 start, so the pregame will start at one o'clock Sunday on Civic Media stations in Watoma, Ironwood, Racine, Park Falls, Richland Center.

And then there's the Bucks, who I guess the losing streak got to seven games.

And Yanis is back, and the Bucks have broken out of their skid after beating Brooklyn on Saturday.

Yanis topped 21,000 points for his career so far.

Now that's, you know, he's the 42nd player ever to score that many points, but he's also the sixth youngest to get to 21,000 points.

The guy's just pretty good.

And they are in Washington to face the Wizards tonight Badger men's basketball.

They beat Providence in San Diego on Thursday, but then lost to TCU on Friday.

It looked like I wasn't there at the very beginning, but it kind of looked like they trailed wire to wire in that one, or at least reasonably close to it.

Yeah,

you know, they struggled on that one, I think.

they did.

Now they will host Northwestern on Wednesday night and you can catch that Badger Men's basketball game starting at 7.30 Wednesday on several civic media stations.

The Badger women's basketball team lost both of their games in Daytona Beach.

They fall to six and three on the season.

They host Michigan State on Sunday.

The Badger men's hockey team had the weekend off.

They will play at Notre Dame Friday and Saturday.

You can listen Friday starting at 5.30 on our stations in Wisconsin Rapids and Ironwood.

The top ranked

Badger women's hockey team won a tournament in Nashville over the weekend defeating Mercyhurst and Stonehill.

Next they traveled to Ohio State this Friday and Saturday.

And then finally the Badger women's volleyball team 10th ranked in the country.

They wrapped up the regular season with a sweep of 18th ranked Minnesota over the weekend.

So there were some Badgers that beat some gophers.

So they end the regular season 24 and four.

So the Badger women learned last night that they are a three seed.

in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament.

And that means that UW Madison will play host to first and second round matches in that field of 64.

So the Badger volleyball team will next play Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA tournament at home against Eastern Illinois.

So those are all the sports notes.

The only thing I don't have on there now that it's December is I should have jotted how many days until spring training.

And the first game of

the

Brewers 2026 season because

it's

winter now and we need that to look forward to.

I believe it's 160-ish.

Yeah, I can deal with that.

I can get through anything for 160 more days and then see baseball, especially if we can get the Packers to beat the Bears.

That's the kind of thing that would make me.

Definitely happier.

All right, let's take a look at what else we've got on the program today because like I said, there is a lot going on.

Craig Gilbert, longtime analyst, political analyst, writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel joins us at 735.

There's a new national Marquette poll that adds to danger signs for Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

We'll explain in our next segment here some of the reasons why that might be.

There's a lot of self-inflicted damage on the part of certain Republicans.

But also, we have at 835, we have Dennis McBride, the mayor of Wauwatosa, who has a new book out about his tumultuous first year as mayor in 2020.

I know we'd all like to forget 2020, but you can't.

And Dennis McBride will have a lot to say about that.

Selena Heller has a story about doctors in rural Wisconsin sounding the alarm.

We've got Jimmy Koska talking sports.

John and Gordy will be here.

Jane McNair and Dr. Kristen Lierly.

And we've got some other surprise guests coming along as well that we'll tell you about in a little while.

Oh, and Congressman Mark Polkan coming up on Thursday.

So you might want to subscribe to us.

Get over to Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show that way as well.

We'll talk about some of the national headlines coming up next from the Heart of America's Up North live from Lake Wissota.

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

Oh, wait, there's more.

Our next text-to-win contest begins less than an hour from now on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Coming up on 623 on this cold, cold Monday morning first day of December, a reminder, get that Civic Media app ready on your phone for a couple of reasons.

First off, as I said just before the break, our next text-to-win contest gets underway just after the 7 o'clock news.

You'll text in a keyword during the 7 a.m.

hour and then other hours that I'll tell you about here.

And you can be in the running for things off the Civic Media grown-up gift list.

But you can also use that app to call us, to text us, but also to record a voice note.

And then we may play that back on air, you know, in lieu of a phone call.

All the different ways you can use the Civic Media app.

Get that downloaded before seven o'clock and get set to take part in our next contest.

Brian Lemak from Defend the Vote will join us tomorrow.

It's a group that is working to inform Americans about the cost of corruption.

You see, we have an affordability crisis in this country, but this isn't just some kind of run-of-the-mill inflation.

It's the result of intentional decisions made by an administration with a business model that frankly includes a level of corruption.

And you're the one paying the price for it.

And we'll talk to Brian Limick from Defend the Vote about that tomorrow.

So we do have a rather well-rounded show today with a lot of fun stuff, but we do have to

nod toward the news that's happening in the world and it ain't great.

And so we'll take care of that here and then dispense with it.

It's been a nice holiday weekend.

So the folks who haven't been following the news very closely aren't going to like coming back to reality so harshly.

But the cold hard truth is that the president of the United States spent the weekend being a racist piece of garbage.

He was also winking at a likely war crime and lying about the conditions that led to the shooting of a National Guard member in DC last week.

Two shot, one died.

But Donald Trump's unhinged social media rant on what should have been a day of giving thanks was embarrassing, even by his standards.

It's like he knew that this was a day that often gets joked about for having to endure

the dinner table ramps from your oddball racist uncle and decided to give all those uncles a roadmap.

He pledged to halt immigration from basically anything other than white-led nations.

He even dropped in the word retarded to criticize a sitting governor.

Nobody uses that word in society anymore, except the jerks.

In the past, that would have been considered a joke, a sick and unfunny joke.

But Donald Trump did something by coming to power that's going to leave America a broken place for many years to come.

Here's what he did.

He lifted the rock.

You know, the rock that most of the racists, sexists, fascists, even Nazis had the good sense to crawl under.

Because they knew that speaking up would lead to well-deserved ridicule.

Not merely for values that live best in a gutter, but

ridicule because much of what they say just isn't true.

I mean, how many of us have had to correct somebody, usually politely, who is passing along some kind of a right wing talking point without checking to see if it was actually based in reality.

But now they say these things that they don't even care.

Mega World wants you to believe that the Afghani who shot two National Guard members in DC killing one was somehow vetted during the Biden administration.

No, it happened on Trump's watch.

They want you to believe a lot of stuff about the U.S.

withdrawal from Afghanistan that was in fact done during Donald Trump's first term.

But they know that if they say it enough, enough people will foolishly go along with it.

Kind of like right now claiming that they have the right to blow up boats in foreign waters and that it is somehow justified when it's not.

We're not at war and you can't just say we're at war and you can't just declare fishermen or even drug runners as enemy combatants.

But there's something worse than simply blowing up a boat because now you've removed the threat, right?

I mean, the boat, if it was bringing drugs to this country, is no longer a threat, right?

So what's worse than that?

What's worse is going back and killing the human beings bobbing around in the water.

Look, you could just leave them be to drown, you know, if you want to be just your basic monster.

But going back to kill them while helpless in the ocean?

Well, kids, that's a war crime.

That's the kind of thing we prosecuted other nations about when our Sailors and semen and airmen who had had to parachute out of their planes and were in a helpless state in the water or in some other form We have these rules because we're better than that And it's not tough.

It's not justice to claim.

Otherwise, there's there's nothing macho about it There's nothing justifiable about it.

It is a crime

And you say you're going after drug runners, but hey, there's an even bigger crime on the grand scale of things.

It's the apparently upcoming presidential pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras.

Trump calls him a victim of persecution.

No, no.

He helped manage a decades long drug trafficking network over 20 years.

He helped facilitate gangs that brought in more than 500

tons of cocaine into our country.

He was eventually put on trial in the U.S.

and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Now less than a year later, Trump says, Hernandez is the real victim.

And if they can jail him, well, they could do that to any president.

Yeah, no kidding.

I mean, I'm starting to think that the alleged drug boats that Trump is bombing only committed one crime and that was not letting Trump wet his beak and get a taste of that particular drug money.

And we don't even have time to get into another pardon.

That of David Gentile, a money launderer, whose $1.6 billion scheme defrauded thousands of investors.

He had a fair trial.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

He reported to prison on November 14th and Trump pardoned him last Wednesday and set him free.

after 12 days behind bars.

Coming up next, we will lighten things up considerably.

With today's history lesson, the cowbell is back.

We'll explain why, along with Dr. Kristen Lierly and some other surprises right after the Midwest Farm Report.

I'm Pat Crite.

Well, you're up north.

It's time once again for today's history lesson on mornings with Pat Cranklow.

To all who've come to this happy place, welcome.

Ladies and

gentlemen, the Beatles!

That's one small step for man.

Well, I'm not a crook.

You believe in miracles yet?

You know, this depression is gonna be so great.

We'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs.

That's gonna be fun.

Once again, it is time to take another revealing peek back into history.

From this day in 1968, we're actually a few days late on this one.

The Beatles recorded birthday for their white album, which was released on November 22, 1968.

That's not why we're playing it.

Kristen Lyrely is here and tomorrow is her birthday.

Dr. Lyrely, good

morning.

And

you know whose birthday is today?

Not to jump ahead in your news cycle, Pat, but it is Mandela Barnes' birthday.

Maybe we'll get an announcement from him this week.

That it's his birthday.

Oh, yeah, it could be.

You never

know.

See how I did that?

I pulled the news into your entertainment.

Yeah.

You're welcome.

Yeah.

She's a pro.

Happy birthday.

How are you?

Good I was watching the Beatles anthology last night.

They're replaying it on Disney Plus and I Mean every little detail like yes.

Yes.

Yes, and I'm thinking my kids are like what's going on out here

Look at you so what do you what are you doing anything special tomorrow?

I know birthdays on a Tuesday are a little weird, but you know Or did you do stuff over the weekend?

I mean you kind of got like the instead of the

the Christmas birthday.

You've got more like the Thanksgiving weekend birthday, you know,

since it's December

2nd.

I like it.

So tomorrow I'm actually just tucking it in.

I'm probably just going to call some friends and the boys are going to make dinner for me.

We're going to have some...

Okay.

Nice.

All right.

I think it's going to be nice and quiet.

Good for you.

All right.

So

anyway,

happy

birthday.

A little early, of course.

That'll be tomorrow.

You can all call in Pester her later.

Heck, you can all call

today if you want

and give her happy birthday greetings as well.

Let's get back to the history lesson in the meantime.

This is the anniversary of the birth of the late great Lou

Rawls.

We're

all passed away in 2006, born this day in 1933.

The late comedian Richard Pryor was born this day in 1940.

Actress, comedian Sarah Silverman is 55 years old today.

Sarah

Silverman and Richard Pryor have the same birthday.

Uh-huh, doesn't that check

out?

Yeah,

that's a funny set of bookends there.

I know, born 30 years apart here.

Janelle Monae is 40 years old today.

And let's see, turning 81 years old today is Eric Bloom, lead singer of Blue Ister Cult, connected forever with this tune.

I wonder you were thinking about cowbells.

Exactly, see?

So we got the Blue Wester Colts Eric Bloom 81 years old today.

Do

you have a cowbell?

I do, I do.

It's in the garage, well hidden away from like grandkids who might come visit and want to like clang that thing at the wrong time.

So, yeah.

But yes,

I do.

You need to take it out in time for Christmas.

I mean the grandkids need a little cowbell, don't you think?

I think so.

We all need more cowbell.

We all could use a little more cowbell.

Let's see, Beth Midler, she is 80 years old today.

Wow.

This is the 79th birthday for singer Gilbert O'Sullivan and his sappy little tune from the 70s alone again naturally.

On this day in 1988, Newlyweds Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet welcomed a baby daughter.

Zoe Kravitz is 37 years old today.

Let's see, we haven't done anything from the way back charts.

Let's go back to 1958.

The number one song in the nation was by the Teddy Bears.

Isn't this Phil Spector's song?

It could be.

I feel like there's a Phil Spector tie in here.

I would

not be surprised in the least, yeah.

On this day in 1878, the first telephone was installed in the White House for President Rutherford B. Hayes, which raises the question, how many people remember that we had a President Rutherford B. Hayes?

Yeah, there's just some that you can go.

We should do that for a quiz.

President, not a president.

Put in people like Millard Fillmore and others.

Rutherford B. Hayes, did he have the great lamb chops?

Not as much as Chester Arthur, who I guess there's a movie coming out with Nick Offerman playing him.

I saw a picture of him yesterday with the mutton chops.

Yeah.

They figure, hey, if we could do Alexander Hamilton, we can do anybody, right?

at this

point.

Why not?

Yeah.

All we know about these people really is a picture.

Yes.

On this day in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man.

She was arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws.

And that led to the city's bus boycott, which helped advance the civil rights movement.

The late Billy Paul Singer was born this day in 1934.

I

mean say what you will about the song lyrics and the premise behind it, but that voice holy cow kids on this day in 1973

The Carpenters were on top of the singles chart with On Top of the

World.

Were you a big Carpenters fan?

Huge.

Huge.

Shocking.

No, it's not.

Not even a little bit, is it?

No.

From Roger here.

Yes, Kristen.

Phil Spector was a member of the teddy bears and composed to know him is to love him.

Thank you, Roger.

There we go.

Any Roger would

know.

The problem with my not constantly looking at the comment section is I again lose context.

So for Tony, who says, I remember because he's from my hometown, Fremont, Ohio, just like Charles Woodson.

I don't remember who he wrote this about.

So we've talked about many people.

One of them

is from his

hometown

of Fremont,

Ohio.

We're

going to need a little follow up on that, Tony.

Yep.

Yep.

We are.

What did you end up doing cooking wise then?

Did you do the turkey dinner at the kitchen?

I have, I do not like to cook but I will cook on Thanksgiving and I have a classic like combo of recipes that go together that the kids love and will eat and it includes Brussels sprouts.

It includes Brussels sprouts.

Tony says it was Rutherford B. Hayes.

He was talking about, which makes sense.

He was, yes, from Ohio.

Tony had told us earlier that he made the best New York strip steak of his life on Thanksgiving.

And when I said, how do you do it?

How'd you do it?

just sent in, never frozen, just in a skillet on the stove, covering it with butter and a few spices.

I usually overcook it.

This time I trusted the thermometer and I

did it just

right.

It's so hard to trust the thermometer.

Oh, no.

It's

flaky.

No, I've got a good thermometer.

It has not failed me yet.

Oh, what a difference.

I spend my time every time I make a

beautiful steak.

It's like, where was I for the first 30 years when I could have been using this thing?

You know, like, oh, nobody else ever used it.

So I just, you know,

I just

trust my gut, right?

Maybe I need a new thermometer because mine was all over the place.

It was perfect, perfect, perfect.

And then it was 100 degrees hotter.

And then we rechecked it and replaced it and it was fine.

And then it was 100 degrees hotter.

It was making me nervous.

This is the turkey.

I didn't want to poison my family.

And

we put the stuffing in the bird.

So like that's a lot at risk here.

That was very old school.

Hey, speaking of old school, have I got an old school guest on the line to talk to you?

Mystery guest, is there anything you'd like to say here today?

Yeah, I'd like to wish Dr. Lierly a happy birthday for tomorrow.

Pat McBride.

Welcome.

Hi, Dr. McBride.

How are you?

Oh, best birthday present ever.

Yeah, the esteemed Dr. Liarley, who shares a birthday with Aaron Rodgers, Britney Spears, Lucy Liu.

No, she's the best, Dr. Liarley.

Happy birthday tomorrow.

Thank you, my dear friend.

Oh, how much do we love Pat McBride?

Oh, no, no, the opposite.

How

much do we

love Dr. Leierly?

It is a well-deserved mutual admiration society.

We've talked about Dr. McBride.

It's been a while now since he wrote the book, The Luckiest Bowl in the World.

about his time working with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Milwaukee Brewers, and then eventually moving into a very esteemed career in public health.

And you, I believe you were a guest on Dr. Lirely's show not that long ago.

I know Dennis McBride, your brother, was also a guest, but how was she as an interviewer, not just as a person and a doctor?

Well, my twin brother said she could have a long career in media, but we're looking for her to eventually replace Tammy Baldwin.

There

we

go.

Any birthday announcements you want to make there, Kristen?

Well, we'll see where the road leads, because as you know, as I was taught...

by the Dean of Students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the gentleman that we're talking with right now.

It is not about a position.

It's about making a difference.

So wherever I belong, wherever I can fit in to serve, that's my plan.

So we'll see where the road takes me.

Well, that is wonderful.

And so Dr. McBride, I mean, Kristen's obviously made a name for herself these days, but you knew her.

way back when, did you see any potential then or are you as shocked as others at where this girl from Kakana has gone?

Well, you know, what was amazing was she didn't have one, but two children during medical school and didn't miss, you know, I said, you got to take some time off.

No, she wouldn't do that.

She just kept going and she did fantastic.

She's one of my top 10 all time students in medical school and look what she's done.

Look at that see and I know the man my wife as well had had two kids while in med school There there must be something about you know adding parenthood to all the other million things that you're juggling there Kristen So good on you.

Well, she's she's adored by her patients esteemed by her colleagues and she juggles.

She's a fantastic mother who's raised these fantastic young men and She's just doing great work and everything she does and look at everything she does

Oh my goodness, and then even it's funny you say esteemed.

Tony and Ashlyn just put up on YouTube her most esteemed title, YouTuber.

She's moving into the influencer realm of things as well.

Unbelievable.

You know it's so much fun, Pat.

We're going to be in the, yeah, let me just go ahead and announce this right now since we've got a minute.

We are about to be live on the air in Chicago starting this weekend.

That's right.

So my show is growing.

It's, yes, it's growing in the number of people who are pitching in to help out.

It's growing in our broadcast capabilities.

It's growing in our streaming capabilities.

So we're getting the word out just in time to start ramping up for the midterms in November and making sure that we're getting a good entertaining message out to people.

So it's really a wonderful opportunity and I'm thrilled.

Congratulations.

Without you, Pat McBride.

Dr.

McBride, thank you so much for being our mystery surprise birthday guest here.

You bet.

Happy birthday tomorrow.

You share a birthday with my wife as well.

So congratulations tomorrow and enjoy your day.

Oh, thank you so much.

Happy birthday to

her.

Oh, that's great.

Dr. Pat McBride, joining us and, you know,

If we can maybe get one or two other greetings in, we'll certainly try.

Kristen's going to be around here for a little bit.

But again, a reminder, you can hear the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show weekends here across the Civic Media Radio Network.

And yeah, coming soon to the Chicago market as well.

Such a special birthday.

Such a good birthday.

Anyway, we'll continue things here.

And then after 7 o'clock, Up North News reporter Selena Heller will be here as well.

I'm Pat Krightlow.

You're Up North.

Welcome back at six fifty two up north news reporter Selena Heller is here and whiskers who's taking up most of the camera space.

And birthday girl Dr. Kristen Lierly.

We asked earlier how you treat Cyber Monday or how you treat your shopping.

Text from Jim and Brookfield.

Good morning Pat.

I need to get an early start on shopping since my wife's birthday falls on Christmas Day.

Growing up she often felt like her birthday was overlooked so to avoid blending a gift into the Christmas birthday category.

I will have two sets of gifts, one wrapped with Christmas wrapping paper and one with birthday, which is hard to find at Christmas, so I stock up early.

Jim from Brookfield's got this figured out.

He has so got this figured out that he's actually joined us on the phone as well.

Jim, good morning.

Hello.

Good morning, Pat, Kristen, Parker.

It's good to hear, everybody.

I want to wish Kristen and Dr. Lively an early happy birthday.

I do want to point out, however, that she did, I believe Friday, predict that the golfers were going to lose the axe to the Badgers.

And I was a

little surprised that that's her alma mater.

However, my two golfer daughters, one's graduated, one's a sophomore, they will forgive her.

And they listened to her show over the weekend.

Oh, no, not that show.

Of all the shows to have them listen to.

I

mean,

maybe you could have picked one with a quality guest that was on this past weekend, you know.

Oh, it was such a good show because we hit all the important points.

How media survives in small towns.

What is the future of media?

Why is Wisconsin politics relevant?

I mean, Pat, it was, that show was packed full of really good stuff.

I really enjoyed doing it with you

too.

We did.

That was a lot of fun.

So I'm, Jim, I'm glad the daughter's got a chance to hear it.

Thank you again.

We got to visit not long ago, including the gift of homemade fudge.

That was, did you say it was your grandmother's recipe, Jim?

my mother's yeah your mother's recipe

okay right who my wife is carrying the tradition on and and I'm glad I was able to to share that with you Pat

yeah and uh you you look good you're moving along you you and Kristen comparing notes on your respective knee replacements are you carrying along so

far

Yes, it's going along very well.

It had quite the workout over the weekend with the snowstorm.

Not one, but three episodes of shoveling.

My wife was not helping.

It was a team effort, but three hour plus sessions of shoveling.

I was very careful not to twist on it, but the need passed the snow shoveling test and it's going along well.

Excellent.

Oh, that's

good

to hear.

Every day, it's a new test, isn't it?

That's right.

Exactly.

And Jim, good job on the two kinds of wrapping paper for your wife's Christmas birthday.

That's a

good idea.

Thank you.

I did learn the hard way.

It's hard to find that a birthday wrapping paper is not the easiest around Christmas, so I stocked up early and have it in reserve.

That is very

true.

It means a lot that the gifts are separated because it makes her feel that.

she does you know that the birthday is a separate occasion you know that everything's not blended together and rolled into one so it means a lot to her.

I did see a cartoon that I snipped you know did a screenshot of because I've got a friend with a Christmas time birthday and it's the three wise men at the manger and one of them is saying now just to be clear these gifts are for Christmas and your birthday.

The

original gift dilemma there.

Jim, it's great to hear from you.

Thank you so much.

Have a great sir to your day.

Thanks for coming in.

You're welcome, everybody.

Thank you.

All right.

There you go.

So, you know, again, just a few birthday folks wanting to say hi.

My dad's birthday was on Christmas Eve, so that was kind of a bad deal.

Yeah.

We

made him a fruit cake, though.

The weirdest thing, he liked fruit cake, so that was his birthday cake.

Oh, I was making fruitcake.

Oh, well, it's great.

Alicia writes it on YouTube.

It was a good show.

I listened to it on my way down to Milwaukee yesterday while taking my son back to school.

So all right, Kristen, I guess I got I got one good mark there.

So that's good.

And one for me.

So I got it from Alicia.

So that counts.

And Selena, how was your Thanksgiving weekend?

Um, good.

We had it on Saturday when it snowed.

So it was pretty good.

So it was kind of the white knuckle driving.

And then

that little Thanksgiving, I always work the turkey trot.

So.

Oh, that's right.

Turkey trot time too.

I

played music.

Emery's elementary school song is called like gobble gobble.

And it was like.

Oh my my, get your turkey in your belly.

No, keep going.

You're doing great.

Well,

I'm not listening here, but the song was funny and everybody, it was a hit.

So I saw all the turkey draughters.

All right.

Well, good.

Yeah, we did.

Well, Sherry actually was supposed to be on call just for Thursday, but her replacement couldn't get there in time.

And so she ended up being on call for 48 hours, so Thursday and Friday of it all.

So we completely missed out on the Thanksgiving experience, but then Saturday, Sunday, we were just.

Christmas prep beasts, you know, I put up the tree and got that all decorated and went through, went through, it feels like a million Christmas ornaments.

We just finally, cause I'll get thrown in boxes all the time, kind of unorganized.

And finally this year, since it was just the two of us, I had nothing but time, I just, I spread them all out.

The whole living room was covered in Christmas ornaments and we're like, okay, these are ornaments we haven't put up in like 20 years, if ever.

And actually a lot of them, either she or I would say,

I have never seen that ornament before.

Were they, were they like gift exchange, were they white elephant gifts, whatever?

And we're just like, I've never seen that one.

And I'd be like, Oh, no, we've had that on a tree a few times.

Nope.

I've never seen it.

So there, there were many that are being donated or being donated to waste management.

One at one or the other, but it was a very busy Christmas prep weekend, probably one of our earliest Christmas prep weekends.

During the snowfall, we went to several stores around Eau Claire and got all of that done.

And so, yeah, so now we've got Cyber Monday.

Either any of you doing any some shopping online today?

Maybe a

little bit.

Okay.

Getting a few things, I think quickly and see if they're any more of a deal than any other day, I guess, but

Well, that's just it.

I mean, that's why I feel like Cyber Monday isn't what it used to be because, you know, now we shop online all the time.

I mean, I certainly did over the weekend as well.

And I'm happy to report the Christmas cards are already out.

They're out.

They're not.

Amazing when you got nothing but time on a holiday weekend because somebody's working.

So it's all set and done.

Selena is going to be back after the news and we're going to talk much more about rural medicine and what doctors have to say about just how dire circumstances are becoming across rural Wisconsin.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

You're up north.

Across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Krightlow, powered by Up North News.

Now, from our Lake Wissota studio, here's the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Krightlow.

Hey, good morning.

It is 7 0 6.

Nice to have you back here up north on a Monday morning.

It's December 1st, and it is a cold one out there after all the snow from the weekend.

Park Girls are producing things down in Madison Studio A2, and we're joined by Selena Heller, Up North News reporter out in the Chippewa Valley, and birthday girl Dr. Kristen Lyrely, the birthday is tomorrow.

We're doing it today.

So today's the

party.

Let's celebrate all week.

Yes.

Okay.

Why not?

Why not in Stravaganza?

You know,

it's,

we've got a December birthday just like Jim was saying.

Just celebrate it because you're probably getting robbed at some point.

Everybody's thinking about the holidays, so just like...

Celebrate it live.

Celebrate it hard.

Like you're just like, yep, own it.

We're going to have all of it.

So anyway, so we've got it's all

about me.

Never mind the Christmas.

No, we've had a couple of nice folks already talking about Kristen's birthday.

We'll be joined at 7 35 by Craig Gilbert, a longtime writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the latest market poll showings and what they might mean for the 2026 midterms.

And at 8 30.

will be joined by Dennis Bride.

Dennis is the mayor of Wauwatosa and he has a book out about his first year in office back in 2020.

It was a little crazy back then and we'll have this five-year look back when it was his first year as mayor and of course along the way you can join us at 855-75 Civic 855-752-4842 and then of course

We've got something else new to talk about.

It is our grown-up gift list text-to-win contest.

Oh, there it is.

Little sleigh bells to remind us.

We figured out a way for me not to forget this.

You know, Parker's baby sitting me that way.

So when you hear that sound, it means we're going to give you the key word that you are going to be sending us through the Civic Media app.

Text us a keyword that I'm about to give to you, and you will be part of this multi-station, multi-state contest.

There will be daily prizes of $200 cash.

There will also be three different grand prizes.

Winners will choose from a brand new snowblower, a portable air conditioner, a stainless steel cookware set, and to get in on all of this, you just enter by, again, texting us a keyword.

Until eight o'clock.

It's only during the seven o'clock hour and then I'll tell you all the other hours But I better tell you the word right now.

It's chill chill CHIL it is definitely a chill morning Okay, it's actually a cold morning, but it's chill texted to us by eight o'clock

We'll do this again in the 9 a.m.

Hour basically the odd numbered hours 7 a.m.

9 a.m 11 a.m 1 p.m 3 5 and 7 p.m Full rules at the civic media website again this hour's word is chill Text that to us before 8 o'clock use that civic media app.

All right, let's get back to the important parts right now It's Christian's birthday.

Here's our next guest to say hello Dennis McBride the mayor of Wauwatosa.

Hello

Dennis.

How are you?

I'm great.

How are you doing?

Happy birthday, Kristen.

Thank you, Dennis.

It's so good to see you.

We've become members of each other's family, I guess, through all this.

Do you know you share your birthday with Pat's wife?

Yes.

Pat just called.

Okay.

All right.

Tomorrow's a big day.

It's almost as big as Christmas.

It is.

I think so.

One

shopping day left.

That's

right.

Yeah.

I didn't get you anything yet and I've got all these catalogs.

Maybe I'll get a cringlesenture way before too long.

Dennis, we're looking forward to talking to you at 835

about your new book.

Yes, thank you very much.

I just wanted to say hi to Kristen and she does a delightful job with her podcast, as you know.

She sure does.

We'll thank you, Dennis.

I'll talk to you later.

All right.

We'll talk to you a little bit later.

Thank you, Dennis.

All right.

How nice was that?

And think about it.

You share your birthday with so many other people.

We haven't mentioned Aaron Rodgers is one of them, right?

Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Jones.

And Aaron Jones.

And this guy, I believe we have somebody else you share a birthday with.

Caller, are you there?

Yeah, Pat.

That

would be Chad Holmes.

Chad Holmes from 98.9 WXCO.

Chad, whose birthday is also tomorrow.

Good morning.

Oh my gosh.

Well, you know, it's like, how do I compete with Dr. Kristen Lierly for civic media people on Airways' birthdays?

I mean, it's, you know, it's hard enough getting older.

And now I have to, oh, but no, I just,

wanted to join in and say very, very happy.

And you're right, December 2nd, every year, you share a birthday with Aaron Rodgers.

For a while that was, that was actually okay.

But it hasn't.

Yeah.

And I can relate it.

It is always cold there in her shadow, but you know, it's,

but no, she does a wonderful job.

And I tell you, I mean, if anybody can get packed quite low as a guest on their show, I mean, that

is, oh yeah.

Yeah.

That and 50 cents might get you a cup of coffee.

Jeez.

Chad, happy early birthday to you as well.

And talk to you later in the week.

Happy birthday,

Chad!

Happy birthday, Dr. Liarly.

Oh, that's great.

Um, gee, she knows who else would have been here in birthdays past, but is joining us on the phone.

I believe Greg Bach is hanging around as well, too.

Greg, you on the line?

Uh-huh.

I am on the line.

Good morning, everybody, and happy early birthday to Dr. Kristen Liarly.

Oh, thank you, Greg.

How are you, my friend?

I always love hanging

out with you

in the morning.

Me too.

I'm doing well.

It is quite chilly down here in Kenosha, and I'm feeling a lot of love and sympathy for those who are right now shoveling their driveways.

Oh,

yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

How did your new snowblower do?

Game day, peak performance.

That's great.

Nice.

You're so happy to get that last year, so good.

It's properly maintained and ready to go.

That's awesome.

I

used it three times this weekend, so yeah.

Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh.

Stay ahead of it.

Wow.

That's right.

All right.

Well, thank you, Greg, for popping in and being part of the birthday party today.

No problem.

I'm just, I'm just here to say happy birthday and that the best and the best babies are born in December.

I'm just putting it out there.

Yep.

What's

up?

Yes.

Confirmed.

There is that.

All right.

Thank you, Greg.

Talk to you later.

No problem.

All right.

Look at them.

People staying busy on the phones are also texting in that keyword chill for a grownup gift list contest.

Love

it.

Yeah.

By the way, it's not a birthday competition like Chad.

Let's just have a big party together.

Right?

Exactly.

We

can do this.

And Aaron Rodgers, let's hold up on that invitation for a little bit longer.

I have a feeling that he's going to come around.

I have a feeling like a fine wine, you know, something it's going to get better at given time.

Look at how skeptical Parker looks about this.

I have a feeling as a player, love them mostly.

Well, okay.

Maybe, maybe there's some kind of a, what is it?

What was that stuff called?

Hayawasca or something?

Hayawasca.

Oh my God.

Maybe that's the theme of our next birthday party.

Did you just

really blend Hayawatha and Hayawasca together?

I don't know.

Oh, Grandpa Pat.

Are you saying

Parker?

Yesterday, Rogers, he got his nose bloodied a little and he was really cold and he had his jacket on and it looked like he got beat up by his Hayawasca dealer.

Anyway, all right, so we've got all of that.

Kristen, I did want to ask you one kind of semi-serious news slash medical question while we've got you here.

So you're not just a birthday girl.

You're not just a sports analyst.

You're also a doctor.

And I want you to interpret, and the audio is a little tough because this was President Donald Trump on Air Force One, but you know,

he got an MRI and again any other president we'd have heard about everything about this and he got asked about it uh let's give a listen to what he said to a reporter or to reporters not to mention not the least of which is his tone with these reporters let's play

it

It's like my phone call.

I got a pitch.

It's absolutely perfect.

So if you want to hear about it or if you want to release it, you want to have it released.

News Nation is the word housing, by the way.

But if you want to have it released, I'll release it.

Yeah,

goodbye.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

If you couldn't hear some of it, he was basically he didn't know what part of the body got the MRI.

It wasn't his brain because his brain was perfect.

He passed a cognitive test based on

Aced it and threw in a few insults along the way about failing news station and said, well, if they want to release it, they can release it.

They're not going to release it, Kristen.

I'll just speak as a doctor.

Anybody who's ever gotten an MRI knows you have to fit into that tube.

It is a big deal.

It is very stressful for many people.

If you're getting an MRI, you know why you're getting an MRI.

And if you know that the results are perfect, you know what the results are then, I guess.

So I think it's very concerning that not only does he not know why he was getting an MRI, but he doesn't actually know what the results are.

And, you know, as you said, Pat, this is the president of the United States.

This is the leader of the free world.

Any other president before this, there would be so many questions.

There would be so much concern about what happens if.

But with Trump, it's just dismissed.

And people talk about, you know, the news nation quips.

or this time he didn't call somebody a piggy.

Everything is a distractor from what the real story is, which is his health and his mental health.

from a distance certainly do appear to be declining and we should all be extraordinarily concerned about this.

Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Learley with us as is Selina Heller up North News reporter and we've got just a quick amount of time to play a little audio here.

Selina from one doctor who wanted to be unnamed for this segment but was asked about the status of rural medicine.

What can you tell us real quick?

Uh, grassroots organizing Western Wisconsin or the organization called grow held an event and this doctor from Dunn County talked about Medicaid and the importance.

All right.

Great example.

A guy who was a farmer kicked by a cow.

It's just came to me right now.

Um, kicked by a cow.

Uh, literally that's what my schedule said reason for visit kicked by a cow.

So I just can't wait for that.

Um, horrible infection on his leg that he had actually.

kept under wraps for two weeks, and it was now a necrotizing deep tissue infection needed surgery like right now.

I gotta go milk my calves, and it's too expensive.

So what do we do?

We set him up with outpatient IV antibiotic infusions for six weeks, and he kept his leg, and that's kind of the push and pull we try to do out here in rural areas where I don't have a surgeon right now.

But it was in the end, you know, the fear of losing what

kind of relatively small and declining income he had from farming.

And the hospital bill is that he couldn't predict, you know, thousands, maybe an ICU stay, which is three to $5,000 a day.