GOP Healthcare Conundrum (Hour 2)

Across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by UpMorth News.

Now, for my Lake Wissota studio, here is the founding editor of UpMorth News, Pat Craiglow.

Well, hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It's 6.06.

It's a Monday morning.

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 by podcast or through the app.

I appreciate you getting the work week started right here.

The last work week before the real holiday season begins.

I got a question for you.

How are your plans coming along for 2026?

We are making some plans over here at Up North News and I'm going to be telling you all about them in about 15 minutes time.

So stick around for that.

But our question of the day deals more with before we get to 2026, the holiday season.

What's your best suggestion for a last-minute holiday gift?

Now, I know we're not in last-minute territory yet, but some folks are gonna find themselves there real soon, and I'd love to hear your ideas when you realize, oh, you gotta get a gift or something.

There's more choices than ever, of course, with gift cards and things that you can get online, but are there any...

tangible things that you think make really nice gifts if you've got to grab something at the last minute.

I for one do come down very much on the side of the the gas cards if you're giving to somebody and say the 16 to 26 age range I've never met a an older teen or a young adult that doesn't appreciate getting a little gas money in that way So we'd love to hear your suggestions 8 5 5 7 5 civic 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Coming up on the program two really good guests

In our seven o'clock hour, about 7.35, we will visit with former Republican Congressman Reed Ribble.

Now, we have said a lot on this program about Republicans not having a true alternative to the Affordable Care Act.

And that's really not too much to ask.

If somebody puts forward a good idea for something and you don't like the idea, well, then...

What's your idea?

And Reed Ribble's contention is that Republicans don't have to just have nothing.

So we'll talk to Reed Ribble, what he makes of the current health care debate and how you make it a more bipartisan thing because health care reform should be a bipartisan thing.

And then at 835, we will talk to John Hankus, the CEO of Wisconsin Eye.

If you go to watch Wisconsinite right now, either online or on your cable system, you won't see any programming.

They've gone dark.

There's simply a slide there that says that due to fundraising challenges, they no longer have the funds to operate.

And that loses the only unfiltered, unvarnished coverage of your state government, the legislature, the committees, the news conferences, other events, all of that is now gone.

after a number of years, well over a decade now.

And why should it be that way?

Why should we be reliant on the charity of others to have open government?

For taxpayers to see what it is their elected officials are up to so we'll talk to John Hankus about that coming up as well It is a cold one across Wisconsin, but a lot better than it was 24 hours ago the low spots right now.

There's a lot of places reporting seven degrees from Wausau down to Oshkosh and ago plenty of other places in southeast Wisconsin Wisconsin rapids is at nine degrees Meanwhile, the warm spot in the state is in Menominee

It's at 18 right now.

Hayward is at 10, and it is 12 degrees here in Chippewa Falls.

A reminder, of course, that Up North News is a separate entity from Civic Media, and as such, while Civic Media has some great newsletters, so do we at Up North News and Courier Newsroom.

And reminder, you can stay up to date with what we do at Up North News at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

Click subscribe at the banner on top of the homepage included in today's newsletter.

is the Badger State Buzz.

That's the events calendar that Ellie Bordeaux puts together.

Parker Olson is producing this shindig down in Madison Studio A2.

How was your weekend?

It was fine, Pat.

Yeah, well, we'll get to the Packers Broncos, which ruined everybody's weekend in just a bit.

Besides that,

great.

Yeah.

But on the Badger State Buzz events calendar...

I've never heard this one before.

This is a new one on me.

In Delavan this week, you can attend a Buddy Holly Jolly Christmas.

See what they did there.

It's like Wheel of Fortune before and after.

Buddy Holly Jolly Christmas.

Wow.

There you go.

Well done.

Zachary Stevenson performs a rock and roll song featuring Christmas classics at the Belfry Music Theater in Delavan this week.

Again, one of several items on our

Badger State Buzz events calendar.

All right, we've avoided it long enough.

Packers Broncos, we didn't just lose a game.

I mean, I wish we could, but I feel like if we're gonna say RIP to the rest of the season, and it certainly does feel that way.

Wait, I found an alternative talking about it for about eight seconds here Navy beats army and the army Navy football game according to Alicia here on YouTube Yeah, it was a one-point victory.

I believe so

it was it was a very I only got to see I think the last Ten minutes or so of the game.

It was very very fun.

I absolutely love army Navy.

I thought that I Thought the pack of Bronco game was gonna be fun like that.

I mean there

were six It was

going it was going

back and

forth

And then it wasn't.

There was Christian Watson going down with what we all thought at first was a shoulder or collarbone injury, but it was a chest injury.

And then Micah Parsons with a torn ACL, most likely.

A non-contact thing.

One minute he's rushing the quarterback and the next he's down.

And you could just hear.

You could hear all of Wisconsin.

You could play that little clip of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, like, I have felt a disturbance in the force, like a million voices crying out in pain.

That was Wisconsin yesterday.

Along with Josh Wiley, tight end, lost to a concussion.

Zach Tom got hurt as well.

And the team just deflated after that.

And Denver went on to seal the deal, winning 34 to 26.

But even before that, again, there was a lot of good back and forth.

But there were also a lot of penalties.

There were a lot of missed receptions, missed potential interceptions, a lot of penalties.

Josh Jacobs got stuffed quite a bit, trying to run up the middle.

On the one hand, the Packers scored on all five of their first five possessions, but on the other hand, four trips to the red zone and only one touchdown out of all that.

So, yeah, it had what was looking like maybe a heavyweight fight and then it didn't.

Yeah.

I mean, we kind of knew this going in.

We talked about that on Nick the call this weekend, that we knew it was going to be in the trenches a lot.

Denver offensive line, very good.

Denver defensive line, even better probably.

The fact that the Packers held them off from getting to Jordan Love and getting a sack until, I think, decently late in the third quarter was pretty impressive.

But yeah, just a lot of problems for the Packers, unfortunately.

I will say, Pat, you remember, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago, we were like, I don't remember the last time I felt really good about a Packer win.

Yes, I felt.

Pretty good about Packer games since then, weirdly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because they've just been competitive through and through.

I think at large, I feel the same way about this game yesterday is just all of the stuff around it that I don't feel any joy over.

No, I mean, to see both Watson and Parsons going out like that, you just thought, okay, you know, and.

And it was just brutal.

It was truly limping out of there.

Yes.

And I'm not saying all is lost.

Heck, even the game wasn't all lost.

We were down by eight, which meant, you know, there was still a chance to tie it up.

Yeah.

And but we just could could not regain any momentum.

It just felt like the team had been deflated

at

that point.

And that's unfortunate.

So there's better news then after that game.

I flipped over to ESPN.

Me too.

and watch the Badger volleyball team.

And they punched their ticket to the final four with a win over the number one seed in that regional final.

Texas did it in four sets.

And so as a result, it will be the Badgers heading to what Kansas City, I believe it is.

It is four for the for the final four.

They will take on number one rated Kentucky in the NCAA national semifinals.

On Thursday, I had not watched much Badger volleyball this season and kind of kicked myself as I'm watching this.

I'm going, why was I missing this?

They are so good.

They're just they're so good.

They're so fast.

Yeah.

Kelly, you

never want to play Bar League volleyball again because you see them and you go, oh, what am I doing here?

You

know?

No, I mean, Kelly Sheffield, man, that the badgers are so spoiled and women's sports for coaches.

Yeah,

but yeah, women's hockey number one ranked in the nation.

Now you've got the women's volleyball team once again going to the final four, you know, doing well in the NCAA tournament.

Though I did have to laugh at the team photo that they took afterwards.

Do you see Kelly Sheffield?

Barely.

Barely.

He was behind one of the players in the back row.

So all you see is the top of his very bald head.

I mean, just the very top.

And you wouldn't you wouldn't know it unless somebody pointed it out.

So no, maybe from a staffing standpoint or a photography standpoint, there should have been a little bit more teamwork on that front, perhaps.

But regardless, you know what?

A win is a win.

And

we will take it.

And

Carter Booth, if you haven't heard, refuses to lose.

Well, OK.

Did you did you not see that interview after the game?

I did not.

Oh, oh, we can't play it on air.

I can tell you that.

Oh, no.

Oh, oh, I'll bet the ESPN folks were a little cutoff guard by that.

Yep.

Probably a little bit.

Okay.

All right.

Well, that, so there was some good news, which is kind of the sandwich with some bad news because as you might have heard from Mike Clemens just now, the Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Brooklyn Nets, didn't just lose, they lost by 45.

Yeah.

127 to 82.

The Brooklyn Nets tied their franchise record for the biggest route of an opposing team by beating the Bucks by 45 and they are now off and hosting Toronto on Thursday night Another long left till Thursday.

Is this NBA Cup thing still going on?

I believe it is.

Yes.

Okay

Isn't it nice not to have to worry about that?

Because we were so worried to

begin with because we were so worried about defending the NBA Cup and I think somehow we'll we'll manage to make do

You know that I think it'll be okay.

We're not competing in that.

It's it's much more a case of getting Yanis back from his injury and then wondering to what degree is he trade bait and we just we just don't know.

I don't know.

Look at you.

We've made we've made Wisconsin sports world a little morose shall we say.

Can we just focus on the fact that River Falls is in the final four.

I was just going to say can we can

we did you watch the game and yes so they did play it in what were.

Arctic polar conditions.

Yes, they did.

I believe that they had tents on both sidelines that were enclosed that had heaters in them for both teams because it was so cold.

Oh my gosh.

They did win.

They beat Wheaton.

I forget the score.

It was 46 to like 24, if I remember right.

And they will be hosting Johns Hopkins.

Yes, that Johns Hopkins on the Saturday at noon.

I always think of Johns Hopkins just as like a medical center and a medical school.

So I mean, does the team play in scrubs?

I kind of wonder about that.

Oh, maybe that's why they never wear the light blue because they think they would look like they're wearing scrubs.

That could be it.

see.

Also coming on the show today, of course, will be Dr. Kristen Lierly and Up North News reporter Selena Heller will have a story for us as well.

Coming up just after seven o'clock, Civic Media Sports Director Jimmy Cusco will join us as will John and Gordy from our Madison Station and from Afternoons here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

And we'll wrap things up with Greg Bach, who's staffing things from nine to 11 after the retirement of Jane McNair.

A little news about this own, our own little piece of radio real estate is coming up in

in just a couple of moments.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Our question of the day at eight five five seven five civic is what's your best idea for last-minute holiday gift?

This is where we all help each other do a little crowdsourcing of ideas because next week you're gonna realize You forgot something or maybe a cousin is coming to the party that you weren't expecting So we'd love to know what are your best ideas for last-minute gifts?

We will of course because we're always looking for some entertainment look for some

Unusual, or shall we say, worst ideas for our last-minute Christmas gift as well.

You can call or text us 85575CIVIC or use the Civic Media app to call us, text us, or leave a voice note.

Tomorrow on the program, we will have Hans Brighton Moser, a dairy farmer from up in the Merrill area, Lincoln County, Sheila Everhart from the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, Dan Schaefer from the Recombobulation area, Cam Stevenson from Courier Newsroom will join us from Washington DC, and Dan Hagen from NewsWatch 12, WJFWTV in Rhinelander, all coming up tomorrow here on the program.

And speaking of tomorrows,

There are only a handful of tomorrows left in this morning radio show No big lead up to the news here We're just gonna rip the band-aid off and let you know that this is our final week of new shows here in the early morning Our final show will be this Friday There will then be two weeks full of shows that look back on the year and it has been quite a year There's been no lack of highlights

And then 2026 will begin with a clean slate here at Civic Media.

And I eagerly anticipate the next chapter for this groundbreaking radio network.

This was not an easy call.

You'll have to trust me on that.

I am a radio rat first and foremost before I moved into TV and politics and then back to radio.

And I've been very blessed these past three years to be working two different jobs.

But the radio work was always designed to support my primary work over at Up North News, the outlet that I helped create six years ago with Courier Newsroom.

And heading into another busy political news year, I realized it's time to make a fuller commitment to one or the other, and I am choosing to ramp up the work at the professional place that I have called home now for the past six years.

But for the past three years and hundreds of shows, I am very proud of the work we've done here to create a daily statewide show that discussed state politics.

We talked up local happenings.

We gave what I still believe is a rare dose of fact-based perspective to what radio listeners are hearing about national news events and

I mean, truly, in picking one or the other, I was facing a win-win.

So it is back to Up North News full time for me.

What does that mean?

It means more videos, for sure, on Up North News.

That's the bulk of what I was doing before the radio show opportunity came up.

A lot of videos that explain the news.

There will be more social media posts.

There will be more stories on our website, upnorthnewswi.com, that bring to you the hometown impact of things that are happening in Madison.

and in the nation's capital.

And some folks here have been asking, will there be something akin to a radio show or a podcast or something like that?

And I honestly have no idea.

I mean, it would seem like a good idea.

We've got all this equipment here.

We've got all these great regular guests.

But the problem with making plans for a new year is that whole holiday season thing that's going on at the same time.

So,

We're all going to relax for a bit.

We're going to kick things around and we'll obviously let you know through our website and our newsletters and social media if and when we do any other things in the multimedia realm.

I mean, you could even share some ideas right now about what I ought to do next at Up North News.

the one I do hear most often is a podcast.

If for no other reason, you can use naughty words on it that you can't say on the radio.

One of my daughters suggested Pat Crichtlow's what the bleep Wisconsin, except she didn't say bleep.

The fact of the matter is, though, whatever I end up doing, I have been one lucky guy.

I am not going to, you know, tell you otherwise.

I've worked

My tail off to try to make things look a little bit easier on the surface whether it's running a talk show or anchoring a newscast or being an elected official But there was most definitely a lot of luck in it as well I've

I've really had a lot of great dreams come true and now I just have to conjure up a new one for 2026.

I've got one good chapter left to right before we start the retirement edition of our lives together, me and Sherry.

So I'm gonna spend the holidays thinking of the possibilities.

And as far as what did we exactly accomplish here with what will be 711 morning shows?

Well, let's talk more about that on Friday because right now we're still just getting started with show number 707 And so let's stick to the the business at hand and go from there In the news today obviously some very tragic news out of the Los Angeles area where actor director Rob Reiner and his wife were found murdered

And there's still a lot we don't know.

There's been a lot of speculation about the attack that killed them and we're not going to engage in that right now.

We'll take a moment instead just to remember Rob Reiner's legacy.

Of course, as an actor with all in the family where he won two Emmys, but then as a director where, I mean, he just flourished, basically inventing the mockumentary with this as a final tap, then came the princess bride, then standby me, then a few good men.

people were really noticing Rob Reiner at that point when Harry Met Sally, Misery, the American president, and so on.

Rob Reiner was the son of TV pioneer Carl Reiner who created the Dick Van Dyke show.

Dick Van Dyke as you know, celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday.

And it leads me to the other story that was in the news today.

and over the weekend.

You know CBS could have used some of their prime time real estate on Saturday to honor Dick Van Dyke on his 100th birthday given as many shows over the years but instead the new right-wing regime in charge of CBS chose to turn the airwaves over to the widow of Charlie Kirk in a town hall set up by the new CBS chief Barry Weiss and dozens of social media posts celebrating her and Charlie Kirk choosing to remember them.

instead of choosing to remember a man who has given us joy for the past hundred years.

That's a conscious choice made by CBS.

We'll have today's history lesson and Dr. Kristen Lierly coming up next.

Live from the lake, I'm Pat Crightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

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

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?

Yes!

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.

There you go.

Oh, there goes... If we're in the time machine... Oh boy.

Pat and Sherry are running to the dance floor right now.

It is time to dance along to Morris Day in the Time.

Morris Day, happy birthday, turn 68.

over the weekend and here dancing with me today, Dr. Kristen Lyrely, who literally is dancing in her chair today.

I'm trying

so hard not to sing out loud right now.

Everybody

get up!

Let's go!

It's

Monday!

Between the bird and jungle love, I don't know that there are two other songs from the 80s.

I love them more.

Morris Day, it was so good.

I

bet though we could sit down at the couple old fashions and come up with a list of about 100 to 1000 songs.

Quite

possibly.

Yes.

Quite possibly.

And we danced to every one of them at either shenanigans or Trader and Trapper back in the day.

So yeah.

We

have limpsies in the Twin Cities.

Oh yeah.

In Dinky Town.

In Dinky.

But you know, here's my question.

Do they still dance anymore?

Are there dance floors in some of these places anymore?

Because I've gone into some of these places and everybody just kind of stands by their table and just kind of sways while they talk.

And

there is a lot of huddling.

There's a lot of huddling rather than just out now dancing.

Fellas, you guys, me, first have New Year's Eve.

Oh boy.

Jake Roode, 80s dance party.

So much fun.

What do you

think?

Maybe

more of a scale show

up.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Let me check my calendar, which currently has me babysitting then.

But maybe I can find a substitute.

I don't know.

Bring the kids.

Yeah, bring the kids.

The six-year-old, the three-year-old.

They'll love that.

All right, so Morris Day had a birthday over the weekend.

By the way, this is like their celebrity birthdays today that I could see.

But he had a bunch of birthdays for Saturday.

And so let's pass that along, including Taylor Swift.

Have you seen her new show?

And

this is what?

I haven't seen like the whole show, but there was some kind of one of those like preview shows on TV.

Was it Friday night or sat Friday night?

And we were watching some of that.

And you know, just really admiring her.

I'm not a Swifty say, but this is one of my favorite songs from her.

So

fabulous.

I offered it to my kids and they hard passed and literally walked out of the room.

Yeah.

Same

kid

who said to me, mom, I said, the game is on today around three o'clock.

We're going to have lots of food.

And he said, mom, is there football every weekend?

And I

thought, oh, oh, my.

I totally failed.

Oh,

yeah.

Oh,

OK.

It's not too late.

Don't worry about it.

Wow.

All right.

On this day in 1939, Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta, starring Clark Gable and Vivian Lee.

It would win the best picture Oscar for 1940.

How popular was it at the time?

When you adjust for inflation, it is still the highest grossing film in history.

And

I got to say, having seen the movie and read the book, it's actually a really annoying story.

I loved it.

It was so romantic.

And like in that time, like now you look back and you're like, so many things wrong.

But like

in

that time,

It was captivating.

And Vivian Lee, come

on.

She was good.

Clark Abel.

Yes.

And Hattie McDaniel winning an Oscar.

Yeah, absolutely.

Another birthday from over the weekend, Randy Owen, lead singer of Alabama, turned 76.

See, now we're back on the dance floor, but we're at a wedding reception.

Uh-huh what reception what wedding reception for 30 years hasn't had a song like this or fishing in the dark or Something something along those lines.

Yep.

Let's see.

Jamie Foxx turned 57 years old over the I'm sorry 58 years old over the weekend math is hard Jamie Foxx was born Eric Bishop.

So

really?

Yep.

Yeah.

Jamie Foxx with two X's not his real name.

No, believe it or not.

Eric Bishop is kind of a cool name

Eric Bishop is cool name, yeah.

Tom DeLong turned 50 over the weekend, co-founder of Blink 182.

That'll

wake you

up.

It will.

That's a good Monday morning alarm song.

Isn't it though?

Yes.

I like it very much.

On this day in 2021, four years ago, Bruce Springsteen sold his music back catalog to Sony

for an estimated $500 million.

Think if you could sell back all of the work that you've done over time.

What would somebody be willing to pay for that?

I think waste management would take all of my new scripts and stories from over the years and say, well, we'll give you a buck and a half and we'll throw it in the shredder over here.

I don't know.

That makes me feel nostalgic.

I listen to his biography, his autobiography that he actually reads, and the painstaking process of writing every album

and the

emotions that went into it.

It is a really, and I'm not a huge Springsteen fan, but I like his music, but just wow.

So yeah.

And the same like with Billy Joel, we've talked about that and others.

When they reach a point and they just go, that's it.

I have nothing left to create and write a song.

I'd be the first one going,

I'm good with that.

I'm not gonna say, no, you sit there and you crank out another song.

I would, I would, it would kill me to write one song and try to come up with something original in terms of music and lyrics and everything.

So yeah, God bless the people that can do it to the point where they're selling their music catalog for $500 million.

And

they're sitting in their bedroom making Nebraska.

Yes.

I mean, like the story is,

I know,

look into it, people.

It's so good.

Amy Lee, the singer from Evanescence, is 44 years old today.

Why do my kids love this song so much?

Because you can turn it up to 11,

which

we're saying in rest in peace for Rob Reiner.

You can turn it to 11.

I don't think that this song is in any Madden games, but this feels like it should be in a Madden game.

I feel like I'm creating a new Madden team right now.

Or like a TikTok.

It's like it had some sort of viral trending something or another.

Yes.

That's also probably true.

You could totally see that.

Hey, in case you're ever wondering, what kinds of things led to having a shot clock in basketball?

Well, it was on this day in 1973 in a college basketball game that Tennessee beat Temple.

Final score, 11 to 6.

Oh.

Yeah.

That's way

too low of a score for the

70s.

I mean, how did.

How did crowds at basketball games tolerate that?

Just watching them dribble the ball, pass it back and forth slowly, walking up courts.

I can't believe basketball had any fans back before the shot clock, honestly.

Kind of like soccer, huh?

Don't get me started on that.

This weekend, while putting the segment together, I learned that the Beatles released a Christmas song on this day in 1967.

And I'd never heard it.

And this might be the only time I hear it.

It was part of the Beatles' psychedelic phase.

And so here's a Beatles song from 1967.

And boys and girls, that's the song.

They basically repeat this roughly 19 times.

through the song.

They put out a lot of stuff in 67.

That was like Revolver.

There

was a lot of time in the studio.

Well, I guess from their early days, they record what are called fan-only records, not only fans, fan club records.

These were different back then.

These were records.

You had to be part of the Beatles fan club, and then they would occasionally send you a record of some other stuff.

And on this day in 1967, Beatles fans got this Christmas record of the Beatles singing Christmas timers here again.

Over and over and over.

Isn't

there some real thing about, like, if you have the number one Christmas song in the UK, that is a really prestigious thing.

I

don't see why it wouldn't be,

yeah.

But it's way bigger than here.

There's something about having the Christmas song on Christmas.

I'll look into it.

You get back to us on that.

I wonder if anyone's

ever

dethroned

Mariah Carey.

That's

the real

question.

Yeah, there's a whole thing about Wham and George Michael in Last

Christmas.

Oh, of course.

Because posthumously it had never gotten to be number one when he was alive.

And posthumously there was this big campaign and it's been number one a number of different times because it just keeps coming back during Christmas time.

So it's like an honor thing.

That's the thing with the charts.

The charts are now like...

all kinds of old songs that come back up on the charts.

It's a very weird thing.

On this day in 1997, a movie premiered in London.

The movie was Spice World.

The Spice Girls are the accolade of worst film at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

So, you know, got something there.

Still a film.

Yep.

Let's see.

I'm not gonna

cut it now.

That's right.

Big band superstar Glenn Miller died on his way to perform for US troops in France on this day in 1944.

Glenn Miller's aircraft was taken down by Bad Weather over the English Channel.

From 1939 to 1943, he was the world's best-selling artist with 23 number one hits during the Warriors.

Did you dance to this, Pat?

Maybe,

maybe.

He was the king of swing back in the day.

Yes, yeah.

No.

On this day in 1979, a couple of guys, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, invented a board game.

Trivial Pursuit and took things by storm and and actually truth be told One of the things that Sherry liked about me first was that we we entered like some trivial because Trivial Pursuit Contest were all the thing back then and we entered a little Trivial Pursuit tournament and we won it because she did all the science and nature the smart people stuff

Orange.

And yeah, and then I did all the other goofball stuff.

Entertainment and history and.

You're so

smart.

You're really on to me now.

Yep.

All right.

What do we have on there?

Is that a pen and your pocket protector?

My pocket protector?

Yeah.

Oh, I never noticed that before.

Right.

The plaid hides it.

Yes.

Hey, I got up the Christmas plaid shirt today.

I forgot that I have this.

I got a nice bright red corduroy blazer that goes over it for Christmas time.

Because, you know, as the Beatles say, Christmas time is here again.

Christmas time is here again.

Christmas time is here again.

But, you know, we are simply having a wonderful Christmas time, aren't we?

A wonderful Christmas time.

Okay.

Now what's on the national day calendar?

Oh, God.

It is a Bill of Rights Day.

Okay.

It is also National Cupcake Day.

Oh, Cupcakes.

Right?

It's a good day.

It is also International Tea Day.

Like spill the tea or like actual drinking the tea?

No, I think like British drink the tea.

I

don't love tea.

Do you love tea?

I do not love tea.

No, I will have it once or twice in the winter.

I happen to have a cup yesterday because Sherry was looking for tea to make something else.

Brandy Slush.

And I'm like, well, the tea is out.

I'll make up a cup.

And it was a nice thing.

Because again, it was, you know, 40 below over the weekend here.

So a warm cup of tea felt nice.

But yeah, not the thing that we typically have.

All right.

When we come back in our seven o'clock hour, we will be talking to former Congressman Reed Ribble about health care.

And in our eight o'clock hour, John Hankus from Wisconsin Eye.

I'm Pat Quitelow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Hey, welcome back.

It's a Monday, December 15th.

I was really surprised.

Kristen didn't start singing right away at the start of that song, but good strength out of you.

Thanks.

Yep.

And Selena Heller joins us from Up North News as well.

Ms.

Heller, how are you?

Thank you.

Very

good.

All right.

Got a story from her coming up after the break and maybe a little singing as well.

If not her, then at least her daughter.

So you'll want to stick around for that.

Kristen, of course, has the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show Saturdays at noon across the Civic Media Radio Network replayed on Sundays.

You can also hear it out of Chicago on a radio station there.

What did you have this past weekend?

This past weekend I talked with Kate Duffy our friend Kate Duffy from motherhood for good and we talked about why moms need to be involved in politics She shared her evolution from not caring being too busy to recognizing how important it is to get involved So it was a really great conversation and then this weekend I've got Missy Hughes candidate for Wisconsin governor former lead of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation missies from the Baroque era

And man, she

is,

she is really smart and brings a totally different dimension.

She's, she gets the economy in a way that a lot of folks don't.

Yeah.

So again, the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show weekends or wherever you get your podcasts.

And on YouTube, Dr. Kristen Lyrely.

There you go.

So many ways to catch the show.

Parker's got a little entertainment story for us.

What were the Olympics coming up and everything?

Yes, America's sweetheart, as I like to call him, Snoop Dogg.

He is an honorary coach for Team USA at the Olympic and Paralympics.

Breakdancing.

Probably

more than that.

No, no.

He's just an honorary coach for all, all athletes.

All the things.

The whole team USA in the 20th and 26th

winner games.

it is such a change because the Olympics, you know, would be the kind of thing like having Snoop Dogg there would get your team disqualified because just the odor of

marijuana would be

enough to fail a drug test

around this guy.

Yeah.

These are different.

Yes.

Yes.

He's uh he's he's older now so uh

He's always been pretty mellow.

He's always been pretty mellow.

But

he has been just an unabashed supporter of the Olympic team in the past.

And so I think it's a nice little niche for him.

Yeah, I think so too.

His place in sports is actually kind of interesting.

I think he runs a league in California for like Pee Wee football.

Somebody

was saying that last night on one of the games, like he coaches Pop Warner football.

Yeah.

No, he's actually like very involved in youth sports.

He had a bowl game a couple of years ago, I think.

And I think that's where I found out about that.

Yes, he had a bowl game

patch.

The bud bowl.

What do

they call it?

They call that the weed

bowl.

It was the Snoop Dogg

Bowl.

It was the Snoop Dogg Bowl, of course.

OK, gotcha.

Selena, we can't see because the damn cat is blocking the entire camera now.

What did you do over the weekend to stay warm?

Oh, to stay warm.

Well, we help families pick out Christmas gifts with an organization.

That was fun.

We went to Zootopia and we baked.

Zootopia 2?

Zootopia 2.

It was very funny.

We loved

it.

I loved it.

You did like it?

Yes.

Okay.

Very nice.

Good, good, good, good.

Yeah, we saw the, I saw the preview of it among the other 22 previews that they show before movies nowadays, because we went to go see Wicked for Good.

Oh, you did?

The sequel, yes.

Over, do we see it's Saturday?

Yeah, Saturday, we went to go see that.

And, okay, no spoiler alerts here.

Kind of sorta, but Sherry had seen the play on Broadway.

and raved about it, just raved about it.

And after the first movie, you know, last year, she was kind of like, it's okay, the play was better.

This is kind of dragged out.

I can't believe they need a second movie, blah, blah, blah.

And in the second movie that we saw over the weekend, there was a development I did not see coming.

There was a plot twist, did not see coming.

And so we're walking out of the theater and I said, hey, that was a pretty good turn there.

She's like, that was not in the play.

In

the play, it ended entirely differently.

I'm like, what?

Can they do that?

And so now, of course, it's based on a novel.

So now I'm dying to know which way the novel went.

So I guess we know what I'm reading next is to see who got it right.

It's kind of like Game of Thrones, you know, where they had to continue the series after the books are done and they had to kind of make it up as they go along.

But this one, they just up and changed.

It looks like none of you have seen this

yet.

Did she like it?

Did she appreciate it?

Still liked it.

Yeah, still liked it.

Again, it was one of those where nothing against it, but that the play was so amazing that she says, if it ever comes out here to Milwaukee or the Twin Cities or something, we have to go see it.

And I would totally go with her after that.

It's so

good.

Yeah.

So did you guys see the first one at all or is it not on your radar at all?

So you both did see it.

We

both did see it.

I saw the show on Broadway as well.

You saw the Broadway show, right?

Oh,

yes.

It was fantastic.

And okay.

But yes.

So we had to pick between Zootopia or every wants to see the other two.

But okay.

Well, we got the, yeah, you get the vacation or the holiday break to go see things there.

And Kristen, you don't know when you're getting to a movie theater next.

I don't know.

We'll see.

But I have seen it in the theater twice in Appleton and in San Francisco.

And I watched the first part of Wicked.

And I just think they're different.

You go to the theater to see a certain kind of entertainment.

It just

feels different.

And the voices are different.

And you know, in the theater, it's so produced and so many effects.

So it's just different.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like Hamilton.

You know, there's all this talk about making a movie out of it.

And a bunch of us are like, no, don't don't.

That was such a that was such a perfect play.

There's really no need to make a movie out of it.

You know they will anyway, which is really depressing, but but again, maybe it'll be really good.

It wouldn't be the first time that a movie adaptation has pleasantly surprised people.

They didn't think it was going to be good when it got released on Broadway.

Remember how many people were super skeptical like really Alexander Hamilton story with rap music,

right?

Yes.

And

then boom.

Boom.

Yes.

It absolutely turned the world upside down.

See what I did there.

Coming up in our seven o'clock hour, we will be talking to former Republican Congressman Reed Ribble about health care.

All that and more.

Still ahead on a Monday.

I'm Pat Crite low from Up North News.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

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.

Hey, good morning.

Welcome back.

706 on a Monday morning.

It is December 15th, 2025, 10 days till Christmas.

Get those gifts.

That's her question of the day.

What's your best idea for a last minute Christmas gift?

855-75 Civic is the phone number 855-752-4842.

Dr. Kristen Lyrely is here as is Selina Heller from Up North News.

Parker Olson producing things down in Madison, studio A2 and Dr. Lyrely has her hand up.

Kristen.

Siru G's.

I always keep extra suruji's candy on hand because it's amazing and it's the perfect gift.

What kind of candy?

Suruji's.

It's out of de pier, long standing.

They do the meltaways, the mint meltaways.

So, so good.

Those are very good.

Okay.

Well, there you go.

All right.

Well, our question of the day has been answered.

So thanks everybody.

Uh, we were talking about the, uh, Hamilton soundtrack, uh, in her last segment here, Alicia says she had it basically on repeat for months and wants to thank us because now she's singing Hamilton songs at home.

So that's, that's what we do here.

Yep.

Yeah.

Uh, little news about this fine radio show coming up in just a few minutes.

Also later this hour, we'll talk to former Republican Congressman Reed Ribble about healthcare.

Selena Heller tells us about stories that she's following for up North news and.

a little Christmas music all coming along as well.

So let's get the, let's get the good and bad from the sports world out of the way.

You've got the Badger Women going to the final four in volleyball.

After ups, not, well, yeah, I guess it's an upset.

They were a three seed and Texas was the one seed.

So yeah, an upset and four at home for Texas, by the way, a four set win.

And so the Badger Women move on to Kansas City to hopefully play for a national title next weekend here.

They'll be in the national semifinal come Thursday.

And then there's the Packers.

That was not pleasant.

It

felt like somebody let the air out of our tires.

That's exactly how it felt.

Yeah.

You know, none of us are in our green and gold victory Monday.

We're over here.

It's Micah Parsons.

Yep.

Got your got your coffee mug.

Always a

coffee

mug.

Yep.

Micah Parsons goes down with perhaps a torn ACL may be done for the year.

Did you see him though?

Did you see him talking?

He's like, I'm okay.

I'm OK.

He was like trying to will himself into not being hurt.

Yeah.

If only it were that easy, you know.

Now, Christian Watson, it looked like it was going to be a really bad injury.

And it might not be.

People feared it was a shoulder or collar bone.

Apparently, it's a chest.

I don't know if it's a bruise or what it is.

Perhaps he will be able to come back.

But of course, Christian Watson, you know, basically is an orchid for how delicate he can be and prone to injuries.

So hopefully we get him back.

But boy, losing Parsons, that one just that one just hurts.

But and it makes it that much.

But it makes my life easier.

And really, that's what counts here is because I was really

stress that I have some, some holiday dinner plans for Saturday night.

And it's going to be a great dinner.

Good friends.

We're looking forward to it.

And then there's like, Oh, wait, the Packers Bears, they play Saturday night.

It's a weird night.

Yes.

Yeah.

I mean, it'll still be on, but I'm no longer worried.

Like, am I going to have to like excuse myself occasionally and go look at the TV or something?

No, just keep, keep up the score updates, you know.

Those two teams though, the way that they battle.

I mean, I am a Packer fan, but I love watching those two teams together because they just they make some magic.

So it's going to be

good.

Yeah.

Rob says good morning from Tigerton, cloudy and nine degrees.

He said it was a relaxing weekend and at the Packer game was like being sideswiped by a semi truck.

Rob would

know.

Rob would know.

Yes.

So hopefully Rob is healing nicely.

Alicia is very happy on YouTube about Navy Beating Army and the annual football game there.

And so the buck's lost by 45 points to the Brooklyn Nets.

They next play Thursday night hosting Toronto.

All right, Selena Heller covers all kinds of news for us at Up North News that you can find on our website, upnorthnewswi.com or on social media.

And so Selena, what you've been working on here is something out of Dunn County, right?

Yeah, well, we've been talking about grow before that organization.

It's grassroots organizing Western, Wisconsin, you know and bill hogs that the organizing director has been on before talking with you so The members have been going all over to county board meetings.

So they cover Polk st.

Troy Just all a lot several counties in this part of the state Pierce Polk done so and the members have been kind of telling the county boards as they're making their

budgets, how the big beautiful bill is going to affect them and all the trickle-downs.

It translates into hunger, untreated illness, worsening crisis care, just kind of more burdens.

Let's listen to Bill Hawks.

There's something

interesting that happens when there's conversations around things like SNAP and Medicaid, these social safety net programs that regular people need, like our neighbors, our grandparents, kids.

There's always this question about do these people actually deserve these services, you know, to help put food on the table or help them see a doctor if they need to.

But when it comes to giving a trillion dollars of tax benefits to the most wealthy people in our country, which is what this bill did in order alongside also cutting our social safety net, you don't hear the same concerns from people about whether these billionaires who have

you know, want to buy another mansion or another space shuttle, do they deserve that?

And so I think there's a double standard for the things that our neighbors need to actually survive day to day versus the most wealthy people in our country to have a few more toys and mansions and space rockets.

It feels wrong to me.

So Bill was talking about kind of misplaced scrutiny there.

Well, yeah, I mean, it always has felt like a bit of a double standard that again, if you're a billionaire, you have no problem getting access to power.

And now you have no problem acquiring power because of practically unlimited corporate money in political campaigns.

And Kristen, as Selena was reporting from there, I mean, it's always a case of basically the upper crust convincing

enough of the middle class that it's the people making less money than them that are the moochers and are the real problem.

Do these people really deserve it?

Do these people really deserve to eat healthy food that will actually make them healthier?

Do these people deserve access to health care so that they can see a doctor when something is going on and get diagnosed early instead of later, which

could mean a much more serious diagnosis and disruption in their family and their community.

Yeah, they do because they're your friends and they're your neighbors.

And we all deserve to be able to live a healthier, more satisfying life.

So disappointing.

But as you said, Selena, there's also the whole notion of the big bloated boondoggle, as I like to call it.

I mean, yeah, it was a big national debate in Washington.

but it does have very local impact.

So let's listen to more of Bill Hogg-Seth from Grassroots Organizing of Western Wisconsin.

And one of the things we heard with every sheriff was the stress that is placed on their programs because they have to respond to mental health crisis calls.

And there are almost no beds to

that are available in our area for people who are in crisis.

So what has to happen is that the sheriff's deputies have to drive all the way across the state to the Winnebago facility and it consumes a couple deputies for an entire day just to do that transportation.

So it was an interesting finding when we looked into this that a bill like HR1 that

cuts all these social safety net programs could have these ripple effects that then put more people into mental health crisis.

That's going to be more of a strain on the sheriff's deputies.

That's going to have these, you know, these these kinds of effects that are really unintended and unanticipated but are real.

Most real HR one is another name for the for the big mega bill that was debated in Congress earlier this year.

Selena did Bill find a receptive audience?

Yes.

I know we talked about like a county run nursing homes and the director happened to be at one of the meetings in Dunn County and she kind of agreed with all of that, you know, with the cuts to Medicaid and things like that.

So, and then the county administrators kind of agreed too and kind of raised those alarms that all these strains are going to be putting on them.

They're going to have listening sessions coming up in starting in January.

So if you keep your ears and eyes out for those things and then you can come and

kind of share some thoughts and get some insight there too.

And Kristen, it'll be really important to note for folks starting next year.

after, I'm sorry, starting in 2027, after the midterm elections, that a lot of this stuff is going to kick in, a lot of these cuts and things like that.

And that was on purpose to kind of shield Republicans from paying any price next year, which is why so many people like Bill Hogseth are out there saying, no, no, no, you need to know now what is coming.

This has passed.

It will come at this point.

I think they crafted it so that the actual impact wouldn't hit until after the midterms.

But the truth of the matter is hospital systems and other businesses are going to have to plan for what happens.

in 2027.

So we're going to start feeling those effects.

We're already feeling some of them, but throughout 2026.

So as these things are happening to you, pay attention and hold your legislators accountable.

They are supposed to be serving the people that's us.

And if we don't tell them that we are dissatisfied and that they are not doing their job, they're just going to keep doing what they're doing.

And by the way, the midterms are in November.

Yeah, yeah, they will just keep cutting cutting cutting away here.

You actually had a post over the weekend on your social media sites about all the OBGYN openings just in Wisconsin.

That was it's not even all of them.

It's just from one of the locums companies.

So there are doctors like me who just fill in in certain places and there are these places that are chronically open.

Medford is one that was open literally for over a decade where they just couldn't get somebody to establish there and they eventually ended up closing their OBGYN services.

This is a crisis.

It's getting worse, not better.

And it's because we're creating conditions in this state, especially

where health care providers don't want to practice here.

Political interference, the legislative environment, it's just too complicated and we're not training enough health care providers.

There are solutions.

There are solutions that politicians can implement here if they have the courage to do it.

I think that's the other important point is that the solutions to these problems are not inevitable.

These consequences are not inevitable.

It just takes people who actually want to work a little harder at supporting, you know, the middle class that support

the world economy rather than just making decisions for their donors or for their particular income bracket.

Again, Selena Heller has stories that you can follow over at UpNorthNewsWI.com and through social media and in our newsletter as well.

Coming up, we will be talking to former Republican Congressman Reed Ribble about healthcare and what, as a former Republican Congressman, he thinks of the current healthcare debate in the nation's capital where Republicans seem to not have any kind of alternative.

to the Affordable Care Act.

Does it have to be that way?

We'll ask Reed Ribble coming up in just a bit over 15 minutes.

But first little news about this show as I promised, this will be our final week of new shows here in the early morning.

Our final show will be coming up this Friday.

then there will be a couple of weeks of highlight shows that look back on the year.

There's been no lack of highlights thanks to some amazing guests.

And then 2026 start with a clean slate here at Civic Media and we can't wait to see what they're going to be doing next for their 2026 chapter here.

But as for me, it'll be going back to Up North News full time.

It's been great to split time between these two wonderful entities.

But 2026 is going to be a little crazy.

And so I'll be doing more over there and we'll keep you informed.

on our website and social media as far as what my own next chapter is for 2026.

From the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissota, thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Critello, this is the Civic Media Radio Network.

See now this is an example of a nice holiday tune always makes you feel happy makes you want to put the movie in watch a little Christmas vacation Although I I have a tough time watching the the TV version Let's face it the uncensored version is way more fun to listen to especially when when Clark Griswold has his little meltdown You can't you can't share that on the radio as much as you'd like to you know Let's see so

So that's an example of a happy one.

I think Parker's got an example of one of the one of the songs that just should not be a song anymore.

And yet Paul McCartney is out there singing it all the damn time.

There it is.

And I know how you feel about

this.

Okay, does it make a better path?

This is just the instrumentals.

Yes.

Yes.

I

guess.

So

the instrumentals are fine, but when you add the vocals, that's what makes it bad.

I'm just trying to drill down here.

Now it's just like your typical 80s Casio keyboard, you know, it's just kind of in the background, you know.

But there are a few others.

I've never been a fan of Happy Christmas from John Lennon.

Step into Christmas from Elton John, I think is just...

You're hitting like all the Beatles and the Beatles

adjacent.

Oh, come on, man.

All right.

What about