It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some shit you need to know.
The first piece of you need to know, a new report warns that about one in four Wisconsin childcare providers could close or significantly reduce services when pandemic era childcare funding expires on June 30th.
The funding helps stabilize childcare centers during and after COVID, allowing providers to hire staff, avoid larger tuition increases, and reverse years of declining childcare availability.
Nearly 75% of producers say they'll likely raise tuition if the funding disappears, potentially costing families an additional $13 to $2,600 per child each year.
Excuse me.
Providers say they're already struggling with rising costs, and some families have left childcare programs because they can no longer afford tuition, forcing some parents to leave the workforce.
So there's the vicious cycle we get into.
Childcare advocates warn that without permanent state funding, childcare could become increasingly unaffordable for middle-class families, making it harder for parents to work, and worsening Wisconsin's workforce shortages.
Ruth Schmidt from Wisconsin Early Childhood Association is going to join us tomorrow.
morning to talk all about this and how dire this situation actually is.
But imagine having to pay another 13 to $2,600 a year.
I can't imagine.
I don't know how families are doing it now.
I mean, we've heard from some of our listeners about what they're paying each and every month for childcare.
We've had some listeners literally tell us it's the most expensive thing they pay every month.
not even close to their mortgage at this point.
And you
can't blame the childcare
sellers.
Prices
have gone up.
You have to hire workers.
You have to, you
know.
It's crazy.
You have to be well equipped to take care of other people's
kids.
Turns out.
And that
costs money.
where does the help come from?
We'll find out tomorrow when
we talk to you.
I'm very excited to have Ruth on so we can get into this conversation tomorrow.
In other stuff you need to know, taking a look at Madison schools because they've created a tiebreaker system for students competing for automatic admission under Wisconsin's new Wisconsin guarantee program.
The plan still needs state approval, however.
The program guarantees admission to most UW campuses for students in the top 10% of their graduating class.
while UW-Madison guarantees admission to students in the top 5%.
Because many Madison students have identical GPAs and the district needs a way to break ties while staying within the state's strict percentage limits, if approved, tie breakers would be used in this order.
ACT scores, number of college level courses completed, your AP or your dual credit classes, and then attendance records based on the fewest unexcused absences.
The new system would begin with the class of 2027 and several other Wisconsin school districts are pursuing similar waiver requests because they face the same issue with GPA ties.
GPA, the ACT scores, oh, these are words that I still recognize.
So I wasn't too much into the Stone Age, too.
understand how it all worked but
I still recognize all the words I just sometimes trying to figure out what sets these kids apart it's so slim
yeah
if you're in that top 5%
You're
you're pretty strong.
You're so you're a solid student and I remember with you know Molly trying to get in different places and
yes
You know they've got high you might have higher ACT scores
and
higher GPA But somebody knows somebody or somebody does some extracurricular that they
might be
looking for or
it's competitive
It is competitive, depending on what school you're going to, what you're pursuing in higher education.
It is very, very competitive.
I'm sure had I been...
The environment, been as competitive as it is now, I would not have been accepted to most of the places I was accepted
to.
This is why our students need more mental health if you joined us last hour in either school districts, because a lot of them are facing these types of pressures too, right?
Yeah, no matter how good you are, are you good enough?
Yes.
All right, one of the next pieces that you need to know, a meteor.
Streaked across the skies over New England Saturday, creating loud sonic booms that rattled homes and sparked thousands of social media posts from confused residents.
NASA says this space rock was about five feet wide, weighed roughly as much as an elephant and
Wow.
And entered the Earth's atmosphere at 42,000 miles an hour.
The meteor broke apart above New England, releasing energy equal to about 230 tons of TNT, which caused the booming sound people heard across the region.
NASA confirmed the object was a natural meteor, not a satellite or a piece of space junk.
After traveling about 26 miles through the atmosphere, the remaining fragments likely fell into Cape Cod Bay off the coast of Massachusetts.
Then there was video footage on the news last night of a meteor streaking across
the
west sky for about 14 seconds.
It was crazy.
Yes,
the sky is falling, chicken little.
And we're going to get
we're going to get knocked unconscious by it.
I don't know.
Get a helmet Parker.
This is why anybody who always is like, space is so cool.
It is really cool, but this is the type of stuff falling from space that actually kind of scares me.
But 42,000 miles per hour.
I can't even fathom something the size of an elephant streaky through the sky at 42,000.
And that
exploded.
Right?
Damn.
That's true craziness.
Science is pretty cool though when you think about it.
The fact that it's just floating up there right now too, right?
Yeah,
just waiting.
Yeah, it's just it is.
Watching us.
It's literally just waiting.
Terrifying.
What's the big story, Jamie?
Well, the big story is more on voting rights, and it turns out that a Dean County judge is now involved because they heard some arguments in a lawsuit that could actually expand voting access for Wisconsin residents with print disabilities, including many blind and visually impaired voters who currently struggle to complete their paper absentee ballots independently.
Now, this particular lawsuit was brought by the
rights of Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters, they're arguing that requiring voters to rely on a spouse, caregiver, or assistant to fill out an absentee ballot takes away their right to cast a private and secret vote.
I mean, and that makes sense because we're always told that our votes are private.
We don't have to share those, but then if you do have a disability, we don't actually have a way for those people to vote without somebody being in the booth with them.
And isn't that one of the big gripes that these election deniers have that somebody else is getting
ballots and
filling them out?
So if you're, you know...
For that alone, they should be oh no we that we have to
make sure
everybody has a chance to fill out their own ballot Because you know if I'm one of those conspiracy nutjobs
who
say the elections are stolen Well, what if what if I'm visually impaired and I tell my husband to put down my Trump
right?
He doesn't like Trump and so he goes.
Oh, yes.
Yes, honey I put your Trump vote in
and I
voted for anybody
I voted for
the meteor the size of an elephant.
It's a true test of honesty and
trust, isn't it, if you're going in those particular cases.
But for people who support this, they literally want voters with print disabilities to be able to receive, read, complete, and return absentee ballots electronically using screen readers, speech synthesizers, and other accessibility tools.
They also say that this would be a very reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
And I was thinking about that.
is I was reading through the story before I even got there.
That's exactly what popped into my head.
I was like, but what about the Americans with disabilities action?
This be something that we already do and it shouldn't be a question?
It doesn't sound like a hard fix.
No.
And you're right though.
It's, yeah, when you hear it, you go, why wasn't, we're really not doing this?
Right.
I could have, we do everything else.
Right.
Which we should, but that's not the point.
The point is,
Why hasn't somebody thought of this before?
If you're visually impaired and you can't read the ballot
What do we do?
The fact that this is just now a lawsuit is kind of insane.
Actually, when you think about how long the Americans with Disabilities Act has been around and the fact that this suit is being brought by a disability rights organization.
Now, there was one plaintiff in this particular case.
He's a blind Wisconsin voter and he says he can't independently read or mark a paper absentee ballot.
And a lot of times he faces challenges when he's traveling to polling places as well, especially during bad weather.
Now, there was already a lower court involved in this particular case who ordered Wisconsin to allow electronic delivery of absentee ballots before the 2024 election.
That ruling, though, was paused after appeal by Republican legislative leaders.
The proposed system would still have required voters to return completed ballots by mail or in person.
Why do we, again, I know I ask this question all the time, at this point it's rhetorical, but why would you want it to be harder for voters to vote?
I mean, just because it doesn't mean- Because
they might not vote for me.
Well, they might, or they might vote for you, not, I mean, you know- Yeah, but what if
they don't?
I guess that's a chance you're gonna take, but at the same time, I don't know why we're making it so difficult for people to actually vote.
And by the way, this is a big case, if you're listening to this today,
and you're like, yeah, it doesn't really bother me.
Just remember that 110,000 Wisconsin voters with print disabilities would be affected by this, which would ultimately determine whether those electronic absentee voting systems become an accessibility in the future.
Interesting.
It is very interesting.
It's one of those things that makes you stop and say, wait, all these,
All this progress we've made for people with disabilities, and then it seems like one of the simplest ones we just have maybe not thought of.
But
somebody thought of this before.
Somebody had to.
Again, though, it always comes down to me, for me, for accessibility and being able to vote.
This shouldn't ever have to... Why do these things have to go to courts of law?
I mean, this is just a basic principle that we should have in this country.
We should be able to vote.
It doesn't matter what the disability is.
We should be able to vote as citizens of this country.
I agree.
Thinking it and we don't have time to go through all the scenarios, but I'm just all right How do we do it if if we if we mail say a braille ballot
or
or that?
Well, the people still have to get it back somehow
so
if they So all right, what's that?
There's that there's challenge
of that one
There's so many challenges, but there's a lot of smart people who could figure it out,
right?
