Protecting What Protects Wisconsin’s Natural Beauty (Hour 2)

From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday, June 24th, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite.

Welcome in, everybody, here at the World Headquarters of Civic Media in downtown Madison, Wisconsin on State Street.

Little cloudy.

Right now, some rain coming in over the evening hours.

And in some cases, some places had some localized flooding across the state of Wisconsin.

Here in Madison, on the east side, a lot of people know Woodmans very well across the state.

And really, my heart goes out to those folks, Woodmans folks and the customers.

So far, I don't believe anybody was seriously injured.

But there appears to be a backup in some of the drainage systems on the woodman's east on the east side in some prairie and a large portion of the roof and the ceiling in woodman's east Madison collapsed and it was just like a literally like a waterfall coming into the store and Fire Department was called.

They evacuated again as far as I know no injuries or at least anything severe.

Thank goodness, but

It's going to take a while to clean up.

Woodman's East, I believe, remains closed here in the greater Madison area.

So that was going on.

I know there was some flash flooding.

Again, goofballs.

I think they can drive through these flooded streets.

Please just remember the old adage, turn around, don't drown, don't try to cross the street that's underwater.

The good news is, most of the ag community was watching a little bit of Pam Yankee Midwest Farm Report.

We'll get an update from her at the bottom of the hour.

A lot of our Midwest or Wisconsin farmers rather.

Mostly happy about the amount of rain is starting to even out the drought and the dry conditions.

But it looks like more rain in today and tomorrow and then maybe towards the weekend, it starts to get nicer.

Next week,

highs like 80 and so.

How about that?

I understand that's pleasant for most people.

Tomers won't be happy until there's snow back in the air.

Well, not necessarily.

It's just I don't like the number to start with an A.

All right.

All right.

Very good.

So anyway, that's the that's the forecast in short.

Britney Merle will continue to update us at the tops of the hour throughout the day.

So keep it tuned here.

Coming up a little bit later on in the show, I'm going to talk about Governor Tony Evers making an announcement late yesterday afternoon that he is ready to veto the entire state budget, assuming that the Republican legislature passes one if it does not include childcare.

Now, we heard from the state senator Kelder Royce on this program yesterday, talked a little bit about it, by the way.

Many thanks to Jane McNair and Greg Bach, kind enough to have me on their great show this morning.

You can hear them every morning from nine until 11.

I know they've talked about it, but this issue of childcare is essential.

It turns out it's very popular with voters as well, because if the state does nothing, whether that means having a budget that would get passed and signed,

with little to no additional funding or if they just hold serve and there is no budget to hold at current levels, what that means for childcare providers and people with kids in this state would be catastrophic because as we've learned the Wisconsin childcare system is being propped up.

I'll use the term by the fact that there were federal dollars during the pandemic.

COVID that were coming into the state.

Tony Evers decided to use those to supplement money to childcare providers to keep it affordable and keep it going.

Those monies are now done not being replaced by the Trump administration or the Republican-controlled Congress.

So that puts the ball in Wisconsin's court.

And if they don't use part of the four billion with a B,

surplus of state money, and they don't use part of that four billion to supplement childcare.

It'll be catastrophic.

So Tony Evers last night said, look, guys and gals of the Republican legislature, if you don't include childcare in the state budget at a reasonable level, I'm not signing it.

So we'll discuss that a little bit later on in the show.

RFK Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, testifying before Congress today.

Doesn't know.

Doesn't know what's on his own agency website.

We'll have the cut for you in Mr. Kennedy's own words there.

And also, what's worse today, Zombers?

An ice creamer custard standoff.

How about that?

I mean, neither is bad, but...

And

it's not even ice cream.

It's not even

ice cream.

It's soft serve versus custard.

Right.

So we'll discuss that in hour two and much more along the way.

But first of all, it's 11 minutes past the hour of two o'clock.

I wanted to start off here.

We talked about this yesterday.

Had the guest here on the show from the University of San Francisco.

But he thanks to Shaly Pitt.

And by the way, our great.

news director for hooking us up with Stephen Zunez, professor of politics at Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco, helping us to walk through what's going on the Middle East.

And Professor Zunez said yesterday on this program, when I asked him the question, well, you know, is there a chance that maybe what President Trump here is doing could actually lead to

A peaceful resolution and help make the US safer by disarming Iran and and bring some peace and and a person that has a doctorate in Middle Eastern studies said no It turns out that no bombing people is not going to bring them to the table quicker really That's kind of my short synopsis of what he said in much better terms Well last night

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform and declared the thing over.

Said we should call a 12-day war.

Just look down at history.

I have brought peace to the region.

There is a ceasefire agreement.

In effect.

He said last night that Israel and Iran had agreed to a, quote, complete and total ceasefire, unquote.

A move he said would end the 12-day conflict between the two countries.

The ceasefire would take hold in stages, the president said.

A White House official told CBS News that Iran would halt strikes against Israel from midnight Eastern time last night, and Israel was to stop striking Iran 12 hours after that, noon Eastern today.

Another 12 hours after that, or midnight Eastern time tonight, or early Wednesday morning, would want to say, the war would be considered over.

Well, this morning,

Israel accused Iran of launching several missiles at Israeli territory.

At least one made an impact in the southern city of Beersheba, killing four people.

It was unclear at the time whether the missiles were fired before or after the ceasefire was due to take effect, but Israel's defense chief accused Iran of breaching the agreement and ordered a response.

Israel later said it had launched a final round of strikes and Iran

before the ceasefire began.

Well, President Trump said this morning that the ceasefire was still, quote, in effect, unquote.

It appeared to be holding.

But earlier this morning, Trump voiced frustration with both countries, accusing them of violating the agreement he had announced just hours earlier.

Israel accused Iran of breaching the agreement minutes before it was intended to take effect.

Instead it would be responding forcefully quote-unquote What Trump did not like this?

He thought this was easy peasy.

Look, he just throws a few bombs out there.

Are you telling this over?

I'll take credit for it.

It's like it's like, you know the apprentice Of course I joke This is what and God loves bombers for a clean it up to keep us on the air because this this is an actual quote from our actual president

We're going to play the entire clip because people say, well, Todd, you know, you, you, you chopped this up to make it sound like you said things that no, we're going to play the whole thing as he went to Marine force one.

This more Marine one this morning on his way, leaving the White House, the, the reporter gaggle as they call it, stopped him to interview the president on what's going on in the Middle East.

Here we go.

Yeah, I do.

They violated it, but Israel violated it too.

Are you questioning if Israel was committed?

Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I've never seen before.

The biggest load that we've seen.

I'm not happy with Israel.

You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them.

So I'm not happy with them.

I'm not happy with Iran either.

But I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because of one rocket.

that didn't land, that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn't land.

I'm not happy about that.

We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing.

Do you understand that?

That was the President of the United States.

His reaction to not being able to solve

The Middle Eastern problem that has gone on for decades, if not centuries, was you have two sides that have been fighting so hard and so long, you know what?

They don't know what the F they're doing.

Now, the reason I'm chuckling about this is because I watched this earlier on network television from CBS, ABC, CNN, all played that clip.

The CBS reporter.

introduced the clip that we just played by saying, quote, this morning, the president used strong language when describing the Middle Eastern situation, and then played it.

And this is what just grates on me, grates on me, like nails on a chalkboard.

And these are the little things, in my opinion, that are changing the way that we

digest the news.

Because I'm telling you, if Barack Obama had used that kind of language on the lawn of the White House, there'd be all kinds of folks on the right and especially from conservative media that would have said Barack Obama's a thug.

He's using gang language in the White House.

But no, legacy media like CBS is introducing that clip by calling that language strong.

strong.

In other words, to make it sound like he's a leader, like he's a strong president.

Strong language, in my opinion, is when George H. W. Bush put together an international coalition to stop Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Kuwait and said, look, we have worked with our international partners, allies around the world, and if Saddam Hussein does not leave Kuwait, we will take decisive action.

That's strong language in my opinion from a president of the United States Just dropping an F bomb Because it turns out that Donald Trump doesn't understand the Middle East and he is chosen to in his second term Appoint people around him who are yes men and women who also don't fully understand the Middle East Guess who does Steven Zunez

Professor of Politics at Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco, who was on this program yesterday, who said, no, this ain't gonna work.

Because to solve difficult problems, you have to have people that, guess what, have gone to a university, like the University of Wisconsin, and understood, studied, learned from people around the world.

so that you can actually get diplomacy.

People like James Earl Carter, president of the United States Democrat, who actually fostered a real peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

We'll come back on the other side.

Take your phone calls, 855-752-4842.

Don't go anywhere.

It's The All Ball Show.

It's Tuesday, and you're listening to The Civic Media, radio network.

And there's a rose in the fist and love And the eagle flies with the dove And if you can't be with the one you love, honey Love the one you with Love the one you with Love the one you with

show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Ready Network.

I love that song.

That is what the MAGA folks are playing in DC today.

They voted for a guy who said, we're not going to war.

Tulsi Gabbard said, vote for Donald Trump.

He is a peacemaker.

The MAGA said, we don't need any more wars.

We want to vote for an isolationist.

And now Donald Trump has got us into a situation.

Where we're darn near at war he thought he solved it in a few hours, but so far Not looking like it The muggers they can't be with the one they love they can't be with a person who doesn't start a war so they got to love the one they're with You know I think of every time I hear this song

Crosby stills and or Nash

them to know I think of my great friend

former producer and the producer of Late Night with Todd Albaugh, you'll be a Platteville, Clark H.V.

Jillson.

The H.V.

stands for Harvey Villages.

Not

really.

You know who Harvey Villages was?

No.

He played Tattoo on Fantasy Island.

That does not help me.

Jillson!

Anyway...

Back to the matters at hand, Donald Trump, hey, if you're a Republican, you gotta love the one you're with, baby.

Donald Trump tried to broker, thought he'd get peace through bombs, I guess, I don't know.

And it turns out now he's very upset dropping up bombs this morning in the White House lawn because the peace ain't holding real well.

And now here, late breaking word, this is courtesy and exclusive

of CNN just came across the wire says the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back by months according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by four people briefed on it the assessment which has not been previously reported

was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm.

It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by the U.S.

Central Command in the aftermath of the U.S.

strikes, one of the sources said.

The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran's nuclear ambitions is ongoing and could change as more intelligence becomes available.

But the early findings...

are at odds with President Donald Trump's repeated claims that the strike, quote, completely and totally obliterated, unquote, Iran's nuclear enrichment facility.

Secretary of Defense Pete Higgseth also said on Sunday that Iran's nuclear ambitions had, quote, been obliterated, unquote.

Now, according to US intelligence and military, not so much.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Let's go to the phone lines.

Charles, listening to WAUK and beautiful Milwaukee joins us.

Charles, thanks for listening.

Let's see.

Hey, good afternoon, Todd.

Todd, you hit it right on the head.

He's clueless.

He has no idea anything about foreign affairs.

He's putting people around him that know nothing.

Um, the counter-terrorism guy, 22 years old.

He knows nothing.

He, I don't even think he, he was, I don't even think he was born when 9-11 happened.

So he's clueless.

And you know why he's super irate, Todd?

I, I, I want to say it was Lindsey Graham.

Don't quote me on that.

But one of these ignorant people said, you know, if Donald Trump bombs Iran, solves peace, he will win a Nobel Peace Prize.

And a lot of this.

is to do with some thinking that he's going to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

You can't even

keep peace here in your own country.

Charles, you probably know better than I. I don't know in my understanding of history, I don't know anybody who won a peace prize by dropping a bomb.

That doesn't come to mind real quick for me.

Todd, I swear it was either it was Lindsey Graham or a Republican person that I heard a few days ago.

Hey, if he drops a bomb on Iran, he will win the new.

I'm the.

No, something that you're right.

I mean, he was he went to his true social platform and he was he was bemoaning that.

I mean, ad nauseam, carrying on and on.

I'll never get a prize for this.

I'll never get a piece.

I mean, the guy he's upset.

I mean, but, you know, he's a guy.

We know this about him, right?

He's a guy that goes to invite his friends at Mar-a-Lago, makes up a golf tournament, cheats to win so he can have his own trophy.

I mean, he loves he loves trophies.

And he just wants another trophy to put up there on the cheap, not even real gold, mantle down in the Oval Office.

And who talks about, oh, their response was weak.

This is the president of the free world.

And he said, oh, their response was weak, or we obliterated.

You know nothing once they drop bombs.

You don't you don't have people in there right away saying, oh, well, this is what was destroyed.

And this wasn't it takes days or maybe even weeks to find that information out.

But Todd, if he says it, Fox News covers it.

They got the they got their marching papers.

This is what every reporter says.

And if you keep saying it, it must be true.

And his people will believe it.

You are right, Charles.

Thank you so much for listening.

I appreciate it.

Have a great day down there in beautiful Milwaukee by the Lake.

We'll continue to follow this.

see what happened.

I mean, I just, again, there is some amount of, I don't want to call it comedy, I guess, but kind of it makes it chuckle a little bit.

But the sad thing is real people are dying, real people are gonna die.

And in my opinion, what these actions have done by Trump and the people around him have actually made the region less stable.

Welcome back.

Talk about, uh, what's happening to RFK Jr.

He doesn't know what's on his own agency website, but he got caught with his pants down.

Not pleasant at all.

Come by on the back.

It's the all-ball show at Civic Media, Pam Yankee, and the Farm Reports next.

I'll pass the hour at two o'clock on this Tuesday, June 24, Zomers on the board, spending the tunes.

Glad to have you here.

Talk to the little national news.

Want to flip from Trump in the Middle East to closer to home here out at Washington, D.C.

Congress, but a lot of talk.

I'm not sure.

I don't think we've spent enough time on it quite frankly.

And it's time we do.

The.

National recommendation, at least according to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, JFK Jr.

Pardon me.

RFK Jr.

has now said that I believe starting late summer early fall that they're not going to recommend the COVID vaccine unless you're like over 65 years old.

And certainly not.

to pregnant moms.

And this has caused a lot of consternation.

I've heard our own Dr. Kristin Lierly, who has the great program on WISS Noshgash and WGBW in Green Bay every Saturday.

You can listen to it for free by downloading the Civic Media app that Dr. Lierly show every weekend on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dr. Lierly has, and these are, this is Todd terms, not exactly what Dr. Lierly said, but as I interpret what she said, that by not offering or recommending the COVID vaccine to pregnant moms, that puts the babies at risk, that puts the infant mortality rate could go higher.

And so here now, Senator, today, Senator Kelly,

of the great state of Illinois, our neighbor to the south.

Senator Kelly had RFK Jr.

on the stand as they say in a committee hearing and decided to question the secretary.

That's how Tommy Thompson says secretary, secretary.

The secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr.

on COVID.

This is how it's done.

What you said was wrong.

We're not depriving anybody of choice.

If a pregnant woman wants the COVID-19 vaccine, she can get it.

No longer recommending it because there was no science supporting that recommendation.

Your study after study that shows adverse events, one study, 27 adverse events.

earning pregnancy from that

campaign.

I'm going to

interrupt

you because I need to reclaim another study

shows an increase in miscarriage.

There's no safety data

for it.

So we're not going to

recommend.

True.

We don't have safety.

We have a pediatrician that is on this committee.

Not true.

I'll go back to does HHS COVID-19 vaccine webpage reflected department's view viewpoint and COVID-19 vaccines.

Please.

Yes or no.

I didn't understand the question.

You're asking if it.

the HHS's COVID-19 vaccine webpage reflect the department's viewpoint on COVID-19 vaccines.

I

imagine it does.

I haven't seen the website.

You haven't seen HHS's COVID-19 vaccine.

I haven't read the

entire

message.

Well, it's kind of troubling that you're unaware of what your own department's website states on the safety and efficacy of the vaccination.

Let me read it directly to you.

COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and COVID-19 vaccines are available to everyone six months and older.

Getting vaccinated is the best way to help protect people from COVID-19.

get vaccinated if you haven't.

Chairman, I have the paper copy of the website to insert into the record.

COVID.

There you go.

Senator Kelly from Illinois, holding Secretary RFK Jr.'

's feet to the fire, Department of Health and Human Services, apparently on the website still says, no, actually pregnant moms should get the COVID vaccine.

Yeah.

And his point of, well, I don't know the entirety of the website.

off the back of my hand.

Sure.

But this is one of the most important and most contentious issues that he himself talks about constantly or at least used to.

You'd think he'd know what it says about this specific issue.

You would think.

And the fact that the bottom line here is, we're talking about the health and safety of American citizens for goodness sakes.

And it just shows that this guy, again, like many of the people, not all,

But many of at least the the higher ranking peoples in this version of the Trump administration in Department of Defense Pete Hegseth chief amongst them are simply unqualified for the positions they hold RFK jr.

Is simply unqualified for the position he holds You say well some people are gonna say well Todd you just pick it on on MAGA on Republicans.

No, I'm not

Why do I say that?

Former four-time, four-time elected Republican governor of Wisconsin, Tommy George Thompson, was chosen, nominated by former president George W. Bush to be his health and human services secretary, was confirmed by the Senate.

I actually went out there with my former boss when Tommy was secretary, got a tour of DHSS.

Tommy's a guy who you might disagree with a lot of things.

I certainly have called him out for his current iteration of of supporting Trump But in that iteration circa 2001 2002 He was working on not just vaccinations but on keeping food safety secure having first alerts for airborne attacks What he was president

on the UW system.

He was lauded and copied by other universities around the country during COVID for his addressing the COVID pandemic.

throughout the University of Wisconsin system.

He set up basically, not basically, it was a major testing clinic that wasn't just available for students, staff, and faculty at UW-Madison, but anybody in Madison could go there to get tested for free in real time.

I went there a couple of different times, like before I went and visited my mom for Thanksgiving, like the night before I went and got tested on the campus at UW-Madison.

That was that idea.

Was set up by Tommy Thompson So this idea that that well, you're not a real Republican or something if you if you're for vaccines if you're for test TV if you think that COVID is real this iteration of non science anti science anti facts was put in place by Donald Trump and his acolytes You I may disagree with my former party

But if you have legit people in positions, that's one thing.

But this guy, RFK Jr., has no business.

Or as we say back home, no business.

He got no business being Health and Human Services Secretary.

And that's dangerous.

It's dangerous for the Department of Defense.

It's dangerous for Department of Health and Human Services.

It's dangerous for all of us.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

By the way, my informal assistant producer, Heather Gloy, on Facebook saying that, by the way, the Trump nomination for the Peace Prize was withdrawn today.

Imagine that.

Imagine that.

Great information.

Appreciate that.

So go to the phone lines, mark in the sack.

Mark, thanks for calling.

Let's see.

I don't know of many of the people that Trump has in his current cabinet that are actually qualified for their position.

I mean, the Pete Hegseth, I'm surprised Hegseth hasn't offered his head to Donald Trump over the debacle of the dropping out trying to take out the Iranian nuclear facility without without without actually knowing what they

the actual results were going

to be.

And not to interrupt, Mark, but to the point in case people didn't hear earlier, according to exclusive reporting from CNN a few minutes ago, US intelligence and military command are saying now it appears that the nuclear program of Iran was not taken out and only set back a few months.

But go ahead.

And it's just ridiculous.

I mean, like for the whole vaccine thing, I mean, vaccines have been wrong for

in the modern vaccines have been wrong for a long time, but for God's sake, I think in the 17th century, the Chinese were working on a vaccine for smallpox.

I mean, it is just ridiculous that the position you should be taking on vaccines, let's make sure that they're safe and effective.

And the COVID vaccine has been safe and effective.

I mean, I think Kennedy was worried about mercury in the vaccines back in the day, and I thought that was a big bugle-bubble, but apparently it's the vaccines themselves that they're...

about vaccines have saved millions upon millions of lives.

And now with, for example, now with us getting out of USAID, I mean, how many people are going to die in points around the globe now because we're not providing vaccines to people that prevent preventable diseases?

I mean, it is just beyond me that these guys haven't all offered their resignations to Donald Trump the way they embarrass themselves.

And by extension, embarrassing Donald Trump on a daily basis.

Totally agree mark.

Thank you so much for the call really really appreciate it eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two if you want to weigh in on I thought that senator Kelly from Illinois did a great job and that's how and other people have done it as well That's how You in my opinion Get the truth across not by necessarily yelling not by name-calling not by ginning things up

But just holding people to the fire and saying, here are the facts.

I have a copy of your website, a screenshot.

This is what it says.

Why are you contradicting that?

Now, even even some hardcore manga folks are still not going to believe that.

But I'm looking at more of people in Wisconsin that are the the Evers Johnson voters, those people in Wisconsin that voted for Tony Evers and Ron Johnson in that election.

the people that voted for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Or Tammy Baldwin and Donald Trump.

What did I say?

You said Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Oh Jesus,

right.

Tammy Baldwin and Donald Trump.

Because those voters exist.

We've seen that.

We have the proof in the elections.

And those are the people, those voters who are the swing voters of this state, I think when you do it the way that Senator Kelly of Illinois did it, that cuts through.

855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Gene, it'll Claire, listening at WCFW, the tap.

Gene, always a pleasure, I would say.

It's a pleasure too.

I just have to compliment you on your outstanding job that you did when this was breaking news, when the bombing occurred.

Well,

thank you.

And I just

thought you did an outstanding job.

I was really impressed.

um... i just i want to add a comment

i

am so glad that i was not watching this particular hearing in response to rfk getting caught with his pants down because i'm glad i didn't have to see the nauseating and indecent exposure of this man

inability to be

in that

position, but I

just thought I'd give you a comment on that.

Thank you.

And by the way, a shout out to our news director, Shaly Pittman for, obviously, books and folks and also to our great engineering team and all the people behind the scenes that help us do that special report over the weekend.

I just get the privilege of being behind the microphone, but I could do none of that without the great team here at Civic Media.

So really a shout out to each and every one of them as well.

Jim in Brookfield quickly on WAUK.

About a minute left, Jim.

It's all yours.

All right, thank you.

I just want to say when RFK doesn't even know what's on his website, when Higgs Smith gets up and praises the president more than the troops and the individuals who actually planned it and carried out the attack, it's a blatant example of what has happened when loyalists are appointed as opposed to qualified individuals.

Not even the most qualified, but the qualified individuals.

You gave a great example, Tom, with Tommy Thompson.

And I just want to say quickly about this Iran bombing, you know, Trump has to politicize everything.

He told select Republicans about it in advance and Fox News in advance, no Democrats.

I mean, come on, really?

Great call.

Really great call, Jim.

Thanks so much.

Up against the clock.

Come on back.

Talk Tony Evers and why he says he will, in fact, veto the entire budget.

Don't go anywhere.

It's the all ball show on the Civic Media, Brady Network.

Having fun doing it. Welcome back to the Todd Allball Show on the Civic Media Ready Network. Eight minutes now before the top of the hour at three o'clock. Kind of ABC, CBS, or James Kelly news for you, depending upon which of our great stations you're listening to, followed by a check of weather with Brittany Merleau and a great meteorology team. Looks like some more rain in the forecast. Heavy rains for part to Wisconsin over the next 24 to 48 hours. Things will begin to dry off over the weekend.

And then nicer conditions for the start of your fourth July week. Can you believe that summer's already next week, fourth of July? Wow, you're right. That's crazy, isn't it? It always goes so fast. Yeah, always goes very, very fast indeed. And then our two, we are going to have what's worse for you today, a soft serve versus frozen custard edition. And at the bottom next hour.

Alex Murdoch, try that again, Todd. Alex Murdoch. Medarski, is that right? Medarski, yes. Medarski. See, here's, Alex Murdoch is gonna be here talking about, he's from the Nature Conservancy, gonna be here in studio, I understand, talking about more of the Nelson Knowles Stewardship Program being held up on the state budget.

I'm stumbling over his words now because people have been calling in, lighting up the phone lines, that Todd says, nuclear wrong. That I have a George W. Bush. Nuclear. That's what I say, nuclear. That's not, no. You said, nuclear. This is nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. Nuclear. No.

clean, new, clean, or have you ever heard the word colloquialism? Colloquialism. It means it means people say things, pronounce things differently, depending upon what part of the state or the country that you're in. Now here, our unofficial assistant producer of the show, Heather says, you are fine.

people that get bent out of shape can take a hike. If they want to be mean to someone who has overcome a speech impediment, that tells you a lot, just saying. Wow. That's why, despite the fact that my dad works at a nuclear power plant, and you've said the word before, I don't usually say anything about it because, yeah, people say words differently. Everyone knows what you mean. You could go after George W. Bush for a lot of things, but I thank going after him for the way he pronounced nuclear.

is a pretty small thing. I don't know. That's just me. But if it bothers you, let me know. We'll try to do better. Five minutes before the hour of a dollar two. So we got, we got Alex going to be here at the Nature Conservancy. This will be fun. He's always, he's always great. We enjoy having him here. I spilled a little bit of coffee. Everything's fine. Don't worry. Anyway, let's let's talk a little news of the state level from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Hope Karnap and Jesse Appoian Headline Governor Tony Evers says he won't sign a state budget that doesn't extend child care counts payments Zombers doing cleanup and aisle to you by the way. Thank you. I wish you're fantastic Piwaki Dateline Piwaki Democratic Governor Tony Evers do a line drew a line as Republicans continue in fighting over the state budget

He won't sign the two-year spending plan if it doesn't include continued payments to childcare providers, a program known as childcare counts. Evers hinted that the program was part of negotiations over the state budget, though Republicans have pitched alternatives. They argue it would be more directly helpful with parents with high costs. Work of the state budgets ground to a halt last week and

Evers urged Republicans to, quote, get their act together and come back and let's finish up, unquote. He went on to say, quote, is necessary for people to understand Republicans, especially how important this is for the state of Wisconsin, unquote. Evers said of continuing payments to childcare providers, quote, is going to hurt not only kids, but our economy, unquote.

Governor is absolutely right about that my opinion the governor made the comment to reporters yesterday after touring bright horizons in beautiful p walkie home of the WAP brothers JG Watt TJ Watt Derek Watt They don't p walkie doesn't talk enough about the WAP brothers by the way I think they could be doing more for their for their tourism the home of the ship of big signs home of the WAP brothers I would

Anyway, a governor was there at Bright Horizons in Milwaukee after stopping in another child care center in Eau Claire earlier in the day now at times I can be a little tough on the governor and his team, but this Props this is exactly what I'm talking about. This is exactly in my opinion what Governor Evers should be doing. He's going out. He's meeting the people. He's talking with local press He's taking a stand and I think he's calling to some degree the Republican bluff

Because they've been saying, well, you know, we might not pass a budget if Governor Evers doesn't do what we want. It seems to be working. Great reporter AJ Biaport from CBS 58 Milwaukee posted this today, said here's a couple of quotes from Assembly GOP leaders in Madison talking about the budget. Quote, if people are ready to work, we'll get things done if everybody wants to be at the table. Unquote. Speaker Voss, according to Biaport, says he's talked to Governor Evers this morning.

the clear message that key Senate Republicans remain the holdup. This is consistent with what we heard from Democratic State Senator Kelder Royce yesterday on this show that there is infighting right now amongst Republicans in the state Capitol, a block away from where I sit, that they're not on the same page. Robin Voss and the Assembly Republicans appear to move forward, have the votes.

But Devin Lemmehew, the senator, the Senate Majority Leader, does not have his ducks in a row, as we say in politics. The reason might be, in part, with the new maps they're now in effect, Republicans are gonna have a fight to hang on to the Senate. And one of the most vulnerable Republicans is Howard Markline of the 17th Senate District, who just happens...

to be the co-chair of the joint finance committee. Howie? Howie? You feel the heat? Come on back. Our two is straight ahead. Not going to want to miss it. What's worse is next on the Civic Media. Ready, number?

From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd

Alba.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Dummers.

I'm producer and engineer on the board.

It's six minutes now past the hour of three o'clock.

Welcome into hour number two of the program, Tuesday, June 24th, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite.

Glad to be with you from the headquarters in downtown Madison.

as Terry Barr, so wonderfully introduces this every day.

Thank you, Terry.

Uh, high clouds, I'd say.

High clouds right now in downtown Madison.

The sun trying to peek through looks like some more rain for parts of Wisconsin later on this afternoon into tonight and tomorrow.

Then finally this weekend gonna start to dry out a little bit.

By the way, tomorrow's summers, tomorrow is the first of the concerts on the square.

in Madison.

So a little nervous about that for people coming down.

If you haven't been here before, it's worth it.

I mean, it can get a little congested on concert on the square evenings, but it's worth it.

Come down.

You can bring whatever food you want.

You can put your own blanket out on the Capitol lawn starting at three o'clock in the afternoon to reserve your spot.

And then you come down and enjoy a lovely concert by the the I guess the Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and It's always it's a great time.

It's a good time had by all.

I'm gonna have to look up what they're playing tomorrow Ken Lewis once said yeah, you could you can look that up But our concerts in the square supposed to kick off tomorrow.

We'll see if they whether

yeah

next week looks perfect study skies and and 80 degrees Coming up this hour

At the bottom of the hour, Alex Madorsky will be here for the Nature Conservancy talking about the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund.

He's been on the show before.

Got to get an update from him because this is a program whether you're, I think, and this is just stigma and stereotypes, but people who like the outdoors kind of get categorized into one side or the other, which I think is unfortunate.

because there are a lot of people like me who enjoy both sides of this issue.

I'll say it's an issue.

I really enjoy just going hiking and taking in nature.

I find it very therapeutic camping.

I also, I don't do as much as I used to, but I also enjoy a bird hunting in particular, pheasant and turkey, you know, you go bear hunting.

Or

I have

at least.

Yeah, you certainly have in the past.

So.

I don't think it should be categorized as, well, you're either a hunter or a fisher, or else, you know, you're a bird watcher or a butterfly enthusiast.

I mean, people try to put people in categories like that.

And here's the bottom line.

It doesn't matter how you enjoy nature.

If you don't protect it, if you don't have conservation programs, ain't nobody, as Jim Harbaugh likes to say, ain't nobody gonna enjoy it.

So Alex Madorsky will be here talking about the Knowles Nelson stewardship fund a great bipartisan cause Historically in this state, but again if a budget doesn't get signed by the governor or doesn't end or doesn't get passed by the Legislature this could put a lot of the Knowles Nelson stewardship fund projects in jeopardy So he'll be here at the bottom of the hour for that and our old friend Pete Schwabba the Schwabba nator gonna be here calling in

at 350, talking about what's coming up on his great show because he is doing his show right here for the World Headquarters tonight.

Right in your very spot.

You're just keeping

the

chair warm for

him.

I'm literally keeping the chair warm for Pete Schwab later on tonight.

And I was very nervous, or not nervous, I was very jealous because I heard now, I didn't get a chance to listen to the show last night, but I heard that he had dancers.

on the show that there were, I found some glitter on the floor when I came in and I thought, well, is that what's going on there?

Must have been after I left last night.

I was there for

the first hour, but

that may or may not have been true.

But we'll talk to Pete Schwab about that and what's coming up on his fine program as well.

Right now it's 10 minutes past the hour of three o'clock time once again for what's worse.

Let's go.

Once again for what's worse no prize money involved nothing give away, but it is your chance to have your voice heard across all 11 news talk sports stations on the civic media ready network no better place to have your bimis Advertised and right here on civic media.

Give us a give us a shout out get us get in contact by going to civic media dot us And our sales department be happy to work with you would love to have you be a sponsor or partner speaking of sports brewers

As you heard there from Clemens over the break, uh, brewers had the loss last night.

Manager Pat Murphy talked weird game, weird and wacky stuff.

As Johnny Carson used to say, brewers took a loss to the pirates.

They're going to try again tonight.

But now tomorrow, tomorrow, the brewers are playing the pirates again and the Mizz, the new rookie Fima and Phenom pitcher for the brewers is pitching tomorrow, the Mizz.

And so I thought, well, you know,

What are the chances of maybe maybe a couple of the civic media?

Boxed seats or the club level seats are available So I last night before Luke Mathers went off on his career Caribbean luxurious vacation I texted him and I saw you still in town.

Yeah, what do you need?

I said any chance there's a couple of tickets for

Uh, the game on Wednesday or the miz is, and the, and the pirates picture is fantastic.

It's going to be an all time pitching duel.

You understand?

And, and Luke tested, texted back and said, uh, yeah, but the game is during your show.

It's an afternoon game.

And I said, well, I suppose that's on the liner sheet here in the booth, but I didn't look at it.

But when did that happen something?

Maybe how fun would that be?

People would not enjoy it.

I mean, the people here, the 12th floor wouldn't enjoy it.

But how fun would that be to broadcast the game from the club box seats on my phone?

That would be pretty cool until we get in legal trouble for doing so, because

I guarantee you we would not

be allowed to do that.

I wouldn't be calling the game, you understand?

I feel like they still wouldn't like that.

I'd be doing our normal show, but just from the seats.

I would comment on the game.

I would just say, well, I was interested.

No, everybody said, well, the phone lines were like, just settled down, just joking around for good and sakes, not like a mispronounced nuclear.

All right, category today from, uh, from our great writers, the category what's worse and timely indeed in this heat streak that we're in right now, this heat wave.

What's worse, soft serve ice cream or frozen custard?

Soft serve ice cream or frozen custard.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

We can also text us on the Civic Media app.

If you don't have it, download it today.

You're gonna need it Friday.

We're gonna give away on Friday four more of those club level seats for a future Brewer's game, but you can't play if you don't have the Civic Media app.

Go to your Apple or Android device today.

Go to the search bar, type in civic CIVIC media, takes less than a minute, it's free.

It's what Gale King at CBS calls a deal, the Civic Media app.

What's worse, soft serve ice cream or frozen custard?

855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Robert.

Listening in McFarlane.

By the way, Robert is ready to start the Richland Center fan club.

I'm all for it.

Thank you, Robert.

I appreciate that.

Robert listening on WMDX here in Madison says, soft serve is the diet of ice cream.

That stuff is crap.

Very strong, very strong opinion out of the gate.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842 or text us on the app.

What's worse?

Soft serve ice cream or frozen custard.

Steve in Lodi on WMDX comes right back.

Frozen custard is worse.

Wow.

All right.

855-752-4842.

Dave in New Berlin says soft serve ice cream is worse.

It melts faster.

Oh, that's very interesting.

That's an

interesting take.

You know, I will say an in-defensive soft serve when it used to be really cheap from McDonald's.

No, back in my day, when I was younger, we'd go to the library and then walk across the street to McDonald's, bring a couple quarters and get ice cream.

And soft serve, when you could get it with pocket change, was very nice.

You know, you got your brand new books to read, you eat your ice cream

and

then make sure to wash your hands in between before you read.

Right.

And I do think, I'm going to give my opinion here a little bit, but I do think there are different levels of soft serve.

Oh yeah.

It depends on this

watery.

Yeah,

or or crystal Lee, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

You know, what's worse, soft serve ice cream or frozen custard, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.

Dave in New Berlin.

Oh, we read that one.

This is melts faster.

Yeah.

I for me, there's a pretty clear winner.

Heather in Eau Claire, listening or watching on Facebook says soft serve.

is more watery, melts faster.

But custard is worse?

What?

Can you elaborate?

Why do you think custard is worse?

Does she really think that?

That custard is worse?

I'm rather shocked, to be honest with you.

I can understand people thinking custard is worse.

For example, custard makes my sisters cough.

Something about it.

Cough?

Yeah.

Like, if they eat ice cream, they're fine, but if they eat custard, they start coughing.

No way.

No, I'm not making that up.

I'm serious.

I'm

not joking around

here.

Our old friend Rob, down in beautiful Monroe, Wisconsin, in Green County, listening on to MDX, says soft serve is worse, except that frozen custard is worse for my girlish figure.

Well, I'm right there with you, my friend.

I understand that.

Jim in Brookfield says soft serve always seems to taste like it came from a machine.

Well, it did.

It has to the multiple flavors of custard cannot be beat.

Thank you, Jim and Brookfield.

Jill in Madison on WMDX, maybe the best response says that's an unfair question.

They are not even remotely the same thing and I love them both.

I agree 100% Jill.

All right, that's good Jill 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 what's worse soft serve ice cream or frozen custard Heather and Facebook elaborates on her earlier shocking take saying that

Sauce serves more watery because it melts faster, but she says custard's worse.

She says, I can only eat a small amount of custard or my stomach is not happy.

Maybe too much dairy slash custard.

I don't know.

All right.

Well, that's, that's, that's fair, I guess.

But I, I, I mean, I got to say, I don't call verse custard does not affect my stomach in a bad way.

My waistline, maybe, but not my, not my stomach.

And I know there are listeners down in Milwaukee.

There are local custard places in Milwaukee southeast Wisconsin that they a lot of big fans down there I will say that there is something to be said for the old Dairy Queen dipped cone

where they would dip it like in strawberry, or butterscotch, or chocolate, and they're murder for parents, because the kids get them, and because as soon as they're dipped, it starts melting underneath that hard shell, and it's just messy as all get out, and it's terrible for parents and small kids.

But they were so

good.

They were so good.

Also, a dilly bar.

You gotta love the dilly bars.

What's the best dilly bar flavor, though?

We once had a chocolate, my opinion, chocolate, and...

vanilla ice cream.

We once had a local elected candidate in Richland County.

Her name was Lorna Dilly.

Serious.

And she gave out at the fair for her campaign, Dilly Bards for Lorna Dilly.

And she won.

She won.

It works.

Welcome back, Zomers.

I will tell you what's worse, at least in terms of our take on it.

Don't go anywhere.

Soft serve or frozen custard is the all ball show on the Civic Media.

Ready to

know.

It's

a custard pie by your favorite band, Led Zeppelin.

There's a song called Custard Pie?

There sure is.

All right.

It is a very thinly veiled metaphor.

And we'll leave it at that.

We'll leave it at that.

All right.

What's worse, soft serve ice cream or frozen custard?

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

That is the what's worse category today.

Lots of opinions on this.

I love each and every one.

And appropriate as we are in this heat wave, hopefully on the back end of it here.

My sister, Heather, has been texted in.

I'm surprised.

The thing is you didn't know about your sister.

You know, you know.

all your life.

Turns out she prefers soft serve over custard because too much custard upsets her stomach.

And she says, now we were talking about Dairy Queen.

And those Dairy Queen, those dipped cones.

They're so good.

She says, yes, Dairy Queen soft serve is the best.

She says, now I want to get a cherry frosty float.

Remember those?

Yum.

I said, yes.

The Mr. Misty float.

Now you have to be careful if you order one of these, because a lot of the young kids behind the counter, they don't get it.

and you don't want the word, they swirl it all together.

The Mr. Misty, it's like, what do you call it, slushy.

It's like a version of the slushy.

And you get the cherry one, but you make sure you tell them you want the float.

So basically it's just cherry, Mr. Misty slush, and then they put like a big scoop, or whatever they call it, plop of vanilla sauce, dairy green sauce, and it's fantastic.

Mr. Misty Float, that's what you want to go to if you're a DQ person.

Megan, watching on YouTube says, yes, the Misty Float is one of the best from DQ.

What's worse?

Saucer, ice cream or frozen custard.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

AJ in Madison on WMDX says, not even a question.

Custard is better.

And it's like comparing mac and cheese to Alfredo.

Really?

Well,

I

think that's kind of proud.

I don't know.

That's that's pretty close for me as well.

I agree with that.

Um, and yeah, so I do think custard is better.

I do think soft serve is worse.

However, sometimes you do want mac and cheese instead of Alfredo, you know, um, sometimes you feel like a nut.

Sometimes you don't.

But for me, yeah, soft serve is easy to.

get wrong if the machines messed up.

Also, they seem to break all the time.

Whereas with Custard, I love mix-ins in my ice cream, like brownie pieces, like caramel, chocolate, all that good stuff.

And that doesn't work with SoftServe nearly as well.

Robert, listening in McFarland

at WMDX, says if the food ain't local, I don't buy it.

So Custard is where it's at.

Very good miss Linda checking in from the RC says looking up the ingredients of both custard has egg yolks It's more natural soft serve has non-dairy products.

That is true.

Yeah, I mean a soft serve really isn't technically ice cream

Yes, for those of you who do not know it's like cool whip the way custard works is you have ice cream and you add egg yolks and it makes it thicker That's most that's a oversimplification, but that's a

customer.

It has to have egg

yolk.

Yeah, meanwhile soft serve

is an ice cream liquid mixture that is kept at freezing temperatures, but constantly stirred so it never totally freezes.

There you go.

And so if the machine's messed up, you get the crystals or it's liquid.

Look, I enjoy both.

I mean, both have their place.

I'm not going to lie about that.

But for my money, for my money, you cannot beat Culver's Custard.

It is

a, it is,

it is a, just a staple.

In Wisconsin, as Ms.

Linda points out, it's all natural.

Craig Culver, he knows where to get his local ingredients.

He's got Wisconsin chickens.

You don't know this about Craig, but if you go up to Salk Prairie along Wisconsin River there, behind the beautiful headquarters of Culver's, he has a huge chicken coop.

where they have all their free-ranging chickens.

There's a coop where they sleep at night to protect them from the eagles, because a lot of eagles in sock prairie, they can come down and eat the Culver's chickens.

You don't want that.

So they go in there to sleep at night, but during the day, they're free-ranging up there in sock prairie, and then they gather the eggs, and that's how they make all the Culver's custard.

I was expecting that this was an elaborate setup for some kind of pun about, I don't know, something with chicken.

No, no, but the point is Culver's does it right.

They do, I'm sorry, I'm not sorry.

I'm just saying, in my opinion, they do it right.

And I was coming back from RSC this weekend on Sunday, it was hot as Hades, and I pulled over in Spring Green and got myself a Culver's mini concrete mixer with Butterfinger.

That's one of my favorite ones.

Camyn Appleton says, Todd, that sounds like an Irish tale.

Maybe a little bit.

Tom, listening in Jackson, says, there you go.

Leon's vanilla custard is the best.

Or cops.

I know that Leon's and cops down there in Milwaukee, lots of people really, really love that.

Terry, also listening on AUK.

Leon's custard is the best I've ever eaten.

It is in Milwaukee.

I have to say, yes, I have eaten Leon.

It's great stuff as well.

The nice thing is that Culver's, you don't have to be in Milwaukee.

It's a good substitute for the best thing.

But

hey, I think any Wisconsin based Culver's, any Wisconsin based Custard is...

is better.

Just can I say, we know how to do dairy right.

We know how to do dairy right.

Absolutely.

All right.

There is another great addition of what's worse.

That was a good one.

A lot of a lot of people getting in on that one and some controversy.

People have people have strong feelings as it turns out.

Also, strong feelings about conservation in the state of Wisconsin.

The Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund.

Do you enjoy the outdoors like Todd?

Yes, I'm talking about myself the third person.

Do you like the outdoors?

Absolutely.

I love the outdoors.

Alex Madorsky is going to be in for the nature of conservancy here after the break.

I'm going to talk a little bit about the Nelson, uh, Knowles Nelson stewardship fund and why this impasse a block up the street here at the Capitol between governor Evers and Republicans on the, uh, on the joint finance committee and in the legislature at large.

why this may endanger the Knowles Nelson Distortion Fund.

So coming back, we'll talk a little bit about that.

And then at 3.50, our old friend Pete Schwabonator is going to be in talking Night Light, what's coming up on his great program tonight.

Not going to miss it, stick around, news update is next.

It's the all balls show at Civic Media and the Civic Media.

Ready to work.

fun doing a welcome back to the title of our show on the civic media radio.

We're glad to have you along.

Thirty five minutes now past the hour of three o'clock on this Tuesday edition of the show, June 24th, 2025, coming up before the end of the show.

Pete Schwabba, our great friend and colleague host of Nightlight will be telling us what's coming upon his program tonight, originating

right from this very studio in which I am in, in this very seat of which I am in.

But right now, please to have with me in the seat next to me in studio.

Always love it when that happens.

From the Nature Conservancy, Alex Majorski is here.

Alex, thanks very much for being back on the program.

Thank you so much for having me back.

It's a lot of fun.

I love talking about conservation and what you folks do at the Nature Conservancy.

Although I wish it wasn't under these circumstances, we talked a while back about the Knowles Nelson stewardship fund as it makes its way trying to get more funding through the joint finance committee and the state legislature.

like a lot of programs running into a few roadblocks.

We'll get to that in a minute, but perhaps for people who hadn't heard the show last time you were here, tell us a little bit about the Nature Conservancy.

So the Nature Conservancy is the world's largest environmental organization.

We're in 79 countries and all 50 states, and we work to protect land, water, and all the precious species that...

live on those lands.

And you're, so you're, it's not just in Wisconsin.

You have to basically, I will call it a Wisconsin chapter.

Is that fair to say?

That's right.

We're Wisconsin chapter.

We've been open since 1959.

And thanks in part to the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Program, we're going to discuss we've helped protect over 240,000 acres of prime hunting, fishing,

outdoor recreation, sustainable forestry lands in this state.

That's incredible.

And again, for people that might not be aware and haven't heard of it, I think most people probably have the benefit of it.

But tell folks, explain to people if you could be so kind, the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund, what is it and how did it start?

So the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund is named in honor of two great Wisconsin statesmen.

Warren Knowles, a Republican governor who started the state's very first land conservation program in the 60s, as well as former governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson, who is known around the world as the founder of Earth Day.

These were two great Wisconsin conservation leaders, and this public private matching grant program was started in 1989 with huge bipartisan support to try to protect Wisconsin's outdoor heritage and grow it into the future.

Yeah, that's a marvelous explanation of it.

And you hit on a lot of key points.

I just want to kind of unpack here for people.

Because I think it's to me, this is a crown jewel of Wisconsin.

And to me, this is the.

the template that I wish more pieces of legislation would follow.

Number one, that because I know there's a lot of people that get salty overall, something's a complete government program.

You said it's a public private partnership here.

Explain a little bit more about that, please.

That's right.

So the Nature Conservancy and other nonprofit organizations who benefit from these programs, as well as cities and counties, we don't just knock on the door of state government and say.

Hey, we're great guys.

Why don't you give us a check?

What we do is go through a rigorous application process.

We bring usually half the money or more to the table and say, here's why we think this is a great investment for the people of Wisconsin.

And after we go through that process, if there's agreement, then we go ahead and get that project protected for the people of this state.

I think this is marvelous because you're getting people to literally invest in in conservation efforts across the state could be private contributors It could be businesses, but they're saying this is important to us

And and they put up a large amount of money and then it's like, oh, hey, let's have some state matching funds to go to go along with this.

The other part, uh, War Knowles, a longtime Republican and Republican governor, certainly different than the current iteration of my former party right now.

But I would say more of much more of a traditional Republican.

We've had Tia Nelson, the daughter of Governor Gaylord Nelson on this show, uh, a couple of different times and talking with passion about what her dad did.

U.S.

senators, you said former.

U.S.

Senator and governor to be the founder of Earth Day.

But then it was a Republican governor and Tommy Thompson who signed this legislation into law in 1989 as the Noel Nelson Stewardship Stewardship Program.

It's a great example of what can get done when people don't look at party monikers and just say what's best for the people of the state.

That's absolutely right.

And as challenging as it seems.

to me and to everybody who's listening right now, this program which has 93% support across party lines, across regional lines, is a perfect example of a way we can try to get back to that place when Republicans and Democrats would actually talk to one another and work with one another on the things that make Wisconsin great, like our great natural

resources.

I know you give us before last time you're here, but just remind people a couple of projects that they might use a lot, but they're like, Oh, I didn't know that's how that came about.

Give us a couple of examples.

If you could please about projects you all have been involved with.

Sure.

So we have some traditional legacy projects.

We like to call them that we continue to work on in the bare boo Hills, for example, closer to home here where we protect a lots of.

beautiful land, the kind of wetlands that help mitigate the floods we're increasingly seeing all over the state of Wisconsin.

We do preserve a lot of lands up north, but one thing I like to point out to people is a huge percentage of Wisconsinites live within a few miles.

of Knowles Nelson stewardship projects.

That's one of the first things I do when I talk to new legislators, I let them know.

Hey, a lot of people think we're just talking about land up north when I talk about the Knowles Nelson stewardship program.

But there's every chance that a bike path in your neighborhood was funded with Knowles Nelson stewardship dollars.

I think that's so important because I said that's in the first hour kind of plugging this segment that I think it's so unfortunate that.

Whatever you want to use whether it's stigma or stereotypes that somehow people that like conservation the outdoors get kind of boxed in these well either a you're a hunter and fisher person or B You're a bird watcher and a hiker and it if we don't have conservation None of those things are going to exist in its current fashion

None of those things are going to exist in their current fashion And I think also we don't want to compartmentalize people like that because there are a lot of Wisconsinites who love to

Watch certain kinds of birds and love to hunt certain other kinds.

Right.

I said I love to go hiking.

I love walking paths.

I love the outdoors, but I still I don't hunt as much as I used to by still occasionally bird hunt and pheasant and turkey.

And yeah, I mean, there should not be this categorization in my opinion.

I think it's just really, really unfortunate.

Talk to us a little bit about, by the way, we're talking with Alex Madorsky from the Nature Conservancy here in the Wisconsin chapter.

Alex, talk to us a little bit about the important.

of the funding in this current iteration of the budget and where things stand.

Absolutely, so it's really important in all.

put out a pitch and appeal right here.

The Nature Conservancy is part of a broad coalition of sporting organizations, outdoor recreation organizations, municipal groups supporting the stewardship program.

If you go to teamknollsnelson.org, there's lots of advocacy materials there.

And what we're urging people to do right now as the state budget is in a cloud of uncertainty is contact your legislators and you can do that through the website and contact the governor.

office as well.

Thank him for being a strong supporter of this program and let him know as you negotiate in this foggy arena of

the

state budget right now that something that's really important to you as one of his constituents is that he continue to bring that support.

to the forefront.

The program set to expire in June 2026.

And not only the stewardship program, but everything involved with the state budget.

It seems to be the case that at the moment, there are not sufficient votes to pass a biennial state budget through the state Senate.

And what I've been reminding people that that means is there's a Democratic governor, there's Republican majorities in both chambers of the legislature.

because there may need to be a bipartisan vote to pass a state budget.

That means every elected official counts right now.

It doesn't matter whether you're in a bright blue district, a ruby red district or a purple district.

Every legislator has an influence on whatever may come in the coming weeks and months.

So get in touch with them and let you let them know you support the program.

I still appreciate your insight and the way you can explain this in a very understandable way.

And I'm not going to drag you into other political things that you're not part of, but I just want to point out to our listeners, to our viewers, I talk about in the show all the time that too often when people want to play zero sum politics, oftentimes you're left with zero.

And in my experience, having worked at the State Capitol, having worked for a member of Congress in Washington, that the best politics are those that are pragmatic, that say, you know what, we can get 75% of what we want and live to fight another day rather than not getting anything and having what we really care about die.

And to me, correct me if I'm wrong, Alex, this would seem at one of those times where, yeah, there are other issues out there that

Both the governor and the Republicans legislature are saying if we don't get X, we're not going to have a budget.

And some of those things, like childcare, in my opinion, is worth taking a stand for.

But if there is no budget, this is a prime example of the Knowles-Nelson stewardship fund.

It's just going to go away.

And we're going to lose this crown jewel.

And you know better than anybody else, once these programs are gone.

It's really hard to get him back.

That's right.

My high school history teacher is going to be mad at me if he happens to be one of your listeners at home.

But somebody said politics is the art of the possible.

And I think that's right.

I think that people have to go into debates and battles.

vigorously as they might be fought knowing there's a good chance you're not going to get a hundred percent of what you're looking for.

But you got to keep programs like this going to strengthen and invest in our state.

And you know the same is true with the state budget.

I won't talk out of school beyond my my ken here of the environment.

But.

Wisconsin does have a constitution, unlike the federal government.

We keep on going.

We don't shut down the government.

We keep on going at current funding levels if there is no new state budget.

But that means a lot of worthwhile programs are going to potentially cease to be or be dramatically underfunded.

So it's my hope that the state assembly, the state senate and the governor can figure out a path forward on all of these things, including a strong reauthorization for the stewardship program.

I'm not asking you to rely any private conversations you've had, but without naming names, as you, and I think you're a prime example of a, I mean, are you technically a lobbyist?

I am a lobbyist,

registered and proud of it.

Yeah, I was gonna say, because when you hear the term lobbyist, oh, you're a slimy lobbyist.

If you wanna know what good lobbying is, folks, this is it.

And I think you're doing a great job.

And as you talk to people without naming names, do you find that,

They'll privately tell you, look, I'm all for this, but, you know, blah, blah, blah.

I mean, do you find there's actually real bipartisan support amongst the current legislature?

I do, actually.

I know that's not always the public perception, but I do think there's real bipartisan support.

There was a bill that was discussed a couple of weeks ago in the state legislature.

I showed up, put on the.

Ty and Jack at the

whole lobby

of spiel to testify on this bill written by Representative Tony Kurtz and Senator Pat Teston, both Republicans.

And I think it was a really well researched, hardworking bill.

Wasn't 10 years.

It was four years.

Wasn't a hundred million dollars a year, but it was the kind of effort you've discussed, Todd, to get somewhere.

Alex Madorsky of the Nature Conservancy.

I cannot thank you enough for your work.

Thanks for bringing this to light.

I hope people take your advice, call the governor, call their state legislator, and tell them to support the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund.

It is critical for the state.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you, Todd.

Our pleasure.

Come on back, old friend.

Pete Schwabba is going to be calling in, talking about nightlight.

And for this, don't go anywhere.

We'll wrap it up.

It's the Todd Allball Show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

you

Welcome back to the title ball show on the civic media running network where it is now eight minutes before the hour of four o'clock at the top of the hour ABC CBS or James Kelly news depending upon which of our great stations you're listening to across the network and then weather with Britain or low and a sports update by our great sports reporter Mike Clemens Brewers trying to get a win tonight after getting beat up in a weird and wild game last night against against the Pirates very quickly before we go to our next guest a quest

question came in at the end of the last segment for a listener on WMDX.

We had Alex Majorski here for the Nature Conservancy and the listener said, asked, I give to the Nature Conservancy annually, but the appeal letter envelope is always addressed to the Washington DC group.

How can I direct my money to the Wisconsin Nature Conservancy?

Great question.

We asked Alex there during the break and he said simply go to nature.org.

their website, nature.org, and he said it should be listed there.

And that'll tell you exactly how to make sure that your monies are given to the Wisconsin site, correct, Zabers?

Yeah, he also said that if you have trouble with that, you can call their office and they can help you out and figure out how to designate that money.

But yes, you can do it.

So, excellent.

Great.

Thanks for that listener question.

Great question there from one of our great listeners.

Joining us right now via a phone from across town.

This is how big Pete Schwab is.

Before he comes in and when he travels on the road, he travels with an entourage and there's a presidential suite.

He gets a massage.

He has hair and makeup and then he gets into the Civic Media Limo and he is delivered here at the World Headquarters in downtown Madison.

taking time out of his busy prep for tonight's edition of Nightlight, which you can hear nightly, right here from six until eight on the Civic Media Running Network, the one, the only, Pete Schwabba.

Pete, how are you?

Oh man, that was a heck of an intro.

And I gotta tell you, it's all true, Todd.

I

know it

is, yeah.

The massages and the makeup, and the problem is, I only get a $5 a day per diem, which in Madison does not go very far.

Um, but you know, the civic media has talked that I get a foot rub and all the stuff my wife won't do.

I get when I come to Madison.

So you got to be careful.

It's $5 massage parlors,

Pete.

Put out a nice Sunday brunch.

It's not too bad.

Right.

Right.

You know, there used to be, uh, I think it's gone now, but there used to be a place you, maybe you've heard of it.

Uh, they used to call it smut and brunch here in Madison where you could.

I'm serious.

This is real.

You go in on Sunday mornings and they'd have porn playing on the screens, but they served a great breakfast.

Oh, really?

I can't imagine eating.

I know,

right?

Something like that.

It was

called Smut and Brunch.

I looked it up.

It was called Bennett's Smut and Eggs.

Oh, Smut and Eggs, all right.

It is permanently closed.

It's permanently closed.

I never... Were they able to pass the inspections and all that kind of stuff?

Or

maybe not it's hard to

say yeah, I'm not sure I never went but many people are saying many people are saying

Oh, yeah, I know that I know that old bit

right never

been there myself I hear the eggs were wonderful

I looked again, did some more research.