Taking Care Of Our Seniors with Sreejita Patra (Hour 1)

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.

A cruise

Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer on the board.

It's six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite.

Welcome in to the world headquarters of Civic Media downtown Madison on State Street.

Some overcast guys, Zommers.

Now yesterday was the perfect day according to Zommer's weather.

It was warm, but not sticky.

He was very happy, but today Zommer's the saltiness, the stickiness, the humidity is back and our forecasters are saying some parts of the state may have some heavier weather later tonight and

tomorrow.

Unfortunately,

Sticky.

He's a little depressed because of the weather.

So we'll continue to follow that, bring the latest on that.

Big show today.

Hope you stick around at the bottom of the hour.

Really important story from our friends and partners over at WisconsinWatch.org.

Sarijita Patra was going to be here live in the studio talking about her new article.

entitled, Older Adults Making Up One in Five Suicides in Wisconsin.

And here's what can be done to fix that.

So Sarjita Patra is gonna be here for Wisconsin Watch.

We'll have an important discussion on death by suicide and how that's affecting older folks, or at least a people of a certain age in the state of Wisconsin.

Then at hour two, lighten it up just a bit with her.

What's worse today, it's a syrupy addition.

or syrupy I say syrup some people say syrup uh of pancakes or waffles uh what's worse in uh in hour number two and some Wisconsin news to get to from our very own Lisa Hale from our great station WGVW and WISS from Civic Media the ACLU shines light on icy tensions in Brown County

All that more straight ahead, but right now an 8 minutes past the hour of 2 o'clock.

We have breaking news for you across Civic Media.

That is Ozzy Osbourne with You Can't Kill Rock and Roll.

and breaking across the wires just as we came on the air here at the top of the hour from CBS News.

Ozzy Osbourne, the heavy metal legend who rose to fame in the pioneering group Black Sabbath, has died.

His family said in a statement to CBS News partner BBC News, Ozzy Osbourne was 76.

Quote, it is with more sadness.

that mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning.

The family said in a statement to the BBC, quote, he was with his family and surrounded by love.

We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time, unquote, either clad in black or bare chested.

The singer was off to the target of parents groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off of a bat later.

He would reveal himself to be a dotting and sweet father, dotting and sweet father on the reality TV show The Osborns.

Black Sabbath 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the big bang of heavy metal.

It came during the height of the Vietnam War and crashed the hippie party, dripping menace and foreboding.

The cover of the record was a spooky figure against a stark landscape.

The music was loud, dense and angry and marked a shift

in rock and roll.

Oz Osbourne, dead at 76 and joining us via phone.

from his home station at WRCO, WRCE in Richland Center.

We appreciate him on short notice.

He is the general manager at WRCO, WRCE, longtime friend of mine, my former boss and now my colleague again here at Civic Media.

And the host of those were the days looking back at some of this great music every Saturday night from six until midnight.

Phil Knee joins us via phone.

Phil, thanks for taking time to join us on a sad day for a lot of people here across the country when it comes to heavy metal.

well to the Prince of Darkness, very influential artist that's for sure.

Yeah absolutely and as someone who's a really a student of music and you know the history of rock and roll so much I think in this CBS article here it really hits on something that

When Black Sabbath came on the scene in 1969, it really did shift.

You guys talk about this on your program on Saturday night.

You think of the 50s and the 60s, it's happy.

It's bobbed hair and suits and doing the twist.

But then in the late 60s, early 70s, music really changed and Black Sabbath and Ozzy were a part of that.

Absolutely.

Yeah, they push the limit.

That's for sure.

And I keep going back to the song Paranoid as I was waiting to join you on the show.

But one of my all-time favorites, sometimes you get really sick of hearing a song over and over.

I never get sick of that one.

And I think of that one as being

very influential into the the the punk and heavy metal of the artist that came after black Sabbath but that record in nineteen seventy i think it's one of the most influential of all of their tune

yeah absolutely again the cbs story i can't forgot this part i guess you know uh... uh... the Sabbath fired osborn in seventy nine for his legendary excesses like showing up late for rehearsal and missing gigs i can relate occasionally to the part of that uh... but then he reemerged

next year with the solo artist with Blizzard of Oz was the album, the following year's Diary of Madame, both hard rock classics that went multi-platinum and spawned during favorites such as Crazy Train, Goodbye to Romance, Flying High, and you know the song we just played, Zommer's pulled that up there.

You can't kill rock and roll.

Phil talk a little bit as a student of artists and music history isn't always fascinating when an artist can

Go away from a group and reemerge with a solo career.

Some people can do it.

Some people can't.

Ozzy Osbourne did it in spades.

He really did.

And, you know, he talked about reinventing himself.

So many generations have learned about him since that time.

And you talked about him kind of getting thrown out of the band and then, you know, reemerging.

And Blizzard of Oz was a huge record there in the 1980s.

And then later on, you know,

teaming with lead afforded a song that may be his uh... maybe the title is appropriate for today close my eyes forever and uh... the tunes in the early nineties and of course that the osborn's tv show some of that success i think has to go to his wife sharon who was a big promoter and manager

100% and it's fascinating you said because I was just gonna say I mean you know and We're getting to a certain age Phil.

I hate to admit it But you know there are a lot of younger people They're like I the only reason I know Ozzy Osbourne's because I used to watch him on on the Osboards on TV and it's like this guy is just a docile old man They have no concept of his of his rock career

absolutely uh... and you know he basically is talking with in audible it seemed on that channel many could get up and think you know i never kind of figured that one out but uh... uh... amazing frontman that's for sure uh... i honestly you know i've interviewed a lot of uh... rock people over the years i was trying to think how close they ever came to interviewing uh...

Ozzy not not very close, but this is as close as I came so Randy Rhodes was his guitarist for a time Randy Rhodes was a founding member of quiet riot and

I interviewed Quiet Riot one.

So there you go.

Hey, there you go.

That's awesome.

Terry Barr, watching on YouTube, of course, he was one of the co-hosts of our other Saturday Night program, Max Inc Radio, which could be heard on WMDX here in Madison.

And like Phil's those are the days, both these programs can be heard on the Civic Media app as well.

Terry chiming in on YouTube saying, it always felt as if Ozzy would live.

forever and Phil isn't that mean how many times when you know when we were together RCO you always used to say the worst part is when CBS or ABC News came on and they started it with music because nothing good was going to follow that

that's absolutely right I remember where I was in 1977 when they started with hound dog and the death of Elvis Presley was announced so yeah it never seems like anything good comes from that but this is certainly big news and I'm already getting texts

from listeners that are saying, hey, are you doing a tribute to Ozzy this Saturday night?

Well, are you feeling

it?

It just happened, so we don't know.

I'm guessing we'll be playing some, that's

for sure.

Right.

CBS, their story today, moments ago, says that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony just last year, Jack Black called Ozzy Osbourne, quote, the greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll, and quote, the Jack Nicholson of rock, unquote.

Wow, I think that's pretty well said.

I am really glad, Phil, that Osborne was able to live long enough to see himself inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because, as you well know, a lot of these rock stars don't.

Absolutely.

I mean, there are ones, we've been losing them left and right.

It's been a bad year for music and Connie Francis passed away over the weekend.

She is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, gained fame from a video that was shared online many millions of times this year.

So people know her from that, but she's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, may be someday, but never lived long enough to see that.

Any final thoughts on the passing of Ozzy Osbourne today at the age of 87?

No, other than the fact that I'm going to hear a lot more of his music.

That's for sure coming up here because, you know, a lot of these songs are going to come back.

Look for them to chart again.

You know, people will be downloading them left and right.

Yeah.

And thanks, Somers.

Ozzy Osbourne, 76 was the correct age.

He passed away this morning, according to his family in a statement via BBC News.

So certainly a big passing.

and the music world of Ozzy Osbourne today.

Phil, as long as we got you on the phone, a couple of minutes left, I know big events happening at WRCE, WRCO in Richland Center.

Tell us about

it.

Right, we're going to have our walk with Grace Auction, Greater Richland Area Cancer Elimination.

That's an event coming up next week on the radio.

We're going to be auctioning off everything from lawn mowers to homemade

farm-baked pies and they always go really well but we don't have between ten and noon next uh... monday through friday on w r c o and w r c o dot com but all the money goes back to the community for local cancer patients going for treatments and appointments and also we've been paid power bills and phone bills and and everything else for for people in need that are going through a cancer journey

Well, people ask me because I talk about my hometown Richland Center all the time on this show, and people will say, why are you still, why are you always talking about Richland Center?

And this is just a great example, Phil, because I was blessed and fortunate enough to grow up in a community like Richland Center, where Jane McNair and Greg Bach and I just did our shows up in Butternut last week.

And one of our hosts, a local artist in the studio, in Butternut, when somebody gets sick or needs something, you better come with a casserole in one hand and a lot of cash in the other.

And nobody asks stupid questions like,

what happened.

We just take care of each other and I would say Richelon Center is very much the same way.

Absolutely and you know it's not a high-income county.

I mean you can look that up but we were able to raise last year around $300,000 for the Grace event.

through the entire year, including the event, which is coming up this year on August 8th.

But again, that radio auction, a small part of it going on next Monday through Friday.

And if people aren't in the Richland Center listening area for WRCO or RCE, they can still get involved by listening to the Civic Media app.

Just go on the line, download the app for free, go to WRCO, and you can listen and bid in on all those great things.

I know that your wonderful wife, June, is a former chairperson, a cancer survivor herself, so this means a lot to your family personally.

Absolutely.

Yeah, she is the chair of the actual walk itself on the 8th of August.

So she's in charge of putting it all together, but it's been a pet project for us here at the radio station the last many years.

One of my favorite interviews recently in the last few years is when Phil gets to interview his wife, June, and then going back and forth in the morning show.

That's always a lot of fun because it's just, it's a great dynamic for a great cause.

And here's a little hint.

If you're going to buy a pie for Phil, don't get one with raisins.

He's not a raisin guy.

No, absolutely not.

We'll have apple.

We'll have...

We'll have coconut cream, all kinds of them.

And sometimes they've got as high as like three or $400.

Wow.

One pie.

Incredible.

It's a great event for a great cause.

You guys at RCO, RCE, do a great job.

Congrats.

Congrats to the great community.

We're going to do one of our shows up there as well and talk more about it.

Phil, thanks for taking time to talk about Ozzy Osbourne's passing and to talk about Walk With Grace.

Have a great day up there, my friend.

And we'll talk to you soon, buddy.

Thanks for having me on.

I appreciate it.

Always a pleasure.

Phil Knee, everybody from WRCEWRCO up there in the old hometown of Richland Center.

Always appreciate Phil stopping by.

Come on back.

We'll talk a little bit about what's happening in Brown County next with ICE Detentions.

And then at the bottom of the hour, just slightly thereafter, Wisconsin Watch, an important story on death by suicide in older communities in Wisconsin.

Just the all ball show for a Tuesday on the Civic Media Ready Network.

show of the Civic Media Ready Network.

22 now past the hour of two o'clock.

Let me along on this July 22nd.

More Aussie there.

Nicely done.

Mr. Zamas again.

Breaking news headline at this hour.

The.

Great Ozzy Osbourne, the heavy metal legend, has passed away according to his family.

He was 76 years old.

Many thanks to Phil D for joining us in our last segment, talking a little bit about the remembrances of Ozzy Osbourne.

Want to get to this before the bottom of the hour from our very own Lisa Hale of Civic Media and our great stations in Green Bay, WGBW and WISS in Oshkosh.

The ACLU of Wisconsin says at least

Three Wisconsin County Sheriff's offices have made recent deals with ICE to house and transport people who have been detained for alleged being undocumented in the state.

The contract has a value of $90,000, according to Lisa Hales reporting.

included in the agreement ISIS purchasing $63,000 in detention services from the Brown County Sheriff, which are reimbursed at the rate of $70 per detainee per day.

An increase of $27,000 in transportation services for escort and stationary guard rates, which are reimbursed at $36 per hour.

The ACLU also names SOC and Ozaki counties as working with ICE.

Quote, these new agreements in Brown, Ozaki and SOC County underscore a concerning trend.

Local sheriffs are not only passively complying with ICE requests, but actively entering into and benefiting from direct financial agreements to house and transport immigrants for ICE removal.

according to ACLU of Wisconsin senior staff attorney Tim Muth.

Muth went on to say, quote, we may see more of these arrangements to house detained immigrants and county facilities in the near future as the recently signed federal budget bill assigns billions of dollars to ICE for funding efforts with local law enforcement, unquote.

These three counties are the latest Wisconsin counties to work with ice.

Others, including Winnebago County, have been highlighted by the ACLU in the past.

I want to bring this up again, great reporting by our own Lisa Hale out of Green Bay.

I haven't seen this anyplace else.

I haven't seen it talked about anyplace else, but this is really important for a couple of reasons.

And this is why when you look at the federal budget, we ask, well, how does this impact Wisconsin?

The major money that's been put into ICE in this latest budget by Republicans and signed into law by Trump a couple of weeks ago, billions of dollars for ICE.

Now, you look at it places in Wisconsin, one of the under talked about things in this state.

are the challenges local governments, local county governments have in paying for stuff.

I mean, we just talked to Phil in Richland County where I'm from.

One of the poorest counties economically in the state.

Recently, Salk County, and we need to follow up on this on me, but they were looking at, maybe they already have closing down their county nursing home because they don't have money.

Salk County, let me tell you, is not a poor county.

It's right below the delts.

Baraboo, Riedsburg, those areas.

My point is that as local governments are strapped for cash, they're looking at this, they're gonna say, well, we can either raise the mill rate, we can raise property taxes, we can pass these expenses on to our county residents, or wait a minute, if our sheriff just agrees to comply with Trump,

and go along with these ICE detentions, we can get cold hard cash.

So in this case of Brown County, $90,000.

Now, Brown County where Green Bay is at, it's not nothing, but $90,000 for a more rural county, that's a lot of cash.

And so what you may see,

Moving forward is your local sheriff your local county board trying to make deals with the feds to house and participate in these detentions of alleged undocumented folks simply for the transactional purpose of cash Remember with Trump nearly everything is transactional So I would urge everybody across Wisconsin to contact your local county board member and question them on this do you intend to support

Number one is the sheriff thinking about doing this, and number two, do you support this?

Because all this is gonna do, and remember, we've talked about this on this program some, but it gets so overwhelming that I don't bring it to you every single day, but nearly every day I see a story, I read a story, I watch a story where American citizens who happen to be brown skinned

are detained and held and in some cases, deported.

American citizens.

Do you really want your county to be involved in that?

Do you really want your sheriff's deputies to be involved in that?

And let me say, as I often do, I'm a huge supporter of law enforcement.

They put their lives in the line for us every day.

This is not a knock on law enforcement in general, but...

Well, there's broadcasters or or grocery shop owners or laws.

There's always gonna be a bad apple on the bunch and Some of these folks are could be looking at this and saying I really need cash in my department or our county So let's make a deal with Trump and take this cash and be an ice detention center and participate in this crap because we need the money It's really dangerous

And again, in the long-term effect, if your county participates in this, I'm telling you right now, folks that happen to be Latino or Hispanic are not going to want to live there, because they're going to feel unsafe.

And you can say, well, if they're documented, if they're legal, they shouldn't have anything to fear.

The evidence proves otherwise because American citizens are being detained.

Great reporting by Lisa Hale and WGBW.

You can find this story at civicmedia.us.

Come on back.

We're going to talk to Wisconsin Watch after this.

Really important topic.

Older Wisconsinites are one in five are facing death by suicide.

We'll talk about it on the other side.

Pam Yanke is next on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Welcome

back to Prokado Bowl Show on the Civic Media Arena.

We're 35 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday, July 20th.

I'm glad to have you along.

Turning our attention to one of our great partners.

Always happy to have their reporters on our show, Wisconsin Watch.

You can find all the work at WisconsinWatch.org.

And welcome one of their young reporters here.

Always love young journalistic talent.

Sarjeet Patra is here from Wisconsin Watch.

And Sarjeet, I really, really appreciate you being here.

An important story.

I didn't realize this until I read and saw your article.

Headline, older adults make up one in five suicides in Wisconsin.

and here's what can be done to fix that.

So really appreciate you coming over and gonna talk about this in a minute, but as we always do, as we have a person who's never been on this show before, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, and how you got into journalism.

Hi, well, first off, thank you so much for having me.

I really appreciate.

Our pleasure.

My name is Srijita, and I am from Connecticut.

I was actually born in New Bedford, Massachusetts,

so

I'm a Northeast Scout.

except I lived in Houston for a little bit.

Oh, really?

Yes, sir,

yeah.

And then I came to UW for, well, they had really nice programs, and I was gonna go in-state, but I got a little bit of a scholarship and stuff like that, so I was excited to come here.

And I didn't think I was gonna go into journalism.

I mean, I was undecided, and well, I knew it wasn't exactly...

game of Kings per se but I joined the school paper the Daily Cardinal which does amazing work of course

along with

all the other student papers in Madison and Milwaukee in Wisconsin and I really just loved the work I was doing and it felt very impactful to be there in a way I just didn't expect you know I kind of thought it'd be more extracurricular.

And I'd always loved writing and reporting and talking to people.

And so that eventually I kind of came to that decision where I told my parents, I was like, you know, I think I am going to go into journalism and, you know, they were a little.

wary at first, but it's taken hold and you know, I think they're more behind it now.

Yeah.

Well, I assume I don't have a kiss myself, I have a couple of godsons, but I'm sure for parents, particularly in today's world where journalists are getting

Figuratively and unfortunately occasionally sometimes literally beat up is not something that I don't think it's necessarily it used to be all going to journalism and I think a lot of people like instantly Oh, that's super cool.

You're gonna you'll be respected and I'm sure for a parent There's a little apprehension, but I also think whether it's we've had other reporters on the Daily Cardinal, but like Daily Cardinal Badger Harold, Wisconsin watch Journalism is critically important perhaps now in our country more than ever

Absolutely, and they knew that, and they're so reasonable.

I think it just boiled down to, you know, they wanted to make sure I was doing something that would make me happy and also, you know, put money in my pockets, which I guess we're yet to see, but they're fully behind me now 100%.

Going to your junior year at UW?

Yes.

That's fantastic.

Always great to have a badger here in the studio.

Madison different than the East Coast?

Yes.

In a good way, a bad way, both.

Um, I've noticed a lot of cultural differences in coming here.

I mean, people talk similarly, I would think.

Um, I don't really hear like a Madison accent that much, you know, or a Wisconsin accent for the most part.

Um,

but you know, the culture, I mean, people walk slower, talk slower.

Um, you know, I think in the East coast, we're probably a little meaner.

Um, and,

you know,

Midwest nice is a real thing.

Um, you know, we're more sarcastic, uh,

you

know.

maybe more witty, but I don't want to say that to hurt anyone.

But I really love it here.

I mean, Madison is beautiful, and Wisconsin is beautiful as well.

And it's just been amazing to see a part of the country.

I mean, I've only been south and east, so to see a part of the country I hadn't really ever explored before.

Well, welcome.

Really, really glad to have you here.

Glad that you're at.

So very quickly, how did you get involved with Wisconsin?

Watch then.

My former managing editor, Ava Menkis, was just a shout out to her.

She's an amazing reporter, but managing editor for the Daily Cardinal.

She was part of it and she told me like, yeah, they take interns during the summer and so you should apply.

And so I applied as part of my internship.

cycle applications.

Well, that's awesome.

We have a Srijita Patra from Wisconsin Watch here.

Let's get into the story that you wrote.

You can find Srijita's work at WisconsinWatch.org.

That's WisconsinWatch.org.

Again, let's start this off and we'll finish it the same way.

If you or someone that you know is thinking of self-harm or needs to talk to someone.

You can reach out via the suicide and crisis hotline by dialing or texting 988 on your landline or cell phone 988.

I think that's really important to pass along.

In this right away in this story, you start out with nationwide adults over 65 have some of the highest suicide rates by age group, though they are among the least likely to receive mental health.

support.

Talk to us a little bit about this because, and inappropriately so, we started this show about teens for various reasons facing a high death by suicide rate, but I did not know that this was a major crisis for folks over 65.

Yeah,

honestly, I mean, nobody did like genuinely when I first started reporting.

Like anyone I talk to like do you have any sources like have you looked into this issue?

Legislators journalists and people didn't really know what I was speaking to but yeah, I mean adults over 65, but especially 75 and 85 have very high suicide rates and I talk I don't know if you want me to get into

the

reasons but you know, there's a lot of isolation and loneliness which of course as human beings we

feel a lot of us nowadays in the society, but what happens when you're elderly and I'm very young so I don't want to make any assumptions, there's this sort of feeling that you know time has like left you by and you know you're less in contact for physical reasons, for just like logistics with usually like your close family members or friends, a lot of people from your childhood are passing away, your mom, your father.

And there's, especially in rural areas, there's sort of just less and less of that community connections for folks above 65, 75 with major issues affecting their mobility.

And so that, yeah, that leads to very reasonable isolation and depression that often ends them in taking their own lives.

And I think when we think of older folks in our communities, well, you know, they've seen it all, they're tough birds, they can get through it, but

I think we forget a little bit that everyone has a heart, a soul, and feelings can still get hurt.

You can still be lonely.

And that gets overwhelming.

You write your story here.

They made up people over 65, made up 20% of all suicide deaths in Wisconsin between 2018 and 2023.

But in 2023, only 3,142 older people use county mental health services

down from a peak of nearly 4,000 who used them in 2018.

Through your reporting, is that because people don't know about them?

Is it because of cuts to these services?

Any reason that you can point to for that?

Yeah, absolutely.

And so it's important to remember that even at 4,000, the elderly Wisconsin adult population is a little bit more than a million, right?

So what's 4,000 out of a million?

I didn't even do that presented

because it

is quite small.

And I think

I think it probably speaks to multiple factors.

One is that in my research and reporting, we notice that elder adults tend to

under-report feelings of suicidal ideation or depression before, you know, they ultimately commit suicide.

And I think that does have to do with, you know, how you're raised, right?

And that's not even, like, people think it's so long ago where mental health wasn't really talked about.

But even when I was growing up, like, among my, like, immigrant community, that wasn't really a thing until I got a little bit older.

And so, you know, just kind of being raised in that vein of, yeah, like, you know, you suck it up, you be a man or a woman, and you don't.

really want to make other people deal with your problems, I think elderly adults especially are very worried about being a burden to people, being a burden on their caregivers, on their family and their friends, so they try and you know keep it all inside.

I also think access and the way services are centered are a big thing, so for example if if you walk into

you know, a community help or a community support group and most of the people are 20.

Just objectively, you're not going to really want to be there.

They don't really understand your life experiences, right?

If

the support group leader themselves is also 20, like, no, they wouldn't be 20.

They'd be like 30, but... But

it might bring a good point.

I think all of us...

we like to gravitate or talk to people who could relate that might be in our age group more or less.

And when you're, yeah, I'm, you know, even at 55, sometimes you look at somebody behind a desk and they're 20 and you think, do they really get me or not?

And the reverse is true as well, right?

So I think that's a really great point.

You're right, your story, older men tend to kill themselves at two times the statewide rate.

And he is,

particular reason that you're reporting on why men are more susceptible to death by suicide.

Yeah, well men are always more susceptible to death by suicide Because they use more violent methods typically, right?

So whereas women are typically more prone to attempting suicide through for example pills Men will use handguns and handguns don't have as much of a return rate But there's also other underlying factors Which again, you know, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but social isolation, you know, Dr. Kenneth Robbins The jair psychiatrist I interviewed for the article he did talk about how

A lot of older men have spent most of their lives working and haven't been able to develop a really strong set of community connections a lot of the time.

And so what happens is when they retire, when they get these health issues, they don't really have as many people they can turn to and lean on and talk about their issues with.

And of course, men have more of this idea of squaring your shoulders and being a man.

And so that also, I would say,

all these combination of factors and some which I don't even know, right?

Because my reporting doesn't cover everything.

lead to older men being more likely to violently take their lives.

Srejita Patra from Wisconsin Watch is our guest talking about her great article at WisconsinWatch.org.

Really important article on death by suicide with older Wisconsinites.

You're right in there, Srejita, that according to Wisconsin Department of Health Services, more than half of residents 55 years and older who died by suicide in 2023 had health problems that quote,

appeared to have contributed to their deaths, unquote.

Expanded that a little bit.

Felt they were already going to die, say, my cancer.

And it's like, I just don't want to face that.

And so they choose suicide or turn to that.

Is it more mental health problems that preclude this?

Any insight into that?

Well, I think that if you're not physically healthy, you're definitely not going to really want to be around, right?

I

mean, chronic health issues, cancer, dementia was a huge one we talked about.

You know, the idea that you're going to forget everyone you've ever loved and how to live and how to...

You know carry out your basic existence.

Um, it leads people to be very existential and very depressed and you know, obviously I can't speak to everyone but I do think those combination of factors exacerbate mental health issues and then just ultimately end to people being like well I'd rather die than have to go through this or have to beat this burden on other people.

Um, I didn't want to answer, uh, do you answer live stream

questions

sometimes?

Yeah, John, Jed, Jorn, I believe asked if, um,

not that one, actually, if it's mostly in cities and rural, and it

is

much more of a rural problem from our reporting than it is urban problem.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

And when you write your article, older adults in rural Wisconsin face extra challenges.

Part of that is just further away from healthcare, fewer resources, I would assume, as well.

Is that correct?

Absolutely, yeah.

I think one of the other great things, we got about a minute and a half left, we'll come back and pick it up after after we pause.

But really interesting, great reporting here.

You talked to State Senator Jesse James, a Republican of Thorpe.

You also talked to Chris Larson, a Democrat.

This appears to be, correct me if I'm wrong, at least an issue that in a bipartisan way, the legislature is willing to look at to try to do something about that.

Is that accurate or not so much?

Sure.

I mean, you know, I think people, everyone's been touched by this issue.

And so a lot of politicians are very aware of this being something that they want to put on their priority list.

Yeah.

You write your article, older adults in rural areas often live far away from mental health providers, many of whom don't accept Medicare.

They also live far away from family.

and community.

We're going to come back, talk more about this important issue across Wisconsin with Srejita Patra of WisconsinWatch.org.

Don't go anywhere.

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

Welcome back to the titleable show on the scenic media radio network.

Now eight minutes before the hour of three o'clock at the top of the hour, ABC, CBS or James Kelly News, whichever stage you're listening to a check of whether it could be some more rough weather across Wisconsin later on tonight and tomorrow as this heat and humidity continues.

Rest of the week looks warm, certainly.

And then our sports update with Mike Clemens, who is on the ground at the.

Packers training camp in Green Bay.

Also talking about that Brewers win streak, which is now at 11 games.

That's why I have that Brewers jersey on again today.

They'll go for number 12 tonight.

The Miz on the mound out in Seattle for the Brew crew.

You can hear the game across many of these stations tonight and around 8 0 5 talking about more of that in hour number two as well.

But right now we have a great reporter with us here from Syrita try that again Todd Sir Jitra Patra from Wisconsin watch Talk about this really important article at Wisconsin watch.org.

I encourage you to go there read the entire article It's on older Wisconsinites and having a higher death rate than by suicide The media I did not know this and it's really good Sir Jitra talk about Earl

who is the main person as you kind of focus and tell us this story and reporting through one person, which is so well done.

Well, thank you for stuff.

Yeah, Earl.

So the process for, obviously we knew the heart of this story had to be someone who was affected by the issue, right?

Whether family, friends, or what I preferred was someone who actually dealt with this.

Um, and it was definitely hard to, you know, kind of find an older adult who was willing to talk and specifically I contacted so many people, um, uh, during this process, um, looking for sources.

But what ended up happening and I'm so grateful to everyone at Nami and specifically Nami Chippewa Valley, they got me in contact with Earl who had been wanting to kind of like talk to someone to, um,

Further like kind of get through this process where he really wanted to get through to the other side of his mental health And so that was kind of the start.

He was lovely to talk to I mean, he was very very open and you know, obviously I tried to make him as comfortable as I could But most of the credit goes to him.

I mean, he was really wonderful and he Just very well spoken and you know kind of laid it out like his life experiences for me And I was just very grateful to have that that conversation because again that

the issue specifically of like elderly and mental health hadn't touched me before.

You

know,

I'm not older and you know, my family members haven't dealt with suicidal ideation from what I know.

And so it was definitely very impactful to be able to talk to him.

Very courageous of him always takes someone to speak out to help others.

So many thanks to Earl Lowry for allowing you to tell his story.

I think it's really impactful.

About four minutes left here.

We'll make sure we get a couple of things in.

Number one, talk to us briefly and we're not gonna have enough time to get deep into it.

But this last budget just passed the bipartisan budget legislature signed into law by Governor Tony Earl.

Tony Earl, Tony.

That's been a while ago.

Tony Evers.

Enough, I shouldn't say it that way.

What are the benefits of this budget and where did it come up short when it comes to addressing this issue of mental health in particular in the more senior community in Wisconsin?

Well, so there is no legislation specifically geared toward geriatric mental health, and that's not something I say to be pessimistic, but it's just a fact, right?

We mentioned that there was a line item in the budget that would have provided funding for the geropsychiatric ward at the Mendota Mental Health Institute of Madison, but that was axed, I believe.

And so what we have left are some general solutions that could be very helpful to different.

elderly populations in the state.

One is the biggest one I think of is the bills co-authored by Senator Jesse James and the representative Clint Moses relating to Chippewa Valley and further mental health services in that area.

Obviously again that's for everyone it's not just for elderly people but again in

Chippewa Valley has a significantly higher age adjusted suicide rate than the total of Wisconsin.

Was there

any reason for that?

I think probably the loss of the hospitals couldn't have helped, but it was probably a problem before that as well.

say most likely, I mean, I know the reasons that it applies to rural communities.

But yeah, I don't know specifically for Chippewa Valley, why that is.

If anyone knows.

Well, I think to your point, though, and Pat Critello, our colleague on mornings of Pat Critello, who does his show from that area, Lake Wissota, he's talked, his wife has to be OBGYN.

And certainly that part of the state, that region, because of cuts, because of lack of funding and other issues, there is a real dearth of health care services.

We talk, we tend to think physical, but

we forget this very important part about mental health services as well.

Absolutely, yeah.

And so, I mean, that was probably one of the bigger budget wins was kind of being able to put that funding in the budget by personally.

Let's talk to the couple of minutes we have left here.

Solutions finding community is still important.

Yeah, I think it's the essence of what we're looking at here.

I mean, I know I mentioned Newbridge, which is a service specifically geared towards community and elder adults.

And I mean, I think that's probably the opponent of it because, you know, when you have issues, I think at any age, you know, kind of isolation and silence is what's going to drive that, right?

You kind of just stick it to yourself.

But if you have other people who are like you, who understand where you're coming from and you can make friends with and you can talk to, I mean, I think that really is one of the most crucial steps towards this whole

thing.

What have I not asked you, you want people to know?

Oh, that's a good one.

It's the biggest takeaway from the story that you wrote.

The biggest takeaway from this story, I take too long to think, so I'm hoping I'm not gonna bust this.

But, you know, I think the biggest takeaway

Honestly is that is so important to fund these services and work for collective solutions and I think actually the biggest takeaway is something that Kathleen Pater said she's I think like the head you know therapist or like kind of the head of medical services at Newbridge as she said that like there really needs to be a community shift towards viewing elder adults as you know these like these

people of like experience and you know people with so much life advice and wisdom to give rather than kind of isolating them and leaving them forgotten with the passage of time because that's going to be you one day.

Shreejitrapatraofwisconsinwatch.org.

Thank you so much for coming in.

Thank you for writing this really, really important story.

Again, if you or someone you know needs help, a number to call or text, 988-988.

Someone is standing by 24 hours a day to talk with you.

And also, in this story, all kinds of great links for help as well.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Our pleasure.

Come on back.

Hour number two is straight ahead.

What's worse, a breakfast addition and more.

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.

Todd Albault along Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board, our producer and engineer at six minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Welcome into hour number two of the big program.

It is Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite here at the World Headquarters of Civic Media downtown Madison on State Street.

Zamas, let's let's take a look out the old Sam Davidson street cam.

See what's going on out there.

A beautiful quarter of state and fair child right here in downtown.

Wicked is played across the street, actually.

It's I set it up today, so it's a little blurry.

Sorry about that.

You can't really see, but in the window, there's a big wicked sticker of the witches over there.

Wicked is played in town.

And I think it was a couple nights ago or last week.

One of the performances got canceled because they had a water problems.

You know the old saying the show must go on Apparently a water main broke or some of the overture center and so they did

the same day is like the tornadoes and stuff

Yeah, I think

yeah, I think there was just too much water and overwhelmed everything You know the show must go on is for when you have issues with performers not when it is unsafe for the

Well, there

are no

bathrooms.

There are no bathrooms.

I think that was the problem.

Yeah, that's the problem.

And so you can't just have, you know, people walking around depends the entire show.

You got to have legally, you got to have bathrooms.

Hand out the

pens at the door.

Right.

They closed it down.

And it turns out that none of the witches in the show could fix it.

There's no spells.

Yeah, they got to stay away.

Right.

There's no spells.

So it was very nice of the cast and the company and crew of Wicked.

They added.

a matinee performance.

I believe it's this week on Thursday to kind of make up for that.

So it's very nice of those folks.

So anyway, there we are in downtown downtown state street there, the view right now.

Partly cloudy skies.

We'll call it across Madison looking for maybe some heavy weather across parts of Wisconsin tonight into tomorrow.

Zommer is going to be pertner near a hundred with heat indexes.

In other words, it feels like a hundred and five tomorrow.

tomorrow or tomorrow.

Now.

I'm sick, I can't come into work tomorrow.

Well, you have to because here's what's going on tomorrow.

We're going to be in air condition all day.

They have called a conclave of civic media, the cardinals of civic media, Jane McNair being our premier cardinal of civic media host announcers here.

All the announcers are coming in for a conclave.

And so I will be on the other side of the wall at this time tomorrow locked in the conclave, but have no fear.

Our regular friend and ongoing contributor on Wednesdays, Trig V. Olsen, a native of River Falls, Wisconsin, like myself, a former Republican and now the senior advisor of the Lincoln Project, you're going to get two hours of Trig V as he guest hosts the show.

But Zomers will be here to give it some gravitas, some firmness.

To hold it on the rails.

Thank you.

That's the key right there, to hold Trig V on the rails.

But it's gonna be a great show because our state senator here in Madison, she's been on the show many times, Kelder Royce is gonna be here on the program with Trig V.

And this is something I think that it'll be an interesting discussion.

Senator Kelder Royce is the ranking Democratic member on the state Senate committee on the UW system here in the legislature.

And of course, Trig V and I have traveled around and done this show from several UW institutions.

Trig V himself, a graduate of UW Eau Claire.

So Trig V and Senator Royce are going to talk about UW school system, the future of it after this state budget passed.

Was there enough money?

What's going to happen moving forward?

What's the, how about the two-year institutions, the ones that are left?

And they're also, I think, going to talk a little bit about K-12 public education.

And also, do you know who else is going to be on the show?

I heard our friend Reed Galen.

You heard

correctly.

From The Union.

who Reed traveled with Trigvie and I around the state last year.

So that's very nice of Reed Galen, one of the co-founders of the Lincoln Project, and now the president of the union.

So Reed Galen is also going to join Trigvie and Zomers on the show tomorrow.

Take your phone calls, I'm sure.

So it should be a great time had by all tomorrow.

Tune in then, and then on Thursday, Zomers.

We're doing the show.

I'm getting back in the no bus this time.

I'll get back in my in my little white truck and we'll trek up to Green Bay.

We're going to do the show on Thursday from Green Bay Preble High School for the Wisconsin Public Education Network Conference, of which Civic Media is a sponsor.

So looking forward to hearing about public education from that group on Thursday on the ground.

And then we're going to stay up there.

And on Friday, we're going to do the show from the WGBW studios, the Pete Schwabba studios and WGBW Green Bay.

Speaking of Schwabba, Zomers is going to guest produce the show tonight because Schwabba is in town.

And so night light is going

to.

I'm getting him set up.

Conrad's still producing.

Oh.

today and tomorrow.

Oh, I see.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm getting a couple days ahead of myself.

But he is in town.

He's in town.

So Schwab is going to be here tonight doing his show from six until eight.

So that's always a good time as well.

So tune in tonight from six until eight.

So I think we have the the week schedule laid out here for everybody.

All right.

It's 12 minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Tom wants to get into play.

What's worse?

Let's go.

time once again to play what's worse nothing to give away no prize money involved but it is your chance to have your voice heard across all 11 news talk sports stations in the civic media radio network no better place to advertise your cause your business than right here at civic media would love to have you as a partner sponsor check us out at civic media dot us at civic media dot us and we'll be happy to

Talk to you.

I'm happy to have you as a sponsor.

All right, Zombers.

And by the way, we're going to talk a little baseball this hour as well.

I'm so excited because I have I have a clean undershirt on.

But it is.

I have not washed the jersey because now this is the Brewers have kept winning.

They won.

They won their 11th game last night out at Seattle.

Six nothing, Zombers.

Shut up.

So yeah, you

can't

wash it by Woodruff and change anything.

I'm trying to do my part.

As one of my former bosses was fond of saying, look, I'm done my part.

I'm trying to do my part to not throw off the juju and give the good vibes here wearing the Yucca Milwaukee Brewers jersey.

They are now our Milwaukee Brewers, the winningest team in Major League Baseball 60 up 40 down and are in first place.

a full game ahead of the dreaded Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.

So that's great, and they're going for win number 12 tonight.

Guess who's on the mound?

The one, the only, the Miz.

Jacob Mizorowski takes the mound.

You can hear it on many of our stations across Civic Media tonight, including WRCE and Richland Center, WISS and Oshkosh, WRJN, Racine Kenosha.

WCQM in Park Falls and our newest affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers up in Hayward, our great station where we were last week, WBZH, the buzz of the North in Hayward.

The pregame show starts at 8.05 tonight.

So make sure you have a coffee or a soda, stay up late, listen to the game right here on those stations on Civic Media.

The Brewers go for number 12 with the Miz on the mound tonight.

Talk more about the Miz a little bit, but here now.

If you stay up late summers, if you have a couple of beverages, you might need something to soak up wherever you drank the night before.

And many people are saying they have favorites when it comes to breakfast.

So here now today is what's worse category?

Pancakes or waffles?

Pancakes or waffles?

What's worse?

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

You can also text us on the Civic Media app.

Download it for free at your app store, Apple or Android.

Simply go to the search bar on your app store.

Type in Civic CIVIC Media.

It'll pop up a little CM logo.

Click on that.

It takes less than a minute.

It's free.

It's what CBS's Gale King calls.

Deal I said I almost said civic media scale King because I watched I watched CBS this morning and you can tell

If you watch Gayle King as long as I have, you can just tell her energy ain't there the last couple of shows.

You can tell- There's a lot going on at her company right now.

There's a lot going on at CBS, and you can tell Gayle King ain't happy about none of it.

And she has not got that twinkle in her eyes.

She doesn't come on at the top of the show with a cheery voice.

You can, and when they were discussing Colbert, we'll talk about more of this later on, because John Stewart,

The longtime host who is back on Comedy Central, at least one day a week now, and Comedy Central is owned by Paramount Global.

We're going to play one of the cuts we're able to play on the air.

John Stewart took it to Paramount and CBS last night.

And they played, to their credit, CBS this morning played a clip of that.

And Gail King, you could just tell, was not happy at the parent company.

So.

Anyway, what's worse, pancakes or waffles.

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

Let's go to the old text line here.

Dave in New Berlin says, waffles are more of a mess in preparing and cooking.

So waffles are worse now.

That's an interesting take not so much the taste not so much You know the eating of the actual product, but he's going more for the preparation Just don't go for the preparation age Dave You need it there's nothing wrong with that other one if you have too much waffles or pancakes anyway, David who Berlin says waffles are worse

Uh, all right, let's see here.

Oh, also Dave in a Berlin talking about my Brewer's Jersey.

I have on my number eight Uker Jersey.

He says, did you give that Jersey a bath before you put it on?

You know, run it through the washing machine.

I did not.

I have a clean undershirt on, but I don't have.

I did not watch the Jersey.

Uh, Joseph watching on YouTube says waffles are worse made.

Or waffles made in a machine with a timer.

Oh, I'm more consistent and can hold all the condiment goodness I like that pancakes are great whether done properly But too often

they are not and if you're watching on the stream you can see the graphic a good example that it looks like maybe someone's first time cooking pancakes Not the most tasty of pancakes in terms of the photo of the graphic There's one where there's a cut that the syrup is sitting in and it somehow manages to look

like an undercooked piece of meat that you cut into it and blood just like oozes out.

Thank you for taking a pancake thing and making it gory.

But no, you're right.

It does kind of look like that.

But great point.

Great point, Joseph, on YouTube.

Now, my mom, growing up,

she used to use lots of butter and cook the pancake on a nice layer, not a layer, but like have a good amount of butter in the pan to let that kind of get real crispy.

And then the edges of the pancake gets crispy.

And then years ago, and I'm not sure if my friend Rob Wheat who listens down in Monroe, Wisconsin will remember this or not, but

My mom claims that when we were kids, like four years old, five years old, Rob Wheat came over to the house and told my mom that she made the best pancakes in the world.

Because what she used to do is she used to make Mickey Mouse, like the ears.

Or she'd make dinosaur.

She'd make things.

She was very talented in her pancake making things.

And they had the crispy little edges because of the butter.

So.

There you go.

We should get Rob and me and we'll go to mom's house and we'll cook pancakes.

I always try to do that with pancakes.

And you can even draw things within the shapes.

If you let it cook for a little bit, it's darker.

And then you add more batter and that part's

lighter.

Todd, watching on Facebook, we appreciate you, Todd, says those pancakes look bad.

Yes.

And honestly, the waffle doesn't look a whole lot better in this photo.

All right, come on back.

What's worse, pancakes or waffles will decide after this on the Civic Media Rating Network.

you

Do you like waffles?

Yeah, we like waffles.

Do you like pancakes?

Yeah, we like pancakes.

Do you like french toast?

Yeah, we like french toast.

Get ditted if can't wait

to get a mouthful.

Waffles!

Waffles!

Get ditted if can't wait to get a mouthful.

Do you like waffles?

Welcome back to the Taddle Ball Show on the Civic Media Ready to Work.

22 now, past the hour of 3 o'clock.

What did he say?

Would you like to get a mouthful?

Yeah.

Of waffles, pancakes, and french toast.

But yeah, pancakes, french toast, and waffles.

What is that song?

So there's this

musician named Perry Grip.

Perry Grip.

When I was pretty little and YouTube was first becoming a thing, his songs were...

everywhere they just be catchy things with nonsensical lyrics and they'd have stupid videos like there's chimpanzee riding on a segway chimpanzee riding on a segway chimpanzee like it's just a chimpanzee on a segway that's that's it that's also the only word to the song wow

we still have a lot of work at the Capitol there's this guy named Jeremy he was nicknamed Jeremy the segway boy

Because he's right.

It was a long story, but he was a protester that always wrote a segue and he claimed he was disabled and that's why he had to write it He wasn't but they couldn't do anything about it.

I Like that song I like that song.

Here's the question at hand what's worse today's edition pancakes or waffles 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 our own Megan

Very happy about that song, by the way, Zauberts.

She's into it.

I think you're at least somebody would recognize it.

She totally recognized

it.

What's worse, pancakes or waffles, 8-5-5-7-5-2, 4-8-4-2, 8-5-5-7-5-2, 4-8-4-2, also off of Facebook on the stream.

Heather, up in beautiful Eau Claire, actually, I think, in the Dells.

this week at Christmas Mountain anyway says there really is no worse answer here I could eat breakfast anytime of day but a flat rubbery pancake is pretty gross I agree with Dave for preparation purposes waffles are more work but worth it so I think she's saying pancakes are worse yeah I think so we'll check with her now back we had the coffee shop

Our first go out, I did it both of them.

I guess the first coffee shop, I came across the greatest waffle recipe of my life.

And we used this at the shop and there were the, like the Belgium waffle, used the Belgium waffle iron, so it's that deep one.

And there were the kind of pancakes, a lot of preparations as people are saying.

There's like a stick of butter and malt powder was involved and special pastry flour.

And then a yeast as well, eggs and warm milk.

The milk could only be a certain temperature to get the yeast to rise, but not kill it.

But if you did it right and then let it rise a little bit and you use that, that multi light batter.

So it was like crispy on the outside, but light and fluffy on the inside.

Oh my gosh.

And you put raspberries and fresh Wisconsin maple syrup, by the way.

That sounds delicious.

Also, yes.

You need real maple syrup.

Yeah, it is a requirement.

I will not accept high-fructose.

Well, I hear a lot of calories and flavors

What's worse pancakes or waffles 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Let's go out to the old hometown in the beautiful driftless WRCE in Richland Center whistler pancakes or waffles.

What's worse?

Pancakes definitely pancakes any particular reason Well, see the waffles they hold more butter

and more syrup in all the little crinks and crinkles, those square

holes,

you know, and you can do on both sides.

Yes.

So you have, what, like the amount of space to absorb.

You're cutting out a little bit there, Whistler.

The clouds aren't right out there in the drift list, but I appreciate you calling us always.

I agree, Whistler, that there's more opportunity to have the syrup and the butter and all the goodness in there.

And Bret and Brown D are had a very similar thing to say, that pancakes are worse because waffles have syrup pockets.

Well, and there you go.

Steve in Lodeye listing on WMDX says waffles are definitely worse.

All right, Kirk listing up a beautiful Eau Claire on WCFW.

The tap says pancakes are worse as you cook it one side at a time and flipping an uncooked pancake is a mess.

Waffles are best as they cook two sides at a time.

Yeah, I agree Kirk, you gotta wait till the one side.

of a pancake starts to bubble a little bit before you flip it.

Oh, our friend Rob Wheat listed live.

Sometimes he listens to the old stream, but Wheat says on RCE down in beautiful Monroe, he's of the earlier story about mom cooking his pancakes as kids on West Side Drive in Richland Center.

He says that tracks that tracks.

So always appreciate Rob listing in Scott in Madison on WMDX as both are amazing and the real trick you use.

club soda instead of water.

I've never tried that.

Never done that.

Great, great insight, Scott.

I appreciate that.

Terry and beautiful cross planes on MDX and waffles.

By the time you get butter in every square, they're cold.

That's how my grandma always was.

She, when she made waffles, it was always every square needed butter.

Scott Kurt listening in Madison on WMDX says waffles suck.

Just saying.

All right.

I'll clearly see where he's standing on that.

Anything on a Brett, I guess we already did that the Brett's already yeah,

I think we're caught

up Yeah, I think we're caught up.

All right as armor's pancakes

or waffles.

What's worse?

It's so hard.

I'm a lover of breakfast food I I just I love it all so much unless it would kill me, you know, no P cam whatever Like none of that nonsense nothing that specifically would kill me, but I gotta say I think waffles are more consistently better

because of the whole, you know, cooking on both sides and frozen waffles.

Like I go waffles are pretty good, but I've had frozen pancakes and they're not great.

They're both easy enough to make yourself.

So I think I'm going to say pancakes are worse.

It hurts to say

that.

Tim, watching on YouTube says both are good, but I hate hotel waffles.

I can never figure out the waffle maker.

Don't flip it right.

Those

aren't answer to figure out as

a as a stare of Hampton inns and and this is not a this is not a plug But I I whenever I travel the reason like I have to Hampton in they're consistent I started staying at Hampton in back in college when Kevitt O'Connor and I would travel around Calling the W. I. S. S. Or whatever the conference was then games free to be a plethal and

The waffle iron, you just gotta make sure you use the little cup, fill it to the line, and then flip it once, and then two minutes later, a beautiful waffle.

So, I'm gonna say... Waffles are worse just because of the time it takes to prepare.

Fair, very fair.

But, yeah, it's a tie.

It's close.

Pert, you're a tie.

Come on back.

Talk a little news after this.

Colbert as well on the All Balls show on the Civic Media Network.

and fun doing it.

Welcome back to the title of all show on the Civic Media Ready Network 35.

Now past the hour of three o'clock.

Glad to have you alone on a Tuesday, July 22nd.

Zomers on the board.

Here's a little late entry.

If you didn't join us there earlier, we were doing what's worse today, waffles or pancakes.

A late entry that I'm going to read from WMDX Evan.

Evan from Madison on MDX says waffles are worse.

My mom accidentally put baking soda in the pancakes, and I found a chunk.

This was maybe 20 years ago, and she still mentions the face I made.

It must have been quite a face, Evan.

It must have been quite the chunk.

It must have been quite the... But yeah, I mean, you're eating

a... Just also how my family talks about me.

No, I'm kidding.

And so you uh, yeah, you bite into a chunk of baking soda.

That's not what you want.

That'll that'll not exactly not exactly.

But anyway, glad everybody played today.

Well, the all new edition of What's Worst Tomorrow, our friend Trigby Olson of the Lincoln Project is going to be in the guest host chair during the Civic Media Conclave tomorrow.

Zomers will be here to keep him on the rails.

State Senator Kelda Royce.

will be one of the guests and also the president of the Union and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, Reed Galen.

Also joining TrigV tomorrow, so tune in.

be a great program that we're back live with you on Trigby's live tomorrow as well.

And then we'll be with you again on Thursday from Green Bay from Green Bay Preval High School, which is the home to this year's Wisconsin Public Education Network Conference, of which Civic Media is a sponsor.

And looking forward to being up there at Green Bay on Thursday and do our show on Friday from there as well.

Little news for you.

This time from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Lawrence Andrea, great reporter there.

We've been talking a lot about the gubernatorial race in Wisconsin.

Of course, the governor's race coming up next year, already underway.

Republican Josh Shulman, one of the first ones to get in on the Republican side, then had, I can't say his name, Baryon, Bill Baryon, who

Again, touting his military service, which is fine.

And also claiming to some business guy, but like Ron Johnson, he bought.

So Ron Johnson took over his wife's family business.

Ron Johnson did not start this thing, his business.

And now this guy, Bill Barion, apparently bought a business that was already up and running.

So these guys like to claim their big business guys, successful business guys, but they didn't start the thing.

So he got Shulman and Barion on the Republican side so far.

On the Democratic side, Governor Tony Evers, the incumbent Democrat, has not said yet what he's going to do.

It's kind of teasing it out.

Well, I'll announce soon.

We'll see.

I still don't think he's going to run for reelection, but we'll see.

If he doesn't, it's going to be a slew of people on the Democratic side getting into the race.

Well, here now, according to Lawrence Andrea's reporting that Milwaukee's your old Sentinel headline, Congressman Tom Tiffany.

Teases a run for Wisconsin governor, but says he has not made up his mind In other words, this is a way for Tom Tiffany to get more press.

I give him that's for him to stay relevant exactly Wisconsin's US Representative Tom Tiffany has not said whether he plans to join the GOP primary for a governor But he's been happy to tease a run after pushing back his timeline for a potential announcement Tiffany recently tweeted out a picture of himself

Holding a crappie now.

We just got done talking about crappies.

Well, that was what's worse a couple of a couple of days ago crappies or bluegills So Tiffany treat tweets out a photo of him holding a crappie Apparently ice fishing After a conservative website demanded that quote all future gubernatorial candidates prove They know how to hold a fish unquote because you know, that's what people want to vote on

And there's a photo of it, by the way, so it is true.

Tiffany is hinted at a potential statewide campaign in more concrete ways.

The website doname for Tom Tiffany for governor.com leads directly to his current congressional campaign website.

That site's homepage labels Tiffany quote, a proven conservative for Wisconsin on quote.

The hints are not unusual or new for the third term congressman from Wisconsin's Northwestern Seventh Congressional District, but they represent the latest moves for one of the only Republicans still considering a 2026 gubernatorial run.

Tiffany told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he'd make his decision after July, quote unquote.

As we said earlier,

Washington County Executive Josh Shulman was the first Republican in the race followed by Bill Barion of Whitefish Bay.

State Senate President Mary Fleskowski, former U.S.

Senate candidate Eric Hovde, and former U.S.

Senate and gubernatorial candidate Tim Michaels are also considering bids, though Tiffany is the only person in that group to publicly express interest in a gubernatorial campaign.

From what I'm hearing, Hovde is a no-go.

And I don't think Tim Michaels, he doesn't want to take the pay cut and move back to Wisconsin.

Yeah, exactly.

That's why I think Huvdy and Michaels should run because they'll get their asses kicked.

Well, very strong words

from a zomberist there.

I don't know what's going to happen.

So, Flaskowski, I think that's just kind of an also run candidate.

We haven't heard anything from Rebecca Clarkson Tables Clayfish, the former lieutenant governor.

And so, well, she has rumored that she's been thinking about it, but we'll see.

Everyone's always thinking about it until they're not.

Exactly.

So, I don't know where we're going to see.

Again, I think, and the article goes on here, the Walker Gillespie Sentinel Tiffany saying whether Evers runs for reelection or not is not part of his decision making, although I have doubts about that.

Tiffany raised a little more than $147,000 in the first half of 2025 and had about $124,000 in cash on hand in his House campaign account, according to Federal Elections Commission records.

Shulman raised a little over $424,000 since launching his campaign, and Barion's political action committee PAC raised more than a million bucks

before Barion formally entered the race.

I remember Barion, he just, this isn't a sign of his support.

He just had a million dollars laid around in his drawer, his underwear drawer.

He said, well, I don't need this here.

And so he put it into his, into the campaign.

And that's why you hear on this network and others, he's running these ads already.

Because in my opinion, Barion just thinks he can buy the thing.

I don't think that's true.

I mean,

in the primary, I don't think it's true.

Especially, we've seen somebody who has infinitely more money than he does already try to buy an election in Wisconsin and it didn't work.

Didn't

take, as George Costanzo once said to Elon Musk.

Didn't take in the Supreme Court race.

So anyway, we'll continue to be on Evers Watch as Matt Smith at WISN, television and up front kind of coined the phrase, Evers Watch.

I like that, Evers Watch.

All right, let's go on to this because we talked about this 42 minutes now past the hour of three o'clock.

We talked about this a little bit yesterday.

And that is Stephen Colbert's program, the late show on CBS was canceled unceremoniously last week.

Colbert's contract goes through May of next year at CBS and they say they're gonna let him stay on until then.

So he has 10 more months on the air and then he's done.

Lots of people saying that this is connected to the fact that CBS is now parent company Paramount plus Trying to do a merger with Skydance media, which is subject to FCC approval federal communications committee which Donald Trump's appointees now control and that Trump who already got a $16 million settlement from Paramount over a CBS interview

with former vice president Kamala Harris last year in which Trump accused 60 minutes of altering an interview, which they did not, but still CBS without apologizing or saying they were at fault, they settled for 16 mil.

Trump also settled with ABC and Disney for a similar type of dispute with George Stephanopoulos.

So as they say, a lot of people are saying

Industry people are also saying that it appears that the Writers Guild of America is going to court, apparently, on this, saying that this settlement by Paramount was intimidation by Donald Trump to get this deal with Skydance done.

Now, CBS and Paramount leaked something that said that the Late Show was losing $40 million a year, and it was for financial reasons only.

Now, Colbert has been the number one rated show on Late Night for several years.

Now late night ain't what it used to be for sure But I don't get why you cancel your number one program in late night fact CBS is not just getting rid of Colbert They've already gotten rid of the late late show so it when when David Letterman came to CBS from NBC in 91 92 Perry can correct me on that worldwide pants Letterman's company had full control over both time slots 10 30 and 11 30 central here in Wisconsin

And so you had the late show with David Letterman, and then he had the late, late show with Milwaukee's favorite son, Tom Schneider for several years.

And then you had Craig Ferguson take it over, pardon me, Craig Kilborn, and then you had Craig Ferguson, and then you had James Corden.

And after James Corden said, I'm going back to England, they brought on Taylor Tomlinson, who I've heard is a wonderful comedian.

But they never gave her the resources, in my opinion, and they had a weird show.

It was like half a game show, half a talk show.

Didn't make any sense.

And so they canceled that earlier this year.

And now they've canceled the late show as well.

So both late night franchises at CBS, gone.

Last night on Comedy Central, which is also owned by parent company Paramount, John Stewart, who

was on that, had the Daily Show for years, anchored it for five days, or five days a week, and then he left it for a while, and now he's back one day a week on Mondays.

This is John Stewart's first opportunity to talk about his very close and good friend, Stephen Colbert, and his cancellation of the Late Show.

This is from last night on The Daily Show.

Was this

purely financial, or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger?

was killing a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president so insecure, suffering terribly from a case of chronic penis insufficiency.

Well, there's that.

And that's just the part we can play.

Colbert really took, or John Stewart really took it to Paramount last night.

And I think he makes her and John Stewart, I would go to the Daily Show.

You can find it.

It's an 11 minute monologue by

Stuart easily findable on YouTube.

Yeah, I would highly and to Gail King's credit this morning on CBS this morning.

She encouraged people to go watch the whole thing by John Stewart, which leads me to believe that Gail King is on Colbert side.

And and Stuart lays out as he does so well that look, yeah, late night isn't what it used to be.

But I think I'm paraphrasing now, but he said, you know, when DVDs started stopping selling or when CDs didn't sell us well, did we just say, well, I guess that's it for music?

No.

People adapted to streaming and now digital and now vinyl's coming back.