APRNs Are A Major Win For Wisconsin Healthcare (Hour 2)

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

It is six minutes past the hour of three o'clock on this Tuesday, August 12th, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite.

Welcome into hour number two of the big program, Little Blue Sky here and there.

My grandma Wallace used to say if there's enough blue in the sky to make a Dutchman a pair of britches, is it going to be a nice day?

So there you go.

I guess it depends on how heavy of a Dutchman you're talking about.

I guess so.

That was the old wives tale, the old saying from back in the days.

So it's cleared off a little bit.

I think what the forecast is is going to clear off over much of Wisconsin that has been rainy year.

I was listening to a pack quite low.

Mornings of Pat Krightlow this morning.

He was saying I believe on Jay Mattner's program that it was Not rainy anymore up at Lake Basota, but smoky smoky and I'm not sure whether that was for the wildfires out West or Pat was just smoking tobacco once again once again

Pat, when you go up to Pat, I've been there to the quite low compound, and he has a large fire pit, and you sit around, and he grows tobacco in his backyard.

He has a place he dries it, and he has a shed there, and then you sit around and you smoke a peace pipe.

Because I used to be a Republican, he thought it would be a good thing, and I was fine with that, and then he said, well, let's do the blood brotherhood thing.

He wanted to cut my hands, and I said, no, I'm not doing that.

The things you miss by staying in Madison.

I better add that none of that was true.

But it was entertaining.

It leads to me.

All right, well, yes, anyway, I heard that's why Kratlow was saying all seriousness, he was saying that the wildfire smoke from the West is back at Lake Wissota up in, if you're not sure where that's at, it's just above Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls area up

there.

I saw a bunch in the Rhinelander area as

well as this

weekend.

So depending upon where you're listening to us in Wisconsin, you still might have some wildfire smoke if you're in the southern part of the state.

rain clouds pushing out, maybe a moment of clear air.

So anyway, Zommer's back on the board after being gone for a couple of days.

Nice to have you back and very nice to have Parker Olson of the aforementioned mornings of Pat Krightlow along with us last two days.

And many thanks to him for for filling in for you, Zommer's, but welcome back.

Has your Ben and drill high gone down a little bit since hour one?

Yes, yes, it

has.

Thankfully, because,

you

know, I like being aware of my thoughts and actions, you know, especially while working.

I Was listening to another program this morning.

I won't say what I was listening to another program and they were talking about You know doing doing like a show where I said we you and I have talked about doing this before whether it was you know gummies or Whether it was would be alcohol to do micro dosing during the show just to see you know, what would happen?

And, but no, it probably is a good idea.

Yeah.

Someone asked me about that.

And I said, well, you know, maybe it was the same people.

I don't know.

But I talked to somebody or somebody talked to me about that.

And I said, you know, Todd's been on the air before on, uh, like the mouth numbing just wore off.

Still

with the Novacaine.

On Novacaine, better than the show with Novacaine and just out of ear surgery when I was still under anesthetic.

So we have done that.

But we have not done my microtose.

Not during the show, no.

I don't think I would say anything terrible.

I don't think you would either.

I would just be even goofier than normal.

So people probably don't want to hear that.

Parker Olson watching on YouTube who produced the other day.

He said, Pat hasn't had me do any of that stuff.

Well, you have to go up there.

You have to be at Lake Wissota at the quite little compound.

And you go out in the backyard.

There's this big fire pit.

It's very nice.

And he has speakers that are built into the trees.

And you start hearing, it's the circle of life.

And Pat does a dance to that.

And it's great.

Are you sure it's tobacco and not peyote?

And then you get in the pontoon you go have a drink at the mallard.

All right eight five five seven five two forty four two eight five five seven five two forty four two coming up at the bottom of this hour much more serious fair State Senator Keldor Royce is going to be here for the 26 Senate district in Madison talking about her legislation co-sponsor of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Licenses or APRN

She fought hard on this, took on some in her own party, even though Governor Evers at first was not on board, but she kept pressing for it, opens up a whole new opportunity for registered nurses to practice and for people to receive care.

So we'll be talking about that with States Air Royce a little bit later on in the show.

And also what's worse is coming up quickly to the phone lines, Mark and Per Sack.

Mark, how are you doing today?

I'm doing OK.

I wonder what

Little Mr. Kelvin Callahan, who was just complaining about the Canadian wildfire smoke, thinks about the flooding going on caused by climate change.

Of course, Ron Johnson thinks climate change is just ducky with him.

You know, pardon the phrase, duck type weather with all the rain.

But on a more serious note, not that the floods aren't serious enough, but I wonder how many of these knuckleheads on the right would recognize

what the founders would have is that Trump deployed federal army troops in the state in the nation's capital as one of the intolerable acts that the king of England imposed on the colonists.

Yeah, we talked about that yesterday, Mark.

I appreciate the call.

Thank you so very much.

We talked about that yesterday when it was just kind of happening, that Donald Trump

press conference yesterday morning and went into that quite a bit.

I know Maggie Dawn talked about it with Matt last child on her program as well and certainly can concerning.

And then you had Janet Piro.

Never heard.

Good old drunk Janet Piro from.

We should pull up the clip of Saturday Night Live with what's her name who plays Janet Piro because it's almost indistinguishable.

Janine Piro.

Janina Janet Janina insane, you know potato potato Is this the real one or is this is this the SNL version?

Because I love both of them Not the real Janine Piro by just she's so wacky and she was a Fox News Correspondent and she got suspended for a while because she went on the air speaking of people that were micro dosing on the air Janine Piro and

And so, uh, you know, now she's appointed, uh, you know, in DC, like the, the prosecutor out there or whatever.

And so Trump, uh, the military is taking over DC and you got Janine Piro going to prosecute teenagers, I guess.

And it's all stemmed.

And I mentioned this yesterday on the show, and I think some people thought I was making it up.

I'm not joking around.

Joe Biden says this all started and it was confirmed in the news today.

if this was all started, the Trump's militarization takeover of DC because Elon Musk's boy, big balls, quote unquote, this is the 19 year old kid that came in to doge with Elon Musk, who called himself online, big balls, quote unquote, and this kid, 19 year old, apparently he got beat up in Washington DC by a group of feral teenage girls, and they spit on him.

And Trump thought this was so outrageous that big balls got spit on and beat up by girls that he decided to bring in the military.

And what I said yesterday was so ironic is that, you know, the January six insurrectionists that were instigated by Trump, that was proven by the, uh, bipartisan congressional committee on January six, that the insurrectionists spit on Capitol police officers and beat them up.

and crushed them.

And some of them died, police officers.

And Trump never sent out the National Guard when he was asked.

It took Vice President Mike Pence to actually do that way after the fact.

So I think that's the most egregious thing to me.

Anyway, it's 15 now, past the hour of three o'clock.

Time once again for what's worse.

Let's go.

Time once again for what's worse.

Nothing of way no prize.

What are you involved?

But it is your chase have your voice heard across all 10 news talking sports stations of the civic media radio network This one goes pretty deep.

We should have Kira Saban here today

our life coach attachment styles and all that

attachment styles.

Yes But here's the category else you might do it the category today what's worse closed off

or enthusiastically open, closed off, or enthusiastically open.

855-752-4842, 855-752-4842, what's worse, closed off, or enthusiastically open.

I think we're gonna talk about emotionally here.

Are you an emotionally closed off person, or are you enthusiastically open?

855-752-4842, 855-752-4842, or you can text us on the Civic Media app.

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a deal.

Civic Media app.

And then you can text us in an answer.

What's worse, closed off or enthusiastically open?

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

The other great thing the app is good for is winning free Brewer tickets.

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We're giving away four tickets to a Milwaukee Brewers game to be named later in our beautiful club level seats.

So do not miss it.

Download the Civic Media app and be prepared.

What's worse?

Closed off or enthusiastically open.

Cam in Appleton on the text line says,

Emotionally closed off is worse because people respond rather emotionally to beliefs they hold that are proven wrong All right, that's that's a take Jeff Perry on Facebook says closed off is worse horrible crimes are always committed by troubled loners not enthusiastically open folks now that's a great take

And it's a that's a really interesting because it's you know, it's taken of something could be lighter But also there's a serious side to that you think about how many of these you know attackers whether it's guns or whether it's bombers or whatever They're never done by super jovial

people right well at the same time you never know how somebody is working on the inside Like somebody could be really happy and outgoing and actually be depressed

But how many people, how many serious crimes have been committed by enthusiastically open people?

I guess I don't know.

I've never heard of one.

I mean, you don't say, you know, Joe Schmoe, who blew up the mall, well, they were just raising money for the cancer research down the road and hosting a birthday party last week.

You don't hear that.

No, they're always, you know, they're always alone, you know, and they're singular people.

I think that's a great take.

What's words?

Closed off or enthusiastically open 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2 I'm also very intrigued by the photographs of the graphic for today's what's words because the closed off person They're looking at a mirror and it looks a little bit like Taylor Swift, but not really

right like a team who Taylor

Swift

That is a perfect description a team who Taylor Swift by the way the real one has a new album coming out She knows that she announced that today.

All right.

Come on back What's worse closed off for enthusiastically open 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 back after this on the civic media ready to

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started.

What right smack dab in the middle of today's what's worse after the bottom of the hour state senator kelder Royston with some Important news on the signing of law for advanced practice registered nurses licenses Gonna talk with her but right now finishing up what's worse today's category what's worse closed off or Enthusiastically open 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2

eight five five seven five two four eight four two or you can text us on the civic app The civic media app Talk about micro dosing.

I've had nothing had nothing today by the way.

I Kimberly.

I'm serious.

No, I know I don't start those.

No, I know you're serious.

Oh jeez, you know, yeah.

Todd is not on any

substances Except caffeine.

Yes, one mistake coffee Kimberly listening in

Well, I'm not sure where she's listening to help us.

She's listening via WAUK, our great station.

Again, shout out, sending good vibes to all our listeners in the walkie-shot area who are still cleaning up and recovering from those floods.

Kimberly in the walkie-shot area on AUK says, oh, she's a Hartford.

There we go.

Just read the message, Todd.

She's in beautiful Hartford.

She says, as an introvert, enthusiastically open people are exhausting, exhausting.

All right, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.

Let's go to the phone lines.

Ollie in the Northwoods.

Ollie, thanks for calling in.

Listing is always closed off or enthusiastically open.

What's worse?

Well, I'm going to say enthusiastically open for one reason.

I was always raised to that.

what happened at home, stayed at home.

You

didn't show your dirty laundry in public.

And unfortunately, I ended up with one of my children who is definitely enthusiastically open.

And I found this out because one day her teacher said to me, you'd be surprised at things she says at school.

That is fantastic.

I said, given, given her, uh, attitude, I said, no, probably not.

Would surprise you, right?

I think that's a great point.

I mean, my whole family is our educators.

My mom used to teach kindergarten and she, you know, she, she would never tell us exactly the name, but sometimes she'd say something to the kid and they're innocent at that age, right?

You know, they just, they just say it and there's, there's no filter.

Yep.

Oh, I love it.

Thanks, Holly.

Appreciate it.

You have a great day up there, the beautiful North Woods.

What's worse, closed off or enthusiastically open, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842, or you can text us on the Civic Media app.

PJ, who is watching on YouTube, says, closed off is worse.

I'd rather full open communication.

I'm not a mind reader.

Well, that's a good point that you have to be able to, you know, you can't read people's minds.

Heather listening in beautiful Eau Claire, home of WCFW, the tap, watch it on Facebook says closed off is worse.

Hard to read people who have zero expression and say nothing.

Yeah, that's that's certainly if you give you give me to the point, the other person's point, PJ's point, you can't read minds.

Zomers?

What's worse?

Closed off or enthusiastically open?

This is difficult because I think there's a place for both.

Like you should be enthusiastically open in a friendship or relationship or with your family.

Yes.

But if you, for example, are at the pharmacy and you're buying something

and

there's a huge line behind you, I don't care about how your grandson is doing.

I care about you.

I care about getting you your medication.

But I don't care about everything else happening in your life.

Please shut up and buy your drugs and leave.

I'm laughing because that's a very, our family is pretty enthusiastically open as listeners of this show might realize.

And I think my sister and I get this probably from our mom, who is just very open.

And to your point, you know, we'll be somewhere and she'll say, now, this is my daughter and this is her children.

They live in Eau Claire.

Now, do you and she'll tell the story.

And sometimes it's fantastic.

Oh, yeah.

But other times we're like, mom.

And

again, having worked in recent, it's not like I never want to hear those things or

don't

care about anybody.

It's more so that there's a time and place and I feel like.

Enthusiastically open is worse, in my opinion, because they are harder at reading the time and place.

It would be like, dude, there's 20

people

behind you.

We

gotta hurry up.

Sometimes.

All right, so you say enthusiastically open is worse.

I am going to disagree.

I am going to say, as an enthusiastically open person, for the most part, I'm going to say the closed off is worse, because I agree with my sister that, and PJ, it's just, it's hard to read somebody's mind when they're just quiet.

and don't say anything because I

also

because I also happen to be a kind of a pleasing personality where I like the people around me to be happy.

And so just, you know, I want to know what they need to be happy.

And if I don't know, then that's very frustrating.

That's true.

Yeah.

I'm not hard, you know, deciding enthusiastically open is worse.

I've kind of just today

and

annoys me

more today.

I'm annoying and more because there are people that listen to this show simply because they want to know.

things that they know I'm just gonna say, you know, I'm gonna be enthused.

Now if somebody tells me something in confidence, I'm not gonna break people's confidence.

It's not like I'm a secret breaker or anything like that.

But as far as like myself, I'm pretty open.

You know what?

I

think I'm going to change my mind because if you were closed off, this show would suck.

Oh, that's true.

That's true.

I'm not that we're not winning any awards anyway.

But anyway, Brett in Brown Deer in the UK says closed off is worse because it takes courage and self confidence to be enthusiastically open.

Closed off people are psychopaths.

That's a hot take.

All right.

Come on back.

We're going to talk about an enthusiastically open legislators.

State Senator Calder Royce is with us next.

talking about nurses.

Don't go anywhere as the all balls show across Wisconsin.

Enthusiastically open on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Welcome back to the Towel Ball Show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

35 minutes now, past the hour of three o'clock here on a Tuesday, August 12th.

Zomber is on the board.

Glad to have you along.

I'm not sure why.

There was a medical.

Commercial zombies was it for some kind of a prescription or was it for scrubs at one point?

But there was they used that music in a minute So I think about I heard that song and I think medical stuff.

Well, I'm glad you

explained that because I don't know if everyone

has that connection

It's kind of a downer song considering that we just had a great bill signed into law That's okay, we're like celebrate

good times

to you.

It's my bad.

I apologize.

But did you remember that it was on TV?

I don't know.

A few years ago and it was that it was they played it over and over and I love the song.

Yeah, it's a catchy tune.

But

I think of medical stuff.

But all right, I'll leave the the music selection next time to our guest here this half hour.

She joins us live at the table.

Always a pleasure when she stops by.

She is the state senator from the 26th district here in part to Madison and the Middleton area.

Kelder Royce, Senator Royce, welcome back.

Good to be with you, Todd.

It's great to be with you as always and Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, yeah, you're you're great music affectionate Otto But bombers asked me goes he wanted me to pick a show tune because we both appreciate show tunes I can't think of a show tune for medical stuff.

So I chose that one much more importantly We're here at the aforementioned bill that senator Royce mentioned guess this is really big my aunt Peggy Clark Peggy all ball Clark Was a nurse her entire career

at St.

Mary's here in Madison.

She ended up being the head of OBGYN nurses for a while.

She did that for like two or three years and she went to her administrator and she said.

I wanna go back on the floor because I wanna take care of patients.

But her experience in nursing really impacted my life and my appreciation for healthcare professionals.

And I know Sarah Royce, you have been a sponsor of a bill for some time that Governor Evers just signed into law, known as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Licenses, or APRN.

Explain this, what this...

why this issue came to you and why you've been such a long time sponsor and what it means to get this time

into

law.

So this bill is really, really important.

It lets advanced practice nurses.

So this is like a certified nurse midwife or a nurse practitioner, a nurse anesthetist.

This is somebody who has been a registered nurse and then they went on to get a master's or a PhD and do many additional hours of training.

It lets them practice independently without having to be under the direct.

supervision of a physician.

It's really, really important to increasing access to health care for Wisconsinites and for addressing the workforce shortage that we face in the nursing field.

So this is a great thing that allows Wisconsin to join the majority of other states that let advanced practice nurses use the full scope of their training and their education to care for patients.

So talk to us a little bit about the history of this bill, because one of the reasons I admire you as a legislator, even though I was a Republican for a lot of years, I'm an independent now, we might not agree on every single issue, but I really admire the fact that as a very proud Democrat, Governor Evers was not on this bill initially, and you fought some of your own party to make sure this happened.

Yeah, you know, this bill, I have been supportive of it from the very beginning, because I think it's really important for...

nursing professionals and for patients and It's been kind of lonely in the beginning because I was the only Democrat on the bill for a long time and the governor vetoed it several times and You know it had sort of become a turf war between doctors and nurses right doctors saying we don't really want nurses to have more authority and The nurses saying well listen we we got the training we got the education we should be allowed to use it

And, you know, for me, looking at the data in other states, it was pretty clear.

I've also been passionate about this issue personally because I feel very lucky that I was able to have all three of my babies delivered and all my prenatal care was taken care of by certified nurse midwives.

And it was actually my OBGYN who said, you know, Kelda, when I was pregnant with my first baby, I would really recommend you look into having a CNM.

be your primary care provider because you're going to get excellent care.

You've got a low risk pregnancy and the outcomes are actually better.

So I was looking through a couple of my notes.

I'm sorry, I couldn't find it off top of my head.

You know this, I know.

But what was Governor Evers' hang up on this initially?

Why was he, why did he veto it the first time?

Well, you know, he gave long veto messages explaining that he had concerns about how this was going to impact patients across the state.

Um, I think accepted at face value, some of the claims made by, um, the Wisconsin medical society, which represents physicians, uh, that this was somehow going to be bad for, for patients.

And you know, I think that, uh, I think that this bill, when you actually look at what the impact is in other states and especially in a place like Wisconsin where we have so many rural people who are underserved.

They, it's not like they're getting to choose between 10 different specialists, right?

It's like, if there's no provider there, then they don't get care or they have to drive two and a half hours.

And, you know, when that is a situation, we just cannot sit by and let Wisconsin be behind the times and push nurses out of the profession and out of state.

Right.

I'll say, I know you can, these are my words.

Senator Royce's but my perception from an outsider a little bit is I think you'd hit it on the head turf wars and and for those that never been in politics and whatever there's a lot of money spent on lobbying with physicians and every every organization and

I think there were some

self-interest there in my opinion

there were definitely powerful interests that were that were that

were maybe pushing people around the governor in my opinion and and whether or not it was the case I don't know but credit to you

And credit also, at least to a couple of Republicans, who I love about this, it is, was a bipartisan bill signed into law, because at your point, I think on its face value, people will say, oh, this just represents or is better for rural Wisconsin.

Thus, more Republicans might be on board.

But I think your personal experience, having used midwives, are like, no, no, no, it doesn't matter where we live in Wisconsin.

This is good for everyone.

Right, and let's be clear.

it's not just rural areas that are facing a health care shortage or that are underserved.

We have a lot of urban populations that do not have access to the health care they need.

We have some terrible racial disparities in this state and allowing advanced practice nurses to take care of patients in this way will help alleviate that.

And especially, I'm passionate about reproductive justice, reproductive rights and

having a kid and getting the care that you want during your pregnancy and delivery and postpartum is absolutely a reproductive right.

We're talking with State Senator Kelder Royce, she represents the 26th district here in Dane County, parts of Madison and Middleton area, talked about the Advanced Practice Registered Nurses License or APRN.

Talk a little bit about Senator Royce, about the people you spoke with, because again, having spent some time with you on the air,

I know that listening to people not only here in your district, I saw it firsthand when you and former Representative Katrina Shanklin came out to where I was from in Southwest Wisconsin, the little town of Muscatie, and talked about, you know, the UW system and what that meant to rural Wisconsin closing down to your campus.

You travel the state and listen to people talk about some of the stories you heard and why you were so passionate about this bill.

Well, I really listen to all commerce, right?

So I heard from patients about the care that they received from nurse practitioners.

I listen to nurses, nursing students, people who are thinking about where they're going to build their careers and their lives and can they stay in Wisconsin?

You know, I listen to physicians, both physicians who were in support of APRN modernization and those who were opposed.

I took their concern seriously.

I, you know,

asked for follow-up data to say, please show me how it isn't safe.

Show me data from the 28 other states that are doing this and how it harms patients.

And I was never able to get data from opponents of the bill.

You know, I've never felt like I should stop listening at the borders of my district.

I listen to people everywhere across the state, whether they agree with me or not, and I learn.

I actually listen not just to respond, but to learn from them.

And that's, you know, it solidified the support that I already felt for this bill, but it really made me passionate about I need to be an evangelist to my Democratic colleagues because they have not had the opportunity to hear these stories.

And they're hearing from some very highly paid, very effective and persuasive lobbyists on this and from people we trust, right?

We trust physicians.

And, you know, we have, we do want to take seriously what we hear from.

all members of the medical and healthcare community, but I've got to help get my Democratic colleagues on board so that we can show the governor that this is an important Democratic issue too.

Help me and people across the state understand this a little bit better if you could, as somebody who really worked and sponsored this bill, as I see it from the outside.

Part of this was, again, it goes back to turf wars, that if our ends are

doing more, my verbiage, that somehow this is gonna be a threat to a physician.

Well, they're coming into our territory.

But my understanding of this bill is that the RNs are willing to take more hours of training to have more freedom.

So it's not like

they're going out there

with no training.

They're putting the time and probably much of their own money into more hours of training so that they're qualified to help particularly women, but everyone across the state.

Absolutely.

So there are...

you know, many, many categories of nursing.

And as you move up the scale, you can start as a, um, you know, nursing assistant, then you can become an RN, which usually requires a college degree, um, bachelor's or a master's.

And then you have to pass a test, right?

You have to be bored, pass your boards.

Then you can go on to graduate school and earn a master's or a PhD in a particular area of nursing and specialize in that.

And then this bill, um, where we compromise is we actually require roughly four more years of

training under a supervision.

So you're in practice, but you're working under the guidance of a supervision.

That's more than almost any other state requires that has this bill.

So there is a lot of oversight and training that happens.

And then after that point, you would have the ability, if you wanted to, to practice independently.

State Senator Kelly Royce is our guest.

Senator, a couple of minutes before the break here.

My grandparents, one of my grandmother, my maternal grandmother, spent the last...

eight years of her life in a nursing home, one of the things, the challenges across the state is finding RNs to help our aging population.

And again, there are things that a CNA can do, but they can't do things an RN can do.

And I know that it will this bill open up more avenues for our aging population across the state.

I certainly hope so, and I think so, because the truth of the matter is we don't have enough of any healthcare professional.

We don't have enough physicians.

We don't have enough nurses.

We don't have enough nurse practitioners.

We don't have enough CNAs, physical therapists, across the board.

And if we make Wisconsin a place that is welcoming to healthcare professionals, then

we can help alleviate that crisis.

You're always good about taking questions.

All right, taking a question.

Let's do it.

All right.

If anyone wants to call in with a question on this or something else for Senator Royce, 855-752-4842-855-7524842.

Or you can text us on the Civic Media app.

What have I not asked you so far about this bill, the Advanced Practice Registered Nurses License Bill that you want to make sure Wisconsinites know about?

Well, I think this bill is really based in data and making sure that people can get excellent, high-quality healthcare that's affordable.

But for me, it's also really about freedom.

It's about the freedom as a patient to choose your provider, and especially in the context of having a baby, you should be able to choose who your provider is.

And it's about the freedom to practice your profession.

And if you have gone to school for many, many years and paid tens of thousands of dollars and put in your time,

the state should not be restricting your ability to practice your profession.

I couldn't agree more.

And look, I'm a huge believer in, I admire her.

of everybody in the healthcare field.

If not for a great physician in the late, great Dr. Dick Edwards at the Richland Hospital who sent me to Madison the day I was born for my cleft palate, I would not be in radio today.

I also had great nurses over my life that helped me as well.

There is room for both professions

in America.

We need them

all.

Yeah, absolutely.

And we need more legislators like Kelder Royce who are willing to work in a bipartisan fashion in my humble opinion to get things done.

We'll wrap up the show with Senator Royce after.

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listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Welcome back to the title ball show on the civic media-ready network where it is eight minutes before the hour of four o'clock at the top of the hour ABC or CBS News depending upon which of our great stations you're listening to whether update or great sports reporter Mike Clemens will be along with a sports update in case you missed it at the top of the show Mike was along to give us the breaking news out of Green Bay Jordan Love starting quarterback of the Packers having surgery on his left hand

the throwing over the non the non throwing hand out in LA today.

So he's going to be out at least for a couple of games.

Mike will be in with an update on that.

And then another edition of the Maggie Dawn show from four until six joined Maggie and then followed by Pete Schwabba from six until eight tonight.

A great lineup here on the Civic Media Network.

And don't forget the Brewers in action tonight.

Pregame show at 605 broadcast just after 635 of many of these stations of pirates taking on the Brewers State Senator Kelder Royce of the 26 district.

right here at the table with us.

Senator Royce, how about those Brewers?

I mean, what a season.

Right?

You got your Brewers blue on today for those watching on the stream.

I mean, 10 in a row.

I mean, it's something good to feel good about because certainly a lot of tragedy going on with all the flooding in the Milwaukee area.

But

boy, what a great distraction by the Brewers.

Absolutely.

And, you know, Wisconsin is very blessed.

We have some wonderful sports teams.

But, you know,

It feels even better when they're doing well.

Yeah, it really does.

Just wrapping up on this bill here, your co-sponsor of Governor Evers signed it into law after legislature passed it this session, advanced practice registered nurses, licenses, APRN.

Gonna open up more opportunities for healthcare in this state, more opportunities for nurses.

But again, to your credit,

As an ad of a Democrat, you reached across the aisle.

I know you had some Republican help in getting this passed.

You know, I really have to give a lot of credit to my Republican co-leads on this bill, Senator Testa and Senator Cabral-Govera, because, you know, for a long time I was the only Democrat.

And it is not easy when you have a governor of your own party vetoing legislation that you passionately support.

But I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do.

And at a time when politics is so divided,

I really appreciate the fact that my Republican colleagues partnered with me and, you know, we're good, good faith advocates every step of the way.

I think it's just a great example.

And it's a good reminder in a very hyper-partisan world right now politically that bipartisanship does exist and things

can get done.

They can.

And, you know, at the end of the day, Wisconsin is a purple state, right?

And we should have a lot more legislation that

is bipartisan, right?

Where it shouldn't be, you know, you shouldn't be shunned if you don't happen to agree with somebody of your same party.

And, you know, I think that's especially true right now in the Republican Party.

It's very, very difficult to disagree with the Republican president.

But, you know, we don't have that kind of level of problem.

But it's still, you know, you know, it's not my favorite thing to be on the opposite side of the governor on anything because he's been a great governor.

Serendipity, it is the 12th of August.

2025.

My sister's birthday.

Happy birthday, my sister.

Happy birthday, Madeleine.

Happy birthday, Madeleine, absolutely.

Our friend of the program, Republican strategist Bill McCoshen tweeted out today on X, it is one year until the gubernatorial primaries in Wisconsin on August 12th, 2026.

Senator Keldor Royce, you've been mentioned.

Any announcement?

Do you have plans to run for the governor in the state of Wisconsin?

I am pretty likely to.

run for governor in 2026.

I can't make an announcement this very second, but when I think about the opportunities that we have in our state and the need for a really strong leader with a lot of experience getting things done in a politically purple state,

I feel really excited about my chances and about what we could do together in this state.

Any idea of a timeline for an official announcement on running for governor?

Well, certainly my plan is to wait until people are a little bit more engaged in paying attention.

I don't think anybody needs a 13 month primary.

I really hope.

I mean, I hope everybody's out here listening to your show.

But I hope they're doing it at the pool or on a nice hike.

We're getting their kids yet another snack, right?

And then once we're back into the swing of things with fall, I think there will be some opportunities for make a big announcement.

After Labor Day, perhaps?

I think that's probably consistent.

All

right, after kids get back to school.

And of course, you represent UW-Madison.

Things getting back in the swing there.

A couple of minutes left here.

If you were, and it sounds like you're likely to win for governor, what would be your one or two top priorities?

Well, I think the main thing is lowering costs for families, right?

We have got to get more money in people's pockets because so many Wisconsinites are feeling economically strained right now.

And they have every, you know, every reason to be, and it's only going to get worse under the Trump procession that we have coming and, you know, the chaos and the corruption that's coming out of Washington, the horrible devastating cuts that we're seeing in the budget, that is going to devastate.

the states.

That is really an attack on states like Wisconsin and every Wisconsinite, right?

So we really have to make sure that we have a governor that is ready to do the hard thing and stand up for Wisconsin families against cuts at the federal level and invest in the things that we need like public education, health care, our infrastructure, our roads.

Looks like a maybe Tom Tiffany's gonna get in the Republican side.

Maybe not they're all focused So far it appears.

I mean Bill Bacoch instead of this program That they're after Donald Trump's endorsement it seems like they're going after one person What's it gonna take to win the Democratic endorsement is a particular constituency or what do you have to do to win the endorse or the nomination first?

Well, I think you know my plan is I'm not gonna be running for the Democratic nomination I'm running for governor and I want to appeal to

people all across the state in every geographic region and every demographic case.

I don't think you should ever try to be a governor or an executive if you think that you should only be appealing to certain demographics.

I don't like breaking people down and putting them in categories with labels.

I think whether you agree with me or disagree with me on an issue, I owe you the truth about my ideas and my

willingness to listen.

That's the kind of governor I want to be and I think that's the kind of governor that Wisconsinites want and deserve.

State Senator Keller Royce, Democrat of the 26th District as the Bob Schieffer from CBS News is fond of saying, I think you just made a little bit of news saying she's likely to run for governor of the state of Wisconsin.

We always appreciate when you stop by, keep on stopping by Senator.

I hope I can.

We always appreciate it.

Thank you so very much.

Also, thanks to Mike Clemens, Chris Henry, the EAA, and Zomers back on the board and all of you for listening.

Stay tuned.

Maggie Dawn is next.

Brewers later on tonight until tomorrow.

This is Todd.

Say whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in, do not give up.

Keep banging your drum.

See you tomorrow.

Bye-bye.

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