Good afternoon, everyone.
Todd Albel here at the World Headquarters of Civic Media in the newsroom.
Now, six minutes past the hour of two o'clock.
I want to begin with this breaking news at this hour.
This is from thedesertnews.com in Utah, although it is being reported at several national events at this hour.
Charlie Kirk, the political activist and the outspoken critic of the left, has been shot in a Utah event and a suspect is in custody.
This is a breaking news story, continues to be updated, very fluid at this hour.
Here is what we know.
Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Earlier today, bystanders report seeing Kirk shot near his neck.
during a Q&A with students.
A suspect is in custody according to a UVU alert sent to students.
The campus is on lockdown.
The alert university said, quote, a single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker.
Police are investigating now suspect is in custody, unquote.
Again, we'll be careful.
only telling you what we know for sure at this hour.
We are monitoring special news reports from CBS and others across the country right now.
We will update it during this show coming up here as we know the facts.
Don't want to speculate, but we know for sure being reported by thedesertnews.com in Utah at this hour.
Charlie Kirk shot an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah earlier today.
bystanders report seeing Kirk shot in or near his neck during a Q&A with students.
And police, University of Police report that a suspect is in custody.
The condition of Kirk at this hour is unknown.
That is what we know for now.
Again, we'll continue to update it during our show upcoming, but for now at eight minutes past the hour of two o'clock.
For Civic Media News, I'm Todd Alba.
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 Albaugh along with producer and engineer Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.
It is eight minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Wednesday, September 10th, 2025.
We will forego the usual greeting of Wisconsin and the Wednesday in light of the breaking news at this hour.
Again, we'll continue to follow it throughout the show as more information becomes available.
But we know that conservative political activist Charlie Kirk has been shot at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Bystanders report seeing Kirk shot near his neck.
Police say a suspect is in custody, the condition of Kirk at this hour.
Unknown coming up a little bit later on in this broadcast our second hour at 335 following an appearance this morning on mornings have packed quite low this morning
Uh, David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive who announced his run for governor will be on this program at 3 35 this afternoon.
Looking forward to a conversation with him.
And, uh, also going to be talking another, uh, what's worse for you at hour two as well.
But right now joining us, uh, from the aforementioned Lake Wistosa studios, Mr. Pat Critello, host of Morty's Pat Critello and Trigby Olson, senior advisor to the Lincoln project for a Republican like myself, joining us from his home outside Washington, DC.
Gentlemen, this is break.
news certainly not the way we intended to come on the air today let me start with this I have said on this program and I know this network has maintained that we condemn the strongest words possible any form of violence in particular political violence that is certainly my continued stance on this thinking of Charlie Kirk and his family at this hour but Pat
Once again, another case as we come on the air, like you've come on there on your show, I've come on the air online, another senseless act of gun violence in this country.
That's really the right way to start this off, that it is another senseless act of gun violence, and it does not matter.
who the perpetrator is or who the victim is when we're talking about the epidemic of gun violence.
And it is something we don't see anywhere else.
Of course, we see attacks.
Of course, we see assassination attempts.
We see murders and everything else.
But we have so grown the odds exponentially in this country.
And with each
with each case that grabs the headlines, with each case that warrants a special report like this.
There are so many others that don't.
There are so many others who will be shot today, who will die today from gun violence and not to diminish this one particular one, but I don't want to diminish all of the other ones either, that I hope that a high profile case like this only helps reassert the notion that we do not.
have to live this way, whether it's with, we're talking about guns, or if we're just talking about political violence, we can be better than this in America.
Trivia Olson
to Pat's point, already President Trump out on his true social tweeting out his thoughts for Charlie Kirk, who of course founded Turning Points USA, a conservative commentator, a friend of President Trump.
But to Pat's point, and I mean, I could say I don't want to politicize it, but I think that would be
dishonest on my part.
You know, why is it that when things like this happened in Minneapolis, it took hours for the president to say anything about it?
Why is it that we seem to look at the, not we here, the three of us, but why is it that today's politicians seem to look at these tragedies too often through political lenses in winners and losers instead of just saying, look, we're all human here, we should be taking care of one another?
Sorry Sorry about that my daughter called and I forgot to put my phone It's all good sure she was calling to extort money from me for Starbucks coffee Listen the bottom line is all Americans regardless of what you think about Charlie Kirk should
should think about this and recognize that this is not who we should be.
It's not who we are or maybe it is who we are in this moment.
But the reality is whether it's in Minneapolis with the legislators, it's Charlie Kirk.
The bottom line is we have to decide as Americans
Are we gonna go the path that our founders laid out and determine who holds power and how power is adjudicated through the ballot box or are we gonna decide that on the streets with violence?
Because those are the only two options and it doesn't matter whether somebody is on the far right, the far left.
Quite frankly, it's antithetical to everything our founders set out.
It's antithetical to who we are as Americans.
And quite frankly, it's an insult to all those Americans who gave their lives for the freedoms that we should enjoy.
That's the bottom line.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, Trigvie, you've seen authoritarianism.
You've seen, uh, military takeovers in different parts of the world.
You fought against that literally.
And to your point, I, I want to get both your takes on this.
Start with you, Trigvie.
We've seen this unfortunately up close and personal with a member, two members of the Minnesota legislature being shot and one of them killed and her husband.
Now we see it with Charlie.
It just seems like this political violence is becoming, I condemn all violence, I condemn all shootings, but now it's moved into suddenly now we see an uptick or is it just me in political targeting?
which to your point, Trig V, is a very dangerous path to start down instead of having our fights done at the ballot box.
Yeah, I mean, 100 percent at the end of the day, if my experiences around the world taught me anything, again, I get back to this.
There's only two ways that power can be adjudicated.
It's either adjudicated through the ballot box and the win-win at democracy or through the zero sum of who holds the most power.
And.
and that's determining it on the streets.
And quite frankly, you know, Charlie Kirk maybe has political views that are reprehensible, but it does not condone that kind of action.
Just as if somebody thinks that a state legislator from Minnesota, same thing.
It's not who we are.
It's not who we should aspire to be.
This isn't
This isn't a great America.
This is the absolute worst of America in any of those instances.
All right.
Well, somebody's got to say it.
I will take the heat for this.
Charlie Kirk is a vile person.
Charlie Kirk spread hate throughout the country.
Let's just put that out there.
I don't want to treat this with any shade of vanilla.
That's why
it is so incumbent upon us to condemn this kind of attack.
We have a First Amendment that lets people say vile and hateful things and draw a crowd.
He had quite a crowd that he had drawn there in Utah.
And frankly, the rhetoric might have been dangerous.
But the remedy is not a bullet.
The remedy is through organization.
It is through the ballot box.
It's through talking to each other about the kinds of things that he was spreading and
and to do better by the people that we want to be rather than, you know, this gun driven mentality, that frankly, a lot of people who agree with Charlie Kirk more than me have been spreading.
Yeah,
I think that's a great point, Pat, because he does say vile things, does say terrible things.
But I'm taken back to my last stint at the State Capitol here, a block from where we where I am right now.
when I worked with my old boss, Dale Schultz.
And I think it was 2011, 2012, somewhere in there.
And there was a big Ku Klux Klan rally, not big, but I mean, it was 20 or 30 people and it was super controversial.
And they had it on the capital grounds.
And it drew a lot of a big, a big crowd, both foreign and protesting.
And I said, I said, it's just sick.
This is just sick that this, this is allowed.
And my old boss looked at me and I'll clean it up for radio.
And he said, yeah.
It is frickin' sick.
But isn't it great?
We live in a country where that's allowed just like you and I can say what we want to say.
And I am for free speech, too.
I mean, we can't be calling for people to be killed or anything like that.
But you're right, Pat.
Our Constitution guarantees us the right of free speech within certain limits.
But if you disagree, shooting somebody ain't the answer, Pat.
Well, no, it's not.
Very few people would think that a few gun deaths would be worth it to have the Second Amendment.
Now, unfortunately, one of those people is Charlie Kirk, who once said, I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have a Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.
That's a prudent deal.
It is rational.
Charlie Kirk has quoted in Newsweek magazine.
Now, when this is all said and done, are we expecting Charlie Kirk to have some kind of an epiphany?
No, look at Steve Scalise, Republican member of Congress who was shot at that softball game.
Again, you're not trying to think that you're going to use bullets to change outcomes or to change somebody's mind, no matter what they've said in the past, is as counterproductive as it gets.
Trivi, I will put this out there.
We'll come back and get your take on this.
Matt and Middleton.
brings up a good point, I think.
Matt writes on the civic media text line, quote, let's not ignore the fact that the Trump regime is engaging in violence every day and wants to push the rest of us into conflict so that they can stop our election and have their Christian dictatorship.
We are in a civil war, and let's be honest about that.
Unquote that is from Matt in Middleton.
I want to we're coming up against the break here So I want to both of you just to think on that because I I think that is what we're given was being thrown at Wisconsinites right now and the news and the rhetoric and how we respond to that
as people.
I think it's a really important question to take on.
And then we'll move off the subject and on to other things.
We'll come back with the latest on Charlie Kirk being shot in Utah and more news of the day.
You're listening to the title of all show for a Wednesday on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to the title of the show on the cinephilia-ready that work it is Wednesday, September 10th, 2022, following the breaking news at this hour.
Conservative political activist and the founder of Turning Points USA, Charlie Kirk, has been shot at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah at this hour.
We know that bystanders report seeing Kirk shot near.
or in his neck during a question Q&A session with students there.
A suspect is in custody.
The condition of Kirk at this hour is unknown.
Continue to follow this joining us on a Wednesday as per usual from his Lake Wistata studio and host a morning's of Pat Critello from six until nine on this network, Pat Critello.
And senior advisor to Lincoln Project joining us from his home outside Washington DC, Trig V. Olson.
Guys, there is other news of the day, but I think it's important to kind of have this discussion here.
I just want to button this up.
We took this text from Matt in Middleton before we went to break.
And he is saying to not ignore the fact that Trump is engaging in what he says, quote, in violence every day and want to push the rest of us into conflict so they can stop our elections and have their Christian dictatorship.
We are in a civil war.
And let's be honest about that.
I think that Matt represents a lot of our listeners in terms of what they're taking in and their feelings on that.
I want both of your reactions.
Let's start with Trivie.
I mean, first of all, Matt, you're not in a civil war.
You clearly haven't ever been in a civil war.
I don't think it suggests.
Maybe I'm wrong about this.
I don't know your background.
But if you've ever been in a conflict zone or where serious...
violent civil unrest is going on, you don't live that every day.
You go downtown in Middleton.
You're not in a civil war, but you will be if that's what you're creating a self-sustaining prophecy to be.
You're in a political battle right now, and the answer to the autocratic inclinations of the people that you're up against is best resolved by nonviolent resistance tactics.
Violence actually turns to people that you want against you not in favor of you and that's a documented fact so it's reckless to even use the term civil war and I quite honestly that's the same kind of rhetoric that Charlie Kirk and and people like that Glenn Beck and and what's Steve Bannon and those people use on the other side so you're not in a civil war and if you think you are
go online and actually do some digging around of what it looks like in a civil war, or quite frankly, if you want to see what a civil war looks like, go and look at what's happening in Ukraine.
I realize that's not a civil war, but that is a war zone.
That's what a war zone looks like.
Middleton, Wisconsin, not a war zone,
not a period.
End of issue.
The line, I guess, is attributed first to Carl Sandberg.
What if they held a war and nobody came?
And that's really the right way to go about it is to say, well, you're looking to declare war on me.
I'm not going to take part.
Now, that doesn't mean I'm letting you defeat me.
It means I've got my own way of doing this without violence, which is organizing, which is communicating, which is voting, which is informing people about things that are happening that are important, including today's shooting.
obviously have no connection or history to the the civil rights movement.
But when I think of the campaign of non-violence there and in India and other places, a lot of people, you know, war is declared on them.
War was declared on how many black Americans, how many died, how many were jailed, and all the other horrific things that happened.
But they didn't fight the war.
They didn't take the bait to fight.
They fought in their own way
And consequently led to consequential victories.
Clearly, you know, there are still much, much, much to be done.
But again, the nonviolent path while, you know, is not guaranteed to be free from violence on you is just so much more preferable than letting this country spiral into, you know, the self-fulfilling prophecy that Trigvie is talking about.
We'll continue to follow us breaking news on the shooting of Charlie Kirk as more news becomes available.
But before we let you go, Pat, want to turn a page quickly, you had Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley on your program this morning.
I listened to that thought it was a great interview.
He is going to be with us an hour number two here.
You're just thoughts and takeaways of him getting in the race.
Well, if you let me let me.
point to his introduction video.
In much the same way I did to Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez, she put out a terrific two minute video that was, you know, here's my story.
Here's why I'm running.
And I thought, well, that's, that's going to be tough to match.
And yeah, David Crawley has done that.
Again, a very good two minutes worth your time of this is who I am.
This is my background.
And then I mean, look, anybody can make a good film.
I'm just saying that they both turned out well.
They both do well in live interviews and then
Today's interview, the county executive again, made the case for what he has done both as a legislator and an executive in the executive branch of government to give him the management experience that would serve well as governor.
Now, we also had Earl Angerman who said a lot of nice things about him, but then looked at the scene of Wisconsin in general and said, governor, he said something along the lines of, that's a heavy lift in an entire state where he's not known.
statewide.
But even if it's not successful, ultimately, I think he's going to impress a whole lot of people over the next 11 months.
As a former Democratic state senator of the state, Pat, you know, the Democratic Party well earlier today or this afternoon.
Mayor Kevlar Johnson on Milwaukee also endorsing David Crowley.
There was some thought that they both might get in the primary.
Milwaukee and Dane County, that's where this primary is going to be won or lost, is it not?
Well by and large but again, they'll have to look for if it's a close primary every possible vote Which is why David Crawley was right to be on the road today in La Crosse when we reached him Sarah Rodriguez had been there a day or two before and There is you and I we all agree there There's no substitute for shoe leather or in this case your foot on the gas pedal get out and actually talk to people Don't think you can do this through political ads alone You can listen to Pat
every morning from six until nine from those beautiful studios right there a lake was
so to watch the fog rise from the lake before he heads over to the Mallard in the afternoon.
Thank you, Pat.
Have a good afternoon.
You're welcome.
Come on back, more discussion with Trig V. Olsen, Senior Advisor at Lincoln Project, to update on what's happening with Charlie Kirk shooting in Utah.
It's the title of all show for a Wednesday across Wisconsin on the Civic Media.
Ready to work.
I think it's time we stop children.
What's that sound?
Everybody look what's going on.
Welcome back to the title of our show on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Now 35 minutes past the hour of two o'clock.
It was Wednesday, September 10th, 2025, Zommer's on the board.
Many thanks to Pat Critello for joining us on a Wednesday busy news day and appreciate his time.
Remember, you can listen to Pat every morning from six until 9 a.m.
across many of these same stations on the Civic Media Radio Network, continuing to follow the top breaking news story.
at this hour, conservative commentator and founder of Turning Points USA.
Very conservative, very controversial for many.
Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah earlier today by standards report seeing Kirk shot near his neck during a Q and A with students.
A suspect is in custody according to campus police.
The university is on lockdown.
campus police say it was a single shot towards Kirk and again they have a suspect in custody at this hour.
The condition of Kirk is unknown.
We'll continue to follow that as the afternoon proceeds.
Trey Vilsen, Senior Advisor at the Lincoln Project, like myself, a former Republican, a good Wisconsin guy, now lives out in Washington, D.C., or the suburbs thereof, joins us as per usual on Wednesday as well.
Trey, let's turn a page a little bit here to other news of the day.
And this is where I had planned to start with you and Pat had it not been for the breaking news of the hour.
I feel equally as important to the United States overall interest is what happened overnight in Poland, in which several Russian drones went through Polish airspace.
Remember, folks that are listening, Poland is a member of NATO, the alliance of which the United States is in.
Charter an attack on one is an attack on all and Poland's defense system shot down what certainly appears to be Russian drones in Polish airspace which landed on Polish soil several homes and whatnot were were damaged thus time I checked about an hour ago no fatalities at this hour in Poland Polish government claims that Russia went through their airspace went over Polish lands to attack Ukraine
Trigby Olson again, you know this part of the world very well.
You've worked there.
What are your first thoughts and reflections on what happened overnight in Poland?
Well, Todd, I will tell you when I was in Lithuania because you know, we spent part of our summers there.
There was a couple of Russian drones that were shot down during the time that we were there.
So you had F-16s or F-18s roaring overhead.
It's something that those people are living with on a daily basis.
I mean, this one, it looks like...
Maybe was more intentional Although you never really know you're talking about a place where like post-soviet you couldn't get on an elevator And have it be sure it was gonna work.
So it's I mean, it's distinctly possible.
They got they got jammed or whatever, but it is it is a problem quite frankly And it's you know, it's not good
it's really not good and I would you know the cynic in me believes that it's Putin testing us and this is what you get when you when you have what you've had which is not you know strength and resilience standing up to them but being all over the map you know I was talking to a prominent
uh, Republican just before the elections in 2024.
And I remember him saying to me, you know, the world's on fire and the world's on, you know, and the insinuation was that that was somehow Joe Biden's fault.
The truth of the matter is the world is more on fire because today, um, you have had
Chaos and uncertainty brings more chaos and uncertainty and when you're talking about that happening with a place like Russia You know people can close their eyes and say oh, well, that's a European problem or whatever the truth of the matter is Article 5 NATO no NATO
History shows us and the reality is if Europe ends up in a war with Russia eventually one way or another We're gonna be consumed with that too.
I think they're they're in line.
Go ahead
You know, it's a little bit like, you know Casting, you know on the one hand you have people saying we're in a civil war because Donald Trump and is you know doing what he's doing when we're not You know
what you see happening with those drones landing in Poland, that's right on the precipice of a war.
And it is a war that no one anywhere on the globe is going to be escaping if it comes to that.
And I want to follow up just a little bit and again, I don't want to backtrack too much, but I think it's just an important conversation because I think these are real conversations that I hear from people as we travel around the state.
So I think it's just important to have honesty about this.
Matt texted back in and I'll simply paraphrase what he wrote, which is in his view, he was saying that because
Donald Trump is sending in troops in Washington DC a literally National Guard troops and in LA the same thing and other places like Chicago thus far ice troops that but particularly in DC in LA using National Guard members that in his view he's asking isn't that a form of unconstitutional act of civil war I get what you're saying trippy because you've been in these areas of the world where there's actual war
Actual civil war but the perception and you and I come in from politics know the perception is reality I think for a lot of Americans a lot of Wisconsinites might agree with Matt that in their perception to look to look out their their their windows in DC or LA and see National Guard tanks to them it feels like a civil war
I don't
I mean, I live in Washington DC.
I don't know if I told this story on the radio.
Maybe I didn't.
What you're seeing with that is cosplay and is it unconstitutional?
Yeah, maybe.
I mean, it certainly is not the tradition and it's a bad look and it isn't democracy.
But to suggest that that's a civil war is quite frankly irresponsible because it isn't.
My daughter Ula is a huge fan of the WNBA Apparently it's a thing and I like that she is the the Washington Mystics Stadium is over in Anacostia.
Anacostia is not a good neighborhood Quite frankly, it's a it's a really not good neighborhood and I said to her and her friend who I was dropping off When you get picked up you stay in the stadium until you know exactly where the car is you don't go wandering around this neighborhood
To get to Anacostia from where I live, we had to drive down the mall.
The National Guard guys are all sitting around on the mall, basically twiddling their thumbs.
Most of them probably PO'd that they were missing their kids first days of school in Texas or wherever they had been sent from, doing nothing.
There is no crime down on the mall.
I mean, yeah, maybe occasionally, but there really isn't serious crime.
It's cosplay.
If Matt thinks there's a civil war going on because of that, he'll know there's a civil war going on when the National Guard is literally going door to door in his neighborhood, rounding up people like Matt, or is shooting people with live bullets on State Street who are protesting.
That's a civil war.
And so to use the term is quite frankly, I mean, it just isn't, it's as irresponsible when people who come from the left, and I'm not.
Bagging on Matt.
I don't want Matt to think I'm bagging on him, but it's it's irresponsible when the people on the left and I hear politicians do that all the time Or not all the time, but you hear people on the left use that term you hear people on the right have been using it for a long time That kind of stuff to Pat's point begets actual real violence It just uh,
and that's why I and again respect Matt's regular listener.
We appreciate him and yeah, I agree but but I think I actually welcome this conversation
Because
this
is real conversations that Wisconsinites are having at the end of bars or parks watching a football game on Friday nights or whatever.
Well, you won't get it from the crazy lady down the dial.
You'll get a lot of talk about civil war, but you ain't going to get an honest conversation about it.
And people like Matt and I can disagree on the semantics.
I agree with Matt what Trump administration is doing on a daily basis.
It's antithetical to the Constitution.
It's antithetical to who we are as Americans.
It's not a civil war.
And I think that's the important
discussion to have, the perception of some people.
And to your point, Trigby, I agree with you that a lot of this is cosplay so that people buy into this narrative.
that is thus far technically untrue, but it raises the heat in the kitchen and can lead to actual violence or
war.
Yeah, it creates chaos and it creates the perception of fear.
It creates the perception of fear that somebody felt like Charlie Kirk was enough of a threat that they needed to go and shoot him or that some crazy man
thought that a state legislator from Minnesota was enough of a threat that showed up at the person's house and shot the state legislator and their husband and then went to another state legislator and shot them.
That's what that kind of rhetoric leads to.
And I agree, Donald Trump is the worst defender of this, and it's that kind of cosplaying chaos that people think is somehow cool.
It isn't cool and it ultimately leads to people like Charlie Kirk, people like the state legislators being shot here at home, but even more frightening in some ways is it leads to people like Vladimir Putin, you know, thinking that they can go marching into Poland.
Right.
And yeah, I appreciate you.
You bring it back to that because we have a caller on the line right now, 855-752-4842.
Mark, in prayer to sack, Mark, listen in.
You wanted to talk about Russia for a second.
Go ahead, Mark.
Yeah, I was kind of delving into some history a little while back.
And apparently, prior to the 18th, up to the 18th century, apparently there had been some kind of commonwealth between, I think, was Ukraine, part of Belarus.
The Baltic states in Poland were actually in a commonwealth, and before Poland was Poland, I think, but it was the Polish people.
But they were in a commonwealth of nations, and Russia was not a big deal as powerful as it was then.
And what's ironic is that Russia could be even more powerful if they were not engaged in these military exercises.
that they're pulling out if they wanted to actually join with the modern European nations.
Peter the Great for all his faults.
He wanted Russia to be more European.
And he probably went about it the wrong way, but Russia would be stronger economically if they actually joined the modern world and gave up this Stalinist view of empire that they apparently are engaged in right
now.
Go ahead quickly, Mark.
And quickly, are firearms allowed on campus in Utah?
I don't know the answer to that.
I don't know the answer to that.
I mean, that's the other thing that popped into my head is
that.
Well, I'm not going to go there.
There are some unconfirmed reports that Charlie Kirk himself, they have been carrying a gun at this point, but that is unconfirmed at this hour.
And we will try and stay on this program to what we know would be confirmed.
But Mark, I appreciate the point.
Quickly, to Mark's point, I want to go back to what you said earlier in the show.
Less than a month ago, Donald Trump literally rolled off the red carpet for Vladimir Putin.
And and that doesn't that just give him empower him to do things like he did overnight, which is to eke into NATO territory with weapons in Poland.
And as you said, testing the United States and the allies.
Yeah, I mean, that's that's what's going on.
What Mark was alluding to is the Lithuanian grand Polish grand duchy, which.
quite at one point was the largest country in Europe.
It ran from all the way from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
But yeah, there's no doubt.
We're being tested.
We're being tested internally.
We're being tested internationally.
This is the result of what you have when you have chaos.
Come on back.
More breaking news.
We'll
update you and tell you what it is after this on the Civic Media Ready
Network.
Welcome back to the Tonal Ball Show, the specific video already networked now eight minutes before the hour of three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon.
Appreciate you being with us and.
can see many more people are tuning in to our live stream more than that we usually get.
We appreciate you turning to us in these times of breaking news and those listening to us over the air.
So we will update you on what we know of the breaking news at this hour.
According to desertnews.com in Utah, several other places, ABC, CNN, and the like CBS at this hour, Charlie Kirk, the conservative commentator, activist, founder of Turning Points USA,
was shot at a Utah event at University of Utah Valley in Orem, Utah.
Earlier today, Desert News reporters on the scene report seeing Kirk shot at a Q&A rally with students about two minutes before or into the interview, whether a gunshot was heard and Kirk appeared to be hit in the neck.
Now, this is new news at this hour.
Initially, it was believed that a shooter was in custody
But Desert News was told by officials the status of the shooter is unclear.
The campus has been evacuated.
At least 60 first responder vehicles were blocking the campus entrances this afternoon.
Police have responded from Utah Highway Patrol and other vicinity or other municipalities around the area.
So at this hour, Charlie Kirk
confirmed to have been shot is at a hospital.
His exact condition at this hour is unknown.
And, uh, zomers, I believe you some is something else here.
Uh, just checking that very quickly here.
Um, I did you have the exact, uh, uh, quote from, uh, folks at turning point USA.
I want to make sure we get this
right.
There are two quotes.
Um,
The first one, Marina Minas, the chief marketing officer of Turning Point USA said, quote, he was shot in the neck.
He's at the hospital.
It doesn't look good, unquote, on CBS News.
And on ex-agricultural secretary, Brooke Collins, tweeted that Charlie Kirk is, quote, still with us.
Please keep praying he is in critical condition, but still with us.
So here's the, there's the, uh, putting flashed up on the CBS news screen, uh, from Trinity Points USA Charlie, Charlie curse organization saying quote, it doesn't look good on quote.
That is what we know.
We don't want to speculate, uh, any further than, uh, what the facts show us at this hour.
We'll continue to update you here at civic media and of course our ABC and the, uh, CBS news sources as well.
And if that wasn't enough, more breaking news at this hour, according to CNN, at least two students have been shot now.
at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado.
According to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, the students are being transported to a nearby hospital, as Sheriff said.
Evergreen is located roughly 28 miles southwest from Denver.
This is a developing story.
Again, that is in Evergreen, Colorado, at least two students shot at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado.
Trigby, I don't know what else to say other than you're a dad, you have two daughters.
There's a human element to this that it just gets overwhelming, I think, for the, and we feel like a lot of us, like, what the hell do we do?
You vote at the ballot box, you can go to rallies, but I think a lot of people just feel helpless and depressed and sad and angry in moments like this.
Yeah, I mean, all those are, I mean, they're justifiable emotions, right?
Like they are.
We as humans, it's hard to recognize that there are things outside our control and maybe now more than ever because we have more information at our fingertips than we have at any point in history.
But
I mean, here's what I would say.
Number one, everybody needs to find their thing that they can do where all of the daily minutiae of whatever it is they have in their lives disappears, you know?
As you know for me, and I wrote about this once on my sub-stack, there's nothing better for me than when I step out on the ice to go play hockey.
I might even be thinking about the day good or bad when I'm in the locker room putting on my gear, but when I hear my skate blade crack against the ice That's what I'm focused on and having that hour and 20 minutes Every day is healthy You need to find people they can get together with and have conversations that don't deviate into the political
Or the bad and here's the other thing when bad things happen 9-11 was one of the worst things that happened in any of our lives if you're of a certain age.
Amen.
It was an it was an immense of immense hate by a few individuals flying airplanes into buildings that are filled with people is an immense act of hate and It was easy to give into the anger of seeing that but here's the thing that people forget
There was far more love shown 24 years ago today, tomorrow, than the act of hate.
There were people in Nova Scotia who have little to nothing, who were taking in Americans who had to land on their island because they couldn't get into the United States.
There's what I experienced in Lithuania, over a thousand Lithuanians.
in front of the American embassy, leaving flowers, putting candles, hugging any Americans that they could find.
It's just the reality.
There's far more good in people and you have to remind yourselves that that can be the case and you have to encourage people.
to think and recognize that when you're having conversations with them preaching to people about politics isn't the answer.
It's helping them find within themselves the differences between what they're advocating for politically and who they are as human beings in their daily life.
You just do and in a place like Wisconsin, it's filled with people, you know.
who are like so good to people who are immigrating to their communities, and yet they're standing for not being nice to people who are immigrants.
Great perspective, great analysis, Craig.
We really appreciate you being here today.
Thank you so much, my friend.
We will talk to you soon.
Come on back.
Hour number two is straight ahead, including a live interview with the newest candidate for governor of the state of Wisconsin, David Crowley, county executive of Milwaukee, and hour two is straight
ahead.
Good afternoon everybody now six minutes past the hour of three o'clock I'm Todd Alba at the Civic Media News Center World World headquarters in downtown Madison with a special report at this hour we continue to follow the breaking news of the day.
Following two major stories at this hour for you first according to desertnews.com a publication.
From Utah being confirmed by other sites as well here is what we know Charlie Kirk the founder of the conservative organization outside spoken Personal conservative issues as well was shot earlier today He is the founder of turning points USA shot at an event in Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah Desert news reporters on the scene report seeing Kirk shot during a Q&A with students about two minutes into the interview
Shots were heard or a shot was heard and Kirk appeared to be hit In what looked to be a neck the neck according to reporters on the scene now initially it was believed that a shooter was in custody But desert news was told by officials the status of the shooter is unclear the campus has been evacuated Step away from the story Incorporating other sources.
It appears that there is a person of interest in custody
but what is unconfirmed at this hour, whether that suspect is the actual alleged shooter.
Very fluid situation.
Want us to make sure that we're passing on the most accurate information as we have it up to the minute.
According to desert news, at least 60 first responder vehicles were blocking the campus entrance in Utah at this hour.
Quote, a single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker.
Police are investigating now suspect in custody.
Unquote, that is from the University of Police there at the University in Utah, again, Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
The condition of Charlie Kirk has not been confirmed at this hour, although the executive director of Turning Points USA was quoted as saying, quote, it does not look good.
but want to be very careful on the report, what we know based on the legitimate information that we are seeing and that is what we know at this hour.
Some reaction to Wisconsin lawmakers at this hour.
This is being reported by Channel 3000 WISC, the CBS affiliate here in Madison.
In his post on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, Wisconsin, US Senator Ron Johnson asked his supporters to pray for Kirk, his family and his team.
United States Senator Tammy Baldwin also reacted to the shooting on an X post.
Senator Baldwin saying, quote,
There is no two ways about this.
Political violence has no place in America.
I'm keeping Charlie and his family in my thoughts in this truly horrifying moment, unquote.
U.S.
Representative Derek Van Orton said he was, quote, praying fervently, unquote, for Kirk in his family went on to say some hyper-partisan things as well.
I'm going to skip over right now.
United States Congressman Scott Fitzgerald said he was quote-unquote horrified to learn of the shooting saying quote my prayers with Charlie and his family
Political violence has no place in America ever and U.S.
Representative Tom Tiffany asked supporters to join him in praying for Kirk and the students of Utah Valley University U.S.
Representative Mark Pocan of Madison also responded to the shooting with a post on ex congressman Pocan saying quote political violence is never acceptable gun violence is never acceptable never
Unquote we will continue to follow this breaking story again at this hour what we know for sure is that the founder of turning points USA conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been shot in Utah with what appears to be a singular shot a suspect is in custody however new reporting suggests that it is unknown whether that suspect actually Was the alleged shooter it remains to be a fluid situation the
Utah Valley University or Utah has been evacuated and police and first responders are all over it there.
There is a secondary shooting we continue to follow at this hour as well and this time from the state of Colorado.
According to CNN at least three people have been shot at a Denver area high school according to officials.
Three people are in critical condition after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, according to St.
Anthony's Hospital.
At least two of the victims are students.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Evergreen is located roughly 28 miles southwest from Denver.
The school has been placed on lockdown according to Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado, which is urging people to stay away from the area as law enforcement responds.
Again, that is at Evergreen High School in Evergreen.
Colorado.
We'll continue to follow this story as well as the Charlie Kirk story through the rest of our upcoming program and on Civic Media, ABC and CBS News as well.
For now at 11 minutes past the hour of three o'clock, I'm Todd Albaugh reporting for Civic Media News.
From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.
And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.
Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.
and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Todd Albaugh, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer.
It is 12 minutes past the hour of three o'clock on this Wednesday, September 10th, 2025, for going the normal of beat opening this hour, simply not appropriate, given the breaking news.
As you just heard, I went through that on that special report.
We'll continue.
to follow both the shooting of Charlie Kirk in Oregon, pardon me, in Utah today, as well as another yet another school shooting in Colorado.
At least three people are in critical condition in Evergreen, Colorado at this hour.
Before we get into other news of the coming up, by the way, at the bottom of this hour.
Wisconsin News for you.
David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive, announcing yesterday he is the latest to get into the race for Wisconsin Governor on the Democratic side.
He joined Pat Crite Low on mornings with Pat Crite Low this morning and is going to be our guest at the bottom of this hour.
Learning more about County Executive Crowley and his race for Wisconsin Governor.
Let's go to the fold lines.
855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.
Joe, listening on WMDX here in Madison.
Joe, always appreciate your perspective on yet another disturbing day.
Yeah, I just wanted to comment before I make my remarks that every gun death in my mind is an incredible tragedy and is awful and awful situation.
Agreed.
support reasonable gun control.
I grew up with a father who collected guns in, I feel that reasonable gun control is a very reasonable way to go.
Charlie Kirk was not in that same place.
Here is an article from Newsweek, April 6th, 2023.
And he was giving remarks one week after three children and three adults were killed at the Christian Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
That Nashville mass shooting was the 130th mass shooting in the United States in 2023.
Charlie Kirk's response on this was, it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every year so that we can have a Second Amendment.
He continued by saying,
Let's see, I think it's worth it to have across, unfortunately, some gun deaths every year so we can have a second amendment to protect our other God-given rights.
It's a prudent deal.
It is rational.
I'm sorry that his family is in this situation, that he's in this situation, but perhaps people need to offer more, especially from the conservative side, than thoughts and prayers.
I think I speak for a lot of Americans by saying, um, kind of done with it, you know, really kind of done with it.
And I know that there's a lot of attention being put on Charlie Kirk, but let's put the same amount of attention on these three high schoolers who I'm sure had no intention of being in the political sphere and having suffering gun deaths.
How about the kids that were shot up in Minnesota?
I just, um, you know, sooner or later, you just have to say, uh, this isn't working.
And to say that this is the price of liberty is absurd.
other countries have guns and they don't have this situation.
We have to look at responsible gun control, and Charlie Kirk didn't want to.
I'm so sorry for him and his family.
Thanks a lot.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate your perspective, Joe, as always.
855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.
And kind of balancing for myself right now,
the line of doing these special reports and more of a news anchor role, if you will, or whatever I'm in that situation, I try to put my own personal views aside and just report the news as we know it.
But it also happens to occur in the middle of my daily show where I do offer perspectives and do offer my thoughts and encourage discussion from all sides.
You know, I tend to agree with Joe, you know, as a as a
a gun owner still hunt occasionally for pheasant and turkey But I also I've said this program before favor reasonable gun reform such as red flag laws and waiting periods I Wish we go back to the old assault weapons ban.
I just don't see the need for that But to Joe's point it's going to be and it's so tough to talk about this when we're in it, right because Charlie Kirk does have family and
Whether he survives or not it's gonna impact all of them these three kids another developing story in in Colorado But but Charlie Kirk has family too and friends But it's going to be if I if I remove myself from the humanity of it for a minute It'll be interesting and fascinating to see how the right reacts Once now that one of their own just like when
President Trump was shot during the campaign, how they react to this.
And unfortunately, in my opinion, how they react is also going to be determined partly on who ultimately ends up being identified and charged and convicted as the shooter.
And we're going to have a whole conversation around that, not me personally, but the country.
Uh, I was reminded over the break, uh, our great director of operations, Luke Mathers and, and Trigby and Pat Crite Lowell.
And again, thank you for them for being on the show in the first set.
We talked about this.
I forgot to mention it.
So I appreciate Luke bringing it up because I think it's a really, really important point today.
We don't have to go on social media today.
We don't all have to offer our takes on our socials and we don't all have to go on and watch this.
Which apparently it's already You know Blowing up probably a bad choice of words, but it's it's it's the same social media is blowing up all for social media very graphic video of this action We don't have to watch that and Sometimes the best take in my opinion is no take at least for a beat Give ourselves a beat
Let's let's find out what really happened.
Let's find out the truth and then offer takes and That's not to say that our callers or our textors don't art entitled to their look this show this show largely exists for all people's takes my own and yours But I think it's just a good reminder particularly on social media That we don't have to be consumed by all of this today our mental health for one thing
All right, come on back.
Let me talk a little packers, maybe to turn a page for a moment to the David Crowley at the bottom of the hour.
Milwaukee County executive is running for governor.
We'll talk to him as well.
Stay tuned.
Breaking news continues as the all balls show in the Civic Media.
truth wherever it may lead and not so much fun on a Wednesday afternoon 22 now past the hour of three o'clock glad to have you along we'll continue to follow the breaking news of the shooting of Charlie Kirk his exact condition yet unknown at this hour a suspect in custody although they do not know is not confirmed whether that is the alleged shooter and now three people shot at a Denver school
This afternoon and evergreen Colorado that remains remember continues to remain a fluid situation at this hour will bring you updates as they become available.
Also, after the bottom of the hour, after the farm news, going to have David Crowley here, Milwaukee County executive, the newest gubernatorial candidate on the Democratic side, looking forward to a discussion with him.
Zomers, let's turn a page just for a moment.
If we can think we need a.
as Jane McNair might say, a little appellate cleanser, a little bit.
Something like that.
To take our mind off of the events of the day, just for a moment, at least.
This from PBS Wisconsin.
You wanna know about one of the many reasons I love PBS Wisconsin?
Here you go.
They have a, I guess, a section called Wisconsin Life and something called Game Day.
And this is fantastic.
They interviewed one of the longtime Green Bay Packer field manager, Alan Johnson, on what it takes to get Lambeau Field ready.
Of course, Packer's got a big win over the weekend on Sunday against the Detroit Lions and quick turnaround as the Packers have to play tomorrow night on Thursday night football against the Washington Commanders.
Take a couple of minutes here of this great piece by PBS Wisconsin on the Green Bay Packers Field Manager, Alan Johnson.
Welcome to game day at Lambeau Field.
There's a sea of fans, a few bands and tailgating as far as the eye can see.
But before any fans come marching in, it's game on for Alan Johnson.
I tell people all the time, I'm a farmer.
and I'm growing a crop.
Just happens to be here for a football team.
Allen is the Green Bay Packers Field Manager.
He's responsible for one of the most iconic pieces of sports turf in America.
You think about what you do is seen for three hours on TV by millions of people, so there's a lot of pressure.
It's best not to think about it.
There's a lot fans might not think about when it comes to this homegrown Packers pasture.
The big day is the day before me and my crew are painting the field and getting ready.
The field crew paints every letter, every NFL logo, and every hash mark, every week the Packers play at home.
Despite using 145 gallons of paint, their artwork doesn't last long on this canvas that stretches the length of a football field.
It takes a five-man crew an entire day to repaint perfection.
And each season, that canvas is new.
Every spring on Lambeau Field, we actually kill off the grass and remove it mechanically with a machine.
Then we have to grow that back in from seed.
If we let the grass get too mature and too thick, it'll be harder for those cleats to break through that grass canopy and sink in where the good footing is.
Another little known fact,
Lambeau Field is based on a synthetic and natural turf perfected overseas.
All the soccer in Europe, the soccer fields in the Premier League are this type of system.
They're a high performing field.
We are the only field with this type of system.
Everything is dictated by the weather because it's sand.
You've got to pay attention to the water.
We have another technology that we utilize and it really came in handy when we expanded to the south part of the stadium.
their grow lights and we fold the arms out and it helps extend our growing season.
We are unique in the sense that we are natural grass field, probably the northernmost land latitude.
There you go.
There's a little
bit of, we'll leave it there a little bit longer if you go to PBS Wisconsin.
Great interview there by PBS Wisconsin with Alan Johnson, the Green Bay Packers field manager.
And until I heard that I'd kind of forgotten that You know more recently the turf went from all natural grass into the semi artificial is there's some Turf artificial turf, but there's also dirt in it and there's real grass mixed in as well And there's heaters underneath and they bring lights in on top.
I mean, it's it is a true sophisticated deal On there with with the Lambo field.
So I think when we turn on the game on on Sundays or Thursdays, whatever it might be or you listen
Hopefully on the civic media writing network on our packer affiliates.
You don't think about what it takes to actually create the turf and keep things up So really interesting again, you can find that all that interview at PBS Wisconsin spelled out Wisconsin PBS Wisconsin Dot oh our G we thank them for for that great reporting a quick update for you and many thanks to Jake up here at civic media because like you get reading things quickly and you Want to make sure we get things right here one of the main
sources for this tragic shooting out in Utah today of Charlie Kirk, the trading points founder.
The correct pronunciation is Deseret News.
I think I was pronouncing it Desert News.
My apologies and thanks for Jacob for correcting me on that, but it's DeseretNews.com.
Again, Charlie Kirk, the founder of Trading Points USA, conservative shot in the neck.
Reportedly his exact condition is unknown although the executive of turning points USA says quote-unquote It does not look good at this hour a suspect is in custody It is unknown whether that suspect is the actual shooter at this hour and also good going on evergreen high school in evergreen, Colorado According to st.
Anthony's hospital there at least three people have been shot any Denver area high school shooting this afternoon, so it is a
a fluid situation to say the best.
New reporting at this hour, the initial suspect has now been released.
Thank you, Zomers, for that update that is according to the Associated Press, CNN, the BBC and others.
So now, according to those sources, the initial suspect has been released, which means that the alleged gunman
a gun person at this hour is still at large in Utah.
We will continue to follow this.
We're going to take a look at Farm News of Pam Yonkey, Midwest Farm Report, turn a page, come back and talk with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley on his entry into the gubernatorial run here in the state of Wisconsin.
Don't go anywhere.
It's the Civic Media Radio Network across
Wisconsin.
show on the Cinepedia radio network now 35 minutes past the hour of three o'clock on this Wednesday, September 10th.
Summer is on the board.
Glad to have you along.
Quick update on our top breaking news story of the day.
according to the Deseret.com publication from Utah, as well as other major publications and news sources around the country.
The founder of turningpoints.com, conservative commentator, activist Charlie Kirk was shot earlier this afternoon at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
on-site witnesses, including reporters, confirmed that Kirk Rutherford was shot in what appeared to be the neck area.
His exact status is unknown at this time.
We understand there are differing reports out on socials right now, but we are going to stick with the facts as we know them, that Charlie Kirk's status is unknown.
There had been an arrest, according to the University of Police, of a suspect, according now.
to the Associated Press and others.
That suspect has been released.
Therefore, it remains a fluid situation that the alleged shooter is still at large there in Utah.
And quickly, at least three people are confirmed shot and injured at a Denver area high school this afternoon in Evergreen High School in Colorado, according to St.
Anthony's Hospital.
We'll continue to provide live updates on civic media throughout the afternoon.
36 minutes now past the hour of three o'clock.
Let us turn a page and turn our attention to Wisconsin politics a brand new entry into the
Governor's race here in the state on the Democratic side was not necessarily a surprise, nor was it unexpected if you followed what he said over the last few weeks.
But David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive, entered the race yesterday and joins us live from the great city of Milwaukee, County Executive Crowley.
Thank you so very much for being here on what has turned out to be a very difficult day news-wise.
Well, first and foremost, I just want to say thank you for having me.
And before we really get started, I think we have to acknowledge my thoughts and prayers are not only with what happened in Denver, but also with Charlie Kirk.
And so there's no reason why we have this level of hate or level of violence in our country.
But we have to push back.
have to push back against the level of political violence that we have seen increase across this country.
We may have our differences, but we have to agree to disagree.
We have to focus on how we can move forward together because this is our state, this is our country, and we have to live in it and share it with one another.
So my thoughts and prayers with everyone who has been affected and inflicted violence upon them.
Appreciate those thoughts on the breaking news today, County Executive Crowley.
Let's turn a page just for a moment here, because that's why you're here.
I appreciate you taking time to come on our program.
And I know you're on with our colleague, Pat Critello, on mornings of Pat Critello earlier this morning.
As we say on this show, it's your first time here.
So on our show, we appreciate that.
As we like to say, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, and how you ended up into the public service sector.
Absolutely, and you know I was born and raised here in the city of Milwaukee lifelong Wisconsin nights went to public schools my entire life and had great parents, but they both you know struggled struggled with mental health or struggled with drug addiction And when I was a junior in high school, you know, I had went through so much, you know We were evicted three times before I graduated high school.
There was a lot of housing instability But it was an organization that literally saved my life called urban underground youth organization that introduced me to community organizing
And working with non-profits and grassroots organizations on the ground, you know, it translated to getting involved in politics.
So in 2010, I decided to go work for Russ Feingo, traveling all across this state, helping to get him reelected.
Then I had the opportunity to work for a county board supervisor, Nikia Dot, who went on to be a state senator, worked for a year and a half as a legislative aide of four years as the political director in her state senate office.
And then I got bit by that bug.
to actually run for office myself.
And so in 2016, I was elected to represent the 17th Assembly District.
I was also elected to be the chair of our Milwaukee delegation as well as chair of our Black Legislative Caucus.
And in 2019, I'd leave them before I looked and decided to get into this county execs race.
And I have been serving as the county executive sworn in May 4th, 2020.
and was reelected with 85% of the vote in 2024.
I find it interesting and fascinating as a person who has a political nut.
You're Milwaukee's first Black County executive and the youngest person to hold office.
You're all of 39 right now, but you're a rising political star in this state.
And I think at a time when we have a lot of talk nationally and even at the state level about
elder states people shall we stay uh you bring a unique generational shift in a perspective
you know i do and i i appreciate you looking at me as a rising political star in this states and it's one of the reasons why i got involved in in one in the one for governor you know we've been able to tackle many different issues across morphe county but
what's been important is how we've created more partnerships and you know we have to do that if we want to move our community forward we want to move this state forward it's about stepping outside our geographical comfort zone being able to agree to disagree but more importantly just
you know, learning about one another.
One of my favorite quotes is, no one cares what you know until they know how much you care.
And, you know, being from an urban area, I've been introduced to rural areas as a kid.
My father taking me to LaPros and taking me all over the state, whether we're going fishing or going duck hunting.
And so I have familiarity with rural communities, but this is a great opportunity to enter this race to continue to move our state.
So I come from southwest Wisconsin, but I lived in Madison, a better part of 20 plus years, but grew up out in southwest Wisconsin.
My granddad might say to you, what do you say as you go around Wisconsin County Executive David Crowley and they look at you and say, so why do you want the job?
Which is, which is a great question.
One, I think it's important to acknowledge that, you know, Governor Evers, he has, he has been a great leader.
He has led with a steady, calm strength here in the state of Wisconsin, leading us through the pandemic.
helping to protect our democracy and protect, quite frankly, our working families from a lot of harm.
You know, I spent seven years in the state capitol, so I know how Madison works.
And I've also gotten things done with the Republican control legislature.
And for the past five years, I've been leading the largest county in the state of Wisconsin, representing close to a million people, which is a sixth of our entire state's population, but also managing one of the largest budgets in the state with a $1.4 billion budget.
And so since 2020 have not only led our community through the pandemic, but we've tackled some of the toughest issues throughout the county.
Public health, public safety, fiscal recovery.
We've invested in small businesses all across Milwaukee County.
We've created more affordable housing options.
We've made government more accessible.
We've cut our carbon emissions in half all while being able to deliver the largest property tax cut in Milwaukee County's history.
And so I know.
that I am the only candidate with not only legislative experience, but I have experience actually running the government.
So on day one, I'll be ready to hit the ground hard and hit the ground running, but I truly believe that the stakes are quite frankly, they're too high and we don't have any time to waste as Democrats.
We're talking to Milwaukee County Executive, David Crawley, who is the latest to entry on the Democratic side in the race for Wisconsin governor.
90 second answers.
If you can't do one minute, I want to make sure we get a couple of things in here.
It's the clock number the first one.
As you travel around the state, what are the top two, no more than three issues that are on Wisconsin voters' minds in this race for governor?
Well, it's about tackling this affordability crisis that so many folks are going through.
You know, people are getting less, even if they're making more, and we need to provide them with some type of relief.
And we have to acknowledge there's only so much that we can do with this economic chaos that's being inflicted on families under the Trump administration, but it doesn't mean that we can't help families move forward.
I know what it's like to struggle.
what it's like not to be able to pay your bills or put food on the table.
And what we need to be focusing on is how do we create family sustaining jobs, good jobs?
How do we fully fund our public schools to make sure our young people, our kids are ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow and just making things that much more affordable, whether we're talking about healthcare.
But I'm looking forward to going across this state, learning about the different issues because there isn't a one size fits all to the solutions that affect every community in this state.
And so I want to make sure that
as we travel, those who have been impacted, that they are closest to the solutions that can fit their community.
We need to right size these solutions for every
community.
No people that know you.
I've watched you before.
You're not someone who is afraid to tackle tough issues or tough questions.
I'm just going to put it out there.
You're a person who happens to be black.
I'm a person who happens to be gay.
There are people in this race who happen to be women.
I know my former party that I left in 2011 very well, and I know that they take those things that can be dividers against each other and manipulate that to win elections.
We saw last time against former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, where they darkened the pigment of his skin, exaggerated things, made up lies to beat him.
Do you have a plan for politically inoculating yourself against those types of attacks?
And if so, are you willing to share any of them with us?
Well, we are definitely going to be, you know, knocking down any of these attacks.
But see, that's what the Republicans do.
They want to distract and divide people because this is the only way that they can stay in power because they're not bringing any substance to the table.
You know, they will talk about me being from Milwaukee, me being black, but that's not putting food on people's table.
That's not making sure that they can afford their child care.
And the issues that I've been working on here in Milwaukee
These aren't democratic issues.
These aren't Milwaukee issues.
These are Wisconsin issues.
And so I'm going to go across the entire state and look and let them know that everybody know that I'm looking to be the governor for all of us.
We can't allow these divisions to stop our entire state from moving forward.
And so what we're going to focus on is the things that matter.
We're going to focus on affordability.
We're going to focus on housing.
And I know that we're going to be able to get people in part of this campaign, not because of what we've done.
for what I know we can do together.
And so whether you're a Democrat or independent or Republican, I want folks to know that there's a place in this campaign for you.
Earlier today, Milwaukee Mayor Kevlar Johnson endorsed you.
There was some thought that you may both enter this race.
His endorsement has to be huge for your campaign.
There are two counties in a Democratic primary that can really, it comes out of three places, right?
It's Milwaukee County, Dane County, and everybody else on a Democratic primary.
It has to be a big feather in your campaign early on to get the mayor's endorsement.
It is.
I truly appreciate the mayor's belief and inspiration in me for running for this seat.
And I think it's no secret that I represent the largest democratic community in the entire state of Wisconsin, which actually makes me uniquely positioned to bring more democratic votes out of Milwaukee County.
And we're not going to leave no stone unturned.
So we're going to continue to travel across the state, and there are going to be more endorsements coming out tonight.
Just wait and see.
We'll stay tuned for that.
Let me ask you quickly.
Ask the other people as well.
How do you win a Democratic primary right now?
Are you having a base progressive base that really is quote unquote angry and wants Democrats to fight harder?
They say, how do you win this primary, but not so far alienated to the left?
You can't win a general.
Well, one, I think I bring, you know, experience executive leadership, you know, to this race.
And we also have to understand that, you know, they're always trying to put labels, but we do need a fighter, but it's not just about fighting against the
the policies that we see the Trump administration and the fact that Wisconsin Republicans, they're literally carrying the president's water versus carrying the concerns of the people to the floor.
And so the way that we win this race is we're going to talk to everybody.
You know, I think that primaries are great for our democracy.
It gives voters the opportunity to see the candidates.
But whoever that Democratic nominee is, they're going to become that much more better because they went through this primary process.
And so we're going to talk about what we've done for Milwaukee County.
We're going to cut through all the distractions and divisions and talk about how we need to build a broader table.
If we're going to win this race, right, we got to build a coalition, which means we got to unify our base.
energize the people on the ground, bring new voices to the table, and figure out ways to bring independence back.
And I know that we're going to be able to speak to all of those different categories of people.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, thank you very much for being here.
Safe travels around the state of Wisconsin on your gubernatorial run.
You have an open mic on this show at any time.
We'd love to have you back as the campaign continues.
Well, thank you so much for this opportunity, and I know I'll be back.
I appreciate your work.
We appreciate you very much.
David Crawley, Milwaukee County Executive, latest to candidate for governor of the state of Wisconsin.
Stay tuned.
We have an update on breaking news of Charlie Kirk.
We'll tell it to you when we come back.
It's the town hall ball show on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to the title bowl show in the civic media.
We're going to stop eight minutes before the hour of four o'clock at the top of the hour ABC or CBS News depending on which of our stations you're listening to a weather update sports with Mike Clemens and then another edition of the Maggie Dawn show I anticipate that Maggie will continue to cover our breaking news at this hour and we are going to give you an update right now this according to CNN and being confirmed by other sources Charlie Kirk
The conservative political activist and co-founder of Turning Points USA was killed this afternoon after being shot at an event in Utah Valley University.
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social moments ago.
He was 31 years old.
As Trump
Remade the Republican Party Kirk embodied the party's new founded populist conservatism to conservatism in the social media age Kirk's involvement began in the wake of the Tea Party movement and grew with Trump's ascendance having co-founded 30 point at
In 2012, at the age of 18, Kirk was a prominent supporter of Trump who courted young voters and used his network of nonprofits to seek to turn out voters on campuses and churches for Trump in 2024.
Kirk was answering questions at an event this afternoon on a 14-city tour when a single pop was heard.
Video taken by attendees
shows the crowd screaming as Kirk recoils in his seat and appears to reach for his neck.
Among those in attendance was former U.S.
Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican.
He said earlier on Fox News, he was at the event with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law.
He said Kirk, quote, came out.
He was throwing hats, riling up the crowd, unquote.
and then started taking questions before being shot.
Quote, I was watching Charlie.
I can't say I saw blood.
I can't say that I saw him get hit.
But I did see him fall immediately backwards into his left, unquote.
The American Comeback Tour had Kirk's signature prove me wrong table, where Kirk would urge those who disagree with him to debate an issue.
Trump has credited Kirk with galvanizing and mobilizing the youth vote for him.
Kirk most recently appeared in the Oval Office in May, attending the swearing-in ceremony with Judge Genie Piro.
The president and dozens of Kirk's other allies, as well as Democrats, who had sharp disagreements with him, posted well wishes and calls for prayers online.
Kirk, an Illinois native, married in 2021.
the couple have two young children.
Again, according to a post by President Trump, Charlie Kirk has been killed this afternoon.
It's been pronounced dead.
Charlie Kirk was 31 years old.
Then, of course, in addition to the other story, we are following this afternoon breaking news out of Colorado where at least three people, students,
were injured in a shooting in Denver, Colorado at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado.
More than 100 law enforcement officers are working to clear that school, quote, room by room as it remains on lockdown, officials said.
No suspects are in custody and authorities are working to determine whether there was one or multiple shooters involved there, according to police in Colorado.
The tragedy in Colorado marks the 40
seventh shooting that took place at a school in the United States so far this year.
24 of which were on college campuses and 23 on K-12 school grounds.
Colorado's shooting took place less than an hour after a conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and now we have reports that he has been killed in Utah Valley University.
Again, updating on the Charlie Kirk situation, there had been an arrest of a suspect in custody, but now it is reported by the Associated Press and other news sources that that suspect has been released.
At this hour, it is unknown.
It appears that the shooter in the Charlie Kirk shooting in Utah is still at large and again, unknown in the Colorado shooting as well.
The New York Times says that Kirk Spokesman has now confirmed that Charlie Kirk is dead, being confirmed as being reported by the New York Times.
Tough day on the show, never the things we want to talk about.
And again, as we had discussions with Pat Critello and Trig V. Olsen on this show earlier, I'd appreciate the comments of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
There has to be a point in my opinion when this country wants to truly reckon with these types of issues And it's going and again to remove myself from the news portion of this as a commentator Now it's going to determine that's gonna come down to who was the shooter what's their background people point fingers they blame But a good reminder that again none of us
have to go on socials today.
None of us have to watch this video that's out there.
None of us have to comment on it today.
I appreciate everybody involved on these.
I have the honor and the privilege of being the person behind the mic in these situations, but it takes an entire team to bring the factual information to you.
I want to thank our political editor here at Civic Media, Dan Schaefer, for staying on top of this and giving us information.
Director of Operations, Luke Mathers, for being with us throughout the show, making sure that we get you accurate information and there is no better live producer in this business than Aaron Zommers, who are doing Yeoman's work on the board today.
Pat Crightlow, a morning of Pat Crightlow, Trig V. Olsen, Senior Advisors of the Lincoln Project, and David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive.
Thank you to all of them and all of you for listening.
Stay safe out there.
Hug those that you love.
and take time for your own mental health and get away from it.
Maggie Dawn is next.
Todd Albaul say whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in, do not give up.
Keep banging your drum.
We'll see you
tomorrow.
