Beef Battles and Education Escapades (Hour 1)

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

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

Across

Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Alba, along with Mr. Dom Lee on the board, engineering and producing for Mr. Zahmers, who is out today.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Thursday, October 23rd, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Welcome, everybody.

Glad to have you along on a absolutely

picture perfect Thursday afternoon here for the World Headquarters of Civic Media Downtown Madison at the intersection of State and Fairchild.

And Mr. Dom Lee, welcome in.

Hey,

thank you.

It's lovely to be here.

And usually I'm here early in the morning, so this is such a change of pace.

Usually you're

soundly in

bed

by this time of the afternoon.

I always, I love taking

naps.

Well, Dom, it's kind enough to come in.

You do the John and Gordy show here on the Madison Station, WMDX, with the aforementioned John and Gordy and the wonderful and talented Catherine Lake.

You're the engineer, you're the glue, you're the producer.

You're the Italian stallion of John and Gordy.

And now here, Zombers has caught himself some sort of parasitic disease.

No, that's kidding.

He's just feeling under the weather.

He's a little allergies.

And so you were kind enough to say, well, geez.

I'll fill in and we're happy to have

you.

Oh, well, I appreciate that.

Yeah, usually it's from six to eight.

So normally I come in here around four AM.

So this is

scary

time.

This is what downtown looks like during the day, Dom.

Wow.

My eyes need to adjust to the light.

I can't handle this.

Uh, well, it's great you're here.

We appreciate you.

Uh, as we do with every... This is your first time on the show, isn't it?

Correct.

Yeah.

This is the first time.

How have we not had you on the show before this?

I don't know, but I'm excited to be here, guys.

I'm excited.

Well, we're excited to have you.

Tell folks a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, where you're from, and how you got into radio.

Yeah.

So, I originally am from Frankfurt, Illinois.

So, it's about half an hour south of Chicago.

So, I was... I'm a fib.

That's what, you know, that's what Scott's and I

say.

A south cider.

It's correct and I went to school at UW Oshkosh graduated there a couple months back and in radio and now now I'm here See you're

you're you're an honorary Wisconsin I can you went to UW Oshkosh a find the Titans.

Oh, yes

I believe the alma mater of a very own Dan Schaefer

correct

so Terry

Barr

to and Terry Bar right so I mean you're a very very good company with alums well like Terry Barr and and

and Shaffer.

What did you do?

Sports?

Did you do news?

What were you doing in the comms program there at Oshkosh?

Oh man, I did everything, Todd.

I did everything.

I mainly did sports for my last two years, but I also was a little bit in TV as well.

I kind of did camera operation, and then I kind of went into sports.

And then my last year I did news.

So I kind of was surrounded by everything radio at Oshkosh.

They have a great program by the way.

They do.

They really do.

My alma mater, Platfield, used to, not so much anymore.

But my god, love Oshkosh, and it's a fine institution, great city.

We've done the show up there before for the EAA and other things.

So great to have you here at Civic Media, Dom.

And thanks for filling in today.

We really appreciate

it.

No problem.

I'm blushing.

I'm

blushing.

Oh, well, it'd be great to have in your Italian.

That's what we call you, the Italian stallion.

And for those out there, oh, he's a Chicagoan.

But he's a white socks fan.

He's not a cubby's

fan.

I'm starting to switch to the cubs fan because the socks are doing just God awful.

And I

come over to the brewer's

side.

I'm thinking about it.

I'm thinking about it.

I've

worked a few shows.

You and Sal Freelich, two Italian stallions.

Really?

Oh, Sal's a big Italian.

Is he really?

I'm serious.

I gotta hit

him up

then.

There you go.

Well, great to have everybody along today.

Gonna be a great show, a fun show.

What's worse for you in hour two as well as another Wisconsin fun fact and lots of news to get to today.

And a lot of it has to do with with Dr. Jill Underly.

We're going to get into that in a minute.

I am wearing my Joe Thomas Hall of Fame beef hat.

It says beef and big white letters at the top because we're also going to talk a little bit about American beef farmers.

Donald Trump continues to double down on not helping them.

Made more remarks yesterday from the White House, so we'll talk about that.

And also, what is maybe a little secret sauce?

for Democrats in 2026 and how could that help them in the elections here coming up next year and perhaps some breaking news along the way.

So should be a fun show.

Hope you all stay with us here for the next couple of hours as Dom and myself keep you informed and entertained.

At 11 minutes past the hour or two o'clock, I want to start here as a follow-up

And we've talked to the reporter from the Capitol Times, Danielle DeClos, here on this show this week.

She wrote an article last Friday in the Capitol Times on Dr. Jill Underly and the Department of Public Instruction.

And I'll set it up quickly again, because I think there's two main concerns I have.

A, the allegations in this article, and some of them actually did...

Basically, I don't wanna say admit legally, but resign their positions and gave up their licenses because they're over 200 and they're not all teachers, by the way.

If you do the math on this, and I did, I had to do it off the air because I don't do math on the air very well, if you add up all of the licensed teachers in the state of Wisconsin and you divide that by 200, what this article is talking about is less than a percent.

So it's like 0.3% of educators in the state of what this affects.

All right, so let's make that clear that the overwhelming 99.7% of teachers in this state are not in this category.

But you have this one batch, 200, that either gave up their licenses as they're able to do under Wisconsin law in exchange for not having allegations of grooming and sexual misconduct advanced.

And there are questions why these records were not more easily accessible to the public and also why their records are not annotated so that they can't go get a job somewhere else in dealing with kids in the state.

And the reporter for the CapTimes, Danielle DeClos, attempted, gave Dr. Jill Underly, the superintendent of public instruction, several opportunities to sit for an interview.

as a part of this, and she declined.

She sent her communications guy, i.e., a flak.

I used to be a flak for a state center, a spokesperson.

Another name for a spokesperson.

And he basically said, well, she can't talk because it's a conflict of interest, and I can't find anybody to explain to me what that conflict of interest is legally.

She's been invited on this program many times.

She quit coming on, Dr. Underly did, over a year and a half ago.

And I've said some very nice things about her to her face at a Wisconsin public education network conference I asked people to give her a hand for the great job.

She was doing like two years ago And then she was up for reelection this spring She refused to participate in the debate forum with her opponents and she gets reelected and Now the state assembly is meeting today at the state Capitol

and the assembly committee asked Dr. Underly at the beginning of the week to come to this hearing today and she is now left the state.

She is at some meeting in Indiana and said, that's why she can't be here today.

As a former

District Director for United States Congressman in Wisconsin, as a former communication director and deputy chief of staff for a Senate Majority Leader, i.e.

Dale Schultz of the state, and as a former chief of staff for a senior state senator in this state, one of your main responsibilities to you and your boss is to help them think what's important now.

Popular phrase by Lou Holtz, former coach of Notre Dame, what's important now?

and think, okay, where are the best resources?

Where should our boss be that does him and his constituents the most good?

Because you got all kinds of requests.

There is no excuse in my book why Dr. Underly left the state today for some conference in Indiana and is not sitting her posterior a block away from where I'm at in a committee hearing to answer these questions.

And yes, I'm sure some of the Republican questions would have been off base.

But that's the price you pay for putting yourself out there as an elected official and being elected.

And the fact that she doesn't want to take questions raises a lot more suspicions.

Here's what she did do.

She released a video today, so about four minutes, we're gonna play about a minute and a half of it, gonna pick it up, our first minute or so.

You know, obviously stating we should protect kids.

And then she gets into the heart of rebutting against this story in the Capitol Times.

Here is Dr. Underly's prerecorded statement, which is clearly edited, by the way.

Here is Dr. Underly's statement she released this morning.

Every child deserves to walk into a classroom where they feel safe, respected, and free to learn without fear.

And that is non-negotiable.

We investigate every single complaint we receive.

and these investigations are conducted thoroughly, professionally, and within the legal authority given to us.

Licensure actions, whether it's a suspension, revocation, or voluntary surrender, are not made lightly.

They are based on evidence, not speculation, undue process, and not headlines.

Let me also address a dangerous misconception.

When an educator voluntarily surrenders their license, that is not a loophole.

It is a serious, permanent action.

Their name is entered into a national database and is shared among all state education agencies, flagging them for educator licensing agencies across the country.

That protects kids.

And we do not do this work in the shadows.

Our process is transparent and is available for anyone to see.

And through our educator licensing database, anyone can look up the status of an educator's license at any time.

If someone is under investigation, it's there.

If a license has been voluntarily surrendered or revoked, it's there.

That's transparency, and that's accountability.

We welcome discussions about reform, but let me stress, reforms must be based on facts, not fear or headlines.

I invite legislators, law enforcement, educators, and families to come to the table and help build a stronger system that protects every child and respects the rule of law.

There you go, Dr. Jill under the last part.

I want to make clear, it's about a minute on the front of that where she's just, in my opinion, it's fluff, it's just stating, you know, I'm against, you know, I'm forth keeping kids safe, or okay, fine.

And then at the back end of that, after we cut it off, she's going through a list of bills that are in the legislature, which is saying she would help support what she needs.

But then she calls for

She calls for Dr. Underly does this video a new licensing system and says it needs to be fully funded and supported and staffed.

I don't disagree.

What I find inexcusable is why she is not in a public setting in front of the legislative committee and the press and available to take questions before and afterwards and or afterwards in the hall of the press of Wisconsin and tell people about this.

And just like with the Knowles and Nelson Stewardship Fund, which also did not get funded in the joint finance and the governor's budget this year, guess what they did?

They immediately went to the public and said, look, we didn't get it in the budget, but this is really important.

And this is why.

And they've been working with Republicans and Democrats to get a standalone bill to save this program.

Why wasn't Dr. Jill Underly and people at DPI out in the streets?

Why weren't they in the halls of the Capitol?

Say, look.

You guys made a huge mistake.

You cut out $600,000, and this is what it means.

I don't have enough funding, staffing, or support to keep our kids safe.

But instead, it took a great reporter at the Capitol Times, a graduate of Columbia J School, one of the finest journalism schools in America, to bring this forward.

And when she does...

Underly hides behind pre-recorded, heavily edited videos and goes off to Indiana.

And look, Indiana, well, Gary, Indiana, that's not so much, but Indiana's a great, Jill Underly should be here.

Come on back.

It's the All Balls Show on the Civic Media Running Network.

the Tunnel Bowl show of the Civic Media Radio Network, 22 past the hour of two o'clock, Thursday, October 23rd, Dom Lee, the Italian stallion in on the horse for an alien, Aaron Zommerz.

He's just a little under the weather.

Yeah,

I like that.

Matt, we're in Madtown.

Yeah, yeah, it's pretty good.

I actually play that on the Johnny Gordy show.

So hopefully they're not mad at me right there.

But

if they are, please direct your anger towards Dom.

We're gonna get some fun a little bit later here because I took a trip up to like I call it God's country the 23rd song place ie Richland County my home area of the state and I brought back some Some some great products from Richland County.

Oh,

yeah We'll talk about that a little while but first of all talking about the top story today

that Dr. Jill Underly, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, after being asked to appear before a Senate, or, pardon me, Assembly Committee hearing today to talk about this story in the Cap Times last week, and it's a subsequent follow-up story.

All I'm asking for, and instead of being here today, she said she had a conflict of interest and went to Indiana for some conference convention.

I don't know what it is.

There's nothing in my opinion that is more urgent and a better use of her time than being in Wisconsin and Facing voters and facing the press She sent out a heavily edited Video we played part of that fine.

That is not the same as being transparent with Wisconsin voters That's all I'm asking for here

If you've got nothing to hide, Dr. Underly, then step into the light of day.

855-752-4842.

If you want to weigh in on this, 855-752-4842.

Go up to beautiful Eau Claire.

One of my favorite parts of the state, Chippewa Valley, listing on WCFW, the tap gene.

And Eau Claire gene is as beautiful up there today as it is in Madison.

Yes, it is gorgeous outside today, and the leaves are turning lots of beautiful colors, too.

And I just, you know, Todd, you know, I love you.

I think you're great.

I'm just going to have to disagree with you.

People can call, you know, the DPI and you will get all kinds of different departments that are under DPI and you have to go through and see which one you need to get to.

I mean, there are so many things that are covered under DPI that this woman is in charge of.

So that's number one.

Sexual abuse, huge.

Sexual abuse investigations, huge.

So I accept

what she has to say there.

Having worked with kids for sexual abuse or that type of accusations.

Sometimes you have to trust somebody that's been in there for a very, very long time and doing the right thing for kids and not automatically because she's not there in front of this Republican group that are out for blood no matter whatever way they can get it.

They need to sometimes trust their gut.

And trust how, you know, how are their kids doing in school?

And I would like to know who oversees the private schools and what's going on there, too.

So anyway, we're going to- Those are good questions.

I'm not trying to cut you off.

And Gene, I know you're coming from a good place as well.

And we may, we may, but I want your honest opinion on this because the way I look at it is when, when Brad Shibble was attorney general and Josh Call was running against him.

And there were all these allegations, which turned out to be mostly true, that Schimmel did not process rape kits in the state.

And he had to stand for election.

And he went and had a debate.

And he showed up at the debate against Josh Collin, called Beatham Farron Square.

This to me gene is like, Brad Schimmel would have never talked to the press about these unprocessed rape kits if he never would have gone to a debate

What you have been calling this program say why doesn't he debate?

Why does he talk about this in public?

Even though he has a larger Department of Department of Justice that they do it Department of Public Instruction doesn't the top person an elected official have the responsibility to answer questions publicly

Okay, now that is great Now I would like to know the definition of grooming.

I you know, what is grooming?

Did you read the story

Jean?

Yeah, I did.

Well, I'm not

gonna repeat all these things on the air because I think they're very disturbing But if you read this story, this is adult men literally allegedly Putting their hands on top of high school girls breasts rubbing suntan lotion on a field trip now I mean, I don't think it's fair to potential victims to say oh we're gonna well rape is worse than being molested

no no no no no no and there should have been super

You know, chaperones with these people, definitely these guys should get it.

Definitely.

But all I'm asking for is

accountability.

I think that accountability and answering questions is not too much to ask of a publicly elected official like Dr. Underly or Brad Schimmel.

Doesn't matter.

And yeah, I get it that Republicans would probably ask some unfair questions today, but that's life.

That's who happens to control the legislature right now.

You can't avoid the legislature because your side isn't in control of it.

Okay, but rape kits are a fact.

Rape kits were countable.

This is accusations, and so we don't get all that information.

And some of the stuff she can't say because there have been cases where falsely accused.

So this is, you know, it's not...

fear here and I think she definitely should address the public but but I'm satisfied she let some of that information out so I don't just so touch you I'll tell you it's um it's a scary thing but I'll tell you something I do not want somebody in there who don't give a crap about kids I'll tell you that right now.

I

think Jeff Wright should have been in there that's that's who should have been in there.

But thanks, Gene.

I appreciate it.

Thanks, Gene.

Thanks for the call.

I appreciate it.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Our news team, Charlie Pittman, our news director is at the committee hearing today.

We'll have more on this via Civic Media News.

We'll continue to track this and certainly track it on our show as well.

When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit about what my hat says.

Beef.

Where's the beef?

Donald Trump wants more of it brought in from Argentina and the usual suspects are not real happy about this.

Meaning you're going to be surprised with the people that are not happy about this.

Cattle farmers, Republicans, Maga folks, talk about it on the other side.

Dom, Todd and you on the Civic Media, ready to work.

Thank you.

Good afternoon from Civic Media World headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

I'm Todd Albel.

It is now 235, a special report for you on this Tuesday afternoon.

This comes to us from WISN Television in Milwaukee.

At this hour, Milwaukee Area Technical College in downtown Milwaukee is on lockdown.

A message was sent to students and staff just before two o'clock this afternoon telling them to lock doors and windows.

No other information has been released at this time.

WISN 12 news has a crew headed to the scene and we'll update this story.

We have had this confirmed from other Milwaukee news sources as well.

Again,

A special breaking report at this time, Milwaukee Area Technical College, downtown campus in Milwaukee is on lockdown.

Message was sent to students and staff just before 2 p.m.

telling them to lock their doors and windows.

This is a fluid situation.

Civic Media News will continue to cover this and bring you updates when they become available.

For Civic Media News at the Madison headquarters, I'm Tom Alba.

Don't cry for me Argentina.

The truth is I

never left you.

All through my wild days.

My mad existence.

I kept my promise.

Don't keep your distance.

36 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock.

That's our new theme song for beef updates.

That's right.

I have the Joe Thomas Hall of Fame hat on my head today.

I am brought to you.

I'm in a quick trip and if moms list now moms listening what she often does, she say it.

Well, he came to Richland Saturday.

He didn't even give me a call.

I'm sorry.

It was a quick.

I have a friend of mine, Kristen, who she is the head of beverages at a blue plate.

Catering here in Madison and they have a big gig they needed apple cider.

She said where can I get it?

I said there's only one place one of our great civic media sponsors Oakwood fruit farm in Richland County So we we got a loaded up the truck and we moved to Beverly now we loaded up the truck We went to Richland County a quick jaunt saw Judy and the crew out there at Oakwood fruit farm and Came back with all kinds.

We have our best caramel apples in the world

Brought one for it.

Well, it was for Zomers.

He's not here.

Stole it from him.

Yeah.

Well, we got one for Dom and for Luke Stir.

Brought back some driftless gold maple syrup from Viola in Richland County.

Now, this is not Richland County per se, but this is a roadside market, cranberry apple butter from Slacks in Lodi.

All right.

And then from Oakwood Fruit Farm, the best cider donuts you're ever going to have in your life, a little Car Valley cheese curd, and...

From our friend Joe Thomas, who has been on this program, I stopped at Prem Meats, also a civic media sponsor in Spring Green, Prem Meats, and they distribute and sell Joe Thomas' Hall of Fame beef.

Apple Cheddar Snack Sticks, and this is what Luke Mathers, Lukester, has been after, he has been on me like a soup bone to a hound.

He's been, when am I gonna get these beef sticks?

And I made good today, and Dom, I brought in, you've tried, this is the Apple Cheddar.

What do you

think?

Oh, it's so good.

Luke, by the way, when Luke came in and you showed him that stuff, he got his eyes just lit up.

I made him happy today.

Yeah,

he was so happy.

And yes, these sausage links are just thebomb.com.

They're

amazing.

Thank you for your endorsement.

Another, excuse me, a very buttery.

I had to swallow my beef stick there.

Very buttery.

And you got real cheddar in there, Wisconsin cheddar cheese and a little apple.

Wisconsin.

It's that time of year.

Yeah.

So anyway, we got stopped and got these beef sticks and I have my beef hat on and it made me think about what's going on out in Washington DC because we've been following this story and let me tell you, the beef industry, they are not too pleased about this, you understand?

Because Donald Trump continues to favor

Argentinian beef farmers.

Here's the headline from the Hill today.

Beef producers hit back after Trump rips high prices.

Says here, beef producers yesterday hit back at President Trump for suggesting they lower meat prices after the administration shared plans to increase imports from Argentina.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Let me stop right there.

I was in politics for a number of years.

I grew up Richland County.

So the best people I know are beef farmer, cattle farmer, cattleman, cattle women.

They lean, as you might guess, more in the Republican column.

I'm not sure in today's politics if they're manga, but there's certainly more conservative beef farmers are.

You don't often hear them going after a sitting Republican president, but here now back to the story in The Hill, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said it, quote, cannot stand, unquote, behind the president's decision, accusing him and agriculture secretary, Brooke Rowans, of making undercuts to the future of family farmers.

quote, America's cattle men and women operate in one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world.

U.S.

cattle producers are proud to provide the safest, highest quality beef on earth, unquote.

The organization wrote yesterday on X, quote, we simply asked that the government not undercut them by importing more Argentinian beef in order to manipulate prices, unquote.

Now that's from again the national cattleman's beef association So Donald Trump in a gaggle as they say a press gaggle because like geese gaggle later on a gaggle and a press gaggle he was asked about this and This just shows how self-absorbed this guy is now he claims that ranchers love him That's what he claims here now from the Oval Office from yesterday president Trump

I'm very happy about that.

We're going to do something very quickly and easily on beef to get it down.

The ranchers understand that.

They're so happy for what I've done.

I saved them.

I don't think you'd have any beef in this country if I didn't do that.

So we're very proud of that.

Yeah, Brian?

Very proud of that.

Very proud of that, he says, that in most beef farmers, what the hell did he do besides put these false tariffs on?

Now, now, and here's the thing.

There's someone, I don't pawn myself off as a quote unquote farmer.

My grandparents were dairy farmers for almost 40 years.

They had beef cattle as part of that.

So I'm familiar with it.

Spent a lot of time in the rural part of Wisconsin growing up.

And here's the thing about anybody in agriculture.

Not every crop doesn't matter what it was, beef, dairy, soybeans, apples.

And it turns out not every year, every crop is going to be great.

Some years is down, some years is up, sometimes got weather conditions, sometimes it's markets.

And a lot of farmers, they have to go to the bank and borrow to bridge their financial gap until they can get their product in end of the season or whatever.

Once in a while, you get to where things are really good.

And smart people in agriculture, which most are,

What they do is they take that big profit from one or two years or seasons and they put that in reserve for might need a new piece of machinery might invest it in a new building and Now yeah, so now we got record high beef prices, which I get It's tough for the consumer, but this is how you support local farmers you buy a local beef local pork local chicken whatever and and now Trump is saying

I'm gonna come after these guys and flood the market with Argentinian beef to bring down the prices, which is only screwing over the beef farmers in Wisconsin.

Here's a little bit more from the Trumpster from the Oval Office from yesterday on beef farmers.

Yeah,

well, they do.

So what's happened, you could say with that, you could say with beef with all of it.

The beef, the ranchers, let's say, who have done a great job have lost their shirts for many, many years.

They've really been decimated.

And I help them a lot.

I put tariffs on things coming in to the country, including beef.

And that gave them a chance to finally have a decent industry.

We are going to be talking to them.

They're great people, but they've been hurt for 25, 30 years they've been losing.

Because other countries have taken advantage of them.

And by putting tariffs on, they've been able to make a few dollars.

They've been able to have an industry.

But I also want to keep the beef prices low.

So I'll be talking with the ranchers, and I'll be speaking with a lot of different people, including Scott and Howard, and we'll do something.

Because prices are way down in our country.

Energy is way down.

I think you're going to see $2 gasoline very soon.

I see that it's $2.50 in a lot of places.

$2.50.

We were heading to five, six, and seven dollars.

If Biden didn't go back to my policy toward the end, you would have seen, but he didn't go back to the full cost.

I think I

haven't even heard enough.

I appreciate it, Tom.

It just got more ridiculous after that.

I literally drove by Quicktrip this morning.

$2.99 a gallon.

It's back up.

Wow.

Groceries, I rub about you, Tom.

My grocery bill is my orange juice I buy, nearly doubled.

Yeah,

same.

Yeah.

I go to all the two, right?

Yeah, a lot of folks do and this guy is so Sheltered or just doesn't care or both He puts his crap out there ask a farmer about tariffs

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

Let's go to the phones quickly.

Charles, let's say on WAUK in beautiful Milwaukee.

Charles, thanks for calling, let's see.

Hey guys,

Todd, I'm

not sure if they are that smart, Todd.

They voted for him

the first time.

No, I think they

are.

And he screwed him, but he screwed him the first time.

So,

So, so they decide, well, you know what?

I think, I think he screwed me the first time.

So I think the second time though, he's going to do right by me.

He hasn't done right by anybody except for his pocket book.

Oh, sure.

No, I mean, he, he clearly has only himself, his self interest as number one.

But I think that's why and I appreciate your call Charles.

Thank you so very much eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two Trigby also nine for Lincoln projects who grew up in River Falls We've talked about this at length as we travel around our state on our what makes Wisconsin great tour I Think agriculture people are smart enough to understand this but also remember Agri-cultural people are just like everybody urban people everybody else

A lot of people are sick of the news.

They're tuning out.

And so they're not hearing all this stuff, and they're just trying to go work.

And when we have campaigns come along, all they care about are, is this person going to help my interest, the farming interests?

And Trump's line got through to them, and they believed him.

I talked to a Republican down in Waukesha last week.

We're there for the new Packers movie.

No Packers, no life.

Get out and see that, by the way, this weekend.

Who said, you know, I'm not gonna say the person's name.

Who said, you know, when you were talking last year about all that Project 2025 stuff, I really didn't think that was gonna happen.

And it did.

I said, yeah, it did.

I think people are so frustrated and angry at government, at politics, at life.

They want to believe in something and I think too many people in the 2024 election belong are believed in the wrong thing Because it sounded easy make America great again But my grandparents used to tell me if it sounds too good to be true probably is but now that it's hurting them directly Sometimes the proof is in the pudding.

We'll come back continue to talk about little beef

Where is the beef?

And what's Trump's main priority?

His spokesperson told us we'll play it for you after this.

It's the All-Ball Show across Wisconsin on the East African media.

A party on State Street and Fairchild in downtown Madison in the afternoon.

Spinning the tunes at the controls.

Dom Lee, i.e.

the Italian stallion of the South Side of Chicago.

Breaking hearts in two states.

Yes, I am.

You're exactly right there, Todd.

All right.

There we go.

Little pat on

the back there.

That's fantastic.

Dom Lee in for an alien.

Aaron Zombers, yes, but we wish him the best.

He'll he'll recover and be back before you know it But it's great that you can pinch it.

I first we have Parker Olson Pincheting and now we got Dom Lee.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean I I got called up.

It was basically I called an audible at 9 a.m.

Today, and I was like, I'll do it.

Of

course.

We appreciate that.

Thank you, Tom We appreciate it talking about Donald Trump and his attitude against beef farmers

saying he's going to bring in Argentinian beef.

Now, if only Donald Trump looked at Argentinian beef the way he actually looks at real Argentinians, we'd be much further ahead.

Keep the beef out, bring in the Argentinians, you understand?

In case you wonder what Donald Trump's priorities were, his spokesperson, Carolyn Levitt,

was asked today at the White House.

Of course, the big East Wing has been torn down to make room for his audacious Russian ballroom.

Now, estimated the prices got up to $300 million, Donald Trump, and was asked about his priorities on issues and also priorities of the White House.

Here's what Carolyn Levitt said today at the White House.

In addition

to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the president looking at any other renovations or significant kind of projects here at the White House?

Not to my knowledge, no.

But he's a builder at heart, clearly.

And so his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds.

But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president's main priority.

The

ballroom is Donald Trump's main priority.

How do you like that, Doug?

I don't like that one bit.

Not one bit.

And I have a feeling it's going to be all gold.

The plans, apparently, are modeled after a Russian ballroom in Tate Petersburg.

I'm not making that up.

So apparently, when he and Putin met recently in Alaska,

Putin just said, Hey, well, I use the, uh, our plans for a ballroom in Russia.

As our friend Matt Flynn says, he is a Russian asset.

I truly believe that I'm not, I'm not, I'm not joking around.

Uh, quickly on, uh, uh, and Trump claiming that, you know, these tariffs are loved, loved by farmers.

Well, here, according to, uh, a great story, a national public radio headline, American farmers are hurting.

Trump's trade war is making it worse.

Story by NPR focuses on a gentleman named Brady Holst Story said is where the farmers being hit he raises soybeans corn and wheat in Western Illinois Dom's home home state Holst typically sends parts of his harvest down on the Mississippi River and on to overseas markets like China But thanks to the trade war China is not buying any US soybeans this fall that boycott

is putting more downward pressure on already low crop prices.

He says you have to, you just have to worry about weather.

But seems like in the last 10 years you basically have to worry about what's going on with politics here in the US and then geopolitical politics in the world because you see so many things going on that affect how farmers are doing business.

Unquote.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Matt listening on WMDX in Madison.

Matt Middleton.

Matt, let's see.

Hey guys, this Argentina stuff, it's clear corruption.

Scott Descent has a good billionaire buddy that has over 20 billion invested in Argentina.

They see their pace, their currency is collapsing.

Mayland has completely destroyed the country, doing the very same things that Trump and his regime are doing to America, which they are 50% complete with now, with Project 25.

It's all corruption, but the farmers will always get their socialism because they are an important voting block.

Authoritarians always support the farmers because the military needs food.

So, uh, I don't think they need to worry that much.

Maybe they need to worry about corporate farms that want to bobble up their, uh, you know, take all their land eventually, but I think they'll be okay because, you know, they'll get their check in the mail.

But I

appreciate the call map, but I, I, I'm not, you know, I get if you try to make something humorous there or, or, or sarcastic, but it's actually quite sad because a lot of farmers have already gone out of business because of the terrorists, because of Trump's policy.

and more are going to go out, especially now with connection with the tariffs.

And now, if Trump wants to flood the U.S.

with Argentinian beef, you're gonna see family farms even more go under.

The Chuckster and Racine down in Kenosha says where the American farmer ranchers and cattlemen are all driven out of business and forced to plow their surplus crops into compost auction off their herd farms land because of Trump's Neanderthal tariffs You can bet Jared Kushner the Saudis will be there to scoop it all up on the cheap and make America great again and then have a hell of a lot of money too Thanks, Chuckster.

Let's see on WM DX by the way news you can use Connie on MDX of Madison

Connie's like mom from the 608 she says you said quick-trip gas is 299 a gallon it is well woodman's Madison area is either 249 or 259 a gallon that's where I go mom goes to Costco someone she's in town

I go to Costco to Costco

Yeah, so hey if you can wherever you get your but the president the bottom line is For most commodities whether gas is going back up whatever you're paying for it food prices certainly going back up

I'm gonna be interested when people go to the stores.

It's here for holidays.

For those that do holiday gift giving, we'll see how that goes.

But gonna continue on this, watching the Where's the Beef Argentinian Beef.

Gonna continue to watch that here in the days ahead.

When we come back, we're gonna have a little What's Worse for you.

Also, Dom gets initiated into Wisconsin Fun Facts and we'll talk Todd's trip to God's country.

Don't miss it.

It's the Todd Albao Show for a Thursday along with Dom Lee across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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 Allbaugh, along with Dom Lee, our producer and engineer.

Welcome into hour number two of the program.

It is Thursday, October 23rd, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Glad to have everybody along.

It is a beautiful day here in downtown Madison.

A picturesque Dom at the intersection of State and Fairchild.

It's beautiful.

It's so nice.

Let's

take one more quick look out at the old Sam Davis the street cam on the on the streets down there for those watching the live stream Look at that.

The sun is shining down on the buildings people mulling about little yellow leaves falling light breeze Have you got your pumpkin picked out?

I've actually already carved it.

It's already already been And I don't have a picture with me, but it's basically

two buck teeth, huge eyes, huge nose.

That's all, that's all it was.

I just, I carved the heck out of this pumpkin.

It took me like three hours.

I wanted to see it.

I will, I will show it to you.

All right.

I'll show it to you.

Tomorrow.

Yeah.

Tomorrow.

All right.

Very good.

All right.

Very well.

Dom's in.

No, we appreciate it.

He isn't usually in the, oh, not usually.

He is still in the John and Gordy show every, uh, every morning.

From six until nine here are eight right six until eight.

I

gave you

another hour Please know you got two extra hours today, and he was kind enough to fill in for a And under the weather the summers today nothing serious He'll be back here as soon as he is back on the men So appreciate Dom being here all of you for being here as well coming up a little bit later this hour Gonna be talking about had a little jaunt out to beautiful Richland County

and brought back some products.

What are your favorite fall Wisconsin products?

We'll be asking you that a little bit later on in the segment and perhaps a little bit more serious news as well.

But right now, Tom, and this is exciting to have you here in the first week of this brand new segment, time once again for our new segment called Wisconsin Fun

Facts.

With your hillsides and your place.

With your jack pine and your birch

tree.

That's right, Tom, let's get to Wisconsin fun.

Do you know what that song is?

What is that song?

Well, it's an Illinoisan.

I don't expect you to know what you did go to school here.

It is the official ballad of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin land of my dream.

Oh, wow.

All right.

You learned something new every day.

I

feel like I should have known that.

Song by Sherry Saracen, and it was made the Wisconsin Ballad by the late great legislator, Cheryl Elbers, who got that through the legislature.

So we play that to talk about the land, Wisconsin land of beauty.

But, Dom, we've adopted you as an Illinoisan.

You

really have.

In our land of beauty.

Yeah.

All right, Dom, once again, for today's Wisconsin Fun Fact, on October 23rd, 1921,

The Green Bay Packers played their first NFL game defeating what were known then as the Minneapolis Mariners 7 to 6 in front of a crowd of 6,000 people, which now is the number of people at Lambeau Field bathrooms on any given moment during a home game.

There's an outro, Dom.

Thank you, thank you and that's how we play was cotton fun fact You got you got into the fact

I did yes, I really dig into it.

Have you been to a

game at Lambo?

Are you a Bears fan?

I am a Bears fan, and I actually went to the game the last season the last game where it was bears versus Packers Oh, really and I did you go to the bathroom?

I did go to the bathroom.

Yes

long

line

Very long line.

Which of the better bathrooms?

Lambo or Soldier Field?

I would say Lambo.

Yeah.

I would say Lambo.

Soldier Field, that's why they're coming up with a new... They're

going to be the Arlington Heights Bears soon.

They are, yes.

The Arlington Heights

Bears.

I don't know how I feel about that.

Well, they're not the Chicago Bears anymore.

My former broadcast partner, Kevin O'Connor, from beautiful Arlington Heights, Illinois.

As a beautiful part of the state, it's just not Chicago.

Right, yeah.

And people are going to have to commute like if they're in downtown.

So I don't know how many people are going to be able to show up to the game on every given Sunday.

So.

It's going to be a problem.

It might be a problem.

Yes, but that's just a Bears problem.

Oh, well, you know, that's why you gotta spend more time at Lambeau Field.

Exactly.

Did the Packers win?

The Packers lost on a game winning field goal.

Oh, that was that game.

Yes, it was the last, last, last game.

That was a ridiculous game.

But I love Lambeau Field.

It does remind me of Soldier Field, the cold atmosphere, all the fans rooting.

It's a great time.

I've

only been to one event at Soldier Field, and it was...

This is how old I am.

The 1996 World Cup game.

Wow.

Germany versus somebody.

No way.

It was

very beautiful.

It was very beautiful.

You went to the World

Cup game.

I went to the World Cup game in 1996.

Well, I heard that the World Cup is coming back to the states.

So they say

if

Donald Trump doesn't mess it up.

All right, uh, very good.

It's 12 minutes 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 to give away, no prize, money involved, but it is your chance to have your voice heard at all 10 news talk sports stations of the civic media ready to work across the state of Wisconsin.

All right, Dom, timely, timely indeed, as Mike Lucas says.

Today, because of this time of year, let me be all times a year, but a lot of you're getting all, you're constantly being bombarded with, oh, sign up for this, sign up for that.

You know, like, like sign up for the Civic Media Today newsletter.

I didn't think you were going to go there, but.

Which, by the way, you should.

Yes.

If you're a listener.

But today's category, what's worse?

Rewards programs or email sign up forms.

Rewards programs.

or email signup forms.

For those watching on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, are we streaming to all those platforms, by the way?

Yes, we

are.

Oh, that's great.

Oh, that's great.

Nicely done.

Jesus, even Phil, you got us

on all the platforms.

That's great.

Thank you, Dom.

I appreciate that.

So for those watching on the card, you've got the My McDonald's Rewards for the rewards program.

And on the right, one of these things you get all the time saying, oh, please sign up for our email.

And this annoys me, I don't know why, I shouldn't let little things, first world problems, right?

But now, I don't go to McDonald's a lot, Culver's is my fast food place of choice, except Culver's most, don't do breakfast, and so if I'm on the road for my money, a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit at McDonald's is hard to beat.

It really is, it really is.

And actually, just about two hours ago, I went to McDonald's.

Did you really?

Yeah, and I got a Big Mac meal, so.

You're a big back of choice.

Well, when you go through the drive-thru now, it's like an automated thing that says, hello, will you be using the McDonald's app today?

And I think, well, no, I'm going through the drive-thru.

Why are they asking me?

I wouldn't be using it.

I mean, I guess can you use the app and then go through the drive-thru to pick it up?

Are people that lazy?

I think you can do that.

I've never done it before, but that does sound like laziness at its finest.

And so I say, the computer asks me that in a prerecorded thing, I say,

Uh, no, thank you.

And then it comes, and so it's very serious.

Like, will you be using the McDonald's app today?

I say, uh, no, thank you.

Well, McDonald's, what do you want?

It's very different.

They're not the same cheeriness as reciprocated in the live person

exactly you come after like come home from like a hard day at work You know you get you get McDonald's go through the drive-thru and then it's just super upbeat and then you're like I don't want to deal with this right now I don't want to

I just want a real person you understand so anyway Rewards programs like signing up for McDonald's rewards or whatever a rewards program or email sign-up forms

What's worse eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two

Give us a call also texts on the civic media app.

You could download it today at your Apple or Android device Simply go to your app store at the search bar type in civic CI VIC media It'll pop up a cute little Cm logo click on that takes less than a minute.

It is free It's what CBS's Gail King calls a deal the civic media app

By the way, very quickly and many thanks to Carol here in our office for helping, keeping us up to date last hour, last half hour.

We gave you the breaking news out of Milwaukee that the Milwaukee Area Technical College downtown campus was put on lockdown.

We can now report to you an update courtesy of WISN Television Channel 12 in Milwaukee saying that as of 2.40.

This afternoon, MATC director of public relations, Darrell Fortun, tells 12 news they got an all clear.

The cause of lockdown remains unclear.

This is a developing story.

We'll keep you updated as new details are being released.

But again, according to channel 12 in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee area technical college lockdown has now been lifted and the all clear.

has been given.

So that is certainly good news.

Way too often these days, things like that end in tragedy.

So certainly glad that things seem to be in order and safe at the MATC campus in downtown for all of our listeners at WAUK, Milwaukee.

Watch the shop.

What's worse today?

We want to know give us a call at 855-752-4842 855-752-4842 what's worse rewards programs or email sign-up forms rewards programs or email sign-up forms Let us let us know what your thoughts are on that Dom you have a particular

Thought on the yeah, I would at home

and I would say what's worse is email sign-up forms I think really that's what I think a particular reason because I just get bombarded with them every single day and you know My parents tell me you got to get rid of them.

You got to get rid of them Sometimes there's important stuff in there, but I can't tell because there's a bunch of random sign-up right emails It's just it's just bad.

It's just bad and I have a couple rewards pro reward programs for

like Jimmy John's and stuff like that.

So I do use rewards sometimes.

And this is why I love them.

Hang on, let me see where to put my wallet down.

I've lost my wallet, Dominic.

All right, no, I have it right here.

This isn't yet another reason why I love Wonder State Coffee here in Madison, Wisconsin, because this is their rewards program.

A paper card that goes

in my

pocket and they are the initial it and after I buy whatever 10 cups of coffee I get one free.

There's no app.

There's no password I don't have to download anything.

It's just a friendly little piece of paper that says there you go Wow, so of PJ watching on YouTube says quick trip rewards card is great And I'm sure it is I have one I

do

too, but I've never activated it

Did I go in they say do you have rewards and I sometimes I'll be like

Did my it's in my truck somewhere.

Why give you a new one?

I'm like, no, I don't need another one I've got one.

I'll give you do it.

No idea.

I'm gonna say probably get you know points They probably there's an internal competition to sign people up for a quick quick trip rewards.

You understand I've got one It's buried in the bowels of my truck somewhere.

It's under, you know, a culvert's cup somewhere I just have to activate.

Yeah, and sometimes it's hard to say no to them, you know, I'm like, all right It's much

like my dating life.

I have one.

I just have to activate it

This is more than Dom signed up for you understand today.

He did not expect to take it all of this What's worse rewards programs?

or email sign-up forms.

Rewards, programs, or email sign-up forms.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

You have a couple of texts coming in off the line.

We'll share those with you on the other side.

And Dom and I will taste-test one of our great sponsors here at Civic Media, Oakwood Fruit Farm, Rushland County.

We will sample the one, the only cider donuts from Oakwood.

We're not going to want to restore you and we'll have any for you, but we'll tell you what it's like.

Come on back.

It's the all-most show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media.

Ready to

work.

Well kids, there it is!

Capital City!

Yes!

As a matter of fact...

We are the Capital City, the state of Wisconsin.

Thank you, Homer.

Thank you, Dom.

Dom

Lee, springing the tunes today

as our

producer and engineer in for Mr. Zommer's today.

Appreciate it.

Well done, Dom.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

I like that very much.

It's 22 now, past the hour of three o'clock.

Glad to have you along here at the All Ball Show on the Civic Media already network.

We are asking you today's what's worse.

Today's category, it has to do with our rewards programs.

There we go.

Rewards programs and email sign-up forms.

What's worse?

Rewards programs or email sign-up forms.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Talking about your quick trip has rewards.

I have a quick trip rewards.

Dom has one.

I am not activated mine yet.

Neither have I.

Neither have I. It's somewhere in my truck.

Tony.

From on YouTube Tony says I've gotten baseball tickets from quick trip rewards.

I didn't know you could do that Wow.

Thank you, Tony He also says you don't need a card.

It's just your number.

That's the problem Tony.

I don't remember the number PJ watch you on YouTube says I get free bananas

With the quick trip rewards card after a certain amount of purchases.

Yes, we get some bananas We get some bananas today.

Hey, thank you appreciate that PJ What else we got here?

Tony also says I hate email signups worst thing by a mile Very good.

Also a viewer is it soup?

soup says on YouTube says whatever someone asks me if I have a rewards card I say no thank you because it cuts off their second question do you want one or also sounding like I'm thanking them for asking that's pretty good actually

yeah

that's pretty good what's worse

Email sign up forms or reward programs.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Let's go to the phone lines.

Dolores, listing on WMDX here in Madison.

Dolores, thanks for calling.

Rewards programs or email sign up forms.

What's worse?

Think I'm gonna say email sign up.

I do have the words, you know several types like the eggs, you know the Stoke, you know that the sports store

Oh Dick sports.

Yeah.

Yeah, Dick sports.

Yeah, so I just signed up for that one like last week Like

Okay, yeah, I think I'm coming here too often.

I've you know, matter what I want to get, you know, five dollar discount every whatever amount of money you spend there.

Oh, yeah, I am one of those big ones with rewards.

I think I have like, I don't know how many apps and my phone for rewards.

All right, I appreciate it.

Yeah.

All right.

You know, what good

I think if you know how to use them, you can get a lot of things for free, you know?

No, rewards are great.

And I appreciate you giving us that one.

I'm writing it right now.

Dick's Rewards.

Now, that's what I could sign up for.

I think it would

work out well.

Yeah, I almost signed up for Dick's Sporting Goods Rewards as well, because I had one right by my house.

So I thought, hey, there we go.

Maybe I should do it.

All

right, so.

Very good.

What's worse?

Rewards programs or email sign-up forms.

Dom, what do you say?

What's worse?

Bottom line.

Email sign-up forms.

Yeah.

I barely use, because I'm being thrown off by the card here, the visual, because I don't think I have any rewards programs on my phone.

So I would say email sign up forms.

I get, I get, I get inundated with those all the time.

Right.

So I, yeah, I'm going to agree.

Uh, email sign up forms are worse.

Yeah, I agree.

All right.

Very good.

Uh, all right.

Let's, uh, we have everything else on the old, uh, on the old texture line here.

What else do we have?

Uh, Robert in Madison.

Let's see on MDX says, if you don't have a card on you, it's just your phone number will do.

Really?

That I did

not know.

I, I did not know that.

Oh, look at Tony on, uh, on YouTube also says you don't.

You don't know your phone number?

Really?

No one ever explained that to me.

My quick trip rewards is my phone number?

I'm done.

We can shut the show down.

There's nothing else I can do here today.

That's the best piece of information on this show all day.

As Johnny Carson once said, I did not know that.

Did you know that, Tom?

I

didn't even know.

I had no idea.

This whole reward thing.

This is

why I love this show because you learn so much from our great listeners.

Landon Madison on MDX says, the email sign-up forms are probably worse.

I avoid both and would rather give up any possible savings to avoid the tracking strategies.

What do you think of those huge data centers are for?

There you go.

Say they want to track you.

Well, I know what you're doing.

Where are you at?

Big brother.

All right, when we come back really well transition a little bit into fall adventures a little news wanted to time in the next half hour It's a Disturbing video you're gonna hear the audio to of the United States postal worker who was detained by ICE Which is just absurd to me and sad but I think it's important that we hear it, but we're also going to spend a little time on What is your favorite fall?

Food or fall fall Wisconsin product because I went to Oakwood fruit farm one of our great sponsors here at Civic Media in Richland County this morning I had a run up there with a friend to get some a large 10 gallons of cider and I brought Dom he's holding it up there I brought the best caramel apples in the world

so good

You haven't tried

them.

I just know

they're great They're they're great caramel apples up there.

Oh quit.

I also brought us back down here.

We are one of these great

Siner donuts apologies to those listening watching.

Oh Light fluffy Appley sugary Fantastic, what do you think Tom?

It doesn't get much better than this.

It doesn't get much better than you got Apple

apple cider donuts.

You got the Hall of Fame apple cheddar beef sticks.

What else we got here driftless gold maple syrup from Richland County and from Lodi

roadside market, cranberry, apple, butter.

What's your favorite fall Wisconsin food?

We'll discuss that on the other side.