UpNorthNews Radio with Pat Kreitlow

In this week’s Hometown Health segment, Dr. Kristin Lyerly and her guests discuss a new clinic in Brown County that will put a special emphasis on adolescent health, given the many challenges Generation Alpha is already facing.

Young adults turned out in a big way for Tuesday’s state Supreme Court primary. We’ll talk to Joe Zepecki about whether Janet Protasiewicz can maintain that momentum through April’s general election and the issues in the race that are motivating younger voters.

State Assembly Reps. Francesca Hong & Kristina Shelton have been doing some research on the “new” CRT that you’ll be hearing about in the coming months. The people who smeared teaching an honest and full account of American history now want to vilify those who want to invest in companies that are conscientious about not polluting or cheating their workers or doing business with some shady actors.

We’ll tell you which two candidates got the most votes on Tuesday, advancing them to a showdown on April 4 for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. We’ll also discuss how the US Supreme Court this week is considering cases that could put some limits on dangerous information traveling across social media platforms—or open the door to an even wilder Wild West of hate speech, propaganda, and grisly videos.

While lots of attention is being given to TikTok as an app that might have questionable security safeguards, the truth is that we use plenty of programs that have the potential to cause harm—including some programs based in this country. We’ll talk to state Rep. Jodi Emerson about the way social media platforms can be used by human traffickers, and why some believe the companies running these apps aren’t doing enough to stop it.

Wisconsin voters will choose between four state Supreme Court candidates in today’s primary, and the top two vote-getters will face off in April. We will review the candidates, the issues, and the stakes involved for Wisconsin. We’ll also take an updated look at the forecast for a big winter storm that could drop a foot of snow across a large chunk of Wisconsin.

We’ve become so numb to divisive politics that it’s easy to forget we still have the power to make some real changes for the better—starting with tomorrow’s state Supreme Court primary election. Carlene Bechen of Wisconsin’s Fair Maps Coalition talks about the ongoing effort to move our state away from rigged, gerrymandered political maps that let a right-wing legislature obstruct some very popular ideas.

Tuesday: 

• Rep. Jodi Weber on social media platforms and human trafficking

On this eve of the state Supreme Court primary, we learn the extent to which former Justice Dan Kelly crossed the line from conservative-leaning jurist to paid advisor for the Wisconsin Republicans who were conspiring to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election. Also, Civic Media has some big news about its ever-expanding lineup of Wisconsin stations.

This week, Pat brings us a recap of the state budget proposal from Governor Tony Evers. Joe Zepecki also shares his insights on the budget, and Melissa Kaye rounds out the hour with some music history.

If a powerful elected official announced he was a white supremacist and was going to bully educators into a sharp reduction of teaching about Black history and racism, you would expect media outlets to treat him as a racist, right? But as long as he doesn’t call himself a racist, some newsrooms would prefer to call him an “underdog” who’s “building his brand.” We’ll talk about the frustratingly slow pace of national journalists to recognize actual threats to democracy and American values.

Monday: 

• Carlene Bechen, Terry Bell, Kristin Lyerly