It is the Chad Home Show on 98.9 WXCO, WXCO.fm, mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
This morning, hearing an interview that myself and Isabella Nieto were able to conduct yesterday afternoon.
during a visit to Wausau by one of the Democratic candidates for governor, Mandela Barnes.
He was in Wausau for an event and then stopped by her studios to record a discussion.
And Isabella started off with the next question.
And more to the rural economy as well.
You know, in Wisconsin Rapids and around Central Wisconsin, we have paper mills that are closing.
What would you as governor do to kind of bolster the rural industry to kind of replace some of those jobs that we're losing due to the paper mills
closing?
Paper mills.
I just had a round table discussion about health care.
We know how many rural health care centers and rural hospitals that are closing and For us to be able to create an economy that works for everybody I look at industry even you know where I'm from in Milwaukee the factory that my grandfather worked You know after he served in World War two moved to Milwaukee worked at A. O. Smith That plant doesn't exist anymore.
Where my dad worked
on an assembly line.
That factory doesn't exist anymore.
And the idea that places like that close because of greed, they move those jobs overseas.
And, you know, paper is a different industry.
You know where my dad work or my grandfather work those jobs are moved overseas the operations didn't shut down We also have some issues with automation as well, which is very a parallel to what we're seeing with AI But what I do believe is that we can spur new businesses Small businesses local businesses.
We have to invest in Main Street the way that we see Larger cities invested in as well.
We got a lot of folks who come
to areas like here in walsa for recreation opportunities uh the governor just put out a press release talked about how much money you know tourism and recreation is generated i believe we can do that even more i believe that wisconsin can be a recreation capital of the world um i've talked to a lot of people from out of this state
who visit here often, whether they fish in our trout streams that are unfortunately dealing with the impact of climate change because those streams are warming.
And if those streams continue to warm at this rate, those trout won't have a place to spawn.
That's another sector of our economy that will be completely lost.
And so while I can't just sit here and govern by edict and say this will be the industry, but I do believe that
you know, as we can go back to the last conversation about clean energy, we should be manufacturing more of those parts, those solar panels.
We should have more manufacturing opportunities for those right here in Wisconsin are windmills, thousands of components in a single windmill.
Those are all parts that should be assembled and manufactured right here in Wisconsin.
And.
where we see one industry go away, like paper mills, we can easily, I won't say easily, but we can more seamlessly replace those industries with emerging ones.
I know you're limited on time, but I got one question.
I think Isabella has one more question to say.
And I want to kind of touch on, you mentioned the fact about health care.
Um, and there's so many layers to it, but I'm going to ask you this time around.
I hope in the future we have more opportunities to talk because there's so many
issues.
I would love the opportunity to talk again,
but I want to ask you about here in the year 2026 and you mentioned it.
I think so many people know about the hospital closures in parts of Western Wisconsin and the fact that there are people that live in rural areas that have to go multiple hours in order to get health care.
A number of years back, just a few years back, I got sick.
I'm lucky here in Wausau.
We have, we have hospitals and I was in.
hospital for a week.
And there are people that are having babies or getting sick and they have to go multiple hours to get health care in 2026.
You said it, you can't govern by edict.
But put your hat on.
What would you try to
lead the state what direction in order to change that because again it just seems to be frankly ridiculous that we're in this situation
it is absolutely ridiculous that we're in this situation god forbid you're in certain parts of the state you need to get to an emergency room god forbid you're an expecting mother who needs to get to an appointment and one of the
Things I've been talking about throughout the entirety of this campaign from day one is my day one pledge to expand BadgerCare in Wisconsin.
It's not as if there aren't people who need to use these clinics or visit these hospitals.
It's the fact of who can, who is insured.
who can go to the doctor without worrying about a surprise bill that continues to be a barrier, continues to be an impediment for people who want a basic checkup.
And God forbid that checkup leads to a diagnosis or God forbid you end up with a slip and fall that can happen to any of us.
Had a story in Green Bay, the woman who had a slip and fall was not eligible for badger care, was not insured, had
a tough time, racked up bills, went to debt, was no longer able to stay in her home.
So we're talking about just completely devastating, destabilizing instances that are all too often somebody's reality or even, you know, medical bankruptcy.
And that's why expansion of badger care is a number one.
It is a day one priority of mine.
I've said it once, I'll say it again, I'll say it till we get to inauguration day and the legislature is in their first session and I'm not.
you know just campaigning become governor campaigning to get a majority in the assembly and in the senate i am running for governor to ensure that we have an active majority and an administration that governs with
absolute urgency.
And I've said that we will not, I will not sign a state budget until BadgerCare is expanded in Wisconsin and we're going to fight to even get a public option for BadgerCare so that people who are priced out of the market have an opportunity because, you know, 133% of poverty is not a lot of money.
150% of poverty is not a lot of money.
200% of poverty is still not a lot of money.
So for those folks who are in that gap, they need to have affordable health care options.
And this will remain my priority because if people are insured, they're going to go to those doctor visits.
And this is how we keep our rural health care, our rural clinics open.
We will have a final few minutes and a couple of more questions for Mandela Barnes, candidate for governor on the Democratic side, former Lieutenant Governor and former candidate for the United States Senate.
So that's coming up after an information update here at the bottom of the hour.
I am Chad Holmes.
Glad you could be with us.
Chad Holmes show 98.9
WXCO.
In the corner out of the grid
And welcome back it is the channel show here on 98.9 WXCO WXCO FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the civic media app and on YouTube YouTube comm and the 98.9 WXCO channel 852 is the time 21 degrees is the temperature Here's our final segment here on 98.9 WXCO, but we're gonna
Make you go over to YouTube.
We're gonna make you go over to wxco.fm and the civic media app and the sports to stream because We're gonna start here with Paul McLeod, but he's gonna stick around For the part of the second hour, you know So and then of course we'll be talking about that special Martin Luther King junior celebration as well later in the second hour So lots to join us for in the second hour of the program and as I've said before
When I do a game or when I do this, I don't want to just be here to talk.
I want you people out there to be joining me as well.
So, so hopefully people will stick around and tune into that in hour number two.
But Paul Mickley, good to see you.
Good to see you, Chad.
How are you guys doing today on this?
Well, it's winter, isn't it?
It's officially winter because the Packers season's over.
It's a long winter.
Long winter.
Long winter, but pretty sick out there too.
Yeah, I was walking in, you know, and it's almost I almost as an old man here almost went flying It's a little much more snow than I thought I know I woke up and it's like holy cow.
It's like
supposed to get three to five inches is where I heard last night
Okay, then they then they change it.
I thought it was one to three and oh
Yeah, that's what a lot more but so be it.
We got a little bit of snow and it's a little bit slick out there, but
I guess we'll start with the Packers because there's a number of things I want to talk about, but I mean, it's one thing to lose the football game and have your season come to an end, but to, again, just feel like you give it away.
I mean, it's like Groundhog Day, you know?
It's like it happened again.
You got to find a way to finish those games, don't you?
Yeah, it's got a little sting to it, like Bob Uker would say.
It has that had sting to it.
And the floor actually set it in on Sunday.
They had some sting on it and it's going to sting
for a
while.
And, you know, sometimes you go there and you go, I wish we could have just lost 50 to nothing.
It would have been a lot better.
And I don't know if that's the, that's the correct answer either.
I guess there is no answer.
Well, I think I think real fast, uh, for any one of the fellows of hackers for a last couple of decades, there's plenty of examples of those stingers.
You know what the thing is, those, you try to try to be the positive guy.
Um, that means we are in situations to do stuff.
Exactly.
Would you like to be the Browns and
not
be in
the
stinger?
I have, I've never been one of those folks that it's a super bowler bust.
I.
I think you just want to have some competitive, entertaining football where you have a chance every year.
I've never been one of those who's been, well, we got to set up, well, either win it all or you tear it down.
No, the thought is, if you give yourself enough chances, ultimately maybe you'll break through.
Unfortunately, it's just been a long time coming for the Packers who've always been there.
And let me take a look at Buffalo, will they lose four in a row back in the day?
There's a lot of teams that have, if you're in the hunt, you're gonna get
stung.
By the way, anybody, and there's happened people who say that when Buffalo lost four in a row, somehow that's a failure.
They're idiots.
Well, they got a, didn't they got a documentary on them and all this stuff?
I mean, so.
And
all
the fame those guys got from those team You can't say like you said you can't really say it's
a failure,
right?
Well, there certainly are some people who say it that way because that's The society we live in well,
if you're not first you're last I guess we're like the Ricky Bobby of the world we actually go by that advice and just remember his dad said in that movie
Yeah, that was stupid advice.
I
don't know if you remember that
part of
it But that's how he always lived his life and and that's not how it unfortunately I'm not saying that as a fan that I'm not the same way or or
a
coach or whatever the case might
be that you want to
win.
It's things Yeah, it does on the other hand, there's there's the reality of it and We could have been sitting at home and we wouldn't have watched the game last week.
So
You said last week there was a 0% chance that the floor is going to be removed.
Do you still feel that way?
I'm thinking that what's taking so long is that there's some holdups with the money and there's the...
who's going to be doing what and the staff and things like that.
And who knows, maybe they are trying to trade them in some form or fashion.
That's a possibility.
You're not gonna see him outright fired.
You're just not gonna see him outright fired.
It was funny, I was talking to my dad about this and then he asked me who I thought was gonna happen.
I think, and I told him in my opinion,
And I could be wrong here, but I think the, I met before, or should probably, you know, retire and then the Packers can get a new coach and maybe have a rebuilding season.
And my dad said, no, that's not going to happen.
You can't rebuild.
You just, you just mortgage the future to get Parsons.
I mean, it's not a case where you're going to be tearing down.
You're going to be trying to hopefully he'll be back.
early in the season or come back strong.
Uh, you're going to still got a young quarterback.
I mean, it's, it's not about rebuilding.
They're still, I think they, they probably still feel like they're in a position to be very competitive in this.
And again, we watch nowadays.
I mean, there's such an ebb and a flow now.
It's not like the old days when I was growing up and you knew Pittsburgh was going to be there every year.
It's like, we're Dallas is going to be there every year.
What about somebody, people want John Harbaugh.
Didn't he have a MVP for a couple times in the last stud?
What is he what do you do with those guys?
What do you do with them?
Nothing.
Yeah, you know, they're literally trying to replace a guy to replace the same kind
of guy It doesn't make sense always that mean people.
Yeah, no is you're exactly right I mean there and we've seen it so very often where you make that change because you feel like oh We got to take it to the next level and then all of a sudden you're the Wisconsin Badger football team
They are hot though.
We're gonna basketball team is hot We're gonna come back talk about that in a whole bunch more more Packers and a whole bunch more tune over to YouTube or the sports to stream with wxco.fm and the civic media app more Paul Mickley coming up
