La Crosse Talk PM WIZM

Isaac Hoffman, the La Crosse Area Family Collaborative director, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk PM last Thursday updating us on the city-county plan to end homelessness, a project called Pathways Home.

We make the distinction early, but Hoffman, who works with the county, is part of the long-term plan combatting homelessness, which is a separate entity to what the city is currently doing, having public meetings over camping...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio ranking Donald Trump’s VP picks and discussing how Wheel of Fortune is both not political and best for politics, as Pat Sajak has last show.

Beginning of the show was mostly about Wheel of Fortune. But, not so much it being Sajak’s last show, but on Vanna White continuing and how she has the best job in history — though she apparently does more than reveal ...

Wisconsin Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle in studio discussing Donald Trump's guilty verdict, what the state should do about A.I. and how we haven't used much of the $4 billion in budget surplus.

We also talked about plastic pollution, charging people in the Wisconsin false electors scheme, plus the half-hearted effort from Republicans in the Legislature on veto overrides that cost taxpayers. 

First big topic we got into (7:15) was Wis...

A interesting and fun show with La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, where we threw him some scenarios that are happening or could happen in regards to the courts, law and relating that to politics.

Some of it had to deal with the Donald Trump trial, another with a Wisconsin judge possibly needing to recuse himself, plus some local scenarios where that might happen — like a La Crosse judge flying a Black Lives Matters o...

Mac Kiel and Tamra Dickinson in the WIZM studio Monday — along with Lilly and Finn — for La Crosse Talk PM to discuss decisions over new camping bans that would affect the homeless, the new airport director, the $27.5 million Capital Improvement Projects budget and the fight over no new sidewalks.

Kiel and Dickson are La Crosse city council members. Dickinson is also on the Board of Public Works, which had a packed council chamber...

No better straight shooting, down the middle guest to have, discussing Donald Trump becoming the first former president felon, than La Crosse County Democratic Party chair, William Garcia. We, of course, discuss the jury's verdict and how we got here. We also talked about Garcia becoming a delegate at the Democratic Party National Convention in Chicago, and why it's voting virtually. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

La Crosse County Sheriff, John Siegel, in the WIZM studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM on dashcams — being used or abused — his thoughts on the Citizen Review Board, plus some random things like being drunk on a bicycle or how peeved we get when a cop is hiding on the side of the road.

Began the show, first on traffic cams, as Minneapolis is about to install 42 of them to catch speeders and red light runners.

In the next segme...

Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy at the Tax Foundation in La Crosse, in studio to discuss paying NCAA Division I athletes, Wisconsin dishing out $23 million for an EV charging network, and selling the Brewers Am-Fam Field for $1. 

The meat of the conversation (23:00) was about the NCAA recently settling a host of antitrust claims and beginning the framework of paying NCAA Division I athletes.

Hoffer, who taught sports e...

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studion discussing people unknowingly getting sucked into the YouTube algorithm, getting the Bucks G-League team to the La Crosse Center and how the state messed up, awarding Kwik Trip $23 million for EV chargers.

We also hit on the absurdity that Congress gets to trade stocks, a US Supreme Court justice blaming his wife for flying, not one, but two right-wing-lik...

Jared Flick in studio, discussing the possibility of landing the Milwaukee Bucks G-League team or if the La Crosse Center could handle a WNBA franchise, plus the idea of bringing in bigger concerts and more stand-up comics to the city. 

Flick is the deputy director of recreation and the La Crosse Center. 

The idea of landing the Wisconsin Herd — the Bucks G-League team — could be out in Oshkosh after this season. When the Bucks i...

Dan Kapanke stopped in the studio to talk about the upcoming seasons for the La Crosse Loggers baseball team, the newly created La Crosse Steam softball club and the PFAS “forever chemicals” situation in the town of Campbell. 

Kapanke is co-owner of both the Loggers and Steam, who will both play at Copeland Park this summer. He is also the board chair for the Town of Campbell, which has been on bottled water for over four years be...

While Dave Larsen and Bruce Mathew stopped in studio to talk about the Deke Slayton Airfest and Freedom Honor Flight, we did get one story about blowing up a Mercury Zephyrs with C4 at Fort McCoy, and another story about nearly crashing a plane as a teen and possibly never telling mom. 

Larsen is the Airfest media director and spent 20 years in Wisconsin Army National Guard, retiring in 1999, while Mathew is the Airfest air operat...

Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Jill Billings in studio discussing last week’s political stunt by Republicans, what to do with the $4 billion budget surplus and her campaign priorities for getting reelected.

Began the show talking about how the Legislature hasn’t really been in session since mid-March, has the rest of the year off and what kind of things Billings does, outside of session.

That led to what Republicans did last week,...

Our political blowhard, Adam Murphy, joins to answer the toughest question: What should we hand to people landing in Wisconsin, like getting a lei off the jet in Hawaii? We also discussed the less-than-half effort from Republicans in the state Legislature to overturn vetoes, plus WIZM on Reddit.

Got some great answers from Murphy and callers to that question and spent a good part of the show discussing it. 

We also hit on Republi...

If you wanted to know about electric vehicles, we hit on a vast amount of topics with Jeremiah Brockman, president of the Wisconsin chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association. 

Brockman was thrown a list of about 50 things having to deal with EVs — including how they hold up in winter, "gas mileage," environmental impacts and charging. Brockman was a great sport in answering as many as we could get through. 

Brockman is also put...

One more public meeting for the city of La Crosse's Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is coming up. City associate planner Jenna Dinkel joins to go over some of the ins and outs of the plan, plus a look at the Wagon Wheel Trail and some upcoming public meetings from the Wisconsin DOT on Highways 35, 53 and 16. 

The city's bike-ped plan is a major revision from its 2012 counterpart, and we talk about some of the decade-old ideas t...

Michael Quam, the development director for the Salvation Army of La Crosse County, joined to discuss homelessness in the area, how the shelter has changed over the past few years and where they fit in with the Pathways Home plan.

Didn’t take long to get into the homeless situation (3:50), including the Salvation Army being at capacity, how many people it has to turn away and how many success stories it has had.

We also discussed ...

Tina Tryggestad, the new La Crosse County Board chair, stopped in the WIZM studio Thursday for La Crosse Talk PM to discuss her new role, planning for the board’s five-year strategic plan and new Civilian Review Board.

Began the show about how and if the board's work could change as the American Rescue Plan Act funding is basically allocated and there isn't this $22 million from the feds to use.

We then got into her becoming the ...