Wisconsin's Weekend Morning News
Wisconsin's Morning News 9-2-24
and we have a very busy Labor Day show all set for you today. I'm going to tell you about that in just a couple of minutes. We've got Tif Pua here and Tif are you set for a beautiful Labor Day? I am ready to get outside but I have cleaning to do so the windows will be open as I'm cleaning and rocking out to Yacht Rock. That's my that's my day. Oh well listen I'll tell you somebody who's got a great day and that is TMJ4 meteorologist Tyler Moore and he is going to join us and Tyler we have a great holiday weather don't we? Yeah happy Labor Day to you guys. Yeah I mean it's just fantastic. I mean the last couple days have been perfect today same thing mid 70s and sunshine. I mean can you ask for much more on Labor Day? I was going to say now technically autumn begins September 21st but we're in a meteorological. Well I can't say the word fall time. You tell us about it. Yeah so there's really two ways to mark fall and it depends on what you want. If you want fall to come later go astronomical fall which goes by when the sun's most direct rays start to pass south of the equator that comes September 22nd. Meteorological falls with us as meteorologists like to use the most because it tends to favor our temperatures better so it's just every three months based on the calendar. So September, October, November, or fall then obviously December starts meteorological winter so it's just shifted a little bit earlier for the season than the astronomical one. See you're having trouble saying it to Tyler. All right so it's still early it's only 708 but tell us what the next couple of days are going to look like and when we've got our next chance of rain. Yeah I mean these next couple days still fantastic weather so no shortage of sunshine today tomorrow and Wednesday we are talking sunny skies temperatures mid 70s today mid to upper 70s Tuesday and then upper 70s on Wednesday and the low humidity too sticks with us so it's just going to feel fantastic outside. The next rain chances you were talking about that comes along another cold front that will be late Thursday into Friday will be some of our next rain chances. Looks to be a pretty decent cold front so our temperatures will take a pretty good drop towards next week and definitely going to feel like fall towards next Saturday we could see high temperatures stuck in the 60s. One last question Tyler we had some problems as far as the the lakefront yesterday is that gone now or are we still going to have some dangerous warnings there for boaters and swimmers? Yeah great question yesterday because those winds were a little bit breezy out of the north behind that cold front we had some of those rough conditions with a small craft advisory some beach statements out thankfully none of that has been issued for today because our winds will be lighter could see a little bit of wave action still right along the lake front just because our winds will be out of the northeast but nothing as significant as yesterday so it's looking good to go to head out towards Lake Michigan today. Tyler have a great Labor Day TMJ4 meteorologist Tyler Moore great to have you here. You too thank you so much. It is 709 a very busy show is ahead for us today but before we do anything else we've got Debbie Lazaga and if you thought roundabouts and zipper merges were interesting waiting to get a load of this new type of interchange this month's driver's ed with Debbie introduces you to the diverging diamond interchange. They may be your girl's best friend but coming soon folks behind the wheel are going to need to get used to a new way of getting on or off a freeway it's called the diverging diamond interchange and we're not talking about bling whenever there's talk about new traffic patterns there's bound to be a little pushback but before you get worried let's get a primer on what exactly a ddi is it's sometimes called a double crossover diamond interchange it's where traffic on the cross street actually moves over to the left hand side of that road to allow for free left turns basically onto the freeway or onto the main road which in our case is interstate 94 and then you have the secondary roadway which is state truck highway 175 or Brewer's Boulevard. The DOT's Bill Moore says it's one of the safer ways of getting on or off a freeway. You're not crossing in front of traffic for that left turning movement and that's the safety feature you're not making this left turn movement in front of traffic where you could get a t-bone or some sort of other crash. Basically instead of there being two stoplights you have to go through to cross a major freeway there will only be one and getting on the freeway should be a breeze without having to cross oncoming traffic so this is what you'll see. You will come to an intersection and there will be stop and go lights there if it's red you'll stop you'll see traffic from your right crossing in front of you while you're stopped and when the light changes the green you'll go right through that intersection if you want to get say go west bound you'll be in the left lane and you'll just automatically take that lane and go right onto the ramp right to the freeway you'll see signage so you're going to see above all the lanes signage saying what lane to be in for what movement you want if you're going to want to take the left to go westbound on I-94 it'll say be in that lane the right hand movement is exactly the same as a regular diamond interchange. Fancy seeing one for yourself well there is one under construction on Brown Deer Road over I-43 but that's not complete yet there is one in Janesville at I-3990 and Wisconsin 26 also known as the Milton Avenue interchange and how do they choose what type of interchange goes where they'd use this type for any interchange where there's a heavy left hand turn movement but it's not perfect for every spot what our traffic operations analysis personnel do is they look at all different types of interchanges you have the diamond you have the divergent diamond you have a single point urban interchange you have free flow ramp interchanges and don't forget everybody's favorite the roundabout in the midst of the whole I-94 corridor redo encompassing the area between 16th and 70th streets not only are they trying to widen the freeway to be better able to handle a heavier traffic volume but also converting the stadium interchange from a full freeway to freeway system interchange this interchange when we're done will be more like a service interchange i.e. a local road with the mainline being the interstate if you're like me and you do better visualizing it with a picture head over to our website wtmj.com and we have pictures and videos to show you how it's done that be laws against wtmj news how about you my head spinning dubby i'm not sure which way is which now i thought i knew how to drive uh now i'm i'm totally confused all right in a 713 we've got a busy busy labor day show ahead and of course as you know it is the last big grilling holiday and we're going to have some tips on how to prepare those less expensive cuts of meat also this is the day all those kids are going to be back in the classroom but tomorrow and we're going to tell you how to be prepared now you want your kid to be healthy so here she does well in school but did you know that a family of four making as much as eighty thousand dollars per year just might qualify for Medicaid for their kids we talk with the chief medical officer for Medicaid services and she's going to tell you how that breakdown works speaking of schools if you're doing some last minute pickups of what those kids need we're going to tell you how to get some free custard just by donating some school supplies to kids out there who don't have them now uh think about it if you ever wanted to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks I know you have Isaac except you're about two feet too short but uh you can't replace Janus but there is an opportunity that just might fulfill your dreams we're going to have all of the news about that for you plus cell phones how did we ever live without them well we have an expert explaining some new technology that you may not be familiar with also if you think you are having a bad day on those days when you travel wait until you hear some flight attendance and what they go through we're talking with a Washington Post travel reporter all about it we've also got our consumer expert Michelle Rhine and joining us she has information about whether about things you need to know whether you're a landlord or a tenant we've got Isaac right here he's pushing those buttons tip Pua is in the newsroom and in just two minutes it's Mark Gordon sports right here on Wisconsin Morning News I'm Libby Collins I'm going to be with you till nine o'clock this morning on this Labor Day morning it is a chilly start to your day I mean what I got I got my car this morning it's at 47 degrees currently we have let's see what is it right here in Milwaukee we have 58 degrees at 715 on WTMJ time for a WTMJ sports update from the Gruber law offices one call that's all sports desk there's bad news and good news for the brewers coming off an 11 inning four to three loss to the Reds yesterday they are still decidedly nine games ahead of the Cubs in the NLC and just two games behind the Dodgers who have this season's best record in baseball the crew take on the Cardinals today at Amfam Field our coverage begins with Brewers warm up with Dominic Catronio at noon and Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin won yesterday for his third victory of the 2024 NTT IndyCar series season there were 763 on track passes surpassing Saturday's race at the Milwaukee mile for the most at an IndyCar race this season it also included 13 lead changes a record for an IndyCar event at the Milwaukee mile McLaughlin said his win almost didn't happen but we just stuck with it and it wasn't quite good at the start of the car and then we just tuned her up and it was awesome so a lot better in traffic today which helped a lot credit to Colton and all the races yeah they were at a blast racing each other and the 21 car their picker they they helped me a lot and some exchanges help them again to the pit box and stuff so big thanks team Chevy Chevy and that that teamwork that we have and yeah burn the house down right that's awesome I'm pumped he's pumped I'm pumped I've been Mark Wart with sports I love those British accents with those drivers it just makes them sound like they're better drivers I don't know why it just in my mind if you have a British British accent like that I guess this would be what McLaughlin he's got to be from Scotland I would think so yeah but it's so but it just makes you sound like you're too dry better than the rest of us okay maybe he can figure out those divergent diamonds that Debbie was talking about Debbie's divergent diamonds now that's an alliteration it is 720 on WTMJ it is going to be an absolutely gorgeous day that humidity is gone the sun's going to be out and we're going to hit temperatures in the low to mid 70s currently 58 degrees at 720 on WTMJ. 722 58 degrees getting up there into the low to mid 70s today it couldn't be more perfect than that a little bit later on this morning and this is was just such an interesting interview that I did with a Washington Post reporter about flight attendants and what they go through we we featured it yesterday on on Wisconsin weekend morning news but I'm going to play it back for you again today because when you hear this when you hear what flight attendants go through you will never get on the plane the same way and I think you're going to have a lot more sympathy for those flight attendants that a lot of times people are a little bit critical of that's going to be after 8 o'clock this morning right now though on a day when we are getting lots of sunshine and also great mild temperatures with no humidity it's 723 on WTMJ. Well here we are at the beginning of the school year and we're all concerned about how ready our kids are but are you aware that unless they're in great medical health they may not do well in school and joining us is Jessica Lee she is the Acting Chief Medical Officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services and Dr. let me ask you this to start out let's define what Medicaid and CHIP are and what types of services are covered under these programs. This is a great way to start Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program or CHIP offer free or low cost health coverage for eligible children, teens and adults so you can see why as children are heading back to school we want to remind people children don't have health insurance that it may be available through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Medicaid and CHIP for children and teens up to age 19 have really comprehensive offerings from behavioral health services to doctors visits in hospital visits, prescriptions, immunizations, dental visits, eye exams and more. All right so who's eligible? What kids are eligible for these programs? Each state has a Medicaid and CHIP program which provides health coverage for children up to age 19 and families with low and moderate incomes. In Wisconsin it's called Badger Care Plus eligibility generally depends on how many people are in a household and household income and it varies by state but for example in most states children up to age 19 with a family income of up to $80,000 per year for a family of four may qualify for Medicaid and CHIP but you can actually find out more information for your specific state at our website ensure kidsnow.gov or by calling 1-877-CHIP now you can find out the specific information for your state on eligibility and enrollment. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised when you said that families of four can earn as much as $80,000 and still qualify for these programs. Medicaid and CHIP varies by state but yes it's providing health coverage for children up to age 19 and families with low and moderate incomes. Is there an enrollment period for the programs? The enrollment period is all the time and that you can enroll at any time. There's no specific time when you need to enroll it's open all year round and we encourage people to enroll now as soon as possible so the coverage is there for you when you need it in addition to setting our children up to be successful when they go back to school. And that's a good question doctor how important is it for a child to also have good medical health if they're going to do well in school? Sustaining health is really just a foundational aspect of setting up our children for success and we know that having health insurance is actually critical for children to thrive both in school and in life. We know that children with health coverage are less likely to miss school due to illness and that means fewer miss workdays for parents as well. They're also more likely to complete high school and graduate college. So on top of kind of setting kids up and meeting fewer miss days of school fewer miss days of work parents can also rest easier knowing that medical bills from teen or emergency care won't jeopardize their financial future. Okay so once a kid is covered by Medicaid or CHIP what do parents have to do to maintain that coverage? So in general renewal has happened about once a year and what's really important is making sure that your address is up to date with the state Medicaid office and that when you receive a renewal form you fill it out right away to avoid any gas and coverage. But again families can apply to Medicaid and CHIP at any time of the year. We aim that enrollment is always open and you can find more information on our website inshirtidsnow.gov or by calling one eight seven seven kids now. All right Jessica Lee acting Chief Medical Officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services. Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. I cannot believe that you can make as much as eighty thousand dollars with a family of four in some places and and and still qualify your kids can still qualify for Medicaid and CHIP. It's amazing how much support we provide to families. I'm just blown away by that one. All right it is 727 as we said beautiful day can't see enough about the sunshine we're going to have those mild temperatures and guess what no humidity it's 60 degrees at WTMJ. And it's a second half hour Wisconsin Morning News I'm Libby Collins Vincent Eric Bak tomorrow. 735 on WTMJ. There is nothing worse than facing the fact that you've got to move and it's so stressful but there's even more stress involved and we've got some tips for tenants joining us is Michelle Reine and our consumer expert and tell us some of the things that people face especially this time of the year. Well yeah everyone has rights and responsibilities in these rental agreements and it's a stressful time when you're having to move. So if you are needing to move out ask the landlord for a walkthrough of the housing unit before the final checkout. This helps protect your security deposit and puts you both in the same place on how the apartment looks that condition of the property before you move out. Maybe there's some things that you can fix or repair that the landlord's going to point out to you that you'll end up getting more money back off your security deposit if you just known through that conversation and then go ahead and take those detailed photos or a video of the property so you have some documentation as to how you left the property and so important do not forget to give the landlord your new address as to where you'll be moving. That's going to ensure your security deposit gets back to you faster than if the mail has to forward it. Now do landlords have to return security deposits? Yeah they absolutely do. If they don't return the money they need to return an accounting saying what they withheld the money for and they need to do that within 21 days after the rental period expires. So if you move out early the landlord still has the time period from when the rental agreement would end. It doesn't mean you'll necessarily get your security deposit back early. All right now what about moving in to a property? Are there things you should do before you move your furniture in? Yeah absolutely again here we're going to talk about protecting your security deposit and that means tenants have seven days after the start of their tenancy to inspect the premises that new property they're in and notify the landlord of any defects by returning what's called a check-in sheet. This can be a notebook piece of paper where again you are documenting the property and you probably want to take pictures but that way later on if there is damage when you move in when you're moving out you won't be held responsible for that damage. So take the time to do that seven-day check-in sheet and then be sure the landlord's given you the contact information of a person who you can contact regarding maintenance problems including name and address and this is so important because you don't want to let some maintenance issue get out of control by not reporting it so you need to know who to call as a tenant. And how important is that lease and the fact that you read it before you sign it? Oh critical you want to know what is in that agreement and what is going to be required of you? Who is responsible for paying the utilities? What repairs and property maintenance the tenant is expected to fulfill? So are you going to be responsible for mowing the lawn or shoveling the sidewalk depending upon the type of dwelling unit that could be possible and you want to understand your obligations under that rental agreement when rent is due and how much you'll be paying should be part of that and if the landlord promises to make any repairs before you move in make sure they're part of that written agreement. And let's give that consumer protection hotline in case you're running to any problems. 1-800-422-7128. It's 739. We have 60 degrees at WTMJ. We're going to get up to about 74 today with sunny skies. There's nothing more fun than going to a Milwaukee Bucks game unless you're somehow involved. Well joining us is Kate Ulrich. She is the Bucks Senior Director of Live Programming and Entertainment and Kate once again you are going to have auditions for people who want to participate in both the Bucks, Beats and the 4-1-4 crew and that's coming up this later this week. So tell us first of all what are the Bucks, Beats and what do you have to do to be part of it? Yeah, Bucks, Beats is our drum line. So that's a coed drum line that all you have to do is come audition as a percussionist. They play cymbals, tenders, bass drum or smear. Come out, show all your energy and you have a chance to be on Bucks Beat. What are you looking for during those auditions when you audition the drummers? Yeah, I tell everyone that the musical talent is great. However, I'm looking for someone who if I'm standing up in the top of the 200 level and I see you down on the court, I can feel your energy all the way up by me. Ah, so it's important to smile, I would think. Definitely important to smile. Yes, of course. And what about some of those tricks that we see drummers do sometimes with toss on the sticks and things like that? Are you looking for that as well? Yeah, I think tricks are great. Certainly not mandatory. We have a couple really great managers and captains on the team who are awesome at teaching that stuff. So if it's not one of your specialties, that's totally fine. Still come audition. That's something that you can learn along the way and maybe take with you when you're done down the road. Now, the other people you're looking for are individuals who want to be part of the 414 crew. What do they do? All right, so our 414 crew is our interactive hype team. They are the people who are out on the court, up in the stands, out in the community, getting people excited about Bucks basketball. Tell us specifically what they do. Okay, so they are pre-game, they are rolling the t-shirts, they are getting the face painting ready, they're getting the tattoos ready pre-game, they're up on the concourse. You see them giving those tattoos out, getting your picture taken with Bango, doing all that stuff that you love to do before you sit down in your seat. And then they're the ones throwing the shirts, activating on the court, bringing that energy all game long to make the best experience in arena. Ah, so you don't have to have any talent other than to be friendly and energetic. 100%, that's all you need. All right, are there age limitations on either Bucksbeats or 414 crew? There are not age restrictions. We do tend to hire people who are in high school in college, but there is certainly not an age restriction for us. All right, so tell us when are the auditions exactly? And what do you do if you want to sign up? Yeah, all right, four on four crew auditions are on Wednesday, September 4th. You can sign up on our website ahead of time, or you can just show up. Auditions start at 6 p.m. So come in the doors at 6, get yourself registered. If you're pre-registered, that's great. And bring all the energy you can, because that's going to be a high energy audition. Then the following week on Tuesday, September 10th at 6 p.m. Again, both auditions at 5 or 4. I should make sure I mention that. For Bucksbeats, you do not need to bring instruments. We do encourage you to bring your own sticks. If you have them, you're a symbol player and you have specifics on what symbols you like to use. Go ahead and bring those with you. Otherwise, again, you can register on site at 6 p.m. Or you can pre-register at our website, bucks.com/entertainment. Kate, what's the best part of being part of the four one four crew and the Bucksbeats? The best part is making fans day. Every time that a fan walks in, it could be their first game. And you want to make sure that you're giving them the best time. All of our entertainers walk away telling us that they just love being with the fans and bringing the energy to our games. Well, it's going to be a great season for the Milwaukee Bucks, Kate Ulrich, Bucks Senior Director of Live Programming and Entertainment. Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. You're a professional drummer, Isaac. I guess you could say that. Yeah, I mean, you played drums what, your whole life almost? Yeah, basically. Yeah, this could be something for you. I've thought about it. I would love to. Yeah, I would love to. Yeah, I could see you out there. I really could. Think about it, Isaac, because you don't have enough to do. All right, it is 7.45. Come on up in just one minute. Oh, wait. It's marcord and sports right here on Wisconsin Morning News. Time for a WTMJ sports update from the Gruber Law Offices One Call. That's all sports desk. Brewer Hickland made his debut with the Brewers yesterday, becoming only the third player in 84 years to share the nickname of the team he worked for. The Brewer came up to the crew after an impressive performance as an outfielder from Class AAA Nashville. Unfortunately, the Brewers lost to Cincinnati yesterday, four to three, but are still leading the second place Cubs in the NLC. They face the Cardinals today and our coverage begins at noon with Brewers warm up with Dominic Catronio. Isaac Mark Whart, AKA WTMJ Mark Whart, WTMJ sports. 747, 60 degrees at WTMJ. We're going to get under. We're going to get up to 74 under sunny skies coming up in just a couple of minutes. I know we've got to get them ready for school tomorrow. If they haven't already been there, as Tiff was saying, her daughter has already been in school for almost two weeks, but everybody's going to be back tomorrow. This is the day. I know it's the end of summer officially, and it's time to get them back in that mood and in that frame of mind that they got to go back to school and got to get up early and be disciplined and sit in classrooms for six, seven hours a day. We've got some tips for you. What you need to know, it's all ahead on Wisconsin Morning News. I'm Libby Collins at 748. Oh, yeah, it's back to school tomorrow. Officially for everybody, if they haven't already been back there. And of course, that means it's a school day tomorrow, and even though Tiff's a holiday, you figured out what time you're putting the kids to bed at night. Well, how important is it to establish those rules for school nights? Joining us is Michael when he is the executive director at Teach for America, Milwaukee. How important is having structure for kids? I would say it's one of the main pillars to establish routine. And when we talk about routine, it's things as simple, but yet complex like sleep. What time are our kids going to bed? What time are they waking up? Because that first class starts as soon as they walk into the door, how their brains have been nourished with food. And then that night, however, tires their feeling, how much hours of sleep that they're getting so that when they're at school, they're fully engaged, they're fully awake, and they're fully aware of the academics and time with friends that they have. So important that students have the right amount of sleep. Do you suggest that parents sit down with their kids and talk about goals for this coming school year? Absolutely. Goals aren't just academic. How do we want to grow? What are the math skills that we want to grow in? What are the reading skills we want to grow in? But then also socially, how do we want to grow in terms of how we interact with our friends? How we pay attention in school? If we have sports, how much we practice? So that goal setting, Libby, that your name is wildly important so that we have the entire frame of the year. But it helps establish that communication that children have with parents and sets the stage that, hey, parents don't just expect you to wake up each day and head to school, but parents want to be there to support you and how you want to grow as a student and a person at school year. Do you suggest that parents really sit down and talk to their kids every day to find out what their day at school was like? That's a great point. And five minutes is more time than some kids get with their parents to talk about how their day went, right? And so we don't need to overthink that every night we're going to have to sit down for 60 minutes and talk about each class or how homework is going. But check in. Hey, how was class today? What was a great part of class? What was challenging? How was your friend? How was your teacher communicating with you? Are you getting what you need in school? And that could be on the drive home. That could be at dinner time. That could be a quick phone call between class and practice. But having our students, our children know that we're going to check in and that we care and we care about their well-being as much as how well they're doing in class really helps our students and children feel like they can reach out to us. What's the most important thing parents should keep in mind is they're sending their kids back to school this year. Parents should know that they have an open line of communication to their teachers as much as we want to check in with our kids and make sure that our kids feel comfortable talking to us. There is a bridge and relationship that can in my argument should be cultivated with the teacher and the guardians, the parents, because they're the other adults in our children's lives looking after their well-being, their growth, their development in school and socially. So our Teach for America core members, for instance, many of them are making phone calls home to parents and saying, "Hey, I am Mr. Nguyen. I am your child teacher this year. These are our goals." And this is how you can reach out to me. But just because a teacher isn't doing that doesn't mean they don't care, but rather it's an opportunity for us as guardians to reach out to them and introduce ourselves. My wonderful wife sent an email to one of our kids teachers and said, "Hey, these are the social goals that our daughter wants to have this year." And all that does is help the teacher know that, "Hey, we're involved. B, you can reach out to us and C, we're collaborators in the growth and development of our children." And so know that teachers can and will be receptive to parents reaching out, because honestly, as a former teacher and school leader, it makes our job easier to know where we can lean in and that we have partners in the home as well. Michael Nguyen, Executive Director for Teach for America, Milwaukee. Pleasure to have you here today. Thanks so much for your time. You just got to have them ready. That's the thing. It's just so those kids are ready to go back. Getting them into that frame of mind is not always fun. All right. Speaking of things that are not always fun, I don't know if you heard this conversation last week, our WTMJ conversation, where I talked with a couple of twins. They're 21, 22 now, but they were 19 years old when they joined Milwaukee activist Frank Nittys March on Washington. And they were very sensitive. They wanted to help change lives. But they told me about a very uncomfortable conversation they had with Frank Nittys while they were on that road to D.C. Then there was the time that you two were making the reservations for all the rooms. And what did he want you to do? There was a point in the march when we started seeing him pitting the women against each other. And that was really odd to us because we had never seen that side of him. And he began trying to get women to be jealous of each other for being close to him. And I believe it was one night when we were dead exhausted from the whole day of marching. He was having us organize who would be in what room. And he suggested that we should room with him. And he just gave an odd, really uncomfortable look. And I just knew it was a big no. If you didn't hear our conversation about a week and a half ago with twins Lena and Leanne Lee, you're going to have another opportunity tonight at eight o'clock and find out what else happened during Milwaukee activist Frank Nittys dubious walk to Washington. And again, that's tonight. It's the best of WTMJ conversations with Lena and Leanne Lee. 756. I'm Libby Collins. We'll get Tiff Puah coming up in just a couple minutes. As I said a few minutes ago, it seems like you can't turn right. You can't turn left. You can't look in front of you. You can't look behind you because there's another politician coming to town. They do say that. They do say that the White House is, you know, the road to the White House comes through Wisconsin and that is definitely true this year. And today we've got who coming in? Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walls is going to be in Milwaukee. You know, I have a question. If Tim Walls does a slow dance with his wife, do they call it a walls walls? Never mind. All right, I'll be back. Yeah, there's another hour of this. I'll be back after the news with Tiff. We've got a Washington Post travel reporter joining us as she's got. Oh, what flight attendants go through. We'll tell you all about it. I'm Wisconsin morning news. I love that story. Oops. This is Wisconsin's weekend morning news with Libby Collins. Thank you very much. I love that story, Tiff, about the, uh, Brewer named Brewer. I love that. It's like, talk about branding. I, you couldn't go to any other team, right? Well, he did play for the Kansas City Royals. Still not the same. They play very well, by the way. And, and I mean, the, the trajectory that the Brewers are on right now, hopefully he's going to take it all the way. I mean, that, I, I, I think this is great. It's destiny, right? When you are given a name of some kind, maybe that is your destiny to fulfill that obligation in your life. And I think it's meant to be for the Brewers. I think you might be right. I hope so. All right. Tiff, move me back with us at 8 30 and, uh, well, you know, a lot of people like to go on those trips as the kids go back to school, fewer tourists out there. Lots easier to get in and out of the airports. You hope so. But wait until you hear what those flight attendants go through. Well, every time we get on a plane, it's another adventure. And a lot of us are a little concerned because we're not having a good day when we get on. But think about those flight attendants. Are they having a good day? Well, Washington Post travel reporter Natalie Compton took a deep dive at what flight attendants go through. And I had to tell you, Natalie, I was shocked when I read about what their lifestyle really is, especially when they first get started. I think most of the traveling public would be in the same position, totally shocked to hear some of the stories that I found out reporting on this story. So the origin of it was in May, the Alaska Airlines flight attendant union released a survey of its members and 9% of respondents reported that they have been homeless in the last year or lived out of their car or in a shelter. And once I heard that figure, I ended up interviewing 18 current and former flight attendants and many of them had similar stories of living out of their car at the airport, having to go to a shelter, not having anywhere to live because their pay is so low. I mean, that is just unbelievable to think that the people that we're relying on for our safety once we get on that plane are sleeping in a car at the airport. One woman had been a flight attendant for 16 years. So she had plenty of experience on the job. She was living at LAX, even with her teenage son would have to stay in the car with her sometimes. And she was having threats, but they were going to call trial protective services. That wasn't an appropriate place for a teenager to live, but she had no other choice. She had already sent her other daughter to go live with her parents in another state. So I just heard so many of these tragic stories, flight attendants doing multiple jobs, staying up all night, driving lifts, then getting on a plane. And like you said, these people are there for your safety. And so if they can't afford to get a night's sleep because they have to work a second job, that's a problem for a lot of people. Well, you mentioned that second job. And as you said, some of them go without sleep. Tell about some of the flight attendants you talked to and how long they were sleepless and they still would get on these flights to work. The one person who really had a shocking story to me lives in Atlanta and she works for Frontier Airlines, she got this job after switching careers and was very excited with the prospect of, oh, I'm going to get something like 20 something dollars an hour pay. But what a lot of people don't realize is flight attendants don't get paid until either the boarding door is closed or the breaks have been released from the plane. They're not getting paid during boarding, they're not getting paid when they're at the airport. So their actual take on pay for this woman was $23,000 a year before taxes. And so to make ends meet, she was driving lift as much as possible. She was doing dog walking and she told me about multiple times that she has gotten up at four in the morning to drive lift, been in the car all day driving, then gets a call from Frontier, I need to show up for a flight. I'm on call because I'm a new flight attendant, goes and flies for eight hours, gets home, gets back in the car and keeps driving lift because she has no other choice. So it is just a really shocking thing to hear because that means you have that person who was tired while they are driving you and tired while they're on the plane and it's just really heartbreaking. She'd already done everything she could. She had gotten rid of her apartment and was trying to stay rent by living with a friend and still it was just not working out for her on this one salary. Well I know in your article you describe these crash houses that a lot of flight attendants stay in while they're waiting for their next flight. Crash pods are an industry standard and not unusual for flight attendants. Some of them can be very nice and it's almost like a hostel or you can get one that is so nice it's like your own little apartment. It's supposed to be this like it's in the name crash pad for people usually if they are not living in that city okay I fly out of this place I can come here and get some sleep but some of them are not great because people are trying to save as much money as possible and the landlords want to turn a profit too so they're cramming as many flight attendants as they can in bunk beds in a room and the one flight attendant told me the one she lives in nobody cleans that there's not really a good structure there very cheap it's in a bad neighborhood she doesn't feel safe walking out but she can't afford an Uber so the story is that you hear once you start asking it was very shocking and most of the flight attendants were very brave for even coming forward at all because they were worried that there would be retaliation from their airline for even speaking out and telling people about these problems. Well has there been any feedback from the airlines about these conditions? There were no apologies from the airlines they said we pay a competitive rate flight attendants know what they're getting into when they start the straw then over time the pay gets better that you can add more flight and try to boost that income that way one issue is that a lot of airlines are in contract negotiations with their airlines flight attendants unions and these are years old contracts that haven't been updated because unions feel airlines aren't giving enough in these negotiations airlines are trying to save as much money as possible so as a result flight attendants are just waiting for their wages to go up so there are a lot of people pointing fingers in the issue but ultimately it's the flight attendants who are suffering. So basically why is it that so many people still want to be flight attendants in spite of these working conditions particularly in the first several years they get started? It is still super competitive as you mentioned people like the perks of it even though you know it's not just a free airplane ticket whenever you want you're flying standby and if you live in a place with a busy airport that can be difficult to get on a standby flight and go wherever you're going but they like the idea of those travel perks for themselves and their families over time it is a very flexible job once you can start picking your schedule once you have seniority under your belt you can say oh I only want to work these days and that is a appealing position to be in especially compared to a traditional nine to five and then over time of course the pay does get better so flight attendants feel okay if I can suffer for the first 11 years by your 12 it'll be great and I should also say there are plenty of flight attendants who make this work if they're with somebody who has an income you know they have a spouse who has an income or they get money from investments whatever there there are people who make this work and are not feeling the suffering from the low pay but if you are one of the single mothers that I talk to or some of these people who don't have support from family it is incredibly challenging Natalie after doing all of this research on the life of flight attendants do you have any regrets that you went into journalism and didn't decide to go into the airlines well I have an aunt who is a flight attendant and I have always admired how much she got to travel and that was very inspiring to me she's also just one of the kindest people I know and and I know that that was the other part of what keeps flight attendants in the job is they love dealing with people they love how friendly of a job it is and they love the other flight attendants they work with so even talking to these people amidst their suffering they had positive things to say about the job it is tempting sometimes you know the job is glamorised on TV but journalism not so glamorous either but I'll stay where I'm at especially because I don't think I could start at the bottom of the totem pole of flight attendants and be okay Natalie Compton Washington Post travel reporter thank you so much for doing this story and for talking to us today thank you I think my favorite flight attendant thing I've ever seen on TV was when SNL used to do the flight attendants buh-bye buh-bye it's 8 17 coming up in just a couple minutes we've got Mark Hart and sports right here on WTMJ time for a WTMJ sports update from the Gruber Law Offices one call that's all sports desk there's bad news and good news for the Brewers coming off an 11 inning four to three lost to the Reds yesterday they are still decidedly nine games ahead of the Cubs in the NLC and just two games behind the Dodgers who have this season's best record in baseball the crew take on the Cardinals today at Amfam Field our coverage begins with Brewers warm up with Dominic Catronio at noon and Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin won yesterday for his third victory of the 2024 NTT indie car series season there were 763 on track passes surpassing Saturday's race at the Milwaukee mile for the most at an indie car race this season it also included 13 lead changes a record for an indie car event at the Milwaukee mile Scott McLaughlin says he didn't win alone it was stuck with it and it wasn't quite good at the start the car and then we just tuned her up and it was awesome so a lot better in traffic today which helped a lot credit to Colton and all the races yeah they were at a blast racing each other and the 21 car their pit crew they helped me a lot and some exchanges help them again to the pit box and stuff so big thanks team Chevy and that teamwork that we have and yeah we're in the house down and there's awesome I'm pumped I'm Isaac Mark what WTMJ sports and I think they're coming back next year that's a really exciting thing so this may not be the last time you're going to be seeing those indie car drivers going vroom vroom around the racetrack at Milwaukee mile it's a 21 on WTMJ coming up oh you know what we've got oh we've got an opportunity for you to get some uh school supplies and in exchange well if you donate those you're going to get something for you we'll tell you about it right after this on WTMJ. That's a great place for burgers as a matter of fact it's one of my favorite places whenever I'm at Amfam Field with those AJ bombers burgers and they are doing some good for the kids in the city of Milwaukee because they're collecting school supplies and joining us is their general manager Nick May and Nick first of all what exactly are you looking for what do you want people to drop off? Absolutely so obviously book bags are a big one that not too many people will consider to drop off pens crayons and markers are pretty common but children need something to write on so notebooks would also be another really good item for people to drop off and where are you collecting things? We are collecting them we have a barrel here at AJ bombers right on the quarter of water and nap we also now are accepting donations at our corporate office down in the third ward as well so that's Benson's restaurant groups. What do you hope to achieve with this I mean why is it important for the kids to have these school supplies? My big belief especially from growing up and living in the city my whole life has been the importance of children and the future of our community obviously starts in our school so if our children aren't given the tools that they need to develop then it really falls on us as the parents for not ensuring that our future runs smoothly and I think you know it's always great to give something and even if you're bringing your own kids you know to the various box stores big box stores and you're picking up those school supplies it's nice if maybe you pick up an extra notebook or an extra book bag or an extra set of crayons and let them know the joy of giving and bring them to AJ bombers and if they do you've got a little special surprise for them for just donating. Yes we do we've got a little treat for everybody anybody who comes into AJ bombers and drops off some school supplies can get a scoop of our very popular vanilla custard that we make here in-house that AJ bombers and if you don't want it right that same day we'll even give you a voucher that's good until I believe the end of October for you to come on back and get your ice cream. So again I think it's important teach your kids the joy of helping other kids by picking up something extra when you go and get those book supplies. Bring it to AJ bombers and they get rewarded with that free custard. Nick they you're doing good and we thank you for it. Well I appreciate that very much I'm going to keep doing what I got to do for the city. Take care Nick. You as well. Not just kids like some adults out there you don't go out get a few things getting booked bag those kids need it some notebooks things like that drop it off at AJ bombers get the free custard I think I know what I'm going to do today. All right it is 827 you know I just love doing WTMJ conversations. It's one of my favorite assignments here at the station and we have such interesting people we talked to one of them was Grace Girard. Now you might say to you that name sounds familiar how do I know her? Well she was one of the ladies who was on the TV show Farmer wants a wife and I had the opportunity to talk with her and I'll think about it. Most of you know we were talking about flight attendants earlier well most of us were never get on a plane without knowing their destination all to beat the love of their life on a TV show but Grace Girard did it and she told me how it all began. They actually didn't even tell us where we were going they just said here's your flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta be at the airport by 9 a.m. You know where you were going? No. So I landed in Atlanta and it ended up filming in Alabama. So they came to get you I assume at the airport? Yes. Did they tell you at that point you're going to Alabama or you just got on another plane? They did tell me at that point we were going to Alabama they got us into a car they told us like the type of person to look for and she'll get you and a couple other girls into a car and you're gonna drive away. So at this point had you talked to these other girls who were the other contestants? They had told us you know keep talking to a minimum because they really wanted to keep everything authentic for the cameras. So it's kind of a silent car ride. What was your impression of the other girls? Because I mean right now you know they're your competition. Exactly. Now there was definitely that edge to it. I'm too much of a Midwest nice girl to like sit there and not try and talk to people but there was like that I shouldn't be giving anything away about myself. So it's kind of an interesting experience. Well Racine's Grace Girard talks about how she found love on a TV show and then the unexpected turn her romantic life took after the cameras stopped filming and that you can hear it on the best of WTMJ conversations. We're gonna play it right after Brewers extra innings a little bit later on this afternoon Brewers by the way get underway at noon. Labor Day is the last big grilling holiday of the summer. So we want to take it up a notch and do it right and I can't think of anybody I'd rather talk to about it than Duffy O'Neill. He is a chef and co-owner of North Star Bistro and Grafton Alehouse and I know Duffy because he's part of our family and Duffy tell us what are some of the most popular things to grill this time of year? Well most popular I think we can always go with the burger which it's a great staple to go but I know people might want to kick it up a little with this last weekend as he said you know it's the last of the summer so you know steaks are pretty popular but as we know that kind of getting a little pricey to do steaks on the grill so there's ways to get around that I think. If you don't want to do the burger in the broth there are some cuts of meat that I think we can work with that are just as flavorful but they're not as tough on the pocketbook. Okay so let's look at beef which of course as you said steak is pricey is there any cut of beef other than hamburgers that you would say this is a great one and if you do it right you're really going to be happy with the results. I love flank steak most places will have it in their butcher section flank steak you can do it many different ways you can marinate it you can dry rub it also you can just eat it like sliced or you can put it into tacos a lot of different ways of serving it and the nice thing is it's reasonable and it's really simple to use the only thing you just have to remember what flank steak is to cut it against the grain you will see the grain running through the steak just when it's off you let the meat rest when it's done and you just slice it across the grain and it's really tender and it has a lot of flavor. All right so you mentioned dry rubs you mentioned marinate what do you prefer what do you think with flank steak makes the best prop. I like to marinate flank steak so sometimes little garlic balsamic vinegar some mustard rosemary and a little olive oil black pepper and I let it marinate in that without any salt yet and then after you get the grill hot put it on the grill that's when I like to season it with salt. And how long do you leave it because you don't want to overcook that do you? No you don't the grilling time I would say it's about four to five minutes aside so after about two two and a half minutes I like to cross section it so if it's laying vertical then I like to turn it horizontal and it kind of gives those nice cross sections and then I flip it and do the same thing and if your grill is a little hot sometimes you just need to kind of take it off the heat a little bit let it cook just a little bit longer because I would recommend between medium rare and medium for that cut all right now pork has been pretty reasonable what about pork chops how hard are they to grill you know pork can dry out pretty quickly so the recommendation there would be to brine them you can use like a brown sugar brine a cider brine orange juice brine and what the brine does you had a lot of salt water a little sweetener and then something else like orange juice and maybe some herbs and what that does is that salt penetrates the meat and kind of keeps it a little more tender even if you overcook it just a little bit it definitely helps with the flavor a lot as well and you know there's been some pretty good prices on ribs that you want to barbecue as well any secrets on those ribs you got a plan ahead I would say because maybe the day before you want to take them out of the package and do a dry rub a dry rub you can buy it the story you can make one which usually has like little chili powder paprika garlic powder onion maybe a little sugar and salt a lot of times there's some good ones at the store you can find and you let that sit overnight and your refrigerator on the ribs and then if you're going to grill ribs I recommend setting up your grill one side of it with the heat and one side without the heat so you can get the char marks over the flame kind of keep it there for a little bit and then you put it over on the side without the flame and just let it cook until it's ready to go basing it with your barbecue as you go so it keeps it from getting burnt if you keep it over the flame and what is the biggest mistake people make when they barbecue not have a beer in their hand the biggest mistake I think it's overcooking the meat you can always put it back on the grill but you know you can't undo it so I would caution overcooking and give yourself an outlet too when you start your grill keep one side for indirect cooking which I mean if you don't have the heat over on that side that allows you if you have flare-ups you know it's just too hot you can slide it over give yourself a break and just kind of let it cook without burning. WODL from North Star Vistro and Grafton Ale House he is the chef and co-owner great to have you here thank you so much you have a wonderful labor day thank you you too you know one of my favorite things to do on the grill and it's a quick meal is shrimp and vegetables I get that you don't look at the zucchini and the summer squash and eggplant and onions and red peppers yellow peppers whatever and I cut them into big chunks and then I put them like in a plastic bag with some olive oil and lemon and herbs shake that up okay let them sit there for a few minutes and then I do the same thing with shrimp I'll you know clean them and shell them which I don't mind doing some people hate doing that I I like doing it because I love shrimp so much and so I get those and then I just take a little bit of olive oil and a little bit of lemon and salt and pepper and shake those up then you just put these on the grill I mean they cook they cook so fast and it's such a nice light meal one of my favorite things okay 843 we've got uh 60 well we've got what 62 degrees already we've got your forecast is coming up right after this I was good some morning news we've got plenty of sunshine today 74 degrees for a high clue tonight temperature is getting down there though 56 if you're near the lake 49 for the rindland then tomorrow looks mostly sunny all the way up to 76 degrees same thing wednesday sunshine 78 thursday is when the weather starts to change some clouds come in we've got a chance of a storm late in the day it's gonna feel a lot warmer 82 for a high and then cooling down again on friday most the cloudy chance of showers in a high of 70 degrees currently in port washington we have 62 rich fields at 59 franklin has 61 degrees and we have 62 degrees at 846 on wtmj and in one minute it's marc court and sports time for a wtmj sports update from the groover law offices one call that's all sports desk brewer hickland made his debut with the brewers yesterday becoming only the third player in 84 years to share the nickname of the team he worked for the brew brewer came up to the crew after an impressive performance as an outfielder from class triple a Nashville unfortunately the brewers lost to since an ad yesterday four to three but are still leading the second place cubs in the nlc they face the cardinals today and our coverage begins at noon with brewers warm up with dumna cottronio in other milwaukee sports news team pensky's scott mclaughlin won the milwaukee mile yesterday for his third victory of the 2024 ntt indie car series season there were 763 on track passes surpassing saturday's race at the milwaukee mile for the most at an indie car race this season it also included 13 lead changes a record for an indie car event at the milwaukee mile driver scott mclaughlin says he couldn't have done it alone we just stuck with it and it wasn't quite good at the start of the car and then we just tuned her up and it was awesome so a lot better in traffic today which helped a lot credit to colton and all the racers there were a blast racing each other and the 21 car they picked crew they uh they helped me a lot and some exchanges helped me get into the pit box and stuff so big thanks team chef chevy and that that teamwork that we have and uh yeah burn the house down right that's awesome i'm pumped i'm is marquark wt mj sports thanks a lot isek it's 848 how confused are you by new cell phone technology oh you can't be more confused than me we're going to try to explain it to you in just a couple of minutes it's all ahead i must cancel morning news hey wd tmj's eric fills that here reminding you to subscribe to the wisconsin's morning news podcast we updated every day with every interview every segment every bit we do on the show wait we don't do bits on the show we're thrilled to have the one and only will pounder i don't know what that means that's labeled or known as being a big bad cat i mean we do some bits be sure you subscribe to the wisconsin's morning news podcast presented by tri county contracting here's a penny for your thoughts there's about 11,000 tire related crashes every year mostly due to driving around on under-inflated beat up worn out tires with low tread a couple of clicks at richlons.com we'll get you scheduled for a free tire tread test but if you're pressed for time there's an old trick we use in the tire industry that'll tell you if you need tires and that's free too my dad showed me who learned it from his dad who learned it from someone else way back in 1964 ah yes the old penny test yep just place a penny head first as an upside down into the groove of your tire now if you can see at the top of lincoln's head your duel for tires and hey if the free penny test frazzles you book an appointment at richlons.com if your tires are good no harm no foul because it won't cost you a penny be safe buckle up and hang always make sure you've got good tread on your tires i'm rhett matchy with richlons your duel for service such a refreshing change richlons one million dollars that's big really big this september pottawatomie casino hotel milwaukee is handing out a cool million and you've got a shot at winning your share the big one million dollar giveaway is here just play with your rewards card and you're entered to win couldn't be easier and couldn't be bigger no wonder it's called the big one for more details visit facebook.com slash big one must be 21 and a rewards member to play hey john mr. here here for azura memory care and assisted living their mission is to transform the culture of care they specialize in caring for those with early to late stage alzheimer's or other related dementia symptoms memory care issues it's azura memory care and assisted living i've been in their places i love how they deal with people it's about compassion and empathy at azura kindness is at their core 14 locations from the mrs. hippie to lake michigan for here in the milwaukee area wisconsin based and family owned it's about kindness and care it's azura memory care and assisted living after a serious accident you'll need a winning team to protect your rights trust wisconsin's own uber offices proud partner of your milwaukee brewers one call that's all w t m j w two seven seven cv and wk ti hd two milwok from the annex wealth management studios this is news radio w t m j a good calmer brand station do you still have a landline well guess what more than 70% of adults live in households that exclusively use wireless phone service and some of us do miss those landlines so joining us is an atnt tech expert chris phillips and chris is that statistic correct that 70% of people have given up their landlines the staff that i have is 70% of adults and more than 80% of the children live in households that only use wireless products for voice services wow i we know the advantages of having just a cell phone because obviously you can take it wherever you are but what are some of the disadvantages people are now finding that they have without a landline the younger generation never grew up with a landline so i think that they don't understand what the advantage of ever having a landline was for back of the day and i think as you go the little bit uh middle to older generations where they actually had a landline i think more than anything else it was that peace of mind that you have something that's going to work and as AT&T and the other companies have improved the network experience that's out there i feel like you're not going to run into that issue as much as you would have thought in the past actually have a landline phone so that there's not a necessarily a disadvantage a lot of the perceived ones that you could probably come up with is if you have businesses that still use or you know people that work out of their homes with fax machines or have alarms that are summed up for the housing because that's obviously a very big product that's out there any type of house alarms or system alarms you get set up in medical monitoring the great news is even with the wireless network you can still use that and run those systems so you don't have to rely on that landline phone i had to smile when you said a fax believe it or not just a couple weeks ago my husband said to me well can we fax this and i looked at him and said not from a cell phone we can't but apparently there is a technology where now you can have all of the same benefits that you had with a landline but do it through your wireless explain what's happening yes that's correct so the product that we've got is called AT&T phone advance and exactly what you're talking about the great news about that is it's going to be an option for customers where it'll give you a digital home phone service that works with your traditional so i go in and have my phone that i have i pick up and use be able to use this same product just like that and it's comparable to what i currently have and the great news is if you've got existing phone number you can even keep that and use the actual current telephone so you don't have to go and buy different products or services to hook up with this product that we've got that's out there right now how widespread is a fiber optics throughout south eastern wisconsin right now so you've got pockets all throughout southeast Wisconsin that's going to have fiber i don't know the exact i would say of the footprint of what we have that's built out with it and the great news is we can pull anybody's address to check to see if they qualify for it let's say that fiber is not available for you in your area there could be a backup product that we have that runs off of our wireless network as well too that would give you internet coverage so you could either if you're available for fiber obviously that's going to be the product that you'll be able to send it for and if fiber is not available in your address does qualify for it there could be an option for you that would run off of our network so basically the single tower that you've got it's going to run off your same data that you've got for that shit not only would you have your wireless portion of it you've got your sales phone data ported of it and then you'd actually have an internet box that could run your house as well so what is the future of telephone service chris we've evolved so quickly over the last 10 20 years where will it be in another 10 or 20 years i would tell you i don't necessarily have the answer for that i wish i would i'd probably be in a higher role with att if i did but my guess would tell you that there's going to be a wireless use for everything that we've got for us there's going to be ways that we need to connect more things and the way that your data is allotted to you is probably going to be a way that that's going to switch a little bit from that wireless aspect to more of the data and the social aspect of it these fiber and the internet air opportunities that we've got out there for the consumer to be able to do there's probably going to be way different ways that we're going to maximize and utilize those products and services for consumers that we're not even thinking about today will you ever be able to eliminate those robo spam calls we all get i don't know if we'll ever be able to eliminate them all i know that they're working on ways to make sure that we've got ways to stop as much as we can but unfortunately the way the world works it seems like when we get one thing figured out there's someone i had in somewhere else to continue to keep that going so i feel like we will do the best that we can with technology and with the resources available to us to stay out in front of it and to minimize that as much as we can to the customer Chris Phillips from AT&T great to talk with you today thank you so much thank you so much 856 and 63 degrees what did you just say to me Isaac you don't even know what a fax is you don't know what a fax is let me tell you a little story so when my son was young and you know but just little guys were running around the house and doing things and they said can i call my mother and i said of course and i pointed to the phone which happened to have a rotary dial and this little kid probably seven eight years old stood and just stared at the telephone for the longest time until i finally said um do you want me to call your mother for you and he just looked up at me and said i don't know how to use it what is this we've come a long way people all right uh don't know what a fax is huh okay well we'll explain that i'll explain it to you later it's it's very old school all right uh come up after we're done here just a couple of minutes we've got the ABC News Labor Day special also i will be back with my WTMJ best of conversation with Grace Girard from the farmer's wife that's going to be right after brewer's extra innings and then tonight at eight o'clock if you did not hear leena and lee and lee the two young ladies who went on that very interesting walk to washington with milwaukee activist frank nitty we're gonna replay that at eight tonight it's the best of conversations i'm libby Colin thanks for joining us today have a safe and happy Labor Day