Wisconsin's Weekend Morning News
Wisconsin's Weekend Morning News 10-6-24
This is Wisconsin's weekend morning news with Lillie Collins. Well, it's a nice pleasure to have Eric Bilsted here with us. Eric, are you downtown for the run? I was going to try to catch a part of the run, but you were actually going to run? You were one of those guys who were going to run, but 10 miles in. There goes Eric. Oh, I finished. Hey, yeah, I would do that, but it has to be the last half mile for me to pull that on there. You were running? Oh, it's 26. Oh, 26. Oh, this is the full deal. Yeah. So what's the route? It's, well, there's several areas, but it's going to be mainly along the lakefront and the home bridge. It ends at summer fest. So a little bit of end you have people parking because they kicked off right here on Wisconsin Avenue downtown. It's crazy down here as far as parking right now. And it was like, it was like the Indy 500 coming eastbound on 94 this morning. You know, I don't like to drive. It's for 55 mile per hour. Sure. So if I'm going 60, I think I'm, I'm moving. I couldn't merge. I was 70. I was going 75 miles per hour just to merge into traffic and people were passing me on both sides. Yeah, those are runners there to get going. It was crazy. It's like, we'll leave a little, get up earlier and leave a little earlier. So are they starting throughout the day or did they all start at once? All started at once on Wisconsin Avenue. They go up to Lake Park down the college Avenue started at seven a. Okay. Oh no. What did they were in such a hurry at six. Right. See, right? When you're rolling in, everyone knows runners need to be where they're at. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So seven o'clock they started. So right now a good runner's probably got what? Maybe five, six miles. I mean, what's, what's the average for a mile? Is it about? Oh my God. Well, I mean, for a race like this, I'm guessing it's like a half an hour. And that's walking. I mean, if you run an eight minute mile, can you run an eight minute mile for 26 miles? Well, I can't. Do people go faster than that? For 26 miles? Yeah. I mean, they do for if they're running just one or two. Yeah. I was going to say, I mean, these are serious runners. I saw them. They were even in the parking lot. They were there. They had their shoes on. They were stretching. They were doing all those things that you do before you run. And I was tired of watching them. But okay. So, so 26 point, is it 26.2? 26.2. All right. So. That's 13 point one. Oh, you can do that. Yeah. Does that make you a real runner? If you, if you only go half of it and you only go half, I mean, go ahead and ask them when they're done. Hey, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, you're not, you're, you're, you're, you're not a real runner. You only did a half marathon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I turned my nose away for me. All right. Oh, you've got kids. I do. Do you have the pressure yet of the Halloween decorations? Well, my youngest is 13 and she has asked, but yeah, we usually put up maybe one or two things. Okay. Yeah. I think she's still trick or treating. She's an eighth grade. So my guess is she and her, her girlfriends will go out one more time. I was going to say eighth grade. That's kind of the cut off. Yeah. Yeah. If you see a 19 year old out there, it's a little weird. All right. So the Halloween decorations are up and there are events all over town to celebrate the holidays in case you don't want to decorate yourself or take the kids out and everything. And I talk with Kimberly Graves from the Milwaukee County Zoo about one of their most popular events. It's Boo in the zoo taking place October 17th through the 20th. The nighttime event, we consider it a pre Halloween celebration running October 17th through the 20th. So come on out to the zoo and get ahead of the Halloween and then you still have time to go trick or treating during Halloween. It runs from five 30 to nine, aside from a unique experience of getting to see the animals at night. We have so many family friendly. We like to say Mary, not scary, Halloween activities for the whole family. What makes this such a special event? We have some trick or treating. We have 10 stops, a variety of treats as well as some allergy friendly options. We have creatures of the night talks, come and check out or even touch a snake, a bat, some spooky creatures like you have some insects to learn about what makes these animals important. Yeah. You mentioned bats. You're associated with the holiday. Do you actually get to touch one? Possibly. Okay. They're depending on how the crowd goes. And we'll see they are used to attending these events. So we'll see and come and play it by ear and the keepers will let you know in addition to, of course, the zoo and animals. We have our haystack maze now featuring twice the money and hay bales. So extra exciting and not too challenging. We'll have our safari train and the carousel. I'll be all decked out for the evening. Lots of fun opportunities to embrace the Halloween spirit. But again, not too scary. So still keeping it family friendly. Pre-purchase tickets are required in this event. It's popular and it has sold out in the past. So we'd encourage you sooner rather than later to go and secure your ticket and make sure that you get a spot for this event. Touching a bat. That's not a my alley. Eric, have you? Aren't they disgusting? I know they're supposed to. If you're with a trained professional, you can touch a bat, can't you? Have you walked into the bat house at the zoo? Oh, sure. That smell. What do they call it? Guano? Yeah. Guano? Yeah. The guano smell. Not a thing. I want to get near and I just, you know, if you've ever been like in a sing outside and bats fly overhead, I freak out. I just want to duck and cover. Wow. So you notice that, huh? Well, haven't you? I mean, especially if you're like, you know, in a lake house or something and you're sitting at, yeah, it's dusk. You're sitting out there by the fire. You're just kind of chilling and all of a sudden right over your hat. They're taking care of the mosquitoes. That's fine. Or so you said. All right. Well, you know, this past week was Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday and I had the opportunity to talk with David Rubenstein. Now, David was a aid to the former president. So he knows Jimmy Carter. Well, but here's the interesting thing. Because he's written a book called The Highest Calling and he actually talked to all of the living ex-presidents. I don't think he talked very much to Jimmy, but the other ones, I mean, he talked to Trump. He talked to, he talked to Biden and here's a, here's what he did and we're going to, we're going to play this for you a little bit later on. He talks about President Joe Biden and his selection of vice president. And guess what, Kamala was not his first choice, which I, nobody says that. You don't hear that anywhere. But we're going to tell you about that a little bit later on. Also, we've got a busy show. We've got Sandy Dax coming in with the Sunday, what's on tap debut this morning. And are you a lady Gaga fan? Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. The Joker. Yeah. Yeah. Believe it or not, when Sandy was in London last week, she stumbled upon the premiere and actually saw Lady Gaga and got some photos. So we're going to talk to her a little bit about that and also why the housewives are here in Milwaukee. At least they were here, but I wonder if they threw a table flip to table. It's only one way to find it. Yeah. I don't know. It depends which housewives we'll find out about that. We've got Eric here in the newsroom. We're going to check in again and take a look at week and review. And Nate's portion of those buttons. And in just a couple minutes, we've got Eric Bilston coming back with sports right here on Wisconsin weekend morning news at 815. Time now for a W.D. TMJ sports update from the Gruber Law Offices one call that's all sports desk. No Romeo Dobbs today for the Green Bay Packers. The team suspending the receiver for the game today against the Rams because he was skipping practice. Apparently Dobbs unhappy with his role in the offense. So he will sit today, but is expected back on the field next week. Meanwhile, receiver Christian Watson don't forget his doubtful after spraining his ankle in that loss to the Vikings last week. The NFL finding head coach Matt LaFluor for losing his mind at the referees last week as well when he kept trying to call for a time out at the end of the first half. 325 first kick today Packers and Rams are Green Bay game. Game day coverage started nude right here on WTMJ speaking of the Vikings. They play this morning. The Vikings take on Aaron Rodgers and the Jets at Tottenham Stadium in London. The fans are ready. So too is Viking squatter back to Sam Darnold. Obviously an exciting week going over to London play some football. You know, got a really good team got to prepare for obviously a really, really good defense really well coached, really good players. So we're excited about that opportunity. He'll be facing his old team. Darnold was drafted third overall by the Jetson 2018. Tom Rivers, ABC News, London. So you can watch NFL with your coffee this morning, 930 kickoff, college football, the Badgers role, no problem for Bucky as Wisconsin beats up on Purdue 52 to six, a big 10 upset by the way on Saturday, Minnesota beat USC playoff baseball, the Dodgers over the Padres, the Yankees over the Phillies and can you believe it? OMG, the Mets beat the Phillies. Uh, Yankees beat the Royals already mentioned and guardians down the Tigers. That was all game one of the NL and ALDS's on Saturday. And there is your sports. Well, thank you, Eric. It's great to have you here. It's great to be here. You're doing double duty. Yeah, you're doing news. You're doing sports. You're hanging out. We're talking about all kinds of interesting things. You mentioned the Romeo Dobbs thing. Yeah. How much does he make? Millions, I'm sure. Okay. So he's one job. It's not like he's got to go out and sell insurance. This is true. Not like he's got to sit in an office and, you know, look at a computer all day. He's one job. Play football. This is true. Show up for practice. Yep. The game, you know, those... Yeah, that's probably a good eight hour day. Yeah. Yeah, they got to get there early. Stretch. Get their massages or whatever it is they do before they go out on the field. But he has one job and that's to show up for practice otherwise. Yeah. He doesn't show up for practice. Mm-hmm. Skip it twice. Upset about his role. Months the ball more. He should take some money away from him. I mean, oh, you're going to sit on the bench. Oh, you're going to rest today? Okay. Okay. That's your punishment. Game check action. Just rip that up, man. Okay. I should be so lucky. I have a job like that. All right. Speak of job. I, you know, we're all talking about the survey. The WDMJ fall 2024 fan survey, I, you know, I've been getting a lot of those texts from various political things, saying survey and I delete, delete, delete, delete, but this is a good survey. It's a better one. I don't send it to you. You have to text us on the WDMJ talk and text line at 855-616-1620. You text us, you say survey and we'll send it to you and then you can fill it out. Tell us all, all that you like, things you may not be so happy about, but it's an honest survey. We really want to hear from you. It is a thank you. Now, this is what is really cool. Upon completion of the survey, you're going to be entered to win a package that includes two bucks, 2024-25 regular season game tickets, plus an overnight stay at the fister. There you go. The favorite places in the world. It's awesome, yeah. That is just for filling out the survey. So text the word survey 855-616-1620 and we'll get you started. Teddy Nykel is going to be joining us shortly and speaking about the bucks, the Brewers, what's going to happen if Bally goes belly up and there's no TV? Well, she's going to talk about it in just a couple of minutes right here on Wisconsin Weekend Morning News. It's time to check in with Teddy Nykel from the Milwaukee Business Journal in Teddy. I think we're still all kind of in recovery mode from that Brewers game on Thursday night. I don't think, oh gosh, it seems like everybody in the city is still sad about it, but there's even more to be a little bit upset about and that's the future of not just the Brewers, but the bucks on TV locally. Yeah, you know, this centers around the future of Bally Sports, Wisconsin, which is kind of struggling financially in recent years. This parent company is going through a bankruptcy case. And so that leaves a lot of questions up in the air about how the Brewers are going to watch both the Brewers and the Bucks after the 2024-2025 season. So Bally Sports, Wisconsin, they've lost a lot of viewers in recent years just as more viewers have cut the cord from cable and satellite and, you know, there's so many different ways to watch things now these days. And so last year, Bally Sports only had around 800,000 subscribers, which was about half of what they had in 2018. So that reduces revenue for Bally Sports. It also, they can't charge as much for sponsors because the audience is smaller. And so they're really wrestling with the future of that company and how viewers will be able to watch the Brewers and the Bucks going forward. So either of the teams said anything in terms of how fans are going to be able to watch their games if they're not able to get to the actual, especially for all the town games, I would think. Yeah. You know, we recently talked to the Brewers' principal owner Mark Untacio, and he said that the team is still weighing possibilities for how fans are going to watch in the future. He said they've looked at options, such as joining MLB media, they've looked at going out at a loan, and they've looked at teaming up with other local teams. So it sounds like they're still trying to figure it out, but the Brewers and the Bucks have been closely watching this Bally Sports parent company, the parent company is called Diamond Sports. They've been watching that bankruptcy case very closely because these teams get a good chunk of revenue from the fees that they're able to charge Bally Sports and other providers for the rights to air these games. So it's an ongoing story that we're continuing to cover because fans want to know how they're going to continue to watch these games. I know you're on top of it. All right. Another sad story, especially for the workers, and that is Molson Core's mechanics have gone out on strike. What's behind all that? It's a group of around 40 employees at work at the Miller Brewery in Milwaukee. They went on strike last week after they rejected the company's offer for their latest round of contract negotiations. And there's two reasons for the strike, both for wages of course, wanting to kind of match other jobs and other trades at Molson Core's, but also for work-life balance. They said that Molson Core's insists on an alternate work schedule and other concessions that undermine their flexibility and their work-life balance. And so that is one of the key things that they're looking to negotiate. Molson Core said it plans to continue the negotiations, it said it has made a competitive offer that exceeds local market rates for similar local jobs. And so they're hoping to find a resolution so that these people can get back to work. It's mechanics and machine repair workers. Does it look like it's going to be a short strike? You know, we really don't know at this time. Earlier this year, another Molson Core's facility, workers went on strike in Texas, and that one lasted for three months. So we'll see if this one goes on that long or can get wrapped up sooner. Well, you mentioned a good life work balance, and I can't think of a better way to balance it than with a good pizza. And another story that you've got asked to do with Palermo's. Yeah, you know, recently we had a event with the Business Journal where we had the CEO of Palermo's pizza. You know, of course, they make frozen pizzas, many different frozen pizzas. He came and kind of talked about the company's past and its future, and one of the key things that we learned about Palermo's is they're looking to go global. So over the past, you know, 60 years or so, they've grown, they started as a small family owned bakery, now they sell frozen pizzas all over the country, both under their own brands and for other companies, and now they're looking to go global. So the company is in talks with counterparts in Canada, Italy, Asia, trying to get some more Palermo's pies on shelves in other countries. Isn't that exciting? I love that one. Well, here's one that I'm wondering about the popularity of pickleball and their building of facility in South Milwaukee, and it's not just going to be pickleball, there's a lot more to it. Yeah, you know, people love pickleball and so this center in South Milwaukee is going to be called Premier Pickleball. It's related to open in October, but they are working on to go along with it. It's going to include an event space, a restaurant, a gym, locker room. So really kind of a full service facility. They're hoping to open on October and then November is when the restaurant portion could open, they're going to be working with a third party restaurant and supper club operator and that they're hoping to open by November 1st. Of course, Teddy, it wouldn't be Sunday if we didn't talk about more apartments. And this time in New Berlin, tell us about this new apartment complex. Yeah, so we're talking about Morlin Road and Greenfield Avenue, which is kind of a key intersection in New Berlin. One of the corners is a big open area that's not yet developed. It's been slated for redevelopment for years and a developer recently purchased it and they have a full plan for kind of a town center style development. So it would include both a lot of apartments, they're pitching 361 apartments, but as well as retail. Whether they're picturing restaurants, boutique, maybe some offices. And the idea is that people in the apartment could walk to these nearby businesses. They're also planning to conserve a lot of the land with nature trails, keeping some of the woodlands and wetlands and ponds. So they're really kind of, they have a big vision for that little piece of New Berlin. And that's right on the corner sort of adjacent to where the Walmart is, right? Yes, near the Walmart. It's next to a cemetery right now. They actually purchased it from the cemetery that they, you know, I'm sure, never expanded to this portion. So it's, you know, open land, again, make beautiful nature right on the corner there. They're hoping to kind of preserve some of that. Well, there's always advantages to living next to a cemetery because the neighbors are quiet. Yes. All right, Jenny, it's always good to have you here. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Louie. Have a good day. It's 830. We have 56 degrees news just around the corner right here on Wisconsin weekend morning news. It is happening all over downtown Milwaukee. And that's runners looking right now. The runners going over the home bridge. I mean, it's, it's, it's just a mass of people running at a really good pace right now. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, the run is on. And, and yeah. So, so what's going on with that? How long will they be out there? So they'll be out there for a few more hours, yet the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon underway. The gun went off at seven a so if you're headed into the city, you're going to see some, some parking taken up on the streets there. You're also going to see some closed streets as well, including the home bridge. So right now northbound on the home is closed. The runners are on there. They're running onto the south side now. So several areas on the south side will be shut down. But I will say this at southbound home bridge, you can go southbound. Those lanes are open. It's northbound. That's going to be shut down for the next few hours. Okay. I'm looking at the same picture as you of the runners through the northbound lane, but they're running south. Yes. Okay. Northbound lane. They're running south, but you can still drive south. You can drive south. There are, they are running south in the northbound lanes. They'll also come back north. It appears. My knees are hurting, just watching them run. I, I'm like, oh, okay, I admire them 26 months, 26 miles. It all wraps up at summer fest. So if you, if you still are going to have a party form there, I'm sure they get an orange and maybe some chocolate milk in a metal. That's it. A banana. Maybe a banana or two also for them. I mean, I, I don't want to sit down. We're, we're the ribs of the chicken wings, you know, I mean, yeah, let's have a party, right? Yeah. You give me an orange after I read 26 miles. All right. Well, anyway, they're out there. They're having a great time. It's wonderful to see it here in the city 836 and coming up in just a couple of minutes. We've got the week review presented by outdoor living unlimited. And welcome back to Wisconsin weekend morning news on Libby Collins, little bit like Ron. It says the debut of Sandy Sunday. What's on tap? I'll tell you about that in just a couple minutes. But first, it was a presidential visit to Wisconsin. Oh, no, they were more than that escalation in the Middle East and a heartbreak for Bruce City plus so much more. The week of review, it's brought to you by outdoor living unlimited, but we do hear this go back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back. I don't understand. Kickers just missed the new federal grand jury indictment now charges Ryan Ruth with attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. I'm going to jail. The legendary NBA player DiCambé Matombo has died at 58 years old. I'm a solo-resting piece, my support to his family and those loved ones and friends. Glorilla shot her shot at you. You giving that any kind of action? It's 7pm Friday. I'm weak. That is hilarious. What was that? What was that? In honor of President Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday today, the North Lawn of the Winehouse will feature a display with the message "Happy Birthday President Carter" and the number 100. I ran as fired missiles into Israel and residents ordered to remain close to bomb shelters as air raid sirens sounding across the country today. At my direction, the United States military actively supported the defense of Israel. Israel with the active support of the United States and other partners effectively defeated this attack. I give you the next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. I'm thrilled to be back in this beautiful state. I love the state. Thank you for joining us for tonight's CBS News vice presidential debate. He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just ask that. Did he lose the 2020 election? Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? That is a damning non-answer. Special counsel Smith argues that Trump's actions to overturn the 2020 election were not the official acts of a president, but the illegal deeds of a losing candidate. The question of immunity, in my opinion, again layperson that the court just handed it back and said, "You figure that out." Embattled former city attorney, Chairman Spencer, faces a misconduct in office charge. Just over three dozen union employees at Miller Brewery have spent the past two days marching up and down State Street, picket signs in hand. Just trying to get fair contract communication so we can work together with the company and work life balance and stuff that is important with us and our families. A doctor's report finds 16-year-old Eric Mendoza is competent to proceed in the murder trial of five-year-old Prince McCree. Work resuming immediately after an uncertain three days that saw ports from Maine to Texas shutdown. The tentative agreement would increase workers' wages by 62 percent over the life of the six-year contract. The pitch, a double play ball hit to Lindor and the throw is going to wind up with a double play and a New York match after coming from behind with a big four-on ninth inning. Wow, telling you, that one had some sting on. Everyone did their job, talking to, uh, talking to a UK, you know, one-on-one was... Stuff. There is no tomorrow tonight for the crew. I just want no walking to get to pass 1982 and go on for the future for the next generation. You know, thanks for the great birthday gift yesterday, guys, but, uh, we're one-on-one as a 30-year-old. This is Jeff Levery saying goodbye for the final time in 2024. We'll chat with you again next spring. So long, everybody. Mmm, and the weekend review is sponsored by Outdoor Living Unlimited. Speaking of sports, Eric Pils did back with it in just a couple minutes right here on Wisconsin Weekend Morning News. It's 842. Time for our WTMsA Sports Update from the Gruber Law Offices One Call That's All Sports Test, the Packers wake up out West, ready for a match up with the Rams in Los Angeles, late afternoon game today, 325 kickoff, no Romeo Dobbs. The team suspended him for the game because he's been skipping practice, apparently unhappy with his role in the offense. He will sit, but he is expected back on the field next week. Meanwhile, don't forget, receiver Kristen Watson, also doubtful after he's spraying his ankle last week. The LaFloor family will be a family divided today during the game. Matt is the head coach of the Packers. His brother Mike, the offensive coordinator for the Rams, so how will mom and dad pledge their allegiance? That's a great question for my parents. For what it's worth, Matt believes he has the leg up. I did hear that my brother said something about how he's more well-liked than I am in our family, which is probably true. He's a lot easier to deal with, but I'd say this, that my parents do live in Green Bay, and I purchase their house, so I would think that counts for something. Greg Matson, WTMJ News. Carverage of the game today begins on WTMJ at noon, Green Bay game day, kick off again at 325. By the way, there's football right now. First place Vikings are playing the Aaron Rodgers Jets this morning in London. The Vikings lead in the first quarter three zip. The Bears play the Panthers later. The Lions have a buy. College football Badger's role, no problem with Bucky beating Purdue 52 to six, and we have Bucks basketball tonight right here on WTMJ. This pre-season game, Bucks and Pistons, 630 right here on the radio. Nothing like pulling the "I'm the favorite son" card, because I bought Mom and Dad a house. I mean, that has to make you the number one, right? Yeah. Oh, thanks. Giving you'll be interesting. All right, 849! It's going to be Rosie Sunny and Brizzy today, a high of 65. Tonight, Claire and Brizzy, we might get some patchy frost. Ooh, it could be as cold as 36 degrees inland. Tomorrow's Rosie Sunny and 65, we're up to 61 degrees on WTMJ and coming up right after this. It's Sandy's Sunday. What's on tap right here on WTMJ? Okay, that is one of my favorite songs. When Karen Carpenter does it, this is Lady Gaga, and it's a little, little off the way it sounds. It's the debut of Sandy's Sunday. What's on tap? It's Sandy Max, joining us. What now the Joker? Foley Odoo. Is that how we pronounce it? Am I saying? Wow. Okay, Foley Odoo. It premiered on, well, it's been premiering over the last couple of weeks, and you were in London when they had the premiere, and you actually got to see Lady Gaga. It was very funny. The Leicester Square, that is the place that all those red carpet premieres happened because there are three big cinemas there, but now these days, they put up a big fence, and they put up huge LED screens, and there's the red carpet, and there are the reporters, and there are the fans, and it is a big deal. So I was actually taking a shortcut because it had about an hour before I was going to see a play with my boyfriend, and we're like, "Well, let's just walk through Leicester Square because you walk through Chinatown on that way." Like, if this would be a great touristy route to walk, you're like, "Ah, what's blocked off? Are they doing construction here?" Are they having a marathon? And then all of a sudden, right, and then all of a sudden, you hear this, and everybody's getting excited for the red carpet arrival of Joaquin Phoenix, and Lady Gaga, and the director. And like, so it truly was, and you know how, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, the way for Hollywood used those spotlights shining in the sky, it was an event. And how was she dressed? She always had some of those interesting outfits. Gorgeous, head to toe in red on a red carpet, which I always think is a bold choice too. Wow. You know, but, I mean, it was the happening, and it was so really, yup, yup, so I stayed there for about half an hour. I left before the interview started, but we did get to see the arrivals, and it's very funny to see Joaquin Phoenix, who is just this artiste, and just him smiling as much as he possibly could with the fans, and like, you can just tell, like, he cringes at every selfie, he's like, "Oh, I just want to get to the film," but he's not rude, but it's just like, that's not his part of it, but Lady Gaga looking gorgeous, so it was very fun to be part of the excitement and the hoopla around this very distinct film, because it's called a crime, a drama, and a musical, which kind of excites me, because I'll go to anything that Lady Gaga's on, and, yeah, and just the previews of it that I've seen, it's a really interesting chemistry between her and Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix, it is dark, it is as grim as the first Joker film with Joaquin Phoenix, and I got a film review from my friend John Centress at the Word Balloon podcast on Friday on What's On Top. But what's he saying? Because they're mixed reviews. Exactly, and I was worried he was going to be mad at me that, you know, he spent time in the theater watching this, he said they pull it off, that it's its own thing, that it really is a unique film, and he said, "Great art moves you," and he was moved by this film. All right. The Joker is a Batman villain. Lady Gaga, please Harlequin, she's a Batman villain. Is Batman in this film? Batman not included. No, this is a completely separate story. So this is a Batman villain without a Batman-free film. Oh, wow. Yeah. I'm just so excited to see it. Are you going? I'm now very tempted. I will tell you that I borrowed the Joker from the library, because it's been a while since I've seen it, so we'll be probably spending that in my home this evening, and then-- That's a great movie. So, you know, Lady Gaga has become, I don't know Madonna, so she's not going to be mad at me. But Lady Gaga has become like what Madonna really wanted to be. Yeah. An incredible actress, she's, you know, Madonna's tried her hand at directing. She's fine-talented, but Lady Gaga holds off everything that she's in, and she's got a new album associated with this. And also the thing about Joker fully adieu is that it's basically a jukebox musical. It's all standards that Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix are singing. Sort of like they did with Moulin Rouge. Yes, but that was more pop music, but these are those, you know, American classic standards. So Lady Gaga has a new album, and then she just did a secret show in LA. You had to put all your phones away, you will not see any video of it, but it's getting a great review. Did she do all the music from the film? Yes. And in a very punk rock high energy way with a horn section and everything, and it's being described like the review that I read in Variety was, this is a way for her to capture that energy that she used to have when she was starting out as this real music dance artist to get the attention to go, "Hey, you know, I really am an artist." Well, I think the difference between Lady Gaga and Madonna is Lady Gaga actually has talent. I mean, she's classically trained, no, she's classically acclaimed, trained as a vocalist and a musician, and Madonna, when Madonna was Madonna. She was a dancer. She was a dancer. Yes. She was a dancer. It was fun because in and around the city now, it's, apparently it's on Bravo now. Yes. But several months ago, some of the real housewives were here in the city. They were here in February. Wow. And they filmed two episodes of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Why were they here? They were here because I talked with Claire Koenig of Visit Milwaukee who was super involved in the production of Top Chef. Those producers at Top Chef enjoyed Milwaukee so much that they said, "We'd like to bring you another show," and they were able, within a month, to arrange all these great places for the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City to get on their private jets and enjoy the luxury side of Milwaukee, including a VIP experience at the Milwaukee Bucks. They're staying at the Ken Guest House, which is gorgeous inside and slick. They went to the Bobblehead Museum, which is Courtney and fun, and they also went to Potawatomi, and then next week, on Wednesday, it airs on Bravo, then you can stream it now on Peacock. You can see Milwaukee on Peacock on this episode. They're going to go to This Is It, which is Wisconsin's longest-running LGBTQ+ bar. They're going to go curling, they're going to hang out at Harley-Davidson, and it looks like they're going to have dinner in the Miller Caves. So it's nice to see Milwaukee again on a big screen. Did they flip a table? That's all I want to know. I haven't seen any table flipping, but there's a whole lot of snarky comments to each other, so. Absolutely. Hey, this week, what do you have on What's On Down? The Coochie Coochie Queen, Sharo, is going to be one of my guests. She's performing in Baraboo next Friday, and she's going to be one of my guests. I'm excited. She is just a joy. She has such bright energy and an incredible flamenco guitarist. She's a virtuoso guitarist. She is a musician as well. But yeah, if you remember seeing her on the love boat, she is just as vibrant now as she always has been. Well, I think a lot of us are looking forward to hearing the Coochie Coochie Queen. Cheryl, with Sandy Maxx on What's On Tap. Thanks for joining us this morning. My pleasure. Yeah. Oh, she goes. She goes. She. What? This is Wisconsin's weekend morning news with Liddy Collins. I didn't hear you say anything about rain. There is no rain in the forest. There's no rain. And of course, my husband and I, we had planted, oh, maybe about 20 trees or whatever. About six weeks ago. All we do is water. We're out there with those every single day. But yeah, you don't want them to die. All right. So I hate to bring this up. Okay. But it's the brewers. Yeah. All right. I mean, my heart's still breaking over that. Watch the, the Mets and the Phillies yesterday. I was like, oh, come on. You know, we put a water shadow right, you know, but, but here's the thing. Did you go to any of the three wild card games? I did not. I was going to go a game too, but I ended up giving my ticket away. No. I was there. Oh, yeah. That was a good one. Which, oh, from, well, it was pretty depressing till you got to the bottom of the year that all of a sudden the electricity change. But here's the interesting thing. Now, when we have the opportunity, of course, to go online and get tickets, I did that right away. And somehow, somehow, I lucked out and is it the low level? What's the one that's the, just above like the ground thing? All right. So the second level. The second level, whatever it is, the second level, managed to get front row seats. So nobody was in front of us right behind a little bit to the right of where the visitors dug out was. Okay. Okay. Which is great. That's a fantastic spot. Yeah. You know, you can see the picture, you can see home plate. It's a place where you can get a lot of energy. My husband was ecstatic that, you know, with my internet skills that I managed to get these tickets. All right, so the thing I noticed looking down was Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, was right there in the front row during the entire game. And you could see him when the runners would come in from the Mets and he'd be standing up and he's like, "At a boy, at a boy, right?" Well, you know what really, and he's a big man by the way, I don't think we're particularly comfortable for the former governor, because he's a big, big man. But what I thought was really interesting, because you know how difficult it is to get out of the place after that, there was so much energy because it was a great game for us. And he stayed in his seat and we stayed in ours because we were waiting for all the people to leave. Sure, yeah. And do you know he stayed and posed for pictures and talked to anybody who approached him? Oh, wow. Well, most of them, of course, were in Brewer's jerseys, but he seemed very, very gracious. Obviously, I couldn't get down to talk to him, which I would have loved to have done. But I thought that was really cool. And I thought, why is he here, other than he's a Mets fan? Do you know he is on the board of directors for the New York Bets? Oh, really? Yes. I did not know that. So that, yeah, little tidbit. Okay. In case people were wondering, "Was that Chris Christie I saw at the Amfam field?" Yes, it was. It was definitely him. And you know, kudos to him for being so gracious to the Brewer's fans who approached him. I thought that was pretty neat. I'm sure that must have just been awful, though. Oh, yeah. I don't think, well, the next game he was probably very happy, but I don't think people from the, from our side really would have wanted to give pictures of anything to do with the bets at that point. Anyway, okay. So, Eric, they're out running and, by the way, we've got the pictures up here on the camera and it's thinning down on the hone, the people who are running northbound on the, no, they're running southbound on the northbound side of the home. Yeah. The northbound lanes are shut down. Right. And they're running southbound. In both directions there. Yeah. They're running both directions in the northbound lanes. Okay. So are they turning around now and running back? Yes. No, okay. No, okay. No, okay. Some of them are. Okay. There's still some people have the other way there. Yeah, because it's kind of like the stragglers. I could see me being right there at the very end of everybody. It's going to be rolling closures. Okay. So like 794, they don't really have an opening time yet on when that'll open back up. But like Lincoln Memorial Drive, the southbound lanes are supposed to be open by now or pretty soon. Earlier today, Lake Drive was going to, was already opened up. Wisconsin Avenue's already been reopened. So they're trying to be respectful to those who live and work in the downtown area even on a Sunday. And need to park on a Sunday morning. Yeah, yes. Right. Yeah. So they're trying to help people out and have these rolling closures instead of just shutting everything down. But this is going to go on till at least about one o'clock this afternoon. Yeah, you would expect. Yeah. And like right now, it sounds like, I mean, there's different areas you can go to. You can park and go see the finish line. Which is some of those. Some of those grounds. Okay. They've made that. Yeah. And they've made that super easy for people to do because they want spectators. They want. Oh, yeah. They love it when the people are cheering. I mean, think of that. You're running 26 miles and mile number 25, you might need a little help getting all the way. Oh, I need more than a little help. Get the crutches and the wheelchair out. All right, listen, thank you so much, Eric, Bill said joining us this morning. It's a treat to have him on a Sunday. I'm Libby Collins. It's 913 on WTFJ and welcome to the Sunday sip on Libby Collins. You know, it's your age. How important is it for you to stay in your own home? But sometimes things occur when you, when you need help, but you don't want to overwhelm your family and friends, but there is help available in joining us is Van Evans. He is from seniors helping seniors walk ashore. Dan, pleasure to have you here this morning. Thanks for having me this morning. I appreciate you getting me going. Tell us a little bit about seniors helping seniors because you've been, you've been around for what over a dozen years? We have and not only the local walk ashore county, seniors helping seniors, but seniors helping seniors nationally started out in the late nineties and has grown to over 140 areas throughout the country that they serve. Now all of them independently own and operated locally. Tell us a little bit about what makes seniors helping seniors unique. Yeah. So not only do we have kind of a wide array of services that we offer, you kind of went over some over the intro a minute ago where, you know, even if you need a few hours a week, eight is kind of the minimum that we see. And then all the way up to we have clients that are, we're with 24 hours a day, seven days a week through holidays and everything. So that's home care, right? Personal care. Like seniors helping seniors different as we specifically try to, as you said, you know, have seniors themselves being the caregivers. So the average age of the caregivers that senior, helping seniors walks across 64 years old, which I think you would find decades older than probably your average home care company in the area. Yeah. Well, what I find interesting is the caretakers that you have are very carefully matched with the clients. Yes. That's the difference because it really is great for them as far as emotional and social health to have somebody that they can associate with and really communicate with when they're in their homes. I think so. I think, you know, obviously a caregiver in their 20s, 30s, 40s can and, and do do an amazing job with clients, right? And we have some younger caregivers as well for, for clients that need that. But I think one, the being a closer age to the person that you're serving, right, can help foster a good relationship, a better relationship. You have more in common. And then also we're very, we're very big on consistency with the caregivers. So not only have someone on paper that you should be able to, you know, have a better relationship with, but now you get to see them over the course of months or years consistently, you know. And so now you really build that relationship and it feels less like a stranger coming in your home after that first few times. And I'd like to say more of having like a friend come down the street to help you out. And what are some of the services that they provide? Yeah. So it's, we, we customize it to what you or your loved one is really going to need. But for some people, they still live independently in their home. Maybe their spouse has passed away and they're alone. So it's, Hey, what are the, you know, what are the five or six most difficult tasks for you to do? Is it going in the basement and getting the laundry? Is it changing all the linens on the bed? Is it cleaning? Right? Are you to the point where you don't really want to mill prep anymore, right? You need medication reminders, that kind of thing. So that's what we do on kind of the low end where we're just stopping by a couple times a week to help out. And then let's say you have much larger needs. We have a huge client population that's Alzheimer dementia Parkinson's. So now you need much more help just with daily activities of living. So both safety, right, respite care and Alzheimer dementia, all the way to help with toileting, bathing, like I said, mill preparation, that sort of thing, just really the basics of kind of getting through your day for those folks that either physically or mentally are unable to do so by themselves. And they actually come to your home. So you can stay there. You don't have to change where you are, even if you've got some sort of a physical difficulty. I think so. And that's what I mean. That's our main goal, right, is to let seniors continue to live as independently as possible given their circumstances. And that's primarily in their home. But Wisconsin also has some rules about assisted living facilities where you can only get so many hours of care per week and per month in an assisted living facility. So we have a lot of clients who they're bumping up against that max hours that their assisted living facility offers. They don't want to go to a higher level of care, say a nursing home. They want to stay in their apartment or in their condo at the assisted living facility. So we will come in several hours above what the assisted living facility can offer to kind of round out the care that they need. Now, I know you're a veteran, so VA benefits are very important to you and to others. And you accept those. We do, yeah. So, you know, there's three ways that we kind of accept payment for care. And obviously, private pay is one. We have clients that have long-term care policies, insurance policies. So if you have one of those, reach out. There's a lot of different companies that offer them, but we work with a lot of different companies. And then, as you said, veterans. So VA has a community care program. So that's for services that the VA either doesn't offer period or doesn't offer in the specific veterans area. Home care is a service that the VA doesn't offer at all. So they contract with local companies, like senior-selfing seniors, where the veteran not only gets that service paid for by the VA, but the veteran has total ownership of the choice. So the veteran can choose the provider, right, in our case, helping seniors in the home care industry, can choose a provider that they go to. What's some of the feedback? You get not just from the clients, but from the clients' families? Yeah. I think, you know, it's huge because it's, you know, we are, I mean, other than the case of maybe children, we're in the client's home more than probably anybody else, right? So, you know, we can see the improvements they make, just like the kids make. And that's what we see is, you know, hey, mom and dad, they're more active now. They're getting up and going for walks. They're back out in the garden, right? They're back reading. They're back sewing. Those things that they enjoy doing at a younger age, but I think they get kind of so tired and just so focused on just kind of getting through their day with all the tasks that you need to have done around a house, that they lose some of the time for hobbies, right? And they lose some of the motivation for hobbies. So taking that weight off of them can not only give them more time for their hobbies and their reinvent or reinvest time in those hobbies, but can also, you know, with kids, a lot of times it's son or daughter is the main caregiver. So taking the weight with a respite care, taking a few hours off your shoulders as a son or daughter of mom or dad that needs help and giving you back to the relationship where when you come over, you're not a caregiver anymore. You're son or daughter and it's that quality time that you're spending with them instead of running around doing the 15 tasks that we can take off your plate. Well, another thing that makes you unique is you charge a flat rate. We do, yeah. So we like to be very upfront regardless of what we're doing. We're going to charge the flat rate and you're not going to be locked into a contract. So let's say you, let's say what we find often is family will come in town around the holidays right around July 4th in the summer that, you know, the grandkids have off from school. They'll come and visit. But with a contract, maybe you dip below the hours that you said. So even though you're not using the hours, you're paying for them, yeah, maybe you don't get along with a caregiver or you'd like to switch agencies, but you have a contract. So that's, we try to make it easy because we know it's a very big conversation, right? To have with either yourself, if you're the elderly person needing care or with mom and dad, it's a big step to kind of give some of that independence up. Again, we want to help you be more independent and stay in your home, but you're still giving some of that independence up. That's a big conversation. So, you know, having it be just a more comfortable conversation and having it be something that they can kind of dip their toe in and try out without being contractually obligated to this three or six month period, have us come over for a few weeks. See if you like your caregiver, if you don't, you call us and we won't come back and nothing lost. It's such a great service, seniors helping, seniors, and I'm sure there are a lot of people wondering, okay, what's the next step? How do we get all of you? Yeah. So I would say, you know, SHS walk us off, walk us off, excuse me, for seniors helping seniors walk us off, or, and I had it right in front of me, but 262-225-7978, I believe I'm remembering that, right, is our, is our phone. So I would say, and one thing I want to say while I'm on the, on the air with you is not only if you're looking for care for yourself or a loved one, but if you are a senior yourself and you think that, you know, giving back this way in the community, making a little extra money on top of it, if you're partially retired or fully retired and looking for something really worthwhile to do with your time, because that's the bottleneck, right? We have a lot of seniors in the community, obviously, that need this service and that call us, but the biggest bottleneck to getting them services, having enough seniors to care for them. That's what I would, that's what I also wanted to say while I was on, if you're senior and you're thinking, this is something, hey, you know, I'd like it. Just on the, just on the employee side, it's very easy. You don't have, you know, you tell us when you want to work, you tell us how many hours you want to work, there's no nights or weekends if you don't want, no holidays if you don't want. So if you're a senior out there that needs care or that wants to help care, please call us. And again, give us a phone number one more time. So 262-225-7978, I hope I'm not getting the two and the five. You better give it one more time, because you want to go fast, 262-225-7978 or shswakashaw.com. It is a pleasure to have you here, Ben Evans, thank you, and thank you for sharing all of the information about seniors helping seniors. I'm Libby Collins, it's 929 on WTMJ. It has been one busy show this morning. I'm Libby Kalasan, but Eric Bilstad, who's been so kind to be here with us on a Sunday morning. I see even fewer runners on the home right now, but it's still kind of tied up down here. We've got Eric and the WTMJ breaking news center to tell us more. We're only 90 minutes into the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon, so it's going to be a bit for these runners as they trek through 26 miles. Yeah, they started at 7A, they've been running in and around the Milwaukee area, so if you're headed downtown today, just be prepared, you might notice some closures because of that. Yeah, you're coming back tomorrow morning, right? Oh, yeah. What are you and Vinny going to do this week? I am. Do you have anything? Yeah. What are you going to cover? Well, actually, tomorrow is a big anniversary. It's the one-year anniversary since the Hamas-Israeli attack, so we will have a lot of coverage on what that looks like one year later. Later on in the week, anything goes, but the one thing we do know is that the brewers are down. No, I know. So depressing. All right. Well, listen, thank you so much. Great to have Eric here this morning. Good to be here. Coming up in just a couple minutes, we're talking with a man who had the opportunity to talk with all of the living former presidents and also President Biden, and we'll show that with you right after this on Wisconsin Weekend Morning News. It has been a quick show this morning. This is the final half hour of Wisconsin Weekend Morning News, I'm Libby Kalins. David Rubenstein is a co-founder of the Carlisle Private Equity Group. He's also a principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles, but politics has always fascinated him. His new book is The Highest Calling Conversations on the American Presidency, where he blends history and anecdote, including interviews, with most of the living former presidents. David, in your book, The Highest Calling, you write about all of the presidents and you have the opportunity to speak to all of our living ex-presidents. Let's talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton. You say that they were the most powerful couple to ever be in the White House. Who was really calling the shots there? Was it Bill or was it Hillary? Bill Clinton was a powerful person on his own right, governor, six terms in Arkansas, but he got elected president at 46, very, very young, and obviously had some per challenges in the personal area, but he did a lot of great things as President, in fact, he balanced the budget three over the last four years as president. We haven't had a balanced budget in years since that time. Hillary Clinton was his partner. It was said at the time, you get two for the price of one. She was more involved in policymaking than any other First Lady that we know of, and she was so involved and interested in it that she later got elected to the United States Senate while she was serving as First Lady. Even Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt didn't have quite that kind of relationship. Do you think that we made a mistake when Hillary was not elected in 2016? Well, I would let the American people decide whether it was a mistake or not, but I think that any woman was qualified to be President of the United States. She certainly was, but she served as secretary of state and served as a senator, no other First Lady had done either, very smart person, very knowledgeable about public policy, the night of the election. She thought she was going to win. I thought she was going to win, but it shows you, you can't really predict who's going to win a presidency. And I think right now, the election we have coming up in November, although I spend a lot of time on the presidential matters, I cannot tell you who's likely to be elected President of the United States. How important do you think the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was? Historically, debates really reinforce the views of people. They don't really change views very much. So we've had one debate in this election cycle that changed the history. After the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Joe Biden effectively was forced to step down. When history is written, Trump doesn't win. People will say that the biggest mistake he made in the campaign was a green and early debate. And from Biden's point of view, the biggest mistake he made was agreeing to an early debate, because if he wanted to be the nominee, and he agreed to a later debate as the first debate, it wouldn't have been time to substitute somebody else. As to answer your question, on that debate, I think that most people would say that Kamala Harris won the debate. I think some people would say that Donald Trump didn't do as well as he wanted to do or that they wanted to do if they were Trump supporters. But I think when history is written, it will probably be the case that it didn't change the election that much. Because the polling data we now have already suggests that not many votes were changed by the debate, but it certainly didn't hurt Kamala Harris to do as well as she did. Going back to 2020, why did Joe Biden select Kamala Harris as his vice president? Well, I think he had a feeling he wanted to pick a woman, and I think he committed to do that. And he didn't commit to put a black woman, but I think he was inclined to do that. He had another woman that he had thought about, it was named Mrs. Bass, who was the member of Congress, a woman that from L.A., she later became and is now the mayor of Los Angeles. But at the time that he was making the decision, and in a lot of support for Mrs. Bass was there, Raoul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother died, and so people in the media had zoomed statements that Mrs. Bass had made when Fidel Castro had died, and she had said some favorable things about him. And as a result, I think the Biden people thought it wouldn't look very good after somebody as your vice president who said very favorable things about Fidel Castro. So he pivoted, and he picked somebody who was well regarded who he didn't really know that well. So I think it was a combination that she was a woman. I think being African American probably didn't hurt from the base that he wanted. Remember the most loyal constituency Democratic presidential candidates have had in recent years is African American women, but 96% of African American women traditionally vote Democratic and presidential elections, and therefore it was a shoring up important constituency. You had the opportunity to interview former President Donald Trump. How did he impress you? I've known him for many, many years. I've interviewed him before he was president. Look, Donald Trump is a unique character. He got to be present without any government experience. We never had somebody become president without any government experience at all, either in the military or in civilian life. Donald Trump is unique. He doesn't rely on a lot of advisers. He's very self-assured. He says things that sometimes are difficult to fact check and prove that they're accurate. On the other hand, he's the only person ever to be nominated three times in a row by the Republican Party. So even though with the last election he lost, the Republicans really are in love with him and he got the nomination pretty handily. He's a smart person. He doesn't read a lot, but he does get his information in other ways watching television talking to people. He's not a big reader. How seriously ill was Trump when he had COVID? You write about that in the book? I think he was much more ill than he realized at the time either of his staff realized. He was given some medication that was really terrific for him, and it helped him. But I think he didn't realize that people would say elderly because he was over the age of 65, and I think people didn't realize that COVID could be really damaging to people that age. And while a lot of people died, I don't think he thought he could die because he thought it was invulnerable. But I think he was very, very ill. Finally, David, which presidential candidate do you think is going to be added to the paperback edition of your book? If I knew who the next president was going to be, I would be happy to tell you. But I think even though I spent the lifetime really studying the presidency and talking to people who run for president and knowing presidential advisers, I honestly don't know. I think it's too close to the call, and if you go either way, honestly, I really think it's too close. David Rubenstein, the highest calling conversations on the American presidency, thanks for joining us. Thanks very much. Appreciate it. It's a fascinating book. 943, we're up to 62 degrees. It's going to be a beautiful, sunny day to day. Great day for a run. All those runners out there were going on the marathon in Milwaukee. I'm Libby Collins. Coming up in just a couple of minutes, we've got a WTMJ conversations playing today. Oh, what an interesting man Greg Wesley is. We'll tell you about it right after this. It's all I had with Wisconsin Weekend Morning News. You know, sometimes the smallest act of kindness can have a tremendous impact on a child's life. And the new CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Greg Wesley, shared a personal experience with me. It is important, particularly in communities that have not been invested in as much. To have a positive role model that you might see on somebody that has decided to stay in the community that cares about people and that may, you know, take a liking to someone. I can still remember when I was a very small kid, an older lady who her family had moved away and she just thought I was the greatest little kid. And she said to my mom, hey, I'd love to take them to a baseball game one day. And if you know my mom, she was like, what are you talking about? Mrs. Tillman taught me something that I just can't describe. She cared about me and it didn't have to be that she was going to do anything different except to say, I want to show you some positive things. It just stuck with me. And I've always decided that me as a community leader, how you make a person feel really, really matters. How you create opportunity if you can really matters. Greg Wesley talks with me about the new community space thrive on King and ways the Greater Milwaukee Foundation invests in the community this this morning at 11 on WTMJ conversations. It's 947 and 63 degrees at WTMJ. Welcome to Sunday sip. This is Steve's community. I am joined today by two really smart guys are going to talk about a lot of great things. But one of the things we're going to talk about is Milwaukee College Prep, Al Keith, the fourth joining us and Colestin Morgan, who is executive director of the City Forward Collective talking about education and our kids, which I am very passionate about. I'm going to start with you, Colestin, can you explain what the opportunity gap is? I hear this term a lot. And how it affects students in Milwaukee, particularly in the underserved communities. Yeah, so when we talk about opportunity gaps, we're talking about the disparities and outcomes for students in particular students of color when compared to their peers and here in Milwaukee, we struggle with one of the largest opportunity gaps of any city in the country. We've got work to do to ensure that all of our kids, but especially our kids who are black or who are Hispanic or from lower income backgrounds, have access to the education they need. So one of the ways you're addressing that is with charter schools in Milwaukee, and I'll start with you Al. How do you address that opportunity gap? Give me some like specific examples. Yeah. And so just speaking of the opportunity gap, we talk about what access and what opportunities are presented to our kids. And so it's very well known the power of literacy. So at Milwaukee college prep, we focus a lot of dedication, time, energy on literacy. Folks on early literacy for our younger scholars make sure they're learning how to not only access the content in front of them, but have opportunity to have that upward mobility through society as well. So what do you think the opportunity gap? How do we address that? So one of the great things about our city's education system is that parents have lots of choices. They've got choices of different types of schools, including public charter schools like Milwaukee college prep. We think it's really important because we know every child is different and every child needs something different. And so the work that schools like MCP do to ensure that every kid is getting exactly what they need, the skills and supports that they need is incredibly important. Colleen Morgan Jr. and Al Keith, the fourth joining us on the Sunday's SIP. This was for you Al. How are charter schools supporting those students who may be behind grade level facing some struggles or facing significant academic challenges? How are you approaching that problem? Targeted supports, we make sure that we take a look at how do we support not just a grade level or just a classroom, but how do we make sure that we support every single child in that classroom. And so some of that means wrapping around targeted interventions, targeted mentoring, tutoring. And so we really look at the whole child and look at what is it they need to be successful and we provide them. Colleen Morgan Jr. What do you think? Same question. You know, I think, again, you know, the work that Al is doing, the work that MCP and other schools across our city are doing is incredibly important, you know, to make sure that every child, we're looking at their individual strengths, their individual assets and their individual challenges and making sure they get exactly the targeted supports that they need. We hear this term about equity, right? Access to education. So important. We've got to make sure that we're reaching all the kids, not some of the kids, not the kids who really want to be there, but some of the kids who maybe are struggling. When you're looking at that question of equity, Al, how do the charter schools in Milwaukee ensure that equity is therefore enrollment services for everybody? Absolutely. And so, you know, the biggest tagline that I can give you right now is free public and open to all. Milwaukee College Prep has a completely blind and open enrollment process. That's first come first serve. We don't screen. We don't test. And many of the high quality schools in the city charter schools follow the same process as well. Colleen, I love the fact that one of your missions is to improve education in Milwaukee in the Milwaukee area. So how do you measure that success? You're looking at charter schools, narrowing that opportunity gap. Are there any success stories or things you can point to that say, you know what? That's how it should be done. Yeah. So, you know, we certainly start by looking at the facts and the data, right? You know, all of our students, whatever school they attend, if they're receiving public dollars, they have to take assessments at the end of the year that help us understand how students are performing. And we see year after year that students that are enrolling in our schools of choice, including our public charter schools, like Milwaukee College Prep, are performing at higher and higher levels, closing those opportunity gaps. There's certainly more work to be done, but we try to start with the data and the facts, and we know that when parents have those choices, they're empowered to make those choices. When schools can make the decisions that are best for their kids, that's where we see the biggest growth happening. What do you hear from parents? What are they saying? They love it. I get calls. I get emails. I get stopped in public all the time by parents just can't stop raving about all that we've done for their kids, their families, and how do we expand that outreach, you know, beyond what we're currently serving? And the polling and the researcher matches up with the stories that Alice telling. We know that parents in our city overwhelmingly, I think 60% in a poll we put out this summer support, actually 60% of the Marquette Law poll, but we find similar numbers as well. Support having a robust set of options so that they can find the right fit for their kids, including schools like Milwaukee College Prep. And as we all know, having that parents support that parent buy in along with the students along with their children makes this process a lot easier. So we're looking at all those groups, parents, community leaders, local businesses, what do they do to support the impact of charter schools in bridging that opportunity gap? So I like to use my development and fundraising chief's term of time, treasure and talent. So we partner with the community to come in and obviously see what we do, come be a part of what we do. We bring in the community, we bring in local businesses, we bring in families to not only see what we do, but also partner with them to figure out how do we better serve the community? How do we better serve our kids? Absolutely. I think, you know, seeing being invested, you know, taking the time to love our kids enough to love the schools and the adults in the building that are serving them is incredibly important, as is making sure that all of our schools have the resources that they need to succeed. And that's something that we and our advocacy work do every day. And I wanted to save a minute to talk about this because it's not just about talking about its action plans are important. So how can our listeners help Milwaukee College Prep, obviously the Director of City Forward Collective, improving education in our community how you go first? The most immediate step is log into our website, go to mkeprep.com/support and check on our Take A Stand event information there. So every year we have an annual fundraiser. That's a lot of fun. It's a really good time. But to celebrate obviously the amazing work that our team at MCP does, but it's a great opportunity to ground our community and the importance of the work and the resources we need. Likewise, you can find information about City Forward Collective on our website, cityforwardcollective.org. Take a look at some of our policy research. We try to lift up good examples of schools like Milwaukee College Prep. You can find some data and information and ways to support us financially as well there. Colestin Morgan, Jr., Al Keith IV, it's going to be a fifth on the way out here. That's right. Good luck with all of that. Great conversation, great work, leading hopefully to great educational opportunities for all of the kids out there. Thanks for joining the Sunday SIP. Thank you. Thanks for having us. I've got one last reminder for you to participate in the WTMJ Fall 2024 Fan Survey. All you have to do is text the word survey to the WTMJ Talk and Text Line at 855-616-1616-1616. And as a thank you, when you complete that survey, you're going to be entered to win a package that includes two bucks regular season game tickets plus an overnight stay at the Pfister Hotel. You got to do that today. Coming up after the news with Eric, it's Brian and David Wickered on the Accident Mortgage and Realty Show. They're talking about the jobs report and I'll be back with WTMJ Conversations at 11 o'clock talking with a new CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Greg Wesley. It's 958. Have a great day.