Mac Kiel is back in studio to preview committee and council week in La Crosse.

The holidays pack all the big meetings into one week, highlighted by discussions on deregulating little free food pantries, asking for new proposals for a downtown bike lane and parking plan, and tackling homelessness as the community marks the two-year anniversary of Pathways Home.

Kiel talks about her experience working with the homeless, as both La Crosse’s city council and county board — and the community — can attend a Pathways Home update at 6 p.m. Monday in the County Administrative Center.

Before that, we discuss how both committees will meet next Tuesday, with Judiciary and Administration starting at 4 p.m. and Finance and Personnel following at 6 p.m., before the full city council will take those recommendations to its 6 p.m. Thursday meeting.

We also talked about how the major zoning code overhaul affects the area, including the La Crosse River Marsh seeking a 500-foot “buffer zone,” plus a proposal to end council invocations, which Kiel explains.

The biggest topic, however, was the little free food pantries and the "Community Fridge" idea — allowing refrigerators as part of that plan.

We end the show with a quick talk on the council asking the Wisconsin DOT to develop alternative plans for 3rd and 4th streets downtown, which could include protected bike lanes or bigger sidewalks.

We note that the DOT has held 19 public meetings since 2024 on the Downtown Corridor Study and presented proposals to the council, which were apparently not good enough. The council postponed voting on those proposals for 90 days, ending next month.

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UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky in studio with his Top 5 Wisconsin politics topics of 2025.

From the governor’s race to controversy around judges to the state budget and the government shutdown, Chergosky dissects what he saw as the biggest stories in Wisconsin politics.

Along with that, we also talk about whether or not people believe Santa Claus is a Republican or Democrat and at what age do kids stop believing.

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Tacking the complaints and myths about bicycles, bike lanes and parking with Andrew Ericson in studio for La Crosse Talk PM.

Ericson sits on the city of La Crosse’s Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee, the MTU Board and the Climate Action Steering Committee.

Some of those complaints we discuss include bicyclists not obeying traffic laws, needing to pay for their own infrastructure and why they should just ride on the road.

We also get into some of the bike lane plans in La Crosse, as the city council has proposals in January’s meetings in regards to the Wisconsin DOT plans for 3rd and 4th street downtown.

In relation to that, we also talk about parking, as a lot of complaints about bike lanes through downtown La Crosse takes away on street parking.

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Ken Cooper in studio for La Crosse Talk PM to participate in the Festivus tradition, the Airing of Grievances, in celebration of the holiday.

For those who don't know, Festivus is a holiday from Seinfeld, created by Frank Costanza — George's dad — as an alternative to the commercialism of Christmas.

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Wisconsin Sen. Brad Pfaff in studio to discuss his New Year’s resolutions for the state Legislature, the debate over property taxes, strategies to address healthcare costs and his outlook for 2026.

We started the show, though, with a bit of Christmas spirit, asking Pfaff when his kids first figured out the truth about Santa Claus.

After that, we dived into the debate over the rise in property taxes and Republicans targeting a provision put in the budget 2.5 years ago, where Gov. Tony Evers used his veto pen to extend $325 in per-pupil funding to school districts for 400 years if they choose. That argument comes, though, as the GOP-controlled Legislature provided no increase in school aid in the latest budget, signed last July.

Building on that, we also talked about a bill by State Rep. Ryan Clancy that would make Wisconsin the first state to shift away from a property tax funding model for K-12 schools.

We also discussed some of Pfaff’s bills aimed at lowering rising healthcare costs, including a $35 cap on insulin in Wisconsin and better drug price transparency.

Finally, we got his outlook for 2026 — a year where the Legislature is only in session for 17 days between January and March, before taking the rest of the year off to campaign.

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Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Tara Johnson stopped in studio to recap her first year in office, and explain to us the phrase bill-jacking.

Johnson (D-Shelby) also tells a couple of stories — one on what she saw as a useless education bill and another on how a near-unanimous, bipartisan postpartum care bill was stalled by one man, Robin Vos.

Other things we hit on included how Johnson would like the Legislature to be more organized when voting on bills — not fly through 50 in one day with minimal public debate — and if Wisconsin Democrats should get into the gerrymandering fight, if they control all of government.

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A fun show brainstorming a new beverage to commemorate the 94-year-old Lansing bridge explosion, and recapping the 2025 words of the year with UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky.

WIZM News Director Kevin Millard shared his experience watching the bridge blow, and we cold-called Todd Wiedenhaft, owner of Skeleton Crew Brew, to see if he could craft a "Blown Bridge Beer." Wiedenhaft didn't skip a beat, pitching an incredible idea.

In between, we reviewed Merriam-Webster’s top words of 2025. Some seemed controversial as actual words, like "six seven" and "touch grass," while we got into the politics over some others, such as "gerrymander" and "slop."

Lastly, we briefly looked at the 2025 most-searched topics on Google for the La Crosse-Eau Claire area to see what local residents were actually curious about as the year comes to a close.

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Mac Kiel in studio with the latest update on La Crosse hiring a city administrator and the recent conversations around that, plus the sale of the Charmant to billionaire Diane Hendricks and what that might mean for downtown.

We discuss city administrator a couple different times during the show, first talking about the council structure — plus Kiel geeking out on seating charts — and the idea of adding amendments to the city administrator legislation. Later in the show we talk about the city council working group studying the administrator position and presenting that info to the council.

With the Charmant sale to Hendricks, we talk a bit about her work revitalizing the her hometown, Beloit, Wis., and what that might mean for La Crosse. We also talk about the building being in a TIF district and how a sale like that goes through, after the city put money up front to help renovate the building.

Other things we hit on included the La Crosse Queen getting a 20-year contract, the airport needing a new director and adding Allegiant Air and — again — needing to regionalize assets the city owns, like the airport and the La Crosse Center.

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