La Crosse School Board president Trevor Sprague in the WIZM studio for the Rick Solem Show on Thursday, discussing what comes next with the old Trane headquarters that was recently donated to the district.

The 41.5-acre, 210,000-square-foot building on the south side was once the centerpiece of the school district’s failed $194-million plan to combine Logan and Central high schools.

Sprague puts the high school consolidation notion to bed fairly quickly, before getting into immediate and future uses of the property.

Sprague also addresses the argument regarding the property coming off the tax rolls instead of being developed into something like affordable housing. Additionally, he shares the story of how the Blank family initiated the massive donation, and explains how the district plans to protect and honor a Ho-Chunk heritage site located on the northeast corner of the property.

While a permanent, long-term plan for the massive facility could take up to five years of community feedback to finalize, Sprague outlines some of the immediate, low-cost uses the district is eyeing — including soccer fields, warehousing, and professional development spaces.

Also on the show, Sprague talked about a couple of groups that are meeting to discuss school matters (unofficial names):

• Countywide School Board Collaboration (unofficial title): Board presidents and vice presidents from districts like Holmen, Onalaska, and West Salem are teaming up to lobby the county to put voucher school dollars directly on local tax bills for transparency, following the lead of Eau Claire and Green Bay.
• The Tech Advisory Committee (TAC): A diverse group of teachers, parents, and experts discussing how to balance screen time in classrooms, including the potential for “no-tech” days, and how the district currently handles cell phone policies.
• Indoor Aquatics Center committee (unofficial title): Sprague explains why the school board is hitting pause on a proposed indoor aquatics facility after lukewarm community survey support, and why they are looking for partners.

Listen live weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Find the pod on Spotify, Apple Podcast or here. Tune in on the WIZM app or on air at 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska)

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Wisconsin governor candidate Joel Brennan joins to discuss the fallout from opponent Sara Rodriguez firing her campaign manager over massive campaign finance discrepancies, his take on AI data centers, and his firsthand role in renegotiating the Foxconn deal.

Over the weekend, Lt. Gov. Rodriguez — one of five Democrats in the governor primary — announced she let her manager go over hundreds of thousands of dollars in mismanaged funds.

Brennan reacts to the news, explaining why he views it as a failure of "competence 101." He details how his own campaign handles its books to ensure accountability before Wednesday's filing deadline, and discusses the political impact on the primary now that a "coronation" has been disrupted.

Later, we dive into Brennan's role as Department of Administration Secretary in helping renegotiate the failed $2.85 billion Foxconn contract under Tony Evers. A deal originally put in place by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and touted as the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by President Donald Trump during his first term.

Lastly, we tackle the wild west of AI data centers in Wisconsin.

With La Crosse County and its 18 municipalities fending for themselves to pass local moratoriums, Brennan reacts to the state legislature "hanging local government out to dry" on regulation.

He breaks down his four-part plan to establish guardrails — including utilizing union labor, implementing strict green standards, banning non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that keep locals in the dark, and ensuring residential ratepayers aren't stuck subsidizing massive corporate energy bills.

Plus, he explains why he supports a targeted, 90-day statewide pause on approvals to write these rules into law, rather than an arbitrary, year-long ban. Though all that would have to wait until after the November election, since the GOP-controlled state Legislature hasn't been in session since April and won't resume work until January of 2027.

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We rank the Top 10 most important La Crosse city committees, discuss what happens next with another city administrator vote and recap last week’s monthly city council meeting with Mac Kiel.

First up, we tackled city administrator, which is back on the agenda for August.

We announce that we’ll be working with the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce on the show, over the next four weeks, to discuss all things city administrator ahead of the vote. The chamber has endorsed the idea of La Crosse having a city administrator.

This was last on the agenda in February and we discuss how it didn’t pass a super majority and that nothing has really been done by the city or the council since — despite a lot of conversations to do so.

After that, we highlight key moments from last week’s city council meeting, including:

• Using $1.8 million in TID 14 money for affordable housing in a way that has no time restrictions
• Creating two other TID districts
• Zoning approval for the Bridgeview housing complex

Regarding the Bridgeview housing, we discuss how this zoning shift isn’t an approval of the final build plan, and why the discussion hovered around the vast amount of parking developers have allotted.

We also relate that to the Cowboy Jack’s restaurant proposal going through council in the Riverpoint District — and just how much riverfront parking is planned there.

Lastly, Kiel ranks the Top 10 city committees — in which there are over 50 in total.

Before legislation ever hits the full council, it gets hashed out in committees where the public can learn and provide input. Not only do we go through the rankings, but we also discuss how some of the most powerful committees — like the Board of Public Works or the Library Board — don’t require council approval to act.

We started the show, though hitting on some things that happened over the past week, including

• The school district receiving the old Trane headquarters building as a donation
• David Crowley leaving leaving the Wisconsin governor’s race and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s campaign manager being fired
• Lindsey Graham — not Mitch McConnell — passing away

Kiel is a former La Crosse City Council member, who is an advocate for providing the public with what is happening with city government. She also serves on some city boards and works with the unsheltered population.

Listen live weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Find the pod on Spotify, Apple Podcast or here. Tune in on the WIZM app or on air at 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska)

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La Crosse City Council Representative Aron Newberry joined the show in studio to discuss the city's projected $8 million budget shortfall, the recent 18-month moratorium on AI data centers, and how La Crosse's public pools and libraries compare to other municipalities across Wisconsin.

• The $8 Million Budget Gap: The budget conversation came just a few days after a Budget Parameter Committee meeting that consisted of Finance and Personnel members, along with Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey.

• Pools vs. Libraries: We broke down a recent post by Newberry comparing La Crosse’s current infrastructure—two public pools and one public library—against similar-sized cities across Wisconsin.

• AI Data Center Moratoriums: We also discussed what needs to be done about data centers, just a few weeks after La Crosse County passed both a study committee and an 18-month moratorium on the structures. While the county passed a resolution, it isn’t sweeping. Other counties are currently trying to pass their own bans or considering allowing them to be built. Newberry is urging residents to support a petition for legislators to pass a statewide moratorium and utility rate cap.

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La Crosse County Administrator Jane Klekamp in studio helping decide how much money it would take to get a radio show host to move here and become part of the tax base.

Klekamp said it's something the county has looked into in the past — and is currently underway in Fond du Lac — as we discussed Wisconsin’s declining population and ways to get people to move here.

We also dove into the possibility of universal childcare as the county waits on the state to approve its intergenerational daycare plan, and the recent passing of an 18-month data center moratorium — along with the new data center study committee.

One other topic, we broke down is the critical work the county and city are doing on the homeless situation, highlighting the Homes for 100 plan that launched last month as part of La Crosse's Pathways Home plan.

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La Crosse’s household survival budget. The bare minimum it takes for a person, a family, to get by.

It’s called the ALICE report. It was just released by the Great Rivers United Way and executive director Mary Kay Wolf stopped in the WIZM studio for the Rick Solem Show to discuss it.

ALICE stands for (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). It comes out every two years and looks at households that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but less than the basic cost of living for the county.

Wolf talks about the report, where La Crosse stands and how we can improve our situation — whether that’s through talking with elected representatives, helping groups in the area that work in these fields or donating.

Listen live weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Find the pod on Spotify, Apple Podcast or here. Tune in on the WIZM app or on air at 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska)

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How much would it take for you to move to Fond du Lac?

That's one of the many topics discussed with Adam Murphy on Friday's The Rick Solem Show. Murphy is a small business owner, economist and — as we learn — handyman.

Before we get into moving to Fond du Lac and the political landscape of Wisconsin's governor's race — and whether they should just run on an anti-AI data center platform — we talk about Murphy remodeling his cottage and how that lost handyman art needs to be passed down to the next generation.

That segwayed nicely to Fond du Lac County trying to pay people to move there.

Murphy basically said there's not enough money in the world, but he did point out the dilemma for the area and the state in general with an aging and declining population, cities need more residents to stay alive.

But is Fond du Lac County's incentive package worth it?

We also looked at the governor's race, why Mandela Barnes gets unfair flak for his past Senate run, and what a lieutenant governor actually does all day.

Finally, we dig into the infrastructure drain of AI data centers and how it should be used in campaigns. Murphy uses his IT background to explain why these massive hubs redline the power grid while providing almost zero long-term local jobs, leading into a debate on why universal childcare is a much smarter economic investment for the state's aging population.

Murphy is the owner of a small business in Milwaukee called Big Bang LLC, he also ran for US Senate for the Democrats in Wisconsin, and holds degrees in economics and political science from UW-Milwaukee.

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Brad Pitel in studio helping us preview the four-day July 4 celebration at Riverside Park.

Riverfest kicks off Thursday afternoon and ends with a firework show on the 4th of July.

Pitel, who is on the Riverfest board, talks about the wide array of acts from national country star Mitchell Tenpenny to the RCCW pro wrestling events, where they bring a ring to Riverside.

Pitel also talks about how Misty Lown's reign the Riverfest Commodore. Lown, owner of Misty's Dance Unlimited in Onalaska, is the first woman Commodore ever since Riverfest began in 1983.

Check out the full schedule for each day of Riverfest here.

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