Mornings with Pat Kreitlow

Welcome to "flex" season.
The Packers-Bears game on Sunday, Dec. 7 at Lambeau Field has been "flexed" from 12:00pm to 3:25pm. That's a fancy way of saying, "We don't care if that messes with your original plans. We're the freakin' NFL. Deal with it."

Vile and creepy. And we thought forced invasive ultrasounds were about as low as they could sink.

Their war on a woman's right to control her own body truly knows no bottom. We'll discuss this on Friday morning with Dr. Kristin Lyerly.
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You know how some politicians are described as workhorses and others are described as showhorses?

How did we end up in western Wisconsin with a pugnacious pony?

UpNorthNews We cover all things Wisconsin.

Feel free to contribute input on any of those questions, and remember you can watch the video feed of our radio show over on our YouTube page:

www.youtube.com/@upnorthnews...

On Friday we'll be asking: Who's got a great fish fry? It's part of the "Locals Love" series in our daily newsletter. Previous questions asked about favorite local pizza joints, burger places, ice cream shops, etc.

On Thursday, with 1 week 'til Turkey Day, we'll be asking for Thanksgiving disaster stories. Got any to share? At one dinner, we discovered a big bowl of something (corn? sweet potatoes?) in the microwave long after dinner. Someone warmed it up and forgot to set it out!

We got some great answers to this morning's Question of the Day: You've got a friend coming to visit Wisconsin for the first time. Where are you taking them to show off where you live?

Supper clubs, the Great Lakes, "Jump Around," Door County, Summerfest, etc. Got any we might have overlooked?

Trump administration will require SNAP participants to reapply for benefits Food aid recipients are already required to recertify their information regularly. But the move is part of USDA chief Brooke Rollins’ effort to overhaul the program.

Once again, the people who whine the most about how "red tape is hurting business" sure know how to weaponize red tape for others. We'll discuss on Tuesday's show along with a state bill to police lower-income grocery shoppers.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

This is literally a participation trophy for driving to work.

Schoemann should stop trying to get Dear Leader's blessing, show some Wisconsin independence, and stand up for our rock-solid elections system. He's not going to win the race for governor by rubber-stamping Trump's attacks on American democracy.

Finally, Schoemann says he wants to "make sure everybody has a high degree of confidence" in election administration. The best way to do that is for Republicans to stop making shit up and spreading misinformation about election administration, but that's the very DNA of MAGA.

3. Central count facilities work. It's the same-day processing of absentee ballots that leads to late-night results. Bashing central count is code for "those big, bad cities." Typical Washington County rhetoric.

2. The WEC ain't perfect, but better than giving election powers to a single politician. Better yet, bring back the GAB with retired judges. It was a national model 'til it got close to busting Scott Walker so the GOP killed it.

Here we go again. Republican claims to support 1 good idea (early absentee processing), but would "poison pill" it with the usual terrible ideas.

1) Drop boxes are safe and convenient. Republicans loved 'em 'til the Donald told them not to.
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There are things you won’t hear in the Gordon Lightfoot song: Short cuts in construction, corporate demands for short repairs and more cargo, and a captain who wanted to press on through a historic storm. Tom Nelson captures that and more in a new book.

President and cartoon supervillain pushes to defund Great Lakes weather buoys — because they also provide data to track climate change. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Holy Crap-on-a-Cracker, did the people of Sheboygan Falls know the Wackadoodle Party was running a candidate? Is Rep. Snodgrass being punked or is this an actual Republican legislator: finding facts "in different locations" and kissing Dear Leader's ring?

Derrick Van Orden was outraised by Rebecca Cooke in recent filings but got more cash overall. Why? Transfers from House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Shawn Phetteplace from Main Street Alliance says it's fair to ask who Van Orden works for as the shutdown hits WI farmers.

Wisconsin Senior Summit Seniors from Wisconsin's small-town and rural communities are coming together for the Wisconsin Senior Summit. We'll share insights, learn from others, and build lasting connections as we work to crea...

To learn more about the Senior Empowerment Summit we discussed on today's show:
actionnetwork.org/events/wisco...

Evers issues state of emergency over Trump cutoff of SNAP food aid to families 'It's terrifying' – but neighbors across Wisconsin are pitching in to fill some of the gap for 700,000 in the state whose SNAP lifeline was cut as part of Republicans' government shutdown.

Gov. Tony Evers said late Friday he’s issuing an executive order declaring a state of emergency because of the harm being done by the government shutdown imposed by congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump.
upnorthnewswi.com/2025/11/01/e...

My usual low-lift Halloween costume is particularly scary this year: Brewers fan. Consider yourself haunted by the Ghost of League Championship Series Past, trading Halloween bats for bats that go silent against Dodgers pitching. Boo! 🎃 🦇 ⚾️

2 Wisconsin Head Start programs to close amid shutdown, many more at risk Republicans’ refusal to halt massive price hikes for health insurance means families will start going without childcare, and providers won’t get paid.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Republican government shutdown is going to hurt childcare and early childhood education, since eliminating Head Start in its entirety is part of Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a second Trump administration.
upnorthnewswi.com/2025/10/30/2...

Here we go again.
In 2020, China pledged to buy an extra $200B in US exports to end Trump's trade war. They didn't. Over the 2-year deal, they didn't even get back to their import level from BEFORE Trump's last trade war.

Trump hopes you'll forget again.
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Around 70-80% of women with intellectual disabilities have been sexually assaulted, making contraception and other healthcare options especially important. Here’s what the mother of a young woman with a genetic disorder says about her family being used as pawns in someone's political game.

Whether it’s public polling or election results, it’s clear most people in Wisconsin believe women should have the right to make their own decisions about their bodies and yet plenty of conservatives are already running 2026 campaigns with an extreme record.

As more than 9,000 National Parks Service workers sit home without pay, Jeff Rennicke from Friends of the Apostle Islands talked on our radio show about how there’s no one to protect our parks from vandalism, squatters, and dangerous activities.