UW's Dr. Carson on 18 years of mapping the Driftless, ahead of Sparta visit

UW's Dr. Carson on 18 years of mapping the Driftless, ahead of Sparta visit

If you've spent any time in local coffee shops or boutiques, you know that naming your business after "The Driftless" carries a certain amount of outdoorsy eco-prestige.  But, according to UW-Madison geologist Dr. Eric Carson, if that business is across the river in Minnesota or Iowa — they are living a lie. For the past 18 years, Dr. Carson has been mapping The Driftless. He joins ahead of his Badger Talk at 5:30 p.m. Thursday [https://www.facebook.com/events/4249011402077215] at the Sparta Free Library to tell us just exactly what that means and why it's taken two decades.  Carson talks about going county-by-county — a job we assume involves a leather notebook, a magnifying glass, and a horse with no name. Carson humors us on the tech front (turns out they use airplanes with lasers called LiDAR and drill 100-foot soil cores instead), but he breaks down the mind-blowing reality of our backyard — why the ice sheets missed us, why Lake Superior is actually a giant billion-year-old tear in the earth, and how a local river used to flow east, toward Canada, instead of west into the Mississippi River. Plus, we look at why the U.S. is facing a massive shortage of rock-nerds and why geology is actually a high-security, high-demand career. Check out the preview, and bring your questions for Carson Thursday at the Sparta Library. Any school, group or organization that would like to host a Badger Talk, either in person or online, email here [http://Badgertalks%20@uwmad.wisc.edu/] or request a speaker online at badgertalks.wisc.edu [http://badgertalks.wisc.edu/]. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Mac Kiel breaks down La Crosse north library's future, mayor's forum in Kmart district, and bye bye Giannis

The city of La Crosse has a lot going on right now — from transforming the now-closed library and tearing down the Kmart, to rezoning for housing by the old Shopko at Bridgeview Plaza and establishing new TIDs on the causeway and by Black River Beach. To help explain all that, Mac Kiel joins, as we break down the process for what comes next with the old north library and recap her mayor district forum from Monday night — a district that contains both the old Kmart and new elementary school. To help explain all of it, Mac Kiel stops in studio, as we break down the process for what comes next with the old north side library and recap the mayor district forum from Monday night — a district that contains both the old Kmart and the new elementary school. Kiel, who is on the Library Board, also walks us through the choices they had that led to the north side library closing. The building has now gone through the RFEI (Request for Expression of Interest) process, and we talk about the formal and informal proposals that were reported by WIZM on Monday [https://www.wizmnews.com/2026/06/22/community-center-grocery-store-among-closed-library-building-proposals/]. Plus, Kiel explains the next steps — the RFP (Request for Proposal) process — which happen Wednesday at the Economic and Community Development Commission [https://cityoflacrosse.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=50106&GUID=AEBCF739-D81A-431F-9C5E-C723098B1645] (ECDC).  https://cityoflacrosse.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=50106&GUID=AEBCF739-D81A-431F-9C5E-C723098B1645We walk through some of the six-page document on the ECDC agenda that lays out what the city might want from those submitting RFPs. Before we got to that, though, Kiel went to the mayor’s District 7 forum, which was also led by city council member Gary Padesky. She talked about what the 30 or so attendees brought up, including the old Kmart coming down— possibly this summer — and the new elementary school going up. Lastly, we ended with next week’s Finance and Personnel Committee meeting discussing TIDs (Tax Incremental Districts) — one in the Gundersen area, plus others in the Black River Beach area and on the pike headed to La Crescent. Kiel does her best — again — to help explain a TID.  We began the show, though, sulking over Giannis Antetokounmpo getting traded. Kiel is a former La Crosse City Council member, who is an advocate for providing the public  [https://www.facebook.com/MacKielforCityCouncil]with what is happening with city government. She also serves on some city boards and works with the unsheltered population. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Chamber CEO Scinta on 3-hour meeting with mayor and getting La Crosse "open for business"

La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Sam Scinta on his “Lord of the Rings”-length meeting with the mayor, the business climate in the community right now, and that port initiative announced last week. We began though with just a quick “What does the Chamber do?” as Scinta has been leading it now for the past nine months. Next, we talked about — what is more of a long game — the new Northern Grain Belts Ports Initiative and what it means for leveraging local waterways. After that, we spent the final half of the show deep diving into La Crosse Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey’s three-hour meeting with Chamber members last week. We break down what the meeting entailed and the "homework" to come out of it — like the push for a city administrator, a business concierge, zoning changes, and historic preservation reform. We wrap up looking at how La Crosse is faring right now when it comes to the overall business climate, why our unique transit hub gives us a leg up on Madison, and the Chamber's possible future plans for a quarterly "La Crosse is Open for Business" series. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

La Crosse County Dem Party chair Molling on local Assembly races, state convention recap, data centers

La Crosse County Democratic Party chair Wyatt Molling was in studio last week for the Rick Solem Show discussing the friction between the state and local party over reaching rural voters. We recapped the state convention and why everyday voters don't look like convention diehards, plus the split over Gov. Tony Evers' budget surplus deal. And, we closed with some rapid-fire over everything from data centers to Trump and the World Cup. We start though talking about Molling getting into politics and taking over role as chair in January. After, we dive into the three Assembly seats defining La Crosse County, looking closely at the different rural landscapes facing Steve Doyle, Jill Billings and Tara Johnson. Molling airs some frustration with the state party on reaching voters in these districts that have all been redrawn. From there, we discuss the state Democratic convention. Molling is asked about the WisPolitics governor's race straw poll that had heads turning. He explains the mindset of convention-goers versus regular voters in regards to the poll and we get into the resolutions the party comes up with at the convention. We also hit the optics surrounding Evers’ multi-billion-dollar budget surplus package and why local Democrats split on the final vote. To wrap up, we put Molling through a lightning-round of national and local headlines, including data center moratoriums — which the La Crosse County Board has passed — as well as the controversial $300 billion Iran memorandum, gas prices and why Donald Trump hoisting the FIFA World Cup trophy could get incredibly awkward. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Pools, polls and Packers with UW-L political scientist Chergosky

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky, in studio to help weave a discussion about the La Crosse pool poll, the Democratic convention governor straw poll and the Packers fighting with one Wisconsin US House member. We did start the show, though, talking quick about not being a sports fan but being excited about something like the World Cup — plus the Loggers having Catbirds throwback night. The poll conversation stems partly from the results from a survey [https://www.wizmnews.com/2026/06/18/la-crosse-park-board-reviews-north-side-pool-survey-results/] of La Crosse residents about building a new indoor aquatics center, where about 52 percent were in favor — with 14% of those asked responding. Another aspect came from a straw poll last weekend at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention that had Mandela Barnes sixth out of seven governor candidates. We break down how these polls could be written and conducted — perhaps to gain favorability for a specific outcome — and how much stock we should take in the results. We also discuss how some polls — like the pool survey — might be sent out partly to inform people a thing is happening that they didn’t know about — and therefore the wording of those questions comes back into play. We also look at how Wisconsin Republicans put Constitutional Amendments on the ballot that are often seen as confusing and steering the voting population into getting the results the GOP wants. Lastly, we talked about the Packers pushing back against how US House Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Clyman) is looking into the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, and this idea that TV deals have isolated Packers fans who need to subscribe to networks to watch certain games. Or — throwing this conspiracy at Chergosky — is this a deep political ploy to prop up fellow GOP US House Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) and Bryan Steil (R-Janesville), who have sided with the Packers saying what Fitzgerald is doing would hurt the team. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.