Lt. Gov. candidate Godlewski calls out Tom Tiffany, outlines plans for high costs

Sarah Godlewski stopped in studio to talk about her vision for lowering everyday costs for Wisconsin residents. The Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor outlined plans to ease pressure on local budgets — from fully funding public schools to help lower property taxes, to finding ways at the…

GOP State Treasurer John Leiber on Tech for Schools, 77K Acres of Timber, and Running a Zero-Staff Office

He manages a $1.6 billion state fund with no staff and is the only Republican aside from Ron Johnson to win statewide office in the past decade.  John Leiber, Wisconsin's state treasurer, stopped in studio to help explain why an office called state treasurer is mostly tasked with buying tech for s…

From accordions to free lunch: Teachers' union president Schams on Oktoberfest and education

Jill Schams is getting her accordion ready as Oktoberfest nears. The Southern Bluffs music teacher and La Crosse Education Association president stopped by to debate whether the area is running low on squeeze boxes, what it takes to land a spot on the Oktoberfest Accordion Club float, and what happ…

Republican Assembly candidate Schnitzler on ag issues, gas price fallout, and data centers

Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s 95th Assembly, Cedric Schnitzler, in studio, discussing the critical agricultural and economic issues facing western Wisconsin, and issuing a direct call for the federal government to tackle soaring diesel prices. Schnitzler, a lifelong farmer and Monroe County…

AI ending humanity in 10 years — but first, the 11-year-old Oktoberfest medallion mastermind

An Anthropic insider recently gave humanity a decade before A.I. triggers total extinction, but we only had four minutes to chat about the end of the world on Friday’s Rick Solem Show—needing to talk about more urgent local matters, like an 11-year-old giving everyone a three-day head start before …

La Crosse city planners Trane, Acklin on Kmart timeline, Public Market, and 1980s zoning

A lot covered with the city planning department in studio, from the old Kmart demo timeline and creating a public market to revamping the La Crosse's decades old zoning code. Planning director Andrea Trane and deputy director Tim Acklin stopped in studio to help navigate some of the city's biggest…

A peek inside La Crosse Oktoberfest with Festmasters Smith, Bakalars

Current Festmaster Brent Smith and last year's leader Mike Bakalars stopped in the WIZM studio for The Rick Solem Show to preview the final countdown to La Crosse’s Oktoberfest — and show how the sausage is made, literally. The two shared what it's really like to keep one of the city's biggest sec…

La Crosse should turn Trane property into new high school

What does the La Crosse School District do with the gigantic Trane property? Economist Dr. Adam Hoffer in studio with a hot take: Turn the 40-acre site into a high school. Voters shot down a Trane site high school back in 2022, but with the company donating the land and the district facing facili…

FACT OR MYTH: Did Heileman start Oktoberfest just to sell beer?

As La Crosse's Oktoberfest gets underway, we look back on how it all started — and Brad Quarberg reveals the festival wasn't actually a secret ploy for G. Heileman Brewery to sell beer.  In fact, the brewery once ran the numbers on how much beer fest-goers actually drank, and how long it took to b…

Council president on Kmart demo timeline, restarting city admin talks

The demolition of the old Kmart might have a due date, and La Crosse leadership is about to restart the city administrator conversation again. Council president Tamra Dickinson stopped in studio, ahead of Thursday’s monthly meeting, where the council will vote on giving final approval to a develop…