MILWAUKEE - We welcome Laura Dresser from the High Road Strategy Center, a think-and-do tank, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Laura is the lead author of the 2025 State of Working Wisconsin report which presents the Wisconsin workers’ perspective on the economy including, what’s going on with work and jobs, who is winning in this economy, and who is being left behind. We discuss the report’s key findings, including the role a $20/hour minimum wage in Wisconsin could play in improving the lives of Wisconsin working families.

We also debrief Labor Day 2025, and take a deep dive into Wisconsin’s brewing AI Data Center Scandal that could threaten the Great Lakes water supply and accelerate the state’s carbon emissions at a time they must be dramatically slashed to head off runaway climate change. In addition to the environmental impact, they are a terrible economic development investment on a par with the Foxconn boondoggle.

We also review the scandalous last couple weeks at Ascension Wisconsin which wants to charges such high prices that even United Healthcare is threatening to cut them off. The ongoing implosion of Ascension continues to highlight the need for the Hospital Accountability Act we are developing with state Senator Jeff Smith.

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Read the 2025 State of Working Wisconsin report

In his weekly radio address, Governor announces projects improving or repairing local roads, drainage systems, water and sewer systems, sidewalks, and other public facilities.

Green Bay– Today, Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner released the following statement in response to recent coverage in the Green Bay Press-Gazette regarding the closures impacting veterans in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls:

“It was disappointing, though sadly not surprising, to read more finger-pointing than solutions in today’s paper. Let’s be clear: Governor Evers placed funding for homeless veterans directly into the state budget. That funding was stripped out by the Joint Finance Committee — a committee Senator Wimberger sits on. When both Democrats and Republicans attempted to restore this funding, the majority rejected it.

MILWAUKEE - We welcome Peter Rickman, President of MASH (Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union), to discuss making work pay a living wage in every corner of Wisconsin with a $20/hour minimum wage. We also discuss the central role of organized labor in creating a fair and just economy, highlighting significant labor organizing in Wisconsin headed into Labor Day Weekend 2025. Also, we discuss the attempt to steal the 2026 election by re-gerrymandering Texas. Should the Democrats respond in kind?

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Attend a Labor Day Weekend event with organized labor near you.

Sign letter in support of the workers at Pathfinders.

We will be off next week, have a great Labor Day Weekend!

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/childcare-dropoff-s460.pngFunds support care of over 126,000 Wisconsin kids and retain 25,000 childcare staff says Governor.

MILWAUKEE - Will the 1000 year flood in Southeast Wisconsin finally convince policymakers that the climate crisis is already impacting Wisconsin? The appropriate response would be to quickly enact the Climate Accountability Act, which requires Wisconsin for the first time to adopt an accountable climate action plan that cuts greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and maximizes the economic benefits  especially for people in urban and rural areas currently locked out of economic opportunities. We encourage our listeners to contact their state legislators and urge them to support the new Climate Accountability Act

We get into the weeds of the scandalous news that Ascension Wisconsin will outsource its ICU Doctors, further imperiling care for patents. This is what happens when you put big profit-maximizing monopolies in charge of health care with virtually no oversight. Robert tells us about developing state legislation to re-regulate the hospital industry in the public interest.

Fair maps advocates are rightly appalled by the national gerrymandering fight instigated by President Trump and apparently matched by California Governor Gavin Newsom. But, is it realistic to ask Democrats to unilaterally disarm in the face of attempted authoritarian consolidation? Robert tells us that Ruth Conniff makes a strong case for holding onto the principle, but can progressives hold onto abstract norms in the face of the shredding of democratic norms by a would-be authoritarian movement? Robert argues that outcomes have moral consequences, and that pro-democracy forces must find a way to uphold the principles of democracy while being effective in preventing Trump and his MAGA allies from rigging the 2026 election.

We close with an honest conversation about the short-sighted state budget, which leaves a structural deficit for the next two year budget, potentially forcing cuts to critical services even if the Democrats win a trifecta, unless they are willing to reverse decades of regressive tax cuts dolled out to corporations and the wealthy.

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MILWAUKEE - Following Tony Evers visit to a besieged free clinic in Eau Claire, we discuss the serious structural problems with our current healthcare delivery system. While hospital monopolies siphon off billions in profits, we pay some of the highest costs in the nation, and yet hospitals across the state are either closing or cutting vital services such as emergency care and birthing units, especially in rural areas and urban neighborhoods. The hospital monopolies are non profits in name only and are acting like highly regulated for-profit industries like Wall Street banks and fossil fuel utilities. It is long overdue for the hospital industry to lose its special protections and be regulated in the public interest.

A new report finds Wisconsin is struggling to keep teachers who are leaving the state or profession. We make the direct connection to lack of state funding for more than a generation. It’s why we need candidates in 2026 who will fight for this funding and raise the revenue needed to meet our most pressing priorities.

We discuss contrasting town halls last week by Republican Congress members Brian Stiel and Tom Tiffany. While Stiel had the guts to stand in front of his constituents, unlike Tiffany and the infamous Derrick Van Ordin, the reaction of his constituents shows the growing public anger over Trump’s massive cuts to Medicaid and Food Shares. Meanwhile, Wisconsin legislators express phony outrage over Canadian forest fires and file faux complaints with an international body that requires cooperation not dictates from one country. If they really gave a darn about wild fires they would help address the cause of worsening global warming, the massive over burning of fossil fuels that could be replaced by clean renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.

We close with a briefing on some state labor movement news, including the ongoing strike by healthcare workers at Janesville’s MercyHealth East, workers at Pathfinders in Milwaukee announce organizing drive seeking employer recognition, and Wisconsin video game workers who were first to unionize at a major U.S. studio, now have their first contract.

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Sign letter in support of Pathfinders workers union.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/laura/trump-fires-2025-s434.pngTrump has a long history of firing anyone who tells the truth—from health officials and intelligence experts to election workers and generals. Now he’s firing the Commissioner of Labor Statistics because the job numbers weren’t flattering enough.

MILWAUKEE - In the aftermath of Tony Evers’ announcement that he will not seek re-election, we discuss the wide-open primary for the Democratic nomination. Who are the likely candidates and what should they run on? Is this an opportunity for progressives and everyone who craves a Democratic Party willing to fight? Robert tells us about an early attempt by Senator Chris Larson and our allies to lay out a 2026 agenda for candidates for Governor and state legislature. We talk about how the new report from the Center for Working-Class Politics shows there is a pathway to win in 2026 on an clear agenda that excites working people, including many who defected to Trump in 2024, and brings them back into the pro-democracy fold.

We start to tackle the state fiscal elephant in the room. The tax cuts in the just completed state budget, on top of years of tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations, have set the state up for a fiscal deficit to start the next session. No candidate can promise full funding for public education, child care, and for the expansion of health care who is not serious about generating more revenue by rolling back past tax giveaways to the rich and most profitable corporations.

Finally, we also look at gerrymandering in Texas which threatens to rig the 2026 midterms in favor of Trump’s allies. From and pragmatic and ethical point of view, must the Democrats must respond in kind?

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MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today delivered his weekly radio address celebrating the kickoff of the 174th Wisconsin State Fair, which will take place July 31st through August 10th at State Fair Park in West Allis.

The governor also proclaimed July 31st through August 10th, 2025, as “Wisconsin State Fair Days,” as he has done annually, in recognition of the 2025 State Fair. A copy of the governor’s Wisconsin State Fair Days proclamation is available here.