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Tax the rich is a great bumper sticker — but how do you actually do it? State Rep. Francesca Hong joined Brian on Daybreak to spell it out: a new top bracket on multi-millionaires and billionaires, plus rolling back corporate tax breaks she calls “corporate welfare” — the data center sales tax exemption and the manufacturing & ag tax credit. Her estimate: $400M+ a year that could be redirected to special education funding indexed to inflation, healthy school meals, and public schools instead of private vouchers. “Tax the rich is wildly popular,” Hong said. What would you want that money to fund in your community?

What ideas are we afraid to let a high school kid hear? The Watertown school board voted 7–1 to pull an instrumental from the high school spring concert. No lyrics. No words. Just a piece named for Marsha P. Johnson. Brian Noonan, a former teacher, on Daybreak: “The school board is way out of line.” #Wisconsin #Watertown #FreeExpression #Daybreak #CivicMedia

“You’re basically subsidizing their salary.” Food journalist Adam Reiner stopped by Nite Lite this week and walked Pete & Greg through the math most diners never see: the federal base wage for tipped workers is **$2.13 an hour**, and your tip is what closes the gap to minimum wage. Reiner notes some West Coast states have pushed their tipped minimum to $15–17. Most of the country still runs on the old math. His ask: sit at the bar on a Monday at 5. Buy the gift card. The local restaurants sponsoring little league teams won’t be there forever if we don’t show up.

A ballroom we’ll never dance in. A childcare bill we can’t escape. Brian Noonan on Daybreak: “Those kids who aren’t getting the money for childcare — they’re going to be your neighbors someday. They’re going to be the people waiting on you.” The president says he doesn’t think about American families’ finances “one little bit.” Wisconsin parents are already doing the math at the kitchen table — a grand, two grand a month, just to go to work. Working families deserve a country that invests in the kids who’ll keep it running. Tell us — what’s childcare costing your family?

Local reaction to possible data center in Wisconsin Rapids.

Microsoft. Meta. Oracle. OpenAI. Our farmland, our water, our power grid — and a $1.5B–$2B tax break on your dime. But the towns didn’t take a vacation: → Manitowoc County: 18-month moratorium, *unanimous* → Port Washington: nation’s first anti-data-center referendum, 2-to-1 → Sheboygan, Cassville, Wisconsin Rapids, Wrightstown, Delavan — all in the fight 70% of Wisconsin voters — left, right, and independent — say the costs outweigh the benefits. Organized people beat absent power. Every time. #Wisconsin #DataCenters #WIpolitics

Governor Tony Evers and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos struck a $1.8 billion bipartisan deal — paid out of Wisconsin’s $2.5 billion surplus, with the rainy day fund left alone. Brian Noonan on Daybreak: “Compromise is never perfect. That’s how compromise works.” The deal also kills state tax on cash tips and reverses the overtime tax veto. Tell us — does $300 change your month?

A Wisconsin worker. A serious head injury. A $5.5 million verdict against Menards in their own hometown of Eau Claire. Attorney Chris MacGillis joined Brian on Daybreak to explain how it happened — and what every working person in Wisconsin should know about their rights on the job. The short version from MacGillis: training matters. Supervision matters. And if something goes wrong, you have to have the courage to speak up. #Wisconsin #Daybreak #CivicMedia #WorkerSafety #EauClaire

Wisconsinites, brace yourselves. 🧀 The Cheese Queen of Wisconsin says the yellow curds are dyed. The white ones are the original. Pete and Greg are not okay.

May 1 in Wisconsin: at Ascension’s smaller hospitals in Brookfield, Franklin, and Mukwonago, the ICU specialist is now a screen on wheels. Brian’s 89-year-old mom — hearing-impaired — tried to talk to a rolling iPad in the ER. Jamie’s mom has congestive heart failure and has spent time in rural ICUs. This story is personal for a lot of Wisconsin families. Hospitalists, nurses, respiratory therapists, and ER docs are still on site. National quality standards still call for in-person ICU physicians. The bigger Ascension hospitals still have them. The smaller ones ... We already pay a lot for healthcare. What are we actually paying for? 💬 Have you been treated by a tele-ICU doctor in Wisconsin? Share your story.

$1.72. Every ticket. Every show. Every time. A Manhattan jury ruled that Live Nation and Ticketmaster ran an illegal monopoly at major concert venues — and overcharged fans on every ticket sold. A bipartisan coalition of 34 state attorneys general kept the case alive after the Justice Department settled. They won on every count.

When data centers come to Wisconsin, who covers the grid upgrades? Crowley’s plan, in his words: large users pay 100% of the tariff. They fund the infrastructure. The state brings on more solar and wind. And any excess from Focus on Energy goes to paying down rates for every utility customer. ”The community benefit shouldn’t just be in the communities these data centers are in. It should be a community benefit for every single municipality in Wisconsin.” — David Crowley #DataCenters #Wisconsin