WTMJ Conversations 2023: Top Stories of Wisconsin as told by Community Leaders

WTMJ Conversations 2023 – Developers Matt Rinka & Chad Griswold

Developers Matt Rinka & Chad Griswold joined Wisconsin’s Morning News to discuss the architecture landscape in Wisconsin.

Rink and Griswold are “designing the future” having designed many buildings that currently sit Downtown. One of those buildings, The Coutour apartments, is currently under construction.

“It’s an incredible experience,” Rinka said.” “Anytime you have a high-rise building that makes a mark on the skyline: it’s something special.”

Rink and Griswold also spoke on the philosophy behind their design strategy. One of the designs they talked about is the famous Milwaukee skyline near the Milwaukee Art Museum. According to Rinka, they design new buildings with past designs in mind.

“Always with context in mind,” Rinka said. “If you look at how The Coutour sits on the site, it’s really meant to be a beautiful back drop for the art museum, Discovery World and that lakefront skyline view we’re all so proud of.”

You can listen to the full conversation at the top of the page.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Skylight Music Theatre’s Susan & Andrew Varela

Interim Executive Director of Skyline Music Theatre Susan Varela and her husband, Broadway Performer, Andrew Varela joined Wisconsin’s Morning News to discuss the local arts scene in the Milwaukee. They also spoke on their path to Broadway and what’s to come at Skyline.

Susan credits her high school for properly preparing her for the stage.

“I can say with some certainty that Greendale High School has an expectational theater arts program because at one point there were four us, Greendale graduates, on Broadway at the same time,” Susan said.

According to Andrew, original pieces “don’t work” on the Broadway level.

“Because of the numbers…15, 20, $30 million to put a show together. So they want guarantees. So what’s very interesting, and I think this is what’s wonderful about Skyline. When you lower the price point, you lower the risk that people are taking to put on new works; you get more interesting stuff.”

You can listen to the full conversation up top.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Governor Tony Evers

Governor Tony Evers joined WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi to discuss the state of the State and his plans for the budget surplus.

According to Evers’, the state is in a good place “overall.”

“Economically, we’re good. The $7 billion surplus is the biggest we’ve had in our history. This particular budget, we’re actually paying for things instead of borrowing for things, building projects and so on.”

Evers wants to use part of the surplus for broadband expansion, in terms of “accessibility and affordability.”

“We have to get it done,” Evers said. “It’s like electricity. Our business count on it and our people count on it.”

He also dove in on the differences between his first term as governor compared to this current one.

“The concept of more stability…I think there’s less hard feelings,” Evers said. “I am meeting occasionally with the leadership and having conversations with them. I think the back-and-forth even outside of those meetings are reasonable. Is it going to always be that way on every issue? Absolutely not. But it’s different.”

Listen to the complete conversation in the podcast above.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz joined WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi and TMJ4’s Charles Benson to discuss her campaign and why “it’s so important” that she runs now.

“We need to get away from extremism,” Protaiewicz said. “We need to get away from extreme partisanship. For all of those reasons, not just the type of cases…but actually the institution itself.”

One of the hottest topics in the state right now is abortion and its legality. Protasiewicz has received endorsements from Emily’s List, who favors banning Wisconsin’s 1849 law. According to Protasiewicz, even with the endorsement, she’s not switching her philosophy on handling cases.

“I’m going to take an open-minded look at it while applying the law and following the constitution,” she said.

You can hear the full conversation at the top of the page.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly joined WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi and TMJ4’s Charles Benson to discuss his campaign run that’s been “enjoyable but busy.”

“What I’m hearing everywhere I go is, they want someone who’s going to be faithful to the constitution,” Kelly said. “[Someone] who’s going to uphold the law in every single case that we hear.”

Kelly said the people want their next Supreme Court Justice to be someone where there’s “no questions on what they’re about.”

Another big topic discussed was abortion and the state’s 1849 law. Benson asked Kelly about the Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee endorsing him. According to Kelly, the endorsement is based on his “judicial philosophy, not politics.”

“I will apply the existing law to resolve cases to the extent that it’s consistent with our constitution,” Kelly said.

You can hear the full conversation at the top of the page.

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates discuss judicial philosophies, key issues ahead of April election

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos

Wisconsin’s Assembly Speaker Robin Vos joined WTMJ Conversations and WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi to discuss his agreements and qualms with the Governor’s budget proposal.

Speaker Vos, who has butted heads with Gov. Evers for years now, said he doesn’t believe Evers’ budget is realistic.

“This idea that we are going to give massive increases in spending, even for very important priorities, is just devoid of reality. We are probably heading into a recession. So, we don’t want to overspend knowing that we are probably going to have less revenue than expected,” Speaker Vos said.

Speaker Vos cited a 25% increase in spending as well as “massive tax increases” as his general reasoning behind his opposition of Gov. Evers’ budget.

You can hear the complete conversation above and read the full article below.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos discusses Gov. Evers’ budget proposal, Wisconsin’s historic surplus

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Mayor Cavalier Johnson

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson came prepared to answer the hard-hitting questions on today’s hot-button issues.

“My favorite professional wrestler of all time is none other than the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels,” Johnson said.

Johnson was in-studio at The Avenue as part of WTMJ Conversations, and the mayor discussed his lifelong love of professional wrestling – and why he loved Michaels specifically.

“He is just an incredible, incredible performer,” he said. “He’s like the Michael Jordan of wrestling, in my opinion.”

Johnson’s wife Dominique added that her favorite wrestler currently on the WWE roster is Seth Rollins and her favorite of all time is Triple H.

Details are set to be released in the near future.

You can hear the full fun conversation in the podcast above.

You can also read about it below. https://wtmj.com/news/2023/03/01/wrestling-fan-cavalier-johnson-wants-more-wwe-in-mke/

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Brewers General Manager Matt Arnold

Brewers General Manager Matt Arnold joined WTMJ’s Greg Matzek to discuss on his new role as President of Baseball Operations after David Stearns stepped down in October of 2022

. Arnold said the transition has been seamless as “majority of the staff” have been together for “about 8 years.”

“It’s more of the same, I would say,” Arnold said. “In a lot of ways of just having continuity around me. You know, continuing to engage with our staff.”

Arnold also spoke on the high payrolls within the MLB. The conversation landed on the Mets, who have the highest in the league at $336,143,332. Which is “roughly $200 million more than the league average.” He said the Brewers “have to work within real constraints” being the smallest market in the MLB. However “they always have the support of ownership to go above and beyond that.”

“The challenging part of what we really have to do is navigate the landscape here,” Arnold said. “I think that our ownership has provided us very real resources for a number of years, I think, to be competitive here. We’ve run record payrolls here for many years . We also recognize that we are the smallest market in the big leagues.”

You can hear the full conversation above.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Annex Wealth Management’s Dave Spano

Annex Wealth Management’s Dave Spano joined WTMJ’s Jeff Wagner to discuss last year’s stock market and what investors should be looking forward to in 2023.

One of the biggest problems investors face is “asset allocation.”

“We had a year where interest rates were rising both stock and bonds did very poorly, in fact, its the worst year for a 60/40 mix in decade.”

“However,” Spano said, “Right now…there are some people, especially fixed income managers, who are drooling over the opportunity when they look at a 2-year treasury that’s paying 4.5 – 5 percent. That’s significant.”

Listen to the full conversation up top.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Brewers Outfielder Garrett Mitchell

Technically, he’s still considered a prospect, but Garrett Mitchell is the odds on favorite to begin the regular season as the Brewers starting centerfielder.

Mitchell, who appeared in twenty-four games for the Brewers last season, was a first-round draft pick of the Brewers out of UCLA in 2020.

Recently married, Mitchell opened up about his development as a player, and how he manages type-1 diabetes.

Related Content: Exclusive conversation with Brewers GM Matt Arnold

You can listen to complete conversation above. Also, you can read about it down below.

Power couple: Brewers’ Garrett Mitchell talks being half of a baseball/softball marriage

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Bucks President Peter Feigin and Milwaukee Business Journal’s Mark Kass

Bucks President Peter Feigin and Milwaukee Business Journal’s Mark Kass joined WTMJ Conversations discussing the Bucks, their future, reckless driving, etc.

The big news in NBA world is Bucks’ billionaire co-owner Marc Lasry agreeing to sell his stake of the team to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam for $3.5billion.

“We only think about the prospect of constantly improving and kind of growing and going after trophy and rings in a big way,” Feigin said. “I think Wes [Edens], Mark [Lasry] and Jamie [Dinan] have been very clear about that.”

Kass spoke on the the perception of Milwaukee as a dangerous city.

“You think about the individuals that live in Hartland, who live out in Oconomowoc who see that,” Kass said. “Who live in Eagle River, who live in Fond du Lac and they see that and they’re saying ‘I’m not coming to Milwaukee, I’m scared.’ I hear it from my relatives who live throughout the state. They’re scared of Milwaukee. Which is crazy because I live downtown and I’ve never had an issue. I mean I have not had one issue. But it doesn’t mater if that’s what’s in the news and it’s happening because it clearly is.”

You can listen to the full conversation at the top of the page.

WTMJ Conversations 2023: Former Judge Derek Mosley, TMJ4 News Director Tim Vetscher, TMJ4’s Steve Chamraz and 101.7 The Truth’s Dr. Ken Harris

Former Judge Derek Mosley, TMJ4 News Director Tim Vetscher, TMJ4’s Steve Chamraz and 101.7 The Truth’s Dr. Ken Harris to discuss reckless driving.

According to Mosley, he’s had a “front row seat” to the dangers of reckless driving through personal experience.

“As a judge, I got hit by somebody coming to court to see me,” Mosley said. “And they were rushing to get there and actually hit me. And so when I got out of the car, she’s crying. I’m like ‘are you okay?’ She said ‘yes I’m coming to see you today.’ I have a front row seat to all of it and its progressively gotten worse.”

You can hear the full conversation among all 4 gentlemen in the podcast above.

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