UW-La Crosse political scientist Chergosky on school cellphone bans, pickleball lawsuits and federal, state budgets

UW-La Crosse political science professor, Dr. Anthony Chergosky on school cellphone bans, pickleball noise lawsuits and Republicans trying to pass budgets federally and in Wisconsin without Democrats. 

La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.

We started La Crosse Talk with the race in Wisconsin’s 3rd District for US House, as candidate Emily Berge was on the hour before. There are three Democrats in the race so far — Laura Benjamin and Rebecca Cooke being the other two — while Derrick Van Orden is the lone Republican at this point.

After that, we hit on the federal budget and how US Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) says there aren’t enough cuts to reduce the federal deficit — ignoring what tax cuts might do — while other Republicans (and all Democrats) aren’t on board with cuts to social programs.

In the second segment, we examined a peculiar tactic by Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, saying he needs an in-person meeting with Gov. Tony Evers before moving forward on a tax cut plan. This is part of Republicans in the state Legislature trying to pass a budget and the lack of trust between the GOP and Evers, who can use his veto pen after he gets their plan. There’s also an angle here where Republicans might need Democrats to pass a budget, but would they dare try and work together?

We then took a break from politics to talk about another weird Minnesota story where a community is at odds with each other over people playing pickleball on tennis courts and there being complaints about the noise that brings. This comes two weeks after we talked about a Minnesota woman suing her neighbor because the kids were playing basketball in the driveway and she could see them — and hear them — from her kitchen window. 

We also, somehow, turned the pickleball lawsuit into a housing crisis conversation. 

Lastly, we talked about school cellphone bans and how Wisconsin school districts have an array of different policies, including La Crosse. This conversation stems from a Wisconsin Policy Forum report on the issue, plus the state Legislature possibly banning cellphones in schools statewide.

We also got Chergosky’s opinion on cellphones in the college classroom.