4P: The October State of Mind

0:00Many people feel in close to retirement ask themselves, do I have enough? Am I missing something? At diversified wealth strategies, we provide clarity during our complimentary no-pressure consultation. We're independent advisors using big firm tools with a boutique style approach. And no, crickets! We stay in touch so you're never left wondering. At diversified wealth strategies, let us show you how to capture the upside, limit the downside, and feel good inside. Visit dwstrategies.com Securities and investment services offer through Z8 wealth, Inc. member, ThinRat, SIFC. Z8 wealth is separately owned and under entities and remarking names, products, services, reference, tiered art, independent of OZ8 wealth. The countdown to October is on. It's not a magical season. And we ain't done yet. And Milwaukee is ready to rally. What a blessed center! Where's this one going to land? All the way to Lake Michigan. I from America and Family Field. This is Wisconsin's afternoon news. Now here are your hosts, John McEur and Julia Fellow. That sounds good, John.

1:00Yeah, it's the rally for October here at American Family Field. The fans are in. Barrel Man is here. He's right here, like hanging out with us. We had Bernie in here, too. It's a good-looking barrel. Bernie was here. The sausages are out here. The folks are here. There's a lot of fun stuff. If you want to come out to American Family Field, there's still time and room for you. So come on out. We're here until five o'clock. And then Brewer's baseball takes place. And they're even showing the games out here. I know, really big screens. It's gonna be cool. So rally for October. So come on out. There is still time for you to get out to American Family Field where they're, by the way, given away a lot of really cool stuff outside the stadium. Hey, today was a big day in the city government realm. The budget, the mayor's budget was proposed today. WTMJ's Adam Roberts is with us in the studio. Hey, you, too. With a couple of details. Yeah, be curious to see what Barrel Man thinks of the property tax levy. But it is a big budget this year for the mayor. To the tune of two and a quarter billion dollars from Mayor Cavalier Johnson, you know, a lot of budgets under Johnson's

2:00administration. He's been mayor for a number of years now. It's been a lot of doom and gloom at City Hall. This one as the mayor spoke earlier today, felt a bit more measured, but there were still warnings of potential bigger financial problems for the city in the years ahead. Largely, the mayor said during his speech today, do the fact that for years, the cities come to overly rely on dipping into reserve funds. This is not a short term problem and tapping into reserves, reserves is not going to be a sustainable approach. We must be physically responsible in this year and in the years ahead. So rapid fire around here through some of the highlights. Under the budget, the property tax levy goes up by two percent as we talked about on the show on Monday. There would be a big push to fix the darn roads in Milwaukee. 19.2 million dollars allocated there. Johnson telling reporters after his speech, he'd like to put even more money in it, but there is, of course, this common reframing budget cycles, navigating limited state shared revenue. Right now we've got about $800 million in deferred maintenance on our roadways.

3:04Because of decisions that happen at other levels of government when I was 12 years old. But I have to deal with the realities that we currently have right now. And that's what we're doing. That road increase will be funded through upticks in street parking permits and across the board, parking ticket costs, hike and parking meter rates would also go up to $3 an hour. There would be some cuts to some city library services as well. But also investments in a new midtown branch in the city. There's also the requirements from Act 12. You have to have a certain number of law enforcement and fire department hires. So all of this is now on the table. And the important steps now come as we are in budget season. So the Finance and Personnel Committee will take up the amendments from council members on the 29th of October. And the full council will take those up November 6th. The American then issue vetoes. And it all comes together on November 24th. By the way, anybody who's listening and wants to weigh in their thoughts on the budget. There are a couple of public opportunities. October 5th at City Hall.

4:04And also at the Historic Mitchell Street Library on October 17th. That's a Saturday morning. WTMJ's Adam Roberts. All right, Adam. Thank you very much. You bet. Oh, man. It's time to get caught up on the green and gold with today's insider host of Green Bay game day on ESPN Wisconsin. Alex Stroh. Stroh. How you doing? I'm good, guys. We're coming off the win this weekend. So that's, uh, yeah, we are. It's at least got me a little bit more positive than I was a week ago. Yep, I agree. The Packers are one and one. It doesn't feel that way. Are they better or worse than a one and one football team do you believe? They're probably right there. Uh, there's clearly so many flaws about this team. Obviously that offensive line gets worse today with the news that Zach Bakker-Bowell, they will be out the rest of the season. They're probably the best offensive line. And at the right tackle position. So that's certainly not ideal. But they feel like a one and one team. They haven't played particularly well. They played a bad team last week and escaped to the win.

5:06And over time on the road, they play another bad team on third day. But hopefully that allows them as they continue to get, you know, more experience with whoever's amongst that offensive line together. They can be a better team because there's still pieces about this team that you look at and go, Hey, it's really good. But there's also other pieces where you go, oh, I really hope that gets better. And we will see if it does beginning Thursday. It was nice seeing Micah Parsons on the sidelines too. I know he'd have like the coach had said on or anything, but it looked like he was really, you know, being a cheerleader on the side. Yeah, totally. I caught I caught that too, Julia. And you know, they showed a really lengthy portion of that when he was on the bench coaching up Lucas Van S. Who went on to have the best game of his career, which was awesome to see. So you're absolutely right. That guy's a great leader, despite not being named to put on, quote, a team captain this year. But you know how much he means that defense, even when he's not on the field. You could see that coming through the TV screen the other day. I got to ask you about the penalties. I don't want to spend all this segment going back to what happened. 17 penalties, 14 are accepted against the Packers.

6:08More penalties than first downs in the first half. I know Coach LaFlure is not on the field, but at some point is the lack of discipline a reflection of his leadership? Yeah, because it's not one consistent issue. And I don't know if I'd feel better if it was, right? But you're seeing so many different penalties from unnecessary roughness to full start, to off sides, et cetera, et cetera. The Packers are first in the league in total penalties or total flags. Total penalties accepted and penalty yards through two weeks, which is certainly not an encouraging sign. Now thankfully they're one in one. They've gotten a win in there. But to rank first in all those categories, it at least partially has to be a reflection of the head coach. This is a really undisciplined group through two weeks. Can it get better? Yes. But I don't know how quickly. Well, I mean, what has gotten better compared to last season, at least so far, is our kicker. Trace Mackie seems to be doing good. And this was, that was a really big under-the-pressure moment. Yeah, it was awesome to see him deliver, Julie. You're absolutely right. Because he had such a really, it's such a good preseason at large, right? I mean, he

7:08made every one of his kicks in preseason games, struggled in practices, but was really good in the games. He missed one in week one. He missed that extra point. Now, hopefully he's just got the one miss for the year out of the way, right? Hopefully he makes them all the rest of the way. But they see a rookie delivering a big spot, a game-winning spot like that. Was it encouraging sign for a guy like Trace Mack? So I told you guys in the preseason, everybody take a deep breath. It's encouraging, but we can't get too excited about him. Now we've seen him make a game winner. So you're allowed to get excited about him. You have my permission. I love it. I love it. He's got the best name of any kicker in the league, too. I know. You're right. Jayden Reed's scary injury. Don't know how long he'll be out. How important is he to the wide receiver core? Yeah, he's, he's their slot receiver. So he plays a crucial role in that offense. He probably plays the third most amount of snaps between him, Golden and Watson, because Golden and Watson are more everyday guys. But he is super crucial in three wide receiver sets. So I'm curious to see how they fill that role. If it's with the undrafted free agent, rookie, they kept in Jay Michael Sturdavant. If it's that kick and putt returner sky more, who I know people have mixed

8:11feelings about him. Do they want him on offense? Or do they just want him to shine on special teams like he did in multiple spots on Sunday? So we'll see how they fill that role. But you saw how that Packers offense kind of derailed without him last year, ironically. Also, it was a week two injury for him. He broke his collarbone a week two of last season against Washington. So he was out for a large chunk of the season last year. My fingers are crossed. It won't be quite as long as it was a year ago. But as they took this lesses more approach in the wide receiver room, this off season, you really hope to have all those guys healthy and on the field. And already that won't be the case. What's your prediction for this Thursday? I think at Lane is the worst team in the league, Julia. And I'm not being hyperbolic. I'm not kidding. I think they are the worst team in the league. So the Packers get on their home field for the first time this season. Yeah. Get in front of the home fans. I hope this offense can roll a little bit because it's been a tough watch the first two weeks offensively, especially in a Jets game. It just felt like nothing was going their way. So hopefully they can establish the run game a little bit more this week.

9:12And Jordan Love can get back on the right side of things and really own that game because this feels like a game that could be blow out potential for Green Bay. Yeah, Alex, this is supposed to be the easy part of the schedule, right? Is the first quarter part of the schedule the easy part when you look at the 17 games? Yeah, I would say in terms of the opponents because that back half of the schedule is loaded with teams that have super bowl aspirations. Talk about Buffalo, talk about the Rams you saw Monday night last night. The Texans are on that part of the schedule. Now I know they're not off to a great start, but they have one of the best defenses in the league. And oh, yeah, by the way, you're in the same division as Minnesota, Chicago and Detroit who all have realistic playoff if not championship expectations. So this is what has been viewed as the easiest part of the schedule. Johnny, yes, but I think the reason we go, this should be the easy part is because they don't have their best player in my comparison. So they're off to a fine start. One in one is fine. You'll take that. It's much better than 0 and 2 if they can get to 2 and 1 and even 3 and 1 when they go to Tampa the following week on a long week arrest. You're hoping you're going into week five against Chicago going. All right, they're in a good spot. They're three and one.

10:16And right now it feels like they are very much in a solid place to be able to accomplish that. While speaking of the Bears, can we talk about Caleb Williams for a second? Sure. There's a lot of memes making fun of his hamstring injury. Does he deserve that? I mean, because I thought that he was out. He's soft. I mean, he acted like he got shot and now he's weak to weak. Look, as much as much crap as I have historically talked about both him and the Chicago Bears at large, I just will never go to the place on injuries. I imagine I would react similarly if I hurt my hamstring and I cared as much, you know, like he did react. I thought my fiance was sleeping when it happened to woke up and I said, yeah, Williams is done for the area towards the killings because I saw his face. Right. And then the news comes out. He might play as soon as Monday, simply not what you expect from a reaction like that when he's flopping around the field and has to get carted off. But again, I've never pulled my hammy. I imagine it doesn't feel good. I have. I have to. I have to. And I didn't scream like a little girl. I can tell you that.

11:21I mean, I ripped mine and I wasn't well. I was a lot more than just in this job than week to week. You're going on the record with this. Their other quarterback is now in concussion protocol. So they may be looking for a quarterback. You might be on the short list if you keep talking that way. Well, I won't like their little number 18 does. I'm telling you that. All right, Alex strove the host of Green Bay Game Day. Can I say that? I don't know. Hey, Alex, you're welcome. Wisconsin's afternoon news on WTMJ. Where are we having fun out here? Incredible. It is the rally for October at American Family Field. The folks are streaming in here. Lots of free stuff being given away. There's games being played. There's food. There's drink. There's Elizabeth Linton in WTMJ's Elizabeth Linton in has been out having fun while we've been in the studio doing the show watching the people go by. What have you done? What's it like out there? It's packed. It's absolutely packed with very excited fans. The first thing we did when we

12:21got here was we went and talked to a bunch of them in line just hearing how excited they are. I talked to 10-year-old Dawson who says he's the biggest Bruce fan there is. It was very, very sweet. Then we got some of those exclusive post-season t-shirts. They're yellow. They say win our way on them. They're with our digital team right now, but we got a whole bunch of those. We took a look at those custom shoes that everyone's getting their hands on. Do you like it? Yeah, they're cool. They're cool. Okay. Yeah. What are they going for? Do you know? I do not know. Off the top of my head. I do not know. Hey, how much of those cool shoes cost? How much were your shoes? 160. 160. Oh my god. I thought it was 120. Wow. Yeah. Seems appropriate, but they're beautiful. They are gorgeous. They are special for sure. But then I also got my hands on a clip. So the Barrel Man lemonade. Yeah. It's got him on there. I played some bags. The sausages are out and about. Like this. You're busy. I saw by a lot of different things. They're those little pop-able treats for free. Yes. They're going around with like cards. They're all. I believe they're poly-pala-teras. I think that's what they're called. Yeah, polyterias. Blue and yellow. He's running

13:23around. He's got his little cart full of them. They're brewery themed of course. And then obviously everyone here also gets first dibs on postseason tickets. So that's super excited. That is really cool. What we're encouraging people to do if they're out here to watch the game is listen to the game on WTMJ while the game's on the big screen. Can you talk about what the screens look like? Marty Ronsky, the COO, was telling them. They're not just TVs. What does it look like over there? They're bigger. They're much, much bigger than a TV. They're like it's almost jumbo-tron size. There's one. There's like a big middle area with like brewers rocking chairs and like picnic tables where you can set up like folding chairs and stuff. And that's where they've kind of got the main screen. And then yeah, there's a couple other you know screens throughout but that's kind of the main screen sort of right in the middle of all the action. So it's right on this side. The I don't know. North side of the kids play area, which is a giant cow and brand new. It's like right in the middle of all of the action. There also next to a cheese carver. She's carf. Really? Bernie Brewers head out of. Oh my gosh. Really? I had that. Oh, that's pretty.

14:24There's Nancy. She's lovely. She said that she just stumbled into it one day. She has a day job and this is just what she does for fun. You just woke up one day and decided I'm going to car. Apparently she was really good at carving pumpkins. And so someone suggested she's to her. That's good. That's stuck. But she's one of the only two artists in the US that do cheese carving at the scale that they do. No, yeah, no, I'm serious. Can you eat cheese that she carries over there? I mean, yeah, if it's not. Well, if I am not actually sure, she didn't offer me any scraps. Although I kind of wish she would have them a big cheese fan. But it's a good question. Is it sharp cheese? Yeah, it's sharp Wisconsin cheddar. She gets these like big like blocks that kind of look like clay of it. I love seeing the. Yeah, so good. I love seeing the clothes people are wearing. Me too. Everyone. Yeah, everyone's. There's a wide variety of outfits that I've seen up there. I've seen people in like full baseball uniform to be honest with you. You know, it feels like out here. It feels like a playoff atmosphere. It feels like if you show up for a playoff game, what it's like. Everybody walking around. Everybody in a great mood. All those. You're on. We know what's going to happen.

15:25Yeah, that's what everyone's saying. I've asked everyone today one question and it's are we going all the way and they say absolutely. No one has any doubt. Yeah, we have sources here that tell us if we get to a hundred that there's going to be some hundred T-shirts. Yeah, that's right. New special gear is going to come out that could happen after this weekend. It's going to be very exciting. So fingers crossed on that front. There's still time. Come on out here. It is the rally for October at American Family Field. Come on out here. They're giving away lots of free stuff and you can also buy food. You can buy drinks and you can watch the game out here. I would just say dressing layers because it's kind of windy on this side of the building. It's a little chilly. Not so bad though. It's the sun is out and it's dry. It is dry compared to what's going on in Philly right now. Yeah, we're keeping our eye on that. So there is rain in Philadelphia right now. They have not yet delayed the game. So we will begin our coverage coming up here in about 15 minutes but keep it to WTMJ, the mobile app WTMJ.com and we'll keep you updated on what that rain situation

16:27in Philadelphia looks like. WTMJ is a living with Linton and thank you. Yeah, anytime. This is so fun.