CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - I often have a moment of pause when I can't figure out what a politician's game plan is. And I'm having one of those moments with Governor Tony Evers. Governor Evers proposed something last week that was non-sensical. He said his state budget, to be presented next month, will include a propos...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - We should be thankful that God is an expert about human nature. The things that God doesn't let us know are actually blessings. There's a movie from 1998 called Last Night, and while it is not a religious film, it tells us a lot about human nature. The premise of the movie is this: tonight, t...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Wausau will spend $400,000 on its homeless problem. I'm not sure if it will work, or if the money is going to the right entity. I hope I'm wrong. This is the city's last-best chance to address the issue. My first concern is that this is one-time money, an ARPA grant that expires in 2026. Thi...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - During Tony Evers first term, assembly speaker Robin Vos was asked a curious question. "How many times have you talked with Governor Evers?" The question is fair enough. Evers is a Democrat, Vos' Republican party controls the legislature. In a divided-government state, there would h...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - 'History repeats itself, first as tragedy, and then as farce.' Last week Joe Biden, farcically, awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney. It's an award for those who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. Liz Cheney's stated position...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - As Jimmy Carter is remembered this week, it's important to acknowledge that it's possible to be a good man and a horrible president. Carter was both. I admire that Carter lived out his faith with his annual building projects for Habitat for Humanity. Housing the homeless remains an unsolved c...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) Here are a few final thoughts about Christmas before we take down the tree and pack away the creche for the year. Let's spend a few moments contemplating two heroes of the faith: Mary and Joseph. Mary is a person of under-acknowledged courage. She's visited by an angel and is told that she wil...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Maybe you noticed the 15-second commercial during the Packers-Vikings game reminding us that spring football is coming. Just a few years ago there were two spring football leagues: the XFL, bankrolled by the National Football League, and USFL, where outside businessmen own the teams. It turns...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - This is my last Conley Commentary of 2024. I'll be on vacation for the rest of the year. People ask me what to expect in 2025. For certain, things will be different. So, through a sometimes cloudy crystal ball, here's what I expect in the new year. There's one part of Donald Trump's agenda ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - An email was sent out from the Portage County Humane Society this week. It said that four dogs are on the "kill list" - that is, the animals will be put down if they aren't adopted by the end of the year. The email was sent out by staff at the shelter, not the managers at the humane...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Love is the final Sunday of Advent, the last of the Sundays before Christmas. Having grown up in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, I will share with you some wisdom from Rabbi YY Jacobson. This applies to the many people who feel unloved this time of year. The Rabbi says there are essentiall...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - This was a small item on our newswire yesterday. Since it doesn't apply to our listening area, it didn't make it on-air. But I took note. In Eau Claire, water rates are going up 4%. The water works there says the typical residential bill will rise from $74 to $77 per quarter. While no one lik...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The school shooting yesterday at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison reminds me of a tragic story that I reported on many years ago. The only thing the two stories have in common is that in both cases the killer took their own life. Aside from the senseless killings, the suicide of the...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - We were told to cheer last week for the Vista Sands solar farm. It will be just outside of Plover, and will be the largest solar project in Wisconsin. What they don't tell you is that this will be some of the most expensive power in the state. There are two big problems with solar in our pa...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Sunday is the third week of Advent; the Sunday of Joy. So, raise your hand if you've had a joy deficit this year. My hand just went up. My finances have been tighter in the past year. My career, and my life in general have become more challenging in the past year. I'm healthy, but I'm aware ...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - On yesterday's WSAU Wisconsin Morning News, host Meg Ellefson offered a long list of dubious federally funded research. You and me - the taxpayers - fund university studies on how bumble bees behave when high on cocaine, on why monkeys use one hand and not another when throwing their feces, a...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - You've probably never heard of Garrick Dixon. He's one of the unknown... and unhoused in Wausau. On a cold night last month when temperatures dropped into the single-digits, he froze to death in Marathon Park. He was sleeping on a bench in one of the park shelters, and never woke up. His body...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The problem with the New York City subway is this: it's a 424 station insane asylum and homeless shelter on wheels. The liberals who run the city refuse to clean it up. If I were to take you on a tour, the long corridor that connects the Number 7 line with the Lexington Avenue line always ha...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) True confession: When I first moved to Central Wisconsin 20 years ago, I was going to buy a house in Merrill. Even then, Wausau's property taxes were higher than surrounding communities. Merill didn't work out for me and my family. As a smaller city, there was less housing stock on the market....

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - What does the Hunter Biden pardon have to do with Advent? Actually, a lot. Joe Biden loves his son Hunter Biden so much that he was willing to humiliate himself by pardoning him. Joe Biden swore up and down that he would not pardon his son on tax and gun charges. And then he did. President B...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - It's a beautiful summer night in Central Wisconsin. "No, I'm not going to the Woodchucks baseball game... parking is too difficult," said no one, ever. If you attend a Woodchucks game, you know that you park in the neighborhood or drive to the other side of the railroad tracks and p...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - There's more to be said about the Hunter Biden pardon. The public statements from the White House suggest that the President's brain has turned to mush. Joe Biden, in his written pardon statement, says the prosecution of his son was political. That his opponents were trying to damage him by p...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Barack Obama promised us that "if we liked our insurance plan we could keep our insurance plan, and if we liked our doctor we could keep our doctor." As Obamacare caused thousands of companies to drop health insurance altogether, or forced doctors from one network to another, the Pr...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - Reflect for a moment how often you heard news stories abot polls during last month's election cycle. This radio station regularly reported on the Marquette Law School poll - which month after month reported Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump. Wrong. The same poll also reported Senator Tammy B...

CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) - The central theme of the Jewish faith is waiting. Jews believe that God will send a Messiah to redeem his creation. They have waited in hope for that day to come. Christians believe that God sent us Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. And this Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, as we prepare ours...