Category Archives: Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

April 16: Life in the 119th Congress

Posted on April 21, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Rich Leffler

Congressman Mark Pocan explained to us the political conditions in this, our Trumpian Moment. Most of the tax cuts will eventually come out of Medicaid, etc., and go to the top 1%. DOGE will cut much less than its claimed $1 trillion of spending. Expect cuts in Social Security. Tariffs are chaotic, make no sense, “a monkey throwing dung.” So far, the legal system is defending the rule of law.

There is little resistance to these policies by Congressional Republicans, out of fear of Trump and concern for their families’ safety. An insightful question, was asked: What about resistance by Congressional Democrats to Trumpian authoritarianism? No answer was attempted.

If you missed our meeting last week, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/KFGcGwDGmDw.

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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April 9: Passing the Citizenship Test

Posted on April 14, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Rich Leffler

Caitlin Mackesey, head of the ESL and the Citizenship programs of the Literacy Network and a former student, now instructor, Alejandra Munoz Contreras, spoke to us of the effort to help immigrants prepare for the tests to become American citizens. They gave a pop quiz of some of the questions from the official test, which a sizable percentage of Rotarians could not answer correctly. Questions in Civics, U. S. government, and history. In addition, competence in reading, in writing, and in speaking must be demonstrated. Classes and tutoring are offered. Fifty people in the program became citizens last year and, so far, 18 this year. A great program, you say? The federal government just cancelled their $70,000 grant, with no notice.

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Posted in Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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April 2: Innovation at the WI Dept of Revenue

Posted on April 7, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Rich Leffler

Dave Casey, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and a fellow Rotarian, offered us a view of the Department’s complexity of data collections and the innovative software that it uses to serve the public efficiently and securely: It is “a full-on service organization.” Amazon Connect listens to 700,000+ telephone calls and summarizes them for staff, cutting call times and wait times. “Call Sentiment” detects when callers are angry, allowing intervention. Amazon Q will be able to answer questions. Google Document is 99% accurate in reading documents. Direct File plus Wis. Tax creates a tax return. Taxpayers only have to OK it. Security is a concern, but Google Info is on premises; Amazon is on the cloud and only Wisconsin can access it. But the IRS? That’s a worry: will it make our information available to ICE?

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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March 26: Focused Interruption Shares Story of Gun Violence Intervention

Posted on March 28, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Valerie Renk

Anthony Cooper and Mark Cash

We show up at the hospital when gun violence victims and families need answers and support. We show up when police, during developing situations, ask for help verbally de-escalating a potentially violent situation.
That’s how Anthony Cooper, Sr, Founder/CEO, described some of the work of Focused Interruption. Their gun violence prevention programs include this outreach plus:

• Community Safety Work
• Mentorship
• Aftercare & Recovery

Cooper said they partner with hospitals, community groups, government and law enforcement. He concluded saying the organization’s goal is to improve lives by interrupting cycles of violence and trauma in communities.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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March 12: Kwik Trip’s Story is Purpose and Passion

Posted on March 14, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Valerie Renk

John McHugh shared Kwik Trip’s mission isn’t to sell gas or donuts, but to increase loyalty through culture for their 11.5 million weekly guests. To find staff with this “golden rule” culture baked in, their first three interview questions are:

  1. Tell me about your last random act of kindness.
  2. How have you treated others last month with the golden rule?
  3. How did you help others last week?

This culture helped make Kwik Trip/Kwik Star the 88th best US employer last year, while paying a 12% cash bonus plus 4.8% retirement contribution to every associate.

If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/reD7zBUdZDY.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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February 19: Climate Change in Wisconsin

Posted on February 21, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Larry Larrabee

Steve Vavrus, Director of the Wisconsin Climatology Office, shared numerous fascinating, but critical, facts about our state’s changing climate. He summarized his message as “warmer and wetter.” Significant increases in costs for major weather events have climbed as the state went from an average of two such events per year into the 1980’s to 2 events per month. Winter has seen the most increase in temperatures, especially in northwest Wisconsin. Dr. Vavrus said we can expect more heat waves and for winters to be even wetter with increased amounts of rain in single events.

If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/Xi-ZrBGpw9c.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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