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Efforts being made to keep surplus livestock in the food supply after disruption of the meat packing industry

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Steps are being taken to try and lessen the impact of the disruption of the meat processing supply chain in the state. (

UW-Extension Meat Specialist Jeffrey Sindelar says business groups and farm agencies have been working around the clock to try and get more animals to market. 

“Across the state of Wisconsin nearly all the small meat processors have been contacted to say, ‘hey, could you do you harvest a few more head?'”

He says the problem is one of scale, and that there’s thousands of thousands of surplus livestock that need to be harvested before they’re culled for other purposes.

“There’s lots of interest. It’s just that the ability to do a lot and really make a difference in the total number of animals that really need to be processed, that’s the greater challenge.”

“Every animal that is born and raised for food production, if it’s not being utilized for food production it’s a waste,” says Sindelar. “And that waste is something that is really driving all the people that are trying to find ways to not waste those animals.”

He says that the UW is even stepping up at its own processing facilities to try and handle the surplus. 

Senator Baldwin introduces new bill to offer more pandemic relief to farmers

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Senator Tammy Baldwin is looking to increase relief funding to farmers being harmed by disruptions in the nation’s food supply chains.

Baldwin says her new Farming Support to States Act would directly help farmers whose main sources of sales are cut off during the pandemic response. She cites the examples of dairy farmers who usually sell to outfits that supply large food service partners.

“And these large-scale buyers, because of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, their orders have dropped off at least like a cliff.”

Since dairy farms are always producing milk, being unable to sell that product has lead to milk dumping, among other issues. 

“Many farmers in Wisconsin are finding they have to dump milk and there’s nothing more heartbreaking than that for somebody who worked hard to produce a high-quality nutritious product.”)

Baldwin says that even the smallest bump in the supply chain can cause massive disruptions, when the food industry is tooled to be as streamlined as possible.

 

UW-Madison research examines how people think about the news and fact-checking

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UW-Madison research is shedding some light on just what people are learning from the news, and how it’s presented can change their views.

Journalism professor Mike Wagner says while most news stories usually present both sides of a political view, fact checks break that rule. 

“Fact-checking says Governor Evers said this and it is or isn’t true, Speaker Vos that this and that it is or isn’t true. So it’s taking a side. It’s taking a side that they verify with transparently produced evidence.”

Wagner says that just a change in labelling can make a difference. 

“When a story is labeled a fact check people pay more attention to it and do a better job being able to say what the truth is then when the same story is presented to them but not labeled a fact check.”

The same research also shows that people also have a tendency to claim a story is more biased when it is labeled a fact check as well, but Wagner says that’s just how journalism tends to work in the digital age. 

“Most fact-checkers are basically trying to take newsworthy claims made by people in positions of power and seeing if they’re true or not so when one party has the presidency that side gets more scrutiny.”

Disabled voters file federal lawsuit over botched ballots and voting in Spring Election

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A group of disabled Wisconsinites is filing a lawsuit against the state elections commission over its handling of the Spring Elections.

The lawsuit is being filed by a group of immunocompromised voters who were either forced to go to the polls in person on April 7th or had issues casting their absentee ballots.

The federal lawsuit, filed with the help of the group Protect Democracy, seeks to have absentee ballots sent to all voters in the presidential election in November, to ensure that the elections commission is ready to get poll workers to everywhere in the state, and to increase in person absentee voting opportunities. 

It’s okay to not feel okay, says Madison College doctor

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As the days of Safer At Home continue to stretch together, it’s important to take some time to work on your mental well being

Doctor Carola Pfortner with Madison College says one good step is to find a routine for yourself to help make time pass more regularly. 

“Some people feel comfortable making just a list. What are the three things I want to accomplish today rather than then having everything?”

She says that moment of routine is important to help ground both your emotions and your place in the world. “Where can I set up some fun points during the day, what kind of routines can I have, who can I connect with?”

She says the most important thing to remember is that it’s okay to not feel okay right now, and that you are allowed to take some time to feel out of place. “There’s pressure and real fears on essential workers, and those people who have existing disabilities or mental health concerns already, that will of course intensify that.”

She says that if you’re having a crisis that it’s important to find someone to talk to, either a trusted friend or a mental health professional. Many are offering either phone or virtual meetings right now, so contact your insurer to find someone to talk with.

State nears start of Badger Bounce Back plan as COVID-19 infections slow down

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There’s more signs that the state will be opening up businesses sooner, rather than later, under the Governor’s Badger Bounce Back Plan.

New numbers from the Department of Health Services show that the state is now meeting 5 out of the 6 criteria that are needed to start rolling back the Governor’s Safer at Home orders.

The percentage of positive COVID-19 detections is down across the state over the past two weeks and hospitals say they’re ready to handle more cases without causing a crisis in their facilities.

There were 193 new cases reported on Tuesday, with 9 more deaths.

Northwoods TV station calls for dismissal of Trump Campaign lawsuit

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A Northwoods TV station is calling a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign frivolous.

The Trump administration filed suit last month against WJFW in Rhinelander over a political ad that aired which sought to tie President Trump’s words against the rising death toll of COVID-19.

The campaign called it defamatory, but WJFW says long standing First Amendment protections absolve them of wrongdoing. They state that a political opinion is protected and that his campaign has no standing to sue. They’re asking the federal court to dismiss the suit entirely. 

Tempers flare in State Supreme Court during oral arguments over Safer At Home lawsuit

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There were a lot of heated arguments on Tuesday as the State Supreme Court heard oral arguments over a challenge to Governor Evers Safer at Home order.

GOP Attorney Ryan Walsh argued that allowing DHS Secretary Andrea Palm to issue indefinite orders during a pandemic is an unconstitutional power grab.

“If the governor can use his Public Health secretary to exercise the police power over the state indefinitely the governor would never agree to any legislation, why would he agree to legislation?”

Assistant Attorney General Colin Roth says the legislature already has given the Governor the power to handle health crises. 

“And the idea that because the statute is passed under the legislature’s police power that the individual acts of execution under that police power statute are somehow legislative power I think it’s absurd. All you have to do is look at the criminal law statutes.”

Republicans want the court to strike down the order, but not right away, says Attorney Walsh.“Your honor, everyone understands that such an order would be absolutely devastating and extraordinarily unwise, and that is exactly why the legislature is asking for a six day stay of any order.”

Legislative Republicans want D H S Secretary Andrea Palm to meet with them to craft rules for the order, which could take two weeks to complete. Roth says that request is indicative of how Republicans feel about the case. “I think you can tell from the concession, that the order should be stayed, that the legislature has made. You understand exactly why they made that concession, because people will die if it disorder is enjoined with nothing to replace it.”

Roth was using the outbreak in Brown County as an example of why taking weeks to craft orders would be dangerous when Chief Justice Patience Roggensack said that was a special case. 

“That was due to the meatpacking, though. That’s where Brown County got the flare. It just wasn’t just the regular folks in Brown County.”

There were plenty of heated questions and positions laid out by the conservative members of the court. Justice Rebecca Bradley compared the state’s Safer At Home Order to the US Supreme Court’s Korematsu decision which legalized the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. 

“And that justified and I’m quoting assembling together and placing under guard all those of Japanese ancestry in assembly centers during World War II. Could the secretary under this broad delegation of legislative power or legislative like power order people out of their homes into centers where they are properly socially distanced in order to combat this pandemic?”

Justices met Tuesday evening in closed session but have not yet issued a decision in the case.

Head of state grocery association wants Governor Evers to consider WMC plan

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The head of the Wisconsin Grocers Association is hoping things get better soon when it comes to Safer At Home, but he doesn’t want to rush things.

CEO Brandon Scholz says that while it would be nice to just open up all of Wisconsin’s businesses, there’s got to be controls in place to keep people safe.

“That’s more than reasonable to expect. The Department of Health Services has got to keep the pressure on to diminish the spread and and limited and it eventually stop it.”

Scholz says the Back to Business plan laid out by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce offers up a good guideline to start with. 

“We do believe that it’s important to get Wisconsin back moving again, and we agree with the governor too that this just isn’t going to happen overnight. You have to take steps to get there.”

“We think those are things that can be done in conjunction with other steps to bring people back to work to bring their spending back into our economy to get people off unemployment rolls, says Scholz.

He says that while some of his member stores have started requesting that customers wear masks inside, he won’t be putting out that recommendation, and wants to leave it up to his members to decide. 

First falcons of the season hatch at We Energies power plant

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There’s two new additions to the family at a power plant near Milwaukee.

We Energies says the first two peregrine falcons of the season have hatched at Valley Power Plant. Spokeswoman Allison Trouy says it’s a fresh piece of good news. 

“The rest of us are kind of dealing with some crazy times, but nature is going on just as it normally does so it’s really nice and refreshing I think to be able to watch these birds live out their lives.”

Since the nesting program started in the mid nineties, more than 400 falcons have been born, raised and banded at power plants in Wisconsin. 

“You know we want to make the communities where we live and serve a better place, and this is one way of doing that by helping to restore an endangered species in Wisconsin,” says Trouy. 

Those nest boxes make the perfect habitat for the endangered birds, because they live and hunt in high places along rivers where many of the state’s power plants are located.

You can help name the birds this year by voting online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SquawktheVote.