Wisconsin News and Sports
Kwik Trip is selling products containing CBD. The La Crosse-based chain of convenience stores announced last week that it will sell lotions, creams, balms, and even vape pens which contain CBD.
Proponents of CBD say it can treat anxiety, relieve pain, and even clear up acne. It purportedly provides all the health benefits of cannabis, but not THC, the chemical in marijuana that gets you high.-
World Dairy Expo in Madison (File photo: Andrew Beckett)
A high profile project in Madison will have to advance without state funding. In March, Governor Tony Evers announced $30-million in his proposed capital budget, towards redevelopment at Dane County’s Alliant Energy Center. It’s the main facility for the World Dairy Expo each year.
But this week Republicans on the legislature’s budget panel eliminated that money. A disappointed Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said: “The state has always recognized the importance of the Alliant Energy Center to the entire state, and particularly to our ag community.”
Parisi said World Dairy Expo has a statewide impact, and attracts many visitors to Wisconsin. “We’ve been responsible for the debt service for 20 years on the center. The new pavilion, which is responsible for keeping World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, has been a partnership between the state and Dane County.”
Among the $600 million requested by Governor Tony Evers that Republicans cut from state building budgets this week — included the redevelopment funds for the center.
The county had planned to raise an additional $47-million for improvements at Alliant. Parisi said that will be difficult absent the state funding.
Wisconsin has joined a lawsuit to block the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. Alleging it is anticompetitive and will drive-up prices for consumers, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined 8 states and the District of Columbia in filing a lawsuit to halt the proposed merger of the telecom companies.
Wisconsin DOJ is filing a multi-state lawsuit to halt the proposed merger of telecom giants T-Mobile and Sprint. #Megablock pic.twitter.com/bBc8n1jTIx
— WI AG Josh Kaul (@WisDOJ) June 11, 2019
The complaint, filed in New York federal court in coordination with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. alleges that the merger of two of the four national mobile network operators would deprive consumers of the benefits of competition and drive up prices for cellphone services.
Foxconn has won court ruling over its water supply. The City of Racine wants to divert millions of gallons of water from Lake Michigan to serve Foxconn’s future factory complex in Mount Pleasant. State administrative law judge Brian Hayes ruled Monday that Racine’s plans to sell water to the village is within the requirements of the Great Lakes Compact.
Environmental groups argued the diversion wasn’t for “public water supply purposes,” but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Hayes ruled that the compact also allows for diversions for industrial and commercial users.
“While this ruling is disappointing, we stand by our interpretation of the “public water supply purposes” requirement which prohibits the diversion of Great Lakes water for the benefit of a singular industrial user,” said Tressie Kamp, Staff Attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, “We will be working with our clients to explore further legal options in this matter.”
Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee have rejected a plan by Governor Evers and Democrats to put some more accountability and oversight in place at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
The measure would have required the agency to account for companies record at creating jobs after getting state funding. Representative Evan Goyke says it should be easy.
“You’d think this would be the entity where Conservative tax stewards would have the sharpest magnifying glass, the clearest mirror to government.”
Representative Chris Taylor says that’s much less than what Republicans have required other agencies to provide.
“Audit after audit has shown us that WEDC can’t be trusted to be good stewards of taxpayer money and hold corporations accountable.”
Republicans attached two riders to WEDC’s budget that provide funding for educational fab labs and a grant to help the National Guard secure new aircraft.
Federal officials are planning to shut down the Blackwell Job Corps center in Forest County by the end of the year.
The move could put over 50 people out of a job, and pull $5 million a year from the area. Forest County Economic Development director Mark Ferris tells Newswatch 12 that’s going to be a major blow.
“Family sustaining incomes. A big hit on our local economy.”
The facility helps train kids in skills and trades and has been in operation since the 60s. A recent shuffle of the civilian conservation center program put it in control of the Department of Labor, which is closing several of the sites. Ferris say that local officials were not notified before the decision.
“There was nothing, and we have yet to receive any formal notification. And that’s really bothersome.”
Federal officials say the cuts allow the US Forest Service to “step away from programs that are not essential to our core mission.”
WJFW
Wisconsin’s ginseng farmers are continuing to struggle as Chinese tariffs continue to ramp up.
Hsu’s Ginseng vice president William Hsu says this isn’t the first time Marathon County farmers have had to deal with outside interference in the markets.
“We saw something like this back in the 1990s when Canada started ramping up production and they were able to produce it cheaper than we were because of crop subsidies.”
He says the war is tough because ginseng takes such a long time to grow that you have to predict many years in advance how much you’re going to grow without knowing what the price at the sale is going to be.
“How many of you would willingly raise your hand and say I’m okay with being paid less for my crop or my output or my work five years from now?”
Hsu says the quality of Wisconsin ginseng is known across the world, it’s just that farmers will need to be able to handle the current hit on their bottom line.
As expected, the Wisconsin legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance has made major alterations to Governor Tony Evers’ proposed two-year state budget. A Democrat on the budget panel, state Senator Jon Erpenbach, called out Republicans on the committee who voted to strip Medicaid expansion money out of Evers’ plan.
“This is fiscally irresponsible,” the Dane County Democrat said. “We trip over ourselves to hand out money we don’t have to the largest corporations, but when money is there on the table, we’re saying no because it helps poor people.”
Evers has said that taking federal money for a Medicaid expansion would free up $320 million in state funding over the next two years. “When you have the opportunity to cover more people and save the state money at the same time, it’s a no brainer,” said state Senator LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee.
Joint Finance Committee co-chair, state Representative John Nygren of Marinette, defended the move. “Obviously we’re not going to agree on this issue, but I do believe that we need to stop on the rhetoric. We both want people to have access to care. Your perspective is government is the solution.”
“This is a popular item supported by the people of the state of Wisconsin and every single day it’s getting more popular,” said Representative Evan Goyke of Milwaukee. Evers called the vote was disappointing but claimed it was not the end. “I’m going to keep reminding Wisconsinites what’s at stake and I’m going to keep fighting to expand Medicaid,” he said.
The Republican moves will create a $1.4 billion hole in the budget, which is approximately the amount of money Evers has proposed spending on K-12 schools in Wisconsin. The JFC also voted on partisan lines to strip dozens of policy items from Evers’ budget, including eliminating criminal penalties for recreational marijuana use, and allowing people living in Wisconsin with legal immigration status to apply for state issued licenses or ID cards.
Two of Wisconsin’s largest health care providers are discussing a possible merger. Gunderson Health and Marshfield Clinic Health System will spend the coming months working out details of a possible merger that could create a health system led by more than 2,000 clinicians and with more than 18,000 total employees.
“Over the last few years, we have worked relentlessly to position ourselves for the future and create a better framework for serving our patients and communities,” said Susan Turney, MD, chief executive officer, Marshfield Clinic Health System. “While at the same time, the disruption in the industry and competitive nature of healthcare has made it vital we construct a dynamic and strong integrated health system. This merger would give us an opportunity to combine the unique strengths of our systems to become the preeminent rural healthcare organization in the country.”
If they were to merge, Marshsfield Health System and Gunderson would have 13 hospitals, and more than 100 medical clinics, eye centers, dental centers, urgent care clinics, and pharmacies.
WDLB
Milwaukee city officials are fighting the clock as they try to add two-point-four miles to its streetcar line by next year.
That’s when the Democratic National Convention comes to town.
The extension would take The Hop all the way to the Wisconsin Center District convention hall. The Common Council has to approve the plans before work can get started.
The Hop system now includes five streetcars stopping at 18 stations in Milwaukee.
