State Headlines From Wisconsin Public Radio, December 16
Lawmakers Propose Limiting Web-Cam Abortions
By Shamane Mills, Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin lawmakers are proposing limitations on a type of telemedicine that currently isn't practiced in the state. A public hearing is scheduled Tuesday on so-called "web cam abortions."
Under the bill, a doctor providing pills to induce abortion must do a physical exam on the woman and be in room when the medication is taken. The patient must then return for a in person, follow-up visit. Wisconsin Right to Life is behind the bill, which is authored by Sen. Mary Lazich of New Berlin. Wisconsin Right to Life lobbyist Susan Armacost says the legislation is needed to ensure doctors don't use web cameras to advise patients taking drugs like RU 486, "RU 486 will still be available of course but it must be prescribed by the physician in person and that physician needs to give that women a physical exam."
Four years after approval, the Food and Drug Administration strengthened the warning label on RU 486 following the death of a California woman. NARAL Pro Choice says currently telemedicine isn't used by Wisconsin doctors advising women how to use abortion inducing drugs. But director Lisa Subeck says if it were, it would make the procedure available in more rural areas. Currently abortions are available in three Wisconsin cities: Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton, "Women would be going to clinics in their cities or in their towns. They would meet with a physician or other medical personnel they would receive all of the same exams."
The bill also would also require doctors to provide additional written material to the patient. Women would receive information on domestic abuse and have to assure the doctor in private that the decision to abort is voluntary.
Manpower Predicts State Hiring Boost
By Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio
A new hiring forecast for Wisconsin says more employers plan to add workers over the next three months, than lay people off.
The latest hiring forecast from the Milwaukee-based Manpower Group shows 17 percent of Wisconsin employers surveyed plan to add workers during the first quarter of 2012. Nine percent expect job cuts, while more than two-thirds predict no change. Manpower vice president Melanie Holmes says job growth may be focused in certain fields.
Holmes says Wisconsin firms in professional and business services plan to reduce staffing, while hiring in construction, education and health services and government is expected to remain unchanged.
PACs Can Accept Unlimited Contributions
By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin political action committees can now accept unlimited contributions from individual donors following a federal appeals court ruling Monday.
Before this court decision, donors in Wisconsin could give an aggregate of $10,000 every year to candidates and political action committees or PACs. But in an opinion written by Judge Diane Sykes, the court ruled that any limit on contributions to PACs was unconstitutional.
The case was brought by Wisconsin Right To Life. Director Barbara Lyons says it means groups like hers will be able to raise more money to participate in the political process, "It was really a sweeping victory and we're absolutely elated that our state political action committee can now receive unlimited contributions to help us carry out our election activities."
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Director Mike McCabe says it means a PAC could take millions from a single donor and turn it into ads that support or oppose a candidate. And he says these can be full-fledged campaign ads that use phrases like "vote for" or "vote against."
McCabe says candidates themselves will still be limited in what they can raise, "But there's no limit on what these outside interest groups can do. So it further disadvantages candidates, makes them into even more of a spectator role than they've had before. And it simply further enhances the power of special interest groups."
McCabe says the federal court was following the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United--and that changing that decision would take either a new court majority or an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The federal appeals court ruling did not affect other cases that are currently filed in state and federal court involving when interest groups have to disclose their donors.
Northeastern Businesses To Hire
By Patty Murray, Wisconsin Public Radio
A new survey shows businesses in northeastern Wisconsin are weathering the recession. Some even plan to hire next year. But the results also show the region's manufacturers are having trouble recruiting the next generation of workers.
The "First Business Economic" survey polled businesses in 18 counties around northeastern Wisconsin. The study was headed by David Ward, the CEO of Northstar Economics.
About 300 business leaders responded. Ward found that capacity is down, and costs are up. But he says that roughly one-third of businesses plan to add staff in 2012. "Measured optimism. Nobody's going out and dancing in the streets but they're looking to a fairly solid year next year."
Ward says northeastern Wisconsin is heavily reliant on manufacturing and companies are reiterating an often heard complaint, that they can't find a skilled workforce. This comes at a time when the state's technical college system is facing more than $35 million in budget cuts.
But Ward says the problem is more deeply seated than just money, or room in classes. He suspects kids get the message that there's no future in factory work, "The downsizing of manufacturing over the years probably sends a signal out there. We've had paper mills close manufacturers go out of business. It's really a pretty robust area but I don't know if that message is out there."
GAB Ready For Recall Count
By Gilman Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio
The director of the Government Accountability Board says its staff is ready to handle counting and certifying signatures on the estimated 300,000 pages of recall petitions they expect to receive in mid-January.
Tuesday (12/13) the GAB approved a plan for handling the largest recall petition effort in state history. Building on the experience of the recent recall elections of nine state senators the plan for the governor's recall includes buying two high speed scanners, hiring and training 50 unbiased temp workers and putting in place an elaborate chain of custody system for protecting the petitions. GAB election specialist David Berger says the scanned pages will be easier to count and prevent possible damage or theft, "Say someone slipped through our screening and they tore up pages at our recall review site we would have the electronic copies available. That would also serve for fire and anything else that may damage the petitions."
Some citizens at Tuesday's meeting raised concerns about eliminating duplicate or phony signatures. Berger says the board will only be checking to confirm that petition signers live in the state. He says the targeted candidate will have to find and challenge duplicate or phony signatures or signers who are not eligible voters. GAB Director Kevin Kennedy also said allegations of intimidation or petition tampering on either side of the recall effort are being referred to local district attorneys, "Making personal attacks acts of aggression against people those are the kind of thongs we really can't tolerate. We really expect the citizens of Wisconsin to step and respect the process knowing that the constitution gives people the right to recall and allows also to protect the people being recalled. We settle our differences at the ballot box."
The GAB predicts it will cost $650,000 to cover the cost of handling the recall.
ACLU Files Voter ID Suit
By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging Wisconsin's new voter ID law. The ACLU argues it creates an undue burden on the right to vote and establishes what amounts to a poll tax.
The ACLU suit was filed on behalf of 17 plaintiffs from Wisconsin, many of whom argue that they don't have the documents or the money they need to get a state ID for voting. Among them, an 84-year-old woman from Brokaw who lacks the birth certificate she needs to get state ID and a homeless Milwaukee veteran who can't afford to get a copy of his Illinois birth certificate. ACLU attorney Larry Dupuis says other Wisconsin residents in the same situations, "People don't realize that there are people who don't have those documents. But it's true, they don't."
Other plaintiffs include several indigent Milwaukee residents who tried to get a social security card in order to get a state ID but were told they needed a state ID to get a social security card. Dupuis says it's one of the many complications with the new law, "There are a lot of hurdles in the way of a lot of people who don't have either the resources or the time to get over those hurdles and in some cases the hurdles are either legally insurmountable or practically insurmountable."
The League of Women Voters is challenging the voter ID law in state court. Legal observers say winning a federal lawsuit could be difficult since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law. But Dupuis contends Wisconsin's law is more restrictive and more vulnerable to a court challenge.
Compensation May Increase For Wrongfully Convicted
By Gilman Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio
A Republican state legislator has introduced a bill that would triple the amount of compensation the state will pay to someone who is wrongfully convicted of a crime.
There are two bills circulating around the capitol designed to increase compensation for exonerated inmates. This one sponsored by Rep. Richard Spanbauer of Oshkosh would boost the current state payment from $5,000 per year of wrongful incarceration to $15,000 a year and remove the current $25,000 cap. Spanbauer says his bill shouldn't be judged by how much it will cost state taxpayers but by the harm the wrongfully convicted have suffered, "It's the fact of what's been taken away from somebody that's basically rotted in a prison cell for many, many years lost a family, income, a career, friends, relations, you name it. That person comes out of prison out of 18-25 years this is the least that we can do for these people."
But backers of another bill yet to be introduced say the state should do more. Spanbauer's bill does not provide employment, housing and health care assistance to exonerees. A bill sponsored by Madison Democrat Mark Pocan includes those provisions plus $50,000 instead of $15,000 in compensation per year of incarceration. Rep. Gary Hebl of Sun Prairie says Pocan's is the better bill, "It's more thorough; it's more well thought out. This bill that Spanbauer has is in the right direction but clearly it's not adequate. I wish we could deal with Pocan's bill."
If the $50,000 a year figure is approved in Wisconsin it would bring the state in line with what the federal government offers people wrongfully incarcerated in federal prisons.
State Paying Less To Nursing Homes
By Shamane Mills, Wisconsin Public Radio
What federal and state governments are paying nursing homes is on the decline according to an industry report. Wisconsin nursing home officials say the underfunding causes cost-shifting to patients who pay out of their own pocket. Across the country, states with budget problems are scaling back one of their biggest expenses: Medicaid. And at the federal level, there's talk of Medicare cuts. The reductions have affected nursing homes. Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association says on average, nursing homes are losing $20 a day per patient, "That's very significant because 63 percent of people in nursing homes across the country have their stays paid for by Medicaid."
According to the Association report, Wisconsin nursing homes have the second-worst reimbursement rate, behind New York. They receive only about 79 percent of costs. Thomas Moore directs the Wisconsin Health Care Association. He says nursing homes are shifting costs to private payers and cutting back, "They're postponing much needed renovation. In some cases, rebuilding a facility. They're having to look at staffing and wage and fringe benefits for their employees who everyday go to work to try and improve the lives of the people we serve."
Moore says nursing home revenues were bolstered by federal stimulus funds during the recession, but that money ended as of July.
Chief Justice Selection Process May Change
By Gilman Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio
A proposed amendment to the state constitution would change the current system for selecting the chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
Wisconsin is one of only five states in which the senior most member of the court is automatically the chief justice. Twenty-two others use some kind of peer election in which either the justices on the Supreme Court or all the circuit court judges vote to decide who the chief will be. Rep. Tyler August of Lake Geneva says his amendment would require the seven justices to vote on a new chief after every Supreme Court election, "That way you've got a majority of the folks on the court have selected their own leader and they have to live with that decision as opposed to the current form where they have no say in who runs their branch of state government because as you know the chief justice doesn't just deal with the Supreme Court it's kind of the CEO of the all the courts in the state."
Opponents of changing the current system say it's a knee jerk political reaction to the current turmoil on the Supreme Court that climaxed this summer with a physical confrontation between Justices David Prosser and Anne Walsh Bradley. Democratic State Rep. Tony Staskunas of West Allis says he worries such a system would discourage healthy debate among the justices, "What we're setting up is as method of the majority to rollover the minority which frankly has happened also in the legislature this last year and really stifled debate, which is again I think what you want is that healthy and vigorous debate on the legal issues."
Backers of the amendment say that debate would not be affected. Making the change requires the legislature to approve the amendment in two consecutive sessions and then put it on a statewide referendum for the voters to decide.
Walker Responds To 'John Doe' Case Arrest
By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio
Gov. Scott Walker says he knows the man arrested and released as part of an ongoing "John Doe" investigation involving current and former Walker aides. But the governor says any investigation has not involved him to this point.
Police arrested commercial realtor Andrew Jensen on Tuesday and held him without charges until Wednesday night. Police then released him without bail at the request of the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office, which is leading the John Doe investigation. The DA had no comment, but Jensen's lawyer told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that his client had asked recently for a private criminal immunity deal as part of the probe. An appeals court ruled any immunity deal must be public.
The governor was asked today whether he knows Andrew Jensen, "Sure, I know him. I don't know the circumstances there. It doesn't directly involve me or hasn't involved me to this point. So it's hard for me to comment any more than that. But he's an individual like others in this community who was involved in economic development."
Walker has said in the past that throughout his career he has carried himself by the high ethical standards he learned from both his parents and the Eagle Scouts. He reiterated that point again Thursday, "What others have done or may have done, again, it's hard for me to comment on because I really don't know what they're looking at."
Earlier this year FBI agents raided the home of Cindy Archer, a top aide to Walker in both Madison and during his time as Milwaukee County executive. The governor's spokesman has also reached a criminal immunity agreement as part of the probe.
Walker Recall Signatures Hit 94 Percent
By Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio
Halfway through the timeline of the recall drive against Gov. Scott Walker, Democrats say they have 94 percent of the required signatures.
Without offering reporters a look at the signatures, the state Democratic Party says more than 507,000 people have signed the petition that would force the governor into a recall election. That means about 33,000 more signatures are needed by January 17. Democratic Party chair Mike Tate credits hard work by recall volunteers for being ahead of schedule, and says the mild weather in part of the state has helped.
Tate says the recall effort still plans to collect about 720,000 signatures, and may shoot for one million. Tate says the lower number would help against signature challenges, while the larger number would send a stronger political message to the governor. Walker says his campaign staff will be working on a signature challenge strategy, and the state GOP has filed a lawsuit over the signature review process. The governor says he's focused on running the state.
Democrats still aren't saying who would run against Walker in a recall election.
Wisconsin Lost 14,600 Jobs In November
By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin lost 14,600 jobs in November according to preliminary numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It marks the fifth straight month of job losses for the state.
Of all the jobs lost in November, a projected 11,700 were in the private sector. 3,100 of those were in manufacturing.
Wisconsin's jobs losses came in a month when the U.S. economy as a whole added 120,000 jobs. Laura Dresser is a labor economist and the associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, "Wisconsin started off better than national for the first six months but for the last five has really lagged behind the national picture. But in both pictures--the picture when there is growth is anemic. And when we're getting losses, we're getting significant losses."
Dresser says the state would need to add more than 200,000 jobs in order for the economy to feel like it did in 2007.
Even as jobs disappeared, the state unemployment rate dropped from 7.7 to 7.3 percent. But Dresser says the jobs number is more telling, "Unemployment can move both because of a good thing--it can go down because there's more jobs. But it can also go down because of a bad thing--people give up looking. So unemployment is always a little bit mixed."
For example, the unemployment rate actually ticked up in June even though Wisconsin added jobs that month.
The Walker administration cautioned that the jobs numbers are preliminary and have been adjusted upward the last five months by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even so, they leave Wisconsin well behind the goal the governor set of helping the private sector add a quarter-million jobs by 2015.
Inmate Sentence At Stake
By Gilman Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next year in a case that could mean the eventual release of a young Wisconsin inmate now serving life without parole.
The high court has accepted two cases that challenge the constitutionality of giving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole to a 14 year old convicted of murder, Omer Ninham a Native American from Oneida, Wisconsin was 14 when he and another teen killed a young Hmong boy by throwing him off the top of a parking ramp. Last month, the state Supreme Court ruled against his claim that because of his age at the time of the murder bid he should have a chance for parole. The cases now before the U.S. Supreme Court raise the same issue. Marquette law professor Michael O'Hear writes a blog on life sentences. He says the high court might take a different view. He says courts are paying more attention to new findings on juvenile brain development, "They don't have as great an ability to control their impulses and they're more subject to peer pressure as well. In juvenile cases, the brain science is playing a very important role in leading the court to conclude that harsh sentences for juveniles are not appropriate."
But O'Hear cautions that the court in accepting the two cases it has may be trying to distinguish between two categories of homicides. In one of the cases a 14 year old got a life without parole sentence for being an accomplice in a robbery and murder in which he didn't pull the trigger. In the other the defendant actively participated in beating a man to death. O'Hear says if the court draws a line between accomplices and active participants in a murder Omer Ninham might not be affected by the change, "Because he was playing a more active role in the killing he was convicted of."
Green Bay Develops Rodent Solution
By Patty Murray, Wisconsin Public Radio
Green Bay officials have a plan to help with the city's rodent overpopulation. But some question how effective it will be.
The plan is to "market" Green Bay as a good place to re-locate for birds that like to eat mice and rats.
Thomas Erdman is curator of UW Green Bay's Richter museum of natural history. Erdman says the city's plan is a good one: namely to build nesting boxes to attract birds of prey.
Beginning this spring the city will put boxes on a small island just offshore from the Bay Beach amusement park. Animal control officers want to bring in Kestrels, small falcons that Erdman describes as "great mousers."
But Erdman doubts Kestrels will like the neighborhood the city has in mind, "That'd be the silliest place to put nesting boxes. It's offshore there's no trees. These birds are woodland edge species. They like trees, they basically nest in cavities in trees. You put boxes on Rendard island or Kidney island all you're going to have is tree swallows."
Erdman says it'd be more effective to put kestrel boxes in parks or wooded cemeteries. Better yet, he says humans can help combat mice or rats by better managing their trash.
Green Bay's animal control officer is Sharon Hensen. She thinks the island *is* a good location, "They don't necessarily need trees. That's what the nesting boxes are for. Kestrels like to hunt in fields and you have that on the island and the area around Bay Beach.
The city's plan is to begin with Kestrels and then move to attract larger species of owls and hawks.