.@GovEvers is calling a special session re: a bill that expands BadgerCare Plus and includes other items like grants to address PFAS, funding for the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, transferring $151M to the budget stabilization fund: content.govdelivery.com/attachments/WI…
@GovEvers Bill also would authorize the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to award a loan of up to $50M to the Consolidated Cooperative for the purchase
of the Verso Paper Mill in the city of Wisconsin Rapids.
@GovEvers Bill also appropriates $100M from the general fund to cover not more than 50 percent of the cost to replace lead service lines.
@GovEvers Another measure: Require DHS to award grants for training staff at firearm retailers or ranges on how to recognize a person who may be considering suicide -- an idea proposed in 2019 by an Assembly taskforce on suicide prevention.
@GovEvers The bill also would spend $11M over two years on rural emergency medical services.
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1 in 14 migrant workers at a northern WI green bean plant died of COVID after company officials and gov regulators failed to take critical measures to protect employees during one of the deadliest outbreaks in the US food processing industry jsonline.com/in-depth/news/… via @mariajpsl
@mariajpsl Journal Sentinel investigation shows that neither Seneca Foods nor local health officials tested all workers—even those living in company barracks — or interviewed them to do contact tracing. The company also didn’t monitor for obvious symptoms or isolate all those who became ill
@mariajpsl The Journal Sentinel tracked down 22 workers, talked with 21 family members and reviewed hundreds of pages of public records to document what happened to workers of one of America’s largest packaged vegetable companies, which produces Green Valley and Libby's brand green beans.
Assembly and Senate leaders @jimsteineke and @SenatorKapenga on special session: “This is a thinly-veiled political maneuver by the Governor. We intend to gavel out this unserious stunt.”
@jimsteineke@SenatorKapenga "If the Governor were serious about the proposals he packed into this bill, he could fund each one of them today with the mountain of federal funds at his direct disposal," they said in a statement.
@jimsteineke@SenatorKapenga Finance committee co-chairs @SenMarklein and @repborn: "The Governor says this special session is about BadgerCare, but this bill is nothing more than a mini budget advanced by the Governor because he didn’t get his way through the normal budget process."
Wisconsin has failed to send food assistance to tens of thousands of poor children who are supposed to be getting extra help because they have been learning at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under a federal program created last spring, the families of students who qualify for subsidized meals in Wisconsin schools are supposed to receive $6.82 to cover food for every day their children are not in school buildings and are instead learning virtually.
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation has found that 1 in 3 Wisconsin nursing homes violated coronavirus protocols, including by asking COVID-positive staff to keep working, not screening visitors for symptoms and not isolating infected residents jsonline.com/in-depth/news/…
Even when inspectors were present, employees at several facilities didn't always wear face masks. Two homes substituted flannel shirts or plastic aprons for gowns, despite having an ample supply. At least 5 didn’t tell residents or families about covid cases for days or weeks.
According to the Journal Sentinel review of hundreds of state and federal inspection reports from March 2020 to January 2021, officials cited 133 of Wisconsin’s 360 nursing homes for coronavirus-related violations, with some of them incurring multiple violations.
The state Assembly is taking up a resolution to honor Rush Limbaugh, which the Senate passed on Tuesday.
"Our single most important job as elected officials is to help our constituents feel safe," @StateRepHong says in opposition to the resolution.
@StateRepHong .@RepMyers points out Assembly did not take up a Black History Month resolution this year after white Republican lawmakers for the fourth year objected to who the Black caucus wanted to honor.
"I just want you to sit with that for a moment to understand how this looks."
@StateRepHong@RepMyers Myers asks GOP colleagues if they would be OK if he called their daughters sluts, which Limbaugh said about a woman testifying in favor of a requirement that health insurers cover contraception.
"When is enough enough and what the hell is the bar?"
.@StateSenLaTonya is seeking to introduce a resolution on the Senate floor to recognize Black History Month, which the Legislature did not do in February after white Republican lawmakers for the fourth year objected to honorees included in proposal from Black lawmakers.
@StateSenLaTonya Senate Republicans vote against suspending rules to allow the Black History Month resolution drafted by the Black legislative caucus, which isn't on the calendar, to be taken up.
@StateSenLaTonya asks that the resolution be read into the record.