PBS Wisconsin original production.
>> A Wisconsin senator weighs in on Make America
Healthy Again, and as students pack back into the
classroom, school officials take stock of student
enrollment and state budget numbers. Good evening. I'm
Zac Schultz filling in for Frederica Freyberg tonight
on "Here& Now". Senator y Baldwin discusses
changes to Medicaid and the ACA school budget. C a
reprieve under new special education reimbursement
rates. t impacts on lakes
stir up controversy. And finally. Jobs and wages
make gains. But there's concern for workers. It's
"Here& Now" for September 5th.
[MUSIC] & Now"
is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and
friends of PBS Wisconsin. >> It's been two months
since Donald Trump signed into law his big, beautiful
bill. And while the cuts to Medicaid included in the
bill don't take effect until 2027, Democrats are
already sounding the alarm on the overall impact.
Joining us now is U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Thanks for joining us. >> Thanks for having me.
>> So you've been touring the state to talk with
providers and patients about these cuts. What are
you hearing? en visiting
critical access hospitals in rural areas of the state.
Their margins were thin to begin with before the
passage of this. Now they're looking at
heartbreaking decisions about perhaps closing off
certain departments because they are not profitable,
and to help them stay afloat. And some we know in
Wisconsin will be looking at shutting their doors,
particularly troublesome is the decision some hospitals
have made to stop having obstetrics delivery,
meaning that there are places in Wisconsin where
women have to travel literally hours to get the
services they need. And it's harming the health and
well-being of Wisconsin. And it's not just one small
example. You know, there were big nutrition cuts in
the bill. And so visiting food pantries and those who
are focused on food security and recognizing
the impact that those cuts are going to have. And we
also deal with an issue of the premium tax credits for
Affordable Care Act health coverage. Those will end at
the end of this year, and we're going to see those
impacts almost immediately. All of us are going to pay
more. And what's so ironic? You know, this is Trump's
signature legislation. He came into office vowing to
lower costs on everything. Right. Groceries, but
health care, etc. this bill that has just passed, which
is predominantly tax legislation benefiting
large corporations and the very richest, it's going to
bring costs up for everyone and especially health care
costs. >> Republicans claim the
bill only creates work requirements for Medicaid.
It doesn't push anybody off. >> You can't cut $1
trillion out of Medicaid over ten years without
kicking people off who are eligible. And that's what
we're going to see happening. But again, the
Affordable Care Act tax credits expire at the end
of this year. We're going to see a lot of
Wisconsinites losing access to private insurance
through the health care marketplace much sooner
than the impacts of the Medicaid cuts.
>> Now, yesterday, we saw the Health and Human
Services Secretary, Robert Kennedy, RFK, Jr. testify
before a Senate committee about his decision to fire
the CDC director, among other things, that he's
done. There's a growing list of Democrats and
organizations calling for him to be fired or resign.
Are you on that list? >> I am among them. I call
on him to resign. Look, between his massive layoffs,
mass firings, and his refusal to administer
grants that he's required by law, and the cutting
off of biomedical research and his choice to put his
own personal politics on vaccines above science is
literally endangering the health of Wisconsinites who
I represent. And I would not only call on him to
resign, but I'd call on my Republican counterparts,
many of whom got assurances directly from RFK Jr that
he would not put his own conspiracy theories ahead
of rock solid science as he's doing. And they feel
betrayed. I think, by by RFK Jr. And I hope they'll
stand up with me calling on him to resign.
>> Speaking of vaccines, we saw Florida announced
they're moving to eliminate vaccine requirements. We
have a measles outbreak in Oconto County in Wisconsin.
How do you draw the line between vaccine mandates or
requirements and personal health care choices that
some people make of whether or not to vaccinate
themselves or their children?
>> Well, first of all, I feel that it would be
incredibly unwise to start having a patchwork quilt of
state regulations on these. We need to follow the
science, and there is rock solid science that, like
the measles vaccine work, and they prevent outbreaks
like we've seen not only in Wisconsin but in Texas,
where two children have died unnecessarily. And so
I think that these decisions do have to be
made by parents in consultation with their
ors. But science needs to be in the lead here. And
RFK Jr has spent his career prior to getting nominated
as as Health and Human Services secretary,
peddling in these conspiracy theories about
vaccines. And so it's very dangerous to have him at
the helm right now. >> Switching from health
care. Earlier this week, the president of the
Milwaukee Police Union said he'd be okay with Donald
Trump deploying National Guard troops to Milwaukee
to Republicans running for governor of Wisconsin have
joined that call. Would you support troops in Milwaukee?
>> Look, what I support is safety and cracking down on
crime. And I think that, you know, the the National
Guard are totally unsuited. They sign up for guard duty
because of a different mission entirely. And we
should be spending those resources helping cities
like Milwaukee or other communities have the
adequate policing staff that they need.
>> There are a lot of Democratic voters around
the state that are frustrated with Democrats
in Washington saying they haven't done enough to
stand up to Donald Trump. What would you tell them?
What what is being done that maybe they aren't
seeing? Or is it more that could be done?
>> Look, I think that we have seen in this president
somebody who is willing to violate the Constitution,
violate the law, and where the the president is
breaking the law and violating the Constitution.
We're bringing this up in court. And frankly, we're
winning a lot of those cases. The justice system
is working in many of these instances. And then lastly,
it's us standing with our constituents and fighting
back through, through, you know, preparing for
elections in the ballot box, but also to stand up as
citizens and speak out against the overreaches and
abuses. r Tammy
Baldwin, thanks for your time.
>> A major compromise included in the new state
budget says the state will provide 90% of the funding
for high cost special education students. To
detail how this will impact schools, we are joined by
two members of the Waunakee School District. Steve
Summers is the executive director of business
ns, and Tiffany Logan is the director of
special education. Thank you both for joining us.
>> Thank you for having us. >> Tiffany, let's start
with you. Give me the quick definition of high cost
special education student. And how many do you have in
Waunakee? high
cost, it's any student that their services meet the
threshold of $30,000 or more for that individual
student. So in our district we have between 60 and 70
students that would meet that threshold, at least
for last. This last year, they met about 60 to 70
students. at's the
financial impact of going to 90% from, you know, mid
Leow to low 30%? >> Sure. The reimbursement
level that we received in 2425 was about $300,000. We
expect that's going to increase by about $400,000
this year and another 350,000 the following year.
So very significant investment from the state
into this program. >> And so what is the plan
for how that money will be spent? Where will it be
redirected in the budget? >> We did decide. We took
to the school board proposal to begin a new
program, an alternative program for elementary age
students that need a little more intensive support than
what we can provide in a regular education classroom.
And the board was really supportive because of this
additional funding, because we could speak to using the
high cost funds to fund the program. And it's starting
starting this week. >> So is there an
obligation for districts to keep that money in special
education, because some districts have had to pull
from general ed to fund special education?
>> Yeah, the increased funding does go into our
special education fund in some district case that may
reduce the transfer that is needed from the General
Education Fund to the special ed fund in our
district. We will partner together between the
business office and the special ed office to
improve or increase our investment in students who
have IEPs, whether it's the program that Tiffany's
referencing or whether when we need to add an
additional one on one paraeducator for students
o move in. But we tend to utilize the funds to
increase the services for students with IEPs.
>> So, Tiffany, there are already skeptics saying
that schools are going to push more kids into this
category to try and grab more state dollars. Should
we expect to see an increase in the number of
kids that have this definition applied to their
IEP? >> I don't think you'll see
an increase in the number of students. I think what
you're going to see in future years is an increase
in the number of districts that are applying for high
cost, special education aid. Now that the the percentage
is increasing, there's more of an incentive for
districts to apply for that aid. So I don't think
you're going to see a student increase, but
tely additional districts applying for
those funds. districts
before that weren't providing all the services
that potentially they could have to some of these
students because they couldn't afford it or what
was the rationale there? >> So in the last fiscal
year, there were about 270 organizations or school
districts that applied for this funding. And there's
more than 400 school districts in Wisconsin. So
for many of them, they determine that the
reimbursement level that was coming back wasn't
significant enough for the investment in the time to
go through and file the claim. For others, they may
not have identified students that were $30,000
or more and above. Tiffany and I are partnering with
our professional organizations this year to
help provide professional development across the
state. We do expect more schools to learn about this
system, how it works, and because of the increased
investment from the state, we are expecting more
districts are going to be willing to spend the time
necessary to really apply for and manage these funds.
>> So the state budget also included a jump in the
reimbursement rate for regular special education
om 32% to 42%. Is that a bigger number overall for
most schools than this high cost?
>> Yes, it's a significantly bigger number
for most schools than the high cost. In our case is
an example. It's an over $800,000 increase in
additional funding for l ed students in 2526,
and it's the largest increase I've seen in my
career. So it's significant and what it's going to
allow most schools to do is to benefit all students. I
think it's important to that an increase in
funding for special education students benefits
the entire school system. Students, both with and
without IEPs, because when a school special education
fund is not funded correctly, the fund ten or
the general fund has to reimburse, which removes
opportunities for students who don't have IEPs. So it
truly benefits all kids for special ed funding to be at
a more appropriate level. >> And Tiffany, working
with these kids can be very rewarding, but it can also
be very challenging. And there's a lot of turnover
in some of these paid staffing positions. Could
you see an increase in funding for wages to try
and keep more consistency there?
>> Yeah, I think that I think that could be a
possibility. I think it will. Increasing wages
definitely helps you to recruit people and be able
to keep them. I mean, just example, for our district
alone, we had 12 full time positions open this summer
and we're very close to being full staffed. But
it's definitely difficult to keep people, especially
in our paraprofessional positions, who are really
working with some of our highest needs students.
ll right. Steve Sommer, Tiffany Loken from the
Waunakee School District, ank you for your time.
>> Thank you, thank you. Appreciate it.
>> Labor day marks the unofficial end to the 2025
boating season in Wisconsin. But what isn't ending is
the controversy over whether wake surfing and
wake boats should be allowed on some lakes.
Tonight, Murv Seymour tells us why this battle is
likely to carry over into next season.
>> Rain or shine, big and small Wisconsin lakes are a
state and national treasure. >> It's a critical resource
to the state of Wisconsin. >> Especially during summer.
>> When I came up here, I fell in love with the place.
>> This place Jeff Meessmann speaks of is
Natural Lakes, a 380 home lake community in the
Northwoods of Vilas County. >> It has one of the
highest concentrations of freshwater lakes in the
world. one
of them, 220 acre McCullough Lake in Presque
Isle, where street names reflect some of the rich
wildlife seen along these winding rural roads.
>> We see bear here. We see wolves here. Coyotes.
>> Jeff Meessmann loves McCullough Lake and the
lakes of Wisconsin. It's why he moved here.
>> We're an advocate for the protection of our lakes.
>> Guided by his boat with a bucket of gadgets.
>> Normally, what we do is we take samples in the deep
hole. ad
300ft from shore to the deepest part of McCullough
Lake. hor
in, and we should be about 26ft.
oes on three other lakes, he
voluntarily grabs water samples on behalf of the
Department of Natural Resources. He tells me the
lake data dates back more than 20 years.
>> So I'm going to be recording the temperature.
>> He checks the temperature in depth of the
water. e top
of the surface of the water, all the way down to 15ft
was very consistent. >> He also checks water
clarity with this Black and white patterned tool called
a Secchi disk. >> So I'm going to pull it
up to where I can just see it, which is right there.
>> Finally, using a six foot pole made of PVC, he
lls a water sample from six feet under. It's then
sent to the DNR for testing. While you'll see loons,
bald eagles and massive fish on McCullough Lake.
One thing you won't see is wake surfers and most
likely wake boats. >> They're wrecking our
lakes and wake surfing needs to be regulated to
the proper size lake. >> Jeff Meessmann and other
like minded lake stewards believe wakesurfing wrecks.
Water quality produces too big of a wake, and they
believe the boats destroy the bottom of smaller lakes
and erodes shorelines. Most importantly to Jeff, he
believes wake boats increase the risks and
spread of invasive species from lake to lake.
Meessmann has led the way, banning wake surfing on
McCullough and more than 60 other lake communities
statewide. >> It's going to stop a lot
of paddlers and kayakers and just people on on
pleasure cruises, on pontoon boats from enjoying
the lakes. We saw one wake boat on our lake four years
ago, and I took it into action right away and we
stopped it. Now, Presque Isle for the last year has
had an ordinance in place and it doesn't ban wake
boats. It bans the activity of wake surfing.
>> 240 miles away in southern Wisconsin, you'll
find Redline Watersports Redline Watersports.
is Mars. >> And a totally different
opinion. of the
story. >> When you step into
redline. Owner Paul Virtucci says.
g to get slapped in the face with
the active water sports lifestyle. We've got gear,
water, skis, wakeboards. We also saw pontoons.
>> More importantly than all of that, Paul Virtucci
tells me he sells bringing families together through
water sports. Inside his office, he has family
pictures in the window, on the wall, on his desk. He
even has a family picture stuck to his computer. But
for him, one particular picture says it all.
>> I think I was probably 3 or 4 years old as my father
and I. It was the first family boat. It's been in
my blood ever since. >> Like Jeff Meessmann Paul
Virtucci loves Wisconsin s and fun on the water.
>> It's what my family did growing up. God gave us
these beautiful lakes, and if we don't enjoy them,
it's our fault. And if we don't take care of them,
it's our fault. t the Marshall
Park boat launch in Middleton. Once he arrives
in the desired spot with a couple of touches to the
screen, this high powered boat transforms itself,
sucking in as much as 3,300 pounds of lake water into
its ballast system. >> Ready now. Here we go.
For the sport of wakeboarding, we just.
>> Use the center plate. And that kind of helps us
get up on top of the water with.
oes. Three generations of
watersports enthusiasts on this afternoon run on Lake
Mendota. >> Johnny Z. Over here. Mid
30 seconds. Outstanding athlete.
ld Kyle Polster, who has been on
the water with family for a long time.
s like six months old, I've been
out on the water. I learned to ski when I was 2 or 3.
>> And then Joe D'Amato, who is on the other end of
things. >> Actually started a
little later in life on the water sports.
>> To be able to do this well into your 60s and 70s.
>> One by one they ski water board and wakesurf,
which requires the boat to produce the largest wake
artificially. >> So right now, through
all the engineering, we've just created this beautiful
wake from the running surface of the boat and the
devices, and we're going t 11.3, 11.3 miles an
hour and just cruising down a lake.
glide on water?
y freedom. Hopefully, the camera
picked up the big smile on my face and I wanted to
shout out, to be honest with you, but it just felt
so good for my age at 67. It's just it's just a great
sport. >> Unlike Jeff Meessmann,
Paul Virtucci and his crew believe banning work
surfing wrongfully punishes families because of a few
bad boaters. >> It's so easy just to say
that's bad, that's bad without really getting all
the facts and understanding who you're affecting.
>> It was more the fact that it was something that
we could all do. I want to have the opportunity to do
this my whole life, and I want to be able to have my
grandkids or great grandkids out on the water.
It hurts. >> The access for people
who might own a house there, or that's where they grew
up vacationing, or it's the closest lake that they have
available to them. >> While most only see the
beauty in the surface of the lake, Jeff Meessmann
cares about what's happening all the way to
the bottom, which is why he worries about the potential
damage wake boats can do. Both sides believe it's
time for state lawmakers or the Department of Natural
Resources to step in to create a statewide standard
on where wake surfing is allowed. Paul Virtucci
believes 200 to 250ft from shore, in a minimum of 20ft
of water, is far and deep enough to protect the
environment and others on the water. Jeff Meessmann
wants three times that distance in a minimum of
30ft of water, on lakes, 1500 acres and larger. In a
written statement, the DNR tells me the department is
actively reviewing the latest science and will
continue to review and consider any new
information. They recommend that all interested
stakeholders keep up with upcoming meetings of the
Natural Resources Board for future updates. Back on the
water. Both sides believe they're scientists and not
the others. >> Wake surfing is
scientifically proven to damage the bottom to beyond
20ft deep damage the shorelines make the lake
dangerous for everyone else to use.
om I've spoken with, all are under
the same belief that if we operate these boats in a
little deeper water, we're fine. Every boat that runs
around the lake is going to create a wake, and it's
going to disturb the lake and make it rougher.
>> The battle over wake boats and wake surfing
reminds Paul Virtucci of another battle on the water.
He thinks both sides can find a compromise if they
simply talk and not go off the deep end with each
other. , Jet
Skis came out, and one of the big issues with them is
that they didn't have good muffler systems on, so they
were very. >> Rah rah rah rah. You can
hear them. the lake.
>> I'm a fisherman, I water ski, I enjoy all the water
sports. I'm not. After trying to stop somebody
from fishing or enjoying the activities, the only
activity that I don't agree with is wake surfing.
>> Which represents family and community to so many of
those who do it. >> I don't know if I'd come
out on the water if I wasn't able to wake, surf
and wakeboard. >> Reporting from Presque
le in Dane County. I'm Murv Seymour for here now.
>> Monday was Labor Day, and while most families
used the holiday as a vacation, it's a good time
to check in on the state of the average worker. And for
that, we turn to Laura Dresser, associate director
of UW Madison's High Road Strategy Center and the
author of the State of Working Wisconsin Report.
anks for being here. >> I'm so glad to be here.
>> Thank you. So your most recent report says the
median wage has reached an all time high of $25 an
hour. But obviously, federal policies are
some chaos. As you say in the most recent jobs
report shows that it's not looking good.
s right. It's a very there was there's
been a very strong recovery from the pandemic shutdowns
five years ago. But we were really beginning to see,
especially in those monthly job numbers, troubling
signs about the economy, because I think of the
federal uncertainty, tariffs and immigration
policies. >> So the numbers show that
June was revised down to nothing and slight, very
low anemic job reports since then. Right.
>> Yeah. The 2025 job growth month over month is
is and revised down, like you said, to a negative in
June a week, a week, July. Those numbers are running
less than half the 2024 jobs production numbers. So
it's a substantial cooling, really troubling sign in
the labor market, both at the national level and most
of that showing up in sin, too.
>> So for a few months this year, it felt like we
couldn't figure out what tariffs were actually in
place or just being threatened. They were
on pause or hold. Can we relate some of the
owdowns to tariffs? Are those already being felt?
>> I mean, there's two aspects to what what what's
going on with tariffs right now. There's a lot of
uncertainty. Like you said, it's hard to tell. And I
think it's hard for businesses, domestic
es and international businesses to
plan when the regime is not clear when what is our
tariff policy going to be still emerging? Chaotic
giant leaps. So partly the uncertainty cools off.
Business investment decisions just puts people
back on their heels. And the the At producer levels.
And then also when the tariffs land and they're
beginning to land, they increase prices. They do.
They're a tax on imported goods and that means
imported and domestic goods in those market prices will
go up. And so I think there's real concerns I
think very some signs that tariffs are beginning to
hit but more like concern and the uncertainty really
dominating the news right now.
>> So the Pew Research Center recently estimated
the number of immigrants in the workforce went down by
1.2 million nationally in just the first six months
of the year. What what impact does that have on
the workforce? We saw unemployment tick up as
well. we
see a cooling labor market, but we also know that in
especially in specific industries and some very
important industries in Wisconsin, agriculture,
hotels, food service, ants are a big
construction. Immigrants are a big share of the
workforce. And the fact that they are often staying
home or nervous or not coming to the country again.
This tightens the ability of businesses to grow, and
is another kind of wet blanket on the economy.
>> We've only got a few seconds left, but
historically, fewer workers typically means rising
wages, competition from. Will that happen this time?
>> It it it may I mean there's a lot to see what
what washes out. We've got that kind of impact
although there's also. So ah we'll just have to
wait and see. There's a lot going on price changes
because of tariffs, labor impact, demand because of
the immigration systems. And what's going on in the
broader economy will probably dominate.
>> And finally, just sorry the last few seconds. Union
membership in Wisconsin is dropping at ten. The
Wisconsin Supreme Court is going to take a look at it.
Will we see a change if they overturn act ten?
>> Changes will be slow. I think it unemployment. I'm
sorry. Unionization rates fell in half from 2011 to
2024. In the state of Wisconsin, they won't
double in a day or two to get back to where we were,
or even to get back to the national average will take
years. But act ten and what we call what is so-called
right to work, you know, the the policy around
private sector unionization would have to go to get
really large gains in the state as well.
>> All right. Laura Dresser, thank you so much for your
time. e.
>> For more on this and other issues facing
Wisconsin, visit our website at PBS Wisconsin.
Org and then click on the news tab. That is our
program for tonight. I'm Zac Schultz Fredericka will
be back next week. Have a great weekend.
[MUSIC] .
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus
Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.