PBS Wisconsin original production.
>> The lines are longer. The number of new
registrants is escalating pretty quickly.
>> An alarming escalation of need is testing the
limits of food pantries, from food scarcity to the
closure of Head Start classrooms.
government shutdown hits families hard.
[MUSIC] I'm Frederica Freyberg.
Tonight on "Here& Now", we visit a busy food pantry
that sees long lines and short hopes. Head start
classrooms have closed families in the lurch.
[MUSIC] conduct leads lawmakers to
draft a bill punishing child grooming.
[MUSIC] Day, stories come to life
at the state's museum dedicated to preserving
history. It's "Here& Now" for November 7th.
>> Funding for Here and Now is provided by the Focus
Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
>> The Evers administration overnight Thursday made
full November food share payments to 700,000 people
in Wisconsin who rely on the assistance that after a
federal judge late this week ordered the Trump
administration to fully fund Snap, saying people
have gone without for too long. Trump Friday appealed
that decision, but a stay was not granted. People's
accounts in Wisconsin have been restored, at least for
this month. Now the chaos in the Snap program and
overall higher costs have drawn more and more people
to seek help from food pantries, including many
first time visitors. Over four days this week at one
of Wisconsin's busiest, the River Food Pantry in Dane
County, they served nearly 5000 individuals. As its
executive director, Rhonda Adams told me, long lines
and empty pockets tell the story. What is it been like
here in terms of numbers and demand on on people's
part for help with food? >> I can't keep up with it,
to be honest. It's hard to keep up with them because
they're changing every day. But we just know that there
is an increase in what we've been seeing over the
last several months. We're on track to serve over
20,000 unique individuals this year, and that's up
from last year, about 18,700. So a lot of people
are coming to us. There's a lot of need.
>> We've been executive director for five years.
How does this period of time right now compare to
prior years? >> There's no comparison.
This is this is and I don't even want to say crazy, but
it is crazy how much need there is right now. So as I
was looking at numbers again just from last week,
serving close to 5000 people in a week. We never
thought we'd be able to do that and never thought we'd
need to do that. But we're here for the people that
need us through very dedicated volunteers and a
very devoted staff. >> Do you ever have
concerns that this amount of donations won't come in,
won't be able to serve the people that need it?
>> To be honest, yes, they did have that concern. But
I will tell you that our community has been amazing.
They have heard our pleas. They've heard other food
pantries pleas that please us money, please give food.
We need help. We need volunteers. And the
community has responded. >> Even if by court order.
The SNAP funding is reinstated. Do you expect
it to be immediate where people will have that on
their EBT cards? >> I don't I don't expect
that to be immediate. I expect that to be weeks.
And also, I think people are still going to be
apprehensive about is that is it really true? Plus, I
think people have found us and now have also found
that we're welcoming, that we're we're here for them.
And so we I believe we'll continue to see uptick in
numbers here. And plus we're coming into the
holidays, which is always a busy time for us.
>> How confusing and frightening is it for your
customers, your clients, the people you serve to
kind of be in the midst of what's happening in
>> It's very confusing. I was I was talking to some
of the clients last week and they said, like, we're
scrambling, but we don't we don't know which what to
listen to, which side to listen to. And like, we're
in the middle and and who is also who's also in the
middle are children. And that's, that's
heartbreaking that children are going hungry and maybe
going hungry because of the snap benefits being cut.
>> What kind of provisions do you have here to help
the community? >> Yep. So the river has
eight different programs and it's really a way to
give different access to to different people. And how
can they how can they get food. So we do have a
mobile meal program where we go out into 24 different
neighborhoods throughout delivering a meal. We also
have our most busiest and popular program, which is
curbside. And that's really what the volunteers here
are, are preparing to put together bags for our
clients that are coming curbside with a variety of
things. What we're seeing here is produce the most
requested item milk and eggs and dairy products and
shelf stable products, all those kind of things. Meat.
You mentioned also the meal. So this week we are serving
chicken noodle soup, which has been really popular.
But also we do have a meal here every week. So again
we're serving four days a week and people can come to
us for the meal. And it just takes a burden off of
people having to prepare one more meal. They can
have one already prepared for them and their families.
>> Do you see a lot of first time visitors?
>> Another heartbreaking thing. Yes, we do see a lot
of first time. Last week was 81. Households had
never been here before. Came for the very first
time and to see the looks on their face, they're
frightened. They don't know what to do or what to
expect. And, you know, for many of them, they're
feeling shame and they're making a telling us, you
know, sorry that I'm here and apologizing for being
here. We greet them with a smile. You saw Kevin here
as our registration, registering clients and
treating them with a smile and with telling them, it's
okay, we're here. We're going to help you.
>> What can people who want to help you, this pantry or
other pantries, food banks, what can they do?
>> Yeah. And it's really for all food pantries
across the country because we're we're all in this
work together and we're all wanting to to make a
difference in people's lives with, you know, just
a basic need of food. So money is, is, is needed.
And that's what I'm hearing from other food pantries,
too. Money is the number one request, right, that we
can again make that dollar stretch a little bit
farther. We're happy that we're here and that people
are finding us and they're trusting us, right, with a
basic need that they need. Right. It's food, but it is
it's sad. It's heartbreaking that people
are in this position to come to us.
>> All right. Thank you so much.
shutdown became the longest in U.S. history, the
impacts piled up across Wisconsin early learning
Head Start programs had to close down, shuttering
child care programing for hundreds of children. One
of them covers five counties and is run by the
Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program.
It closed nine Head Start classrooms at the start of
this month. We're joined now by the director of Head
Start programs there, Tawny Hardyman. And thanks very
much for being here. >> Thank you.
>> So I see that you are joining us from one of your
empty classrooms. How hard is this for you to see
happen? >> Very difficult. Even
though this is out of our control, we we feel really
responsible for our families and the children
and the impacts that we make within their lives.
And so it's really hard to have told the families this
after you've encouraged them to, you know, come to
your center, enroll in your program to see the empty
classroom is hard. These are three and four year old
children here at this center. They have fun every
day. We have great teachers here and we just worry
about, you know, what are they doing? We miss them.
>> How disruptive is this in the lives of the
families whose children are there?
>> It's extremely as three and four year old
children, it takes a little while to transition into a
classroom and to get accustomed to things. And
then suddenly this routine that they've been in every
week ends and they're kind of wondering what's going
on. Additionally, with families, they rely on
these classrooms for childcare. While some of
the families go to work or school, and they have when
they came to our program in September, they would have
let go of a different enrollment slot,
potentially at another childcare provider. This
area is also a childcare desert in many of our
communities. So they were having struggles trying to
find other arrangements for their children. If they
don't have family or friends that are able to
help them. Another thing that impacts the families
is that these children receive breakfast, lunch
and snack at our centers every day. Many families
were really wondering about their food security.
Additionally. >> How are they dealing
with that? Do you know? >> They were very upset.
Very worried. Scrambling, you know, wondering what
were they going to do, asking our staff if they
would be available to watch their children while they
went to work, you know, so, yeah, they, they just kind
of feel like the rug was yanked out from underneath
them. They had a routine going. They had made
arrangements, like I said, to work or go to school.
And then in the middle, you know, right at the end of
October, we had to let them know that our funding has
not been approved for the next 12 month grant cycle.
>> How valuable are the benefits of Head Start
programing for these children?
biggest things that kids learn are some social
skills, like how do I how do I learn to listen to
instructions? How do I learn to follow the
routines of school? How do I make friends? You know,
those things are so much even more important than
the ABCs. And one two threes is just learning how
to listen. When? When do I sit still? When do I get up
to go? And this might be their first experience away
from home, so it gets them prepared for what that
environment would be like at the school. They are
adjusted. They're used to coming in. Now we're
worried if the shutdown happens, you know, for a
long period of time, how difficult will it be for
them to transition back into this setting.
>> Even if or when federal funding resumes? Will you
be able to kind of seamlessly bring your
programing back up to speed? >> It won't be as quick as
what a person might think. So when the federal
government shut down our regional offices, national
offices that support programs, those staff were
furloughed on October 1st. So we have grant
applications. As I said, our grant cycle runs from
November 1st to October 31st, and that grant
application is in there in the system waiting to be
awarded. So once the government opens back up,
they will have to recall those federal, well, those
regional and national workers for Head Start.
They'll have to review our application again. And then
we have to wait for the notice of award. So we've
our understanding is that could take about 1 to 2
weeks. And then once we receive the notice of award
it hopefully it will be for the full amount that we
have, you know, requested. Then we would put together
a plan, recall staff, give them a little bit of time
in the classroom to get such as getting food,
groceries for breakfast, lunch and snack and then
contact families. So it's going to take us at least
probably three weeks would government reopens.
>> Tawny Hardyman, thanks very much for explaining to
us what your program does. >> Well, thank you for the
opportunity. >> The safety of Wisconsin
schoolchildren is under the magnifying glass. After the
Capitol Times reported on more than 200 teachers
accused of sexual misconduct or grooming of
students since 2018. That included teachers who were
able to reapply for a teaching license, according
to the reporting. In response, Cooke proposals
for new laws and better and more transparent tracking
of teacher licensing, including the reasons for
revocation. Republican State Senator Jesse James
is author of a new bill that would make grooming a
felony and include prison time. He joins us now. And,
Senator, thanks very much for being here.
>> So one of the things that your bill does is set
a definition for grooming, and I'm just going to read
it. It is quote a course of misconduct pattern of
behavior or series of acts intended to condition,
seduce or entice a child for the purpose of sexual
activity or exploitation. How does that definition
help to investigate, charge, and remove educators who
are predators? >> This isn't about just
educators. It could be US law enforcement. It could
be doctors. It could be just general citizens
within our communities. So I think the story breaking
out just intensifies and actually brings forth the
true need of this grooming statutory language to be
included in our statutes. I think the sensitive crimes
that I have investigated as a law enforcement officer,
having these additional tools and mechanisms
available for charging is extremely valuable. And
with the amount of times that each grooming act is
defined, you can have a person that is charged with
multiple felonies with just the grooming statute alone.
And I think when we get to the courts in the in the
charging of these cases, I think more is better. It
brings more negotiation. It brings more potential
compromise to not drag these these cases out to a
12 person jury trial. It brings on more plea
agreements in having these people realize that you're
guilty. I mean, I I've had a pretty successful career
as a sensitive crimes investigator back in the
day. And these this was never available. But I can
specifically think of cases where it's totally
applicable because there seems to be grooming in
every single type of child sexual assault case.
>> Indeed, what does grooming look like in
practice? >> Oh my. It could be where
individual will literally pick up a young lady after
school and take her out to eat out to buy a new pair
of shoes, out shopping, getting her her own private
cell phone. It could be text messaging that, you
know, simply saying what? You look really nice today
and, you know, flattering comments and stuff. Stuff
that would not be normal. Where if I had my daughter
in high school and I look at her phone and I see a
text message like that, it would definitely raise
concern. >> Why has it taken so long
for someone to write a bill that would turn into law in
the state of Wisconsin on this?
>> That is an awesome question. I think. The
traditional ways of grooming. Are being more
like upscaled with the amount of technology that's
available, the apps that are out there trying to
keep up with technology today. I think that is one
of the challenges in the amount of grooming that's
going on through technology. I think it's really
intensified and it's dramatically increased. We
need to address it. >> Do you think, given the
gravity of this, the state will throw its weight
behind this and funding to tightening up, not just
like the statute around grooming, but having to do
with revocations of educators licenses and, you
know, making that process more transparent.
>> I think there will be strong support for this.
The governor has already expressed his support for
this. And I think that having this extra tool
available for specific crime of grooming is going
to be highly beneficial for any type of case to help,
hopefully deviate or have these individuals that like
to prey on our children think twice about it.
>> And this bill, soon to be law apparently will will
help with that. Senator Jesse James, thanks very
much. >> Thank you very much. I
appreciate the conversation today.
>> November is the month we pay special tribute to
those who have served our country's military with
Veteran's Day. Wisconsin soldiers and landmarks play
a key role in that rich history "Here& Now".
Reporter Murv Seymour made a visit to the one place in
the state that houses and displays these stories. You
can see it for free at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum
in Madison. Here's a clip from his InFocus interview
with the museum director, Chris Kolakowski.
>> The museum is right at the top of State Street, so
right across from the State Capitol. And when you walk
in, you get a basically a tour of the history of
Wisconsin veterans. We start with the Civil War,
and we go right around to the present day. And it's
not necessarily a museum about wars and battles,
although we do talk about that because it's a
veteran's museum, but it's really a museum about
people. You get a feel for who some of these people
are in uniform a little bit about what they experience,
some of the service all the conflicts from the
Civil War right up to the present, and we always try
and find a way for anybody that walks in the door to
find something to connect to, at least something, if
not more than one thing in the museum, whether it's a
hometown, whether it's some personal aspect, you know,
went to the same college, whatever the case is. And
I'm really glad you came in and I know you, you had a
great time with my staff. Yeah. I mean, I found it to
be really interesting that, you.
is, you know, it's somewhat centered on Wisconsin and
you how do you how do you guys pull that off?
>> So we actually were founded by Civil War
veterans for the people of Wisconsin. We turned 125 in
2026. So we were founded in 1901, in the capital as the
Gar Memorial Hall. Now the Gar is the Grand Army of
the Republic. It's the it's the veterans organization
for Civil War, Civil War veterans. And our mission
has since expanded to include all Wisconsin
veterans, all services, all time frames. And so the
stuff that we get, some of it, we sometimes go out and
acquire, but the vast majority of IT veterans and
their families will donate to us. And so, you know,
when you have a veteran that walks in and says,
here's the uniform I wore in Vietnam, or here's what
my father or mother did in World War two, here's their
letters back and forth. You know, it's just a fantastic
it's a fantastic introduction.
>> So are you still even to this day? Do you still get
people that pop in and say, hey, look what I found in
my attic, or look what I found in this shoebox that
was in the basement. Like, are you still getting
artifacts in that way, too? >> That happens about every
2 to 3 days. We either have somebody contact us by
email, or you'd be amazed what walks in the door.
Sometimes we just had a general's aid. Family found
stuff in the attic and was like, hey, this guy was an
aide to this general in World War Two. Would you be
interested in collecting the material? And so we we
took it in. Yeah, yeah. >> I was really impressed
with some of the artifacts I saw and the fact that
they were authentic, not replicas, you know, and the
actual items give us a sense kind of of what kind
of things that people will see when they walk in.
>> Well, that's what I call the power of the authentic,
the real thing. Standing in front of the real thing is
different than looking at it in a picture or reading
about it in a book. There's a power of the real thing,
the real place power, the authentic. Some of the
stuff that we have. We've got battle worn uniforms
from from all the conflicts. We have a machine gun in
World War One that the only Wisconsin Army Medal of
Honor recipient earned the Medal of Honor, capturing
and brought it home as a war trophy. We've got
speaking of the Medal of Honor, we've got four of
them on display from World War Two and Korea. We've
got Vietnam helicopter that was in battle has some
battle damage. I don't know if they showed you that on
the tail. It's amazing. How can you miss it? So it's
it's it's some really incredible stuff and some
really incredible stories that we have on display.
>> Yeah. And you guys have an actual cannon from the
Civil War period, right? >> A battle capture 2 was a
Confederate cannon that was captured at Shiloh by the
14th Wisconsin on the second day of battle on
April 7th, 1862. And they brought it back as a war
trophy to show off and help raise war bonds. And for
years it was every July 4th. It was the salute cannon
that they'd fired down State Street from the
grounds of the Capitol. What? Yeah. So it's it's
it's just got this incredible story, and it's
it's one of the first things you see when you
first walk in. >> Now, how many artifacts
do you guys think you have in that space down there?
>> So in our total collection, both there and
in our off site storage facility on the east side
of Madison, we have 27,000 objects ranging in size
from the Huey all the way down to collar insignia and
everything in between that where we are in the museum
right now, we have about 3% on display just because of
space limitations. Wow. So I'm not good at math, but
I'm sure your viewers can can do the math and figure
out what we've got there. >> But so you're saying
there's like 97% of all the other stuff you have is in
a warehouse someplace else? >> Yes, yes. Think of an
iceberg. You just saw the tip of the iceberg, and
there's this whole underneath under the water.
And we've got some incredible stories there
on display. keep? How do you know what
to collect? things when, when like if
you were to if you were to offer us a collection, one
of the biggest things that we look at is we look at,
first of all, what best tells your story, you know,
photographs, letters, diaries. That's pretty
obvious. But then objects. And sometimes if you're
giving an oral history to us, we actually have the
largest state owned oral history of veterans oral
history collection in the country. If you're talking.
>> When you say oral history, does that mean
like recordings of people talking about things.
>> Or exactly sitting down and doing an interview
where I would be asking you about your your military
service? And if there are things that you mention or
you hold up and say, you know, oh, I brought this
back from wherever I served, we want that as well,
because that helps document your story.
>> Veterans Day is November 11th. In Environmental news,
a culturally and ecologically important
controlled burn happened in superior this week.
Wisconsin Point along Lake Superior was the site of
what is known as a cultural prescribed burn. The fire
removed invasive species and added nutrients to the
soil to nurture native plants. The restoration
effort was a partnership with the fond du Lac Band
of Lake Superior Chippewa. The point was settled by
the Ojibwe and site of burial grounds, but the
community was forced from the land in the early 1900s
and the cemetery desecrated to make way for harbor
expansion. The tribe regained the land from the
city of superior in 2022, which called the prescribed
burn part of a broader healing process of honoring
the land and those who came before. For the Ojibwe,
such burns are a sacred connection to the health of
the land. >> This Great Lakes area.
All the plants here are fire dependent. They depend
on fire to keep growing. There's a lot of states
that are turning to the indigenous tribes in the
use of fire to promote what their traditions were of,
you know, using fires to shape their environment, to
slow down the spread of large, you know, large,
uncontained fires. But there's something we
learned traditionally was fire. You know, the
cleansing, it helped heal us, you know, physically,
mentally, spiritually. >> For more on this and
other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our
website at PBS Wisconsin and then click on the news
tab. That's our program for tonight I'm Frederica
Freyberg. Have a good weekend.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus
Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.