[MUSIC]
Hello and welcome to In Wisconsin.
I'm Patty Low.
This week, Congressman James Sensen
Brenner is author to one of the hotly debated immigration bills.
Find out why residents from his district have mixed feelings
about their congressman stand on the issue.
Meet a therapist whose unique work with an autistic
girl has been music to her mom's ears.
There's a song that came into
her life and she has become a different child.
And discover why this creamy
confection not only tastes delicious but maybe good for you
too. All that plus will tell you why it's a big deal that a
certain tiny creature lives here in Wisconsin.
Major funding for In Wisconsin is provided by the
people of a lion's energy who bring safe, reliable
and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes,
neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running
smoothly. A lion's energy, offering energy saving
ideas on the web.
UW Health providing specialty and
primary care for all ages throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health physicians and clinics and
on University of Wisconsin Hospital is available
on the web.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges providing
local education for the crucial occupations
essential to our communities.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, Communities First.
This week the US Senate is trying to agree on
legislation to update the nation's immigration laws.
At issue our provisions that would beef up border
security change who is allowed into the country
and decide what will be done with those who are already here
illegally. To date agreement is proving hard to come by.
Over in the US House of Representatives, Wisconsin's
5th District Congressman, James Sensen-Brunner, authored
another immigration bill which passed in December.
Reporter Art Hackett talked with residents from Representative
Sensen-Brunner's District to get their opinion on
the immigration issue.
Two years ago George W.
Bush carried Wakashaw County by a 2-to-1 margin.
Voting Republican in the presidential race
was Arminio Larris.
Larris can vote because he's a US citizen.
He owns a clothing store catering
to Wakashaw's Hispanic population.
Larris can't recall who he voted for
in the congressional election two years ago,
but in 2006 he is certain he won't be voting for a long
time Republican incumbent James Sensen-Brunner.
Larris says Sensen-Brunner has been bad for his business.
Everybody is scared.
Everybody is afraid to go out and spend
some money to do nothing because they don't know what they're
going to happen.
And everybody's think this guy
is completely wrong about what he's trying to do.
Sensen-Brunner represents the 5th District.
He became the public face of
get tough immigration policy when he proposed a bill
that would make being in the United States illegally
a felony.
They try to make us like criminals, you
know, and these people, they try to survive,
they cross the border to work.
What they try to do is support the families,
that's all they try to do.
Also they try to make us like criminals too
if we help these people.
Congressman Sensen-Brunner in my opinion at least
is basically going along with the opinions of what
the majority of Americans believe, which is, you
know, taking a step towards cracking down a bit on the
illegal side of immigration.
Sensen-Brunner still has plenty of supporters.
Vince Dervato and John Resnecker with the college
Republicans at the University of Wisconsin-Walkershaw.
Immigration reform has been much needed,
especially when we hear about cases of drug smuggling
in the news every night.
It's been gong momentum.
I mean, it's had a small bit of loyal following, but
now with all these cases highlighted and with the
need and with national security, a half-button
issue, it only makes sense.
The debate over border security crossed over at
an April 3rd opening for a Walkershaw restaurant.
It's part of a food service training program run by
La Casa de Esperanza, a community service agency
for Hispanics.
My grandfather came from Greece and
through Ellis Island and I think many of us are
in situations like that.
Dan Varanquez is the former Republican
Assemblyman and is currently the Walkershaw County
Executive. Yet at the same time we have situation that
has changed dramatically since 9/11 we recognize
the need to know who and is coming in and what's
going on and what they're doing.
So we've got a real balancing act.
If we analyze what happened in
9/11, everyone came here legally.
There were citizens, there were residents,
there were students and that's how I believe,
again, I believe, I believe, I associate in the
problem of terrorists with immigration.
It's a big mistake.
Among those who dropped by the restaurant
opening were friends of Villarreal on their way to
the Brewers opening game.
The group included Walkershaw County
Circuit Judge Lee Astrevas, the son of the former
governor and Joe Wimmer who is a former Republican
Assemblyman, he's now a retired judge.
Personally I think that Jim Sonson
Brenner is trying to protect the borders of the
state of the United States and his interest in
security. However, I think that he might be wise if he
amended his bill somewhat by not making it necessary for
illegal immigrants to return to Mexico prior to coming back
into the United States.
These Walkershaw County Republicans
desire for a middle ground mirrors the debate in
Congress. Should the nation reward people who
broke the law to get here?
How much should it recognize the fact that immigrants
play a huge role in society and the economy?
In many cases we're talking about people that
have been here for years.
Now they clearly haven't been, they're here, they're
working, they clearly haven't been a problem
for the community.
They haven't, they aren't part
of the criminal justice system.
They're just simply, you know, they're trying
to raise families, they're working, they're doing
all the things that we would like to see people
do. At UW-Walkershaw College Republicans President
Julie Slesarcek says she's not interested in the middle
ground right now.
First off I believe that we
need to secure our borders before we go and work on
the inside framework of our country.
Meanwhile at a store on Main Street,
Irrani O'Larrus has the exact opposite opinion.
They got to take care of the problem is here already
and soon they take care of the people out here.
They ended up doing something
out with the people that's already in the other
country they want to come here.
We'll bring you more in the coming weeks
on what happens with the immigration bills in
Congress. On another note you'll be able to find
a variety of election related info throughout the year on our
online resource Wisconsin Vote.
Check it out for yourself by going to WisconsinVote.org.
You're about to meet a Wisconsin family whose lives have changed
forever all because of a little piece of music a single
song called Annie's Song.
As Frederica Fryberg tells us that song has changed
the world for the disabled grade scholar it was
written for and about.
11 year old Annie O'Brien hops on the morning school
bus without a second to spare but cutting
it close like this is considered a wild success.
She would go to school late most days.
Becky O'Brien says it used to take hours to get Annie
ready and off to school.
Once she woke up she didn't know what to do next.
Didn't know what to do next because nothing
comes easy for Annie.
Her mom says Annie struggles
with multiple cognitive disorders including autism.
Her mom says even slight changes that can come with
getting ready like new socks or shoes can set her
off. She immediately falls apart and will be got
violent and hysterical and it can lean to hours
and hours of chaos.
I used to be covered in bruises.
She would kick me and try to dress her physically
and she would just be pounding on me.
That's what getting ready for school used to be like.
Until this man entered the picture in home therapist
Greg Marshall.
He was part of a team to help Annie
and her family design a workable morning plan.
Marshall says he got to know Annie by asking some
simple questions.
What's your routine look like and she
said well my mom wakes me up.
She says good morning sunshine then she opens the blinds.
Armed with Annie's input and his own
musical inclinations.
Marshall set the child's get ready for school routine
to song and the light bulb went on.
This song is dedicated to Annie O'Brien.
From the day Annie's song first played on her
bedside CD player about two years ago Annie O'Brien
hasn't been the same.
Oh my god.
I mean our lives are entirely different.
I mean the man changed her life.
When I get my clothes on I get to go to the kitchen.
Now as Annie's song blasts its hip hop lyrics and beat over
and over again each morning, Annie the girl in the tune
follows its direction.
It now takes Annie just 25 minutes to get up and
ready for school.
No tears, no hysteria, no violence
and her mom is calmer and better able to direct
the routine.
I want to ask you what has Annie song
meant to your mornings.
It has helped me so I get up time for the bus.
But it's more than that.
It's something for her.
I mean it's called Annie's song.
She feels really cool about it.
Kids at school, this whole song has
has made her somewhat of a little celebrity and because
of her disabilities she wasn't or and isn't a real popular
kid with a lot of friends but all the sudden kids were like
I'm Janie I'm so jealous of you.
You are so lucky and this is a kid who
nobody had ever wanted to be before.
And to see that song create bridges to her
and her teachers and to her and her classmates.
It's amazing.
When staffers and the boss at the In Home Autism
Treatment Agency where Marshall worked heard the song,
they knew their hip hop therapist and his fellow
band members who produced Annie's song were on to
something. And it wasn't just the song it was also
the relationship building elements of the music that
that was really intriguing to me and you know I
saw a little girl that was sort of on the fringes of
her pure group and wasn't really connecting in ways that we had
hoped and all of a sudden she gained in great popularity when
she had a song Annie's song.
And so what did the boss, Dr.
Andy Poulson do about it?
What I did was hired them all and gave them
jobs to create this music.
Please stand and welcome the figureheads.
And create they did producing a hip hop CD that debuted this
winter. Greg Marshall's group, the figureheads packed the
Orphium Theatre in Madison to kick off the new CD.
The group's songs include titles like Manors and Bedtime working
on daily living skills just as Annie's song does.
The music also speaks to
what's called regulation.
That's what allows children to maintain a calm mood
and recover from upset so they can connect and
communicate with the people around them.
All the songs are designed to promote learning
that build relationships.
What I think is really cool about them is that they weren't
written for therapeutic intent.
They're really written for fun to capture, to give voice
to children and families.
And just gets to know them really simply.
It's profound but it's simple and that's
why it can be done in music.
And the group's music and message is spreading.
Mostly through word of mouth,
they've sold more than a thousand CDs and
performed at schools.
We actually got an email from
a college student who's younger brother has autism
and she said for the first time I know there's
people out there who really get my brother.
It all started with a girl named
Annie and her trouble getting out the door in the
morning. The last time I heard the job on time this morning.
You have one minute to spare.
In the last two years her life has done nothing but
improve. The only thing I can say concretely is
there's a song that came into her life and she has
become a different child.
[Music]
You can go to our website at www.wpt.org/inwasconcent
to find out more about the figureheads, their mission,
and the work their parent agency does.
Again the address is www.org/inwasconcent.
Information about all of our reports can be found
there. The man in our next report also makes it
his job to make people happy.
Although the route he takes is through the
stomach. The owner of legacy chocolates and
monomony calls chocolate the perfect food and he'd
be perfectly happy if we all made it part of our
daily diet.
The sun is rising over downtown monomony.
At legacy chocolates coffee lovers are already coming
in for their favorite drink.
But it's a little early for most to sample one of
the more than 30 varieties of chocolate truffle sold
here. Maryland like that cider?
Good. I love coffee and chocolate together.
They're both personal passions of mine.
You got to make something you might as well make it
something that you really like.
Owner Mike Roberts serves coffee out front and
makes the chocolates in back.
A filling called a ganache molded from
butter, cream, cocoa and flavorings is dipped into
melted dark chocolate.
Just don't call it candy.
I don't sell candy I sell chocolate.
This is a chocolate shop.
This isn't a candy shop.
Candy may be dandy but chocolate is food.
It is food.
It's the perfect food.
Chocolate is the world's most perfect food chemically
speaking for what the human body needs to
assist on.
It's all in chocolate.
Chocolate is a ton of antioxidants and
other vitamins and minerals.
You can't get anywhere else.
So for Roberts then the more chocolate the
better. The truffles are sorted and sold by the
percentage of cocoa solids in the outer coating from
a deep dark 85% down to a creamy brown 41.
That's still four times the cocoa
you'll find in a certain great American chocolate bar.
Our milk chocolate is 41% minimum with the dark center.
You're getting over a 55% piece of percentage of
chocolate whereas here you're just getting a lot of sugar.
And that's what Roberts calls candy.
But without a lot of added sugar or
even worse high fructose corn syrup, chocolate can
be a helpful addition to the diet according to Roberts.
Having eaten chocolate as extensively as I have now
for the last four years, I find that if I eat a
little chocolate every day in high percentage,
my appetite is satisfied with much less food.
So maybe these coffee drinkers
should add some chocolate to their morning routine.
Like coffee, the secret to quality chocolate
starts with the bean.
In this case, the Crio-yobin
grown in Venezuela.
It's very fine flavored, very
elegant, very wonderful chocolate that only grows
under the rainforest.
Like shade grown coffee, cultivation of
the Crio-yob helps preserve the rainforest, support small
farmers and deliver a superior taste.
And Roberts uses only local milk,
butter and cream from small producers.
Okay, 85.
Yes.
The Roberts may be doing well by doing good.
He's opened a branch in St.
Paul and business is booming on his website
ever since Newsweek named him to a list of 15 top
so-called artisanal food makers.
These cooks make food by hand using the finest
raw ingredients.
I just made the white chocolate
cream cheese brownie.
Without recognition is important
because Roberts thinks the public's taste for
quality chocolate is ready to explode.
Liz will jump on all the trends we can, right Nicole?
The trend in chocolate right now, I feel, is just
beginning. It's where at chocolate now where coffee
was 15 years ago.
And Roberts intends to be along
for the ride, helping us all appreciate more fully
food. This perfect food.
All these years I still like them.
[Music]
If the chocolates from our last report showed
us that good things can come in small packages,
the same could be said of the tiny creatures
in our next story.
Carnor Blue Butterflies are the size of a postage stamp and are
very rare except in Wisconsin.
Carnor Blue's are a federally endangered
species yet in Wisconsin, this rare butterfly is
holding steady, if not soaring.
Producer Joanne Garrett traveled to the Nacita
National Wildlife Refuge, home to the world's largest
population of Carnor Blue Butterflies to explore
this winged mystery.
[Music]
They are here, but they require a little searching
because they're so small.
Carnor Blue Butterflies are a postage stamp
size, roughly speaking.
It has a name indicates blue, baby blue.
Rich King is the staff biologist at ground zero of
Carnor Blue Butterflies, the Nacita National Wildlife
Refuge. Nacita National Wildlife Refuge hosts what
is the world's largest population of Carnor Blue
Butterflies. You can find more here at Nacita than
you can anywhere else.
This is the Motherload, which is pretty amazing since
these beauties are almost gone pretty much everywhere else.
Federally it's an endangered species, which means it
has protection of the Endangered Species Act.
States like New York, New Hampshire, Ohio,
the province of Ontario, Carnor Blue Butterflies are
almost entirely gone.
Yet here these creatures are common.
Why? What explains this winged mystery?
The answer is in our flowers.
[Music]
Our flowers, the food source for Carnor Blues, particularly
for their picky children.
Adult Carnor Blue Butterflies will feed on over a hundred
different flowering plants, so they don't really care, but
their larval food source is very specific.
It is one species wild looping, and if you don't
have it you're not going to have Carnor Blue Butterflies.
No loopings?
No Carnor.
There's a patch of wild looping going right here.
The larval form needs this looping.
Here's how it works.
The female then will lay about 80 eggs on this
looping stem or down in the grass around the base
of the looping stem.
And basically the idea is when the
larva come out for the first brood which would be next May
or June, they'll have their food source right there.
They don't have to go far to find it.
And they can't make it without it.
You have to have wild looping to have Carnor Blue Butterflies.
And fewer and fewer places have wild looping.
Fewer and fewer places have the habitat,
the landscape that looping needs.
Wide open oak savannah, shaped by fire.
Places like Nisida.
In the eastern part of the Carnor Blue Butterflies range
there's a lot of development.
Changing these upland sites into subdivisions, industrial
parks, what have you.
They need places like these and they're rapidly disappearing.
Such an ephemeral thing.
Like so many sweet parts of summer, they come and go.
The adults Carnor Blue Butterfly only lives for
a week, two at the most.
They come and go.
They have just two hatches, two
times a flight, one in late May, one in late July.
But the presence of this tiny animal tells a larger
story about the landscape and legacy of Wisconsin.
Carnor Blue Butterflies, you know, in their own right are
beautiful little butterflies.
But it's really a symbol for not only the habitat
and the fact that here in Wisconsin we have more of
that habitat than anywhere else because of the care
we take with the land.
But also it's really a symbol of Wisconsin's
environmental ethic.
And there's a reason we have more of this habitat
and more Carnor Blue Butterflies here in this
state than anywhere else.
They're here for a reason that can be seen
anytime, all year round, in Nacita and across Wisconsin.
Like Joanne said in her report, Carnor Blue Butterflies have
two hatching cycles a year with the first round hatching
now in spring and becoming adult butterflies in May.
The second-brueed hatches in mid-summer.
And that's in Wisconsin this week.
Next week our program falls on the
calendar between Passover and Easter.
We'll introduce you to a man who bridges
those two different religious worlds every day.
Rabbi is a teacher but I don't actually teach a
lot of religion because that would sort of cross
cross the boundary a little bit in where people's
comfort level might be.
And I can understand that.
This is a Catholic school.
It is a Catholic school and I would feel the same
way if my children were going to a Jewish school
and you had a priest who came in and said, "Okay,
I'm going to teach religion now.
Wait a minute."
You know.
And that's next time.
For now we leave you with a walk through
Governor Dodge State Park in Iowa County where spring
is just starting to appear.
For in Wisconsin, I'm Patty Low.
See you next time.
[Music]
Major funding for in Wisconsin is provided by the people of
Alliance Energy who bring safe, reliable and environmentally
friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and
life in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliance Energy, offering energy saving
ideas on the web.
UW Health, providing specialty
and primary care for all ages throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health Physicians and Clinics
and on University of Wisconsin Hospital is available
on the web.
Wisconsin's technical colleges,
providing the people of Wisconsin with the knowledge
and skills they'll need for the economy of tomorrow.
Wisconsin's technical colleges.
Communities first.