State fairs are a big draw this time of year for millions of visitors. Whether it's getting a chance to pet a newborn calf, take a ride in a giant plastic ball or eat any number of fried foods, going to the fair is always an experience.

The post Let’s go to the state fair! We’re taking a tour of America’s favorite summer tradition appeared first on WPR.

A new Gallup poll shows the share of adults in the United States who say they drink alcohol has fallen to its lowest point in the nearly 90 years.

The post Alcohol use for Americans hit a record low. What does that mean for Wisconsin? appeared first on WPR.

Wisconsin has a record-high number of jobs and median wage, but there are signs that the economy is softening and changes in federal policy could negatively affect workers in the coming years.

The post Despite record-high jobs and median wage, federal policy changes could challenge Wisconsin families appeared first on WPR.

The city of La Crosse is suing three fire truck manufacturers — including two headquartered in Wisconsin — in federal court, accusing them of unlawfully coordinating to limit the supply of trucks and raise prices.

The post La Crosse sues fire truck manufacturers, says they coordinated to raise prices, limit supply appeared first on WPR.

The hospital is planning to stop offering inpatient psychiatric care at Aurora Sheboygan and use the space to create additional inpatient medical surgical bed capacity.

The post ‘A loss for our community’: Sheboygan hospital plans to shut down inpatient psychiatric beds appeared first on WPR.

Demand for beef hasn't budged, but the nation's cattle herd is smaller than it has been for decades.

The post High cattle prices help Wisconsin farmers financially, but make it risky to grow herds appeared first on WPR.

The Port Washington City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a development agreement with a company that plans to spend more than $8 billion to build a data center campus.

The post Eastern Wisconsin city approves development agreement for $8B data center campus appeared first on WPR.

A new health care facility in the Green Bay area will provide better access to pediatric primary and behavioral health services, along with specialty care.

The post New health center for children and teens set to open in Green Bay area appeared first on WPR.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many businesses closed or laid off workers, a massive influx of 8.8 million unemployment claims overwhelmed Wisconsin’s aging unemployment insurance system. 

That created a backlog of hundreds of thousands of claims. Many potential applicants weren’t able to connect to the department’s call center to complete the process, and some Wisconsinites waited months without receiving a single unemployment payment. 

Following those backlogs, the state has made strides to update the system and move away from outdated, decades-old computer systems, said state Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek. 

She said DWD now has a digital portal for people to file unemployment claims and send documents online. The department also uses online chatbots to respond to questions in multiple languages, as well as uses artificial intelligence tools to assist with data entry.

“With these enhancements, the department is now paying 88% of all claims filed within three days or less,” Pechacek said. “That other 12% of claims that go a little bit longer are typically just because we have to do investigations if there’s some discrepancies between what the claimant and the employer are saying.”

In a letter to the Trump administration on Tuesday, Gov. Tony Evers said the administration is blocking nearly $30 million in federal funding to Wisconsin, which could prevent the state from finishing the project and potentially leave it vulnerable to cyberattacks and fraud.

“If the Trump Administration does not reverse course and provide the $29 million Wisconsin expected to receive, the state will not be able to complete its UI system modernization project,” Evers wrote to U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

That funding was part of the American Rescue Plan Act, a pandemic recovery law signed by former President Joe Biden, and was being primarily used on anti-fraud measures, according to the governor’s office. Evers’ letter says the U.S. Labor Department “suddenly terminated” the funding in late May. 

The termination halted work on identity authentication tools, a digital employer portal, artificial intelligence enhancements, fraud prevention and cybersecurity tools, according to Pechacek. She said the employer portal was the DWD’s next major rollout and would have made it easier for employers to provide information to the state.

“The employer portal is really one of the largest losses from this federal action,” Pechacek said. “Our employers … have to submit quarterly wage information (and) verify claim information, and some of those components are still very antiquated.”

Evers wrote that the Department of Labor “cited no objections” to those initiatives beyond “an unsupported assertion that they ‘no longer effectuate the Department’s priorities.’”

Pechacek said the state has already spent “slightly over half” of the $29 million. She said those grants were “reimbursement-based,” meaning the state first had to spend the money and then be paid back by the federal government.

“There are seven projects that have now been paused in a variety of different states of completion, so those are sunk costs,” she said. “Without realizing the full modernization effort, we can’t roll those projects out.”

The state appealed the Labor Department’s termination and received a letter from the federal government in late July that “acknowledged the appeal while restating the Department’s earlier basis for termination,” the governor’s letter states.

“The people of Wisconsin deserve systems that function, state of the art, with high integrity and accuracy,” Pechacek said. “We are also going to pursue litigation to reclaim the funds which were rightfully awarded to us already and improperly rescinded.”

In addition to the $29 million in lost funding, the project was using $80 million from a different program under the American Rescue Plan Act, according to a report sent to the Legislature’s budget committee. The document states that the $80 million has not been impacted but is “insufficient to support the full modernization work.”

Pechacek said DWD has also asked the state Legislature to allocate additional state funds toward finishing the effort but said there hasn’t been much movement on that front.

Wisconsin isn’t the only state that’s had federal funding to upgrade unemployment systems clawed back by the Trump administration. In May, Axios reported the White House terminated $400 million of that funding across the country. A July report from state agencies said $675 million in grants awarded to unemployment programs in over 30 states and territories had been terminated.

The U.S. Department of Labor did not immediately respond to WPR’s request for comment. In May, the federal agency told Axios in a statement that the unemployment modernization funding was “squandered” on “bureaucratic and wasteful projects that focused on equitable access rather than advancing access for all Americans in need.”

In the letter, Evers also said failing to complete Wisconsin’s modernization effort would put the state’s unemployment system at risk of becoming overwhelmed again during any future economic downturn. He says that would “create acute hardship for Wisconsin families.”

“It is our obligation to prevent this scenario from coming to pass,” Evers wrote. “I urge you to reverse the decision to defund these critical government efficiency and fraud prevention initiatives.”

Pechacek said the state isn’t reverting back to old technology in the pieces of the modernization that have already been completed in “major areas.” But she said failing to fully finish the effort poses a risk to Wisconsinites because there are still aspects of the system running on an outdated coding language.

“Any time we don’t fully invest in upgrading and reach the programmatic goals that we have set to get fully off of the antiquated systems, we are at risk to be overwhelmed again,” she said. “All of that leads us to be more vulnerable, in a time of significant increase of accessing the system, to the cyber attacks, to fraudulent efforts, to being compromised.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Federal funding cut endangers Wisconsin unemployment system update is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Gov. Tony Evers is urging the Trump administration not to end a program that awarded Wisconsin more than $60 million to help low- and moderate-income families access solar energy.

The post Evers urges Trump’s EPA to preserve $60M grant to help low-income families access solar appeared first on WPR.

Some Walworth County residents are worried their lifestyle could be affected by a proposed natural gas power plant.

The post Developer looking to build new natural gas peaker plant in Walworth County appeared first on WPR.

The state of Wisconsin is offering up to $100 million in performance-based tax incentives to support pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly’s $4 billion investment in Kenosha County, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday.

The post Wisconsin offering up to $100M in development incentives to Eli Lilly’s Kenosha County project appeared first on WPR.

A proposal from a Republican Wisconsin congressman would make it harder for universities to use a work visa program to hire faculty and staff from other countries, while limiting private businesses' ability to recruit high-demand workers from abroad. 

The post US Rep. Tom Tiffany’s bill would make it harder for universities to hire faculty from abroad appeared first on WPR.

Retired wide receiver Sterling Sharpe has finally joined his brother in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, becoming the 29th member of the Green Bay Packers to be inducted.

The post Green Bay Packers legend Sterling Sharpe inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame appeared first on WPR.

Nine cases of measles have been confirmed in Oconto County, and local public health officials are working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed to the virus.

The post Wisconsin sees first Measles cases, with 9 confirmed in Oconto County appeared first on WPR.

U.S. Reps. Tom Tiffany said both the U.S. and Canada need to change forest management practices to harvest more trees and adopt modern technologies that “can detect fire very early on” and help suppress them.

The post As Canadian wildfires harm Wisconsin air quality, GOP leaders blame Canada’s forestry efforts appeared first on WPR.

Sheboygan's nickname, the “Malibu of the Midwest,” might be a bit tongue-in-cheek. But surfing genuinely is a year-round sport in the city. So, a WPR reporter gave it a shot.

The post Surfing culture makes Sheboygan the ‘Malibu of the Midwest.’ A WPR reporter tried it himself. appeared first on WPR.

A Green Bay-area landlord is facing a federal lawsuit after he allegedly sexually harassed a young mother who rented one of his apartments and retaliated against her when she tried to stand up for herself.

The post US DOJ sues Green Bay-area landlord alleging sexual harassment, fair housing violations appeared first on WPR.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

For the people of Green Bay, the long-awaited deal to move century-old coal piles from the riverfront near downtown is a big deal.

How big?

“This is our Louisiana Purchase. This is our purchasing of Alaska,” said state Rep. Dave Steffen, R-Howard. “It doesn’t get any bigger than this. We are not only just witnessing history, we’re part of it today.”

Steffen was one of the Green Bay-area lawmakers of both parties who were on hand Thursday before the Brown County Board of Supervisors approved a deal that will pave the way toward moving the hulking black piles that local officials and residents have hoped to oust for decades.

Thursday’s deal, approved unanimously after a closed session of the county board, sets the general framework for a lease agreement that will allow the coal to be relocated.

The coal sits on land along the Fox River that community leaders see as ripe for redevelopment. A very visible and not-so-pretty symbol of the city’s industrial heritage, it is also a nuisance for some residents who say dust from the piles blows into nearby neighborhoods.

But they are also a landmark, one that was immortalized by pranksters who decades ago made a “Ski Green Bay” poster of a man skiing down a coal pile with the skyline of the city behind him. That image was more recently included in a mural downtown.

A desire to move the coal piles to someplace less visible has been on the wish list of generations of city leaders.

“It’s literally something that mayors of the city of Green Bay and other community leaders have been working on for upwards of 75 years,” said Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich.

Thursday’s vote means the county will not lose a $15 million federally-funded state grant that was in jeopardy after the county board altered a previous deal in December and negotiations stalled. The county had until Tuesday to come to an agreement and until Friday for the board to approve it, or risk losing the grant.

C. Reiss Co. owns the coal piles. The company has operated the bulk commodities storage facility on Mason Street, located along the the Fox River, since 1900.

Under the deal, C. Reiss and the county will work to finalize a lease agreement for a 16-acre parcel of land at a former power plant site the county is redeveloping for the Port of Green Bay. The company would also lease up to 1.5 acres for a stormwater pond that it would maintain. 

But the agreement stipulates that C. Reiss, or other users, may not store coal at the power plant site.

Rather, CEO Keith Hasselhoff said coal would be stored at a site near the power plant, known as the Fox River Terminal. C. Reiss’ parent company currently stores salt and other bulk commodities at the Fox River Terminal.

When the 16-acre parcel is ready, Hasselhoff said C. Reiss plans to move salt from the terminal site to the power plant. 

“As that salt at Fox River depletes and opens up more space at Fox River, we’ll be able to land new vessels of coal at Fox River, which then will allow us to deplete the inventories that we have at Mason Street,” Hasselhoff said.

At a press conference before the meeting, Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said moving the coal from downtown “is not going to happen overnight” and could take “a number of years.”

County Board chair Patrick Buckley said the final negotiations came down to the eleventh hour. He said talks were ongoing up through Tuesday night, when all parties came to a consensus. He said the county’s corporation counsel spent Wednesday and Thursday getting the agreement in writing for the board’s approval.

“It’s really a group effort here to get this done,” he said. “A lot of people did not think this was going to get done. … But a lot of hard work went into it.”

The lease for the power plant site still needs to be fully ironed out, but the agreement requires the lease be fully executed by Sept. 15 or the parties could be required to go to arbitration.

According to the conditions approved Thursday, it would run for 60 years with the annual rent set at $350,000 with inflationary increases every five years.

The length of a lease had been one of the biggest sticking points in past agreements. Back in December, C. Reiss had wanted a lease that ran up to 75 years, while the county board wanted a 30-year lease with a 10-year extension option.

Streckenbach acknowledged that the board previously had reservations about a long-term lease. But he said all sides had to make concessions in the negotiation.

“Ultimately, because of what we came to an agreement with and everybody making concessions, the county board felt comfortable going forward with the length that was proposed,” he said.

The agreement also stated that the city of Green Bay would provide up to $2.2 million if the county faces funding shortfalls related to the coal relocation effort. 

Genrich said the addition of the city’s financial commitment was “one of the latter changes” that was made to the agreement and was something that he and Council President Brian Johnson had committed to in their discussions with county officials.

“Our priority is Mason Street and (doing) whatever was necessary within reason to make that redevelopment project possible,” he said. “The commitment that we all made to each other in the room was like, ‘We’re going to get this done regardless.’”

Genrich said the full Green Bay City Council will discuss the up to $2.2 million in funding at its meeting on Tuesday.

This story was originally published by WPR.

‘Our Louisiana Purchase’: Deal reached to move Green Bay’s century-old coal piles is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.