The policy-setting board for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is set to vote Wednesday on whether the agency can begin crafting groundwater standards for roughly two dozen pesticides.

The post Board to vote on whether Wisconsin DNR can craft new pesticide regulations appeared first on WPR.

An exhibition at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design's Frederick Layton Gallery showcases art that delves into the spectrum of experiences with infertility, from navigating diagnosis to miscarriage and in vitro fertilization.

The post Milwaukee exhibition explores the many feelings, experiences of infertility appeared first on WPR.

The number of domestic violence-related deaths in Wisconsin last year decreased by 9 but remains high.

The post Wisconsin domestic violence deaths show slight decline after record highs appeared first on WPR.

Advocacy group Small Town and Rural Seniors sent a letter to DHS in August demanding the agency restore the information on the directory.

The post Wisconsin no longer reports who owns the state’s nursing homes appeared first on WPR.

The cyclotron lab creates atoms called radionuclides that can help clinicians diagnose and treat different types of cancers as well as image different diseases

The post UW-Madison’s $62M cyclotron lab expansion will explore promising cancer treatments appeared first on WPR.

Two toddlers in northeast Wisconsin with a rare hearing condition are responding to sounds like never before after receiving a newly approved gene therapy.

The post 2 Wisconsin sisters are among first in nation for groundbreaking therapy on hearing impairment appeared first on WPR.

A 27-year-old Minnesota man is being credited with stopping a runaway school bus carrying nearly 20 children after the driver suffered a medical emergency, reported ABC News.

Ebro Ahmed told local news reporters that he was standing outside Ya Bricks Snacks and Tobacco on Monday, when he noticed a school bus traveling past the convenience store with its door wide open.

After looking inside, Ahmed said he saw the driver experiencing what appeared to be a seizure. He immediately ran toward the runaway school bus, jumped aboard and pulled the emergency brake, stopping the vehicle before it could crash.

“I really felt like it was my duty,” Ahmed said. “Also, too, it’s kids we’re talking about, you know. Even if I were to die, it would still be worth it.”

Surveillance video released by the convenience store captured Ahmed running alongside the bus before climbing aboard. The footage also showed the bus coming to a stop shortly afterward.

Ahmed said some of the students were screaming while others remained calm during the incident. He credited two girls seated near the front of the bus with helping him manage the situation.

“These two girls on the front really did help me a lot,” Ahmed said. “I threw my phone and my glasses at one of them, and I told her to hold it.”

Ahmed also said the long-running television medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” helped him remain composed during the emergency. He said the program offers lessons about how to react in unexpected situations.

Saint Paul Public Schools confirmed via the news report that a medical emergency occurred aboard one of its buses, and that paramedics responded to the scene. The district did not disclose additional information about the driver’s condition.

No injuries were reported among the students or others involved, according to the district.

Students aboard the runaway school bus were transferred to another vehicle and taken home following the incident. Counselors also checked in with the students Tuesday to offer support after the frightening experience.

The district did not immediately provide further details about the bus route, the school the students attended, or how far the vehicle traveled before Ahmed stopped it.

Written with the assistance of AI.

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The post Minnesota Man Stops Runaway School Bus After Driver Suffers Medical Emergency appeared first on School Transportation News.

Gov. Tony Evers and state environmental regulators announced the launch of new grant programs Tuesday to help communities and private well owners address PFAS contamination.

The post Wisconsin launches grant programs to address PFAS contamination appeared first on WPR.

A federal official has affirmed the pro-union vote at a West Allis mental health clinic, rejecting challenges to the outcome lodged by Rogers Behavioral Health.

The decision, issued Oct. 15 by National Labor Relations Board regional director Jennifer Hadsall, certifies the National Union of Healthcare Workers as the official representative for employees at the Rogers West Allis clinic.

Hadsall also rejected a series of challenges that Rogers management made in connection with the election, held April 22, when employees voted 53-4 for union representation.

The union was previously certified to represent employees at Rogers’ Madison clinic, where employees voted 26-4 in favor of the union, also on April 22.

Rogers Behavioral Health, based in Oconomowoc, operates a network of mental health hospitals, residential treatment clinics and outpatient clinics in 10 states. Employees at three clinics in California and one in Pennsylvania organized with the National Union of Healthcare Workers starting a few years ago.

In a statement issued Monday, Rogers acknowledged the union had been certified at both Wisconsin locations but declined to respond to questions about the organization’s next steps, including whether it would begin bargaining with the union.

The organization’s statement said Rogers was “unable to comment further on pending legal proceedings related to these certifications.”

A certification order can be appealed to the full National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. Rogers declined to answer directly when asked if the organization’s management was appealing the certification decisions to the board.

The West Allis certification order rejected a series of objections to the election outcome, including claims that three fired employees trespassed on the day of the vote. An administrative law judge upheld the right of the fired employees to vote and found no evidence of trespass, and the new order upheld those findings.

The certification order follows a finding, also issued by Hadsall, a week earlier that Rogers violated federal labor laws before, during and after the election, including by firing six employees involved in the union organizing campaign. A hearing on the NLRB complaint is scheduled for December.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing a Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health. 

The new division is set to work with the agency’s existing Office of Research on Women’s Health, which was established in 1990 and “has served as the focal point for women’s health research at NIH,” according to the NIH website.

The White House said first lady Melania Trump was involved in formulating and leading work on the order, which also creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles will co-chair. 

The order is meant to “strengthen research, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care for women and girls throughout every stage of life,” according to a White House fact sheet. 

The order says it “is the policy of the United States to prioritize translating research into improved clinical care that benefits women and girls through a comprehensive approach to women’s health that recognizes evolving health needs from infancy, childhood, and adolescence through pregnancy, midlife, menopause, and aging, and supports timely, stage-specific prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care.” 

The order does not mention research into contraception or reproductive rights. The Food and Drug Administration is conducting an ongoing safety review into abortion medication. 

Reshaping NIH

The initiative came just two weeks ahead of the midterms, as the GOP vies to maintain its razor-thin majority in the U.S. House and Senate. The order also followed many other announcements on new projects by the administration in the days leading up to Election Day on Nov. 3. 

The Trump administration has sought to reshape NIH to align with its political priorities and has sought to cut its funding, prompting pushback from Congress. NIH, the country’s largest research agency, is housed under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

“Today, we’re taking historic action to promote women’s health through all phases of life,” Trump said during a signing ceremony at the White House Rose Garden alongside the first lady. 

“Despite amazing advances in medical science, many diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect women remain chronically understudied,” the president added. 

The first lady touted the effort as establishing a “new ambition, transforming hardship and pain into scientific discovery, effective treatments and lasting cures.” 

Kennedy and Wiles were in attendance Monday, along with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Erica Schwartz and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, among others. 

Trump said the order will promote “new research and really go after the understudied diseases affecting women and promote innovative technologies to diagnose conditions sooner and improve treatment using the best available science, and we’ve got that.” 

The task force — which will hold its first meeting Monday — will “mobilize the entire federal government to coordinate action focused on improving women’s health,” Trump said. 

Revoking Biden actions

Trump in his order also revoked a 2024 executive order by then-President Joe Biden that sought to improve women’s health research as well as a 2023 memorandum that had established the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.

The National Women’s Law Center criticized the administration for rolling out the order amid “major attacks on women’s health,” pointing to the GOP’s mega tax and spending cut law signed by Trump in 2025, which includes sweeping Medicaid cuts that axe roughly $1 trillion in program spending over 10 years. 

“Women’s health has long been ignored as a federal priority, and while we agree that steps must be taken to close disparities in women’s health care, it’s hard not to point out the blatant hypocrisy of this unfunded order coming from an administration that is actively decimating health care access for women,” Dorianne Mason, senior director of health equity and contraceptive access at NWLC, said in a statement Monday. 
 

Science writer Mary Roach chronicles her escapades through modern regenerative medicine in her latest book, “Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.”

The post Mary Roach’s adventures in regenerative medicine appeared first on WPR.

Officials are still investigating how the new infections started. But Wisconsin has already seen similar clusters of cases this year.

The post Measles is popping up in more Wisconsin counties. Health experts say it may get worse. appeared first on WPR.

Some people in Wisconsin will be forced to change their Medicare Advantage plans, with some companies cutting back.

The post How Medicare experts are guiding Wisconsin patients through this year’s open enrollment appeared first on WPR.

Federal labor regulators last week issued a formal complaint against Rogers Behavioral Health, alleging the nonprofit illegally fired six workers at a West Allis treatment center during a union drive.

The post Federal complaint alleges Rogers Behavioral Health illegally fired 6 workers in West Allis appeared first on WPR.

Rogers Behavioral Health violated federal labor laws when it fired six employees amid a contentious union organizing campaign in Wisconsin, according to a National Labor Relations Board official in a new complaint against the healthcare provider.

Rogers officials also violated labor laws when they accused the employees of criminal conduct and threatened them with criminal charges, civil charges, litigation and professional misconduct complaints, the NLRB complaint charges.

Those actions took place starting two months before employees at Rogers’ clinic in West Allis voted to be represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, and continued on the day the vote was held and in the weeks that followed, according to the complaint.

Rogers executives fired the employees because they “supported and assisted the Union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities,” the complaint states.

The complaint, issued Oct. 8 by Minneapolis-based NLRB regional director Jennifer Hadsall, set a hearing on the allegations to start Dec. 14 before a labor relations board administrative law judge in Milwaukee.

In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon on behalf of Rogers by a staff communications, marketing and public relations specialist, the organization declined to comment on the allegations or “pending proceedings” because the case is “an active legal matter.”

The statement asserted that Rogers respects “all employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act” and conducted “all employment and labor practices” according to “applicable law and longstanding policies.”

Rogers Behavioral Health, based in Oconomowoc, operates a network of mental health hospitals, residential treatment clinics and outpatient clinics in 10 states.

Employees at three clinics in California and one in Pennsylvania organized with the National Union of Healthcare Workers starting a few years ago.

Spurred by policy changes that employees said led to increased client caseloads and reduced one-on-one care for clients, therapists and other behavioral health professionals at clinics in Madison and West Allis began organizing with the NUHW in 2025.

After a contentious organizing campaign that was met with strong opposition by Rogers management, on April 22 West Allis employees voted 53-4 and Madison employees voted 26-4 in favor of the union.

Rogers has declined to recognize the union at either clinic and has mounted an appeal to overturn the West Allis vote.

First firings after union drive goes public

Rogers fired three West Allis employees who were union supporters in February, shortly after they went public with a petition for union recognition.

According to the NLRB complaint, a Rogers manager directed the fired employees “not to discuss their terminations.”

At the same time, Rogers’ President and CEO, Cindy Meyer, directed employees in writing “to keep their terms and conditions of employment confidential,” the complaint states.

With those instructions as well as some broad Rogers policies directing employees to keep information confidential, Rogers officials were “interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights” guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act, the complaint states. The confidentiality policies, quoted in the complaint, are not limited to information about individual patients.

The union filed charges with the NLRB on behalf of the three employees fired in February. The charges enabled them to vote in the West Allis union representation election on April 22.

When they showed up at the clinic to vote, a fourth employee escorted them to the polling area where they cast their ballots, which were set aside as challenged under standard NLRB procedures. The employee then escorted them out of the clinic.  

According to the complaint, Rogers suspended that employee the day of the vote and fired her five days later because she “assisted employees participating in the NLRB-conducted election” — and because she “supported and assisted the Union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities.”

That violated federal labor law by “discriminating against employees for their participation in a Board-conducted election,” the complaint states.

Matt Artz, a spokesperson for the NUHW, said Rogers tried to challenge her application for unemployment insurance but that the challenge was rejected.

Two other employees were also suspended on the day of the vote and fired five days later, the complaint charges — also because they supported the union and to discourage other employees.

Complaint charges attorney’s letter ‘coerced employees’

In the six firings, Rogers was “discriminating in regard to the hire or tenure or terms or conditions of employment of its employees, thereby discouraging membership in a labor organization” — also a labor law violation, according to the complaint.

The NLRB complaint also charges that an attorney representing Rogers wrote a memo to employees that “coerced employees” exercising their rights under federal labor law “by repeatedly characterizing protected employee activity as criminal activity, in violation of civil laws, and as professional misconduct; and threatened employees with criminal charges, civil charges, litigation, and misconduct complaints with their respective professional organizations for having engaged in protected activity.”

A Rogers vice president, Steven Hertig, sent a complaint against one of the fired employees, Kate Zolandz, to the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, which oversees professional licensing

The NLRB complaint doesn’t mention the license challenge, but the NUHW said in a press release Tuesday that in the filing with DSPS, the Rogers executive claimed that when Zolandz donned a cape during her lunch break on the day of the vote, “a patient became dysregulated.”

After reviewing the complaint, however, DSPS officials wrote back to an attorney representing Zolandz that the information in the licensing challenge “does not indicate a violation” of relevant state administrative codes or laws.

“We took a stand to improve care for our patients, and Rogers executives tried to ruin our careers,” said Zolandz in a NUHW press release Tuesday. “Rogers acted like it could do anything to us it wanted, so it’s great to see that the federal government is holding Rogers accountable to the law.”

The photograph with this report has been updated to correct its source.

Longtime Sullivan County School District bus driver Nancy Ritinski celebrated her retirement alongside the woman who gave her another reason to celebrate, reported WNEP

Family members, friends and former passengers gathered at the American Legion in Dushore in northeast Pennsylvania to recognize Ritinski’s 44 years behind the wheel. During her career, she remained on the same route and transported multiple generations of some local families.

Theresa McCarthy said both of her daughters rode Ritinski’s bus before graduating, followed years later by McCarthy’s grandchildren.

For Ritinski, the children were the most meaningful part of the job. “I love them all,” she told local news reporters, adding that she cried whenever students graduated.

The retirement celebration also honored Bobbie Butler of Scranton, who reportedly entered Ritinski’s life as a stranger and became her living kidney donor.

According to the news report, Ritinski learned about three years ago that she needed a kidney transplant. Her relatives were not compatible donor matches, and she eventually began undergoing dialysis while waiting for a suitable kidney.

Butler initially hoped to donate to the father of a friend, but that proposed transplant did not work out. She then asked to be matched with another patient in need. Testing showed that Butler was compatible with Ritinski.

The two women reportedly met for the first time earlier this year, about one week before the transplant surgery. Ritinski said they connected immediately. The transplant was performed in June, and Ritinski said her recovery has gone well.

Butler said via the article that witnessing the improvement in Ritinski’s health following the operation was incredible. She described Ritinski and her relatives as her “kidney family.”

The celebration reflected both Ritinski’s impact on the rural community and the bond created through organ donation.

Now retired from a career that allowed her to watch generations of students grow up, Ritinski is beginning a new chapter with Butler considered part of her family.

Ritinski’s relatives are also encouraging others to consider living organ donation. Her daughter plans to donate a kidney to another recipient later this year.

Written with the assistance of AI.

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The post Pennsylvania School Bus Driver Retires After 44 Years Receives Kidney Donation appeared first on School Transportation News.

Biden-era changes to the Clean Air Act would have tightened regulations for industrial sites, but the Trump administration has given exemptions to hundreds of facilities. People living near the sites are concerned about air quality and their well-being.

The post Communities worry for their health after Trump weakens pollution limits: ‘It’s a kick in the gut’ appeared first on WPR.

Urban hospitals are closing at roughly the same rate as rural ones, and the shuttered hospitals are more likely to have served communities with high poverty rates and fewer transportation options, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA.

Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed hospital closures and openings that occurred between 2010 and last year. They found that closures increased by 4% year over year, while new hospital openings decreased 3% year over year.

The study comes as health systems across the nation brace for the effects of the broad tax and spending measure passed by congressional Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump in July 2025. The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act is projected to cut federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $886.8 billion over the next decade, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

The law includes $50 billion in rural health grants to be distributed to states over five years, but the funds are for a wide variety of initiatives, with limitations on how much hospitals can benefit.

Public attention has mostly focused on struggling rural hospitals, but the Harvard researchers found that urban hospitals also have been vulnerable: The closure rate was 9.1% for urban hospitals and 8.3% for rural hospitals. Across both rural and urban areas, hospitals that were for-profit, small or safety-net, or served the most vulnerable counties — such as those with higher poverty rates or less access to transportation — were most likely to close.

Overall, 432 hospitals closed between 2010 and 2025 while 216 opened, leading to a net loss of over 24,000 beds. Rural areas were less likely to see a new hospital, as the new facilities were mostly urban, for-profit and small. Rural communities are more likely to have fewer doctors per capita and a lower overall number of patients.

Of the hospitals that closed, about 73% shut down completely, while the remaining retained outpatient care, including rural emergency hospital care.

The Midwest and the South saw the most closures overall, and there were more closures in states that didn’t expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, according to the study.

Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.

The union representing nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison and Dean Medical Group outpatient clinics in Dane County has escalated charges that the two healthcare providers are violating federal labor laws after employees voted overwhelmingly for union representation.

SEIU Wisconsin filed unfair labor practice charges this week with the National Labor Relations Board against St. Mary’s and against Dean. Both organizations are part of SSM Health, a Catholic nonprofit health system based in St. Louis.

A 71% majority of nurses at Dean’s 10 clinics voted for union representation in September, three months after nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital voted for union representation with an 89% majority in June. Altogether the two groups of nurses total nearly 1,200 people.

To date, SSM has declined to bargain with the hospital nurses’ union, citing pending challenges to the June election. Earlier in September the union charged the hospital management with failing to bargain in violation of federal law.

The newest charge against the hospital alleges a nurse was fired in August in retaliation for supporting the union.

The new charges against Dean allege that the medical group discriminated against union supporters in prohibiting union-related materials from work areas and barring employees from displaying union insignia and other items supporting the union; engaged in surveillance of employees; held captive audience meetings with threats of discipline or firing for people who didn’t attend; and threatened employees with “negative changes to terms and conditions of employment” if employees voted in the union.

Those charges follow previous charges filed with the NLRB, including one against Dean in September for firing a nurse and a string of charges against St. Mary’s earlier in September, including the failure-to-bargain allegation.

“We are doing this so we can have a voice,” said Dean nurse Michelle Camilleri in a phone interview Thursday. “My colleagues and I want to provide a certain standard of care for our patients. We want to be able to care for them in a way so they can get the highest level of care as we can give.”

She said nurses who voted for unionization were responding to policies and practices that were making it “difficult to provide that standard of care” for patients and have driven some nurses to leave SSM.

“We would like to see SSM come to the table,” Camilleri said.

In a statement Thursday, SSM denied violating federal labor laws. “There has been no unlawful conduct. We respect and value all of our employees,” the statement said.

The statement called the allegations “another ongoing attempt to distract us” from the health system’s mission.

Residents of the measles-affected counties told WPR that life has largely carried on like normal in recent weeks, and that people aren't likely to talk about the outbreak outside of their own like-minded circle.

The post In Wisconsin communities affected by measles, opinions on vaccines remain mixed appeared first on WPR.