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• St. Croix bans tobacco use on county-owned property
• Barge business off this year on the Mississippi River; state briefs

By Judy Wiff

HUDSON -- In a few months, clusters of smokers outside St. Croix County buildings and the litter of cigarette filters in county parks should be things of the past.

Seventeen years ago the County Board voted to ban smoking inside county government buildings and passenger vehicles.

On Oct. 20 the board went farther by banning the use of tobacco products on the grounds of county government buildings, at the fairgrounds, in county parks and in all county-owned vehicles and equipment regardless of location.

The tobacco-free policy will be effective Jan. 1, 2010.

The ban makes exceptions for St. Croix Industry clients, who are often developmentally disabled, and residents of the county nursing home in New Richmond.

The exceptions do not apply to staff of either program.

The ban was adopted on a 22-5 vote with some supervisors questioning the usefulness of a policy with no penalties and others wondering if it is an unnecessary restriction on county employees who work alone or the public.

"It can be pointed out to somebody (that tobacco use is prohibited), but beyond that no action can be taken against someone," said Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman of the consequences of violating the tobacco-free policy.

"I don't think we're going far enough," said Supervisor Ken Kolbe, town of Hudson.

He said his workplace went smoke-free 23 years ago, setting penalties ranging from a warning to loss of employment.

While he objects to smoking, the county shouldn't ban tobacco use for Highway Department workers on the road, said Supervisor Gerald Peterson, Baldwin.

"It's one man in a truck by himself," said Peterson, adding that the only one that smoker is hurting is himself.

The smoker is polluting the truck interior for the next driver, countered Supervisor John Borup, North Hudson. Besides, said Borup, the county provides health insurance to pay for medical care for the truck driver.

Supervisor Cindy Leonard, who said she is concerned about turning people away from county parks, offered an amendment to exempt parks from the ban. That amendment failed to pass.

"We can work upstream. We can help kids never start," said Geralyn Karl, health educator and tobacco control specialist. She said the ban sends a clear message to kids that tobacco use isn't the social norm.

One of the most significant things he can do for patients is to help them quit smoking, said Dr. Paul McGinnis, who practices family medicine in Hudson.

"It's not easy, and it's not something that's done lightly," said McGinnis of the policy. "But I think it's the right thing to do."

He said even casual exposure to second-hand smoke is dangerous, especially for those with heart disease.

Supervisor Buzz Marzolf, town of Troy, distributed a report on a study that concluded banning smoking in gathering places reduces the risk of heart attacks for nonsmokers.

Marzolf also told of visiting his older brother, who had been addicted to both alcohol and tobacco, in a nursing home.

The retired teacher said his brother pulled him close and said, "Tell (students) this for me: If they're thinking of smoking or drinking to drink."

The county's tobacco ban will be a "soft policy," said Karl. She said staff will meet with building, parks and fairground managers on how to implement the ban and how to inform people who violate it. Smoking cessation assistance and support will also be offered to county employees.

LA CROSSE -- Shipping traffic is down dramatically this year on the upper Mississippi River from last year at this time.

Outbound commodity shipments, such as grains, are off more than 50 percent, according to Kent Pehler. He's the CEO of Brennan Marine. The company provides services to barge lines in the port of La Crosse. Pehler says inbound commodities like coal are down 30 percent.

Pehler says the slow down has forced them to make layoffs to their vessel crews and operations for the first time in 30 years.

Pehler says the slowdown began at the start of this season, volume dropped to the point where there was little or no work and they were forced to lay people off.

With only five weeks left in the shipping season, Pehler says he doesn't see signs of things improving anytime soon. He expects much of the same when the season starts up again next spring.

-- Danielle Kaeding, WLSU/WHLA-La Crosse

Assembly preparing to expel Rep. Jeff Wood

STATE CAPITOL -- The Assembly Speaker's office says legislative leaders are forming a committee to consider expelling Rep. Jeff Wood from office. The move comes after Wood was arrested for a fifth time for driving under the influence.

Democratic Speaker Mike Sheridan said in a written statement that the Assembly must "take a very hard look at Wood's case and determine if he is truly able to serve the people of his district." Sheridan's office spent Thursday talking with Republican Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald about a resolution to expel Wood.

Fitzgerald issued his own statement, calling on Wood to resign and avoid the negative attention the expulsion process would bring.

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, is sponsoring the expulsion resolution. Nass says while some legislators thought his plan was too strong after a fourth driving while intoxicated arrest, now it's the fifth arrest. He says members who want to wait longer have to explain to their constituents why the legislature should do nothing now.

Wood was convicted of drunken driving twice before he was elected. The Independent lawmaker from Chippewa Falls was arrested for suspected drunken driving earlier this year and now twice in the last month for allegedly driving under the influence of prescription medication.

He has not been convicted on the last three arrests. Wood is hardly the only lawmaker to be arrested for drunken driving in Wisconsin. Several legislators from both parties have been arrested in the past decade alone, but none as frequently as Wood.

It takes a two-thirds vote by the Assembly to expel a member. The only time that's ever happened since Wisconsin became a state was 1917, when a Socialist senator was expelled for criticizing the president during World War I.

-- Shawn Johnson, WHA/WERN-Madison

H1N1 vaccine shortage affects Dane County schools

DANE COUNTY -- A nationwide shortage of H1N1 vaccine means school inoculations in Dane County schools may have to wait, along with members of the community.

Dane County schools still have nasal vaccine through the end of the week. The injectable version is all gone. And it's not just the schools that are without. Ellen Smith, an epidemiologist with St. Mary's, spoke at a news conference recently for all Madison area hospitals and clinics. She says right now there "is no vaccine available at any of the clinics and the local providers."

Adequate supplies of H1N1 vaccine may not be available until mid-November. To ensure high risk groups get vaccine before that, public health director for Madison-Dane County, Thomas Schlenker, says today they will announce a new strategy on who will get vaccinated when more supplies come in. Expectant mothers are a likely group health officials will focus on.

Some lesser-populated areas of Wisconsin have not yet received any of the H1N1 vaccine they ordered. Douglas County has placed two orders and is currently waiting for the injectable vaccine. Deb Clausen, of the Douglas County health department says they do have nasal vaccine but injections can be administered to a broader group.

Nationally, production and shipment of H1N1 vaccine has been slower than expected. The federal government said 120 million doses would be available by now; only 13 million are ready.

-- Shamane Mills, WHA/WERN-Madison

UW-Madison to study how H1N1 vaccine protests those with asthma

MADISON -- UW-Madison is one of seven sites around the country where researchers will try to determine the right dose of H1N1 vaccine to protect asthma sufferers.

Less than 10 percent of the total population has asthma. But this spring, those with the disease accounted for nearly a third of all hospitalizations for H1N1 flu. It's not known exactly why this group is at higher risk.

Asthma medications may blunt a person's immune response to the new flu or the person's decreased lung function may play a role. In an effort to better protect those with asthma, Dr. William Busse, is leading a clinical trial that involves giving some participants twice the dose of vaccine than others. He says the trial will answer important questions about the effectiveness of the vaccination and if those with asthma are responding normally to the vaccination.

Doctors won't know until next year how well -- or poorly -- asthma sufferers in the study fight off the virus with different amounts of vaccine. In the meantime, Busse advises those with asthma to get vaccinated against H1N1.

-- Shamane Mills, WHA/WERN-Madison

Medicare reimbursement reform is needed as part of health reform

A group of U.S. congressmen, including Wisconsin's Ron Kind, are pushing for legislation that would change the way Medicare reimburses health care costs.

Kind, a La Crosse democrat, says high health care costs and low Medicare reimbursement rates have trickled down in his district. Kind says health providers in the Midwest aren't practicing volume medicine like other providers around the country. He says because reimbursement rates are lower, costs are shifted to the private health plans in the Midwest.

Right now, Medicare reimburses hospitals and clinics for the number of procedures ordered for a patient, instead of the quality of care. That rankles Dr. Robert Neese, president of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare in La Crosse.

Right now, his hospital is being partially reimbursed by Medicare for procedures ordered, but it's usually not enough to cover costs. Neese is looking forward to a new model of payment. One that moves the country away from the current payment system, which he says is "pretty perverse."

Dr. Neese and representative Kind agree that by reimbursing for the quality of care, doctors can provide more focused treatment, which could keep costs down.

-- Steve Roisum, WLSU/WHLA-La Crosse

Supreme Court considers racial bias standards for judges

MADISON -- The state Supreme Court is considering a new standard for judges who use racially charged language in their sentencing decisions.

In a case heard this week the justices struggled with the term "baby mama" used by a circuit court judge in sentencing an African American man from Milwaukee convicted on a cocaine charge.

The 21-year old defendant was living with a woman who was working and going to school while he stayed home to care for their daughter and also used and sold drugs.

The judge sarcastically ridiculed the defendant during sentencing referring to his dependence on his baby mama, a term the defense maintained had racial overtones.

The appeals court agreed and vacated his two year sentence on cocaine charges. But Justice David Prosser asked how it's possible to define a racially charged word uttered by a judge. "If you had committed a very serious crime and I were the sentencing judge and you were Hispanic and I said to you "you are one bad Hombre," would that convey some sort of bias against Hispanics?"

The attorney for the state, Rebecca St. John urged the court to reject the court of appeals argument and leave judges free to make sarcastic comments as long as they are not explicitly racist. St. John says in the context of the judge's comments, it's clear the defendant was not sentenced based on race, racial or gender stereotypes.

There's been increased concern about racial disparity in Wisconsin's criminal justice system. A study produced last year by a governor's commission proposed solutions to the problem.

-- Gil Halsted, WHA/WERN-Madison

Parole violates could get time off for good behavior

STATE CAPITOL -- A bill pending before the state legislature could be good news for parolees who get sent back to prison. Supporters say it will save the state money and make the parole system more fair. But opponents say it undermines the state's truth in sentencing law.

The bill was voted out of the assembly corrections committee on a party line vote with only one Republican supporting it. It would allow someone who's parole is revoked to claim credit for the good street time he or she accumulated before breaking the rules and being sent back to prison. Currently a revoked parolee can be forced to serve his or her entire parole sentence in prison.

Steve Kestell, R-Elkhart Lake, says the change sends the wrong message to criminals. He says the bill completely changes the idea of parole, which is to insure people have modified their behavior.

But supporters of the bill like Joe Parisi, D-Monona, says it's a change in the right direction. He says it's neither fair, nor financially practical to send parolees who have served most of a two year parole term back to prison just because they broke a supervision rule. Parisi says it's more effective to address the parole violation without sending them back to prison so the state can focus on dangerous criminals.

The new parole credit bill would apply only to people sent back to prison for breaking parole rules not to those charged and sentenced for a new crime.

-- Gil Halsted, WHA/WERN-La Crosse

Wisconsin attracting business from other states

GREEN BAY -- Gov. Jim Doyle toured the state Thursday touting a number of new companies that have located here recently. The state is using packages of loans and tax incentives to draw businesses away from other states.

Doyle came to Green Bay to announce the creation of 110 jobs at a company called Enzymatic Therapy. It makes and distributes herbal supplements and homeopathic medicines. Then he crossed the state to Hudson to welcome three biotech companies that recently relocated there from Minnesota. From there it was off to Madison to welcome another five companies that relocated there from North Dakota, Massachusetts and Florida.

It's something Doyle has been doing a lot of lately.

One reason Enzymatic Therapy -- the supplement maker -- chose Green Bay for its North American hub was a package from the state. It's made up of $400,000 in tax credits and a $500,000 forgivable loan.

When the company fills the 110 jobs it promised, it won't have to pay the loans. The other companies that have come here are also getting grants, loans, and tax credits. In the most recent budget the governor upped the annual pool for angel investing and venture capital tax incentives.

-- Patty Murray, WPNE/WHID-Green Bay

Native American student achievement gap closing

A recent study says the school achievement gap between Native American students and non-native students is closing in many states. Now, the Obama administration is pledging more help for native students.

The study looked at four years of state reading and math test data for eighth graders in Wisconsin and 25 other states that serve large populations of American Indian and Alaska Native students. The results showed that in most of those states, all students showed achievement gains.

But while native students generally still trailed non-native students, in most of the states studied, including Wisconsin, the achievement gap closed. Senior researcher Dawn Mackety is a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, in Michigan.

Mackety says the reducing of the gap should be kept in context. She says in most states, there is still a gap, which is still a concern. Mackety says the gap is narrowing slightly, but American Indian kids are not catching up to the point they will surpass or be even with other groups.

Mackety says it's difficult to tell why some achievement gaps are closing. The study results come as President Obama is looking at reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind law that passed during the Bush administration.

Speaking Thursday at the national Indian Education Association conference in Milwaukee, U.S. Education Department special assistant Jose Rico promised that the law could be adjusted to help Native American students. Rico says the Obama administration "is very open to that."

The No Child Left Behind act requires that all students reach proficiency in reading and math by five years from now.

-- Chuck Quirmbach, WHAD-Delafield/Milwaukee

DNR secretary appointment plan still moving forward

STATE CAPITOL -- A state Senate panel has advanced a plan that would return to the Natural Resources Board the power to appoint DNR Secretaries.

But lawmakers changed the proposal to require Senate confirmation of DNR heads.

Sen. Jim Holperin, D-Conover, calls it a minor change. He chairs the committee that approved the bill. Holperin says the Senate approves all cabinet secretaries and many other appointments now, so approval of the DNR secretary wouldn't be unusual.

Assembly Sponsor Spencer Black says the change won't make secretaries any less independent, since the legislature won't have the power to fire them.

The plan already passed the Assembly and could be debated in the full Senate early next month.

Doyle opposes the bill, saying that taking the agency out of a governor's hands could make it less responsive.

-- Shawn Johnson, WHA/WERN-Madison