Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Friday, March 21st, 2025.
Have your host, James Jamail, off here.
At 4.30 today, we're going to speak with Ronald Rasmussen, Superintendent of the Wisconsin
Rapids Public Schools, Ron's bringing in Steve and Mel from Howe, and we're going to talk
about their aviation club and some other fun things.
We have with us on the phone Wisconsin State Senator Petra Teston right now.
Good morning, sir.
How you doing?
I'm doing great.
Change yourself.
Doing good over here.
Did you just, if, do I have this right, did you just wrap up the legislative breakfast?
I did.
Yeah, we had a really good turnout, as always, the heart of the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce
always puts on a legislative breakfast, usually a couple of times a year, and myself and
Representative Kruegen, Senator Cory Tomchek, who now represents the Northern half of Wood
County.
We had a really good conversation and outlined some of the legislative initiatives that
we're working on and then also kind of given a highlight of the state budget process.
As always, it was a good turnout and a good conversation.
Good to hear.
We're going to talk more about being out in the public and hearing from the constituents
in a little bit, but I know how much those events mean to you guys and to the community.
So good to hear that it went really well, and thanks a lot for being able to squeeze
us in here, especially because we got a handful of things you and I really wanted to talk
about.
Recently, you had a bill passed that extends the enhanced prescription drug monitoring
program.
Can we dive into that a little bit?
Sure.
So back in 2013, as part of the hope agenda, dealing with the opioid epidemic, there's
been a lot of initiatives passed by the legislature and the good news is that they've always received
broad bipartisan support.
And so when the PDMP was first established in 2013, there was originally a three-year
sunset.
And so back in my first session, I worked with, at the time, Representative John Niagara
and for my hometown of Marinette, who was the lead author and the creator of the PDMP
to do an additional five-year sunset.
Well, of course, five years ago, sort of went to back up our mind and when we were working
on a different legislation which had an interaction with the PDMP, it was brought to our attention
that we were coming up on the sunset of April of 2025.
And this has been such a great tool for our medical professionals, our law enforcement
professionals to cut down on the number of opioid prescriptions that are handed out.
Also provides a lot of valuable data as far as overdoses around the state.
And so we rushed quickly to get this bill through.
And so it passed the Senate on Tuesday with unanimous support and passed the assembly just
this week.
And so it should be heading to the governor's desk very shortly to get signed and we'll
have this tool continuing for at least the next five years.
With every day, it feels like there's not only new problems to solve, but there are the
ones from yesterday to deal with and there's trying to keep up with this can be quite busy.
Keeping a eye on the ball with this one is so vital.
The way it bleeds into so many other topics and other issues.
Well, that's just it.
I mean, unfortunately with the opioid epidemic, you know, I think just about everyone in the
state of Wisconsin knows someone either directly or indirectly who's been impacted by this
and in the negative way.
And so, you know, making sure that we continue to have these tools available for our medical
professionals for law enforcement is critically vital to the mission success of making sure
that we are doing everything in our power to cut down on the opioid crisis, which unfortunately
has taken far too many lives.
And as I mentioned, the good news is, is this is one area where we have seen support from
across the aisle and hope to continue that moving forward.
And this is, I imagine just as it would be important to you no matter what, but certainly
has an added layer to it, you were on the roll, you were vice chair at the Senate Health
Committee as well.
So having to do that and everything, recently you were asked by the Pharmacy Society of
Wisconsin to serve on a legislative panel during their annual lobby day in Madison.
So I felt this is a perfect segue into that, if you don't mind telling us how that went.
Yeah, so the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, they had their lobby day like so many organizations
do every year, especially around this time of year.
And so we had a lot of pharmacists from around the state, but more importantly, a lot
of pharmacy students.
And what's so great about these panels, they, you've got Republicans and Democrats from
both houses, just there to kind of give a legislative update, but more importantly, to really
send a message particularly to those students, you know, whose professions are ultimately impacted
by decisions that we make down in Madison, why it's so important for them to be engaged
in this process, because oftentimes, you know, unless we have direct experience, you know,
we need to know how the things that we work on impact people directly.
And so, you know, these are individuals who are going to be doing this on a day-to-day
basis when they begin their careers as pharmacists or pharmacy techs.
And so, you know, making sure that they're sharing their stories and educating policymakers
on why legislation is, you know, to the benefit or sometimes into the detriment of their
profession.
And so it's always a really good discussion and great feedback and I was happy to participate
in it.
Yeah, it's one of those things, too, where being able to be around people who are in a
similar industry or the same industry, there's plenty that you can read in books and teachers
can teach you, but being able to talk to individuals who have real life experience, who
knows the information and the input they can share in those situations.
That's very cool to hear.
I want to take a moment to remind everybody that Senator has a great e-letter that he
sends out.
It can show up right in your email box.
All I got to do is have an email address and it can show up for you and all the information
we talk about here and some other information can be found there.
And I find it to be a very good resource and if I can be blunt with the audience, whether
you voted for Senator Tesson or not, I cannot encourage you enough to sign up for this
letter.
He represents all constituents and this is important information for those of us here
in Central Wisconsin to know about.
And it's where you can find interesting articles and things that you are up to so much and
do so much.
I think some things we don't even get a chance to touch on very often and I really wanted
to take a moment to talk about this part in the e-letter about recovering unclaimed
property.
I was recently announced that approximately 9.9 million in unclaimed property in Wisconsin
has returned to its rightful owners.
That feels like a pretty big headline, sir.
Yeah, I mean, every year, this is, you know, people, they inherit properties that they
may not have known they had or, you know, people just for did of the cashets out there.
And so we have a great program that's run through the treasurer's office and there's
links available.
You can go and see if you have any unclaimed property out there and it's primarily a great
way to ensure that, look, if you've got assets out there, we want to get that money back
to its rightful owners.
This is one of those things that I think again, just like I was saying with life, you know,
we get so busy and there's so much that goes on.
They know, especially once you get to a certain age, April, I got to do my taxes.
But how many of us get to like April 10th and we're like, oh my God, I haven't done my
taxes yet.
It's understandable.
But that's where it's so important for you to do that, take that extra leap, do that
extra step and look into these things and make sure that you're getting the money that
is rightfully yours.
Exactly.
We're speaking with ground state Senator Patrick Teston right now and, sir, I was touching
on this earlier, the joint finance committee has announced listening sessions and the schedule
for this for 25 through 27 state budget.
How is that going or how are what are you looking forward to about these?
Yeah, so it was just announced earlier this week, we are going to have four joint finance
committee listening sessions around the state.
So this is where all the members of the finance committee and that any other of our colleagues
who aren't on the finance committee want to attend.
It's a tremendous way for folks to give us their feedback and input on the state budget
process.
We will be going around the state starting on Wednesday, April 2nd.
We'll be up in Cacana at the high school from 10 am to 5.
In fact, all of these are run from 10 am until 5 Friday, April 4th at the Wisconsin State
Fair Park down in West Alice, Monday, April 28th at the Hayward High School Auditorium
from 10 to 5.
And then the closest one to us is actually going to be on Tuesday, April 29th at the North
Central Technical College up in Warsaw.
And so typically we get anywhere from two to 400 people that show up to these and usually
get a couple of minutes to lend your feedback and this is where folks have a direct opportunity
to lend public input into the state budget.
And of course, if people can't make it, obviously you're still able to submit written testimony
to the committee.
And also I know myself and many of my colleagues, we are going around our respective districts
as well to solicit feedback.
In fact, myself and the representative Scott Krug, a couple of weeks ago held a joint
session at McMillan Library and we had a really good turnout.
We had probably had to shy 70 people.
And it was great to hear from folks and to kind of lay out how the budget process works
from our end and educate people on the nuances and all the fun wrinkles that go into
the craft in a two-year state budget.
How have these sessions been going for you, representative Krug?
Even not even just these, just in the last year or two or a lot of these listening sessions
you've been doing.
How have they been going as far as interacting with people?
I've always enjoyed them, I think in my time since I've been a legislature I've done
just shy of a hundred of them throughout the old 24th Senate district and the new.
And it's great because oftentimes you have people who come to the table with a different
mindset or a different perspective and a different way at tackling some issues that we face,
whether it's standalone bills or within the state budget.
And so getting that sort of feedback gives us a really good tool when we go back and
we're working with our colleagues from around the state, either on the finance committee
or in standalone committees that we can relay those conversations and that dialogue and
put that directly into how we make public policy.
So it's extremely valuable.
And I know there's been a lot of focus and attention on sort of the federal time halls,
although there's been a little bit more contentious lately with all the activity going on out
in D.C.
But I think fine-large, they've gone extremely well at the state level and so I'm looking
forward to continuing those.
What are some of the more consistent things you're hearing or are expected to hear it,
and maybe it's a better question, as far as this budget goes and trying to clear the air
on?
Yeah, I think I'm expecting to hear some of the same themes that we did last go around
when we went around the state for the joint finance committee.
I mean, a lot of conversations as it relates to our state highway system, our rural infrastructure,
obviously K-12 education, higher ed, our technical colleges, and then, you know, talking about
some of the issues such as child care.
And so I actually just had a really interesting conversation with an organization that creates
these public-private partnerships and they've been in several states and I think Mississippi
has been probably their most successful where this private company, they actually go out
and try and find new early childhood educators and walk them to the process, get them credential,
help them get their facilities up and running and in places like Mississippi with a modest
investment from the state, they've been able to increase child care slots to the student
over 3,000 and get in many more individuals interested in this career path and so I think
if some of these outside of the box approaches that we can take and apply here on Wisconsin
to address some of these issues like the child care shortage.
And so it's really encouraging to hear the sharing of information, looking at what's
going on over here and seeing what we can, you know, take from it and apply over here.
That's encouraging to hear and certainly when it comes to child care, one of the more important
topics we're facing right now.
And given we're facing a lot of important topics right now, I don't know, sir, you've been
doing this a long time but I don't know if it's ever been more vital to have these listening
sessions than now.
Yeah, I think so and I mean, you know, obviously at the federal level, there's a lot of conversations
and a lot of activity that's going on and you know, without diving into the politics
of all of it, you know, obviously some people have concerns and you know, they just want
assurances or in a lot of cases just to, you know, provide their input to their federally
federal elected representatives and you know, the same goes for us at the state level.
I mean, it's critically important if we're going to have a thriving and viable democratic
process here in the state that people lend their voices and that's, you know, one of our
most important aspects of our job is to go out and listen to people and even if we don't
always see eye to eye or agree on everything, that's okay.
It's just at least having a respectful dialogue and having those relationships built go
a long way. I think to, you know, we're going to divide that we face in a polarized environment.
We're speaking with Wisconsin State Senator Petra testing right now and I want to ask about
you're on the job visit in a moment, but before that, I couldn't help but notice that you had
the Wisconsin Agriculture Youth Council by near recently. We wanted to really encourage kids
about joining this great council and being a part of our ag industry at a young age.
Yeah, I mean, as the chairman of the Agriculture and Revenue Committee, programs like this are a
great pathway to introduce the next generation of the farmers here in the state and I think
anytime that we can engage our youth in different types of career paths and how vital our ag industry
to the state, especially in our area, the state and central Wisconsin where we are a heavy
grower of potato and vegetables and obviously cranberries and we've got a number of dairy operations
and so it's a great program and encourage people. You can go on to my official Facebook page
at Senator Patrick Teston who are more and sign up and hopefully you never know. Mike Spark
and interested in a high school student who never knew that they were interested in a potential
career in the ag industry. Yeah, I got to be honest. I've talked about this with a lot of our
extension people and Matt Lippard our ag agent before. I think in a different world, I might have
ended up in that in that world. Just learning more and more about it and everything. There's
so many cool and interesting aspects of it and you find out about it from a young age. You just
don't know what Mike Spark there. It may have been different for you too. He had been doing this
on the job series earlier in New Life. We may never have had Senator Teston. He may have been doing
one of these jobs because you were recently in New Lisbon checking out one of our great Wisconsin
businesses. Can you tell us about that? Yeah, so I get to spend a day at Lear Manufacturing
and by and large, you know, people might not be familiar with Lear, but it's a Wisconsin-based
company. They have over 250 employees and two locations in Juno County and right in New Lisbon.
And my guess is if you've ever bought a bag of ice from say a quick trip, you've come across
their products. They make a number of the ice coolers. In fact, they have about 85% of the market
share as it relates to walking coolers and the ice coolers. And what also need about this,
you would think, you know, these big metal containers are going to have a lot of welding going on
and a lot of product being cut. What's so unique about Lear is that they have this proprietary
technology where essentially they fold the metal and steel. So basically all these components of the
the core of the ice container just kind of they snap together. It was a really great experience
during an employee own company and everyone I got to work alongside at Lear, they just spoke so
highly of the company. And so they put a lot of value and support into their key members,
co-owners as they call them. And so it was a great experience and I learned a lot coming out of there.
It sounds like it. It sounds like, you know, and one of the cool things about this series is certainly
getting a chance to, you know, experiencing these things and, and, you know, putting a highlight to
them. But really reminding people, especially a business like this, that this is a Wisconsin
business, that that, and we grab that ice, we don't think much about it. But every once in a
while reminding yourself of that, that you're investing in our, our state, you're, you're helping
our state with those things. It reminds me as well of talking with our Alice in Dairyland and how we
remind everybody always to look for that red label, made in Wisconsin label and continue to support
those in this state working so hard. And it's a fun job. Do you, you know, you don't have to,
we don't, we just tease this, you don't have to tell us where you're going to be up to next.
But do you have your next on the job series lined up, you know, where you're going next?
I think we're still hammer out the final details. But once we, once we get that everything
set in stone, we'll be sharing that. What's so great about it now, in years past,
every once in a while, we'd have a little production behind these. But now we've got more. So
a lot more video to take part in. And then also always try and sit down and have a conversation with
the owner of the manager of the company that we're at for a data. It's just a great opportunity
to highlight some of the incredible employers that we have here in Central Western Wisconsin.
It's also not only a great way to, for you to get your business out there a little bit more
in exposure, but you get to put Senator testing to work. So I mean, it's a win-win for you.
I want to encourage people to reach out to his office if you're a business out there and
ask him about his on the job series and see if maybe he can stop by your business or establishment.
Senator, as we're wrapping up and letting you go this time of year, I would not be a good journalist.
If I didn't ask you, did you fill out a bracket? You know, I actually, I did not. I should
pin so busy these missed last week and a half that normally we do a pool with my wife's family.
And then it dawned on me that yesterday was the first day. I knew I forgot to do something.
So sadly, I'm out of the pool this year, but I got to watch several games yesterday and
looking forward to seeing how deep the badges can go. I was going to say, you know, these pools
are fun and everything, but really, especially with the way the team looks this year,
we're kind of locked in on the Badgers. All these other teams are interesting,
but we're locked in on the Badgers this year. And I keep telling people, the guards that they
got in the guard play that they got with Tom Jay and Blackwell and everything, they could go
pretty far in this tournament. Guard play traditionally does very well in the NCAA tournament.
Yeah, I'm excited. You know, it's anytime that the badges are doing well, it's, you know,
I always say it's a great day to be a Badger fan. Sir, appreciate the time as always.
We know how busy you are. Thank you so much for joining us. If people have fault questions,
want to know more and they want to reach out to you, how can they do that?
Yeah, best way to reach out and especially right now, I encourage people to do so as we are
at the very start of the budget process. My office number 608-266-3123, you can always
shoot us an email at sen.mylastnametestin.legis.wi.gov. I encourage you to sign up for my e-update,
see what we're working on and then be sure to follow some social media and keep up the date with
what we're working on and all the cool things we've got going on around the 24th. And again,
encourage people to just show up if you're able to to the joint finance committee hearings that we're
going to have around the state. We've got those posted as well. So now's the time to get in touch
with your elected officials, make your voices heard and help us shape a state budget for the next
two years. Agreed. And if I could just piggyback on that when you're at these listening sessions and
everybody, everybody, remember to treat people like an adult, be respectful. That's just the way
that we need to be, we need to be much more aware of that going forward and how we treat each other
in our representatives. These are people that are individuals taking time out of their lives to
represent us as constituents, as people. The least we can do is be adults with each other regardless
whether you agree politically or not. The more we act like adults, the more kids will act like
adults when they be get there. We appreciate you, sir. Have a good weekend.
You too James. And we'll have more midday magazine coming up for you right here at 97-5 FM 13-20-A-M-WF-H-R.
We are locally grown radio.
