Hello world, welcome to WFHR's rapid support, probably brought to you by Cracket Septic
for this August 15, 2025.
Have your host James here and joining us today are good friend Senator Patrick Teston.
Sir, how you doing?
I'm doing great James actually.
I'm the road right now heading over to Jackson County to participate in the Wisconsin
cranberry association field day.
So looking forward to seeing some of our cranberry growers all across the state, but primarily
right here in the heart of the 24th Senate district.
I know that you've got important work when it comes to this and appreciate you being
out there, you know, feet on the ground and everything, but there's nothing like being
on a marsh.
It's something about it.
I just love the feeling, the smell and the air, all of that, a little jealous of you.
That's going to be nice.
That's going to be a good time.
Oh, absolutely.
I did.
And speaking of that, this kind of leads into that a little bit.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the small business round table at Altman Construction
you were recently at here in Rapid.
So how did that go?
It went really well.
This was organized by Congressman Derek Van Orden's office and it was really an opportunity
for, to hear from business leaders in a number of different sectors, just and also Congressman
Van Orden was able to kind of give an update on the recent legislation I was enacted at
the Federal Bureau of Justice for all of the good dialogue and feedback from, you know,
the business community and I was glad to be part of it.
Did anything, as far as, you know, this went, did you hear anything from the constituents
talking to people, anything new come about from this or just kind of reconfirming a lot
of what you've heard before?
You know, I think there are some really good questions as it related to some of the work
requirements that are going to be put in place here in the next several weeks and months
as it relates to benefits for individuals who are on things like food share.
And obviously there's still a lot that needs to be hammered out both at the federal level
as well as the state level, but obviously that does impact employers.
But I think there's going to be a potential benefit as, you know, I've said multiple times
on the show for years is that one of the biggest challenges that we face here in the state
is that we've had more jobs open than there are people who filled them.
And so hopefully with some of the requirements that are going to come down and be enacted
and administered via the state from the Fed is that we're going to get able-bodied individuals
off the sidelines and back in the Gample Employment and that should go and help a long
way to help fill the void of the workforce shortages that we faced in businesses in
every corner of the state for those going on the last decade.
With the recent budget pass and everything, is there some hope that some of the things
in there like involving childcare and everything can help get some people back out there?
I think so.
And, you know, that was, you know, one of the biggest things that we tried to address
in this budget and again, recognizing that this was a compromise budget we had to negotiate
and get states with Republicans and Democrats along with Governor Tony Evers to get this
cross-finished line.
And, you know, we use some federal funds that were at the developers' disposal to provide
any lifeline for childcare providers for the next year in a variation and continuation
of the childcare accounts program.
But knowing that that's only going to last year, we still are going to have to get creative
and think in long-term solutions on how we address some of these challenges that are faced
in childcare, which ultimately come back to these are workforce issues as well.
When moms and dads have to make decisions of whether or not one or both of them are
able to go out and get Gample Employment, just based on whether or not they can find a place
to wash their kids so they can go to work.
That's a huge, huge problem.
And so, you know, we've got a year to sort of figure this out, but I'm hopeful with some
of the investments that we've made, it's going to provide a lifeline for these providers
and hopefully more slots for parents to find childcare for their kids.
Encouraging to hear that because I know when I talk with you or representative Krug about
this, you guys seem to have your eye on the ball and the main part of this when it comes
to childcare, well, unfortunately, I hear from a lot of your colleagues in the state
when they're talking about this subject, they seem to spend a lot of time on people who
are trying to defraud the government and you know, want to just be lazy and sit on the
couch eating bond bonds and get a paycheck, you know, get a check or something like that
when the stats will tell you that's less than 10 to 5% of people that are actually doing
that.
The real concern is childcare and good pay and some of those things.
So it's encouraging to hear that is where your focus is on that.
Not to say that we turn a blind eye to these other things, but that's where we got to keep
a eye on the ball.
If we're really going to solve this problem, we've got to, you know, actually look at
what the real cause is and not just what's going to get headlines or certain people to
lean your way.
Earlier this month, your bipartisan advance practice registered nurse materization act
was signed into state law.
I want to give you credit on being able to say that whole sentence first off, but way,
way, way more important than that kind of to a point of the other things we've already
covered today.
This is really big for our state.
This is really big for the people of our state.
This was huge and really I said to be completely honest James, I was never sure we'd ever
get to this point where we would have this bill signed into law.
It really was a huge turkey lean effort and I give a lot of credit to the nursing organizations
who had spent the better part of the last decade and a half trying to get this bill
enacted into law.
And I had the privilege for the previous two legislative sessions to offer this bill
which allows our advance practice registered nurses to operate at the highest level of their
scope of practice and the practice independently independently if they meet various requirements
and you know, the last two sessions, both houses of the legislature, you know, at those
times the governor vetoed the bill.
We came back this goal around recalibrated, made some changes, again negotiated, compromised
to get to a point where not everyone was completely satisfied with the end result, but
at the same time this advances the profession of our advance practice nurse in the right
direction.
And it's going to go a long way to open enough access to quality care in every corner of
the state especially in our underserved and rural communities.
And so it was it was a great day and even, you know, after the day's work had concluded
we had a sort of a reception at a local establishment off the square and had a chance to sit down
with some of the governor's staff over a beer and it's Jones horror stories because there
was a lot of back and forth and and I just glad we got it done.
There's still more work to be done, but I tell you this was one of the bills I was most
proud that he signed in the law and it's a credit to all those involved and I appreciate
the governor's signature and and this is going to go a long way to help patients all across
the state.
Agree with everything you said there just adding on to that certainly of the work that
you put into this are really pushing forward with this not letting go of it.
I imagine there were plenty times where like you said, it didn't seem like this would
ever get off the ground to continue with it we appreciate too and can imagine how many
lives can be saved or helped because of the bill like this that's really important for
us.
Do you have a hope and I understand that the two different things but a bill like this
being passed are you more hopeful of, you know, some of the work that you've been trying
to do with getting more dentists and rural areas and some of that.
Yeah, I do think there's more opportunity there and I think that's one area, especially
as it relates to oral health care that even going looking back at last session some
of the investments that were made into our tech college is to train more dental therapists
and dental hygienists, you see the investments that have been made in places like Miss State
Technical College.
So there's obviously a lot that needs to be done but Republicans and Democrats we've
been able to come together on increase in access to oral health care especially understanding
that over half of Wisconsin counties are considered dental deserts.
Some places like Wood and Portage County are considered dental deserts and you wouldn't
think that but that's absolutely the case.
So anything that we can do to develop our talent pipeline in this profession and in this
area of health care delivery and to get them to come to areas like central Wisconsin goes
a long way because as we are well aware oral health care is tied to several key systems
within our body and when you talk to school administrators the number one reason why kids
miss schools because of toothaches because they can't get in to see a hygienist or
dentist that do their basic cleanings or getting things caps so I'm really I think especially
too when you take a look now with Governor Evers making the announcement that he's not
going to run for reelection.
I think that frees him up and gives him a little bit more flexibility to work with us on
a number of different issues not having those parts and constraints put in place that
I think we've got a really good opportunity between now and the end of session to get a
lot of good things done and I'm willing to roll my slews and get the work to do just
that.
And along with you know certainly we do need these dentists in town and all the great
points to made there here's hoping as well that we can make it more affordable for families
as well to be able to go to the dentist because it just getting a dentist is one thing being
able to afford and having dental insurance and some of those things is a whole other
conversation so we can't get to one without the other so here's hoping that that is in
place that happens.
We're speaking with Senator Petra Teston right now and recently you received the Building
Wisconsin Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin.
What was that like and how did that feel?
It was great.
It happened right after we wrapped up the round table with a number of business leaders
at all construction.
It's been great to work alongside the Associated Builders and Contractors these are our independent
contractors, the instruction workers, electricians who do amazing jobs and you know something
that we were able to get done in this budget go a long way to helping their professions
especially as it relates to the investment, the record investments that we made and things
like our youth apprenticeship programs which we have seen take off in recent years and
you know I'm always reminded of the youth apprenticeship appreciation breakfast that
flash puts on every year where juniors and seniors alongside their sponsors get to talk
about their experiences and what's so great about the youth apprenticeship program is
that it really allows students to get hands-on experience and for some it sparks an interest
in a career field that they never knew it existed or in other circumstances and probably
the more beneficial they realize you know what I did this youth apprenticeship program
realized it wasn't for me and now I'm going to try something else and so you know it's
these types of investments that are going to build up our workforce and train the future
workers of Wisconsin so really great to work alongside ABC and very appreciative of the
award. Yeah and especially the opportunity to talk with face-to-face a lot of the workers
in that industry I know how much that means for you and being able to hear not just from
them but maybe different things that they have that you might not hear otherwise it's an
important moment so great to hear for you and that you were able to take part in and congratulations
again on that. You've been in our stomping grounds a little bit lately you visited the
Spiris in Rapids how did that go? It was great got the sit down with their leadership team
and talk about some of the things that they've been working on and the investments that
they're making into the region and and really it was an opportunity to kind of go over
and rehash some of the work that was done within the state budget primarily the ability
that we were able to get the governor signed the budget prior to President Trump signed
in the federal appropriations bill and what that means as it related to our hospital assessment
tax which being able to leverage that to 6% goes a long way to fill in some of the gaps
that we face in our state budget as related to our cost to continue and Medicaid because if
we hadn't been able to leverage just a additional billion dollars by going up to the 6% for
our hospital assessment tax we are facing some significant shortfalls within our budget
that we're going to be very difficult to balance and you know put it into the black and
so you know we talked a lot of things about workforce access price transparency things
of that nature and and so there are still a number of standalone pieces of legislation
that are going to go a long way to again empower our providers to take care of patients
and increase access to care and you know it's great having partners like a Spiris in
our area who do a great job and others like Marshall Clinic and so you know it's always
great to hear from them and and more importantly the solicit their feedback and there's some
of the standalone bills that are out there between now and the end of the session that
you know we need to get done or maybe you need to tweak to get people more on board with
one of the things you got to check out while there was mid states technical colleges
healthcare simulation center that is located on the third floor over there what wanted to
bring that up one to let people know that might not know that that exists over there and
I think it's really unique and cool for our community but I imagine it was pretty interesting
to check out.
It was great they have these very advanced simulator I don't want to call them dummies but
basically mannequins where you know it was nursing students to basically get hands-on
experience and the instructors are able to throw them curveball so it's almost until
you get the practice in real time without actually doing on a real person but it's very
much realistic and so you know that is you alluded to as a partnership and investment
made between aspires and mid state technical college and again that's where I think we're
so incredibly blessed to have such a great organization like mid state technical college
who are really you know they're here to the ground working with our business community
and our region to figure out where the great greatest needs are as it relates to a workforce
and it's partnerships like these that really advance our area and see these types of
partnerships really blossom it speaks volumes to our area of the state and the leadership
of individuals like president Shelley Monbeck and her leadership team over there and so
it was really fun to see that because I missed the grand opening when they opened up
a couple years ago and it was great to go through and and you know see what some of the
students experience on a day-to-day basis.
You bring up grand openings I've got a little bit of a curveball question for you I got
to ask you the tough questions everyone's in a while sir so I hope you understand we've
always been able to do this with each other so I have a question how do you know how
many ribbon cuttings you've been a part of.
I've been in quite a few I don't know if I could quantify an actual number but it's definitely
would not sit on two hands I can tell you out.
Well I imagine and you added to that recently you were honored to participate at the ribbon
cutting ceremony for the new noble community clinic in facility in Stevens Point how
did that go?
The noble community clinic is one of our free and charitable clinics here in the area
that serve several locations central Wisconsin and they just built a new facility in downtown
Stevens Point which was a major upgrade compared to their old facility which was a pretty
cramped little building right by Lendu to Smoters and our free and charitable health clinics
do a tremendous job in helping our underserved and under insured populations and whether
that's dealing with behavioral health, substance abuse, basic primary care, even oral health
care and again the last several budgets and I've had the privilege to be the lead author
on budget amendments that have made significant increases to our community health clinics as
well as our FQHC and FQHC local likes like noble community health clinic and so really
excited to see them expand their footprint in central Wisconsin and talking with their
director it sounds like there's more work in the down the road here where they're going
to continue to invest in the area and again this is about increasing access to health care
especially for those underserved and under insured populations.
Yeah they're doing great work over there it was really cool to see the facility open
up and wishing them a great first couple of months over there.
Sir as we're getting ready to let you go I wanted to talk with you a little bit about
the on the job series and as I've kind of done over the years with you real quick do
you know country music you a country music fan?
Absolutely.
Alright so when we get to do finally get to do our on the job series you come here
to the studios we'll have you DJ over on 105 five we'll have you DJ some country music
over there we'll maybe that's what we'll do for you over and have you ghost Pam some
of that.
Perfect.
Do you have anything coming up for the on the job series?
Actually we do in the next couple weeks I'm going to be working at the central Wisconsin
airport and I'm really excited I'm not exactly sure what it's all going to be entailed
but I'm just hoping to keep the planes running on time and passing to help passengers get
to their destination safely so I'm looking forward to them.
I cannot wait to see how that goes that's that's going to be great looking forward to
it and looking forward to talking to you next month as always thanks so much for joining
us sir.
If people have follow questions want to know more and get in touch with you how can they
do that?
Yeah if anyone is again touched with my office feel free to give us a call at 608-266-3123
here's an email at scn.my last name testing at legis.wi.gov follow us on social media
sign up for my weekly newsletter that we send out every every Thursday and of course
if you see me out and about throughout the district and want to chat feel free to call
me inside and looking forward to seeing everyone out at the calendar corn test parade
this Saturday.
That's going to be a fun time that's going to be great we'll see you there safe travels
and we'll talk soon sir.
Appreciate it attention.
Thank you and thank you to everybody for joining us.
For another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report proudly brought to you by Crocatseptic.
