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This is your WFHR Daily News Roundup for locally grown radio 97.5 FM and 13.20 AM and WISC country 105.5 FM WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids.
WFHR and WIRI News. I'm Alyssa K. The Wisconsin State Senate has passed a bill that would expand Medicaid coverage for postpartum moms.
Savannah Tulmay Olsen explains why this bill with broad bipartisan support still may not become law.
The bill would give women who gave birth an entire year of coverage under Medicaid. Currently they get it for 60 days.
Moms get this year-long coverage in almost every state in the nation. The only exceptions are Arkansas and Wisconsin.
An advocate say it saves lives. From 2019 to 2021, Wisconsin had a 30% increase in deaths among pregnant and postpartum women.
Democrat Melissa Ratcliffe on the Senate floor.
63 moms died with pregnancy-related issues from 2020 to 2022.
One-third of those deaths occurred more than 60 days postpartum. So 21 moms died because they didn't have access to the care that they needed.
Of the 63 women who died, 76% of them were on Medicaid at the time their babies were born, that's according to the DHS legislative director.
This bill has broad bipartisan support in both the Senate and the assembly. The Senate passed it almost unanimously yesterday and they did the same thing in the last session.
But here's the thing. A bill can't pass if it's not called for a vote and it can't be called for a vote unless the speaker says so.
Speaker Robin Boss had previously said he doesn't support the measure because the state gives out too much free stuff. Here's what he had to say about it yesterday.
My position has been fairly clear from the very beginning. I've never supported an expansion of welfare. I can't imagine that I would ever support one.
We have to talk about it as a clock and see everybody else's.
The expansion would cost $18.5 million. Wisconsin currently has a surplus of more than $4.5 billion. For civic media news, I'm Savannah Tomay Olsen.
If you own property on the tri-lakes, you can get free barley straw to help reduce LG Bloom.
The tri-lakes management district includes Lake Arrowhead, Camelot, and Sherwood. Bags of barley straw are available for pickup outside the front of the tri-lakes building on Apache Avenue, now through May or until the bags run out.
The bags are to be secured under your peers, partially submerged in the water and allowed to decompose.
Takes approximately six to eight weeks for the decomposing straw to produce the natural chemical which inhibits algal growth.
The late April is the best time to use this method. Property owners can pick up two bags per peer.
Bag should be removed after Labor Day and you can use any remaining straw for fertilizer or ground cover if you wish.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin introduced a new process for replacing local party officials last week, Joanne Croulette's reports.
The new rules were approved by the State Republican Party's Executive Committee in an attempt to cut down on what they call egregious behavior and infighting between state party leadership and local officials and organizers.
The new code of conduct requires local regional and state party members to treat other party officials with respect, support candidates endorsed by the party, and prohibits harassment of other party members.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction said it has not received a response from the Department of Education after refusing to sign a request, certifying that it is in compliance with the Trump administration's policies, university, equity and inclusion programs.
The agency had previously announced it would not be signing the certification request, arguing that the request lacked clarity and threatened local control of the state's public school system.
As the DPI does not comply with the policies, Wisconsin's public schools could lose crucial federal funding.
I'm Melissa K for WFHR and WIRI News.
The brewers blast the giants.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with sports.
Baseball last night in San Francisco.
Top of the sixth, bases loaded.
Christian Yellich at the plate on Fandula, Wisconsin.
2-2 coming.
Live all center field, back goes lead.
He is still back and it is gone.
A grand slam for Christian Yellich opens this ballgame wide open.
It was Yellich's first grand slam in three years.
Milwaukee went on to win 11-3.
Over the giants, a lot of contributions from the crew, Pat Murphy.
Trang sticks out, Yellich sticks out.
Those guys were amazing.
I'm getting to start once in a while and at home we're later in the game to keep adding on.
A lot of good, a lot of good offensive performances today.
NBA, the bucks losing to the Pacers.
1-23-1-15.
Indiana leads the series to games to nothing.
Game 3 Friday night.
We're dizzy.
I'm very confident about this series.
There.
At Stock Rivers, with sports on Mike Clemens.
On your entertainment beat, I'm Peach Waba.
I identify with that film in which there is an implicit reference to St. Francis.
Those are the words of Pope Francis, who passed away last Monday at the age of 88.
The Pope was referring to the film Lestrada by Federico Felini, which was his favorite.
As it turns out, he was quite the cinema buff.
The Pope said in an interview about 10 years ago, he was always a fan of movies dating back to his childhood in South America,
adding that he owes his love for the big screen to his parents for taking him to the theater at an early age.
Pope Francis said he identified with the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi due to the themes of love and suffering.
Probably no surprise.
That was the inspiration for his chosen papal name.
Video game adaptations are alive and well, and it seems they will be with us for a long time,
or until they run out of video games to adapt.
Universal Studios is jumping into said world and teaming up with director Michael Bay,
and producer Sidney Sweeney to bring out run to the big screen.
There is no cast attached yet, as the project is in the early stages of development.
Will there ever be a sequel to the Big Lebowski?
If Jeff Bridges and Julian Moore had their say, it would be absolutely.
Unfortunately, it is the Cohen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, who seem against the idea.
The Cohen Brothers have not made a sequel to any of their work, although Bridges said they do tend to surprise people sometimes.
In addition to no sequels, the Brothers also have not made a film together since 2018's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
When he's not trying to sell you his own products like Aviation Gin or Mint, Ryan Reynolds actually makes films.
He starred opposite Hugh Jackman in 2024's Deadpool and Wolverine.
Recently, Jackman took a good-natured swipe at his pal Reynolds,
by telling a crowd at Radio City Music Hall that Jackman was curiously left out of a dance scene in the film.
Don't worry, there is no awkwardness. Jackman did assure everyone in the crowd they are bros for life.
Thank goodness for that.
The critically acclaimed show Heartstopper, which ran for three seasons on Netflix,
will wrap everything up with a feature film.
The show follows the stories of Charlie, an openly gay student, and his schoolmate Nick, a rugby player.
Joe Locke and Kit Connor, who starred in the TV show, will both appear in the film,
which will also be under the Netflix banner, and will pick up where season 3 left off.
If you're looking for something that is a bit mindless, but a good shoot him up with a feel-good ending, check out A Working Man.
The film stars Jason Statham as a mild-mannered construction worker, single father,
and former special forces soldier, charged with finding his boss's kidnapped daughter.
The movie is a bit stereotypical, but seems to throw out one challenge after another,
as Statham's character works his way through the hierarchy of a criminal enterprise.
A working man received about 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, which seems about right, but it's a fun watch.
The film is now available to rent on various streaming platforms.
From our show is fun, tune in to Nightlight with me, Peach Waba, weeknights from 6-8pm on the Civic Media, radio network.
We'll see a little sunshine this morning, with scattered afternoon showers or even a thunder shower possible.
Our hike today in the upper 60s, tonight scattered showers with a low in the low to mid 40s tomorrow.
More scattered rain with a high in the low 60s.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
Outside now, it's 40!
Thanks for watching!