97.5 W F H R and 105.5 W I R I, your Wisconsin Rapids Home for locally grown radio.
Here's your Daily News Roundup.
From the Wisconsin Rapids local newsroom, I'm Melissa K.
Two of Wisconsin's biggest providers of gender affirming care have stopped treatments
for minors because of changes from the Trump administration.
Savannah, Tommy Olsen reports, last month, the federal department of health and human
services announced plans to block Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement to hospitals that
offer gender affirming treatments to kids, pretty much all hospitals participate in Medicaid
and Medicare and a big chunk of their income comes from those programs via reimbursement.
Without that money, some hospitals could be a risk of closing.
Now, UW Health and Children's Wisconsin have stopped providing hormone and puberty blocking
treatments.
Staff from UW Health say, quote, we recognize the uncertainty faced by our impacted patients
and families seeking this gender affirming care and will continue to support their health
and well-being.
End quote.
In the spokesperson for Children's Wisconsin told WPR, they can't offer this care anymore
because of quote, escalating legal and federal regulatory risk.
These treatments are very rarely used, but advocates say when they are used, they save lives.
Analysis by Reuters and Komodo Health shows only about 0.01 percent of the insured population
gets gender affirming care during childhood.
Data published by the National Institutes of Health shows 82 percent of trans people have
considered suicide and 40 percent have attempted it, making them more vulnerable to ending
their lives.
Two constitutional amendments got public hearings this month at the State Capitol.
One would strengthen protections for the right to bear arms, another would curb the governor's
partial veto power.
Constitutional amendments need to pass through two consecutive sessions of the legislature
before being put to voters, and if voters sign off, they can't be vetoed by the governor.
The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families is reporting an error rate of under 3 percent
for child care payments as federal agencies increase their focus on potential child care
fraud.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced it would freeze funding
that supports child care assistance payments to low-income families in five states following
allegations of fraud, including neighboring Minnesota.
Department of Children and Families Secretary Jeff Pertle says he's not concerned about
potential funding freezes in Wisconsin.
The 2.9 percent error rate for child care payments in the State is one of the lowest in the
country and sits comfortably below the federal limit of 10 percent.
Secretary Pertle also noted that improper payments contributing to the error rate could
also be mistakes or errors and don't necessarily mean fraud is occurring.
Changes to federal policies to combat fraud could create some additional administrative
burden or reporting requirements, but Secretary Pertle says addressing previous instances of
fraud puts the DCF in a good position to navigate the changes.
The Wisconsin State Assembly unanimously passed a proposed bill that would require schools
to have a cardiac emergency response plan last week.
The legislation seeks to have a written plan available to respond to cardiac arrests
on school property or at school-sponsored athletic events.
The plan would include a response team of staff members, what their roles are in a cardiac
emergency, and how the response team is activated.
Lawmakers also say there is no cost for school districts to put their cardiac emergency response
plan together.
The DNR is monitoring a manure spill in Marathon County.
It happened late on Thursday last week.
The manure was spilling from a livestock site into a stream that empties into black creek.
The farm was actively transferring manure between storage facilities when the transfer
system failed.
The manure discharged from the transfer line.
The DNR is still monitoring the situation, and it's not known yet how much manure was
spilled into the stream.
The farm is actively cleaning up the spill, and the DNR is working closely with the Marathon
County Department of Conservation Planning and Zoning to monitor the cleanup.
January 31st will be here before we know it, and the first installment of property taxes
is due that day.
There's a drop box outside of the Wisconsin Rapid City Hall where you can deposit your
payment anytime.
You can pay at the window inside and receive a receipt when city hall is open.
If you plan to mail your payment, make sure you get it in the mail early, or ask them
to post market at the window when you take it to the post office in person.
Recent changes at the U.S. Post Office mean your mail isn't postmarked when you drop it
off.
It's transferred to a regional sorting center before receiving a date.
Another deadline coming up soon are applications for the 79th Alice in Dairyland.
The date to apply is January 30th.
The year-long position is a full-time paid position including holiday vacation and sick
leave.
You must be at least 21 years old and a resident of Wisconsin to apply.
The position begins July 6th.
A cover letter completed application form resume and three professional references are due
on January 30th.
Find more information at Alice in Dairyland.com
Local news at the top and bottom of every hour throughout the day or on demand any time
at WFHR.com and w-i-i-dot-f-m.
From the Wisconsin Rapids local newsroom, I'm Melissa K.
The Badgers on a Roll.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with sports, college basketball, the Wisconsin Badgers getting
ready for Thursday night's road game at Penn State, tip off time 6 p.m.
Wisconsin with a four game winning streak.
After beating Rutgers, 96 to 87 before a packed house in Madison, Nick Boyd had 32 points
in 9 assists at Coach Greg Gard.
Obviously, Nick Boyd was really good that his ability to attack specifically against
that defense.
We were going to have to have people break him down.
Obviously, like I said, a really good 20 in the first and get figured out for the second
20 since we need to be much better than that.
And the Wisconsin women's team with a dramatic 94 to 92 win in double overtime over Oregon
last night.
Badgers had Coach Robin Pinchton.
You know, we don't talk about this a lot, but we've got four players in that starting
lineup that haven't played in the power five level before.
It could be more proud of them, but I'm more proud of them for that locker room than
I am the scoreboard tonight.
That's the Badgers head coach Robin Pinchton with sports on Mike Clemens.
A little patchy blowing snow right away this morning, then mostly sunny today are high
only zero with wind out of the West at around 10 to 20.
That'll keep the windshield below zero all day.
So bundle up tonight, partly cloudy down to 10 below tomorrow, sunny with a high of eight
above the little more light snow tomorrow night.
Time to yourrology, Sean Cable.
That's your Wisconsin Rapids news roundup from WIRI and WFHR, locally grown radio.
Find more news anytime at WFHR.com and WIRI.fm.
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