Here & Now; 832

February 19, 2010

Who should pick the DNR Secretary? Last year legislators decided that the DNR Board should. And that it should have firing power, too. So they passed a law that said so and sent it to Governor Doyle. Doyle vetoed it. Next week the Assembly will take a vote to over ride that veto. It will take over ride votes from two-thirds of the members present. Republican Assemblyman Dan LeMahieu says he'll vote against the over ride. He joins us from Sheboygan. We're joined in Madison by former DNR Secretary George Meyer who served terms under both kinds of appointments in the 1990's. By Board and by Gubernatorial selection. Ideas how to fix the funding problem of transportation infrastructure. Here and Now's Art Hackett reports in part 2 there is a disconnect over the roads which connect us. New findings about suicide rates in Wisconsin. Compiled by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Wisconsins suicide rate is higher than and climbing at a faster rate than the national average and that of our neighboring states. The report focuses on expert opinion and research on the dynamics that may play into this, including economy, job loss, and binge drinking. Joining Fred in the studio is Eric Garland, the Chairman of the Safe Communities Task Force on Suicide Prevention. UW Population Health Institute ranked all 72 Wisconsin counties from most to least healthy. Ozaukee comes in as the most healthy county. Followed by St. Croix, Washington, Waukesha, Portage, Calumet, Outagamie, Buffalo, Taylor and Dane. Julie Willems Van Dijk is with the Health Institute and worked on the survey. The Assembly passed the payday loan bill this week. The floor action on this bill got almost as much attention as the off-the-floor action. That's because of attention paid to Speaker Mike Sheridan and his self confessed former relationship with a lobbyist for the payday loan industry. Peter Leidy playssings the part of the Speaker.