Here & Now; 825

December 18, 2009

Here and Now, deer hunting, Tony Grabski, Blue Mound Deer Hunter about DNR Deer Hunting public meeting soundbite - 'Deer mismanagement in Wisconsin is a train wreck. It started when CWD was discovered and it?s gotten worse every year since then.', drunk driving stiffer penalties, The Governor is expected to sign that bill, which makes first offense a crime if a child under 16 is in the car and makes drunk driving a felony for the fourth offense -- as opposed to the fifth. The law would also afford treatment -- even in-patient - for people convicted of second or third Operating While Intoxicated offenses....and it requires ignition locks for repeat offenders. Many believe stiffer penalties are long over-due...but the increased COSTS for prisons and courts are not fully funded in the bill.Here to talk about money and policy -- Joint Finance Committee members Representative Mark Pocan and Robin Vos. Milwaukee public schools retiree benefits, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute released a study estimating cost of future health care insurance benefits for retirees that MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools) has promised to pay but has not set aside money for currently stands at $2.6 billion ...and is projected to grow to nearly five billion by the year 2016. George Lightbourn is with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. The group says this is a financing failure and shows the need for reform of M-P-S.Tom Morgan is executive director of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association. The teacher's union -- which negotiates these benefit plans on behalf of its members. They both join us from Milwaukee. deer hunting, Legislative public hearing where hunters upset with the DNR's deer management strategies including extra hunting seasons in areas the agency feels have too many deer, and the wildly unpopular Earn A Buck rule, meaning you have to shoot an antlerless deer before you can kill one of those bucks that Wisconsin hunters prize. This year, the deer harvest dropped nearly 30 percent and hunters headed for the capitol to argue the D-N-R's herd control strategy had worked too well. Soundbites from Mike Bratz, Wausau / Ron Kulas, Wisconsin Bowhunters Association / Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn / Matt Frank, Wi Sec. of Natural Resources, deer hunting, Frederica and Art Hackett talk about deer DNR hearing and how neighboring states Minnesota and Michigan manage their deer herd, GM plant closing - one year anniversary, One year anniversary of the closing of the GM plant in Janesville. 5, 000 jobs were lost. Our next guest is a former GM employee who works now as an Employment Training Specialist with the Rock County Job Center. He says 95 percent of his clients once worked for GM. Ed Martinez joins us by telephone in Janesville.