News 06.08.17
8 June 2017 News
Fond du Lac County tops the state in tourism growth for the second year in a row. A study released by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism shows Fond du Lac County showed the biggest increase of 72 counties in direct tourism spending and total business sales. Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau director Craig Molitor says the county’s total business sales were more than $141 million in direct visitor spending, a 6.7 percent increase from 2015. Molitor says all local businesses benefit from traveler spending and work together to draw tourists to the Fond du Lac area. Visitors generated $17.8 million in state and local taxes in 2016.
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Students in all grades subject to state-mandated testing could opt out of taking them under a bill heard by a Wisconsin Assembly committee. The measure expands current law which allows parents to opt their children out of taking tests in grades 4, 8 and 9-11. The bill by Fond du Lac Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt would expand the opt-out option to grades 3-11. The opt-out provision in state law was never expanded after state testing expanded to additional grades. Thiesfeldt says that causes inconsistency and confusion about which students can opt out of taking the tests. Another Thiesfeldt bill would require school districts to inform parents every year of all state or federally mandated tests to be given. Similar requirements passed committees last session but were not taken up by the Legislature.
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Wisconsin submits a request to become the first state in the country to drug test applicants for Medicaid. Republican Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that the state submitted the waiver request to President Donald Trump’s administration. The plan would require able-bodied, childless adults to undergo drug screening when applying for Medicaid health benefits. The waiver request also includes new work requirements and limits benefits to no more than four years until the Medicaid recipient meets the work requirements. The drug screening and work requirements would take effect in 2019. Walker made some changes to his original proposal, including not requiring a drug test if someone says on their screening they are willing to enter a substance-abuse treatment program.
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The Legislature’s outdoors committees have approved a bill that would create a woodchuck season. The Republican bill would remove woodchucks from the Wisconsin’s protected species list and establish a hunting and trapping season that would run from July through December with no bag limits. The Assembly’s Natural Resources and Sporting Heritage Committee amended the measure Wednesday to establish a year-round open season on the animals on an 11-2 vote and passed the bill 9-4. The Senate’s Sporting Heritage, Mining and Forestry Committee met on the bill on Wednesday as well. That panel signed off on the amendment 5-0 and passed the bill 4-1. Committee approval clears the way for votes in the full Senate and Assembly.
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A state Senate committee approves a bill allowing the sale of home-baked goods. Wisconsin law currently requires home bakers to obtain a license, which means renting or building a commercial kitchen. The bipartisan bill would allow people to sell without a license if they do it face-to-face, register with state consumer protection officials and their sales generate less than $7,500 annually. The Senate’s public benefits committee on Wednesday amended the measure to raise the sales cap to $25,000. The committee approved the bill on a 5-0 vote, clearing the way for a vote in the full Senate perhaps as early as next week. The measure’s ultimate fate looks uncertain. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has introduced his own bill that would remove all regulation on baked goods.
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