Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 29
Gov. Walker needs to answer questions in tribal gaming fight
Whatever happened to Gov. Scott Walker’s criteria for expanding tribal gaming in Wisconsin? And why isn’t his administration considering those criteria in the fight between the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community over Ho-Chunk plans to expand its gambling operations?
In 2013 during the fight over whether to allow the Menominee tribe to build a casino in Kenosha, Gov. Scott Walker set three criteria: the casino must have community support; it must not add any net new gaming, and there must be consensus support among the state’s 11 tribes.
In the end, Walker rejected the casino. While it had community support, it would have brought more gambling to Wisconsin and it was strongly opposed by the Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk tribes, who feared a new casino near the Illinois line would cut into their take.
Granted, there are key differences in the fight over the $33 million expansion of the Ho-Chunk’s Wittenberg gambling hall. The Ho-Chunk Nation is not proposing a new off-reservation casino; it wants to expand operations on a current “ancillary” site, and maintains it has every right to do so.
But the Stockbridge disagree to the point where they’re suing the state, arguing that the expanded operation would cut millions annually from the revenue from their casino in nearby Bowler and that the Ho-Chunk have no right to expand the Wittenberg operation. This could cost the state money: The Stockbridge also said it would withhold a nearly $1 million payment to the state because it believed Wisconsin regulators were not holding the Ho-Chunk to the terms of its casino agreement.
The state says it is honoring the casino agreements, and that “the Ho-Chunk are authorized to conduct gaming in Wittenberg.”
But does that mean the Ho-Chunk are allowed to expand even what was originally designated as a secondary site at will without regard for its impact on the state and nearby tribes? Isn’t the Ho-Chunk adding net new gaming, and isn’t it being done despite the opposition of other tribes?
The Walker administration needs to answer these questions before the Ho-Chunk is allowed to proceed.
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Leader-Telegram, April 30
Concussion protocol key
It’s an issue that’s steadily becoming an epidemic in athletics.
A study by FAIR Health, a nonprofit organization that strives for transparency in health care costs and insurance, found that concussion diagnoses for people under the age of 22 rose 500 percent from 2010 to 2014.
Football, hockey and soccer, in that order, cause the most concussions, according to a Sports Illustrated article last year that cited the FAIR Health report. Incident rates were higher in high school than in either college or middle school, and Wisconsin was among four states with the highest rates of concussion diagnoses.
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Schools and other organizations have addressed the growing concern through educational efforts and training programs for coaches. Many young athletes also go through baseline testing. This often involves the athlete taking a test at the start of a season. If he or she suffers a suspected concussion, they are tested again and the results are compared with the pre-injury exam.
The WIAA recently made a move that may not lessen the frequency of concussions, but it will help some families with the costs associated with suffering one.
As of Aug. 1, all high school and junior high school student-athletes in WIAA-member schools will be covered by concussion insurance. The organization purchased the policy for its student-athletes, which number around 80,000 each year, so families will have no out-of-pocket costs if a member has a concussion.
“We don’t want a single student-athlete to not be evaluated or treated for a concussion because of the cost,” former WIAA Board of Control president Mike Beighley said in a news release. “This coverage provides one more level of support for member schools and student-athletes in making school sports as safe an experience as they can be.”
Wisconsin is one of just four states to provide the coverage.
“We believe that offering this insurance represents a win-win, both for our members and the students they serve,” current board president Pam Foegen said in the release.
The insurance covers every student-athlete in grades 6 through 12 while participating in a practice or game sanctioned by the WIAA. An injured student-athlete’s insurance would first be billed for a claim and then the WIAA’s secondary insurance would kick in for unpaid deductibles or co-pays. The maximum benefit is $25,000 per incident.
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As the spring sports season hits its stride, coaches aren’t the only ones responsible for spotting possible concussions.
According to Mayo Clinic Health System, parents should have their children seek medical attention immediately if he or she has:
- One pupil larger than the other.
- Difficulty waking.
- A severe or worsening headache.
- Numbness or decreased coordination.
- Repeated vomiting or nausea.
- Slurred speech.
- Convulsions or seizures.
- Difficulty recognizing people or places.
- Increased confusion or restlessness.
- Unusual behavior.
- Loss of consciousness, even if it’s brief.
The key is erring on the side of caution. Returning to the field of play too soon can lengthen recovery time. It also can make another concussion more likely.
Here’s hoping area student-athletes enjoy an injury-free spring season and equally safe future campaigns.
For those who don’t, taking the proper steps to contend with concussions and other maladies can help ensure a relatively quick return to competition and limit any long-term effects from the injury.
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The Journal Times of Racine, May 1
Trump should look out for state’s dairy farmers
We seem to have averted a crisis in trade relations with our North American neighbors. But there’s a cautionary tale to be found within the news.
A dairy group says most of Wisconsin’s 58 dairy farms desperately looking for new milk buyers before a May 1 deadline have found them, The Associated Press reported.
The Dairy Business Milk Marketing Cooperative said in a news release Thursday the group believes most farmers dropped by Grassland Dairy earlier this month found new buyers.
Grassland notified the farms it’d stop buying their milk May 1 after Canada changed its dairy pricing policy to favor domestic milk. The farms scrambled to find companies that would take their milk. Many faced having to shut down.
Grassland had to make cuts after Canada, a major trading partner, changed its pricing policies, the Capital Times reported April 24. Grassland provides Canada with ultra-filtered milk, a specialized milk type used to make cheese and yogurt.
Since 2011, Canada has encouraged U.S. producers to provide ultra-filtered milk, said Ben Brancel, Wisconsin secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Wisconsin producers did just that, building processes around the product and increasing volume to 365 million pounds exported to Canada in 2016.
But last year, a Canadian policy lowered prices for Canada-made ultra-filtered milk, effectively edging out American producers.
Brancel said that starting last year when Canada began considering the change, he had met with Canadian officials “numerous times” to try to convince them to consider the seriousness of the matter for American farmers.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the problem lies with America’s own dairy surplus. “The U.S. has a $400 million dairy surplus with Canada, so it’s not Canada that’s the challenge here,” he said.
President Donald Trump has called on Canada to do more for American dairy farmers, and threatened to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement before changing his mind. Trump tweeted early Thursday that he has agreed to remain a partner in the much-discussed trade agreement in calls he received from Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
If President Trump wishes to renegotiate aspects of NAFTA, that’s worth considering. But termination of the agreement entirely would almost certainly have a serious impact on the U.S. economy. U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was correct Thursday when he characterized U.S. trade with Mexico as 10 times greater, in dollar terms, than it was before NAFTA.
That being said, protectionist policies by our next-door neighbors, to the north or south, in a given economic area might best be met by some protectionism of our own.
Trudeau’s government seems to be looking out for the best interests of Canadian dairy farmers, in the form of favoring them over American dairies. If that continues to be the case, the Trump administration should look into doing the same for dairy farmers in Wisconsin and throughout the United States.
It’s not a North American free-trade deal if one of the North American partners is at a significant disadvantage.
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