Politics is everywhere around us – when you turn on the television, open a newspaper or scroll through Facebook. It’s hard to get away from it all. When we see the divisiveness all around us, it’s easy to think our system is broken.

Members of the Speaker's Task Force on Water Quality met in Menomonie on September 4, 2019. 70 individuals attended the hearing along with the 13 Assembly members on the task force and local legislators Sentar Patty Schachtner, D-Somerset, Senator Jeff Smith, D- Eau Claire, Rep. Jodi Emerson, D-Eau CLaire, and Rep Warren Petryk, R-Eleva. 

Contact: Lieske Giese, RN, MSPH Director/Health Officer 715-839-4718, 715-514-7881 (cell) [email protected]

 Eau Claire, WI- September 10, 2019-

The Eau Claire City County Health Department is urging residents to stop using any vaping and/or e-cigarette devices immediately. If you’ve never vaped or used e-cigarette devices, don’t start.

The state legislature has been holding meetings across the state on issues of water quality. On Sept. 4 the committee held a meeting in Menomonie. We have video of the entire session, but have only edited this section so far, which is the public testimony. Earlier in the day there were multiple testimonies from invited guests including local government agencies and agricultural groups. Those videos will be available later in the week. 

Another Labor Day has come and gone. Summer is beginning to wind down and we’re taking our last chance to fish or camp for the season. Children are reflecting on their summer and eagerly anticipating the new school year.

I can’t imagine the horror victims go through when face to face with an active shooter while in a place of worship, school, shopping center or night club. How do families cope with the news of a loved one being murdered by a domestic terrorist, coworker or significant other? Or the news of a loved one who took their own life?

Today Governor Evers signed an executive order on Clean Energy. The order creates an Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy in the Department of Administration. It also declares a goal of reaching 100% clean energy in the state by 2050, as well as bringing the state in line with the Paris Climate Accord, and requires clean energy workforce training in the state. 

One main focus of the 2019 Wisconsin Farmers Union Summer Conference was clean water. The conference this year featured a demonstration of water runoff from different kinds of farming practices. The demonstration was done by Pheasants Forever and showed how modern farming practices can limit water runoff and loss of nutrients while ensuring more of the rainfall actually infiltrates the soil.

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin mourns the loss of scores of innocent lives in three recent mass shootings -- in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio -- in one week. Like so many others, we are frustrated that these tragedies continue and nothing is done to stop them.