Release Date: Sun, May 15, 2011

WPT's "In Wisconsin" Reports on Recent Badger Honor Flight for World War II Veterans

For More Information: Lynn Brockmeyer, WPT publicist, 608-263-3364, [email protected] Joel Waldinger, series producer, 608-890-2840, [email protected]  The next episode of In Wisconsin on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) reports on the recent Badger Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., how the Barron County power plant provides energy by burning land waste, PCB cleanup in the Fox River between De Pere and Green Bay, and features Spoken Word Artist Elijah Furquan's expression of what climate change will mean in South Milwaukee.  The newsmagazine airs 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19 on WPT and is available in high definition. The program also will air at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 22 on Milwaukee's MPTV and on WDSE-TV in Duluth at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 22. In Wisconsin Reporter Frederica Freyberg along with WPT Videographer and veteran Butch Soetenga take viewers on a recent "Badger Honor Flight" to Washington, D.C. The free daylong journey is part of a national effort to bestow gratitude on World War II veterans by taking them to see the memorials built in their honor. With the rising cost of energy and dwindling landfill space, Barron County believes it has found a possible solution to both. The county's Waste-to-Energy plant burns raw garbage inside 450-degree cauldrons that turn the resulting steam into enough energy to power itself, a nearby cheese plant and other residents. In Wisconsin Reporter Adam Schrager shows viewers the unique facility and the recently completed $3 million expansion to help provide more energy. Paper companies once contaminated Wisconsin's rivers with toxic PCBs. For years, environmental cleanup crews have been dredging the Fox River. Now in its final phase, the project includes a stretch from DePere to Green Bay. In Wisconsin Reporter Art Hackett reports on the cleanup as seen through the eyes of a University of a Wisconsin-Green Bay professor who has been studying PCBs and their effects on wildlife for most of his career. Since 1982, more Wisconsinites have died from extreme heat than any other natural disaster combined and the number of days in southern Wisconsin over 90 degrees is projected to double by 2055. Spoken word artist, Elijah Furquan, uses a unique art form to express what climate change will mean in South Milwaukee. Finn Ryan, video producer with the Educational Communications Board, contributes this segment as part of In Wisconsin's Quest environmental reporting project. This program's video postcard features a scenic look at Devil's Lake State Park in Sauk County. Funding for In Wisconsin is provided, in part, by Alliant Energy, and Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists LLC of Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Minneapolis. WPT is a service of the Educational Communications Board and University of Wisconsin-Extension. Wisconsin Public Television is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV, Madison; WPNE-TV, Green Bay; WHRM-TV, Wausau; WLEF-TV, Park Falls; WHLA-TV, La Crosse; and WHWC-TV, Menomonie-Eau Claire.DESCRIPTION: IN WISCONSIN #926In Wisconsin reports on the recent Badger Honor Flight for World War II veterans to Washington, D.C., how the Barron County power plant provides energy by burning land waste, PCB cleanup in the Fox River between De Pere and Green Bay, and features Spoken Word Artist Elijah Furquan's expression of what climate change will mean in South Milwaukee.

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