Here & Now

Here & Now for May 27, 2022

Announcer:

The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

Frederica Freyberg:

A nation shocked again by this week’s mass murder of school children. In Wisconsin, it just got easier for domestic abusers to carry a gun. And a manufacturing roller coaster of supply chain snags and rising costs.

I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” Wisconsin reacts to the mass murder of school children in Texas. Victims of domestic violence now worry about Wisconsin making it easier for abusers to carry guns. The Republican primary for governor, its establishment candidates against the fire brands. How the city of Wausau is taking on PFAS contamination in its water supply, and an inside look at supply chain issues at a local manufacturer. It’s “Here & Now” for May 27.

Announcer:

Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

The nation is reeling after the school shooting this week in Texas that killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers. Wisconsin U.S. Senator Democrat Tammy Baldwin said her heart breaks again, and “We cannot accept doing nothing every time this happens. I support passing legislation in the Senate that puts in place universal background checks for all gun sales.” Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson called on the Senate to enact a data clearinghouse on school safety after his initial response where he said, “There are no adequate words to express the horror at Robb Elementary. My sincere condolences to these families. Something this horrific, children being slaughtered in their school, it does not get worse than this.” Governor Tony Evers this week responded to the murders of the children and their teachers in Texas, asking that Wisconsin work together to protect against gun violence.

Tony Evers:

Enough is enough for too damn long. We cannot accept that gun violence just happens. We cannot accept that kids might go to school and never come home. Our families are living in fear. Our kids are learning in fear. In this state, we cannot accept policies and rhetoric that will make this problem worse while common sense measures supported by an overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites go nowhere. Just last month, the legislature sent me a bill that would have allowed certain people to possess loaded guns on school grounds. A bill that would be law today if I hadn’t vetoed it. We’ve called the legislature into special session on universal background checks and we’ve called for extreme risk protection orders to allow loved ones and law enforcement to ask for firearms to be removed from individuals who are a danger to themselves or others. Two ideas frankly that 80% of Wisconsinites, including a majority of gun owners, they support it. I still refuse to believe that when our kids are murdered in their desks at school, that there is any party line that’s not worth crossing.

Frederica Freyberg:

Evers lamented inaction on the special session he called on background checks and red-flag laws. Convicted domestic abusers in Wisconsin can now get concealed carry gun permits. That’s after the state Supreme Court ruled that because of federal law, misdemeanor disorderly conduct convictions, even if they involve domestic abuse, do not prevent legally carrying a gun. As to that, this quote from End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, “It is beyond a doubt that Wisconsin victims of domestic violence will be violently, and in many cases lethally, impacted by the decision.” Jenna Gormal is co-director of prevention and engagement at the organization. She joins us now. Thanks very much for being here.

Jenna Gormal:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

How will this decision lethally impact victims of domestic violence?

Jenna Gormal:

So the lethal impact of this decision is very clear. Every year we conduct a domestic violence homicide report which details the lives lost to domestic violence by year. In that report, we include detailed narratives of the homicides along with precipitating factors and one of the precipitating factors we see every year is a charge of disorderly conduct. So what that means is the abusive partner was charged with a misdemeanor crime of disorderly conduct prior to murdering their partner. So the link between a conviction of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and domestic violence is very clear. And a woman is five times more likely to be murdered when her abuser has access to a gun.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are some of the other statistics on the use of guns in domestic violence homicides?

Jenna Gormal:

Well, firearms are the main weapon used in domestic violence homicides in Wisconsin. And our latest data shows that in 2020, firearms were used in over half of domestic violence homicide incidents, and that is a statistic we see year on year, roughly half. And threats to kill double the rest of homicides, so again, when you have access to a firearm, the risk of homicide is five times higher.

Frederica Freyberg:

How frightened are advocates and victims as a result of this ruling?

Jenna Gormal:

I would say that there is a lot of concern. It’s very frightening. This specific type of charge is one of the most common charges in domestic violence cases, and when you are a victim of domestic violence, it is terrifying as it is but the knowledge that your partner is unable to access a weapon is somewhat — it’s helpful to know and it makes you feel a little bit more at ease. So it’s very, very scary. And advocates are absolutely feeling it.

Frederica Freyberg:

If the state high court has to follow this federal law around misdemeanor disorderly conduct convictions not preventing the carrying of a gun, wouldn’t the answer be to have a standalone domestic violence statute on the books in Wisconsin?

Jenna Gormal:

Yes, that would be. I think there are a range of responses and what we do need is legislation that brings state law in line with federal law, and we do have that legislation available. It was introduced in the last session but it didn’t go to a hearing despite bipartisan support. So what we need to recognize now is that the lives of victims are at stake and the safety of victims are at stake. And it’s not just the lives of victims, it’s the lives of the general public. We see a link between mass shootings and domestic violence. In 60% of cases with mass shootings, there is a direct link with domestic violence, so this is really a public health issue, and we need to make sure that legislation moves fast so we can get these laws on the books.

Frederica Freyberg:

For the legislators who don’t approve of kind of closing the loophole with a standalone law, what do they say to you about why not?

Jenna Gormal:

I guess the reason that we come up against the law is that there’s a right to own firearms and that it is taking the right away from folks to own firearms. Our response to that is that safety should always be centered. And when it comes to having firearms, common sense firearm legislation is something that the general public do want, and I think that everyone wants to make sure that firearms are in the hands of safe people that we don’t have firearms in the hands of folks who are dangerous and who pose a threat to the public.

Frederica Freyberg:

You spoke a moment ago about the correlation between mass shootings and domestic violence. What is that correlation?

Jenna Gormal:

So around two thirds of mass shootings in the U.S. involve a history of domestic violence. So that can be a threat of committing domestic violence and mass shootings connected to domestic violence incidents are perpetrated by a shooter with a history of domestic violence have higher fatality rates.

Frederica Freyberg:

Jenna Gormal, thanks very much for your work and thanks for joining us.

Jenna Gormal:

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

A lot of Republican candidates want to be the next governor of Wisconsin. One of them has to win the August 9 primary to take on incumbent Democrat Tony Evers, but there’s a perceptible split amongst the Republicans to the extent that none of the candidates got the endorsement of delegates. Rebecca Kleefisch came close to the 60% threshold, but Tim Ramthun, Kevin Nicholson and Tim Michels fell way short. Is the frontrunner considered the “establishment” candidate with the others like Tim Ramthun, who wants to decertify the last election, considered fire brands? We check in with Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Bureau Chief Shawn Johnson with the goings on of the campaign. Nice to see you, Shawn.

Shawn Johnson:

Hey, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

To that question, is that how this breaking down that Rebecca Kleefisch is kind of the “establishment” candidate and the others are anti-establishment?

Shawn Johnson:

I think if you look at the positions they hold on policies, there’s not a huge amount of daylight between them. They’re pretty similar. I think if you look at who is by definition kind of the establishment candidate in terms of who’s supporting them, it would have to be Rebecca Kleefisch. I mean, she has the support of, for example, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby. Scott Walker, you might remember him, governor for eight years. Robin Vos, Assembly Speaker has voiced strong support for Rebecca Kleefisch. And she’s been running for this the longest. So kind of just by the definition, she is the establishment candidate, even if what she says and believes doesn’t differ greatly from the others.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what’s the effect of the delegates at the convention voting not to endorse in this race, including Rebecca Kleefisch?

Shawn Johnson:

I would say it’s not just a popularity contest. So Kleefisch got close to the 60% threshold she would have needed to win the party’s endorsement. Had she won that, the party could campaign on her behalf. You know, they could present her as the endorsed candidate of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, which is obviously would have been a good thing for her in a divided primary like this, especially one where Tim Michels can throw so much of his personal wealth at the race and he’s been on TV a lot. Kevin Nicholson has the backing of billionaire GOP mega-donor Richard Uihlein. So it’s not like she can just walk away with this. It would have been helpful, certainly helpful to probably Tony Evers that she not get it, but it’s not like it’s a deal breaker for her candidacy either.

Frederica Freyberg:

So party delegates gave the same nod to other candidates for statewide office including attorney general. I mean, they had those kinds of Rebecca Kleefisch numbers.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah, and you saw maybe a little bit of a theme there. Eric Toney, the Fond du Lac district attorney who came closest to the endorsement in the primary for attorney general. He has the backing of Brad Courtney, the former Republican Party chair under Scott Walker. Amy Loudenbeck, secretary of state candidate for Republicans has been on the legislature’s budget committee for several years, worked on Scott Walker’s budgets. So Im not saying they’re a team where they presented themselves as a ticket, but you see a similar thread there where they had a lot of people at this convention but there was a sizable group of people who said we don’t want to endorse anyone right now, leave it for the primary.

Frederica Freyberg:

So does any of this kind of suggest a Trump effect, whereby people are moving even further to the right than they were?

Shawn Johnson:

Potentially. I mean I think one thing you can say definitively is that you have this portion, an active portion of the Republican base who is saying we want you to focus on us. If there’s no primary, these candidates can kind of pivot to the general election if they think that it is politically advantageous for them. But when there’s a contested primary, and you know, Rebecca Kleefisch, Tim Michels, others have to pursue these primary voters, they have to focus on Republicans and Republican policies. So that’s what they’re going to have to do. But you could see maybe a Trump effect here too because there was a similar margin of voters who said let’s decertify the election at this convention, around 40%, similar to the number of people who said let’s not endorse.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what’s happening with the Wisconsin Elections Commission right now?

Shawn Johnson:

Pretty big surprise this week when Dean Knudson, a Republican member of the commission who was appointed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced he’s resigning at the meeting. This happens right before this commission is about to vote on the next chair. Knudson is one of two candidates, under the commission’s rules, who is eligible to be chair. The other candidate is Bob Spindell, vocal critic of the agency, who was one of ten Republicans who posed as electors after the 2020 election. So a big shock to I think people who watch the Elections Commission closely and now Vos is going to appoint a replacement for Knudson and that person could be elected chair at the next meeting in June.

Frederica Freyberg:

We’ll see who he appoints. Shawn Johnson, thank you very much. Thanks for covering all this.

Shawn Johnson:

Thanks, Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:

In environmental news, imagine having to drink only bottled water or install a filter system to safely use water out of the tap. This is the reality for Wausau residents because all the city wells have high levels of PFAS contamination. PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals used in things like non-stick cookware, firefighting foam and fast-food wrappers. Because they don’t break down, they’re known as “forever chemicals” that may cause cancer, heart issues, developmental delays and infertility. This is bad stuff. And cities across the state are dealing with PFAS, but Wausau stands alone, having all six of its wells contaminated. It’s also the only city in the state that will treat all the water entering its treatment system. The city’s mayor, Katie Rosenberg, joins us with the latest. Mayor, thanks very much for being here.

Katie Rosenberg:

Thank you very much for having me today.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you have taken on PFAS contamination of your city water supply and as we just mentioned, will treat all water entering the system, even building a whole new water treatment plant to do so. This is clearly no piecemeal response. Why are you so aggressive on this?

Katie Rosenberg:

Thank you very much. So we had already planned on building a new drinking water facility so we were trying to work on the future, make sure we future-proofed our next 50 years of drinking water. And so in preparation for that, we did some testing. Both a couple of years ago but again this year, when some of our neighbors discovered PFAS in their wells. So it’s kind of good timing but also kind of scary timing that we have the opportunity to treat all the water starting in August, when our new facility opens, we’ll have a new treatment opportunity. We have lots of space for this so we’re looking at all kinds of different treatment options right now from carbon to ionic exchange, so we’re in an interesting situation right now.

Frederica Freyberg:

How high are the levels of PFAS contamination in Wausaus water?

Katie Rosenberg:

So on average, it’s about 30 parts per trillion, so we have some wells under 30 but we have some that are closer to 50 parts per trillion. So we obviously want to be below the DHS advisory of 20 parts per trillion, and I would really like us to be even below that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is there an identifiable source?

Katie Rosenberg:

We don’t have the source yet. It’s likely that there are a couple different sources. You know, like a lot of cities that are organized along the Wisconsin River, we’ve had industrial past, and you know, the more we learn, the more we know what we shouldn’t have been putting in the ground so we’re working with the DNR to investigate just exactly what that source is.

Frederica Freyberg:

You just spoke to the levels that are in your water but are there yet any agreed upon state or federal safety standards?

Katie Rosenberg:

I wish we had one right now. But for the last couple of years, the DNR and the DHS have been working together. The health advisory is for 20 parts per trillion or above and the DNR just recently, a few months ago, decided they would move ahead with 70 parts per trillion which is similar to what the federal advisory is at right now with 70 parts per trillion with the EPA. So we’re kind of in an interesting situation where we’re below that 70 parts per trillion but we know what the health experts are saying and we’re likely to see that come down as we learn more.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you feel as though you may as well just be at that lower level?

Katie Rosenberg:

Oh, yeah, of course. We want to be at the best level to protect human health.

Frederica Freyberg:

How much are your mitigation efforts costing and how are you affording it?

Katie Rosenberg:

So this is an interesting time related to all the COVID CARES funding and bipartisan infrastructure and all of this. So right now we’ve spent a couple hundred thousand dollars on filters, personal filters, pitcher filters for the community so that people can use the water from their faucet, but also be sure that the PFAS are being filtered out. So that’s a couple hundred thousand dollars. We did some bottled water for a while but that gets expensive and it runs out pretty quickly, and then when we’re looking at our new facility, that PFAS remediation plan, that’s going to be a couple million. So we’re hoping we can work alongside our friends in Washington, maybe get some bipartisan infrastructure dollars. I know the Biden administration has said they would like to address PFAS in drinking water, but we’re also working closely with our representatives here.

Frederica Freyberg:

How frightening is this contamination for your residents?

Katie Rosenberg:

You know, I think that a little bit of — there’s a learning curve. We haven’t really been talking a lot about PFAS so hearing your water is contaminated with PFAS is kind of alarming if you don’t know what it is. And even when you do know what it is, you don’t know with these dueling level and different experts saying various things, and of course politicians saying different things. So some people were scared, especially with the health risks here, but we’re trying to do our best to let people know that the Department of Health Services has told us the risk is exposure over time, so anything we can do to reduce our risks, and that’s including the drinking water, but also maybe other things like the coatings on frying pans and things like that, so reducing our risk all around.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you expect Wausau to be a model for other municipalities across the state dealing with PFAS?

Katie Rosenberg:

I certainly hope that we can help steer folks in the right direction. I’ve had a lot of conversations with other mayors going through similar problems, and the best thing I learned is if we can help each other out with this institutional knowledge and share it, we’ll do it.

Frederica Freyberg:

Because it really seems as though every day, you read about another city, another municipality that is also finding this PFAS contamination. So it is widespread across Wisconsin.

Katie Rosenberg:

It’s widespread across Wisconsin, across the Midwest and across our nation. You know, I talked to folks in California too, and they’re about 10 years ahead of us as far as technology. So we can all stand to learn from each other.

Frederica Freyberg:

Great. Well, Mayor Katie Rosenberg, thanks very much.

Katie Rosenberg:

Thank you very much.

Frederica Freyberg:

In other news, supply chain dysfunction, which began with the COVID-19 pandemic and got worse with the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to challenge Wisconsin manufacturers. Unpredictable demand, material shortages and disappointing crop harvests have all played a role in sending prices soaring. “Here & Now” reporter Will Cushman has the story of one Wisconsin business in Dane County.

Isaac Showaki:

The pandemic has been — what’s the right word, like very interesting and very volatile in our business.

Will Cushman:

When Isaac Showaki opened Octopi Brewing in the Madison suburb of Waunakee in 2014, he expected some challenges. He never imagined the dizzying business disruptions that accompany a long, deadly pandemic. The trouble began in early 2020.

Isaac Showaki:

When it hit in March, all of a sudden over 48 hours, about 60% of our orders got canceled.

Will Cushman:

Octopis core business is producing drinks on contracts. Primarily for brands that sell in supermarkets. After only a couple weeks of lockdowns, it became clear that demand for supermarket products was about to go into overdrive.

Isaac Showaki:

Orders started coming in fast and furious and we got really busy really fast because the demand for just consumer product goods, especially in the off premise and supermarket chains went through the roof. So 2020 was a very scary time, but then it was, like, a really good time for us.

Will Cushman:

Those good times relied on a global supply chain that had never been subjected to a stress test like a multiyear pandemic. Octopis supply chain faired relatively well in 2020.

Isaac Showaki:

At that point I didn’t think there were any issues keeping up with demand, because anything we needed, we were getting.

Will Cushman:

But that began to change.

Isaac Showaki:

I would say end of 2020, beginning of 2021, we started seeing the rumblings.

Will Cushman:

First, tariffs on aluminum sent the price of cans higher.

Isaac Showaki:

Then we started hearing of demand issues, right? Like we can’t supply all the items, all the cans that you need. Then it was glass.

Will Cushman:

By the end of 2021, supply chain snags snowballed into a global mess. A fall 2021 survey of Wisconsin manufacturers found the two most pressing issues they faced were unreliable supply and skyrocketing prices of materials. Showaki says this year is shaping up to be even more challenging.

Isaac Showaki:

It was just not one thing. It was everything started getting affected. Every single piece in the supply chain from raw materials to packaging materials, we started having issues like not being able to get the product or significant price increases that are unprecedented, you know, like, I think the smallest price increase was about 15%, but on average, it’s been between 20 and 25% over the last six months.

Jake Dean:

Weve built a supply chain system that included factories, that includes distribution centers, that includes transportation methods, and all that stuff. We’ve built that to handle a certain capacity that we thought was coming at us.

Will Cushman:

Jake Dean studies how supply chains work or in the last couple years, more like how they come apart.

Jake Dean:

It’s been a really fun job to be in over the last couple years as an observer of supply chain rather than as a practitioner of supply chain.

Will Cushman:

Supply chain practitioners have faced a whirlwind of challenges: material shortages, worker shortages and rising labor costs, a global shipping industry in disarray. Perhaps the biggest challenge has been unpredictable and highly variable demand.

Jake Dean:

We’ve invested a lot in supply chains over the years, figuring out where demand is, and what we need to satisfy and those sorts of things. But part of those things being accurate requires some brain power and computational power on, to a certain extent, past behavior. And when you have no past behavior to model, you don’t know what happens when the world economy goes screwy.

Joel Yaeger:

Adaptability overall has been kind of the theme of COVID.

Will Cushman:

Joel Yaeger is Octopis CFO. Over the last couple years, a big part of his job has been adapting the growing business to weather supply chain problems. This means finding as many backup suppliers as possible for key materials. It’s not only the pandemic and tariffs disrupting Octopis supply chain. Malt is a key brewing ingredient derived from barley, and the outbreak of war in Europe has affected its supply.

Joel Yaeger:

Ukraine is a huge producer of malt. Not so much of what goes into beer but even for livestock.

Will Cushman:

The war is compounding an already difficult situation.

Isaac Showaki:

They had a horrible crop year last year, so about 25, 30% of the crop was lost so then there was a small supply of malt and then the price went up 25%. Unprecedented. We used to get 2, 3% price changes.

Will Cushman:

The pandemic economy has also scrambled Octopis expansion plans. In April, a space for a massive new canning line stood empty. The problem, a semiconductor shortage meant the line’s high-tech controls weren’t ready.

Jake Dean:

It might be two parts that are waiting to finish the machine, but without those two parts, you can’t make the machine.

Will Cushman:

Octopis supplier said the canning line should be ready by early fall. That’s around when Showaki expects consumers will feel the full weight of price increases his business has encountered.

Isaac Showaki:

We’re just giving our price increases to our clients, which is going to take a few months to get to the retailer which might take a few months to go to the end consumer.

Will Cushman:

These price increases on everything are likely to continue fueling inflation. This spring, the Federal Reserve has started ratcheting up interest rates in a bid to tackle soaring prices by cooling consumer demand.

Jake Dean:

As long as consumer behavior is unpredictable, supply chains are going to be unpredictable.

Will Cushman:

While there are signs demand may be normalizing, it’s no sure bet. Over the near term, global turmoil will likely continue to keep consumers and manufacturers on their toes. Reporting from Waunakee, Im Will Cushman for “Here & Now.”

Frederica Freyberg:

For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSwisconsin.org and then click on the news tab. That’s our program for tonight. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a good weekend.

Announcer:

Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.