Announcer:

The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

Frederica Freyberg:

The eyes of the nation are once again on Kenosha, Wisconsin, as Kyle Rittenhouse testifies in his own defense. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in Congress and is on its way to the president’s desk for signing. A busy week at the state Capitol brings more political infighting over 2020 elections investigations. And votes on redistricting maps. A Wisconsin city is being proactive about PFAS pollution. And a rural health care system continues the fight against COVID-19.

I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” as the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse nears its end, Kenosha prepares for the verdict. The trillion infrastructure bill means getting the lead out. We hear from Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore. We check in on election and redistricting action at the state Capitol. And Marisa Wojcik reports from Eau Claire on precautions taken against PFAS. It’s “Here & Now” for November 12.

Announcer:

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

Frederica Freyberg:

The murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha is expected to go to the jury on Monday. Ahead of that, this week jurors heard from the defendant himself during a full day of testimony.

Rittenhouse took the stand this week and broke down as he testified about how he was defending himself when he shot and killed two people and injured a third in the midst of chaotic protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He described why he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum.

Kyle Rittenhouse:

He was chasing me. I was alone. He threatened to kill me earlier in that night. I didn’t want to have to shoot him.

Frederica Freyberg:

Rittenhouse testified he did nothing wrong that he was defending himself. Rittenhouse faces life in prison if he is convicted of homicide, not an assured outcome. How will the community react with either a conviction or an acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse? The case draws response and emotion around issues of police conduct, gun rights and racial justice. Rittenhouse has gotten support from conservative backers including, no less, the former president. The police shooting that seriously injured Jacob Blake sparked the fiery protests that brought Rittenhouse to Kenosha bearing an AR-15. We turn to “Here & Now” reporter Will Kenneally now who is in Kenosha. Hi Will, thanks for being here.

Will Kenneally:

Hi Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is the schedule for when the jury gets this case?

Will Kenneally:

So the jury has a long weekend. They were off today. They’ll be expected to be back in court Monday. That’s when they will hear closing arguments from both sides and receive jury instructions from the judge. Those closing arguments are expected to take maybe two and a half hours or less each. So the jury will receive the end of the case and start deliberations Monday evening.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know today attorneys and the judge were hashing out instructions for whether the prosecution could allow the jury to consider lesser charges if they can’t agree on more serious charges. What’s an example of this?

Will Kenneally:

So what that means is the prosecution has presented a slate of charges charging Kyle Rittenhouse with a slate of charges. This would allow the jury to consider lesser charges than what the prosecution has charged him for. So, for example, Rittenhouse faces first-degree intentional homicide related to the death of Anthony Huber. The jury could come back and say, you know what? We are not going to find a guilty verdict for that first-degree intentional homicide charge, but we could take up a second-degree, a lesser homicide charge, or a first-degree reckless homicide charge, come back with a guilty verdict on that. We’re kind of in flux here right now with the judge. He’s yet to rule whether he will allow the jury to consider those lesser charges. He may rule on that later today or tomorrow yet.

Frederica Freyberg:

And again this is something that the prosecution had brought forward as something they would like the judge to consider to be included in those instructions to the jury when they get the case.

Will Kenneally:

Right. Exactly. That will be part of the jury instructions that the judge will give them Monday right before the jury goes into deliberation.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, what is happening in terms of preparations in Kenosha for when that verdict does come in?

Will Kenneally:

So local officials say they are working with local, state and national officials to kind of tamp down any protests that might happen in the wake of a verdict. If you remember last summer, local officials were working with the National Guard to kind of guard municipal buildings, alleviate local officials to kind of do some police work in the streets. Evers just today — the governor activated some 500 National Guard troops to be on standby if local officials need them next week when the verdict comes back as they are anticipating. Activists too say they are in preparations for anything that might happen. We have yet to hear details on that. But we do know that preparations are in the works.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you see any kind of physical evidence of the kinds of preparations that people are talking about, in particular, you know, law enforcement? Any physical evidence of that by way of street closures or snow fencing or anything like that?

Will Kenneally:

Actually, so right now we are in the courthouse square, and if you can see behind me, last summer there was a big chain link fence, fencing in the courthouse. We don’t see any of that right now. No streets blocked so far. So things are all quiet right now. But we’ll see what happens next week when the jury goes into deliberations.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Will Kenneally, thanks very much for joining us from Kenosha.

Will Kenneally:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

In Washington, President Joe Biden is expected to sign the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law on Monday. For Wisconsin, that includes $5.2 billion over five years for highways, $592 million for public transit, $100 million to expand broadband internet and $841 million for water infrastructure, including the removal of lead pipes. The bill passed the House of Representatives last week with all Wisconsin Republican members of Congress voting against the spending. We reached out to multiple GOP U.S. representatives to talk about their opposition, but they declined. In a statement, Fifth District Congressman Scott Fitzgerald said this. “The Democrat Party needs to rein in their out-of-control spending. The American people cannot afford the debt of their socialist agenda. All Wisconsin congressional Democrats voted in favor, including Democratic U.S. Representative Gwen Moore of Milwaukee and she joins us now and thanks very much for being here.

Gwen Moore:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

We just referenced that more than $840 million will be coming to Wisconsin for water infrastructure, including the removal of lead pipes. What will that mean for Milwaukee in the very near future?

Gwen Moore:

Well, I find it very exciting, because I’ve been buying water. Once I learned that my first great grandchild was to be born, her mom, my granddaughter showed me the brown water that was coming out of the faucet in her apartment, and I’ve been buying water since then. You know, we have seen, scientists have indicated to us that no amount of lead is safe for children, and they have lowered the indicators for it.

Frederica Freyberg:

How long overdue is this kind of investment, in your mind?

Gwen Moore:

Well, you know, I mean, we’ve had infrastructure week every week under President Donald Trump. And it never happened. It got to be the standing joke. Of course, 20 or 30 years, don’t take my word for it, Frederica. The engineer, the Professional Engineers Association has graded our infrastructure as a D+. And the bridge we saw falling in Minneapolis is just one of 850 bridges in that same sort of condition. The supply chain issue that people are screaming about, we’re going to address this in the Build Back Better bill. We’re going to upgrade ports, airports. And this is part of the reason that there’s such a backup in the supply chain. And so, again, it’s really confusing why — and I’m disappointed that Wisconsin Republicans joined in by not voting for it. On the other side of it, the 13 Republicans who did vote for infrastructure have been threatened, their lives have been threatened, and so, you know, if people did not vote for it because they’re feeling cowardly, I guess I can understand it given the backlash from the sort of Trump atmosphere that he’s created around not giving Joe Biden or Democrats a win. This is a win for the American people, actually.

Frederica Freyberg:

Next week you will vote on the nearly $2 trillion social spending bill. Briefly, what are the most important prongs of that for you?

Gwen Moore:

First of all, I challenge your notion that it’s a social spending bill. It too is an investment in our economy. The best way to increase our GDP is to invest in people. And this is what this bill will do. You know, one of the things that it does just right off the top of my head, this provides the enhanced earned income tax credit. As I’ve said before, we are literally are taxing people into poverty, low-wage workers into poverty. Their tax obligations taxes them into poverty. This enhanced earned income tax credit, it is a way to not only keep them from being in poverty, but giving them more money to add to our GDP. As you know, Frederica, 70% of our economy is consumption. So if people don’t have money, they cannot spend. There’s no point in having a big demand if there’s no one who can actually purchase your products. Health care. We’re going to reduce the cost of health care for people through that bill through enhancing the Affordable Care Act, so-called Obamacare. We’re going to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. And so while this is not physical money in people’s pockets, it is an investment in them to enable them to interact in the marketplace more adequately.

Frederica Freyberg:

We need to leave it there. We will be watching that. U.S. Representative Gwen Moore, thanks very much for joining us.

Gwen Moore:

And thank you, too, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

At the state Capitol this week, former justice Michael Gableman provided an initial report to legislators on his investigation into the 2020 election. His report did not present any conclusions, but laid out some issues he sees with the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Michael Gableman:

In short, a majority of our fellow citizens have expressed a variety of thoughtful and meaningful concerns about the fairness, honesty and transparency of our elections and furthermore seek understanding and truth as well as accountability from those entrusted with the administration of those elections. The interim report I delivered to Speaker Vos earlier today is an important first step along that journey.

Mark Spreitzer:

I think you, quite frankly, are one of the people that is undermining voter credibility in our elections and doing damage to our democracy.

Frederica Freyberg:

Republicans initially said Gableman’s investigation would wrap up by the end of the year but he did not provide any update on the time line when asked.

Also this week, the Legislature passed the Republican version of new voting maps, which have to be redrawn every ten years with the census.

Maps proposed by an independent Evers commission were shot down, with Republicans deriding the process.

Robin Vos:

They have a process that the governor utilized that they won’t even stand behind. They have a process that is clearly partisan.

Gordon Hintz:

They moved 2.4 million people in the districts to make it impossible for their members to lose, whether it’s a good year or a bad year. That is not democracy.

Frederica Freyberg:

Democrats were not unified over the governor’s maps, however. Some criticized the maps for deluding minority groups’ political voice across multiple districts.

Sylvia Ortiz-Velez:

At least the Republican map goal was not to decimate the voices of the black and brown communities of Wisconsin. Governor Tony Evers, Mr. Speaker, or the people’s maps are also not fair to everyone in our state.

Frederica Freyberg:

17 Democrats voted against the governor’s maps in the Assembly as well as one Democrat in the Senate. The GOP maps face a certain veto from the governor and will land in the courts.

Aside from lead pipes, communities across Wisconsin are also contending with PFAS contamination in drinking and groundwater. There are few enforceable standards for the harmful chemicals on a state or federal level, but one northwest Wisconsin community decided it cannot wait for legislation before dealing with such pollution. Marisa Wojcik brings us this report from Eau Claire.

Lane Berg:

We’ve done things in our past to the environment that at the time they may not have seemed bad, but now we find out later that they’re not great for the earth and for our personal health.

Marisa Wojcik:

Lane Berg is the city of Eau Claire utilities manager, in charge of the city’s drinking water wells.

Lane Berg:

We have 16 active wells in our well field here. It’s about 400 acres in size and it serves the entire population of the city of Eau Claire. We pump about 9 million gallons per day.

Marisa Wojcik:

In July when the city’s water treatment plant first detected elevated levels of an emerging contaminant known as PFAS, Berg took immediate action.

Lane Berg:

When we did sample all of our wells, we found four wells on the north end of our well field that were slightly higher in PFAS levels. At that point we shut those wells down immediately.

Marisa Wojcik:

PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and referred to as “forever chemicals.” Over the last few years, known contamination sites have popped up throughout Wisconsin.

Christy Remucal:

I think the more we test for it, the more we’ll find it.

Marisa Wojcik:

Christy Remucal is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW-Madison.

Christy Remucal:

These chemicals are used in a lot of different things we come in contact with every day, a lot of consumer products, anything that’s nonstick or waterproof. So you can think about pans, stain-resistant carpeting, waterproof clothing. They’re used in industrial applications and in firefighting foams just to name a few. Some of these chemicals have been used for decades and we’re just now kind of finding out about the extent of contamination for them in the environment. The concentrations we worry about for human exposure and environmental health are really low, so nanograms per liter, parts per trillion.

Marisa Wojcik:

Parts per trillion.

Lane Berg:

Very minute concentrations we’re looking for.

Marisa Wojcik:

Eau Claire’s name literally translates from French to “clear water,” an attribute Berg took seriously when they decided to begin testing for PFAS.

Lane Berg:

We started back in 2020. We did that on our own. We wanted to know if we did have PFAS in our water.

Marisa Wojcik:

Eau Claire water utilities worked with the DNR for guidance on how to sample and where.

Man:

So we are in basically about the middle of the well field. This is what we consider the north and south half from here.

Marisa Wojcik:

PFAS is especially concerning as a growing body of research links the chemicals to adverse health outcomes, including cancer, thyroid issues, increased cholesterol and problems for pregnant mothers and their babies. PFAS chemicals don’t break down over time. They travel far, and they are everywhere, making it difficult to hold parties responsible for contamination.

Lane Berg:

The DNR has actually listed the airport in close proximity to here as a PRP – potentially responsible party. They’re handling that full investigation.

Marisa Wojcik:

Many contamination sites across the U.S. are near airports or fire training centers, as powerful firefighting foams are packed with PFAS chemicals. While the DNR handles the investigation, Eau Claire utilities has been focusing on solutions.

Lane Berg:

Doing piping, creating these absorption ponds. We’re able to dump water which is cutting off the flow of PFAS to our better wells and we’ve actually seen improvement in five of our individual wells since we started doing this and our entry point has been on a steady decline as well.

Marisa Wojcik:

Government agencies have come out with different recommendations for what’s considered safe, but overall enforcement of standards is limited. In the meantime, Berg wants to reassure the people of Eau Claire.

Lane Berg:

I want to just reinforce the fact that our water is safe.

Christy Remucal:

I also think it’s really good that some utilities are being proactive and looking for these chemicals.

Lane Berg:

PFAS is a big issue. I don’t think we’ll be in a position to wait for any legislative action. We’ll take action on our own here. This is something we feel really strongly about and we’re going to try and resolve the problem.

Marisa Wojcik:

Most especially in a city named for its clear water. For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik in Eau Claire.

Frederica Freyberg:

Whereas some might have thought COVID-19 was on the retreat, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise in Wisconsin, with seven-day average case counts above 2500 and daily deaths in the double digits. Eight counties in Wisconsin now have critically high numbers of COVID cases according to state health data. Six of those counties are in the northwest part of the state. Health care providers have been on the front lines of the pandemic for more than a year and a half and still there is resistance to wearing masks and getting vaccines. The CEO of Marshfield Clinic, a provider across mostly rural Wisconsin, has lamented the backlash over COVID mitigation. Susan Turney joins us now from Marshfield. Thanks very much for being here.

Susan Turney:

Thank you very much for having us.

Frederica Freyberg:

Was the backlash mostly around your mandate that staff be vaccinated?

Susan Turney:

You know, I would say that we’ve had many challenges during COVID, and the issue about vaccination has certainly created controversy. You know, we have seen some very, very strong vaccine resistance in our service area, including some of our employees. We did, as you just stated, mandate the vaccine for all of our health system staff, and it drew backlash from not just some of our employees, but also from some of our community members. And it’s not unique to us. Health systems and hospitals across Wisconsin are really facing the same type of backlash. And I would say that as a — for us as a health care system, mandating the vaccine was really a simple decision. Our values demand that we do what is best for our patients. We know that we are committed to excellence. So we also want to live our mission, which is to enrich lives. So when we can’t really approach living to those ideals that we have in place if we have an unvaccinated population. So our patients depend on us. They want and they deserve to come to a facility that does everything in its power to keep them and their families safe. So I’m proud to say that most of our 10,000 employees and all of our physicians have been vaccinated. We are at about 99% plus rate right now for all of our staff who have complied with our requirement. Our deadline is next Monday, and on that date I suspect we will have a small number of people who do choose to not comply with our requirement. It’s unfortunate, but we are prepared and I believe that we are in a good position to continue to do what we do best, which is take care of patients in our communities and provide high-quality care.

Frederica Freyberg:

And I’m assuming that when you say that you are prepared when that deadline happens to have to let people go that do not comply with getting vaccinated?

Susan Turney:

Yes. There may be a few people that don’t comply and will be asked to leave the organization. And it’s unfortunate, but, again, living up to our mission and standing on our values and knowing what we need to do to best serve our patients and our staff and our communities, that’s what would happen.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I know that you’ve described what you experienced there at your health system as backlash, but there were literally protests outside your clinic?

Susan Turney:

You know, we did have some protests in some of our communities, and we also had staff that were harassed when they were walking to their cars in the parking lot. And, you know, we are doing what we can to protect our staff, protect our patients in this environment. So it has certainly added to the stress that our staff has felt during this pandemic as we all know that the pandemic has taken truly an extreme trial on all of our workforce.

Frederica Freyberg:

Absolutely. So in the midst of all of this, what is your reaction to these counties with critically high COVID case counts right now?

Susan Turney:

Well, you know, we do serve a very rural population and we know that there are counties in our service area that have lower vaccination rates than other parts of the state. However, we are here to serve our patients and we will take care of patients. We have a multipronged approach. Obviously we want to encourage our patients to be vaccinated. We have a lot of information available to them and we will also speak with them if that would help them understand the benefits of the vaccination. Yet people are going to get sick. The rate of people getting sick without a vaccination is much higher than those who have been vaccinated. But we will take care of our patients. That’s what we do and it’s very important that we continue to honor our commitment to patient care.

Frederica Freyberg:

And as to your staff and how people have weathered this fatigue and burn-out as it’s been described, what is your message to those of you in the health care system on the front lines?

Susan Turney:

You know, I wish there were a single message, because I think the message would be let’s have hope that we will get through this and come out on the other end in a better place. And I believe there is truth to that. Yet, I’ve already said the pandemic really has taken an extreme toll on our workforce. They’re exhausted from fighting the pandemic for two years now. We have oftentimes been short-staffed because people have been sick or they’re working extra shifts already or they’re taking care of family members who have been sick. These work-related challenges are immense. And being a rural health care provider, we’ve had challenges that predated COVID, predated the pandemic. Many areas in the country with rural health that are in rural health care had already experienced a crisis with hospital closures, shortages of work staff. So we’re trying to fight the unique strain that this has brought to us and helping our staff if there are mental health issues, if there are financial issues, if there are child care issues. We’re trying to meet their needs the best we can. And, again, I think hope is the word that we need to think about. We have hope that this will be better.

Frederica Freyberg:

Dr. Turney, thank you very much and thank you for your work.

Susan Turney:

Thank you. I appreciate it. Have a good day.

Frederica Freyberg:

You can find more a COVID-19 and all the latest news by visiting our website at PBSwisconsin.org. That is 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.