Contact: Elizabeth Hizmi (608) 267-9460 elizabeth.hizmi@wisconsin.gov Madison, WI—Insurance Commissioner Ted Nickel is advising Wisconsin residents to be prepared for severe weather season. “Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week is a helpful reminder to check your plans to ensure your family’s safety and preparedness,” said Commissioner Nickel. “Confirm your insurance policies are updated and provide you with adequate coverage alleviating additional problems after a storm hits.” Consumers should prepare ahead of time by making sure they have a comprehensive inventory of their personal property. See the Personal Property Home Inventory on OCI’s Web site at oci.wi.gov/Documents/Consumers/PI-224.pdf. Your policy review should include

Contact: (608) 266-2512 Sen.Vukmir@legis.wi.gov MADISON, Wis. — After Gov. Scott Walker signed 2017 Wisconsin Act 3 into law on Monday, state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R–Brookfield, issued the following statement:   “Finally, government will no longer be able to deliberately alienate qualified workers from participating in the bidding process for government projects in Wisconsin. State and local officials should not discriminate against contractors simply because they do not have pre-negotiated deals with labor unions.   “When free-market reforms like this become law, we are proactively controlling costs while encouraging competition. Next up: Repealing the state’s prevailing wage law.”   Vukmir represents portions

Contact: Kevin Kane- (414) 550-8280, Kevin.kane@citizenactionwi.org Robert Kraig- (414) 322-5324, robert.kraig@citizenactionwi.org Statewide: In a media call this morning Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, and substance use disorder experts Dr Richard Brown and Jesse Heffernan raised concerns about Gov. Scott Walker proposed Medicaid waiver seeking permission from the Trump Administration to make a series of changes in the state’s BadgerCare program. Listen to the entire media call here. Governor Walker’s proposed Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver, which will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services later this week, makes a series of changes

Contact: Tom Evenson (608) 266-2839 De Pere – Governor Scott Walker signed Senate Bill 3 into law today at Amerilux International, LLC in De Pere. The bill promotes neutrality in the bidding process for public works projects as well as healthy competition between contractors. “Accountable government means ensuring our taxpayers receive quality service,” Governor Walker said. “By forbidding state and local governments from requiring contractors to enter into agreements with labor organizations, we’re promoting healthy competition between contractors. At the end of the day, this means the contractor ultimately chosen for the project is the one that has demonstrated excellent

Contact: (608) 266-2418 DE PERE –Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) joined Governor Walker at Amerilux International for the signing of Senate Bill 3 – Project Labor Agreement freedom. “Today’s bill signing is a significant win for taxpayers and the free market,” said Rep. Steineke. “No longer will our local governments have their hands tied by restrictive and costly regulations when it comes to bidding out local projects.” Senate Bill 3 will help to ensure impartiality when local governments bid out projects. Under the bill, local governments will still have the option to utilize restrictive project labor agreements, however, they

Contact: Mark Bednar (202) 738-0744 WHAT: Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI) will host a town hall meeting to speak with constituents. He will be available to media. WHEN:  Tuesday, 4/18/17 at 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM WHERE: North Star Lanes 400 Prosser Avenue Antigo WI 54409 Note: The town hall will be open to the public and the media. Congressman Duffy holds more in-person town halls than 98% of Congress.

Contact: press@baldwin.senate.gov (202) 224-6225 WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a member of the bipartisan Senate Broadband Caucus, joined a group of 56 Senators in urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue advancing broadband deployment in rural communities. In a letter to Chairman Pai, Commissioner O’Rielly and Commissioner Clyburn, the Senators expressed concerns about the high cost of these critical services in many rural communities and stressed that more Americans should have the opportunity to purchase affordable broadband to keep them connected. “We appreciate the steps taken by the FCC last year to address this concern. However, we

Contact: Gian Galassi (608) 263-5561 ggalassi@uwhealth.org Madison – A research team at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has treated its first patient in an innovative clinical trial using stem cells for the treatment of heart failure that develops after a heart attack. The trial is taking place at University Hospital, one of three sites nationwide currently enrolling participants. The investigational CardiAMP therapy is designed to deliver a high dose of a patient’s own bone-marrow cells directly to the point of cardiac injury to potentially stimulate the body’s natural healing response. The patient experience with the trial

Contact: Rick Hummell- (608) 224-5041, rickhummell@wisconsin.gov Bill Cosh- (608) 224-5020, William2.Cosh@wisconsin.gov MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announced today that eleven nominees are certified eligible for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) 2017 Board of Directors election. Here are the candidates, listed by district: District 1 (Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Rusk, Sawyer and Washburn counties), nominee: Benjamin Peterson, Grantsburg. District 4 (Barron and Polk counties), nominee: Audrey Kusilek, Rice Lake. District 7 (Clark County), nominee: David Bangart, Greenwood. District 10 (Brown, Door and Kewaunee counties), nominee: Julie Veldhuis, Kewaunee. District 13 (Buffalo, Pierce

Contact: (414) 531-2096 Alderman Bob Donovan will kick off his 2017 Litter Marshals program by speaking with elementary school students at Rocketship School, 3003 W. Cleveland Ave., at 8 a.m. (TOMORROW) Tuesday, April 18. The event will include a few surprises for the children, and media coverage is invited. As a part of the Litter Marshals program, Alderman Donovan is working with 8th District schools to coordinate neighborhood litter cleanups this spring with help from students. The first- and second-grade students will take a pledge not to litter and will be “deputized” by Milwaukee Police Department Captain Heather Wurth. “The