Contact: Gina Paige ― 608-266-9000 (MADISON) – Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) Secretary-designee Emilie Amundson announced today her first appointments to her leadership team. Jeff Pertl has been named deputy secretary. Pertl spent the last decade as senior policy advisor at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), collaborating with DCF on early childhood and family policy issues. He also served on the Madison Community Foundation and as a Dane County Supervisor. He and his wife have been licensed foster parents and their two boys were adopted at birth in Wisconsin. Danielle Melfi has been named assistant secretary. Melfi

Program that designates industrial sites as ready for development has generated $456 million in new investment throughout the state MADISON, WI. Jan. 14, 2019 – The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is now accepting applications for its Certified In Wisconsin® Program, which designates industrial parcels of 20 acres or more as being “development ready.” The program has played a key role in helping communities throughout the state attract new companies by providing independent certification that a wide range of concerns have been evaluated—such as environmental and geological factors, transportation access, utility and infrastructure capacity, zoning and property rights—and that the site is

Contact: Representative Robyn Vining 608-266-9180 MADISON – Representative Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) announced today her staff for the 2019-2020 Legislative Session. Maddie Palzewicz, a former Wisconsin State Senate intern and congressional campaign staffer, has joined the office of Rep. Vining as Legislative Assistant. Palzewicz is a Brookfield native, proud Elmbrook School District graduate, and an alumna of the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  Rep. Vining issued the following statement regarding her new staff:  “I am thrilled to have added Brookfield native, Maddie Palzewicz, to my team! With her experience in the legislature and her commitment to our district, her brilliant mind and

Contact: Andrew Hellpap (608) 316-9786 ahellpap@uwhealth.org Cytomegalovirus study places program in rare company MADISON, Wis. – For the first time in Wisconsin, a research team will test a personalized cell therapy to treat a common and serious complication in bone-marrow transplant patients. The UW Program for Advanced Cell Therapy (PACT) will conduct a study to examine a cutting-edge therapy to treat a viral infection faced by up to 50 percent of bone-marrow transplant recipients. The program’s first study will deploy virus-specific white blood cells to treat lethal cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation that can occur after a bone-marrow transplant. The Food and