(UNDATED) Gov. Jim Doyle and DNR Secretary Matt Frank travel to the White House today (2/8) to hear the latest federal plan for keeping Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes.

Doyle and other Midwest leaders requested the summit with White House officials, after carp DNA was found in a Chicago harbor. Today’s meeting is scheduled with Nancy Sutley, who heads the Council on Environmental Quality, and officials from other federal agencies.

DNR Secretary Frank says he's interested in hearing the Obama Administration’s plans, and it’s not too late for the federal government to make a difference in the battle against Asian Carp. He says he hopes closing locks in Chicago area shipping canals is on the table.

The governors of Michigan and Illinois will also be at the meeting. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has opposed closing the Chicago locks. Henry Henderson of the Natural Resources Defense Council says he hopes Quinn doesn't have the most clout in the discussions.

If the White House doesn't say what Wisconsin and Michigan leaders want to hear today, then Michigan is likely to press ahead with its second attempt to get the Supreme Court to take action against the invasive fish.

(UNDATED) Lawmakers are floating the idea of providing tax incentives for small businesses that expand their payrolls. Some Wisconsin business owners say it’s just one tool that could speed up job growth and jump-start sluggish sales. But others aren't so sure.

Wisconsin has lost some 150,000 jobs during the recession. The southeastern part of the state has borne the brunt of the economic downturn -- especially its manufacturing sector -- but there are pockets of pain everywhere.

Cheryl Detrick, president of the De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce, says she's excited about legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Steve Kagen that would give a $5,000 tax incentive to businesses that make new hires. But she says government legislation is not the answer. Detrick says while it can create a climate for businesses to take a risk, creating jobs hinges on what business leaders are comfortable doing.

Not everyone agrees that a tax incentive will boost the job market. John Florsheim, president of the Milwaukee-based Weyco Group, says the downturn has hurt sales of his company’s footwear. Florsheim says they’re not in a “very conservative” hiring mode and Weyco will base hiring decisions on consumer demand, not tax incentives. He adds they generally hire people as needed when business picks up.

Critics of the proposed tax incentive say it won’t spur job growth, but will only increase government spending, and add to the deficit.

(MADISON) Would Midwest farmers benefit from the federal climate change legislation that's pending in the U.S. Senate? National farm leaders will debate that topic at a forum in Madison today. (2/8)

Among the supporters of the climate change bill that's passed in the House of Representatives is Roger Johnson, a North Dakota farmer and president of the National Farmers Union. He says when the House dropped a plan to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, the farmers union got on board. Johnson says farmers could earn money or credits by not tilling soil, or by using methane digesters for power. Johnson says that income would outpace increased energy and fertilizer costs.

But the federal climate change legislation has not sold all farm groups. Rick Tolman (tole-man) of the National Corn Growers Association worries that in the Midwest, farmers would not be able to bring in enough revenue from practices like not tilling their soil.

Tolman and Johnson will be present with other ag leaders, to discuss the climate change bill at the forum held by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

(STATEWIDE) Only a week into Wisconsin’s open enrollment period, the state’s virtual schools already report they’re near their cut-off point for applications.

Before open enrollment even started, these online schools launched an aggressive outreach effort that included open houses, information sessions, and Internet ads. Now virtual schools say the application numbers are just shy of the statewide cap of 5,250 students.

iQ Academy principal Rick Nettesheim says applications are coming in faster than they did last year, and he anticipates more students will be on a waiting list than in the past.

Last academic year saw more than 3,600 students enrolled in Wisconsin’s virtual schools, a 40-percent jump from the previous year. Nettesheim says growing familiarity with the virtual schools, and a legislative deal that legalized them helped boost interest.

Julie Thompson, vice-president of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families, says she’s not surprised by the interest. Thompson says online education can be cheaper than traditional schools, or be more comfortable for children who want to learn at their own pace or have mental or physical challenges. She’s hoping a good legislative review of the virtual schools will build support among lawmakers, allowing for an increase of students, or the end of the 5,250 student enrollment cap.

Wisconsin’s open enrollment period ends February 19th.

(UNDATED) Wisconsin vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella are higher than the national average, despite long-standing worries over whether such shots were safe.

A long health and public relations battle over the supposed link between a certain vaccine and autism made news again this past week. The medical journal, The Lancet, retracted a 1998 study linking measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism.

Six years later, 10 of 13 authors said there was insufficient evidence, and the Institute of Medicine also rejected such a link.

State epidemiologist Jeffrey Davis says Wisconsin maintained high MMR vaccination rates throughout the controversy. He says in seven of the last eight years, 90-percent of Wisconsin children have been vaccinated.

Davis says Wisconsin has averaged only one case of measles a year in the last decade. There was a national outbreak of measles in 2008 and it did affect the state, when two people contracted measles.

That outbreak of measles affected more than a dozen states and was the largest in 10 years.

(WAUSAU) Wisconsin's Badger State Winter Games were celebrated with a winter festival in the Wausau area over the weekend. It may be the last year that the city serves as the host community for the annual Olympic style competition.

Carrying the flame this year for the 22nd torch-lighting ceremony were Laurin Jorstad and Jim Force, two local business leaders who helped start the games back in 1989. Afterward, both wondered if a long tradition was coming to an end. Jorstad says there are issues with economics and sponsorship and doubts all the games will remain in Wausau. Force says the games have helped make the city the winter sports capitol, and he hopes the community will still be part of the celebration.

Ron Vincent of the Wisconsin Sports Development Corporation and Darien Schaefer of the Wausau Area Marathon County Convention and Visitors Bureau shared the stage, neither mentioning the impasse between the two organizations that could end Wausau's sponsorship. The Visitors Bureau thinks hotel room tax money could be spent in better ways, in part because of the decision to move competitive events like youth hockey out of the Wausau area.

The Sports Development Corporation says it is determined to keep Wausau as the host community for the games next year, but the Visitors Bureau says there would have to be a different funding mechanism for that to happen.

(STATE CAPITOL) Farmer's markets will have more canned goodies from family root cellars now that a new law – called the “pickle bill” -- will make it easier for home processed food to be sold by letting small growers sell their canned goods without having to obtain an expensive food processing license.

Author State Rep. Gary Sherman says with the decline of dairy farms in his district, this income will make a difference for small farmers. He says this will lead to a more interesting variety of wares at farmer’s markets.

The bill was the idea of Herbster farmer Robert Schierman. He says it's a shame to keep pickled okra, pickled asparagus, pickled snow peas, off the shelves at community events.

The law limits annual sales to $5,000 a year.

Photo by Patty Murray, WPR.

(UNDATED) The UW-Extension has opened up a brand new student union which is online, instead of on-campus.

David Schejbal [SKAY-bul] is the U-W Extension's Dean of the Division of Continuing Education, Outreach and E-Learning. He says the virtual student union is a web-based resource designed to be a social gathering place for students. Schejbal says students can share information about financial aid, child care, job searches, or making time to study online.

Right now, the virtual union is only being used by those majoring in sustainable management, an online Bachelor's degree program offered by four UW campuses.

Schejbal says the virtual student union will become available to all students by late summer.