SNAP Benefits in Peril, Investigation Uncovers Teacher Misconduct, and Fickell Isn’t Going Anywhere (For Now)

(upbeat music) - This is CityCast Madison. I'm Bianca Martin, and here's what Madison's talkin' about. Toddy. It's the Friday News Roundup, and the big news this week is that Wisconsin's primary food assistance program, Food Share, which provides SNAP benefits to thousands of Madisonians, is at risk of running out of funds amid the federal government shutdown. According to WayForward Resources, a flagship food pantry and housing assistance nonprofit in the Madison area, up to 65,000 people in Dane County could be impacted if benefits don't arrive by November, AKA in eight days. Joining me now to get us up to speed on potential impact is WayForward Resources executive director, Ellen Carlson. Ellen, welcome back to CityCast Madison. - Thank you for having me. - Yeah, so it's been three and a half weeks of a federal government shutdown with no clear end in sight. Ellen, what's happening? What's the current threat to Wisconsin SNAP benefits? - Wisconsin Department of Health Services put out information earlier this month that there might be a lapse if the federal government shutdown doesn't end, there might be a lapse in getting food dollars onto people's EBT cards. And that usually happens at the beginning of November. And so they also said that there's a possibility that even dollars that they had on their cards from say previous months that they haven't spent yet for some reason may go away. Of course, no one really knows what's gonna happen, but people are worried. And we're actually wanna make sure that the people who come to our food pantry who may also have food share benefits, as many of them do, know that this is gonna happen. - And how is this threat landing? What's the need like right now for Dane County's food insecure? - The food need is really high right now. I know that we've talked about this in the past. There's so many people coming to the food pantry already, food pantries are really stretched thin. We have had four times as many visits as we did just five years ago. That's what's happening right now. So this is a big threat to food pantries and to people in our community. For every one meal provided through Feeding Americas or Food Bank or food pantries, SNAP provides nine. So this is an amount of food that while food pantries like ours are gonna do absolutely everything we can to make sure that people have the food that they need. Food pantries just don't have the capacity to make up for all that missed November SNAP benefits or into the future. So there's a lot of work being done by food pantries to make sure that we can help people as much as possible, but we know that we can't do it alone. - Yeah, and just knowing the folks that come in the beginning of the month and planning, like what would the impact of this be should we go over this funding cliff? - Yeah, so if this happens and truly the government doesn't do anything, there are other ways that the government could fill these dollars, right, these SNAP dollars. It's a very complex as you can imagine a nuanced situation, but if they choose not to do that, then what's gonna happen at the beginning of November is that people are gonna go to the grocery store and try and purchase the food that they normally purchase with those cards and those cards are gonna be empty. So you can imagine for people who are trying to pay rent in a very expensive city to live in, to buy food for their families, where food costs are so high, that those food share dollars represent a very important piece of their budgets. So if they go to the grocery store and all of a sudden they don't have those dollars, they're gonna have to find other ways. And even the Department of Health Services are really encouraging people, hey, if you are in need of food, call 211, which they should definitely do. And 211 is gonna refer them to area food pantries. And that's why we are wanting to make sure the community knows about what's going on so they can support their area food pantries locally, but also just to make sure everyone understands what is happening right now. - And as you mentioned, a lot of the folks that come to the food pantry use food share, but they're using it in addition, like they're needing additional food. You know, I'll just share it last month, I volunteered at the River Food Pantry Benefit and heard their numbers of people in need. And it was a similar thing, just an absolute significant jump just this past year. Like it's been several hard years and this year it's even worse. - Yeah, people in our community are struggling to make all of the pieces fit together, right? They live and work in our community and they deserve access to good food, which is what the food pantries are trying to accomplish. And it is what food share does, right? It allows people to go to the grocery store and to buy the foods that are healthy for their families and nutritious and make sense for the family that they have in their home. That is the purpose of this federal program. And food pantries are very willing and want to step in and make sure that we can fill in those gaps, right? These are all supplemental programs, but 65,000 people in Dane County are using food share. This is an important piece of our economy. These are people who are going to jobs every day in our community and people need to eat to be able to show up and be healthy and kids need to eat to be able to go to school and study and think and learn and be with their friends. Food and nutrition is key to all of that and this is a key program. - Of course, there's so much uncertainty at this moment, but do you have any sense about whether or not our state will go over this funding cliff? Are you optimistic that the federal government will step in or is it truly like who knows? - It is truly who knows. I mean, we would like to believe that because we know there are several ways the government can solve this crisis. Even if they don't end the shutdown, there are other ways this can be funded. We know it's a complex situation. So there are options out there to solve this problem and to make sure that there's money in this program for people to buy food. Really only restoring these benefits to people is what is going to make a difference to people. And so food pantries are doing what we can to get ready for what might happen, but we truly don't know. - Yeah. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to join us and get us up to date. I think the majority of Americans are really one major life event, like a medical emergency or a layoff away from needing these benefits themselves. I know a lot of listeners maybe have never used SNAP, but who knows? So for those who don't rely on these benefits, why should they care? And also what can they do to help if they wanna chip in for the situation? - Absolutely. So it is very true that most people are very close to needing assistance. You can imagine that there might be a situation where say a federal employee isn't getting paid right now and all of a sudden their family is used to this double income and doesn't have it right now. You can imagine people needing to fill in the blanks in their own budgets, whether or not they're on food share or not. And so there's so many reasons why people come to food pantries. And so we wanna make sure that we continue to be available for anyone who finds themselves in a situation where all of a sudden it's deciding to pay the rent or the medical bill or eating, right? And we are all much closer to that than I think we would like to think on any given day. So what can people do? There's a couple of things they can do. Find your local food pantry. I think every local food pantry right now is thinking about what it is they're gonna do when this happens or if it happens. And so supporting those local food pantries with dollars or actual food items is absolutely critical as we all prepare. And then also, we're following information from a lot of trusted sources like Feeding America, Feeding Wisconsin, FRAC, which is the Food Research and Action Center. They're a great place to follow too. So paying attention and getting involved however you can really can make a difference right now. - Well, Ellen, we really appreciate your time and thanks for coming on CityCast Madison and sending out all of the care and optimism that this will not happen, but thanks for getting us up to date. - Yeah, we appreciate the opportunity. - That was Ellen Carlson, Executive Director of Wayford Resources. Coming up, more stories from Madison, but before that, let's take a quick break. - Time for more of the Friday News Roundup. Just talked about the Federal Government Shutdowns Threat to Wisconsin's Food Share Program, AKA SNAP Benefits. And of course, there's more news in the Hamlet. Joining me now to help break down the rest of this week's stories is our Executive Producer, Hailey Sperling. Hey, Hailey. - Hi, Bianca, big news week. - Big news week, a little bit heavy too. Folks will find out soon enough. And our newsletter editor, Rob Thomas. Hey, Rob, how are you? - I'm good, Bianca, how are you? - I'm pretty good, you know. It's tough stuff with the Food Share Program and a little bit more tough stuff with an investigation. Hailey, you've got the next story of the week. What's happening? - Yeah, so another kind of heavy story. The Cap Times dropped a bombshell of an investigation recently, and it's already having impact on the state. We'll get into that part a little bit later, but first, I wanna dig into the story itself. The Cap Times spent about a year investigating this story. Investigative reporter Danielle Duclos is the reporter behind it. And she found that between the years 2018 and 2023, the State Department of Instruction investigated more than 200 Wisconsin teachers, aides, substitutes, and administrators who were accused of sexual misconduct or grooming behaviors towards students. And this is shocking because this information was all previously unknown to the public and it is shedding light on something really scary about this story is the absolutely broken system that Danielle uncovered in this reporting. She interviewed seven academics and advocates about how DPI investigates and documents educator misconduct. And each of these experts said the department's practices are inadequately protecting students. So high level, our state might not be doing such a good job when it comes to protecting our students. So the question is like how widespread is this issue? According to a federal report, one in 10 students nationwide experienced sexual misconduct from educators during their K through 12 schooling. So in Wisconsin, that would mean more than 93,000 school children. That's a very staggering figure. I'm curious to kind of get your guys' first takes on this story on everything that I just laid out 'cause very scary, Rob. I know you're a father, you've had kids in school. Like how does that strike you? - It was literally unbelievable. Like you throw those numbers around and you think that can't possibly be true. - Yeah, I think my first reaction was to the 200 and like, oh my God, that's, it's so unnerving and so upsetting viscerally. And on second thought, like, am I surprised? Like, honestly, no, I'm a woman. The National Institute of Health says one in four women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime. Undergrads, there are terrible statistics there. So it is hard for me to think that K through 12 school halls are like an isolated utopia. And I was a student and have, you know, I've witnessed and experienced things that I guess, I can't say that I'm surprised. And I guess the silver lining in this is that a light is being shown on the issue. - Yeah, it's really, it's scary that this is kind of happening seemingly right under people's noses and that the state is struggling to keep up with these investigations. So as part of her reporting, the cap times found that at least 44% of DPIs, over 450 educator license investigations since 2018, have involved sexual misconduct or grooming allegations. And that number, that 450 investigation number is a number that researchers say is likely a big undercount on these cases. Because as Danielle's reporting uncovered, the tracking of these investigations is just, it's a mess. It's a lot of these school districts are keeping things on paper, things are disorganized. There's no records of interviews. There's no clean records of how things were handled and it's really messy. And so a really kind of scary bit is that DPI doesn't tell the public why an educator lost their license. And advocates say that this lack of transparency makes it a lot easier for educator misconduct to continue that these people can avoid detection and it can happen again. And honestly to me, we've seen this play out in other places. We've seen this in institutions as large as the Catholic church. This investigation, it's giving spotlight for better or worse. When people get moved around and you don't know the details, when someone new comes into a community, you're expecting that they're a good person, but they might have a dark seated past and that's really, really scary. And so again, of the 461 teachers the state investigated, this is from a period of 2018 to 2023, 207 of them kept their credentials and could continue working with school children. So again, we don't know the details of these investigations because one is anyone keeping track of them, but also this information is not easily attainable, it's not being made public. And again, it's that last part that really scares me because after reading Danielle's article and we will absolutely link to it in our show notes, it's part of a bigger series. They're releasing a few parts at a time. So there are two parts of the story out right now. It's really abundantly clear that the state and the school districts are really not doing an adequate job when it comes to tracking these investigations. And so why is that? Let's back it up for a second. So the Department of Public Instruction, aka DPI, is run by state superintendent Jill Underly, who was, if you guys recall, recently re-elected back in April for another four year term. And DPI has argued that they don't have enough resources and that lawmakers keep cutting their funding. So what's up with that? Are they right? Yeah, pretty much. Like in the current two year state budget, lawmakers, according to the Cap Times, approved an 10% annual reduction, which is a cost of about $1.3 million to the department's general operations. So cut $1.3 million from previous funding levels. And Underly said that she specifically asked the state for money to modernize the DPI's online background checks and licensing platform, but lawmakers rejected that proposal. So yikes, money, it's always the big issue. And to put this into even further context, DPI has only one full-time and one part-time investigator to handle the on average 113 investigations opened in a year. So that's staggering to me. That's wild to me. But it's really, it's this fight between the DPI for funding and the state lawmakers who are just saying, like, you should be able to do this and they are failing to keep track of this. So Underly repeatedly denied interview requests for this story, but she did publish a letter refuting the reporting shortly after it was published. She called for the Cap Times to issue a correction to its reporting, but didn't actually outline any factual errors. It's so heavy. It's so, so heavy. And I do think that there are a lot of different players that interact with this issue, that it's deeply systemic. And I don't think the Department of Public Instruction would be able to completely handle this. It falls to schools. It falls to so many folks. But I think that the hopefully takeaway is that this is a pervasive issue. And of course, all of the issues that face our kids in school, K through 12, I mean, bullying, gun violence, like there's so much that needs eyes and money and attention on, and this is absolutely one of them. And I think, yeah, a lot of people are going to be surprised to see just how much so. And as a journalist, I get pretty tired. This is a very familiar thing when somebody refuses to be interviewed. And then after the story is published, it says you made errors and then does not say what the errors were. It seems to be all about saving face and covering yourself rather than getting the facts out. Yeah, it's just not a good look all around. And above looks, again, it's truly the impact. Like this is having impact on our students. Like there was a case. I don't want to get too into the details. But in Danielle's reporting, she talks about two students who experience some horrific things at Madison East High School. And so this is in our community. This is in our backyard. This affects truly all of us. Like I mentioned at the top, there is already some impact coming out of this story. State Representative Amanda Nedweski has introduced legislation and called for an informational hearing to address student safety. So that's pretty big. Having legislation introduced as truly a direct result of this reporting is massive. So there's some big impact here and hopefully cause for change. Hopefully it seems like more people are reading this story and are thankful for the reporting. So shout out to our local journalists. Shout out to the CapTimes. We have had multiple CapTimes journalists on our show even just this week. So we love them. It costs a lot of money to do good journalism. So I know we're always saying support us. But hey, toss your funds around if you can. CapTimes has a membership program. Go check them out. Thank you, Hailey, for that. I know how much work that took to share that story. And hopefully something good will come from that. So we are going to chart on. But before we get into any more news, we're going to take a break. Well, now that we've talked doom and gloom, there's a beautiful story. It's got some sadness to it, but also a lot of joy in celebrating someone who made impact in Madison. Rob, you've got the story. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you've worked in a Madison restaurant, and I know you both have, if you've eaten in a Madison restaurant, and I know we all have, I mean, you likely felt the presence of Jane Capito. Jane was a restaurant owner who was responsible either directly or indirectly for literally dozens of restaurants in Madison, past and present over the past 30 or 40 years. She opened spots that I know are big favorites of all of us, the Greenbush, Mickey's Tavern, which I know you've probably been to once or twice. I love Mickey's Tavern, but Bianca, honestly, might love it more than I do, totally. Yeah, I mean, she's literally the Jane in Lazy Jane's Cafe. That's how big an impact she had in Madison, although obviously she was anything but lazy. And Capito died on October 11th at the age of 80, following a decade-long battle with dementia. And there were some really wonderful obituaries written by her friend Lindsey Christiansen in the "Capital Times." And then Linda Falkenstein in "Ismas" also wrote a really nice piece. I think she broke the news that Jane had passed away. Just going over, it was a long life and had a lot of impact. Jane was born in Salt Lake City and moved here from San Francisco in the 1970s. The story was she lived in San Francisco and would sort of dream about opening a cafe, couldn't really get a going there, and then saw a note on a bulletin board saying, hey, I'm going to Madison, wanna split gas. And she was like, I'm going and I'm staying. So she went to Madison, she got a job as a dishwasher at Ovens of Brittany, which is one of those restaurants I've predated even me here in Madison, but I've heard about as like this incubator for all these people who would go on to start incredible restaurants. Like Odessa Piper, who started "Late Twall." And Jane Capito was no different. She started restaurants. There was one called the Wild Iris and Botticelli's. And then she bought the building that Mickey's was in in the 1990s. And she described the place that was there as charmingly not charming. And she totally revamped into the Mickey's we know today. And then a few doors down on Willie, she opened Lazy Jane's Cafe, which I think was maybe the first restaurant. I waited in a long line to get inside because they're so popular for brunch. And I mean, just sort of the common denominator, she just created these great spaces. And like, I think of Lazy Jane's is a very loud and sort of almost chaotic place, but that was very intentional on her part to make it seem like a messy local spot where people just come and eat and good food and hang out and talk. And she had this very progressive egalitarian spirit. Her son Ben said she would have definitely been out at No Kings last weekend if she'd been around. And I think that's really reflected in those spaces, building these restaurants that are very Madison, very local, have this progressive spirit at where everybody comes together. - I feel like Lazy Jane's is the restaurantification. I'm gonna make that a word of like Willie Street, right? In so many ways, you know, you have people of all ages coming in, like you said, it's loud, but it's also this kind of controlled chaos. And everything you get there is gonna be great. You know, it's just a place where I think people feel really comfortable and a lot of people probably feel like that is their spot. And I think that was something that clearly Jane kind of was able to cultivate in these spots, like Lazy Jane's and Mickey's and even further. She definitely had an eye for making things special. - Yeah. - And homie. - And homie, yeah. It was like, like Mickey's, like you said, the same way. It's like, this place must have been here forever, but no, it was, you know, somebody thought about it and created it that way. She also had a big eye for talent and mentoring people who worked at her restaurants and encouraging them to open their own restaurants that includes her son and stepson, her son, Ben Alchill, revamped the Tip Top Tavern, which I went to recently. Great spot. - Love Tip Top, yep. - Love, yep. And also turned an old oil change station into Zippy Lube for Great Fried Chicken. And then her stepson, Gil, opened grandpa's pizzeria and Gibbs, which we all went to once, I think, a while ago. And also Bandit Tacos, which is a favorite of mine at the old train depot. I mean, the list goes on and on about all the restaurants that might never have existed. If Jane hadn't been there, I mean, sort of, you know, I always go back to, it's a wonderful life. You think about the impact that one person has. Like our restaurant seemed to be completely different if she had decided not to take that trip to Madison and split gas with that person. - Yeah, catch a ride, that's the 70s, man. (laughing) So yeah, I think the best way to honor Jane, go out and eat this weekend, go to a local restaurant, go to a restaurant either she was a part of or even one she wasn't a part of, have a great meal and have a conversation with a buddy. - I love it, drinks at Gibbs, maybe. - Yeah, let's do it. I cannot stay out as late as you guys do. (laughing) - You were a dream for them. - I faded early. (laughing) - I feel like even, like, waiting in that line at Lazy Jane's if you can't get a table getting one of the scones. The scones are iconic. - Absolutely, yeah. - They're famous, people say. - They're famous, yeah. Yeah, it's really sweet. And you have this written down, Rob, but I'm gonna go ahead and steal it. But yeah, experience something that she spent her life creating, it's gorgeous. Jane was a gem and let's keep going on Madison Gems and turn to our neighborhood shout outs. I'll kick us off with our first. Hannah J wrote in to shout out a cocktail bar that we all know, quote, "Corgiol, a hidden gem "on Park Street, fantastic craft cocktails "and super friendly staff, well-priced and a great vibe. "Love this one, especially when I shout out, you know, "Hannah, CityCast Madison." We actually had our launch party at Corgiol just under three years ago and it was a hoot. And I just love that that was formerly the rustic tavern and like a spot where, you know, nurses came and hung out and just like really down to earth and there's a lot to love from Corgiol. - I think that's where we first met was at Corgiol. - It was rough. - Yeah, I remember that well. - Yeah, there were like a hundred people there and it was really good to be together like after the pandemic, you know? - I love that I forever have FOMO for not going to our own launch party. (laughing) I was out of town, anyway. Well, we've got another place to get drinks to shout out. This one is from Bailey Z, who is shouting out, "Lives Drink Emporium in Nearby Sun Prairie." She says, "It's one of the best coffee shops "for Far East Madisonians. "They have a great team working there "with awesome baked goods and even better prices." And y'all know that we love a good deal in these day and ages. She says, "Their peanut butter cold brew "has become a Sunday morning tradition." And I am intrigued. Peanut butter cold brew are like three of my favorite things. So let's do it. - And I remember Rob loves peanut butter. - I do, yeah, let me take you to the center. I remember tasting. - That's right, yeah. That sounds good. And Tara D, speaking of coffee, wanted to shout out Lakeside Coffee House. Has a super friendly staff, delicious sandwiches, and their chai tea is my favorite. I also love the outdoor seating area, cosine, and our producer, Jay, says to bring everything full circle, you can get Lazy Jane scones at Lakeside. So that's a great spot. - Another homey one, honestly. You can also sometimes catch some good music, like live local music. They do all the kinds of things. - We're all drink themed this week. I love it. - I'll drink themed. - I love it. And if you guys like what you're hearing, if you wanna give your own shout out, you can do it, right? How can they do it, Bianca? - They can become a CityCast Madison neighbor at membership.citycast.fm. It's quite affordable. It's like what, $10 a month or $100 a year. And heck, our crew, our neighborhood's growing bigger every day. We're gonna go out in the community and have events with you all. We already have had a great event, and sometimes you get to do this beautiful thing, like shout out a bar that you love that makes a difference in your life, and we would like that. So yeah, become a member at membership.citycast.fm. We're gonna thank all of our neighbors who are already with us. Thank you so much. I do have one more story to round out this Friday News Roundup. It is a kicker in a more literal sense in that there's been a lot of heat on UW Madison. It's Badger's football coach, Luke Fickle. We've talked about this on a Friday News Roundup recently. Some fans have been calling to get him kicked off of coaching because it's been a pretty disappointing season. At the moment, Wisconsin rakes 132nd nationally. 132nd, that's crazy, and scoring this fall. So, fans have been cheering at Games Fire Fickle and acting up in the stands and protests. So, you guys have seen some of that, right? Yeah, they've been, I think 'cause they're so bored, frankly. They've been taking their shirts off and whipping them over their heads. I saw hundreds of students doing that at last Saturday's game, so. I think people just need something to latch on to. You get one drunk guy doing something, and then you get another drunk guy doing something, and then there's 400 drunk guys waving their shirts around and whether or not this has to do with their disdain for the team or for the coach. I don't know, maybe these guys are just bored. I'm stuck on us ranking 132nd nationally. I cannot name 132 football teams, why? We could, we could with some time. How about three hours, we'll think of 'em? Yeah, there's a few in Tennessee. But let's be honest, Badger's have a lot of energy and pride about being in the big 10, but we're not feeling like a 10, if you know what I mean. Like, it's not a good look. Some are certainly upset with the coach. But the news is that on Monday, UW Badger's athletic director dropped a letter to Badger fans saying, "I hear you," and quote, "Coach Fickle sees the potential "in what this team can be, as do I." And that basically, y'all need to support him. And that would lead to some change. He, this is the athletic director, said quote, "The results of this elevated support may not be immediate, "but we are confident the direction will be positive "and long-term." So, too long did it read. I guess, stay calm, carry on, equivalent of the cat poster hanging there. - I love that it is cat poster, but also like, I'm not saying he's had his time, but it's not like this is his first year on the team. Like, I don't know, I don't know that. I'm not a football coach myself, but I can understand why the fans are angry. That's all I'll say. - Yeah, I mean, Rob, do you have any thoughts on the situation? Never say die or is there a line? - Well, I'm not really a football person either. I do think a lot of times-- - It's like, why are we talking about this? There's this news. (laughing) - No, I do think a lot of times teams are too quick to fire coaches if they don't deliver. Like, I do see the point that teams need time to build and you can't just turn around 132 immediately. But yeah, I think you think of all the money they poured into that organization. I think we covered they basically, didn't they move the track and field team to make a new indoor facility? And so there's a lot of money flowing into that team. And I think, especially students paying that tuition are understandably a little miffed that they're not getting more bang for their buck. So yeah, I guess we'll see what happens. - It's a good point. And I understand that they're actually going to be investing more in the football team to try and help them out. So you better deliver if you're gonna stay. (laughing) But in terms of never say die, I like that idea. I'm definitely can say it about this team. Never say die, keep carrying on. And we're always rooting for the Badger's success, even if we call it sports ball or what have you. - Go Badgers. - Go Badgers. Y'all, that's the end of our Friday News Roundup. Thanks for rounding up the news with me this week. Hailey Sperling, appreciate you. - Go team, thanks Bianca. - And Rob Thomas, thanks so much. - Hang in there, baby. (laughing) (upbeat music) - That's all for Toddy here on CityCast Madison. I'm your host, Bianca Martin. We're produced by J.D.I. Siri Ramos with help this week from Matthew Rogers. Hailey Sperling is our executive producer. Our theme music is by Carl Christensen. Additional music this week by Peter Plaxa and 747 from Triple Scoop Music via Getty Images. Rob Thomas is our newsletter editor. You can get more news delivered right your inbox by subscribing to Madison Minutes. And don't forget, you can support the show and get gray perks by becoming a CityCast Madison neighbor at membership.citycast.fm. And if you enjoyed today's show, why not show this podcast with someone who cares about the well-being of our residents here in Madison? Alrighty, see you back here Monday morning with more news from around the city. Until then, take good care. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.