WASHINGTON (AP) — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday said it would take up a new religious rights case over whether a Catholic charitable organization must pay Wisconsin’s employment tax.

The justices will review a divided state Supreme Court ruling that refused to grant an exemption to the Catholic Charities Bureau, based in Superior, Wisconsin. The state court ruled that the work of Catholic Charities and four related organizations is primarily not religious, although it found that the motivation to help older, disabled and low-income people stems from Catholic teachings.

The case probably will be argued in the spring.

The Supreme Court in recent years has issued an unbroken string of decisions siding with churches and religious plaintiffs in disputes with states.

Lawyers for the Wisconsin groups argued to the court that the decision violates religious freedoms protected by the First Amendment. They also said the court should step in to resolve conflicting rulings by several top state courts on the same issue.

“Wisconsin is trying to make sure no good deed goes unpunished. Penalizing Catholic Charities for serving Catholics and non-Catholics alike is ridiculous and wrong,” Eric Rassbach, the lead lawyer for Catholic Charities at the Supreme Court, said in a statement.

Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul had urged the high court to stay out of the case, arguing that much of the groups’ funding comes from state and local governments, and the joint federal and state Medicaid program.

Employees don’t have to be Catholic and “people receiving services from these organizations receive no religious training or orientation,” Kaul wrote.

Catholic Charities has paid the unemployment tax since 1972, he wrote.

Wisconsin exempts church-controlled organizations from the tax if they are “operated primarily for religious purposes.” The state high court ruled that both the motivations and the activities have to be religious for organizations to avoid paying the tax.

A group of religious scholars, backing Catholic Charities, told the court that “the case involves governmental interference with religious liberty” that warrants the justices’ intervention.

Catholic, Islamic, Lutheran, Jewish and Mormon organizations also filed briefs in support of Catholic Charities.

At the state Supreme Court, the Freedom from Religion Foundation argued that a ruling for Catholic Charities would extend to religiously affiliated hospitals and some colleges across Wisconsin, potentially taking their employees out of the state unemployment insurance system.

Catholic Charities in Superior manages nonprofit organizations that run more than 60 programs designed to help older or disabled people, children with special needs, low-income families, and people suffering from disasters, regardless of their religion, according to court documents.

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Arizona State University faculty at the College of Health Solutions are teaming up with the University of Wisconsin to determine which treatments work best to empower Black people to quit smoking.

In Phoenix, 11.8% of all Black residents are smokers, 70% of whom say they want to quit and 60% of whom attempt every year.

Stephanie Marita Carpenter, an assistant professor at the College of Health Solutions, is a co-investigator on the project and the ASU site lead who will oversee study data collection in Phoenix. Carpenter is an expert in the development and testing of engaging health behavior change interventions.

“Considerable tobacco-related health disparities exist for Black adults across the United States, including in Arizona,” Carpenter said.

According to the American Lung Association, more than 75% of Black adult smokers use menthol cigarettes, which is three times higher than white smokers. Menthol cigarettes are also easier to get addicted to and harder to quit.

This study will examine the effects of three treatment packages for 1,500 Black adults who want to quit smoking across metropolitan areas with elevated smoking rates among Black adults in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

“Our multistate team is well suited to address the critical need for more accessible and engaging smoking cessation programs that better meet the interests and needs of Black communities,” Carpenter said.

The first package provides four counseling sessions and two weeks of nicotine patches, similar to a state quitline program. The second package increases the sessions to eight culturally specific counseling sessions (virtual or in person) and eight weeks of nicotine packages, as well as a video designed to help Black adults quit smoking. The third package is similar to the second but offers an additional $50 to incentivize participants to attend the counseling sessions.

The five-year-long research study is funded by a $10 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to the University of Wisconsin, led by Megan Piper, co-director of research at the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI) and Dr. Hasmeena Kathuria, director of UW-CTRI.

“Research has shown that Black adults want to quit smoking, so let’s make sure they have access to treatments that work for them,” Piper said.

The goal of the study is to see if culturally specific intervention packages will increase the quit rate among Black adults relative to standard practices. The reason for the three packages is that individual aspects of each package are effective quitting methods among Black adults, and were identified as especially promising through feedback from the study’s community advisory board.

“I am delighted to be part of this outstanding team,” Carpenter said. “We are seeking to address smoking-related health inequities by identifying effective cessation interventions that will help Black adults quit smoking in Arizona and beyond.”

At full capacity, the Vista Sands Solar Project is expected to generate enough electricity to power over 200,000 Wisconsin homes.

The Vista Sands Solar Project proposed for Portage County received approval Thursday from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.

The solar project will be the largest of its kind in Wisconsin and among the most powerful in the country, generating nearly 1.3 gigawatts of electricity, a spokesperson for the project said Thursday afternoon in a news release. At full capacity, Vista Sands Solar will generate enough electricity to power over 200,000 Wisconsin homes.

More than half of the project, being built by Doral Renewables, will be in the Portage County town of Grant and most of the rest will be in the town of Plover, with a small section in the village of Plover. The county and communities will receive a total of $6.5 million a year in payments from the project.

“We are thrilled with the approval of the Vista Sands Solar Project by the PSCW,” said Jon Baker, vice president of development at Doral Renewables and project manager for the Vista Sands Solar Project, in the release. “This milestone marks an exciting new chapter for clean energy in Wisconsin.”

Baker went on to say that with years of careful planning and community engagement, approval of the project represents an opportunity for local economies in Portage County and a major step forward for Wisconsin in achieving its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The company is leasing the land from the owners, mostly farmers. It gives the farmers the chance to diversify their sources of income. Doral will remain the owner of the project. Once it reaches the end of its lifespan, the company will remove the panels and the land will still belong to the farmers.

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Several conservationists and wildlife advocates had raised concerns about the project’s proximity to the Buena Vista Grassland State Wildlife Area, home of the state’s largest population of threatened prairie chickens, calling for one-half and one-mile setbacks between the solar arrays and the prairie chicken booming grounds.

The final Environmental Impact Statement on the project also cited concerns about the proposal’s likely negative impacts to the prairie chickens, even if mitigation suggestions are followed. The Department of Natural Resources and Public Service Commission’s final EIS, released July 15, did not require those benchmarks, however.

Vista Sands Solar says it will not construct any panels within 500 feet of greater prairie chicken booming grounds identified by the Wisconsin DNR, according to the project’s website.

Between 5,700 to 7,900 acres of agricultural lands in the vicinity of the Buena Vista Wildlife Area will be restored to grasslands, according to the project website. Vista Sands Solar’s ecologists have designed a seed mix that will be used across the project area, creating a suitable environment for both native wildlife and solar energy generation, according to the website.

Clean Wisconsin, an organization that works to combat climate change and pollution in the air, water and land, submitted analysis to the Public Service Commission that shows Vista Sands is also likely to have significant water benefits in Portage County, boosting aquifer levels and reducing contamination in the water-depleted Central Sands region. The solar farm is anticipated to take 56 high-capacity wells out of normal operation and will greatly reduce the estimated 3 million pounds of fertilizer and 73,000 gallons of insecticide currently spread across the project area every year, according to Clean Wisconsin.

“Today, the PSC approved the biggest step toward curbing Wisconsin’s carbon emissions in the state’s history,” Katie Nekola, Clean Wisconsin general counsel, said in a news release. “This is significant because Wisconsin cannot meet its carbon reduction goals or contain customer costs without acknowledging and indeed embracing the need to invest in the least-cost, cleanest generation available.”

Vista Sands Solar also was designed to avoid waterways and no impacts to drainage are anticipated in the project area, according to its website.

Doral representatives stated in 2023 they hoped to have the necessary approvals for the project by the end of 2024. It will take about two years to build the project.

Vista Sands Solar will bring a total capital investment of nearly $2 billion and create approximately 500 jobs during construction and about 50 permanent jobs, stimulating local economic activity that will benefit local businesses, according to a spokesperson for the project.

Contact Karen Madden at kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KMadden715, Instagram at @kmadden715 or Facebook at facebook.com/karen.madden.33.