Republican lawmakers from western Wisconsin are calling on the state to pledge $1 million to help Lutheran Social Services reopen a substance abuse treatment facility in Chippewa Falls.

The former L.E. Phillips-Libertas Center was the region’s largest in-patient treatment center before it closed last year. It had been a staple of the alcohol and drug abuse treatment community in northwest Wisconsin for decades.

Its closure came with Hospital Sisters Health System’s “complete exit” from western Wisconsin. The treatment center — along with St. Joseph’s hospital in Chippewa Falls, Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and all Prevea clinics in the area — closed their doors in the early months of 2024.

Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan announced plans in December to purchase the former Libertas Center and reopen it as a 50-bed, in-patient substance abuse treatment facility for men.

To help offset the anticipated $3 million cost of buying and renovating the building, Republican lawmakers from western Wisconsin have introduced a bill that would require the state Department of Administration to give the nonprofit a $1 million grant.

LSS President and CEO Héctor Colón told WPR the rapid closure of the hospitals, clinics and treatment center “has left the area in desperate need of health care services, and very specifically, mental health and addiction services.”

“So, for us to be able to rise to the occasion and come forward to provide these much needed services is very much needed in this community right now,” Colón said.

During the bill’s public hearing before the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention Tuesday, Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menominee, said the closures “devastated” the region. He said the bill he introduced along with and Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, “can make a very big impact for a very small spend in a very quick period of time.”  

“Reopening this facility as a substance use treatment facility will fill a significant void in the area’s growing mental health needs,” Moses said. 

Amid testimony on the bill, Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, noted Republicans have separated funding from other legislation introduced this session and are relying on the powerful Joint Finance Committee to authorize spending. She asked whether Moses and James had submitted a request to JFC for the $1 million. They said they have.

The finance committee has been withholding $15 million that was intended to bolster emergency department capacity at remaining hospitals in western Wisconsin after the closures last year.

While the legislation behind that funding was ultimately signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, he used a partial veto to expand the scope of how the money could be used, stating he objected to “unnecessarily restricting crisis funding intended to address urgent healthcare access needs in western Wisconsin that exist well beyond hospital emergency departments.”

Republicans on the JFC who objected to the partial veto refused to release the funds. If the committee doesn’t act by June 30,  the money will lapse back into the state’s general fund.

In an interview with WPR, James said Evers’ veto changed the bill’s scope from providing grants to expand emergency departments in Chippewa County and Eau Claire Counties to covering multiple services in a larger area.

“How far do you truly think $15 million is going to go? Because he also expanded … eligibility to 18 counties in the region. It totally defeats the emergency that we’re facing in our area,” James said.

James seemed more optimistic about his bill to help fund the reopening of the treatment center in Chippewa Falls. He said there “seems to be support” for the effort.

“I do see it, whether or not with the Democrat support, getting through,” James said. “And I do believe that the governor is going to support this.”

The Wisconsin State Women’s Open began play on June 9 at La Crosse Country Club in Onalaska, and former University of Wisconsin golfer Chloe Chan was the only player to break par with a 1-under 71.

Chan made four birdies against three bogeys. She completed her senior year with the Badgers in the spring, with her best finish being a tie for fifth at the Diane Thomason Invitational. She was also a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

Her round gave her a one-shot advantage over defending champion Elise Hoven. Hoven, from Grafton, won the Open last year as an amateur.

The other 60 players in the field who finished were all above par.

 The field will be cut to the low 24 scores and ties after the second round on June 10. The final 18 holes of play will take place on June 11.

Madison’s Kate Brody is in third place after shooting a 1-over 73.

Menomonie’s Sophia Connett, Brookfield’s Payton Haugen and Menomonee Falls’ Addison Roesch are tied for fourth at 3-over. Madison’s Bobbi Stricker is alone in seventh place at 4-over.

The top 10 was rounded out with Taitum Beck (Waterford) and Jessica Krattiger (Hartland) tied for eighth place at 5-over and Carly Moon (Baraboo), Allison Herring (Skillman, New Jersey), Madison Haugen (Brookfield) and Lauren Lupinek (Oconomowoc) tied at 6-over for 10th.

The Wisconsin Badgers had built a “great” relationship with 2026 defensive line recruit Jermaine Polk this spring.

Then in a span of a week, he cancelled his official visit to the school and committed to a different Big Ten program instead.

The three-star recruit Toledo St. Francis de Sales in Ohio had been scheduled for his summer visit to Madison this past weekend.

On June 2, Polk tweeted that he was no longer taking his planned OV. That announcement came just days after Wisconsin landed two other commitments on the defensive line.

The Badgers had been in his Top 5 schools he narrowed down to on May 23, along with Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State and Boston College.

On Sunday, he committed to Rutgers.

Polk announced an offer from the Scarlet Knights on June 2. The next day, he tweeted he would be taking an official visit to Rutgers this weekend, the same time he had been scheduled to visit Wisconsin.

We don’t know for sure whether the Badgers’ other defensive line commitments contributed to his change of plans, but Rutgers sure swooped him up in a hurry.

Credit to Greg Schiano. He went from outside of Polk’s Top 5 to an offer, a visit and a commitment in about a two week span.