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How Wisconsin alcohol producers are transitioning to state’s new liquor laws

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How Wisconsin alcohol producers are transitioning to state’s new liquor laws


Shaun Lapacek wants to make sure his Columbia County winery is in compliance.

The operating licenses for Rock N Wool Winery in Poynette need to be renewed by the start of June and new state laws regulating alcohol just went into effect May 1.

The changes include creating a state permit for alcohol producers to expand their retail offerings. Similar licenses were previously issued by municipalities.

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Even after talking to his local clerk, Lapacek said he’s still confused when he can get the new permit and whether his winery will be licensed in the meantime.

“Questions like that don’t really work well with the business, because I can’t plan events. I can’t tell people, ‘OK, we’ll have this license,’” he told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “I can’t promote my business in a manner, and I guess that’s what’s tough. I kind of feel like I still have handcuffs on.”

Lapacek and other alcohol producers, distributors, retailers and consumers are still working through the transition to the new state regulations.

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A more level playing field

Despite some confusion about the transition to new rules, several people across the industry told “Wisconsin Today” that eventually the changes will lead to more clarity for alcohol producers.

The new laws overhauled the previous three-tiered system for alcohol licensing and created a Division of Alcohol Beverages within the state Department of Revenue.

Jeff Glazer is an attorney who focuses on business issues for companies in the food and beverage industry. He said alcohol producers of all kinds will be affected: breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries and others.

Glazer has been working with this industry since 2007. He said people used to make products and sell to wholesalers. Then, wholesalers would carry products to retailers for sale. But the industry changed. The new laws modernize the space and make it easier for small manufacturers to compete, Glazer said.

Glazer said the new laws will clear up a lot of misunderstandings. The old rules were arcane and confusing when it came to who was allowed to serve what, he said. Laws stopped breweries from serving wine or distilled spirits. Wineries could serve beer but not distilled spirits.

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“All of that has gone away,” Glazer said. “Everybody can serve everything now. It’ll make the tasting rooms just a much more comfortable place for consumers.”

Spanish gin and tonics. Courtesy Great Lakes Distillery

Expanded opportunities

For Lapacek, the new laws mean being able to serve customers who prefer beer or liquor rather than wine and want to enjoy the converted sheep farm that became Rock N Wool Winery. The laws also allow the winery to stay open later and clarifies the rules for hosting private events.

For others like State Line Distillery in Madison, the law offers more freedom to serve spirits in new ways. Bar manager Mike McDonald updated State Line’s cocktail menu this month to take advantage of the new ingredients he can now implement.

“It was a great challenge and really kept our bar unique to other bars around town but also prevented us from kind of showcasing our spirits the way that a normal bar or cocktail bar would,” McDonald said. “All those classic cocktails that we just couldn’t serve, because we couldn’t carry these products, are now available to us.”

The new state permit lets State Line collaborate with other distillers and serve cocktails at festivals and markets. Before May 1, only products like beer and wine could be served at those types of public events, McDonald said.

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The new laws provide more unified rules on contract manufacturing when brewers, winemakers or distillers craft a product for another company that sells it under a different label. That’s all being overseen by the state’s new Division of Alcohol Beverages.

Craft beers
In this file photo, a group of birding enthusiasts finish discussing their day while sampling a flight of beers. Robert F. Bukat/AP Photo

Enhanced administrative oversight

The new Department of Revenue office overseeing alcohol regulations includes staff who specialize in alcoholic beverage issues. Glazer, the attorney, said agents who used to handle this topic covered areas like gambling and tobacco, too.

“When questions arose, they didn’t always have great answers because they were dealing with a lot of other things,” he said. 

The new laws will allow for more consistency in regulatory enforcement, Glazer added.

“There were a lot of industry members who were getting away with a lot of things. The only way it would come to light is if other industry members ratted them out,” he said. “Now, the division is going to have a lot more resources to be proactive in enforcement. They’re going to have more resources to provide better education so that people understand what the rules are.”

The Department of Revenue selected former state legislator Mark Meyer to lead the new division. Meyer said the state transferred in agents who were previously working in alcohol enforcement, and he’s in the process of filling out the rest of his staff, which will include a unit for outreach and education.

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Meyer said the division has prioritized writing administrative rules for the new law and processing full service retail sales permit applications.

“I was very concerned about the idea that we get those out the door so that there was no one that would fall through the cracks,” Meyer said. “I’m happy to tell you that every single license, every single request we had that day, that was in the queue, was issued on May 1, and I’m not aware of anybody that wasn’t in compliance.”

While most of the new alcohol regulations adopted by lawmakers last year went into effect on May 1, other changes will start further in the future. Meyer said the changes will create a new statewide bartender license for use across municipalities starting Jan. 1, 2025.

A year later, operators of event venues like wedding barns will be required to hold a liquor license if hosting events that serve alcohol on more than six days a year. A separate permit will be available for venues that serve alcohol on six or fewer days.

Wedding barn owners filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the Department of Revenue over the regulations, arguing the law is unconstitutional and infringes on their ability to conduct business.

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Insider: Wisconsin Man Charged With Possession Of Virtual Child Pornography

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Insider: Wisconsin Man Charged With Possession Of Virtual Child Pornography


POLK COUNTY (DrydenWire) – An investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, into multiple cybertips from Google about suspected child sexual abuse materials has resulted in felony charges for a Wisconsin Man.

Cody Struemke, age 27, of Amery, WI, is facing nearly a dozen charges for possessing child pornography, including Felony Possession of Virtual Child Pornography.

The criminal complaint against him alleges that Struemke saved a photo from Facebook of juveniles known to him, and digitally edited the photo to make it appear they were nude.

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Wisconsin health professionals share tips to protect against respiratory illnesses

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Wisconsin health professionals share tips to protect against respiratory illnesses


MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -Respiratory illness season has begun in Wisconsin, with health professionals reporting increased flu cases and higher demand for medications and vaccines.

Over-the-counter medicines are flying off the shelves at Forward Pharmacy in McFarland, according to manager Tony Peterangelo.

“We’ve had to increase like how much of some of that stuff we’ve kept on hand,” Peterangelo said. “We had to make some special orders to really bulk up on some of it too.”

Forward Pharmacy manager Tony Peterangelo filling prescriptions as the respiratory illness season begins.(WMTV/Camberyn Kelley)

Upland Hills physician Benjamin Hecht said the respiratory illness season typically begins after Thanksgiving.

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“As of right now, we are just starting in the last week or two to see some Influenza A. Last year was a pretty tough flu year for us, influenza in Wisconsin. It’s still to be seen how severe of a year this is going to be in 2025-26,” he said.

Respiratory viruses are hard to avoid according to the Upland Hills physician.

“You can wear masks and wash your hands a ton, but you’re going to get exposed to these viruses at some point,” Dr. Hecht said.

RSV poses concern for young children

Dr. Hecht said another concern this season is RSV, particularly for young children with developing immune systems.

“The kids that get this, especially the really young kids, that don’t have a mature immune system, they can get pretty sick from RSV. That’s a particularly scary one. If you’re in a position where you qualify to get that vaccination or perhaps your kids do, please consider that,” Dr. Hecht said.

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Forward Pharmacy is meeting demand for vaccines, which Peterangelo said can help protect against viruses.

“All of that stuff reduces the need to scramble on the back end to get antibiotics and cough suppressants. It doesn’t completely reduce your risk, but it reduces it enough that your likelihood of getting that is down,” Peterangelo said.

Forward Pharmacy is meeting demand for vaccines, which Peterangelo said can help protect...
Forward Pharmacy is meeting demand for vaccines, which Peterangelo said can help protect against viruses.(WMTV/Camberyn Kelley)

The pharmacy has given out dozens of flu and covid shots in a day.

“I would say maybe in the 60 to 80 range,” Peterangelo said.

Dr. Hecht said influenza B will come later in the season. He recommends people with severe respiratory symptoms like breathing troubles to see a doctor.

“The big thing is just living a healthy lifestyle, staying well hydrated, getting good sleep, doing what you can with physical activity and exercise to make sure your immune system is in tip top shape,” Dr. Hecht said.

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According to new CDC data, doctor visits for flu-like symptoms rose to more than 3% in the last two weeks. The majority of flu cases are caused by a mutated strain that causes more severe illness, particularly among older adults.

Click here to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app.



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Former Trump aides appear in Wisconsin court over 2020 election fraud charges

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Former Trump aides appear in Wisconsin court over 2020 election fraud charges


MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two attorneys and an aide who all worked on President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign appeared in court Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.

The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.

The Wisconsin case was filed a year ago but has been tied up as the Trump aides have fought, unsuccessfully so far, to have the charges dismissed.

The hearing on Monday comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who the other two defendants joined in his motion, alleged that the judge did not write a previous order issued in August declining to dismiss the case. Instead, he accused the father of the judge’s law clerk, a retired judge, of actually writing the opinion.

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Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can’t get a fair trial.

Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland said he and a staff attorney alone wrote the order. Hyland also said Troupis presented no evidence to back up his claims of bias and refused to step down or delay the hearing.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the allegations.

The same judge will determine at Monday’s hearing whether there’s enough evidence to proceed with the charges against the three.

The former Trump aides face 11 felony charges each related to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme. In addition to Troupis, the other defendants are Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump’s campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.

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The Wisconsin Department of Justice, headed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, brought the felony forgery charges in 2024, alleging that the three defrauded the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020.

Prosecutors contend the three lied to the Republicans about how the certificate they signed would be used as part of a plan to submit paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence, falsely claiming that Trump had won the battleground state that year.

The complaint said a majority of the 10 Republicans told investigators that they were needed to sign the elector certificate indicating Trump had won only to preserve his legal options if a court changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin.

A majority of the electors told investigators that they did not believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be submitted to Congress without a court ruling, the complaint said. Also, a majority said they did not consent to having their signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court ruling, the complaint said.

Federal prosecutors who investigated Trump’s conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot said the fake electors scheme originated in Wisconsin.

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The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place. But the judge in August rejected their arguments in allowing the case to proceed to Monday’s preliminary hearing.

Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.

The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them seeking damages.

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This story has been corrected to show that the attorneys who are charged formerly worked on Trump’s campaign, but are still practicing attorneys.

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