MADISON — The average wait to receive professional credentials in Wisconsin dropped significantly last year, with the most dramatic improvement in the health care sector.
That’s according to a new report from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, which includes a list of recommendations to further improve the credentialing process within the state Department of Safety and Professional Services.
Republican lawmakers authorized the audit in February, following reports of backlogs that left professionals in limbo for months as they waited to receive the licenses they needed in order to do their jobs.
According to the audit, the average number of days it took the department to issue a credential in the health care industry was 59.1 in fiscal year 2022-23 — down from 122.7 in the previous fiscal year and a high of 125.4 in fiscal year 2020-21.
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In the business sector, the average wait time went down from 47.6 days to 27.9 in the last year, and in the trades it went from 38.4 to 17.2.
The considerable improvement in health care credential processing is in part attributed to the agency switching in May 2022 to an online credentialing system called LicensE. A review of 100 applications submitted through the LicensE system with the longest wait times found that about a quarter of the applications faced lag time due to DSPS reviewing information, while 35% of the time it was attributed to applicants needing to submit additional information. In about 40% of cases, the timing was a result of applicants and the agency simultaneously waiting on each other.
The audit found that, among the 100 health care professional applications facing the longest wait times, the average wait was 189.6 days. Credentials for pharmacists and social workers faced the longest delays, followed by advanced practice nurse prescribers and registered nurses.
Elected officials have steadily increased the amount of funding available to DSPS for credentialing over the last decade, most recently with an $8 million increase in the 2023-25 budget cycle.
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Auditors recommended the agency develop “comprehensive written policies” for administering credentials, along with written policies requiring that application fees be refunded to people who’d used an incorrect application method. The agency should also develop written policies prohibiting staff from requesting that applicants provide any portion of their Social Security numbers via email, the audit bureau recommended.
Other recommendations include regularly reporting information on the agency’s website, regularly assessing the agency’s productivity and using that information to improve practices, as well as to justify any future requests for additional staffing, funding or resources.
The LAB recommended an update from DSPS to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on its implementation of those recommendations by March 15, 2024.
DSPS was created in 2011 and issues more than 240 unique credentials for occupations ranging from physicians and social workers to barbers and funeral directors. The department also regulates the construction industry, adjudicates complaints against credential holders, and administers more than 75 boards, councils and committees.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. (WBAY) – Cicada-geddon has begun.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources confirmed the first brood of cicadas in southern Wisconsin emerged in Lake Geneva. A resident took photos of insects on Friday, May 17, and the DNR confirmed they’re newly emerged Brood XIII cicadas, also known as the Northern Illinois Brood.
The person who snapped the photos said they saw dozens emerging in their yard. The DNR says eventually the brood could number in the hundreds of thousands per acre and their combined mating calls can be deafening.
Adding to this is the emergence of Brood XIX, also known as the Great Southern Brood. These broods haven’t come out of the ground at the same time for 221 years, since 1803.
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If you live in Northeast Wisconsin, you have to travel to the southern counties to see and hear them.
Cicadas don’t bite or sting but are generally a nuisance. After they mate, they litter the outdoors with the carcasses they leave behind.
The cicadas are expected to party for four to six weeks and then they’ll be gone for another 17 years, until 2041.
ORIGINAL REPORT
APPLETON, Wis. (WBAY) – Rare cicadas are starting to emerge across the country. You have a chance to check out this historical moment with two periodic broods coming out at the same time — but it won’t be easy.
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Scientists report billions of cicadas will emerge. Some are calling it “Cicada-geddon” or “cicada-palooza.”
“It’s a strange phenomenon,” UW-Green Bay Professor Michael Draney explained. “There’s three thousand species of cicadas on the planet but there’s only seven of these periodic cicadas that live in Eastern North America.”
Bad news for bug lovers in Northeast Wisconsin. You have to travel to the very southern part of our state — south of Milwaukee and Madison — to see what’s called the Northern Illinois brood.
The Northern Illinois brood only comes out every 17 years. For the Great Southern brood, it emerges every 13 years.
“The clock ticks and they’re like, ‘Hey, it’s time to become an adult!’ They crawl out at sunset. They climb out of their baby shell. Their wings inflate. The next day you see cicadas!” Professor Draney said.
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Both are popping out at the same time for the first time since 1803. For perspective, Thomas Jefferson was president; that’s the year he purchased the Louisiana Territory.
Draney said cicadas are basically trying to avoid predators by coming out all at once.
“The adults are kind of helpless against predators… if they just kind of came out every year they’d probably just get eaten but when they all come out all at once every 13 years it takes the predators by surprise and some of them survive.”
In our neighborhoods, Draney told Action 2 News it’s going to seem like a usual cicada summer.
“We do have cicadas in this area but they mostly actually emerge later in the summer. As you know, in August is when you hear the noise but it’s a different genus, different species, and it’s not happening here for us,” Draney said.
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If you’re really interested, there are a few sweet locations around Illinois where both periodic cicadas are coming out at the same time.
“If it’s a good spot you can get thousands and thousands of these coming out in your backyard. Millions per acre. It can be really dramatic. It can make the roads slippery. It can be a real thing. Still, it’s very spotty.”
Two broods are emerging in southern Wisconsin at the same time since 1803
Just keep the pets at home.
“You have to actually be careful. Pet dogs can get a taste for cicadas, and they can get very sick because the shells of the cicadas — the exoskeletons — can cause a blockage if they eat way too many of them,” Draney explained.
Draney said the peak is likely the middle of this month into June, so the clock is ticking if you want to make the trek to check out this rare cicada emergence.
Wisconsin football extended an offer to four-star class of 2026 EDGE McHale Blade on Monday.
Both 247Sports’ composite ranking and On3’s industry ranking have Blade as a four-star recruit. The Country Club Hills, Illinois native already holds offers from 19 schools including Michigan, USC, Miami (Florida), Florida, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Missouri, Nebraska, Cincinnati and Tennessee.
247Sports has Blade as the No. 23 defensive lineman in the class of 2026, No. 6 recruit from Illinois and No. 192 overall player in the class. On3, on the other hand, has Blade as Illinois’ No. 1 recruit for 2026.
He currently stands at 6’4,” 230 pounds, representing Hillcrest High School in Illinois.
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His first gridiron offer arrived from Florida in December 2023. Alongside Michigan, USC, Missouri and Texas A&M, Wisconsin became the latest program to offer Blade in May 2024.
247sports has yet to release a crystal ball prediction, but On3’s recruiting prediction machine has in-state Illinois as Blade’s most likely landing spot.
Whether it be through recruiting cycles or the transfer portal, Wisconsin is certainly looking to bolster its defensive front.
Over the past week, UW’s recent DL transfer targets have committed elsewhere. Those include C.J. West to Indiana, Khurtiss Perry to Virginia Tech, Jay’Viar Suggs to LSU and Brandon Lane to Louisville.
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Wisconsin has offered several 2026 recruits over the past few weeks, including Brayden Trimble, Kaleb Woods, Jarin Mock, Nick Reddish Brayden Robinson, Amari Sabb, and Will Conroy.
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