Suicide prevention hotline still awaiting state funding

MADISON, Wis. — The partisan squabbling over a $110,000 grant for a suicide prevention hotline continues as the group waits to receive the funding a month after lawmakers approved releasing it.

Gov. Tony Evers and Democrats had blasted Republicans for taking three months to release the money. Now a month after they released it, Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke is accusing Evers of being a hypocrite for not yet sending the money to the Center for Suicide Awareness.

Steineke on Wednesday wrote to Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm asking her to resolve the issue.

Evers’ spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff says it’s disingenuous for Steineke to accuse Evers of hypocrisy after Republicans didn’t release the money until three months after it was approved in the state budget Evers signed.

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