Biden to highlight Microsoft in Mount Pleasant

I'm Hope Karnopp and this is the Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sign up here to get it sent to your inbox each morning .

We'll have very pleasant weather to kick off the week: Today will reach a high of 67 degrees, and it'll be sunny. Enjoy it, because there's a chance for rain and thunderstorms throughout most of the rest of the week. Tuesday looks like the best chance for that precipitation.

Biden to highlight Microsoft in Mount Pleasant

President Joe Biden will visit Racine on Wednesday , his fourth visit to the battleground state this year and a week after former President Donald Trump held a rally in Waukesha , his second stop in Wisconsin.

Biden is expected to highlight a massive increase in the scale of Microsoft's data center development in Mount Pleasant, Karl Ebert reports . The announcement is expected to be an expansion that's multiple times larger and create far more jobs than what has to date been made public about Microsoft's data center plan.

Wednesday's visit will also give Biden an opportunity to contrast the rapidly expanding Microsoft project with the failed Foxconn project at the same site that was touted by Trump as the "eighth wonder of the world."

Foxconn said it intended to build a high-tech LCD screen manufacturing plant in the industrial park that would create 13,000 jobs. The company now employs about 1,000 people who make computer data servers and power converters for rooftop solar installations.

Nursing homes worry about new rules

When Vice President Kamala Harris visited La Crosse last month — the most recent Biden administration visit — she announced new regulations for minimum staffing levels in nursing homes that will be phased in over the next few years.

Sarah Volpenhein goes deeper on how those rules could affect nursing homes in Wisconsin. About three in five will have to hire more nursing aides or nurses to meet the required levels, and administrators are worried they don't have the funds.

"This is an unfunded mandate," said Pam Klingfus, CEO of Christian Community Homes and Services, a nonprofit with two nursing homes in northwestern Wisconsin. "As much as we support the idea of quality, I would say the federal government missed the mark by creating the mandate without giving the funds to support it."

Advocates pushed for the changes after the pandemic, which exposed chronic understaffing in the industry that has been slow to recover. Administrators worry about rural areas being able to meet the rules, and whether closures could have ripple effects across the health care industry.

Don't miss these

• Ashley Luthern investigates the work of former Milwaukee medical examiner Dr. Brian Peterson, whose botched autopsy forced the dismissal of a child homicide case .
• Natalie Eilbert shares recommendations for parents talking about the Mt. Horeb school shooting with children, and how to help them cope.
• There will be a memorial service for Sade Robinson at the Baird Center Friday and a public reception set for Saturday.
• Brookfield's Wirth Park will soon have a $1.2 million inclusive playground , with accessible slides, swings and other equipment.
• Need another reason to attend Summerfest this year? A new report shows the festival might be the biggest bang for your buck .
• Jim Owczarski reports on Doc Rivers' end-of-season press conference , where Giannis Antetokounmpo's health was a major topic.

Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on Twitter at @hopekarnopp .

D id someone share this newsletter with you? Sign up here to get it in your inbox .

Not yet a Journal Sentinel subscriber? Please consider signing up at jsonline.com/deal .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Biden to highlight Microsoft in Mount Pleasant