This week on "Here & Now," we talk with Governor Scott Walker about his special session of the legislature where his bills designed to boost the business climate in Wisconsin are sailing through. We also interview U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy from Washington on the heels of his vote to repeal the healthcare reform law. And this week, we hear from a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Marla Stephens, director of the appellate division for the state public defender's office.

I invite you to join me for "Here and Now" Friday at 7:30p on Wisconsin Public Television.

After being on hiatus for the month of December... "In Wisconsin" returns tonight at 7:30p right after Wisconsin Foodie.

One of the highlights - the Middleton High School Marching Band's performance in London's New Years Day Parade. More than a half-million spectators on the ground and a worldwide audience. It took a little bit of juggling for us to get the video recorded off a satellite starting at 5:30 a.m. New Year's Day. We hope you enjoy it.

Liz Koerner delivers an all new report as she visits two Manitowoc artists for a look at studio-portrait postcards. They represent a time when few people had cameras. Discover how a current revival of the art merges old with new as people enjoy the fun of being photographed in outlandish dress or by not dressing at all.

In Wisconsin Reporter Frederica Freyberg looks at how local businesses are navigating Chinese business etiquette. Be warned leave the Packers hat at home. Discover why this is an insult in China. And we'll visit a eco-friendly dairy farm near Waterloo.. where nothing is wasted. In Wisconsin Reporter Art Hackett visits the Crave Brother's farm near Waterloo for a look at value-added agriculture

The newsmagazine airs 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6 on WPT and is available in high definition. WPT will broadcast an encore of the program at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 9. The program also will air at 11:30 a.m. on Milwaukee's MPTV and on WDSE-TV in Duluth at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 9.

"The good news is that prices are higher. The bad news is that they have a long ways to go to stem the flow of red ink on Wisconsin dairy farms," says Ed Jesse, Emeritus Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison.

That's the deal on Wisconsin dairy farms. This week on "In Wisconsin," I visit a Sheboygan County dairy farm and talk with its tireless owners, Gene and Kathy Bohnhoff, about how they're weathering a year of low prices. We should note, President Barack Obama this month signed legislation that will give $350 million in emergency aid to dairy farmers. Most of it is direct aid, another $60 million will go toward government purchases of cheese for schools and food banks.

Watch for our complete report Thursday at 7:00 p.m. on In Wisconsin.

This week I had an opportunity to take in the view 400 feet up in the air from inside the chimney at We Energies Pleasant Prairie Power Plant south of Kenosha.

We're documenting the work of Greg Septon, a man who's been instrumental in the recovery of peregrine falcons in Wisconsin.

He was cleaning out the nest box where a young pair of birds hatched their first chick this spring. As he was finishing up the large female made a surprise inspection of his work, flying by so close she made those us of watching take a big step back.

She was beautiful. Good thing because the rest of the view was pretty dull. Overcast and fog bound. To see this story tune in to our news magazine program "In Wisconsin" on Thursday, October, 8th at 7:00 p.m.

I wrote last week about the visit from Anna Shoup of the Online NewsHour. She stopped by Madison on her way to Sheboygan for a joint NewsHour/Christian Science Monitor project called Patchwork Nation.

Anna had a good visit to Sheboygan and met with a potential blogger for the project, a 15 year old public broadcasting fan who I found posting comments on Wisconin Public Radio's new online community discussion site.

You can read Anna's reporting from Sheboygan here. Wisconsin Public Televisin is looking at ways we can collaborate with the NewsHour on this project on-air and online, so stay tuned.

We are looking forward to a visit on Monday from Anna Shoup of the Online Newshour. Anna is the liaison between the Newshour and local stations. A visit to Sheboygan is the main reason for her coming, but she will make a detour to Madison to meet with us.

Anna is going to Sheboygan as part of an Online Newshour collaboration with the Christian Science Monitor called Patchwork Nation. The idea is to cover the changing economy by focusing on representative communities across the country. To determine the communities, census data was used to categorize every county in the United States into one of twelve descriptive types. Then a couple of examples from each type were selected.

Sheboygan County is an "Emptying Nest" type, meaning a population largely composed of retirees and aging baby boomers. Milwaukee is an "Industrial Metropolis" surrounded by "Monied 'Burbs." Dane County is "Campus and Careers." Most of northern Wisconsin is "Service Worker Centers," I assume because of the tourist economy. It's an interesting way of looking at things, certainly one often employed by marketers and political consultants, though not as frequently by journalists.

We will likely do some economic reporting this fall from Sheboygan County for "In Wisconsin" and/or "Here & Now" that will end up on the Patchwork Nation site. Anna will be visiting Sheboygan to recruit some bloggers to contribute to the site as well.

Fortunately, Anna's visit coincides with Sheboygan's annual Brat Days, so she is sure to get a real flavor of the community.