Agency challenges cuts

The Wisconsin Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association has filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, challenging the state’s plan to end a program that provided $3.4 million in grants for family planning to clinics, cities and counties. The association, which doesn’t include Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, contends that the proposal violates the federal government’s requirements for the state to continue receiving a $10.7 million block grant for maternal and child health programs. But Seth Boffeli, a spokesman for the Department of Health Services, said the state is in no danger of losing the federal block grant. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 5/4)