Barrett asks Walker to back city's request for health funds

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called Wednesday on Gov. Scott Walker to overrule his health secretary and back the city’s application for nearly $4.8 million in federal health care funds. The city’s Health Department is seeking $959,521 a year, for five years, for prevention and education programs on quitting smoking, reducing secondhand smoke, encouraging physical activity and nutrition, fighting obesity and reducing deaths from heart attack and stroke throughout Milwaukee County. University Health Services, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is seeking another $23 million for similar programs in the state’s other 71 counties. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/11)