TUE AM News: Talking Trade with Sandi Siegel, M.E. Dey & Co.; WHA touting latest hospital quality ratings from CMS

July 28, 2026

— In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” M.E. Dey & Co. CEO Sandi Siegel says the process for refunding tariffs has been “a little messy” but continues apace with more than half of the $166 billion total already returned to importers.

Siegel discusses the latest developments with refunding tariffs that were found to be unlawfully collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by the Trump administration. After the Court of International Trade last year found the tariffs to be unlawful, the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled the president didn’t have the authority to enact tariffs under IEPA.

Since then, the international court has ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to begin refunding the tariffs, and the federal agency in April rolled out the Consolidated Administration & Processing of Entries or CAPE program to facilitate this process.

It’s now being used to process information for imported goods and the tariff duties that were paid in order to process refunds, Siegel explains.

“Customs acted pretty quickly, to their credit,” she said, adding the CAPE system has been “fairly straightforward, simpler than you might imagine when the government’s involved.”

Still, elements of this process are complicated by existing regulations governing Customs, according to Siegel.

“It gets a little messy, I’ll just say, from a regulatory side because Customs, under the normal regulation, can only refund slightly more than a year period, depending on the status of the entry,” she said.

While the refund process has proceeded through Phases 1 and 2 with initial tranches of covered imports, Customs has been gearing up to begin Phase 3, opening up the process to more imported goods.

So far, this process has reportedly yielded about $86 billion in refunds to companies, leaving about $80 billion yet to be returned. Siegel notes about 10,000 refunds haven’t been issued as authorities are still waiting on bank information for transfers.

And while many importers are “scrambling” to comply with the refund process, others are choosing not to file for refunds at all, Siegel said.

“There are some concern in their minds of whether or not it’s going to put them under the radar for Customs or have their entries highly scrutinized by Customs, which has been something that Customs has been very transparent about,” she said. “‘We are going to be looking for the accuracy of how you filed the entry before we start giving you money back,’ right?”

This interview was recorded before the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs.

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel and sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Carroll University and Michael Best Strategies.

Watch the full episode here.

“Talking Trade” is now available in audio form on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Subscribe and find more episodes here.

— The Wisconsin Hospital Association is touting the latest quality ratings from CMS, which placed 65% of hospitals in the state at four or five stars, above the national average of 42%.

WHA today issued a release spotlighting the ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which cover 45 measures across various categories including mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience and “timely and effective” care.

A total of 86 hospitals in the state got a CMS star rating this year, which WHA says is the most ever included and 19 more than last year.

At the same time, Wisconsin’s 65% four- or five-star rating share is the fourth-highest of any state, and the highest among states with 50 or more hospitals, according to the release.

Kyle O’Brien, president and CEO of WHA, says high-quality healthcare is a “critical community asset” for the state economy and employers, as well as families living in Wisconsin.

“These results reflect the dedication of hospital teams who are focused every day on improving outcomes, strengthening patient experience and serving as trusted anchors in their communities,” he said in a statement on the ratings.

See the release.

— Wisconsin crops are developing ahead of the average pace while some harvesting activity has seen stronger progress amid last week’s dry conditions.

That’s according to the latest USDA report, which shows corn silking was 52% complete as of Sunday, compared to the five-year average of 51%. Soybeans were 78% blooming, ahead of the average of 69%. And oats were 83% coloring, beating the average of 81%.

Meanwhile, winter wheat was 51% harvested, 6 percentage points above the average of 45%. And the second cutting of alfalfa hay was 95%, versus the average of 90%.

While report authors noted the dry week enabled “good progress” on small grain harvesting, the National Agricultural Statistics Service received many reports of dry soil and a need for rain.

See the report.

— Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue has revoked a brewer’s permit for liberal activist Kirk Bangstad’s Minocqua Brewing Company.

The Department of Revenue confirmed in an email to WisPolitics that Minocqua Brewing Company has issued notice of a brewer’s permit revocation for two company locations and notice of an Alcohol Beverage Warehouse permit revocation for one location.

The company has a location in Minocqua and a second taproom in Madison.

The company has until Aug. 4 to appeal and can remain operational during the appeal process, the DOR confirmed.

“As you can imagine, I’m not taking this lying down. We’re going to fight the state of Wisconsin tooth and nail, and once again, they’ll have to pry me out of my taprooms before I stop selling beer to thirsty progressives who come to visit us,” Bangstad wrote in a Minocqua Brewing Company’s Facebook post.

Bangstad had previously announced his intention to run for governor, but the Elections Commission found he didn’t turn in enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The brewing company filed a lawsuit against the Department of Revenue June 12 after officials seized 1,200 cans of beer earlier in the month.

The lawsuit argues that the department did not give the brewery adequate options to pay $500 in outstanding excise taxes. Additionally, it argues that the department’s enforcement of alcohol laws has been unfairly applied to the brewing company, which used an Illinois contract brewer to brew its beer.

— An engineer with Marquette University is getting a $600,000 federal grant for research into “hyperspectral” imaging, which has applications in healthcare and other fields.

Prof. Majeed Hayat is the chair of the university’s Opus College of Engineering and the principal investigator for the grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems.

The university yesterday announced Hayat’s project aimed at improving sensing and processing for this advanced imaging technique, which involves capturing information across each wavelength for every pixel within an image. Because this creates such “massive” data files, the field faces issues with delays in transmitting the information it produces.

To improve on this process, Hayat’s team plans to create a technical solution that will capture “only the wavelengths necessary for the task at hand,” according to details from the university. Their approach will be able to analyze the image at its source and could cut down the need for storing and sending large files.

Hayat says this could “significantly” reduce communication burden and power consumption while boosting speed, performance and even privacy for transmitted information.

“Our goal is to meet the need and interest for novel software-hardware co-design approaches which sense only the spectral bands that are relevant to a given application and perform most of the sensor data processing and analysis as close as possible to the sensor array,” he said in the release.

Minocqua Brewing Company permit revoked by state, Bangstad says

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ENVIRONMENT

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