Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) and his fellow co-chairs on three key House committees are not taking no for an answer from the intransigent Manhattan District Attorney investigating former President Donald Trump.
“The American people deserve to know the answers to the questions we asked,’ Steil, chairman of the House Committee on Administration, told The Wisconsin Daily Star.
Category: The Upper-Midwest
Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s Questionable ‘Friends’ the Liberal Media Seem to Have Forgotten About
The liberal media are hitting Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly hard for campaigning with a conservative activist who was “on the grounds” of the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots. But Kelly’s opponent, far left Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, has some interesting “friends” of her own.
Protasiewicz was photographed smiling next to Brett Blomme, the former Milwaukee County Children’s Court judge now serving nine years in prison for distributing child pornography.
Read MoreTommy Thompson, Wisconsin’s Longest-Serving Governor, Endorses Work-First Ballot Issue
Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin’s longest-serving governor and welfare reform pioneer, is lending his support for a work-first referendum question on the Badger State’s April 4 election ballot.
The non-bonding referendum asks voters a simple question: “Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded benefits?”
Read MoreWisconsin Legislature Passes Key Crime Bills, Stops Evers Administration Rule on ‘Conversion Therapy’
In a busy and divisive day, the Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday passed several crime bills, a measure blocking what some say is the Evers administration’s assault on the First Amendment, and a resolution demanding the governor call an election for Secretary of State.
Read MoreCommentary: Brown County’s $30 Million Taxpayer Loan for Broadband Expansion Deserves Closer Scrutiny
Brown County residents may be aware of a proposed broadband expansion project in their area. What they may not be aware of is the potential cost of this project – “$27.2 million loan at 4 percent interest to be repaid over 30 years,” as reported by the Green Bay Press Gazette. This should raise some eyebrows. Not only does Brown County receive service from multiple broadband providers, but there are additional projects on the horizon and federal broadband funding that is expected to flow into the state.
Read MoreWisconsin Law Firm Files Discrimination Lawsuit Against Biden’s Woke Small Business Agency
The Biden administration is facing another discrimination lawsuit, accused once again of employing identity politics to play favorites.
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed the complaint in U.S. District Court-Northern Texas alleging President Joe Biden’s Minority Business Development Agency “violates the Constitution’s core requirement of equal treatment under the law.”
Read MoreSparks Fly at Only Debate Before Wisconsin Supreme Court Election
Two weeks to the day before a crucial election to decide whether conservatives or liberals control Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, the two candidates sparred in the only debate before Election Day.
The face-off Tuesday between far-left Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz and conservative former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly quickly took on the feel of bitter divorce proceedings — packed with allegations of corruption, scandals, and lies.
Read MoreMajority Chairman: $36 Million Won’t Offset Costs of Legalizing Marijuana in Wisconsin
A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo asserts Wisconsinites spent nearly $40 million on Illinois taxes to Illinois through cannabis-related taxes last fiscal year,
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau Analyst Sydney Emmerich wrote in a March 10 memo to State Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, that an Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation report shows that 50.6 percent of marijuana sales, or $121.2 million, in counties bordering Wisconsin were to out-of-state residents. The sales amount to 7.8% of Illinois’ total cannabis-related tax revenue.
Read MoreReport: Wisconsin Schools Directing Largest Share of Federal COVID Aid to Construction Projects
A new report shows Wisconsin schools are marking a significant amount for federal COVID relief on construction projects, outpacing planned pandemic aid for core educational and mental health programs.
The Institute for Reforming Government’s updated K-12 COVID relief Audit found some $265 million of the current $1.49 billion in taxpayer funds allocated is going to construction.
Read MoreRepublicans Support Wisconsin PFAS Testing and Monitoring, Want More Specifics
The head of the Wisconsin Senate’s natural resources committee says lawmakers could find $100 million for PFAS testing in the new state budget, but he wants to make sure it’s spent wisely.
Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay, focused on Gov. Evers’ clean water plans during Thursday’s confirmation hearing with Department of Natural Resources secretary-designee Adam Payne.
Read MoreWisconsin Republicans Want Answers About State Broadband Spending
There continue to be questions about more than $100 million in coronavirus stimulus money that Wisconsin spent on broadband internet expansion.
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Green Bay, on Wednesday questioned the state’s Public Service Commission about last September’s audit that stated there was almost no tracking of what was spent, what work was done, or if the new internet access even worked.
Read MoreFrequently Asked Questions About Wisconsin’s Bail Reform Constitutional Amendment
While all eyes are on Wisconsin’s crucial Supreme Court election, the April 4 ballot also includes an important question asking voters to amend the state’s constitution.
The constitutional amendment proposes to reform a bail system that most agree is broken, although there’s argument on how to fix it. State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and State Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Delafield), authors of the legislation, offer answers to many of the most frequently asked questions surrounding their proposed amendment.
Read MoreHuman Rights Campaign Endorses Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Despite Allegations of Human Rights Abuses
Far left Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz wears the “progressive label” as a badge of honor, including her endorsement by the left-wing Human Rights Campaign PAC.
But reports that the Milwaukee County judge repeatedly abused her late elderly ex-husband when the couple were married 25 years ago and used the N word to refer to black people in children’s court would seem to tarnish Protasiewicz’s human rights halo.
Read MoreGovernor Tony Evers Quickly Names Liberal Political Climber Godlewski Wisconsin Secretary of State after Long-Serving La Follette Retires
In a surprise move Friday, Governor Tony Evers hastily appointed former Democrat State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski Secretary of State after Doug La Follette suddenly resigned the post he’s held for nearly half a century.
Consider it a gift to the far left Godlewski, who ceded last year’s Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senate to former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes in his losing campaign against Wisconsin’s Republican senior U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.
Read MoreWisconsin Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Check Big Government Bugging
In the wake of Green Bay’s city hall bugging scandal, two Green Bay-area lawmakers are introducing a bill creating clear requirements for government officials to collect audio recordings.
The measure, authored by State Representative David Steffen (R-Howard) and State Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay), would establish “stringent requirements” should local or state government officials feel the need to audio record in public buildings.
Read MoreFormer Madison School Teacher’s Aide Who Pulled Gun on a Man with a Baby Recently Hired as City Bus Driver
Kelly Santana Hayes’ criminal record includes charges of setting her ex-boyfriend’s mother’s car on fire and pulling a gun on a man who was with his 1-year-old daughter at a gas station.
But the former Madison Metropolitan School District teacher’s aide has just been hired as a bus driver for the city of Madison.
Read MoreWisconsin Republicans Pitch Abortion Exemptions, Democrats Call Them Disingenuous
Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol are offering a plan that would allow for some abortions, but the state’s Democratic governor is already saying “No.”
A group of Republican lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation that would create exemptions for abortions in cases of rape or incest, which they assert would better define Wisconsin’s only exemption for the health of the mother.
Read MoreWisconsin Assembly Passes Bills Requiring Schools to Get Transparent on School Crimes
Sick of the recurring violence going on in classrooms, hallways and gymnasiums, parent Kate Bertram last week told the Wauwatosa School Board that the “new pandemic in Wauwatosa schools is a lack of accountability.”
A Republican-led bill passed Tuesday in the Assembly demands more accountability from Wisconsin’s schools in tracking crime.
Read MoreLeft-Wing Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Skips Another Debate
Another candidate forum, another no-show for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.
The far left Milwaukee County Judge was apparently too busy to attend Tuesday’s Milwaukee Press Club Newsmaker Luncheon, as she was for last week’s American Constitution Society debate.
Read MoreFar-Left Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Gives Probation to Man Who Sexually Assaulted 15-Year-Old
Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz issued another get-out-of-jail-free card to a man who sexually assaulted a child.
It’s a recurring theme in the case files of the Milwaukee County judge who says she proudly wears the progressive label.
Read MoreWisconsin Schools Allocate Millions in Stimulus Dollars After Report on Slow Progress
Wisconsin schools have double the amount of coronavirus stimulus money they plan to spend in just the past two months.
Quinton Klabon, senior research director for the Institute for Reforming Government, says schools across Wisconsin rushed to allocate millions of dollars in ESSER III money after IRG reported in late January that most of the state’s $1.5 billion in stimulus cash was just lying around.
Read MoreWisconsin Meningitis Vaccine Mandate Scuttled, State Senator Says Parents Keep Power to Decide
As expected, Wisconsin lawmakers blocked a new meningitis vaccine requirement and ended the emergency power the state’s public health department had over the chickenpox.
The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules Thursday voted to suspend the Department of Health Service’s new vaccine rules.
Read MoreBill Aims to Protect Rural Wisconsinites from Negative Effects of Wind Turbines
In January, the top of a massive wind turbine crashed down on a field in rural Dodge County, not far from the town of Herman.
The impact scattered pieces of blades and large chunks of debris. Nobody was hurt—this time.
Read MoreWisconsin Senator Baldwin Introduces Codification of Roe v. Wade
U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) this week introduced legislation to codify the legality of abortion everywhere on American soil.
Twelve states currently have laws that prohibit abortion during much or all of a woman’s pregnancy and many other states have restrictions that the Baldwin-Blumenthal legislation could threaten. The senators, who count 47 Democratic senators as cosponsors of their bill, want to act federally to reverse these statutes which were allowed to go into effect when the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 pro-abortion Roe v. Wade ruling last year.
Read MoreWisconsin’s New Meningitis, Chickenpox Vaccine Rules in Legislative Crosshairs
Wisconsin lawmakers are looking to block the state’s new meningitis and chickenpox vaccine rules.
The legislature’s rules committee, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, on Tuesday took the first step toward overturning the new rules, established earlier this year by the state’s Department of Health Services.
Read MoreLiberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Set a Very Violent Felon Free
Aliyah Perez “brought an abundance of love, laughter and light to the world,” the 26-year-old woman’s family wrote in her obituary. Perez, the niece of Milwaukee Common Council President Jose Perez was found dead near 26th St. and Clayton Crest Ave. on Sunday, Feb 26 — a victim of domestic abuse, her family said.
But the young woman might very well be alive today had liberal Milwaukee County judge and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz not set Perez’s killer free.
Read MoreGreen Bay City Council to Take up Ban on Secret Recording Devices in City Hall
After the Park Committee voted unanimously last week to remove audio recording devices from Green Bay City Hall, the full City Council is expected to take up the issue at Tuesday evening’s meeting.
The action item comes after a Brown County judge issued a temporary injunction demanding the city shut down the bugs while a lawsuit proceeds.
Read MoreMainstream Media Figures Out Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Is Dodging Debates
Less than a month from the election, liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz is hiding, Republicans insist.
It’s gotten so bad the mainstream media is starting to cover Protasiewicz’s absence.
Read MoreUniversity of Wisconsin President Asks for Five Percent Tuition Increase
The University of Wisconsin is moving toward its first tuition increase in a decade.
UW President Jay Rothman told lawmakers on Thursday that he will ask regents to raise tuition by 5%, starting next fall.
Read MoreGallagher Reintroduces Bill Demanding Biden Administration Declassify Docs on COVID and Wuhan Lab
In the wake of growing support for the idea that COVID-19 originated in a lab in China, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) is reintroducing a bill requiring the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the pandemic.
Gallagher’s COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 comes back as the U.S. Department of Energy concludes at least with some confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak. The agency came to that conclusion based on a classified intelligence report provided to the White House and certain members of Congress.
Read MoreThink Tank Unveils Market-Oriented Recommendations for Wisconsin Healthcare System
The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG), a Delafield-based free-market think tank, this week released a report detailing several reforms to improve Wisconsin’s healthcare system.
A major problem the document tackles is the state’s anticipated shortage of 2,263 physicians by 2035. Areas expected to be especially underserved are those west of Milwaukee, northwest of Madison, east of Lake Winnebago and in various locales along the state’s northern border.
Read MoreLiberal Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Ditches Debate Sponsored by Liberal Group
Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz will be a no-show for a key debate Tuesday sponsored by the liberal American Constitution Society. Now, according to the Russ-Feingold-led ACS, the debate is off, The Wisconsin Daily Star has learned The campaign for conservative candidate Daniel Kelly told the group that he would still attend the event — originally scheduled for noon Tuesday in Milwaukee — with or without his opponent. The Constitution Society said thanks, but no thanks. They are canceling the debate.
Read MoreBrown County Judge Issues Restraining Order Against Green Bay Demanding Officials Cease Bugging City Hall
A Brown County judge has issued a temporary injunction, ordering the city of Green Bay and its mayor to “cease all audio surveillance and recording in Green Bay City Hall.” Circuit Court Judge Marc Hammer late Thursday granted the injunction sought by the Wisconsin State Senate. He ordered the city to end its bugging program by 5 p.m. Thursday, almost immediately.
Read MoreWisconsin GOP Files Complaint Against Liberal Group Accused of Election Bribery in Pivotal Supreme Court Race
The Republican Party of Wisconsin has filed a complaint against a liberal group accused of election bribery in a get-out-the-vote scheme to elect liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The GOP’s complaint, however, alleges Wisconsin Takes Action and Organizing Empowerment PAC failed to file as a political action committee in the the state of Wisconsin, a violation of campaign finance law.
Read MoreState Representative: Liberal Wisconsin Group Accused of Election Bribery May Face Legal Action
State Representative Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) on Wednesday said a leftist nonprofit could face legal action for its alleged election bribery in favor of state Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.
Brandtjen, who recently chaired the state Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, told The Wisconsin Daily Star she believes discussions toward that end are underway though no complaints against Wisconsin Takes Action have yet been filed at this writing.
Read MoreCommentary: Liberal News Outlet Tramples the Truth in Reporting ‘Mispronouning’ as ‘Sexual Harassment’ Story
As readers may be aware, in the spring of 2022 my colleagues and I at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty represented three eighth-grade boys who were accused by the Kiel Area School District of “sexual harassment” under Title IX for “mispronouning.”
As we pointed out, “mispronouning” does not violate Title IX and is not “sexual harassment” under any reasonable definition of that term, and punishing students for their speech violates the First Amendment. The district had also violated Title IX’s clear procedural requirements. We urged the district to drop its misguided investigation, and it ultimately did.
Read MoreWisconsin State Senate Asks District Attorney to Launch Criminal Probe into City Hall Bugging
The attorney representing the Wisconsin State Senate in a civil rights lawsuit against Green Bay — alleging the city bugged its citizens — is asking the local district attorney to open a criminal investigation into the audio-surveillance practices. “To our knowledge, those practices are unprecedented,” wrote attorney Ryan Walsh in a letter…
Read MoreGallagher Calls on Biden Administration to Declassify Intelligence on Origins of COVID-19
It’s time to open up the classified pandemic files, says U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
With revelations the U.S. Department of Energy now believes a lab leak was the likely cause of the COVID-19 outbreak, Gallagher is calling on the Biden administration to declassify the intelligence surrounding the origins of the deadly coronavirus.
Read MoreWisconsin Congressman Gallagher Reintroduces Bipartisan Bill Targeting Over-budget, Behind-Schedule Projects
U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) and Katie Porter (D-CA-47) are pushing for passage of their reintroduced Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, a bill to publicize which federal projects are dramatically over budget or behind schedule.
The measure instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to generate an annual report on all projects that run at least $1 billion over initially authorized expenses or whose completion takes at least five years longer than originally scheduled.
Read MoreWisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul Won’t Divulge His COVID Vaccine Status After Forcing His Employees To Disclose Theirs
Wisconsin Department of Justice field trainer Jerry Mullen wants Attorney General Josh Kaul to play by the same rules DOJ employees have been forced to follow when it comes to COVID testing and vaccination status.
It appears Mullen is asking for too much.
Read MoreWisconsin Law Firm Wins Race-Based Discrimination Lawsuit Against Comcast’s ‘Woke Corporate Policies’
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has won another case based on the argument that you cannot discriminate against people based on their sex or the color of their skin.
WILL recently settled a case with Comcast over the company’s Comcast RISE program. That program offered grants to small businesses, but only if they are 51% owned by someone who is “Black, indigenous, a person of color, or female.”
Read MoreWisconsin Dairy, Farm Groups Unhappy with Proposed FDA ‘Milk’ Guidance
Unsurprisingly, dairy and other farm groups in America’s Dairyland are not happy that the federal government wants to allow other people to use the term “milk.”
The FDA this week released its draft guidance on so-called milk alternatives.
Read MoreAbortion Interests Clamor for Protasiewicz for Wisconsin Court Seat
Wisconsin abortion advocates are following up Tuesday’s nomination of liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice with strident calls for her election over conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly.
Protasiewicz and Kelly beat right-leaning Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow and progressive Judge Everett Mitchell of Dane County in Tuesday’s four-way nonpartisan primary. The following day, Dorow endorsed Kelly and Mitchell stated his support for Protasiewicz going forward.
Read MoreWisconsin GOP Launches Website Against Liberal Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz
The Republican Party of Wisconsin launched a new website this week targeting liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s judicial record. The Wisconsin GOP has described Protasiewicz as ” soft-on-crime ” regarding her “dangerous” record.
Read MoreConservatives Have Their Work Cut Out for Themselves in Wisconsin Supreme Court Election
Supreme Court Justice candidate Daniel Kelly emerged victorious from Tuesday’s primary election, but the conservative finished a distant second to his opponent, far left Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz.
While Kelly and fellow conservative candidate, Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow, divided up the right side vote (24 percent and 22 percent, respectively), Protasiewicz grabbed 46.5 percent on her own.
Read MoreState Senator Van Wanggaard Commentary: Milwaukee’s Criminal Justice System Failed Officer Peter Jerving and Milwaukee
Last week, following the killing of police officer Peter Jerving, local and state leaders alike called for change to stop the senseless, preventable, tragic violence in Milwaukee. And they’re right. While the causes of violence are many, solving the crisis that is the Milwaukee criminal justice system would go a long way.
Let’s start with the front line – police officers and police policies.
Read MoreSun Prairie School District Accused of Using AmFam Donation for ‘Discrimination Laundering’
Sun Prairie Area School District’s use of American Family Insurance grant funds to promote programs that appear to be exclusively for black students is an attempt to launder race discrimination, a public interest law firm attorney told The Wisconsin Daily Star.
Documents obtained by The Star News Network show Madison-based American Family Insurance cut a check for $35,000 to fund a cross-country field trip in October for Sun Prairie East High School students to visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
Read MoreWisconsin State Senate Sues Green Bay over City Hall Recording Devices
As promised, the Wisconsin State Senate has filed a lawsuit against the city of Green Bay and its mayor alleging the installation of secret recording devices installed at city hall is a violation of the Wisconsin Electronic Surveillance Control Law.
The complaint, filed in Brown County Circuit Court, seeks an emergency temporary injunction and a court order requiring the defendants immediately disable the recording devices.
Read MoreThink Tank Issues New Recommendations to Cut and Modernize Wisconsin Government
The Delafield-based Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) on Tuesday issued a report listing ways the free-market research group believes Wisconsin’s state government can become leaner and more responsive.
Titled “Reimagining Wisconsin Government for the 21st Century,” the document is the product of a year and half of research. It proposes the kind of decentralization that Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has suggested for the federal government by moving some of the public workforce out of Washington, D.C. so it can more closely work with local communities.
Read MoreWisconsin Law Firm Sues Biden Administration over Woke ESG Investing Policies
The Biden administration’s woke Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies are putting politics ahead of people and hurting retirees savings, a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.
The complaint, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of two Waukesha County residents, seeks a temporary restraining order prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing its controversial ESG rule, pending the resolution of the lawsuit. Ultimately, the suit seems a declamatory judgment that the rule violates federal law on administrative powers.
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