A lawsuit is brewing over Milwaukee’s 2022 get-out-the-vote effort.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin on Wednesday filed an open records lawsuit against Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and the city’s Elections Commission.
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Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has a guess as to how he ended up on the subpoena list for the January 6 committee. Namely: Politics.
Vos on Monday said he intends to fight the subpoena from the Democratic panel in Washington that has spent the past year looking into the riots at the U.S. Capitol.
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After spending millions of dollars on campaign ads to paint Tim Michels as radical on abortion, Gov. Tony Evers is calling Michels dishonest for being open to exemptions to Wisconsin’s strict abortion law.
Michels on Friday told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Dan O’Donnell that he would sign a law allowing women who are the victims of rape or incest to get an abortion in the state.
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Republicans in Wisconsin are recruiting poll watchers to monitor voting in November, as the GOP embarks on a multimillion-dollar effort to recruit tens-of-thousands of poll watchers and workers to monitor voting.
Both initiatives are part of renewed efforts to respond to the allegations of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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The ceremony for Wisconsin’s State of Education speech began with a “land acknowledgement,” and it didn’t get any less political from there.
“We acknowledge that this Capitol and our DPI building stand on the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk Nation. And that this land was forcibly and violently taken from them almost 200 years ago,” Department of Public Instruction Equity and Inclusion director Demetri Beekman said to open his speech Thursday. “Centuries of racism, colonization, and oppression caused by federal and state leaders, institutions, and policies continue to impact our tribal nations.”
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Tim Michels says Wisconsin’s State of Education speech was more of a political stump speech than a report card on the state’s schools.
Michels, who is running for governor against incumbent Gov. Tony Evers, told The Center Square Friday that State Superintendent Jill Underly’s focus on Pride flags and pronouns is frustrating parents across the state who want their kids to get back to the fundamentals.
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Wisconsin lawmakers are once again planning to ignore a call from Gov. Tony Evers’ for a special session, and they are once again calling it a political stunt.
The governor on Wednesday said lawmakers need to come back to the Capitol in Madison in two weeks and start work on a constitutional amendment that would allow voters in Wisconsin to vote on binding referendum questions that would create new state law.
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There are new questions about Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ ties to Milwaukee’s planned get-out-the-vote effort this fall.
Former Evers’ staffer Melissa Baldauff is listed as one of the principals at GPS Impact, the progressive group chosen by Milwaukee to get voters to the polls this November.
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Seven Midwest states entered a coalition to pursue clean hydrogen development as an alternative to gas and diesel fuel.
The governors of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin signed onto the Midwest Hydrogen Coalition. The coalition will accelerate clean hydrogen development, from production and supply chain to distribution in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and other industries.
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For the second time in two days an active duty deputy in Wisconsin has cleared their name of endorsement for Mandela Barnes in his race for U.S. Senate.
The first was La Crosse Sheriff’s Capt. John Siegel on Monday. He said he never endorsed Barnes and doesn’t know how he ended up on Barnes endorsement list. On Tuesday, Racine County Deputy Malik Frazier, the only other active duty deputy on the list, backed out.
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One Wisconsin lawmaker wants to know why the UW System needs its own news service.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, wrote a letter to UW President Jay Rothman last week, asking why the university is offering university-related stories for TV stations, newspapers, and other media outlets to use.
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Nearly every single sheriff in the state of Wisconsin, along with the state’s police officers’ association, and the chiefs of police in Dane County are united in their opposition to a plan that would all but ban tear gas and pepper spray in the city of Madison.
Madison’s city council is set to vote on a proposed ordinance that would limit the use of tear gas, pepper spray, or other crowd control to only “circumstances in which urgent and imminent physical harm to the public or law enforcement officers is threatened or when significant property damage exists and escalation of property damage is threatened.”
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Wisconsin’s new climate action report is a little thin.
The state’s Department of Natural Resources released the report on Tuesday. It recaps what Wisconsin has done to accomplish its climate change and environmental equity goals over the past year.
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Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator is making an issue out of what his reelection campaign is calling Mandela Barnes’ hypocrisy on school choice.
“After Lt. Gov. Barnes has reaped the benefits of private school, he has sought to prevent that choice for parents who only want what is best for their children. Barnes is a hypocrite who is only out for his own political gain,” Mike Marinella with the Johnson Campaign told The Center Square.
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There is yet another challenge to yet another decision from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Waukesha County court challenging what is being called the Form.
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The mood seems to be changing in Wisconsin’s top two races this November, even as the numbers continue to show toss-ups.
The latest Marquette Law School Poll released yesterday gives Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican U,S. Senator Ron Johnson slight leads in their races. Evers is up 47-44 on Republican Tim Michels, while Johnson is up 49-48 over Democrat Mandela Barnes.
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Wisconsin’s Elections Commission had until the end of the day Wednesday to tell local election clerks that they cannot add missing information to absentee ballots in November.
A judge in Waukesha on Tuesday refused to stay his order from last week that struck down the Commission’s guidance on ballot curing.
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There is, apparently, a limit to what Milwaukee County considers coronavirus-related relief.
Milwaukee County’s American Rescue Plan Act Task Force last week unanimously rejected a proposal to spend $19 million of ARPA dollars to rehabilitate the Mitchell Park Domes.
“This Task Force has spent millions of dollars on initiatives to ensure that houses in suburban Milwaukee aren’t falling into disrepair, potentially rushing foreclosures.
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Incumbent Tony Evers (D) and Tim Michels (R) are running in the general election for governor of Wisconsin on Nov. 8.
Recent polls have not shown either candidate to have a statistically significant lead. The Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections rate the election as a toss-up.
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Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway have announced a $9 million investment for the state’s first men’s homeless shelter.
“City-County announces additional $9 million investment in men’s homeless shelter,” Rhodes-Conway posted on Twitter highlighting the sides continued partnership. “A new commitment from @DaneCoJoe represents the single largest investment in the Dane County Capital Budget.”
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Wisconsin’s highest profile voter fraud case yet is now an issue in the race for attorney general.
Democrat Josh Kaul, the attorney general, has filed voter fraud charges against a Racine County man who requested the ballots of Wisconsin’s Assembly speaker and the mayor of Racine ahead of the August primary.
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A new state audit raises questions about where Wisconsin’s broadband money was actually spent.
The Legislative Audit Bureau released its report Thursday. Auditors say the state’s Public Service Commission didn’t track just how much internet companies actually spent to expand broadband service across the state.
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Republican lawmakers at the Wisconsin Capitol are pretty much dismissing the idea of an inspector general at the state’s Elections Commission from the start.
Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe on Wednesday asked the Legislature for $1.3 million to create a new inspector general’s office inside the Elections Commission.
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One-time Madison-area stronghold Brasserie V is the latest neighborhood eatery to fall victim to the pandemic, with the owners recently taking to social media to announce its closing this month after 15 years.
“We are so very proud of our 15 years bringing a little bit of Belgium to Monroe Street,” the owners said in an Aug. 20 Facebook post. “We wouldn’t have reached this milestone without the talent, dedication and hard work of all of our amazing staff over the years.”
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The Thomas More Society is celebrating another ballot drop box victory in Wisconsin.
The group, which sued over the use of ballot drop boxes across the state in 2020, this week said Green Bay has agreed to end its drop box use.
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Wisconsin state legislators are pushing back on the Wisconsin Election Commission, challenging its absentee ballot curing guidance in court, even as the controversial commission seeks additional funding from the Legislature to boost confidence in elections.
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Another Wisconsin lawmaker is criticizing the governor for the back-up at the state’s licensing agency.
Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake, on Monday said doctors, nurses, hairdressers, and thousands of others have been waiting weeks and months for the state to issue them a license to work.
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Josh Patchak, Green Bay Area School District chief operations officer, is sounding the alarm about a support staff positions shortage that some fear could come to impact students and teachers alike.
“This is much more challenging than years prior,” Patchak told WLUK this week.
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Wisconsin’s Democratic governor won’t be rude, but he’s also not rolling out the red carpet for President Joe Biden at an upcoming Labor Day campaign event.
Gov. Tony Evers didn’t sound excited at all Monday when asked about the president’s upcoming visit to Wisconsin.
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Few answers, if any, are being given about the move from Wisconsin’s election managers to put inactive voters back on the state’s voter rolls.
“Why we are returning anyone to the rolls in a state where anyone can vote as long as you have a voter ID is mind-boggling,” said Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls.
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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is touting planned upgrades, including a new commuter rail system that stretches 33 miles of active freight rail from Milwaukee to Kenosha.
Authorities highlight that the train will ultimately link with the Union Pacific North commuter rail system in Kenosha, a Railway Age report said this week. Overall, the line will access nine stations, six of them being new to the system, with the proposed trail running parallel to I-94 along Lake Michigan in southeastern Wisconsin.
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After firing former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman from his position as special counsel in the state’s 2020 presidential election probe, GOP state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has withdrawn subpoenas the investigator previously issued to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) and the mayors of Madison and Green Bay.
Vos sent letters to the mayors and WEC officials on Friday withdrawing the subpoenas, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
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A former Milwaukee alderwoman might spend time behind bars for using her campaign bank account as a personal slush fund.
A judge on Thursday sentenced former Alderwoman Chantia Lewis to 30 days in jail and three years on probation.
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Wisconsin saw a mass exodus of public employees last year, and many of them simply quit.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a study Thursday that said 17,646 people left their jobs as part of “other separations” in 2021.
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Wisconsin saw a mass exodus of public employees last year, and many of them simply quit.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a study Thursday that said 17,646 people left their jobs as part of “other separations” in 2021.
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Election managers in Kenosha are promising not to use ballot drop boxes any longer.
Attorneys for the Thomas More Society on Wednesday said Kenosha agreed to stop using the drop boxes as part of a deal to end a lawsuit against the city.
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Wisconsin’s governor says he wants to cut taxes in the state.
After proposing more than $1 billion in new taxes and new spending in each of his two proposed state budgets, Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday proposed a $600 million tax cut and price cut plan.
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There’s now a threat of a lawsuit over La Crosse’s recent ban on conversion therapy.
The city council approved an ordinance in June that banned churches, ministers, or counselors from talking to young people about their sexual identity and gender.
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It’s going to be a do-over in the race against Wisconsin’s Assembly Speaker.
Adam Steen, who lost to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in this month’s primary, on Thursday announced that he is running as a write-in candidate in November.
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Eric Toney, the GOP candidate running for Wisconsin’s Attorney General, said Milwaukee was one of America’s most dangerous cities.
The Fond du Lac district attorney cited homicides within the city are on track to break the record of 193 set in 2021.
Yet, despite the reputation for violence, the city of Milwaukee police department has been arresting fewer and fewer people over the past nine years.
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is pressing the Pentagon, Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for answers after multiple whistleblowers raised concerns about the provenance of a Comirnaty-labeled COVID-19 vaccine shipped to military bases.
On Monday, nine military officers from across all the branches sent a whistleblower report to Congress regarding a COVID vaccine appearing at Coast Guard medical clinics. Key GOP senator presses feds for source of vaccine at military bases after whistleblower allegations
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Public health managers in Wisconsin have issued a public health advisory over a spike in fentanyl deaths.
The state’s Department of Health Services on Thursday said fentanyl deaths in Wisconsin are up 97% since 2019.
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A Wisconsin school board voted on Aug. 16 to prohibit the displaying of LGBTQ pride and Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms.
The Kettle Moraine school board in Wales, Wisconsin, examined a policy that prohibits educators and staff from “promoting partisan politics and sectarian religious views” which Superintendent Stephen Plum clarified to include pride and Black Lives Matter flags, according to Fox 6. The board approved the policy at the meeting, claiming that the flags are a violation of the code of conduct because they are political.
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One of Wisconsin’s outgoing lawmakers is using the back-to-school rush to push lawmakers to pay teachers more.
Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, on Wednesday released his final back-to-school op-ed in which he says lawmakers must do more.
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Expect a lot of talk about election security ahead of what Wisconsin’s election administrator says could be a record year for voting.
Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe on Tuesday answered questions about election integrity, election security, and what she expects for the November election.
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Three Midwestern states scored best in the nation in analysis of laws restricting speech about government. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa outranked every other state by wide margins.
That’s the conclusion of a report issued by the Institute for Free Speech, a national nonprofit research facility that focuses on First Amendment rights. Wisconsin’s score of 86% out of a possible 100% was followed by Michigan (77%) and Iowa (75%).
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Now that Wisconsin’s special election investigator has been fired, one of the Republican lawmakers who led the investigation into the 2020 election wants to know what will happen with the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Monday said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos needs to be as tough on the Commission as he was on former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.
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The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of working age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, particularly for men without a college degree, and especially in states like Wisconsin. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown.
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The political geography in Wisconsin politics is changing.
Tim Michels won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday by winning 62 of the state’s 72 counties, most of them outside of the traditional Republican base of southeast Wisconsin.
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Republicans in Wisconsin are offering a glimpse at their strategy for this fall’s campaign against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Wednesday said Evers will be tough to beat in November because he hasn’t screwed-up in years.
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