The latest reading readiness proposal at the Wisconsin capitol, with the backing of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in tow, may have a chance at becoming law.
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Former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio called the Democratic Party’s brand “toxic” Friday during a discussion on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
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Wisconsin’s record budget surplus is growing once again.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau on Wednesday said the surplus will now hit $7.1 billion by July.
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A Milwaukee County Supervisor has resigned under a cloud of misconduct in office allegations.
Supervisor Dyango Zerpa, who represents the county’s 14th District, is leaving to “pursue other opportunities,” his attorney Michael Maistelman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Maistelman did not return a call from The Star News Network seeking comment.
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In a show of pro-life solidarity, 47 Republican U.S. senators are re-introducing a bill that would establish a permanent prohibition on federal funding for abortion, replacing the current restrictions with a single, government-wide standard.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, the lawmakers say, attempts to clean up inconsistent and haphazard policies that have regulated federal funding for abortion.
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The national left is all in on Wisconsin’s crucial Supreme Court race, a contest that will not only determine whether conservatives or liberals control the high court, but the fate of Gov. Tony Evers’ liberal agenda and, possibly, the 2024 presidential election.
Conservative Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly, a former justice on the court, says the race is about the very survival of the constitution and the rule of law.
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Looking to improve transparency and efficiency at the state’s troubled Parole Commission, state Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) has released the “Parole Transparency Act.” The bill, according to Wanggaard, aims to ensure victims can be involved in and informed about the parole process.
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On this National School Choice Week, a new study by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty shows parental choice programs continuing to outperform public schools, particularly in the state’s largest city.
“Apples to Apples: Accessing Wisconsin State of Education”, accesses Badger State educational performance across public, charter, and private voucher schools.
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Last week, a woman was filling up her vehicle at a convenience store in the 2700 block of Madison’s E. Washington Avenue when a “man pointed a gun at her face and demanded she give him the keys,” according to the Madison Police Department incident report.
A man.
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The organizers of a Milwaukee-area event on the dangers of woke indoctrination say they’re working with local law enforcement after receiving a number of threats.
Meanwhile, a theater in suburban Chicago has canceled a “reforming sex education” event after reportedly being bombarded with threats.
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In his fifth State of the State address Tuesday evening, Gov. Tony Evers began laying out how he plans to use Wisconsin’s $6.6 billion surplus, pitching a spending bender of big government initiatives already with a price tag to date of around $1.3 billion.
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After Gov. Tony Evers finally relented and ordered TikTok banned from state government devices, Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation asked University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman to follow suit. A UW System spokesman on Wednesday said the schools will follow part of the lawmakers’ request and restrict TikTok from UW System-owned devices.
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After Gov. Tony Evers finally relented and ordered TikTok banned from state government devices, Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation asked University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman to follow suit. A UW System spokesman on Wednesday said the schools will follow part of the lawmakers’ request and restrict TikTok from UW System-owned devices.
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Campaign ads are headed back to TVs across Wisconsin ahead of the election for a seat on the State Supreme Court. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz’ campaign on Friday announced a $700,000 ad buy in the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She’s one of four challengers trying to land the seat held by Justice Pat Roggensack, who has said she will not seek reelection.
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Elementary students in the Madison Metropolitan School District will be treated to a weeklong introduction to gender identity and sexual orientation curriculum as part of the so-called Welcoming Schools agenda. Parents in the district received an email last week advising them about this week’s lesson plan, part of the Health and Social Emotional Learning curriculum. Children will learn about “different identities, which include gender identity, sex assigned at birth, and sexual orientation.”
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On Tuesday, Gov. Tony Evers will deliver his fifth State of the State speech before both chambers of the Legislature and the judiciary. Like many governors before him, a pronouncement that the state of the state is strong is all but to be expected. But is this truly the state of affairs in Wisconsin? Is state government serving the needs of its citizens and providing the services that we all expect? With a looming recession, is state government looking at how to help Wisconsinites — or at least not make things worse? Here is what we hope the governor will say in his address.
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Tax reform is top of mind for Republicans this legislative session. But while a flat tax measure has taken center stage, another proposal by one legislative leader to eliminate Wisconsin’s personal income tax has seemingly disappeared from the tax cut discourse.
A new State Policy Network (SPN) survey shows a good deal of support for nixing the state income tax.
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A constitutional amendment proposal to reform Wisconsin’s cash bail system is now headed to voters in April’s election. Following the Republican-controlled Senate’s approval of the measure earlier this week, the GOP-dominated Assembly on Thursday passed the resolution.
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More than eight months after Wisconsin Family Council/Action’s Madison headquarters was firebombed by pro-abortion extremists, the FBI is now offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the “identification, arrest, and conviction” of the individuals involved in the attack. “It’s about time,” said Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Council/Action, a pro-life organization that advocates for religious liberty and traditional family values.
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Battered by ongoing high inflation, a majority of Wisconsin businesses see a recession ahead, according to Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce’s latest Wisconsin Employer Survey.
WMC’s survey finds 60 percent of businesses believe the Badger State economy is headed for a recession this year. On the surface, the number appears to be an improvement from last summer’s survey when 71 percent of respondents worried a recession was looming. But Nick Novak, WMC’s vice president of communications and marketing, said more employers moved from being sure about a recession to uncertain about the economy.
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Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice candidate Janet Protasiewicz says she’s not hiding from the “progressive label.”
The Milwaukee County judge has surrounded herself with liberal legal activists, perhaps none more controversial than her old boss, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.
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Actor Alec Baldwin faces two involuntary manslaughter charges for the fatal 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico film set of “Rust,” prosecutors announced Thursday.
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As influence-peddling allegations dog President Joe Biden, the University of Pennsylvania and their think tank offspring, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy & Global Engagement, the head of the House’s new committee on China is again warning U.S. higher education is “addicted” to Communist China money. U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) has long been monitoring the Biden administration’s lax enforcement of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which requires colleges and universities to publicly disclose any foreign gift greater than $250,000.
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A measure calling for a state constitutional amendment on bail reform is one step closer to going to Wisconsin voters. The Senate in session Tuesday passed the measure 23-9, sending it to the Assembly for a vote on Thursday. If the resolution passes, it will head to voters to decide in an April election that includes a Wisconsin Supreme Court race that could determine whether the court’s majority is controlled by conservatives or liberals.
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The Madison Metropolitan School District faces a lawsuit amid charges the district pushed a policy that teachers must “prioritize…African American students.” The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) accuses the district of violating public records law.
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As fentanyl continues to take its deadly toll, U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) is introducing a bill that would put the synthetic opioid’s criminal penalties on par with another killer drug that has ravaged America.
Grothman and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), who served as Republican Study Committee chairman, have introduced the Standardizing Thresholds of Penalties (STOP) for Fentanyl Act. The bill would reduce the threshold for mandatory minimum penalties for fentanyl-related offenses, with quantity thresholds on par with methamphetamine.
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A bill released last week for co-sponsorship aims to remove ineligible voters from the state’s official voter registration list in a more timely fashion, a key election integrity concern that has dogged Wisconsin’s voter rolls for years. The legislation, authored by state Rep. Ty Bodden (R-59th Assembly District) and Sen. Andre Jacque (R-1st Senate District), would require the Wisconsin Elections Commission to clean up the WisVote database.
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TrevorSpace bills itself as an affirming place for LGBTQ young people. Several Wisconsin school districts encourage their students to check out the site. But is the social networking site little more than an online dating community putting kids as young as 13 at risk of sexual exploitation?
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Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and state Representative Rob Brooks (R-Saukville) are set to introduce a tax reform proposal this week that would ultimately phase in a 3.25 percent flat income tax rate by tax year 2026. The measure would make Wisconsin part of a recent “flat tax revolution”, according to a national tax expert.
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by Benjamin Yount Wisconsin’s Senate majority leader says there is plenty of money available to reconfigure the state’s personal income tax rates. State Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, on Friday said Wisconsin’s record $6.6 billion surplus will help get the state over the hump. “So, for sure in the first…
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Chloe Cole this week told a Washington, D.C. think tank that she was coerced into taking puberty blockers and having her breasts surgically removed.
She was 15 years old.
“It’s important to know how awful it really is,” Cole told the Heritage Foundation about her double mastectomy.”Really, it’s like Nazi-era experiments.”
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The regulatory shoe is on the other foot for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, served with notice on that it has violated Winnebago County zoning code.
It appears the agency failed to secure conditional use and zoning permits before starting construction on a maintenance garage (cold storage building) in the county.
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The School District of Waukesha (Wisconsin) Board of Education this week passed a resolution recognizing parental rights with regard to political and gender issues.
The measure, which passed the board 8-0, furthermore affirms biological sex as determinative in allowing students to join sports teams and use bathroom facilities. Board President Kelly Piacsek said she drafted the resolution to address concerns that numerous parents brought to her and other school directors. She added that she is a parent of three students who attend district schools.
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Jennifer Dorow’s bid for Wisconsin Supreme Court got a big boost.
Retiring Justice Patience Roggensack on Monday endorsed Dorow in the race for the court. Roggensack, whose seat Dorow is running to fill, heaped praise on her.
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Losses from retail theft have soared over the past several years, a problem exacerbated by soft-on-crime prosecutors and judges. Wisconsin has a Supreme Court justice candidate who, has suggested that shoplifters who steal from “big box” retailers shouldn’t be aggressively prosecuted.
State Sen. Andre Jacque says his bill lowering Wisconsin’s threshold for felony theft is in response to the increasing brazenness of criminals and the kid glove treatment they’ve gotten from some prosecutors and judges like Dane County’s Everett Mitchell.
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In announcing the appointment Monday of James Bond as his new secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, Gov. Tony Evers made sure to note that Bond would be the first “openly LGBTQ (gay) individual” to serve as a state cabinet secretary.
While Evers checked off an important liberal virtue signaling box, he failed to mention that Bond has been the No. 2 ranking official at a troubled state agency that has veterans deaths on its hands.
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U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) sent a letter this week to the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) opposing its decision to let TikTok run commercials during recent college football halftime shows.
The two congressmen are sponsors of a measure to ban the video-sharing application from all Americans’ computing devices. Gallagher and other Republican members of Wisconsin’s U.S. House delegation this month successfully encouraged Democratic Governor Tony Evers to prohibit the app’s download or use on any state-owned computers or phones. Numerous other state governments as well as the federal government no longer permit the program’s download or use by public entities.
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Gov. Tony Evers is already taking things off the list of possible compromises at the Wisconsin Capitol.
The governor told WISN TV on UPFRONT that he will not sign a flat tax or universal school choice plan if Republicans send him one.
“A flat tax, if that’s part of the budget, that could end it. If it’s universal school choice across the state for education, that could be a killer too. But we’ll see. I don’t think any of those things are going to happen, so I’m planning on signing a good budget.”
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State Rep. Cindi Duchow has been on a crusade for years to tighten up Wisconsin’s bail laws, and the effort began close to home.
“I have been working on this a long time,” the Delafield Republican told Empower Wisconsin last week. “It started mainly when a man on my street was charged with molesting his grandchildren and was out on ($75,000) bail. For several months he was free.”
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The 15th vote was the charm for U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). But Wisconsin’s Republican House members had the new Speaker’s back from the first vote.
As McCarthy finally claimed enough votes for his narrow victory early Saturday morning (on the 15th ballot), U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) tweeted a photo of himself holding the last tally with the celebratory message, “McCarthy Wins!”
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The top Republican in the Wisconsin Senate is talking about inflation.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu on Wednesday used his speech to the newly sworn-in State Senate to talk about the pressure that inflation is exerting on Wisconsin residents.
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Republicans in Madison are moving quickly to change how bail works in Wisconsin.
A pair of lawmakers want to take the first vote next week on a Constitutional amendment that would give judges more latitude in deciding when to keep someone in jail and when to release them.
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Another report brings another round of good news for Wisconsin taxpayers.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a new study on Thursday that says the state’s tax burden is at its lowest level ever.
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After more than a month of warnings from Wisconsin’s congressional Republicans and the cybersecurity community), Gov. Tony Evers says he will ban TikTok on state devices.
Wisconsin joins federal agencies, Congress and at least 16 states in prohibiting the popular video-sharing app that has drawn widespread concerns that its being used as a spying tool for the Chinese Communist Party.
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As tempers flare in the Republican battle for Speaker of the House, the anti-establishment conservatives blocking Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid are being likened to pirates — and worse.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a McCarthy loyalist, called the Republican defectors terrorists. They’ve reportedly been described as the “Taliban 19.”
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The Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee (PAC) on Thursday came out in favor of Justice Daniel Kelly’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Kelly previously served on the court from 2016 to 2020 but failed to get reelected that spring. This year, he will face state Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow (3rd District), Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell (Branch 4), and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz (Branch 24) in the February 21 primary. The top two vote-getters will compete for the high-court seat in an April 4 general election.
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Madison East High School will host a “family friendly” drag show later this month, a taxpayer-funded woke event that is “Exhibit A” for expanded school choice, according to a parental rights activist.
East High parents recently received an email announcing the event, sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. The show is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 19, according to the school’s calendar. The festivities will take place in the high school’s Margaret Williams Theater.
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Kay LeClaire, the far-left Madison, Wisconsin-based activist who claimed an American-Indian heritage and clamored for radical causes she said benefitted the indigenous community, is facing public denunciation after being exposed as entirely white.
LeClaire, who went by the alias nibiiwakamigkwe [lower-case in the original] is a co-founder of giige [also lower-case in the original]. The arts-oriented group describes itself as “an Indigenous and queer space for the community in and around Teejop [a Ho-Chunk tribal word for the Great Lakes region].” Though female, LeClaire describes herself as “nonbinary,” denying she belongs to either sex.
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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers used his inauguration address on Tuesday to tell lawmakers and voters that he wants more abortion, more state spending and more money for public schools in the next four years.
Evers started his wish list with a rollback of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law.
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Wisconsin’s governor has issued more pardons than any governor in modern history.
Gov. Tony Evers last week issued another 171 pardons, bringing his four-year total to 774.
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