Audits: Many State, University of Wisconsin Offices Empty as Employees Work from Home

Working from home

A pair of Republican lawmakers are promising to hold hearings into why so many state and University of Wisconsin workers aren’t in their offices.

A pair of audits from the Legislative Audit Bureau looked at telework and office space trends.

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Abortions Resume in Wisconsin

It remains to be seen just how quickly the return of abortion in Wisconsin will end up before a judge after Planned Parenthood on Monday started offering abortion services at its clinics in Milwaukee and Madison.

“Thank you so much for your enthusiasm that PPWI has restarted abortion services! We are as thrilled as you are! We haven’t been able to respond to all our DMs, comment on every thread about abortion, or talk to you individually about how you can help (but we’re trying),” Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin said on social media Monday.

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Former Assembly Elections Committee Chair Urges ‘No’ Vote on Controversial Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator

State Representative Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) is urging the Wisconsin Elections Commission to fire Meagan Wolfe, WEC’s controversial administrator.

The commission meets at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to take up Wolfe’s re-appointment to a four-year term. Her current term ends Friday. 

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DNA from Trashed Burrito Leads to Arrest of Man in Connection with Firebombing of Wisconsin Pro-Life Center

A half-eaten burrito led to the arrest of a Madison man in connection with the Mother’s Day 2022 firebombing of the Wisconsin Family Action headquarters building. 

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, has been charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Madison. 

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Former 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. 

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Wisconsin 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. 

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Social Media Mogul Zuckerberg Funds Recruitment of Progressives to Administer Elections

The injection of private money into public election administration — or “Zuckerbucks” — is continuing in a new form, as left-leaning candidates are being recruited to run for local elections offices by an organization that receives funds from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

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Red Flags Rise over UW-Madison Get-Out-the-Vote Initiative with ‘Zuckerbucks’ Feel

The BadgersVote initiative “strives to provide University of Wisconsin–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections,” according to organizers. But is the campus-wide “public service” campaign really just a Democratic Party Get-Out-the-Vote effort underwritten by a taxpayer-funded university, a nonprofit research center, and liberal activist groups? 

For some, the university-nonprofit partnership feels a lot like the Zuckerbucks scandal of 2020.

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Wisconsin Schools Connect Kids to Site Described as ‘Pedophile’s Paradise’

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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Madison’s East High School to Host ‘Family Friendly’ Drag Show

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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Wisconsin Law Enforcement Opposes Proposed Madison Tear Gas Ban

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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Four More Texas Counties Declare Invasion at Southern Border, Bringing Total to 22

The judges and commissioners of four more Texas counties have declared an invasion at the southern border, bringing to 22 the number of counties that have done so.

Jasper, Madison, Throckmorton and Wichita counties are the latest to declare an invasion.

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City Invests in Wisconsin’s First Men’s Homeless Shelter

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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Longtime Madison Pub Closes Its Doors Due to Pandemic

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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Madison Mayor Proposes $1,000 Fine for Harassing Election Officials

by Benjamin Yount   Less than one month before Wisconsin’s next election, Madison’s mayor is proposing a new ban on harassing election workers. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway unveiled a new ordinance Tuesday that would make it a crime to “engage in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct under…

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Wisconsin Family Action Promises It Won’t ‘Back Down’ After Madison Arson

The head of one of Wisconsin’s most prominent pro-life groups is vowing not to be intimidated by a weekend arson at their Madison office.

Wisconsin Family Action’s Julaine Appling said on Sunday that the attack on their office was an attempt to silence pro-life voices in the state.

“While this attack was directly provoked by the leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dobbs case earlier this week, this has far broader implications,” Appling said in a statement. “Apparently, the tolerance that the left demands is truly a one-way street. Violence has become their answer to everything.”

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Afghan Refugee Featured in Wisconsin News Reports Charged with Sexual Assault

A recently resettled Afghan refugee who was featured on a news broadcast when he arrived in the United States has been arrested and charged for an alleged sexual assault. 

Police want Matiullah Matie to be charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, according to WSAW. 

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Green Bay Mayor Asks for Sanctions Against Gableman in Wisconsin Election Investigation

The Mayor of Green Bay is asking for sanctions against Michael Gableman, with the Wisconsin Office of Special Counsel, for his actions in the election investigation. Eric Genrich’s attorney Jeffrey Mandell made the request in Waukesha County Circuit Court, claiming Gableman made “incorrect statements.”

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Wisconsin Representative Gallagher Criticizes Distance Learning, Says It’s Not a Substitute

Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) criticized distance learning, saying that it’s “not a substitute” for in-person learning. Gallaher made the comments about distance learning following the announcement that Milwaukee and Madison schools reverted to online schooling for the first several days back after Christmas break.

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Teachers from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay Sign Pledge to Teach Critical Race Theory

Teachers from Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay have signed a pledge to teach Critical Race Theory in schools. The pledge, started by the Zinn Education Project, had over 7,500 signees in the end of October, which was the last time an update about the petition was posted.

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Wisconsin Republicans Slam Madison Vaccine Mandate for Poll Workers

The City of Madison on Wednesday announced that all individuals who serve as poll workers will be mandated to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Earlier this year, city officials detailed the vaccine requirement or testing for all city employees. A recent memo certified that the requirements would be extended to poll workers.

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Madison City Clerk Responds to Election Investigation Subpoena, Says Physical Handling of Records ‘Could Break Federal Law’

The Madison city clerk responded to a subpoena in the election investigation, saying that allowing auditors to physically handle the election records could potentially be breaking federal law. Maribeth Witzel-Behl is one of several city clerks and election officials served a subpoena in an ongoing election investigation by Michael Gableman, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.

The subpoena is signed by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), Senate President Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), and committee chair Senator Kathleen Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls). The data request asks that the city of Madison provide all “physical absentee ballot certificates for the November 2020 General Election and the results of tests on electronic voting machines used for the election.”

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Gableman Announces Cooperation from Wisconsin Cities in Election Investigation

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman announced on Friday that there has been cooperation from subpoenaed Wisconsin cities in the ongoing election audit. “Following our recent issuance of subpoenas, we have received encouraging responses from most of the city officials involved, and we expect their full cooperation in scheduled interviews and the expected transfer of all related documents, data, and communications regarding their management of the 2020 election,” Gableman said.

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Five Wisconsin Mayors to Receive Subpoenas in Ongoing Election Investigation

Five Wisconsin mayors will be receiving subpoenas as part of the ongoing election investigation. Head investigator Michael Gableman announced on Tuesday that the mayors of Green Bay, Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Madison would be subpoenaed to assist in the audit.

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