It wasn’t all bad news for conservatives in Tuesday’s election. While the right lost control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Republicans gained two-thirds — or supermajority power— in the state Senate.
State Representative Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) narrowly defeated environmental lawyer Jodi Habush Sinykin in the race for Wisconsin’s 8th Senate District Seat.
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Secretary of State Doug La Follette’s sudden retirement from the post he’s held for nearly half a century raised questions, particularly when Governor Tony Evers swiftly appointed former state treasurer and Democratic Party political climber Sarah Godlewski to take La Follette’s place.
But it’s the millions of dollars La Follette — and his survivors — could take home in retirement benefits that may really raise eyebrows.
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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?”
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Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) this week announced he is introducing legislation requiring public K-12 schools to post their curricula online.
Should the policy become law, school districts and charter institutions must provide public web access to syllabi for all classes and thorough lists of the textbooks planned for use in those courses as well as commonwealth academic standards for all course offerings. Should a school make any curricular revisions, it would have 30 days to publish them.
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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.
Many of the measures passed mostly along party lines, including a bill that defines “serious harm” and “violent crime” in state law. The proposal is tied to a bail reform constitutional amendment on next month’s spring election ballot. Under the amendment, judges would be allowed to consider expanded factors when issuing bail to violent offenders, beyond whether the defendant would show up for his court date.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The nonprofit Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) on Friday issued a comprehensive analysis of Democratic Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’s 2023-25 state budget and bemoaned the proposal’s likely impact on job creators and the middle class.
Evers’s spending plan totals $104 billion, $16 billion more than the budget on which the Badger State now operates. If enacted, the new proposal would be the first state budget exceeding $100 billion. It includes massive spending increases in such areas as public education, childcare assistance, “affordable housing” and broadband expansion. Republican lawmakers, who object to the extent of the spending hikes and the governor’s refusal to devote more of the state’s $7.1 billion surplus to tax cuts, promised last week to thoroughly rewrite the plan.
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Forget the ax, the Legislature’s budget-writing committee is about to take dynamite to Governor Tony Evers’ record $104 billion budget proposal.
The Democrat’s 2023-25 budget blueprint seeks a 24 percent spending increase over the biennium, funding a long list of liberal policy initiatives and grow government agenda items.
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Governor Tony Evers is getting pushback again for his latest plan to freeze out Wisconsin’s popular parental school choice program.
The Democrat, as he did in his last budget plan, is proposing to freeze enrollment in schools participating in private school choice program beginning in the 2024-25 school year at 2023-24 levels.
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As Gov. Tony Evers prepares to introduce his next biennial budget proposal, his administration can’t say how they have allocated a significant portion of the federal COVID aid Evers has nearly complete control over.
And as the governor calls for billions more in education spending, a new report shows there’s a massive amount of federal education aid the state has yet to approve for spending.
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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 Governor Tony Evers (D) on Thursday announced several budget items for Fiscal Years 2023-25 that would expand aid to Badger State veterans.
Priorities Evers mentioned included programs to assist ex-military personnel with employment, education, mental health and housing security. He said the proposal builds on earlier expenditures the governor and legislature made last year, spurred by recommendations of his Blue Ribbon Commission on Veteran Opportunity.
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Two state legislators from Wisconsin are urging colleagues to back their bill to strengthen crime victims’ rights to restitution in their state.
The bill authored by State Representatives Shae Sortwell (R-Gibson) and Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) would halt the restoration of felons’ voting rights until after the perpetrators pay all fines, court fees, and victim restitution. In the Badger State, a convict loses his or her right to vote until he or she serves all prison time and completes any parole or probation that a court imposes. But that person may again vote before meeting his or her legal monetary obligations.
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President Joe Biden paid a call on Wisconsin Wednesday, touting job creation and boasting that the Big Government agenda he laid out in this week’s State of the State address will get the nation’s economy humming.
But the president’s cheerleading tour conflicts with the realities on the ground for Badger State businesses dealing with higher prices, supply chain issues and labor shortages.
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Records obtained by The Star News Network show Green Bay city officials installed at least three audio recording devices in City Hall — without notifying the City Council or the public.
Alderman Chris Wery, who represents Green Bay’s 8th District, described the secret recordings as the kind of “Big Brother stuff” found in a George Orwell novel.
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The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project has again asked for all governors to proclaim Feb 6. Ronald Reagan Day in honor of the 40th president’s birthday. Once again, Gov. Tony Evers has refused to do so.
The liberal governor, however, has been glad to issue all manner of proclamations celebrating everything from Tamil Language and Heritage Month to Transgender Day of Remembrance.
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Gov. Evers’ pick to head Wisconsin’s Department of Veterans Affairs will have some questions to answer regarding what he knew about the troubles at the state’s veterans home at Union Grove, and just what he did to address the issues.
Emails obtained by The MacIver Institute’s news service and shared with The Center Square show current VA secretary nominee James Bond was first alerted of the staffing shortage and problems with care at Union Grove back in 2019.
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In his state of the state address last month, Gov. Tony Evers boasted about Wisconsin’s low unemployment rate. What the Democrat failed to mention is Wisconsin’s dismal labor participation rate, a number that underscores one of the biggest economic challenges facing Badger State businesses.
“Our labor force participation rate is worse today than it was at the bottom point of COVID when our economy was shut down,” said Scott Manley, Executive Vice President of Government Relations for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
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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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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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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. But there’s more to come. Evers is still constructing his biennial budget plan, set for release in a few weeks.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 Governor Tony Evers (D) is preparing to allocate a large fraction of opioid settlement money toward a new housing program for those in recovery.
In February 2021, an assemblage of 47 states including Wisconsin announced an agreement with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company would yield a total of $573 million for the jurisdictions in recompense for the corporation’s alleged role in the opioid epidemic. Prior to the settlement, state Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) and prosecutors across the country undertook an investigation that led to allegations that McKinsey devised promotions for high-strength pain medications resulting in widespread, improper use.
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Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) is preparing for a potential battle with the Republican-run Wisconsin Legislature over the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Evers is gearing up to present his biennial budget requests to lawmakers in February and has said there is “no question” he will ask the legislature to permit adults to use cannabinoid substances for fun as he did in his most recent budget proposal earlier this year.
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A Milwaukee-based think tank is weighing in on the Wisconsin state government’s social media policy, urging Governor Tony Evers (D) to ban the video-sharing application’s use by state agencies.
In a report called “The Mysterious TikTok-ing Noise,” the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) notes that numerous other governors earlier this month signed orders instructing all departments under their control to delete the program from their devices. The piece also observed the unanimous vote taken last week by the U.S. Senate to adopt the same policy for all federal computer hardware.
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U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) this week touted an emerging effort in both houses of Congress to ban the video-sharing application TikTok nationwide.
Gallagher and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) penned an opinion piece for The Washington Post last month insisting Americans should not have access to the app. In a discussion with WISN CHANNEL 12 on Monday, Gallagher said he will introduce bipartisan legislation to that effect this month and he anticipates it will get a vote early next year.
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Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin this week called on Democratic Governor Tony Evers to end all state-government usage of the video-sharing application known as TikTok.
The app, which has garnered about 80 million monthly active users since its release in 2016, is run by the Chinese technology corporation ByteDance. Recent reporting indicates the communist Chinese government is using the program to mine data from TikTok users aggressively and track some Americans’ whereabouts.
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The Republicans who will write Wisconsin’s next state budget say Gov. Tony Evers shouldn’t get excited about the latest surplus numbers.
The Department of Administration on Monday said Wisconsin’s budget surplus could top $6.6 billion by the time the current state budget ends in June.
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Incumbent Democrat Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin is projected to hold onto his seat, fending off Republican challenger Tim Michels, according to both NBC and Reuters.
Evers secured 50.9% of the vote, compared to Michels’ 48%, with 88% reporting, according to multiple forecasters. The victory gives Evers his second term as Wisconsin’s governor, following a four year term where he often sparred with the GOP-controlled state legislature, according to Fox 6 Milwaukee.
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The slivers of information that Reince Priebus is seeing in Wisconsin has him expecting Republicans to win up and down the ballot.
Priebus, who used to lead both the Wisconsin Republican Party and the RNC, told Jay Weber on News Talk 1130 WISN Monday that data collected by both organizations show independent and undecided voters breaking for Republicans.
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Election day comes Tuesday, putting a range of major issues up for grabs as both parties battle for control of the House, Senate and gubernatorial races around the country.
The latest polling shows a tight but favorable electoral landscape for Republicans. FiveThirtyEight’s analysis and compilation of generic polls found voters overall prefer that Republicans control Congress by 1.2 percent.
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Wisconsin’s race for governor is the most expensive in the country, and the race for U.S. Senate isn’t exactly cheap either. All of that money is being spent to convince less than 2% of voters in the state.
Reince Priebus, the former head of both the Wisconsin Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, said there are just a few thousand truly independent voters in Wisconsin.
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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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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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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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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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Wisconsin’s Republican race for governor was over almost as soon as the first vote totals came in.
Business magnate Tim Michels was much closer to former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in Milwaukee County than many people expected, and that set the tone for the night.
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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers hauled in more than $10 million during the previous fundraising quarter as he seeks re-election in the November midterm elections.
Evers, who is looking to secure his second term, has taken in more than $20 million since 2021 and has more than $7 million cash-on-hand.
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