There will be no shortage of task forces in Wisconsin this year.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Thursday ordered the creation of four new task forces on artificial intelligence, childhood obesity, truancy and human trafficking.
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A new lawsuit says Michiganders should get a permanent income tax break instead of one for just one year.
Lawmakers, including two plaintiffs, passed legislation in 2015 enacting an income tax reduction trigger that lowers the current rate when the state’s revenue outpaces inflation by a set amount. Last year’s state revenue triggered a rollback of the rate from 4.25% to 4.05%.
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Gov. Tim Walz announced the appointment of one of his administration’s top attorneys to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Karl Procaccini, 40, has spent the last 4.5 years as general counsel and deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office. Depending on who you ask, the Connecticut native and Harvard Law grad has been regarded as either a prudent or overreaching legal advisor to Walz during the Covid-19 pandemic and riots in 2020 and 2021.
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Michigan’s race to increase the state’s number of Electric Vehicles and other non-gasoline fuel vehicles may have caught its second wind after a new company is seeking to invest in hydrogen storage systems.
A subsidiary of French automotive supplier, Compagnie Plastic Omnium, is planning to invest up to $171 million at two sites in the state.
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The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center recently posted an Instagram infographic regarding one of the “hidden gems” of polyamory: “petamours.”
The post defines “petamours” as “a pet you get to enjoy due to being part of a polyamorous relationship or polycule.” The term is a portmanteau of the words “metamour,” which the Polyamory Dictionary defines as “[someone] that your romantic partner is in such a relationship with, but you are not,” and pet.
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Osseo Area Schools appears to have approved a proposal to fly an LGBT “pride” flag at all district buildings “indefinitely,” according to an audio recording of a recent school board work session.
Under the district’s existing “LGBTQIA+ History and Culture Resolution,” the school board “invites the community to join in the celebration by raising the LGBTQIA+ Progress Pride flag on June 1st at all district buildings and in the school board room as a symbol of support.”
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As expected, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took some big swings af GOP presidential front-runner and former president Donald Trump Wednesday night at the first debate of the 2024 primary season.
Not surprisingly, Trump’s son swung back.
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For those who thought a Trump-less GOP presidential primary debate was doomed to be a snooze fest, the two-hour political bar brawl disabused them of that notion.
The first Republican National Committee debate Wednesday night in Milwaukee proved to be a tinder box for the slate of candidates trailing former President Donald Trump by as much as 40 percentage points or more.
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A federal judge ruled Monday that the city of East Lansing, Michigan, cannot prohibit a local Catholic businessman from participating in a farmer’s market because it violates his faith beliefs to host same-sex weddings on his farm’s property.
In his opinion in Country Mill Farms, LLC v. City of East Lansing, Judge Paul Maloney of U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan, Southern Division, ruled, “The City has not established that the decision to deny CMF [Country Mill Farms] a vendor license is narrowly tailored to meet a compelling government interest.”
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed an ordinance passed by the city council to enact a minimum compensation of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute while transporting a rider, subject to annual adjustment.
Instead, Frey struck a deal to boost Uber driver pay to the city minimum wage and guarantee at least $5 per ride.
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The president at the University of Wisconsin says the challenge now is to deal with the school’s financial challenges.
UW President Jay Rothman told university regents there’s been plenty of attention paid to the university’s deficits and diversity, equity and inclusion budget cuts. Now, though, the job is to find answers.
“Our focus now has to be on how to move forward from here,” Rothman said.
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With just 24 hours to go before the first Republican presidential primary debate of the 2024 campaign, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy spent Tuesday evening as he has spent almost every waking hour since launching his bid for the White House in February: Campaigning.
Ramaswamy held a high-energy rally at downtown Milwaukee’s beer garden, just feet away from the Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and site of Wednesday evening’s debate.
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State Rep. Ryan Clancy, one of two members of the Legislature’s Socialist Caucus, is an espouser of the law enforcement-hating, defund the police movement.
The Milwaukee Democrat recently proclaimed that police officers’ jobs “have neither dignity nor value.”
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With less than a month until the expiration of a contract between the United Auto Workers and the “Big Three” Detroit automakers, UAW President Shawn Fain is encouraging union members to vote in favor of a strike, with a strike authorization vote expected this week, with results anticipated by Thursday.
Meanwhile, UAW Local 51 is seeking a “peaceful gathering” on Wednesday.
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Arizona Republican Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake will be in attendance at Wednesday’s first Republican presidential candidates’ debate in Milwaukee, and she plans to speak up for an absent former President Donald Trump.
Lake, a close Trump ally, tells The Star News Network that she will do everything in her power to return the former president to the White House.
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Lost in last week’s wall-to-wall coverage of the latest Trump indictment and President Joe Biden’s public-relations tour on the one-year anniversary of his costly Inflation Reduction Act was the anniversary of a dark chapter in American military history.
As the Washington Examiner reported:
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The field of candidates is now set for the 28 school districts across Minnesota that will hold “off-year” elections this November, where there are no legislative seats or congressional or statewide offices on the ballot.
While most of the nearly 300 other school districts across the state hold their elections during more visible campaign cycles (such as 2024), the school district communities with races this fall represent about 1.7 million residents across the state. Combined, those districts with seats up for election steward well over $4 billion in tax dollars.
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One Wisconsin Republican state senator wants the state’s Public Service Commission to “do their job,” and question a half-billion-dollar utility rate increase.
Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday that Wisconsin’s utility regulators are weighing rate hike requests for 2024 that range from 1.6% to 8.4%.
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A new report found the funding disparity between traditional public schools and their public charter school counterparts in Detroit is $6,202 per pupil or 35.3%.
Meanwhile, the average disparity in per-pupil funding between traditional public schools and their public charter school counterparts across 18 cities is $7,147 per pupil.
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The Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance starting Jan. 1, 2024, that ride-share companies say will force them out of the city because of increased costs and regulations.
The vote passed 7-5-1 to enact a minimum compensation of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute while transporting a rider, subject to annual adjustment.
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A former DFL legislator credited with leading a campaign to help Democrats recapture the state Senate in 2022 has landed a new job as a top lobbyist for the University of Minnesota.
Melisa Lopez Franzen, who served in the Minnesota Senate for a decade before choosing not to seek re-election last year, was announced as the U of M’s new executive director of government and community relations on Wednesday.
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As the scourge of fentanyl continues to rack up victims across the nation, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) was joined on Thursday by local and national law enforcement officials in Milwaukee County for a roundtable discussion on combatting the deadly drug.
The event, held in the suburban Milwaukee community of Franklin, included officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and North Central High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), state legislative leaders, and medical experts.
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The Growing Michigan Together Tour kicked off in Escanaba and will travel statewide to collect feedback from Michiganders about what lawmakers can do to attract and retain talent.
This feedback will inform the Growing Michigan Together Council’s report due by Dec. 1.
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Multiple times in 2021, Michigan’s utilities left more than 100,000 people in the dark after powerful storms uprooted trees and left inches of ice coating power lines – more than its Midwest neighbors, according to federal data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s annual 2021 electric power report says Michiganders faced more than 800 minutes of electric interruptions in 2021 that lasted longer than five minutes – nearly double the national total and more than its Midwest neighbors.
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A lifelong dream to have his own place hasn’t exactly gone as planned for Kent Bergmann behind Campanelle in Lino Lakes.
“The name of the restaurant is nothing more than a noodle. We make those noodles fresh every single morning. It’s a Campanelle noodle is what it’s called. It’s like baked mac and cheese on steroids,” Bergmann explained.
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The entire police force of Goodhue, Minn., has resigned and the town has no applicants to fill the vacancies, leaving the future of law enforcement in the community uncertain.
Police Chief Josh Smith will remain in the post until Aug. 24, but has told the city he could not find anyone willing to join the force, Fox News reported.
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Nearly three years after the 2020 presidential election, Americans are still learning facts about possible nationwide voter fraud. In Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has now confirmed that there was a state investigation into thousands of suspected fraudulent voter registrations, which was referred to the FBI.
Danny Wimmer, Nessel’s press secretary, told Just the News on Tuesday that among 8,000 to 10,000 voter registration forms that were submitted to the Muskegon clerk before the 2020 general election, some were suspected to be fraudulent.
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On the one-year anniversary of the ill-named Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden paid a call on Milwaukee to sell his tax-and-spend policies that the White House likes to call “Bidenomics.”
But a lot of Badger State residents who have seen their earnings swallowed up by the inflation fueled in no small part by “Bidenomics” aren’t seeing the benefits the president is touting.
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Brian Schimming is one busy guy these days.
Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, is spending a lot of time fielding calls from media, campaigns and fellow Republicans preparing to descend on Milwaukee next Wednesday for the first debate of the presidential primary season.
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Membership of a new commission tasked with redesigning the Minnesota state flag and seal was supposed to be finalized earlier this month. But it appears it’s not quite ready to begin its work, which is to be completed and sent to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2024.
While Gov. Tim Walz appointed three members of the public to the 17-member State Emblems Redesign Commission earlier this month, a handful of appointees from state councils and agencies had not yet been listed as filled on the webpage for the body as of Monday. The commission was supposed to be finalized by Aug. 1, according to statute.
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In Wisconsin, a group of parents are expressing outrage over what they believe to be injuries caused to their daughters due to a “transgender” athlete participating in their sports practice.
According to Fox News, the parents said that their daughters have begun coming home from practice with bruises and welts that they had never seen before. Due to confidentiality concerns, the parents have not yet revealed which school their daughters attend, nor which sport they play. All that is known for now is that they are located somewhere in the Green Bay Area Public School District.
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Michigan taxpayers will pay $506,000 to five private boating companies and one university to demonstrate electric boating potential on the Great Lakes, including shore-side charging stations.
“The Fresh Coast Maritime Challenge, along with today’s grant recipients, represent a critical investment in our water recreation infrastructure that will help to attract visitors, create jobs and preserve the natural beauty of our lakes and waterways for generations to come,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “By expanding access to e-boats and charging solutions, Michigan will further foster a thriving mobility ecosystem that supports local businesses, enhances community offerings and boosts overall economic growth.”
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Two affiliated Catholic colleges in Minnesota adopted a policy for the new academic year allowing “non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender-nonconforming individuals” to enroll in a men’s or women’s college based on the sex with which they identify.
The colleges’ previous policy only explicitly referred to “transgender” students, except in a “frequently asked question” that noted non-binary students must “consistently live and identify” as either a man or a woman.
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The Milwaukee Brewers have reportedly threatened to look into moving the team, currently leading the National League Central, if they do not receive the taxpayer funding they want to renovate American Family Field.
The legitimacy of those threats, published anonymously by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, are being questioned.
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Wisconsin officials aren’t saying how much a new program to grow the state’s direct care workforce by 10,000 will cost taxpayers.
The program, launched by the Department of Health Services, includes free classes and promises a pair of $250 bonuses. The state has said it will use federal COVID-19 relief funds to cover the expense.
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Efforts to reform Michigan’s pension system for public school employees may take decades to show results, according to one expert.
Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System liability continues to grow despite past attempts at pension reforms.
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Critics of a recent lawsuit filed to force new representative maps believe forcing the 17 state senators elected by using those maps to run again is going too far.
The suit filed last week with the Wisconsin Supreme Court asks the court to not only draw new maps for the 2024 election, but also have those 17 state senators elected last year to run again next year.
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Minnesota gas prices keep creeping closer to the national average after jumping nearly 40 cents in the past month.
Minnesotans are paying an average of $3.81 a gallon as of Friday, according to the most recent figures provided by the American Automobile Association. The national average hit $3.84.
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The fastest growing city in Minnesota, and one of the fastest growing suburban communities in America, has banned the use of smokeable marijuana in its public spaces. And they’re doing it for the kids, according to city leaders.
The Lakeville City Council voted this week to create a new ordinance that prohibits the smoking of cannabis and hemp in public places — including parks, streets, sidewalks and other outdoor spaces where people can gather. Violation of the new ordinance, which takes effect immediately, is a petty misdemeanor, punishable by a $300 ticket, according to a city report on the measure.
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The final defendants accused of being fake electors in Michigan’s 2020 presidential election pleaded not guilty Thursday to all eight counts and were each released on a personal recognizance bond.
In mid-July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged each of the 16 with one count of conspiracy to commit forgery, two counts of forgery, one count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, one count of uttering and publishing, one count of conspiracy to commit election law forgery, and two counts of election law forgery.
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Former Republican donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison Wednesday for sex trafficking multiple minor girls.
“Anton Lazzaro was a predator who hid in plain sight. He was a sex trafficker who camouflaged his true nature with his wealth and privilege. Today, his crimes were laid bare, and justice was served,” prosecutors said in a statement following Lazzaro’s sentencing.
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A Milwaukee County supervisor took to social media Tuesday to oppose an idea to revive a sales tax to pay for upgrades and renovations at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.
County Supervisor Peter Burgelis shot down the plan in a tweet after it was suggested Monday by Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman.
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Michigan’s local school districts establish their own policies on informing parents of a child’s gender choice.
States like New Jersey and California have been involved in legal disputes about if parents should be notified about a child’s gender choice.
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Governor Tony Evers turned to his veto pen once again last week, this time killing consumer protection bills that interfered with his far-left climate change agenda, according to the state’s largest business lobby.
The Democrat vetoed Assembly Bills 141 and 142, and Senate Bill 49, among 10 Republican-led bills killed by a governor who has used the state’s powerful veto pen more liberally than any governor in Badger State history.
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Gov. Tim Walz won’t call a special session to make changes to the new adult-use recreational marijuana law to fix loopholes Republicans allege effectively decriminalize use for minors.
Walz told reporters gathered for a press conference Tuesday that it’s clear to him it’s still illegal for minors to use marijuana products. He said he won’t be calling a special session at the request of House Republicans, but said he expects that legislators may choose to tweak the new laws during the 2024 regular legislative session.
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Per student spending in Michigan is up 24.8% over the past 17 years as Michigan has pumped more money into K-12 education while enrollment has been in a two-decade decline.
Enrollment fell 17.5% between 2003-04 and 2020-21, from 1.71 million students to 1.44 million. Two years later, after a nominal gain, it was down to 1.43 million. There was just one year in the 20 with an increase other than 2021-22’s nominal rise, a year impacted by COVID-19.
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The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Wisconsin have filed a motion to intervene in Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, an election lawsuit filed in the Badger State by attorney Marc Elias, known as the fixer for the Democratic Party and its politicians.
The original suit, filed in Dane County Circuit Court by the Elias Law Group in July, demands Wisconsin voters be once again allowed to return absentee ballots in drop boxes.
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Former President Donald Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 presidential election in Michigan, according to a new poll.
Trump received 43% support, while Biden came in at 41% and Green Party candidate Cornel West is at 4%, while 4% support someone else and 7% are undecided, according to a survey of registered voters released last week by Emerson College Polling.
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More than a dozen communities across the state participated in Brave Books’ first annual “See You at the Library” event over the weekend, a national movement to “bring traditional Christian and American values back into the public space,” local event organizers told Alpha News.
“When we saw Brave Books was looking for people to host story hours at their local libraries, we thought it would be an awesome way to connect with the community, educate parents how low our literacy rates are, and bring an hour of fun to families right in their local library,” said Britni Granquist with Dakota County Moms for Liberty, which helped organize five story hours across the south metro attracting more than 600 attendees.
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The ACLU of Wisconsin voiced its opposition against a new state law that would send people who sell fentanyl that kills people to jail.
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday signed a law requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for people who sell the drugs involved in deadly fentanyl overdoses.
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