A former employee says Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley has driven an unmarked city-owned police car since 2019.
The perk has cost taxpayers up to $41,000 in lease costs, auto insurance, maintenance, and gas.
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A nearly $8 billion finalized transportation bill has cleared the House and Senate and is on its way to the desk of Gov. Tim Walz to be signed into law.
On Sunday, the DFL-controlled House and Senate voted along party lines to pass the conference committee report for HF2887. That omnibus transportation finance bill includes nearly $1 billion in new taxes and fees dedicated to transit and roads that will come from three sources: a new metropolitan area sales tax increase of 0.75 percent, a 50-cent fee for all deliveries of retail goods over $100 and a gas tax increase indexed to inflation. An increase in fees for automobile registrations and a sales tax increase for purchase of automobiles will also add more than $340 million in new revenues for transportation expenditures over the next two years.
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Liberals talk a lot about equity — until it comes to funding popular parental school choice programs.
A new poll by the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Foundation finds voters overwhelmingly believe there should be equitable funding for public, choice and charter schools.
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Michigan faces a nearly $900 million revenue loss this year thanks to recent tax changes as lawmakers plan a record $81 billion budget for fiscal year 2024.
At Michigan’s Revenue Estimating Conference, state Treasurer Rachael Eubanks, Senate Fiscal Agency Director Kathryn Summers, and House Fiscal Agency Director Mary Ann Cleary reached a consensus on revised revenue figures for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
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The University of Minnesota recently held an event just for “BIPOC students” considering grad school, prompting a complaint to be filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights alleging racial discrimination.
As the feds review the complaint’s merits, the university scrubbed the event page and wiped information about the gathering from its website.
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Wisconsin’s new state budget will include millions more for farmers across the state, including more than $6 million for clean water projects.
The budget writing Joint Finance Committee last week added $16 million to the being-written state spending plan.
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Is HF1830 a bill that funds state government operations? Or is it an “elections bill?”
It depends who you ask.
Rep. Ginny Klevorn, DFL-Plymouth, who carried the bill in the House, says it’s maybe a little bit of both.
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Wisconsin is looking to set aside $125 million for PFAS (Polyfluorinated Substances) contamination abatement across the state.
The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) on Thursday agreed to create a trust fund to help local communities deal with PFAS in their local water supplies.
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Learning losses for Minnesota students during the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a combined lifetime income loss exceeding $23.7 billion, according to research from Harvard and Stanford universities.
The Education Recovery Scorecard was released this week by Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford. The scorecard measures learning loss in 40 states between 2019 and 2022, and estimates how much earnings will be subtracted from students’ lifetime earnings.
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The threat Wisconsin may see less money over the next two years is not deterring one budget reform group from pushing for “historic” tax reform.
The Institute for Reforming Government this week released its Playbook for Income Tax Relief in Divided Government.
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Michigan lawmakers are calling on the state’s environmental agency to release an impact report for the planned Gotion electric vehicle battery factory.
Eight Republican lawmakers signed a letter sent to Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Acting Director Aaron Keatley, saying the environmental impact of the factory was unclear.
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The House and Senate voted this week to pass a conference report amending HF2, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, that will tax employers and employees to help fund a new, state-run paid leave insurance program.
As amended by a DFL-only conference committee, the version of the bill that will head to Gov. Tim Walz for signature now includes a provision agreed upon by conferees to implement payroll taxes for the program on Jan. 1, 2026. Conferees also agreed to dedicate nearly $650 million in existing state revenue in 2024 as “seed money” for the program so that the state can begin providing those benefits in 2026.
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The prospects for Wisconsin’s shared revenue plan got a bit dimmer Thursday after the top Republican in the State Senate said his half of the legislature wants a slightly different plan of their own.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told reporters Thursday morning that the Senate will hold some public hearings, then vote on a version of the shared revenue proposal that Senators agree upon.
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The people who knew and loved Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving fully understand the perils of policing.
Jerving, 37, was fatally shot by a robbery suspect in the line of duty on Feb. 7, the first of four officers killed on the job in the past few months.
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A retired St. Paul police officer has been fined by his homeowners association for flying a thin blue line flag in support of police outside his home, he told Alpha News.
“I will give you one hour to take that down,” Archie Smith, a police officer of over 30 years, alleges was the message delivered to him via a phone call from the Orleans Terrace Homeowners Association.
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Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by three-tenths of a percentage point to 3.8% during April, according to data from the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget.
Employment in the state rose by 30,000, while unemployment decreased by 14,000. Michigan’s labor force rose by 18,000 over the month, with some sectors rebounding from COVID’s job losses.
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The Sun Prairie Area School District is charging a Milwaukee-based law firm more than $11,000 for records connected to what witnesses called a “disturbing” incident involving a transgender “woman” in a high school girls’ locker room.
Dan Lennington, deputy legal counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), told The Wisconsin Daily Star that the charge is excessive and the law firm is considering all of its legal options.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the discovery of a data breach involving cybersecurity company Fortra, which may have affected more than four million people worldwide.
This attack specifically targeted medical data.
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A Minneapolis Public Schools employee has been charged after a student found a bag containing two loaded guns inside Loring Elementary School on the city’s north side.
Charges say Derrick Lee Lind, 20, brought a backpack into the school on April 23, 2023, that contained a stolen gun and another gun with a “switch” that modifies a gun to fire automatically.
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Republicans are speaking out against the DFL majority’s decision to remove a bipartisan proposal to expand the sales tax exemption for baby products from an omnibus tax bill.
“Who was against this?” asked Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, during a Monday press conference. “It passed with unanimous bipartisan support. It has a relatively small fiscal impact. So where was the controversy?”
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The Female Athletics Integrity of Records Act was introduced last week in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Otherwise known as House Bill 4546, the FAIR Act aims to require the categorization of sporting event awards, rankings, and records with each competitor’s biological sex. If signed into law, the law would apply to any publicly-funded event with clearly designated male and female competitions.
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In need of quiet solitude not long ago, I did the obvious: I got on Milwaukee’s streetcar, The Hop.
It did not disappoint: In all, five people Hopped on, then off, as we trundled 2.1 miles across downtown.
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Wisconsin state tax collections over the next three years are projected to come in more than three-quarters of a billion dollars lower than expected, according to a new report from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Republican lawmakers say the revised projections further underscore their efforts to remake a more fiscally responsible biennial budget out of Democrat Governor Tony Evers’ big-spending proposal.
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University of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said the “war for talent” is driving his vision for the school, which he says is necessitating both a tuition increase and a request for $200 million more in the next state budget.
Rothman told WisPolitics’ Newsmakers program that Wisconsin must do both in order to compete in that war.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined federal, state, and local leaders to break ground on a 41,900 square-foot facility to transform two hangars into a new hangar equipped for fighter maintenance at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
The new facility will house maintenance on the main level and leadership/staff offices and classrooms on the second floor.
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Learning losses for Michigan students during the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a combined lifetime income loss exceeding $19 billion, according to research from Harvard and Stanford universities.
The Education Recovery Scorecard was released this week by Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford. The scorecard measures learning loss in 40 states between 2019 and 2022, and estimates how much earnings will be subtracted from students’ lifetime earnings.
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The Minneapolis DFL Ward 10 convention ended in chaos Saturday afternoon as fights broke out and a large police presence responded to the scene.
The convention was gaveled to a close before either City Council Member Aisha Chughtai or candidate Nasri Warsame received the endorsement.
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The Wisconsin Elections Commission has been hit with an order from a Dane County judge ordering it to rehear a complaint filed against Republicans tied to the false slate of electors the party submitted in 2020.
Judge Frank Remington said he will formally issue a written decision next week or shortly thereafter.
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For over a century, the Catholic Charities Bureau of Superior, Wis., has aided people of all faiths: the developmentally disabled, seniors, and children, many of them low income. As Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki recently noted, since the time of Jesus Christ, the Church has had “a mandate from Scripture to serve the poor.”
The state of Wisconsin disagrees. Its labor division has ruled that the charity is not eligible for a religious exemption from contributing to the state’s unemployment insurance system, because it offers its services free of proselytizing, regardless of clients’ religious background. As a result, Wisconsin’s Labor and Industry Review Commission determined it was essentially a secular organization, not operated for “primarily religious purposes.”
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The University of Wisconsin (UW) System will no longer require new employees to submit statements outlining their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), CBS 58 Newsroom reported.
UW System President Jay Rothman announced the decision to end diversity statements to lawmakers on Thursday while delivering testimony in front of the state House of Representatives, according to CBS 58. Republican lawmakers, who have expressed interest in eliminating DEI programs, had threatened to cut campus state funding, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
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A new O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) video shows University of St. Thomas Associate Director of Residence Life Zoe Chang stating that the school allows biological males who identify as women to share living spaces with females.
This, according to Chang, is done as discreetly as possible in order to avoid upsetting parents. The video, OMG said in an email, documents the “mountain of rule changes and preferential treatment provided to trans students when it comes to their housing accommodations.”
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In Michigan, local school district evaluations stated that there were only 165 teachers out of the 115,910 evaluated in 2021-22 that were found to be “inefficient.”
Statistically, that translated to 0%. In fact, 99% of all Michigan public school teachers last year were rated either as “highly efficient” or “efficient,” the highest two of four evaluation categories.
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It seems TikTok just can’t quit its creeping ways.
U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08), chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, is seeking answers from the controversial video hosting site on allegations of ongoing censorship and monitoring of individuals, including those who view LGBTQ-related content on the platform.
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Minnesota legislators are instituting universal background checks for handgun sales, further limitations regarding no-knock warrants, “red flag” laws, increase funding for public defenders, reform sentencing, and several other restrictions.
Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, and Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, led the conference committee that met Wednesday night regarding the measures, via omnibus bills HF2890/SF2909.
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The Democrat-dominated Michigan House passed multiple budget bills for the fiscal 2023-24 year, sparking outcry from Republicans who say the roughly $80 billion budget – the most expensive in state history- is full of wasteful spending.
“This budget sets the priorities Michiganders asked for,” Rep. Angela Witwer, D-Delta Township and chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “We’ve invested in health-care worker recruitment and retention to strengthen our economy and shorten wait times to see providers. We’ve prioritized public safety by allocating funding to graduate a new class of officers to help keep us safe. We’re supporting the small local businesses that are the heart of our local economies.”
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A new report from Business Leaders for Michigan calls for a “holistic” strategy to attract and retain residents.
The 2023 Economic Development Framework identifies challenges that have historically prevented Michigan from creating and sustaining long-term solutions.
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by Hayley Feland The Minnesota DFL’s controversial “Take Pride Act” seeks to abolish existing state law allowing nonprofits that serve minors to uphold sex distinctions in hiring practices, such as scouting and youth sports organizations. Renee Carlson, general counsel of True North Legal, called the legislation a “significant encroachment on the fundamental liberties of Minnesotans who choose to live consistent with their personal moral values and religious beliefs.” “Under the guise of human rights, this legislation would shrink the scope of current exemptions under the law, effectively banning disagreement over the government’s perception of sexual orthodoxy, finding those who reasonably object to government ideology in violation of the law,” she told Alpha News. Carlson, who submitted a two-page letter to legislators outlining her concerns with the bill, said the Take Pride Act “is not about equality.” “To the contrary, this bill strikes at the delicate balance and preservation afforded to individuals in a free-thinking society, chipping away the most basic fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Minnesota State Constitution,” she explained. “Rather than protect fundamental liberties, this bill creates a slippery slope to continue repealing the law’s existing protections for people of conscience — especially individuals who believe in sex-based…
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Lauri Badura lost her son Archie to an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2014. Back then, she had no idea what the synthetic opiod was.
Now, the Oconomowoc activist who has committed her life to fighting the scourge of the deadly drug knows better than any that “fentanyl is America’s new ‘F’ word.’”
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As the Biden administration goes about the legally suspect quest of federalizing get-out-the-vote efforts, more than a dozen U.S. senators are asking for an accounting of the “Promoting Access to Voting” campaign.
U.S. Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Bill Haggerty (R-TN) are among the 14 Republican senators who sent a letter to Biden requesting full transparency on Executive Order 14019, which directs federal agencies to submit strategic plans to the White House describing how they will use taxpayer-funded resources to “provide access to voter registration services and vote-by-mail ballot applications.”
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The latest plan to limit the books on school library shelves in Wisconsin could lead to lawsuits over “obscene materials.”
State Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, and Republican state Sen. Andre Jacque, R-DePere, are looking for support for their plans to ban material they deem obscene from school libraries, as well as allow parents to sue librarians if they break the law.
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States without prevailing wage laws pay far less for road construction and repairs than states with them, according to a study written by Dr. Michael Hicks, a professor of economics at Ball State University.
Hicks concludes prevailing wage laws increase costs by 8.5% to 14.3% per mile of quality-road construction. Using 2018 costs in Michigan – the year the Great Lakes State repealed its prevailing wage law – those percentages translate as $5,900 to $9,200 per mile of road.
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There was no disagreement among DFLers and Republicans on the Senate floor Monday over whether Minnesota workers across all industries want and need expanded access to paid family and medical leave benefits.
To what degree the state should provide those benefits is where the differences between caucuses were stark and along party lines, as senators debated the highly controversial HF2 for more than six hours before the DFL’s one-vote majority held together to pass the bill.
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Former Republican attorney general candidate Jim Schultz said he has reached “successful outcomes” in two complaints made against him in the final days of the 2022 midterms.
In late October, the Minnesota DFL accused Schultz of illegally coordinating with an independent expenditure group, Minnesota for Freedom, by purchasing ads using the same agent.
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Some Michigan lawmakers want to end life sentences without parole for those under the age of 19.
Michigan has more juveniles sentenced to life parole than any other state, said Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Holt, said in the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday morning. Holt said that 26 states ban life-without-parole for juveniles. The recidivism rate for kids leaving the system is less than 1%, O’Neal said.
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Leading corporate woke warriors Nike and Adidas, which have made virtue signaling an art form, are now facing more questions about benefitting on the backs of forced laborers in China.
Lawmakers on the House’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party want answers.
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Two Minneapolis neighborhood organizations are inviting residents to participate in a “pilgrimage to George Floyd Square” along with a visit to the nearby “Say Their Names” cemetery.
George Floyd Square is the name given to 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the intersection where Floyd died in May 2020. The intersection, officially recognized as “George Perry Floyd Square” by the city of Minneapolis last year, is revered by left-wing activists as a “sacred space” where baptisms and even “miracles” have taken place.
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Lawmakers are crafting the next budget, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office is trying to hide accountability measures while boosting spending.
In 2018, Whitmer made a transparency pledge while running for office. Now, in her second term, her office is trying to hinder transparency efforts in the next budget process.
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The focus at the Wisconsin Capitol has, so far, been on sending more money to local governments across the state. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says that’s going to change.
Vos on Friday told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber that Republicans are working on a plan to use about $3 billion of Wisconsin’s record $7 billion surplus on tax cuts.
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A Michigan city in the Upper Peninsula is fighting Walmart over tax assessments.
The Center Square reported about the “dark stores” strategy in June 2021, when vacant big box retail stores often seek the property assessed at tax rates sometimes 50 percent lower than previous rates, which often leaves local taxpayers to foot the tab.
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Norwegian hydrogen company Nel Hydrogen says it will create a $400 million automated gigawatt electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Michigan expected to create 500 manufacturing jobs.
Nel hasn’t finalized a location for the new gigafactory, which will be the first in the United States to manufacture equipment for the production of liquid alkaline electrolysis.
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