Michigan’s largest teachers union and its health insurance affiliate must repay the U.S. government more than $200,000 after taking $12.5 million in federal loans for which they were ineligible.
Lawmakers intended Paycheck Protection Program loans to help small businesses afford to pay their employees during the initial COVID-19 shutdowns.
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Less than a month from the election, liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz is hiding, Republicans insist.
It’s gotten so bad the mainstream media is starting to cover Protasiewicz’s absence.
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Despite the fact that few people attended a ranked choice voting press conference at the Minnesota Capitol on Thursday, DFL legislators and paid RCV advocates expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of passing a bill that would implement their favored system of determining representation in the legislature and for statewide office.
State Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, and State Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope, have introduced a bill they’re calling the “Protect and Advance Democracy Act” that would make Minnesota a ranked choice voting state by 2026.
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Political candidates may soon be allowed to conceal their home address from the public on their election filing statements without having to file a police report or order for protection, according to a bill that’s receiving bipartisan support and set to hit the House floor.
Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, said she has colleagues in the legislature this session who receive threats to their personal safety regularly. She also said that in the recent past there have been incidents where “armed crowds of people (were) showing up unannounced at personal homes of some people we serve with.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed 2024 budget cuts for online public charter schools are receiving some pushback from school choice advocates and legislators.
On Friday, a group of eight lawmakers led by Rep. Luke Meerman, R-Coopersville, sent the governor a letter seeking to convince her to change course from her proposed 20% per-pupil cut for online charter schools, whereas online public school students did not receive a per-pupil funding cut.
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The University of Wisconsin is moving toward its first tuition increase in a decade.
UW President Jay Rothman told lawmakers on Thursday that he will ask regents to raise tuition by 5%, starting next fall.
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Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz will be a no-show for a key debate Tuesday sponsored by the liberal American Constitution Society. Now, according to the Russ-Feingold-led ACS, the debate is off, The Wisconsin Daily Star has learned.
The campaign for conservative candidate Daniel Kelly told the group that he would still attend the event — originally scheduled for noon Tuesday in Milwaukee — with or without his opponent. The Constitution Society said thanks, but no thanks. They are canceling the debate.
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Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann condemned Rep. Heather Keeler’s comments about “white Christians” adopting Native American children, calling it a “racist rant”.
“I’m sick of white Christians adopting our babies and rejoicing. It’s a really sad day when that happens. It means the genocide continues,” Keeler, a Democrat from Moorhead, said in a recent Facebook post.
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Michigan kicked off a $34 million marketing and retention campaign to attract people to fill 3,000 electric vehicle jobs.
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II called it the “nation’s largest-ever campaign” to promote electric vehicle careers.
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In the wake of growing support for the idea that COVID-19 originated in a lab in China, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) is reintroducing a bill requiring the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the pandemic.
Gallagher’s COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 comes back as the U.S. Department of Energy concludes at least with some confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak. The agency came to that conclusion based on a classified intelligence report provided to the White House and certain members of Congress.
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At least 10 elementary and high schools in the Minneapolis Public School District and St. Paul Public School District in Minnesota, did not have a single student meet grade level expectations in math during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a Wednesday report by the Center of the American Experiment, an organization focused on state public policy.
State wide, 19 school districts did not have one student test proficient in math on the 2022 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, a standardized test used to determine what students have learned, according to a Center of the American Experiment report. Of elementary schools in the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts, seven did not have a single student meeting grade level expectations in math.
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The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG), a Delafield-based free-market think tank, this week released a report detailing several reforms to improve Wisconsin’s healthcare system.
A major problem the document tackles is the state’s anticipated shortage of 2,263 physicians by 2035. Areas expected to be especially underserved are those west of Milwaukee, northwest of Madison, east of Lake Winnebago and in various locales along the state’s northern border.
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A Brown County judge has issued a temporary injunction, ordering the city of Green Bay and its mayor to “cease all audio surveillance and recording in Green Bay City Hall.”
Circuit Court Judge Marc Hammer late Thursday granted the injunction sought by the Wisconsin State Senate. He ordered the city to end its bugging program by 5 p.m. Thursday, almost immediately.
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The Michigan House approved a $1.3 billion spending bill with about half going to a planned Ford electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall.
The House voted 59-49 on House Bill 4016, which the Senate approved a day prior.
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The Michigan Senate approved a tax bill to boost the earned income tax credit and reduce retirement taxes, but doesn’t include the $180 inflation relief checks touted by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Republicans withheld the needed votes to issue $800 million worth of $180 inflation relief checks. In a Feb. 16 vote, Republicans again refused to give immediate effect to House Bill 4001 because they preferred permanent tax relief over a one-time check.
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A Democratic Minnesota legislator said it is a form of “genocide” for “white Christians” to adopt Native American children.
“I’m sick of white Christians adopting our babies and rejoicing. It’s a really sad day when that happens. It means the genocide continues,” Rep. Heather Keeler, DFL-Moorhead, said on Facebook.
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State Representative Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) on Wednesday said a leftist nonprofit could face legal action for its alleged election bribery in favor of state Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.
Brandtjen, who recently chaired the state Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, told The Wisconsin Daily Star she believes discussions toward that end are underway though no complaints against Wisconsin Takes Action have yet been filed at this writing.
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As readers may be aware, in the spring of 2022 my colleagues and I at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty represented three eighth-grade boys who were accused by the Kiel Area School District of “sexual harassment” under Title IX for “mispronouning.”
As we pointed out, “mispronouning” does not violate Title IX and is not “sexual harassment” under any reasonable definition of that term, and punishing students for their speech violates the First Amendment. The district had also violated Title IX’s clear procedural requirements. We urged the district to drop its misguided investigation, and it ultimately did.
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A bill making its way through the Minnesota Legislature with broad Democratic support would require all public school graduates to complete an ethnic studies course.
Authored by Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura, DFL-Minneapolis, the bill defines ethnic studies as “the critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the experiences and perspectives of people of color within and beyond the United States.”
“Ethnic studies analyzes the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be powerful social, cultural, and political forces, and the connection of race to other groups of stratification, including gender, class, sexuality, religion, and legal status,” it says.
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A planned electric vehicle battery plant has been paused after locals asked questions about Chinese ownership of the company.
The Big Rapids Township board voted for a federal review of national security risks with the Chinese company Gotion Inc., a subsidiary of China-based Gotion High-Tech Co., Ltd., a global manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries.
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The attorney representing the Wisconsin State Senate in a civil rights lawsuit against Green Bay — alleging the city bugged its citizens — is asking the local district attorney to open a criminal investigation into the audio-surveillance practices. “To our knowledge, those practices are unprecedented,” wrote attorney Ryan Walsh in a letter to Brown County District Attorney David Lasee. “We know of no other municipality in Wisconsin that has installed bugs in the hallways of the seat of government.” Walsh earlier this month filed the lawsuit against the city and Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich. The attorney represents the Senate, State Senator Andre Jacque (R-De Pere), Anthony Theisen, a former City Council member, and an unidentified female. The lawsuit alleges the installation of the audio recording devices is a violation of the Wisconsin Electronic Surveillance Control Law. The complaint, filed in Brown County Circuit Court, seeks an emergency temporary injunction and a court order requiring the defendants immediately disable the recording devices. It also would prohibit the defendants from accessing or disseminating any audio recordings obtained from devices installed in the building. As The Wisconsin Daily Star first reported, Green Bay city officials installed at least three audio recording devices in City…
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It’s time to open up the classified pandemic files, says U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
With revelations the U.S. Department of Energy now believes a lab leak was the likely cause of the COVID-19 outbreak, Gallagher is calling on the Biden administration to declassify the intelligence surrounding the origins of the deadly coronavirus.
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As two train derailments – one in Ohio and one in Michigan – remain national news, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel continue their crusade to shut down the Line 5 pipeline.
If successful in their efforts, moving the petroleum products would transition from pipelines to tanker truck and rail transportation, according to experts interviewed by The Center Square. This transition would likely drive up prices for consumers, increase carbon emissions, and prove less safe, they say.
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A war of words between the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners and Sheriff Bob Fletcher boiled over Friday as the board accused the sheriff of an “act of racism.”
The dispute began Tuesday when the board voted to increase oversight of Fletcher’s spending, which the sheriff welcomed.
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Michigan Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin on Monday announced her 2024 Senate for the seat of retiring fellow Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
The race for the open seat will likely intensify Michigan’s status as a battleground state, with Democrat Joe Biden having won it in 2020 and Republican Donald Trump having won it 2016.
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Wisconsin Department of Justice field trainer Jerry Mullen wants Attorney General Josh Kaul to play by the same rules DOJ employees have been forced to follow when it comes to COVID testing and vaccination status.
It appears Mullen is asking for too much.
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The Golden Valley Police Department is experiencing “unprecedented and dangerously low staffing levels,” according to a union leader, who said the city is down 61% from its budgeted force.
“The radical agenda of Golden Valley’s city leaders and their lack of support to the staff within the police department is having an effect on its residents and visitors to the community. It has caused unprecedented and dangerously low staffing levels as well as morale issues, as police officers are leaving in droves for employment with surrounding agencies,” said Jim Mortenson, executive director of Law Enforcement Labor Services.
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U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) and Katie Porter (D-CA-47) are pushing for passage of their reintroduced Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, a bill to publicize which federal projects are dramatically over budget or behind schedule.
The measure instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to generate an annual report on all projects that run at least $1 billion over initially authorized expenses or whose completion takes at least five years longer than originally scheduled.
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A major election reform bill that DFL members in the House and Senate are carrying for Secretary of State Steve Simon continues to progress through the legislature despite criticism its several sweeping provisions have received from Republicans in recent committee hearings.
HF3/SF3, coined the “Democracy for the People Act” by its sponsors, aims to implement automatic voter registration, pre-registration for 16- and 17-year olds, add new voter intimidation laws and related penalties, and require more disclosures of who is funding campaign ads, among several other provisions.
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The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has won another case based on the argument that you cannot discriminate against people based on their sex or the color of their skin.
WILL recently settled a case with Comcast over the company’s Comcast RISE program. That program offered grants to small businesses, but only if they are 51% owned by someone who is “Black, indigenous, a person of color, or female.”
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The Detroit City Council on Friday announced the members of the city’s new Reparations Task Force.
The Task Force was established after 80% of Detroit voters approved a 2021 ballot proposal to explore the feasibility of a reparation initiative. According to the Detroit News, the proposal from the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus came in part from the national response to the 2021 death of George Floyd.
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According to a county official in Texas, toxic wastewater used to put out a fire after a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio was carried to a suburb of Houston for disposal. According to the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, most of the contaminated soil is going to Michigan.
The wastewater is being delivered to Texas Molecular, a company that disposes of hazardous material by injecting it into the ground.
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Unsurprisingly, dairy and other farm groups in America’s Dairyland are not happy that the federal government wants to allow other people to use the term “milk.”
The FDA this week released its draft guidance on so-called milk alternatives.
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Public school enrollment in Minnesota has declined for a third consecutive year, according to data released this week by the Department of Education.
MDE said enrollment dropped by about 2,427 students during the 2022-23 academic year, a roughly 0.3% decrease.
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A significant majority of the state’s voters support using taxpayer dollars to subsidize private businesses.
According to a statewide poll conducted by the Glengariff Group, Inc., and commissioned by the Business Leaders for Michigan, 76% of respondents favor government grants to businesses seeking to relocate or expand their footprint in the state.
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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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When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Ford’s new $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant last week, her office’s news release said it would cost taxpayers $1 billion.
Nine days later, state officials asked for $750 million more to prep the Marshall site – bringing the possible total cost, if approved by lawmakers, to $1.75 billion.
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The Minnesota DFL’s abortion agenda could be in jeopardy, Democratic legislators revealed during a “reproductive freedom” rally at the Capitol Tuesday.
“We absolutely cannot stop with the PRO Act,” said Sen. Jen McEwen, DFL-Duluth, referring to the Protect Reproductive Options Act.
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Wisconsin abortion advocates are following up Tuesday’s nomination of liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice with strident calls for her election over conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly.
Protasiewicz and Kelly beat right-leaning Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow and progressive Judge Everett Mitchell of Dane County in Tuesday’s four-way nonpartisan primary. The following day, Dorow endorsed Kelly and Mitchell stated his support for Protasiewicz going forward.
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The Republican Party of Wisconsin launched a new website this week targeting liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s judicial record. The Wisconsin GOP has described Protasiewicz as ” soft-on-crime ” regarding her “dangerous” record.
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Last week, following the killing of police officer Peter Jerving, local and state leaders alike called for change to stop the senseless, preventable, tragic violence in Milwaukee. And they’re right. While the causes of violence are many, solving the crisis that is the Milwaukee criminal justice system would go a long way.
Let’s start with the front line – police officers and police policies.
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Live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Thursday morning on the Vicki McKenna Show- weekdays on News/Talk 1130 WISN, McKenna welcomed Matt Kittle of The Wisconsin Daily Star to the homesteader store hotline to talk about Sun Prairie School District’s discrimination laundering.
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As promised, the Wisconsin State Senate has filed a lawsuit against the city of Green Bay and its mayor alleging the installation of secret recording devices installed at city hall is a violation of the Wisconsin Electronic Surveillance Control Law.
The complaint, filed in Brown County Circuit Court, seeks an emergency temporary injunction and a court order requiring the defendants immediately disable the recording devices.
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The question of whether health care providers should be allowed to administer gender transition-related medical care to children — such as puberty blockers, mastectomies or hormone replacement therapy — became a flashpoint for debate in the Minnesota House of Representatives on Monday.
So much so that one DFL legislator, who appeared to defend such medical care being administered to minors, attempted to analogize it to infants and toddlers getting their ears pierced.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed $79 billion budget aims to allocate $10 million to transition the state’s automotive fleet to electric vehicles.
The governor budgeted $318 million on EV incentives: $150 million to help school districts buy 500 electric school buses; $65 million for EV charging stations; $48 million over two years for an EV sales and use tax exemption; and $45 million for local governments and businesses to transition their fleets to EVs.
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Sun Prairie Area School District’s use of American Family Insurance grant funds to promote programs that appear to be exclusively for black students is an attempt to launder race discrimination, a public interest law firm attorney told The Wisconsin Daily Star.
Documents obtained by The Star News Network show Madison-based American Family Insurance cut a check for $35,000 to fund a cross-country field trip in October for Sun Prairie East High School students to visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
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Minnesota Democrats are pushing a bill that would require public schools to provide “climate justice instruction.”
The bill says this type of instruction “views the effects of climate change as interconnected with forms of oppression connecting climate change to social and economic justice issues.”
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The Biden administration’s woke Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies are putting politics ahead of people and hurting retirees savings, a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.
The complaint, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of two Waukesha County residents, seeks a temporary restraining order prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing its controversial ESG rule, pending the resolution of the lawsuit. Ultimately, the suit seems a declamatory judgment that the rule violates federal law on administrative powers.
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After Michigan Republican senators blocked their Democrat counterparts’ plan to send state taxpayers $180 inflation-relief checks, Democrats stripped two lawmakers of their committee assignments.
Democrats relieved Sen. Joe Bellino, R-Monroe, of his leadership position, and removed Bellino and Sen. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway Township, from their committee assignments for voting against House Bill 4001 and blocking the ability to issue the $180 checks.
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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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