A Minnesota state representative is renewing her push to require schools to teach students about “diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.”
State Rep. Sydney Jordan, a Democrat from Minneapolis, said Friday she has introduced a bill to bring comprehensive sex education, or CSE, to all Minnesota schools.
“Students are demanding access to information about their bodies, consent, and contraception and it’s time the [Minnesota Legislature] listens,” she said.
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A town of about 300 people in rural Michigan received $12.5 million from the Michigan Legislature to build a senior center.
The money was allocated from the budget approved last summer. Now, the Alcona County Commission on Aging plans to build a complete community hub in Lincoln, consisting of the senior center, housing, and recreation facilities to encourage younger people to interact with seniors.
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State Rep. Cindi Duchow has been on a crusade for years to tighten up Wisconsin’s bail laws, and the effort began close to home.
“I have been working on this a long time,” the Delafield Republican told Empower Wisconsin last week. “It started mainly when a man on my street was charged with molesting his grandchildren and was out on ($75,000) bail. For several months he was free.”
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Gov. Tony Evers is already taking things off the list of possible compromises at the Wisconsin Capitol.
The governor told WISN TV on UPFRONT that he will not sign a flat tax or universal school choice plan if Republicans send him one.
“A flat tax, if that’s part of the budget, that could end it. If it’s universal school choice across the state for education, that could be a killer too. But we’ll see. I don’t think any of those things are going to happen, so I’m planning on signing a good budget.”
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The 15th vote was the charm for U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). But Wisconsin’s Republican House members had the new Speaker’s back from the first vote.
As McCarthy finally claimed enough votes for his narrow victory early Saturday morning (on the 15th ballot), U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) tweeted a photo of himself holding the last tally with the celebratory message, “McCarthy Wins!”
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The St. Louis Park city government acknowledged in a recent newsletter that the term “manhole” could be offensive because it’s not “gender-neutral.”
“The city acknowledges that ‘manhole’ is not a gender-neutral term. It’s used in this publication as a commonly understood term and as the current industry standard to describe these structures,” says a footnote in a December newsletter on city infrastructure.
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The top Republican in the Wisconsin Senate is talking about inflation.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu on Wednesday used his speech to the newly sworn-in State Senate to talk about the pressure that inflation is exerting on Wisconsin residents.
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The University of Michigan (UM) spends more than $18 million annually to support its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff, according to an analysis of public salary records by UM emeritus professor Mark Perry.
UM pays a total of $18,120,242 to support more than 142 staff members who work to promote DEI initiatives on campus during the 2022-2023 school year, according to data analyzed by Perry. The total equals the amount it would take to cover the cost of in-state tuition for 1,075 students, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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A group of mothers defending “common-sense” and “bipartisan” abortion restrictions in Minnesota have made clear their belief that the state’s objections are legally flawed.
On Thursday a court hearing was held about the dispute between the attorney general’s office and the advocacy group Mothers Offering Maternal Support (MOMS). Judge Thomas Gilligan of the Ramsey County District Court presided over the hearing, the same judge who had struck down multiple abortion restrictions as “unconstitutional” in July.
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Approximately twice as many Michiganders approve of a right-to-work law than oppose it, according to a statewide poll released Thursday by TargetPoint Consulting on behalf of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
The TPC poll concluded 58% of 800 Michigan voters surveyed support the state’s legislation; 29% of respondents oppose it. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.5%; Michigan has about 8.2 million registered voters.
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Republicans in Madison are moving quickly to change how bail works in Wisconsin.
A pair of lawmakers want to take the first vote next week on a Constitutional amendment that would give judges more latitude in deciding when to keep someone in jail and when to release them.
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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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Democrats are one step closer to fulfilling their campaign promise to enshrine a woman’s “right” to an abortion in Minnesota law.
The Minnesota House Health Finance and Policy Committee passed what opponents are calling an “abortion-until-birth” bill Thursday morning.
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Another report brings another round of good news for Wisconsin taxpayers.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a new study on Thursday that says the state’s tax burden is at its lowest level ever.
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An audit released Friday from the Office of Auditor General Doug Ringler marked 11 “material conditions” – the most severe rating – for how the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency operated during the pandemic, which resulted in losing billions of taxpayer dollars.
The audit found the UIA couldn’t support the appropriateness of $10.2 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments, mostly because it added invalid eligibility criteria in the PUA application and didn’t require some PUA claimants to certify they met federal eligibility criteria.
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As tempers flare in the Republican battle for Speaker of the House, the anti-establishment conservatives blocking Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid are being likened to pirates — and worse.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a McCarthy loyalist, called the Republican defectors terrorists. They’ve reportedly been described as the “Taliban 19.”
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Minnesota Democrats introduced a bill Thursday to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults over the age of 21.
With control of both chambers of the Legislature, and a governor who is ready to sign it into law if passed, they are confident this is the year it will happen.
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Madison East High School will host a “family friendly” drag show later this month, a taxpayer-funded woke event that is “Exhibit A” for expanded school choice, according to a parental rights activist.
East High parents recently received an email announcing the event, sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. The show is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 19, according to the school’s calendar. The festivities will take place in the high school’s Margaret Williams Theater.
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Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow on Thursday said she won’t seek reelection to the office she’s held since Jan. 3, 2001. Her current term ends Jan. 3, 2025.
Stabenow, 72, said she’s stepping down to “pass the torch” to a younger generation of Democrats.
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The Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee (PAC) on Thursday came out in favor of Justice Daniel Kelly’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Kelly previously served on the court from 2016 to 2020 but failed to get reelected that spring. This year, he will face state Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow (3rd District), Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell (Branch 4), and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz (Branch 24) in the February 21 primary. The top two vote-getters will compete for the high-court seat in an April 4 general election.
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With more than a $17 billion projected surplus, the Democrats released their priorities at a capitol news conference Wednesday.
“We are moving swiftly because that’s what Minnesotans expect and deserve,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said. “Although there were bipartisan wins over the last four years, many of Minnesotans’ priorities were blocked by the Republican Senate majority. With unified DFL control of state government, we now have an opportunity to work quickly to improve people’s lives. The DFL-led House and Senate are going to work hard and work together to meet the needs of Minnesotans and build a state that works better for everyone.”
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Kay LeClaire, the far-left Madison, Wisconsin-based activist who claimed an American-Indian heritage and clamored for radical causes she said benefitted the indigenous community, is facing public denunciation after being exposed as entirely white.
LeClaire, who went by the alias nibiiwakamigkwe [lower-case in the original] is a co-founder of giige [also lower-case in the original]. The arts-oriented group describes itself as “an Indigenous and queer space for the community in and around Teejop [a Ho-Chunk tribal word for the Great Lakes region].” Though female, LeClaire describes herself as “nonbinary,” denying she belongs to either sex.
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After the FBI declared the popular Chinese video app TikTok a national security threat, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer continues to post on the platform.
Whitmer posted three videos in three days to her 186,000 followers. The most recent post is video of her second inauguration on Jan. 1.
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Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., is standing by its decision to punish an art instructor who shared two Renaissance depictions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in class.
Reports of the instructor’s removal generated outrage among free-speech advocates, who called the school’s actions “one of the most egregious violations of academic freedom in recent memory.”
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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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General Motors (GM) gave a grant to an organization that supplies elementary schools with books promoting the transgender ideology.
The automotive manufacturing company donated money to the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) “Rainbow Library Program,” according to a 2021 Social Impact Report published by GM.
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American Catholic leaders are acclaiming the life and work of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose scholarly writings emphasized the unity of faith and reason and, most fundamentally, the primary truth of the Catholic faith, which teaches God is Love.
Benedict, who was born Joseph Ratzinger, died Saturday at the age of 95. He became pope in April 2005, following the death of Pope John Paul II, and served until his resignation in February 2013.
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On the latest episode of “Liz Collin Reports,” Liz sat down with incoming Minnesota state representative Dawn Gillman to discuss Republican priorities for the new legislative session, advice for Minnesota parents trying to navigate left-wing ideology in their children’s schools, and more.
Gillman was the founder of Let Them Play Minnesota, a grassroots movement that successfully pressured Gov. Tim Walz into reopening schools and their athletic programs in the fall of 2020. She said the movement grew to a whopping 25,000 members and raised over $500,000 in under a year.
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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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In her second inaugural address on Sunday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer indicated her administration’s priorities for her upcoming four-year term.
Although she said she would provide more details in her upcoming State of the State and budget addresses, Whitmer hinted Sunday she would work on “common sense” gun control measures, advocate for abortion rights and same-sex marriage, and promote climate change measures.
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Wisconsin’s governor has issued more pardons than any governor in modern history.
Gov. Tony Evers last week issued another 171 pardons, bringing his four-year total to 774.
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It may be the most money some people ever see from the Wisconsin Lottery.
Lottery managers in the state said the latest lottery tax credit means a $213 tax cut for the average homeowner in the state.
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Up to 100 small businesses in Washtenaw County, Michigan may benefit from $5,000 grants and free assistance programs when the county launches its Small Business Growth Activator in January.
Operated by the Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development, SBGA is designed to assist online, brick-and-mortar or mobile businesses with seven or fewer employees with a household income less than 80% of Washtenaw County’s median income. The intent is to help businesses that fell through the cracks of qualifying for assistance programs for small businesses, such as the Paycheck Protection Program.
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Results of the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey have revealed that increasing numbers of middle and high school students are struggling with depression, anxiety, and poor “educational engagement.”
Conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) every three years, the anonymous survey asks fifth-, eighth-, ninth-, and 11th-grade students various questions about their physical and mental health, bullying, school environment, and alcohol and drug use.
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Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol aren’t yet on the same page about tax reform in the new year, but they are in almost total agreement on new state spending.
Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, told Matt Kittle on News Talk 1130 WISN on Tuesday that the Republicans who control the state legislature are still talking about what to do with Wisconsin’s record $6.6 billion surplus, and calls for tax reform.
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Michigan lost 3,391 residents between July 2021 and July 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 population estimates.
More people moved into the state than out, but deaths outpaced births by 12,482. Michigan experienced 117,639 deaths and only 105,157 births, which, along with the state’s dropping birth rate, could threaten Michigan’s status as the 10th most populated state if the trend continues.
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The new head of the Wisconsin Republican Party is talking like a Democrat.
Brian Schimming has said in a number of interviews over the past week that he wants to focus on early voting and raising money ahead of the spring election.
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A Hamline University art instructor was removed from her position after sharing two Renaissance depictions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in class, according to reports.
The professor has not been named in any reports on the incident but was identified as a female in the Pioneer Press.
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Michigan’s current $9.87 per hour full minimum wage will increase to $10.10 on Jan. 1.
Another increase could transpire in the coming year as well, depending on a determination by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
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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 former pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sleepy Eye, Minn., is facing charges of criminal sexual conduct after he allegedly had sex with an underage intern on multiple occasions.
Witnesses first reported Pastor Nathan Van Alfred Luong to Sleepy Eye police in May of this year, according to a criminal complaint. Around that same time, Faith Lutheran Church in Dodge Center announced Luong as their new pastor, the Christian Post first reported.
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Title 42 remains in place — at least for now.
The U.S. Supreme Court this week temporarily blocked the lifting of the Trump-era rule that provided at least some check on the Biden administration’s failure to secure the U.S. southern border. Put in place in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, the rule curtails general asylum for illegal immigrants, quickly expelling them to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Most of Wisconsin’s new people moved into the state.
The U.S. Census Bureau last week released a population snapshot.
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Following a civil rights complaint, Roseville Area High School scrapped “priority” entry for non-white students and members of its Black Student Union (BSU) to a “know your rights” training event.
The high school’s media center initially sent an email Dec. 16 informing parents about a Dec. 20 student training event that discussed “navigating police encounters involving yourself — or others, in a way that protects your rights and helps keeps you safe.”
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Barry Croft Jr. was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison Wednesday after being convicted of planning to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
A jury found Croft guilty in August of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, possession of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered destructive device, with his associate Adam Fox being convicted of the first two crimes. The men intended to kidnap Whitmer from her Michigan vacation cottage and hold back her security detail and any law enforcement responders with destructive devices, according to the Western Michigan U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany (R-WI-07) is spearheading an effort in Congress to end the “year-and-a-day” rule for federal homicide prosecutions.
Tiffany’s “Justice for Murder Victims Act” would allow murder charges to apply if an attacker committed an assault that resulted in the victim’s death more than a year and a day after the incident. Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) is cosponsoring the legislation, while Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) have introduced a companion bill in their chamber.
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Adam Fox was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for his lead role in a 2020 plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to NBC News.
A retrial jury found Fox guilty in August of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, also convicting Barry Croft Jr. of those charges and possession of an unregistered destructive device. The prosecution had lobbied for Fox to receive a life prison sentence, according to NBC News.
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Minnesota lost nearly 20,000 residents to other states in 2022.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of Minnesota lost 19,400 residents to domestic migration from July 2021 to July 2022.
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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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Minnesota’s population grew less than a single percentage point from July 2021 to July 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this month.
Minnesota’s population grew 0.1% in 2022, .03% in 2021 and .06% in 2020. The North Star State is the 22nd most populous state. The estimate for July 2022 was 5,717,184, up from an estimate of 5,711,471 the previous year. The 2020 U.S. Census indicated Minnesota’s population was 5,706,504.
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