Josh Patchak, Green Bay Area School District chief operations officer, is sounding the alarm about a support staff positions shortage that some fear could come to impact students and teachers alike.
“This is much more challenging than years prior,” Patchak told WLUK this week.
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Wisconsin’s Democratic governor won’t be rude, but he’s also not rolling out the red carpet for President Joe Biden at an upcoming Labor Day campaign event.
Gov. Tony Evers didn’t sound excited at all Monday when asked about the president’s upcoming visit to Wisconsin.
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Few answers, if any, are being given about the move from Wisconsin’s election managers to put inactive voters back on the state’s voter rolls.
“Why we are returning anyone to the rolls in a state where anyone can vote as long as you have a voter ID is mind-boggling,” said Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls.
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After firing former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman from his position as special counsel in the state’s 2020 presidential election probe, GOP state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has withdrawn subpoenas the investigator previously issued to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) and the mayors of Madison and Green Bay.
Vos sent letters to the mayors and WEC officials on Friday withdrawing the subpoenas, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is touting planned upgrades, including a new commuter rail system that stretches 33 miles of active freight rail from Milwaukee to Kenosha.
Authorities highlight that the train will ultimately link with the Union Pacific North commuter rail system in Kenosha, a Railway Age report said this week. Overall, the line will access nine stations, six of them being new to the system, with the proposed trail running parallel to I-94 along Lake Michigan in southeastern Wisconsin.
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A former Milwaukee alderwoman might spend time behind bars for using her campaign bank account as a personal slush fund.
A judge on Thursday sentenced former Alderwoman Chantia Lewis to 30 days in jail and three years on probation.
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Wisconsin saw a mass exodus of public employees last year, and many of them simply quit.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released a study Thursday that said 17,646 people left their jobs as part of “other separations” in 2021.
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Election managers in Kenosha are promising not to use ballot drop boxes any longer.
Attorneys for the Thomas More Society on Wednesday said Kenosha agreed to stop using the drop boxes as part of a deal to end a lawsuit against the city.
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Wisconsin’s governor says he wants to cut taxes in the state.
After proposing more than $1 billion in new taxes and new spending in each of his two proposed state budgets, Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday proposed a $600 million tax cut and price cut plan.
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There’s now a threat of a lawsuit over La Crosse’s recent ban on conversion therapy.
The city council approved an ordinance in June that banned churches, ministers, or counselors from talking to young people about their sexual identity and gender.
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Eric Toney, the GOP candidate running for Wisconsin’s Attorney General, said Milwaukee was one of America’s most dangerous cities.
The Fond du Lac district attorney cited homicides within the city are on track to break the record of 193 set in 2021.
Yet, despite the reputation for violence, the city of Milwaukee police department has been arresting fewer and fewer people over the past nine years.
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It’s going to be a do-over in the race against Wisconsin’s Assembly Speaker.
Adam Steen, who lost to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in this month’s primary, on Thursday announced that he is running as a write-in candidate in November.
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is pressing the Pentagon, Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for answers after multiple whistleblowers raised concerns about the provenance of a Comirnaty-labeled COVID-19 vaccine shipped to military bases.
On Monday, nine military officers from across all the branches sent a whistleblower report to Congress regarding a COVID vaccine appearing at Coast Guard medical clinics. Key GOP senator presses feds for source of vaccine at military bases after whistleblower allegations
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Public health managers in Wisconsin have issued a public health advisory over a spike in fentanyl deaths.
The state’s Department of Health Services on Thursday said fentanyl deaths in Wisconsin are up 97% since 2019.
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A Wisconsin school board voted on Aug. 16 to prohibit the displaying of LGBTQ pride and Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms.
The Kettle Moraine school board in Wales, Wisconsin, examined a policy that prohibits educators and staff from “promoting partisan politics and sectarian religious views” which Superintendent Stephen Plum clarified to include pride and Black Lives Matter flags, according to Fox 6. The board approved the policy at the meeting, claiming that the flags are a violation of the code of conduct because they are political.
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One of Wisconsin’s outgoing lawmakers is using the back-to-school rush to push lawmakers to pay teachers more.
Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, on Wednesday released his final back-to-school op-ed in which he says lawmakers must do more.
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Expect a lot of talk about election security ahead of what Wisconsin’s election administrator says could be a record year for voting.
Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe on Tuesday answered questions about election integrity, election security, and what she expects for the November election.
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Now that Wisconsin’s special election investigator has been fired, one of the Republican lawmakers who led the investigation into the 2020 election wants to know what will happen with the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Monday said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos needs to be as tough on the Commission as he was on former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.
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Three Midwestern states scored best in the nation in analysis of laws restricting speech about government. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa outranked every other state by wide margins.
That’s the conclusion of a report issued by the Institute for Free Speech, a national nonprofit research facility that focuses on First Amendment rights. Wisconsin’s score of 86% out of a possible 100% was followed by Michigan (77%) and Iowa (75%).
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The political geography in Wisconsin politics is changing.
Tim Michels won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday by winning 62 of the state’s 72 counties, most of them outside of the traditional Republican base of southeast Wisconsin.
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The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of working age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, particularly for men without a college degree, and especially in states like Wisconsin. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown.
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Republicans in Wisconsin are offering a glimpse at their strategy for this fall’s campaign against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Wednesday said Evers will be tough to beat in November because he hasn’t screwed-up in years.
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There is a move to stop Racine’s traveling election van from collecting ballots again in November.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the city of Racine for using the van as a mobile voting location.
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Wisconsin’s Republican race for governor was over almost as soon as the first vote totals came in.
Business magnate Tim Michels was much closer to former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in Milwaukee County than many people expected, and that set the tone for the night.
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Wisconsin’s U.S. Congressional Republicans reacted consistently to the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s home.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson was the first to weigh-in on the late Monday night search at Trump’s home in Florida.
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There doesn’t appear to be much left of the relationship between Robin Vos and Michael Gableman.
Gableman, who Vos hired to run the investigation into the 2020 election in the state, is endorsing Vos’ opponent in Tuesday’s primary election and going after the Assembly Speaker in a new robocall for his opponent.
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The former president may not have nice things to say about the top Republican in the State Assembly, but two former Republican Wisconsin governors are heaping praise on Robin Vos.
Former President Trump ripped Vos this week when he endorsed Vos’ primary opponent.
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Wisconsin’s Democratic lieutenant governor, who is also running for U.S. Senate, spent hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars for a police security detail despite criticizing law enforcement in the past, Fox News reported.
Mandela Barnes, who is viewed as a heavy favorite to win his Senate primary, shelled out more than $587,000 for a state police detail between Jan. 7, 2019 and Nov. 6, 2021, according to records obtained by Fox News. The sum paid for roughly 8,800 hours of police protection, 4,900 hours for overtime protection and over 200 hours of holiday protection, the outlet reported.
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The Wisconsin Elections Commission is not doing anything, at least not yet, about voter fraud complaints and changing absentee ballots.
The Commission on Wednesday was either deadlocked or voted against asking for criminal charges in a Racine County voter fraud case and moving to close the loophole that allowed that case. Commission members also refused to follow an order from the legislature and tell local election clerks they are not allowed to fill-in absentee ballots on their own.
The decision on the voter fraud charge may be just a matter of time, however.
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Wisconsin’s professional licensing department is blaming a lack of employees as well as a lack of money for the months-long delay in getting people their paperwork to go back to work.
The legislature’s Study Committee on Occupational Licensing held a daylong meeting Tuesday where lawmakers pressed Department of Safety and Professional Services leaders, the latter who essentially blamed lawmakers.
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A federal judge on Monday ordered an investigator looking into the results of the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin to pay the legal fees of American Oversight after the watchdog group filed several lawsuits seeking records on its activities.
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Two communities in southeast Wisconsin are looking to do more about fentanyl.
Waukesha County on Monday declared a community health crisis over the spike in fentanyl deaths, while Washington County said it will ask voters to okay a new anti-crime task force to keep the drug out of schools.
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After naming Jennifer Mnookin the new Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UW-Madison), the system’s Board of Regents is facing backlash from prominent Wisconsin lawmakers.
Rebecca Kleefisch, former Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin and current GOP gubernatorial frontrunner, tweeted on May 16 that the “decision to hire a woke radical like Dr. Mnookin is infuriating. Our universities need to focus on building a strong economy and workforce — not force-feeding liberal ideology to Wisconsin students.”
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A Racine County man says he committed voter fraud to prove a point about voter fraud in Wisconsin.
Harry Wait, a member of the group Honest, Open, and Transparent Government, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he ordered ballots for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason through the state’s online voting system.
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There are new questions about the opportunity for voter fraud in Wisconsin.
The Thomas More Society this week released its findings into people who are under “no vote” guardianship orders in the state. Those orders come from a judge after someone has been found “incapable of understanding the objective of the elective process,” according to state law.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence endorsed Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Kleefisch ahead of the state’s August 9th GOP primary.
Pence supported Kleefisch over businessman Tim Michels and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun. The decision puts Pence at odds with former President Donald Trump, who backed Michels earlier this year.
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Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is getting dinged in the latest audit of the state’s Fraud, Waste, and Mismanagement Hotline.
The Legislative Audit Bureau released the report this week.
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Prominent U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry dropped out of the Democratic primary, likely setting up a November contest between Mandela Barnes and Republican Senator Ron Johnson.
Lasry, who was the closest opponent to Barnes in recent polling, immediately endorsed the Lieutenant Governor after suspending his campaign for the position.
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Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) endorsed former Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch in her bid for Governor of Wisconsin.
When offering his endorsement to the gubernatorial contender, Cruz cited Kleefisch’s stance on the role of parents in their child’s education.
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Police in northern Wisconsin are not recommending charges against a Wisconsin state senator following a deadly car wreck last week.
Ashland Police say Sen. Janet Bewley, D-Mason, pulled out in front of a mom who was driving along U.S. Highway 2 last Friday, causing a wreck.
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Thursday he would vote in favor of a bill that would enshrine same-sex marriage into federal law, even though he believes the legislation is “unnecessary.”
In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson said about the legislation Democrats have titled the Respect for Marriage Act, “Prior to the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, I supported civil unions.”
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The disagreement over Wisconsin’s law on absentee ballots could be headed for court.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, on Thursday directed his staff to look at any and all options after the Wisconsin Elections Commission said it will not abide by the legislature’s decision to stop telling local election clerks they can fill in missing information on absentee ballots, a practice also called “curing.”
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A new report says some sectors of Wisconsin’s economy are still lagging.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum released its new report Wednesday. It says Wisconsin’s job numbers and unemployment rate are almost back to where they were before the coronavirus hit.
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Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit against multiple manufacturers and chemical companies for alleged water pollution in the state.
According to Evers and Kaul, the companies knew or should have known that they were polluting the environment with PFAS contamination, which is a synthetic chemical that is made for multiple products.
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The long battle between Republican lawmakers and Wisconsin’s Elections Commission is not showing any signs of ending.
The latest came Wednesday when the legislature’s Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules killed an emergency rule from the Elections Commission that would have allowed local election clerks to correct mistakes on voters’ absentee ballots, a process otherwise known as curing.
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It was another loss in court for former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.
A Dane County judge on Monday dismissed Gableman’s request for a new judge in his open records case.
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Senator Ron Johnson and other colleagues issued a letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis R. McDonough over concerns about access to health care for veterans across the country.
According to the letter from the group, the federal agency has subjected veterans to long waiting periods and is not following guidance from federal statute.
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Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels released a new economic plan that, he contends, will put “Wisconsin first.”
The candidate, who received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, supported lower taxes and an increase in economic investments.
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It is going to be another scolding for the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules will meet on Wednesday to consider new rules for ballot curing.
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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of the most progressive members of Congress and former presidential candidate, endorsed Mandela Barnes in his run for U.S. Senate.
Barnes is locked in a primary battle against other Democrats with the goal to challenge GOP Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) in the November general election.
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