Category: Wisconsin

Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman: House Debt-Ceiling Bill a ‘Big Step in the Right Direction’

M.D. Kittle

While President Joe Biden has preemptively declared the House debt-ceiling bill dead on arrival, U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06) remains hopeful the budget-slashing proposal will bring big spender Biden to the negotiating table. 

“Some people question the will of Republicans to fight for a conservative bill. In my first eight-plus years in congress this was the most conservative bill that we have passed yet,” Grothman told The Wisconsin Daily Star on Thursday’s edition of the Vicki McKenna Show. 

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Wisconsin’s Republican Congressional Delegation Demands Answers Following Revelations of ‘Gain-of-Function’ Biosafety Incidents at UW-Madison

M.D. Kittle

Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation wants answers from federal health agencies following recent revelations of a biosafety lab incident at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

The so-called gain-of-function experiments at Wisconsin’s flagship public university shine a brighter light on the same scientific practices used in a lab in Wuhan, China that are suspected of unleashing the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. 

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POS Poll Shows DeSantis Faring Better Than Trump Against Biden in the Badger State Despite Many Polls to the Contrary

M.D. Kittle

Public Opinion Strategies is out with yet another poll showing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis faring better against former President Donald Trump, this time in battleground Wisconsin. 

But just who is paying for the polling that paints a picture of DeSantis’ presidential strength despite Trump’s significant lead in primary polls remains unclear. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Scott Fitzgerald Says Judiciary Committee Will Push for Answers in Manhattan DA’s ‘Bizarre’ Prosecution of Trump

M.D. Kittle

The House Judiciary Committee will continue to seek answers from Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his “bizarre” prosecution of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI-05) says. 

Fitzgerald, a member of the powerful committee, said Bragg’s decision to drop his lawsuit against the Republican-led Judiciary Committee is a victory for the committee and its chairman, U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH-04). 

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Wisconsin Senate Approves Plan to Charge Local Governments for Withholding Public Information

The Center Square

Wisconsin Senators want to take away a strategy that some local governments have used to keep public information under wraps.

The State Senate on Wednesday approved SB 117, also known as The Open Government Protection Act, with a simple voice vote. The legislation would force local governments to pay the legal fees of people who sue over open records requests, even if the local government doesn’t technically lose the case.

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Woke Wisconsin School District Accused of Failing to Protect Girls in Transgender Shower Incident

M.D. Kittle
Girls Sports

The Sun Prairie Area School District failed to protect four freshman girls from being exposed to the genitals of an 18-year-old biological male — identifying as a transgender woman — who was showering in the girls’ locker room, according to a Milwaukee-based public service law firm. 

 In a letter to the woke Madison-area school district, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) alleges the “alarming incident” in early March not only violated the girls’ privacy rights, but district administrators’ “completely inadequate” response continues to put Sun Prairie students in further danger. 

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Exclusive: U.S. Senator Ron Johnson Says Secretary of State Antony Blinken Should Resign If He Was ‘Impetus’ Behind Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal

M.D. Kittle

The latest allegations that Antony Blinken “played a role’ in duping the public on the Hunter Biden laptop story shows just how deep the Biden administration corruption runs, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) told The Star News Network in an exclusive interview.

The Wisconsin Republican said Blinken, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State, who was a top adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign, has much to explain to Congress about his role in the U.S. intelligence community’s disinformation drive on the Biden’s and the damning laptop.

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DeSantis Coming to Wisconsin as Trump Pounds the GOP’s No. 2 Presidential Contender

M.D. Kittle

As he moves closer to a presidential campaign announcement, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has scheduled a trip to the Badger State next month. 

DeSantis, who is expected to officially launch his run for the White House after the Florida legislative session ends in early May, will speak at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner on May 6.

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New Report Highlights Benefits of a Wisconsin Flat Tax

M.D. Kittle

As the Wisconsin Legislature considers sweeping tax cuts, a new report finds a flat tax would yield substantial benefits for all. 

The report, published by the Badger Institute, notes single-rate reform to Wisconsin’s costly progressive tax system would spur faster economic growth, creating more jobs and more investment — all while lowering the burden on Badger State taxpayers. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman Grills Biden Official on ‘Lost Children’ Caught in Disastrous Border Policies

M.D. Kittle

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06) led a congressional hearing this week seeking answers on how the Biden Administration could lose track of more than 85,000 unaccompanied children it allowed to illegally enter the U.S. 

Robin Dunn Marcos, director of the Offie of Refugee Resettlement, had a hard time answering basic questions, highlighting the administrative nightmare behind President Joe Biden’s disastrous border policies. 

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Americans for Prosperity Warns Wisconsin Lawmakers Against Spending Too Much

The Center Square

There was one group at Wisconsin’s budget hearing pushing for less. Americans for Prosperity warned Wisconsin lawmakers about spending too much of the state’s record $7.1 billion surplus.

Americans For Prosperity Wisconsin this week waited through hours of requests for more money at the legislature’s public budget hearings to make the simple case to spend less.

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Great Lakes States’ Social Security Disability Backlog Increased Between Five and 130 Percent Since 2019, Report Finds

The Center Square

Nearly every U.S. state recognized increased backlogs for new Social Security disability benefit applications since 2019, And the Great Lakes states were no different. 

In fact, Wisconsin’s backlog more than doubled, ranking in fifth nationwide for increased backlogs.  From 2019 to 2023, Wisconsin’s backlog grew 130 percent, with an increase of 11,500 backlogged applications. It has the fifth highest backlog increase in the nation.

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Republican Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Arm Wisconsin School Employees

M.D. Kittle

Two Wisconsin lawmakers, looking to stop school shooters before they have a chance to take more innocent lives, have introduced a bill that would allow teachers and staff members to carry firearms on school grounds.

State Representatives Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) and Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) recently introduced a bill that would create an exception to the state’s prohibition on guns at schools.

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Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil Wants Answers on State Department Passport Mess

M.D. Kittle

The U.S. State Department’s sluggish passport processing system is making applicants wait months for their passports. U.S. Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) is demanding answers — and action. 

Citing increased demand, the State Department has expanded processing times for passport applications and renewals. It’s now taking agents about three months to process routine passports, and seven to nine weeks for expedited international travel permits. 

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Documents: Concert Promoter Giant Live Nation’s Subsidiaries Weren’t Eligible for Millions of Dollars in COVID Grants

M.D. Kittle

Subsidiaries of behemoth concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment received $20 million in federal COVID grants that they were not entitled to, according to a Wisconsin Daily Star review of documents.

Madison-based Frank Productions Concerts, LLC and National Shows 2, LLC of Delaware, each received $10 million from the Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venues Operator Grant (SVOG) program — funding that was clearly marked for independent operators, not subsidiaries of publicly traded companies.

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Far-Left Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Announces Bid for a Third Term

M.D. Kittle

Liberal Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin made it official Wednesday, announcing her quest for a third term.   

The Madison Democrat insists “Wisconsinites need someone who can fight and win,” but Baldwin has shown during her time in D.C. that she’s a very dependable vote for the far left agenda — an agenda that’s out of touch with many voters in the politically purple Badger State.

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Wisconsin Republican Lawmakers Furious after Audit Exposes Former Inmates Stay Free After Committing New Crimes

The Center Square

Republican lawmakers are ripping Gov. Evers after a new audit shows many former inmates are not being sent back to prison for new crimes.

The Legislative Audit Bureau released its report into the state’s Community Corrections Program on Friday. It says the Department of Corrections is not following-up on former inmates well enough, and says Department of Corrections agents are not reporting crimes that could send ex-convicts back to prison.

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Two Slain Wisconsin Officers Identified as Communities Mourn ‘Nightmare’

M.D. Kittle

The Wisconsin Department of Justice on Monday identified the two northern Wisconsin police officers killed over the weekend during a traffic stop, as two small communities continued to mourn. 

Chetek Officer Emily Breidenbach, 32, and Cameron Officer Hunter Scheel, 23, were fatally shot early Saturday morning by Glenn Douglas Perry, 50 in the Village of Cameron, according to the DOJ. 

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Wisconsin Lawmaker Flags Payments Used to Mobilize Voters for Liberal Judge

Just the News

A Wisconsin lawmaker is questioning whether it was legal for a political action committee to pay people to encourage others to vote for liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz in the state Supreme Court election in the latest mobilization tactic to raise integrity concerns in the battleground state.

Wisconsin Takes Action, a project of Organizing Empowerment PAC, held live Zoom training sessions during the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, instructing potential “community mobilizers” on how to reach out to people to encourage them to vote and get paid hundreds of dollars for their outreach efforts.

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Wisconsin Lawmaker Predicts Legislation Coming to Deal with University of Wisconsin’s Free Speech Problem

M.D. Kittle

It’s no secret that Wisconsin’s taxpayer-funded colleges and universities are dominated by liberal thought and dogma. A University of Wisconsin System survey released earlier this year showed free speech under assault at the Badger State’s institutions of higher education. 

The question is, what are lawmakers going to do about it? 

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Another Term in Office for the Green Bay Mayor Sued for Bugging City Hall, Won on the Back of Abortion

M.D. Kittle

In Green Bay, you can bug city hall and still be elected mayor. 

Such is the case of Mayor Eric Genrich, a highly partisan Democrat who won a second term in Tuesday’s spring elections despite facing a lawsuit over his involvement in the secret installation of audio recording devices in city hall — among other political controversies. 

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Report: Wisconsin Gov. Evers’ Building Plan Includes $62 Million in ‘Pork Barrel’ Projects

The Center Square

Most of Gov. Tony Evers’ building plan is earmarked for the University of Wisconsin System, but a new report says there are also millions of dollars dedicated to non-state agency “pork-barrel” projects.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released its report on the governor’s capital budget on Thursday. It details how Gov. Evers plans to spend $3.8 billion for construction, remodeling, maintenance, and renovation in the next two-year state budget.

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Wisconsin’s Pro-Life Movement Regroups After Tuesday’s Devastating Supreme Court Loss

M.D. Kittle

Julaine Appling rejoiced in June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision she had been praying for a long time. The victory for the unborn in Wisconsin, though, looks to be short-lived.

Appling, president of pro-life Wisconsin Family Action, says the shifting of power from right to left on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court will put life — and liberty — in peril in the Badger State. 

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Wisconsin Republicans Secure Supermajority in Senate, Gain Super Power

M.D. Kittle

It wasn’t all bad news for conservatives in Tuesday’s election. While the right lost control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Republicans gained two-thirds — or supermajority power— in the state Senate. 

State Representative Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) narrowly defeated environmental lawyer Jodi Habush Sinykin in the race for Wisconsin’s 8th Senate District Seat.

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Far-Left Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, Liberals Gain Control

M.D. Kittle

In a nationally watched state Supreme Court race dominated by abortion, bruising campaign attacks and money (lots of money), liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz easily defeated conservative Daniel Kelly in Tuesday’s spring election, handing liberals control of Wisconsin’s high court for the first time in more than 15 years. 

The election seemed over before the shouting. Less than an hour after Wisconsin’s polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Associated Press called the contest. At that time, Protasiewicz led by double digits over Kelly, a former Supreme Court justice who lost his seat three years ago to far left jurist Jill Karofsky. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil Hopes Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Won’t Have to be Subpoenaed to Testify on Trump Probe

M.D. Kittle

Liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has proved to be a hostile witness to the three House committees trying to find out if he’s illegally using federal funds to target the Democrats’ No. 1 political enemy.

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) says he’s “hopeful” Bragg will respond to a straight forward request for information — without the use of a subpoena, or contempt of congress charges.

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Dem-Linked Dark Money-Funded Newspaper Promotes Far-Left Candidate in Pivotal Court Race

Admin

A Democrat-linked dark money group has used a website resembling a Wisconsin news outlet to attack the conservative candidate in the state’s current high-stakes Supreme Court election.

American Independent Media (AIM), a Washington, D.C.-registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit with ties to Democratic political operative David Brock, bought at least $90,000 in Facebook advertisements this month promoting two articles critical of former State Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly on The Wisconsin Independent, a media website labelled as an AIM “project.” Early voting is already underway in Kelly’s officially non-partisan April 4 Wisconsin State Supreme Court election contest against liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, which will determine whether Democrats take majority control of the court for the first time in 15 years, according to NBC News.

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New Report Finds Wisconsin Local Government Strangling Home Businesses with Red Tape

M.D. Kittle

The Badger State’s home-based businesses are facing a bureaucratic nightmare of red tape, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. 

WILL’s new policy report, “Wisconsin: A Broken Home for Home-Based Businesses,” analyzes the relative burden of regulations on the businesses in the state’s 20 most populous communities. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher Introduces Bill Banning Gain-of-Function Research

M.D. Kittle

As increasing evidence suggests the COVID-19 virus likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) is introducing a bill that would ban taxpayer dollars from funding so-called gain-of-function research — or at least pause funding.  

Gallagher joined U.S. Representatives Henry Cuellar (D-TX- 28) and Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA-01) this week introduced the Pausing Enhanced Pandemic Pathogen Research Act, which would stall taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research for five years, providing time to evaluate the risks and for proper safety standards and protocols to be implemented, the lawmakers say. 

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Atheists Sic IRS on Wisconsin Priest for Warning His Flock Not to Vote for Pro-Abortion Supreme Court Candidate

M.D. Kittle

Pastor Brian Dulli sent a clear message to the congregants of his suburban Madison St. Patrick’s Catholic Church: Voting for a Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate who stands for the killing of the unborn is perilous to your faith and soul. 

Now, a leftwing group is threatening to get President Joe Biden’s IRS involved and go after the Diocese of Madison for “electioneering.” 

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DeSantis Slips in Latest Marquette University Law School Poll

M.D. Kittle

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ support among voters declined in the latest Marquette University Law School poll, with the presumptive GOP presidential candidate’s once robust numbers sagging against former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. 

Meanwhile, Biden’s job approval rating has plunged to 39 percent, down 4 percentage points from January and the second lowest of his presidency in the Wisconsin poll. 

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Daniel Kelly Makes Statewide ‘Save the Court’ Tour in Closing Days of Campaign

M.D. Kittle

As he lags in campaign donations and — sources say — in internal polls, conservative Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly is making a final campaign blitz before Tuesday’s crucial election.

Kelly’s  four-day “Save the Court” statewide tour begins Friday in Watertown and wraps up Monday in Waukesha. In between, he’ll be making some two-dozen stops across the Badger State. 

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DNA from Trashed Burrito Leads to Arrest of Man in Connection with Firebombing of Wisconsin Pro-Life Center

M.D. Kittle

A half-eaten burrito led to the arrest of a Madison man in connection with the Mother’s Day 2022 firebombing of the Wisconsin Family Action headquarters building. 

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, has been charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Madison. 

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Controversial Green Bay Mayor Faces Ethics Complaint over Alleged Campaign Materials Sent on City Email

M.D. Kittle

Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich is facing an ethics complaint from a former mayoral candidate alleging the Democrat used his office to send out campaign materials to hundreds of residents. 

Genrich, engaged in a tough re-election battle against Brown County administration director Chad Weininger, has also been embroiled in a city hall bugging scandal. 

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Early Voting Begins in Battleground Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court Election

Admin

Early voting has begun in Wisconsin for the state’s High Court, and this election becomes the most important decision of 2023, with ramifications far beyond the Badger state, and into 2024.

Tested constitutionalist Daniel Kelly seeks to rejoin the state Supreme Court in Madison. Kelly is an unabashed conservative, but also a careful, balanced, and restrained jurist who does not legislate from the bench or engage in partisan power grabs.

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Long-Serving Wisconsin Secretary of State La Follette About to Cash in on Lucrative Taxpayer-Subsidized Pension

M.D. Kittle

Secretary of State Doug La Follette’s sudden retirement from the post he’s held for nearly half a century raised questions, particularly when Governor Tony Evers swiftly appointed former state treasurer and Democratic Party political climber Sarah Godlewski to take La Follette’s place. 

But it’s the millions of dollars La Follette — and his survivors — could take home in retirement benefits that may really raise eyebrows. 

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One Week Before Wisconsin’s Pivotal Supreme Court Election, Candidates Make Closing Arguments

M.D. Kittle

With just one week before Wisconsin’s spring election, it’s all hands on deck in the bruising battle for control of the Badger State’s high court. 

Conservative former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly and liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz are making their closing arguments before Tuesday’s pivotal election — the brunt of the statements being made through expensive and negative ads blanketing Wisconsin’s TV markets. 

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State Senator Chris Kapenga Commentary: We Need Voters to Weigh in on Bail Reform Amendment

Admin

I first ran for office because I saw problems in our state and wanted to be part of the solution for positive change. One such issue is the growing epidemic of crime in our communities.

My biggest frustration lately is seeing issues in our community, but having a Governor with whom the Legislature fundamentally disagrees on the solutions. It often feels like the wheels are spinning but we are going nowhere.

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Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil Demands Answers on Manhattan DA Investigation into Trump

M.D. Kittle

Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) and his fellow co-chairs on three key House committees are not taking no for an answer from the intransigent Manhattan District Attorney investigating former President Donald Trump.
“The American people deserve to know the answers to the questions we asked,’ Steil, chairman of the House Committee on Administration, told The Wisconsin Daily Star. 

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Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s Questionable ‘Friends’ the Liberal Media Seem to Have Forgotten About

M.D. Kittle

The liberal media are hitting Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly hard for campaigning with a conservative activist who was “on the grounds” of the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots. But Kelly’s opponent, far left Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, has some interesting “friends” of her own. 

Protasiewicz was photographed smiling next to Brett Blomme, the former Milwaukee County Children’s Court judge now serving nine years in prison for distributing child pornography. 

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Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin’s Longest-Serving Governor, Endorses Work-First Ballot Issue

M.D. Kittle

Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin’s longest-serving governor and welfare reform pioneer, is lending his support for a work-first referendum question on the Badger State’s April 4 election ballot.

The non-bonding referendum asks voters a simple question: “Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded benefits?”

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Wisconsin Legislature Passes Key Crime Bills, Stops Evers Administration Rule on ‘Conversion Therapy’

M.D. Kittle

In a busy and divisive day, the Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday passed several crime bills, a measure blocking what some say is the Evers administration’s assault on the First Amendment, and a resolution demanding the governor call an election for Secretary of State.

Many of the measures passed mostly along party lines, including a bill that defines “serious harm” and “violent crime” in state law. The proposal is tied to a bail reform constitutional amendment on next month’s spring election ballot. Under the amendment, judges would be allowed to consider expanded factors when issuing bail to violent offenders, beyond whether the defendant would show up for his court date.

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