Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s push to help children in the state’s schools read better took its next step forward Monday. The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee approved four new reading programs for the state’s public schools.

There’s going to be a building boom on some University of Wisconsin campuses across the state. Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed a new law that clears the way for a new engineering building at UW-Madison, as well as classroom renovations in both Madison and Whitewater. The new law also includes nearly $200 million for central plant renovations and demolition projects.

New legislation at the Wisconsin Capitol would put local communities in charge of local wind and solar projects. State Rep. Ty Bodden, R-Stockbridge, has introduced a plan that would require local leaders to sign off on wind and solar farms before regulators at Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission could move forward.

Wisconsin’s Republican U.S. Senator says he’s not looking to become the next Republican leader, but he’s not ruling it out either. Sen. Ron Johnson told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber he is focused right now on organizing the search for someone to replace Mitch McConnell when McConnell leaves Senate leadership in November.

A Green Bay, Wisconsin school superintendent resigned on Tuesday after he was captured on a hot mic describing the district as "lily" white and expressing his displeasure at working in a "white district" during an appearance on WAOK-AM as he visited Atlanta to recruit educators. Former Green Bay Area Public School District (GBAPS) Superintendent Claude Tiller Jr.'s hot mic comments were broadcast on YouTube while the radio station broadcast was on a commercial break.

Expansion in the way Wisconsin prepares new teachers has passed the state Assembly and awaits a decision from second-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. His decision has yet to be signaled.

The charges against accused pedophile Adam Westbrook, an alleged member of a Wisconsin chapter of the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” reveal that the victim—a prepubescent little boy—is his own adopted son. Westbrook is facing charges of possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child, four counts each. The case was dismissed at the state level in a procedural move that transfers it to the U.S. Attorney-Western District of Wisconsin Office as a federal crime.

Republican businessman Eric Hovde launched his highly anticipated campaign against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin on Tuesday. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) recruited Hovde, who had been weighing a campaign for months, after other prominent Republicans like Reps. Mike Gallagher and Tom Tiffany declined to jump into the race. Hovde announced his campaign in a social media video posted on X, and called for the country to unite to “find common sense solutions to restore America.”

Wisconsin’s assembly speaker is not calling his proposal for medical marijuana dead, but he says it’s not going to happen this year. Speaker Robin Vos told reporters Thursday there are too many different views of marijuana to find a consensus on a strict-medical only plan.

Wisconsin’s election managers say as long as there is a house number and a street name, absentee voting witness slips don’t need a city, the state, a zip code or anything else. The Wisconsin Elections Commission clarified the rule for absentee ballot witnesses address information.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are locked in a tight race to claim Wisconsin, should both become their respective parties' nominees in the 2024 White House race. The pair earned 49% each in a recent Marquette Law School Poll of registered voters, when undecided respondents were asked to choose. Trump held a narrow edge of 50% to 49% among likely voters. Among independent registered voters, Biden led Trump 49% to 42%.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has complied with court orders and will now tell the over 1,800 local election clerks they can accept absentee ballots that are missing parts of a witness address. The commission made the move after members voted 5-1 Thursday.

Western Wisconsin’s congressman wants the governor to help with the planned hospital closures in the Chippewa Valley. Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden asked Gov. Tony Evers to use any state or federal resources that can be tapped to make sure the people who use HSHS’ hospitals or Prevea’s clinics in and around Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls are not left without medical care.

Experts hired by Wisconsin’s supreme court to redraw the state’s political maps say there won’t be anymore Republican gerrymandering. The court’s outside experts rejected maps drawn by Republican lawmakers and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The experts said both maps continued to gerrymander the state for Republicans.

Act 10, the law that fundamentally weakened Wisconsin’s public school teachers’ unions, is headed back to court. And again there is an effort to save it. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Monday filed a motion to join the new case that seeks to end Act 10. That case claims there was “no conceivable rational basis” for Act 10 to begin with.