Wisconsin in Focus

The Green Party’s Jill Stein says she’s not going to be a spoiler in November. Stein, who has not yet been formally nominated by the Green Party, was a guest on UpFront on Milwaukee television over the weekend. She said Democrats have abandoned their voters, and those voters are looking for somewhere else to go. Get your  Audible Membership  today! (As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualified p...

The effort to unseat Wisconsin’s assembly speaker is now in the hands of the state’s Elections Commission. The group that is looking to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Monday submitted 10,700 signatures. Wisconsin law requires it has at least 6,850 valid signatures to move ahead. Those trying to oust Wisconsin’s assembly speaker say they are on board with an investigation into possible fraud...

Wisconsin’s governor is promising to veto a proposal that would keep girls sports in Wisconsin for biological girls only. The Wisconsin Senate approved the plan Tuesday. The legislation would ban anyone born a male from competing in girls sports in middle school, high school or college in Wisconsin. Join Skillshare: skillshare.eqcm.net/ATN Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s...

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. JFC co-chairman Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said more than 60% of Wisconsin fourth-graders currently cannot read or write at grade level. Born said changing the way Wisconsin teachers teach...

The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says he’s not afraid of this fall’s election. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber he’s actually looking forward to running under the new legislative maps the Gov. Tony Evers drew. Evers’s maps pit dozens of incumbent Republican lawmakers against each other, many in new districts. Join Skillshare: skillshare.eqcm.net/ATN Suppo...

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. Currently, the PSC makes the decisions about wind and solar farms in Wisconsin....

Just days after scuttling Republican-written tax cuts for families and retirees in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers signed a tax credit that will send more money to parents. Evers on Monday signed the child and dependent care tax credit. The plan doubles Wisconsin child care tax credit, from 50% of the federal level to 100%. The governor’s signature means families can claim up to $10,000 for one child,...

Wisconsin’s governor is offering a compromise on PFAS pollution that would give him $125 million and allow him to ignore the plan Republican lawmakers say would protect landowners across the state from fines, fees and lawsuits. Gov. Tony Evers promised to veto the latest plan to deal with PFAS chemicals, while also demanding that Republicans release the $125 million included in the doomed legislat...

There are new claims the University of Wisconsin has not stopped using race to make decisions on its campuses. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday sent a letter to the university, asking the school to stop prioritizing one race over the other. WILL’s letter said the UW’s latest offenses came with the awarding of several awards and fellowships. Support this podcast: https://pod...

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. Only nine technical colleges and one university offer apprenticeship programs. It's small and Assembly Bill 1005 adds to it. Get your Audible Membership today! (As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualified purch...

Some of the first questions about Wisconsin’s race for U.S. Senate are about California. Democrats hammered businessman Eric Hovde about his banks and home in California. Democrats also accuse Hovde of living in California, and only returning to Wisconsin to run for office. Hovde, who announced he is running for the U.S. Senate, on Wednesday told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber that’s ridiculous....

Wisconsin is considering a massive shift in how public and choice schools get their money. The Wisconsin Assembly approved the plan to decouple the Racine and statewide school voucher programs, replacing the local property tax money that currently pays for those programs with state dollars. That would shift millions of dollars for choice schools in Wisconsin from local school districts to the stat...

The court fight over Wisconsin’s new political maps is likely over. Second-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday morning signed into law new legislative maps he drew that take away the need for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to draw new boundaries for state Assembly and state Senate districts. Evers insists he didn't sign because he drew the maps or because they favor Democrats. Get your Audible...

The latest discussion about political maps in Wisconsin saw state senators from both parties crying foul about hypocrisy and partisan politics. The Wisconsin Senate passed Gov. Tony Evers’ political maps Tuesday to head off potentially worse maps from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Democrats, as expected, objected to the maps drawn by the Democratic governor. Support this podcast: https://podcasters...

The latest attempt to codify who makes the decisions for children in Wisconsin is headed for an almost certain veto after the Wisconsin Senate approved AB 510, also known as the Parental Bill of Rights. The proposal spells out 16 specific rights reserved for parents, including the right to make medical decisions and the right to decide what name their child uses in school. The legislation also giv...

 Voters in northeast Wisconsin will likely be seeing more political ads in the next few months. Current Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher on Saturday shocked the state and announced he is stepping down at the end of his current term. His decision not to run touched off a weekend scramble to jump into the race to replace him. Get your Audible Membership today! (As an Amazon Associate, we earn f...

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. The two hospita...

Wisconsin’s new liberal-majority Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case that could limit the state legislature and give Gov. Tony Evers a more leeway to accomplish his priorities. The Supreme Court agreed to hear part of his challenge to legislative vetoes. The governor sued the Republican-controlled legislature in October over its use of statehouse committees to stop a massive conservation pr...

Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher is not backing away from being one of the decisive votes against the impeachment of the nation’s Homeland Security secretary. Late Tuesday, Gallagher joined two other Republicans to stop the impeachment of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Gallagher argued impeaching Mayorkas wouldn’t stop the crisis at the southern border. In fact, Gallagher argued impeaching Mayor...

Wisconsin’s open enrollment period begins next week, and again thousands of parents are getting ready to send their children to a different school. The state’s Department of Public Instruction this week said open enrollment begins Monday. Open enrollment allows parents to send children to different public schools. In Wisconsin that meant more than 70,000 students for the current school year. Get y...

As expected, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the political maps that he mostly drew. Evers on Tuesday said he scuttled the so-called 99% maps because they were too favorable to Republicans. The maps the governor drew moved dozens of incumbent Republicans into new districts. Republicans moved some of those lawmakers back but largely left the governor’s maps unchanged. Join Skillshare: skillshare.e...

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. Get your Audible Membership today! (As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualified purchases) Support this podcast: https://podcas...

The latest report on school choice in Wisconsin again shows choice schools outperform public schools in Milwaukee’s biggest cities and rural areas. The Apples to Apples report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty compares proficiency rates in math and English language arts in public schools, charter schools and private schools part of Wisconsin’s voucher program. The report says the id...

Wisconsin Republicans continue to try and make their point about politics, gerrymandering and compromise over the state’s new political maps. The State Assembly on Wednesday approved the maps drawn almost entirely by Gov. Tony Evers. Assembly Democratic Leader Great Neubauer said the effort to adopt Evers’ map is a Republican effort to continue to gerrymander the state and an effort to rush a deci...

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ sixth State of the State speech was not all that different from his previous five. The governor late Tuesday night again asked lawmakers to spend more on cleaning the state’s lakes and rivers, to focus more on LGBTWQ mental health and to expand the state’s Medicaid program. Again, Republicans said no. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wisconsi...