Wisconsin Right Now

In a mirror of national politics, California Republicans followed former President Donald Trump’s lead by proposing to end taxes on tips. While Vice President Kamala Harris, who formerly represented California in the U.S. Senate, embraced the measure, California Democrats said no, shooting down the proposed amendment in the California Senate. “Even Trump and Harris both say we should eliminate the ‘tip tax,’” said the California Senate Republican Caucus in a statement. Soon after Trump announced his proposal to a crowd in Nevada, which has the highest percentage of tipped workers in the nation, Harris also came out in favor of the proposal. The Budget Lab at Yale University reports there are approximately 4 million tipped workers — 2.5% of all workers nationwide. Many tipped workers earn less than the minimum wage, and thus earn the lion's share of their income from tips. Some higher-paid tipped professions such as barbers and hair stylists would also benefit from this rule

  A national government watchdog filed a complaint based on the group of former Wisconsin Supreme Court justices who are offering the state's assembly speaker advice on impeachment. American Oversight, which says it’s a nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog, filed a complaint with Dane County's district attorney, asking him to void any action that comes from the panel. The group says Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is breaking the state’s open meetings rules by asking the former justices for their advice on how to possibly move forward with an impeachment of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. “Speaker Vos has convened a secret panel to quickly craft recommendations for the potential impeachment of a newly elected state supreme court justice – a fundamentally anti-democratic action that is of great public importance and interest. His efforts to shroud the work and the identities of the panelists in secrecy violates Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law as well as the state’s strong a

  The U.S. gross national debt surpassed $33 trillion, a troubling benchmark as lawmakers show little interest in reining in spending, let alone a balanced budget. The milestone comes as Congress faces a deadline of Sept. 30 to pass another spending measure or face a federal government shutdown. “$1 trillion more debt… SINCE JUNE!” Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., wrote on social media. “Now $33 trillion. Your family’s share is over $260,000. The swamp’s answer: let’s do another CR.” The current deficits mean that debt will only continue to grow. Earlier this month, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office published its estimate of the deficit 11 months into the fiscal year which reported that the U.S. deficit hit about $1.5 trillion. At the same point last year, the deficit was under one trillion dollars. That debt has several economic consequences, including elevated inflation and taxpayers shelling out billions just for interest payments on the debt. As The Center Square previously

The National Mail Voter Registration Form is no longer allowed in Wisconsin. Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell this week banned the form because it asks questions not allowed by Wisconsin law, including a question about a voter’s race. The form also allowed people to register to vote in Wisconsin without providing other information required by state law. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sued over the form and won. “The legal issue in the case was simply that the statute did not call for [the extra information], so by including those requests, the form went beyond the statute and was unlawful,” WILL’s Lucas Vebber told The Center Square. “The Judge never reached those issues though because he determined the form was never lawfully adopted in the first instance.” Maxwell said in his order the Wisconsin Elections Commission “failed in [its] most basic duty” to register voters using the appropriate forms. A spokesman for the Elections Commission didn’t respond to

A Texas National Guardsman has died after attempting to save people from drowning in the Rio Grande River who were illegally entering Texas from Mexico. They were later identified as drug smugglers, investigators with the Texas Rangers said. The guardsman, Specialist Bishop Evans, 22, from Arlington, Texas, went missing Friday morning. His body was found Monday. [caption id="attachment_80593" align="alignleft" width="300"] Specialist Bishop Evans[/caption] “The missing Texas Army National Guard Soldier, Specialist Bishop Evans, assigned to Operation Lone Star, has been found deceased following an exhaustive interagency search,” the Texas Military Department said in a statement issued Monday. “SPC Evans went missing while trying to selflessly help migrants who appeared to be drowning as they tried to cross the river from Mexico into the U.S, on Friday April 22, 2022.” “We are devastated by the loss of a member of our Guard family,” Maj. Gen. Tom Su