Wisconsin Right Now

  A state judge on Wednesday dismissed some of the charges against former President Donald Trump in the Georgia case that accuses the former president of trying to interfere with the 2020 election. Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six charges in the indictment, including three against Trump due to a lack of detail that he said was "fatal." But the ruling doesn't end the case against Trump. Trump still faces criminal charges, including Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act charges that underpin the prosecution's case. "The Court's concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance," McAfee wrote. "However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned's opinion, fatal." However, the judge wrote that the case was far from over. "This does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed," he wrote in a footno

  U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Wednesday suggested the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate a Democratic Party-affiliated group reportedly linked to funding of Palestinian terrorism. “If the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to hand out subpoenas, let’s start with this Democrat dark-money group that has poured $1 million into a Palestinian terror-tied charity,” Hawley posted on X , the platform formerly known as Twitter. The post linked to a Washington Examiner story that details a network of left-leaning groups that steered funding towards a progressive charity with ties to a terror group. Hawley was expressing frustration with the committee as Democrats last week wanted to subpoena Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow to review their alleged financial assistance for Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The Examiner reported two tax-exempt organizations, New Venture Fund and Windward Fund, in October stopped providing grants to the Alliance for Global Jus

  At noon on Wednesday, a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives remained unresolved but was nearing a decision. By consensus, Republicans have been called victorious for 217 of the 435 seats and needed just one more to flip control of the chamber with 10 remaining. Races in California, where seven are uncalled, could be decided today and have a mix of the GOP and Democrats leading. The following are the remaining situations: • California 3rd Congressional District: Republican Kevin Kiley 52.8% of the vote, Democrat Kermit Jones 47.2%; precincts counted 57%; difference about 10,000+ votes. • California 13th; Democrat Adam Gray 50.3%, Republican John Duarte 49.7%; precincts 86%; difference about 3,000+ votes. • California 22nd; Republican Rep. David Valadao 52.4%, Democrat Rudy Salas 47.6%; precincts 64%; difference about 3,000+ votes. • California 27th; Republican Rep. Mike Garcia 54.2%, Democrat Christy Smith, 45.8; precincts 70%; difference about 13,000+ votes.

Stocks tanked Wednesday after major retailers’ earnings reports were down significantly because of inflation, sparking a selling frenzy. Wall Street closed with the largest drop in one day since March 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average drop of nearly 1,200 points was the ninth-largest single-day drop in U.S. history, Seeking Alpha reports. The stock market began to tank by midday. By noon EST, NASDAQ was down 400 points and the DJIA was down by 800 points. Then the DJIA dropped by roughly 1,100 points after 2pm EST and closed with a near 1,200-point loss. The market closed with the DJIA down by 3.6%, the S&P 500 down by 4% and the Nasdaq down by 4.7%. Overall, the DJIA dropped 1,164.52 points, closing at 31,490.07. The S&P 500 dropped 165.17 points, closing at 3,923.68. The Nasdaq dropped 566.37 points, closing at 11,418.15. Panic set in after major retail corporations like Target and Walmart reported earnings losses. Apple and Microsoft also led big tech losses.

The U.S. Senate Wednesday night sent the Biden administration a message: Congress' upper chamber does not support the president's private sector vaccine mandate. With two Democratic senators joining all 50 Republicans, the Senate voted 52-48 to repeal President Joe Biden's executive mandate requiring that private-sector employers with 100 or more workers ensure their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly testing. Businesses that didn't follow the directive were to face stiff fines. U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Jon Tester, D-Montana, joined Republicans in rebuking the mandate. While the measure, introduced by Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled U.S. House, federal courts already have halted Biden's private-sector and other vaccine mandates, saying they amount to executive overreach. "We've seen two consistent patterns in the past few months: the Biden Administrat

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said her agency would still recommend masks for vaccinated students in schools. The White House announced Wednesday new plans for the “potential authorization” of children COVID vaccinations for ages 5-11, saying they have enough vaccinations ready and waiting for the federal approval. The White House prep suggests they expect favorable federal approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) despite hesitation from health officials earlier this year. “We expect the FDA and CDC’s decision on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11 in the next couple of weeks,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said during a White House teleconference Wednesday. “First, on supply: We have secured vaccine supply to vaccinate every child ages 5 through 11. And as soon as the vaccine is authorized by the FDA, we will begin shipping millions of doses nationwide.”

“With this TPD action, the Biden-Harris Administration has now approved approximately $8.7 billion in student loan discharges for roughly 455,000 borrowers” A federal student loan forgiveness program aimed at helping out public servants is getting an overhaul after media reports exposed major problems with the program. The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program will undergo an overhaul to make sure more public servants, including members of the military, receive taxpayers' funds to help them repay their debts. "This is an entire system who let down our men and women in uniform," said Seth Frotman, head of the Student Borrower Protection Program. The announcement comes just a few days after media reports, including a CBS “60 Minutes” investigation, showed that military members were frustrated with the program for its complex requirements and complicated approval process that prevented many from rec

Scratch one candidate off the list of potential gubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin. Bill McCoshen on Wednesday said he is not running. McCoshen said he and his family decided not to be a candidate. Who is Bill McCoshen? Bill McCoshen is a former Tommy Thompson staffer, and was one of the top names on the list of possible Republican candidates. McCoshen this week finalized the sale of his lobbying firm, Capitol Consultants, to the lobbying arm of Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. “I know what it takes to win statewide,” McCoshen said in a statement. “To run the type of positive, issue-oriented grassroots campaign we wanted to run required time and money. You need both to raise name ID statewide. While I’m confident we could have raised the money, the reality was we lost too much precious time trying to close on the sale of our primary business.” Bill McCoshen’s decision not to run certainly benefits Rebecca Kleefisch the most. McCoshen will be joining

Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday said he “hopes” local schools talk about requiring teachers and school workers to get vaccinated. (The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor will not issue a statewide vaccine mandate for schools, but he is open to local vaccine requirements. The governor has been considering a vaccine mandate for state workers for weeks, but he has not yet issued the order. “Our staff needs to be vaccinated,” Evers told reporters. “I hope those conversations happen locally too.” The hurdle, of course, are teachers unions in the state. Evers’ comments about local school vaccine requirements comes one day after Milwaukee Public Schools’ board essentially ordered the district to come-up with a vaccination requirement for its teachers. Evers said he thinks unions could be brought on-board with a vaccine mandate. Gov. Evers used to be a teacher himself, then led the Department of Public Instruction as state superintendent, and received major backing from Wisconsin

Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday said he “hopes” local schools talk about requiring teachers and school workers to get vaccinated. (The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor will not issue a statewide vaccine mandate for schools, but he is open to local vaccine requirements. The governor has been considering a vaccine mandate for state workers for weeks, but he has not yet issued the order. “Our staff needs to be vaccinated,” Evers told reporters. “I hope those conversations happen locally too.” The hurdle, of course, are teachers unions in the state. Evers’ comments about local school vaccine requirements comes one day after Milwaukee Public Schools’ board essentially ordered the district to come-up with a vaccination requirement for its teachers. Evers said he thinks unions could be brought on-board with a vaccine mandate. Gov. Evers used to be a teacher himself, then led the Department of Public Instruction as state superintendent, and received major backing from Wisconsin