Wisconsin Right Now

  There were nearly 565,000 illegal border crossers reported in Arizona in fiscal 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data . Arizona’s 378 miles of shared border with Mexico is staffed by CBP and Border Patrol agents in the CBP sectors of Tucson and Yuma. Tucson Sector’s 262-mile shared border with Mexico extends from the Yuma County line to the Arizona-New Mexico state line. Yuma Sector’s nearly 182,000 square miles of primarily desert terrain extends from Imperial Sand Dunes in California to the Yuma-Pima County line. The Tucson Sector has historically been one of the busiest along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fiscal 2024, Border Patrol agents there reported 463,567 illegal border crossers, the most of any sector along the southwest border during the year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The second greatest number was reported by San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents of nearly 325,000, The Center Square reported. Tucson Office of Field Operations ag...

There are new challenges to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ 400-year school funding increase. Both the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and the Institute for Reforming Government recently filed amicus briefs with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, challenging the governor's veto power. “The partial veto power is a tool in the governor’s toolbelt, but it has a specific purpose. When it comes to fiscal policy, the partial veto power is a one-way rachet. It empowers the governor to tighten public spending and taxation by eliminating or reducing budgetary items, but it does not permit the reverse. The governor cannot use the partial veto power to increase either appropriations or revenue. That function requires a different tool – legislative power – which is not in the governor’s toolbelt,” IRGs brief states. Evers changed a line in the current state budget to change a two-year school funding increase into a 400-year increase. IRG CEO C.J. Szafir said the governor’s veto is both ...

There is more criticism from the Wisconsin capitol after Milwaukee Public Schools missed another deadline on another state-required report. Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said MPS missed last month’s deadline to turn its District Aid Certification into the state’s Department of Public Instruction. “This was the very first step under the agreed-to Corrective Action Plan and they missed it,” Wanggaard said in a statement. “MPS and State Superintendent Jill Underly agreed that submitting this report on time and accurate was ‘high-priority and high-urgency.’” MPS agreed to that Corrective Action Plan after the city’s schools failed to turn in two other required financial reports last year. So far, the failure to file those reports, as well as other reporting failures with MPS’ federal Head Start program, have cost Milwaukee Schools $17 million. MPS has said it could lose as much as $50 million because of its financial reporting problems and their fallout. Wanggaard said this is ...

There is another lawsuit over another race-based program from the Biden Administration with a Wisconsin tie. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging the McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The McNair Program is a $60 million scholarship program open only to certain minority students. “The government says that these groups are underrepresented. That may be, but that doesn’t give the government a right to discriminate against our clients and other students on the basis of race. Any attempt to balance the races – or create equal outcomes – is a dangerous and illegal policy,” WILL attorney Dan Lennington told The Center Square. WILL is representing Young Americans Foundation, a college-based program that teaches conservative values and thoughts. Its president is former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. “Denying a student the chance to compete for a scholarship based on their skin color is not only discriminatory but also demean...

There was surprise the Wisconsin Supreme Court kept the Green Party on the state’s election ballot. Lawyer Lane Rhuland told New Talk 1130 WISN on Tuesday she was surprised by the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision on Monday not to remove the Green Party from the ballot. “I would like to think, non-cynically, that the DNC was just so wrong on the law, it was such an extraordinary relief sought by the DNC, that it was just a bridge too far for this Supreme Court,” Rhuland explained. “Others have theorized that they saw the implications for the more right-leaning parties that might take votes from Trump like the Libertarian Party, or the Constitution Party. And how if they ruled that the Green Party should be kicked off the ballot, then these parties should be as well. And that might not help the Democrats.” The court ruled the Democratic National Committee “is not entitled to the relief he seeks.” Rhuland, however, said the court didn’t explain just what that means. “The rul...

There is now a legal challenge to Gov. Tony Evers’ 400-year school funding veto. The WMC Litigation Center on Monday asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take up their challenge to the governor’s summer veto that increased per-pupil funding for the next four centuries. “At issue is Gov. Evers’ use of the so-called ‘Vanna White’ or ‘pick-a-letter’ veto,” the group said in a statement. “The governor creatively eliminated specific numbers in a portion of the budget bill that was meant to increase the property tax levy limit for school districts in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years. By striking individual digits, the levy limit would instead be increased from the years 2023 to 2425 – or four centuries into the future.” The WMC Litigation Center is an affiliate of Wisconsin Manufactures & Commerce (WMC), the combined state chamber and manufacturers’ association. Litigation Center Executive Director Scott Rosenow said while Wisconsin’s governor has an incredibly powerful vet...

The data excludes gotaways, those who illegally enter and intentionally evade capture by law enforcement, which CBP doesn’t publicly report. There were 371,036 foreign nationals reported to have illegally entered the U.S. nationwide in December, the largest number for the month in U.S. history. There were 302,034 foreign nationals who illegally entered the southwest land border, with the majority, 249,785, being apprehended between ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. By comparison, 73,414 illegal border crossers were apprehended at the southwest border in December 2021. There were 15,349 foreign nationals apprehended illegally entering at the northern land border last month, the highest for the month in U.S. history, according to the data. By comparison, there were 2,205 apprehensions at the northern border in December 2021. The data excludes gotaways, those who illegally enter and intentionally evade capture by law enforcement, which CBP do...

  And then there were two – former President Donald Trump and former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley will duke it out in the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Sunday's final polling before the primary by CNN/University of New Hampshire had Trump ahead 50%-39%. The sampling of 2,348 with margin of error +/-2.8% was taken Tuesday through Friday of last week, ahead of Sunday afternoon's announcement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis he was dropping out and endorsing Trump. Trump was well ahead in registered Republicans; Haley commanded a lead among the independents. There are 22 delegates to the Republican National Convention up for grabs, and awarded proportionally. New Hampshire, which picks presidential winners about 80% of the time since the turn of the 20th century, had 10 candidate names on the 2016 primary and Trump bested them with more than 35% of the vote after having run second to Sen. Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucuses. In November, he was a loser to Democrat H...

There is a plan at the Wisconsin Capitol to create a new statewide Office of Violence Prevention. Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, wants to set up the new office in the state’s Department of Health Services. “Violence is a public health issue, one that has haunted our communities for years with senseless tragedy. Too frequently, the lives of our neighbors are claimed or permanently altered by a preventable act of violence. In order to create and sustain safe communities where all can grow and thrive, we must stop interpersonal violence at its source,” Stubbs said in a statement. The Republican-controlled legislature has tried to address the spike in violence in Wisconsin by adding new punishments for reckless driving and some gun charges. Many of those plans, however, have been vetoed by Gov. Evers. Milwaukee and Madison are both seeing increases in crime, including violent crime. Milwaukee set records for homicides in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Police in Madison say crime stats are ...

“Final five or ranked-choice voting has to be one of the most foolish pieces of legislation I've seen introduced this session, and that's saying a lot” - Rep. Barb Dittrich There is not a lot of Republican support for a plan to change how Wisconsin would vote in upcoming elections. The Senate Committee on Elections heard a plan to introduce ranked choice voting in the state. “Right now, the parties are incentivized to hold power, and they do that through party primaries,” former Wisconsin Republican Congressman Reid Ribble, said during the hearing. “What final five [voting] does is eliminate partisan primaries.” The ranked voting plan has support from both Republicans and Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol. A score of Republicans criticized the plan after the hearing. Rep. Rick Gundrum, R-Slinger, said ranked-choice voting makes elections less secure and less transparent. “It will reduce voter confidence, and threaten accurate ballot counting, Gundrum said. Re...

“The petitioners waited two years to file their meritless redistricting claims – and yet they waited only one day after Justice Protasiewicz’s investiture. Now they want to give the parties mere weeks to litigate Democrats’ demand for new maps statewide” -Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos There are no surprises among the reactions to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s questions about drawing new political maps in the state. A number of lawmakers and advocacy groups weighed in after the high court Tuesday heard arguments to redraw the state’s legislative maps. The top Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, issued a joint statement that echoed the line of questioning from conservative justices. “The petitioners waited two years to file their meritless redistricting claims – and yet they waited only one day after Justice Protasiewicz’s investiture. Now they want to give the parties...

There will be a Republican vs. Republican race for the open state Senate seat in the Milwaukee suburbs. Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Monday said she is jumping into the race to replace Alberta Darling. “After long hours of consulting with my family, friends and countless political allies, I have decided that the best place for me to continue to represent the people of Wisconsin would be in the 8th Senate District,” Brandtjen said in a statement. Darling announced her retirement about two weeks ago. She’s served the area that includes parts of northern Milwaukee County, southern Washington County, and northern Waukesha County for more than 30 years. Brandtjen is currently the state representative for a third of Darling’s 8th Senate District. She will face the other Republican in Darling’s district, Rep. Dan Knodl. Knodl announced his campaign for the state senate last week. Knodl, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 2008, said in a statement launchin...

There are new questions about the 2020 election after the latest numbers from the 2022 election. Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Tuesday said this year’s military voting numbers show something happened between the two elections. “We have learned that the number of active military members voting in the 2022 election dropped by over 83% since the 2020 election!” Brandtjen said in a statement. Brandtjen is at the center of the story about military ballots in Wisconsin. She received three fake military ballots ahead of Election Day. Those ballots, it turned out, came from a Milwaukee election manager. “When Milwaukee deputy election clerk Kim Zapata created three military members out of thin air and sent requests for legitimate ballots to my home address, the vulnerability of the military ballot process was exposed,” Brandtken added. Military voters in Wisconsin don’t have to actually register, and never have to show voter ID in order to get an absentee ballot in th...

There is already a focus on Wisconsin’s next election. Former Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday said if liberals win the race for Supreme Court in Wisconsin, all of the state’s reforms from his time in office will be in danger. “An activist court, as we’ve seen elsewhere in the country, could do almost anything,” Walker told News Talk 113O WISN’s Jay Weber. “If you listen to at least a couple of of the liberal candidates … they sound very much aligned with some of the things we’ve seen in California and Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.” Walker says that could mean changes not only to Act 10 or Right to Work in Wisconsin, but could mean changes to things like redistricting that he says “affects the rest of the country.” Judge Dan Kelly is the leading conservative candidate for Supreme Court on the Republican side so far. Walker appointed Kelly to the court back in 2016, and on Tuesday said Kelly made his mark on the court. “Kelly to me was much like [Antonin] Scalia was on the U.S. Sup...

here is a growing chorus of Milwaukee Democrats who say the state is missing the mark by expanding I-94 instead of focusing on buses and bicycles. The Department of Transportation on Friday announced plans to widen I-94 between 70th Street and 16th Street in Milwaukee. That includes the lanes around American Family Field. The ultimate goal is to add new lanes, going from the current six lanes up to eight lanes. Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, is accusing Wis-Dot of living in the past. “The DOT has an opportunity to redirect funds away from a backwards, environmentally disastrous ‘car is king’ mentality, and towards improvements that would do generational good in our communities,” Brotsoff said. Many Milwaukee Democrats oppose the interstate project, either because they don’t like the costs, the environmental impact, or they believe that interstates have historically cut off communities of color. Brostoff says he’d rather see Wisconsin invest in mass transit and bike lane...

There are new questions about who is running public schools in Wisconsin following the release of emails between Gov. Tony Evers and the state’s largest teachers’ union. Empower Wisconsin on Wednesday broke a story showing the Wisconsin Education Association Council, or WEAC, was in regular contact with Gov. Evers’ office about the plan to reopen schools back in the summer of 2020. “We at WEAC are getting pressure from the Senate Democrats to take a position on these bills from the School Administrators Alliance. We have been told the Senate Dems are working with the Governor’s office on a strategy relating to opening of schools,” wrote WEAC lobbyist Jack O’Meara in an August 21, 2020 email to Evers’ office. The report doesn’t include Evers’ response, but the governor eventually told local schools to make their own decisions about reopening. WEAC encouraged local schools to stay closed in the fall of 2020. Republican candidate for governor Rebecca Kleefisch on Wednesday ri...

There is a call for more gender, harassment, bullying, and Title IX investigations in Wisconsin schools. The group Fair Wisconsin, which calls itself the leading statewide organization advocating for LGBTQ+ people, on Thursday said local schools need to be supported after what happened with the misgender/sexual harassment investigation into three middle schoolers in Kiel. “Young people in Wisconsin are facing a spike in antitransgender harassment this spring. Anti-transgender extremists in Kiel have even threatened to bomb schools and libraries following a Title IX investigation into an incident of anti-trans bullying and harassment in a local middle school. These threats come amid a nationwide trend in harmful rhetoric and extremist political attacks on transgender students, from curriculum censorship laws to health care bans to sports participation bans,” Fair Wisconsin said in a statement. Kiel Schools closed their investigation into the three eighth-grade boys last week. The...

Kiel Schools had been investigating three eighth-grade boys whose parents said they refused to use they/them pronouns for another student. There are unanswered questions about the end of the misgendering investigation in Kiel Schools. The school district Thursday sent a letter to parents explaining that it has closed the case. “We are writing to share with you that consistent with our Board policies and procedures, we have issued clear directives and expectations to all students involved in this matter for the purpose of preventing bullying and harassment and ensuring a safe and supportive learning environment for all of our students,” the district wrote in its letter. “Based on these actions, and pursuant to District policies and procedures, the School District considers this matter closed.” Kiel Schools had been investigating three eighth-grade boys whose parents said they refused to use they/them pronouns for another student. School leaders framed the investigation as a ...

‘I can tell you for sure [CRT] is not the most radical thing to come out. Wait until you hear what we really think, what we really believe in' - Charlene Carruthers There are new questions for Wisconsin’s state superintendent of schools about critical race theory, politics, and a webinar for teachers in the state. On Monday, Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, released an open letter to State Superintendent Jill Underly that asks her a series of questions about a February webinar featuring activist and author Charlene Carruthers. “Ms. Carruthers defines herself on her website first and foremost as a political strategist, which makes it concerning and questionable about how the political writings of someone who would be considered a radical activist by a large portion of my constituents is relevant for training our teachers, or in executing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mission to help children with disabilities to excel in school and thrive in society,” Kapen...

Explosions in Afghanistan outside the Kabul airport Thursday have led to 10 US Marines, 2 Army soldiers and a Navy medic killed with dozens of Americans injured and at least 95 Afghans killed according to FOX News and further heightened the chaotic evacuation of American citizens and Afghan nationals. “There has been a large explosion at the airport, and there are reports of gunfire,” the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan said in a statement. “U.S. citizens should avoid traveling to the airport and avoid airport gates at this time. U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.” “We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the Pentagon. “We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update.” Immediately after the att...