Wisconsin Right Now

(The Center Square) – Less than two weeks after Milwaukee’s new sales tax took effect, city leaders are looking to spend some of that money on pay raises for themselves. A city council committee approved a 15% pay raise for the mayor, city council members and top city workers like Milwaukee’s police and fire chiefs. "The approval of these recommendations helps us move past being a stepping stone for other opportunities and instead a choice destination," Milwaukee Employee Relations Director Harper Donahue IV told city council members. The pay raises would bump Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s salary to more than $169,000 a year. The raises would also increase the base pay for city council members to more than $84,000 a year. Milwaukee’s police and fire chiefs would see their salaries jump to a little less than $200,000 a year, while the city’s public works boss would make more than $208,000. The city estimates the raises will cost $1.8 million for the rest of 20...

It’s been two weeks and there’s still no word on who leaked the U.S. Supreme Court draft brief indicating that the court was set to overturn Roe V. Wade and returning the issue of abortion back to the states. At a recent event in Dallas, Texas, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, the Hoover Institution, and the Manhattan Institute, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke about the leak and his concern for the rule of law and credibility of the court. A roughly 8-minute clip of his talk was published by C-SPAN, in which he said, “I think we are in danger of destroying the institutions that are required for a free society. You can’t have a civil society, a free society without a stable legal system. https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1525497678263635972 “You can’t have one without stability in things like property or interpretation and impartial judiciary. I’ve been in this business long enough to know just how fragile it is.” Prior to the draft opinion being leake...

“In one of the more bold acts of cynicism I've seen in awhile, WI Republicans have scheduled a hearing for their terrible, discriminatory medical cannabis bill – for 4/20 of all days,” - Sen. Chris Larson Next week’s hearing on a medical marijuana program for the state has already upset many of the Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol who’ve pushed for legal marijuana in the state for years. The Senate Committee on Insurance, Licensing and Forestry on Monday scheduled a  medical marijuana hearing for SB 1034 , which would open a path for Wisconsin to treat marijuana as medicine. That hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday, April 20th. “In one of the more bold acts of cynicism I've seen in awhile, WI Republicans have scheduled a hearing for their terrible, discriminatory medical cannabis bill – for 4/20 of all days,” Sen. Chris Larson , D-Milwaukee, said on Twitter on Monday. 420 has been part of marijuana lore for years. Larson is not alone in failing to find any hum...