Wisconsin Right Now

  Republicans will again control the U.S. House of Representatives, multiple media outlets are projecting. The call means President-elect Donald Trump is at the helm as Republicans have secured all three branches of the federal government. Decision Desk HQ called the House for Republicans days ago, but other media outlets like CNN and NBC News held out until Wednesday afternoon to put Republicans at at least 218 seats after flipping one overall in their favor with a few more races to call. The Associated Press and Fox News still have not called the House, leaving Republicans at 217 seats. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans on Wednesday  elected U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to serve as majority leader as Trump rolled out several picks to fill out his administration. Republican control of the House will likely prevent Trump from facing more impeachment attempts and House investigations as well as give an edge in funding battles. “Thank you, President @realDonaldTrump for jo...

Wisconsin will send an estimated $1.56 billion to local governments in shared revenue in 2025. That total includes $770 million for county and municipal aid, $281 million for supplemental county and municipal aid, nearly $174 million for Act 12 personal property aid, $98 million for exempt computer aid, $97 million for utility aid, nearly $76 million for personal property aid on locally assessed machinery and tools, $58 million in expenditure restraint incentive program aid and $10 million in video service cable provider aid. The estimates include a $23.6 million increase in county and municipal aid based on last year’s sales tax collections. “I’m excited to see how the results of our historic shared revenue increases are going to help support communities and families across Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said. “We’re helping make sure our local communities can meet basic and unique needs alike, including investing in fire and emergency services, fixing local roads, expa...

This week will mark the three-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s chaotic and deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Biden committed on the campaign trail to withdraw U.S. troops, a move supported by his predecessor Donald Trump, but the process left 13 U.S. service members killed and the country within the hands of the Taliban. The Taliban also received billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment because it was left behind. Federal officials have pointed to an effort to render that equipment unusable, but the rapid collapse in the country left little time to actually finish and accomplish that destruction of equipment. The Taliban held a military parade featuring U.S. military equipment earlier this month. “What added insult to injury to all of this was the way in which it was conducted, the unnecessary impetus behind it which led to the … collapse” and even “armed our adversaries,” Robert Greenway, a former top intelligence and national security offic...

  The Biden administration will pause its replenishment of the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves because oil has become too expensive, the White House said. Earlier in his term, Biden drained about half of the U.S. oil reserves down to their lowest level in decades in order to try to lower gas prices, which surpassed a record national average of more than $5 per gallon in 2022 before coming back down. Now, Biden’s effort to replenish those reserves have been stalled. Critics warn that lower oil reserves are a national security issue for the U.S. If the reserves are low when a larger war or crisis occurs, refilling the reserves could be much more difficult and certainly more expensive. “It’s pure insanity to watch the Biden Administration cut American oil production and then claim they can’t refill our critical reserve because of the price,” Daniel Turner, founder and executive director for Power The Future, said in a statement. “Joe Biden drained the SPR for political...

  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday about whether the government can persuade social media companies to remove content from platforms. The Biden administration appealed  to the nation's highest court after a ruling by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last September that stated Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the White House, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the First Amendment by influencing social media companies in moderating content on COVID-19 and the 2020 election. More than 50 individuals and organizations filed legal briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri. The case was originally known as Missouri v. Biden. Last July, U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled against the Biden administration and issued an injunction requested by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to stop nine government agencies and their leaders and employees from specific actions and interactions wit...

  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday about whether the government can persuade social media companies to remove content from platforms. The Biden administration appealed  to the nation's highest court after a ruling by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last September that stated Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the White House, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the First Amendment by influencing social media companies in moderating content on COVID-19 and the 2020 election. More than 50 individuals and organizations filed legal briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri. The case was originally known as Missouri v. Biden. Last July, U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled against the Biden administration and issued an injunction requested by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to stop nine government agencies and their leaders and employees from specific actions and interactions wit...

  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal from former President Donald Trump next month on whether a Colorado Supreme Court ruling could keep him from appearing on the March Republican presidential primary ballot. After a regularly scheduled conference on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it's  granting a writ of certiorari  from Trump’s legal team and scheduled oral arguments for February 8. The Colorado Republican Party also filed a request for the court to hear an appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court decision. “Coloradans, and the American people, deserve clarity on whether someone who engaged in insurrection may run for the country's highest office,” Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement after the U.S. Supreme Court's announcement. “I urge the Court to prioritize this case and issue a ruling as soon as possible.” Other states have attempted to remove Trump from the presidential primary ballot, stating his role in events ...

Wisconsin voters will get two questions about election integrity next fall. The State Senate approved proposed constitutional amendments that would clarify that only U.S. citizens 18 years old and older can vote in the state, and would ban the use of so-called outside private money in Wisconsin elections. Senators also approved a third question as well that would enshrine voter ID into the state constitution, but that has to be voted on again next year before it can go to voters. “These amendments are common sense solutions that help to strengthen the integrity of our elections,” Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, said. SJR 71 will ensure only U.S. citizens who are 18 or older and eligible to vote can vote in Wisconsin’s elections. It also prohibits state and local governments from accepting private grants, like those that came from Mark Zuckerberg in 2020, for the public administration of elections. “Wisconsin received over $10 million in unaccountable grants from a group fu...

"We hope that the Supreme Court will agree that this gross abuse of power must stop and never happen again." - Solicitor General Liz Murrill The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a free speech case involving the federal government and social media censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The court, which granted certiorari on Friday, could be poised to issue a landmark decision in the case, known as Louisiana and Missouri vs. Biden et al., to define the federal government's ability to clamp down on speech from social media platforms. "We are pleased to learn that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this case, giving us yet another opportunity to defend the people from this assault on our First Amendment rights," Solicitor General Liz Murrill said in a news release. "It brings us one step closer to reestablishing the protections guaranteed to us in the Constitution and under the First Amendment. "We hope that the Supreme Court will agree that this gro...

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...

A judge will not delay counting military ballots in Wisconsin. A Waukesha County judge on Monday refused to sequester military ballots until they can be verified. I felt that that was a drastic remedy, that I felt that it was at least at a minimum a temporary disenfranchisement of our military voters’ votes to say, 'let’s put them on hold and let’s figure out after the fact whether or not there’s bad votes cast,'” Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell said in his ruling from the bench. State Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, asked the judge to intervene after she got three fake military ballots in the mail last week. She said she wanted to make sure that only military members were casting military ballots. Wisconsin law allows military members to request a ballot online without having to register first or show any kind of voter ID. The Thomas More Society joined the case as well, asking the judge for a temporary restraining order. The judge’s decision...

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wisconsin Right Now Monday against the Wisconsin Parole Commission for violating the state's open records law by refusing to release the names of people who were granted parole in 2022. The lawsuit, filed in the Washington County Circuit Court, alleges that the Wisconsin Parole Commission failed to comply with statutory requirements relating to open records laws by not complying with the request, which was first made in May 2022. Wisconsin Right Now followed up with the Commission, however, the commission failed to respond back. Wisconsin Right Now has been running a series of stories about paroles. Those names were released by the Parole Commission in a sheet that only went through the end of December 2021. The news site, which is run by a veteran journalist and former law enforcement officer, is seeking the 2022 names to educate the public about who was released on parole in Wisconsin. WIL...

Gableman is scheduled to testify in front of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Wisconsin voters will finally see what months of investigation into the 2020 presidential election have uncovered. Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman is expected to unveil his report into the 2020 vote at a statehouse hearing this morning. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel originally reported that Gableman would deliver the report to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Monday. Gableman's election investigation report would then be released to the public. The paper later said the report will not be made public until Tuesday. Gableman's Election Investigation Gableman has worked since September of last year to get a sense of just what happened at the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and in a handful of cities leading up to the vote in November of 2020. Gableman has repeatedly said he is not looking to overturn the election, rather he simply ...