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Janesville business owner announces bid for Congress in First District
A Janesville business owner and educator announced Tuesday she will seek the Democratic nomination to run against U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil next year, making her the first potential challenger to the two-term incumbent in the 2022 election. Ann Roe, a political newcomer, focused her opening announcement on economic issues and on hearing the voices of […]
Baldwin, Georgia senators propose federal alternative for states that refuse Medicaid expansion
Hoping to do an end-run around state governments that have refused to expand Medicaid, senators from two such states want to offer a federal alternative that would not require state approval. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) introduced a bill Monday that would create a federally run and funded Medicaid […]
Early numbers show COVID-19 uptick as officials urge more people to get vaccinated
New COVID-19 cases appear to be climbing again, sparking concern that the spreading mutant versions of the coronavirus are making inroads in Wisconsin. As of Monday, the percentage of tests that were positive for the virus had doubled from three weeks ago, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). DHS spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt […]
With double-barreled vetoes Evers rejects gun ‘sanctuary’ bill, local redistricting delay
With a pair of end-of-the week vetoes, Gov. Tony Evers rejected bills Friday afternoon that would have postponed redistricting for local elections and hampered attempts to enforce federal firearms laws in Wisconsin. The redistricting bill, AB-369, would have delayed new maps for county board districts and ward boundaries until after the 2022 spring elections. New […]
With personal property tax cut and paper mill vetoes, Evers tells lawmakers to try again
On the same day that he signed the state’s 2021-2023 budget, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a separate bill Thursday that was tied to the state spending plan. Evers rejected the state Legislature’s bid to end what is left of the personal property tax, a business tax that has already been whittled away by a series […]
Evers embraces income tax cut, delays its impact on paychecks
By using the diminished but still extensive partial veto power that Wisconsin governors wield, Gov. Tony Evers managed to tinker with the margins of the new 2021-2023 state budget — temporarily capturing a $700 million windfall, but also clawing back for the executive branch powers that Republican lawmakers had tried to assume for the Legislature. […]
The pandemic has gotten better. It’s still not over.
Sixteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic Wisconsin’s rates of infection, hospitalization and death are continuing to decline, half of the people in the state who are eligible have had at least one shot of the vaccine and increasingly the world is looking like it’s getting back to normal. It isn’t. COVID-19 hasn’t gone away — […]
‘They have nothing to do with us’
When the company where both he and his wife worked was bought up a few years ago, Mike Gackstatter did a little research on the buyer. The couple both worked at Hufcor, a home-grown Janesville manufacturer of specialty room dividers used in large private and public spaces. The new owner was OpenGate Capital, a Los […]
Bill removes predatory pricing shield from medical expenses
A proposed state law would remove prescription drugs and other medical goods from coverage under the state’s Unfair Sales Act. But a lawmaker skeptical of the proposal says it would weaken consumer protection. The Unfair Sales Act was originally enacted in 1939 to prevent large competitors with extensive resources from moving into a market; discounting […]
Evers vetoes bill that would have cut supplemental unemployment pay
Laid-off Wisconsin workers who qualify will continue to collect $300 in added federal unemployment pay, after Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have ended the program in the state. The bill (AB-336), which passed the Legislature on party-line votes in both houses, “would eliminate economic assistance for individuals whose employers or occupations have […]
Paper mill revival loan winds up in showdown over pandemic relief
For the city of Wisconsin Rapids, a shuttered paper mill is a potential lifeline to recovering some of the 900 jobs the community lost a year ago. For thousands of others who make their living cutting, selling and hauling timber across northern Wisconsin and northern Michigan, it represents the prospect of restoring income cut off […]
Evers unveils $140M in pandemic recovery grants for tourism industry
Wisconsin tourism organizations and businesses will share in $140 million in state grants funded by federal pandemic relief money, Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday. Slightly more than half of the grant money — $75 million — will go to the lodging industry, while the rest will be divided among movie theaters, small businesses associated with […]