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High court rules against Evers on defunct capacity limit
An Evers administration attempt in October to blunt a rising case count of COVID-19 infections should have gone through the state’s rulemaking process, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The 4-3 decision, written by Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, upheld a lower court ruling, which had cut short an order that the state’s top health officer […]
Bill protects coverage for prior health conditions, but critics say it falls short
In the shadow of a court case that threatens the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are promoting legislation to cover one of the federal health law’s centerpiece protections: that people buying health insurance can’t be denied or charged more because of a pre-existing health condition. But health care advocates contend that, if the […]
Evers finds end run to save $70M in monthly federal food support
A battle over federal food aid that Wisconsin appeared to have lost took a new twist Tuesday, as Gov. Tony Evers announced a deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep $70 million per month of additional food aid coming to the state. The aid was tied to the federal pandemic state of emergency […]
GOP bills seeking control of federal COVID relief funds to take center stage
Tuesday’s Assembly floor session will focus largely on a package of bills that would take control of federal COVID-19 relief spending from Gov. Tony Evers — and will almost certainly face an Evers veto. The Assembly Rules Committee has put 11 bills on Tuesday’s agenda that direct spending from Wisconsin’s $3.2 billion share of money […]
Father issues new challenge to prosecutor over son’s death in 2004
A Kenosha man whose adult son was killed by police 16 years ago wants the state attorney general’s office to investigate a local prosecutor’s refusal to support a new inquiry into the fatal shooting. Michael M. Bell’s new complaint to the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) focuses in part on statements that the Kenosha County […]
Mutant strains help drive continued jump in COVID-19 cases
Variant strains of the coronavirus now account for more than half of new cases of COVID-19, and the average number of new infections each day has doubled in the last month, state health officials said Thursday. And while a 4-3 majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court ended the statewide mask mandate a week ago, the […]
State adds up cost of FoodShare aid lost with health emergency’s cancelation
The state Supreme Court ruling that ended Wisconsin’s public health emergency March 31 will cost residents who depend on federal food aid more than $50 million a month, the state Department of Health Services (DHS) reported Wednesday. When the emergency was in effect, Wisconsin qualified for an additional $57.5 million each month in increased benefits […]
Biden administration confirms plan to end Wisconsin Medicaid work requirement
A work requirement for some BadgerCare recipients — which was already on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic — has been eliminated, the federal government has confirmed. The work requirement was part of a Medicaid waiver for which the administration of former Gov. Scott Walker received approval in 2018. It had not been implemented before the […]
Republicans take dim view of Evers’ workforce budget proposals
Republicans who wield the majority in the state Legislature have already proclaimed they will throw out Gov. Tony Evers’ second budget, cutting and pasting the state’s spending plan into something more to their liking. And at a hearing Tuesday on provisions that affect people who work and the people who employ them, GOP lawmakers kept […]
Republicans again push their stimulus plan that Evers already vetoed
The federal government is shipping $3.2 billion in stimulus money to Wisconsin and Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature have dueling visions on how to spend it and who should control the purse strings. The Republican Legislature began hearings Tuesday on a series of bills, introduced late Friday, that are made up of pieces […]
Union vote is tied at Colectivo, setting stage for NLRB hearing
A vote on union representation at the Colectivo chain of coffee houses in Illinois and Wisconsin will require a federal hearing to resolve. Ballots were counted in the election Tuesday on whether Colectivo employees would be represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). The result was 99 votes for and 99 against the […]
Not a COVID-19 surge yet — but the risk of one is increasing
Some time in mid-January, some people in Wisconsin who were wearing face masks stopped doing so — and every day, a few more people gave them up. In early February, people started traveling more, and longer distances. By a week before St. Patrick’s Day, the state’s steady decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases […]