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Pandemic’s return adds new pressure on child care, working families
As COVID-19 infections in Wisconsin have once again been rising dramatically, the resurgent pandemic has put new pressure on child care providers and the parents who are counting on them. Across the state, providers strapped for staff have had to cut back on how many children they can take. Some report that their current strain […]
Evers taps COVID relief funds to offset state budget’s transit cuts to Madison, Milwaukee
To partially offset millions of dollars cut from his proposed budget for transit funding for Madison and Milwaukee, Gov. Tony Evers is dividing $25 million from the state’s pandemic relief fund between bus systems serving the two cities. Evers announced the bus system financial boost Monday, holding press conferences in each city. The funds come […]
State’s highest court rejects attempt to block Dane County mask order
A lawsuit challenging Dane County’s new COVID-19 mask mandate won’t go straight to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On Friday, the high court denied a motion by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty to bypass lower courts in hearing the lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Sun Prairie resident. The order also denied a temporary […]
State billionaires’ wealth skyrocketed during the pandemic
Wisconsin’s eight richest residents have seen their wealth grow by 50% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new advocacy group analysis reports. Their good fortune makes a strong case for provisions in the federal budget reconciliation bill that would boost taxes on individuals with annual incomes of more than $400,000, says Citizen Action […]
First contract talks will be next test for Colectivo, employees
After almost a year and a half fighting for union representation, Colectivo Coffee employees who organized the campaign now have a new challenge: getting their first contract. Their concerns will include proper maintenance for equipment in the Colectivo stores, the warehouse and the roasting operations, according to Hillary Laskonis, a Milwaukee Colectivo barista who became […]
COVID-19 appeared earlier in Wisconsin, elsewhere than previously thought
A Wisconsin woman who died in January 2020 is one of six people across the country whose deaths have been retroactively linked to COVID-19, suggesting the coronavirus turned up in parts of the country earlier than originally believed. The San Jose Mercury News reported that death certificates in six states “have been quietly amended to […]
State establishes $250M grant programs for local development, health care projects
Wisconsin will spend $250 million in pandemic relief money on two programs to help support housing, transit, child care and health care projects. The priority will be underserved communities in the state, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday. Local and tribal governments will be able to apply for the grants, to be awarded in a competitive […]
With new tally, union gets majority vote at Colectivo Coffee
A majority of Colectivo Coffee employees in Wisconsin and Illinois voted in favor of union representation after seven additional ballots were counted on Monday. After nearly five months of delays, federal officials opened seven previously unopened ballots in the union representation election on Monday, all of them favoring the union. The result shifted the tally […]
Wisconsin rolls out new reward to encourage people get a COVID-19 vaccine
Wisconsin residents for whom a deadly pandemic wasn’t sufficient incentive to get a COVID-19 vaccination now will get a $100 reward for getting their first shot — but only for the next two weeks. Gov. Tony Evers and the Department of Health Services (DHS) announced Monday that people who receive the first dose of a […]
Advocates pitch for more reforms to boost health care access
Cancer and Congress catapulted Laura Packard into being a health care activist. Packard credits the insurance coverage she had through the Affordable Care Act with saving her life. When the Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted to repeal the health insurance law shortly after her 2017 diagnosis with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Packard […]
People with weak immune systems can now get a third COVID-19 shot
As a COVID-19 resurgence drives home how vaccinations are helping prevent thousands of Wisconsin residents from getting sick, one vulnerable group of people is now eligible for some additional protection. The state Department of Health Services (DHS) is recommending that people with weaker immune systems get an additional shot to help bolster the vaccine’s effectiveness. […]
New data show the cost of forgoing the COVID-19 shot
Wisconsinites who weren’t fully vaccinated for the coronavirus were nearly three times as likely to get infected in July as fully vaccinated people, according to new state health data released Thursday. And those who were less than fully vaccinated were nearly four times as likely to need hospital care and more than 10 times as […]