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State details back-to-work plan
Wisconsin can begin the process of reopening its economy when the state sees the number of positive COVID-19 tests, the number of infections of COVID-19 or conventional influenza, and the percentage of COVID-19 tests that are positive each decline for 14 days straight, state officials said Monday. Additionally, the state hospital system must be free […]
State expands COVID-19 testing capacity
Wisconsin is further expanding the state’s capacity to test for COVID-19, one of the conditions required to begin relaxing the statewide lockdown that has been in effect since March 25, Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday. “Testing is key to Wisconsin turning the dial on COVID-19 and reopening the state,” the governor’s office said in a […]
Landlords, tenant advocates team up for housing relief request
Groups representing landlords and tenants have teamed up to ask state officials for emergency relief measures aimed at preventing the loss of housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are seeking state legislation that would provide temporary rent assistance, financial aid for landlords, as well as other services to help reduce not just homelessness but […]
Evers, other govs ask Trump for aid as states face shortfall
Gov. Tony Evers has joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in urging President Trump to expedite additional resources for all states and localities so that they can address economic shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. “Without this leadership, the damage to our state economies will be exacerbated by the cuts we […]
Safer at Home extended through Memorial Day
Citing science and health experts, Gov. Tony Evers ordered Department of Health Services (DHS) Secretary-designee Andrea Palm to extend Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order until 8 am on Tuesday May, 26. Republican leaders in the Legislature said they planned to explore a legal challenge to the extension, but the governor’s office chief legal counsel said […]
COVID-19 pandemic is raising the threat level for news outlets
For journalism outlets in Wisconsin and nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic could be the biggest story ever. And reporters and editors are covering it even as their future has never looked more precarious. News organizations have sent employees to work from home, some even before Gov. Tony Evers issued the Safer at Home order on March […]
Healthcare workers want better working conditions, more PPE
While the state Legislature has passed one COVID-19 relief bill and Gov. Tony Evers signed it Wednesday, health care workers and state Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) are calling for follow-up legislation that would do more for some of the people on the front lines of the illness. Earlier this week, Vining circulated a letter to […]
COVID-19 bill revives cut in nursing aide training
A reduction in training requirements for certified nursing assistants (CNA) that Gov. Tony Evers vetoed last year, and that was blocked a second time when Republicans failed in their attempt to override that veto, has returned in the Legislature’s massive COVID-19 bill that passed the Assembly on Tuesday. Language in AB-1038 reduces the minimum number […]
Union seeks ‘first-responder’ status for grocery workers
Think “first responder” and the people that come to mind include firefighters and police officers, emergency medical technicians and nurses, along with other kinds of healthcare workers. But there’s another group of people who believe during the COVID-19 pandemic they should be included: grocery store employees. It’s not a frivolous request, says Melanie Bartholf. She […]
Voters sue Legislature, leaders and WEC demanding April 7 revote
The first of what could be a plethora of lawsuits over the April 7 in-person election was filed Monday, charging that Republican legislative leaders “chose politics over the interests of all Wisconsin citizens in an intentional and self-serving attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters” when they refused to allow voting to be rescheduled in the […]
Business groups want state to re-open, but scientists say it’s too soon
The state’s largest business group and more than four dozen trade groups and local chambers of commerce are urging Gov. Tony Evers to lift his COVID-19 pandemic-related Safer-at-Home order and begin to reopen the state within two weeks. But researchers who are studying the spread of COVID-19 warn that following such a calendar could have […]
Foxconn files report claiming more than 600 employees
Nearly half of the employees Foxconn hired in 2019 came on board during the last month of the year, and about 60% were hired in November and December together, the company’s latest report on its Wisconsin hiring shows. The company submitted the required report to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. on April 1, as one […]