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Secretary Preston Cole retiring from DNR
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole is retiring from his position after a 35 year career in public service and four years at the helm of the state’s conservation agency, Gov. Tony Evers announced in a news release Friday. Cole is set to retire on Wednesday, giving Evers a chance to nominate a […]
Same sex marriage bill negotiated by Baldwin moving forward in Senate
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumber (D-N.Y.) has filed the Respect for Marriage Act, setting up the bill, which would enshrine marriage equality into federal law, for its first procedural vote on Wednesday. Wisconsin’s Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin has played a key role in negotiating with Republicans in an effort to get the bill past […]
Joint Finance Committee unanimously approves settlements in pollution, consumer protection cases
The Wisconsin Legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee unanimously approved five settlements between the Wisconsin Department of Justice and state companies that had violated the law on Tuesday. The settlements involved two companies that had violated state environmental rules and three companies that had violated state consumer protection rules. In the first settlement, involving paper company […]
UW System relaunches controversial free speech student survey
The University of Wisconsin System sent a survey to students on Monday looking for their feelings about the state of free speech on the system’s campuses across the state. The survey had previously been planned for May, but objections from chancellors, including by UW-Whitewater Chancellor James Henderson, who criticized the survey when he resigned from […]
Status of Evers’ appointees up in the air as he enters second term
At a campaign stop in Reedsburg in October, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) warned that if Democratic Gov. Tony Evers were reelected, it would be hard for him and Senate Republicans to stop the “liberal takeover” of Wisconsin’s agencies and boards. Through Evers’ first term, two Senate majority leaders, LeMahieu and now-U.S. Rep. Scott […]
State population goal eliminated in new Wisconsin wolf plan
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources released a draft of its first updated wolf management plan in 23 years on Thursday. The plan notably doesn’t include a total statewide population goal for the animal, a number that has caused a number of contentious political fights in recent years. Since 1999, the state’s population goal has […]
Voters across state overwhelmingly approve non-binding marijuana, abortion referenda
About half a dozen communities across Wisconsin overwhelmingly approved non-binding referenda on legalizing recreational cannabis and repealing the state’s 1849 abortion ban on Tuesday. There were seven cannabis-related referenda on ballots across the state Tuesday, all of them passed by massive margins. While they were on the ballots of largely Democratic cities, the measures passed […]
Candidates concede, voting smooth in first major election since Trump conspiracies
After two years of Republican agitation about election fraud and warnings that the 2022 midterm elections would be overrun by unruly and even violent election observers, the voters of Wisconsin were able to cast their ballots safely while the results have been accepted by the losing candidates. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, candidates […]
Toney concedes, Kaul holds on for minuscule win in attorney general race
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul narrowly eked out a win in his reelection campaign against Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney. With more than 95% of votes cast across the state, Kaul’s lead was less than 5,000 votes — an exceedingly close election even for a state known for nail biters. Around 1:20 […]
Van Orden wins seat in 3rd Congressional District
Retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden has defeated state Sen. Brad Pfaff in the race for the open seat in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. Van Orden is headed to the U.S. House of Representatives two years after he lost a race for the same seat to incumbent Democratic Rep. Ron Kind, who had represented the […]
Waukesha Co. Judge denies right-wing attempt to stop count of military absentee ballots
A Waukesha County judge on Monday denied a last minute attempt by a right-wing group to bar absentee ballots cast by members of the military from being counted on Tuesday in order to verify that those votes come from real people. The case was brought by the right-wing Thomas More Society on behalf of a […]
Trump calls Vos ‘horrendous RINO’ in recorded robocall on behalf of write-in challenger Steen
Former President Donald Trump is again attempting to oust Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) from his seat in the Legislature. In the days before the Nov. 8 midterm election, Trump recorded a robocall on behalf of Adam Steen in which Trump calls Vos a “horrendous RINO,” (the acronym stands for Republican In Name Only). Steen, […]