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Wisconsin Supreme Court tilts on its axis at historic swearing-in
A giddy crowd filled two floors of the Capitol rotunda Tuesday, as the late afternoon sun lit up the gold capstones on marble pillars and the glittering glass mosaic of “Justice” — a classical portrait of a woman holding a set of scales — looked down serenely from her throne. Before Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice […]
Nazis versus drag queens
We’ve reached the dog days of summer and the whole world has retreated to the air conditioned cineplex. Perhaps my perceptions are warped by the heat, but the news seems to have melted together with the movie matinees. U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbulah) took his star turn leading a Congressional hearing on UFOs last week, […]
We need to stand up to bullies targeting vulnerable people in Wisconsin and across the country
Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan is an affable guy, a progressive Democrat with a reputation for getting along with conservative Republicans. His long-term friendship with Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is a matter of puzzlement for many of Pocan’s supporters. So it was particularly dramatic to see him rise to chastise his GOP colleagues on […]
Happy Birthday Wisconsin Examiner!
Four years ago, in July 2019, we launched the Wisconsin Examiner with a mission to provide you, our readers, with a fresh perspective on state politics and policy through investigative reporting and daily news coverage both inside and outside the Capitol. We were the eleventh outlet launched by States Newsroom, the national nonprofit news organization […]
The Wisconsin state budget is done. Now what?
Wisconsin’s biennial budget battle effectively ended Tuesday when the Milwaukee Common Council voted to raise the city’s sales tax. Getting permission from the state to hike the tax to 2% without going to referendum was the cornerstone of the shared revenue deal struck by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Republican legislative leaders and local officials in […]
Republicans declare defeat, double down on bitterness after Evers line-item vetoes their budget
Normally in politics, public officials try to put a good face on compromise, taking credit for every legislative achievement they can credibly claim. But Wisconsin Republicans are not normal. Instead of taking a victory lap after Gov. Tony Evers signed the state budget they drafted — having summarily tossed out more than 500 items Evers […]
How the right’s phony patriotism is destroying America
In his book “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America,” best-selling author Kurt Andersen connects the marketing of nostalgia for an idealized American past to the organized campaign led by big business over the last four decades to destroy unions, public schools, progressive taxation and the middle class. Andersen’s highly readable history provides some bracing context […]
GOP budget is a declaration of war. How will Evers respond?
These are not normal times. As Wisconsin residents endured the worst air quality on the planet this week, Republicans in the Legislature rammed through a budget that defunds critical services including environmental protections. Their message to citizens: choke on this. Among the casualties in the GOP version of the budget, which stripped out priorities that […]
A desperate, last-minute push for school funding
As smoke from Canadian forest fires enveloped downtown Madison in a thick haze Tuesday, prompting health officials to warn people to stay indoors, about 100 public education advocates gathered in the State Capitol rotunda to sound the alarm about another crisis — the abandonment of Wisconsin’s public schools. Students, teachers and public school advocates said […]
Wisconsin DNR issues multi-day air quality alert
Hazy skies and poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires will persist across Wisconsin until mid-day Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources warns. According to the DNR’s current, multi-day air-quality advisory, the most significant health impacts are anticipated between noon on Tuesday, June 27 and noon on Wednesday, June 28. Conditions may change rapidly […]
Baldwin, Pocan join White House to announce $1B in broadband funding for Wisconsin
Wisconsin Democrats U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Mark Pocan joined Mitch Landrieu, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, to announce Wisconsin’s share of a massive $42 billion federal investment in high-speed internet infrastructure through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Wisconsin will receive $1.1 billion, administered by the Department of Commerce, […]
Will the ‘education governor’ go along with GOP funds transfer from public to private schools?
As Republicans advanced their bills to dramatically increase taxpayer funding for private schools during a flurry of overlapping legislative hearings Tuesday, school choice advocates were giddy. Busloads of private school parents, staff and students wearing green T-shirts with the words “Equal funding for ALL KIDS” emblazoned on the back jammed hearing rooms in the Capitol. […]