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Bullies in charge
Wisconsin has been re-opened for business. Forcibly reopened, it turns out, by Republican legislative leaders and four state Supreme Court justices. In a messy decision filled with incendiary language and spurious claims, the court overturned Safer at Home by “torturing the plain language” of a state statute, as Justice Rebecca Dallet put it in her […]
‘Blatant judicial activism’ as Wisconsin Supreme Court overturns Safer at Home
In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the extension of Gov. Tony Evers’ Safer at Home order by Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm. The order sought to prevent people throughout the state from gathering in large groups, going to school, church and restaurants, and otherwise participating in social contact […]
Anti-Trump ad by Republican group airs in Wisconsin
An ad seeking to persuade Republicans not to vote for Donald Trump went up on cable television stations in Wausau and La Crosse Tuesday. The ad, titled “Mourning in America,” contrasts Trump with Ronald Reagan, and has generated more than 20 million impressions on YouTube and prompted an angry rant on Twitter from Trump. “More […]
The GOP tests 2020 campaign theme: ‘Some of you will have to die’
Republicans appear to be going all-in on the idea that some of us will have to suck it up and die in order to get the economy restarted. Can they win in 2020 with this message? Party leaders at both the state and national level seem to think so. President Donald Trump made his pitch […]
Rural educator Jill Underly is running for state superintendent
Pecatonica school superintendent Jill Underly announced on Thursday that she will run for State Superintendent of Public Instruction next spring, to succeed Carolyn Stanford Taylor who announced in January that she will not seek another term. Stanford Taylor was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers, who held the job himself for nine years before he was […]
Supreme Court justice asks if Safer at Home is ‘tyranny’
Gov. Tony Evers told reporters last week that he was “confident” the state Supreme Court would rule in his favor, and against GOP legislators who are seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s Safer-at-Home order. “We have the facts on our side. We have the law on our side. And we have lots of opportunities to share with […]
Pandemic temper tantrums
People are sick and tired of staying at home. That was the message about 30 protesters brought to Gov. Tony Evers’ residence on Friday afternoon, gathering in the street outside the wrought-iron gates of the white, columned mansion, and shouting through bullhorns “Come out Tony!” “Government is nonessential!” and “Tony the tyrant!” “Hey, better stay […]
Justice Kelly ‘unrecuses’ himself from voter purge case
Justice Daniel Kelly has decided to “unrecuse” himself from a Supreme Court case involving the possible purge of more than 200,000 voters from the rolls in Wisconsin. Kelly sent a letter to the lawyers in the case, Zignego v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, on April 15 explaining that he had originally recused himself from the case […]
Dueling briefs in Supreme Court lawsuit to overturn Safer at Home
The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a request by a group of labor unions on Tuesday to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the extension of Gov. Tony Evers’ “Safer at Home” order. The unions argued that for their members — healthcare workers, teachers and bus drivers — continuing the shutdown of much of […]
Justice Kelly asks whether to ‘unrecuse’ himself in two cases
Justice Daniel Kelly, the conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who lost the April 7 election to Dane Co. Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky, is pondering whether or not to “unrecuse” himself from two separate cases involving Wisconsin voters. On April 15, Kelly, who was appointed to his seat by former Gov. Scott Walker, sent a letter […]
Sen. Baldwin: Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds must go to small businesses
Responding to reports of “unjust enrichment” of wealthy CEOs and hedge-fund managers through the initial $350 billion in paycheck protection funding Congress allocated in the federal COVID-19 relief package, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and 20 of her Senate colleagues, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Small […]
What is the Republican position on the pandemic? No, really.
Here are a couple of things you should know about the Reopen Wisconsin rally today: It’s too crazy for Sen. Ron Johnson — the guy who suggested we weigh the relative costs of merely wiping out 1% to 3% of the U.S. population (more than have died in all the wars in U.S. history) against […]