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GOP voting maps passed by Senate committee
The Wisconsin Senate Committee on Government Operations advanced the Legislature’s proposed voting maps Thursday, voting 3-2 along party lines to pass the bills out of committee. The bills, SB-621 and SB-622, which draw new legislative districts and Congressional districts, respectively, were the subject of a heated day-long public hearing last week. All of the testimony […]
Kids are watching: We need to stop society from falling apart
The video on my 14-year-old daughter’s cell phone played in an endless loop: kids protesting outside Madison East High School, outraged by allegations of a sexual assault at a party after Homecoming this year, and by the school administration’s failure to muster a response. As the students in the crowd got more and more worked […]
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears oral arguments on private attorneys
On Monday the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Andrew Waity v. Devin LeMahieu, the case concerning Wisconsin’s Republican legislative leaders who hired private attorneys to advise them on lawsuits that might arise over drawing the state’s new voting maps. Wisconsin law only allows Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos […]
‘Wrong, immoral and anti-democratic’ — Wisconsin’s voting maps get a public hearing
The Wisconsin Legislature held an eight-and-a-half-hour public hearing on voting maps for legislative and Congressional districts on Thursday — the first such hearing in more than a decade and the only one planned. Hundreds of members of the public packed the hearing room and spilled into two overflow rooms to give testimony and watch the […]
How undermining elections became central to the GOP plan
Harassing election officials and working to undermine the integrity of Wisconsin elections has become a central part of Republicans’ electoral strategy. On Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters that it is “possible if not likely” that his election investigator, former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, will interrogate Meagan Wolfe, the beleaguered administrator of the […]
Senate passes reading readiness bill after debate on education decline
The party-line vote approving Senate Bill 454, establishing new reading assessments for grade schoolers in Wisconsin, was a foregone conclusion. Republican proponents of the assessments say they will reverse the decline in reading test scores for Wisconsin children and help close the state’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap between Black and white students. Democrats say more testing […]
Republicans torpedo debate on voting rights in dangerous moment for democracy
When Senate Republicans voted unanimously to block debate on the Freedom to Vote Act on Wednesday, they fulfilled Mitch McConnell’s “hope and anticipation” that not a single GOP senator would break ranks — ensuring that a measure protecting voting rights and secure elections, increasing campaign finance transparency and cracking down on partisan gerrymandering would not […]
Doubling down on division and resentment, GOP takes a political risk
Pushing for a wolf massacre and an open season on sandhill cranes; attacking school board members and trying to force schools to drop COVID safety measures; bringing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to Madison and then moving his speech because of the University of Wisconsin’s “Marxist COVID mandates”. What are Republicans and their so-called conservative allies […]
Evers signs executive order on Indigenous Peoples Day, apologizes for Wisconsin’s role in Indian boarding schools
On Monday, Indigenous People’s Day, Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order formally apologizing for Wisconsin’s historic role in removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in boarding schools funded by the federal government and operated by government and religious organizations. The order also includes a formal declaration of support for the […]
Don’t be fooled by the Republicans’ election circus
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is acting like a clown. First he threw in with far-right conspiracy theorists and claimed without evidence that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. Then he put on a suit and tie and accepted $680,000 of taxpayers’ money, courtesy of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, to […]
Immigrant rights advocates call for a general strike
The immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera on Tuesday announced plans for a statewide general strike to be held Monday, Oct. 11. The strike and student walkout, part of a series of nationwide days of action beginning on Monday, Indigenous People’s Day, is intended to underscore the contributions of immigrants to the U.S. economy […]
People’s Maps Commission releases voting maps
Gov. Tony Evers’ People’s Maps Commission released draft maps for new Assembly, Senate and U.S. House districts on Thursday evening, in a Zoom presentation showcasing a year of work gathering public input and drafting what commissioners touted as fair, nonpartisan maps created through a transparent, participatory process. “The rest of the commission and I have […]