Briefs
Assembly passes seven housing bills, puts homeless camps on pause
After a divided committee vote a week ago, the Wisconsin Assembly passed seven bills Tuesday that Republicans had proposed to address Wisconsin’s affordable housing shortage. Six of the bills passed on voice votes with little or no audible dissent. A seventh passed with only Republican support. There was no debate on any of them. All […]
Milwaukee’s fusion center working with businesses to install cameras
The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) is participating in a new pilot program dubbed Operation Green Light. Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, the Villard Avenue BID [Business Improvement District], and members of the business community are working together on the program, which aims to funnel real-time intelligence for criminal investigations to the city’s fusion center. Part of the […]
FDA panel recommends OK for Pfizer’s vaccine for kids 5 to 11
WASHINGTON — A federal vaccine advisory panel on Tuesday recommended authorizing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a decision that means as soon as next week everyone in the U.S. over age 5 is expected to be eligible for a shot. The vote by the Food & Drug Administration panel, with 17 […]
Dane County Judge puts a halt to November wolf hunt
A Dane County Circuit Court judge temporarily put a halt to the wolf hunt planned to begin Nov. 6, ordering on Friday that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) set a quota of zero wolves for all regions of the state. The judge, Jacob Frost, did not strike down the state’s law that requires a […]
Legalizing fentanyl testing strips discussed in Assembly
The state’s drug overdose crisis, largely driven by the spread of fentanyl across illicit drug markets, has compelled many to re-think how to save lives. One bill (AB-619), discussed by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, seeks to decriminalize fentanyl testing strips in Wisconsin. Doing so would end a standing prohibition on […]
COVID-19 boosters from Moderna, J&J OK’d along with ‘mix and match’ shots
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of additional Americans are now eligible to receive a booster dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines, after federal health officials gave the green light late Thursday to follow-up doses of the shots made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Anyone who received the one-shot J&J vaccine is now eligible […]
DNR seeking public input on snowmobile trail in state forest
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is looking for the public to weigh in on a proposed change to its master plan for the Flambeau River State Forest which would convert about a mile of existing forest road into a snowmobile trail. The state forest is made up of 90,147 acres across Price, Rusk and […]
Making Wisconsin ‘Texas of the North’ on abortion
Wednesday, after the state Senate passed several bills to make it more difficult to get an abortion in Wisconsin, Sen. Kelda Roys put out a release titled: “GOP Pushes for Wisconsin to become the Texas of the North.” During the session, the following bills passed along partisan lines, despite versions of these bills having been […]
State’s meat processors will vie for grants to grow, modernize
A new state grant program will spend up to $200,000 a year to help meat processors, their capacity severely strained by the COVID-19 pandemic, expand and modernize their facilities. On Tuesday, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee took the formal step of authorizing the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to spend the […]
Housing bills advance with mixed support in committee vote
Eight bills offered to deal with shortages of affordable housing in Wisconsin advanced from an Assembly committee Tuesday on votes that mostly split along party lines. Two of the measures, however, received unanimous support in the 10-member Assembly Housing and Real Estate Committee: AB-607, creating a new housing rehabilitation loan program in the Wisconsin Housing […]
Environmental group sues DNR Board Chair Prehn over release of texts
An environmental group filed a legal action in Dane County Circuit Court on Tuesday seeking to force the embattled chair of the Natural Resources Board (NRB) to release text messages about his tenure in the position. The chair, Wausau dentist Frederick Prehn, has refused to vacate his seat even though his term expired May 1. […]
Lawsuit suggests police worked with militias in Kenosha
The Kenosha Police Department’s tolerance of armed right-wing groups after the shooting of Jacob Blake triggered protests and civil unrest last year and is the subject of a newly filed lawsuit. The court filing, pushed by Attorney Kimberley Motley and other attorneys representing the sole survivor of the shooting which allegedly involved then-17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, […]