News
Dane County judge says Gableman has ‘run amok’
A Dane County judge said on Thursday that the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice conducting a partisan review of the 2020 presidential election has “run amok” and “gone rogue” as he continues to disregard the state’s open records laws. In a hearing on Thursday, Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn was exasperated as an attorney for Assembly Speaker […]
Supreme Court justice criticizes ‘nonsensical’ law allowing abusers to get gun permits
In a unanimous ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a man who was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct for breaking into his estranged wife’s home and threatening her while waving a two-by-four is eligible to receive a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The court found that the man “did not commit a crime […]
Baldwin joins Democratic Senators asking tech companies to stop collecting abortion location data
Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined 13 other Democratic U.S. Senators in signing a letter that asks two data companies to stop collecting and selling the location data of people who visit abortion clinics. Led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the group called the data brokers SafeGraph and Placer.ai practices of selling location data to anyone “appalling.” […]
Misinformation, violence and a paper shortage threaten midterm elections, officials say
Members of a U.S. Senate panel and election administrators raised a bevy of concerns Thursday about the challenges elections officials will face this fall, saying problems ranging from a lack of paper to coordinated misinformation campaigns could affect confidence in U.S. democracy. A bipartisan panel of current and former elections officials and experts told the […]
Congress, White House scramble to ease baby formula shortage
WASHINGTON — Both the Biden administration and Congress moved Wednesday to try to relieve a national infant formula shortage, as the White House invoked the Defense Production Act and the U.S. House approved $28 million for the Food and Drug Administration. President Joe Biden said he would use the law to address the formula shortage, […]
Under fire from Congress, FDA chief says baby formula shortage will improve soon
WASHINGTON — U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Robert Califf told Congress Thursday that the infant formula shortage will likely begin to improve in the coming days, though he declined to explain to unhappy lawmakers why his agency didn’t act sooner on a whistleblower report that detailed safety issues at an Abbott Laboratories facility in Michigan. […]
Republicans press cities to spend ARPA funds on police
Republican lawmakers are continuing to hammer gun violence and homicide rates in the southeastern Wisconsin cities of Milwaukee and Racine. Disregarding calls to tighten gun laws and support violence prevention strategies, the GOP has anointed law enforcement as Wisconsin’s only solution. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos doubled down on that stance in a letter to the […]
Nationwide bird flu outbreak leads to online conspiracies
A nationwide outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has struck Wisconsin poultry farms, backyard chicken coops and wild flocks of birds. Madison’s Henry Vilas Zoo has closed its bird exhibits and more than 3 million birds have been “depopulated,” according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection […]
Report says hundreds of state legislators have joined far-right Facebook groups
More than 1 in 5 Republican state lawmakers across the country have joined at least one far-right Facebook group, according to a new report. Together the lawmakers sponsored 963 bills during the most recent legislative sessions, said the group that wrote the report, which describes the far-right efforts as anti-human rights. The Institute for Research […]
Voters fight Wisconsin Republican congressmen’s attempt to dismiss lawsuit aiming to bar them from office
A group of voters suing to prevent Sen. Ron Johnson, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) from holding public office is fighting an effort by the congressmen to dismiss the lawsuit. In March, a group of ten voters filed a lawsuit against Fitzgerald, Johnson and Tiffany for their roles in the attempt […]
COVID surges as masks decline, hurting the most vulnerable
As COVID-19 cases rise again in Wisconsin and across the country, there are even fewer universal requirements than in the past to help protect people from contracting the novel coronavirus or spreading it to others. As a consequence, people who all along have been the most vulnerable to illness are still at risk while they […]
U.S. Sens. Tester, Moran reach deal on care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits
The two leaders of the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Montana Democrat Jon Tester and Kansas Republican Jerry Moran, have reached a deal with House leaders to pass a bill to extend health care access to veterans for conditions related to exposure to toxic chemicals during their service, the pair announced Wednesday. U.S. Senator Tammy […]