Jim Piwowarczyk

Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol want the state to help save local newsrooms. Two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Jimmy Anderson, D-Fitchburg, and Sen Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloint, introduced three pieces of legislation they hope will save local journalism. The first would be a local journalism fellowship that would pay a handful of young reporters $40,000 to start their career in a local newsroom. The lawmakers are also pitching a 50% tax credit for newspaper subscriptions and a Wisconsin Civic Information Consortium. “The Civic Information Consortium will boost local news coverage and civic engagement across the state, with a focus on addressing information gaps in communities long underserved by the commercial news market,” Spreitzer said. “A similar model in New Jersey has already allocated more than $6 million over just the past few years, uplifting Innovative new approaches to civic media and supporting news coverage in pockets of the state that have long been ignored by mainst...

DEI training given to employees by UW Health instructs white employees that they will show "growth" on their "continued journey towards antiracism" if they "yield positions of power to those otherwise marginalized," screenshots of the training materials show. The training materials also teach white employees that denying racism is racist. To show "learning," they must acknowledge that society is currently racist. One document asks, “As a white person, in which zone do you fall on your continued journey towards antiracism?” It gives four zones: comfort, fear, learning, and growth. Under the “growth zone,” these statements are presented, “I yield positions of power to those otherwise marginalized” and “I promote and advocate for policies and leaders that are antiracist.” Employees are asked to check a box indicating which zone they are in.   The comfort zone includes “I deny racism is a problem” whereas the learning zone includes “I re...

  Former President Donald Trump will remain on the Illinois ballot after the State Board of Elections dismissed a challenge alleging he was ineligible because of his challenging the results of 2020 election. The elections board, in a bipartisan 7-1 vote, said it did not have the jurisdiction to remove Trump from the ballot. A hearing officer had earlier recommended Trump’s name be removed. The primary in Illinois is March 19. The General Election is Nov. 5. This story is developing and will be updated. The Center Square Go to Source Reposted with permission https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/trump-to-remain-on-illinois-ballot/?feed_id=9901&_unique_id=65b972ddbe1d2

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the legislative redistricting maps that he mostly drew. Evers on Tuesday said he scuttled the 99% maps because they were too favorable to Republicans. “These maps are more the same. Republicans passed maps to help make sure Republican-gerrymandered incumbents get to keep their seats. Folks, that's just more gerrymandering,” Evers said. “Allowing politicians to move district lines so that their party can retain political power doesn't help root out gerrymandering from our democracy, it further entrenches it. And that's wrong.” The maps the governor drew moved dozens of incumbent Republicans into new districts. Republicans moved some of those lawmakers back but largely left the governor’s maps unchanged. Evers has denied he gerrymandered Wisconsin with his maps that would give Democrats control over the state legislature. Instead, he calls them fair maps. “I have never been more hopeful that when Wisconsinites head to the ballot box...

Act 10, the law that fundamentally weakened Wisconsin’s public school teachers’ unions, is headed back to court. And again there is an effort to save it. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Monday filed a motion to join the new case that seeks to end Act 10. That case claims there was “no conceivable rational basis” for Act 10 to begin with. “There is no question that 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 significantly changed labor relations in Wisconsin. But since Act 10’s enactment over a decade ago, state and federal courts have repeatedly rebuffed constitutional challenges to the law by those who oppose it,” WILL wrote in its memo to the court. “Both the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and Seventh Circuit in [the Walker case] had little trouble concluding that Wisconsin was free to distinguish between public safety and general employees, with the latter labeling this conclusion as ‘uncontroversial.’” The latest challenge to Act 10 comes is a claim the...

State Senator Duey Stroebel joined me on The Meg Ellefson Show last week to discuss the Democrats’ absurd hyper-partisan scheme to gerrymander Wisconsin’s legislative maps that have already been ruled lawful by the Supreme Court. Now that the Democrats have purchased their very own state Supreme Court call girl for $10 million, they are transparent in their plans to fundamentally transform Wisconsin into the miserable states of Minnesota, California, Illinois and New York. It pains me to say this about Minnesota – I was born and raised there. But alas, my former home state is lost, as Democrats have seized control of all branches of government. Redistricting is covered in article four, section three of the Wisconsin constitution and “is crystal clear,” stated Senator Stroebel. “The duty and responsibility of the state legislature is to redraw the state’s legislative boundaries every 10 years after the federal census is done. That was done as usual, as has been done for decades.” ...

  A coalition of state attorneys general sent a letter Monday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas backing Texas in its border battle with the Biden administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defied the Biden administration last week, making clear he would continue to put up concertina wire fencing at the southern border to help stop the flow of illegal immigration, which has soared since Biden took office. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the issue last week, saying federal agents could continue to remove the concertina wire, but the ruling did not prohibit Texas from installing the border defenses. Abbott said after the ruling that the federal government had broken its pact with the states for not stopping what more than 50 Texas counties have declared an “invasion.” That court case is the latest touchpoint for the ongoing immigration crisis and frustration of many border states and Republicans who argue Biden is willfully aiding millions of ille...

Milwaukee Police are investigating a double fatal shooting that occurred on Monday, January 29, 2024, at approximately 2:26 p.m., on the 4900 block of N. Hopkins Street. Preliminary information suggests that two individuals fired shots at each other subsequently striking each other. A 16-year-old sustained fatal injuries and died on the scene. The second individual, a 21-year-old, was transported to a local hospital for treatment and later died at the hospital. The investigation is currently ongoing. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7360 or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-Tips or P3 Tips. https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/milwaukee-double-fatal-shooting/?feed_id=9809&_unique_id=65b82e457bfdf

A former IRS contractor who leaked former President Donald Trump's tax returns along with tax information for some of the nation's wealthiest people was sentenced Monday to five years in prison. Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in October to disclosing tax return information without authorization. Littlejohn, while working at the IRS as a contractor, stole tax return information associated with Trump and others. Littlejohn accessed tax returns associated with Trump on an IRS database "after using broad search parameters designed to conceal the true purpose of his queries," according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He then evaded IRS protocols to detect and prevent large downloads or uploads from its systems. Prosecutors said Littlejohn then saved the tax returns to multiple personal storage devices, including an iPod, before contacting a news outlet. Between around August 2019 and October 2019, Littlejohn provided the news outlet...

  The world is awaiting President Joe Biden’s response to a drone attack in Jordan over the weekend that left three U.S. servicemembers dead and more than 30 injured. In his statement Sunday, Biden said “we know [the attack] was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq” and pledged to respond to the “despicable and wholly unjust attack.” That statement raised questions about what the response could look like and if it would be severe enough to escalate to a broader war in the region. White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said at the White House briefing Monday that the administration “does not want a war” and “does not want to escalate.” “But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves and to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks,” Kirby said. Kirby went on to say he would not get ahead of the president’s decision-making or give much information about what a response could...

  President Joe Biden’s support in America’s most Hispanic state has declined dramatically, according to a new poll. Biden trails former president Donald Trump 57-41 in New Mexico, representing a sharp reversal from his 54-44 victory in 2020, according to the poll, conducted by Public Option Strategies in conjunction with Power the Future, an energy worker advocacy group. The reversal of fortunes for Biden in New Mexico seems to be driven by dissatisfaction among Hispanic voters. Only 36% of Hispanic poll respondents approve of Biden, compared to 53% in July 2022. Conversely, 63% of Hispanic voters disapprove of Biden, compared to 43% in July 2022, according to the poll. Biden easily beat Trump among New Mexico's Hispanic voters 61% to 38% in the 2020 election. Biden’s struggles in New Mexico might be reflective of a broader backlash against his performance overall, as evidenced by national polling. Nationally, 58% of voters disapprove of Biden's performance, in contr...

If the liberal justices are serious about "fair maps," they will pick WILL's, data analysis shows. Forget Gov. Tony Evers' maps. Forget the Republican Legislature's. If the liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court is really serious about "fairness" in how legislative districts are drawn, the justices will pick the maps submitted by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Data generated by the respected Dave's Redistricting mapping software shows that the legislative maps drawn by WILL are most successful in meeting the various criteria mandated by the state Supreme Court. By far. On population deviation, competitiveness, and splitting, WILL's maps squarely outperform Evers' in fairness (we will define the terms later in this story; just know they are considered important by the court). In compactness, WILL's and Evers' maps are similar but WILL's are better than all of the other maps. WILL outperforms the oth...

In November of 2010, Republicans elected Senator Ron Johnson, Governor Scott Walker, and majorities to the state senate and assembly. That year we also elected a Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen and State Treasurer Kurt Shuller. Oh, and by the way we did all of this on maps drawn by Democrats. The string of statewide wins continued when Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch were reelected in the recall election of 2012 and again in 2014. Walker’s streak was finally broken in 2018 when he was narrowly defeated by Tony Evers by a scant 29,227 votes. Attorney General Brad Schimel lost by an even smaller 17,190 votes. These were the first of a series of very close races in Wisconsin. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by just 22,748 votes in 2016 and in 2020 Trump lost by only 20,608 votes. Ron Johnson won reelection in 2022 by only 27,000 votes. Other state races were similarly very close. John Leiber won the State Treasurers race by 38,604 while Amy Loudenbeck lost the ...

Well, now that Donald Trump has completed New Hampshire, I predict that he will run the gauntlet. For the first time in recent history, he’ll likely win every caucus and primary going forward, which would be historic. And if the election were today, he’d win. Of course, he still needs to win the jousting contest with the various courts and prosecutors. But regardless of his wins, he should want Haley to remain in the contest to keep the Democrats from even more attacks on him. What I don’t understand is DeSantis exiting the race just days before the New Hampshire election. He had already committed to his ad buys, his team was in place, and he probably would have beaten Haley again. What’s odd is that he endorsed Trump after exiting, but if he really wanted to help Trump he would have stayed in the race through New Hampshire to split the remaining vote with Haley. Very odd. Instead, Haley picks up the DeSantis vote plus some independents or Democrat crossovers win...

The data excludes gotaways, those who illegally enter and intentionally evade capture by law enforcement, which CBP doesn’t publicly report. There were 371,036 foreign nationals reported to have illegally entered the U.S. nationwide in December, the largest number for the month in U.S. history. There were 302,034 foreign nationals who illegally entered the southwest land border, with the majority, 249,785, being apprehended between ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. By comparison, 73,414 illegal border crossers were apprehended at the southwest border in December 2021. There were 15,349 foreign nationals apprehended illegally entering at the northern land border last month, the highest for the month in U.S. history, according to the data. By comparison, there were 2,205 apprehensions at the northern border in December 2021. The data excludes gotaways, those who illegally enter and intentionally evade capture by law enforcement, which CBP do...

When was the last time the government did less of something? We’re used to nothing but more—more inflation, more debt, and more spending, particularly under President Biden. From trillions of dollars spent during COVID to hundreds of billions for “Green New Deal” policies, to the “omnibus” bill giving a six percent spending hike across the board, Biden’s spending spree is going to be felt for generations. Thankfully, some in Wisconsin are doing the opposite. Sen. Duey Stroebel has a smart idea that’s working its way through the legislature as we speak. His bill, SB 688, would force local governments to actually spend less on one of their biggest ticket items: school construction. Wisconsin is one of only three states that currently don’t require school boards to bid out school construction projects. The other 47 states have requirements for projects of different sizes (depending on the state) but one requirement is common—a public bidding process. Even Illinois—the land of co...

The Brown County, Wisconsin, Public Health office has renamed "breast feeding" chest feeding. In the same post, Brown County's Public Health department referred to mothers as "birthing parents." The office used the term in a January 26 post on Facebook in the latest liberal effort to use language to alter womanhood. "Breast/chestfeeding is a beautiful way to nourish and bond with a baby. Human milk also has many benefits for both the birthing parent and baby! However, many parent's face challenges on their breast/chestfeeding journey," the Facebook post reads. The post was announcing a "lactation empowerment scholarship." What the heck is a lactation empowerment scholarship? The application form says , "If you receive this scholarship, you will be committed to providing lactation support to populations with health disparities in Brown County for at least 1 year." Candidate "recruitment" is focused on e...

Lena Taylor is leaving the Wisconsin Senate to a chorus of kind words. Gov. Tony Evers on Friday named Taylor as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. “Sen. Taylor is a committed public servant who has dedicated her life to pursuing justice for her community and the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said. “I am confident that she will serve the people of Milwaukee County well as a circuit court judge.” Taylor was first elected to the State Assembly in 2003, and then to the State Senate two years later. Taylor resigned her Senate seat Friday and will start as a judge Tuesday. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of the 4th Senate and the 18th Assembly Districts, over the course of my 20-year tenure with the Wisconsin State Legislature. It has, also, been a pleasure to work with my colleagues, staff, state employees and the dedicated Capitol employees, that made it possible for me to serve my constituents,” Taylor said in a statement. “As I prepare for the nex...

A jury on Friday ordered former President Donald Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to a writer who accused him of him of ruining her reputation by denying he raped her in 1995 or 1996. The jury awarded $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. That's far more than the $10 million writer E. Jean Carroll had sought. Carroll sued Trump in 2019 after he denied that he had raped her in 1995 or 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. Trump had said he never met Carroll. His attorneys argued Carroll had sought fame and attention. Trump said she made up the story to boost sales of her memoir. Trump said Friday's verdict was a sign the nation's legal system was broken. "Absolutely ridiculous!," he wrote on Truth Social. "I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Politica...

I attended a city commission meeting recently and watched for 90 minutes an argument over a billboard. The setup - Adams Outdoor has owned and operated a digital sign in the Town of Madison since 2006. Then the city annexed the town. (How they did that without getting a vote of the town residents is beyond me…) The city then gave notice to Adams Outdoor that their digital sign was illegal in the city and that they needed to remove it. Note that Adams didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t do anything different. So here we have a lawful business (the sign) that was minding its own business, and along comes the city administrator, who decides on her own that the sign is not complying with the ordinance. No democratic approach, no council review, just one person who decides she doesn’t like the sign. I listened to the Adams Outdoor legal team make an excellent presentation to the commission, asking the commission to override the zoning administrator’s decision. Their case was obvious...

Gov. Tony Evers' spokesperson says U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is similar to President Joe Biden. That comparison, although accurate, seems to be a politically risky move due to the president's unpopularity in the polls, but there sat Baldwin at Biden's appearance in Superior on Thursday. Some questioned why the president was giving a speech about a bridge in Wisconsin near the Minnesota border as the border crisis exploded. Yet there they all sat, as the crisis in Texas escalated, talking about a bridge. https://twitter.com/SassySunshineAm/status/1750606265674354788 https://twitter.com/Midwestguy1588/status/1750607438259118572 Evers shared the photo of Evers, Biden, and Baldwin on X. "Tony & @POTUS & Tammy Category is: Democrats who get things done," his spokesperson Britt Cudaback wrote, comparing the three, and sharing the photo. Evers also tweeted, "@SenatorBaldwin and I are proud to welcome @POTUS to Wisconsin today." https://twitt...

In a recent column for WRN, Brandon Maly suggested that winning back Wisconsin’s blue areas was the path to victory for Republicans in Wisconsin. I couldn’t agree more. For many conservative voters, when they hear Republicans talk about courting Milwaukee and Dane County, it sends shivers down their spine (with good reason). For the past decade, Republicans, as a caucus, in Madison seem to think throwing taxpayer money at issues and trying their level best to be “Democrat Lite” is the way to peel off enough ‘swing voter’ support to win. Unfortunately, election losses, turning off freedom-minded conservatives, suppressing enthusiasm for Republican candidates leaving them asking themselves why they bother to vote, volunteer, and donate “R” is the only accomplishment. This is especially frustrating when you realize on arguably the most important issues to metropolitan and suburban women voters (crime, personal safety, the woke war on women, kids and girls’ sports, school choice, im...

As the upcoming Presidential Primary looms, attention rightly centers on the federal government. The televised debates have provided some education (and entertainment) as we watched candidates criticize each other's personalities, mannerisms, policy proposals, and even gaffes. However, the 2024 Presidential election carries immense significance, with the sobering prospect of another term under Sleepy Joe’s administration causing concerns about further encroachments on freedoms, an increasingly weaponized government, open borders, and the fervent push for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the highest echelons. This is a deliberate general erosion of America's foundations—an outcome desired and welcomed by progressives. The heightened focus on the “Fed” stems from the realization that We the People depend on the federal government to prioritize America's interests—a responsibility it appears to have faltered in fulfilling. Meanwhile, local elections are approa...

Abbott has ordered the Texas National Guard to continue building the wire barriers. Twenty-five Republican governors said Thursday they back Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to defend the state's border with Mexico. Abbott invoked the invasion clause of the U.S. Constitution on Wednesday and said the federal government broke its compact with the states. The "Guarantee Clause" of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 4) "promises that the federal government 'shall protect each [State] against invasion." Fifty-one Texas counties have declared an invasion , citing an imminent threat created by transnational criminal organizations bringing in enough fentanyl to kill the entire state's population, and expressing support to defend Texas' sovereignty. The governors said they support Abbott. "Because the Biden administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to prot...