Skip to main content

Category: State news

In Gerrymandering Ruling, Supreme Court Refuses to Settle Partisan Squabbling Over Fairness

Reason

Noted: One of those plaintiffs, William Whitford, a retired law professor at the University of Wisconsin, admitted that the Republican map had not changed the outcome of the elections in his own legislative districts. He lives in Madison, after all, and it’s about as solidly blue a place as you’ll find in the Midwest. Instead, he claimed he suffered a harm that extended beyond his own vote and his own legislative districts.

Long-Shot Candidates Line Up For 2018 Gubernatorial Election

Wisconsin Public Radio

Maggie Turnbull is a scientist who is running as an independent candidate. She is an astrobiologist who has worked with NASA on the search for extraterrestrial life. Her work has been profiled on CNN and in On Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin’s alumni magazine. She has served on the Antigo Common Council and has lived in Madison

Scott Walker says crisis team needed to help state’s crippled dairy industry

Wisconsin State Journal

“I think we’re in a good situation today because of what was done (by the first task force) back then. I sort of hope we can be half that good,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at UW-Madison, who will lead the new group of experts dubbed by Gov. Scott Walker as Wisconsin Dairy Task Force 2.0.

Still: Behind the scenes, Foxconn is plowing ground

Kenosha News

Yeung, a UW-Madison chemical engineering graduate who coordinates Foxconn’s efforts in Wisconsin, said the company will work with higher education and others on a “Smart Cities, Smart Future” initiative – basically an “ideas competition” to engage students and faculty statewide.

Walker, Republicans Issue Warnings About Democratic Wins

US News and World Report

Walker said Republican initiatives that would be undone with Democratic wins include the Foxconn display-screen manufacturing project that could bring 13,000 jobs to the state in exchange for $4.5 billion in taxpayer incentives; a University of Wisconsin tuition freeze; photo identification requirements for voting; abortion limitations; and collective bargaining restrictions enacted through the Act 10 law.

Fewer Agriculture Agents Stresses Some Counties

Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin farmers and counties are making do with fewer agriculture agents statewide. The head of the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Cooperative Extension division said cuts to state funding are limiting their ability to meet local needs. However, some state and county officials argue the agency needs to better prioritize which positions should be filled.

Vel Phillips, Milwaukee Civil Rights Icon, Has Died at 94

Teen Vogue

Phillips spent her life fighting for the freedom of marginalized people in the state of Wisconsin. She was the first black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School in 1951, according to the university. (She even has a building named after her on campus.) After graduating, Phillips won a seat on the Milwaukee Common Council in 1956, another first, both for a woman and an African-American, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

As Ryan Steps Down, Can GOP Hold On to his Seat?

Wall Street Journal

Republicans who may run for Mr. Ryan’s seat include Robin Vos, the Wisconsin state assembly speaker; Bryan Steil, a member of the University of Wisconsin board of regents; and Dave Craig, a state senator from Waukesha County. Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus also lives in the district.

Ryan Retirement Sends New Ripples of Uncertainty Through GOP

AP

In Wisconsin, Republicans had no obvious successor in waiting. The most likely GOP candidate for Ryan’s seat is state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Republicans in the state said. Another Republican mentioned as a potential candidate is longtime Ryan family friend and backer Bryan Steil, an attorney and member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.

UW-Madison’s Babcock Hall and Center for Dairy Research in line for important upgrades

Wisconsin State Journal

Despite outdated equipment and facilities that have plagued it for years, UW-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research is where most of the state’s master cheesemakers have learned how to craft those mouth-watering, award-winning specialty cheeses that have been credited for reinventing Wisconsin’s formidable cheese industry.

Republican Governors Association books $5M for Walker ads

AP

Walker said successes of his administration — cutting taxes, passing the Act 10 law that forced state workers to pay more for pensions and health insurance while greatly restricting collective bargaining and freezing tuition at the University of Wisconsin — were all in jeopardy if he is defeated.

The Untold Story of Black Suffrage in Wisconsin

Madison365

Christy Clark-Pujara, Ph.D., associate professor of history for the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, illuminated the history of black male suffrage in Wisconsin at the State Historical Society on Feb. 20.