Regents approve UW System tuition increase (MADISON)
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents approves a tuition increase. The roughly 5% increase amounts to $500 or less per campus for in-state undergraduates and starts this fall. It comes after Democratic Governor Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders reached a budget deal that included a $256 million increase in funding for the UW System, and just days after System President Jay Rothman announced it. Rothman proposed increasing tuition by 4% on all campuses, with an optional 1% more for a maximum of 5%. All campuses except UW-Green Bay adopted the additional 1%. UW-River Falls sought an additional increase which would bring its increase to 5.8%. Total resident undergraduate tuition and segregated fees for the upcoming year range from $8,819 at UW-Whitewater to $12,166 at UW Madison.
Trial dates set for Douglas County homicide (SUPERIOR)
Trial dates have been set in a Douglas County homicide. A five-day trial has been scheduled for next March for 31-year-old Aaron Donald Johnson. He’s charged with 1st-degree intentional homicide and related counts in the October 2024 shooting death of 41-year-old Derick Walzack of Duluth. The victim’s body was found in a garage in Superior. Police detectives who testified during a preliminary hearing in January that Walczak suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and had been in a romantic relationship with a woman Johnson had a prior relationship with.
DNR moving ahead with dredging project following Evers veto (CALUMET COUNTY)
Governor Tony Evers’ administration reverses course on a budget item veto. The Evers Administration announced it’s moving ahead on a wetland project through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with the help of Ducks Unlimited, on the North Branch of the Manitowoc River in Calumet County. Evers had previously vetoed a $70,000 earmark in the state budget for the work. State Senator André Jacque, who represents the area, said in a statement that the reversal was due to “tireless pressure Brillion residents put on the DNR.” Jacque said the veto was done for partisan reasons and accused Evers of needing to save face. The DNR said the administration rejected a last-minute effort by the Legislature that would have changed the project’s funding source, opting instead to use existing state resources the administration had already spent months planning to use.