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New bill seeks to move Wisconsin Elections Commission to Wausau

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A Republican lawmaker from Green Bay is looking to move the state elections commission to Wausau.

Representative David Steffen says that the days of keeping offices in Madison for the sake of being in Madison are over. 

“It made sense 173 years ago to have everything together when a person like myself had to get on a pony, put on a powdered wig to walk over, to get over to someone else’s office, to sit by whale-oil light to make a decision but that’s no longer the situation.”

He says Wausau is a central location in the state on two major highways, and rent would be much cheaper than in Madison. 

“Their lease is expiring at the end of the year for office space that cost twice that of almost every other community in the state.”

This is not the first attempt to start moving state agencies out of Madison. There’s been an effort to move the DNR farther north for many years.

LeMahieu says he’ll fight gov’s order on COVID-19 testing for state employees

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State Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostberg) said he’ll be looking to challenge Governor Tony Evers’s order on COVID-19 testing for state employees.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) on Tuesday announced a new weekly testing requirement for all executive branch employees, interns, and contractors. The testing requirement will go into effect beginning October 18, 2021, and will apply to all employees who have either not submitted their vaccination status or reported their status as not fully vaccinated.

LeMahieu calls the requirements an invasive overreach of governmental authority, and said the State Senate will explore all options to ‘protect the rights of citizens.’

Keep an eye on your kid’s mental health as in-person classes resume

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As many kids head back to school for in-person classes, it’s important for parents and teachers to keep an eye on them to see how they’re adjusting.

UW-Health child psychologist Dr. Jason Horowitz says in most cases kids are going to be better off being with their peers, but in some cases that’s not true. 

“Kids who may be prone to anxiety particularly in social situations may have difficulty making the transition from what may be more comfortable for them, doing school at home or doing school virtually.”

Parents should be on the lookout for their kids acting out more or being more withdrawn than usual. Those sorts of behavioral changes could be signs their kid is having a tough time transitioning to school. 

“Teachers are really good at looking for those kinds of warning signs and I’m sure that they will be doing that as school kicks off again!”

Horowitz says it’s up to parents and teachers to help their kids make the adjustments they need to flourish with their peers. 

Dane County reinstates indoor mask mandate

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Public Health Madison Dane County is reinstituting the county wide indoor mask orders again, in response to the resurgence of COVID-19.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said there will not be occupancy limits in place for businesses and other public spaces.

“This order means that we can continue to do the things that we enjoy with the people that we care about without capacity limits or gathering limits while keeping each other safe.”

The order goes into effect on Thursday and runs through next month.

Dane County executive Joe Parisi said that not enough people are vaccinated to prevent the spread of new variants of COVID.

“In the meantime we all need to mask up indoors to reduce the spread, to protect our little ones who can’t protect themselves.”

Public Health Madison Dane County urges everyone who can get vaccinated against COVID to get the shot.

Dane County urges everyone who can get vaccinated against COVID to get the shot.

UW-Health to take part in new Moderna trial for children

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UW-Health will be taking part in a clinical trial to determine the dosage of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in children.

Dr. William Hartman says this is just another step in the University’s commitment to fighting the coronavirus. 

“We’ve been at the Forefront of really every phase of this pandemic this far and this continues that.”) 

The vaccine will be the same one that is administered to adults, but researchers are trying to work out the correct dosage for children from six months to 12 years, much like with other vaccines. “That is being established for the kids 6 to 12 first, and then it’s likely that dose is going to be reduced even further out for the younger kids.”)

Hartman says this is vital as newer variants of COVID seem to be more contagious in young children than previously thought. 

 

Evers declares statewide State Of Emergency following severe weather

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has declared a statewide State of Emergency. The action follows severe overnight storms affecting several regions of Wisconsin, and causing widespread damage, downed trees and power lines, power outages, and road closures due to debris.

Evers said he’s declared a State of Emergency to ensure state resources are available to get communities the support and help they need. The order directs state agencies to help those affected by the storms and also allows the Wisconsin National Guard to be called to active duty to provide assistance supporting local authorities with their recovery efforts.

The National Weather Service is investigating several possible tornadoes that were spawned in Wednesday night’s derecho. Meteorologist Andy Boxtell said possible tornadoes spawned in southern Wisconsin, near Concord and in Waukesha County.

“So far just sporadic reports of damage nothing on the order of what we’ve heard about in the Concord area but undoubtedly some trees down and such things across that region,” Boxtell said.

Teams are also investigating possible tornadoes in Marathon, Portage and Winnebago counties. Some areas of Central Wisconsin received several inches of rain overnight, causing minor flooding along the Wisconsin River.

Thousands of people remain without power as of Thursday morning, including about 6,000 customers of Wisconsin Public Service in Wausau.

“We understand that it’s frustrating to be without power, but we’re committed and will continue to work tirelessly so that we can restore service,” said WPS spokesman Matt Cullen. Cullen said many of those same crews were working in the Rhinelander-Antigo area earlier this week. If you come across downed lines or damaged equipment, do not try to fix it yourself and call it in immediately.

Affiliate WSAU contributed to this report

 

Assembly Republicans fail to overturn veto on federal unemployment benefits

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Assembly Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to overturn Governor Evers’ veto of a bill that would have ended federal unemployment benefits.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says it’s unfair that businesses have to compete with the federal government. 

“If you pay people over $17 an hour tax free to stay home and not work there are going to be fewer people working it’s not rocket science.”

Minority leader Gordon Hintz says the numbers that Republicans and business leaders are quoting just don’t make sense. 

“You can look right at the unemployment numbers. They continue to go down.  Fewer people are filing unemployment; they’ve gone down the $300 bump.”

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is 3 point 9 percent, and is below the national average, and many workers have left the retail and service sectors for other positions during the pandemic. 

Governor Evers signs state budget with some vetoes to GOP policy items

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Wisconsin families should be seeing an average income tax cut of 800 dollars under a new state budget signed today by Governor Tony Evers.

Evers says he’s used his veto powers to target those tax cuts to families across the state. 

“I’m newly providing tax relief to more than 1.6 million Wisconsin taxpayers at a time when our economy and Working Families across our state need it the most.”

Republicans had sent the Governor a budget that was far below the spending he requested in February, but Evers says there’s still room for tax cuts for Wisconsin families, along with increases in spending. 

“When combined with prior reductions 2.4 million filers will be receiving tax relief in Wisconsin.”

The Governor also cut a number of policy decisions the GOP added to the budget, including a cut in spending for the lieutenant Governor’s security detail, as well as a proposed drug testing requirement to get unemployment insurance. 

Legislative Republicans say they should be getting credit for the tax cuts.

Joint Finance Committee co-chair Mark Born says Evers made changes that will hurt people, like not changing income tax withholding tables.

“He vetoes the updates to the tax withholding tables that takes money out of people’s paychecks and keeps it instead with the government.”

Evers also shot down a removal of the personal property tax, and Born says they’ll work to get that passed through other means in the future.

Assembly Republicans pass bill to ban trans women from high school and college women’s sports

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Republicans in the state Assembly have passed a pair of bills that restrict how trans women can take part in high school and college sports.

The bill’s author, Republican Barb Dietrich, says the bill would create a separate but equal co-ed branch of youth sports that trans women would be allowed to participate in.

“If a biological female is perfectly comfortable competing against a biological male, this legislation provides a way to do so!”

Democrat Lee Snodgrass says the move is a cynical way to attack trans athletes. “If we really truly care about women’s sports issues, we should be working on closing the pay gap in women’s sports. We should be making investments in sports and promoting equal economically opportunities for these girls and women.”

Snodgrass says trans women already have it tough competing. “They suffer from higher rates of bullying, anxiety, depression, all of which – news flash – make it more difficult to train and be competitive.”

Dietrich says that children who are trans need mental help rather than help competing in sports. “Let’s get them the care that they need on the mental health level, rather than allowing them to displace women who have worked so hard to reach this achievement level.”

Governor Evers says he’ll be vetoing the bill if it makes it to his desk.

Governor Evers pleased with Supreme Court decision not to hear ACA challenge

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Governor Tony Evers says he’s pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act.

In a 7 to 2 decision released on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that a group of Republican states couldn’t show that the Affordable Care Act was harming them, because the mandate to have insurance doesn’t carry a penalty. 

Evers said that healthcare isn’t just for the wealthy, quote “Today’s decision is a critically important victory for our work to make sure everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare coverage.” Governor Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul withdrew from the lawsuit in 2019 .