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Dane County Judge to hear lawsuit against false Trump electors

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A Dane County judge has set a trial date for the lawsuit against a group of false electors for the 2020 presidential election just ahead of the 2024 election.

Judge Frank Remington will hear arguments in the case in September of next year. Two of Wisconsin’s Democrat electors sued a group of 10 Republicans who falsely cast electoral college ballots for Donald Trump in 2020 after the race had been called for Joe Biden at both the circuit courts and the state Supreme Court.

The Republican plan was to have those votes in place if Trump was later declared the winner. Current Wisconsin Elections Commission member Bob Spindell is one of the electors who cast ballots for Trump.

Wausau family files appeal to DPI over school district’s dismissal of complaint against teacher

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A complaint has been filed with the Department of Public Instruction against the Wausau School District over its handling of a case of racist and homophobic statements directed at a student by a teacher.

Attorney Elizabeth Lambert says the School District erred when it chose not to take action against band director Rob Perkins.

“The district applied a definition of harassment that violates both state law and its own policy.”

School administrators decided not to punish Perkins claiming his comments were jokes. The school board has since said it will investigate the matter again with the help of a consultant. Lambert says schools need to follow policy. 

“We really need to make sure that school administrators in this state understand what fair inclusive schools look like and understand how they are supposed to put those principles and those ideals into practice every day.”

Dozens of people commented on the case at a school board meeting on Monday.

State Sen. Ballweg calls for more funding for rural roads and bridges

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A Wisconsin State Senator says the state budget needs to include money to improve local roads serving farmers. 

Markesan Republican Joan Ballweg says smaller county and town bridges are in need of serious repairs. “Making it difficult for our farmers to get their product to the main arteries, I think is something that has been overlooked for some time.”

Ballweg says lack of maintenance has led to stricter and stricter weight limits on rural roads. “There’s really no good way to unload big pieces of equipment out on a town or county highway”

Ballweg wants to see 150 million dollars in the budget for those bridges and roads. Ballweg serves on the state’s legislative joint finance committee, so she will have some say in the budget presented to the Governor.

Racine’s mayor happy to see legislative fix for police union bargaining

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A state labor ruling that eliminated health insurance requirements for police and fire departments has legislative Republicans moving to pass a law to fix that. 

That ruling was against the Racine police department after the city challenged providing health insurance to retirees due to cost issues. Wisconsin Act 10, passed under the Scott Walker Administration, eliminated collective bargaining for public sector unions. 

Racine Mayor Cory Mason says he warned lawmakers this would happen when Act 10 was written. “The law says it is a prohibited subject of bargaining. I don’t know how much room for interpretation there is on that.” 

Mason says if Republicans really wanted to help public safety, they should spend some tax surplus on the problem.

“Whether it’s teachers or cops and firefighters, you’re gonna make it harder to have the kind of workforce that Wisconsin needs and deserves to educate our kids and keep us safe. And so here we are.”

Wisconsin Veterans Museum hosts exhibition to mark end of Vietnam War

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The Wisconsin Veterans Museum remembers the 50th anniversary of America’s withdrawal from the Vietnam War.

Curator Kevin Hampton says the online exhibition, which features interviews and photos, comes with a call for all veterans who served to speak with the museum and leave a picture. 

“I would love to be able to have a photo of every single Wisconsin veteran ever because again, it’s that faces behind the facts that make the difference.”

Hampton says the museum has been working to collect the stories of the Hmong veterans who served as well. 

“Just today, there were hearings about expanding the definition of veterans, for veteran benefits here in the state, to those Hmong individuals who served as our allies during the conflict.”

The exhibition is both online on their website and at the Museum in Madison.

Schools across Wisconsin, other states deal with “swatting” calls

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Schools across the Midwest had to deal with a series of “swatting” calls on Wednesday.

The caller claimed there was an active shooter at the ‘high school’ in Chippewa Falls, but never specified which one. Chippewa Falls patrol sergeant Sheridan Pabst says the caller was very vague about details in the call. “There was a lot of red flags during the call to our dispatch center. That kind of indicated it was a false call.”

Chippewa Falls schools are currently on spring break, so there was no danger and no actual shooter. Pabst says swatting is dangerous because police have to treat it like it’s real. 

“If we’re getting reports of shots being fired, we expect an armed confrontation until proven otherwise.”

Other swatting calls were sent to schools in Rice Lake, Superior, Wausau, and Spooner. Similar calls were received in schools in Minnesota and Iowa.

$5 million donation from author Sarah Patterson extends life of UW-Madison teacher grants

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UW-Madison’s education programs will continue to be able to offer grants to teachers that stay in Wisconsin thanks to a major donation.

The 5 million dollars from best-selling author and UW-Madison alum Susan Patterson is going to the Teacher Pledge program. Assistant Dean Tom Owenby says it’s vital to keep teachers here. 

“We see this as a program that’s supporting the pipeline, you know, with getting folks into teacher ed programs and supporting them completing that work.”

Owenby says everyone benefits from having well-educated teachers in their school districts. “Investing in teachers is really an investment in the present and future of Wisconsin.”

The Department of Public instruction says there are almost 32 hundred emergency teachers in Wisconsin’s school districts, nearly triple from a decade ago. The new donation extends the program until 2027.

DNR asks you not to feed deer while snow is still on the ground

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Please don’t feed the deer this time of year.

DNR wildlife expert Amanda Kamps says trying to feed deer high-carbohydrate foods like corn could injure them right now, with the snowpack still on the ground. 

“Because they have their digestive system that’s naturally adapted to more that woody debris for the food that is readily available in the winter months.”

Kamps says you can help them out by providing more shelter like fallen trees and thicker vegetation. “It’s doing some of those other things that are actually more helpful to deer than providing them more of that artificial resource in the winter.”

Deer will naturally start to eat more nutrient-rich food once the weather clears and the snow melts. 

Researchers say invasive carp are a good food source

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Southern Wisconsinites may soon have a new source of local fish: invasive silver and bighead carp.

Tim Campbell with the UW Sea Grant program says those carp, called copi, aren’t like the common carp you usually find at the bottom of inland waters, feeding in the mud.

“Silver and bighead carp aren’t doing that they’re, you know, filter-feeding higher up in the water column. So they tend to have that really kind of clean, mild taste that takes well to a bunch of different seasonings.”

Campbell says there’s plenty of upsides to eating carp. 

“It’s a local fish, oftentimes, you can get it never frozen. So it’s super fresh. And just its nature as an invasive species can also be less expensive than some other fresh fish products that you might be able to get.”

While there aren’t enough copi in Wisconsin waters to justify commercial fishing, groups are busy pulling them out of the water in Illinois. If you’re looking to add carp to your diet, contact your local grocer or fish market.

Secretary of State La Follette resigns from office, Godlewski named as replacement

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Wisconsin’s long-time Secretary of State has abruptly resigned.

Eighty-two-year-old Doug La Follette made the announcement Friday, a year to the day after announcing he was seeking a twelfth term. He narrowly defeated Republican Representative Amy Loudenbeck in November. 

Governor Tony Evers names former state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski to serve the remainder of La Follette’s term.

LaFollette said he’s proud to have served and grateful to meet so many people during his 40 years in office, but that budget constraints placed on him by Republicans over the years have made it hard to do his job.