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Assembly Republican ask Evers for loan program to assist unemployed

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State Assembly Republicans have a plan to assist thousands of people still waiting to have their unemployment claims sorted out, by the Department of Workforce Development.

Majority Leader Jim Steinke spoke during a press conference at the Capitol on Wednesday.

“How long are these 140,000 people supposed to wait? How long can people go without any income, without being able to pay their bills? And how long are we going to tolerate the excuses from the administration , without any real action on solving the problem.”

They want Governor Tony Evers to use some of the state’s remaining federal CARES Act relief money to provide bridge loans to those who are still waiting.

“We’re calling on Governor Evers to step up, and give Wisconsinites the hand up that they need. Currently there’s over $280 million left of Wisconsin’s share of the CARES Act. So the question is, why is the governor not using that money to provide bridge loans, to the folks that are waiting for their unemployment claims to be approved?.”

Steinke said the bridge loans could be administered by a state agency other than Workforce Development – such as the Department of Revenue – to allow DWD to keep focusing on processing claims.

“We need to do more to help people who have been waiting weeks or even months for unemployment benefits after losing their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Speaker Robin Vos. in a statement “People are tired of waiting for the Evers administration to get its act together and we’re all tired of the administration’s excuses. There are families who are struggling to get by and they need help now.”

Evers’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Johnson says U.S. shut down too much of economy in response to pandemic

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U.S. Senator Ron Johnson thinks the country closed too much of its economy when the coronavirus outbreak started.

The Wisconsin Republican told the online news publication Axios the country “overreacted” at first.

“We closed too much of our economy down, and I don’t think we focused enough on what we needed to do: isolate the sick, quarantine them, protect the vulnerable.”

“At the same time, elected officials. I’m not overly critical . . . . they’ve had to make really tough decisions with imperfect information.”

Johnson said the federal government needs to come up with additional plans to help businesses that are suffering. He said those businesses shouldn’t be blamed for a downturn in performance. He calls the pandemic “an act of God.”

 

 

Nearly 600 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday

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There were nearly 600 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Wisconsin on Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 10,138 new test results, of which 598 – 5.6 percent – were positive. That compares with 495 new cases and a positive test rate of 3.9 percent on Tuesday.

And those 598 cases also increased the seven-day rolling average to 565, the second highest average since the pandemic began.

Two more deaths bring the total number of people who’ve died to 807. The 14 deaths reported over the last week is one of the lowest weekly totals since the outbreak took off.

Wisconsin joins suit over coronavirus relief funds for schools

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Wisconsin is joining a lawsuit to keep private schools in the state from getting coronavirus stimulus money.

Attorney General Josh Kaul said Wisconsin’s share of the $13 billion in CARES money is at risk.

“The funds allocated to schools in the CARES Act provide vital support at a time when schools have had to make significant changes to the way they teach students,” Kaul said in a press release. “Instead of ignoring congressional intent and diverting funds away from public schools, Secretary DeVos should follow the law.”

Under a U.S. Department of Education rule issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, school districts are ordered to set aside a portion of their aid for private schools using a formula based on the total number of private school students in the district.

Kaul said spending government money on private schools hurts Wisconsin’s public schools.

State is providing PPE to businesses and schools

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The state of Wisconsin is shipping millions of cloth face masks and other types of personal protective equipment to schools, food processors and businesses.

Wisconsin Emergency Management is providing 4,200 infrared thermometers to public, charter and private schools.

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is sending another 60,000 face masks to local food processors and other businesses.

When the Evers administration asked last month if Wisconsin schools were interested in the equipment, more than a thousand said yes, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

Governor Evers continues calls for wearing masks in public as COVID-19 cases rise dramatically

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As county and local governments start to issue their own mask and health orders, Governor Tony Evers says it might take some time to do so statewide.

Evers says his Administration is exploring options to do so legally.

“Unfortunately the reality is that the Supreme Court ruling in the Republican lawsuit really hamstrung our ability to respond to this pandemic.”

Evers is calling on people, especially young people, to voluntarily take part in wearing masks, as the number of COVID-19 cases for people in their 20s continues to rise.

He reminds people that no one is invincible, and that young people catching the virus who don’t get very sick themselves, stand a greater risk of unknowingly spreading COVID-19 to a friend or loved one. 

“Nobody is immune from this virus. We have seen patients of all ages lose the battle against this virus. And we have seen how one positive case can lead to a dozen positive cases in the blink of an eye.”

Evers says he’s disappointed that people are now choosing to harass and berate local health officials as they struggle to contain the coronavirus. He said that science shouldn’t be a political issue. 

“The virus doesn’t give a crap about whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. People at the local level are just trying to do the best they can.”

WalletHub study: Wisconsin has 2nd fewest Coronavirus restrictions

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Wisconsin has some of the loosest COVID-19 restrictions in the nation. That’s according to findings from the personal-finance website WalletHub.

“Right now, Wisconsin has the second fewest COVID-19 restrictions. It’s second only to South Dakota, which is one of the state’s that never closed.” said WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez.

“It’s an ongoing study. We first released the week of May 5, which was obviously two months ago. That’s when Wisconsin ranked 34th.”

Less than two weeks later, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Governor Tony Evers’ “Safer-At-Home” orders as unconstitutional. “Within those two weeks, it dropped all the way down to number two, which is where it still is. So that truly make all the difference. We haven’t seen a state drop that many spots since,” Gonzalez said.

 

COVID-19 Tuesday update: state doubles infections since Memorial Day

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COVID-19 infections in Wisconsin have doubled in just over a month. It took five months since the first case was reported here in February to reach 16,500 confirmed cases.

Since Memorial Day, the state has added 16,992 additional cases, including 495 on Tuesday.

The Department of Health Services reported 3.9 percent of more than 12,000 new tests came back positive, but the seven-day average rate of positive tests has risen over the last several weeks.

Nine new deaths bring the total number of lives lost to 805. DHS also reported 37 new hospitalizations.

Wisconsin cities get “Safer Voting Plan” grants

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Wisconsin’s five largest cities have received more than 6 million dollars in grants to help keep voters safe during upcoming elections.

Milwaukee, Madison Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine were notified that the Center for Tech and Civic Life had fully funded their “Wisconsin Safer Voting Plan.”

“The big winners in all this are the voters in our cities,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason says he and his fellow mayors began working on plan, soon after the problem-plagued April elections

“To be able to work collaboratively to find ways to solve those problems was really a remarkable opportunity,” Mason said.

The cities plan on using the money for things like adequate numbers of voting sites, setting up in-person drive-thru locations, recruiting and training polls workers and providing PPE for them.

Monday COVID-19 numbers: no new deaths, 9.2 percent positive tests

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The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in Wisconsin results dropped on Monday.

The state Department of Health Services reported that 484 of 5,286 tests were positive. That’s 9.2 percent, down from 10.4 percent on Sunday and 10.8 percent on Saturday, but still higher than the average number of positive tests over the past three weeks.

DHS also reported 6,018 active cases on Monday, the first time since June 9th that there have been that many here. There are 254 patients currently hospitalized.

For a third straight day, no new deaths were reported, and the total in Wisconsin remains at 796.